Argghhh!

" Time-limited, scope-limited military action ." Isn't that the definition of a drive-by shooting? "But your honor, I was just conducting a "time-limited, scope-limited military action" in defense of my peeps!" Hmmmmm. Mebbe I should be a defense lawyer. Nah.

Thank you for your service, General. Don't let the door hit you on your way out. Secretary Shinseki had a meeting with the President at 10:15AM Eastern . Looks like I was off by a week on the General entering a new phase of his life. The key take-away from all this is - while Shinseki properly gets to shoulder the blame - this is not entirely his fault. The VA needs a serious revamp and culture shift, a culture that has been venal since, oh, 1921 , and screwed with 3 generations of my family...

It may be just the Marines now , but the argument (that we lost in the 80's when the Army went all poodle-shooter all the time) has been reopened. Of course, the irony now is that the arguments for the newest iteration of the .45 are essentially the same arguments advanced... when the M1911 was adopted. But no, "This time it will be different!" Heh. H/t Marine Aviation Repairman Cortillaen for the link.

[This pic gets bigger if you want it to] Two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters hover over the skies of Spin Boldak, in the southern Kandahar province, Afghanistan, before flying away. A staple of transportation in Afghanistan, helicopters like these are used not only to transport troops in and out of hard-to-reach forward operating bases, but also as air ambulances. Photo by Spc. Cory Sparks

...those tubes took some extra punching. Paratroopers from Alpha Battery, 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Regiment [actually 25th Infantry Division], fire artillery during the commissioning ceremony for the Navy's newest ship, the USS Anchorage at the Port of Anchorage, Alaska, May 4, 2013. The paratroopers provided a 19-gun salute with six 105mm howitzer cannons during the ceremony. U.S Army photo by Sgt. Eric-James Estrada...

As I am unsure of the provenance of this picture, I do not know whether the Petty Officer was Photo-shopped into it or not. But, if he did a peek-a-boo in the flesh, I wonder what he was thinking. Boq

If the 537 people who make up Congress and the Executive can't be adults, at least some financial institutions will. Financial Institutions to Advance Pay If There Is a Government Shutdown.

Gunwalker . Gangwalker . Grenadewalker . The leadership of the FBI, DEA and DOJ, at a minimum, need to walk. We can give their boss his walking papers next November. It's not the "lax American gun laws" that are arming the cartels - it's the Stoopid Bureaucrats of Federal law enforcement that are arming the cartels. Jeebus.