Trump’s Christmas Message to the Troops: F*ck You.

High School Cadet Capt. Trump. Thank you for your service.

Before leaving for holiday R&R at Mar-a-Lago, bone spur survivor and U.S. Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump vetoed the Defense Bill because it didn’t defend him from being called out on Twitter. The bill would have provided pay raises to U.S. Armed Forces members. Mr. Trump also objected to removing names of previous violators of constitutional oaths from military installations, apparently fearing it would keep the Pentagon from naming Space Force facilities after himself.

More:

“Trump Vetoes Annual Defense Policy Bill, Including Military Pay Raise,” Kevin Freking, AP via Military.com

“Trump Vetoes Defense Bill, Defends Confederate Bases Over Troops’ Pay,” Arya Hodjat, Daily Beast

“Trump vetoes $741 billion defense bill over his completely unrelated spat with social-media companies and against the wishes of top Republicans,” John Haltiwanger, Business Insider

“Trump vetoes $740B defense bill, citing ‘failure to terminate’ Section 230,” Kate Cox, Ars Technica

“Trump vetoes $740bn US military bill over clause to rename bases honoring Confederates,” Griffin Connolly, The Independent

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Top image: Cadet Capt. Trump’s high school picture. Download a copy here.

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Space Force ‘Guardians’ Get Lapel Pins. Secret Decoder Rings Next?

Lapel Pins, too. Collect ’em all!

Members of outgoing president Donald Trump’s pet Space Force will be issued a nifty official lapel pin to wear on their U.S. Air Force uniforms. That will differentiate them from other flyboys until their capes come back from the tailor. Space Force members, heretofore called “Space Cadets” perhaps, will henceforth be known as “Guardians,” Viceroy Vice President Mike Pence decreed.

“Will ‘Guardian’ be implemented into the rank structure,” asks Gizmodo’s Tom McKay, “like, does someone get promoted from Guardian to Sentinel to Space Paladin to Tython, The Secessionist King Of Mars or something?”

In other space uniform news, Gen. John Raymond, chief of the U.S. Space Force, became a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in some kind of robing ceremony last Friday.

Meanwhile, as the Trump administration had its eyes on the stars and Space Force “Guardians” played video games, real-life antagonists conducted successful cyber attacks on the Pentagon and other U.S. government agencies.

Related:

“Abolish the Space Force,” Sarah Jones, New York Magazine

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U.S. Troops in Space!

Space Force: Enlist and Blast Off Today!

Military troops in the Space Force will someday deploy to orbit, one of the service’s top operations officials said Sept. 29.

‘At some point, yes, we will be putting humans into space,’ Maj. Gen. John E. Shaw, head of the Space Force’s Space Operations Command and part of U.S. Space Command leadership, said during a conference organized by the AFWERX innovation group. ‘They may be operating command centers somewhere in the lunar environment or someplace else.’

Space Force officials, wary of being confused with NASA, usually shy away from questions about whether military personnel will go to the Final Frontier themselves. Experts have split on whether a Space Force astronaut corps is a good idea in the next couple of decades, if at all.

— “Space Force Will Eventually Put Troops in Orbit, Ops Boss Says,” Rachel S. Cohen, Air Force Magazine

Note: Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond is among the senior U.S. military leaders in self-quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure at the White House.

Related:

“Space Force Fears COVID Loss Of Commercial Startups: Gen. Thompson,” Theresa Hitchens, Breaking Defense

Update:

“U.S. Space Force unveils lapel pins for U.S. Air Force uniforms,” Ed Adamczyk, UPI

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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and lengU.S. Troops in Space!th.

Pentagon Tests Mass Surveillance Balloons in US

“The US military is conducting wide-area surveillance tests across six midwest states using experimental high-altitude balloons, documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reveal.

Up to 25 unmanned solar-powered balloons are being launched from rural South Dakota and drifting 250 miles through an area spanning portions of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri, before concluding in central Illinois.”

“The balloons are carrying hi-tech radars designed to simultaneously track many individual vehicles day or night, through any kind of weather. The tests, which have not previously been reported, received an FCC license to operate from mid-July until September, following similar flights licensed last year.”

— “Pentagon testing mass surveillance balloons across the US,” Mark Harris, The Guardian

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Image by Mike Licht (in tribute to Otto Messmer). Download copies here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com.

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Space Force: Countdown to Blast Off!

U.S. Space Operations Force. Enlist now!

“‘I said maybe we need a new force, we’ll call it the Space Force,’ Trump said at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in March 2018. ‘And I was not really serious. Then I said,’What a great idea, maybe we’ll have to do that.'”

“Now, key lawmakers leading the charge have the support they need to make a new U.S. space service a reality. The House and the Senate have both proposed plans for Space Force in their versions of the annual defense bill.

And next month, a congressional conference committee could hammer out a final blueprint in its approval of the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.”

— “With Congressional Blessing, Space Force Is Closer To Launch,” Claudia Grisales, NPR News

Update:

“US Launches Space Command Today,” Carla Babb, VOA

Related:

“Why the Space Force Is Just Like Trump University,” Erin Durkin, The Atlantic

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Sports Genius Trump Sends Military Cadets to the NFL

Donald Trump is a football expert. He once owned a signed Tim Tebow helmet he bought with $12,000 of his charity’s money, so that should prove it. Not only that, he’s the former owner of the failed New Jersey Generals of the US Football League. In just a few years, Mr. Trump managed to tank the entire USFL.

Not content with those pro sports triumphs, now that he’s president, Mr. Trump has ordered that sports star graduates of our country’s military academies, educated at taxpayer expense, can defer their military service until after the end of their pro sports careers, so America can be defended by worn out and injured ex-jocks. Make the NFL Great Again!

More:

“President Trump orders new policy for service academy graduates pursuing professional sports,” Ava Wallace, Washington Post

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Image (“Commander-In-Chief of the Jersey Generals”) by Mike Licht. Download copies here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com.

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Despite Bone Spurs, Trump to Attend D-Day Anniversary

High School Cadet Capt. Trump. Thank you for your service.

President Donald J. Trump will attend the 75th anniversary commemoration of the WWII D-Day landings, the President told a group of veterans last week. You may recall that Mr. Trump has a service-connected disability. He was gravely wounded as soon as he became eligible for the Vietnam draft lottery, and was treated (on paper) at a Queens NY storefront a podiatrist rented from Fred Trump, his dad. We expect the President to storm Normandy’s Omaha Beach in an amphibious golf cart (weather permitting). France, a grateful nation, says “S’il vous plaît remplacer les divots” (“Please replace the divots”).

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Top image: Cadet Capt. Trump’s high school picture. Download a copy here.

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Space Force!

U.S. Space Operations Force. Enlist now!

President Trump’s promised Space Force is in development, said Vice President Mike Pence at the Pentagon on Thursday. “You can be confident,” he assured military leaders, citing Psalm 139, “that you will go with the prayers of millions of Americans who will claim on your behalf, … ‘even if you go up to the heavens, even there His hand will guide [you], His right hand will hold [you] fast.’ And He will hold fast this great nation in the great beyond.”

What can account for the religious fervor of Mr. Pence’s belief in the need for a Space Force? It’s not his fear of gay space aliens, it’s something else….

Christmas in Vietnam

“Christmas in Vietnam,” written by John Wilson and John Wessler, recorded by them as “Johnny &  Jon,” and released on Stan Lewis’s Jewel Records in 1966, during the Vietnam Conflict.

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Christmas in Vietnam

“Christmas in Vietnam,” written by John Wilson and John Wessler, recorded by them as “Johnny &  Jon,” and released on Stan Lewis’s Jewel Records in 1966.

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Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-kvO

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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