Looks like a shooting in a German Mall. Thanks to everyone that's sent notes about this thing but quite honestly this is totally expected.
I stated a week or so ago that the ISIS summer offensive was happening in the US and Europe and this is exactly as predicted.
As bad as this looks, its still tiny in comparison to what I think is coming. I really expect a major attack with a body count of more than 200 dead before Sept.
Massive thanks to my buddy Mike Yeo over at The Base Leg for sending me the tip on Tim's pics!
If you don't follow Mike and Tim then you're missing out. They do real good work. Tim placed the caption below on the pics...
Terrex 2 for @USMC ACV1.1 prog - note the propellers on the back, much larger than Terrex 1 and the V-on-V hull #STK
Ya know what? He's right! STK and SAIC are really aiming to nail that swim requirement and are pushing hard to win the ACV 1.2 before its even begun.
This program has dragged on for years, but maybe just maybe they have it on a solid footing. Maybe Mullen was right (and I'm paraphrasing) when he said chill the fuck out...I got this!
Live and learn. John is telling me that word on the street is that the Marines of 3/5 actually like this thing. I thought it nothing more than a toy but its not the first time I've been wrong and definitely won't be the last.
Remember this beast that's disappeared from view?
If the USMC is actually pursuing a "3rd Offset" separate from the DoD then these should be getting pushed out to the fleet for further testing. I'll wait and see what happens but we've seen "distraction programs" whose only purpose is to silence critics while the F-35 sucks up all funding.
If you're a cop and you're not training at least as hard as I am and it show, then you're not worthy of my respect. Additionally the issue is scary. What was once only practiced by a relative few is now going mainstream.
Cops have to up their game.
The thing that made me cringe in this video? The cop was yelling for help. No one came. We heard people off camera yelling for the guy to stop but no one went to assist. At the end of the day, its up to every citizens AND every officer to be responsible for his or her's own safety!
This vid by the GracieBreakdown should be shown at every Police Academy. Side note: I need to work on my flexibility...AND I need to study that defense. I learned to tuck chin (because 90 percent of the time it won't be an LVNR it'll be a choke), grab arm and roll to the ground in essence breaking it. Maybe this is a better way
During the first part of it I was proud that I voted for the guy. He hit all the right notes and I was beyond impressed. All I could think is that this is what our Presidential candidate should look like. Then he turned so hard it almost snapped my neck.
Long short is that Cruz did two things last night. First he killed any chance at winning in 2020 (assuming Trump doesn't win). All his bragging about his Christian values and the guy isn't able to be a better man and move on from a rough and tumble campaign? Its been reported that the Trump campaign asked for his endorsement and he just wouldn't do it. This leads me to the second point. Trump should be leading the polls. One of the reasons he isn't? The stop Trump movement (they have a home on MSNBC...they're being used by the Democrats and they know it but just don't care).
For reasons unknown to me, the elite of the Republican party are doing their level best to sabotage the Trump effort. The speech by Cruz shows how petty those people are. This critique extends to many prominent Republicans too. Jeb Bush? You're fucking done son. Bush Jr? Ditto. Jeff Flake from Arizona and your buddy McCain? How about Graham?
What we saw is the dying breath of the Neo-Con movement in Republican politics. Unfortunately they have one last horse to ride...Hillary. The last redoubt of the Neo-Con movement is the establishment Democrats! We definitely live in interesting times.
Tank and AFV News Blog gets a massive hat tip for finding this vid.
I didn't post about it but Bryan sent me a link to a US Army article where a writer (field grade) talked about the history of their expeditionary warfare roots and called for a return to it.
Taken in isolation that would be a bit interesting but not earth shattering. But we can't take it in isolation. We've heard pronouncements from McMaster and the Army Chief of Staff stating the same thing.
Then we see the above vid.
I know you're tired of hearing it, but the US Army is about to drink our milkshake. They're about to get balls deep into expeditionary warfare and they're looking to encroach on our mission sets.
The real battle has been engaged and it is the budget! The Army is pushing the idea of Russia being a mortal threat and is pushing to go back to cold war manning levels in Europe. A Marine General was just appointed head of AFRICOM, but that is a major league Army and SOCOM playground.
The Marine Corps must get its act together, shake off the lethargy and start engaging. We no longer tell our story, we have stopped emphasizing the ideals of the Marine Corps and the public is no longer seeing us as the champions of the nation. Now is a time where the saying that "The Marine Corps is most ready when the nation is least" would sing to much of the anxiety in the nation! Dump the silly, new age commercial and go hard core again. Get back to doing the Marine Corps thing and our status in the budget wars will be secure.
Above you see photos from the RNC Convention which will be closing tonight. This should be an eye opener for everyone. Do you see how many are carrying those weapons? The guys wearing the pistols are walking around with pistols that are designed for concealed carry outside the waist! That's a fact people. Just because you see guys hitting the range with that type of kydex holster doesn't mean that it meets standards for wear in public.
First its not snatch resistant. Those holsters hold guns in place by the tension that one applies with screws to keep the gun in place. A 250 pound assailant that takes you by surprise, does a California prison take down on you (just a brutal running tackle from behind), then he will walk away with your weapon before you know what happened....if you're lucky.
Drop down to the guy in the bottom pic in the blue garb. That sling is all kinds of messed up, he doesn't have the awareness to control his weapon as it flops down around his knees....its just wrong! The guy in the white shirt is at least showing a bit of understanding in the way that he's carrying his gun.
Long story short?
Every group attracts extremist that take away from the core message and hurt the cause. Open carry advocates are that group when it comes to gun rights!
Walking around with weapons in plain sight is unnecessarily provocative, tends to be unregulated, gives license to prohibited persons to carry without challenge AND is killing our agenda. The NRA needs to come out against unregulated open carry. Call me a turn coat but it doesn't promote personal security and eventually the bad guys will view open carriers as supply points.
Jesus! The author of this article proposing that the US withdraw from NATO is the Research Chair at the US Army's Command and General Staff College. He's also a retired Naval Officer.
Something weird is happening people.
Once only minor blogs like this one would even broach the idea. Now we're seeing it on USNI Blog? While I'm sure USNI is trying to regain its rep by posting provocative articles, its still stunning that they had the balls to actually do it.
Between this article and Trump's rhetoric it appears that the idea of the US getting tired of paying for other people's defense is gaining traction.
By US Navy standards this is a small ship...but I wonder. Are we building over sized vessels? I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you're going to do "Dis-aggregated MEU's" then we should be building many Mistral BPC's instead of large deck amphibs and LPDs. In other words we should have many 18,000 ton LHDs instead of a few 40,000 ton L class aircraft carriers.
via Heavy.com (click on the link to watch the video)
Kinsey told the news station that after a few minutes, one of the officers shot him in the leg. The officer fired three times, hitting Kinsey once.
“I’m like this right here, and when he shot me, it was so surprising,” said Kinsey, who had his arms raised in the air while talking to a WSVN reporter from his hospital bed Wednesday. “I thought it was a mosquito bite, and when it hit me I had my hands in the air, and I’m thinking I just got shot! And I’m saying, ‘Sir, why did you shoot me?’ and his words to me were, ‘I don’t know.’”
Kinsey said that after he was shot he was handcuffed and left bleeding in the street.
Some of you say BLM is a terrorist group. I disagree. I think that they're bought and owned by the Democrat party but not terrorists.
We can agree to disagree on that. But if we're going to say that the police needs to be up armed to deal with trained shooters then we have to balance that and say that when we see a bad police shoot then the offending LEO should go to jail.
When its as clear cut like this incident then the idea of an investigation taking weeks or even months is stupid. The public should be informed, and justice should be swift. IF THE OFFICER IS FOUND TO BE NOT GUILTY then its up to the Public Affairs Officers in each dept to explain to the public why.
This is really simple stuff. If you have an oh shit moment with a firearm then you pay the price. I don't get to make mistakes with my personal weapon and LEOs don't get to with their duty weapons.
Side note: I wonder if this is a response to the recent assaults on police in Baton Rouge and Dallas? Was this guy quick on the trigger because of what happened there? Did he think that this was a setup for an ambush? I don't see how that's possible. If this was their beat they would know that a mental health facility was nearby. What we don't know is the latest intel briefings that police are getting. Have they been warned of more complex, better planned assaults against LEOs?
I need more info on this. It still looks bad but the second bite of this apple leaves me with some questions.
