Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Creation Of The "Administrative State"

SAT 31 JAN 1942
General
Office of Procurement and Material is established in the office of the Under Secretary of the Navy; Vice Admiral Samuel M. Robinson, Chief of the Bureau of Ships, is named its director. He must build, from the ground up, an organization that will assure the flow of vital materials essential to the production of ships, planes, and other munitions. He will instill in the production program the need for more production and greater speed, and will apply himself to breaking complex bottlenecks in production, settling conflicts in priorities, solving labor difficulties and curing the multitudinous ills besetting the Navy's production efforts.

Pacific
TF 11 (Vice Admiral Wilson Brown Jr.), formed around carrier Lexington (CV-2), departs Pearl Harbor to cover the retirement of TF 8 (Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.) and TF 17 (Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher) from the Marshalls and Gilberts (see 1 February).

Japanese troops land on Amboina Island, N.E.I.

Destroyer Helm (DD-388) evacuates civilian radio operators and weather observers from Howland and Baker Islands; she is bombed by a Japanese reconnaissance flying boat (Yokohama Kokutai) off Baker, but is not damaged.

Atlantic
British tanker San Arcadio is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-107 at 38°10'N, 63°50'W (see 11 February).

British tanker Tacoma Star is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-109 at 37°33'N, 69°21'W; destroyer Roe (DD-418), on temporary duty with the Fifth Naval District defense forces due to the increase in ship sinkings off Cape Hatteras, is sent to rescue survivors.

Am I "Real"?

Casus Belli: "Remember The Maine"

Does this absurdly speculative crap from these fake news sites seem like a good enough reason to start a war w/ Iran? I'll just betcha it does for certain people.
Fox News:
EXCLUSIVE: Pentagon believes attack on Saudi frigate meant for US warship  —  The Iranian-backed suicide attack targeting a Saudi frigate off the coast of Yemen on Monday may have been meant for an American warship, two defense officials told Fox News.  —  The incident in question occurred …

Call It Direct, Call It Collect,
But Call It Today!

Today In The First Amendment

White House telephone numbers:
+1 (202) 456-1259
+1 (202) 456-1260
+1 (202) 456-3323
+1 (202) 456-3376
+1 (202) 395-1194
+1 (202) 456-1565
+1 (202) 395-1608
+1 (202) 456-2046
+1 (202) 456-2500
+1 (202) 456-4640
+1 (202) 456-3256
+1 (202) 456-3878
+1 (202) 395-1480
+1 (202) 456-3450
+1 (202) 456-4655
+1 (202) 456-4770
+1 (202) 456-1781
+1 (202) 456-2395
+1 (202) 395-4840
+1 (202) 456-3248
+1 (202) 456-4391
+1 (202) 456-7560
+1 (202) 456-4348
+1 (202) 456-3443
+1 (202) 456-2975
+1 (202) 456-3255
+1 (202) 456-4708
+1 (202) 456-3873
+1 (202) 456-6758
+1 (202) 456-5979
+1 (202) 456-4257
+1 (202) 456-4384
+1 (202) 456-5849
+1 (202) 456-4319
+1 (202) 456-4759
+1 (202) 456-5677
+1 (202) 456-1125
+1 (202) 456-4761
+1 (202) 456-4687
+1 (202) 456-4747
+1 (202) 456-2357
+1 (202) 456-4265
Betcha call any # beginning w/ (202) 456- & you'll get a White House extension. Get those burner 'phones out!

End Of Month

Source: California Should Be Stripped Of Electoral College Votes Due To High Number Of Illegals In The CA Census
This may be the most delusional thing that happened in January. Or not. Does reality (or anything the hell else) make any difference what-so-fucking-ever to these deluded-for-decades doofuses who essentially lost the state due to their irrational phobias? (Prop. 187 & so on.)
“If we can get Donald J. Trump to be president of the United States, certainly we can get Californians registered to be Republicans,” longtime conservative activist Johnnie Morgan said to applause. “With the energy we have now, with the momentum we have now, with the inspiration we have now, with the committed people we have now, we can do this. It will spread like wildfire.”
If it were to spread it would be more like the drug-resistant strain of E. coli just reported. Why would he think a wildfire is a good thing to invoke in our Golden State? Schmuck.

Another dim bulb whines:
We want to show the political elite that we exist and that we are not happy with some of their legislation and they can’t just ramrod things like that without considering us.”
It's called democracy, idjit. The majority rules. You don't like it, kill yourselves or get out of Cali.

Last & most pathetic:
“We need change. We have that in Washington, but we need change in Sacramento to bring down the liberal pathetic establishment that has destroyed this state,” said Nestor Moto, 22, a gay Latino GOP activist from Long Beach. “This country belongs to people like you and me … and it is time we take it back.”
"Destroyed the state." Right. And all the usual meaningless "take our country back" from our fellow citizens yap. Fucking young person moron. We're taking this country back from the moronic minority that voted for Trump.

Monday, January 30, 2017

Further Evacuatin'

FRI 30 JAN 1942
Pacific
Japanese naval land attack planes (Genzan Kokutai) bomb Allied shipping at Keppel Harbor, Singapore, Straits Settlements; transport Wakefield (AP-21), waiting to embark passengers, is damaged by a bomb, as are British transports (ex-passenger liners) Duchess of Bedford and Empress of Japan and freighter Madura. Transport West Point (AP-23) is straddled and showered with fragments, but suffers no damage. She provides medical assistance to Wakefield. Both U.S. transports subsequently embark passengers that include dockyard workers from Singapore and their families, in addition to Royal Navy officers and enlisted men and a small RAF contingent. The ships will then proceed to Batavia, Java, N.E.I., and thence on to Colombo, Ceylon.

Atlantic
Coast Guard cutter Alexander Hamilton (WPG-34), torpedoed by German submarine U-132 the previous day, is scuttled by gunfire of destroyer Ericsson (DD-440) off Reykjavik, Iceland.

Unarmed U.S. tanker Rochester is torpedoed, shelled, and sunk by German submarine U-106 off the Chesapeake Lightship, 37°10'N, 73°58'W; three crewmen perish in the initial torpedo explosion. Destroyer Roe (DD-418) rescues the 29 survivors.

Capitalism At Work & Play

Any corporate entity that calls its wage-slaves "associates", "partners" or any other such euphemisms is obviously fucking them over, but good, & now the chief bullshit-peddler at Starbucks has discovered an entirely new group he can fuck: Refugees. (Note the corporate double-speak we bolded.)
Hiring Refugees: We have a long history of hiring young people looking for opportunities and a pathway to a new life around the world. This is why we are doubling down on this commitment by working with our equity market employees as well as joint venture and licensed market partners in a concerted effort to welcome and seek opportunities for those fleeing war, violence, persecution and discrimination.  There are more than 65 million citizens of the world recognized as refugees by the United Nations, and we are developing plans to hire 10,000 of them over five years in the 75 countries around the world where Starbucks does business.  And we will start this effort here in the U.S. by making the initial focus of our hiring efforts on those individuals who have served with U.S. troops as interpreters and support personnel in the various countries where our military has asked for such support.
How long before the first Starbucks overseer/manager says "Work overtime for regular wages or you go back to your country to be killed for selling out to the occupation forces, Ahmed!"

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Fake News

And/or deflection instead of projection for once.
Ryan Saavedra / The Gateway Pundit: DEVELOPING: At Least 5 Dead in Quebec City Mosque Shooting; Many On Social Media Are Calling It A False Flag Attack
Ryan Saavedra / The Gateway Pundit: REPORT: Witnesses Say Mosque Shooter In Canada Yelled ‘ALLAHU AKBAR’!
How long until The Gateway Pundit has a seat in the White House Briefing Room & is the first to be called on to ask a question?

Friendly Fire

THU 29 JAN 1942
Pacific
Japanese land at Badoeng Island and Mampawan, Celebes.

Minesweeper Quail (AM-15) bombards Japanese troop concentrations at Longoskawayan Point, Luzon.

Oiler Ramapo (AO-12) arrives at Bora Bora, Society Islands, to support survey operations being carried out by Sumner (AG 32), which had arrived at that place on 22 January (see 12 February).

Indian Ocean
U.S. freighter Florence Luckenbach is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-64 about 15 miles east of Madras, India, 12°55'N, 80°33'E; there are no casualties among the 38-man crew and all hands reach Madras by lifeboat.

Atlantic
Coast Guard cutter Alexander Hamilton (WPG-34) is torpedoed by German submarine U-132 off Reykjavik, Iceland, 64°10'N, 22°56'W (see 31 January).

PBYs (VP 52) operating out of Natal, Brazil, are fired upon by British freighter Debrett owing to difficulty of mutual identification.

Constitutional Personality Crisis

Hey, if the (ultimately undemocratic) Constitution is the greatest fucking document ever written, why is it so prone to crises?

Demonstrations Are Great, But ...

... what happens when the first "lone-wolf" white nationalist terrorist takes a shot at the self-styled Resistance? Or when the first gang of somewhat-organized fascist thugs decides to assault demonstrators?

Remember these? Neither a joke nor humor to certain groups of disturbed people.
How much "resistance" will we see from sissy liberals after they are resisted w/ the violence inherent in right-wing movements? Our editorial guess: Not very much.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

75 Yrs. Of South American Fascism

WED 28 JAN 1942 Third Conference of Foreign Ministers of the American Republics at Rio de Janeiro is concluded. Despite the efforts of Argentina and Chile, Pan-American unity is preserved; within days, all Latin American nations that had not already done so (except Argentina and Chile) sever ties with Germany, Italy, and Japan. [Some nations never change, do they? — M.B.]

Pacific
Japanese land on Rossel Island off New Guinea.

Atlantic
PBO (VP 82) on an antisubmarine sweep astern of convoy HX 172 attacks a surfaced submarine in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland at 43°50'N, 53°50'E. Although pilot (Aviation Machinist's Mate First Class Donald F. Mason) reports "sighted sub, sank same" no U-boat is lost on this date.

A Tale Of Two Countries

Perhaps Sensitive Flower (probably a pansy) Trump will interpret the above as an insult & declare war onclose the border w/ our neighbour & friend to the north. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.

Revolutionary Bandstand

New Sun Risin' Up Angry

Max Frost And The Troopers - Shape Of Things To Come

Friday, January 27, 2017

A Few Lies From The Loser
Of The Popular Vote

Trump-ED

The skin crawls, the stomach contracts

Couldn't possibly be fake. (One has to wonder just how many Trump voters have these same issues of size & stamina.)
The Mentors - Donkey Dick

Death Around The Ocean

TUE 27 JAN 1942
Pacific
Submarine Gudgeon (SS-211) torpedoes and sinks Japanese submarine I-73 240 miles west of Midway, 28°24'N, 178°35'E.

Submarine Seawolf (SS-197) delivers ammunition to Corregidor, P.I., and evacuates naval and army pilots.

USAAF B-17s bomb and damage Japanese seaplane carrier Sanuki Maru off Balikpapan, Borneo.

Naval Air Station, Puunene, Maui, T.H., is established.

Atlantic
Unarmed U.S. tanker Francis E. Powell is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-130 about eight miles northeast of Winter Quarter Lightship, 37°45'N, 74°53'W; a Coast Guard boat from the Assateague Island station and U.S. tanker W. C. Fairbanks rescue the 28 survivors from the 32-man crew. U.S. tanker Halo is torpedoed and damaged by U-130 about 17 miles northeast of Diamond Shoals Lightship, 35°33'N, 75°20'W.

U.S. steamship Coamo rescues 71 survivors of Canadian steamer Lady Hawkins that had been sunk by U-66 on 19 January.

Jerk/Moron Of The Day

Dimbulbed schmuckface Zuckerberg of the dull pointless blue white & gray ("Why would you want any other colors?") website Faceboop is suddenly disturbed about Trump & his immigration policies.
 Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook:
Mark Zuckerberg says he's “concerned” about President Trump's executive orders on immigration, affirms support for “Dreamers”  —  My great grandparents came from Germany, Austria and Poland.  Priscilla's parents were refugees from China and Vietnam.
Discussion:
Here's a clue, Marky Mark: Deal w/ issues like the streams of lies/fake news/yada that pollute the source of your billions of undeserved dollars before it comes to this.

And Zucky, learn the lessons of history: Your & Mrs. Z.'s ethnicities are not the favorites of Mr. Trump & his Nazi/fascist/nationalist/populist/moronic/hate-filled associates. Maybe you oughta just shut up & get out to save yourself further embarrassment. Or maybe you two oughta shut up & get out of the country before the Secret State Police come knocking at your door. (You can leave all your money w/ me when you go.)

It makes my day when all involved in idiotic bullshit, from Trump to Zucks, are sacks of shit & this reporter can state, firmly & w/o equivocation: Screw every last one of you shitheaded bastards & your mothers to hell & back w/ a rotating splintered broomstick!

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Ireland Invaded!

January 26, Mon.
Atlantic
First U.S. Expeditionary Force to Europe in World War II arrives in Northern Ireland.

U.S. freighter West Ivis is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-125 off the eastern seaboard. There are no survivors from either the 36-man civilian crew or the 9-man Armed Guard.

Today In Charter Schools

Won't somebody think of the children, innocent yet imprisoned until the age of 18? (No; no one ever does.)
Federal agents assisted in the raid of a network of Los Angeles charter schools as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of criminal activity.

The raid at the South Los Angeles offices of Celerity Educational Group at 2069 W. Slauson Ave. involved multiple agencies, Laura Eimiller of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office told City News Service Wednesday.

“We and our partners were seeking evidence based on allegations of criminal activity,” Eimiller said.

The alleged criminal activity included fraud and fiscal mismanagement, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Celerity Educational Group manages seven schools in Southern California as well as some in Louisiana. The schools are publicly funded but privately operated and exempt from regulations that govern traditional schools.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials confirmed to The Times Wednesday that they had been alerted that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles was going to oversee the serving of a search warrant on Celerity’s offices.

Federal agents swarmed the organization’s offices, collecting laptops and copying data from computers, an employee told The Times.

— City News Service
[via]

Trump's Chumps & Trump 'Tards

Dep't. of Derp

Check this pile of American Idiots. How many are functionally illiterate? I'd bet few of them have ever read a book, even before they dropped out of high school. And few of them seem able to say anything rational.

The merest example:
Rick Gardner, a Christian minister in Arizona, says he most likes Trump's honesty - "truly a man of his word" - and his selflessness.
I hate these fucking sad sacks. I have always hated stupid, ignorant fools.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Just About Had It W/ All Of You

Survivors

SUN 25 JAN 1942
Pacific
Japanese submarine I-73 shells Midway Island.

Japanese destroyer Hatsuharu is damaged by U.S. aircraft east of Kendari, Celebes.

Atlantic
German submarine U-125 attacks unarmed U.S. tanker Olney, forcing the latter aground off Cape Lookout, North Carolina, 37°55'N, 74°56'W. Olney is subsequently removed from her predicament, however, repaired, and returned to service.

U.S. steamer Tennessee rescues one boatload of 21 survivors from U.S. collier Venore, torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-66 on 25 January; two survivors reach port in a second boat. U.S. motor tanker Australia rescues the only other surviving sailor the same day. Seventeen men of Venore's crew perish.

The ANAL O.G. Un-President

Cretin-in-Chief.
W/ the emphasis on ANAL!
President Trump spends substantial time and energy ridiculing the media. He spends even more time consuming — and obsessing about — it.

Print copies of three newspapers. When Billy Bush was on, "Access Hollywood" every night. TiVo of the morning and evening news shows so he can watch the tops of all of them. Always "60 Minutes." Often "Meet the Press." Lots of New York talk radio.

He's not a book guy: In fact, some advisers say they don't recall seeing him read one or even talking about one beyond his own, "The Art of the Deal." And, as he told us, he's not one for long reports or detailed briefings. One page usually suffices. Bullet points are even better. But he does consume — often in huge doses — lots of traditional media.

"He's an analog guy," one top adviser told us, saying he never sees the boss on a computer or using his phone for anything but calls.

The president's media diet:
  • When Trump was in the tower, he got hard copies of the N.Y. Times and N.Y. Post (which a friend calls "the paper of record for him" — he especially studies Page Six). He "skims The Wall Street Journal," the friend said. No Washington Post, although friends assume he'll add it now. He had started skipping the other New York tab, the Daily News, because he thought it treated him shabbily.
  • Trump knows specific bylines in the papers and when he's interviewed by a reporter, he can recite how the reporter has treated him over the years, even in previous jobs.
  • Before the campaign, his aides subscribed to an electronic clipping service that flagged any mention of his name, then his staff printed out the key articles. He'll scroll through Twitter, but he doesn't surf the web himself.
  • With an allergy to computers and phones, he works the papers. With a black Sharpie in hand, he marks up the Times or other printed stories. When he wants action or response, he scrawls the staffers' names on that paper and either hands the clip to them in person, or has a staffer create a PDF of it — with handwritten commentary — and email it to them. An amazed senior adviser recently pulled out his phone to show us a string of the emailed PDFs, all demanding response. It was like something from the early 90s. Even when he gets worked up enough to tweet, Trump told us in our interview he will often simply dictate it, and let his staff hit "send" on Twitter.
  • Most mornings, Trump flicks on the TV and watches "Morning Joe," often for long periods of time, sometimes interrupted with texts to the hosts or panelists. After the 6 a.m. hour of "Joe," he's often on to "Fox & Friends" by 7 a.m., with a little CNN before or after. He also catches the Sunday shows, especially "Meet the Press." "The shows," as he calls them, often provoke his tweets. The day of our interview with him, all of his tweet topics were discussed during the first two hours of "Morning Joe."
  • "60 Minutes" is usually on his DVR. "He's so old-school that he thinks it's awesome to go on '60 Minutes," a friend said. "He loves being one of Barbara Walters' '10 Most Fascinating People' of the year." Before Trump ran, a staple that he watched every weeknight was Billy Bush's "Access Hollywood." Same with Time Magazine. His office and hotels are full of framed copies of him on the cover.
Why this matters: Trump has been hooked on coverage, especially of himself, since the glory days of the New York tabloids, when he would happily leak details about his affairs and business deals. He can't quit it. So the notion he will surrender the remote, or Twitter, or his grievances with reporters is pure fantasy. Aides talk of giving him "better choices" or jamming his schedule with meetings to keep him away from reading about or watching himself on TV. But this is an addiction he will never kick.
Cheese'n'crackers, not only is not-my-President incompetent, he is quite literally retarded, as in stuck in the '80s w/ Baba Wawa & Time, The Magazine. Send it by courier, baby!

Today In Demonization

Working from the same talking points, we see. Damn bitches better learn their place, huh?

Lance Wallnau: Women’s March Was A Manifestation of ‘The Spirit Of Witchcraft’

Rick Joyner: Women’s March Was ‘A Blatant Manifestation Of The Jezebel Spirit’

UPDATE, 1803PST: Another superstitious suckwad, from the same tired & idiotic DEMON talking points.

Has America Compromised With the Jezebel Spirit?

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Sub Rammed, Sunk: Oops!

SAT 24 JAN 1942
Pacific
Battle off Balikpapan (Battle of Makassar Strait) occurs when four U.S. destroyers (Commander Paul H. Talbot) (DesDiv 59) attack Japanese Borneo invasion convoy. Destroyer John D. Ford (DD-228) is damaged by gunfire (01°20'N, 117°01'E) but sinks transport Tsuruga Maru; destroyer Parrott (DD-218) sinks transport Sumanoura Maru; destroyers Paul Jones (DD-230) and Pope (DD-225) sink transport Tatsukami Maru; Paul Jones sinks cargo ship Kuretaki Maru; Parrott sinks Patrol Boat No.37, 00°10'N, 118°00'E. USAAF B-17s and Dutch Martin 139s and Brewster 339s bomb invasion shipping, sinking transports Nana Maru and Jukka Maru, 00°10'N, 118°00'E.

Naval battalion (Commander Francis J. Bridget) drives Japanese troops back to Longoskawayan and Quinauan Points on Bataan Peninsula.

Japanese land at Kendari, Celebes; Kavieng, New Ireland; and Subic Bay.

Submarine tender Canopus (AS-9) is damaged by bombs, Lilimbom Cove, Mariveles.

Submarine Swordfish (SS-193) sinks Japanese gunboat Myoken Maru north of Kema, Celebes, 01°26'N, 125°08'E.

Caribbean
Submarine S-26 (SS-131) is accidentally rammed and sunk by submarine chaser PC-460 in Gulf of Panama, 08°13'N, 79°21'E. PC-460 rescues three survivors. Despite a search by the patrol craft and the other three submarines in company, S-21 (SS-126), S-29 (SS-134) and S-44 (SS-155), no other survivors are found; 46 men lose their lives in the mishap.

Today In Sheer Coincidence

K-I-S-S-I-N-G. (POOL/GETTY IMAGES)

El Trumpo's World View:
The Enemy's Within!!!

Orange model Brainiac.
Apparently I'm the only person left in this world of shit & pain capable of reading; certainly the only one capable of understanding what he's reading. If not, why hasn't this quote received any attention? (Possibly because no one is reading the site, which was started by two of the chief shitheads behind POLITICO.)
"I've had a lot of briefings that are very … I don't want to say 'scary,' because I'll solve the problems," he said. "But … we have some big enemies out there in this country and we have some very big enemies — very big and, in some cases, strong enemies."
Besides the sadly familiar feeling of a listening to a not very smart grade-schooler trying to bullshit his way out of a question ("some very big enemies — very big and, in some cases, strong enemies") for which he was unprepared, did you notice the phrase "big enemies out there in this country"? Is he just confused? Did he perhaps mean "the world", but let slip a Freudian revelation of his true beliefs about us? Dollars to dough-nuts there's already an enemies list (if not several) making its way around the Executive Mansion.

And of course, he'll solve the problems. Because everyone else is stupid, & he's, like, very SMRT. (You can tell by the way he talks like a third-grader.)

Monday, January 23, 2017

Trends Continue Downward

FRI 23 JAN 1942
Pacific
Roberts Commission, whose work had begun on 18 December 1941, concludes its investigation to "ascertain and report the facts relating to the attack made by the Japanese armed forces upon the Territory of Hawaii on December 7, 1941..." The exhibits gathered amount to 2,173 printed pages.

Japanese land at Balikpapan, Borneo, N.E.I.

Japanese occupy Rabaul, New Britain, and land at Kieta, Bougainville, Solomons.

Japanese force lands on southwest coast of Bataan peninsula; local Army commander inserts naval battalion of sailors and marines (Commander Francis J. Bridget) into the battle as a stopgap. It blocks enemy progress. Motor torpedo boat PT-34 is damaged in action with Japanese armed launch while on patrol off Bataan Peninsula.

Oiler Neches (AO-5) is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-72, off Hawaiian Islands, 21°01'N, 160°06'W. The loss of the oiler supporting TF 11 (Vice Admiral Wilson Brown Jr.) forces cancellation of the projected raid on Wake.

Destroyer& Edsall (DD-219) is damaged by explosion of own depth charges during attack on submarine contact in Howard Channel, Clarence Strait, one of the approaches to Darwin, Australia.

Submarine Seadragon (SS-194) damages Japanese merchant cargo ship Fukuyo Maru off the northern coast of French Indochina, 12°00'N, 109°00'E.

Atlantic
Unarmed U.S. collier Venore is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-66 about 20 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 35°50'N, 75°20'W (see 25 January).

Musical Birthday

Born this date in 1910, Django Reinhardt.

Which Commandment Was That Again?

John Nolte / Daily Wire:
Response to Ben Shapiro: Five Reasons I Don't Care If Donald Trump Lies  —  Let me first acknowledge Ben Shapiro's Sunday piece about those who excuse from Donald Trump what they never would from Barack Obama.  On this particular subject, I have been very clear since the beginning, since The Donald stepped out onto the political stage.
ni·hil·ism
/ˈnīəˌlizəm,ˈnēəˌlizəm/
noun
  1. the rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless.
The dream is over: Cast off the yoke of bourgeois morality & take a page from this guy's book before it's too late!

Impending Mortality

Reductions in Medicare & Social Security outlays should help you go before many more of your heroes do.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Japan Advancing, Allies Evacuating

January 22, Thu.
Pacific
Japanese reinforcements land in Subic Bay area.

Japanese land on Mussau Island, north of New Ireland.

Allied forces evacuate Lae and Salamaua, New Guinea.

TF 11 (Vice Admiral Wilson Brown Jr.), formed around carrier Lexington (CV-2), departs Oahu to raid Wake Island (see 23 January).

Destroyers Gridley (DD-380) and Fanning (DD-385) are damaged in collision 150 miles northwest of American Samoa as TF 8 proceeds toward the Marshalls and Gilberts.

Survey vessel Sumner (AG 32) arrives at Bora Bora, Society Islands, and commences survey work at that place (see 29 January and 12 February).

Atlantic
Unarmed U.S. freighter Norvana is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-123 south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. There are no survivors, and pieces of wreckage from the exploding ship hit her attacker.

2017 Wk. Three Morbidity
& Mortality Report

Wk. of 15-21 January 2017:
Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, pro wrassler, accused murderer, Sunday the 15th.

Eugene Cernan, last humanoid to set foot on Luna, 82, Monday the 16th.

"Poppy" & "Bar" Bush, not to worry; hospital stays just an excuse not to attend Trump's illegit inaug.

Cheese or a cheese-like product on a cracker, this hasn't turned out to be much of a report. Reckoned (hoped) they'd be dropping like flies in the new yr.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Uncharted Pinnacle

WED 21 JAN 1942
Pacific
In response to the movement of the Japanese convoy sighted the previous day in Makassar Strait, a U.S. task force (Rear Admiral William A. Glassford), consisting of light cruisers Boise (CL-47) (flagship) and Marblehead (CL-12) and four destroyers sails from Koepang, Timor, to engage it. En route, however, Boise steams across an uncharted pinnacle in Sape Strait, N.E.I., and suffers sufficient damage to eliminate her from the force. Turbine trouble limits Marblehead (the ship to which Glassford transfers his flag) to only 15 knots, so the admiral orders the destroyers (Commander Paul H. Talbot) ahead (see 24 January).

Submarine S-36 (SS-141), damaged by grounding on 20 January, is scuttled by her crew in Makassar Strait.

Insecure (& Illegitimate)
Presidential Drama Queen

Who you gonna believe: Trump, or your lying eyes?

Srsly., how effin' pathetic is this egomaniac?
A presidential speech that was intended to thank the intelligence community quickly went off the rails Saturday as Donald Trump talked about himself, his inauguration crowd, the dishonest media and how great his party was.

Trump appeared at the CIA on his first official day as the 45th president after a rough few weeks where he'd heavily criticized the agency, blamed it for leaks and questioned their assessment that Russia had interfered in the U.S. election. In a brief 15-minute statement, Trump meandered, but without the kind of discipline or grace one might expect from the commander in chief.

"I am so behind you and I know maybe sometimes you haven't gotten the backing that you've wanted and you're going to get so much backing," Trump told the intel community with whom he has feuded. "Maybe you'll say, 'don't give us so much backing. Mr. President, please, we don't need that much backing,' But you're going to have that, and I think everybody in this room knows it."

It seemed at every turn, Trump would pivot to himself. As he talked about his choice to lead the CIA Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS), Trump noted that he himself was smart.

"I met him and I said, he is so good. Number one in his class at West Point. I know a lot about West Point, and I'm a person that very strongly believes in academics. In fact, every time I say I had an uncle who was a great professor at M.I.T. for 35 years, who did a fantastic job in so many ways," Trump said. "He was an academic genius, and then they say, there's Donald Trump, an intellectual, trust me, I'm like a smart person."

Then, when he talked about wanting to help America win again, he noted how young he felt.

"When I was young and I feel young, I feel like I'm 30, 35, 39, somebody said, 'Are you young? I said, 'I think I'm young.' You know, I was stopping when we were in the final month of the campaign, four stops, five stops, seven stops. Speeches, speeches, in front of 25,000, 35,000 people, 15,000, 19,000, from stop to stop," Trump said. " I feel young. When I was young, we were always winning things in this country. Would win with trade. Would win with wars. And at a certain age, I remember hearing from one of my instructors the United States has never lost a war. And then after that, it's like, we haven't won anything."

It was a strange juxtaposition: a President, standing before the memorial wall at the CIA that honors the lives lost by agency officers as he talked about crowd size and his intelligence. According to the pool report, there were about 400 CIA employees at the agency Saturday. At first, the cheering came from across the crowd, but the pooler noted that as the speech continued, the senior officials in the front grew "subdued."

"Probably almost everybody in this room voted for me but I will not ask you to raise your hands if you did but I guarantee a big portion because we're all on the same wavelength," Trump said.

Trump also couldn't resist talking about his feud with the media.

"I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth. And they sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community. And I just want to let you know, the reason you're the number one stop is exactly the opposite," Trump said. "We did a thing yesterday at the speech and everybody like the speech? But we had a massive field of people. You saw that. Packed. I get up this morning, I turn on one of the networks, and they show an empty field. I'm like, wait a minute. I made a speech. I looked out, the field was, it looked like a million, million and a half people."
[T.P.M.]

As we type the White House Press Secretary is trying to figure how the massive street demonstrations currently happening can be spun. Good luck!

Post-American Bandstand

It's Separation Time; Rasta No Deal W/ Crime

Friday, January 20, 2017

Jarheads Back To Samoa

TUE 20 JAN 1942
Pacific
Second Marine Brigade (Brigadier General Henry L. Larson, USMC) arrives at Pago Pago, Samoa, in transports Lurline, Matsonia, and Monterey, along with cargo ship Jupiter (AK-43) and ammunition ship Lassen (AE-3), to protect that portion of the important lifeline to Australia. Cover for the operation is provided by TF 8 formed around carrier Enterprise (CV-6) (Vice Admiral William F. Halsey Jr.) and TF 17 (Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher) formed around carrier Yorktown (CV-5). The two carrier task forces then set course for the Japanese-held Marshalls and Gilberts to carry out the initial raids on the enemy's defensive perimeter (see 1 February).

Motor torpedo boat PT-31, damaged by grounding the day before, is burned by crew to prevent capture, 14°45'N, 120°13'E.

Submarine S-36 (SS-141) is damaged when she runs aground on Taka Bakang Reef, Makassar Strait, Celebes, N.E.I., 04°57'N, 118°31'E (see 21 January).

Destroyer Edsall (DD-219) and Australian minesweeper HMAS Deloraine sink Japanese submarine I-124 off Darwin, Australia.

Japanese gunboat Aso Maru and auxiliary minesweeper No.52 Banshu Maru are sunk by mines, Subic Bay, Luzon, P.I., 14°45'N, 120°17'E.

Japanese merchant storeship Sendai Maru is damaged by unknown cause off mouth of Davao Gulf.

Japanese convoy is reported in Makassar Strait, bound for Balikpapan, Borneo (see 21 January).

Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me, Guess I'll Go Eat Worms

The schaden freudes itself: What if they gave an illegitimate inaugural & (relatively) no one came, including much of Trump's enthusiastic movement?

Nobody likes this jerkwad or any of his little fascist friends. When does the snarking stop & the shooting start?
Jennifer Calfas / The Hill:
Poll: Trump approval rating hits new low hours before inauguration  —  Just over a third of Americans approve of President-elect Donald Trump  —  , according to a new poll released hours before his inauguration.  —  The survey from Fox News showed that 37 percent of Americans approve …
Piling on.

Donald Trump took the oath of office in front of a comically small crowd

The size of his crowds was the entire premise of his campaign.

The flash of his cards ...
What Google hath wrought: First result of "the flash of his cards was sprayed" is this eerily prescient four-&-a-half yr. old Greater Trumpery from our iNternet friends sitting on top (if you discount Patagonia & the Malvinas) of the world.

Instant Inaugural Karma

It's no secret this reporter has hated this shit hole country & the filthy non-stop hypocrisy it's spewed at the rest of the world since long before he started bitching & moaning about it & everything else on the iNternet; now that America's chickens have come home to roost (& already dropped loads of chickenshit on everything) I'm very happy (even if my corpse will be in the streets rotting w/in months) because most of you sonsabitches will suffer (Maybe die?) lying in the beds you made for yourselves. Bend over & spread 'em, bit-chezz, 'cause here it comes!!

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Hamburger All Over The Highway ...

Literally.

Truck hauling 138 cows overturns,
killing 37 heifers east of Los Angeles

Wait for it.

P.T. Thirty-One Said
"We caught a dirty one"

MON 19 JAN 1942
Pacific
Motor torpedo boat PT-31 is damaged when her engines fail because of what is believed to be sabotaged gasoline and she runs aground on reef north of Mayagao Point, Bataan, P.I.

Atlantic
In attacks against unescorted coastal shipping, unarmed U.S. steamship City of Atlanta is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-123 off the North Carolina coast at 35°42'N, 75°21'W; railroad ferry Seatrain Texas rescues the three survivors of the 46-man crew.

German submarine U-66 torpedoes and sinks Canadian steamer Lady Hawkins at 35°00'N, 72°30'W (see 28 January).

The Latest

A mere sample:
"I tell you what": We're about to have a 70-yr. old "President" who has the intellectual acuity of the proverbial high school drop-out working in a gas station.
Except self-service would've put him out of a job long ago.
Tweets via Anne Laurie at Balloon Juice.

This reporter is leaving the bunker to look at the last full day before the shitheels of the "Real America" take over these United Snakes. 240 yrs. is probably more than could have reasonably been expected, so fuck it all to hell; it's the will of (some of) the people!

Thermonuclear Thurs.

Play simultaneously. Then bend over, place your head between your legs, & kiss your ass goodbye.

King Yellow (NOT Orange)

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Actual Axis Of Evil

SUN 18 JAN 1942
General
Germany, Italy, and Japan sign new military pact in Berlin.

Pacific
River gunboat Tutuila (PR-4), stranded at Chungking by Sino-Japanese hostilities since 1937, is decommissioned and her crew flown out of China.

Submarine Plunger (SS-179) torpedoes and sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Eizan Maru (ex-Panamanian Aurora) off mouth of Kii Suido, Honshu, 33°30'N, 135°00'E.

Atlantic
Unarmed U.S. freighter Frances Salman is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-552 off St. John's, Newfoundland. There are no survivors from the 28-man crew.

Unarmed U.S. tanker Allan Jackson is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-66 about 50 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 35°57'N, 74°20'W; destroyer Roe (DD-418) rescues the 13 survivors from the 35-man crew.

Unarmed U.S. tanker Malay is shelled and damaged by German submarine U-123 off Oregon Inlet, North Carolina, 35°25'N, 75°23'W. Freighter Scania provides fire-fighting assistance while the tanker's assailant pursues other game (Latvian freighter Ciltvaria). Although Malay is torpedoed by U-123 upon the U-boat's return and damaged further, the holed tanker reaches Hampton Roads safely the next day. One man perishes in the shelling; four drown when the ship is abandoned after she is torpedoed.

Everything You Know Is Wrong,
Also Too

As noted yesterday, straight outta Hellmouth (& 1974) The Firesign Theatre!

At Least I Was Warned

Weasel-Dick Weds.

Tragic Davos avalanche? We can only hope.
Will no one rid us of these parasites, hedge fund managers & whore-mongers who are literally killing & maiming us every day w/ their never-ending greed & lust for power?

Coming up on Wednesday

The first day of Davos 2017 is drawing to a close, but there's plenty more coming up tomorrow. Here are some of the key sessions to follow on Wednesday:

0800 GMT - Squeezed and Angry: How to Fix the Middle-Class Crisis
0930 GMT - Special Address by Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States
1000 GMT - A Compact for Responsible Business Leadership
1000 GMT - Politics of Fear or Rebellion of the Forgotten?
1300 GMT - A Positive Narrative for the Global Community
1445 GMT - Fixing Europe's Disunion
1700 GMT - The Great American Divide
1715 GMT - An Insight, An Idea with Jack Ma
N.B.: If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem.