To You and Yours

Happy Hanukkah

... proclaimed President Obama as he simultaneously reversed a policy of long standing and had the U.S. abstain from a vote at the UN condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank  and calling for them to end. I doubt that any photo ops were allowed to avoid recording the smirk on his face. It took a lot of chutzpah to be quite so brazen in knifing a friend.

www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/12/23/hanukkah-obama-wishes-jews-happy-chanukah-stabs-israel-un/

Situational Awareness

Situational awareness is critical for fighter and attack pilots - where are the threats, what are they, where am I, etc. I have been a critic of the new Lockheed F-35 program as too expensive, too long-delayed, and not capable enough. The final judgment, however, belongs to the guys who have to fly them into combat and a number of them are saying some pretty good things about this airplane:

"My first “aha” moment was a seemingly simple thing. I was executing a familiarization flight near MCAS Yuma. I was coming back to the airfield and I basically just turned the jet and pointed its nose at Yuma. Immediately the jet is providing me the information of all the traffic that is out there in the airspace. When I talk to approach for the first time they are telling me about the traffic that is out there that I already know about and I see it. I can tell who everybody is that he is talking about and the jet also saw traffic that ATC hadn’t seen yet and I asked about it." 

"I was leading a four ship of F-35s on a strike against 4th Gen adversaries, F-16s and F/A-18s. We fought our way in, we mapped the target, found the target, dropped JDAMs on the target and turned around and fought our way out. All the targets got hit, nobody got detected, and all the adversaries died. I thought, yes, this works, very, very, very well. Never detected, nobody had any idea we were out there."

"I am coming in to perform the simulated weapons release, and Red Air is coming the other direction. I have enough situational awareness to assess whether Red Air is going to be a factor to me by the time I release the weapon. I can make the decision, I’m going to go to the target, I’m going to release this weapon. Simultaneously I pre-target the threat, and as soon as I release the A2G weapon, I can flip a switch with my thumb and shoot the Red Air. This is difficult to do in a 4thGen fighter, because there is so much manipulation of systems in the cockpit. All while paying attention to the basic mechanics of flying the airplane and interpreting threat warnings that are often very vague, or only directional. In the F-35 I know where the threats are, what they are and I can thread the needle. I can tell that the adversary is out in front of me and I can make a very, very smart decision about whether to continue or get out of there. All that, and I can very easily switch between mission sets."

These are Marine pilots who get down in the weeds with their fellow Marines and they are notoriously no-nonsense and these are good reports. Time will tell but maybe I and a lot of others were wrong and we have a winner here. I hope so for the sake of the folks who fly them and the security of our country.

theaviationist.com/2016/12/08/four-of-the-most-experienced-usmc-f-35b-pilots-speak-about-their-aircraft-and-they-say-its-exceptional/

Huh?

National Review reports that our neighbor to the north is considering legislation to allow people to carry pepper spray for self-protection, guns already having been banned, Of course there is dissent. Always. For example: 

"Canada’s minister of status of women, Patty Hajdu, has denounced a proposal that would allow Canadians to carry pepper spray, saying it’s “offensive” to women because it focuses on women protecting themselves rather than on stopping men from attacking."

Well, ah, okay Patty, so we shouldn't arm cops - excuse me, Mounties - because we're not focusing on stopping criminals? What's in your tea up there?

www.nationalreview.com/article/442899/canadian-politician-pepper-spray-offensive-women-men-rape

Silent Night

Snow that sticks is a rarity in Western Oregon but today it did and I like it. Everything has slowed down, which is entirely appropriate 11 days before Christmas. The traffic sounds are muffled to non-existent, hurried shopping trips have ceased. It's nice, this respite. Friends in snowier climes laugh but that's alright. There's peace on earth here tonight and that is a good thing anywhere. May the peace of the Lord be with you wherever you may be, snow or not. 

Holiday Travel Fun

Airlines are starting to bring back some amenities to the coach section but Delta clearly has outdone itself. The airline now offers free assistance to deboard on its flights! Take a look at the video in the link and see how the new service works. Awesome! Kidding. 

This gal walked on the plane without checking in or showing a boarding pass. That's a no-no and Detroit's finest provided deboarding assistance to her. Passengers flying with her said she had a huge case of attitude. Well, no altitude because of attitude for this senorita. Holiday flying - ain't it great!

www.foxnews.com/travel/2016/12/13/woman-dragged-off-delta-flight-by-police-after-reportedly-failing-to-check-in-at-gate.html

Color Me Skeptical

The Polar Vortex is caused by Global Warming, right? That's at least the current line. But wait - notice the date on the photo above. That's right, 1974 and it says the earth was in for a disastrous period of Global Cooling. Say what? As Delingpole notes in the the article linked below, perhaps warming and cooling cycles are just normal variations and we're in a cooling cycle now. Honest, I really think we can quit hyperventilating and spending kazillions of dollars on this, money that can be put to much better uses. 

www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/12/10/polar-vortex-next-big-thing-climate-scaremongering/