marble falls
marble falls's JournalThe Most Notorious Weapon Ever Produced?
The Most Notorious Weapon Ever Produced?
There are no simple answers for fixing the F-35 program, as tempting as it is to look for a single root cause for its problems.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/magazine/f-35-joint-strike-fighter.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer
By Valerie Insinna
Published Aug. 23, 2019
Updated Aug. 24, 2019
What is there left to say about the F-35 joint strike fighter? It’s the most expensive program in the Pentagon’s history and potentially its most ambitious, and it’s arguably the most notorious weapon ever produced. This week for At War, I wrote about its troubled history and the challenges the Defense Department is still facing.
As an air-warfare reporter, I’ve covered the minutiae of the F-35 program and the aircraft’s manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, for the past five years. When people ask whether it’s as big a disaster as they’ve heard, it’s hard to know what to say. I can’t help respecting the ambition of an effort that has tried to solve so many problems and has overcome technical and bureaucratic hurdles that would have killed another program, resulting in a plane that pilots seem to love and say is desperately needed. At the same time, it’s frustrating to watch the continued struggles knowing that American taxpayers will sink more than $1 trillion into an effort that has been poorly managed and resulted in so much waste.
Some officials in the Pentagon feel the same. This year, the Pentagon’s inspector general investigated Patrick Shanahan, then the acting defense secretary, over accusations of favoritism toward Boeing, Shanahan’s previous employer. One accusation derived from a Politico report in which a former senior Defense Department official said Shanahan had called the F-35 “[expletive] up” and suggested that Boeing would have done a better job running the program.
When the inspector general interviewed Shanahan about his comments, he said the capabilities of the F-35 were “awesome” but acknowledged that he criticized the program over having “insufficient spare parts in the inventory, the cost per flight-hour not decreasing fast enough and the logistics support system not having the functionality that the war fighters need to sustain the aircraft.” Military leaders from the F-35 program office, the Navy and the Air Force have publicly made similar complaints. In the end, the inspector general concluded that Shanahan had not crossed any lines.
<snip>
Russia detains two North Korean vessels after one opens fire: reports
Russia detains two North Korean vessels after one opens fire: reports
2 Min Read
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-northkorea-incident-idUSKBN1W21GQ
MOSCOW (Reuters) -
<snip>
A Russian border patrol discovered two North Korean schooners and 11 motorboats fishing illegally off its far eastern coast and detained the first vessel, prompting the second one to open fire, the FSB was quoted as saying.
Related Coverage
Three Russian border guards were wounded in the incident.
“Both vessels have been detained,” local media cited the FSB as saying, adding later that more than 80 North Koreans had been detained.
<snip>
The detained vessels are being taken to Russia’s Far East port of Nakhodka, Interfax news agency quoted FSB as saying.
Moscow in July accused North Korea of illegally detaining one of its fishing vessels. Pyongyang said the crew had been detained for violating the rules of entry into North Korea.
Reporting by Polina Ivanova and Anastasia Teterevleva; Writing by Tom Balmforth
House Dems announce rule changes to make Trump's impeachment inquiry just like Nixon's
House Dems announce rule changes to make Trump’s impeachment inquiry just like Nixon’s
September 7, 2019
Grant Stern
https://occupydemocrats.com/2019/09/07/house-dems-announce-rule-changes-to-make-trumps-impeachment-inquiry-just-like-nixons/
<snip>
All impeachment inquiries originate in the Judiciary Committee, and now they are planning a formal resolution to lay out procedures for this fall’s impeachment inquiry, which Politico first reported late last night.
As a result, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) will be given additional powers to rapidly convene hearings, on a vote which a reliable source on the Hill close to the process just told Occupy Democrats, “will take likely place this week, likely on Tuesday or Thursday of this week because, on Wednesday, Congress will primarily be dedicated to commemorating the September 11th attacks.”
One of the House Judiciary Committee’s biggest proposed changes will be abandoning its much-maligned 5-minute alternating partisan question format, in favor of the same hearing plan that turned the two top Senate Watergate committee counsels into key actors in that probe, which CNN revealed as part of their report with significantly more details:
“[The resolution] is expected to follow the precedent set in 1974 over the committee’s procedures during then-President Richard Nixon’s impeachment proceedings.
<snip>
A reasonable and unanswered question ...
Where is the US response to the disaster in the Bahamas?
Donnie Two Scoops explains the map just one last time ...
The World Accordion to Trump ...
Having had my first nasal tube (to drain fluid in my gastro-tract) after my last surgery,...
I am qualified to say, especially because I was co-operating with my procedure, forced feeding by nasal tube is all about torture. Its used not humanely or in an humanitarian process. Its used to modify a behavior to bring about an outcome not in the victims choice or benefit. Its used to manifest an authority's will in the guise of a medical intervention.
Anybody here know of a band from Overland Park(?) called Joeyess and the Truth Lubes?
Do they perform this:
Looking to contact them.
Anybody here know of a band from Overland Park(?) called Joeyess and the Truth Lubes?
Do they perform this:
Because Trumps still here, its time to roll this one out again ...
From the original posting of this on youtube ren years ago:
We're all in this together, folks.
This is a rant about the greed that permeates the American political landscape. In fact the very core of who we are as a nation and a people.
Until we re-regulate our glorious corporate overlords, our condition -the Human Condition- in this country and on this planet remains in the hands of a select group of sociopathic plutocrats that care nothing of their nation and only about their personal fortunes.
Self appointed Masters of the Universe who don't seem to realize that their gene pool has been diminished and dulled by decades of greed, avarice and a sense of entitlement.
All born on 3rd base, swearing they hit a triple.
We Were RIght. They will devour themselves.
My only hope is that the rest of us survive the feast.
Profile Information
Name: had to removeGender: Do not display
Hometown: marble falls, tx
Member since: Thu Feb 23, 2012, 04:49 AM
Number of posts: 57,063
