Landing the Big One

Landing the Big One

Sunday, February 24, 2019

On Midrats 24 February 2019 - Episode 477: Afghanistan & the Long War with Bill Roggio

You can listen to the show at this link:  Midrats Episode 477: Afghanistan & the Long War with Bill Roggio
We are going to take a clear, cold, and unsparing look at the status of the conflict in
Afghanistan and the Long War in general with our returning guest, Bill Roggio.

In a far-reaching discussion, we will touch on the rather unpleasant reality of where we have put ourselves through our own action, and what people should expect going forward.

Bill is a senior fellow at FDD and editor of FDD’s Long War Journal, which provides original reporting and analysis of the Global War on Terror from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, North Africa, Iran, and beyond. He is also president of the nonprofit media company Public Multimedia Inc.

Bill was embedded with the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army, and Iraqi forces in Iraq between 2005 and 2008, and with the Canadian Army in Afghanistan in 2006. From 1991 to 1997, Bill served as a signalman and infantryman in the U.S. Army and New Jersey National Guard. His articles have been published in The New York Times, The Weekly Standard, The Daily Beast, National Review, and The New York Post, and his work has been in outlets including The New Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, CNN, Foreign Policy, and Bloomberg.
You might note that the link is to Spreaker which is something new for us.

UPDATE:

Some things mentioned during the show:

The Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) annual Worldwide Threat Assessment

A map from that Assessment showing areas where ISIS is active and a couple of maps of historic Caliphates:


source

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Another Threat to Society - "Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence"

A really interesting article from the Hillsdale College publication Imprimis Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence
Over the last 30 years, psychiatrists and epidemiologists have turned speculation about marijuana’s dangers into science. Yet over the same period, a shrewd and expensive lobbying campaign has pushed public attitudes about marijuana the other way. And the effects are now becoming apparent.

Almost everything you think you know about the health effects of cannabis, almost everything advocates and the media have told you for a generation, is wrong.
If you are concerned about the effects on our society of the promiscuous use of legal and illegal drugs, then this article about the relationship of marijuana to mental diseases, you should read this article.

The issues raised need far more exposure.

Not only should we be concerned about what the research reported on by Mr. Berenson indicates, we should also be concerned about the long-term effects on the bodies of habitual users of marijuana - if inhaling tobacco smoke or chewing tobacco are known cancer risks, it seems pretty obvious that doing the same sort of ingestion with another substance must pose some risk - one that the users of today will tomorrow being suing the legal purveyors of their supply for "misrepresentation" of the health benefits of their product.

Of course, the illegal suppliers will prove to be unlikely defendants in such trials.

Full disclosure - I graduated many years ago from the Navy's Drug And Alcohol Counselor School and was the director of one of the Navy Counseling and Assistance Center/Alcohol Rehabilitation Drydock facilities and thus have some practical experience in the drug and alcohol abuse world.

Saturday, February 09, 2019

On Midrats 10 February 2019 - Episode 475: The US Navy's Face Mission; Naval Presence - History & Present Use

Please join us at 5pm (EST) on 10 Feb 2019 for Midrats Episode 475: The US Navy's Face Mission; Naval Presence - History & Present Use

From showing the flag in the Mediterranean in the first decades of our
republic's history, through Teddy's Great White Fleet, to FONOPS in today's South China Sea - "being there" is a little understood strategic mission.

What is its history and utility in the 21st Century?

Our guest fo the full hour will be Dr. James Holmes, returning to Midrats to discuss this and related issues.

Dr. Holmes is a professor of strategy and former visiting professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College. A former U.S. Navy surface-warfare officer and combat veteran of the first Gulf War, he served as a weapons and engineering officer in the battleship Wisconsin, engineering and firefighting instructor at the Surface Warfare Officers School Command, and military professor of strategy at the Naval War College. He was the last gunnery officer to fire a battleship’s big guns in anger.

The book he co-authored with Toshi Yoshihara, Red Star over the Pacific, now in its second edition.
If you can't listen at the regular time, you can also pick the show up later by visiting either our iTunes page or our Stitcher page.