“The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) estimates the road could take months to repair.”
“We’re hearing it’s going to be until February,” said Franny Sweeters, who runs the Whistling Post Saloon in the town of Skykomish. “It’s going to be a big hit to business if we don’t get the highway open soon.”
Several comments have been posted with the article above.
Every branch of the US Armed Forces has units that can rapidly install roads, temporary bridges, airfields, provide generator power, etc.
Maybe consider pulling the National Guard away from occupational duties related to supporting law enforcement.
Maybe pull National Guard units back from doing time in foreign lands helping the Dept. of War with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
Maybe create mission tasking that the general public can get behind.
Waking Up From The Dream
There must be rules relating to contracting and various levels of government working together that would put a stop to all this. Perhaps there is no quick fix. Perhaps the US Armed Forces are not the right tool for the job here.
Still think it would be a good move to add job satisfaction for those in uniform and to create some positive public relations chemistry all across the US, not just in WA.
At 13:05 below, Capt. Lopez explains how the unit can assist local communities:
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials, top Pentagon Generals and the press earned it.
Armed Forces Recruiting Crisis
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, the Pentagon seems to specialize in undeclared/unwon wars.
Both major political parties are good with it.
Understandable why young people & their parents & grandparents would take a dim view on all this. Continuing on this path will wear down the energy American families once had for encouraging young people to enlist.
There has been good news for recruiting recently after standards were modified to create a prep course category for training recruits.
Our take:
The US should maintain strong and ready military forces.
Some will say obese teens and young adults are to blame for the big recruiting crisis.
Thousands of young, intelligent and athletic Americans participate in college athletics each year. Certainly, they would qualify to enlist- no rehab/prep program required.
Why are these people not showing up at the recruiting office?
Any questions from newspeople?
National Guard
National Guard recruiting would be tricky.
Recruiters are looking for people who will need to maintain a place to live and a regular job in their hometown area when they are not doing time in foreign lands helping DOD with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
A few decades back, people might think of the National Guard as one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer plus a way to support your home state by being ready to get called out for floods, fires, natural disasters, civil unrest, etc. Maybe a way to help the next state over if they needed it.
Thousands of men and women who signed up for the National Guard in the past 25 years did tours in places like Syria, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
Would any newsperson ever ask:
Why do the people of Home State, USA need services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
The US should maintain strong and ready military forces.
Look for newspeople and school teachers to ask zero questions in this area:
Love to see newspeople interview elected officials and let us know how sending US Troops to Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, etc., is somehow defending the constitution.
The guilt doesn’t seem to work towards staying out of undeclared/unwon wars, maintaining the barracks or managing federal contracts related to TRICARE.
A giant flag ritual at the next ball game will make it all good.
Image above: Don’t lie to people and maybe they would be more patriotic.
For Americans born roughly in the late 50s & early 60s, there have been several episodes over the decades where the federal government version of events may have fallen into question over the years, or may never have been fully resolved.
By now, some Americans may feel that both major political parties are manipulative and dishonest.
“What changed between Bondi saying the lists were on her desk and pledging to release them, to now assuring us no lists exist and acting as if only kooks would assume they did?”
“A few days ago, the president embarrassed himself by chastising a reporter who dared ask about disclosures Trump’s own team previously promised. It was a reasonable question (indeed, an obligatory one) to ask on the first opportunity since Trump’s team told us there was nothing to reveal. Aside from being lame and pathetic, Trump’s dismissive response contradicted accusatory comments he’d frequently made.”
Love the way Cenk Uygur narrates at 6:41 in the video below:
Unlike many local newspapers, alternative media is good with maintaining an active comment section. More than 4,000 comments are posted with the video above.
Old Man Blog Category
Thoughts on changes in American culture relating to those born roughly in the late 50s & early 60s.
Love to see newspeople interview elected officials and let us know how sending US Troops to Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, etc., is somehow defending the constitution.
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, the Pentagon seems to specialize in undeclared/unwon wars.
Both major political parties are good with it.
Understandable why young people & their parents & grandparents would take a dim view on all this. Continuing on this path will wear down the energy American families once had for encouraging young people to enlist.
There has been good news for recruiting recently after standards were modified to create a prep course category for training recruits.
Our take:
The US should maintain strong and ready military forces.
Some will say obese teens and young adults are to blame for the big recruiting crisis.
Thousands of young, intelligent and athletic Americans participate in college athletics each year. Certainly, they would qualify to enlist- no rehab/prep program required.
Why are these people not showing up at the recruiting office?
Any questions from newspeople?
National Guard
National Guard recruiting would be tricky.
Recruiters are looking for people who will need to maintain a place to live and a regular job in their hometown area when they are not doing time in foreign lands helping DOD with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
A few decades back, people might think of the National Guard as one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer plus a way to support your home state by being ready to get called out for floods, fires, natural disasters, civil unrest, etc. Maybe a way to help the next state over if they needed it.
Thousands of men and women who signed up for the National Guard in the past 25 years did tours in places like Syria, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
Would any newsperson ever ask:
Why do the people of Home State, USA need services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials, top Pentagon Generals and the press earned it.
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
“Nearly 2,000 members of the Iowa National Guard are being deployed to the Middle East as part of the U.S. military’s mission to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.”
“Iowa National Guard members will contribute to the operation by joining the over 80-nation coalition who have been fighting ISIS for over a decade.”
“Soldiers will be deployed for one year to parts of the Middle East — including Kuwait, Iraq and Syria — to provide security, support and assist efforts in maintaining stability in the region, according to the Iowa National Guard.”
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
The guilt doesn’t seem to work towards staying out of undeclared/unwon wars, maintaining the barracks or managing federal contracts related to TRICARE.
A giant flag ritual at the next ball game will make it all good.
That was before decades of military operations for your freedoms.
A favorite comment:
“Once again, well done, very well done. May I add three more lessons learned?
Since Viet Nam, they learned to make the public genuflect with the “Thank you for your service” mantra at every opportunity.
The learned to market the military with flyovers and flag-waving pageantry at virtually every professional sporting event.
They’ve further normalized forever war and “forward deployment” by cynically manipulating public sentiment with staged media events of a parent – but most often the father – still dressed in desert camouflage combat fatigues, appear unannounced after months of being away at his or her child’s elementary school.
Lessons to be learned in all of this for us, but we won’t, the narrative is too pervasive, too unchallengeable.”
They also learned to lean on the National Guard to advance US foreign policy goals and objectives.
Several news sources published this quote. View them here.
The idea that sending hometown troops to Africa would be linked in any way with keeping the people of Salisbury Maryland safe and free calls for more discussion.
Mayor Day,
While the troops were deployed, federal law was signed prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to adults age 18-20.
Can you help us to understand the militarized version of freedom here?
Love to see newspeople interview elected officials and let us know how sending US Troops to Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, etc., is somehow defending the constitution.
“The units being deployed overseas have been assigned to “Operation Inherent Resolve”, or OIR, working to combat the Islamic State in three Middle Eastern countries.”
Our take: The US should maintain strong and ready military forces.
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, the Pentagon seems to specialize in undeclared/unwon wars. Understandable why young people & their parents & grandparents would take a dim view on all this. Continuing on this path will wear down the energy American families once had for encouraging young people to enlist.
Some will say obese teens and young adults are to blame for the big recruiting crisis. Thousands of young, intelligent and athletic Americans participate in college athletics each year. Certainly, they would qualify to enlist- no rehab/prep program required.
Why are these people not showing up at the recruiting office?
“When the soldiers board the buses bound for Louisiana on May 29, that will be the last time they and their families will see each other for a year.”
“There will be no opportunity to visit the soldiers in Louisiana. And unlike during some previous National Guard deployments, the soldiers will not have leave time that they can use to come home, according to Guerttman.”
Operation Inherent Resolve
Mission:
“CJTF-OIR Advises, Assists and Enables partnered forces until they can independently defeat Daesh in designated areas of Iraq and Syria, in order to set conditions for long-term security cooperation frameworks.”
Recruiters are looking for people who will need to maintain a place to live and a regular job in their hometown area when they are not doing time in foreign lands helping DOD with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
A few decades back, people might think of the National Guard as one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer plus a way to support your home state by being ready to get called out for floods, fires, natural disasters, civil unrest, etc. Maybe a way to help the next state over if they needed it.
Thousands of men and women who signed up for the National Guard in the past 25 years did tours in places like Syria, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
Would any newsperson ever ask:
Why do the people of Home State, USA need services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials, top Pentagon Generals and the press earned it.
“Presidential administrations come and go but the war machine churns relentlessly on. “Defend the Guard” legislation can throw a monkey wrench in its cogs.”
Story by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz, Indiana Capital Chronicle Mar 6, 2025
“The force recorded a whopping 38% decline in enlistments from 2019 to 2023, Muennich told a Senate panel on Tuesday. And 77% of Hoosier youth aren’t qualified for service, whether because of education levels, medical standards, criminal history or other reasons.”
The Oak Bay Starfish take:
Some will say obese teens and young adults are to blame for the big recruiting crisis. Thousands of young, intelligent and athletic Americans participate in college athletics each year. Certainly, they would qualify to enlist- no rehab/prep program required.
Why are these people not showing up at the recruiting office? Any questions from newspeople?
National Guard recruiting would be tricky.
Recruiters are looking for people who will need to maintain a place to live and a regular job in their hometown area when they are not doing time in foreign lands helping DOD with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
A few decades back, people might think of the National Guard as one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer plus a way to support your home state by being ready to get called out for floods, fires, natural disasters, civil unrest, etc. Maybe a way to help the next state over if they needed it.
Thousands of men and women who signed up for the National Guard in the past 25 years did tours in places like Syria, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
Would any newsperson ever ask:
Why do the people of Home State, USA need services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials, top Pentagon Generals and the press earned it.
“One of President-elect Donald Trump’s last actions during his first term was pulling all U.S. forces out of Somalia, a move that could be back on the table in a second term that carries the potential for a broader scaling-back of military activities on the continent.”
“President Joe Biden in 2022 directed U.S. personnel back to Somalia on a continuous basis, reversing Trump’s order in late 2020 that resulted in some 700 troops being moved out of the country.”
February – 2025
Associated Press | By TARA COPP and AAMER MADHANI
Published February 01, 2025 at 1:25pm ET
“An initial assessment by the Pentagon indicated that “multiple” operatives were killed. The Pentagon said it assessed that no civilians were harmed in the strikes.”
“The Pentagon’s counterterrorism strategy in Africa has been strained as two key partners, Chad and Niger, ousted U.S. forces last year and took over key bases that the U.S. military had used to train and conduct missions against terrorist groups across the Sahel, the vast arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert.”
Understandable why young people and their parents and grandparents would take a dim view on all this.
If DOD was an NFL team, sports talk radio would feature comments like:
The Dept. of Defense was nowhere to be found on 911. We haven’t won a war since.
Any college or pro football coach would have been fired a dozen times over for what DOD has done with the US Armed Forces during the fake GWOT era.
Flag officers and high level DOD civilians built careers made of undeclared/unwon wars. Now they must mastermind ways to recruit a new generation.
In The News
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
Not asking about the oath of enlistment. Asking about what happens after the oath has been taken.
Love to see newspeople interview elected officials and let us know how sending US Troops to Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, etc., is somehow defending the constitution.
Look for newspeople and school teachers to ask zero questions in these areas.
Several news sources published this quote. View them here.
The idea that sending hometown troops to Africa would be linked in any way with keeping the people of Salisbury Maryland safe and free calls for more discussion.
Mayor Day,
While the troops were deployed, federal law was signed prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to adults age 18-20.
Can you help us to understand the militarized version of freedom here?
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
Uncle Sam is having a hell of a time finding people to sign up for the US Armed Forces. Pretending that decades of undeclared/unwon wars are linked in any way with American freedoms is the kind of dishonesty that will snuff out the energy American families once had for encouraging young people to enlist.
Good luck with your US Armed Forces recruiting crisis.
Acting Secretary of Defense:
“The Department of Defense continues to be one of our nation’s bedrock institutions,” Shanahan said, and “our foundational strength lies in the remarkable men and women who volunteer to serve our country and protect our freedoms, while making immense personal sacrifice.”
As the decades of undeclared/unwon wars stack up (The Department of Defense track record goes back to 1949.) the greater the cultural urge to glorify people who do, or did time in uniform.
Various states sent National Guard troops to distant lands. Each of those below claims that military operations overseas are somehow linked to American rights and freedoms:
If The Troops defend American rights and freedoms, what becomes of those freedoms when the US leaves Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc., without a victory?
There has been much positive energy (or propaganda?) on the web and on social media Re: NATO expansion.
The Uniparty and the press will avoid asking questions about a weak link: American families.
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, it feels like the people who run the Pentagon specialize in undeclared/unwon wars.
Understandable why young people and their parents and grandparents would take a dim view on all this.
Thousands of American families have now had a loved one in the regular or reserve US Armed Forces or National Guard who did one or more tours in Iraq or Afghanistan.
That’s a lot of parents, grandparents, young people and veterans who have some idea about what it’s like to do time in uniform since the catastrophic military failure of 911.
Things are slow over at the US Armed Forces recruiting office.
A few years back, the US Army brought back WWII uniforms to remind us of a time before decades of undeclared/unwon wars stacked up and to stimulate a wave of new enlistments.
Success, failure, victory and defeat. It’s all sort of blended together for a special made for TV marketing tribute to a catastrophic military failure:
The US Dept. of Homeland Security was invented after the catastrophic military failure of 911. (Anybody fired over this?) The idea was to keep bad people from coming to the US to do bad things/attempt another 911, etc.
Wouldn’t the giant War on Terror be a cartel drug trafficker’s worst nightmare?
Has a $51.6 billion (every 12 months) US Dept. of Homeland Security created any shortage of opioids in the Puget Sound area?
If Americans lived in a free and honest society, newspeople would be asking public policy related questions all of the time. This is not the case.
Way To Go Team.
Decades of undeclared/unwon wars.
If DOD was an NFL team, sports talk radio would feature comments like:
The Dept. of Defense was nowhere to be found on 911. We haven’t won a war since.
President Biden announces student loan forgiveness
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
The press is also good for telling everybody to get out and vote.
People could do a better job of voting if they were better informed.
Newspapers are suppressing online comment sections, getting away from asking questions related to public policy and telling us they need more support from subscription and advertising sales.
Got it.
JFK speaks about the role of the press in a free society:
Dad had his own TV repair shop. Consumer goods could be fixed or repaired, not thrown out.
Longer version shows son coming home from high school. He turns out for sports:
Several interesting comments posted with the video above.
Back in those days, the US Armed Forces were sort of on the back burner. It was more a time of peace and stability. Moms and Dads of the time tended to be supportive of those who wanted to sign up. The young man here, may have had an after school paper route at one time or may have worked part time at the sort of gas station that used to be able to help to keep your car running. The bicycle paper routes and gas stations are gone now. Mini-marts with 24 hour corndogs, nachos and giant cans of beer have taken their place. Some of these locations may honor EBT:
Success, failure, victory and defeat. It’s all sort of blended together for a special made for TV marketing tribute to a catastrophic military failure:
The US Dept. of Homeland Security was invented after the catastrophic military failure of 911. (Anybody fired over this?) The idea was to keep bad people from coming to the US to do bad things/attempt another 911, etc.
Wouldn’t the giant War on Terror be a cartel drug trafficker’s worst nightmare?
Has a $51.6 billion (every 12 months) US Dept. of Homeland Security created any shortage of opioids in the Puget Sound area?
If Americans lived in a free and honest society, newspeople would be asking public policy related questions all of the time. This is not the case.
Way To Go Team.
Decades of undeclared/unwon wars.
If DOD was an NFL team, sports talk radio would feature comments like:
The Dept. of Defense was nowhere to be found on 911. We haven’t won a war since.
Thousands of American families have had a loved one in the regular or reserve US Armed Forces who did one or more tours in Iraq or Afghanistan. National Guard too.
President Biden announces student loan forgiveness
I finished my time in the Marines in 1999 with a solid attitude and a patriotic spirit. The US should maintain strong and ready military forces.
Today, my attitudes have changed.
I did some time in the USMC during a part of the last century.
It did not serve to prevent 911 or the undeclared/unwon wars that followed.
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, it feels like the people who run the Pentagon specialize in undeclared/unwon wars. I don’t feel connected with it.
Newspeople have moved away from asking questions over the past 35 years or so.
Americans do not live in a free and honest society. Today, the mainstream media will function like paid actors reading a script:
Would any newsperson ever ask:
Did the advantage of US air power allow the undeclared wars in Iraq or Afghanistan to be prevented, won or shut down?
US jet aircraft have been able to strike targets in what wars won by the US?
Uncle Sam is having a hell of a time finding people to sign up for the US Armed Forces. Pretending that decades of undeclared/unwon wars are linked in any way with American freedoms is the kind of dishonesty that will snuff out the energy American families once had for encouraging young people to enlist.
Four-star officers and high level DOD civilians built careers made of undeclared/unwon wars. Now they must mastermind ways to recruit a new generation.
Good luck with your US Armed Forces recruiting crisis.
These are the people who need to maintain a place to live and a regular job in their hometown area when they are not doing time in foreign lands helping DOD with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
A few decades back, people might think of the National Guard as one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer plus a way to support your home state by being ready to get called out for floods, fires, natural disasters, civil unrest, etc. Maybe a way to help the next state over if they needed it.
Thousands of men and women who signed up for the National Guard in the past 25 years did tours in places like Syria, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
Would any newsperson ever ask:
Why do the people of Home State, USA need services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials, top Pentagon Generals and the press earned it.
“Hannigan added that the service members were deployed in September 2023 as part of Operation Spartan Shield to provide “law and order and personal security capabilities” for roughly one year.”
Gov. Katie Hobbs posted a comment on X, formerly known as Twitter, lamenting those injured in the attack.
“I am heartbroken to hear reports of the Arizona National Guardsmen wounded in action during the attack in Jordan,” Hobbs stated.
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
Rep. Ruben Gallego, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, shared his condolences to the injured Guardsmen as well.
“I am devastated to hear that Arizona National Guardsmen are among those injured in the drone strike in Jordan,” Gallego posted on X. “My thoughts are with the Guardsmen and their families as they recover. My office is reaching out to the Guard for info. We stand ready to assist however we can.”
“The brazen attack, which the Biden administration blames on Iranian-based proxies, adds another layer of complexity to an already tense Mideast situation as the Biden administration tries to keep the Israel-Hamas war from expanding into a broader regional conflict.”
Operation Spartan Shield
Looks like this operation began in 2012. It seems tricky to find more info on the history of this operation.
These are the people who need to maintain a place to live and a regular job in their hometown area when they are not doing time in foreign lands helping DOD with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
A few decades back, people might think of the National Guard as one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer plus a way to support your home state by being ready to get called out for floods, fires, natural disasters, civil unrest, etc. Maybe a way to help the next state over if they needed it.
Thousands of men and women who signed up for the National Guard in the past 25 years did tours in places like Syria, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
Would any newsperson ever ask:
Why do the people of Home State, USA need services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials, top Pentagon Generals and the press earned it.
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, and decades after the start of the Global War on Terror, American elected officials (not voters?) send US Troops back into harms way. The bad guys/enemy/natives/terrorists do not want to see US Troops in the region. Bad guys/natives take hostile action. US leaders say they are outraged and deeply saddened, heartbroken, and devastated Re: a brazen attack.
“Combat veteran U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth also spoke at the mobilization ceremony of the dangers soldiers are walking into and the respect for their sacrifice.”
Real newspeople and some Americans may point out that the USA has been working to stabilize the region over there since the 1990 Operation Desert Shield:
These are the people who need to maintain a place to live and a regular job in their hometown area when they are not doing time in foreign lands helping DOD with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
A few decades back, people might think of the National Guard as one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer plus a way to support your home state by being ready to get called out for floods, fires, natural disasters, civil unrest, etc. Maybe a way to help the next state over if they needed it.
Thousands of men and women who signed up for the National Guard in the past 25 years did tours in places like Syria, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
Would any newsperson ever ask:
Why do the people of Home State, USA need services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials, top Pentagon Generals and the press earned it.
Several news sources published this quote. View them here.
The idea that sending hometown troops to Africa would be linked in any way with keeping the people of Salisbury Maryland safe and free calls for more discussion.
The US should maintain strong and ready military forces.
In some cases, the US Armed Forces provide for our physical security. That’s as good as it gets.
In terms of American rights and freedoms-The Dept. of Defense has no more say than the Dept. of Agriculture.
Years ago, I began to think of the mainstream media as Information Suppression Specialists because newspeople had stopped asking questions related to public policy.
Voting is highly emphasized in American culture. Asking questions related to public policy takes a lower priority.
Washington State Ferries
Here at Oak Bay Starfish, we have been posting Re: WA State Ferries for years. A favorite story was the auto tollbooth upgrade at Mukilteo. Here is what we found on the web:
Unlike many cities of its size, Port Angeles maintains a significant Homeland Security/CBP/Border Patrol presence.
Newspeople have a long history of not asking questions in this area.
New Port Angeles USBP Station opened more than a decade ago. Would any newsperson ever ask: Has the new station played any role in keeping cartel drugs from arriving on the Olympic Peninsula?
Newspeople remain silent.
Massing US Border Patrol agents at the southern edge of the Strait of Juan de Fuca fails to keep drug overdoses down in Clallam County.
Does Port Angeles CBP provide any advantage in keeping cartel product from arriving in Port Angeles? Newspeople play along by not asking questions. News links and sources here:
US Troops sent to Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, etc., are somehow defending the constitution?
IfUS Troops were never sent to Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, etc., what would have become of American rights and freedoms and the US constitution?
Would any newsperson ever ask:
The US Dept. of Defense (established after WWII, in the late 1940s) has been associated with what wars won by the US?
Zero questions from small or large newspapers. Zero questions from TV newspeople.
The small papers will say they need more support from subscribers and advertising dollars or cash from the federal government to stay alive. All this because COVID or the internet or lack of newspaper sales, or a free and independent press that needs taxpayer support.
People who take no public funds, private donations or advertising dollars are free to ask questions at any time. Why not the press? Call for unpaid volunteers and you’d get better news coverage than what we have now.
I’d be more interested in paying (again) for a local paper subscription if there was more in the way of newspeople asking questions.
“Funding for the boat was issued through the Homeland Security Grant Program under Operation Stonegarden.”
Would any newsperson ever ask:
Has the Island County Homeland Security-funded patrol boat been involved in any arrest or seizure related in any way to the US/Canada border?
What is the history of “cross border activity” related to Whidbey Island?
Newspeople remain silent.
Airport Security Screening
Show up early to wait in line and squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube at the airport?
Would any newsperson ever ask:
What keeps the terrorists of the GWOT from creating a disruption at the back end of the screening line?
Has anyone ever seen any member of the press ask questions on this?
War on Terror
REAL ID
Would any newsperson ever ask:
If REAL ID is critical to the safety of America, have travelers out at the airport been less safe since 911?
The new REAL ID requirement for domestic air travel has been extended now to 2025.
Would any newsperson ever ask:
If the CIA (est 1947) serves as an advantage to the US, why does the Department of Defense have such a poor record of winning undeclared wars going back to 1949, the year DOD was established?
Would any newsperson ever ask:
Are passports/enhanced/REAL IDs effective in keeping cartel drugs out of the US?
Standard driver’s licenses have not been accepted at the border since 2009.
Would any newsperson ever ask:
If sending US troops to Afghanistan and creating a $49.8 billion US Dept. of Homeland Security was meant to keep bad people from coming here to do bad things, why are drug cartels able to move product into all 50 states?
Would any newsperson ever ask:
Has General Milley’s Operation Macho Swagger reduced access to cartel product anywhere in the US?
Has there been enough time for newspeople to ask questions?
Newspeople remain silent.
April 1, 2020 C-SPAN
WWII costume reminds us of a time before decades of undeclared/unwon wars stacked up.
The Department of Defense track record goes back to 1949.
Respect for The National Guard
These are the people who need to maintain a place to live and a regular job in their hometown area when they are not doing time in foreign lands helping DOD with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
A few decades back, people might think of the National Guard as one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer plus a way to support your home state by being ready to get called out for floods, fires, natural disasters, civil unrest, etc. Maybe a way to help the next state over if they needed it.
Thousands of men and women who signed up for the National Guard in the past 25 years did tours in places like Syria, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
Would any newsperson ever ask:
Why do the people of Home State, USA need services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials, top Pentagon Generals and the press earned it.
Several news sources published this quote. View them here.
The idea that sending hometown troops to Africa would be linked in any way with keeping the people of Salisbury Maryland safe and free calls for more discussion.
Mayor Day,
While the troops were deployed, federal law was signed prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to adults age 18-20.
The US should maintain strong and ready military forces.
In some cases, the US Armed Forces provide for our physical security. That’s as good as it gets.
In terms of American rights and freedoms-The Dept. of Defense has no more say than the Dept. of Agriculture.
Super Bowl
Tune in to any Super Bowl in the post 911 era to see the press promote a big US Dept. of Homeland Security show of force to keep the big game safe. TV newspeople skip asking questions and play the role of federal public affairs staff instead:
The folks who can’t keep fentanyl trafficking cartels from moving product into various US communities are keeping the Super Bowl safe. Way To Go Team.
Would any newsperson ever ask:
If special games require special security-what keeps regular games safe? Crowd size/capacity is similar at several stadiums.
Are fans less safe at regular games?
What prevents terror strikes at hundreds of events & locations unsupervised by federal authorities?
What stops terrorists from going 2 states over and driving a truck across the playground at a daycare center?
“…WSP Vessel and Terminal Security Troopers responded to the MV Kaleetan upon its arrival at Colman Dock. By that time, WSF crews had already secured the suspect, who had boarded the vessel by vehicle.”
Not my idea to promote the concept that riding safely on the ferry requires gun boat escorts, SWAT teams and K-9s on the job to detect explosives.
If a guy decides to fire a gun during a 60 minute ferry crossing and WSP waits to respond until the ferry arrives at Colman Dock, how is this security?
Will newspeople follow up and let us know if the guy who purposefully fired his handgun from the ferry had a concealed carry permit?
Did he pass any sort of background check?
Whatever happened to this guy?
A 5th grade book report would require more in the way of asking questions.
Life wasn’t meant to change after the big Saddam Hussein & Osama bin Laden takedowns.
Decades Past Sept 11th, 2001 – The People of New Jersey Need Services In Iraq and Syria
Another cheerful delivery by TV newspeople.
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
Four-star officers and high level DOD civilians built careers made of undeclared/unwon wars. Now they must mastermind ways to recruit a new generation.
Thousands of American families have had a loved one in the regular or reserve US Armed Forces who did one or more tours in Iraq or Afghanistan. National Guard too.
If we can just get the veterans, parents and grandparents of the USA to recommend an enlistment to the young family members in their life, things will be looking up. Trouble is, maybe those family members expect more from a commitment to enlist than decades of undeclared/unwon wars. The press, four-star officers, and elected officials will avoid owning up to this.
The US Dept. of Defense spent the last 30 years squandering prestige and credibility overseas and at home.
If DOD was an NFL team, sports talk radio would feature comments like:
The Dept. of Defense was nowhere to be found on 911. We haven’t won a war since.
Four-star officers, high level DOD civilians, policy think tanks and the press will avoid being honest about how DOD has been used over the past 30 years. They tend to avoid discussing a track record that is not attractive to the parents, grandparents, young people and veterans of America.
Respect for The National Guard
The people of Minnesota need more applicants to maintain a place to live and a regular job in their hometown area when they are not doing time in foreign lands helping DOD with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
A few decades back, people might think of the National Guard as one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer plus a way to support your home state by being ready to get called out for floods, fires, natural disasters, civil unrest, etc. Maybe a way to help the next state over if they needed it.
Thousands of men and women who signed up for the National Guard in the past 25 years did tours in places like Syria, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
Any members of the press available to show up and ask why the people of Home State, USA needed services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials, top Pentagon Generals and the press earned it.
For those who are ready to take a break from the social media/emoji version of the internet:
Uncle Sam is having a hell of a time finding people to sign up for the US Armed Forces. Pretending that decades of undeclared/unwon wars are linked in any way with American freedoms is the kind of dishonesty that will snuff out the energy American families once had for encouraging young people to enlist.
Good luck with your US Armed Forces recruiting crisis.
A symbol of the US Dept. of Defense (Established in the late 1940s/after WWII) track record with undeclared/unwon wars.
A symbol of newspeople not asking questions, and a federal government that is OK with telling lies about freedom, then blaming young people and their families when they lose interest in showing up.
Or, a symbol of federal government credibility and followers of both major parties, elected officials, newspeople and school teachers not asking questions.
“While on the nine-month deployment, the soldiers will provide installation, recovery, repair and maintenance of telecommunications network lines and infrastructure throughout the CENTCOM area of responsibility, the Ohio Adjutant General’s Department announced earlier this week.”
Maybe some Americans are getting ready to vote in another giant election season. Maybe they are part of the thousands of American families who have had a loved one in the regular, or reserve US Armed Forces or National Guard, who did one or more tours in Iraq or Afghanistan, going back to the 1990 Operation Desert Shield. Maybe they are not satisfied with the way DOD has performed in distant lands. Maybe they want their vote to send a message. Maybe they are not happy with the results of 34 years of Dept. of Defense operations in and around Iraq. Maybe the press release is intentionally vague in order for some Americans to loose track of what the Pentagon is up to.
Newspeople post whatever press release is handed off.
Is there any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to this movement of troops?
Checks and Balances
The US form of government is meant to include checks and balances.
Whatever happened to the formal congressional declaration of war?
This would be the time to hear from elected leaders on all the issues that have doomed the Department of Defense track record with undeclared wars going back to the time DOD was established in 1949.
This would be a time to remind people that the National Guard is meant to serve the people of their home state or other states and territories in the case of fires, floods, storm relief, etc. This would be the time to discuss ending multiple National Guard deployments to distant lands- absent any military emergency, draft, or declaration of war.
All FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines are safe and highly effective. They will protect you and your family. They will protect your unit, your ship, and your co-workers. And they will ensure we remain the most lethal and ready force in the world.
“The deployment is part of an overseas peacekeeping mission that is supported by NATO. Iowa National Guard Soldiers will be in Kosovo for nine months.”
Looks like TV news stations are allowing comments again. The irreverent comments are the best.
From comments:
“Dec 30, 2023
So we send are young men and women overseas to fight in or support another war that we have already spent 100s of billions of dollars on at the sacrifice of Americans While our southern boarder and our country is being invaded Thanks Joe Biden You helped killed are men in Benghazi and in Afghanistan you killed our economy so you could push your communist agenda So for all the people that voted you in Have a Happy New Year”
“America for Americans first. Keep our troops here and spend our taxpayer money here on our many problems.”
“Is Kosovo part of our country?”
Prediction: TV newspeople will yank comments again because people have various points of view.
Sign up to serve the people of your home state, then ship out for NATO:
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
Uncle Sam is having a hell of a time finding people to sign up for the US Armed Forces. Pretending that decades of undeclared/unwon wars are linked in any way with American freedoms is the kind of dishonesty that will snuff out the energy American families once had for encouraging young people to enlist.
Good luck with your US Armed Forces recruiting crisis.
If DOD was an NFL team, sports talk radio would feature comments like:
The Dept. of Defense was nowhere to be found on 911. We haven’t won a war since.
Several interesting comments have been posted here.
From comments:
“This is how the Dept. of Defense breaks the reserves and National Guard; deploying them on a regular basis like the active forces. Reservists join units to help in true national emergencies and in wartime. They didn’t join to be adjunct members of the full-time military, because they have civilian careers and jobs that put food on the table for their families. Keep deploying the reserves like this and they will quit to obtain the civilian stability and at-home time the rest of the country has. Use the active duty forces for peacetime deployments and stop wrecking the reserve system because the Defense Department can’t recruit enough active forces!”
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
When you guys get back from the Middle East/Africa, etc.
Those of you who are 18-20 year old adults will be seen as second-class citizens and both major political parties are OK with it.
President Biden,
Can you explain the militarized version of freedom here?
Alcohol, marijuana, tobacco and firearms restrictions are in place for 18-20 year old adults. Is there any state where recreational marijuana laws remove prohibition for adults at age 18?
Doesn’t seem to fit with a society that can’t stop bragging about freedom, thanking the troops for freedoms, fighting wars for freedoms, staging military jet flyovers at sporting events for freedom, etc.
Certainly, Americans do not live in a free and honest society.
Honest and meaningful ideas stand up to questioning and discussion.
The US should maintain strong and ready military forces.
The US Armed Forces have attracted many good people over the years.
A few random thoughts here:
Americans do not live in a free and honest society. Veterans Day is a day where some pretend that the US Dept. of Defense (established after WWII) and overseas military operations under The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (The post of a statutory and permanent Joint Chiefs of Staff chair was created by the 1949 amendments to the National Security Act of 1947.) are linked in some way to American rights and freedoms.
In some cases, the US Armed Forces provide for our security. That’s as good as it gets.
In terms of American rights and freedoms- The Dept. of Defense has no more say than the Dept. of Agriculture.
Most people do no time in the military- they don’t want to.
There seems to be a quiet guilt about this, so American popular and political culture almost worships those who do.
You don’t have to look too far to find comments that refer to the troops as “heroes.”
Some are.
No one who has done time in an average military unit would be comfortable with everyone present being called a hero. Some units would be the exception, but for most people who have done time over the years, calling everyone a hero would have no connection to reality.
Reality, and an honest understanding of why we send The Troops to far away places isn’t what we’re about though.
Reaching for an honest understanding of US foreign policy makes more sense than “Thanks for your service.”
For those ready to take a break from the social media/emoji version of the internet, there is more here from this 2012 blog:
It’s good for elementary school Veterans Day assemblies and teaching young children that The Troops are sent to distant lands to defend American rights and freedoms, as if the US Armed Forces function as some sort of giant civil rights organization.
In the 60s & 70s I never attended a Veterans Day assembly at school.
There were none.
Probably enough veterans around to remove most of the mystique, or maybe those veterans thought it was all just an average thing and did not want to be seen as a separate part of American society, or get head of the line parking spots over at the grocery store.
Each November, school teachers across America host Veterans Day assemblies– and promote the idea to children that The Troops are in distant lands-fighting for American rights and freedoms-as if the US Armed Forces function as some sort of giant civil rights organization.
In Washington State, these assemblies are mandatory.
Hey VA, can you help us to understand the militarized version of freedom here:
In addition to freedoms possibly enjoyed by all adults, those adults who are 18-20 years old are placed in a land of the free holding pattern.
Alcohol, marijuana, tobacco and firearms restrictions are in place for 18-20 year old adults. Is there any state where recreational marijuana laws remove prohibition for adults at age 18?
Doesn’t seem to fit with a society that can’t stop bragging about freedom, thanking the troops for freedoms, fighting wars for freedoms, staging military jet flyovers at sporting events for freedom, etc.
Both major political parties are OK with treating 18-20 year old adults as second-class citizens.
Don’t look for newspeople or school teachers at Veterans Day assemblies to question any of this. Good luck with your US Armed Forces recruiting crisis.
Maybe a few more decades of undeclared/unwon wars and the freedoms will get better. Ask the speakers at your Veterans Day assembly.
In terms of American rights and freedoms- The Dept. of Defense has no more say than the Dept. of Agriculture.
Freedoms come and go. None of the above are linked in any way with The Joint Chiefs of Staff, The Troops, The Dept. of Defense or the outcome of military operations overseas.
Love to see a student ask: If The Troops fight for your right to sit, stand, kneel, etc.-why were black people still riding at the back of the bus after the big WWII victory?
Love to see a student ask: If the wars aren’t won-how can they protect our freedom?
Love to see a student ask: Whatever happened to lessons about Armistice Day?
Hey schoolteachers, here’s a lesson idea for you:
1967
Did the Joint Chiefs of Staff send The Troops to safeguard American freedoms?
Was it the Viet Cong that set up laws in 16 US states to prohibit interracial marriage?
Whatever happened to the formal congressional declaration of war?
Be sure to ask the speakers and teachers at your elementary school Veterans Day assembly.
The formal congressional declaration of war would be the time to hear from elected leaders and top generals Re: lessons learned on all the issues that have doomed the Department of Defense track record for winning wars since DOD was established in 1949.
“And although you, John Doe civilian, did not personally authorize our military to enter Iraq and Afghanistan, as the citizen of a democracy, you share the burden of our wars.”
If it is a democracy, when do we vote on undeclared/unwon wars?
The US Dept. of Defense spent the last 30 years squandering prestige and credibility overseas and at home.
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, it feels like the politicians, four-star officers and high level DOD civilians who run the Pentagon specialize in undeclared/unwon wars. The DOD brand has been wrecked.
Group Identities are Tricky/What others are saying:
“Most Americans would say we should celebrate veterans for
keeping us safe
protecting America
defending our freedoms
fighting over there so we don’t have to fight over here
protecting and defending the Constitution
But since veterans do none of these things, I ask again: Why should we celebrate veterans?”
Respect for The National Guard
The people of Minnesota need more applicants to maintain a place to live and a regular job in their hometown area when they are not doing time in foreign lands helping DOD with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
A few decades back, people might think of the National Guard as one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer plus a way to support your home state by being ready to get called out for floods, fires, natural disasters, civil unrest, etc. Maybe a way to help the next state over if they needed it.
Thousands of men and women who signed up for the National Guard in the past 25 years did tours in places like Syria, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
Any members of the press available to show up and ask why the people of Home State, USA needed services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials, top Pentagon Generals and the press earned it.
For those who are ready to take a break from the social media/emoji version of the internet:
Small children are taught that The Troops are sent to distant lands to defend American freedoms at 0:40
They forgot The National Guard:
More propaganda for kids:
They forgot The National Guard again. At 1:03 kids are told that this is all about defending our freedoms.
It’s all happy and good. No need to consider the true meaning of Armistice Day or call for less in the way of undeclared/unwon wars.
School children are taught about a free enterprise system. They grow up to find out that the federal government will tell them what kind of shower head they must install in the bathroom, and what type of gas can they must buy for their generator.
Wait until they find out (at age 18) that adults in the USA are divided into groups of first and second class citizens. Uncle Sam says you are not old enough to buy a six pack of beer. Gee whiz- it wasn’t like that when the WWII generation came home from the war.
“…be prepared to show a military ID.” Trivia update: Many guys and gals who did time in the US Armed Forces, left and moved on, have no military ID of any kind.
Meet a veteran who isn’t shy about going out & grabbing a couple free meals-it’s a proud thing:
Is there a perception that people who did time in uniform are needy or disadvantaged? This news report gives us no hint as to how these veterans were selected. Was this a publicity stunt for the local NFL team? Newspeople play along by not asking questions.
Another story with zero information or reporting on how these families were selected:
“This person who wrote this note on my car was given that right to be able to do that because of what I did.”
People in uniform give rights? This idea calls for more discussion.
Know that some who did time in uniform do not want head of the line privileges of any kind. They do not want discounts/freebies, and would refuse to appear in a TV news broadcast to have their ass kissed by some giant grocery store chain because of their You did time in uniform, so here’s your special parking spot scenario. Some veterans wouldn’t even use the parking spot to begin with. They might believe little old ladies should get the better parking.
Many veterans claim to have served to protect American rights & freedoms.
How does this work?
Do the US Armed Forces function as some sort of giant civil rights organization?
Glorification of military service / total nonsense:
If a right to vote has always been protected by the brave men and women who serve in our Armed Forces, how come women were not allowed full voting rights at the end of WWI?
Why the need for a 1965 Voting Rights Act if overseas military operations somehow secured voting rights?
If a right to vote is protected by the US Armed Forces, what becomes of that right when the US leaves Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc., without a victory?
Several news sources published this quote. View them here.
The idea that sending hometown troops to Africa would be linked in any way with keeping the people of Salisbury Maryland safe and free calls for more discussion.
Mayor Day,
While the troops were deployed, federal law was signed prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to adults age 18-20.
Can elected officials of any party or any member of the press help us to understand the militarized version of freedom here?
Thousands of American families have had a loved one in the regular or reserve US Armed Forces who did one or more tours in Iraq or Afghanistan. National Guard too.
If we can just get the veterans, parents and grandparents of the USA to recommend an enlistment to the young family members in their life, things will be looking up.
Again- The US Dept. of Defense spent the last 30 years squandering prestige and credibility overseas and at home.
Some Americans may be asking:
Did the advantage of US air power allow the undeclared wars in Iraq or Afghanistan to be prevented, won or shut down?
US jet aircraft have been able to strike targets in what wars won by the US?
Currently serving four-star officers and high level DOD civilians have been associated with what wars won by the US?
If DOD was an NFL team, sports talk radio would feature comments like:
The Dept. of Defense was nowhere to be found on 911. We haven’t won a war since.
Again- Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, it feels like the politicians, four-star officers and high level DOD civilians who run the Pentagon specialize in undeclared/unwon wars. The DOD brand has been wrecked.
Any college or pro football coach would have been fired a dozen times over for what DOD has done with the US Armed Forces during the fake GWOT era.
There has been a big stir over a blocked senior military promotion system. TV newspeople will avoid interviewing people who offer up a voice of dissent. Stalling the administrative steps to promote top level officers might lead to what? Decades of undeclared/unwon wars? A giant Dept. of Defense that was nowhere to be found on 911?
Why would high level promotions be awarded to people who are part of the system that allowed The Troops to live in the barracks described below?
If I was with the press, I would ask Lt. Col. Bushatz if the Kosovo deployment was also somehow related to American rights and freedoms. I’d ask if it was related to defending the US Constitution.
I would ask Lt. Col. Bushatz if the freedom talk is just for federal holidays and overseas military operations.
Bosses over at the media outlet probably would not want these sorts of questions to be presented to military authorities.
Newspeople Avoid Asking Questions
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
Both major political parties are now OK with treating 18-20 year old adults as second-class citizens. Can you explain the militarized version of freedom here?
Alcohol, marijuana, tobacco and firearms restrictions are in place for 18-20 year old adults. Is there any state where recreational marijuana laws remove prohibition for adults at age 18?
Doesn’t seem to fit with a society that can’t stop bragging about freedom, thanking the troops for freedoms, fighting wars for freedoms, staging military jet flyovers at sporting events for freedom, etc.
Certainly, Americans do not live in a free and honest society.
Hey school teachers, are the Joint Chiefs of Staff sending The Troops to fix any of this? Will National Guard deployments from Hometown, USA to distant lands (already been done for decades now) enhance American rights and freedoms?
Lt. Col. Bushatz,
Honest and meaningful ideas stand up to questioning and discussion.
The US Armed forces have been operating in the Middle East for decades now. These military operations are somehow linked to American rights and freedoms? Please explain.
Tough Assignment
Trying to recruit a younger generation for US military service after the US Dept of Defense already spent the last 30 years squandering prestige and credibility overseas and at home.
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, it feels like the people who run the Pentagon specialize in undeclared/unwon wars. The DOD brand has been wrecked.
Understandable why young people and their parents and grandparents would take a dim view on all this.
School children are taught about a free enterprise system. They grow up to find out that the federal government will tell them what kind of shower head they must install in the bathroom, and what type of gas can they must buy for their lawn mower.
Did hostile forces in distant lands attempt to replace US consumer demand with government demand and end the free enterprise system?
Several news sources published this quote. View them here.
The idea that sending hometown troops to Africa would be linked in any way with keeping the people of Salisbury Maryland safe and free calls for more discussion.
Mayor Day,
While the troops were deployed, federal law was signed prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to adults age 18-20.
Can you help us to understand the militarized version of freedom here?
Where were you? along with a photo of a peaceful/standing twin towers.
My response:
With my GF in Kingston. Had already done some time in uniform. Took me several years to become skeptical and see that the federal government and the press had lost credibility.
Today:
My feeling is that a man on the moon in 1969 was a proud American moment. That was maybe the best of America in my lifetime.
“What I remember most about 9/11 is the way America was unified the day after. During uncontrollable times we controlled our response. Race, Gender and Political Party were equally irrelevant.”
“We focused on loving each other, how did we get so segregated? We never would have made it this far if we embraced division on September the 12th. We are where we are because we got here TOGETHER let’s embrace love yet again.”
“God Bless The USA.”
My response:
Good Stuff
Let’s keep that and add a free and independent press that will ask questions/rock the boat, no matter who is in office.
The mainstream press provides news coverage that favors government agencies, departments and policies.
We got our ass kicked on 911.The federal government has been squandering credibility ever since. If the US Armed Forces were keeping us safe– first responders would have had a routine day at work on 911. The giant government and “Dept of Defense” were nowhere to be found on 911. For federal government convenience, take the day, follow along, pledge your allegiance and behave as that government sees fit. Do as you are told. Fly your flag as you are told. Think and behave as that government tells you. Divert your attention away from federal government failure and stay busy with federal suggestions for the day.
Here at Oak Bay Starfish, we will observe the day by avoiding network TV. At the bottom of this page, we will offer up some readings featuring voices of dissent and alternative media.
Aftermath
Let’s say the federal government did everything right before and on the day of Sept. 11th, 2001. The uniparty press avoids questions on how things have come together since.
Big Homeland Security spending
The US Dept of Homeland Security was established on November 25, 2002. Plenty of time for lessons learned, and more cartel drugs entering Hometown, USA than ever before?
Lessons Learned?
Anytime there is a plane crash, a loss at sea, or an industrial accident, a thorough investigation takes place. Lessons learned are used to prevent future accidents. A major aircraft manufacturer grounds certain airplanes after mishaps. Time is required to investigate and find out what went wrong.
Any similar effort after a big cartel drug bust inside the US?
The folks who show up and investigate the plane crash don’t spend time congratulating each other. Their work is designed to try and prevent similar future incidents, not promote themselves.
Preventing drugs from entering local communities would kill the chance for various agencies to get publicity for the occasional big drug bust happening in those communities.
Wonder what was happening at border crossing/port of entry inspections during the 12 months Operation P-22 (to take down just one branch of the cartel activity) took place. Do the good guys who made the local bust notify the good guys at the border about the weak links in their process?
Were federal authorities at the border notified of this ongoing investigation?
Did the cartel traffickers get fast track screening at the border so as not to disrupt this ongoing investigation?
If the drug traffickers were given a pass at the border- would that have tipped them off as to the investigation- or would that have been seen as standard protocol?
Imagine that LE authorities observe a shoplifter or bank robber in action. Instead of going in to make an arrest they back off and conduct an investigation that goes on for months. What if they applied the same tactic Re: crimes involving arson, terrorism, child abuse, DUI, etc.
This time next year- will there be any shortage of cartel product in the Puget Sound area? Has any city, county or state jurisdiction been able to cleanup their drug problem using these methods?
Snohomish 2015
Local law enforcement agencies may benefit when the US Dept. of Homeland Security fails to keep heroin out of the US:
Newspeople are good about posting a drug bust press release. Newspeople remain silent when it comes to asking questions about Homeland Security funding and performance.
Big DOD spending on undeclared/unwon wars for our freedoms.
School children are taught about a free enterprise system. They grow up to find out that the federal government will tell them what kind of shower head they must install in the bathroom, and what type of gas can they must buy for their lawn mower.
Did hostile forces in distant lands attempt to replace US consumer demand with government demand and end the free enterprise system?
Several news sources published this quote. View them here.
The idea that sending hometown troops to Africa would be linked in any way with keeping the people of Salisbury Maryland safe and free calls for more discussion.
Mayor Day,
While the troops were deployed, federal law was signed prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to adults age 18-20.
Can you help us to understand the militarized version of freedom here?
Freedoms come and go. None of the above are linked in any way with The Joint Chiefs of Staff, The Troops, The Dept. of Defense or the outcome of military operations overseas.
Maybe a few more decades of undeclared/unwon wars and the freedoms will get better.
Why do we speak of the US Armed Forces as if they function as some sort of giant civil rights organization?
Both major parties are OK with treating 18-20 year old adults as second-class citizens.
Both major parties are good with a land of the free holding pattern where alcohol, marijuana, tobacco and firearms restrictions are in place for 18-20 year old adults. Is there any state where recreational marijuana laws remove prohibition for adults at age 18? Are The Joint Chiefs of Staff working to change any of this?
Doesn’t seem to fit with a society that can’t stop bragging about freedom, thanking the troops for freedoms, fighting wars for freedoms, staging military jet flyovers at sporting events for freedom, etc.
Has it become harder to find blogs, videos and alternative media that ask questions or point to the failures of 911 and its aftermath? How about COVID? How about a giant US Dept. of Homeland Security?
“Nearly 1,800 victims’ relatives, first responders and survivors are calling on Biden to refrain from attending any memorials over his refusal to release Sept. 11 documents.”
“The administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump also declined to declassify supporting documents, citing national security concerns.”
22 Years Later
Part of the reaction was to send The Troops into undeclared wars.
If DOD was an NFL team, sports talk radio would feature comments like:
The Dept. of Defense was nowhere to be found on 911. We haven’t won a war since.
Any college or pro football coach would have been fired a dozen times over for what DOD has done with the US Armed Forces during the fake GWOT era.
Fake GWOT?
The US Dept. of Homeland Security was invented after the catastrophic military failure of 911. The idea was to keep bad people from coming to the US to do bad things/attempt another 911, etc.
Wouldn’t the giant War on Terror be a cartel drug trafficker’s worst nightmare?
If REAL ID is critical to the safety of America, have travelers out at the airport been less safe since 911?
The new REAL ID requirement for domestic air travel has now been extended out more than 20 years past 911 – May 7, 2025
If sending US troops to Afghanistan and creating a $51.6 billion (every 12 months) US Dept. of Homeland Security was meant to keep bad people from coming here to do bad things, why are drug cartels able to move product into all 50 states?
If the CIA (est 1947) serves as an advantage to the US, why does the Department of Defense have such a poor record of winning undeclared wars going back to 1949, the year DOD was established?
Show up early to wait in line and squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube at the airport?
What keeps the terrorists of the GWOT from creating a disruption at the back end of the screening line?
Has anyone ever seen any member of the press ask questions on this?
“What goes on at airports is not security. It is Security Theater. When the government’s own agents try to smuggle “weapons” aboard airliners to test the system, they succeed ninety-five percent of the time.”
“Further, a terrorist doesn’t need to get aboard an airliner to blow up spectacularly. At many airports, hundreds of people line up at ticket counters during peak hours. A carry-on bag of explosive would easily create enough slaughter to shut down air travel and to make international headlines for weeks.”
Will sending the National Guard, active, reserve and IRR forces to support NATO/Ukraine stimulate new enlistments over at the recruiting office?
National Guard
The people of Minnesota need more applicants to maintain a place to live and a regular job in their hometown area when they are not doing time in foreign lands helping DOD with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
A few decades back, people might think of the National Guard as one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer plus a way to support your home state by being ready to get called out for floods, fires, natural disasters, civil unrest, etc. Maybe a way to help the next state over if they needed it.
Any members of the press available to show up and ask why the people of Home State, USA needed services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials, top Pentagon Generals and the press earned it.
Thousands of men and women who signed up for the National Guard in the past 25 years did tours in places like Syria, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
These families have stories to tell and they’re not all positive. Will their stories support a draft?
Looks like the Big Uniparty Debate Night revealed some support for the US/Ukraine effort. Looks like Trump wants to shut down war over there.
Over the past year or so, the US Armed Forces recruiting crisis has been in the news and the occasional comment advising a return to the draft will appear.
Here at Oak Bay Starfish, we believe that a return to the draft is total political fantasy. Below, we will go into some of the reasons why, but not much is new if you’re one of the many readers who have been closely following the blog at any time since the catastrophic military failure of 911. Still wondering if anyone was fired over that.
The US should maintain strong and ready military forces
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, it feels like the people who run the Pentagon specialize in undeclared/unwon wars.
It is understandable that young people and their parents and grandparents would take a dim view on all this.
The press supports the uniparty, so newspeople go easy on asking any questions here.
The US Army brought back WWII uniforms a few years back. Was this an effort to boost recruiting? Looks like it didn’t work. The WWII uniform reminds us of a time before decades of undeclared/unwon wars stacked up.
Has General Milley’s Operation Macho Swagger reduced access to cartel product anywhere in the US?
Has there been enough time for newspeople to ask questions?
Newspeople remain silent.
April 1, 2020 C-SPAN
WWII costume again- a look from a time before decades of undeclared/unwon wars stacked up.
The Department of Defense track record goes back to 1949.
Talk of the draft is a response to recruiting struggles and more wars on the table.
Never Forget-
The US Armed Forces were irrelevant in defending American rights and freedoms, our physical security, & The Constitution on 911.
Ditto for all other federal agencies and departments.
If DOD was an NFL team, sports talk radio would feature comments like: The Dept. of Defense was nowhere to be found on 911. We haven’t won a war since.
Any college or pro football coach would have been fired a dozen times over for what DOD has done with the US Armed Forces during the fake GWOT era.
This is what Americans will support with a draft?
Fake GWOT?
The US Dept. of Homeland Security was invented after the catastrophic military failure of 911. The idea was to keep bad people from coming to the US to do bad things/attempt another 911, etc.
Wouldn’t the giant War on Terror be a cartel drug trafficker’s worst nightmare?
If Americans lived in a free and honest society, newspeople would be asking public policy related questions all of the time. This is not the case.
Wonder what was happening at border crossing/port of entry inspections during the 12 months Operation P-22 (to take down just one branch of the cartel activity) took place. Do the good guys who made the local bust notify the good guys at the border about the weak links in their process?
Were federal authorities at the border notified of this ongoing investigation?
Did the cartel traffickers get fast track screening at the border so as not to disrupt this ongoing investigation?
If the drug traffickers were given a pass at the border- would that have tipped them off as to the investigation- or would that have been seen as standard protocol?
Imagine that LE authorities observe a shoplifter or bank robber in action. Instead of going in to make an arrest they back off and conduct an investigation that goes on for months. What if they applied the same tactic Re: crimes involving arson, terrorism, child abuse, DUI, etc.
This time next year- will there be any shortage of cartel product in the Puget Sound area? Has any city, county or state jurisdiction been able to cleanup their drug problem using these methods?
Thanks for doing time/risking your ass in Iraq and Afghanistan, working to keep a post 911 USA safe & secure.
Don’t worry-The Super Bowl and public affairs will be safe:
National Guard
The people of Minnesota need more applicants to maintain a place to live and a regular job in their hometown area when they are not doing time in foreign lands helping DOD with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
A few decades back, people might think of the National Guard as one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer plus a way to support your home state by being ready to get called out for floods, fires, natural disasters, civil unrest, etc. Maybe a way to help the next state over if they needed it.
Any members of the press available to show up and ask why the people of Home State, USA needed services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials and top Pentagon Generals earned it.
Thousands of men and women who signed up for the National Guard in the past 25 years did tours in places like Syria, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
These families have stories to tell and they’re not all positive. Will their stories support a draft?
Random Questions For The Uniparty:
Currently serving four-star officers and high level DOD civilians have been associated with what wars won by the US?
Did the advantage of US air power allow the undeclared wars in Iraq or Afghanistan to be prevented, won or shut down?
US jet aircraft have been able to strike targets in what wars won by the US?
“A massive brawl broke out on a parade ground at Fort Gordon in Augusta one afternoon last fall, when about 70 teenage recruits of the Georgia National Guard’s Youth Challenge Academy slugged it out. Some used homemade weapons, including metal shanks, crudely sharpened toothbrushes and tube socks filled with metal padlocks.”
Are any members of the press available to show up and ask why the people of Kentucky need National Guard services in distant lands, absent any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war?
These are the troops who need to maintain a place to live and a regular job in their hometown area when they are not doing time in foreign lands helping DOD with undeclared/unwon wars and missions completely unrelated to their home state.
A few decades back, people might think of the National Guard as one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer plus a way to support your home state by being ready to get called out for floods, fires, natural disasters, civil unrest, etc. Maybe a way to help the next state over if they needed it.
Above: An old photo taken off Highway 2 at Monroe, WA.
