[SANDIEGOUNIONTRIBUNE] Jose Arias Martinez is 83 and has lived in Tijuana’s Colonia Libertad neighborhood for 40 years. He remembers when a patch of American soil a few hundred yards from his house was the busiest and most famous spot on the U.S.-Mexico border for illegal crossings. The good old days...
Every day, hundreds of migrants who were heading north for work gathered at dusk and waited for darkness before moving through the brush and up the canyons, into San Diego and points beyond. So many people used it as a staging ground that a marketplace emerged: Vendors in tarp-covered stalls sold food, clothes, shoes — even shots of tequila, said to be good for courage because the journey was risky. Bandits were in the nearby hills. Border Patrol agents were on the canyon rims. I've seen a few shots of tequila make people stupid. I supposed that's sometimes been mistaken for brave.
Nobody waits at the dirt field any more. Ask Arias why and he nods at the rust-colored 10-foot-tall metal wall that sits a few paces from his front door. “It ended,” he said, “when they built the fence.” Nope, nope. That'd never work...
At first glance, what happened here may seem to some like it belongs in a Donald Trump campaign speech about the need for a border wall. Sure does combine cause and effect.
Hordes of people breaking the law, swarming into America under cover of night, overrunning the Border Patrol. Then a fence goes up, and it stops. Imagine that for about fifteen hundred miles.
But the border is not a soundbite, and the complete story is far more complicated. The wall has had dire consequences elsewhere. Ahah. The law of Cause and Side Effects.
It’s pushed migrants east, into the treacherous desert and mountains. By some estimates, more than 5,000 people have died trying to cross there, a doubling of the fatality rate. So extending the wall would stop them from killing themselves in the desert?
It’s separated families who might have stayed together across a more porous border, They don't check your ID on the U.S. side going into Messico, so what's stopping the happy reunification of such families?
turned what some characterized as a temporary, circulating labor supply in the U.S. into a more fixed population of underground residents. Those bridges between the two countries remain, with no ID check.
And it’s used tax dollars that might have gone to other things — health care, transportation, schools. Who paid for the wall? If it was the feds, it was well within their range of responsibility. If the wall was built by state or local government, then the argument's valid, though there's a counterargument that cutting the flow of illegal immigrants saves having to spend more money for health care, transportation or schools.
So whether you think what happened in this one small slice of the border is beneficial probably depends a lot on how you digest the complex, swirling, super-hot stew that is American immigration policy and practice. First you gotta get past the scorching, superheated prose...
This is a place that has always meant different things to different people. You might say walls mean different things, depending on which side of them you're on. They're supposed to.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
The author of this article epitomizes why Trump got traction. The elites have closed their mind to anything other than their point of view and are determined to spin and control the news in their favor. Some are useful tools like this author, others want the cheap disposable labor. Both have poisoned the US government to whre people are so angry they are willing to vote for a dunderhead who spouts off about this issue despite severe inadequacies of character and intelligence on many other things.
You brought this on yourselves libtards. When Trump loses, and you try to cram down this crap even more, these people are going to blow up like a volcano. You want a revolution, this is the way to go about it. Problem is, you libtards not the ones with the guns nor the balls to act. These angry people are. That should frighten you into truthfulness and facing facts, but I doubt it. Good luck following King George III into history.
As usual, the F-35 crowd hiding behind the "Apples vs. Oranges" crap.
J. Michael Gilmore, the U.S. Defense Department's top weapons-tester, confirmed on April 26 that the Pentagon will conduct a head-to-head test of a new F-35 stealth fighter and an old A-10 attack jet in the close-air-support mission.
Critics of the high-tech, budget-busting F-35 and fans of the tried-and-true A-10â--âa rugged, purpose-built ground-attack planeâ--âapplauded the announcement.
But at least one person is not pleased. Lt. Col. Joshua Wood, an F-35 pilot and the commander of the U.S. Air Force's 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevadaâ--âthe unit responsible for developing new tactics for the F-35, A-10 and other front-line Air Force fightersâ--âtold Combat Aircraft that the test will not be helpful.
"You run the risk of drawing unrealistic conclusions," Wood told reporter Steve Davies, who has done excellent work on the 422nd TES and F-35 tactics.
Wood stressed that it was not up to him to decide whether there would be a test. "Dr. Gilmore is the quality assurance check on the military's acquisition system," Wood said. "With that in mind, he wants that comparison" between the F-35 and the 1970s-vintage A-10.
Actually, Congress more than anyone else wants the comparison. Lawmakers have repeatedly blocked the Air Force from retiring its roughly 300 A-10s in order to free up a few billion dollars for F-35s.
Wood's problem with the F-35-versus-A-10 test, he told Davies, is that the two planesâ--âone, single-engine, fast and flimsy; the other twin-engine, slow and sturdyâ--âare too different for a direct comparison. "What I would say is that it's very important to compare apples to apples."
"When you try to have a comparative analysis of a single-mission platform like the A-10 against a platform like the F-35, which is fundamentally designed from the ground up to do something completely different," Wood added, "you run the risk of drawing unrealistic conclusions."
Citing War Is Boring's summer 2015 publication of a leaked test report describing a mock dogfight between an F-35 and a much older F-16â--âa trial in which the nimble F-16 performed much better than the more sluggish F-35 didâ--âWood continued:
"Take [basic fighter maneuvers], for example. You fly off a 'clean' F-16 against a 'clean' F-35â--âwho will win? That's a difficult question to answer. In some parameters, the F-16 is going to dominate. It's a day [visual flight rules] fighter that can turn inside its own butt."
By contrast, Wood said, "the F-35 was built with stealth to be able to go places that no one else can go and to be lethal without anyone seeing it. Those are two very different design points. So, what if I draw a conclusion that the F-35 can be [out-maneuvered] by the F-16â--âtherefore the F-16 is better? Hmmm. Well, let's throw in a couple enemy [surface-to-air missiles]. Then let's see how the F-16 by itself does."
"In other words," Wood concluded, "you can design tests if you have inside knowledge to showcase strengths and weaknesses and abuse them to your own bias if you wanted to do a disingenuous comparative analysis."
To be clear, Wood's squadronâ--âwhich works for Air Combat Commandâ--âwill not be the one conducting the F-35-against-A-10 trial. That job belongs to the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, which works for the overall Air Force.
But Wood offered what could turn out to be a preview of the test's resultâ--âthat both the F-35 and A-10 can do close air support. But they would do it differently, especially against a well-armed foe with radars and air-defense missiles.
The slow, non-stealthy A-10 flies very lowâ--âdown to 100 feetâ--âin order to avoid detection by enemy sensors. "A-10 guys don't like radar threats," Wood said. "We enjoy the tactics that they force, being down at 100 feet, but when you pop over that ridgeline and you're exposed, you are just sitting there trundling towards the target thinking, 'Don't find me. Don't find me. Don't find me. Okay, good. Bombs are off. Let's get the Hell out of here.'"
With its speed and stealthâ--âespecially compared to the A-10â--âthe F-35 can come in high. "I am able to locate and plot the threat relative to the target and can assess whether an attack is tactically feasible or not. If it is, I can take out the target without the threat knowing I'm there and egress without being targeted."
Likewise, while the A-10 carries more than a thousand rounds of ammunition for its powerful 30-millimeter cannon, the F-35 carries just 181 rounds for its own 25-millimeter gun. So the A-10 can shoot its gun in support of ground troops, but the F-35 might rely more on small, precise bombs.
That doesn't worry Wood. He cited statistics from Afghanistan that show that a wide range of aircraftâ--âincluding bombers that don't even have a gunâ--âhave flown close-air-support missions. "Day after day, we've executed CAS with zero rounds."
#1
...I feel sorry for LTCOL Wood. Right now, the few -35s in the USAF inventory are being tended 24/7 by handpicked LockMart/USAF crews and the results still ain't good (one test about a month ago under the most favorable conditions imaginable got ONE -35 out of six off the ground after a day of trying). If that can't be beat, then all the Hog has to do is show up.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/09/2016 5:25 Comments ||
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#2
How about allowing the end user/customer (Army) do the evaluation? Or better yet, just move the mission and resources directly to the end user.
When designing and conducting tests, intimate knowledge of the systems being tested allows the outcome to be pre-ordained. Ran many tests of computer systems in my career and it was easy to design them to give the desired answer.
The problem is deciding what, in an objective world, the correct answer is.
Here is the scenario for both planes:
Call goes out for CAS. Pilots jump in planes and depart to target area. Smoke has marked one target. Hit target. Loiter over area for more targets from the ground controller. Hit targets. As eyes above the ground be able to spot hostile movement and adjust fire and relay intel to ground forces. Fly home. Damage assessment and how close you came to the target with your weapons will be graded.
Pretty easy and something the A10 does every day. If the F-35 can take over, it should be able to accomplish the above fairly easily.
I bet it can't which is why the pilot mafia has their panties in a bunch.
#7
Darth, somehow I doubt that the AF is going risk one of their precious, oh so expensive F-35s flying down in the weeds just to help a few ground pounders.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
05/09/2016 10:53 Comments ||
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#8
Let's put the f16 and f15 through the same tests and judge them by how well they strafe...
#10
USAF preordained tests: Went to a Red Flag exercise with a bunch of intruders; 2 of them were painted an experimental desert mottled tan;
we sent both as a section and they jumped the Ascot boys. When they got back the 2 star running the show told our C.O. he couldn't fly those two birds together again. Overhead photos showed the tan birds invisible against the ground.
sad when a bomb truck can take out a F-15/16.
#11
Yer doing it wrong. Want to show off your shiny new plane? Fly it head-to-head against the A-10 in an air superiority exercise. That will show those warty Warthog lovers!
#13
The damn plane was pitched as a dual use aircraft to be used as a ground support aircraft. It was sold to replace the A10. Just like every fighter prior to it, the Air Force lied to get their new toy. They are good at this. I remember the F16 was sold as a ground support aircraft. Then the f18 and on and on. But then on delivery they are hard configured for aerial combat only. When called out the Air Force standard reply is that the aircraft is a ground support bird but it's not configured for it and it will take bundles of money to reconfigure. This stunt is getting old.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
05/09/2016 18:20 Comments ||
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#14
That's because people keep defining ground support as strafing form fifty feet when that's no longer a viable strategy against opponents with AA missiles.
#15
They lost six A10s in a three week period in Desert Storm before they were reassigned to areas without AA support. That was against the monkey model Soviet stuff from 1990.
#3
...FWIW, the Conventional Wisdom (TM) right now is that Prince's will actually says to destroy anything that might be in the vaults at Paisley Park - and there's way too many people who stand to make way too much money off of that, so you've got people trying to figure out how to get around it. And until they do, this is what you get.
It does sound strange that Prince didn't have a will - for all his eccentricities, he was a damned smart and level-headed businessman who was VERY successful in a tough, dog-eat-dog business. For him not to have taken this one elementary precaution just doesn't make sense.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/09/2016 5:08 Comments ||
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[Breitbart] Britain’s largest Islamic charity says it wants to "break down barriers" and portray Islam positively by launching a new advertising campaign which will slap the phrase "glory to Allah" on the side of London buses.
The new campaign by Islamic Relief is, ostensibly, targeted at raising donations for their Ramadan aid to Syria, but is attracting attention for the "hundreds" of buses which will be decorated with the phrase "Subhan’Allah", or ’Glory to Allah’.
Muslims reading the advert are told that to "gather the rewards of Ramadan", they must to donate to Islamic Relief, and organisation which had its accounts with banking giant HSBC closed due to "concerns that cash for aid could end up with terrorist groups abroad".
Public transport has been chosen for the Islamic re-branding in London, Manchester, Leicester, Birmingham, and Bradford ‐ all UK locations with high and growing Muslim populations, reports the Sunday Times.
#2
I thought this might be the new Mayor's first official act.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/09/2016 7:27 Comments ||
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#3
At first glimpse one would think a bus marked in Arabic would be a safe transport.
Then I found "Subhan’Allah" is really a prelude to the Tasbhih of annihilation and ascension. I can only imagine this marketing scheme will incense the already unstable faithful.
#4
About fifteen years ago the UK Charity Commission investigated allegations made against charities in the UK. There were then some 185,000 registered charities in England and Wales, and analysts knew that at least a dozen were penetrated by terrorist organizations. The Commission report indicated that there was nothing to worry about. Since then, John Bull has stuck his head in the sand, or up his... Londonistan has finally become a reality.
Posted by: Albemarle Prince of the Chinese7177 ||
05/09/2016 15:31 Comments ||
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#5
Someone should follow up this 'Glory to Allah' with one with the exact same banner - but also featuring that picture of the Israeli bus. Glory to Allah indeed.
[LATINO.FOXNEWS] Venezuelan politician German Mavare, leader of the opposition UNT party, died Friday after being shot in the head, an liquidation that occurred in the western state of Lara, his organization said.
"The board of the UNT expresses its deepest sorrow for the slaying of colleague German Mavare. We demand justice and an end to violence," was the message posted on the Twitter account of the UNT party, headed by tossed in the clink You have the right to remain silent... ex-presidential candidate and former governor of Zulia state, Manuel Rosales.
The mayor of Iribarren in Lara state, Alfredo Ramos, said on his Twitter account minutes after the incident occurred before dawn Friday: "German Mavare, of the popular urbanization of Carucieña, a tireless fighter for social causes, has just been hit by a bullet in the head."
For his part, Luis Florido, an opposition politician of the Voluntad Popular party, said on Twitter: "German Mavare died. A red bullet ended his life. Politics today is high risk. We demand an investigation of the case #NoMoreViolence #Lara".
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Chavez remaining hard boys or their buddies the Cubans?
Not a peep in the US libtard Press or Obama administration, redundant terms I know.
[CNN] Donald Trump says Puerto Rico has "far far too much debt," and the U.S. government shouldn't bail out the island.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee calls himself the "king of debt." His long career has included four bankruptcy filings by his companies. But he says Puerto Rico has gone too far and there's only one way out: cut spending.
"I wouldn't bail them out," Trump told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday.
Puerto Rico is in crisis mode. It has run up $70 billion in debt, a staggering amount for an island of under 3.5 million people.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... on Sunday came up with a novel scheme to rein in the country’s high unemployment levels, saying that every company should take on one unemployed person.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s main private sector organization, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), has around one-and-a-half million members, Erdogan said in a speech to business leaders.
"If each member takes on one person... that would mean work for 1.5 million unemployed people" said Erdogan.
That's no more senseless than anything Bernie Sanders has said...
"Unfortunately, we cannot take our money to the grave. It remains here. In that case, let’s give work to those who don’t have any," he told a conference on health and work security in Istanbul.
Ask Hillary who is getting her fortune...
"What would a company lose?" he asked rhetorically.
"Will it collapse if it hires one person? No, on the contrary, it will benefit. It’s as simple as that, "he concluded, to measured applause from the assembled business leaders.
Regularly accused of populism, it is not the first time the business community the Turkish president’s interventionist approach on economic issues has worried the business community.
He has already made repeated calls on Turkey’s central bank to lower interest rates, at the risk of boosting inflation.
After a prosperous decade, the Turkish economy has dropped off since 2012, with economic growth slowing to four percent last year, a high public spending deficit and unemployment at over 10 percent.
The country has also been shaken by a series of bombings, attributed to Kurdish nationalists or the ISIS group, which have left its tourism sector in crisis.
Nonetheless Standard and Poor’s on Friday upgraded its outlook for Turkey’s credit rating, judging the prospects for the nation’s economy to be stable despite political instability that may dampen growth and reform plans.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
profitability is a word he seems to know nothing about like Bernie
A Russian military ship traversed Istanbul’s Bosphorus on May 8, with two tanks secured under camouflage on its deck.
The crane ship, with the bow number KIL-158, entered the strait from the Black Sea at around 8:30 a.m. under broad security measures. A Turkish Coast Guard ship, maritime police and a police helicopter escorted the ship throughout its one-hour passage.
Two tanks under camouflage were also seen on the ship’s deck, while some soldiers on board were seen observing the area. However, one expert said the military ship was “likely” carrying high speed patrol boats, rather than tanks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/09/2016 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[CNN] Donald Trump says Puerto Rico has "far far too much debt," and the U.S. government shouldn't bail out the island.
