Blockade Hangover

Last week we learned that Florida resident and GOP senator for Alabama, Tommy "Coach" Tuberville had lifted most of his holds on military promotions.  Alas, since then we learn that the persistent holds on the top positions - Joint Chiefs of Staff and several theater commands - has resulted in a domino effect through the chain of command.

Think of it like a bad hangover coming on the heels of the Coach's ten month binge of political theatrics.

Putin continues his relentless efforts to annihilate Ukraine,  Hamas continues to put innocent Palestinian civilians between themselves in their effort to annihilate Israel.  US forces in Iraq and Syria face military threats on a daily basis.  Carrier battle groups have been deployed in reasonably short order.  The world is a dangerous place. 

Tuberville's abuse of power is nothing new to American politics.  Nevertheless, his jerking around of military leadership has every possibility of impeding military operations and can be problematic to our security interests given the context of the previous paragraph.

Tuberville is entitled to take a stance on the abortion issue but being a dick about the military chain of command to score political points is out of line.  Just my opinion.  But if it walks and talks like a dick and looks like a dick; a dick is a dick.  Coach is a dick.

I'm sure this will get sorted-out over time; the military can handle a Florida panhandle dick.

Meanwhile if you're interested in a short but good read; Politico scored an exclusive on the drama behind the closed-door meeting where coach got tackled.

December Night Sky

One of the fun things about winter is the night sky.  Cold, clear, winter skies are characterized by a lack of humidity and if you live in the country there is very little urban light pollution creating some spectacular opportunities for star-gazing. 

December brings a couple of meteor showers to the night skies.  The more prolific of the two is the Geminids with as many as 120 to 160 shooting stars per hour.  Shooting stars are most often associated with the Earth’s passage thru the debris field of a comet.  Gritty debris burns-up as it collides with the upper atmosphere.  The Geminids are a bit of a mystery as they are related with an extinct comet which also happens to be a near-earth asteroid named 3200 Phaethon. 

 

The Geminid meteor shower began December  4^th and will remain active thru the 17^th.  It will be producing its peak rate of meteors this Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

For the duration there will be a chance of seeing Geminid meteors whenever the shower’s radiant point – found in the constellation Gemini – is above the horizon. The number of visible shooting stars increases as the radiant point rises to its highest point in the night sky.  

 

Always a favorite meteor shower peak viewing should be the morning of December 14.  Nevertheless, if you have a dark sky location by all means watch all hours of the evening.  This year, a waxing crescent moon will set early in the evening so you should enjoy dark skies. 

December also brings the Ursid meteor shower with 5  to 10 shooting stars per hour as the Earth passes thru the debris field of Comet 8P/Tuttle.   

Although not as spectacular as the Geminids these meteors begin around December 13 with peak action coincides with the solstice the evening of the 22^nd and 23^rd.   This is a low-key meteor shower that always has to compete with the solstice and the holidays and there will be some moon illumination this year too.. 

Mark your calendar and if your catch a cold, clear, winter sky bundle-up and take some time to sit outside and observe the heavens. 

Fingers-crossed for cold and clear night skies.

Where Does The Money Go?

There has been a considerable amount of talk of late about military aid to Israel and Ukraine.   To suggest it must be either one or the other is a false dilemma fallacy.  For reasons that I will get to in the conclusion of this post I believe it can and should be both.  If you want to condition it on a more muscular approach to securing our southern border I'm OK with that too.  Horsetrading is how you govern.  As you read this you will get the impression I'm comfortable with security; both here and abroad.

Today I want to dispel some of the misinformation I catch from media soundbites and from the general cesspool of deceptions planted on social media by Russian and Communist Red Chinese trolls specifically as it relates to aid to Ukraine.

Congress has appropriated $113.3 billion since February of 2022 to assist Ukraine in its fight against Russia's unprovoked invasion.  This money has been provided in four tranches known as supplementals.  

To better understand  the purpose of the support these funds are divided among nine buckets including:  Economic support, weapons back-fill, Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, Defense Department accounts, humanitarian and civil society assistance, Foreign Military Financing (FMF), other non-defense efforts, oversight and other defense efforts.

From a defense perspective, the supplemental appropriations allow for the rapid transfer of equipment and supplies from Department Of Defense (DOD) stockpiles to Ukrainian forces under something called the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA).  This is an executive power granted by congress in 1961 to the commander in chief.

Some have mischaracterized US support to Ukraine as a blank check.  The political spin is to leave an undiscerning individual with the impression we are shipping pallets of cash currency to a country at war.  The truth is that the vast majority of the money is actually spent here at home for production contracts with US companies manufacturing ammunition, weapons and equipment to back-fill our own stocks.

Almost all of the military aid sent to Ukraine is older cold war weapons systems and materiel.  This stuff represents a sunk cost budgeted under prior defense authorizations dating back as far as the 1970s.  There is no small amount irony in the knowledge that stuff our military purchased for an expected European land war with the Soviets is being given to Ukrainians to defend against Russians.  It also happens to save the US taxpayer the cost and trouble of eventual disposal.

Naturally, older inventory sent to Ukraine has to be replaced.  It is important to note that the replacement of US weapons stocks will include the latest version of war fighting technology and will stimulate the development of newer, necessary technologies.  Why is this important?  The nature of warfare has changed and if expensive systems such as HIMARS can be electronically jammed, then we'd be well-served to know that now and build replacements that cannot be compromised. 

Before Ukraine who knew we had the capability to shoot down Russian hypersonic missiles with the Patriot system?  Or how to deal with the broad deployment of drones on the battlefield - something US forces have not had to face.  This is real-time testing of American military equipment against the best Russia has to offer. This affords us an opportunity to build better systems to defend against a sophisticated adversary.  Peace through strength.

And yes, helping Ukraine defend itself against an unprovoked Russian invasion is money well-spent because Russia will not stop at Ukraine.  Putin has stated that his next objective after Ukraine will be Poland and the Baltic states.  Sweden and Finland have joined NATO as they know they are targets of Russian expansionism.  And China would see our non-support of Ukraine as an open invitation to invade Taiwan.  But I digress.

Getting back to where the money is going, about $69 billion of the $113 billion (60 percent) will be spent in the United states, benefiting our armed forces and US industry. 

In conclusion, I do not support Ukraine because it is better for our military preparedness, the economy or as a shareholder.  To be absolutely clear, we should never forget the human cost of war.  And this disastrous conflict wasn't started by the west or Ukraine.  Russia picked this fight and if Russia is allowed to succeed the US may pay for it many times over, in treasure and in lives.  

I believe it is proper to be thoughtful and judicious about military and humanitarian aid to others.  This is not warmongering jingoism.  Consider this:  Russia and Hamas are the nexus of aggression and disinformation along with their Iranian patrons.  You can bet that China and North Korea are paying close attention.  Countries such as Ukraine and Israel are worthy of our material support to defend themselves from aggressors bent-upon their annihilation.

The moral depravity of the pro-Hamas left and the pro-Putin right have made our world an exceedingly dangerous place.  Helping Israel and Ukraine stand up to the bad guys is doing the right thing.  

Charts: American Enterprise Institute

More Deer Camp

My business partner is visiting this weekend with her youngest son and a cousin to participate in the December antlerless gun hunt.

Which means you cannot shoot any of these.

If they are still alive....

Friday Music

On my Top Ten personal song list is a big-band jazz tune recorded by American bandleader Glenn Miller.  The composition is based upon Wingy Malone's Tar Paper Stomp originally recorded in 1930.

The first recording of this song in it's popular title was made in 1938 by Edgar Hayes and His Orchestra.

Glenn Miller's 1939 recording was, at long last, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1983.  As a consequence of its cultural, historical and aesthetically significant merits the recording was inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry.

This is good stuff.  Why you ask?  

Because great music doesn't inspire division and outrage.  

Great music stands on its excellent musical merits.

This is a digitally colorized version from 1941.  Turn-up the volume for In the Mood....

Thin Soup

 

Pony Car

Our favorite UPS guy delivered this yesterday afternoon.

And last night this email popped-into my in-box.

So it begins.

0-60 in 3.8 seconds....