George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is the most famous fictional work about omnipresent government surveillance and its myriad risks. Yet, an often-overlooked movie from 1992 provides even more prescient insights into …
National
Gillibrand Gaining?
The battle to remove the military’s chain of command from investigating sexual assaults has intensified as a pair of Tea Party senators has allied with 33 of their more liberal colleagues in the effort.
Sens. Ted Cruz, …
“We now have a brand new state-of-the-art building that cost the taxpayers $34 million to build. The worst part is that all indications are we're going to tear it down. We can't even give it away to the Afghanistan government for free because they don't want a building that they will have to spend a million to re-wire because it was built to U.S. electrical code.”
— Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., speaking Tuesday on the never-needed U.S. military headquarters building in Helmand province disclosed last week, here.
GOP Claims High Ground in 2014 Battle for the Senate
It’s shaping up to be an unpleasant 2014 for Democrats in the U.S. Senate
“Do I regret doing it? Hell no…Do you want the Marine Corps to be a group of Boy Scout pretty boys, or do you want guys that will go out and kill the people trying to take advantage of your country and kill Americans? Which do you want? Because you can't have both.”
— Marine Sergeant Joseph Chamblin, when asked, here, if he regretted urinating on dead Taliban fighters. After a video surfaced of several Marines, including him, doing so in 2011, the corps fined him $500 and demoted him for the act and dereliction of duty. He leaves the Marines in September after 15 years.
Cutting One-Fifth. Twice.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Tuesday that he has ordered a 20% cut in the ranks of the Pentagon’s top military officers and senior civilians.
Beginning in 2015, and completed by 2019.
Well, as we used to say: speed …
Warship…Or Disco?
The USS Preble, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, readies for a night fueling in the Pacific July 7.
Aereo Spat Could Prompt Fox Supreme Court Challenge
How the Global Hawg Keeps Flying
Battleland has long been interested in how it was that an unmanned drone – the RQ-4 Global Hawk – ended up costing more money than the U-2 spy plane the Pentagon wanted it to replace for some missions.
After all, Gary …
“I've got civilians that are out taking a 20 percent pay cut for the remainder of the year…That is horrific. I stood in front of my civilians the other day and I apologized to them, and I said, `Your government has let you down.’ And that's how I feel about it. We have let them down. We have broken faith with our civilian workforce.”
— General William Shelton, chief of Air Force Space Command, speaking Tuesday in Washington on the civilians he has had to furlough because of sequester-mandated budget cuts.
Maya Angelou Reacts To Zimmerman Trial, Evokes Civil Rights Era
“What is really injured, bruised, if you will, is the psyche of our national population.”
Privatizing War (cont.)
From Tuesday’s list of Pentagon contract announcements:
Jorge Scientific Corp., Arlington, Va., was awarded an $11,810,908 modification (P00006) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, option-filled, multi-year contract …
Israel’s Iron Dome
With the increased threats of attack from Hezbollah, Palestinian militants in Gaza — and spillover from the Syrian civil war — Israel stands ready to intercept and destroy incoming artillery, mortars, and missiles with its …