"The Mask is slipping"...The Left is trying to destroy America.

 

  

 Yes I saw this on Farcebook yesterday while I was working, I had taken a "Microbreak"  Yes I know it was a Holiday, and Yes Aviation is a 24 hour gig, if the public is flying, we are working.  It pays ok, LOL.   The cartoon are compliments of "Townhall.com"

Dear America,

I'm tired of people pretending this is about ICE. Or Renee. Or George Floyd. Or whatever slogan happens to be trending this week. It never is. The cause is interchangeable. The outrage is rented. The script is the same recycled, bullshit. Every single time Republicans take control, the left goes hunting, not for justice, not for solutions, but for a spark. Any spark. A name, a video clip, a headline they can weaponize. Because the goal isn’t reform. It’s disruption. It’s chaos. It’s punishment. Punishment for daring to vote wrong.

They don’t want to persuade you. They want to exhaust you.

They don’t want debate. They want submission. They don’t want peace. They want you miserable enough to cave. So they torch cities, block highways, harass neighbors, scream at diners, target cops, demonize Ice agents, and then stand back and call it “righteous anger.” And if you dare question it? You’re the villain. You’re the problem. You “lack compassion.” It's funny how compassion always seems to involve other people paying the price.

George Floyd wasn’t about Black lives. If it were, they wouldn’t have burned Black neighborhoods to the ground and moved on the second the cameras left. MeToo wasn’t about protecting women. If it were, it wouldn’t have been selectively enforced based on party affiliation. ICE isn’t about immigrants. If it were, they wouldn’t cheer criminals over law-abiding citizens. These are props. Shields. Human meat suits for a political tantrum.

The real objective is hostage-taking. Make daily life so hostile, so unstable, so miserable that normal Americans think, Maybe it’s not worth voting Republican anymore. That’s the strategy. It’s not subtle. It never has been.

I would like to think people are catching on. We’re tired of the fake grief. Tired of the selective morality. Tired of being told to shut up, sit down, and accept disorder as virtue. This country doesn’t belong to the loudest mob or the angriest activists. It belongs to the people who work, raise families, follow the law, and still believe elections matter.

You don’t get to burn the house down every time you lose and then lecture the rest of us about democracy. We see you now.

And the mask is gone. Glenn Reib

Austin Roberts "Rocky"

I figured I would change up the Disco stuff

 I had this song on my "Ronco " Records and I remembered playing this song in the mid 70's and it was upbeat yet sad.  I haven't heard the song for many years until it popped up on my Sirius XM on the "Casey Kasem Top 40 Show Flashback" but I recalled some of the lyrics and figured I would give them a try. 

"Rocky" is a 1975 song written by Jay Stevens (aka Woody P. Snow) and performed by Dickey Lee. On the country chart, "Rocky" was Lee's most successful single, and his only number one. It spent fourteen weeks on the chart, including one week at number one.

In a paradoxically upbeat melody in a major key, Rocky, the title protagonist, tells the tragic story of his young wife in first person. He first recalls the day four years earlier where, as an 18-year-old college student, he met his wife-to-be (unnamed in the song) and recalls how well they hit it off. She accepts Rocky's marriage proposal, and they spend the next several months fixing up an old house to make their home. The two soon learn they are expecting their first child, a girl.

Although the family has its usual problems, the happy memories outweigh the bad. One example is a particularly rambunctious first birthday party for the couple's daughter. With things going well and the family settling in on a content life, Rocky soon gets devastating news: his wife has been diagnosed with an apparently inoperable illness — the specific illness is unidentified in the song — and that she has only a short time to live.

All of this is told in flashback, as in the final verse, his young wife has died. Rocky is now a widower and raising his daughter alone. He feels a sense of sadness every time he looks at his daughter, who strongly resembles her mother, and now doing the same things alone that he once did with his wife. However, he feels a sense of hope, with his wife looking down on him and the couple's daughter and reassures that his love for her will always remain safe.
Each of the first three verses — telling one of the chapters in the couple's life — ends with the woman having a sense of fear of the unknown, expressed through the refrain's statement, "Rocky, I've never...," followed by the appropriate follow-up ("been in love before," "had a baby before," "had to die before") and the unassured, "Don't know if I can do it." However, both he and she realize that the strength they have in each other can help them meet each challenge head on. At the end, Rocky says that "if the world would end, your love is safe with me." The fourth refrain has Rocky envisioning hearing his deceased wife reassure, "Rocky, you know that you've been alone before, you know that you can do it," and that in her own way, she can still advise him in his time of need.

35 years since the start of Desert Storm

 

    Today 35 years ago, Desert Shield became Desert Storm.  On 17th January Apache's snuck across the berm and wasted several Iraqi EW radar sites and opened the corridor for the masses of airplanes to strike targets all over Iraq.  The Navy fired Tomahawk Missiles from the Persian Gulf at the same time, this was the shock and awe of Desert Storm,  We had the entire Armed forces operating in concert.  I remember we felt like it was a "great Crusade" to liberate Kuwait.  We were in full MOPP4 and geared up in case the Iraqi's counterattacked.  Saddam Hussein had promised the "Mother of all Battles" and we went in fully expecting a lot of casualties.

                        We unleased Hell on the Iraqi Military on this day

 We had benefited from 10 years of development, new equipment,  good funding and training and more training. Our Morale was really high, and it showed. The Army had developed "Airland Battle" to disrupt the Soviet echelons especially in the 2nd and 3rd echelons, and the Iraqi's were trained like a Soviet Pattern Army,. The Navy and Air force had also benefited from good training, doctrine, equipment and excellent morale.  Gone was the days of the Post Vietnam Military, the hollow Army was gone, gone was the days of the Navy and Air force cannibalizing equipment to maintain readiness and make deployment goals, We had pride in ourselves and our country.   There was a fear that we didn't learn the lessons from Vietnam, according to the pundits.  Well we had a bunch of leaders that were in Vietnam and vowed that this first major deployment of the U.S Military since Vietnam wouldn't be the same way.  We would go all in or we wouldn't go.  And we succeeded.  The defeat of the Iraqi's was massive.  Saddam Hussain had the crappiest timing since the Argentinians tried to take the Falkland Islands from the British.  Had they waited 1 more year Britain wouldn't have the Navy or the forces to take the island back.  Well Saddam was the same way, before he rolled into Kuwait, there was rumblings of cutting us back since the Cold war was over and the huge Military wasn't needed anymore.  Had he waited a year or 2 we couldn't have mounted the force we did.  Funny how things work out. 


I don't normally make a big deal about my veteran service, I have met awesome people and done things that seen things and witnessed history in the making, and I would go back in time and do it all over again. But this is the day when the War started and it changed my life forever. I view everything in my life as "before the Storm" and "After the Storm". I honestly believe that it has made me a better person and more understanding the duties of a citizen of the Republic. This is to my fellow Veterans, don't matter the service or the time and to those that still walk the ramparts.

Boeing Warned of MD-11 Parts Failure Risk in 2011, NTSB Finds

Still images from airport security footage shows UPS Flight 2976's left engine separating and moving over the aircraft as the MD-11 rotates 

The part that failed and triggered the engine separation at the heart of last November’s fatal crash of a UPS MD-11 was flagged for inspections by Boeing in 2011, but the manufacturer concluded that a worst-case failure scenario would not “result in a safety of flight condition,” the NTSB said Jan. 14.

In a mid-investigation update, the board revealed that a February 2011 Boeing service letter targeted the part, a bearing race that is part of the MD-11 engine-to-pylon mounting assembly, for repetitive inspections. The service letter detailed four failures of the part, which is part of a spherical bearing assembly, on three different airplanes.

In each case, the collar-like bearing race suffered fatigue cracking and split along its circumference. “Specifically, each failure had initiated at the design recess groove on the interior surface of the bearing race,” the NTSB update said.

“According to the service letter, a review of the spherical bearing failure by Boeing determined it would not result in a safety-of-flight condition,” the NTSB said.

But investigators found the same failure pattern on the McDonnell-Douglas-designed UPS MD-11’s No. 1 (left) engine bearing race, the report revealed.

Boeing’s letter instructed operators to inspect the bearing as part of routine, repetitive pylon mount inspections, normally every 60 months. It also updated the MD-11 maintenance manual to reflect the new inspections. Boeing also recommended installing a different bearing that does not include a groove. But it does not caution against using an airworthy grooved bearing to replace an unserviceable one of the same design.

“Investigators are reviewing” what if any steps UPS took as well as “the correspondence history” between Boeing and the FAA leading up to the 2011 letter.

Boeing purchased McDonnell-Douglas in 1997 and assumed responsibility for the continued operational safety of the former manufacturer’s in-service fleet.

It is not clear if UPS integrated the checks into its maintenance program, NTSB said.

On Nov. 4, 2025, the UPS MD-11, operating as Flight 2976, had its No. 1 engine separate from the aircraft during its takeoff roll while departing on Louisville International Airport’s runway 17 Right. The severed engine passed over the MD-11’s left wing before the aircraft rotated.

Once airborne, the MD-11 could not climb beyond about 100 ft. above ground level. It crashed about 0.5 nm from the runway end, into an industrial area. All three crewmembers and 11 people on the ground were killed.

Boeing immediately urged operators to ground their MD-11s—a move the FAA mandated.

"Moscow Rules"

 

What prompted this one was driving into work and I noticed one of these on the side of the road, hidden under a bridge, 

Well I was moving about 78 in a 65 and I spotted him in the distance, so I turned off the cruise control and let others catch up to me, I was not in the fast lane and I didn't hit my brakes.   But I guess he was waiting for the people that really speed like the 85MPHers, and yes there are a lot of them and it also was cold like 32 degrees so it would have to be worth it for him to jump out there and pull someone over.  And no it was not a "GSP", they will pull you over for going 5 over, and they don't care. If you run, they will "PIT" your ride and you will go to jail anyway.  But I digress.  Well anyway, while I was driving down the interstate and I broke the view of the police car and I started thinking of ways to change my taillight combinations or what have you to make Identification more difficult in the dark, and I got to thinking about the "KGB" would trail people with vehicles and they would have switches that would change the light combination to throw off suspicion of the people they were tracking and I got to thinking about "Moscow Rules"......Man my minds bounces around a lot.....scary LOL.   SO that created the idea for this post.

  I had published these rules over in 2014 and 2021, so I "dusted" them off and put them out there again.  The Rules  were made for the CIA to keep their case officers alive in the most intense place to run "Counter-Intel" on the planet was Moscow, the KGB would vigorously prosecute and search for all foreign agents and especially for their own people that might betray "Da Rodina" and they were very aggressive.   Usually to flip someone it was called MICE, Money, Ideology, Coercion or Empathy.  Those 4 were or a combination of them would flip somebody into betrayal.    Man it don't take me long for me to drop back into spookspeak...jeez...man you think you forget after the cold war....and it all come back....and I am is just a airplane mechanic now...

I have had several references  made to "Moscow Rules" so I googled them and this is what I came up with.  It is a good rule of thumb kinda like my "Gibbs Rules" that I had posted years ago,  but reference because occasionally because it makes sense.  The Pictures are compliments of "Bing"  The Rules are compliments of Wikiuniversity

Whether fiction or fact, the Moscow Rules are often referenced and seldom printed. Said to have been developed by CIA for making sure their operatives were not sent like lambs to the slaughter to tough spots like Moscow, the Moscow Rules are an incredibly profound set of pragmatic guidelines for effective tradecraft. They are exceptionally difficult to find online in their entirety. Here, all 40 of the Moscow Rules are preserved. This page provides an opportunity to seminar students to elaborate upon and give examples of the rules in operation.

The Moscow Rules

Please use this Template for commentaries!

1. Assume nothing. Commentary
2. Technology will always let you down. Commentary
3. Murphy is right. Commentary
4. Never go against your gut. Commentary
5. Always listen to your gut; it is your operational antennae. Commentary
6. Everyone is potentially under opposition control. Commentary
7. Don’t look back; you are never completely alone. Use your gut. Commentary
8. Go with the flow; use the terrain. Commentary
9. Take the natural break of traffic. Commentary
10. Maintain a natural pace. Commentary
11. Establish a distinctive and dynamic profile and pattern. Commentary
12. Stay consistent over time. Commentary
13. Vary your pattern and stay within your profile. Commentary
14. Be non threatening: keep them relaxed; mesmerize! Commentary
15. Lull them into a sense of complacency. Commentary
16. Know the opposition and their terrain intimately. Commentary
17. Build in opportunity but use it sparingly. Commentary
18. Don’t harass the opposition. Commentary
19. Make sure they can anticipate your destination. Commentary
20. Pick the time and place for action. Commentary
21. Any operation can be aborted; if it feels wrong, then it is wrong. Commentary
22. Keep your options open. Commentary
23. If your gut says to act, overwhelm their senses. Commentary
24. Use misdirection, illusion, and deception. Commentary
25. Hide small operative motions in larger non threatening motions. Commentary
26. Float like a butterfly; sting like bee. Commentary
27. When free, In Obscura, immediately change direction and leave the area. Commentary
28. Break your trail and blend into the local scene. Commentary
29. Execute a surveillance detection run designed to draw them out over time. Commentary
30. Once is an accident; twice is a coincidence; three times is an enemy action. Commentary
31. Avoid static lookouts; stay away from chokepoints where they can reacquire you. Commentary
32. Select a meeting site so you can overlook the scene. Commentary
33. Keep any asset separated from you by time and distance until it is time. Commentary
34. If the asset has surveillance, then the operation has gone bad. Commentary
35. Only approach the site when you are sure it is clean. Commentary
36. After the meeting or act is done, “close the loop” at a logical cover destination. Commentary
37. Be aware of surveillance’s time tolerance so they aren’t forced to raise an alert. Commentary
38. If an alert is issued, they must pay a price and so must you. Commentary
39. Let them believe they lost you; act innocent. Commentary
40. There is no limit to a human being’s ability to rationalize the truth.Commentary