Friday, July 31, 2020

Blasphemy!

Pathetic pearl-clutching fake news weenies think this load of codswallop will scare those living the Suburban Lifestyle Dream into voting for Lumpy.

Month-End Wrap-Up

TUE 31 JUL 1945
Pacific
Destroyers of Destroyer Squadron 25, conducting anti-shipping sweep in Suguru Gulf, bombard railroad yards and industrial area of Shimuzu, Japan.

PB4Ys (FAW 1) operating from Yontan Field, Okinawa, destroy a span of the Seisen River bridge, severing the main north-south double track railroad line in Korea.

Destroyer Bancroft (DD-598) is damaged in collision with miscellaneous auxiliary Carondelet (IX-136) off Luzon, 14°50'N, 120°15'E.

Submarine Thornback (SS-418) damages Japanese submarine chaser Ch 42 five miles off Osaki, Japan, 38°53'N, 141°35'E.

Japanese heavy cruiser Takao is damaged by charges placed by British midget submarines XE 3 and XE 1* the night before, at Singapore (see 30 July).

Mines sink Japanese guardboat No.5 Teru Maru off Wonsan, Korea; and naval auxiliary No.5 Matsumae Maru off Pusan, Korea.

Auxiliary submarine chaser No.9 Kamoi Maru is damaged by grounding, Ukushima.

Japanese naval vessels sunk during July 1945 (exact date unspecified): guardboats No.51 Tama Maru, by U.S. aircraft, at mouth of Yangtze River; No.3 Kaigyo Maru, by mine, east of the mouth of Kammon Strait; and No.5 Shinshu Maru, by U.S. aircraft, off Japan [exact location unspecified]; auxiliary minesweeper No.2 Keijin Maru, by aircraft, four kilometers north of Shiriya.

Japanese merchant vessels damaged during July 1945 (exact date unspecified): cargo ships Shojun Maru, agent unknown, near Masan, Korea; Imazugawa Maru, by aircraft, location unspecified; No.8 Hino Maru, agent unknown, at northern entrance of Kammon Strait; and No.1 Shinyo Maru, agent and location of loss/damage unspecified; tanker No.11 Yoshitomo Maru, agent and location of loss/damage unspecified.
*XE 1 had been earmarked to attack Japanese heavy cruiser Myoko, also at Singapore, but could not find her, and ended up joining XE 3 in attacking Takao.

A Lizard Loses Its Tail

It's The Moon!

Paranoia Strikes Deep

Don't Say You Weren't Warned

Stole from the ol' American Stinker, if you want to look it up & give them a click.

A victorious President Biden will move from his Delaware basement to the cellar of the White House, where he will remain only to be seen by the public in prerecorded, televised “Messages to the People.”

The riots will stop. After which, the suspiciously trained, organized, and supplied “grassroots Antifa rioters” will be “unofficially” incorporated into the Biden administration as “Local Policy Councils” financed by leftist dark money and tasked to root out disobedience and dissent. Thereby, Jerry Nadler’s Antifa “myth” will be in a position to enforce the much needed “hope and change” Biden has said he wishes to bring back.

Despite a distinct lack of promise in his future, Joseph Biden is a man who makes many promises. There was, however, one promise he made in the Democratic debates that is suspiciously absent from his recent professions of intent.

Biden (or whoever is pulling his strings) will have full control of the legislative branch of government -- either by the Democrats keeping the House, and winning the Senate in 2020, or through persuasion by Local Policy Councils of certain Republican senators, congressmen, and their families -- which of course, corporate media will ignore.  The filibuster will be eliminated to grease the path of progressive legislation.

He will spend the first two years consolidating control of Congress. The census redistricting, as modified by the Local Policy Councils and intimidated state legislatures, will ensure Democrat control of both houses of Congress by a landslide in the 2022 midterms. Perhaps, even securing the two-thirds of both Houses necessary for the elimination of the electoral college.

Still, the only way to assure implementation of the left’s promise to “fundamentally transform The United States of America,” is to disarm Americans.

Starting slowly, Biden will precipitously increase taxes on guns and ammunition while restricting the amount of ammunition that can be legally purchased in a month. There will be mandatory gun registration under penalty of law. Failure to register will subject gun owners to felony prosecution, fines starting in the tens of thousands of dollars, and civil forfeiture of property such as real estate and cars.  

Then, after the midterm elections, with the left in full control of the legislative and executive branches of government, laws will be passed outlawing all guns in private hands (an exception will be made for Local Policy Council members).

Gun confiscation will begin.

Any records the federal, state, and local governments possess pertaining to gun ownership will be made public with the release of the names and addresses of all gun owners nationwide. Employers will be encouraged to terminate any employees who are gun owners. Mortgage companies, banks, and credit card companies will be encouraged to decline financing to gun owners, “Local Policy Councils,” nee Antifa, will be encouraged to “peacefully protest” at the places of employment and homes of gun owners.

The Local Policy Councils, employers, banks, and financial firms will be indemnified against lawsuits pertaining to these actions. In addition, the Local Policy Council members as a quasi-militia will be protected by qualified immunity.

The same tactics used to such devastating effect in the rioting we have witnessed these last few months will now be used against doxed gun owners. Nightly visits by screaming, armed, and violent “mostly peaceful” council members will become prevalent. Arson, damage to private property, violent assaults, homicide, and even rape will become a “tool of the people” deployed to ensure recalcitrant gun owners “voluntarily” surrender their weapons. Again, corporate media will ignore these incidents.

Having deployed the National Guard and active-service troops from the Army throughout the 50 states, joint teams of disarmed and unfunded police, troops, Guard units, and Local Policy Council members will search homes for any unregistered guns.

Soros prosecutors and the success of the “decarceration movement” will allow socially distant incarceration of those who refuse the sensible new gun reform.

Well… that's the plan, anyway.

Apocryphally, Otto von Bismarck is said to have remarked, “God looks out for fools, drunkards, and the United States.”

The fools on the left are not going to know what hit them.

The left’s power is concentrated on the coasts and in large cities. The vast majority of this country, what is derisively called “flyover country” by those on the left, is relatively conservative and armed to the teeth. In most of America, people believe they can never be too thin, too rich, or too well-armed. It is estimated there are anywhere from 350 million to 700 million guns in private hands, and anecdotally, the higher number is probably still too low.

Remember COVID, the Chinese flu the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) deliberately infected the world with? Like all Chinese products it did not work as advertised but we locked down the economy anyway.

Well, one of the big reasons people did not starve is because truckers kept trucking. Most drivers keep a gun in their cab. When authorities confiscate that gun, deliveries to the cities will cease. It would be a matter of weeks before New York and LA started to run out of food.

How many homeowners do you think would need to be assaulted before a visit from the Local Policy Council would be met with gunfire? Council members are not trained for what they will provoke and can expect to be decimated in confrontations.

How long before people start to organize and directly attack authorities and lines of communication, in and around the cities? Keep in mind every hunter is something of a sniper. How long before some of them decide to lie in wait to pick off public officials responsible for these policies? America is also chock full of trained veterans. It does not take a brain surgeon to realize what side they will be on. Pipelines, power plants, interstate highways, railroads, and bridges will all be targets of attack.

Governors, mayors, and LEOs will start to defect, as will National Guard and any other troops who will resent being asked to kill their neighbors and relatives.

There are not enough soldiers, National Guard, and potential Local Policy Council members to protect everything or seize all weapons.

The fact is, Americans will never allow the government to take their guns, period!

Grim Reality: Things To Suck Hard
For Foreseeable Future

As a bevy of experts all told The Daily Beast this week, “all this”—the lockdowns, shifting hot spots, and surges in deaths and hospitalizations that threaten local health systems—will probably last about two to three years total. By then, humanity may have come to better coexist with the virus. People will die from it less often, and have returned to healthier social and economic lives thanks to a dynamic set of tools. Those might include some combination of vaccines, non-pharmaceutical interventions, new testing technology, therapies, and even a potentially new administration willing to provide more consistent messaging and guidance that doesn’t undermine public health experts.
But there’s no longer much serious discussion about how to “eliminate” the virus—at least in the short term. Infectious disease experts say they are no longer sure that’s even possible.
“Epidemics have taught us that there won’t be a magic bullet...”
The truth is beautiful because it hurts.

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Martial Monotony

MON 30 JUL 1945
Pacific
Aircraft from TF 38 (Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.) bomb airfields and industrial targets in central Honshu, and fly sweeps against Japanese shipping in Maizuru Bay. TF 38 planes sink escort vessel Okinawa six miles north-northwest of Maizuru, 35°30'N, 135°21'E; submarine chaser Ch 26 in Korea Strait, 34°47'N, 128°27'E; minelayer Toshima off Maizuru; auxiliary submarine chasers Keisho Maru and Chikuzen Maru, and guardboat No.12 Kogyo Maru at Imaura; auxiliary submarine chasers No.2 Nippon Maru in Usami Bay and No.53 Banshu Maru off Obama; guardboat No.10 Sumiyoshi Maru eight miles north of Kohi Jima; merchant cargo ships Kashi Maru (off Tsuruga, 35°30'N, 135°21'E) and Taruyasu Maru off Maizuru; merchant ship Kamogawa Maru off Ullung Island 35°20'N, 130°30'E; and damage escort destroyer Takane near Maizuru; submarine depot ship Chogei, submarines I 153 and I 202, and Coast Defense Vessel No.2 and minelayer Tatsumiya Maru off Maizuru; Coast Defense Vessel No.27 in Korea Strait, 34°47'N, 128°27'E; auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 182 off Ito; guardboat No.18 Sumiyoshi Maru, damaged by TF 38 aircraft, is run aground north of Kohi Jima. TF 38 planes also damage merchant cargo ship Shotai Maru and merchant vessel Fukuan Maru off Maizuru. British carrier planes from TF 37 complete the destruction of transport Teiritsu Maru, aground off Maizuru, 35°92'N, 135°20'E.

Three battleships, four heavy cruisers, and ten destroyers of TU 34.8.1 (Rear Admiral John F. Shafroth) complete bombardment of shops, aircraft factory, and other facilities at Hamamatsu, Honshu, Japan. One British battleship and three destroyers take part in this effort as well.

Task force (Rear Admiral Alexander Sharp) completes minesweeping operations in the East China Sea; his ships sweep approximately 7,300 square miles and destroy 404 mines without casualty.

British midget submarines XE 1 (towed to the area by submarine HMS Spark) and XE 3 (towed by HMS Stygian) penetrate into Singapore Harbor to attack Japanese heavy cruisers Myoko and Takao, respectively (see 31 July).

Submarine Sennet (SS-408) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Yuzan Maru near Mutsuta Mizaki, western Hokkaido, 42°36'N, 139°49'E.

Mines laid by USAAF B-29s (20th Air Force) sink destroyer Hatsushimo inside Miyazu Bay, 12 miles west-northwest of Maizuru, Japan, 35°33'N, 135°12'E; and passenger/cargo vessel Shokei Maru at 42°36'N, 139°48'E, and damage destroyer Yukikaze near Miyazu.

Aircraft sink Japanese army cargo ship Gessan Maru off Ulsan, Korea; merchant passenger ship Shokei Maru in Miyazu Bay; merchant cargo ships No.2 Shozan Maru off Ulgi, and Koshin Maru off Pang-O-Jin; and merchant cargo ship Shinko Maru off Choshi; and damage merchant cargo ships Choko Maru off Himo; Shoko Maru, Wakasa Bay; and No.5 Kenkon Maru at 35°44'N, 124°57'E; merchant tug Hokusan Maru, Pusan, Korea; and merchant cargo ship Nissho Maru off Tsuruga.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Matsuura Maru is damaged by marine casualty, beached, at mouth of Yujin harbor.

Japanese merchant cargo ship No.15 Yamabishi Maru is lost to marine casualty, Wakasa Bay.

"Just Like The Sniffles"

I know every time I get the sniffles I need both lungs transplanted.

Next Stop: Gohmert!

Ha ha fuck you, moron.
 Dan Calabrese / Herman Cain:
We're heartbroken, and the world is poorer: Herman Cain has gone to be with the Lord  —  You're never ready for the kind of news we are grappling with this morning.  But we have no choice but to seek and find God's strength and comfort to deal with it.  —  Herman Cain - our boss, our friend …
Discussion:
Tom Levenson / Balloon Juice:   Herman Cain is Dead
RELATED:

Show Off

Much more aesthetically pleasing than most toy train telebision, but all the electricity use is ruining the planet.

Hoffa's History; Medicare, Medicaid Signed

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Stuff It, Houston: Cheat-Stros Swept

Gawd DAMN America!

People who drive cars are scum.
Welp, fuck this noise. Guess those fucking jagoffs at Google have decided to cut off their own noses to spite their ugly faces, because they've managed to fuck Blogger up for no good reason. 

Moments later: Never mind, for the moment. I can see it's going to be (even more of) a pain, 'though.

Indianapolis Gets it

SUN 29 JUL 1945
Pacific
Three battleships, four heavy cruisers, and ten destroyers of TU 34.8.1 (Rear Admiral John F. Shafroth) begins bombardment of shops, aircraft factory, and other facilities at Hamamatsu, Honshu. British battleship HMS King George V and three destroyers operate independently but join in the bombardment. Carrier Bon Homme Richard (CV-31) supplies precautionary night combat air patrols and spotter aircraft.

Twenty-six USAAF B-29s (20th Air Force) mine Shimonoseki Straits and the waters off Najin, Korea, and Fukuoka, Japan. Merchant cargo ship Tatsukashi Maru, damaged by mine, is beached off Pusan, Korea.

Heavy cruiser Indianapolis (CA-35) is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I 58 northeast of Leyte, 12°02'N, 134°48'E.
Destroyer Cassin Young (DD-793) and high speed transport Horace A. Bass (APD-124) are damaged by suicide planes off Okinawa, 26°08'N, 127°58'E and 26°17'N, 127°34'E, respectively.

USAAF P-47s (7th Air Force) on sweep for targets of opportunity in the Nagasaki, Japan, area, sink auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 207, 32°00'N, 130°00'E.

USAAF B-25s (5th Air Force) damage Japanese escort carrier Kaiyo in Hiji harbor, Beppu Wan, 33°20'N, 131°32'E.

Aircraft sink Japanese army cargo ship No.18 Ono Maru and merchant cargo ship Tangetsu Maru off Ulsan, Korea, and merchant passenger ship Tenzan Maru, 35°40'N, 132°39'E.

USAAF B-25s and P-51s on antishipping sweep off southeast coast of Korea sink Japanese army cargo ship Hokusei Maru off Kuryungpo; merchant cargo ship Seishin Maru, 35°32'N, 127°30'E; tanker Yushin Maru, and cargo vessel Shoryu Maru, 35°32'N, 127°30'E.

Japanese merchant cargo ship No.12 Reisui Maru is sunk/damaged by aircraft, 34°59'N, 128°59'E.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Kokyu Maru is damaged by aircraft near Pusan, Korea.

USAAF A-26s damage Japanese merchant tanker No.5 Yamamizu Maru off Nagasaki.

Marine casualties sink Japanese merchant cargo ship Sumioyoshi Maru outside Kamaishi harbor, and damage merchant cargo ships Miesan Maru near Shira Jima, and No.2 Mitsu Maru south of Cape Wakamiya, Iki Island and also result in the loss of guardboats Asahi Maru east of Pusan, Korea, and No.6 Kaiyo Maru off Cape Wakamiya, Korean Strait.

Help!

N.A.S.A. Authorized, B.M. Born

"Charles Philip Arthur George".

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Last Ship Sunk By Kamikaze

SAT 28 JUL 1945
Pacific
Aircraft from TF 38 of the Third Fleet (Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.) strike Inland Sea area, between Nagoya and Northern Kyushu, principally targeting the Kure Naval Base. TF 38 planes sink battleship Haruna off Eta Jima, eight miles northwest of Kure, 34°15'N, 132°29'E; battleship-carrier Ise, five miles northwest of Kure, 34°12'N, 132°31'E; training ship ex-coast defense vessel Izumo off Eta Jima, 34°14'N, 132°30'E; heavy cruiser Aoba, Kure Navy Yard, 34°13'N, 132°31'E, light cruiser Oyodo, 34°13'N, 132°25'E; submarine I 404, Kure; escort destroyer Nashi, Mitajirizaki, Kure, 34°14'N, 132°30'E; guardboat No.5 Fukuju Maru at Kujukurihama, Chiba prefecture; guardboats No.2 Fukusei Maru and No.2 Inari Maru, Kobe; submarine depot ship Komahashi, victualling stores ship Kosho Maru, and auxiliary minesweeper No.18 Banshu Maru, Owase; guardboat No.2 Han'ei Maru, Aomori; naval auxiliary Koryu Maru, Innoshima dockyard; in addition to merchant cargo ships Kinzan Maru four miles east of Ogashima, and Kiyotada Maru in Ube harbor; merchant cargo ships No.11 Kyowa Maru in Kobe harbor and No.3 Mikage Maru off Otaru; and merchant tankers No.4 Kinyu Maru 34°48'N, 134°28'E; and No.6 Kinyu Maru at 34°23'N, 134°50'E. British carrier planes (TF 37) sink Coast Defense Vessel No.4 in Ise Bay, 3443'N, 13643'E Yokosuka; Coast Defense Vessel No.30 off Yura.

TF 38 planes also damage carrier Katsuragi and training carrier Hosho, Kure; torpedo cruiser (ex-light cruiser) Kitakami in Hiroshima Bay; submarine I 205 (repaired after damage inflicted by TF 58 aircraft on 19 March) in drydock, Kure; destroyer Asagao west of Bisan-Seto; Coast Defense Vessel No.45 and submarine chaser Ch 14 near Yokosuka; escort destroyer Habushi and Coast Defense Vessel No.44, Sasebo; Coast Defense Vessel No.190 in Yura Straits; guardboats No.2 Kainan Maru and No.2 Inari Maru, Kobe harbor; motor torpedo boat Gyoraitei No.823, Yokosuka; and auxiliary minesweepers No.10 Showa Maru and No.1 Kyojin Maru off Owase, Japan, as well as merchant passenger ship Tenzan Maru, 35°42'N, 132°42'E; merchant cargo ships No.8 Shinto Maru, 35°06'N, 129°45'E, and Nagasaki Maru off south side of Osagi Jima; merchant tankers No.18 Nissho Maru and No.2 Seiko Maru, Osaka; and Shingi Maru, Kobe; merchant cargo ship Taigen Maru, in dock at Innoshima.

The four escort carriers in TF 32 (Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf) providing cover for the ongoing minesweeping operations in the East China Sea (Rear Admiral Alexander Sharp) launch planes to conduct strikes on shipping off the mouth of the Yangtze River. No targets, however, are found.

Destroyer Callaghan (DD-792) is sunk by kamikaze, on radar picket station approximately 50 miles southwest of Okinawa, 25°43'N, 126°55'E; she is the last Allied vessel to be lost to that weapon. Destroyer Prichett (DD-561) is damaged by near-miss of suicide plane, 25°43'N, 126°56'E, as she assists the mortally damaged Callaghan, Reflecting the depth of desperation reached by the Japanese kamikaze forces, Callaghan's assailant is a bomb-carrying WILLOW (primary training biplane)!

Submarine Hardhead (SS-365) damages Japanese No.165 Shuttle Boat, 09°09'S, 115°25'E.

Submarine& Sennet (SS-408), attacking Japanese convoy off western Honshu, sinks merchant cargo ships Hagikawa Maru, eight miles west of Noshiro harbor, 40°17'N, 139°50'E, and No.15 Unkai Maru and Hakuei Maru off Sakata, 39°49'N, 139°47'E.

Japanese auxiliary minesweeper No.1 Keijin Maru sinks after running aground off Owase, Japan, 34°05'N, 136°14'E.

Japanese army cargo ship Hitora Maru is damaged by marine casualty, Innoshima Dockyard.

Japanese transport Teiritsu Maru, damaged by mine sown by USAAF B-29s (20th Air Force); she is run aground .2 kilometers southwest of Bakuchizaki, 35°32'N, 135°20'E (see 30 July).

Other War News

Monday, July 27, 2020

Potsdam Declaration

FRI 27 JUL 1945
Pacific
Potsdam Declaration calling for unconditional surrender is delivered to the Japanese government. The Japanese, however, ignore the ultimatum, prompting President Truman to approve plans to drop atomic weapons on Japan.

Twenty-five USAAF B-29s (20th Air Force) mine Shimonoseki Straits and the waters off Niigata, Miyazu, Maizuru and Senzaki, Japan. Mines laid by USAAF B-29s sink Japanese army cargo ship Unten Maru off Suo Nada, 33°56'N, 131°11'E ; merchant cargo ships Meiko Maru off Kokushi, Yamaguchi prefecture, 34°10'N, 130°55'E, and No.55 Banshu Maru, Odo Strait, Shimonoseki; and damage merchant cargo ships Jinstugawa Maru off Fushiki and Tatsumaki Maru off Wakamatsu signal station.

Cargo ship Ganymede (AK-104) is damaged in collision with Army barge BKP 42 (346th Harbor Craft Company), P.I., 11°11'N, 125°05'E.

U.S. freighter John A. Rawlins is damaged by Japanese aerial torpedo in Naha harbor, Okinawa; in addition to the 39-man merchant crew, 28 Armed Guards and 191 Construction Battalion men are on board at this time. Of those men, only three are injured; the ship, however, will ultimately be written off as a total loss.

U.S. freighter Pratt Victory is torpedoed by Japanese plane south of Ie Shima; the blast sinks tank landing craft LCT-1050 that lies moored alongside discharging cargo. There are no fatalities among the 27-man Armed Guard on board Pratt Victory, which offloads the remainder of her cargo without further incident.

Submarine Pargo (SS-264) is damaged by depth charges and aerial bombs off northern Celebes, 01°35'N, 125°20'E, but remains on patrol.

Submarine Pogy (SS-266) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Chikuzen Maru southwest of Kyogasaki, about 90 miles north of Tottori, Honshu, 37°00'N, 134°02'E.

British submarine HMS Tudor sinks Japanese fishing vessel at 06°15'S, 108°08'E.

USAAF planes (5th Air Force) sink Japanese landing ship T.176 off southern Kyushu, 31°00'N, 130°33'E.

Japanese transport Doshi Maru is sunk by aircraft off Nishitomari.

Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser No.40 Giso Maru is sunk by aircraft off Urajiri.

Aircraft sink/damage Japanese merchant cargo ships Rokuzan Maru off southeast coast of Korea, and Yushin Maru, 35°35'N, 129°33'E.

Aircraft damage Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser No.11 Shonan Maru inside Chefoo harbor, China; and damage merchant tanker No.2 Seiko Maru off Osaka.

A Warning To California Sheriffs

Fuck The Police Already

Column: The more smack California sheriffs talk, the more they’re asking to be handcuffed

ERIKA D. SMITHCOLUMNIST 
JULY 27, 2020
5:03 PM
There seems to be no low to which sheriffs in California won’t stoop to fight off even a modicum of oversight.

The latest example, of course, comes from L.A. County’s very own Alex Villanueva. Apparently irked by Supervisor Hilda Solis, who recently dared to point out the obvious, saying that law enforcement engages in clear patterns of race-based brutality, the sheriff questioned whether she was trying to create distrust between his department and the community.

Never mind that one of his deputies shot a Latino teenager, Andres Guardado, five times in the back last month and the sheriff is refusing to release any information.

“I don’t know,” Villanueva said of Solis, streaming live on Facebook. “Are you trying to earn the title of a La Malinche? Is that what it is?”

A “La Malinche”? SERIOUSLY?! You are calling a county supervisor a TRAITOR?

But you know what? I’m calm. And you should be too. Because as appalling as it is that Villanueva would level a sexist slur at Solis, the more smack he and other California sheriffs talk — whether it’s in refusing the public’s demands for transparency or the governor’s demands to enforce his face-mask mandate — the more reasons they’re giving the state to rein them in.

Because sitting on deck in the California Legislature, which returned to session this week, is AB 1185. Authored by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), it would let counties establish an oversight board or an office of inspector general, and then give them true investigatory powers with the ability to issue subpoenas. Witnesses, including deputies, could be called to testify and sheriff’s departments would have to turn over documents.

In short, AB 1185 would mean that sheriffs can no longer just blow off outside oversight anytime they see fit. And in counties, such as L.A., where an oversight board and inspector general’s office already exist and have subpoena power, it would bolster the authority of both.

“We’re saying that the sheriff needs to respect that,” McCarty said. “He can’t ignore information requests.”

Because that’s exactly what has been happening.

Villanueva, for example, put a “security hold” on information related to the shooting of Guardado because, he said, there’s an ongoing investigation. It’s only because the family commissioned an independent autopsy and because Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner Dr. Jonathan Lucas correctly saw the need for transparency that we know the 18-year-old was shot in the back in Gardena on June 18.

In response to the disclosure, the sheriff issued a petulant statement that both missed the point and confirmed why the public has no reason to trust his department. “Dr. Lucas has acknowledged succumbing to pressure from the Board of Supervisors and the Office of Inspector General,” Villanueva wrote, “and has now made the astonishing admission that he sacrificed the integrity of the investigation in a bid to satisfy public curiosity.”

In an even more ridiculous stunt, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones locked the county’s then-inspector general, Rick Braziel out of his department, revoking all access to records and personnel and effectively bringing all independent investigations to a halt. The reason? Because the inspector general wrote a report that criticized deputies for engaging in a foot chase with a mentally ill Black man, Mikel McIntyre, and shooting wildly amid traffic on a freeway until they killed him.

In that case, the Board of Supervisors felt powerless to do just about anything to force the sheriff to comply.

That also was the case for the supervisors in rural Trinity County in 2018, when then-Sheriff Bruce Haney moved six hours away to Oregon and stopped coming to work — while continuing to collect his salary and benefits, of course — because he got mad over the way the board wanted to enforce cannabis regulations.

“I was wondering a while back, how do you hold this gentleman accountable when he’s an elected official?” County Supervisor Terry Mines told the Sacramento Bee at the time. “How does it work? Can I get elected for a four-year term and just walk away and collect?”

For these reasons and more, AB 1185 is a bill that’s long overdue in California. And there’s even more urgency given the renewed demands to root out systemic racism in the criminal justice system in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.

Elected sheriffs, whose powers come from the California Constitution, aren’t like police chiefs, who are appointed and take direction from mayors, city councils and city managers.

It’s this difference, and that of cities being more liberal and counties being more conservative, that has played out in reform efforts up until now. While sheriffs, by and large, have resisted calls for more transparency and accountability, dragging their feet on things such as body cameras, police departments across the state have generally moved faster to adopted such tools and change their policies to meet the needs of the moment.

That, under current state law the lines of authority are so murky between sheriffs and boards of supervisors has only made implementing needed reforms more challenging — and clearly, in the case of Los Angeles County, contentious. That can’t continue.

“I think what we’ve seen in your county in Sacramento is sometimes our sheriffs say, ‘Hey, you know, my oversight is called an election every four years.’” McCarty said. “And I think what I’m saying, what we’re saying, is no.”

It’s enough to make me wonder why we elect sheriffs at all.
[Stolen in its entirety because paywalls are theft!!]

Sunday, July 26, 2020

On-Board Explosion

THU 26 JUL 1945
Pacific
Destroyer Lowry (DD-770) is damaged by on-board tetrachlorethane (chemical) explosion, Philippine Sea, 19°30'N, 128°00'E.

U.S. aircraft sink Japanese auxiliary minesweepers No.18 Hinode Maru and Rikuzen Maru off Haeju-Won, Korea, 37°58'N, 126°40'E, and 37°58'N, 125°40'E, respectively.

Aircraft [service unspecified] sink Japanese merchant tanker Seria Maru near Aioi; merchant cargo ship Mishima Maru near Hizen, Oshima; and merchant fishing vessel No.40 Misago Maru off Uketo.

Japanese target ship (ex-battleship) Settsu is damaged by marine casualty, Eta Jima harbor.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Annette Fritzen Go is damaged by mine, off Pusan, Korea.

Cargo ship Spica (AK-16) and U.S. freighters Jonathan Harrington and Enos A. Mills depart Dutch Harbor, Alaska, for Point Barrow, transporting men and supplies for Navy Petroleum Reserve 4 (see 3, 8, 10, 22, 24 and 25 August).

100 Daze

Going to be trouble in the next few wks.?
Nation definitely on "wrong track".
Not that results, such as they may be, will necessarily be final 3 Nov.

Saturday, July 25, 2020

"targets of opportunity"

WED 25 JUL 1945
Pacific
TF 38 air strikes on in Inland Sea area continue. TF 38 planes sink Japanese guardboats No.10 Dairi Maru and No.2 Kompira Maru off Moji, and No.10 Fukuei Maru in Bungo Suido, 33°00'N, 132°10'E; army tanker Kaisoku Maru, off Hiro; merchant cargo ship Daio Maru at 35°06'N, 129°40'E; merchant tankers No.6 Ryuei Maru off eastern part of Okurokami Island; and No.6 Kinyu Maru off east coast of Anishima; and damage heavy cruiser Aoba, Kure, 34°13'N, 132°31'E; Coast Defense Vessel No.4, Toba, and merchant cargo ships No.6 Tokai Maru and No.5 Shokai Maru off Shimane peninsula; Meiho Maru, Agenosho; and merchant tanker Tenwa Maru, Kanoya.TG 35.3 (Rear Admiral J. Cary Jones, Jr.) of four light cruisers (from TG 38.3) and six destroyers (from TG 38.4) bombards Kushimoto Seaplane Base, airfield near Shiono Misaki, Honshu, and adjacent facilities.

Thirty USAAF B-29s (20th Air Force) mine the waters off Chongjin and Pusan, Korea, and Fushiki, Nanao, Ohama and Tsuruga, Japan. Mines laid by B-29s sink Japanese merchant cargo ships Hoshi Maru at mouth of Maizuru Bay, 34°35'N, 135°21'E and Eian Maru off Tottori, Honshu, 35°33'N, 133°14'E.

Submarine Barb (SS-220) bombards lumber mill and sampan-building yard at Shibetoro, destroying 35 sampans under construction.

British submarine HMS Stubborn sinks Makassar-bound Japanese Patrol Boat No.2 (ex-destroyer Nadakaze) in Java Sea, 07°06'S, 115°42'E.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Azuna Maru is damaged, agent unspecified, Hakata Bay.

Friday, July 24, 2020

Naval Air Power At Work

TUE 24 JUL 1945
Pacific
Aircraft from TF 38 launch two-day attack on the Inland Sea area, Japan, striking Kure Naval Base and airfields at Nagoya, Osaka, and Miho. TF 38 planes sink battleship-carrier Hyuga in Hiro Bay, Kure, 34°10'N, 132°33'E; heavy cruiser Tone, 34°14'N, 132°27'E (she is pushed aground to facilitate salvage) and training ship (ex-coast defense ship) Iwate off Eta Jima, 34°14'N, 132°30'E; target ship (ex-battleship) Settsu at Kure; guardboat Kaiwa Maru north of Himejima, Kyushu; and damage carrier Ryuho and battleship-carrier Ise at Kure; battleship Haruna and light cruiser Oyodo off Eta Jima; heavy cruiser Aoba at Kure Navy Yard; escort destroyer Hagi and fast transport T.19 at Kure; torpedo cruiser Kitakami and destroyers Yoizuki and Hari, near Kure; escort destroyer Kaba, Osaka; escort destroyer Tsubaki near Okayama, 34°38'N, 133°50'E; Coast Defense Vessel No.190, Tanabe harbor; Coast Defense Vessel No.4, Toba; transport (ex-seaplane carrier) Kiyokawa Maru, beached at Shida, Shimonoseki Straits. Carrier Amagi is hit by only one rocket off Kurahashi Jima, Kure, 34°11'N, 132°30'E, but its passage close by the commanding officer so unnerves the captain that he unhesitatingly orders the ship abandoned.

Japanese escort carrier Kaiyo is damaged by planes from British carriers HMS Formidable, HMS Indefatigable, and HMS Victorious. Kaiyo's travails, however, do not end there. She is damaged by USAAF mine (laid by a 20th Air Force B-29) off Beppu; destroyer Yukaze takes the wounded warship in tow (see 29 July).

Aircraft [service unspecified] sink Japanese merchant cargo ships Ito Maru off Kominase light; Inari Maru, Moji harbor; Komyo Maru off Okinoshima light; No.2 Ise Maru off Mihogasaki; Kinokawa Maru, off Yoshiura; merchant tankers No.9 Kinyu Maru off Tsurushima; Sabang Maru, Okurokami Island; Kanatsu Maru, Awashima anchorage; merchant tug Mutsurejima Maru off Kagaji, Oita prefecture; merchant vessels [types unspecified] Sugamada Maru, Jinzai harbor, and Sen Maru off Hakodate.

Aircraft [service unspecified] sink/damage Japanese merchant cargo ships Kagetsu Maru off Uwajima, and Shokai Maru outside Shimotsu harbor.

Aircraft [service unspecified] damage Japanese merchant cargo ship Kurogane Maru, Kobe, Japan; and merchant tanker Gyokuei Maru, by aircraft, 33°55'N, 131°45'E.

Guardboats No.3 Seisho Maru and Taiko Maru are sunk by U.S. aircraft at Kobe, Japan.

Auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 98 is sunk by aircraft, Moji, Japan.

Japanese transport No.11 Kaishin Maru is sunk by aircraft, 33°31'N, 129°47'E.

TG 35.3 (Rear Admiral J. Cary Jones, Jr.) consisting of four light cruisers (from TG 38.3) and six destroyers (from TG 38.4) conducts high-speed anti-shipping sweep across Kii Suido. Destroyer Colahan (DD-658) fires upon only surface contact, which proves to be submarine Toro (SS-422), on lifeguard station south of Shikoku. Fortunately, Toro is not damaged in this case of mistaken identity (see 25 July).

Escort carrier Vella Gulf (CVE-111), as TU 19.6.1, carries out airstrikes on Pagan, one of the two remaining bases in the Marianas. She carries out strikes against Rota (the other) two days later.

Destroyer escort Underhill (DE-682), damaged by kaitens from Japanese submarine I 53 off Luzon, 19°20'N, 126°42'E, is scuttled by submarine chasers PC-803 and PC-804, and escort patrol vessel PCE-872.

Submarine Chub (SS-329) sinks Japanese tug (ex-Dutch Ginah), 07°46'S, 114°24'E.

Japanese auxiliary minesweeper Wa.3 is sunk by aircraft, Surabaya, Java, N.E.I.

Mines sink Japanese merchant cargo ships Koichi Maru, Wonsan harbor, Korea, and Himekawa Maru, four kilometers off Himejima; and damage auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 226, off Moji; and merchant tanker Tatsukusu Maru Hagi.

Japanese merchant tanker No.6 Nanki Maru is damaged by marine casualty, 38°18'N, 141°25'E.

5525

Approx. the 5,525th image of Col. Griffith's Observatory/Killer Kane's HQ this reporter has captured.

Space Viking

This cat was cycling more or less in a circle in the intersection of Sunset Blvd. & Western Ave., mostly at the northwest corner, while expressing himself w/ hand signals.
Fluorescent vest for safety while riding through traffic.
Ambidextrous.
Would you shake that hand?
Two-finger salute.
Back to mono.
Traffic regulations? Right here, pal!

What Have They Done
To Our Fair Sister?

Tied her w/ fences & ...
Or just tied her up, period.
Old growth, new growth.