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Inside eBay’s Cockroach Cult: The Ghastly Story of a Stalking Scandal
“People are basically good” was eBay’s founding principle. But in the deranged summer of 2019, prosecutors say, a campaign to terrorize a blogger crawled out of a dark place in the corporate soul.
Credit...Kako
By David Streitfeld
Sept. 26, 2020
1. Dad stabs a chair
Veronica Zea is pretty sure that before showing up to work at eBay in the spring of 2017, she used the site only once. She bought a surfing poster. It ended up in her closet.
Although Ms. Zea grew up in Santa Clara, Calif., in the heart of Silicon Valley, she cared little for the dazzlements of technology. In college, she studied criminology. After graduating, and a year spent recovering from knee surgery, she surprised herself by answering a classified ad and ending up at the e-commerce pioneer.
Ms. Zea’s first job at eBay was intelligence operator. In a windowless room at corporate headquarters in San Jose, she watched closed-circuit cameras and helped people who were locked out of their offices. Ms. Zea (pronounced ZAY) was 23, with no special skills, but she worked hard. Soon she was promoted to intelligence analyst, charged with staying ahead of geopolitical and individual threats.
Her division, Global Security and Resiliency, consisted of dozens of people, including retired police captains and former security consultants. But it was surprisingly intimate. “We’re a family,” James Baugh, the boss, and Stephanie Popp, her immediate supervisor, would say to the analysts. “We’re Mom and Dad.”
True, Dad could be kind of scary. Mr. Baugh was a stocky, middle-aged guy with thinning hair who loved to talk and did not like to be questioned. He would often say he used to work for the C.I.A. Sometimes he said his wife was working for the C.I.A. right now. Once, he found a knife on a barbecue grill on campus. A deranged person could have used it to hurt someone, he told the analysts, and proceeded to stab a chair. It was never removed, a warning for the timid. (Through his lawyer, Mr. Baugh declined to comment.)
Ms. Zea had never worked in an office. Her only real job before this was on the Grizzly roller coaster at California’s Great America amusement park. So she just accepted things. Like the way eBay was a regular film festival. Mr. Baugh would bring the analysts into a conference room and show the scene from “American Gangster” where Denzel Washington coolly executes a man in front of a crowd to make a point. Or a clip from “The Wolf of Wall Street,” where the feds are investigating shady deeds but none of the perpetrators can recall a thing. Or the bit from “Meet the Fockers” about a retired C.I.A. agent’s “circle of trust.”
That one came up frequently. “No one is supposed to know this,” Mr. Baugh would tell the analysts about some piece of office gossip. “We’ll keep it in the circle of trust.”
Credit...Kako
Like the other analysts, Ms. Zea was a contract worker. Her ambition was to be hired by eBay itself. One mistake could crush that hope, and even risk lives. It was her responsibility to track “persons of interest” — individuals who might pose a danger to eBay — and rank them in a threat matrix. The woman who shot three people at YouTube in April 2018 proved there were people out there with a grudge against tech.
“We need to be ready,” Mr. Baugh would say. “We are the only ones who can prevent it from being really bad.” Drills happened when the analysts least expected. “There’s an active shooter in Building Two!” they would suddenly be told. Everyone would scramble.
There were usually six analysts, but turnover was high. Ms. Zea noticed that the men were becoming scarce. By May 2018 the group was entirely female. Mr. Baugh had a video for that too: Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg explaining “why we have too few women leaders.”
Ms. Sandberg did not say these women should all be young and blonde — “Charlie’s Angels” and “Jim’s Angels” were their nicknames in the executive suite — but Ms. Zea wasn’t about to point that out. Women got fired, too, and afterward the survivors would whisper about why. One departed analyst had been reprimanded for not smiling in front of executives. Another was let go because she sang to keep herself awake during the night shift. A third because she chewed on her pen.
In January 2019, the temperature in Global Security and Resiliency went up even further. Elliott Management, a hedge fund considered merciless even by Wall Street standards, bought a chunk of eBay and asked for changes. Nobody was safe — especially the chief executive, Devin Wenig. The co-founder of another company that had earlier drawn the attention of Elliott said the experience of looking up the fund online was like “Googling this thing on your arm and it says, ‘You’re going to die.’”
As Mr. Wenig and other eBay executives tried to make nice with the hedge fund, they did not want to hear criticism of the company. That could cause trouble. And if some critic persisted? They needed to shut up. If necessary, they needed to be scared speechless.
Another mandatory video was from “Billions,” the TV drama about Wall Street ruthlessness. At least five times, Ms. Zea was compelled to watch a scene in which a billionaire toys with a subordinate he has caught considering a job with a competitor. “You don’t try to be loyal,” the billionaire sneers. “You just are.”
Loyalty. That was one of the tenets of Global Security and Resiliency. In the summer of 2019, Ms. Zea did what her boss, and her boss’s boss, and the chief executive of the $28 billion company wanted — even as those things got more and more deranged, and as they were all drawn into the most lurid scandal in the history of Silicon Valley.
Veronica Zea says she will plead guilty. “It’s easy to say, ‘Why didn’t I leave?’” she says. “But in the moment, I was terrified and stuck. I am so sorry. I regret playing even a small role here.”Credit...Cayce Clifford for The New York Times
One year later, on June 15, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice charged six former eBay employees, all part of the corporate security team, with conspiring to commit cyberstalking and tamper with witnesses. Their alleged targets were almost comically obscure — a mom-and-pop blogging duo from a suburb of Boston and a Twitter gadfly who wrote often in their comments section. According to the government, their methods were juvenile and grotesque, featuring cockroaches, pornography, barely veiled threats of violence and death, physical surveillance and the weaponization of late-night pizza.
“This was a determined, systematic effort by senior employees of a major company to destroy the lives of a couple in Natick,” said the U.S. attorney in Boston, Andrew Lelling, at a news conference, “all because they published content the company executives didn’t like.”
Each charge carries a sentence of up to five years in prison. Mr. Baugh, whose age was given as 45, and his deputy, David Harville, 48, were arrested. The other defendants are Ms. Zea, who is now 26; Ms. Popp, 32; Stephanie Stockwell, 26; and Brian Gilbert, 51. A seventh employee, Philip Cooke, 55, was charged in July. Contacted through their lawyers, none would comment except Ms. Zea, who said she would plead guilty. Ms. Popp, Ms. Stockwell, Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Cooke are expected to do the same. The case is still open.
This account is based on court documents and dozens of interviews with people who followed the stalking scandal closely, including six who worked in Global Security and Resilience. The scheme they describe was both completely malevolent and remarkably inept — full of daft assumptions on the part of eBay about a plot that did not exist. It stands as a warning about how easily tech companies can feel aggrieved, and the mayhem that can ensue when they do. And it vividly shows how the internet makes people crazy, often without them ever realizing it.
Paul Florence was the chief executive of Concentric Advisors, the staffing agency that placed Ms. Zea at eBay. “It felt like eBay was breaking the analysts down psychologically — making them doubt themselves, isolating them, turning them against each other,” he said. In 18 months, eBay fired at least a dozen analysts. When Mr. Florence protested, his firm was fired, too.
“I was relieved,” he said. “It seemed like a cult.”
2. ‘We are going to crush this lady’
Like many people during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, Ina and David Steiner took a hobby and turned it into a business. Ina worked at a publishing company and collected books. David, a video producer, had been going to yard sales since he was a kid. He liked advertising collectibles, antique tools — anything that caught his eye. In 1999, four years after eBay was founded, when the notion of transacting with strangers online was still for the bold, they started a modest website offering advice to buyers.
They called it AuctionBytes, which later morphed into EcommerceBytes. Eventually, by tracking trends and policy updates across the industry, it became a resource for sellers on a number of platforms, from Etsy to Amazon — a kind of trade publication for anyone whose business is auctioning items out of a garage or storage unit. Today, Ina is in her late 50s and does the writing. David is in his early 60s and is the publisher. Neither has spoken to the press since eBay’s alleged plot against them came to light.
Ina and David Steiner at home in 2002.Credit...Jodi Hilton for The New York Times
EcommerceBytes may not have been well-known, but it was required reading at the highest levels of eBay. In early 2019, Ms. Steiner shared the news that eBay had hired a new communications chief, Steve Wymer, who would report directly to Mr. Wenig.
The two men shared an aggressive streak. Mr. Wenig had spent most of his career in East Coast financial media, as a lawyer and executive at Thomson Reuters, and he maintained a certain New York alpha quality. Before working as a technology spokesman, Mr. Wymer had spun for three Republican senators in Washington, and he kept up an interest in politics. When Representative John Lewis tweeted about the civic importance of getting in “good trouble, necessary trouble,” for instance, Mr. Wymer replied that he had “another view on how the USA should be governed. My view is equal to your view.”
Publicly, Mr. Wenig celebrated eBay’s five community values — among them, “People are basically good” and “We encourage you to treat others the way you want to be treated.” But together, he and Mr. Wymer worked to forge a more combative eBay, one that drew less inspiration from the Golden Rule and more from “The Sopranos.” (They did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and eBay would not make any executives available for interviews.)
While neither Mr. Wenig nor Mr. Wymer have been charged — both have denied involvement in the intimidation campaign — they clearly loathed Ms. Steiner. In April 2019, she wrote about the chief executive’s compensation, noting that his haul of $18 million was 152 times what the average worker got, and mildly suggested it was coming at the expense of eBay sellers. After her post was published, Mr. Wymer texted a link to Mr. Wenig, adding: “We are going to crush this lady.”
Devin Wenig, who made $18 million as C.E.O. of eBay in 2018, was infuriated by Ms. Steiner’s writing. “Take her down,” he told a subordinate.Credit...Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
Steve Wymer, eBay’s communications chief, shared Mr. Wenig’s vitriol toward Ms. Steiner. “I want to see ashes,” he said at one point. “Whatever it takes.”Credit...Mike Coppola/Getty Images for eBay
Whether Ms. Steiner was breaking news about questionable expenditures, such as a pub eBay built on its campus, or marking more innocuous developments, Mr. Wenig seemed to find her existence infuriating. On May 31, 2019, she wrote that he had “promised to give sellers greater protection” from fraudulent buyers.
“Shockingly reasonable…” Mr. Wymer wrote to Mr. Wenig.
“I couldn’t care less what she says,” the C.E.O. responded, adding: “Take her down.”
If there was one person Mr. Wenig detested as much as the Steiners, it was a Twitter gadfly best known by the handle “Fidomaster.” His wife sold on eBay and he thought the site was often unfair to sellers, so he would tweet about it. Each message might get no more than a dozen likes, but the Global Security and Resiliency analysts kept a file on him, and it quickly grew fat.
Mr. Baugh was convinced that there was a sinister relationship between the Steiners and Fidomaster — that they were actively conspiring to damage eBay. (He even indulged a theory that Fidomaster was the Steiners’ secret alter ego.) Eight days after Mr. Wenig’s “take her down” message, a member of the security team flew across the country and drove to the Steiners’ home, a steeply roofed charmer on a quiet street. On their fence, prosecutors say, he scrawled the word “FIDOMASTER.”
It was both ridiculous and threatening, and a taste of just how weird things would get.
Ebay never learned Fidomaster’s real name. Neither have I, although we spoke extensively by phone, email and Twitter. Fidomaster shared a parallel story of eBay subterfuge that is only glancingly mentioned in the criminal complaint covering the harassment of the Steiners.
In mid-2019, Fidomaster received an unsolicited message from a new Twitter user calling herself Marissa. Her picture showed her to be about 25. Claiming to be a former eBay employee, she said she possessed “extremely damaging videos of executives misbehaving” — and wanted help passing them to the Steiners.
She was fishing for Fidomaster to acknowledge that he was in league with them. When Fidomaster pointed out the obvious ways one could reach Ms. Steiner, whose email address was public, Marissa suggested leaving the videos on a thumb drive at “a hotel in the city of your choice.” The wilder her suggestions got, the more Fidomaster resisted. Get a lawyer, he kept suggesting.
According to Ms. Zea, “Marissa” was two of her fellow analysts. Fidomaster’s reluctance to take the hotel bait could have suggested to eBay that perhaps its paranoia was out of control. Instead, leaders of the security team concluded that they needed to redouble their efforts.
3. ‘DO I HAVE UR ATTENTION NOW????’
On Aug. 1, 2019, Ina Steiner wrote a post about a lawsuit eBay had filed against Amazon. Although it was just a couple of paragraphs, and contained only a light note of skepticism about Mr. Wenig’s strategy, the chief executive was irate. Thirty-three minutes after the EcommerceBytes article went up, he texted Mr. Wymer: “If you are ever going to take her down..now is the time.”
“On it,” Mr. Wymer responded. He texted Mr. Baugh. “Hatred is a sin,” wrote Mr. Wymer, the son and grandson of Baptist pastors. “I am very sinful.”
Mr. Baugh signaled that he was ready to escalate. “Amen. I want her DONE,” Mr. Wymer wrote. “She is biased troll who needs to get BURNED DOWN.”
Mr. Wenig was going to Italy on sabbatical for August. EcommerceBytes needed to be taken care of before he returned.
Planning for the harassment campaign began, naturally, with a movie. Mr. Baugh showed the analysts a clip from “Johnny Be Good,” a 1988 teen comedy, in which a villainous football coach must deal with a host of pests arriving at his house simultaneously: a delivery guy with hundreds of dollars of unwanted pizza, singing and dancing Hare Krishnas and their elephant, a rodent exterminator, a male stripper. Mr. Baugh asked the analysts for inspiration. One of them suggested sending the Steiners a coffin.
The security chief made it clear that eBay’s leadership supported taking action, forwarding a message by Mr. Wymer in which he declared that Ms. Steiner and Fidomaster “have seemingly dedicated their lives to erroneously trashing us.” Mr. Wymer continued: “I genuinely believe these people are acting out of malice and ANYTHING we can do to solve it must be explored.” He signed off with: “Whatever. It. Takes.”
Credit...Kako
According to prosecutors, Mr. Baugh and members of the security team devised a convoluted and improbable strategy: to secretly harass the Steiners, and then offer eBay’s assistance in stopping the attacks — winning the Steiners’ confidence and manipulating them into favorable coverage of eBay. They called it “the White Knight strategy.” Inevitably, there was a movie screening: “Body of Lies,” a C.I.A. thriller about a fake plot that draws out a real terrorist.
Prosecutors say that on Aug. 7, Ms. Popp — the “Mom” to Mr. Baugh’s “Dad” — began sending Twitter messages to Ms. Steiner via a fake account, @Tui_Elei. The profile picture was a skull, and he seemed to be an eBay user from Samoa who believed that EcommerceBytes had harmed his sales. Ms. Steiner ignored the messages, even as the tone got angrier and more abusive. @Tui_Elei wrote: “I guess im goin to have to get ur attention another way bitch…”
A parade of disturbing deliveries began at 4 p.m. on Aug. 10, when a package containing a bloody pig mask arrived at the Steiners’ home. Fourteen minutes later, @Tui_Elei wrote: “DO I HAVE UR ATTENTION NOW????”
The Steiners received a book titled “Grief Diaries: Surviving the Loss of a Spouse” and a funeral wreath. They got fly larvae and live spiders and a box of cockroaches. Copies of the September issue of “Hustler: Barely Legal” touting “eye-popping 18-year-olds” arrived at the homes of neighbors with David Steiner’s name on them.
The Twitter bombardment continued, as @Tui_Elei began to hint at violence: “wen u hurt our bizness u hurt our familys… Ppl will do ANYTHING 2 protect family!!!!”
On his own Twitter account, Mr. Wymer evoked Fred Rogers — he said a movie about the inspirational TV personality made him cry, and he once retweeted Mr. Rogers’ line that “If there’s anything that bothers me, it’s one person demeaning another.” But inside eBay, Mr. Wymer was goading the harassment on.
“I want to see ashes,” he told Mr. Baugh on Aug. 11. “As long as it takes. Whatever it takes.”
Mr. Baugh shared the message with his deputy, David Harville, adding: “I’ve been ordered to find and destroy.”
4. Seeing ghosts
After the menacing deliveries and the Twitter attacks, the third phase of eBay’s campaign against the Steiners began: physical surveillance in Natick.
On Aug. 15, Mr. Baugh and Ms. Zea flew first class across the country. She had to go, she was told. Late that night, after checking into the Ritz-Carlton in Boston and joining with Mr. Harville, they drove to the Steiners’ home in a rented vehicle. Their mission was to install a GPS device on the couple’s Toyota, but they soon discovered that the car was locked in the garage. Mr. Harville went to a hardware store, prosecutors say, and bought a pry bar and nitrile gloves so he could break in. (That never came to pass.)
The Steiners were suffering. “It was psychologically devastating,” Mr. Lelling, the U.S. attorney, later said. The couple lost sleep, became anxious and worried about being followed. They turned for help to the local police, who agreed to keep an eye on them.
On the team’s second day in Massachusetts, Mr. Baugh, Ms. Zea and Mr. Harville returned to Natick and began following the Steiners’ car as it drove the streets. They tapped into an internet feed of the Natick police radio, and when they overheard that they’d been spotted, they abandoned their pursuit.
But the torments continued. At 4:30 a.m., a 24-hour pizzeria delivered to the Steiners $70 of pies — and a demand for payment. @Tui _Elei kept up his semiliterate invective, with graphic sexual references. More pizza. Craigslist ads appeared, announcing estate sales (“Everything must go!”) and nightly swingers parties at the Steiner home (“Come knock on the door/ring the doorbell anytime of day or night”). @Tui _Elei doxxed their home address.
Mr. Harville returned to California, and Ms. Popp took his place in Boston. The eBay team made another attempt at surveillance on Aug. 18, this time with a different rental car — which David Steiner managed to photograph. The fourth time they traveled to Natick to stalk the Steiners, a Jeep with tinted windows was parked outside the house, easily identified as an undercover cop. With satisfaction, Mr. Baugh wrote on WhatsApp: “They are seeing ghosts now. Lol.”
Laughing was a mistake — the Natick police were fast and efficient. A detective figured out that a payment had been made on some of the pizzas with a gift card bought in Silicon Valley, just a few miles from eBay headquarters, and the license plate of one of the rental cars was traced to Ms. Zea. It wasn’t hard to figure out where she worked. On Aug. 21, a detective showed up at the Ritz-Carlton to see her. After Ms. Zea dodged him, the detective called her phone as Mr. Baugh was hustling her to the airport. Mr. Baugh answered, pretended he was her husband, and played dumb.
Ms. Zea’s flight was not for hours, so they got a hotel room at the airport to hide out. Mr. Baugh sat on the couch and played a clip from the 2003 comedy “Old School,” in which a husband answers the door to a fellow who says, “I’m here for the gang bang.” He kept watching it over and over and laughing, telling Ms. Zea to lighten up.
5. Whatever it takes
The Natick police got the F.B.I. involved, as well as eBay’s lawyers, who began their own investigation. According to prosecutors, Mr. Baugh’s security team began a cover-up. To explain away why a gift card used in Natick had been purchased in eBay’s backyard, they combed their list of “persons of interest” — anybody who’d ever made a threat against the company — for locals, so that they could frame someone. They also considered creating a stalker from whole cloth, preferably a Samoan, to match the fake @Tui_Elei account.
Managers also ordered up fake dossiers on the Steiners as persons of interest themselves, for the purpose of sharing them with police — to “make them look crazy,” as one of them put it, and discredit their harassment complaints.
Meanwhile, members of the security team wrote emails to one another to create the appearance that they had just discovered the @Tui_Elei tweets, and one of them, Brian Gilbert, phoned the Steiners, ostensibly to offer eBay’s support — the final step of the “white knight” strategy. “Just made phone contact,” Mr. Gilbert informed the team afterward. “They are totally rattled and immediately referred me to Natick PD.”
For hours, prosecutors say, the team workshopped cover stories to mislead the Natick authorities, and at one point considered enlisting a “friendly” in a Bay Area police department to provide falsified security camera footage. The next day, Aug. 22, Mr. Gilbert met with Natick detectives. According to records produced by prosecutors, the confident tone of the security team’s communications changed almost immediately.
On Aug. 25, looking for some high-level support, Mr. Baugh wrote Mr. Wymer that his team had done an “Op” on “our friend in Boston.” Police had gotten wind, he said, and even eBay’s lawyers were asking questions. “If there is any way to get some top cover that would be great,” he wrote. Mr. Wymer’s response is unknown.
Mr. Baugh’s team tried to stonewall company investigators. When eBay’s legal department interviewed Ms. Zea the next day, over speakerphone, the lawyers did not know that Ms. Popp was coaching her in the background. Ms. Zea lied, saying she had been in Boston to attend a conference. Afterward, according to prosecutors, Mr. Baugh instructed the team to erase data from their phones. By the end of the month, eBay lawyers knew enough to place the first members of Global Security and Resiliency, including Mr. Baugh, on administrative leave.
On Sept. 18, Ms. Zea got a message from her placement agency: “We find it necessary to terminate your employment effective today.” She received no severance. Mr. Wymer was also fired. Mr. Wenig resigned later in the month, saying it was clear he “was not on the same page” as the eBay board. There was no hint of scandal. His exit package was $57 million.
In June 2020, when the F.B.I. completed its investigation and the charges became public, Mr. Wenig said in a statement that he had done nothing wrong. “There was no direction, no knowledge, no private understanding, no tacit approval. Ever,” he said. “I was just speaking off the cuff.” In a separate statement, Mr. Wymer said he would “never condone or participate in” any of the activities directed against the Steiners.
Ina Steiner continues to cover eBay news big and small. The company’s stock has nearly doubled since a March low, thanks to the coronavirus powering online sales. Elliott Management has booked a substantial profit.
Ms. Zea is faring less well. She got a job as an analyst at a big social media company last fall, but when the Steiner case became public, she was fired. She has moved back in with her parents. She used the people-tracking skills she acquired at eBay to wipe herself off the internet. Some days, she feels she barely exists at all.
“It’s easy to say, ‘Why didn’t I leave?’” she says. “But in the moment, I was terrified and stuck. I am so sorry. I regret playing even a small role here. If I could go back in time and prevent the Steiners from experiencing this in any way, I would do so in a heartbeat.”
She says she did little in Massachusetts except sometimes drive the rented cars around Natick and call her mother and cry about how much she hated her job. It had been truly sadistic: Once, a guard pulled all the analysts’ personal possessions out of their lockers and dumped them in trash bags, to teach them that they could not expect privacy at work. This was followed by a clip about locker discipline from the Vietnam film “Full Metal Jacket.”
Tech platforms are used to commit crimes all the time, but Ms. Zea’s experience is something new: being asked to commit a crime to protect the platform itself, or at least protect the executives running it. Balk — as one of her colleagues did — and you’re fired. Go along with the plan, trusting that the ex-police captains on your team know the difference between right and wrong, and your fate might be much worse.
“I don’t know when I’ll ever trust an employer again — or when an employer will ever trust me,” Ms. Zea said.
Mr. Wenig and Mr. Wymer have no such worries. In June, Mr. Wenig was re-elected to the board of General Motors, a position that pays $317,000 a year. Mary Barra, GM’s chief executive, called the cyberstalking scandal “regrettable” but noted “it didn’t involve any GM business.”
Mr. Wymer has a new job, as the chief executive of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley. The chair of the board said the nonprofit was “aware” of what happened at eBay, but believes Mr. Wymer is “a leader with integrity” and was the unanimous choice for the job.
A tweet from the organization announcing his hiring included as a hashtag Mr. Wymer’s signature phrase: Whatever It Takes. For the children of Silicon Valley in the bleak year 2020, that’s the new Golden Rule.
David Streitfeld has written about technology and its effects for twenty years. In 2013, he was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting.
A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 27, 2020, Section BU, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Inside eBay’s Cockroach Cult: A Stalking Scandal.
Saturday, September 26, 2020
Friday, September 25, 2020
Sunday, September 20, 2020
TheList 5455
The List 5455 TGB
Good Sunday Morning September 20, 2020.
I hope that your weekend is going well.
skip
Today in Naval History
September 20
1942 During World War II, the U.S. Naval Operating Base at Auckland, New Zealand, is established.
1943 USS S-28 (SS 133) sinks Japanese gunboat No. 2 Katsura Maru, 165 miles southwest of Paramushir, Kuril Islands.
1943 While conducting daylight reconnaissance of the Bay of Naples to investigate German shore battery activity on the Sorrento Peninsula, Motor Torpedo Boats PT 204 and PT 209 are showered with water from near-hits but escape damage. They chart the location of the battery before leaving the area.
1951 During Operation Summit, the first helicopter-borne landing of a combat unit is performed when Marines are landed by Marine helicopter squadron (HMR 161) in dense fog in Korea.
1981 Philippine Navy frigate, Datu Kalantia, previously, USS Booth (DE 170), is forced aground by Typhoon Clara while at anchor near Clayan Island, 340 miles north of Manila. USS Mount Hood (AE 29), with a special medical team embarks and joins in on rescue operations on Sept. 21. Only 18 members of the crew survive.
1986 USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) is commissioned at Charlestown Naval Shipyard in Boston, near the American Revolutionary War battleground for which the ship is named.
1997 USS Bataan (LHD 5) is commissioned at Pascagoula, Miss. It is the second US Navy ship named in remembrance of the valiant resistance of American and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula in the dawning days of World War II.
2017 Hurricane Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm with deadly flooding. The Navy responds by sending USS Wasp (LHD 1), USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), USS Oak Hill (LSD 51), USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) and 17 aircraft to provide humanitarian assistance that lasts until Nov. 20.
No CHINFO on the weekend
Today in History September 20
480 BC | Themistocles and his Greek fleet win one of history's first decisive naval victories over Xerxes' Persian force off Salamis. | |
1378 | The election of Robert of Geneva as anti-pope by discontented cardinals creates a great schism in the Catholic church. | |
1519 | Ferdinand Magellan embarks from Spain on a voyage to circumnavigate the world. | |
1561 | Queen Elizabeth of England signs a treaty at Hampton Court with French Huguenot leader Louis de Bourbon, the Prince of Conde. The English will occupy Le Havre in return for aiding Bourbon against the Catholics of France. | |
1565 | Pedro Menendez of Spain wipes out the French at Fort Caroline, in Florida. | |
1604 | After a two-year siege, the Spanish retake Ostend, the Netherlands, from the Dutch. | |
1784 | Packet and Daily, the first daily publication in America, appears on the streets. | |
1806 | Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark pass the French village of La Charette, the first white settlement they have seen in more than two years. | |
1830 | The National Negro Convention convenes in Philadelphia with the purpose of abolishing slavery. | |
1850 | The slave trade is abolished in the District of Columbia. | |
1853 | The Allies defeat the Russians at the Battle of Alma on the Crimean Peninsula. | |
1863 | Union troops under George Thomas prevent the Union defeat at Chickamauga from becoming a rout, earning him the nickname "the Rock of Chickamauga." | |
1934 | Bruno Hauptmann arrested for the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby. | |
1952 | Scientists confirm that DNA holds hereditary data. | |
1971 | Hurricane Irene becomes the first hurricane known to cross from the Atlantic to Pacific, where it is renamed Hurricane Olivia. | |
1973 | In a pro tennis bout dubbed "The Battle of the Sexes," Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs at the Houston Astrodome in Texas. | |
1977 | Socialist Republic of Vietnam admitted to the United Nations. | |
1984 | Suicide car bomber attacks US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 22. | |
1985 | Australia introduces a capital gains tax. | |
1990 | South Ossetia declares its independence from George in the former Soviet Union. | |
2000 | British MI6 Secret intelligence Service building in London attacked by unidentified group using RPG-22 anti-tank missile. | |
2001 | US Pres. George W. Bush, addressing a joint session of Congress, declares a "war on terror.". | |
2008 | A truck loaded with explosives detonates by Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 45 and injuring 226. | |
2011 | US military ends its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and allows gay men and women to serve openly. | |
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Thanks to Admiral Cox and the Naval History and Heritage Command
As always, you are welcome to forward H-grams to spread these stories of U.S. Navy valor and sacrifice. Prior issues of H-grams, enhanced with photos, can be found here … plus lots of other cool stuff on Naval History and Heritage Command's website. I had hoped to get this H-gram done before the 2 September anniversary of the surrender of Japan, but, oh well …
Admiral Cox
Published: Wed Sep 16 12:54:03 EDT 2020
H-Gram 053: The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Surrender of Japan
16 September 2020
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur signs the Instrument of Surrender, as Supreme Allied Commander, on board USS Missouri (BB-63), 2 September 1945. Behind him are Lieutenant General Jonathan M. Wainwright, U.S. Army, and Lieutenant General Sir Arthur E. Percival, British Army, both of whom had just been released from Japanese prison camps. Officers in the front row, from Percival on, are (left to right): Vice Admiral John S. McCain, USN; Vice Admiral John H. Towers, USN; Admiral Richmond K. Turner, USN; Admiral William F. Halsey, USN; Rear Admiral Robert B. Carney, USN; Rear Admiral Forrest Sherman, USN; General Walter C. Krueger, U.S. Army; General Robert L. Eichelberger, U.S. Army; General Carl A. Spaatz, USAAF and General George C. Kenney, USAAF (USA C-4627).
This H-gram covers the final U.S. carrier strikes against the remnants of the Imperial Japanese Fleet in July 1945; the series of U.S. battleship shore bombardments of the Japanese Home Islands; the aerial mining campaign against Japan (Operation Starvation;) and the final surrender of Japan and ceremony aboard Missouri (BB-63). It also covers events of Operation Desert Shield during September 1990.
75th Anniversary of World War II: The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Surrender of Japan
"Welcome to Atsugi from Third Fleet," read the banner that greeted General MacArthur's advance team when they landed in Japan on 28 August 1945. They'd been beaten by a pilot from carrier Yorktown (CV-10), who, against all orders (and common sense), had brazenly landed at Atsugi after the cease-fire, but before the official surrender, and ordered the Japanese to put up the sign. For probably obvious reasons, the pilot's name appears to be unknown to history.
In my previous H-grams (051 and 052), I discussed the final U.S. Navy air strikes on Japan and the Navy's participation in the development and employment of the atomic bombs, so parts of this H-gram are out of sequence. These actions were nevertheless important to the outcome of the war.
The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy, July 1945
By July 1945, what was left of the Japanese navy was starved for fuel and critical maintenance, and was no longer capable of offensive operations. It was barely capable of any defensive operations beyond being used as floating coastal defense batteries, and U.S. Navy commanders knew it. Nevertheless, Fleet Admiral Nimitz, who had smelled the stench of death and humiliation of defeat when he first arrived at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, wanted the Imperial Japanese Navy utterly destroyed and ordered the Third Fleet commander Admiral William F. Halsey to do it. Over the objection of his Fast Carrier Task Force (TF-38) commander, Vice Admiral John "Slew" McCain, and most of the carrier air group planners, Halsey ordered massive airstrikes against the heavily defended (by anti-aircraft guns) main Japanese naval base at Kure, on the Inland Sea. As it was too shallow for torpedoes, a previous strike on Kure on 19 March 1945 by Fifth Fleet (TF-58) using only bombs had damaged, but not sunk, most of the remaining Japanese ships in the harbor, at a cost of two U.S. aircraft carriers knocked out of action, one (Franklin, CV-13) for the duration of the war.
Nevertheless, McCain carried out his orders and, in two massive air strikes on 24 and 28 July, Task Force 38's 16 fleet carriers flew over 3,600 offensive sorties against Kure and other targets surrounding the Inland Sea. At a cost of 101 U.S. Navy aircraft and 88 men, TF-38 aircraft sank one of the two (non-operational) Japanese fleet carriers present (the second was blasted by a 2,000-pound bomb, but stubbornly remained afloat), and the one escort carrier. All three of the battleships, two heavy cruisers, and light cruiser present were sunk (despite all of them being extensively camouflaged and distributed about the harbor in hard-to-hit spots among steep hills), along with other ships sunk or badly damaged.
The destruction in the harbor was so complete that even two armored cruiser veterans of the 1905 Battle of Tsushima and one ancient pre-Dreadnaught battleship were sunk. One previously damaged, non-operational light carrier survived (her camouflage was so good she was not seen) and, somewhat miraculously, Japan's first aircraft carrier, Hosho, also survived. Due to the very shallow water, a number of ships that were sunk on the first day were attacked again and bombed deeper into the mud on the second day of strikes. These were among the very last of 334 warships and 300,000 Japanese sailors lost in the war; only a handful of mostly-damaged Imperial Japanese Navy ships remained afloat.
Battleship Shore Bombardments, July/August 1945
Throughout the month of July and into August 1945, the carriers of Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet ranged up and down the east coast of the Japanese home islands, attacking targets essentially at will. One of the last such strikes, on 9–10 August, disrupted Operation Tsurugi, a Japanese navy plan for 60 Betty bombers with 600 navy and army commandos on board to fly a one-way mission against the U.S. B-29 bases in the Marianas.
With virtually no Japanese opposition (the Japanese were holding back about 12,000 mostly well-hidden aircraft to oppose the anticipated invasion), an emboldened Halsey ordered a series of audacious bombardments of key Japanese industrial installations ashore by Third Fleet battleships and other surface combatants, sometimes at night, sometimes in broad daylight. In the first such bombardment, on 15 July, three battleships and two heavy cruisers shelled a major iron and steel production facility at Kamaishi on northern Honshu. On the next day, three different battleships and two light cruisers blasted a major industrial facility at Muroroa, Hokkaido. In a night bombardment only 80 miles from Tokyo on 17–18 July, five U.S. battleships and one British battleship laid waste to electronics production facilities at Hitachi. The last bombardment hit Kamaishi again on 9 August, with the heavy cruiser Saint Paul (CA-73) firing the last salvo (Saint Paul also fired the last shot of the Korean War).
Operation Starvation: The Aerial Mining Campaign by B-29 Bombers: March–September 1945
Although relatively unknown today, because neither the U.S. Navy nor U.S. Air Force had much interest in making a big deal of it, the aerial mining campaign by U.S. Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress bombers (Operation Starvation) sank more Japanese ships (over 500) in the last six months of the war than all other causes combined, including U.S. submarines. Worse (from an Air Force perspective) the post-war Strategic Bombing Survey determined that the 5 percent of B-29 sorties that the Air Force reluctantly committed to the mining campaign actually caused more disruption to Japanese industrial war production than did the direct "precision" daylight raids on Japanese factories by choking off the flow of raw materials that the factories needed. Had the war not ended when it did, the mining campaign would soon have resulted in mass starvation in Japan, an alternative to the atomic bombs (but not necessarily more humane) toward ending the war.
Pushed by Admiral Nimitz over the Army Air Forces' institutional lack of interest, the proposed mining campaign was finally enthusiastically endorsed by the new commander of the XXI Bomber Command, Major General Curtis LeMay, who sought and received a much greater commitment to the mission than the Air Forces had initially agreed. Between 27 March and the end of the war, the 160 B-29s of the 313th Bomb Wing laid 12,135 sophisticated bottom influence mines in 26 different fields during 46 missions. During 1,529 sorties, 15 B-29s and 103 airmen were lost, but over 670 Japanese ships were sunk or severely damaged. In terms of cost of the platforms and cost in lives, the strategic aerial mining campaign was the most cost-effective ship-killing operation of the war.
For more on the Kure strikes, shore bombardments and Operation Starvation, please see attachment H-053-1.
At the Kure naval base: "The Emperor's Cruiser Aoba," watercolor on paper, Standish Backus, 1945 (88-186-AD).
The Japanese Decision to Surrender, August 1945
Both the Japanese army and navy had independent atomic weapons programs, and their leaders understood full well the extreme difficulty in trying to develop an atomic bomb. The reaction of Admiral Toyoda, chief of the Navy General Staff, when informed of the Hiroshima explosion, could be summed up as, "If it really was an atomic bomb, the United States can't have very many of them, and most Japanese cities have already been laid waste by B-29 firebombing raids, anyway." Toyoda was one of six members of the key decision-making body for the government of Japan, the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War, which consistently remained deadlocked between hardliners who wanted to "fight until extinction" and those who wanted to negotiate a response (that protected the emperor's position) to the Allies' Potsdam Declaration. This called on Japan to accept either "unconditional surrender" or "prompt and utter destruction." It took the profound combined shock events of the Soviet entry into the war and the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki (both on 9 August), a highly effective leaflet-dropping operation, and ultimately the emperor's personal decision at accept the Allied terms to bring about the first surrender of Japan to a foreign power in history. Even then, the emperor's decision was nearly thwarted by a coup attempt that came dangerously close to succeeding.
The Japanese Surrender: August/September 1945
Fleet Admiral Nimitz' directive of 15 August stated, "With the termination of hostilities against Japan, it is incumbent on all officers to conduct themselves with dignity and decorum in the treatment of the Japanese…. The use of insulting epithets in connection with the Japanese as a race or as individuals does not now become the officers of the United States Navy." With that, Nimitz set in motion a process of magnanimity in victory that would, in astonishingly short order, transform Japan from a bitter foe into a great friend and ally of the United States.
Indeed, although the mighty array of over 250 warships in Tokyo Bay and the low-altitude fly-over by 450 Navy carrier aircraft and hundreds of B-29s was meant to leave no doubt in Japanese minds as to who the victor was, the entire surrender proceedings aboard the battleship Missouri were conducted with the dignity and decorum that Nimitz expected, and which astonished the defeated Japanese, who expected to be treated as they had treated those they had conquered.
Appointed by President Truman as the Supreme Commander Allied Powers (SCAP) in Japan, General of the Army Douglas McArthur stated in his opening remarks, "It is my earnest hope, and indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past—a world founded on faith and understanding, a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance, and justice." The terrible war ended, and the world was changed.
During World War II, 36,950 U.S. Navy personnel were lost due to enemy action.
For more on the surrender of Japan, please see attachment H-053-2.
USS Indiana (BB-58) fires a salvo from her forward 16-inch/45-caliber guns at the Kamaishi plant of the Japan Iron Company, 250 miles north of Tokyo. A second before, USS South Dakota (BB-57), from which this photograph was taken, fired the initial salvo of the first naval gunfire bombardment of the Japanese Home Islands. The superstructure of USS Massachusetts (BB-59) is visible directly behind Indiana. The heavy cruiser in the left center distance is either USS Quincy (CA-71) or USS Chicago (CA-136) (80-G-K-6035).
30th Anniversary of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, September 1990
The guided missile frigate Reid (FFG-30) fired the first shot of Desert Shield/Desert Storm on 18 August 1990 and, later the same day, it was followed by USS Robert G. Bradley (FFG-49). In separate incidents, both ships fired across the bows of Iraqi tankers leaving the Arabian Gulf, the first attempted enforcement actions of United Nations Security Council Resolution 661 (passed 16 August), which declared an embargo on Iraqi oil (and stolen Kuwaiti oil) from leaving Iraq and prohibited goods from entering. The tankers called our bluff and kept going as the actual use of force to enforce the embargo was not authorized by the UNSC until 26 August. Nevertheless, also on 18 August, England (CG-22) and Scott (DDG-995) diverted ships in the Red Sea and North Arabian Gulf, the first diversions of Operation Desert Shield. By the beginning of September, U.S. Navy enforcement of the UN sanctions was well underway, averaging 40 intercepts and four boardings per day—1,000 intercepts by 16 September.
On 19 August, the Commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, Vice Admiral Henry H. Mauz, was designated as the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (COMUSNAVCENT) after flying in to Bahrain. By the time the SEVENTHFLT/NAVCENT flagship, Blue Ridge (LCC-19), arrived in Bahrain on 1 September, three U.S. aircraft carriers and a battleship were already on station in the Central Command area of operations (AOR), ready to counter any further Iraqi aggression. Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on 2 August, the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) transited the Suez on 7 August, the same day that Independence (CV-62) arrived in the Gulf of Oman (U.S. Air Force F-16s first arrived in Saudi Arabia on 10 August). Battleship Wisconsin (BB-64) transited the Suez on 17 August and entered into the Arabian Gulf on 24 August. Saratoga (CV-60) came through the Suez on 22 August. A fourth carrier, John F. Kennedy (CV-67), arrived in the Red Sea on 14 September.
The first fast sealift ships arrived on 27 August. As there were no established U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia, without sealift the Air Force and Army would have run out of bombs and ammunition in short order had the war commenced at that point. The hospital ship Comfort (T-AH-20) arrived 7 September and Mercy (T-AH-19) by 23 September. Between 4 and 11 September, 20 Atlantic and Pacific Fleet amphibious ships arrived in the CENTCOM AOR and, by 16 September, all were in the Gulf of Oman, carrying the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB), the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), and 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment.
On 31 August, Biddle (CG-34) conducted the first boarding under UNSCR 661; the empty ship was allowed to proceed into Aqaba, Jordan. On 4 September, Goldsborough (DDG-20) intercepted and boarded the Iraqi cargo ship Zanoobia, which was found to be carrying prohibited cargo and was diverted, the first diversion of an Iraqi-flag ship. On 27 September, Elmer Montgomery (FF-1082) had to fire warning shots to get the Iraqi tanker Tadmur to stop for boarding.
For more on the initiation of Operation Desert Shield, please see attachment H-052-3.
USS Blue Ridge (LCC-1), U.S. Seventh Fleet flagship, underway in the Pacific, 1990 (NH 107691).
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TheList 5454
The List 5454 TGB
Good Saturday September 19, 2020.
Some history and other tidbits
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Today in Naval History
September 19
1777 During the American Revolution, the British cutter HMS Alert captures the brig Lexington.
1862 The side-wheel ram Queen of the West exchanges sharp fire with Confederate infantry and artillery above Bolivar, Miss., while escorting two troop transports.
1864 Confederates seize steamer Philo Parsons, in an attempt to bribe USS Michigan officers and crew for the release of Confederate prisoners. The plot is foiled and the mission aborted.
1942 USS Hughes (DD 410), while serving in Task Force Seventeen (TF 17), rescues the surviving crewmen of a USAAF (B 17) that makes a forced landing in the Coral Sea one week before.
1944 USS Shad (SS 235) torpedoes and sinks Japanese coast defense ship, Ioshima. (ex-Chinese cruiser, Ning Hai) 85 miles off Hachij, Jima.
1952 USS Alfred A. Cunningham (DD 752) takes fire from three guns, estimated 105 to 155 mm in the Wonsan area of Korea. Thirteen personnel casualties, none fatal, were suffered. She expended 75 rounds of 5 inch and 84 of 3 inch in return counter battery fire. After emergency repairs, USS Alfred A. Cunningham was able to continue her combat operations.
1957 Bathyscaphe Trieste, in a dive sponsored by the Office of Naval Research in the Mediterranean, reaches a record depth of two miles. Three years later, Trieste would set a new record of seven miles on Jan. 23, 1960.
1992 USNS Loyal (T-AGOS 22) is christened and launched at McDermott Shipyards, Morgan City, Louisiana. The Military Sealift Command ship conducts surveillance towed array sensory system operations.
Thanks to CHINFO
Executive Summary:
• Multiple outlets report that President Trump named Robert C. O'Brien as his new national security adviser.
• Coverage continued on the recent attack on Saudi oil facilities as the Trump administration seeks to build a coalition to exert pressure on Iran.
• USNI News reported the Navy is considering future Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to patrol the Arctic.
Today in History September 19
1356 | In a landmark battle of the Hundred Years' War, English Prince Edward defeats the French at Poitiers. That English Long Bow was the decisive weapon but this was going to be eclipsed at Agincourt, | |
1544 | Francis, the king of France, and Charles V of Austria sign a peace treaty in Crespy, France, ending a 20-year war. | |
1692 | Giles Corey is pressed to death for standing mute and refusing to answer charges of witchcraft brought against him. He is the only person in America to have suffered this punishment. | |
1777 | American forces under Gen. Horatio Gates meet British troops led by Gen. John Burgoyne at Saratoga Springs, NY. | |
1783 | The first hot-air balloon is sent aloft in Versailles, France with animal passengers including a sheep, rooster and a duck. | |
1788 | Charles de Barentin becomes lord chancellor of France. | |
1841 | The first railway to span a frontier is completed between Strasbourg and Basel, in Europe. | |
1863 | In Georgia, the two-day Battle of Chickamauga begins as Union troops under George Thomas clash with Confederates under Nathan Bedford Forrest. | |
1893 | New Zealand becomes the first nation to grant women the right to vote. | |
1900 | President Emile Loubet of France pardons Jewish army captain Alfred Dreyfus, twice court-martialed and wrongly convicted of spying for Germany. | |
1918 | American troops of the Allied North Russia Expeditionary Force receive their baptism of fire near the town of Seltso against Soviet forces. | |
1948 | Moscow announces it will withdrawal soldiers from Korea by the end of the year. | |
1955 | Argentina's President Juan Peron is overthrown by rebels. | |
1957 | First underground nuclear test takes place in Nevada. | |
1970 | First Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (originally called the Pilton Festival) is held near Pliton, Somerset, England. | |
1973 | Carl XVI Gustaf invested as King of Sweden, following the death of his grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf. | |
1982 | The first documented emoticons, :-) and :-(, posted on Carnegie Mellon University Bulletin Board System by Scott Fahlman. | |
1985 | An earthquake kills thousands in Mexico City. | |
1985 | Parents Music Resource Center formed by Tipper Gore (wife of then-Senator Al Gore) and other political wives lobby for Parental Advisory stickers on music packaging. | |
1991 | German hikers near the Austria-Italy border discover the naturally preserved mummy of a man from about 3,300 BC; Europe's oldest natural human mummy, he is dubbed Otzi the Iceman because his lower half was encased in ice. | |
2006 | Military coup in Bangkok, revokes Thailand's constitution and establishes martial law. | |
19 Sep 2018, marks 50 years since Lt Tony Nargi , flying an F-8 Charlie, bagged a Mig –21 with an AIM-9 D. VF-111 Det 11, USS Intrepid. Thanks to Rattler
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Thanks to Bill
Great story. This used to be true in many cities and towns. However, everyone is so busy and moved around to different locations, my banking employees wouldn't recognize me if I went twice a month!
Have a nice day,
Sara
Subject: Fw: Something to think about
"I had spent an hour in the bank with my dad, as he had to transfer some money. I couldn't resist myself & asked...
''Dad, why don't we activate your internet banking?''
''Why would I do that?'' He asked...
''Well, then you won't have to spend an hour here for things like transfer.
You can even do your shopping online. Everything will be so easy!''
I was so excited about initiating him into the world of Net banking.
He asked ''If I do that, I won't have to step out of the house?
''Yes, yes''! I said. I told him how even grocery can be delivered at your door now and how Amazon delivers everything!
His answer left me tongue-tied.
He said ''Since I entered this bank today, I have met four of my friends, I have chatted a while with the staff who know me very well by now.
You know I am alone...this is the company that I need. I like to get ready and come to the bank. I have enough time, it is the physical touch that I crave.
Two years back I got sick. The store owner from whom I buy fruits came to see me and sat by my bedside and cried.
When your Mom fell down a few days back while on her morning walk. Our local grocer saw her and immediately got his car to rush her home as he knows where I live.
Would I have that 'human' touch if everything became online?
Why would I want everything delivered to me and force me to interact with just my computer?
I like to know the person that I'm dealing with and not just the 'seller'. It creates bonds of relationships.
Does Amazon deliver all this as well?'''
Technology isn't life...
Spend time with people ... Not with devices."
Writer: Unknown
The Bubba Breakfast.is the place to do this
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Thanks to Dr. Rich
Be yourself ...
From Ken .. a good friend !!
Qualifications to be a friend? Some are difficult.
"What is a friend? I will tell you. It is a person with whom you dare to be yourself. Your soul can be naked with him. He seems to ask of you to put on nothing, only to be what you are. He does not want you to be better or worse. When your are with him, you feel as a prisoner feels who has been declared innocent. You do not have to be on your guard. You can say what you think, as long it is genuinely you. He understands those contradictions in your nature that lead others to misjudge you. With him you can breathe freely. You can avow your little vanities and envies and hate and vicious sparks, your meannesses and absurdities and, in opening them up to him, they are lost, dissolved on the white ocean of his loyalty. He under stands. You do not have to be careful. You can abuse him, neglect him, tolerate him. Best of all, you can be still with him. It makes no matter. He likes you - he is like the fire that purges to the bone. He understands. He understands. You can weep with him, sing with him, laugh with him, pray with him. Through it all - and underneath - he sees, knows and loves you. A friend? What is a friend? Just one, I repeat, with whom you dare to be yourself."
-- C.R. Beran --
Thanks Worm
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Thanks to Bill
Reminds me of the commercials in Brussels
: The Italian Auction - Going Once,.....
This is something to see. An Italian Auction - only 44 seconds! You don't have to understand Italian to follow the auctioneer.
A Chinese Ming Vase is up for auction.
The bidding opens at a half-million Euros. Bidding is brisk and each bidder is clearly identified as each raises the bid by 100,000 Euros. (The exchange rate at auction time was 1 Euro =$1.12.) Within seconds, the bid stalls at One million Euros, and the gasp from the crowd identifies the excitement that prevails in the room.
The successful bidder is the last one who bid - one million, and the auctioneer counts down the bid, "Going once, going twice, and sold to the gentleman sitting in front of me for one million Euros."
The pace is fast. This is how an auction should be.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/3e0yZCLjwfU?rel
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Thanks to Wigs
This is the Best Trailer I have seen yet for Top Gun 2
Here it is.
Some pretty great flying by Cruise in the backseat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpZgwHU1GcI
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Thanks to Admiral Cox
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.Great story
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This Day in U S Military History
1862 – Union troops under General William Rosecrans defeat a Confederate force commanded by General Sterling Price at Iuka in northern Mississippi. The Battle of Iuka was part of a Confederate attempt to prevent General Ulysses S. Grant from reinforcing General Don Carlos Buell in central Tennessee. In the fall of 1862, Confederate General Braxton Bragg had invaded Kentucky to prevent the Rebels from losing any more territory in the West. The Confederates hoped to keep Union forces in western Tennessee and northern Mississippi occupied to prevent any transfer of troops to Buell, who had moved north to stop the invasion of Kentucky. Sterling Price and Earl Van Dorn commanded the two small Confederate armies operating in northern Mississippi, while Ulysses S. Grant led the Union forces in the area. In addition to preventing Yankee reinforcements in Kentucky, the Confederates also hoped to invade western Tennessee. Grant effectively thwarted both of these objectives by sending troops under General William Rosecrans to move on Price's army at Iuka from the south. He also dispatched another force under General Edward Ord to approach Iuka from the west. But poor communication and delays prevented a combined attack, and Price launched a preemptive assault on Rosecrans on September 19. Despite the intense fighting, Rosecrans was able to hold Price's force at bay. Repeated Confederate attacks resulted in heavy losses for the Rebels: 1,500 of 14,000 troops engaged. Yankee losses amounted to 790 out of 17,000 present. With Ord's force nearby, Price realized he was in danger of being trapped, and so he abandoned Iuka that evening. Ord may have joined in the battle, but a strange quirk of nature known as an "acoustic shadow" prevented him from hearing the sounds of battle just a few miles away. Acoustic shadows form when sound is unable to reach certain locations due to atmospheric conditions or terrain features. Although he saw smoke, Ord assumed Rosecrans was burning captured supplies
1944 – Operation Market Garden continues. In the morning the British 30th Corps reaches troops of the US 82nd Airborne Division at Grave. The combined force advances toward Nijmegen. At Arnhem, the British 1st Airborne Division continues to hold. Meanwhile, in Brittany, the last German resistance in Brest comes to an end.
1944 – The Battle of Hürtgen Forest (German: Schlacht im Hürtgenwald) is the name given to the series of fierce battles fought between U.S. and German forces during World War II in the Hürtgen Forest, which became the longest battle on German ground during World War II, and the longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought. The battles went on to 16 December 1944, over barely 50 sq mi (130 km2), east of the Belgian–German border. The U.S. commanders' initial goal was to pin down German forces in the area to keep them from reinforcing the front lines further north in the Battle of Aachen, where the Allies were fighting a trench war between a network of fortified towns and villages connected with field fortifications, tank traps and minefields. A secondary objective may have been to outflank the front line. The Americans' initial objectives were to take Schmidt and clear Monschau. In a second phase the Allies wanted to advance to the Rur River as part of Operation Queen. Generalfeldmarshall Walter Model intended to bring the Allied thrust to a standstill. While he interfered less in the day-to-day movements of units than at Arnhem, he still kept himself fully informed on the situation, slowing the Allies' progress, inflicting heavy casualties and taking full advantage of the fortifications the Germans called the Westwall, better known to the Allies as the Siegfried Line. A few days later, the Battle of the Bulge began, leaving the battle of Hürtgen Forest largely forgotten. The Hürtgen Forest cost the U.S. First Army at least 33,000 killed and incapacitated, including both combat and noncombat losses; German casualties were 28,000. Aachen eventually fell on 22 October, again at high cost to the U.S. Ninth Army. The Ninth Army's push to the Rur fared no better, and did not manage to cross the river or wrest control of its dams from the Germans. The Rur triangle was later cleared during Operation Blackcock between 14 and 26 January 1945. Hürtgen was so costly that it has been called an Allied "defeat of the first magnitude", with specific credit being assigned to Model.
1944 – On Peleliu there is heavy fighting around Mount Umurbrogol. Japanese forces are continuing to hold against the US marine attacks. On Angaur, there is intensive fighting between American troops and the small Japanese garrison.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
*COLLIER, JOHN W.
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, Company C, 27th Infantry Regiment. Place and date: Near Chindong-ni, Korea, 19 September 1950. Entered service at: Worthington, Ky. Born: 3 April 1929, Worthington, Ky. G.O. No.: 86, 2 August 1951. Citation: Cpl. Collier, Company C, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action. While engaged in an assault on a strategic ridge strongly defended by a fanatical enemy, the leading elements of his company encountered intense automatic weapons and grenade fire. Cpl. Collier and 3 comrades volunteered and moved forward to neutralize an enemy machine gun position which was hampering the company's advance, but they were twice repulsed. On the third attempt, Cpl. Collier, despite heavy enemy fire and grenade barrages, moved to an exposed position ahead of his comrades, assaulted and destroyed the machine gun nest, killing at least 4 enemy soldiers. As he returned down the rocky, fire-swept hill and joined his squad, an enemy grenade landed in their midst. Shouting a warning to his comrades, he, selflessly and unhesitatingly, threw himself upon the grenade and smothered its explosion with his body. This intrepid action saved his comrades from death or injury. Cpl. Collier's supreme, personal bravery, consummate gallantry, and noble self-sacrifice reflect untold glory upon himself and uphold the honored traditions of the military service.
*JECELIN, WILLIAM R.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Saga, Korea, 19 September 1950. Entered service at: Baltimore, Md. Birth: Baltimore, Md. G.O. No.: 24, 25 April 1951. Citation: Sgt. Jecelin, Company C, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and Intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. His company was ordered to secure a prominent, sawtoothed ridge from a well-entrenched and heavily armed enemy. Unable to capture the objective in the first attempt, a frontal and flanking assault was launched. He led his platoon through heavy enemy fire and bursting shells, across ricefields and rocky terrain, in direct frontal attack on the ridge in order to draw fire away from the flanks. The unit advanced to the base of the cliff, where intense, accurate hostile fire stopped the attack. Realizing that an assault was the only solution, Sgt. Jecelin rose from his position firing his rifle and throwing grenades as he called on his men to follow him. Despite the intense enemy fire this attack carried to the crest of the ridge where the men were forced to take cover. Again he rallied his men and stormed the enemy strongpoint. With fixed bayonets they charged into the face of antitank fire and engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. After clubbing and slashing this force into submission the platoon was forced to take cover from direct frontal fire of a self-propelled gun. Refusing to be stopped he leaped to his feet and through sheer personal courage and fierce determination led his men in a new attack. At this instant a well-camouflaged enemy soldier threw a grenade at the remaining members of the platoon. He immediately lunged and covered the grenade with his body, absorbing the full force of the explosion to save those around him. This incredible courage and willingness to sacrifice himself for his comrades so imbued them with fury that they completely eliminated the enemy force. Sgt. Jecelin's heroic leadership and outstanding gallantry reflect the highest credit upon himself and uphold the esteemed traditions of the military service.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for September 19, 2020 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
19 September
1918: DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSSES. Lts Arthur F. Seaver and John Y. Stokes, Jr., in a formation with five other bombers, went out on a mission from the 20th Aero Squadron. The other bombers turned back, but Seaver and Stokes went on to the target. Anti-aircraft fire hit their plane, but they still continued. Then their engine quit, but they glided over the target and dropped their bombs before turning back toward allied lines. They were attacked by an enemy fighter, but managed to crash in a forest inside allied lines. Both men later received the DSC. (4)
1928: The first diesel engine to power heavier-than-air craft flight-tested at Utica, Mich. Captain Lionel M. Woolson designed this engine in cooperation with Packard Motor Car Company, the builder. (24)
1937: Roscoe Turner, flying a Laird-Turner racer, set a US speed record of 289.908 MPH for 100 kilometers at Detroit. (24)
1950: KOREAN WAR. FEAF Combat Cargo Command began an airlift to Kimpo Airfield with 32 C-54s carrying equipment and supplies for ground troops to there. Supported by Fifth Air Force close air support missions, the 24th Infantry Division began crossing the Naktong River near Waegwan, and the 1st Cavalry Division broke through communist lines. (28)
1952: KOREAN WAR. In the first daylight medium bomber raid in 11 months, 32 B-29s with F-86 escorts attacked an enemy barracks and two supply areas southwest of Hamhung. An RB-45 preceded the B-29 formation, and an RB-29 orbited the area to provide weather information. (28)
1958: The RAF received its first Thor missile at Feltwell, England. (6)
1960: For the second time in four months, the USAF flew an Atlas ICBM over a 9,000-mile course from Cape Canaveral to a predetermined landing area in the Indian Ocean. (24)
1961: NASA announced that the future Manned Spacecraft Center would be located near Houston, Tex. (16) (24) The USAF SAGE Center at Gunter AFS, Ala., controlled the flight of a BOMARC-B missile from its launch at Eglin AFB to its interception of a Regulus II supersonic drone seven miles up and 250 miles away off the Florida coast. In the flight, the BOMARC successfully made a U-turn. (16) (24)
1969: An F-4E flying near Edwards AFB successfully air launched the first Maverick air-to-ground missile. (3)
1972: A Minuteman III completed its first operational test launch from a regular launch facility at Vandenberg AFB. (6)
1974: The 165th Military Airlift Group (MAG) at Savannah, Georgia, flew last C–124 (tail number 30044) in MAC's Reserve Forces to storage at Davis-Monthan AFB. (18) 1975: Maj George W. Larson of the 4200th Test and Evaluation Squadron at Edwards AFB became the first SAC pilot to fly the B-1 bomber. Charles C. Bock and Richard Abrams from Rockwell also handled the controls during the flight. (1)
1984: Through 21 September, a C-141 flew to Kinshasa, Zaire, to support of an Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) research project conducted by the US National Institute of Health. It carried three passengers and nine tons of medical supplies and equipment. (18)
1989: HURRICANE HUGO. Through 15 November, 128 aircraft from MAC and SAC provided relief to Hugo's victims in the Lesser Antilles and South Carolina. The aircraft carried over 3,300 people and 8,200 tons of supplies. (16) (18) Operation HAWKEYE. After Hugo struck the Virgin Islands, MAC transported military police to the island to recover prisoners who had escaped during the storm. (18)
2001: The USAF awarded a low-rate production contract for 10 F-22s to Lockheed-Martin. (21)
2005: At Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyo., the 90th Space Wing held a deactivation ceremony to signal the phase out of the Peacekeeper weapon system from the Air Force inventory. (Aimpoints, 90th Space Wing, "Peacekeeper Missile Mission Ends During Ceremony, 21 Sep 05) HURRICANE RITA. Air National Guardsmen began flying disaster response air support missions to prepare for Hurricane Rita's expected landfall on the Texas coast. (32)
2006: A B-52H flew a sortie using a blend of synthetic kerosene and JP-8 fuel in two engines and the conventional JP-8 in the other six engines. The test fuel was a 50-50 mix of traditional crude-oil and synthetic kerosene derived from natural gas. Air Force Undersecretary Ronald Sega flew aboard the flight to highlight the importance of the new fuel, which promised to reduce costs and greatly enhance deployability throughout the USAF. The sortie ended early when the left wingtip landing gear failed to retract properly. (3) A combined AFFTC and Boeing test team flew the first flight of a MC-130 modified with a "glass cockpit" under the Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) at the Kelly Field Annex, Texas. An AFFTC C-12 Huron flew safety chase for the sortie. (3)
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Thanks to Mud
61 YEARS AGO..
This is in reverse chronological order.
Alexis de Tocqueville said it all first in the middle 19th Century. I doubt, however, that Nikita had ever heard of Tocqueville.
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years." ¯ Alexis de Tocqueville
"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money." ¯ Alexis de Tocqueville
"Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom, socialism restricts it. Democracy attaches all possible value to each man; socialism makes each man a mere agent, a mere number. Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude." ¯ Alexis de Tocqueville
"Society will develop a new kind of servitude which covers the surface of society with a network of complicated rules, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate. It does not tyrannise but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd." ¯ Alexis de Tocqueville
"Americans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom." ¯ Alexis de Tocqueville
S/F,
- Mud
In a message dated 9/12/2020 3:12:35 PM Central Standard Time, xxxx@hotmail.com writes:
Hard to believe it was that long ago.............and it looks from where we are now it is coming true.
Just think back on what we have personally witnessed since 1959. Old Niki told it like what all of us have witnessed.
WAKE UP AMERICA!!!
Khrushchev's Message 61 years ago :
THIS WAS HIS ENTIRE QUOTE: A sobering reminder. Almost exactly sixty years ago since Russia's Khrushchev delivered his message. Do you remember September 29, 1959? THIS WAS HIS ENTIRE QUOTE:
"Your children's children will live under communism, You Americans are so gullible. No, you won't accept communism outright; but we will keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you will finally wake up and find you already have Communism. We will not have to fight you; We will so weaken your economy, until you will fall like overripe fruit into our hands." "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
Do you remember what Russia's Khrushchev said in 1959?
Remember, socialism leads to Communism. So,how do you create a Socialistic State?
There are 8 levels of control; read the following recipe:
1) Healthcare - Control healthcare and you control the people.
2) Poverty - Increase the poverty level as high as possible, poor people are easier to control and will not fight back if you are providing everything for them.
3) Debt - Increase the debt to an unsustainable level. That way you are able to increase taxes, and this will produce more poverty.
4) Gun Control - Remove the ability to defend themselves from the Government. That way you are able to create a police state.
5) Welfare - Take control of every aspect (food, housing, income) of their lives because that will make them fully dependent on the government.
6) Education - Take control of what people read and listen to and take control of what children learn in school.
7) Religion - Remove the belief in God from the Government and schools because the people need to believe in ONLY the government knowing what is best for the people.
8) Class Warfare - Divide the people into the wealthy and the poor. Eliminate the middle class This will cause more discontent and it will be easier to tax the wealthy with the support of the poor
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Thanks to Tom
From: "Richard Hathcock"
Dick
Subject: FW: THIS IS US in 2020
The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than a household headed by someone under 35, according to an analysis of census data released Monday. 47 times
They like to refer to us as senior citizens, old fogies, blue hairs, geezers, and in some cases, dinosaurs. Some of us are "Baby Boomers," getting ready to retire; others are from the Greatest Generation already retired.
We walk a little slower these days, and our eyes and hearing are not what they once were. We worked hard, raised our children, worshiped our God, and have grown old together.
In school, we studied English, history, math, and science, which enabled us to lead America into the technological age. We still use two spaces after a period when typing.
Most of us remember what outhouses were, many of us with firsthand experience. We remember the days of telephone party lines, twenty-five cent gasoline, and milk and ice being delivered to our homes.
We are probably considered old fashioned and outdated by many. But there are a few things you need to remember before completely writing us off.
We won World War II, fought in Korea and Viet Nam. We can quote "The Pledge of Allegiance" and know where to place our hand while doing so. We wore the uniform of our country with pride and lost many friends on the battlefield.
We didn't fight for the Socialist States of America; we fought for the "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave." We wore different uniforms but carried the same flag.
We know the words to the "Star Spangled Banner," "America," and "America the Beautiful" by heart, and you may even see some tears running down our cheeks as we sing. We have lived what many of you should have read in history books, and we feel no obligation to apologize to anyone for America.
Yes, we are older and slower these days, but rest assured, we have at least one good fight left in us. We love this country, fought, and died for it, and now we are going to save it. It is our country, and nobody is going to take it away from us.
We took oaths to defend America against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that's an oath we plan to keep. Some want to destroy this land we love, but, like our founders, there is no way we are going to remain silent.
Well, don't worry youngsters, the Grey-Haired Brigade is here. We may drive a little slower than you would like, but we get where we're going, and in 2020 we're driving to the polls again by the millions.
So the next time you have the chance to say the Pledge of Allegiance, stand up, put your hand over your heart, honor your country, and thank God for the old geezers of the "Gray-Haired Brigade."
Footnote:
This is spot on. I am another Gray-Haired Geezer signing on. I will circulate this to other Gray-Haired Geezers all over this still great country. Can you feel the ground shaking? It's not an earthquake, it's a STAMPEDE. And, you and I are members
In God we STILL trust.
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