Youtube hearted comments of Colonel K (@Paladin1873).

  1. Lee is largely overlooked by military history, perhaps because he had no interest in self-promotion and PR. He just wanted to solve technical problems and shoot the enemy at every opportunity.
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  2. "The real people that Ukraine needs don't fly the F-16, they maintain them. These are the people who keep the jets in the air. The pilots just go up and break them." Truer words were seldom spoken.
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  3. The only thing missing from this video was Hecklefish.
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  4. I was born and raised in north Florida where Seminole culture was long popular (Florida State University was only 20 miles away). While working for the BSA in the early 1990s I was associated with the Tribe in a rather obtuse way. One of my fellow Scout executives was part Seminole and we had a popular member of our council board who was a Seminole. We called him Chief because he had served in the Navy during WWII (including being part of the flight deck crew aboard the USS Hornet when she launched the Doolittle Raid against Japan). There was an ongoing debate about FSU's merchandising and marketing arrangement with the "Unconquered People", the name the Seminole Tribe of Florida gave themselves because they were the descendants of the 300 Seminoles who managed to elude the US Army troops sent to round up all Seminoles and transport them west for resettlement. At the time the FSU Seminoles were the biggest name in college football and the Tribe was enjoying the celebrity status and the earnings it brought them. Apparently this incensed the Oklahoma Seminole Tribe because they weren't benefiting from any of the profits or notoriety. When I mentioned this to Chief, he derisively scoffed at the idea and remarked that they hadn't earned the right since they were the ones who surrendered and left. I never broached the subject again, but his comment always stuck with me and made me realize there are many hidden layers to Indian societies and history. Thanks for bringing one forgotten aspect of it to life.
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  5. A very close friend of mine in San Antonio, who was a class 3 firearms dealer (machine guns, silencers, etc.), was retained by one of the Branch Davidians' lawyers to examine the firearms seized in the raid and offer his opinion regarding whether or not any of them had been illegally converted to full automatic. He told me the remains of the AR15 receivers he was shown were in such a state that he could not make a determination one way or the other. However, very shortly after his visit the ATF descended on his home and began an unannounced inspection of his records by multiple ATF personnel. They spent the next three days conducting a detailed examination of his bookkeeping and his inventory, but could find nothing out of order and reluctantly left. However, the message they had sent was clear, so Ken called the Davidian attorney who had hired him and told him he could not continue helping them with their case research. He was a nervous wreck for quite some time following this incident and remained fearful he was now on ATF's radar (I think he was, but that's another story). Anyway, I agree this entire tragedy was grossly mishandled, resulting in an outcome that was far worse than Ruby Ridge. As one gun editor so eloquently and succinctly wrote after the affair died down, "Ultimately, it was a contest between a man who thought he was the son of God and a government that thought it was God."
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  6. In the mid 1980s I went through a military acquisition program with an officer who had been assigned to the PA-48 evaluation program. He considered the airplane to be something of a cruel joke. The Mustang was very long in the tooth by then and Piper was having great difficultly keeping them in a serviceable state. I think your analysis of the problem and the ultimate "low cost" solution is correct.
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  7. When I was in Saudi Arabia in the 1980s I dated a Lebanese girl of Armenian extraction. She told me an extraordinary tale of her grandfather, who had been the chauffeur of a Turkish colonel embroiled in the genocide. According to her, the colonel fancied a beautiful young Armenian woman he had spotted along the road. He offered her a ride and ordered his driver to take them to a remote location in the countryside. He then dismissed the driver and proceeded to rape the girl. Her screams alerted the chauffeur to what was really happening and he became so enraged that he killed the colonel. He placed the now hysterical girl in the car and drove off. Knowing death awaited him for his actions, he chose to escape the country in the car before anyone could find out. Together they eventually reached Lebanon where they married and raised a family. Is this story true or exaggerated? I cannot say, but it was obvious she believed it. Given the horrendous behavior of the time, it certainly seems plausible.
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  8. My Mom's boyfriend, Fred, was assigned to 3rd Army HQ after he was wounded during a firefight which cost him his Sherman tank and crew. I once asked him what it was like working for Patton. He laughed and said he yelled a lot at the officers but left the enlisted men alone, which was fine with Fred, who was a sergeant.
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  9. Tell Ian at Forgotten Weapons. He may want to add these to the Ebonian Army table of allowances.
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  10. Kudos for mentioning the long forgotten hero of China, Bob Short, and for covering the Demon. You may not be aware of this, but the Demon sired an offspring, the Curtiss-Wright CW-22 Falcon trainer. My Dad's best friend owned and operated one in north Florida when I was kid. At the tender age of six he took me up in it. I sat in my Dad's lap while Bill put the plane through its paces. What I remember most was how loud it was and how steeply it could climb. Sadly, Bill was killed in it a few years later when the engine stalled during takeoff due to insects (mud daubers) clogging his fuel line.
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  11. He was the type of warrior every American should strive to emulate.
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  12. I served with a Marine major at SOCCENT (Special Operations Command Central) in the late 1990s. I regularly saw him in the latrine rubbing ointment on his bald head, so out of curiosity I finally asked him what it was for. He told me he had been asleep in the Marine barracks in Lebanon when the bomb went off and awoke buried in a pile of rubble. Ever since then he had to keep his scalp moist so tiny particles of still embedded concrete could escape.
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  13. In the 1980s I was hosting a small arms demonstration at Lackland AFB for the USAF Security Police when I spotted an airman who was a dead-ringer for my kid brother. I had a 35mm camera with me and photographed him. I still have this photo, and whenever I have shown it to family members and friends, they find it hard to believe it isn't my brother. I chalk it up to the law of probability rather than supernatural hocus pocus.
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  14. I can't fully embrace either theory, but I agree that both were factors to some degree. When the Great War ended, the victors pretty much picked up their marbles and went home, leaving a political vacuum where once there had been stable governments. But equally important, the vanquished were people not familiar with self-government, but they were familiar with, even comfortable with a degree of autocratic centralized rule. The more brutal their respective former governments had been, the more willing they were to acquiesce to or endorse violence themselves. They were promised freedom, but what the majority most wanted was stability. Their fears of famine, joblessness, economic ruin, and Bolshevism were well justified, especially after the ruinous terms of the Treaty of Versailles were forced upon them. One did not have to be clairvoyant to see where all this eventually would lead.
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  15. A lot of fighter pilots badmouthed the Falcon as unreliable. Thanks to field modifications ordered by Colonel Robin Olds during the Vietnam War, the AIM-9 Sidewinder largely replaced the AIM-4 Falcon in relatively short order. Like many others, I shared this low opinion of the AIM-4 when I entered active duty in 1978. By this point the Falcon was slowly being phased out, but its tarnished reputation remained. During my first assignment I was tasked with supervising the writing of airmen promotion tests. We would bring in senior NCOs each month who were technical experts in their chosen Air Force Specialty Code. One of the teams I supervised was composed of air-to-air missile technicians, so it wasn't long before I asked them why the Falcon was so undependable. One of the NCOs had served under Robin Olds in Vietnam and he shook his head at my comment, then responded by saying, "Lieutenant, there was nothing wrong with the reliability of the AIM-4. We caught hell from the pilots, but we told them they were employing them incorrectly. The missile was doing exactly what it was designed to do." I want to thank you for setting the record straight about the how the Falcon missile system worked and why this led to its poor success rate. Maybe a few old retired missile techs are nodding their heads in approval.
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  16. Small world. My Dad trained as an aircraft A&E mechanic at Spartan before joining the Air Force in 1947. My Air Force career began almost to the day Robin Olds' career ended. He was a fighter pilot's fighter pilot and an idol to us young wannabe lions. I also think he was one of the last of the old breed of career cockpit jocks. The USAF has long frowned on promoting officers who follow a single career path. Men like Jimmy Doolittle, John Boyd, and Chuck Yeager will be hallowed forever, but I doubt they will ever be duplicated. The technocrat and budding A.I. have replaced them. God save us all.
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  17. As if the operation wasn't cocked up enough, there was the busload of Iranians that were detained near the secret landing site of Desert One, followed by the destruction of an illegal fuel truck being driven by a smuggler. His passenger was killed, but he escaped in an accompanying pickup truck. I was attending Squadron Officer School (SOS) at Maxwell AFB, AL at the time. All of the students at Maxwell (Air War College, Air Command & Staff, SOS) were hustled into the big blue bedroom (auditorium) for a classified briefing. To say we were dumbfounded by what we were shown and told is an understatement. One of my classmates was a CH-53 maintenance officer. He knew how complex and difficult these helicopters were to maintain. He considered that part of the plan to be very unrealistic. Nor could any of us understand why mine-laying Marine helicopters were chosen for the mission, as they were ill-suited to the task. The Air Force birds were designed for such clandestine work. I was later told it was done for security reasons. I was also told each service wanted a piece of the action, possibly making such decisions more political than practical. At the time I made a comment to one of my classmates that if Ronald Reagan was elected President, then these eight servicemen would not have died in vain. Perhaps something worthwhile did arise from the ashes of this failure.
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  18. Of course he was a CIA assassin. He even produced a show about it called "The Hit Parade".
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  19. I read his biography, which was quite interesting. There has been lively debate regarding the veracity of the story where his shot went through the enemy sniper's scope and into his head. MythBusters even tried to recreate the incident under control circumstances, but failed. Can you shed more light on the actual event?
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  20. Well done (no pun intended).
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  21. I believe the core mission of Safeguard was to defend our underground missile silos so they could survive a first strike and retaliate. Detractors claimed it could not protect our major urban centers, but that was never its intent.
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  22. The battle earned its nickname of Bloody Ia Drang.
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  23. I feel sorry for his son, Rolf, but he is guiltless of his father's sins. I suspect Josef Mengele has been accused of many things he did not do or had no real control over. Of course, the things we know he willing did are more than enough to condemn him to Hell, presuming the Devil was willing to take him.
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  24. Ed Nash, the Paul Harvey of aviation storytelling.
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  25. If I had been in his shoes I would have invented gunpowder, made a primitive firearm, and ruled Rome wisely.
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  26. Nose art is great for morale, or was until our country decided women should serve in combat roles alongside men. I'm not sure what could replace it without offending somebody somewhere.
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  27. This illustrates the harsh meaning of the expression "Chinaman's chance".
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  28. Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies, Burnt the fire of thine eyes? . . . And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand and what dread feet? . . . What the anvil, what dread grasp? Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
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  29.  @EdNashsMilitaryMatters  My grandfather always said history is an agreed upon error. I have long accepted this notion, and thus I am always glad to see different points of view on any given topic. It gives it more depth and dimension and infuses it with the human touch.
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  30. In regard to the Catholic Church's demand for celibacy, I believe it had more to do with practical financial concerns than Godliness. It saved the Church a lot of money since it only needed to tend to the needs of a single individual. In addition, if he had no family of his own, a priest could not pass down to them any wealth he obtained while serving the Church. In some respects the US military once operated under a similar premise when it forbade a soldier or sailor to marry without the permission of his commanding officer. I believe this rule still holds for military academy cadets, though I have read pregnant cadets are allowed to remain. Indeed, under a new law these women can take up to two years leave and return to finish their studies. So much for good order and discipline.
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  31. It is easier to create a working unified field theory for physics than it is to explain the machinations of the State Department.
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  32. My Dad often did business with a survivor of Task Force Smith, the first US combat force sent to Korea at the opening of hostilities. He was seriously wounded and initially left on the battlefield for dead. He claimed he was later recovered by graves registration troops (or possibly medics) who assumed he was deceased until he moaned. Reportedly, one of the men said, "Hey, this one ain't dead yet." This account often puzzled me because Task Force Smith retreated after seven hours of fighting and in disarray. Many wounded and missing soldiers were left behind in the confusion. Some of them were captured and executed and some managed to evade the NK troops and return to friendly lines over the next five days, but it would be two months before US forces retook the area. Oh well, his wounds were serious enough that he was shipped stateside and missed the Frozen Chosin debacle.
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  33. A US citizen is hijacked on an international flight and the US government has not intervened to rescue him?
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  34. I believe the photo at 3:21 is Lt Col Joachim Peiper. If I am incorrect, then a lot of books and articles from the past will need to be corrected.
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  35. I would love to see a movie or miniseries that covers the lives of the original apostles and early disciples of Christ. History did not stop with his death and resurrection. It was only the beginning of a new era.
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  36. Well done, Ed. That was a good intel summary of an issue the public press has been ignoring until recently. Perhaps the pendulum of Taiwanese support by the free world is finally swinging in their favor, but will it swing fast enough to prevent China from attacking them or will it hasten CCP action to fulfill its ultimate goal of reunification by force? The world wonders.
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  37. Long ago I read an interview with a former Naval Intelligence officer who conducted the Luciano interviews. As I recall, he said Luciano exaggerated his knowledge and ability to provide contacts and support for operations in Sicily and Italy. Whatever the actual case is, I suspect Lucky was mainly in it for himself. That seems to be the underlying creed of Mafiosos.
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  38. What most strikes me is how much men age and mature after a few years of war. Stewart was no exception.
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  39. Its service with the fleet was fleeting.
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  40. Up next, the truth about crabcats.
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  41. A friend of mine served in the Old Guard. He was not assigned to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but to protecting Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger. Height and fitness standards were stringent. Each soldier was armed with a 1911 and five rounds of ammunition. My, how things have changed since then.
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  42. Whether chasing the euro, dollar, yen, or yuan, nearly all government and corporate elites share the same basic desire - power.
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  43. Che Guevara should have been named Che Guano. He was a human turd - and that's an insult to turds everywhere. Have you ever seen the 1969 movie Che! starring Omar Sharif? It's a rather sanitized version of his life, but at least he isn't painted as a glorious leader of the Marxist revolution.
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  44. Ed, while I was stationed at the Pentagon from 2001 - 2007 I had partial responsibility for COOP (Continuity Of Operations Plan) which included evacuation by helo of critical personnel. Without going into classified information, suffice it to say the air assets available were a joke. I doubt that has changed much. Even if you had a fleet of modern helicopters standing alert, there simply isn't enough real estate around the critical office buildings to land and retrieve anywhere near the number of critical personnel required to relocate operations to other sites in a timely fashion.
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  45. The wages of sin . . .
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  46. Except for the first statement, which is both dangerous and incredibly stupid, it's pretty much vague BS. I'll stick with the 10 Commandments (at least I'll try).
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  47. My dear Ryan, if you call the Air Force at night, you don't get us out of bed. You get us out of the bar.
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  48.  @FORGOTTENHISTORYCHANNEL  It's still true today. Before I retired, one of my tasks was reporting Class A mishaps to senior USAF staff, including when airmen did not survive ejection or recovery. But my most haunting memory is from my time in flight training where I was told the T-37 had the best ejection seat safety record with something like an 80% success rate. Yet a constant reminder that the law of probability is always at play was a photo in our classroom building of a student from a previous class who died during ejection. It didn't help that I had been the mortuary affairs duty officer who handled the preliminary funeral arrangements with his young widow and her parents. They do not remain paper statistics when you witness the aftermath.
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  49. When I think of Lincoln I am reminded of the Army officer in Vietnam who purportedly said “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.”
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  50. In some of the images of Oliver North he has the same sly "catch me if you can" expression I see in photos of Matt Gaetz.
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  51. The veterans were not entitled to early bonus payments, which is why they marched on the capitol. They wanted Congress to change the law. When they failed to achieve this goal, they remained in these poorly maintained camps, possibly because many of them had no place else to go. I've read detailed accounts of the miscommunication and confusion that followed when MacArthur ordered them to be removed. It certainly should have been handled better, but what government bureaucracy has ever been able and willing to act deftly in such matters?
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  52. I worked on the CONPLAN back in the late 90s, so any intimate knowledge I have is dated. I can't say I was impressed with it at the time. in fact I was opposed to it. Your concept makes more sense, but I do not believe Israel has the necessary power projection capability to make it work. They might be able to pull off a surgical strike on the few refineries and port facilities, and that alone would cripple the Iranian economy.
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  53. As a kid growing up in the 1960s I remember Aurora offering scale model kits of the F-107. I can't remember if I ever built one.
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  54. I've only seen a handful of her movies, but the one I most enjoyed was Comrade X. She was a fine comedic actress, but given almost no opportunity to make such films. She would have been a great successor to Carole Lombard. Alas, one more missed opportunity in a life of achievements that few can match. Brains, beauty, and grace, what more could any man wish for; what more daunting challenge could any man face?
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  55. By coincidence The History Guy posted a video an hour ago on the life of Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah, though Lance mistakenly referred to him simply as ibn Battutah. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t6ZIhPaq_M
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  56. I coulda been a contender!
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  57. USS Cole? Lord, don't send her in there again.
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  58. I presume AI provided the imagery for this video. Either that or Jimmy Carter's Defense Secretary was the father of the electric chair. 🙂
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  59. In the mid to late 1980s I worked with a former C-123 pilot who flew Ranch Hand missions in Vietnam, yet he showed no effects of chemical exposure despite having handled the substance himself. Like the Gulf War Syndrome, it's maddeningly hard to establish a cause-and-effect relationship when symptoms and exposure rates vary so greatly. As to why organizations such as the DoD and VA were always slow to recognize, accept, and respond to such problems, the answer is simple. They are bureaucracies. Their funding is set in advance, their leadership rarely thinks outside the box, and any change in direction and priorities is bound to upset other applecarts and rice bowls. Even within a government that prints money like so much toilet tissue, somebody still has to budget and plan for the extra tissue. This does no excuse their incompetence; it merely explains it.
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  60. Wounded Knee wasn't the first time the federal government completely cocked up an operation, nor the last. Had they been wiser men, Colonel Forsyth and Agent McLaughlin might have acted with greater prudence. Instead of ruining their careers, both men received promotions for their actions (or in spite of them). General Miles does not escape criticism either since he was the one who ordered the disarmament of the Sioux. In his defense he at least he tried to punish Forsyth for his actions at Wounded Knee. But bureaucracies always seem more interested in protecting their reputations rather than uncovering the truth and punishing the guilty. It has rarely been otherwise.
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  61. Oh, how I long for the days when intelligence operations were a gentleman's pursuit - back before every Colonel Sam Flagg could wedge himself into any espionage, sabotage, or counterintelligence operation.
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  62. Catching glimpses of those old movies and TV shows brought back many fond memories of my childhood. I thank God my family can still enjoy them on DVD.
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  63. Somebody needs to lay off the moonshine.
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  64. Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence. In the case of the Biden Administration, both equally apply.
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  65. "You're in the Navy Now" had a great cast of old timers and newcomers, including Millard Mitchell, Ray Collins (Lt Tragg on Perry Mason), Eddie Albert (Oliver Douglas on Green Acres and another certified war hero), Jack Webb (Sgt Joe Friday on Dragnet), Ed Begley (Sr), and Harvey Lembeck (Eric Von Zipper from the Beach Party movies). It's a fun movie and quite believable despite being a light comedy.
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  66. Thanks for covering this tragic story. I'm familiar with the Armenian genocide, but not with the details of how the Turkish government treated Jews during WWII. None of this surprises me. Regarding American prisoners, one of the 78 American Ploesti Raid internees was my late friend, M/Sgt Gene Spencer, USAAF. His B-24 crash-landed in Turkey and surviving crew members were interned until the OSS arranged their "escape". Somewhere in my emails I have a copy of the travel orders and pay reimbursement authorized for the men in his section. You can't even escape a foreign country without proper paperwork.
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  67. A good friend of our family flew Skyraiders in the 1950s. He swore it could carry far more than the official record states. He even showed me a photo of his aircraft fully armed and listed the weight of each piece of ordnance. The total came to over 10,000 pounds, at least matching that of the Mauler. I did some checking on the Smithsonian website and found the following quote. I do not know if this includes fuel, but presume it does. "On May 21, 1953, and AD-4B operating from Naval Air Station Dallas set a new weight-lifting record 6,791 kg. (14,941lb.) that exceeded the aircraft empty weight of 5,363 kg (11,798 lb.)."
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  68. Has anyone performed similar analyses on other burial cloths from ancient times or is this the only cloth to have a human impression on it?
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  69. Nixon's actions were no different than those of his predecessors, but he incorrectly assumed the press would give him a pass. As a result, a mole hill issue became an impassable mountain when he engaged in a coverup. It was an avoidable tragedy.
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  70. Well that brought back some unpleasant memories. We were living in a Maryland suburb of DC during this time while I was working at the Pentagon. The shootings only added to the already tense atmosphere that pervaded Washington following 911. It didn't help that my wife frequented Michael's Crafts on a regular basis and had visited one the day before the shooting. A rumor started that the snipers were targeting such places, so she stopped going. I was working mid shifts and getting home late at night. I loathed having to stop for any reason, but I had to buy gas once in a while. I made a habit of bobbing and weaving the whole time I was filling the tank, which must have looked ridiculous, but I figured it made me a less suitable target. Then the authorities reported seeing a white van with a ladder on it following a shooting. As luck would have it, one passed me as I was driving home so I followed it for a while to make sure it wasn't entering my neighborhood, then I reported the license plate number to the police. You can call me paranoid, but nobody knew when or where these monsters would strike next. Good riddance to both of them.
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  71. So basically they were gaslighting themselves? I've had a few episodes of sleep paralysis over the decades, but not in the context of something evil. Nevertheless, it was always frustrating not being able to move or act according to my will. The last time it occurred was about three years ago and I fought very strenuously to move until at last I was able to rise up out of bed from my sleep. I haven't had an episode since then. Maybe it's because I finally beat it or maybe it's because I now sleep in a recliner.
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  72. To understand The Mob is to understand Russian politics.
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  73. By coincidence I was in Chicago last week and toured the U-505 for the first time since 1967. The indoor sub pen setup is impressive.
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  74. I am not a number; I am a free man! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
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  75. I worked the 2001 Chinese incident. The CCP pilot had a reputation for thinking he was much better than he really was. His attitude cost him his life. The Russian pilot appears to be in the same category and is lucky to be alive. I doubt we'll arm the drones with AAMs, but it is an option. Failing that we can always send up fighter escorts, but I don't see any of this happening unless the Russians decide to make this practice a habit.
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  76. Did any of the American or German companies argue that using slave labor saved many prisoners from an otherwise assured death. It was the defense Albert Speer used.
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  77. "We have, I see, been recommended as a guard against influenza, to go about wearing masks like the actors in the Greek tragedies. Now I have no wish to discourage the use of masks by those who have faith in them, although I am not quite sure that their sudden general adoption might not lead to that state of panic which is always conducive to the spread of epidemic disease, but I would point out that the most recent researches go to show that the influenza organism and toxin pass readily through a porcelain filter, and if that be so, any mask that could be worn would be no more efficacious than would be the erection of a barbed wire fence to shut out the flies.” - Sir James Crichton-Browne, M.D., F.R.S., speaking at the 1919 meeting of the Bovril Company where he extolled the virtue of drinking their beef tea to stave off influenza
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  78. It's a pity the Russians couldn't have called on Jim Corbett for help.
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  79. If Lincoln was corrupt, it was a corruption intended to save the Union, not enhance his personal wealth. To paraphrase a Vietnam era Army officer, he had to destroy the Republic in order to save it. History is messy.
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  80. My first recollection of the Hunley was watching the 1963 premier episode of the CBS American history anthology series "The Great Adventure". As a young child it sent chills down my spine. I wish we still had television shows like it.
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  81.  @colinheaton5638  I'll send Bud this link.
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  82.  @colinheaton5638  He prefers to pass. I think it may have something to do with the statute of limitations in some of the countries they visited. 🙂
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  83. Bf-109X, the Messerwulf? Fockeschmitt? Ed, you sound a bit under the weather. Get some rest. Thanksgiving is only two days away, or do you celebrate it on your side of the Pond?
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  84. The saddest part is he was arguably a better DA than his predecessor.
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  85. Nutters are a dime a dozen.
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  86. As always, Ben makes very cogent arguments. The US has been needlessly slow in offering critical aid to Ukraine and somewhat indecisive regarding our ultimate goals. I am flummoxed by the attitude of some American leaders and commentators who seem incapable of grasping what is at stake. Ditto for those who support Hamas and think Israel should back off. Both Ukraine and Israel are fighting for their existence as viable nations. They have no alternative but to win.
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  87. The deep state is is an idea, not an organization, but the effect is much the same when bureaucrats all think alike. If you want to rid our country of it, the best place to begin is by repealing the 16th Amendment.
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  88. Perhaps an earthquake caused them to panic and mistakenly think it was an avalanche. Were the bodies tested for lead poisoning? The 1845 Franklin Expedition to the Arctic ended in disaster this way.
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  89. Once the Fourth Turning has run its course, a better world may emerge. But first we have to get through this turning.
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  90. Why is the KKK always described as a right-wing organization? Denying 2nd Amendment rights to any citizen sounds like a left-wing idea. But perhaps I do not understand the meanings of these terms, assuming they have any real meanings. It's too bad Senator Byrd is dead. Since he was regarded by his fellow Democrats as the Senate's foremost Constitutional scholar, perhaps he could have shed some light on the subject, along with providing us insights into the true purposes of the 14th and 15th Amendments - or did he ever read them? The world wonders.
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  91. My only encounter with a minefield was in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) in the mid 1980s. I'd met a cute Australian nurse in the bar the night before and she invited me to come visit the movie set the next day where she was working (Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold). To avoid being stopped by onsite security, I took a circuitous route through the African bush (itself a dumb idea since this was lion country). I exited the bush into a large field and was about halfway across it when I suddenly remembered having been told the area was restricted because of unrecovered mines from their civil war. I stood still trying to decide what to do next when I spotted some tire tracks. I reasoned if a mine had not detonated from the pressure of a vehicle tire, it likely would not detonate if I stepped on it. Thankfully, the tracks led up to the movie site and I successfully navigated my way there without incident. The nurse was shocked when she saw the direction I had come. "Because of the mines?" I asked. "No, because of the cape buffalo. The directors wife was injured by one down there." God does look after children and fools.
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  92. Ah, la belle France, where you are guilty until proven innocent.
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  93. Chain lightning - first Ruby Ridge in 1992, then Waco in 1993, and finally Oklahoma City in 1995. How many deaths and shattered lives does that total, and to what ends?
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  94. "The Final Option" is an excellent movie which was panned by leftist movie critics (:face-blue-wide-eyes:). My supervisor in the Air Force saw it when it was released in the US and recommended it to me, which is how I came to see it. It ends with a warning message about who was actively funding terrorist movements in the West in the 1970s and 80s. I'll give you a hint, think of four letters, the first one is U and the last one is R. By the way, the lead character was portrayed by actor Lewis Collins, himself a serving member of the Parachute Regiment (Territorial Forces) who had successfully passed the first phase of the British Army's extremely grueling requirements for joining the Territorial SAS. Ironically, his application was denied shortly after this because of his celebrity status as a television and movie star.
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  95. Why do communists keep getting a free pass in the West when they have been well documented for being the world's greatest butchers of humanity?
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  96. We studied the shooting when I went through my law enforcement training in the 1980s, but our focus was on the tactical errors made by the police, not Whitman's background history. I've read that in one of Whitman's notes he requested an autopsy of his brain. I wonder if they ever performed an autopsy on his father's brain as well. If the tumor theory is correct, I wouldn't be surprised if they had found one the size of a coconut.
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  97. Can you say overkill?
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  98. Maybe Sal should run both organizations.
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  99. Why?
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  100. Just in time for Christmas.
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  101. Joe Biden, man of Jello.
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  102.  @scottrichards3587  If you think the best way to defend our nation is to stay home and guard our borders, you could not be more wrong. Our nation depends on global trade and keeping the trade lanes (lines of communication) open for everyone. Forward defense is the only way to do this. It provides us with much needed allies and intel. If we don't do it, who do you think will? Somebody else will always fill the void, and I doubt they will have friendly intentions towards us.
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  103. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
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  104. I loved the Hallmark movie, "An American Story - The Battle of Athens" when it first aired. It may not be an entirely accurate portrayal of events, but it's close enough. Now please do a review of Phenix City, AL and the murder of just elected state Attorney General Albert Patterson. This is another true story of rampant political corruption that was quickly made into a brutally realistic movie staring Richard Kiley and John McIntire.
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  105.  @Post-Trib  You are making an assumption and treating it as fact. If you had ever served in the military you would know we regard ourselves more like an extended family. There isn't much we wouldn't do to protect each other. At some time or another we all take risks.
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  106. I'm on a monthly recurring credit card donation plan because I think those who do not remember history will repeat the errors of the past, plus it's fun and informative. If you are reading my comment, I hope you will join me. Even $5 a month helps, especially if we all chip in.
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  107. KHANNNNN!!!!
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