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As Arctic threat increases, U.S. plans to cut regional defense

Russia is developing a powerful new Arctic military force. According to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes A new Russian Arctic command will include four new Arctic brigades, 50 airfields by 2020, increased long-range air patrols by Russian bombers and a total of 40 conventional and nuclear icebreakers, with 11 more planned.

The BBC  reports that Russia is developing a new naval infrastructure in the region. In addition to a new air defense base on Sredniy Island, five island bases are being built by 1,500 workers – at Alexandra Land, Rogachevo, Cape Schmidt, Wrangel and Kotelny.

During the summer, according to Defense News, Russia launched military exercises in the region that included over 1,000 soldiers, 14 aircraft and 34 special military units.

Nations are taking note. International Business Times reports that Norway, a NATO member, in response to the Russian military buildup, is building its Arctic defense.

“Our neighbor in the east has built up its military capacity, also in areas close to us,’ said Admiral Haakon Bruun-Hanssen of Norway’s navy. ‘They have shown that they are willing to use military force to achieve political ambitions.’ The publication notes that ‘Other European countries also have embarked on modernizing their defense capabilities amid uncertainty over Russia. Poland has begun a military modernization program at a cost of more than $35 billion. Poland and Sweden signed a military cooperation agreement in September that also cited Russian military fears. Sweden said it had increased its own military spending by 11 percent.”
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In light of all this, it is strange that the United States is considering weakening its tiny presence in the region even further.

According to Stars and Stripes, the Army’s only extreme-cold weather airborne brigade, the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, “is slated to be cut under the Army’s plan to trim its force to 450,000 soldiers by 2017, a decision that would eliminate 59 percent of the Army personnel assigned there… If the brigade is cut, the military will lose one of its critical Arctic and Pacific rapid response assets, which has raised questions whether this is the right time to reduce this capability. Since 2010, the Army has seen its budget shrink from $144 billion to a requested $126 billion for 2016. In the same time, the Army reduced its force from 566,000 in 2010 to 490,000 in 2015, according to Defense Department figures… The brigade isn’t only the sole extreme cold weather brigade in the Army; it’s also the Army’s only airborne brigade in U.S. Pacific Command. The unit can reach most places to conduct a forced entry in the Pacific, and some European locations, in nine hours or less.”

In a letter to the Pentagon submitted by Senators Lisa Murkowski and Senator Dan Sullivan and Rep, Don Young, the three Alaska congressional members noted that “In Cold-War Like fashion, Russia has dramatically increased its Arctic-based military presence, creating a new Northern Command, reopening numerous foreign Soviet air and sea bases, building new ice breakers, and forming four new combat brigades in the Arctic.  In fact, according to testimony given earlier this year by Admiral William Gortney, commander of U.S. Northern Command, ‘Russian heavy bombers flew more out-of-area patrols in 2014 than at any time since the Cold War.’ Further, Russia recently launched a massive, five-day Arctic training event, involving 38,000 servicemen, more than 50 ships and submarines, and 110 aircraft.  Taken as a whole, we are greatly concerned about Russian show of military force and we believe that the United states must begin to rapidly bolster our Arctic capabilities and force structure.”

Other than calling for the acquisition of several additional icebreakers, the White House attitude towards the region continues to be that expressed in its 2013 Arctic Strategy document:  “The Arctic region is peaceful, stable, and free of conflict.”

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New job numbers indicate poor recovery from recession

Yesterday’s job numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics demonstrate that America has yet to truly emerge from the Great Recession.

Despite White House claims, the nation still has not recovered from that greatest economic challenge since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Government policy, which has hamstrung the free market, is largely to blame.

The White House continues to allege that much progress has been made, but a clear examination of key financial factors demonstrates otherwise.

EMPLOYMENT

The latest employment statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)  indicates that less than half the monthly number of jobs that should have been created to truly lessen the recession’s impact was in fact created.  In addition, many of those jobs replacing those lost provided far lesser pay, and many went to immigrants as opposed to U.S. citizens who balked at the low pay levels. The percentage of people in the work force continues at near 40 year lows, and the number of long-term unemployed workers is at near historic highs.

The BLS released these notes yesterday: “Both the unemployment rate …and the number of unemployed persons … were essentially unchanged in October. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates…showed little or no change in October. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged …These individuals accounted for 26.8 percent of the unemployed in October…The civilian labor force participation rate was unchanged at 62.4… The employment-population ratio, at 59.3 percent, changed little in October and has shown little movement over the past year…Among the marginally attached, there were 665,000 discouraged workers in October, little changed from a year earlier.”

Ian Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)  provides a worrisome analysis of the BLS report:

“… the American economy remains on life support. The unemployment rate, number of long term unemployed, and labor force participation rate are all essentially unchanged. The recovery from the great recession has been anemic… The size of the hole we are in can be seen by comparing where we are now in terms of jobs from where we would have been had the post-recession recovery followed the trajectory of past recoveries. We are now 6 million jobs behind where we should be, according to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee. The economy would need to add 516,000 jobs a month to match the pace of the average recovery at this stage. So what is different this time?

“One answer that has gotten too little attention is that the rate of regulation over the economy has increased over the past decade, including since the great recession began. Regulation has its costs—CEI’s Wayne Crews estimates the total annual burden of regulation on the economy at about $1.9 trillion. That number could support a lot of jobs….Meanwhile… the Department of Labor and National Labor Relations Board are pursuing a policy of further restrictions on employment conditions…When the nation went into recession in the early 1980s, high taxes were the largest supply-side problem to creation of new jobs. President Reagan worked with Congress to cut taxes significantly, and the result was the Reagan boom. Clearly, overly burdensome regulation is the largest supply-side problem today. A responsible President who cares about employment prospects would be working with Congress to cut regulations significantly, not imposing more of them.”

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“The ratio of workers to non-workers is nearing an all-time low. Part of the drop in headline unemployment numbers is explained by the fact that many have just given up on looking for work entirely…

“The share of long-term unemployed…People who are out of work for more than twenty-six weeks can sometimes end up permanently unemployable…

“Many who are working are underemployed. The unemployment rate is silent on those who have part-time jobs but would prefer full-time jobs…”

Other factors demonstrate the failure to adequately emerge from the Great Recession. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported last week that first-time home buyers, a significant indicator of a healthy economy, has “declined to the lowest level in almost three decades…the third straight annual decline.” WSJ also reports that the minimal 1.5% growth in the economy from July through September “marked a deceleration from the second quarter of 2015” indicating that the economy is heading in the wrong direction.

Rather than stimulate the private sector, the White House has pursued a path of heavy government spending, beginning with the failed “stimulus” package that cost taxpayers almost $800 billion but failed to make a significant dent in the economy’s pace.

CNS  reports  “The federal government took in a record of approximately $3,248,723,000,000 in taxes in fiscal 2015 …That equaled approximately $21,833 for every person in the country who had either a full-time or part-time job in September.” The increased revenue comes from additional taxes, not increased economic activity, and represents money taken from the private sector that could have been used to create jobs.

Despite that enormous sum removed from the private sector where it could have created employment, Washington remains mired in debt.  The Washington Times Notes that “…Mr. Obama’s spending agreement with Congress will suspend the nation’s debt limit and allow the Treasury to borrow another $1.5 trillion or so by the end of his presidency in 2017. Added to the current total national debt of more than $18.15 trillion, the red ink will likely be crowding the $20 trillion mark right around the time Mr. Obama leaves the White House. When Mr. Obama took over in January 2009, the total national debt stood at $10.6 trillion. That means the debt will have very nearly doubled during his eight years in office, and there is much more debt ahead with the abandonment of “sequestration” spending caps enacted in 2011.”

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Defense budget cut again

Congress and the President appeared to have reached an agreement  on the 2016 defense budget. According to our preliminary calculations, the fiscal year 2016 budget is at a near-historic low, representing about 14 percent of total federal discretionary and nondiscretionary outlays. The 2016 defense budget is $177 billion lower than its 2010 counterpart.

According to a report just filed by Defense News , the 2016 defense bill has been slashed  by $5 billion to comply with the budget deal between Congress and the president, including $2.6 billion in “adjustments” to acquisition programs. The total package now comes in at $607 billion, down from the original $612 billion for the 2016 fiscal year.

Breaking Defense outlined the cuts, which run the gamut from mundane items such as fuel purchases to yet another blow to America’s shrunken navy, and cost-cutting on strategic weapons programs as well as on force readiness.  Research into new weapons appears also to have taken a hit.

The cuts come at a time when spending by Russia and China has increased dramatically, and increased threats are presented by Iran, North Korea, and terrorist organizations. Russia has, for the first time, a lead over the U.S. in strategic nuclear weapons, and a ten to one advantage in tactical nuclear weapons.  China already has more submarines than the U.S. Navy, and will have a larger force overall within five years. Beijing also has sophisticated anti-ship missiles that America does not, and which the American fleet has no defense against.

The cuts continue the dramatic shrinking of America’s armed forces, which are barely at a shadow of the strength possessed as recently as 1990. The Navy is the smallest it has been since before World War 1, the army, which by the end of the year will be smaller than North Korea’s, is the smallest it has been since before World War 2, and the Air Force is the smallest it has ever been.  In the past, the drastic cuts were attributed to the downfall of the USSR, but under Putin, Russia has returned to cold war strength.  China has become a major superpower. North Korea possess nuclear weapons and will soon mount them on missiles that can reach the U.S.  Terrorist groups control more territory, money and influence than ever. Russia, China, and terrorist organizations have become active in Latin America.

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A total of $690 million in cuts to the Air Force long range bomber program is illustrative of how U.S. forces are being challenged by antiquated equipment. Currently, the Air Force only has 20 truly modern bombers.   It should be remembered that the B-52’s are so old, the grandfathers of some of today’s pilots flew the very same aircraft—not the same model, the very same plane- their grandchildren now occupy. The B-1 program of the 1970’s was cancelled before many were built, and the Reagan-era  B-2 purchase was slashed from over 100 to the current 20.

A unique feature of the 2016 defense appropriations was the threatened veto by President Obama over the Guantanamo Bay issue.  The White House has threatened to veto the defense appropriations bill if Congress didn’t submit to his plans to close the on-site prison that houses terrorists, some of whom have been released and now again engage in terrorist activities. This marks the very first time that any President has used his veto power over a defense bill on an issue that has nothing to do with defense spending. It is an indication of the lack of importance the current White House attaches to national security.

The Navy has received the fewest cuts.  While there has been very little coverage in the media about the shrinking American armed forces, China’s aggressive maritime policy and the spectacular growth of its navy, which will be larger than America’s within five years (and currently has more submarines) and its advanced weaponry (including the DF-21 missile, with technology the U.S. hasn’t yet attained) has made the public conscious of the growing threat.  However, the American Navy remains at a dangerously low level, down from 600 ships in 1990 to the current 254, and there is nothing in the new budget that demonstrates any determination to return to a safe level.

 

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Federal environmental studies challenged for poor science, lack of transparency

A battle between the House of Representatives and a federal agency is raising the central issue of the balance of power within Washington, as well as the scientific basis of the numerous dire claims of man-made climate change that are increasingly being used by the White House to increase its power and alter much of the way Americans do business, grow food, and obtain energy.

Civil libertarians have grown increasingly wary of the extent to which unelected agency personnel are exercising legislative-like powers with very significant and wide-ranging effects on everyday life within the nation.

The conflict between Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chair of the House Science Committee, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is bringing the issue to a head. The Hill , which reported the issue, noted that the agency has refused to give Congress the detailed information requested on a controversial climate change study. Highlighting the argument is a study that concluded there has not been a 15-year “pause” in global warming, prepared with NOAA assistance.

NOAA’s excuse of “confidentiality” and “protecting the integrity of the scientific process” appears to be little more than a smokescreen to prevent the legislative branch from fully reviewing the data, which may prove embarrassing to the Obama Administration’s quest for increased economic and regulatory authority based on an extreme view of climate change. NOAA’s argument also fails to address the right of the legislative branch to review any studies performed by an agency, barring extraordinary circumstances.

Rep. Smith was forced to issue a subpoena, which NOAA has yet to fully comply with. This is the latest duel between the Texas Republican and Obama Administration officials. In 2014, Rep. Smith stated that the EPA was not being candid about climate change. In a letter to the EPA sent on August 13, he wrote:

“For too long the Environmental Protection Agency has hidden the truth from the American people.  In order to regain public trust, the agency should rely on robust, objective and well-grounded technical analysis of its climate regulations. Flaws in recent EPA analyses amplify concerns about the real impacts of these regulations. Americans deserve an opportunity to see the facts.”

He stressed the findings of the Government Accountability Office, which released a report highlighting a pattern of shoddy EPA analysis. It was revealed that EPA relied on decades old data and ignored important factors.  The independent watchdog warned that “EPA cannot ensure that it’s [analysis] provide the public with a clear understanding of its decision making.” Chairman Smith wrote that “Credible analysis is critical to a well-informed debate concerning climate change and energy policy choices now before American people. EPA’s incomplete modeling disregards a number of technical, regulatory, and economic realities. Americans deserve the bottom line: what does it cost and what will we get for the money?” The letter calls on EPA to provide comprehensive analysis that takes real-world contingencies into account rather than rely on models and science that are hidden from the public.

Rep. Smith is not alone in his criticism of the EPA. A watchdog site, EPAFACTS.org, noted in 2014 that:

“The National Academies, a primarily government funded 6,300 member organization of the country’s top scientists, published a report … denouncing the EPA for its use of bad science to justify its conclusions. The National Research Council (NRC), one of four organizations that makes up theNational Academies (the other three being the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine), found a litany of deficiencies across multiple offices that undermines EPA’s claims of scientific integrity.

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Lack of transparency – “The lack of transparency and the inconsistencies raise questions about the quality of the approaches used.”

Lack of consistency – “Inconsistencies were found in the methods used to identify studies for consideration.”

Insufficient documentation – “EPA’s evaluation provided insufficient documentation of the analyses that led to the conclusions.”

Failure to justify conclusions – “EPA’s conclusions are not well supported… A higher standard of evaluation is required.”

Improper use of scientific method – “No clear description of a strategy or criteria for assessing the studies used in the evaluation… Methods that provide a more systematic approach and greater transparency are necessary.”

The fight on Capitol Hill comes as 26 states file suit against the EPA’s new power plant regulations, which would affect the coal industry particularly hard. Those opposing the measures cite the major cost increases that would result, as well as the important questions of where alternate sources of energy would come from if coal is eventually driven out of the U.S. power equation.

Some environmentalists are concerned that increased use of solar and wind, even though they could replace only a small fraction of the power coal provides, brings other detrimental effects.  The Save the Eagles organization 1.4 million birds annually could be killed by expanded use of wind turbines.

The Union of Concerned Scientists  notes that “larger utility-scale solar facilities can raise concerns about land degradation and habitat loss… The PV cell manufacturing process includes a number of hazardous materials, most of which are used to clean and purify the semiconductor surface. These chemicals, similar to those used in the general semiconductor industry, include hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, and acetone…”

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Federal land ownership, violating federal law

A key example of the federal government ignoring its own laws can be seen in the dispute over the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Congressional authorization for the program ended September 30.

The basic premise of the program has broad bipartisan support.  It commits some funds, about $900 million annually, from royalties from offshore oil and gas exploitation to preserving natural resources and unique land areas for the recreational use and preservation.

The dispute arises in the manner in which the funds are used, and how Washington’s heavy hand abuses the program.  Originally, notes the Wall Street Journal, six out of every ten dollars gleaned from the royalties were to be set aside for use by the states in furtherance of conservation goals.  However, in the past year, over 80% of the cash was waylaid by the federal government, which has a shoddy record in maintaining the properties under its control. The states have their share of offenses, as well. They frequently use the program to engage in highly questionable exercises of eminent domain, violating the property rights of private landowners.

The larger issue behind the debate is the overwhelming federal ownership of massive portions of America’s land. Washington already owns about 30% of all U.S. lands.  In many western states, according to Adam Freedman who writes about states’ rights in his book “A Less Perfect Union,” the amount of federal ownership is so high that the federal government substantially deprives the states and the citizens of those states’ effective self-government. According to a Big Think study federal ownership in the west is massive: Nevada, 84.50%; Alaska, 69.10%; Utah, 57.40%; Oregon, 53.10%; Idaho, 50.20%; Arizona, 48.10%; California, 45.30%; Wyoming, 42.30%; New Mexico, 41.80%; Colorado, 36.60%.

There is little reason to assume, given its poor management record, that the federal government is a better steward of these lands than the people of the respective states.  A 2014 Rasmussen poll  found that thirty-six percent (36%) of American Adults believe the federal government owns too much property in this country, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just 11% think the government doesn’t own enough. Thirty-eight percent (38%) consider the amount of land owned by the federal government to be about right. Fifteen percent (15%) are undecided.

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There have been unsuccessful attempts to confront Washington. Supporters of the “Sagebrush Rebellion” of 1979, as noted in Forest History, noted that supporters believed “excessive federal control and regulation of the western public domain stripped people and states of their rights—rights to graze cattle on the public domain, rights to mine it, rights to generate tax base from it… To reverse the trend, to regain lost ‘rights,’ the Sagebrush Rebellion attempted two things: in the short run, improved, “fairer” federal management of the public domain, and in the long run, cession of federal lands to the states in which they lay. In the end, it got neither…”

In 2014, a “Second Sagebrush Rebellion” took place. The International Business Times describes the movement: “The Bureau of Land Management sent a long overdue letter to Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy informing him that his 900 cows would be impounded and he would have to pay $1.2 million in fees for grazing on federal land without payment since 1993. When officials held true to their threat … Bundy made some threats of his own, propelling the spat onto the national stage…The way Bundy frames the argument, the fight is about states’ rights and the feeling some in the West have that the federal government is oppressing their privilege to mine, log and farm on American soil…This ideology recently gained some ground in Arizona with Proposition 120, the Arizona Declaration of State Sovereignty Amendment, which declared ownership of ‘sovereign and exclusive authority and jurisdiction over the air, water, public lands, minerals, wildlife and other natural resources within [the state’s] boundaries.’ The controversial 2012 ballot measure, backed by Republicans in the state legislature, would have essentially transferred control of parks like the Grand Canyon from the federal government to the state if it had passed, which it didn’t….Federal land was never actually meant to exist in the early days of the United States. It was seen as an asset to be distributed for the growth of the economy…”

The legal problem with vast federal land ownership is substantial. Following a states’s admission to the union, to insure that it is placed on an equal footing with existing states, federal land is to be sold expeditiously, with 5% of the proceeds going to the new state government.

Freedman describes what has happened instead: “Predictably, once Congress created federal bureaus whose very existence depended upon federal land ownership, the government lost all interest in selling the land…in 1976, Congress gave up the pretense that it was ever going to sell its western possessions by passing the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.”

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Free speech under assault on multiple fronts

For what may be the first time in modern U.S. history, there is a serious question about the survival of the First Amendment. From college campuses to federal agencies, the once universally accepted support for unfettered free speech (with the usual exceptions of calls for immediate violence, or creating a presently hazardous situation) is being questioned. Opposition political organizations, writers and commentators are feeling the chill.

One example: Campus Reform  Recently described a disturbing incident at Wesleyan college, where the Student Assembly voted unanimously to cut funding for Argus, the student newspaper, following its printing of an article critical of the radical Black Lives Matter organization.

The problem is not confined to academia.  Indeed, far more serious are the actions of the White House, which has sought to place Federal Communications Commission regulators in newsrooms, and has used the Internal Revenue Service to attack organizations opposed to the President.

Presidential contender Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) believes that even greater threats both to free speech and entrepreneurship are in the offing, thanks to attempts to regulate the internet. In a Washington Post op-ed, Cruz stated that  “the threats from Washington to stifle freedom, entrepreneurship and creativity online have never been greater. Washington politicians want … more and more control over our speech.”

In a statement reported in the Blaze, Cruz worried that “the threats to free speech, under big government statists, have never been greater … I think we cannot overstate these threats.”

Civil libertarians are worried that the President’s move to transfer control of the internet to an international organization influenced by Russia, China and other totalitarian states will lead to censorship. In May, outgoing House Speaker John Boehner, quoted in Newsmax, stated “Overzealous government bureaucrats should keep their hands off the Internet… three [commissioners] appointed by President Obama approved a secret plan to put the federal government in control of the Internet.”

A number of the special order viagra online speakers who said something at this function were Mr. Drugs are combined so that there are few overlapping generic sildenafil india side effects, to make the treatment more tolerable. The doctor usa viagra store diagnoses and treats various conditions and oftentimes on a routine basis. Numerous men experience it while the time of buy viagra 100mg stress. Government assaults on free speech and the conduct of free elections are not restricted to Washington. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who has had to fight off recall petitions spurred by Democrats angered over his tough stance against government unions have used a secretive state process known as “John Doe” investigations to essentially harass his campaign. Under the bizarre legal weapon, citizens are compelled to produce evidence for what may be specious reasons at the discretion of prosecutors, and are forbidden to speak publicly about the process.

Legislators have enacted legislation reforming the practice, according to Madison.com. The reform law limits use of the process “to the most severe felonies and some violent crimes, meaning campaign finance and ethics violations could no longer be subject to a John Doe. Prosecutors have used John Doe provisions to investigate Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign twice.”  Despite intensive investigations, no serious violations have been found in Walkers’ campaigns, leading to the well-founded belief that the process was used solely to intimidate the Governor’s supporters.

A further incursion into the extent of free speech protections comes from the growing support for laws that would prohibit so-called “Hate Speech.” A Yougov.com   study notes that “ research shows that many Americans support making it a criminal offense to make public statements which would stir up hatred against particular groups of people. Americans narrowly support (41%) rather than oppose (37%) criminalizing hate speech.”

The problem, of course, is in defining what hate speech is.  Is a statement, such as that in the student newspaper Argus, criticizing the radical Black Lives Matter organization, hate speech? Would a statement opposed to allowing large numbers of essentially un-vetted Syrian refugees into the U.S. be hate speech? Experience with this type of legislation in other nations has proven to result in serious infringements on free speech.

Mark Steyn, a Canadian who has been critical of Islamic extremists, has been subjected to three complaints of “hate speech” in his country.  In a National Review  article he wrote: “the Canadian establishment seems to think it entirely natural that the Canadian state should be in the business of lifetime publication bans, just as the Dutch establishment thinks it entirely natural that the Dutch state should put elected leaders of parliamentary opposition parties on trial for their political platforms, and the French establishment thinks it appropriate for the French state to put novelists on trial for sentiments expressed by fictional characters. Across almost all the Western world apart from America, the state grows ever more comfortable with micro-regulating public discourse—and, in fact, not-so-public discourse: Lars Hedegaard, head of the Danish Free Press Society, has been tried, been acquitted, had his acquittal overruled, and been convicted of ‘racism’ for some remarks about Islam’s treatment of women made (so he thought) in private but taped and released to the world… Note that legal concept: not ‘illegal’ or ‘hateful,’ but merely ‘disparaging.’

Taken individually, any of these areas, FCC overreach, internet regulation, academic suppression of student speech, IRS intimidation, or the banning of undefined hate speech, presents a worrisome threat to free speech.  Taken as a whole, it must be seen as a wholescale assault on the most basic of American, indeed, human rights, that must be taken very seriously.

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Complex anti missile trial passes most tests

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency  announced that it conducted a complex test of the ballistic missile defense system on Saturday.

The test was conducted in the vicinity of Wake Island and surrounding areas of the western Pacific Ocean. The test stressed the ability of Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weapon systems to negate two ballistic missile threats while Aegis BMD simultaneously conducted an anti-air warfare operation.

This was a highly complex operational test of the BMDS which required all elements to work together in an integrated layered defense design to detect, track, discriminate, engage, and negate the ballistic missile threats.

At approximately 11:05 pm a Short Range Air Launch Target was launched by a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft southeast of Wake Island. The THAAD radar in terminal mode detected the target and relayed track information to develop a fire control solution and provide track information for use by other defending BMDS assets. The THAAD weapon system developed a fire control solution, launched a THAAD interceptor missile, and successfully intercepted the SRALT target.

While THAAD was engaging the target, an extended Medium Range Ballistic Missile (eMRBM) was air-launched by another Air Force C-17. The eMRBM target was detected and tracked by multiple BMDS assets, and the USS JOHN PAUL JONES with its radar. Shortly after eMRBM launch, a BQM-74E air-breathing target was also launched and tracked by the USS JOHN PAUL JONES.

As a demonstration of layered defense capabilities, both Aegis BMD and THAAD launched interceptors to engage the eMRBM. The USS JOHN PAUL JONES successfully launched a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IB Threat Upgrade guided missile, but an anomaly early in its flight prevented a midcourse intercept. However, the THAAD interceptor, in its terminal defense role, acquired and successfully intercepted the target. Concurrently, Aegis BMD successfully engaged the BQM-74E air-breathing target with a Standard Missile-2 Block IIIA guided missile. A failure review is currently underway to investigate the SM-3 anomaly.

The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD)  is the naval component of the Missile Defense Agency’s Ballistic Missile Defense System.  It is designed to defeat short- to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats. As of December 2014, there are 33 Aegis BMD combatants (5 cruisers [CGs] and 28 destroyers [DDGs] in the U.S. Navy. Of the 33 ships, 16 are assigned to the Pacific Fleet and 17 to the Atlantic Fleet. In response to the increasing demand for Aegis BMD capability from the Combatant Commanders, the MDA and Navy are working together to increase the number of Aegis BMD capable ships. Such efforts consist of upgrading Aegis DDGs to the BMD capability, incorporating Aegis BMD into the Aegis Modernization Program and new construction of Aegis BMD DDGs.
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The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/thaad.pdf element provides the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) with a globally-transportable, rapidly-deployable capability to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles inside or outside the atmosphere during their final, or terminal, phase of flight. It is Land-based,  capable of shooting down a ballistic missile both inside and just outside the atmosphere. It is also highly effective against the asymmetric ballistic missile threats. THAAD uses hit-to-kill technology whereby kinetic energy destroys the incoming warhead.  The high-altitude intercept mitigates effects of enemy weapons of mass destruction before they reach the ground. Details.  It is Rapidly deployable by being globally-transportable via air, land and sea.

Pentagon officials have expressed concern that budget cuts are impairing the ability of the U.S. to defend against a growing missile threat.

According to Navy Adm. William E. Gortney, The commander of U.S. Northern Command and of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD),” Russia is progressing toward its goal of deploying long-range, conventionally armed cruise missiles with increasing stand-off launch distances on its heavy bombers, submarines and surface combatants.  “Should these trends continue,” the admiral said, “over time NORAD will face increased risk in our ability to defend North America against Russian air, maritime and cruise-missile threats.”

“ther states that may seek to put North America at risk with ballistic missiles include North Korea and Iran, he said.

“North Korea has successfully test-detonated three nuclear devices,” the admiral said, “and through its space program has demonstrated many of the technologies required for an intercontinental ballistic missile that could target the continental United States.”

“North Korean military parades have showcased the new KN08 road-mobile ICBM, he said, adding that when deployed, the system will complicate the U.S. ability to provide warning and defend against an attack.”

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UN goals based on failed philosophies

The United Nations has established seventeen ambitious “sustainable development” goals  that it hopes will be accomplished within the next several decades.  However, as has become a pattern for the international body, its refusal to oppose the practices that maintain the very problems it seeks to resolve dooms those hopes to failure.  The U.N.’s predilection towards socialist-leaning economics, its tendency to adopt conclusions based more on public relations than actual research or science, and its avoidance of action against oppressive and aggressive regimes belies the frequently laudatory objectives it seeks to encourage.

The goals set forth by the world body are:

  1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
  2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture
  3. Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages
  4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
  5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
  6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
  7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
  8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all
  9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation
  10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
  11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
  12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
  13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (taking note of agreements made by the UNFCCC forum)
  14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
  15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss
  16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

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  17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development

An examination of U.N. statements in regard to those goals, however, makes it clear that the results appear to be only excuses to further an agenda which opposes capitalism, and transfer wealth from capitalist economies to those of other nations.  Essentially, that would result in weakening rich nations while making little long-term difference in the lives of those in countries whose adherence to socialist economies is the root cause of their poverty.

This unfortunate reality can be seen in U.N. statements regarding the goals. “We commit to making fundamental changes in the way that our societies produce and consume goods and services. Governments, international organizations, the business sector and other non-state actors and individuals must contribute to changing unsustainable consumption and production patterns, including through the mobilization, from all sources, of financial and technical assistance to strengthen developing countries’ scientific, technological and innovative capacities to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production…”

Ian Murray, writing for the Competitive Enterprise Institute,  (CEI) Notes that “…the U.N.’s emphasis on “sustainability,” as generally defined among development bureaucrats and NGOs, imposes significant burdens on developing countries’ freedom and ability to achieve the rapid increases in human welfare that were the target of the original Millennium goals.

The U.N. also ignores the lesson of the most successful developing economies. For instance, Hong Kong and Singapore followed a proven path to prosperity that is centered on principles that have significantly increased the resiliency of their societies…”

CEI recommends five alternative goals:

  1. Secure Property Rights. Markets, the source of wealth and prosperity, are impossible without security in property rights. Governments should make it their first priority to ensure that property rights are recognized and respected. ..
  2. Secure the Rule of Law. The rule of law reduces arbitrariness in government that can be a huge drain on an economy and human dignity. Research has found that improvements in the rule of law can empower the disadvantaged and help unleash entrepreneurial spirits even among the most previously oppressed peoples. A secure rule of law also reduces corruption…
  3. Ensure Access to Affordable Energy. Affordable energy is key to unleashing human potential, but the U.N.’s emphasis on sustainability perversely increases energy costs…
  4. Ensure Access to Capital and Credit. Access to capital is important to unleashing “the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid.” Credit allows those who have capital to share its benefits with those who do not, to mutual advantage…
  5. Allow Markets in Education. Recent research has shown that low-cost private education is available in many parts of the developing world, and that its quality outstrips that of supposedly free government schools.

CEI’s points are accurate.  Those nations with comparatively prosperous economies and acceptable records of human rights should stop supporting programs and goals that are counterproductive and based on failed political philosophies.

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Women’s Group ignores abuse of women, concentrates on partisan politics

It has become readily apparent that some organizations allegedly representing women’s interest are simply using that important cause as little more than a smokescreen for their political agenda in matters unrelated to gender issues.

There can be little doubt that the most pressing danger facing females today is the abuse, slavery, and murder they receive at the hands of Islamic extremists.  Reports of the horrors women face are clear, well documented, and abundant. However, as “Hannah,” a courageous Tunisian young woman, a Fulbright scholar and an earnest advocate for equal rights in her homeland recently stated on the Vernuccio/Novak radio program, “No one seems to care for these women.  The so-called ‘sex jihad’ which justifies the treatment of women—especially young girls, as property and the ‘spoils of war’ is virtually ignored by some western organizations that claim to represent women.” (Due to continuing threats on her life by the Moslem Brotherhood, her real name cannot be disclosed.)

The plight of females in Islamic extremists lands was highlighted by the story of Malala. Malala was born in Pakistan in 1997. Her father was an advocate for education, and ran a school which admitted girls. In 2009 the Taliban told him to close the facility.

Malala and her father continued to advocate for the education of girls despite death threats. In 2012, Malala was shot.  Although severely injured, she recovered, continued her advocacy and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.  Despite this and numerous other atrocities, the Obama Administration has negotiated with the Taliban on the future of Afghanistan.

Abuse is not restricted to the Taliban. According to a United Nations Report  “Sexual violence is being committed strategically, in a widespread and systematic manner, and with a high-degree of sophistication by most parties to the conflict in Syria and Iraq,” according to the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Bangura. “Women and girls are at risk and under assault at every point of their lives…”

Despite these horrors, one of the most powerful women’s organizations, The National Organization for Women  continues to overlook this most fundamental of all matters affecting women.
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What does it concentrate on? A review of its website  discussed enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton, and an openly political attack on what N.O.W. members describe as “conservative” issues: “reproductive rights…affirmative action, public sector unions, voting rights, and (again) contraceptive insurance coverage exceptions under of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). They are nearly all products of conservative legal advocacy organizations that have been strategically selected and guided to the Supreme Court as part a larger right wing agenda to erode workers’ rights, make access to abortion care difficult, restrict citizens’ access to the courts by limiting class action law suits, reduce access to higher education for students of color, and enhance conservative Republican candidates’ electoral chances…”

N.O.W’s political contributions have been given on approximately 50-1 ratio to Democrats over Republicans, an overtly partisan figure.

In June, Dr. Phyllis Chesler wrote in Breaking Israel News, “The upcoming annual conference of the National Organization for Women does not list ISIS or Boko Haram on its agenda…The new pseudo-feminists are … disproportionately focused on [what they perceive to be] Western imperialism, colonialism and capitalism than on Islam’s long and ongoing history of imperialism, colonialism, anti-black racism, slavery, forced conversion and gender and religious apartheid…The Middle East and Western Africa are burning; Iran is raping female civilians and torturing political prisoners; the Pakistani Taliban are shooting young girls in the head for trying to get an education and disfiguring them with acid if their veils are askew — and yet, NOW passed no resolution opposing this.”

Jen Kuznicki, writing in CNS notes “Horrific reports have been coming out about the terrible treatment of girls and women who are captured by ISIS.  Women and girls, including the pre-pubescent are being subjected to rape in the most brutal and depraved manner, causing some to take their own lives rather than endure the horror.  So sick is the Islamic State that reports are out that the ISIS fighters are demanding Viagra to carry on their unnatural crimes against humanity.

Here in America, leftist women who claim to hold the views of all women, have not made the human rights issue central to their arguments.  In fact, they haven’t mentioned the daily rape of these women at all.  Their central cause – amongst the devastating news of the fate of women captured by ISIS, virginity taken, abused and tortured – is free contraception…”

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U.S. economy hampered by wrong priorities

While U.S. taxes soar, the American taxpayer is enduring a weakened economy and neglected national needs.

U.S. citizens and their businesses are paying increased amounts of taxes. Over the past year, reports the Wall Street Journal, corporate taxes rose 10%, individual income taxes 15%, and payroll taxes, 6%.  Despite that, Washington still runs vast annual deficits. Government spending overall increased 5% in fiscal year 2015, commanding a higher level of gross domestic product “than at any level seen between 1993 and 2008.”

The federal government has a debt of $18 and a half trillion, Social Security is heading towards insolvency, the nation’s infrastructure remains in poor condition, and the military is significantly underfunded.

While Washington’s spending concentrates on failed poverty programs, (spending on poverty programs has reached its highest level under President Obama) real median income of working Americans has declined. The Heritage Foundation notes that Eighty-five percent of the projected growth in spending over the next decade is due to entitlement spending and interest on the debt.

The Washington Times reported in 2014:  “Last year, government spent $943 billion providing cash, food, housing and medical care to poor and low-income Americans. (That figure doesn’t include Social Security or Medicare.) More than 100 million people, or one third of Americans, received some type of welfare aid, at an average cost of $9,000 per recipient. If converted into cash, this spending was five times what was needed to eliminate all poverty in the United States. [in 2014] The U.S. Census Bureau … released its annual poverty report. The report claims that in 2013, 14.5 percent of Americans were poor. Remarkably, that’s almost the same poverty rate as in 1967, three years after the War on Poverty started. How can that be? How can government spend $9,000 per recipient and have no effect on poverty?”

The U.S. Census Bureau reveals that “In 2014, real median household income was 6.5 percent lower than in 2007, the year before the most recent recession. The real median income of non-Hispanic White households declined 1.7 percent between 2013 and 2014. For Black, Asian, and Hispanic-origin households, the 2013-2014 percentage changes in real median income were not statistically significant.”

A 2014 report by the Washington Post  notes that Median inflation-adjusted income in 2013 was still $2,100 lower than when President Obama took office in 2009 — and $3,600 lower than when President George W. Bush took office in 2001. …  “In 2013, most Americans had a good bit less money, after adjusting for taxes, than the year before. That’s because in 2013, a huge tax increase affecting ordinary workers took effect, raising the employee payroll tax from 4.2 percent to 6.2 percent. A worker earning $50,000 a year saw disposable income decline by $1,000.It was the first time the payroll tax had increased since 1990, and previous payroll tax hikes had been smaller.”

Those increased taxes provided  a significant boost in funds to the federal government. A CNS study  discloses “that taxes in fiscal 2015 (which ended on Sept. 30), according to the Monthly Treasury Statement, equaled approximately $21,833 for every person in the country who had either a full-time or part-time job in September. It is also up about $212,927,100,000 in constant 2015 dollars from the $3,035,795,900,000 in revenue (in 2015 dollars) that the Treasury raked in during fiscal 2014. Even as the Treasury was hauling in a record $3,248,723,000,000 in tax revenues in fiscal 2015, the federal government was spending $3,687,622,000,000. So, the federal government ran a deficit of $438,899,000,000 for the fiscal year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, total seasonally adjusted employment in the United States in September (including both full and part-time workers) was 148,800,000. That means that the federal tax haul for fiscal 2015 equaled about $21,832.82 for every person in the United States with a job.”

According to the Office of Management and Budget, in 2014, 24% of federal dollars went to Social Security, 24% went to Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and related subsidies, 18% went to defense, 11% to safety net programs, 8% went to government retirees, 7% paid for interest on the national debt, 3% for transportation infrastructure, 2% for education, 2% for science and medical research, 1% for foreign aid, and 2% distributed for miscellaneous purposes.

The problems facing the U.S. have become structural.  To win elections, candidates continue to promise “free stuff,” which the economy cannot possibly provide. (This election year cycle’s big giveaway promise is free college tuition.) To then fulfill the unaffordable campaign promise, vital needs—keeping Social Security solvent, keeping the armed forces adequately equipped, maintaining infrastructure, are stripped of resources to pay for the latest set of “vote for me” promises.

A more rational approach to budgeting must include:

  • a level of taxes that keep U.S. enterprises competitive with global competition (America has the highest corporate tax rate of any of its trading partners) and reduces the tax burden on the middle class;
  • The funding of essential needs, such as providing a powerful defense, maintaining the solvency of Social Security, and keeping the national infrastructure intact, before commiting dollars to entitlements;
  • A commitment to providing a regulatory environment that encourages, rather than inhibits, the development of more job-producing activities;
  • A firm resolve to end deficit spending.

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