Less than a week ago, as engineers at SpaceX prepared to achieve something that had never been done before in human history, a dozen bureaucrats at the California Coastal Commission assembled to do something that&#8217;s been done many, many times before. The commissioners — a group that mostly consists of liberal women — set up a massive regulatory roadblock to impede people who are actually doing real, important work. And these commissioners established this roadblock in a way that made it extremely obvious to everyone that the root of their frustration was their own jealousy and bitterness.
The following clips come from a meeting of the California Coastal Commission to consider SpaceX&#8217;s plans to launch as many as 50 rockets every year from Vandenberg Space Force Base, which is located in Southern California&#8217;s Santa Barbara County. This is a plan that was formally proposed by the Air Force and the Space Force, because SpaceX is a military contractor — and everything SpaceX does either directly benefits the Defense Department, or more broadly advances the interests of this country. But the California Coastal Commission, in its infinite wisdom, disagrees. They <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-10-11/la-me-spacex-coastal-commission" target="_blank" rel="noopener">voted down</a> the proposal for more launches. So why did they do that, exactly?
Here&#8217;s one of the commissioners, Gretchen Newsom (no relation to Gavin Newsom), explaining her reasoning. Pay attention not only to what she says, but also how she says it. Watch:
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Once all the crazy talks from the public are over, the even crazier talks from government officials start. Now it REALLY becomes clear as to what the actual reasons are. 
Here is <a href="https://twitter.com/GretchenNewsom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GretchenNewsom</a> spewing a load of bullshit about Starlink. The quoted post explains just how wrong… <a href="https://t.co/iVqI9AP0jI">pic.twitter.com/iVqI9AP0jI</a>
&mdash; Robin (@xdNiBoR) <a href="https://twitter.com/xdNiBoR/status/1845895750204436736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote>
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She&#8217;s practically snarling over the fact that Elon Musk provided internet access to people in a storm. This is internet access that the federal government denied these people, because the Biden-Harris administration cut Starlink out of a funding program for rural broadband access. And as you&#8217;d expect, many of these people voluntarily — and gratefully — accepted this internet access from Elon Musk in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
But somehow this is all a &#8220;sick ploy,&#8221; says Gretchen Newsom. And she makes that claim because, if they wanted Starlink, people had to pay a couple hundred dollars for the Starlink unit — the normal cost of the device — followed by a monthly fee after 30 free days of service (which has since been extended, for free, to the end of 2024). In other words, according to the California Coastal Commission, it&#8217;s not enough for Elon Musk to swoop in and provide basic services that the Biden administration failed to provide. He also has to do it for free. And if he doesn&#8217;t, the government will retaliate against him by blocking permits to launch rockets.
There&#8217;s so much to going on in that clip, it&#8217;s not even clear where to begin. But I wanted to start with Starlink, because it highlights the anti-human ideology that&#8217;s consumed so much of the Left. They don&#8217;t care if Elon Musk is saving lives in disaster zones in states like North Carolina. They don&#8217;t care if people are voluntarily paying him money so that they can access a vital service like the internet. They only care about damaging Elon Musk as much as possible.
And from that clip, it&#8217;s pretty clear why they want to damage Elon Musk. Gretchen Newsom says that Musk has made &#8220;bigoted&#8221; remarks about the &#8220;transgender community.&#8221; She claims he&#8217;s &#8220;spewing and tweeting political falsehoods about FEMA.&#8221; First of all, it would be hard to imagine a more direct and obvious violation of the First Amendment than these statements. Elon Musk has already said he&#8217;s suing the California Coastal Commission over this, and he absolutely should. On top of that, the things Elon Musk was saying are true. Men can&#8217;t become women. And FEMA did waste more than a billion dollars on services for illegal migrants. If the Constitution protects anything, it&#8217;s statements like these.
That&#8217;s how the Constitution is written, anyway. But obviously that&#8217;s not how things work in places that are run exclusively by Democrats, like California. We saw that just a couple of weeks ago, when the governor, Gavin Newsom, tried to ban satire and memes. He didn&#8217;t like how people on social media were talking about Kamala Harris being a DEI hire, so he tried to outlaw it. He just came right out and said it. And Gretchen Newsom (again, no relation, surprisingly enough) has taken the exact same approach, right out in the open.
There are a few other things that Gretchen Newsom said that I could quibble with. For example, no, Musk isn&#8217;t requesting &#8220;government support.&#8221; This meeting, again, is about a request by the Air Force and Space Force for the California Coastal Commission to get out of the way. No one wants the &#8220;support&#8221; of this commission. They want this commission to stop bothering them. Of course, technically, the military can override this commission if it wants to. But right now they&#8217;re working to find some kind of compromise solution. That may not last for very long, though.
That&#8217;s because it&#8217;s not just Gretchen Newsom who thinks like this. The majority of the Coastal Commission in California is the same way. Here for example is Caryl Hart, the chair of the Commission. And this clip may be even more embarrassing than the previous one. Watch:
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Next, here is Dr. Hart, the chair of the CCC, forgetting about Mathew Dun and she has to be interrupted. I think this shows how much she cares and how much attention she pays to everything. 
She&#39;s also scared about her position. Lol. <a href="https://t.co/JKHDvIQsjK">pic.twitter.com/JKHDvIQsjK</a>
&mdash; Robin (@xdNiBoR) <a href="https://twitter.com/xdNiBoR/status/1845895764154716191?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote>
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So she tries to ding SpaceX for not showing up on Zoom during the meeting. And then she&#8217;s told that, in fact, SpaceX did show up by Zoom. In fact, someone named Mathew Dun, the Director for Government Affairs at SpaceX, gave a whole presentation. He explained that SpaceX is currently supporting the Defense Department, Boeing and NASA. He pointed out that SpaceX is the only operational U.S. provider for astronaut transportation to the International Space Station — which is kind of a big deal, because astronauts are trapped up there at the moment. He went into detail about how Starlink assists the Pentagon, in addition to disaster victims.
But somehow, the chair of the California Coastal Commission missed all of this. And when she&#8217;s informed that SpaceX had shown up and done a whole presentation, she instantly waves it off. She says it wasn&#8217;t enough for her. So obviously, she made up her mind long before this hearing. And again, it&#8217;s clear what she&#8217;s really upset about. She complains that Musk has, &#8220;aggressively injected himself into the presidential race and made it clear what his point of view is.&#8221; So, in other words, he&#8217;s exercised his First Amendment rights in a way that the California Coastal Commission doesn&#8217;t approve of.
For good measure, Caryl Hart also complains that Musk has, &#8220;managed the company&#8221; in a way that&#8217;s &#8220;very disturbing.&#8221; It&#8217;s hard to know exactly what that&#8217;s a reference to. Maybe she&#8217;s complaining about that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hostile-work-environment-elon-musk-becomes-the-latest-target-of-left-wing-lawfare" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> by some former SpaceX employees, which accused Musk of posting insensitive memes on X. Those memes were allegedly very traumatizing to these employees — particularly the meme depicting Bill Gates as a pregnant man emoji. It&#8217;s very disturbing stuff.
Or maybe she&#8217;s referring to how SpaceX was <a href="https://spacenews.com/faa-fines-spacex-for-launch-license-violations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fined</a> several hundred thousand dollars because of alleged &#8220;launch license violations&#8221; last year — even though those &#8220;launch license violations&#8221; wouldn&#8217;t have been violations at all, if the FAA had responded to SpaceX&#8217;s various applications in time. Maybe that&#8217;s what the commissioner finds &#8220;disturbing.&#8221;
Or maybe she&#8217;s talking about how SpaceX is doing things that no one has ever done before in all of human history. Maybe she finds that disturbing. Maybe she doesn&#8217;t see any benefit to reusable rockets, or colonizing Mars, or rapidly deploying satellites to provide internet access to millions of people. Maybe the idea of human progress upsets this particular bureaucrat. That would explain a lot.
You can go through the whole hearing and you won&#8217;t find a serious explanation for the commission&#8217;s ultimate vote, which was to deny SpaceX the additional launches. But you will find a lot of hysteria. 
There&#8217;s a user on X using the handle &#8220;Robin&#8221; who assembled some of the better examples. Here&#8217;s two of them. The first clip is a commissioner named Dayna Bochco, who announces that the Air Force and Space Force are wrong, and that really, SpaceX has nothing to do with our national defense. She just comes out and unilaterally declares that SpaceX doesn&#8217;t benefit the government in any way. She knows more than the Pentagon and all of the engineers on this point. Watch:
The second clip is a woman — a member of the public — complaining about sonic booms from the launches. Watch:
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Then, we have this absolute gem. She doesn&#39;t think that the launches are needed for the federal government or defense. <a href="https://t.co/mhT7mDkaKV">pic.twitter.com/mhT7mDkaKV</a>
&mdash; Robin (@xdNiBoR) <a href="https://twitter.com/xdNiBoR/status/1845895766591610884?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote>
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This next clip is a woman — a member of the public — complaining about sonic booms from the launches. Watch:
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I suppose we shouldn&#39;t expand humanity&#39;s presence in space because Leah finds a sonic boom &#39;terrifying&#39; and claims she &#39;felt it through my bones.&#39;
Then she talks about the recent landing failure as if that has anything to do with it. 🤦 <a href="https://t.co/5gRxlKgfk0">pic.twitter.com/5gRxlKgfk0</a>
&mdash; Robin (@xdNiBoR) <a href="https://twitter.com/xdNiBoR/status/1845895745213202744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote>
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There&#8217;s all sorts of back-and-forth on this sonic boom issue. SpaceX disagrees on how many of these booms are audible in populated areas, and how loud they are, and so on. But let&#8217;s just put all that aside for a moment. Let&#8217;s concede, for the purposes of argument, that every now and then there&#8217;s briefly a loud noise from a SpaceX launch, and that some people can hear it for a second or two. In what universe does this justify denying SpaceX the ability to launch rockets at all?
This would be like denying construction crews the ability to work, at all, at any time. Imagine if people like this had their way during any other significant moments in this country&#8217;s history. Imagine if someone like that lady was bothered by all the noise they were making in Los Alamos, and had the Manhattan Project shut down. Imagine being the kind of person who hears a couple seconds of a sonic boom, and feels &#8220;terrified&#8221; as a result. When this woman says &#8220;sonic boom,&#8221; this is what we&#8217;re talking about here, to give you some idea. Watch:
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Tracking footage of Falcon 9’s first stage booster landing and sonic boom <a href="https://t.co/HNohw3oCCp">pic.twitter.com/HNohw3oCCp</a>
&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1820562095613898976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2024</a></blockquote>
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So the rocket makes a loud noise — that&#8217;s reason number 10,000 to shut down SpaceX, apparently. And I haven&#8217;t even gotten into the DOJ&#8217;s lawsuit against SpaceX for not hiring enough &#8220;asylum seekers,&#8221; which is what they&#8217;re calling illegal aliens now. And of course, the European Union has about a million of their own issues with SpaceX as well.
The only positive thing to come out of this pathetic meeting at the California Coastal Commission is that it established, by sheer contrast, how useless all of these &#8220;regulators&#8221; and critics really are. They couldn&#8217;t have picked a worse day to hold this hearing. Less than a week later, Elon Musk demonstrated that unlike his critics, his companies are actually accomplishing things. They&#8217;re benefiting humanity in very real and tangible ways. It&#8217;s maybe the least flattering juxtaposition in the history of juxtapositions. On the one hand, you have useless, bitter bureaucrats trying to slow human progress. And on the other hand, you have this:
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Starship rocket booster caught by tower <a href="https://t.co/aOQmSkt6YE">pic.twitter.com/aOQmSkt6YE</a>
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1845467052443828579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 13, 2024</a></blockquote>
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What SpaceX just accomplished will make interplanetary travel — in particular travel to Mars — an order of magnitude cheaper. They proved that they can catch their rocket boosters in-mid air. They also proved that they can precisely land the ship itself in the water. As Elon Musk put it last night, when you can re-use extremely expensive equipment like this, and then rapidly re-deploy it, you make it literally 1,000 times easier and less expensive to colonize a planet like Mars. And when you&#8217;re talking about trillions of dollars, that&#8217;s a big difference. It&#8217;s the difference between colonizing Mars and staying on this planet forever.
The reason Musk&#8217;s critics don&#8217;t care about this is that, when you get down to it, they&#8217;re not just bitter and jealous and unhappy. They&#8217;re also anti-human. They don&#8217;t want humans to colonize another planet anymore than they want humans to have free speech on the internet, or to reproduce above replacement level. Pretty much the only issue these people are passionate about is abortion, because it means fewer humans will exist.
That&#8217;s why Joe Biden and Kamala Harris didn&#8217;t bother to congratulate Elon Musk or SpaceX on their achievement, even though it altered the trajectory of civilization forever. It&#8217;s why they&#8217;re engaging in open lawfare to shut his companies down. These people do not want to save this country, or civilization for that matter. They want to destroy it. And they&#8217;ll complain about any pretext imaginable — whether it&#8217;s &#8220;sonic booms&#8221; or &#8220;launch licenses&#8221; or &#8220;hiring asylum seekers&#8221; — in order to achieve that end.
The only reasonable response is to dismantle the vast web of bureaucratic agencies like the &#8220;California Coastal Commission&#8221; along with the Biden-Harris administration. This election isn&#8217;t really even about Democrat or Republican anymore. It&#8217;s a choice between unimpressive, profoundly cynical bureaucrats, and people who advance civilization in meaningful ways. After what SpaceX accomplished this week, that fundamental distinction is now clear to everyone with an internet connection or a television. That&#8217;s what they&#8217;re actually upset about. And it&#8217;s why, in just a few weeks, there&#8217;s a very good chance they&#8217;re going to lose the power that they never deserved to have in the first place.

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The U.S. Air Force pursued a &#8220;goal&#8221; to reduce the &#8220;white male population&#8221; in its Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) officer’s applicant program, according to documents obtained by <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/09/19/exclusive-new-docs-shed-light-air-force-reduce-white-male-population-joining-officer-ranks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Caller</a>.
The Caller reported on Thursday that in 2022, the Air Force created a slideshow focused on gender and racial quotas, which detailed how it hoped to &#8220;achieve&#8221; a &#8220;goal&#8221; of having fewer white men in its ROTC officer&#8217;s applicant program. The Caller reported on the <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/770884913/Production-1-in-CASA-Air-Force-Racial-Quotas-Lawsuit-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">documents</a> after the Center To Advance Security In America (CASA) sued the Air Force earlier this year to obtain them. The Air Force previously responded to a 2023 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request claiming it could not find any records related to CASA&#8217;s ask.
In 2022, the U.S. Department of the Air Force also issued a <a href="https://www.af.mil/Portals/1/documents/2022SAF/Officer_Source_of_Commission_Applicant_Pool_Goals_memo.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">memorandum</a>, stating, &#8220;Diversity and inclusion are an essential part of our society and key to the success of any organization.&#8221;
One of the slides the Air Force put together is titled &#8220;AFROTC White&#8221; and shows a chart of the white population in the ROTC officer&#8217;s applicant program declining to under 50% by fiscal year 2029, which is marked as the &#8220;achieved goal.&#8221;
“White male population will decline as other demographics increase,” the slide states.
Another slide is labeled &#8220;Racial milestones&#8221; and shows how the Air Force is progressing in its race- and gender-based quotas. For African Americans, the Air Force slideshow says it will “target [the] male population through ongoing programs and marketing.” In the slideshow, the Air Force says it had already met its &#8220;female goal&#8221; for ROTC officer applicants, according to the Caller. The Air Force documents also show that the military branch requested $500,000 to be put toward “diversity advertising campaigns.”
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726313279401000&amp;usg=AOvVaw115_qPFFEePDP86-Fvo-Vd">Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!</a>
The racial goals include the Air Force’s Aim High Flight Academy (AHFA), according to the documents. The AHFA is an aviation scholarship program for students in high school, ROTC, and the Air Force Academy. The Air Force pushed to ensure that at least 35% of the AHFA applicant pool was made up of minorities.
The Air Force&#8217;s racial quotas are similar to plans workshopped by Federal Aviation Administration officials in 2022. Daily Wire host Matt Walsh <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/plan-to-reduce-the-number-of-white-males-in-aviation-matt-walsh-reveals-troubling-internal-footage-of-faa-discussion-on-dei-agenda" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed footage</a> earlier this year showing FAA brass complaining about a &#8220;white-male dominated&#8221; industry. Deputy Chief Operating Officer Angela McCullough argued in the footage that the FAA needs to “get a little uncomfortable” and “talk about what the future could look like.”

Air Force

Air Force Pushed To Reduce ‘White Male Population’ In Its ROTC Program: Report

Air Force Pushed To Reduce 'White Male Population' In Its ROTC Program: Report

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The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-air-force" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United States Air Force</a> released images this week of its new state-of-the-art stealth bomber that is set to enter service in the near future.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-military" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Military</a> unveiled the new strategic long-rage stealth bomber, Northrop Grumman’s B-21 Raider, at a special ceremony in Palmdale, California.
The B-21 will replace the Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bomber and the B-1 Lancer bomber, both of which have been around for three decades.
The B-21 looks very similar to the B-2, but is smaller and significantly more sophisticated as it has more advanced stealth technology and has more capabilities in the realm of electronic and cyber warfare. Only 21 B-2 bombers were ever built, a number that will be dwarfed by the more than 100 B-21s that the U.S. Military is requesting.
&#8220;The B21 Raider continues to conduct flight tests at Edwards with the B-21 Combined Test Force, including ground testing, taxiing, and flying operations,&#8221; Edwards Air Force Base said in a post on X that included new photos of the bomber. &#8220;The Raider continues to make progress toward becoming the backbone of the USAF bomber fleet.&#8221;
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The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/B21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#B21</a> Raider continues to conduct flight tests at Edwards with the B-21 Combined Test Force, including ground testing, taxiing, and flying operations. The Raider continues to make progress toward becoming the backbone of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USAF?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USAF</a> bomber fleet. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AFMC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AFMC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/usairforce?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@usairforce</a> <a href="https://t.co/u03HsnTKwd">pic.twitter.com/u03HsnTKwd</a>
— Edwards Air Force Base (@EdwardsAFB) <a href="https://twitter.com/EdwardsAFB/status/1793345250108527054?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
“The B-21 Raider is the first strategic bomber in more than three decades,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin <a href="https://news.northropgrumman.com/news/releases/northrop-grumman-and-the-us-air-force-introduce-the-b-21-raider-the-worlds-first-sixth-generation-aircraft?_gl=1*furu96*_ga*NjU3Njk5MTgzLjE2NzAxMDczNTY.*_ga_7YV3CDX0R2*MTY3MDEwNzM1NS4xLjEuMTY3MDEwNzU3NS4wLjAuMA.." target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> last year. “It is a testament to America’s enduring advantages in ingenuity and innovation. And it’s proof of the Department’s long-term commitment to building advanced capabilities that will fortify America’s ability to deter aggression, today and into the future.”
The B-21 Raider was named in honor of the Doolittle Raid of World War II, which happened on April 18, 1942. The raid was led by Lt. Col. James “Jimmy” Doolittle, who volunteered to lead America’s first military response to Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Sixteen B-25 medium bombers took off from the aircraft carrier Hornet in a one-way bombing raid that targeted Tokyo, Kobe, Osaka, and Nagoya, the U.S. Air Force <a href="https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/107225/general-james-harold-doolittle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a>. “As did the others who participated in the mission, Doolittle had to bail out, but fortunately landed in a rice paddy in China near Chu Chow. Some of the other flyers lost their lives on the mission.”

B-21

U.S. Air Force Releases New Images Of Cutting Edge Stealth Bomber About To Enter Service

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B-24 Liberator Bombers

He Flew 34 Missions Over Europe. An Interview With A 100-Year-Old World War II Veteran

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A B-1 Lancer bomber crash landed in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/south-dakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener">South Dakota</a> on Thursday, forcing the entire crew to eject during a training mission. 
The crash landing took place at 5:50 p.m. at Ellsworth Air Force Base during a training exercise. The 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth said that the accident happened while the plane was “attempting to land on the installation. At the time of the accident, it was on a training mission. There were four aircrew on board. All four ejected safely.”
There were <a href="https://apnews.com/article/b1-crash-air-force-bomber-ellsworth-2146e52e94ae5f928407a85030e8c60d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> poor winter weather conditions at the time of the crash, which is still being investigated by an officer board. 
B-1 bombers have been in use since the 1980s with about 60 being used by Dyess Air Force Base in Texas and Ellsworth Air Force Base, according to the Associated Press. 
“The B-1B holds almost 50 world records for speed, payload, range, and time of climb in its class. The National Aeronautic Association recognized the B-1B for completing one of the 10 most memorable record flights for 1994. The most recent records were made official in 2004,” the Air Force <a href="https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104500/b-1b-lancer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a>.
The aircraft was used extensively in both Iraq and Afghanistan during the early 2000s.
“During the first six months of Operation Enduring Freedom, eight B-1s dropped nearly 40 percent of the total tonnage delivered by coalition air forces. This included nearly 3,900 JDAMs, or 67 percent of the total. In Operation Iraqi Freedom, the aircraft flew less than 1 percent of the combat missions while delivering 43 percent of the JDAMs used. The B-1 continues to be deployed today, flying missions daily in support of continuing operations,” according to the Air Force.
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Earlier this year, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/not-sure-where-the-airplane-is-911-call-from-f-35-crash-in-south-carolina-released" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Air Force lost track</a> of an F-35 in South Carolina after the pilot ejected. Military officials had to ask for the public’s help finding the plane and describing the incident as a “mishap.” Debris from the plane was later located in Williamsburg County after hours of searching. 
The plane, which cost about $100 million, kept going for about 60 miles after the pilot ejected. A spokesperson for Joint Base Charleston said the F-35B Lightning II jet from the Marine Attack Training Squadron was placed on autopilot before the pilot ejected.

US Air Force B-1B Lancer aircraft conducts flight over Sarajevo

B-1 Bomber Crash Lands In South Dakota, Forcing Crew To Eject

Airplane

Airplane crash

South Dakota

In 1955, Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup had a very important job. It was the height of the Cold War, and Shoup was working at the Continental Air Defense Command — now known as the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
One December day, his phone rang, but it wasn&#8217;t his regular phone. It was the red phone — the phone that had a <a href="https://kdvr.com/news/local/wrong-number-started-norad-santa-tracker/">number so secret</a> that only he and a four-star general at the <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/disney-hires-obama-era-pentagon-spokesperson-to-build-on-companys-strong-reputation/">Pentagon</a> knew of its existence. But when he answered the phone, a child was on the other end.
&#8220;Is this Santa Claus?&#8221; the child asked. <a href="https://www.coloradoan.com/story/life/2018/12/21/santa-tracker-creator-norad-colonel-christmas/2369617002/">Shoup</a>, according to his children — Terri Van Keuren, Rick Shoup, Pam Farrel — was initially surprised and annoyed, but when the child began to cry he quickly changed his tone. He said, &#8220;Ho, ho, ho,&#8221; and asked the child whether he had been good — and then he asked to speak to a parent.
<a href="https://www.npr.org/2014/12/19/371647099/norads-santa-tracker-began-with-a-typo-and-a-good-sport">NPR reported</a>:
<blockquote>His children remember Shoup as straight-laced and disciplined, and he was annoyed and upset by the call and thought it was a joke — but then, Terri says, the little voice started crying.
&#8220;And Dad realized that it wasn&#8217;t a joke,&#8221; her sister says. &#8220;So he talked to him, ho-ho-ho&#8217;d and asked if he had been a good boy and, &#8216;May I talk to your mother?&#8217; And the mother got on and said, &#8216;You haven&#8217;t seen the paper yet? There&#8217;s a phone number to call Santa. It&#8217;s in the Sears ad.&#8217; Dad looked it up, and there it was, his red phone number. And they had children calling one after another, so he put a couple of airmen on the phones to act like Santa Claus.&#8221;
&#8220;It got to be a big joke at the command center. You know, &#8216;The old man&#8217;s really flipped his lid this time. We&#8217;re answering Santa calls,&#8217; &#8221; Terri says.</blockquote>
The joke took another turn when, on Christmas Eve of 1955, several of the Airmen under Shoup&#8217;s command drew a sleigh and eight reindeer on the glass board that they normally used to track the paths of airplanes over U.S. and Canadian airspace.
According to Terri, Shoup saw the drawing and asked, &#8220;What is that?&#8221;
The airmen said it was just a joke, apologizing and offering to take it down.
&#8220;Dad looked at it for a while, and next thing you know, Dad had called the radio station and had said, &#8216;This is the commander at the Combat Alert Center, and we have an unidentified flying object. Why, it looks like a sleigh.&#8217; Well, the radio stations would call him like every hour and say, &#8216;Where&#8217;s Santa now?'&#8221; Terri told NPR, adding, &#8220;And later in life he got letters from all over the world, people saying, &#8216;Thank you, Colonel,&#8217; for having, you know, this sense of humor. And in his 90s, he would carry those letters around with him in a briefcase that had a lock on it like it was top-secret information. You know, he was an important guy, but this is the thing he&#8217;s known for.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s probably the thing he was proudest of, too,&#8221; her brother agreed.
In the years since, NORAD has embraced the tradition. Call centers are operational and children can call from all over the world to see where Santa is as he makes his grand journey delivering gifts around the world in a single night.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Take an inside look at our NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center as we track <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Santa?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Santa</a> on his magical journey today! Track with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NORAD?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NORAD</a> at <a href="https://t.co/7afKWWcryj">https://t.co/7afKWWcryj</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NORADSanta?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NORADSanta</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SantaTracker?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SantaTracker</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NORADTracksSanta?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NORADTracksSanta</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/santaclaus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#santaclaus</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/merrychristmas?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#merrychristmas</a> <a href="https://t.co/NsKxdPvuyo">pic.twitter.com/NsKxdPvuyo</a>
&mdash; NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) <a href="https://twitter.com/NoradSanta/status/1738940517080031321?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
There is even an official Twitter account — @NoradSanta — that posts updates and videos throughout the day.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NORADTracksSanta?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NORADTracksSanta</a> is following the heat signature from Rudolph&#39;s nose to Dubai as Santa flies over the Arabian Peninsula.<a href="https://t.co/UVuyzrCgDr">https://t.co/UVuyzrCgDr</a>
&mdash; NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) <a href="https://twitter.com/NoradSanta/status/1738979427218760075?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Santa is making a special stop for the astronauts at the International Space Station! Find out where he will go next at <a href="https://t.co/6qfPToRTlN">https://t.co/6qfPToRTlN</a><a href="https://t.co/pwuCxiDDyg">https://t.co/pwuCxiDDyg</a>
&mdash; NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) <a href="https://twitter.com/NoradSanta/status/1738993195214667809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Our <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NORAD?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NORAD</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SantaTrackers?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SantaTrackers</a> still going strong and tracking <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Santa?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Santa</a> on his magical journey around the world! Call our Santa Trackers at 1-877-Hi-NORAD, or track on our website at <a href="https://t.co/7afKWWcryj">https://t.co/7afKWWcryj</a>!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoradTracksSanta?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NoradTracksSanta</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MerryChristmas?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MerryChristmas</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChristmasEve?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ChristmasEve</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SantaClaus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SantaClaus</a> <a href="https://t.co/mFSU6hB8to">pic.twitter.com/mFSU6hB8to</a>
&mdash; NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) <a href="https://twitter.com/NoradSanta/status/1739006882038071397?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Sleighbells are ringing over Athens 📷 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NORADTracksSanta?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NORADTracksSanta</a> <a href="https://t.co/1OZguqLhXv">https://t.co/1OZguqLhXv</a>
&mdash; NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) <a href="https://twitter.com/NoradSanta/status/1739012780760465760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

US-LIFESTYLE-CHRISTMAS-INTERNET-SANTA-OFFBEAT

‘The Santa Colonel’: How One Air Force Officer Turned A Sears Ad Typo Into A Holiday Tradition

Santa Claus

Sears

The U.S. Department of Defense is warning Congress of continued military recruitment struggles as the country will enter the new year with its smallest fighting force since before World War II. 
Ashish Vazirani, the Pentagon’s acting undersecretary for personnel and readiness, told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that the Army, Navy, and Air Force missed their 2023 recruitment goals by a combined 41,000 personnel, The Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12869575/pentagon-biden-army-navy-marines-space-force-military-recruit-gen-z.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The annual defense authorization bill passed by Congress earlier this week stated that active-duty troops will drop to 1,284,500 in fiscal 2024, which is down by 64,000 troops over the past three years, giving the U.S. military its smallest force since 1940, <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2023/12/14/amid-recruiting-woes-active-duty-end-strength-to-drop-again-in-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Military Times. 
&#8220;That number understates the challenge before us as the services lowered end-strength goals in recent years, in part because of the difficult recruiting environment,” Vazirani said, adding that military recruitment is facing “one of its greatest challenges” since the last declared draft ended in 1973. 
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, expressed his concern over the decreasing military numbers.
“We need a larger force, in every branch. But the reality of recruiting is driving the numbers, not what we actually need,” Wicker told The Military Times. 
Some branches of the armed forces have gone to more extreme lengths recently to boost their recruitment levels. Earlier this year, the Navy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/navy-hires-active-duty-drag-queen-to-combat-sinking-recruitment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made</a> Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, an active-duty sailor and drag queen, one of five Navy Digital Ambassadors in a pilot recruitment program. The Air Force <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/air-force-to-decrease-body-weight-standards-for-entry-as-americans-increasingly-too-fat-to-enlist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made a move</a> in April to recruit more Americans into its ranks by decreasing weight standards. 
The strategies didn’t appear to work, as both the Navy and the Air Force are expected to be down thousands of airmen and sailors from its 2021 numbers. The Army is facing the largest recruitment problem out of the military branches as it’s down over 40,000 troops over the past three years. The Marine Corps, which along with the Space Force met its most recent recruitment goal, is still expected to be down by nearly 9,000 active-duty service members compared to fiscal year 2021. 
The Pentagon is seeking to change the direction of the military&#8217;s poor recruiting numbers by developing a message that &#8220;resonates&#8221; with young Americans, according to Vazirani.
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&#8220;While the picture of the current recruiting environment is acutely difficult, the Defense Department and the military services are working together to resolve issues, improve processes, and expand awareness of the many opportunities military service offers,&#8221; said Vazirani. &#8220;We must reach today&#8217;s youth where they are with a message that resonates with them and motivates them to act.&#8221;

Army Recruitment

Pentagon Warns Of Military’s Dropping Numbers Heading Into 2024 As U.S. Fields Smallest Fighting Force Since Before WWII

Pentagon Warns Of Military's Dropping Numbers Heading Into 2024 As U.S. Fields Smallest Fighting Force Since Before WWII

Marines

Pentagon

U.S. Military

U.S. Navy

At least one person is dead after a U.S. military Osprey aircraft crashed near the coast of Japan Wednesday, the Japan Coast Guard said. 
Eight people were aboard the aircraft when it went down around 2:47 p.m. local time. Shortly after the crash, the 10th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters said it dispatched a patrol boat and aircraft to the crash scene, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/29/asia/us-osprey-aircraft-crashes-japan-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The aircraft crashed into the ocean near the island of Yakushima, which is about 45 miles south of the southern main Japanese island of Kyushu, a coast guard spokesperson <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/us-military-plane-crashes-sea-japan-osprey-yakushima-rcna127129" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> NBC News. 
The Japanese Coast Guard said one man was recovered “unconscious and was not breathing” near the site of the crash. He was given CPR and taken to Anbo Port, which was nearly two miles away, but the Osprey crew member was later pronounced dead. No details were given on the status of the other seven crew members. 
Japan’s Vice Defense Minister Hiroyuki Miyazawa said the incident involved a U.S. Air Force  CV-22 Osprey and called the incident an “emergency water landing.” 
“The U.S. side explained to us that the pilot did his best until the very end, so we’re using the term ‘emergency water landing,’” Miyazawa said. 
The CV-22 Osprey can take off vertically like a helicopter while boasting the long-range flight capability of a turboprop aircraft. Its two rotors remain vertical during takeoff and landing and can rotate 90 degrees once the aircraft is in flight, allowing it to fly like a rotor-powered plane. 
Wednesday’s crash marks the third tragedy in the last two years involving U.S. military personnel flying an Osprey aircraft. In August, three Marines were killed and several more were seriously injured when their MV-22B Osprey, which is similar to the CV-22, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/3-u-s-marines-killed-several-injured-during-training-exercise-in-australia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crashed</a> on a northern Australian island while carrying 23 troops. 
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In June of 2022, all five Marines aboard an MV-22B Osprey died after it <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/all-5-u-s-marines-confirmed-dead-in-military-aircraft-crash-in-california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crashed</a> in California, a few miles north of the U.S./Mexico border. A few months before that crash, four Marines were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/four-u-s-marines-killed-in-norway-nato-training-identified" target="_blank" rel="noopener">killed</a> in Norway during a NATO training exercise after their MV-22B Osprey went down in the Arctic Circle. 
This article has been updated after officials said there were eight, not six, crew members on board the aircraft.

CV-22 Osprey

At Least One Dead After U.S. Aircraft With Eight On Board Crashes Into Sea Near Japan

Japan

World

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-air-force" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Air Force</a> has requested that Congress pass legislation to stop wind turbines from encroaching on nuclear missile sites throughout the U.S.
According to the Air Force, underground nuclear missile sites in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Colorado need to be shielded from the growing wind turbine industry for safety and security concerns. The Air Force <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/air-force-asks-congress-protect-nuclear-launch-sites-104685988" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> that 46 of the 450 underground nuclear missile sites have been “severely” encroached upon. Some wind turbines can stand 650 feet tall and present a barrier for helicopters carrying technicians or others who need to access the sites.
“When you think about a wind turbine, and even fields of wind turbines, they’ll stretch for miles,” Staff Sgt. Chase Rose, a UH-1 Huey flight engineer at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, told the Associated Press. “They’re monstrous, and then you have gigantic blades spinning on them as well. Not only is that a physical obstacle, but those turbines, they create the hazards like turbulence as well. That can be really dangerous for us to fly into. So it’s a very complex situation, when you have to deal with those.”
The Air Force is advocating for legislation that would mandate a 2-nautical-mile buffer zone around the hundreds of underground missile launch sites throughout the U.S. The Air Force and the American Clean Power Association drafted the legislation.
“The wind industry recognizes the nuclear missile silo mission is unique,&#8221; said American Clean Power Association spokesman Jason Ryan. “However, one-size-fits-all setbacks do not make sense for other [Department of Defense] missions or assets as site-specific and mission-specific evaluations are necessary to ensure military readiness.”
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Air Force Maj. Victoria Hight, a spokeswoman for F.E. Warren Air Force Base, said the wind turbines can hamper “safe helicopter transit and nuclear security operations” but that the Air Force supports &#8220;renewable energy efforts to include wind turbines, and we continue to work with energy industry partners to ensure the country’s green energy needs are met.” 

The Biden administration has <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/biden-harris-administration-advances-15-onshore-clean-energy-projects-potential-power" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aggressively pushed</a> a “transition” to green energy, including announcing the development of onshore renewable energy projects across the West.
“Investing in clean and reliable renewable energy represents the [Bureau of Land Management&#8217;s] commitment to addressing climate change and supports direction from the President and Congress to permit 25 gigawatts of solar, wind and geothermal production on public lands no later than 2025,” the Bureau of Land Management said on Monday when announcing plans for 15 major projects throughout the West.

Sustainable power is the future

Air Force Requests Congressional Intervention Over Wind Turbines Near Nuclear Missile Sites

Arkansas

Energy

Montana

Nebraska

North Dakota

Wyoming

Over the years, the United States has produced many remarkable generals and admirals, but only a few have stood out as world-class strategists and leaders of troops. As Veterans Day approaches on November 11, let’s remember and celebrate them. Here is my list of America’s finest 11 commanders.
<h2>Curtis E. LeMay, 1906 &#8211; 1990 (World War II)</h2>
Cold, calculating, and brutally efficient, few American commanders have so understood not just the power of a weapon at his disposal, but the proper way to deploy it to the most effect as did Air Force Major General Curtis LeMay. The weapon was the strategic bomber. 
As commander of the USAAF 305th Bombardment Group in Europe, then-Col. LeMay was once faced with a problem of crews prematurely aborting their missions. He figured it had to do with will more than anything else. So he issued an order: “I will be in the lead plane on every mission. Any plane that takes off will go over the target, or the crew will be court-martialed.” According to Robert McNamara: “The abort rate dropped overnight. Now that’s the kind of commander he was.”
<div id="attachment_645503" style="width: 441px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-645503" class="size-large wp-image-645503" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-615290192-431x576.jpg" alt="" width="431" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-615290192-431x576.jpg 431w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-615290192-225x300.jpg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-615290192.jpg 767w" sizes="(max-width: 431px) 100vw, 431px" />Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images</div>
In the summer of 1944, the veteran and driven LeMay was sent to the Pacific Theater where he eventually was placed in overall command of strategic air operations against Japan. Upon arrival, the airman faced a dilemma. He was presented with America’s most advanced weapon to date: the massive B-29 Superfortress bomber. It was a quantum leap in airborne technology, and far more advanced than its B-17, B-24, and Lancaster stablemates. In fact, the U.S. had spent more money developing the B-29 than even the atomic bomb. And by late 1944 it was looking to be a colossal waste of money.
Although the pressurized high-altitude Superfortresses could fly above most Japanese fighters, the newly discovered jet stream at those heights made accurate precision bombing impossible. When flying into the jet stream, the bomber streams’ real airspeed was dangerously slow making them easy targets; when flying with it, the formations were hurled across the sky at too high an airspeed to properly set up targets. And the high winds sent bombs scattering. The B-29 program was in serious trouble.
<div id="attachment_645543" style="width: 756px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-645543" class="size-large wp-image-645543" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-615316416-746x576.jpg" alt="Major General Curtis Lemay, head of the bomber command against Japan, stands in front of a group of B-29 bombers at a base in the Mariana Islands. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)" width="746" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-615316416-746x576.jpg 746w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-615316416-300x232.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-615316416-768x593.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-615316416.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 746px) 100vw, 746px" />Major General Curtis Lemay, head of the bomber command against Japan, stands in front of a group of B-29 bombers at a base in the Mariana Islands. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)</div>
The adaptive LeMay decided to take a chance. He ordered his bombers stripped of all armament save a tail gunner so they could carry more payload, filled them with thousands of pounds of incendiaries rather than high explosive bombs, and ordered that the bombers go in at a mere 5,000 feet, and in the dead of night to avoid fighters and accurate anti-aircraft fire. Pilots thought him insane, and believed he had signed their death warrants, but the confident LeMay understood that with Japan’s cities constructed mostly of wood and paper, the effects of firebombs would be catastrophic.
<div id="attachment_645493" style="width: 737px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-645493" class="wp-image-645493 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-515422580-727x576.jpg" alt="(Original Caption) With cigar in mouth, Major General Curtis E. LeMay, the commander of 21st Bomber Command, listens as B-29 Navigator Lt. Nelson McDowell (R), of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, describes run of target after a Superfort raid on Nagoya, Japan. At left is Captain Waldo Timm, of Portland, Oregon, and second from right is Brigadier General Thomas Power, who commands B-29s on Guam." width="727" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-515422580-727x576.jpg 727w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-515422580-300x238.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-515422580-768x608.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-515422580.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px" />(Original Caption) With cigar in mouth, Major General Curtis E. LeMay, the commander of 21st Bomber Command, listens as B-29 Navigator Lt. Nelson McDowell (R), of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, describes run of target after a Superfort raid on Nagoya, Japan. At left is Captain Waldo Timm, of Portland, Oregon, and second from right is Brigadier General Thomas Power, who commands B-29s on Guam. Getty Images.</div>
On the night of March 9, 1945, he put his theory to the test, sending over 300 B-29s from the Marianas to firebomb Tokyo with over 250,000 incendiary bombs filled with napalm, a fiery gel that sticks, spreads, and burns out all it touches. The result was an utter holocaust. Fourteen square miles of the Japanese capital city were burned out and over 100,000 civilians were killed — making it the most lethal single act of war in history — while hundreds of thousands more were made homeless. These devastating results came at the cost of just 14 B-29s downed and 96 crew lost.
LeMay had his template. From March to August 1945, his B-29s would firebomb Japanese city after city to the point that had the war lasted much longer there would have soon been no more worthy targets remaining. Estimates range from 200,000 to over 500,000 Japanese died in LeMay’s relentless onslaughts, along with some 5 million made homeless. At least 40% of over 60 Japanese cities were burned out; her war-making ability ceased to exist.
Now, with the addition of fleets of heavy bombers from the USAAF and RAF in the just concluded war on Germany, and with the much closer aerodrome on Okinawa, LeMay believed he could compel Japan to surrender by aerial bombardment alone. This, however, was rendered moot by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that effectively ended the war.
<div id="attachment_645517" style="width: 753px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-645517" class="size-large wp-image-645517" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-3239764-743x576.jpg" alt="circa 1962: American president John F Kennedy (1917 - 1963), wearing dark sunglasses, sits next to US Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay (1906 - 1990, L). (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)" width="743" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-3239764-743x576.jpg 743w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-3239764-300x233.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-3239764-768x596.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-3239764.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 743px) 100vw, 743px" />Circa 1962: American president John F Kennedy (1917 &#8211; 1963), wearing dark sunglasses, sits next to US Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay (1906 &#8211; 1990, L). (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)</div>
After the war, LeMay would go on to serve in several high-ranking positions, including head of Strategic Air Command and USAF Chief Of Staff. His hostility to the Johnson administration’s policies in Vietnam, and his personal animosity towards McNamara, led to his retirement from the military in 1965. As with so many great military leaders, however, the instincts that served LeMay so well in war abandoned him in politics.
In 1968, LeMay would end up as Alabama governor and presidential candidate George Wallace’s running mate on the American Independent Party ticket. Among the party platforms was continued racial segregation. Whether or not LeMay shared Wallace’s racist sentiments is up for debate, but in the end it didn’t matter. Soon considered to be politically “tone-deaf” by Wallace’s staff, LeMay turned out to be a liability. In particular, his suggestion that the U.S. could <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2019/Sep/26/2002187168/-1/-1/1/LEMAY%20ON%20VIETNAM.PDF">use nuclear weapons</a> on North Vietnam to “bomb them back into the stone age” came across as far too bellicose for a population growing increasingly anxious and disillusioned about the war.
<div id="attachment_645521" style="width: 830px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-645521" class="wp-image-645521 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-517830056-820x576.jpg" alt="(Original Caption) General Curtis E. LeMay, retired U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff is seen here speaking to the press after American Independent Party presidential candidate George C. Wallace named him as his running mate." width="820" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-517830056-820x576.jpg 820w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-517830056-300x211.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-517830056-768x539.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/GettyImages-517830056.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" />(Original Caption) General Curtis E. LeMay, retired U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff is seen here speaking to the press after American Independent Party presidential candidate George C. Wallace named him as his running mate. Getty Images.</div>
The grim image of death from above that “Bombs Away LeMay” projected became the stuff of legend. He was the model for USAF Brig. Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Peter Sellers’ 1964 Cold War satire “Doctor Strangelove or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb.”
Art can imitate life. And whatever one thinks of LeMay — either as a victorious visionary of aerial warfare, or cold-blooded killer — not many American commanders have had so direct a hand in defeating an enemy as did this cigar-chomping bomber jockey. The omnipresent cigar was not a prop but rather a way to manage the Bell’s Palsy that partially paralyzed his mouth, giving him his trademark scowl.
LeMay is the personification of firebombing, the morality of which continues to be debated to this day. LeMay himself candidly admitted: “I suppose had we lost the war, I’d have been prosecuted as a war criminal.” But it was Japan that lost and in no small measure due to the rain of hellfire from the air at the hands of this modern god of an angry sky.
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<h4>America’s Top 11 Generals</h4>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-10-matthew-ridgway" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #10 Matthew Ridgway</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-9-nathanael-greene" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #9 Nathanael Greene</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-8-george-patton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #8 George Patton</a>
* * *
Brad Schaeffer is a commodities trader, columnist, and author of two acclaimed novels. His newest book, the fact-based <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Pits-Rough-Tumble-Exchange/dp/B0CKPNCMQW/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=1331509151681009&amp;hvadid=83219665089301&amp;hvbmt=bp&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvlocphy=97755&amp;hvnetw=o&amp;hvqmt=p&amp;hvtargid=kwd-83219680392082%3Aloc-190&amp;hydadcr=18892_13467888&amp;keywords=brad+schaeffer&amp;qid=1698162015&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LIFE IN THE PITS: My Time as a Trader on the Rough-and-Tumble Exchange Floors</a> will be published in December and is currently available for pre-order. You can also find more of Brad&#8217;s articles on <a href="https://bradschaeffer.substack.com/">Substack</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire

Major General Curtis LeMay

America’s Top 11 Generals: #11 Curtis E. LeMay

American General

U.S. defense officials may position a second military aircraft carrier near Israel to prevent surrounding nations from joining <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hamas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hamas</a>&#8216; full-scale war against Israel, where an unknown number of Americans are held hostage among more than 20 others missing.
The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-hamas-war-gaza/card/u-s-weighs-deploying-second-aircraft-carrier-group-i4fMGkmj7mGmlQCNqW1W?mod=e2twp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> Tuesday that the Pentagon is considering staging the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower near Israel months after officials initially scheduled the carrier for a two-week voyage with its accompanying ships to the Middle East.
Positioning the <a href="https://www.airlant.usff.navy.mil/cvn69/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">5-star aircraft carrier</a> near Israel would signal a show of strength to the hostile area by providing a wide range of flexible mission capabilities, including logistical support, humanitarian assistance, and counter-terrorism operations, according to the Navy&#8217;s website.
&#8220;Often the presence of an aircraft carrier has deterred potential adversaries from striking against U.S. interests,&#8221; the Navy said on its <a href="https://www.airpac.navy.mil/Organization/Distinguished-Visitor-Info/Important-Links-and-Info/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>. &#8220;Aircraft carriers support and operate aircraft that engage in attacks on airborne, afloat and ashore targets that threaten free use of the sea and engage in sustained power projection operations in support of U.S. and coalition forces.&#8221;
The potential move comes after U.S. Military officials deployed the USS Gerald Ford — one of the largest warships ever built — to the eastern Mediterranean Sea as a show of support for Israel after Hamas murdered more than 1,000 Israelis and other foreign nationals, including at least 14 U.S. citizens, over the weekend.
&#8220;We will have more assistance to announce over the coming days to ensure that no enemies of Israel believe that they can or should try to seek advantage from the current situation,&#8221; U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2023/10/10/virtual-on-the-record-gaggle-by-nsc-coordinator-for-strategic-communications-john-kirby-on-hamas-terrorist-attacks-in-israel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> during a virtual press conference on Monday.
The Ford, which <a href="https://www.military.com/equipment/gerald-r-ford-class-aircraft-carrier" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> holds approximately 5,000 sailors and over 75 warplanes, is one of the Navy&#8217;s newest, most advanced ships, designed to respond to anything — from conducting surveillance to war fighting capabilities. Its Carrier Strike Group to the eastern Mediterranean Sea also included guided missile cruisers, destroyers, and several U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft squadrons in the region.
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U.S. Central Command General Michael &#8220;Erik&#8221; Kurilla confirmed its arrival in the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday.
&#8220;The arrival of these highly capable forces to the region is a strong signal of deterrence should any actor hostile to Israel consider trying to take advantage of this situation,&#8221; Kurilla <a href="https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PRESS-RELEASES/Press-Release-View/Article/3552801/uss-gerald-r-ford-carrier-strike-group-arrives-in-the-eastern-mediterranean-sea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a news release.
Defense officials told the Journal that the Pentagon is considering replacing the Ford with the Eisenhower or keeping both groups close to the coast of Israel and the Gaza Strip.
If both ships remain together, it would mark the first time the two carriers were deployed in the area since March 2020, after rocket attacks aimed at Camp Taji in Iraq killed two American troops and one British soldier.
President Joe Biden also announced on Tuesday the U.S. would send additional equipment to the Israel Defense Forces, including interceptor missiles for Israel&#8217;s Iron Dome system.

USS Eisenhower Conducts Naval Operations in Mediterranean

U.S. Considers Deploying Second Aircraft Carrier Group Near Israel Following Deadly Hamas Attacks

Biden Administration

Hamas

Israel

A company suspected of being linked to Communist China that bought over 50,000 acres of land near a California Air Force base is suing farmers, claiming they inflated the cost of the sale.
Flannery Associates has spent roughly $800 million on land around Travis Air Force base, northeast of San Francisco. The company is suing farmers for $510 million, accusing them of forming a “secret conspiracy to drive up prices to supracompetitive levels by eliminating free market competition” and violating federal and state law by conspiring to inflate the land’s purchase price. Flannery said it has emails amounting to a “smoking gun” detailing the alleged conspiracy.
But California Democrat John Garamendi, who has been criticizing the land acquisitions since 2018,  suspects something illicit at work. He told <a href="https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/west/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-sues-farmers-rep/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NewsNation</a> that he has spoken with farmers who said they didn’t want to sell their land.
“It’s a suit designed to force the farmers to lawyer up, spend tens of thousands of dollars on lawyering and maybe at the end of the day, bankrupt themselves,” Garamendi said. “In fact, that has happened to at least one family that I know of and I’ve heard rumors that another family simply said we can’t afford the lawyers.”
“An attorney representing Flannery said it is controlled by U.S. citizens and that 97% of its invested capital comes from U.S. investors, with the remaining 3% from British and Irish investors,” The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/investors-bought-nearly-1-billion-in-land-near-a-california-air-force-base-officials-want-to-know-who-exactly-they-are-fd868e38" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. But the Air Force’s Foreign Investment Risk Review Office, which has investigating the purchases for eight months, could not confirm who is funding the group.
“We don’t know who Flannery is, and their extensive purchases do not make sense to anybody in the area,” Garamendi said. “The fact that they’re buying land purposefully right up to the fence at Travis raises significant questions.”
“The fact they chose to buy all three sides of the Travis Air Force Base even raises immediate questions about national security,” Garamendi told News Nation. “So, is this Chinese money? We don’t know, but we do know that the Chinese money was being used in North Dakota and we have a very deep suspicion, given the amount of money, given the lack of attention to values, that they simply want to acquire all of this land.”
“Nobody can figure out who they are,” stated Ronald Kott, mayor of Rio Vista, which is mostly circumscribed by land Flannery has bought. “Whatever they&#8217;re doing — this looks like a very long-term play.”
Earlier this year, the people of North Dakota saw a Chinese plan for opening a corn mill near a sensitive military base and took matters into their own hands, blocking the project.
The Grand Forks City Council, aware that the U.S. military did not have jurisdiction to kill the project, voted unanimously in February to block Chinese food producer Fufeng Group from building the mill only 12 miles from the Grand Forks Air Force Base. In spring 2022 three North Dakotans sold the land for millions of dollars; the town’s mayor, Brandon Bochenski, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/01/chinese-purchase-of-north-dakota-farmland-raises-national-security-concerns-in-washington.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pointed out</a> that the proposed $700 million plant would create more than 200 jobs but also admitted there were national security concerns.
“The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) considered an October 2022 filing by the Fufeng Group to acquire certain assets in the vicinity of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Grand Forks Air Force Base is the center of military activities related to both air and space operations,” U.S. Air Force Assistant Secretary Andrew P. Hunter <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11704309/Air-Force-shoots-Chinas-plan-build-corn-15-miles-North-Dakota-base.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> North Dakota senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer in January.
“While CFIUS concluded that it did not have jurisdiction, the Department’s view is unambiguous: the proposed project represents a significant threat to national security with both near and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area,” he added.
“With regard to Fufeng, if you’re going to strategically decouple, that means we don’t want their investment,” Cramer <a href="https://www.am1100theflag.com/show-episodes/48874-6-03-22-whats-on-your-mind-hour-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> last June.

The C-17 is assigned to the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, flown by a crew from the 349th Air Mobility Wing, a reserve associate wing which augments the 60th. Both wings work together as part of the Total Force, flying missions as re

Company Suspected Of China Ties Sues Farmers Over Land Sale Around Air Force Base

China

Farmers

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