Both Biden and Trump have been expanding and empowering a special operations force who's territory includes the US. This is at least as scary as Trump continually mobilizing national guard troops to patrol US cities.
Thanks again for dispersing some of the dry ice and mirrors. It is hard to keep in mind with all the swooping Clancyesque Mission Impossible stuff that the constant is a massive glacial creeping bureaucracy. Somewhere there must be an elite unit still hunting for the NVA/VC's Central Office for South Vietnam!
It appears that SOCNORTH exists mainly to “justify” the Pentagon’s bloated budget. DOD/CACI has created a Bullshit Acronym Generator (BAG) to a create a labyrinth of self important garbage for congress to Confuse Obfuscate Impress Ninnies (COIN) to obtain additional funding so they can Pocket Additional Illicit Dollars (PAID)
The biggest problem in my mind is that there is no overarching sense of mission and ROEs. The priorities bounce around depending on who whispered what most recently to the highest link in the chain.
I previously had much greater hope that the Mil would remain as a bulwark against the Trumpers worst desires. My confidence in that backstop has been eroded daily.
Great work though. I spent many years on one of those black gizmos that break through the ice sheet.
Is there a Joint Special Acronyms Command (JSAC)? These behind-the-desk word fighters find, fix, and finish the threats posed by incomprehensible names within the Self Licking Ice Cream Cone (SLICC) threat environment.
Ken, it probably was inappropriate, but I laughed so hard while reading this that I scared my dog. And speaking of dogs, we’re going to them. Thank you.
There is one mission that should be at the top of the priority list for the US, China, Russia, Mexico and every other country on earth: GET OFF OF FOSSIL FUEL.
Instead, Trump is promoting the use of fossil fuel, declares global warming a hoax and with all the military monkey business he loves you can be sure lots and lots of fossil fuel is being burned simply deploying troops and equipment here there and everywhere.
Meanwhile in "the private sector" we have a completely pointless use of fossil fuel - SPACE TOURISM! That's not enough, let's get man on Mars despite robots already being there with no need of assistance by fragile bags of meat.
And Joe and Mary Citizen just can't wait to fly, fly, fly to every point on the planet just for fun and to say they have been there. Every flight, with so many more projected, powered by fossil fuel. And retirees looking forward to fly, fly, fly simply for sightseeing. Let's go see and touch a Roman viaduct!
And how about a big new pickup or SUV? It will be a hybrid? What pioneers (of consumption) we are.
Is there any intelligent life on planet earth? Remind me again that man is the rational animal.
What so many fail to understand is that the transnational drug trade is exactly that—transnational. We’re the market, Mexico is the supplier & once product crosses the border its distribution is done by Americans. Or sometimes, as with the Fort Bragg Mafia, the entire thing is American. (Reportedly, the Fort Bragg Mafia were bringing in Afghan heroin in military planes—shades of the Vietnam War.) El Mayo Zambada is an old man, who has no intention of being a soplón. He has stayed primarily in the hills of Sinaloa & the businesses have been run by his sons & the sons of El Chapo Guzmán, (Los Chapitos) who have greatly diversified their business to other things as well. That El Mayo was kidnapped by one of the Chapitos, Joaquin Guzmán, who was able to fly directly into El Paso makes me wonder what kind of deal he made—in advance—with the Americans to do this. Surely, he’ll be rewarded with a nominal sentence. Finally, that trump & his lackeys talk openly of going into Mexico in some kind of “action” against the cartels (a totally invented justification) is laughable if it weren’t so internationally explosive. Even if they had the intelligence as to where to strike, which they do not, it would be an act of war with disastrous consequences. As the Mexicans say, trump is trying to blame everything on Mexico, while doing nothing to address the problems & needs of the market—ordinary Americans. In fact, they’re closing agencies that help.
from what I read about what JSOC does, they assassinate anyone they can, whether involved or not; the US is a killing machine and has no empathy for anyone, and trump is especially cruel.
I quite agree. When Ken writes that JSOC operators “are killing terrorists in Africa” I have to wonder who knows they are terrorists. Do they carry identification cards
So, you’ve missed my sarcasm and have obviously bought in to the whole government propaganda machine that tells us that some desperately poor and repressed African tribesmen are a threat to us. And so we must kill them, even though they are on the other side of the planet and have no hope of ever touching our shores. Welcome to the Death Cult.
if what I read is just politics, why then are there so many suicides and murders from SF? These crimes are not prosecuted as SF gets less than a slap on the wrist we know that the military convers up its sins. It is true, many of JSOC's work is surveillance, but there are the SF, especially Delta Force, that took over the CIA's job of assassination because they can be more secretive than the CIA since the CIA now has oversight with Congress.
NOT THE JERSEYS! Will somebody please think of the children! It's good to know that our security apparatus is out there protecting all of us from clothing.
A robust and progressive Football Jerseys for All program would be a more effective and fiscally conservative solution to this whole mess. But Big Football says no smdh.
Both Biden and Trump have been expanding and empowering a special operations force who's territory includes the US. This is at least as scary as Trump continually mobilizing national guard troops to patrol US cities.
yes, important to understand how longstanding this all is
Thanks again for dispersing some of the dry ice and mirrors. It is hard to keep in mind with all the swooping Clancyesque Mission Impossible stuff that the constant is a massive glacial creeping bureaucracy. Somewhere there must be an elite unit still hunting for the NVA/VC's Central Office for South Vietnam!
glad you found it helpful!
last column I wrote I feared we are trying to make an enemy of everyone
today I'm thinking, if we don't reel in our behavior, we're going to become everyone's enemy
your average everyday citizen supports none of this nonsense.
It appears that SOCNORTH exists mainly to “justify” the Pentagon’s bloated budget. DOD/CACI has created a Bullshit Acronym Generator (BAG) to a create a labyrinth of self important garbage for congress to Confuse Obfuscate Impress Ninnies (COIN) to obtain additional funding so they can Pocket Additional Illicit Dollars (PAID)
Ken, thank you again for the extensive research. You rock.
Who owns CACI?
Outstanding analysis.
You’re really evolving into
Klip the Leak Sponge 🧽
The biggest problem in my mind is that there is no overarching sense of mission and ROEs. The priorities bounce around depending on who whispered what most recently to the highest link in the chain.
I previously had much greater hope that the Mil would remain as a bulwark against the Trumpers worst desires. My confidence in that backstop has been eroded daily.
Great work though. I spent many years on one of those black gizmos that break through the ice sheet.
It was a simpler time…🥹
All the best.
Is there a Joint Special Acronyms Command (JSAC)? These behind-the-desk word fighters find, fix, and finish the threats posed by incomprehensible names within the Self Licking Ice Cream Cone (SLICC) threat environment.
🤣
Ken, it probably was inappropriate, but I laughed so hard while reading this that I scared my dog. And speaking of dogs, we’re going to them. Thank you.
There is one mission that should be at the top of the priority list for the US, China, Russia, Mexico and every other country on earth: GET OFF OF FOSSIL FUEL.
Instead, Trump is promoting the use of fossil fuel, declares global warming a hoax and with all the military monkey business he loves you can be sure lots and lots of fossil fuel is being burned simply deploying troops and equipment here there and everywhere.
Meanwhile in "the private sector" we have a completely pointless use of fossil fuel - SPACE TOURISM! That's not enough, let's get man on Mars despite robots already being there with no need of assistance by fragile bags of meat.
And Joe and Mary Citizen just can't wait to fly, fly, fly to every point on the planet just for fun and to say they have been there. Every flight, with so many more projected, powered by fossil fuel. And retirees looking forward to fly, fly, fly simply for sightseeing. Let's go see and touch a Roman viaduct!
And how about a big new pickup or SUV? It will be a hybrid? What pioneers (of consumption) we are.
Is there any intelligent life on planet earth? Remind me again that man is the rational animal.
What so many fail to understand is that the transnational drug trade is exactly that—transnational. We’re the market, Mexico is the supplier & once product crosses the border its distribution is done by Americans. Or sometimes, as with the Fort Bragg Mafia, the entire thing is American. (Reportedly, the Fort Bragg Mafia were bringing in Afghan heroin in military planes—shades of the Vietnam War.) El Mayo Zambada is an old man, who has no intention of being a soplón. He has stayed primarily in the hills of Sinaloa & the businesses have been run by his sons & the sons of El Chapo Guzmán, (Los Chapitos) who have greatly diversified their business to other things as well. That El Mayo was kidnapped by one of the Chapitos, Joaquin Guzmán, who was able to fly directly into El Paso makes me wonder what kind of deal he made—in advance—with the Americans to do this. Surely, he’ll be rewarded with a nominal sentence. Finally, that trump & his lackeys talk openly of going into Mexico in some kind of “action” against the cartels (a totally invented justification) is laughable if it weren’t so internationally explosive. Even if they had the intelligence as to where to strike, which they do not, it would be an act of war with disastrous consequences. As the Mexicans say, trump is trying to blame everything on Mexico, while doing nothing to address the problems & needs of the market—ordinary Americans. In fact, they’re closing agencies that help.
from what I read about what JSOC does, they assassinate anyone they can, whether involved or not; the US is a killing machine and has no empathy for anyone, and trump is especially cruel.
I quite agree. When Ken writes that JSOC operators “are killing terrorists in Africa” I have to wonder who knows they are terrorists. Do they carry identification cards
So, you’ve missed my sarcasm and have obviously bought in to the whole government propaganda machine that tells us that some desperately poor and repressed African tribesmen are a threat to us. And so we must kill them, even though they are on the other side of the planet and have no hope of ever touching our shores. Welcome to the Death Cult.
if what I read is just politics, why then are there so many suicides and murders from SF? These crimes are not prosecuted as SF gets less than a slap on the wrist we know that the military convers up its sins. It is true, many of JSOC's work is surveillance, but there are the SF, especially Delta Force, that took over the CIA's job of assassination because they can be more secretive than the CIA since the CIA now has oversight with Congress.
NOT THE JERSEYS! Will somebody please think of the children! It's good to know that our security apparatus is out there protecting all of us from clothing.
A robust and progressive Football Jerseys for All program would be a more effective and fiscally conservative solution to this whole mess. But Big Football says no smdh.