Louis Zamperini: Unbroken at Sea and in a P.O.W. Camp, Made Whole by Christ

Breitbart

By Daniel J. Flynn

“I was too busy staying alive to think about dying,” World War II veteran Louis Zamperini told his son about his ordeal lost at sea and then locked up in a prisoner of war camp.

The famous runner’s real tests of endurance came the decade after his experience competing in the 5000 meters at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, when he floated at sea for a month-and-a-half and subsequently endured vicious beatings by a sadistic guard nicknamed “the Bird” during two years in Japanese captivity. Luke Zamperini tells Breitbart Sports, “These were my bedtime stories growing up.”

Luke Zamperini’s bedtime stories become everybody’s silver-screen stories on Christmas Day through Angelina Jolie’s cinematic adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken. The Zamp, owner of a record 4:08 mile as a collegian, retained exquisite timing long after he had hung up his track shoes. The Christian immortalized as a celluloid hero on Christmas, like the patriot passing days before this past Fourth of July, shows that death doesn’t kill a man’s timing.

It often replaces the substance of a man with a symbol. But the symbolism of a Christmas Day release of Unbroken makes it hard to miss the substance of Louis Zamperini. He ran the 5000 meters in the Olympics for a few minutes in the mid-1930s and suffered in a POW camp for a couple of years as Americans assumed him dead during the mid-1940s. He spread Jesus Christ’s gospel for more than six decades.

www.people.com

Like Christ, Zamperini lived past his obituary and figured prominently in a bestselling book. The comparisons don’t go much further for the life celebrated in the pews on Thursday and the one celebrated in the movie-house aisles. The former juvenile delinquent drank with zeal, hastily scheduled barroom boxing matches with unwitting, conscripted opponents, and projected the bitterness in his soul upon the world immediately following the Second World War.

“He was a vengeful man,” Luke Zamperini informs. “The Bird beat him mercilessly for over two years. My dad suffered from what’s today referred to as post-traumatic stress disorder. He was having nightmares of the Bird beating him that inevitably ended with him strangling the life out of the Bird.” Zamperini longed to return to Japan “to finish him off,” concedes his son.

Instead of squeezing the life out of the Bird, Billy Graham infused new life into Zamperini. “Hearing Reverend Graham speak reminded him of the promises on the life raft and in the prison camp that he had made to God,” Luke Zamperini tells Breitbart Sports of the violent and boozed-out postwar version of his dad. “He felt he hadn’t lived up to his side of the bargain.”

“His hatred for the Bird wasn’t hurting the Bird one bit,” son says of father. “It was destroying Louis Zamperini.” The bitter veteran put down the bottle and picked up the Bible. The sleep that followed the Olympian’s close encounter of the Billy Graham kind, his son explains, resulted in “the first night he did not have that nightmare and he did not have that nightmare for the rest of his life.”

Whereas others might have wished not to revisit the painful events, Zamperini used them for inspiration to start an outdoorsman camp for boys and to speak to groups about the force that saved his life. “He made a living talking about it,” Luke Zamperini notes. “He was a famous American athlete who seemingly came back from the dead. He was given the key to every city.” Holding in his war story didn’t work for Zamperini. Letting it out did.

Zamperini’s saga includes the highs of running in the Olympics and the lows of cleaning a pig sty with his bare hands. It’s an amazing tale of survival, evading strafing Japanese planes and capturing food on the raft with the primitive hunting tools available at the end of his arms. It’s more importantly a story, like the story whose beginnings Christians celebrate today, of redemption. In a life of service to his savior, Zamperini embodied the central message of his faith.

Louis Zamperini enjoyed a Hollywood ending. It emanated from enjoying a Christian life. Readers and now viewers of Unbroken marvel at the better-than-fiction quality to the miler’s tale of superhuman endurance. The story’s greatness surely stems from the protagonist’s awareness of the greatest story ever told.

"Habla el General" Rafael del Pino [7ma parte]: Castro calló el aviso de Estados Unidos de que se dirigía hacia Granada

Maria Elvira Salazar

Is there a bigger story behind the Bergdahl exchange?

Last of Original Group of Navajo Code Talkers Dies

NBC News.com

Felicia Fonseca / AP

This Oct. 3, 2009 photo shows Navajo Code Talker Chester Nez speaks at a book signing for "Navajo Weapon," in Albuquerque, N.M.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The last of the 29 Navajos who developed a code that stumped the Japanese during World War II has died.

Chester Nez, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, died Wednesday morning of kidney failure, said Judy Avila, who helped Nez write his memoirs. He was 93.

Before hundreds of men from the Navajo Nation became Code Talkers, 29 Navajos were recruited to develop the code based on the then-unwritten Navajo language. Nez was in 10th grade when he enlisted, keeping his decision a secret from his family and lying about his age, as did many others.

"It's one of the greatest parts of history that we used our own native language during World War II," Nez told The Associated Press in 2010. "We're very proud of it."

Nez has said he was concerned the code wouldn't work, but even the few Navajos who spoke the language couldn't understand the code. It proved impenetrable.

The Navajos trained in radio communications were walking copies of the code. Each message read aloud by a Code Talker was immediately destroyed.

"The Japanese did everything in their power to break the code but they never did," Nez said in 2010.

After World War II, Nez volunteered to serve two more years during the Korean War. He retired in 1974 after a 25-year career as a painter at the Veterans hospital in Albuquerque.

Nez was eager to tell his family about his role as a Code Talker, Avila said, but he couldn't. Their mission wasn't declassified until 1968.

The accolades came much later. The Code Talkers now are widely celebrated. The original group received Congressional Gold Medals in 2001, and a movie based on the Code Talkers was released the following year.

Despite having both legs partially amputated, confining him to a wheelchair, Avila said Nez loved to travel and tell his story.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

The Pentagon Is Getting Closer To Robot Soldiers, Leading Roboticist Warns

Business Insider

In the not-too-distant future, the U.S. military may turn more combat roles over to robotic soldiers, NPR reports.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) started robotics trials last December with the ultimate goal of creating robots that can perform advanced functions such as driving cars, manipulating everyday objects, and having a free range of motion.

While the robots are being developed with the altruistic goal of providing disaster relief, prominent roboticists are concerned that advances in robotics sponsored by DARPA can be shifted to military use.

Roboticist Illah Nourbakhsh warned NPR:

If researchers set out to build a robot that can drive a regular car, climb a ladder and operate a jack hammer, "That means that that robot can manipulate an AK-47. That means that robot can manipulate the controls of all the conventional military machines as well," he says.

The overall concern with the gradual shift towards replacing soldiers with autonomous robots, which Nourbakhsh believes is a likely outcome, is who will be held accountable for the robots' actions.

There is also a very real concern that if wars are waged by robots, humans may become more comfortable with the thought of killing.

Former U.S. commander General Stanley McChrystal told BBC's Today Program, "There’s a danger that something that feels easy to do and without risk to yourself, almost antiseptic to the person shooting, doesn’t feel that way at the point of impact."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-rise-of-robots-in-the-military-2014-3#ixzz2wpRQSeTY

Top U.S. Military Spy Chief: Have To Assume Russia Knows U.S. Secrets

War News Updates

Photo: Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn, Director of DIA

Washington (CNN) -- In the world of military strategy, every contingency must be examined, especially the worst-case scenario.

Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, made that clear when he told National Public Radio in an interview broadcast Friday how U.S. officials must plan for the possibility that Vladimir Putin's Russia has access to American battle plans and other secrets possibly taken by classified leaker Edward Snowden.

"If I'm concerned about anything, I'm concerned about defense capabilities that he may have stolen from where he worked, and does that knowledge then get into the hands of our adversaries — in this case, of course, Russia," Flynn said of the former National Security Agency contractor who fled to Moscow to seek asylum.

Read more >>

Pentagon to relax rules on personal religious wear — including beards, turbans

By Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube, NBC News

Brett Flashnick / AP file

U.S. Army Spc. Simran Lamba, center, the first enlisted Soldier to be granted a religious accommodation for his Sikh articles of faith since 1984, stands in formation with fellow soldiers before taking the oath of citizenship, prior to his graduation from basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., in 2010.

The Pentagon on Wednesday is expected to announce widespread changes to rules governing religious items and religion-based physical attributes that service members can maintain while in uniform — including beards, some religious tattoos, and turbans.

NBC News obtained an early draft of the new Department of Defense instruction which states that the military will make every effort to accommodate “individual expressions of sincerely held beliefs” (conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs) of service members.

It goes on to say that unless doing so could have an adverse impact on military readiness, unit cohesion, good order and discipline, health and safety, or any other military requirement, commanders can grant service members special permission to display their religious articles while in uniform.

Keep reading on usnews >>

Rodolfo Hernandez, Awarded Medal of Honor, Dies at 82

breitbart

Rodolfo Hernandez, who received the Medal of Honor for rushing into heavy fire while wounded and armed with only an inoperable rifle and bayonet and then killing six enemy soldiers during the Korean War, died on Saturday in Fayetteville, N.C. He was 82.

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society announced his death on itswebsite. Mr. Hernandez was an Army corporal trying to hold a hill in May 1951 when his platoon was overwhelmed by attackers accompanied by heavy mortar, artillery and machine gun fire.

Corporal Hernandez had already been struck by grenade fragments and was bleeding heavily from a head wound when his commanding officer ordered his platoon to fall back. He continued firing until his rifle malfunctioned, then threw six grenades and charged at the opposing foxholes.

Read the rest of the story at the New York Times >>

Can Afghan Republic Survive After U.S. Withdrawal?

breitbart

By AWR Hawkins 

As the Obama administration gets closer to pulling all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, questions still exist about what kind of country we will leave behind and whether the Afghan republic will be able to survive once we are gone. 

Conservative talk show host David Webb and former Navy SEAL Team Six assault team leader Chuck Pfarrer traveled to Afghanistan last week to get a firsthand look at what we are doing there now, as well as indications of what it might be like once we leave. 

Speaking with Webb on Fox News, Pfarrer said there is not much to teach the Afghans about light infantry because "they are masters of the world at that." However, he stressed that they must have an air force that can support the infantry in missions "that are going to be necessary... to continue to prosecute a counterinsurgency war." 

Webb agreed and speculated that in "our history we've seen military aviation become the development of commercial aviation" and help to spread more and more "commercialism, capitalism, and dare I say it, the growth of a nation."

His point was clear. If we leave Afghanistan too soon or if we leave them without the right skills and equipment in place, then we may be contributing to the collapse of a nation instead of the advance of one. 

Pfarrer said this is exactly what needs to be stressed and that it forms the work General John E. Michel is doing in Afghanistan right now, explaining, "[Michel] is not only manufacturing Afghan aviators, he is helping to put forth a new breed of Afghan citizens... [Persons] connected to the world, [persons] not burdened down by religious prejudices; these are the kind of young leaders -- men and women aviators -- that General Michel is working with [and] that are really going to be the future of Afghanistan."

U.S. Army's 8-Wheeled Laser Truck Can Burn Mortars, Rockets, And Drones

geobeats

Read on War News Updates >>

Chinese naval vessel tries to force U.S. warship to stop in international waters

Fox News

By Bill Gertz/

A Chinese naval vessel tried to force a U.S. guided missile warship to stop in international waters recently, causing a tense military standoff in the latest case of Chinese maritime harassment, according to defense officials.

The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which recently took part in disaster relief operations in the Philippines, was confronted by Chinese warships in the South China Sea near Beijing’s new aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to officials familiar with the incident.

“On December 5th, while lawfully operating in international waters in the South China Sea, USS Cowpens and a PLA Navy vessel had an encounter that required maneuvering to avoid a collision,” a Navy official said.

“This incident underscores the need to ensure the highest standards of professional seamanship, including communications between vessels, to mitigate the risk of an unintended incident or mishap.”

A State Department official said the U.S. government issued protests to China in both Washington and Beijing in both diplomatic and military channels.

The Cowpens was conducting surveillance of the Liaoning at the time. The carrier had recently sailed from the port of Qingdao on the northern Chinese coast into the South China Sea.

According to the officials, the run-in began after a Chinese navy vessel sent a hailing warning and ordered the Cowpens to stop. The cruiser continued on its course and refused the order because it was operating in international waters.

Click for more from FreeBeacon.com >>

X-37B Marks One Year On Orbit

space.skyrocket.de

spacewar

By Morris Jones* Sydney, Australia (SPX) Dec 03, 2013

On December 11, 2013, the secretive X-37B robot spaceplane celebrates one year in orbit. This controversial spacecraft has been out of the limelight for a long time, attracting almost no media coverage for most of its mission. The third flight of one of the most secretive objects in space has been its most elusive mission to date!
What is this all about? The X-37B is a small vehicle that's roughly the size of a small truck. It has wings, tail fins and a stubby nose. There's no cockpit and no crew on board. The X-37B does have a small payload bay with clamshell doors, similar to its older cousin, the retired NASA Space Shuttle.
X-37B is launched and controlled by the US Air Force. It made its first launch in April 2010 on a mission that was largely cloaked in secrecy. 224 days later, it returned to a flawless runway landing. A second X-37B vehicle was launched in March 2011. It remained in space for 469 days.
The latest X-37B mission uses the same vehicle that was launched in 2010, making this the first time that an X-37B spacecraft has been re-used.
All of the above are known facts. We also know that the X-37B is testing new technologies that could be used in future spacecraft, such as autopilot systems and re-entry tiles. Beyond this, not much is officially revealed. The generally secretive nature of the program has generated a lot of curiosity and some fairly wild conspiracy theories.
X-37B has been accused of being an orbiting space weapon or a space-to-ground bomb. Such theories are most unlikely. There have also been suggestions that the robot shuttle is designed to retrieve or service other satellites. Buzz these theories, too.
This analyst has no inside leaks or friends behind the veil of secrecy that covers the program. However, judging from the context of other US spaceflight projects and the technical limitations of the vehicle, there is a plausible if somewhat mundane explanation for the missions.
The X-37B is probably flying two missions simultaneously. One is the testing of the X-37B itself, which has been generally acknowledged by the US Air Force.
The other concerns some secret payloads contained in the small shuttle-style cargo bay. These are probably parts intended for other satellites that are being tested in open space. They will be returned to Earth for analysis.
This analyst suspects that the most likely client for these parts is the National Reconnaissance Office, which builds and operates spy satellites. The NRO has had a string of bad luck with the performance of its satellites in recent years, and has been launching its own test missions to help develop new (and more reliable) satellites for the future. T
he X-37B offers a unique opportunity to not only launch things into space but get them back intact. Combine the goals of the USAF and the NRO, and there's enough justification for the cost of operating the X-37B program.
So the X-37B sits calmly in orbit, quietly testing its mettle against the harsh environment of space. Amateur satellite watchers who track the spacecraft have sometimes observed orbital changes, but no really strange behaviour. The Air Force says almost nothing. The NRO says nothing at all. And X-37B normally remains out of the news headlines.
When will the latest mission return? The last flight stayed in orbit for well over a year. This analyst expects that the latest mission won't end any time soon. Will it attempt to better the record set by its predecessor? We just don't know.
In the meantime, we can ponder the mysteries of this secret program and wait for it to return to Earth.
------------------
*Dr Morris Jones is an Australian space analyst who has written for spacedaily.com since 1999.

Live chart: Military spending

The Economist

U.S. bombers fly over disputed island chain without informing China

behindthewall

Kyodo via Reuters file

A group of disputed islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, is seen in the East China Sea. Japan and the United States sharply criticized China's move to impose new rules on airspace over islands at the heart of a territorial dispute with Tokyo.

By Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube, NBC News

Two American B-52 bombers flew over a disputed island chain in the East China Sea on Monday evening, a U.S. defense official confirmed, just days after the Chinese government included the area in an air defense identification zone.
The official said the flight was a training mission and the bombers were not armed. The flight was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
The Chinese announced over the weekend they were expanding their air defense identification zone to include the islands, known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese. Japan also claims ownership.
The extension of the air defense identification zone includes an expectation by the Chinese government that all aircraft declare a flight plan and frequency and provide other information before entering.
The U.S. administration denounced the decision and declared that the U.S. will continue to conduct flight operations in and around that area.
"We will not in any way change how we conduct our operations," Pentagon spokesperson Col. Steve Warren said, adding that the U.S. maintains that the newly expanded ADIZ is in international waters.
Monday evening ET, two B-52 bombers took off from Anderson Air Force Base in Guam as part of an ongoing training exercise called Coral Lightning Global Power Training Sortie. The bombers were in the ADIZ for less than one hour, Warren said.
This was a "long-planned training exercise," and the U.S. did not inform the Chinese of their flight plan, Warren said.
The flights occurred without incident, Warren said, adding that there was no reaction, no Chinese aircraft were spotted in the air, and the Chinese did not contact the U.S. military about the flight.
"Nobody is talking about the possibility of armed conflict coming out of this [ADIZ decision]," Warren said.

Denny Cantrell / U.S. Navy for AP

A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber from Andersen Air Force base in Guam during an training exercise Tuesday.
(AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Denny Cantrell)

Obama’s Guantánamo closers make secret trip to prison camps, condemn status quo

By CAROL ROSENBERG

The two men charged with emptying the prison camps at Guantánamo of the last 164 captives visited the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba on Monday and issued a strong rebuke of the status quo.
“For us, it is not merely about treating detainees humanely, it is about ensuring that our operations reflect the values for which America stands,” said Paul Lewis, the Pentagon’s new special envoy for the closure of Guantánamo who traveled to the base Monday with his State Department counterpart for secret meetings at the prison camps.
The mostly U.S. Army, 2,100-strong staff of the prison camp compound that holds the last 164 captives, just six of them facing war crimes trial, soldier at the base under the motto of “Safe, Humane, Legal and Transparent” detention. After Monday’s mission to the camps, the military had no comment on the visit in which Lewis adapted the motto to argue it was time to put the prison camp out of business.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/25/3779590/obamas-guantanamo-closers-make.html#storylink=cpy

Chinese troops will have boots on the ground in Hawaii on Tuesday

By Judi McLeod 

Chinese Minister of National Defense Gen. Chang Wanquan and U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Aug. 19.  /Chris Carroll/Stars and Stripes

Aloha Hawaiians!  If you see what you think are soldiers from the Communist Peoples Republic of China Army wandering about in your neck of the woods Tuesday through Thursday next week, your imagination is not playing tricks on you.

For the first time in history the U.S. Army will host the Communist Peoples Republic of China’s Army on American soil Nov. 12-14, 2013.

But don’t worry while Chinese soldiers will have boots on the ground in Hawaii, they are only really “simulating”.

“Simulating humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to a fictional third country”.

You can’t make this stuff up when GridEx 2 is doing it for you.

GridEx 2 (there was already a GridEx 1in November of 2011) is a massive ‘emergency drill’ planned to take place across the whole of North America with thousands of utility workers, business executives, National Guard officers, FBI antiterrorism experts and officials from government agencies, in the United States, Canada and Mexico (who) are preparing for an emergency drill in November that will simulate physical attacks and cyberattacks that could take down large sections of the power grid. (New York Times, Aug. 16, 2013).

Keep reading on canadafreepress >>

Granada: Reivindicación de Tortoló

Cubanet

Por René Gómez Manzano

LA HABANA, Cuba, noviembre, www.cubanet.org -En días recientes, he leído a periodistas independientes cubanos (no así a los oficialistas, que han guardado silencio) sobre el treinta aniversario de la invasión norteamericana a la isla de Granada (25 de octubre de 1983). Entre ellos hay interesantes artículos de Juan Reynaldo Sánchez, Arnaldo M. Fernández e Iván García Quintero.

También ha cubierto el asunto la televisora chavista TeleSur. Esa cadena, única del mundo que tiene un programa para denigrar a un país extranjero (“USA de verdad”), aprovechó también la efeméride para atacar de nuevo al “imperialismo yanqui”, atribuyéndole de manera subliminal la muerte del primer ministro de facto de la islita caribeña, Maurice Bishop. Y esto, a pesar de saberse que los norteamericanos intervinieron después de la deposición y el asesinato del personaje.

En alguno de los mencionados trabajos he observado que se enjuicia de manera crítica la postura asumida durante el conflicto por el jefe de las fuerzas cubanas. A raíz de los acontecimientos, nuestro pueblo ironizó al respecto: “Si quieres correr veloz, usa tennis Tortoló”, fue el chiste pujón y ripioso que circuló por aquellas fechas.

Cubanos reciben su ración de comida en un campo de prisioneros en Granada, en octubre de 1983.

Sin embargo, el análisis sereno de los hechos nos conduce a valorar la actuación del alto oficial de manera diametralmente opuesta. Desde el punto de vista del arte de la guerra, actuó con acierto. Se vio obligado a enfrentar a fuerzas de élite, superiores en número y armamentos. Sus cientos de hombres tenían conocimientos militares (¿qué cubano no los posee, máxime cuando es enviado al extranjero en una misión de ese tipo!), pero no eran profesionales del ramo.

Atinó al ordenar el repliegue hacia puntos elevados. Sus subordinados resistieron en difíciles condiciones durante días. En definitiva, no se rindió y se limitó a retirarse de un combate perdido evitando caer prisionero. Pero no fue eso lo esencial: Lo más importante es que se negó a destinar a sus hombres al exterminio colectivo decretado desde La Habana por Fidel Castro.

 

Las órdenes dadas por el “Máximo Líder” al coronel eran terminantes: No agredir a las fuerzas norteamericanas, pero si éstas atacaban, defender las posiciones ocupadas “hasta el último hombre y la última bala”. Juan Reynaldo Sánchez lo llama “un suicidio anunciado”; García Quintero, “un golpe de efecto que enaltecería a la revolución”. Todo esto a costa de las vidas de cientos de compatriotas.

La descripción truculenta del supuesto final de la “heroica resistencia” —la fábula de los últimos seis cubanos que se inmolaron envueltos en la bandera—, ¿de dónde coño salió? ¿Fue una ideación del embajador cubano Torres Rizo, dispuesto a informar lo que en La Habana deseaban oír? ¿O fue otro más de los bodrios guisados en las tiznadas cocinas del Departamento Ideológico del Comité Central? ¿O provino de más arriba, de los encumbrados despachos del Palacio de la Revolución? Nunca se ha aclarado.

Al transmitirse la tremebunda noticia, me encontraba en lo que entonces era el Tribunal Provincial de La Habana, en 100 y 33, Marianao. Recuerdo que, mientras los locutores oficiales recitaban con voz engolada el texto mentiroso, dos empleadas crédulas atravesaban el ancho patio del edificio, deshechas en llanto.

Pero volviendo a la patriótica decisión de Pedro Benigno Tortoló Comas, resulta forzoso reconocer que ella permitió que, en lugar de centenares de muertos cubanos, hubiera “sólo” un par de docenas. Y eso lo logró al costo de su desgracia personal, la degradación y su posterior envío a Angola en calidad de soldado raso.

Todos estos son aspectos importantes de aquellos sucesos. Sin embargo, lo que echo de menos en la cobertura de esta noticia es la alusión a un detalle que me impactó y que merece atención. Me refiero al papel desempeñado en esa tragicomedia por la pacotilla transportada por los misioneros provenientes de Granada y exhibida ante las cámaras.

Los supuestos “héroes del enfrentamiento anti yanqui” fueron recibidos por el “Máximo Líder”, y el acontecimiento fue transmitido en vivo por la Televisión Cubana. A ese momento pretendió dársele la mayor solemnidad, lo que incluyó el “parte” rendido por el coronel jefe de la misión: “Comandante en Jefe, sus órdenes han sido cumplidas”.

Pero no resultaba posible tomar en serio a la larga teoría de compatriotas que, mientras avanzaban para recibir el apretón de manos del mandamás, permanecían adheridos a diversos equipos electrodomésticos. Descollaban en el desfile los ventiladores, debido a su mayor volumen y lo engorroso de su traslado.

Por eso creo que, en una galería de imágenes que ilustren los sucesos de Granada, no debe faltar alguna fotografía de un misionero dando la diestra al “Máximo Líder”, mientras blande en su mano izquierda un moderno aparato fabricado por “el enemigo”.

Military Training Document: Anti-Christian SPLC a Trusted Source to Define 'Extremism'

By Ken Klukowski

For months, the Obama-Hagel Pentagon has promised that reports of military trainers teaching troops that traditional Christian groups are extremists akin to terrorists were isolated incidents by rogue instructors. Now an official Army document contains evidence to the contrary.

Fox News's Todd Starnes reported Wednesday on a Ft. Hood briefing where reportedly soldiers were told that evangelical Christians and Tea Party supporters are a threat to the United States and are “tearing the nation apart.” Soldiers were reportedly told that they could be charged with committing a military crime if they supported or donated to such organizations.

Ft. Hood denies these allegations, but a separate source claiming to have been present during the briefing asserts the original account is true.

Ironically, in the place where an Islamic radical—Maj. Nidal Hassan—committed an act of terrorism that murdered fourteen Americans, including the unborn child of one of the female victims—a presentation on terrorism singled out Bible-believing Christians and supporters of the Constitution as serious threats to this nation. Islamic terrorism was barely mentioned.

This is just the latest outrage in a long train of disgraces. Just days ago, soldiers at Camp Shelby in Mississippi were instructed that the Christian conservative American Family Association is a domestic hate group. A month earlier, a security presentation portrayed the Founding Fathers as extremists. Before that, Breitbart News reported on a Christian chaplain who was officially censored by military commanders for talking about the importance of religious faith. And several months before that, Lt. Col. Jack Rich at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, instructed soldiers that traditional Christian beliefs are incompatible with “Army values.”

All this started in April, when Breitbart News broke the story of top Pentagon brass meeting with an anti-Christian activist calling for court-martialing observant Christians who share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others in the military. This activist calls them “fundamentalist monsters” who are “enemies of the Constitution” and should be punished for “sedition and treason.”    

All along, the nation was told these were a series of isolated incidents, not authorized by military leadership. Now military documents suggest otherwise. Judicial Watch used a FOIA request (Freedom of Information Act) to obtain a document from the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI), which is part of the Department of Defense (DOD). In this 133-page training document, entitled “Extremism,” on pages 32-33, under “Lesson Emphasis,” it claims to:

provide[s] information that describes sources of extremism information, definitions, recruitment of DoD personnel, common themes in extremist ideologies, common characteristics of extremist organizations, DoD policies, and command functions regarding extremist activities.

On the same page, it cites the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as an approved source for information—and its affiliate Teaching Tolerance. It was SPLC that labeled the American Family Association a “domestic hate group,” along with the Family Research Council (FRC, where I do religious liberty work as a senior fellow), the Traditional Values Coalition, and various Tea Party organizations and conservative border-security/immigration groups. In short, SPLC labels as hate groups organizations that promote a traditional Christian view of marriage and other social issues, believe in border enforcement, or promote constitutional limited government.

Ironically, SPLC is the only group in this news report linked to terrorism, as convicted domestic terrorist Floyd Lee Corkins told the FBI in a videotaped and signed confession that he chose his targets for an attempted mass-shooting at FRC from SPLC’s hate group list, including a map of how to get to FRC’s office. He then had the names and locations of other traditional groups he was going to target after murdering whoever he could in FRC's building.

This DEOMI document goes on several pages later to say that service members cannot participate in such organizations, raise funds for them, encourage others to support them, or attend public rallies organized by them. It then adds, “Furthering the objectives of extremist organizations is viewed as detrimental to the good order, discipline, or mission accomplishment of the unit and is, therefore, subject to appropriate disciplinary action.” It tasks service members with “assist[ing] unit commanders in being vigilant about the existence of such activities.”

Keep reading on breitbart >>

Air Force general in charge of nuclear weapons removed for lack of trust: defense officials

removing top military officer, hum? it's required a full explanation!

--------------------- 

usnews

Maj. Gen. Michael Carey/ www.minot.af.mil

By Jim Miklaszewski and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News

A top general in charge of the U.S. Air Force's arsenal of nuclear ballistic missiles has been relieved of his command due to loss of trust, defense officials told NBC News.

Air Force officials said Maj. Gen. Michael Carey was fired for “personal misbehavior” while on temporary duty at an unspecified location outside his usual command. The officials would not describe the behavior, other than to say that it did not involve any sexual improprieties, drug use, gambling, or criminal conduct.

Carey oversaw the 20th Air Force, with a total of 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles at three locations across the U.S.

An Air Force statement said that Carey was relieved from command “due to a loss of trust and confidence in his leadership and judgment.” The statement goes on to say that “the allegations are not related to operational readiness, inspection results, nor do they involve sexual misconduct.”

Gen. James Kowalski, the commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command, made the decision to relieve Carey of his command. The firing came after a months-long investigation by the Air Force Inspector General into reports of personal misbehavior by the major general. A separate Air Force investigation into Carey continues, and will determine whether he should be disciplined or forced out of the service.

“20th AF continues to execute its mission of around-the-clock nuclear deterrence in a safe, secure and effective manner,” Kowalski said in an Air Force statement. “It’s unfortunate that I’ve had to relieve an otherwise distinctive career spanning 35 years of commendable service.”

Regarding Carey’s position in charge of nuclear weaponry, a senior Air Force official said: “It’s a job that demands great trust and responsibility, and personal behavior is vital to that.”

Carey enlisted in the Air Force in 1978, according to his official biography, and attended the University of Central Florida, where he graduated in 1982 with a degree in history.

He was promoted to the rank of major general in Nov. 2011, according to his Air Force bio, and served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

It is the second firing of a top-ranking commander with authority over nuclear weapons in the past week. Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina was demoted to the from the three-star rank to two and relieved of his post as second in command of U.S. nuclear forces at U.S. Strategic Command amidst a gambling investigation, the Associated Press reported.

The United States has an estimated 2,150 deployed nuclear warheads, according to a recent estimate published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Intercontinental ballistic missiles are capable of carrying multiple warheads.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Taylor Morris, An Incredible Love Story Told in 22 Photos

glamour.com

By Ariane Marder
They say every picture tells a story. In this case, times that by 22. I came across this series on Buzzfeed and was moved beyond words. Thanks to photographer Tim Dodd, the world can see what sacrifice and love means to a couple in Iowa. Warning: It's a tearjerker.

Tim Dodd has been chronicling his friend—and war veteran—Taylor Morris's amazing journey on his blog. Here are just some of the photos he has taken of Taylor and his longtime girlfriend Danielle over the course of their inspiring relationship:

To read more about Taylor and donate to his recovery, go to: www.taylormorris.org

How much do you love this? Do you know a couple that inspires you? Share!