Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Riders on the Highlands: The 1st Animal Pack Company – The One and Only All Mounted Unit of the Vietnam War

Via Andrei Hall

Image may contain: one or more people and outdoor


Any history of the war in Vietnam undoubtedly conjures images in the minds of its audience of the type that are so abundant in popular collective memory of that time and place in history that they have become clichés. Much of this cliché imagery encompasses means of military transport.

Helicopters, jeeps, and patrol boats of various models feature prominently in nearly every account of the Vietnam War from classroom textbooks and veteran memoirs to Hollywood films and the iconography of monuments. However, the most historically prolific means of military transport – the horse – is absent in virtually all these accounts.

A quick answer many people would have as to the question of why the horse is absent in narratives of the war would be that horses were not utilized as advancements in military technology made them redundant by the 1960s. The image of mounted soldiers riding horses on patrol through the jungles and highlands of Vietnam appears antiquated compared to squadrons of Hueys delivering and extracting troops as a quick reaction force. When horses are referenced in accounts of the war they are almost always relegated to the personal mounts of small bands of hill tribesmen, haphazard and sporadic application during the French period, or other anecdotal instances. For this reason, it surprises most people to learn that there were indeed uniformed contingents of soldiers who rode horses and engaged in battle in Vietnam in the 1960s.

More @ MuseumRVN

Rebuilding from the Rubble


‘ . . . you know only
A heap of broken images . . .’
–T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land
I.  Destruction

The description of the South as a land that has fallen into desolation is familiar to many.  Sometimes this historical reality is presented to us in unfamiliar ways, however.  For instance, in his short story ‘Jericho, Jericho, Jericho’, originally published in 1936, Andrew Lytle uses the allegory of a dying woman to explain what has happened to the South and why.

 Kate McCowan, the widow of a man known in the story only as the General and the owner of a plantation named Long Gourd, is on her death bed.  She is the personification of the Old South, both slowly making their way to the grave.  But before they get there, they are desperate to impart to the rising generations the good traditions they have inherited from their ancestors.  Ms Kate’s grandson Dick represents the young Southerners, the vessels the Old South is trying to prepare to receive the treasures of the past:

Conservative Great Britain: BREXIT – finally

Via Billy

Image result for Conservative Great Britain: BREXIT – finally

Hails Boris Johnson's 'Churchillian moment'

 

This past week, the historic Brexit milestone deal was signed in London by U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. What a Churchillian moment for the prime minister, having fought for years for the implementation of the will of the people.

European leaders signed the agreement earlier the same day; it was then transported by train to London. The United Kingdom will officially leave the EU on Jan. 31, 2020.

More @ WND

Senators charge Horowitz report 'misleading' because it conflicts with the facts

Via Billy


The Republican chairmen of two key committees have charged in a letter to Attorney General William Barr that Michael Horowitz's inspector general report on FISA abuse by the Obama administration misled the public.
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., want Barr to declassify four footnotes that contradict information in Horowitz's December report.

"Specifically, we are concerned that certain sections of the public version of the report are misleading because they are contradicted by relevant and probative classified information redacted in four footnotes," the senators state.

More @ WND

Frmr. ICE Chief: Dems Say POTUS Isn't Above the Law but Apparently Illegal Aliens Are

Image result for Thomas Homan

After watching former Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief Thomas Homan on Fox News, I did a quick Google search on the phrase “the president isn’t above the law.”

It’s a popular sentiment at news conferences nowadays — indeed, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says it with such persistence she seems to be under the impression it’s the first time we’ve heard it or that we’ve forgotten it in the four or so days she hasn’t uttered it — that you kind of wonder why it has to be repeated so often.

It’s probably since, when you’re the political wing that’s cried wolf too often, you really have to yell it loudly and with the persistence of a touchy car alarm to get people’s attention.

More @ WJ

John Bolton – pocketed $115,000 from Ukraine oligarch, Clinton Foundation donor

Via Billy

 Victor Pinchuk

Bolton has been having his pockets filled by the usual suspects. Instead of Russia Russia Russia how about Ukraine Ukraine Ukraine? Oligarch Pinchuk first offer? More about him a bit later.
Bolton’s first appearance at a Pinchuk-backed gathering came last fall, when he participated in a discussion panel in Kiev with former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R), former Defense secretary Robert Gates and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. Date of the post:June 12, 2018
Asked about Trump during the discussion, Bolton said “I didn’t support him” in the GOP primary, according to a video of the event. He added that Trump “doesn’t care as much about policy as other American presidents have. That doesn’t reflect my view, but it reflects his view.”
More @ Bunkerville

'Mind Boggling': Take a Look at These Demographic Numbers From Trump's New Jersey Rally

Wow! New Jersey Data:
 158,632 Requested Tickets (92,841 distinct signups)
 73,482 Voters Identified
 10.4% Didn't Vote in 2016
 26.3% Democrats

Tuesday night President Trump traveled to deep blue New Jersey for a campaign rally. Despite freezing temperatures in the middle of winter, people camped out a day ahead of his remarks in order to make it inside the arena.

More @ Townhall

Rand Paul: The Only People Here Making Money Off Politics Are John Bolton & the Bidens

Via Billy

Image result for Rand Paul: The Only People Here Making Money Off Politics Are John Bolton & the Bidens

Sen. Rand Paul is not happy about impeachment, particularly when it comes to rhetoric involving who’s making money off of access to power.

The libertarian-leaning Republican from Kentucky appeared Tuesday on Fox News, the same day that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer held a news conference in which he accused both Donald Trump and his children of making money off of the presidency.

The accusations had to do with former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s upcoming tell-all in which he reportedly claims he was concerned about the president granting favors to leaders in China and Turkey, countries not known for their dedication to democracy.

More @ WJ

HISTORIC: Arab States Welcome Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian Peace Plan

Via Billy


Perhaps the sole silver lining of the otherwise-harrowing capitulation to fundamentalist jihadist evil that was President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal was the fact that the leading Sunni Arab states — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Egypt chief among them — began to warm up to the Jewish state of Israel. The enemy of my enemy, as the venerable maxim goes, is indeed my friend. And these Sunni stalwarts have found common cause with Israel in opposing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s decades-long hegemonic ambitions, which were only augmented by the capitulatory cash influxes provided by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.