Churchill, cigars, and scotch...

I took my first cigar back in the mid-90s and over the years I've enjoyed countless ones. Is it a habit? I'd say no, I smoke 1-3 a week, usually with a drink and a book. Something to relax at the end of a week or day. 

At the other end of the spectrum, Sir Winston Churchill. His love of cigars started soon after graduating college, and it grew to as many as ten a day (the most I've ever done is 3 in one day). He was known to wake up, start a cigar, and begin his daily paperwork with a scotch. One fact of Manchester's three volume bio of Churchill was the question of his alcohol consumption. Was Churchill an alcoholic? No, in the opinion of the people near him. No alcoholic could drink that much and be functional. 

I found this article on Churchill and his habits. Extractions with comment below.

Smoking And Drinking Like Churchill

Winston Churchill had a legendary love of cigars and drinks. We asked two experts to examine his taste for the good life, and separate fact from fiction

Imagining the great Sir Winston Churchill without a cigar clamped in his jaws or between his fingers is almost impossible. Stories that relate his prodigious drinking abound. His appetites for both, in quantities that would render even the hardiest among us incapacitated, seem superhuman. What is real and what is legend? Was he truly—as he is so often portrayed—never without a smoke, drinking morning, noon and night? To uncover the truth, we reached out to the experts: Lee Pollock, trustee and advisor to the Board of The International Churchill Society, and Rob Fox, a co-owner of James J. Fox in London and Ireland.

Legend: Churchill smoked a staggering amount of cigars.

Reality: By any reasonable standard.

“The number of cigars he smoked is truly extraordinary,” says Fox, whose company sold its first cigars in 1787. Churchill was a client of the store (then called Robert Lewis) at London’s 19 St. James Street. Fox has handwritten ledgers, telegrams and other records that document that the soldier/statesman bought hundreds of thousands of cigars there. During one six-month stretch in 1964—the year before he died—Churchill bought 825 cigars: 250 in April, 275 cigars in June and 100 per month in July, August and September. “It was a pretty consistent pattern of what he was buying,” says Fox. And that wasn’t the only shop supplying him with cigars. “He was doing business with a lot of cigar stores,” says Fox, “but we were one of his largest suppliers.”

Legend: He would smoke just about anywhere.

Reality: According to photographic evidence.

While visiting New York City in 1931, Churchill momentarily forgot that Americans drive on the right (or wrong, in his view) side of the road and was struck by a car. Upon his return home to England, Churchill was strapped to a gurney and put into an ambulance. A photo of the moment shows him smiling happily, puffing on his cigar. It wasn’t the only time Churchill was photographed on a stretcher smoking a cigar...

Legend: He had vast stocks of smokes.

Reality: How big is your humidor?

“At Chartwell, his home in Kent, he had a cigar storage area with 3,000 or 4,000 cigars,” says Pollock.

Legend: His day began with a glass of Scotch.

Reality: It did indeed.

Just as portrayed in the film Darkest Hour, Churchill greeted the morning with a cigar and a Scotch and soda while in bed. Pollock explains that he would wake around 8 a.m. and begin reading through a stack of newspapers, not leaving bed until about 10. He would sip his Scotch, adding water to it throughout the day.

Legend: He was often inebriated.

Reality: He held his liquor.

“He drank a lot, but he didn’t drink near as much as popular legend would have it,” says Pollock. “The amount he drank was exaggerated.” It is true that Churchill drank Champagne with lunch, French reds and whites with other meals, Cognac later in the day and more Scotch at night. He also liked Martinis. (And he liked them exceptionally dry, unlike his ally, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who made them “very long on vermouth,” says Pollock.) But all this drinking didn’t mean Churchill was stumbling around. “There’s almost no record of him being drunk in public,” says Pollock, giving credence to Churchill’s famous line: “I have taken more out of alcohol than it has taken out of me.”

Legend: He was brand loyal.

Reality: True, for his drinks….

Churchill’s Scotch of choice was Johnnie Walker Red or Black (blends were far more prevalent than single malts in his day) and he adored Pol Roger Champagne. “He became quite friendly with the Pol Roger family,” says Pollock. Pol Roger created a special Champagne in his honor, Pol Roger Cuvée Winston Churchill.

…But not his cigars. “His favorite brand was Romeo y Julieta, but it wasn’t the only brand he smoked,” says Fox. Most cigar smokers in Churchill’s day stuck to one size from one brand. Not Sir Winston, who puffed a variety, much like the cigar smoker of today, only on a far grander scale. “He was buying all sorts of different brands and sizes,” says Fox. “He bought multiple boxes of multiple lines per order. One order could be three or four brands, and multiple boxes within those lines.”

Legend: He left few cigars behind.

Reality: He smoked most of them.

“There was never a big, huge auction of cigars at the end of Churchill’s life. It wasn’t as if he was buying to collect,” says Fox. “He was buying to consume.” A box of cigars once owned by Sir Winston—along with the Romeo y Julietas it contained—is on display at Fox’s shop in London, under glass, along with a cigar case once carried by the Prime Minister. 

In 2004, Tom Selleck portrayed Eisenhower in Ike: Countdown to D-Day. I've always loved this scene. General Montgomery despised smoking, and Ike smoked four packs a day (leading up to D-Day, it surged to six). They are preparing to brief King George VI and the Prime Minister on the Overlord plan. After the VIPs enter and the introductions are made, the briefing begins. The first thing that happens is the King lights up a cigarette (HRH smoked 60-100 Chesterfields a day), and Churchill starts a cigar. Monty can't stop  them from smoking, so Ike says, "I guess smoking is allowed," as he lights up his Camel. 

I can only image the PM is up there with an unlimited humidor and barrels of scotch for his enjoyment. I'll be enjoying a Romeo y Julieta later. Hope you're having a great weekend. 

Happy Friday the 13th!

Hope you're having a great week. Looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends tonight at a late Christmas gathering known as The Deplorables Party (Kiss our asses Mrs. Bill Clinton). Tomorrow the wife, an old friend and I are going to see William Shatner...Star Trek II and the Wrath of Khan tomorrow in Sugar Land TX. And I took Sunday off of work, so I have a long weekend. Looking forward it it. 

Don't know why I posted this song, other than it's been in my head for the last few days and I love it. Brings back memories of a summer trip to the Great Smoky Mountains in 1979 (not sure when we'll visit the Mediocre Hazy Hills, but that's coming).

Two great artist working together, John Stewart and Stevie Nicks, "Gold," 1979. Enjoy and have an even better weekend. 

Not exactly Boris and Natasha here,...

Being an intel geek, spying has fascinated me for ages. I remember the Walker case, and it's been reviewed for ages. Talk about a cluster f^&*. 

John Anthony Walker Jr. Spy Case

In 1985, dubbed by the press as the “Year of the Spy,” former U.S. Navy warrant officer John Anthony Walker Jr. was arrested for selling U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union.

Walker’s espionage began in 1967 when he walked into the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C., with material that would allow the Soviets to read encrypted naval messages.

During Walker’s time as an active spy, the Soviets went as far as to give him a device that, when placed on top of a cryptographic machine, would record the rotor settings, thus allowing the Soviets to decipher all communication sent using the machines. Among the information Walker provided the Soviets was naval cryptographic technology...

There are spies you rank with Walker, like the Rosenbergs. Then you have people like this:

Nuclear engineer, wife who tried to sell Navy secrets in peanut butter sandwich sentenced for espionage

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A former Navy nuclear engineer and his wife, who were accused of trying to sell military secrets using a peanut butter sandwich, found out how long they will spend in prison Wednesday.

A judge sentenced Jonathan Toebbe, 44, of Annapolis to 19 years and 4 months. He also ordered Toebbe to pay a fine of $47,500.

His wife, Diana Toebbe, 46, received a longer sentence: 21 years and 10 months. The judge ordered her to pay $50,000.

Federal investigators said the Toebbes tried to sell restricted data related to the design of of nuclear-powered Navy ships...

...“If not for the remarkable efforts of FBI agents, the sensitive data stolen by Mr. Toebbe could have ended up in the hands of an adversary of the United States and put the safety of our military and our nation at risk,” said U.S. William Attorney Ihlenfeld in a news release, issued the day of the sentencing. “The FBI keeps American citizens safe from enemies both foreign and domestic and this case is an excellent reminder of their important work.”

Peanut better. Sandy Burger was caught trying to sneak classified data out in his socks. Another example of how not to do it. But as I've said countless times, I don't knock stupid people. They insure I have a job.  :<)

Drones and force projection...

 A three-year-old meme on Facebook shows how force projection has changed in the last few  decades:

 

 

Sucks to be him.

 

But it points out how drones are changing warfare, especially force projection. The United States (and to a lesser degree Great Britain and other allies) have used aircraft carriers to project power far over our shores to secure the sea lanes since the mid-20^th century. This method cost a fortune (the new Ford Class carrier is 13 billion for the ship alone), complicated, requires other ships to form carrier fleets, and is becoming more problematic as other weapons are coming on to challenge these capital vessels. An open discussion these days, is the carrier today at the stage of the battleship a century ago? For my post, another discussion for another day.

 

Now I found this article very interesting, looking at the issue on how drones, and particularly drone sales, are shaping alliances and diplomacy.  

 

The Dawn of Drone Diplomacy

 

Unmanned Vehicles Are Upending the Arms Trade—and the Balance of Power

By Erik Lin-Greenberg December 20, 2022

 

Iranian-built drones now routinely puncture the skies over Kyiv. Elsewhere in Ukraine, Turkish- and American-manufactured drones help Ukrainian forces target Russian troops. These operations demonstrate the growing role of remote-controlled weapons in battle. The conflict also showcases how drone exports have increasingly become an instrument of diplomacy.

 

With drone use on the rise, states have capitalized on drone exports to increase their global clout. To be sure, this is part of an established trend: governments have long leveraged arms exports as a diplomatic tool. Beyond filling state coffers and defraying research and development costs, arms sales help states advance their foreign policy agendas. Selling or donating weapons to like-minded partners can be used to extract concessions, exert influence, counter rivals, and strengthen military ties. A new era of arms trade is emerging, in which new exporters such as Iran and Turkey are displacing traditional weapons suppliers and are using drone exports to extend influence beyond their borders. These exports threaten Washington’s influence and the security of its partners. To keep ahead, U.S. policymakers should help allies build drone programs while developing approaches to counter the threat of rival drones…

 

Drone diplomacy is on the rise because it meets a growing demand. International leaders are increasingly convinced that their defense and foreign policy ambitions hinge on possessing remote-controlled weapons. Drones have changed the character of modern conflict by allowing states to project power while minimizing risk to friendly personnel…

 

Recent combat operations in the Ukraine are the best advertising for this relatively new industry, showing smaller nations how to engage at distance with little cost…

 

While the US initially dominated the market, it became a signer of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR, limiting sales of US drones, even to allies. China and Israel, not signers of the MTCR, quickly filled the void…

 

Drone sales help the supplier’s diplomacy by deepening ties with the client government, by enabling the buyer nation to challenge adversaries for low cost, and allowing seller counties to use drone sales to leverage buyer nations for other items…  

 

…By deepening ties with client states, countering rivals, and extracting quid pro quo concessions, drone diplomacy threatens regional stability and challenges the influence of established arms exporters such as the United States. Indeed, drone suppliers such as Iran routinely arm states such as Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela that were otherwise unable to acquire drones because of sanctions and other political roadblocks. Newly acquired drones allow these states to reignite frozen conflicts, violate human rights, and undercut internationally led conflict-resolution efforts. In recent years, activists and lawmakers criticized Turkey’s sale of TB2 drones to Ethiopia for enabling strikes that reportedly killed dozens of civilians...

 

And the Biden administration wants to loosen sanctions on Iran. Wait, did I say that? Yes, allowing them to continue to expand their sales to disabling regimes all over the world.

 

I won’t go as far as saying the carrier is at the end of its life, but it’s sailing into the sunset. As of right now, we use massive carrier task forces to project power. But a 2^nd rate nation can field a few dozen drones and strike or recon a few dozen miles over the battlefield. When will they be able to develop/buy/deploy a few submarines that can launch single use drones and attack one-hundred miles deep into a country. When will that increase to five-hundred? One-thousand? And for the cost of a ten-thousand-dollar drone, eventually with artificial intelligence, not a 35-million-dollar airplane with a pilot. 

 

Better war through technology. We better be engaged now; our adversaries are already moving to fill the market. And a piece of paper like the Missile Technology Control Regime will be as effective at stopping future war as the 1922 Washington Naval Conference did in stopping World War II. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something great on a Saturday afternoon...

As I enjoy a pleasant afternoon with a scotch and finishing an excellent cigar (Rocky Patel Disciple), I picked up the mail and found a package in the box. A few weeks back I finished a great book, Extreme Ownership, written by two retired Navy SEALS who have moved into the corporate world, consulting on leadership. An excellent book on how leaders most own it, the good, the bad, the ugly.

Extreme Ownership is a book to be used, a how to manual if you will. I remember a great commander said of an Army Technical Manuel, they should be written on, dirty, have folded edges. Shows it's been used.  It has a lot of marks and writing in it. Here is the book from the top:

Just before Christmas I mailed it to their corporate office for them to sign. Last few years I've been sending books to the authors for signature. Find making it easy for them, i.e. inclosing return postage, helps! :<)

First it has the signature inside the book:

Michael,

Thanks for serving in the world's finest army, and for sharing your lessons on command and leadership. Persistence wins the world. Lead + win. 

LDF 

1-1 AD "Army SEAL" 

To explain, they were SEALS attached to the 1st Armored Division in Iraq. Many lessons in the book from their experience with the Army. 

There was also a note attached. 

Michael, A well-tabbed, highlighted and underlined book is the best complement you can pay any author. Thanks for serving in Army intelligence. As Jocko and I often say, we didn’t invent anything new. There is only what works and what doesn’t. Keep getting after it! Leif. 

 

Going to my shelve for signed books.  I feel as high as a kite now (Yes, a bit of nerd high). I think this will justify another excellent stick and some more whiskey (like I need justification). I told my wife about this and ended it with the quote from The Duke:

And I am not intoxicated...YET!

Gonna be fun at work at 0600 tomorrow!  

Not sure I'm fired up...

But looking forward to this year, in spite of feeling old.

With the wife out of town for a few days, I have some times to myself. Really great day, spent most of it cleaning, middle age sucks. But it is the first weekend of the year, and I'm actually looking forward it it.

Next weekend starts off with a party of several high school friends on Friday. The on Saturday we're attending a William Shatner presentation, get to see him live before he rejoins, I hate to say, most of his crew. He's doing a tour, giving the "inside" view of the making of the series and the movies. What the hell, I've spent money on other things that see to be a waste, but if you want to, it's not a waste. And I'll say this, he's 91 and still going strong for a man that age. I'm really wondering if he will outlast George Takei (85) and Walter Koenig (86).

In March my beautiful wife and I we celebrate 10 years together. To celebrate, in May we're heading on a cruise to Alaska. We will be attending the Blue Knights Regional Conference in April, and hopefully attending the International Conference in July. 

All in all, hope to have a great 2023, last few years have sucked. 

In hope for a quick start on a great year, from Pat Benatar''s seventh album Wide Awake in Dreamland, her first release, "All Fired Up," I can't believe I got that album during my Army basic course at Ft. Huachuca AZ in the spring of 1988. Damn time flies. But it's a kick ass song and one thing I will do before this month is out is watch Pat and Neil "Spider" Giraldo's admission into the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame a few months back. Long overdue IMHO.

With that, enjoy this video, and have a great weekend. 

The signs a young man is beyond help...

As a cop, you deal with a lot of screwed up situations. I saw this article and immediately thought the usual suspects would scream about "gun violence" or the need for more gun laws against law abiding citizens. 

A cliche is people call the cops when they want us to immediately solve an issue that's taken years to develop, or more accurately state, deteriorate. Well, let's look at this. Any other "expert" out there know how to handle this situation? 

10-Year-Old Boy Confessed To Shooting Mom In Face For Refusing To Buy Him Virtual Reality Headset, Police Say

Milwaukee, WI – A 10-year-old boy accused of shooting his mother in the face for refusing to buy him a virtual reality headset has been charged as an adult.

The boy’s attorney urged the court to set his bail at just $100 on the murder charge, noting that the suspect has no money, WITI reported...

...But the argument failed to sway Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Jane Carroll, who ultimately set the boy’s bail at $50,000, WITI reported.

“The nature, number and gravity of the alleged offenses are significant,” Carroll said, according to WITI. “This is an extremely aggravated offense…The facts of this case warrant significant cash bail.”

Your Honor, thank you. You have secured the general public and his family from the threat from this future serial killer. I'm not making a joke. More on that in a bit, but look at the details on this case.

The shooting occurred on Nov. 21 at the family’s home...according to police.

Investigators said the boy initially told them he shot his 44-year-old mother in the face by accident while twirling the gun on his finger, but that he later confessed to having shot her on purpose because she woke him up early and refused to buy him a virtual reality headset, CBS News reported.

“The bullet entered through the victim’s right eye, traveled through the victim’s brain, and then, bullet fragment(s) exited out the back side of the victim’s head through her skull,” court documents read, according to The Daily Beast. “The victim’s face had stippling on it, indicating that the gun was fired at the victim at close range.”

Now the deceased mom did take precautions. Per the police, the gun was locked up, but her son stole the keys and opened the safe the gun was store in. To make this even more screwed up. 

The boy also allegedly logged onto his mom’s Amazon account one day after the fatal shooting and ordered the virtual reality headset he’d been wanting, police said.

“When [the boy] saw his grandmother crying, he stated without any empathy or compassion: ‘I’m really sorry for what happened. I’m sorry for killing my mom,’” the criminal complaint read, according to The Daily Beast. “After apologizing for killing his mother, asked if his Amazon package arrived...”

The family seemed to understand this boy had serious issues:

The court was advised that none of the boy’s relatives have agreed to take him into their care if he is released from jail...

Police said one of the boy’s family members said they have been concerned about the suspect’s “rage” for years, WLS reported.

His relatives alleged he swung a puppy around by its tail when he was four, causing the animal to cry out in pain, according to police...

...One family member allegedly told police that they “felt bad for not stepping in earlier…because they knew that eventually something bad was going to happen,” WLS reported.

“He’s always said that he hears voices,” the boy’s grandmother, Lueritha Mann, told The Daily Beast. “There’s two little girls inside his head telling him to do things. And he has an imaginary friend that will tell him to do really bad things...” 

I wonder if they raised the issue with the parent (s) before. There was more than enough cause. A classic sigh  of mental issues is cruelty of animals. At four years of age, this kid decided to harm a puppy, knowingly inflicting pain on it. An animal today, humans tomorrow. From The News Minute:

...How often have we seen children taunting and pestering animals while the adults around them simply look the other way? How often do even egregious acts of cruelty to animals get treated with the seriousness and significance they deserve?

Often cruelty to animals is dismissed as a question of insufficient compassion towards other living creatures. But the problem goes deeper as, over time, various studies have shown that cruelty to animals can be a sign of mental illness and often be followed by more abusive behavior.

“When people are cruel to animals, it means they feel no empathy,” says Dr Jayanthini, a psychiatrist from Chennai. “Usually when we get a case of a child who displays aggressive behaviour, we try to ascertain whether he or she has been cruel to animals also, apart from other people. If he or she hasn’t, there is some semblance of empathy there,” she says.

The issues were visible before this kid would be going to Pre K. Could placement into a mental program help, we can only speculate. One thing I notice in this article is there is not mention of a father, so I'll assume the mother was a single parent. You can only speculate if a father (or other strong male influence such as an uncle, pastor, or family friend) was raising him, this boy's life may have gone another way. 

I'm not that familiar with Wisconsin law, but this kid's life is basically ruined. I wonder if we will hear from the terrorist group BLM, or will the usual race baiting poverty pimps show up to support the mom's family right now, having to bury one family member, and having a child heading to prison. On second thought, we know the answer. And no, no government program will have stopped this. Love, guidance, discipline. If the family won't act, a social worker can't put in what the parent (s) failed to.

UPDATE:

I read this article on Saturday morning.

A 6-year-old boy shot and wounded an elementary school teacher Friday in Newport News, Va., in a classroom with other pupils present, authorities said.

The female teacher, whose name was not disclosed, was shot with a handgun at about 2 p.m. at Richneck Elementary School, Newport News Police Chief Steve R. Drew said at a news briefing. He said the 6-year-old first-grader, who was taken into custody, had been involved in an altercation with the teacher. No students in the classroom were hurt.

...Newport News Public Schools Superintendent George Parker III said at the evening news conference that “today, our students got a lesson in gun violence,” and asked for community support to make sure guns were not available to youth. Teachers, he said, “cannot control access to weapons.”

“I’m sounding like a broken record today because I continue to reiterate that we need to keep the guns out of the hands of our young people,” he said. “This is evidence today that these are the things that happen when we have access to weapons...”

I don’t argue this boy should not have had access to a firearm at all. However, it’s too early in this (as of Saturday afternoon, nothing’s been released about how he got the gun) to see all the basic facts, and a critical question unanswered. Where are the parents? Still an open case. 

Officer Down

                                                                            

Chief of Police Justin McIntire
Brackenridge Borough Police Department, Pennsylvania
End of Watch Monday, January 2, 2023
Age 46
Badge 1501

Chief of Police Justin McIntire was shot and killed near the intersection of Brackenridge Avenue and Morgan Street during a foot pursuit of a wanted subject.

The man was wanted for a probation violation involving weapons and had fled from the Pennsylvania State Police during a traffic stop the previous night. He then fled on foot from Harrison Township the following morning during a traffic stop. At about 2:00 pm he was located near the border of Brackenridge Borough and Tarentum Borough and led officers on a foot pursuit for over two hours. He opened fire on officers in the 900 block of Brackenridge Avenue and again in the 800 block of 3rd Avenue in which Chief McIntire was killed and a Tarentum Borough officer was wounded.
After shooting both officers the man carjacked a vehicle and fled into the city of Pittsburgh. He fled into a wooded area following a vehicle pursuit and then opened fire on officers. He was shot and killed by return fire.

Chief McIntire had been sworn in as police chief of the Brackenridge Borough Police Department exactly four years earlier.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Nemo me impune lacessit

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Nemo me impune lacessit

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh.

Artillery issues in the Russian-Ukrainian War

Last week I posted on how supporting the Ukrainians has depleted both our supplies of Stinger air defense missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles. Now another interesting point has been brought up.

Friend, mentor, and fellow officer Colonel Sam Pearson, US Army (Retired) started life in a fun branch, Field Artillery. He got to shoot big guns which make a lot of noise and blew up stuff. But like most officers in the service, he had to grow up and become something that's not fun, just critical. Logistics. It's been a while since he's handled a howitzer, but he's still an expert in both. 

Last week COL Pearson had an excellent post on his Facebook page on the shortcomings of artillery ammunition in the Russian army, also reflecting issues with Iranian and North Korean shells. Reprinted with permission, emphases mine:

An artilleryman’s strategic view of what is happening in the Ukraine/ Russia conflict. 

In the last few months Ukrainian troops have noticed reduced use of artillery by the Russians. Better yet, more of the Russian shells and rockets are duds and don’t explode when they hit the ground. Ukrainian troops learned how to use their artillery ammo carefully because NATO nations did not have as much to provide as Russia already had. That’s because the Russians maintained larger stockpiles of munitions and had a lot older stuff that could be used somewhat safely by Russian artillerymen, but were more likely to fail to explode to land where aimed.

For the first six months of the war Russia was able to fire a lot more shells and rockets at the Ukrainians than the Ukrainian were capable of. That changed because Russia, like the NATO nations supplying Ukraine, is running out of artillery ammunition. Existing inventories are largely gone and munitions firms worldwide have all the business they can handle. Russia does not have as much capacity for manufacturing enough munitions to replace what has been expended or destroyed by the Ukrainians, who carefully attacked all Russian ammo stocks they could find and hit. Plus they captured a lot and promptly used those on the Russians, notably after their breakout from Kharkhiv this fall. Russia has few foreign sources of munitions and those sources have encountered problems. For example, North Korea sold Russia large quantities of shells, much of it near its “use by” date. These munitions were moved to Ukraine via the Trans-Siberian railroad. Russia has had problems lately with that rail line and that has delayed some of the North Korea munitions shipments. Another source was Iran, which didn’t have as much to spare as North Korea but was able to get it to the Russians quickly.

That left neighboring Belarus, which Russia has pressured to enter the war to assist Russian forces in Ukraine. The Belarussian leader is pro-Russia but most Belarussians are not and support Ukraine. Because of that, Belarus cannot send troops into Ukraine but Belarussian ammo stocks and manufacturing capabilities are available. As with Iran and North Korea, Belarus has to be paid

One of the problems Russia has is that the shelf life of most munitions varies from 5-20 years, depending on the component (shell, fuze, electronics, batteries or propellant.) Artillery shells and rockets use various types of explosives, notably as propellants, that degrade over time. Western nations spend a lot of money to remove elderly munitions by recycling them. This is expensive but it is a major reason why Western munitions are more reliable and less dangerous for users.

When the Cold War ended in 1991 Western nations were able to safely dispose of munitions that were too old to be safe and reliable. Russia had more of these munitions and little cash or sense of urgency in safely disposing of their elderly artillery shells and rockets. Storage facilities containing these expired munitions eventually began to randomly explode in a spectacular fashion. Russia then sought to dispose of the oldest and most unstable munitions in controlled explosions that did not destroy structures and kill or injure nearby military or civilian personnel. This disposal process is still underway and Russia keeps track of how old munitions are and knows which munitions recently passed their use-by date and can be safely delivered to artillery units for use. This is one reason why Ukrainians experience many Russian shells and rockets fired at them that are very inaccurate and often do not detonate when they land. For Russian artillerymen, a few of these shells and rockets explode when fired, often killing or injuring members of the gun crew.

Blow up when you pull the lanyard? Hate it when that happens. Then again the Russian Army is hurting for manpower right now, likely one of the reasons here.

As artillery is a major weapon on both sides of this war, the Ukrainians are making efficient use of their assets. The Russians reportedly are burning through stockpiles faster than can be refurbished. From The Telegraph:

While forces had previously used 60,000 artillery shells per day, they now only use 19,000 to 20,000 shells. Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said that troops will have to scale back.

I've often wondered if Putin really considered what would happen if he crossed the border with Ukraine. Perhaps his generals believed this would be a pushover attack, or maybe  Putin believed it. I can only speculate. But something Vlad would have been wise to remember, the three word question General of the Army and later President Dwight Eisenhower would always ask his staff when looking at an operation: "And then what?" Ike wanted ideas though though. Putin either didn't think, or didn't think it thorough. 

Happy New Year..Same Old Lang Syne

The New Year is upon us, and I always come back to this classic from Dan Fogelberg. I don't know if there is an "official" video, but this is a good one. 

A chance encounter of a former love, and catching up over the hours. Something is still there, but you have gone on in life, and it is behind you. Life everything in the past.

Something to remember as you face the New Year's Eve, and the party, champaign, resolutions. Life goes on.

Happy New Year.

Live-streaming the cops.

I've been a cop for almost a quarter century, and I've never had an issue with someone using their camera phone on me, as long as it's from a safe distance. I was once conducting a DWI investigation and a friend of the driver got up close and said, "I'm recording this..." I instructed her to get on the sidewalk and record all she wants. She refused at first and after explaining she had ten seconds to move her ass until I arrested her for Walking in street where sidewalk provided (Yes, that is a city ordinance), she finally backed down.

Now I must say this is an interesting angle to this concept. You're not recording a police encounter, you are live broadcasting it. And that may invite others to try to interfere.  

Fourth circuit judge and lawyer face off in legal smackdown over live streaming traffic stops

Argument pits First Amendment rights against Fourth Amendment reasonableness

The traffic stop Consider the real dangers of live streaming to officer safety. Be able to articulate them. 

Appellate oral arguments are normally governed by protocol and decorum. A dustup last month in the Fourth Circuit was a notable exception. Before checking out what the brouhaha was about, let’s look at the facts that led to it.

Dijon Sharpe was a passenger in a car properly stopped for a traffic violation by Winterville (North Carolina) Police Department Officers Helms and Ellis. Sharpe began live-streaming the encounter with Facebook Live to his Facebook account. Helms asked Sharpe if he was doing Facebook Live and Sharpe said he was. Helms reached inside the car for Sharpe’s phone, pulling on his seat belt and shirt. Helms explained Sharpe couldn’t do Facebook Live “because that’s an officer safety issue.”

However, Helms didn’t take Sharpe’s phone. Sharpe continued to live stream and message with people watching. Later, Ellis told Sharpe he was free to record the police, adding that the police recorded also, but he wouldn’t be allowed to live stream because that let everyone who followed him online know where the encounter was occurring and there might be just one officer on scene. Ellis said if Sharpe tried to Facebook Live in the future, his phone would be taken, and he would be arrested.

Sharpe filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 lawsuit alleging his First Amendment rights were violated...

In two different orders, the U.S. District Court granted summary judgment to the officers, department and town based on the pleadings. The court concluded no circuit had previously found a passenger had a right to live stream a traffic stop. Additionally, the Fourth Circuit had not even decided a passenger had a right to record, let alone live stream a stop.

Sharpe appealed to a 3-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit. In briefing and oral argument, his attorney said other circuits’ decisions that found a right to record traffic stops supported finding a right to live stream them. He contended a generalized statement regarding officer safety did not override Sharpe’s First Amendment right. Live streaming served a strong public and governmental interest in deterring police misconduct. It would also keep officers safer by deterring conduct against them which would be captured on video.

Sharpe’s First Amendment crusade drew significant attention from civil liberties and press advocates. Seven amicus briefs were filed in support of his claims. 

Counsel for the officers, the department and the town, in briefing and at oral argument, pointed out the lack of any case that held there was a right to live stream traffic stops. Even within the circuits that found a right to record police, none addressed the right of a passenger in a traffic stop to record.

Counsel also argued that live streaming presented additional risks to officers by alerting untold viewers in present time to the location of the stop thereby creating the potential for a crowd control operation. The Supreme Court had long recognized the inherent dangers of traffic stops for officers and had upheld reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on driver and passenger conduct for purposes of officer safety.

With the advent of flash mobs, etc, by way of instant video communications, this is an issue I'd never thought of. But it makes sense, I've had incidents on the street where things got tense quickly and people who have no dealing with the people being handled by the cops show up. All of a sudden two cops and four people in a car become two cops, four people in a car, and 20-30 people on the sidewalk. 

But it was Judge Paul Neimeyer that began a crusade to elevate officer safety to a Fourth Amendment right of police. Less than a minute into Sharpe’s argument, he began interrupting and asking, “What rights does an officer have to maintain control of the circumstances during a traffic stop?”

To answer the question, the officer has no right to maintain control. He has the legal authority granted to him by the state to control a crime scene. Call me a bit particular about that point, but rights do not come because of a badge, but you are "endowed by your Creator," with them. 

That being said, the officer had the authority and duty to maintain control of a potentially hostile scene, with any legal means. If there is an issue with the auto driver/passengers, get back up. If people living in the area show up and may cause a problem, get more back up. If the natives are getting restless, call for backup. Twenty civilians see ten cops back up the original two, they will likely get calmer. Showing the flag if you will.

I have no doubt this will be heading to the Supreme Court in the future. Something like this can easily be split decisions by two district courts (i.e., the 9th Circus in California and the 5th Circuit in Louisiana). Once that happens, SCOTUS almost immediately takes the case to settle the matter. I'll keep an eye on this in the future.

We only have some many arrows in our quiver

While I'm generally in favor of our support of the Ukrainians, there is an issue. There are only so  many weapons in our arsenal.  

We're pushing thousands of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles out that we are depleting our stockpile. And these are items you don't just pick up at the hardware store. They  have to be ordered, the assembly line must  be re-established, etc. More from this article 

Raytheon CEO Outlines Severe Depletion of Javelin and Stinger Stockpiles amid Ukraine Aid Push

Simi Valley, Calif. — Raytheon Technologies CEO Greg Hayes today described the extensive depletion of U.S. stockpiles — equivalent to years’ worth of production — of Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles amid Washington’s program to support the Ukrainian war effort...

...Hayes spoke about U.S. defense industrial production during a panel on Ukraine at the Reagan National Defense Forum, a high-profile defense-industry confab that attracts a bipartisan congressional delegation, defense contractors, and top Pentagon officials every year.

Although Raytheon is producing 400 Javelins per month with Lockheed Martin as a manufacturing partner, he said, the ongoing fighting in Ukraine has burned through existing weapons stocks.

“The problem is we have consumed so much supply in the first ten months of the war,” he said. “We’ve essentially used up 13 years’ worth of Stinger production and five years’ worth of Javelin production.”

“So the question is, how are we going to resupply, restock inventories,” Hayes added. Raytheon produced Stingers starting in 1977, but the Pentagon had not bought a new Stinger system since 2004, Hayes said in April.

As of May, Washington had sent 5,500 Javelins and 1,400 Stingers to Ukraine. Raytheon won a $624 million contract with the Army that month to backfill U.S. Stinger stocks...

When I served in 1st Battalion 3rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment at Ft Carson CO, we had a dome simulator for our Stinger gunner to practice with. Every year we got less than 10 Vietnam era Redeye missiles (the predatory to the Stinger) to live fire. Granted, this was enough training for most gunners (like simulator time for an airline pilot).

But this shows how easily you can go though your basic load of munitions quickly. And unlike fuel, oil, or small arms ammunition, missiles like this cannot be purchased off the shelf. We need a larger supply to draw upon with the rise of Russia, China and Iran. Not just for us, but our allies. Example one, Ukraine. Example two, Taiwan. 

Excuse me, but how is this a federal issue?

A few years ago a lesser-known NASCAR driver named Bubba Wallace found a garage door rope with the end tied into the shape of a hangman’s noose. And this became the latest cause celeb, proof of American racism (including anyone who had never watched NASCAR), in spite of the Mr. Wallace’s relative success and wealth in NASCAR. 

 So, the FBI sent in, ready, 15 agents to investigate the latest uprising of the KKK. Fifteen agents. Good lord, they didn’t put that manpower to look into the Hunter Biden laptop showing our current POTUS was taking bribes. All that money, manpower, and excitement to learn it was not the only one tied like that, and it had been so for months before anyone knew Wallace would use that garage. In other words, it was much ado about nothing. 

 

Not to be outdone, we now have federal authorities investigating a school library in Texas for LGBTQABCDEFG books.

 

A Texas superintendent ordered librarians to remove LGBTQ-themed books. Now the federal government is investigating.

The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has opened what appears to be the first-of-its-kind investigation into the Granbury Independent School District after it banned school library books dealing with sexuality and gender.

First question, why does the US Department of Education have an Office for Civil Rights? I looked this up:

The mission of the Office for Civil Rights is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the nation through vigorous enforcement of civil rights…

The Office for Civil Rights enforces several Federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance from the Department of Education. Discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin is prohibited by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; sex discrimination is prohibited by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; discrimination on the basis of disability is prohibited by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and age discrimination is prohibited by the Age Discrimination Act of 1975...

Forgive me, but doesn’t the US government have a Department of Justice already? Isn’t its job to enforce the federal laws of this nation? Doesn’t this include the civil rights laws of the federal government? Not sure which is a bigger waste, this or the Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General?

The U.S. Education Department’s civil rights enforcement arm has launched an investigation into a North Texas school district whose superintendent was secretly recorded ordering librarians to remove LGBTQ-themed library books.

Education and legal experts say the federal probe of the Granbury Independent School District — which stemmed from a complaint by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and reporting by NBC News, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune — appears to be the first such investigation explicitly tied to the nationwide movement to ban school library books dealing with sexuality and gender…

“…I acknowledge that there are men that think they’re women and there are women that think they’re men,” Glenn told librarians in January, according to a leaked recording of the meeting obtained, verified and published exclusively by the news outlets. “I don’t have any issues with what people want to believe, but there’s no place for it in our libraries.”

And they don’t. At least not in elementary school libraries. I can see this being appropriate for high school libraries, and maybe junior high, but not for elementary schools. Now the article is does not make clear if this was all school libraries, or just a particular grade level. 

But more to the point, this is not a federal issue. The libraries are paid for by the taxpayers (particularly the property owners through their taxes), and if they want to have a say in how their schools are operated, that is their business. 

More to the point, nothing is being banned. From the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of banned: 

: to prohibit especially by legal means

ban discrimination

Is smoking banned in all public buildings?

 

also  : to prohibit the use, performance, or distribution of 

ban a book

ban a pesticide

“By legal means?" This was administrative, not legal, so no. Is the “use, performance, or distribution” of these books prohibited? Not at all. You can go to your local bookstore and buy them, or you can get on Amazon.com and order them. If little Jane or Johnny want to read them at school on their lunch break, no one is stopping the kid. But a library, public or private, is not required to provide them. Any library has limits to what it can purchase

Last week I published on the American Free News Network an article on the Congress passing a ridiculous bill funding “de-escalation” training for local law enforcement. It gave an average of $4,000 a year per agency for training most agencies are doing to one degree or another. A point is federal money always comes with strings attached. The bigger point is Democrats want to federalize local law enforcement.

Now we see another example of the federal government trying to stick it’s nose into a local issue. If the parents and taxpayers of the Granbury Independent School District want to control what books are available to their children at their schools, that is, get this, their business. Not the business of a bureaucrat in a completely worthless agency in the District of Columbia. Hopefully this school board tells the feds and ACLU (six of one, half dozen of the other) where they can stick this complaint. Maybe Mitch McConnell can look at deleting this Civil Rights division of the Department of Education as a “priority” of the Republicans in the senate. 

A Holy Night...

If can see Mannheim Steamroller, do so. Their music is hauntingly beautiful My wife and I saw them a few years back and the show rivals groups like ELO and Paul McCarthy.

The perfect song for Christmas Eve, a Holy Night indeed. 

Merry Christmas. 

A look at the funeral of one America's greatest warriors

On my Bucket List is visiting his grave. I saw Ike's in 86, Bradley's in 19. But I will see General George Smith Patton's grave after I retire. 

Found this video by pure accident. I've read about the end in the classic Patton: Ordeal and Triumph, one of the two books the movie Patton was based on (the other is Omar Bradley's A Soldier's Story).

I remember one of the scenes of the movie, where he almost gets killed by an ox cart. His actual cause of death was almost as unbelievable, especially for a man well described as, "A pure warrior...what a magnificent anachronism." 

RIP General Patton. 

Texas law and Texas K9 killers...

Non cops just don't understand the relationship between a K9 and the two legged cops they serve with. Often the four legged cops are braver than the two legged version, and smarter. So it tears us up when one does down in the line. It's especially hard on the handler's family as they are often housed with the handler. The dog is part of the family.

A few years back the state upgraded the penalty for killing a police K9 to a 2nd Degree Felony. And a POS in San Antonio has been found guilty of killing one of our K9 cops. Good riddance. 

Jury finds man who killed BCSO K-9 Chucky guilty on all charges

Judge will sentence Matthew Mireles in February

SAN ANTONIO – After six days of trial, a jury on Thursday found the man accused of killing a Bexar County Sheriff’s Office K-9 guilty.

Matthew Mireles was facing one count of interfering with a police service animal, one count of evading arrest, and eight counts of aggravated assault of a public servant...

...The charges stem from a chase in January 2019 that started in Karnes County. Police tried to pull him over on a routine traffic stop, but Mireles led officers on a pursuit throughout Karnes County for about 30 minutes before moving into Bexar County.

Mireles fired several shots at the officers who were chasing him.

The chase ended in the area of Loop 1604 and Highway 151, where Mireles got out of his truck, leaving it in reverse.

Deputies would eventually deploy K-9 Chucky, a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois, to try to subdue him. Chucky was able to bite Mireles before Mireles fired several shots at the dog, killing him.

A judge is expected to sentence him in February. Because Mireles had previously been convicted, his sentence could be enhanced and he faces anywhere between 25 years to life in prison.

Gotta love the name of the K9, Chucky. Brings back memories of 1980s movie nights.  Hopefully the turd never sees the outside of a prison cell. 

RIP Chucky. Till our next Roll Call at the Rainbow Bridge.

A look at an interesting issue with carrying concealed.

I've been carrying a weapon almost constantly for a quarter century. Part of the job, and with the surge in crime recently, I'd rather have and not need, then need and not have. My normal off duty is an Sig P365, in a hip holster with one extra magazine slot. For other occasions I have a shoulder holster with two 15 round magazines. Better have more ammo than not enough.

I found this article recently and it brings out a good point on carrying extra magazines. The reason is not running out of ammo. It's in case you have a jam.

Why You Should Carry More Than One Magazine

When choosing to carry a concealed firearm, gun owners are often faced with a number of decisions…How best to carry? What type of holster makes the most sense for everyday carry (EDC)? One question that is frequently asked at gun stores and during firearms training classes is “Why should I carry more than one magazine?” The answer isn’t as simple as it may seem.

Contrary to what we see in movies or on television, the need for more than one magazine is rarely due to simply running out of ammunition. In fact, according to FBI statistics, on average, in most defensive situations, gun owners only discharge three rounds over three seconds from a distance of three yards. This is known as the “rule of threes.”

The real reason it’s important to carry an extra magazine is because of potential gun stoppages related to a magazine malfunction. No matter what gun you own, pistol magazines have a lifespan and wear out over time. Feed lips and followers can become worn, springs lose their strength, and the magazine itself can get dented or dinged from training. Part of the responsibility of gun ownership involves the regular inspection of your firearm before use. However, unlike a car for example, there’s no check engine light on a magazine to let you know it’s time for maintenance. It will simply stop functioning and in a defensive scenario, there’s no sound worse than the click of the trigger with no bang. Simple checks on your magazine like pushing the follower up and down to ensure it functions, or even checking to see that it’s clear of dirt or carbon build up, will go a long way towards ensuring your pistol functions properly every time.

The primary magazine is the one loaded in your pistol. Primary magazines are typically smaller in size to make concealment easier and to prevent printing. What’s printing? That’s when the outline of your gun visibly displays on your clothing when concealed. A backup magazine can usually be concealed in locations that will not print. Popular EDC gear choices include a belt-mounted magazine pouch or a pocket magazine carrier. It is important to ensure that your backup magazine is secure and located in the same place each time you carry concealed. This will also allow you to carry a magazine with a higher capacity because of the vertical position of the backup magazine, making it easier to conceal and access in a reload situation.

Gun stoppages aren’t necessarily caused by magazines, either. If your pistol isn’t regularly cleaned or maintained, you could have issues such as double feeds or stove pipes. Regularly lubricating your gun and replacing the recoil spring every 3,000 rounds are two key preventative measures that responsible gun owners employ to maintain their firearms...

I will say you can never maintain your weapons too much, but the point about the springs is notable. Never considered the recoil spring, but it makes sense. I did get off my ass a few years back and replace the springs in all of my duty magazines (ten in all) for my duty Sig 229 40 caliber. Great article and excellent points on how to safety carry, and be ready when needed. 

New York is screwing it's cops, and the public, again.

NYPD, last cops out, turn out the lights. 

Back in the bad days of Davis Dennis as mayor, New York had over 2000 murders in a year. That's over six a day. Fortunately, the people in the city had enough, elected a strong mayer who hired a cop as his police commissioner, and the took the shackles off the police. One of the procedures was having the cops assertively challenge suspects on the street. 

They see a know felon on the street, stop him to talk, conduct a Terry Patdown and feel the outline of a gun. Detain the suspect, retrieve the weapon, the felon gets busted for possession of a firearm and sent back to prison. The fact he was about to rob or kill someone is the great news, and violent crimes collapsed over the Giuliani term. 

I am no fan of Mike Bloomberg, but I'll give him this, he kept Giuliani's police procedure in place. Well, last year New York elected a former NYPD captain as their new mayor. And the rest is not good.

NYPD ends prolonged street stops to check for warrants after lawsuit

Police slammed by law enforcement union

December 18, 2022 3:47pm EST

NYPD says rise in crime by, against young Americans a ‘disturbing trend’

Fox News’ Laura Ingle reports on the crime crisis as the NYPD reports a growing number of adolescents involved in violent crime.

The New York City Police Department ended a policy of prolonged street stops to check for arrest warrants and ties to other cases as part of a lawsuit settlement...

...The NYPD settled a lawsuit Friday with stipulations that police officers only check for arrest warrants if they have "reasonable suspicion" and that the suspect "was committing, committed or is about to commit" a crime or if there's probable cause that the suspect has committed a crime.

The class-action suit, filed in 2019, challenged the stops as unconstitutional, citing the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on illegal detention and unlawful search and seizure.

The Legal Aid Society, a public defender organization, filed the lawsuit with two outside law firms.

And women, children and minorities will be hardest hit. But I find this interesting. As in typical. 

Under the agreement, the NYPD must train all officers in the new policy by Jan. 31. It will also pay $453,733 in damages and attorneys’ fees for five named plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs will each receive between $3,000 and $19,000.

So the two "harmed" individuals will receive a total of 10% of the money from the settlement, and the lawyers will make out like bandits. Reminds me of a classic line from Archie Bunker. After someone stole his wallet and he's explaining the facts of the incident to his family, there is a knock at the door. He answers it, and a gentlemen is outside:

"Mr. Bunker, I'm an attorney..."

"Oh, I don't need a lawyer. I've already been robbed." 

New York, hate to say it, you're gonna have to hit rock bottom again before you elect competent people to run the city again. Until then, God help you.