Category: Uncategorized

The military never cared about your religion

While I don’t have a print subscription to the Military Times newspapers, I still get their morning email, and today’s headline featured the US Navy not accepting any religious exemptions for the COVID vaccine:

As the deadline for active-duty sailors to get the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine passed Monday, the sea service has yet to grant any vaccine exemptions on the basis of religious accommodation, according to figures released Tuesday.

As of Tuesday, 2,531 requests for exemption from the vaccine mandate had been filed by sailors on religious grounds, though officials could not say how many of those requests had been ruled upon.

Navy Times

I’m not surprised, because in my experience, the Navy (and most services) don’t really care about your religious beliefs. Never have, never will, because in today’s service, the service is the religion.

I noticed this trend when I first joined the Navy. I remember having to beg the Commanding Officer on my submarine to get a mere 45 minutes off on Sunday to hold Catholic services. Mind you, we weren’t on mission, at war, or even strapped for time, but he couldn’t be bothered, and it wasn’t until I talked with the squadron chaplain that I was grudgingly granted the time. This was despite the fact that there are plenty of instructions stating that time and space will be provided unless a submarine is on mission or executing critical duties. My Commanding Officer viewed my request as a nuisance, and he told me as much to my face.

It wasn’t just one CO though. At multiple duty stations, there would be this unwillingness to grant military members the time off to celebrate their faith, be it Christian, Jewish or anything else. In Bahrain, where Sunday is considered a workday, I essentially caused a small office revolt by going to noon Mass on Sunday and telling my boss I simply wasn’t going to work yet another 12 hour work day when we weren’t in crisis mode. I distinctly remember the Admiral there telling us at an all-hands call that he was expecting 6 day work weeks, and even most Saturday mornings, despite no apparent need to do so. It was like the Navy was his “god,” and he couldn’t pray enough while slogging through the mass of self-induced paperwork at his desk.

If the Navy can’t provide a simple hour for Mass once a week, its no surprise they won’t approve vaccine exemptions. Now, to be fair, I encourage people to vaccinate because I think its far better than catching COVID, but I also don’t really think its a hill worth dying on or kicking people out over, similar to why I don’t think we should be stopping everything to chase the extremely tiny number of extremists that might exist in the ranks.

Kicking people out over a COVID vaccine is just one more reason the Navy is going to be hurting for recruitment come 2024-2025. The lip service paid to everything from ship maintenance and strategy to human resources and bonuses is becoming more obvious every day. People are catching on that the Navy views itself as its own religion, and if you’re not willing to worship, then you’ll be shown the door.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency. If you liked this article, consider supporting the author by purchasing his book for either yourself or as a Christmas gift.

All of the hysteria over the Omicron Variant is truly moronic

I cannot claim credit for noticing that the anagram of the name of the latest Whuhan Virus variant is moronic.  That humorous tidbit appeared on FaceBook within minutes of the release of its name.  FaceBook went so far as to actually fact check a post I shared on that topic, proving that the FaceBook fact checkers are all partisan hacks.

After witnessing the instantaneous firestorm of panic that swept through the mainstream media immediately in the wake of the announcement of this latest variant, I felt the anagram was apt.   

Within a period of minutes of the announcement of a new variant, Joe Biden announced a travel ban affecting South Africa, where the variant was first discovered, and seven other African nations.  The governor of New York announced a state of emergency despite the fact that not one case has been documented here in the United States.  A great many other nations announced travel bans.  This was before any details about the variant were known.  This also proved that the anagram of the name is apt.

The details about the Omicron variant were released very quickly after the hysteria and the government overreaction, proving the moronic nature of the mainstream media and progressive politicians.  The title of this Newsmax article Doctor Who Discovered Omicron Slams ‘Hype,’ Travel Bans, proves just how moronic they have all been.

National Chair of the South African Medical Association, Dr. Angelique Coetzee, who made an early discovery of the Omicron variant amongst patients, says “the hype” that’s been created surrounding the variant is unwarranted.

According to Reuters, “the variant was detected and announced by South Africa’s National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) on Nov. 25 from samples taken from a laboratory from Nov. 14 to Nov. 16.”

Coetzee told Reuters that in one of the “biggest hospitals” in her “area” and country of South Africa, there is only one patient who is COVID-positive on ventilation, and there has been no confirmation, as of Sunday, that Omicron is the cause.

“The hype,” Coetzee says, “that’s been created currently out there in the media and worldwide doesn’t correlate with the clinical picture. And it doesn’t warrant to just cut us off from any traveling, and bans South Africa as if we are the villains in the whole process — should not be like that.”

Coetzee, who is also on the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Vaccines, says, “looking at the mildness of the symptoms we are seeing currently, there’s no reason for panicking as we don’t see severely ill patients.”

“I also checked with the hospital, some of the hospitals in my area, and one of the biggest hospitals they only have one patient currently that’s COVID-positive on a ventilator, and they don’t even know whether it’s COVID — you know it’s Delta- or whether it is Omicron-related.”

Even Reuters is documenting the true nature of the Omicron Variant. Check out this article, quoting the South African doctor who discovered this variant: S.African doctor says patients with Omicron variant have “very mild” symptoms

“We have seen a lot of Delta patients during the third wave. And this doesn’t fit in the clinical picture,” she said, adding she alerted NICD on the same day with the clinical results.

“Most of them are seeing very, very mild symptoms and none of them so far have admitted patients to surgeries. We have been able to treat these patients conservatively at home,” she said.

Coetzee, who is also on the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Vaccines, said unlike the Delta so far patients have not reported loss of smell or taste and there has been no major drop in oxygen levels with the new variant.

There are many reasons for the immediate hysteria from the media and overreactions from governments, here and abroad. 

During the Summer I went to many large events here in southern New England, such as agricultural fairs and concerts. I also ate out in restaurants many times.  During all of those outings I noticed only a small fraction of the people were still living in fear of the Wuhan Virus.  Only about ten percent were wearing masks.  That has held true during the surge in cases caused by the Delta Variant.  That is not good news at all for the government officials who have become drunk on the power they have exercised trampling on the rights of everyone with lockdowns and mandates.

If the media does not continue to ramp up the hysteria their ratings will suffer.

Vaccine hesitancy has remained  steady so the vaccine manufacturers need to ramp up the hysteria to increase their profits.

The midterms are looking quite bad for the Democrats.  They want to recreate the conditions that led to the steal of the 2020 election from President Trump.

There are many more reasons.  The only way to fight the hysteria is with the truth

Media madness

By Christopher Harper 

I usually don’t tell new acquaintances that I worked in the media for more than 25 years.  That way, I avoid trying to defend the indefensible.  

For example, the Russia dossier finally fell apart last week when one of its principal sources was arrested. 

But much of the media haven’t admitted their errors. As Axios puts it: “It’s one of the most egregious journalistic errors in modern history, and the media’s response to its own mistakes has so far been tepid.” 

BuzzFeed News, which made waves in 2017 by publishing the entire dossier, says it has no plans to take the document down. It’s still online, accompanied by a note that says, “The allegations are unverified, and the report contains errors.” 

Mother Jones Washington bureau chief David Corn began reporting about the dossier before the 2016 election. Asked whether he planned to correct the record, Corn said,” My priority has been to deal with the much larger topic of Russia’s undisputed attack and Trump’s undisputed collaboration with Moscow’s cover-up.” 

To its credit, The Washington Post corrected and removed large portions of two articles. Its media critic, Erik Wemple, has written at length about the mistakes made by The Post and other media outlets in their coverage of the dossier. 

But that’s not the only scandal hanging around. 

It is unthinkable that Chris Cuomo has lasted this long after breaking almost every ethical guideline in the book by shoring up his brother.  

In his discussions with his brother’s support group, Chris “encouraged his brother to take a defiant position and not to resign from the governor’s office, people familiar with the conversations said. At one point, he used the phrase ‘cancel culture’ as a reason to hold firm in the face of the allegations, two people present on one call said.”  

It was an embarrassment to have Andrew Cuomo around for so long. It is just as bad that CNN continues to have Chris Cuomo around.  

But there’s more. The media look ridiculous in supporting President Brandon’s ban on travel to the United States from African countries when news organizations called President Trump a racist for similar acts.  

In 2017, President Trump imposed travel restrictions on six predominantly Muslim countries over concerns of improper vetting. Much of the media called his actions a “Muslim ban.” When the pandemic began, Trump blocked travel from China and six other countries, including Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania. Biden, a presidential candidate at the time, called Trump’s actions “xenophobic.” 

It’s disheartening to see how far the media have fallen, particularly when I used to play a role in trying to prop up many of the organizations I now criticize.  

Brady vs Belichick the Mac Jones update

A while back I wrote about the relative measures of success for Brady and Belichick in their new positions. As Brady has already won a superbowl we can safely state that he has met the goals without re-iterating them.

As for the Patriots and Belichick I graded the Pats on the following scale based on the pre-Brady years:

Any year that the New England Patriots post Brady:

  • Have a winning record: should be considered OK
  • Win 11 games: should be considered a success
  • Win their division: should be considered a big success
  • Make the playoffs: should considered a huge success.
  • Win a playoff game: should be considered an spectacular success
  • Go to the Superbowl: should be considered an extraordinary success
  • Win a Superbowl: should be considered a Miracle

Now there are those who consider that a fair amount of Tom Brady’s success in general and the Patriots success in particular should be given to Coach Bill Belichick who some consider the greatest coach in Football history. For those of you who consider this the case let’s make a slight adjustment.

Any year the New England Patriots Under Belichick post Brady

  • Win a Superbowl, it’s an extraordinary success
  • Go to the Superbowl it’s a spectacular success
  • Win a playoff game it’s a Huge success
  • Make the playoffs, it’s a big success
  • Win their division, it’s a success
  • Win at least 11 games, it’s an OK season
  • Win less than 11 games…fire the bum!

These are reasonable expectations. I suspect that Patriots fans after two decades of winning will not be as generous as me with their expectations.

with the disastrous Cam Newton season I wrote this about Belichick:

This makes the Bill Belichick Era going into today’s game a 24-34 as the coach of the New England Patriots in games not started by Tom Brady and in the three seasons that he coached the team sans Brady he made the playoffs….nearly once.

My expectations scale was “fire the bum” if he failed to win at least 11 but given the Covid situation that while effecting all teams hit his team hard I’d give him another season’s leeway, particularly if he can manage to make .500. If not I think we can safely say that the question of Bill vs Tom in terms of credit has been answered conclusively.

Well the Patriots are now 8-4 , in first place in their division and while not a lock for the playoffs yet looking pretty good with Rookie Mac Jones at the helm. Under standard Patriots scale it’s already an OK season and the Pats only have to go 3-2 the rest of the way to qualify for OK status under my Belichick scale.

Belichick has done this with a Rookie QB who had four other QB’s picked ahead of him.

It may be early to say this but I think we must conclude that Brady + Belichick were the perfect storm of the best in their professions coming together and that neither one negates the greatness of the other.

But there are still a few games to play so let’s see…

The Nirvana of Nothing

Today is day two of seven straight days where I’m working during our busy season which begins Black Friday.

In the morning I figured I’d take a look at Amazon for things to pick up and asked the wife about a few things and it suddenly hit me.

I’ve reached the age where I need nothing.

I’ve got my home, I’ve got may family. I keep up with my bills as best I can, but there really isn’t anything that I’ve got to have.

Yeah occasionally I pick up a movie on Amazon when it drops to $5 (the latest being the Ghost and Mrs. Muir) and yeah I like my Dynasty baseball but when it comes down to it, there is no thing I really am dying to have and if I need something I just pick it up.

Do I have as much as a lot of others? No. Am I likely going to be a lot more than what I am? Unlikely. But I’ve got my wife, my sons and God willing there will be grandchildren before I die.

All those things I don’t have don’t matter, I’m content, where I am.

It strikes me that this is a state that people have wished to reach for all of the time they have existed.

I’m really lucky

Remembering to Give Thanks Under the Fedora Thanksgiving +400, Missing Rush, LeBron vs Russell and Aaron, Suddenly greedy Corporations and Seven days in a Row.

This year is the 400th anniversary of the 1st Thanksgiving whereby the pilgrims gave thanks for their situation.

Our friends on the left consider this a disaster, because they don’t realize that the only reason they are not peasants under a feudal lord are because of these folks.

Perhaps if they were aware of the actual history of Thanksgiving they might think differently but I doubt it however because I’m an eternal optimist here is Rush Limbaugh explaining it.

I am very thankful those folks came here.

During this first year of the Biden Administration I find that I miss Rush a lot. While Tucker Carlson has done yeoman work and Dan Bongino, Clay Travis and others have done well they are not Rush.

What Rush Limbaugh did for this country can’t be overstated. He did more to stop the left and inspire the right for a generation than any other person in America.

I thank God that we had Rush for as long as we did.

When I heard about Lebron James getting fans ejected from Indiana for taunting him all I could think of is Bill Russell and Hank Aaron.

It is impossible to imagine Russell or Aaron doing such a thing.

Perhaps LeBron should give thanks that he’s playing in an era where he’s paid enough to be so rich he can buy a part of a franchise (Boston Red Sox) rather than whining about the fans who make the wealth of all these folks possible.

The best line belongs to Steven Miller

There have been some really foolish takes from people but very few are as foolish as this one.

While I’m embarrassed to have someone as unserious as Elizabeth Warren representing me in the senate I’m thankful that she puts her ignorance out on display in full view of the people so that they can’t pretend to be unaware.

Finally this is the busy season at my work. While I will be relaxing today I will be on the next seven or eight days. Some people are still working today (a voluntary five hour shift) and those folks will have worked 13 straight days.

Humor and politics

By Christopher Harper

Dick Tuck was a political operative I met in the 1970s in Washington, D.C., and I later reconnected with him in the 1990s in New York City.

During his years as a campaign aide to the Democratic National Committee, Tuck became Richard Nixon’s nemesis.

In 1962, Tuck worked for Pat Brown in the gubernatorial campaign that Nixon tried to win after losing the presidential race to JFK two years earlier.

At a fundraiser in Chinatown in Los Angeles, Nixon was confused when the guests started to smile during his presentation. Tuck had snuck in fortune cookies that read: “Vote for Pat Brown.” During a whistle-stop campaign, Tuck ordered the train to start moving in the middle of Nixon’s speech. Nixon even complained about Tuck in the infamous Watergate tapes.

Whatever the case, Tuck brought humor to campaigns—a device sadly missing in today’s venomous political scene.

Rand Paul brought back memories of Dick Tuck when the Kentucky senator brought some humor to Washington during a speech about wasteful spending.

To make his points, Paul displayed several poster boards about specific research projects that he said taxpayers would be astounded to know their tax dollars were funding.

Among the projects he highlighted were: $357,000 to study “Cocaine and Risky Sex Habits of Quail” and $1.6 million for researching “Lizards on a Treadmill.”

One poster board featured legendary singer Dolly Parton to highlight that Uncle Sam is spending $250,000 to send “kids in Pakistan to Space Camp and Dollywood.” Another claimed the National Science Foundation spent $700,000 to figure out whether astronaut Neil Armstrong said: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” or “One small step for ‘a’ man.”

Paul said Americans might be alarmed by such frivolous studies, but it happens routinely “because we never vote for less money. It’s always more. Somebody’s got to point out that the waste and abuse of money goes on.”

Paul’s hilarious and poignant rant reminded me of U.S. Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin and his Golden Fleece Award, which he gave to public officials squandering public money in the 1970s and 1980s.

I hope that Paul continues the tradition of humor in politics, which seems far more effective than the vitriol we’ve seen in recent years.