Say Hello to the New Guys

Excellent

Recently I watched Band of Brothers. One episode centered on new men entering Easy Company as replacements after D Day. The men are welcomed with less than enthusiasm and are not sure what to make of it. And I thought as a combat air vet, that is just like I experienced when I joined the 13th TFS shortly after Linebacker II. I came to my new unit qualified to fly the backseat, but that didn’t me make accepted at first. The men who joined Easy Company had to prove themselves. We who came to fighter units did also. Qualified but not accepted summed it up.

Shortly after my arrival we had a squadron party to bid goodbye to the men leaving and welcome us. This “Sawadee” – hello or goodbye in Thai – party was a unit tradition. The squadron commander got up and said, “Let’s welcome the New Guys (AKA…

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Marie Yovanovitch prepared remarks to Congress

I cannot recommend Ambassador Yovanovitch’s remarks to Congress highly enough. The statement is clear concise and professional. She should be a national hero.

Rcooley123's Blog

Opening statement made by Former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch before her testimony on Friday, October 11, 2019 to US House of Representative committees conducting hearings to determine whether the full House will impeach President Trump. She was fired from that post, apparently for seeking to defend the Constitution and her oath of office which promised to defend that document and this nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Please read this and decide for yourself whether she was, indeed, defending us against enemies BOTH foreign and domestic when she voiced opposition to Trump/Giuliani/Pompeo and their nefarious attempts to strengthen Trump’s prospects for re-election in 2020 by having the government of Ukraine investigate bogus claims to destroy the campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden.

Arms for trumped up (what amounts to) an invaluable campaign contribution must not stand. That the White House tried mightily to get her not to…

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The National Socialism of Donald J. Trump

People seem to ignore the fact that Trump is selling national socialism. Dear leader Trump is selecting winners and losers, not the marketplace: certain farmers, Apple, coal, all affected by Trump edicts, not markets.

Racism, Trump has oozed racism since the very beginning, all the way back to refusing to rent to blacks in the NYC housing market to calling for the execution of innocent black children in NY newspaper ads. Similarly, Trump’s abuse of refugees (correct term under US laws) is criminal behavior condoned by Republican members of congress and fellow travelers. People of color seem to be active targets for Trump’s racism.

Trump demonstrably weakens this country on a daily basis. This historic Obama economy trudges on while Trump causes deficits, debt and trade imbalances to soar ever higher in a booming economy. Meanwhile, foreign leaders see Trump and the United States as laughingstocks to be pitied.

The country is stripped of reliable allies. Denying America’s historic role as a nation to be admired and its values worth emulating, Trump forces the United States into unholy associations with dictators, murderers, and failing nations. Russia, for but one example, has an economy smaller than that of Italy.

People are correct to be wary of a turn toward socialism but that socialism is the national socialism Trump is selling and Putin has sold. As Mueller’s congressional testimony proved, Trump embraced campaign assistance from a hostile foreign power, Russia, and Trump clearly committed obstruction of justice. No president should be above the law; however, the Republicans in the Senate and Attorney General Barr claim otherwise. Our founders are rolling in their graves. Trump is no patriot and could well be a traitor.

Trump and his cronies are looting the government. Trump benefits financially from every visit to and golf game at his properties. The unsupportable tax cuts and government stimulus benefit Trump and the 1% daily while running up vast debt that the taxpayers must pay. Our social and physical infrastructure continue to decay rapidly and our military lacks required training and even basic living quarters while unit cohesion is being ripped asunder by Trump attacks on minority troops and deportation of military spouses.

Trump acts like a fascist attacking minorities; attacking the free press while disseminating fake news as again proven by the Mueller investigation. Trump attacks freedom of religion and has personally condemned Muslims, Catholics following their Pope, and people of conscience while claiming to restore Christianity to its rightful place in America. This religion Trump and his Evangelicals sell is a form of Fake Christianity which denies the very message of Jesus Christ.

Trump attacks education denying science and basic human rights. All one can conclude based upon all this information is that Trump not only acts like a fascist but he and his cronies are fascists. There is no hate here but rather disgust and a firm determination to restore the founders’ values and hope for a United States that:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

These are not the goals of the fascist Donald J. Trump

Flying the F4 in the North – Alaska

A tale to tell…

An American Family

From 1974-1978 I flew intercepts of Soviet bombers off the coast of Alaska in the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter. I had arrived in Alaska fresh from a combat tour in Thailand, where I flew missions over Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Flying in Alaska was very different, but more on that later .

The importance of Alaska to the defense of America, dated back to when the U.S. Army Air Corps sent Billy Mitchell there in 1901 to supervise the construction of the Washington- Alaska telegraph system. From this Mitchell came to appreciate strategic importance of the territory. Over the 73 years since Mitchell, there had been a major buildup of military forces in the state. The Cold War engaged America and the U.S.S.R. around the world. They met also at the top of America. F-4 Phantom Landing in Alaska