Navy boats and Iranian “assistance”

From the Conservative Tribune, January 16^th, this headline... Defense Secretary Slips Up, Reveals Obama Admin LED IRAN Straight to Our Sailors

It doesn’t matter if “the 3 a.m. phone call” comes in the middle of the day. Not only will the Obama administration not answer it, but they’ll aid our enemies instead.

First came the fact that President Barack Obama refused to address the arrest of 10 of our sailors by the Iranian military after their boats had mechanical trouble at sea. Then came news that the Obama administration had offered the Iranians an apology for the release of the sailors.   Now comes the disturbing revelation, apparently delivered by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, that the Obama administration tipped off the Iranians that our soldiers were lost at sea and requested their aid.

The news came from Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, during an interview on TheBlaze’s Dana Loesch shortly after Iran’s arrest of the sailors had come to light.

“I understand that (Secretary of State) John Kerry has indicated, look, when he got word, he and Ash Carter called the Iranians to help take care of our Navy guys, because they had some mechanical problems,” Gohmert said.   I’ll give you a second to pick your jaw off the floor.   “When our Navy ships have problems, we don’t call Iran. We call the rest of the Navy. We can call the Air Force, the Army, the Marines, Coast Guard. We don’t call Iran,” Gohmert said.   He also took a swipe at Kerry’s closeness with Iranian officials, noting how the former Democrat presidential nominee had the son of Iran’s foreign minister as the best man at his daughter’s wedding.

“But I guess, you know, if you have relatives that have weddings that involve the people that are in charge in Iran, well, maybe you feel that comfortable,” Gohmert said. “But you know, Dana, there are secrets on every military ship we have … that has no business being in the hands of the Iranians.”   But, hey — the Obama administration has given the Iranians everything else via the Iran deal, why not give them Navy secrets, as well?   This shows just how derelict the Obama administration was in its duty. Not only did they apologize to the Iranians, they actively delivered our sailors into the clutches of their military.   This rot starts at the top — and if Barack Obama can apologize to Iran, he can also apologize to the American people.

And, in a related story, there’s this, also from the Conservative Tribune on January 16^th, and the headline is…Navy Capt. Reveals What Iran REALLY Did With U.S. Sailors… Media Completely Silent

To say that Iran made this week difficult for the Obama administration would be a massive understatement.   First, their new BFFs, the mullahs in Tehran, decided to arrest 10 American sailors whose boat had broken down and drifted into Iranian waters. Then, America was forced to apologize to get them back.   Finally, a Republican congressman said that Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ash Carter had actually contacted the Iranians to fetch the boats.   After all that, Secretary Kerry had the gall to say that the “quick release” of the sailors was due to the improved relations fostered by the Iran deal.   While the administration may be singing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” Capt. Chuck Nash isn’t buying it. The former naval officer and military analyst took to Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Thursday to say what he thinks the incident showed.   “This was done intentionally and it was done to further embarrass the United States. And to send the clear message to the Gulf Arabs: If the Americans won’t stand up for themselves, they’re certainly not going to stand up for you. We’re the big dog now,” Nash said.

Nash also said that the decision to release footage of an American sailor apologizing for the incident was made at the highest level — likely by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.   Once again, my friends, the fecklessness of this administration is being broadcast to the world.   Once again, the clinically delusional madman heading up this country has taken us a few more steps down the path to complete destruction.   One cannot ignore the utter contempt in which the rest of the free world now holds the United States.   We are a paper tiger, torn to shreds by our own incompetent leadership.

 

Let’s talk guns.

.    My friends, just ask yourselves a question…if you are awakened in the middle of the night with someone breaking into your home, threatening your family, do you want to be armed or not?  It’s been proven, time and time and again, that a good guy with a gun can, and does, keep the crime rate down.   As has been stated many times before, the United States Constitution gives you the right to own a gun…it doesn’t specify what type of gun, how many rounds it can hold or how you have to store it…all of that has been determined, and argued about, in the individual states.

When there is a mass shooting, why does the other side blame the gun?   If the gun was dangerous by itself, it would be shooting people by itself…but it needs someone to hold it and pull the trigger.  The gun is not the problem, the person holding and using it is the problem, and more often than not, they’ve got a screw loose somewhere.

            It is apparent to me, based on the idiotic things that the Muslim-in-Chief has said, what members of his administration have said and what members of Congress have said, that they have little or no knowledge of firearms.   You, a private citizen, are to be denied your Constitutional right to own a gun because “they” don’t want you to have one.  “They”, however are probably being guarded by armed personnel…so where’s the logic in that?   Does that mean that they value their own lives above yours or mine?  I certainly don’t agree with that concept.

            "An armed society is a polite society.", this from Robert Heinlein, a prominent science-fiction writer and the author of “Starship Troopers”.   The point being made here is that bad guys are less likely to pick on someone to rob, to mug, invade their home or car-jack if they know or suspect that the potential victim is armed.  Gun-free zones are what they like best because there’s very little, or no, chance that someone will be shooting back at them.  Gun-free zones should be renamed to “killing zones”, and you needn’t give me any crap about how it would turn into the Wild West, because it hasn’t, and won’t.

            Buying a gun legally is done along strict lines set up by the federal government.  In every case, there’s a form to fill out, which goes to the FBI and they make a background check on the purchaser.  Almost any little thing that pops up can cause the buyer to be disqualified, so “enhancing” background checks is a non-starter because they’re already doing that.  Once a person applies for a concealed carry permit, the background check is even deeper and, once again, anything that pops up could cause the buyer to be rejected. 

            You might think that having that permit entitles you to do all sorts of things, but you’d be wrong.  You cannot let the weapon be seen, that’s called brandishing.   You cannot even let the outline of the weapon be seen, that’s call imprinting.   Both of these, depending upon the state in which you live, could be cause for cancellation of your concealed carry permit.  Carrying a weapon is a responsibility that one should not take lightly.   If you have one weapon, it’s recommended that you get to know it very well.

Find a shooting range and go there about twice a month, minimum, and shoot 50 rounds or so through the weapon.   In a situation where it’s life or death, you don’t want to be fumbling or wondering about ANYTHING concerning that weapon.

            At a town hall event at La Progressiva Presbyterian School in Miami, Florida, Jeb Bush stated, "The federal government shouldn't be involved in gun laws. The country is very different." Bush added, "If you go to a rural area where guns are a part of the culture, to impose laws from Washington that are going to work for New York City, or work in a rural area, makes no sense.   Historically when this happens, the 99.9 percent of the cases of people using guns for their private pursuits, using them legally, their rights get restricted, and it doesn't solve the problems of these isolated sad tragic cases."

            "A free people ought to be armed."-- George Washington, first president of the United States.   "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."-- Benjamin Franklin, publisher of Poor Richard’s Almanac and early American statesman.  "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."-- Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence.  Three men, visionaries in their own right, who set down on paper, a proper course for the nation to travel.  I believe, with all my heart, that they would be appalled to see the furor over gun control going on now and, as I’ve said many, many times before, this is not about gun control…this is about womb-to-tomb control of your life.

            Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired     e-mail: amafrog@att.net

Getting re-acquainted

Hello, my name is Larry Usoff, and I'm US Navy Retired.   During the five-plus years that we did an online radio show a lot of people called me an alarmist...so I've adopted that nickname, The Old Alarmist.   When you read these blogs and see the videos(from time to time) you'll probably see things that you didn't know about simply because they're not being mentioned...especially by the mainstream media.

The Old Alarmist Says

The Old Alarmist Says…first, let’s understand that if you’re reading this, you’re going to be on one side of the fence or the other.   My side of the fence is conservative, with a desire for smaller government, smarter administrations and a stronger America.   The other side of the fence wants bigger government, more regulations and more political correctness.  At some point, and it’s apparent that we’re close to it, there will be more people on government handouts than are working to support them.

            So, decide where you are and then we can proceed because if you’re on the other side of the fence this is where you should stop reading and delete this and never come back to me on e-mail.   Or, perhaps you’re one of the few that thinks for themselves and looks for indicators in what is being said or printed.  Kudos to you, if you are.

            I believe…that the current occupant of the White House is a clinically delusional madman…that he is following an agenda straight out of Saul Alinsky’s Rules For Radicals, along with the Cloward and Piven strategies, both of which aim for the destruction of the United States even though it’s couched in politically correct language. 

            At a time when our potential enemies, China and Russia, are building up their militaries, our delusional leader is decimating ours.   We are still borrowing money, which many experts say can never be repaid, and handing it out to almost anyone, or anything, without much chance of getting any sort of repayment to us.  That is plainly fiscal irresponsibility.

            Based on books that I’ve read over the past five years, doing research for the radio show, it is plain to see that this country is being degraded and destroyed systematically.   Succeeding generations are being dumbed-down, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between the two political parties when you examine what they do when they are the “in” group.   My affiliation, for the present, is Republican, but could we use a third party?  I think we could.

            If you write you will get an answer.  The problem is that the answer you get may not be the answer you expected or wanted.   Write me at amafrog@att.net

           

RONALD REAGAN AND OTHER GOOD GUYS…

RONALD REAGAN AND OTHER GOOD GUYS…

            Ronald Reagan may not have been the most brilliant president we’ve ever had, but his heart was in the right place and, there was no doubt, that he was an American.

Here’s a few quotes from our 40^th President: “Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”  That, to me, sounds like the opposite of what the current occupant of the Oval Office is all about.  Another quote goes like this…”We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”   How can society be responsible for mentally disturbed people, or for people that are indoctrinated to hate America and do us harm?   A gun in the hands of a sane person, one who has no hate in his/her heart, will probably do no harm.   The recent shooting in San Bernardino is an excellent example of this.  California has very strict gun laws, but the killers had plenty of weapons, so the laws didn’t bother them at all.   They had been inculcated to violence against America, so it wasn’t OUR society that did them wrong, it was the training they received somewhere else.

            Thomas Jefferson, a brilliant visionary, also had a few pertinent things to say, and remember, he was a century(at least) ahead of our present troubles.  He said, “For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.”   His words were meant to get back to England and a despotic King, but they are just as noteworthy today.  Something else he said was “Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.”   You have to ask yourself, how did he know that we would aid and abet our own destruction by importing barbarians that have killing Americans uppermost in their minds?   The consolidation of power in the executive branch of our government has been allowed to take place because the Congress has not done their job, which is to rein in the lawless

occupant of the White House.   Why they seem to rubber-stamp his every wish is beyond me.

            One of my personal heroes is JFK and not just because he was in the Navy.  He had a few memorable things to say also.  One is “The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.”   As mentioned above, Congress seems to have gotten the idea that you need to go along to get along, and that’s not what America is about.   We are a nation founded on certain principles that were, at the time, contrary to the popular belief…and we turned out to be the greatest nation on earth…ever!   Something

else that JFK said was “The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.”  If you think about it, almost any nation, the US included, that would drop a nuclear weapon could very well set off a chain-reaction of other nations dropping their own bombs and THAT, according to NewScientist.com could usher in a nuclear winter.  A regional exchange of relatively small nuclear weapons could plunge the world into a decade-long “nuclear winter”, destroying agriculture and killing millions, according to a new study.   Weapons experts to consider that small-scale nuclear exchanges are now more likely than the massive US-Soviet exchanges feared during the Cold War.   In the 1980s, scientists calculated that such exchanges would put enough smoke into the atmosphere to shade the Earth from the Sun, causing a nuclear winter.

Now scientists have re-calculated the likelihood of nuclear winter using modern, vastly improved climate models and a more likely modern scenario for small-scale nuclear war.

In short, we could be looking at an event that would bring about the end of mankind.  Period.

            There are many people, of differing beliefs, that populate the earth and if we start with that as a given fact the rest of this becomes logical.   To date we have not learned to live on other planets, so we must learn to live, together, on this one.  Any one group that threatens the existence of all, must be dealt with, and in a manner that would preclude them doing anything to jeopardize the rest of us.   If mankind is to continue, and continue to move forward, action would seem to be the watchword here.

            One last quote, and this from Lawrence Eagleburger, “One nuclear war is going to be the last nuclear - the last war, frankly, if it really gets out of hand. And I just don't think we ought to be prepared to accept that sort of thing.”  Mr. Eagleburger was a diplomat during the George H.W. Bush administration.   Can there be any doubt that, unless we are careful, we may be rushing headlong to our own destruction?

           

Ronald Reagan and other good guys…

 Ronald Reagan and other good guys…

            Ronald Reagan may not have been the most brilliant president we’ve ever had, but his heart was in the right place and, there was no doubt, that he was an American.

Here’s a few quotes from our 40^th President: “Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”  That, to me, sounds like the opposite of what the current occupant of the Oval Office is all about.  Another quote goes like this…”We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”   How can society be responsible for mentally disturbed people, or for people that are indoctrinated to hate America and do us harm?   A gun in the hands of a sane person, one who has no hate in his/her heart, will probably do no harm.   The recent shooting in San Bernardino is an excellent example of this.  California has very strict gun laws, but the killers had plenty of weapons, so the laws didn’t bother them at all.   They had been inculcated to violence against America, so it wasn’t OUR society that did them wrong, it was the training they received somewhere else.

            Thomas Jefferson, a brilliant visionary, also had a few pertinent things to say, and remember, he was a century(at least) ahead of our present troubles.  He said, “For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.”   His words were meant to get back to England and a despotic King, but they are just as noteworthy today.  Something else he said was “Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.”   You have to ask yourself, how did he know that we would aid and abet our own destruction by importing barbarians that have killing Americans uppermost in their minds?   The consolidation of power in the executive branch of our government has been allowed to take place because the Congress has not done their job, which is to rein in the lawless

occupant of the White House.   Why they seem to rubber-stamp his every wish is beyond me.

            One of my personal heroes is JFK and not just because he was in the Navy.  He had a few memorable things to say also.  One is “The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.”   As mentioned above, Congress seems to have gotten the idea that you need to go along to get along, and that’s not what America is about.   We are a nation founded on certain principles that were, at the time, contrary to the popular belief…and we turned out to be the greatest nation on earth…ever!   Something

else that JFK said was “The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.”  If you think about it, almost any nation, the US included, that would drop a nuclear weapon could very well set off a chain-reaction of other nations dropping their own bombs and THAT, according to NewScientist.com could usher in a nuclear winter.  A regional exchange of relatively small nuclear weapons could plunge the world into a decade-long “nuclear winter”, destroying agriculture and killing millions, according to a new study.   Weapons experts to consider that small-scale nuclear exchanges are now more likely than the massive US-Soviet exchanges feared during the Cold War.   In the 1980s, scientists calculated that such exchanges would put enough smoke into the atmosphere to shade the Earth from the Sun, causing a nuclear winter.

Now scientists have re-calculated the likelihood of nuclear winter using modern, vastly improved climate models and a more likely modern scenario for small-scale nuclear war.

In short, we could be looking at an event that would bring about the end of mankind.  Period.

            There are many people, of differing beliefs, that populate the earth and if we start with that as a given fact the rest of this becomes logical.   To date we have not learned to live on other planets, so we must learn to live, together, on this one.  Any one group that threatens the existence of all, must be dealt with, and in a manner that would preclude them doing anything to jeopardize the rest of us.   If mankind is to continue, and continue to move forward, action would seem to be the watchword here.

            One last quote, and this from Lawrence Eagleburger, “One nuclear war is going to be the last nuclear - the last war, frankly, if it really gets out of hand. And I just don't think we ought to be prepared to accept that sort of thing.”  Mr. Eagleburger was a diplomat during the George H.W. Bush administration.   Can there be any doubt that, unless we are careful, we may be rushing headlong to our own destruction?

           

PEARL HARBOR…AND OTHER THINGS

PEARL HARBOR…AND OTHER THINGS

            Those of us who remember the attack on Pearl Harbor, look back and some of us wonder how we could have been so naïve.   Others will say that they knew it was coming because of our treatment of Japan…and both sides might be right.   On that Sunday morning 74 years ago, the US Navy was decimated.   The Army Air Corps was decimated.   Outlying Marine posts were overrun.   It was a day of infamy.   Now, fast forward to the present.

            We’ve rebuilt Japan, even following two atomic bombs, to the point where they are not just an economic competitor, but we owe them a bunch of money now!  No, not in reparations…we have become a bankrupt, debtor nation, and Japan is just one of our big creditors.   The same can be said about Germany, although we helped them rebuild, we don’t owe them as much, if anything.  

China…well, that’s a whole other story.   This once backward nation that we helped to survive during World War Two, bounced back with a vengeance.   It is to China that we owe most of our money, and according to experts, have little or no chance of ever repaying the loan.   We counted them as a strong ally during the war, and now we are facing them as a potential enemy…and the same can be said for Russia.

Somebody once said that politics makes strange bedfellows and it certainly is a truism in this modern world.   Who would have known that the attack on Pearl Harbor would evolve into a political and economic ally?   Could anyone have guessed that Russia and China, both of which might not have survived without our help could become “frenemies”, a term that didn’t even exist until a couple of years back.

A frenemy, as I understand it, is a person, even a nation, that works both sides of the street…they’re both for you and against you, publicly and privately.   That, to me, describes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen and a host of other countries in the muddled Middle East.   Oil made them all rich, but it didn’t make them all civilized.   They wear civilization  like a coat, to be taken off or put on as the occasion demands.   They tell us to our face that they like us but they shovel money out the back door to the barbarians.

As Pearl Harbor approached on that fateful day, America was taking the first steps to becoming a superpower.   We invented, we made, we improved and it was all done here in the United States.   Now there’s some stuff that’s still made here, but if you pick up something in the big box store, 9 times out of 10 it will say “Made In China”.

The same goes for the supermarket…except that the “Pacific Rim” countries also share in that.   It’s very difficult to find canned fruits and vegetables that are still grown and processed in this country…without ever having to go overseas first.

            A listener wrote in recently to say that I was “a one-trick pony”…that is, my stuff was all the same week in and week out.   He could be right in one respect because the show is about trying to right the wrongs being perpetrated.   That’s a big job and I’m just a whisper in a windstorm.   The salmon swimming upstream to spawn have nothing on me…the tide is always against me but as long as we have free speech in this country I’ll keep on saying what I think needs to be said.  

            Now, that bit about free speech…you want to think about that for a bit?   On many college and university campuses you don’t have that…unless you get a permit, and then only in certain “free speech zones”.    How does that square with the First Amendment to the US Constitution?    You want to hear some interesting things?   Make up a 20 question test about Americana…history, government, literature, stuff like that and ask your kids and grandkids to answer the questions.   They cannot use a smartphone or a computer…they have to actually know the answers, and that’s where the amazing part comes in.   Try it and see what happens.

            Remember Pearl Harbor…the Maine…the Alamo.   There’s probably a thousand things you could, and should, remember, because it’s what made America what it was.

            Well the holidays are coming so I’ll put on my happy face and see what transpires.   Who knows, we might even have Peace On Earth for a week or so.