Sanctioned Balkanization

Again, it was called the MELTING pot for a reason. Lots of ingredients went in, AMERICANS came out.

Insular ethnic enclaves/communities are why we're Balkanizing. https://t.co/QyigNzp4dO

— tree hugging sister (@treehuggingsis) January 28, 2019

Can’t Believe Producers Left It In

GREAT quote from Venezuelan refugee on @CBSEveningNews tonight. "Tell Trump, if he knocks down Maduro, WE'LL build the wall and paint it for him."

— tree hugging sister (@treehuggingsis) January 25, 2019

The. Burn.

Scorching hot as a Mexican volcano.

The Little Native American Drummer Boy

…Nathan Phillips, is a miserable piece of shit and doesn’t qualify in the spirit of the word “veteran.”

No, he wasn’t a “recon RANGER.”
No, he NEVER deployed, “Vietnam era” or not. (So much for his moaning “When I come home, those times, I got spit on & called a baby killer.” Come HOME? HE. NEVER. LEFT.)

Don Shipley got the DD-214.

Self-described "recon ranger" Nathan Phillips was a rifleman for two days and a refrigerator mechanic in Lincoln, Nebraska and El Toro, California the rest of his service. Retired a private.https://t.co/exSIHBGWS9 pic.twitter.com/vJg4WtYzcz

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) January 23, 2019

(FOIA response to Don Shipley via Phil Kerpan)
He was a Marine Corps RESERVIST, drilled for 2 years, went active duty for two more…

…and THEN spent some of his time UA/AWOL. Did brig time. (For the uninitiated, that means JAIL.) Acronym decoder: AAHA – Awaiting Higher Authority, CNFT – Confinement

For his distinguished record of “service,” he was discharged as a FUCKING PRIVATE after 4 years. An accomplishment – especially in the reserves – it takes some major screw-ups to pull off.

And now he intimidates 14 year olds.
Who coulda seen THAT coming?

SCOTUS UpHolds Transgender Military Ban

BREAKING: Supreme Court allows transgender military ban to go into effect

(CNN) — The Supreme Court is allowing President Trump’s Transgender Military ban to go into effect.

The Justices did not rule on the merits of the case but will allow the ban to go forward while the lower courts work through it. LGBT activists call the ban cruel and irrational. The policy blocks individuals who have been diagnosed with a condition known as gender dysphoria from serving with limited exceptions. It was first announced by President Trump in July 2017 via twitter.

Good.

The military isn’t a RIGHT. It exists to protect this country, and the person who seeks to join must bring something to the military, not the other way around. There are a million reasons one cannot join: from flat feet to diabetes to epilepsy and so on. Your fervent wish to be something you are not – a purely personal decision vice medical necessity – at lifetime cost and expense to the country you supposedly wish to serve while being relieved of myriad responsibilities normally a requirement of service, does not grant you special status over those who never asked for their disqualifying afflictions. And are forbidden from that same service.

ADDENDUM:

Previous detailed Swilling posts on transgenders in the military are here and here.

Semper Fi, Gunny

Today, Gunnery Sgt. R. Lee Ermey was laid to rest @ArlingtonNatl.

Semper Fi, Gunny. pic.twitter.com/brzplZMBne

— U.S. Marines (@USMC) January 18, 2019

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BINGLEY!!!

You arrived on THIS day…um…MANY years ago.

And what a wonderful…um…MANY years it has been since.

Get Off the Bus, Gus

Oh, admittedly yesterday was a GLORIOUS exercise in GOTCHA, played at troll level “Jedi Master.”

I am still basking in the glow of the beauty of both the act itself and the timing.

This can only mean Putin hacked the bus https://t.co/4cfM7m3NaX

— Joel B. Pollak (@joelpollak) January 17, 2019

Gads. I’m starting the day smiling.

This is GOOD stuff.

My Morning

Just Horrific

Worse than you thought

A scathing internal Navy probe into the 2017 collision that drowned seven sailors on the guided-missile destroyer Fitzgerald details a far longer list of problems plaguing the vessel, its crew and superior commands than the service has publicly admitted.
Obtained by Navy Times, the “dual-purpose investigation” was overseen by Rear Adm. Brian Fort and submitted 41 days after the June 17, 2017, tragedy.
It was kept secret from the public in part because it was designed to prep the Navy for potential lawsuits in the aftermath of the accident.
Unsparingly, Fort and his team of investigators outlined critical lapses by bridge watchstanders on the night of the collision with the Philippine-flagged container vessel ACX Crystal in a bustling maritime corridor off the coast of Japan.
Their report documents the routine, almost casual, violations of standing orders on a Fitz bridge that often lacked skippers and executive officers, even during potentially dangerous voyages at night through busy waterways.

EBOLA IS HOME!!!

And has been his usual, effervescent self.

(Just kidding – that pic was taken when we picked him up. Multiple flights en route from Italy=too long in the air.)

In the past days, we have been indulging his every favorites request, and have, consequently, eaten like kings.
Already had major dad’s World Famous Cheeseburgers, Big Sunday Roast Chicken Dinner last night, and lamb the night before.


The prep stuff above would be the fixin’s for leg of lamb à la gasconne, accompanied by Roquefort gnocchi and Caesar salad.

So we’ve got a Shepard’s Pie to make from those leftovers, heirloom pork chops tonight, and lamb chops Wednesday (After a 16 month stretch in the back of beyond Australia, his already impressive capacity for lamb consumption has been honed to razor sharpness.). We’ll do ad hoc improvisation the rest of his visit.

He has to be in Afghanistan at the end of the month, so we’re stuffing him full of HOME until he has to leave.

Well

They’ve certainly convinced me of the error of my ways.

For ONCE

…NOT #FloridaMan !!

That having been said, I recommend sanitizing by acetylene torch and then pepper spraying that mofo.

DISTURBING VIDEO: Prowler spends 3 hours licking doorbell at California home https://t.co/rgQ1ozUly1 pic.twitter.com/jzr8dq0I6h

— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) January 8, 2019

Maybe a light dusting of a non-skid application as well.

Besides Getting Ready for Ebola to Come Home

…(for the first time in TWO YEARS), we are babysitting his dog (while he jaunts about the world), have recently rescued a LARGE (as in FIFTY POUNDS of fangs and fur) Scottie, still taking care of feral cats, trying to integrate the two cats IN the house with the “new” dogs, AND trying to spruce up the house we bought, which we had already rented for 20 years (anyone needs financial advice, we’re available).

Yesterday was what is referred to as “a trial.”

5:30 a.m.: first heart attack of the morning. Feral kittens in the backyard, even after I banged on the window and went out in the cold to see if the coast is clear. Dogs out, all Hell erupts. Thank God the kittens can climb! Charging to the defense, momma was fierce, but no match for a 50lb Scottie. YIKE. She lit out for the front of the house.

Second heart attack: Bob waking up to my screaming “NO!NO!NO!” as I try to wrangle two dogs charging in every direction, Hell bent on eradicating kittens.

Waited for dawn so we could clear the field. WHEW!! No kitten parts scattered about the yard, but there was an odd bird waaayyyy up in the drake elm.

Nooo. I meant WAAAAYYYY up there.

Tiny. Grey. Striped. Kitten.

Who would stay there for the next 5 hours.

Friends are like, “Is the kitten out of the tree yet?”

Me: “Nope.” Just as well, since Ebola’s dog had just snapped at one of the electricians, so guess who was banished back outside.

Couple hours later, the fellas leave, and we can bring the nutjob canines back in. AND admire our beautiful new vanity and closet lights, plus lighted fan in our ancient master bath. (And then realize sometimes more light isn’t a good thing…I got work to do.)

Kitten stayed immobile 30 or so foot above ground for at least another couple hours. Came home from our errands and the tree was clear.

What showed up out front was a tired, hungry little thang. major dad sighed, got out the Friskies can, and ladled out the breakfast he/she/it missed.

Everyone went out on LEASHES in this morning’s darkness.

*sigh*

We Got Through It

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Here’s to you and yours!