Thought for the day...

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,330
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/08/...ick&contentCollection=Trending&pgtype=article
Given who she really was, military officials had little choice in how they described Shannon Kent. They said only that she was a “cryptologic technician,” which anyone might assume meant that her most breakneck work was behind a desk.

In reality, she spent much of her professional life wearing body armor and toting an M4 rifle, a Sig Sauer pistol strapped to her thigh, on operations with Navy SEALs and other elite forces — until a suicide bombing took her life last month in northeastern Syria.

She was, in all but name, part of the military’s top-tier Special Operations forces. Officially a chief petty officer in the Navy, she actually worked closely with the nation’s most secretive intelligence outfit, the National Security Agency, to target leaders of the Islamic State.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,330
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nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,330
She was, in all but name, part of the military’s top-tier Special Operations forces. Officially a chief petty officer in the Navy, she actually worked closely with the nation’s most secretive intelligence outfit, the National Security Agency, to target leaders of the Islamic State.
She actually worked with CSS.
While on the ship we had three separate chains of commands. The one for regular personal duties was the skipper but for official communications duties it was COMNAVTELCOM and for cryptographic duties it was DIRNSA/CHCSS. You know which one was the top boss if there was a question about who was really in control of personal assignments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Security_Service
 
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nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,330
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/central-valley-high-speed-rail-merced-bakersfield-13610732.php
During Gov. Gavin Newsom's first State of the State speech Tuesday, he surprised listeners by announcing he would put the quest for high-speed rail connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles championed by his predecessor far on the back burner.

Instead, Newsom offered a consolation prize: high-speed rail between Bakersfield and Merced.

"Let's level about the high-speed rail," Newsom said. "Let's be real, the current project as planned would cost too much and, respectfully, take too long. Right now, there simply isn't a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to L.A. I wish there were."
"a train to nowhere"
 

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
Well there is a like to San Fransisco to Sacramento. Or at least Oakland. The problem is, it runs only once a day. Why there wan't regular service between those two cities years ago is beyond me. But my guess is old Gavin has buddies with plenty of property between Meced and Bakersfield ;)

Yet another bit of news that makes me so thankful I do not own property in CA.
 

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
How many billions have been spent already just for environmental impact studies? Oh, the humanity!

I forgot what the cost for the environmental study was when they put the light rail tunnel under the river here but it wasn't cheap. They sent divers down to map out the river bed in a grid. They then collected mussels in those grids. The mussels were tagged and logged with their grid number. The mussels were studied then returned to the exact grid where they were collected :eek:.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,330
Just when you think this mess can't get any worse.
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your...et-murder-case-faces-charges-of-stolen-valor/
The Army special agent who led the investigation of a Green Beret charged with the murder of an alleged Afghan bomb-maker now faces charges of stolen valor.
...
On Jan. 31, Sgt. 1st Class Mark A. Delacruz, a special agent with Army Criminal Investigation Command, was charged with falsifying promotion files and other records by listing on at least three occasions a Purple Heart award that he never received and the “unauthorized wear” on other occasions of that ribbon, the Air Assault Badge, Pathfinder Badge and Combat Action Badge, none of which he rated.
 

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
Well for starters we really have things bass akwards when a soldier can be accused of murdering a bomb maker. Of course there is no excuse for stolen valor.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,330

atferrari

Joined Jan 6, 2004
5,012
What if in the middle of the voyage one or more crew members do realize they are fed up of him?

My experience from long voyages at sea says that too strong personalities of any kind could get the angry focus of disappointed people, rather easily.

It's easy to have people, unable to deal with their own, tending to mess with others' life as a way of escape.

Every group immersed in some kind of routine, always has: a lawyer, a lazy and a funny guy. And very frequently, one who knows everything.
 
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