To All,
Good Tuesday morning February 18. The sky is almost clear and blue this morning and is forecast to be that way for the next week with temps climbing into the high70s.It looks like we are going to start the chicken cage rehab today. New hutches and stronger roof are in the plans. I hope that you all had a great long weekend.
Warm Regards,
skip
Make it a GREAT Day
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Go here to see the director's corner for all 86 H-Grams
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/
February 18
1846—Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft issues the General Order to change "Larboard" to "Port" for identification of the left side of a sailing vessel.
1865—In order for CSS Charleston, CSS Chicora, and CSS Palmetto State not to be captured by Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren's squadron during the evacuation of Charleston, SC, Confederate Capt. John R. Tucker, orders the ships be set afire and blown up.
1942—USS Truxtun (DD 229) and USS Pollux (AKS 2) sink during a heavy storm in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, with the loss of 204 lives.
1944—The amphibious force under Rear Adm. Harry W. Hill lands troops on Engebi Island, Eniwetok, securing the island before the end of the day.
1945—U.S. Navy destroyers engage Japanese vessels off Iwo and Chichi Jima. USS Waldron (DD 699) is damaged after intentionally ramming a gunboat; USS Dortch (DD 670) sinks auxiliary submarine chaser Ayukawa Maru north-northwest of Iwo Jima; USS Barton (DD 722), USS Ingraham (DD 694), and USS Moale (DD 693) operating near Chichi Jima, sink Japanese guardboats No.35 Nanshin Maru, No. 3 Kyowa Maru, and No.5 Kukuichi Maru.
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This day in World History
February 18
1478 George, the Duke of Clarence, who had opposed his brother Edward IV, is murdered in the Tower of London.
1688 Quakers in Germantown, Pa. adopt the first formal antislavery resolution in America.
1813 Czar Alexander enters Warsaw at the head of his Army.
1861 Victor Emmanuel II becomes the first King of Italy.
1861 Jefferson F. Davis is inaugurated as the Confederacy's provisional president at a ceremony held in Montgomery, Ala.
1865 Union troops force the Confederates to abandon Fort Anderson, N.C.
1878 The bitter and bloody Lincoln County War begins with the murder of Billy the Kid's mentor, Englishman rancher John Tunstall.
1885 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is published in New York.
1907 600,000 tons of grain are sent to Russia to relieve the famine there.
1920 Vuillemin and Chalus complete their first flight over the Sahara Desert.
1932 Manchurian independence is formally declared.
1935 Rome reports sending troops to Italian Somalia.
1939 The Golden Gate Exposition opens in San Francisco.
1943 German General Erwin Rommel takes three towns in Tunisia, North Africa.
1944 The U.S. Army and Marines invade Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.
1945 U.S. Marines storm ashore at Iwo Jima.
1954 East and West Berlin drop thousands of propaganda leaflets on each other after the end of a month long truce.
1962 Robert F. Kennedy says that U.S. troops will stay in Vietnam until Communism is defeated.
1964 The United States cuts military aid to five nations in reprisal for having trade relations with Cuba.
1967 The National Art Gallery in Washington agrees to buy a Da Vinci for a record $5 million.
1968 Three U.S. pilots that were held by the Vietnamese arrive in Washington.
1972 The California Supreme Court voids the death penalty.
1974 Randolph Hearst is to give $2 million in free food for the poor in order to open talks for his daughter Patty.
1982 Mexico devalues the peso by 30 percent to fight an economic slide.
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Rollingthunderremembered.com .
February18
Hello All,
Thanks to Dan Heller and the Bear
Links to all content can now be found right on the homepage http://www.rollingthunderremembered.com. If you scroll down from the banner and featured content you will find "Today in Rolling Thunder Remembered History" which highlights events in the Vietnam war that occurred on the date the page is visited. Below that are links to browse or search all content. You may search by keyword(s), date, or date range.
An item of importance is the recent incorporation of Task Force Omega (TFO) MIA summaries. There is a link on the homepage and you can also visit directly via https://www.rollingthunderremembered.com/task-force-omega/. There are 60 summaries posted thus far, with about 940 to go (not a typo—TFO has over 1,000 individual case files).
If you have any questions or comments about RTR/TFO, or have a question on my book, you may e-mail me directly at acrossthewing@protonmail.com. Thank you Dan
Thanks to Micro
To remind folks that these are from the Vietnam Air Losses site that Micro put together. You click on the url below and get what happened each day to the crew of the aircraft. ……Skip
From Vietnam Air Losses site for "Sunday 17 and Monday 18 February
February 17: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=1603
February 18: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=1001
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear's Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip
Vietnam Air Losses
Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
The site works, find anyone you knew in "search" feature. https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
By: Kipp Hanley
AUGUST 15, 2022
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From the archives
. Lost words
Thanks to Gay
Do you remember this word? Would you believe the email spell checker did not recognize the word Mergatroyd? Heavens to Mergatroyd! (Try it)
The other day a person of my age said something to her son about driving a Jalopy and he looked at her quizzically and said "What the heck is a Jalopy?"
OMG (new phrase)! He never heard of the word jalopy!! She knew she was old..... but not that old. Well, I hope you are Hunky Dory after you read this and chuckle.
About a month ago, I illuminated some old expressions that have become obsolete because of the inexorable march of technology. These phrases included "Don't touch that dial," "Carbon copy," "You sound like a broken record" and "Hung out to dry."
Back in the olden days we had a lot of 'moxie.' We'd put on our best 'bib and tucker' to' straighten up and fly right'.
Heavens to Betsy! Gee whillikers! Jumping Jehoshaphat! Holy moley!
We were 'in like Flynn' and 'living the life of Riley'', and even a regular guy couldn't accuse us of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop or a pill. Not for all the tea in China!
Back in the olden days, life used to be swell, but when's the last time anything was swell?
Swell has gone the way of beehives, pageboys and the D.A.; of spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes and pedal pushers...AND DON'T FORGET.... Saddle Stitched Pants.
Oh, my aching back! Kilroy was here, but he isn't anymore.
We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, Well, I'll be 'a monkey's uncle!' Or, This is a 'fine kettle of fish'! We discover that the words we grew up with, the words that seemed omnipresent, as oxygen, have vanished with scarcely a notice from our tongues and our pens and our keyboards.
Poof, go the words of our youth, the words we've left behind. We blink, and they're gone.
Where have all those great phrases gone?
Long gone: Pshaw, The milkman did it. Hey! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper. Well, Fiddlesticks! Going like sixty. I'll see you in the funny papers. Don't take any wooden nickels. Wake up and smell the roses.
It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter has liver pills. This can be disturbing stuff! ("Carter's Little Liver Pills" are gone too!) We of a certain age have been blessed to live in changeable times. For a child each new word is like a shiny toy, a toy that has no age. We at the other end of the chronological arc have the advantage of remembering there are words that once did not exist and there were words that once strutted their hour upon the earthly stage and now are heard no more, except in our collective memory. It's one of the greatest advantages of aging.
Leaves us to wonder where Superman will find a phone booth...
See ya later, alligator! After while, crocodile!
Okidoki
WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE FABULOUS 50'S...NO ONE WILL EVER HAVE THAT OPPORTUNITY AGAIN...WE WERE GIVEN ONE OF OUR MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS:
.............OUR MEMORIES!!.....
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Thanks to Interesting Facts
The shortest war in history lasted 38 minutes.
If only all wars were as short as the Anglo-Zanzibar War. Lasting only 38 minutes, this conflict — which took place off the coast of Tanzania in 1896 — is largely considered to be the shortest war in human history. Under the Heligoland-Zanzibar treaty, signed between Germany and Britain in 1890, the island archipelago known as Zanzibar was placed under British control, while mainland Tanzania remained the possession of Imperial Germany. Six years later, when the pro-British sultan of Zanzibar suddenly died, his cousin (and possible assassin) Khalid bin Barghash took on the role of sultan within hours of the leader's death — all without the blessing of the British.
Not too happy about this suspected coup, Britain's chief diplomat for the area, Basil Cave, was put in charge of resolving the conflict. By August 25, 1896, Khalid had gathered some 3,000 fighters and an impressive array of artillery around the palace to protect his reign. That evening, three British men-of-war were in the nearby harbor (joined by an additional two ships the following morning). Cave sent one last ultimatum on the evening of the 26th, demanding evacuation of the palace by 9 a.m. the following morning. Khalid replied one hour before the deadline: "We have no intention of hauling down our flag and we do not believe you would open fire on us." He was sorely mistaken, and the British opened fire at 9:02 a.m. After a 38-minute bombardment (although precise counts for the duration vary slightly) — during which Khalid escaped through a back exit — the palace lowered its flag and history's shortest war came to an end.
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Thanks to History Facts
Seagulls almost played an important role during WWI
Anyone who's ever brought food to the beach knows that seagulls are exceptional hunters when they want to be, a skill the British put to the test when they trained the scavenging seabirds to detect German submarines during World War I. This began in 1917, with Britain's Board of Invention and Research living up to its name by setting up a fake periscope that would feed wild gulls. If all went well, their thinking went, the birds would associate the sight of a periscope peeking above the water with a tasty meal — and any British sailors who spotted a flock of seagulls hovering above what appeared to be empty water would know there was a U-boat in their midst.
It didn't work, alas, as the birds knew no masters but themselves. A few soldiers had trouble abandoning the plan, however. One admiral tried a different approach by teaching the seagulls to defecate on the submarine's periscopes and blind the crew within, while the U.S. military considered its own version of the idea involving hand-raised birds from Lake Michigan, though neither effort moved forward. Seagulls are resourceful creatures, but it seems they're more motivated to dive-bomb loose fries than enemy watercraft.
By the Numbers
Species of seagull
50+
Submarines in the U.S. Navy
71
Year the first submarine was built
1620
Maximum longevity (in years) of the herring gull
49
DID YOU KNOW?
Seagulls can drink fresh water and salt water.
Not unlike certain other seabirds — including pelicans, penguins, and albatrosses — seagulls can drink both fresh water and salt water. They're able to do so thanks to a desalination filter that begins in their bills and ends in a salt gland above their eyes, which allows the crafty birds to excrete the salt through their nostrils — often by shaking their head. Though highly efficient, this filtration system can atrophy if it goes unused. Seabirds at wildlife rehab centers and zoos are often kept in salt water with this in mind, as it ensures their glands will stay in good condition and prevent saltwater poisoning if and when they're returned to the wild.
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Thanks to 1440
Need To Know
Officials Meet on Ukraine
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top US officials will meet their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia today to begin discussing a path toward ending the war in Ukraine, according to reports. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country had not yet been invited to participate.
The meeting follows a call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin last week and is the latest in the Trump administration's swift effort to draw down US involvement in the conflict. US officials in recent days have called on Europe to assume more control over its security situation, warned against Ukraine's pending NATO membership, and more.
The shifting dynamics come amid an uncertain time for Western Europe, with Germany—the bloc's largest economic power—set to hold snap elections Sunday. Current Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party has fallen to third place (see polls), behind the center-right Christian Democrats and the nationalist-populist Alternative for Germany (abbreviated as AfD).
Polar Vortex Returns (... Again)
The vast majority of the US will see subfreezing temperatures this week, as the latest in a series of winter storms sweeps across the country.
The weather pattern marks the 10th polar vortex to dip down into the contiguous 48 states this winter season, compared to the two to three seen during an average winter. The phenomenon occurs when the polar vortex weakens and destabilizes the polar jet stream, becoming wavy and stretching down into the US (see visualization). Researchers are unsure why it has occurred so frequently this season.
Thermometers are expected to drop below minus 10 degrees in the Dakotas and Upper Midwest, and below or near zero in areas ranging from Kansas to Maine. Regions as far south as Atlanta and Austin, Texas, could reach into the teens. By Wednesday, multiple inches of snow and ice are on track to blanket the Mid-Atlantic. See forecasts here.
Cult Killings
A search is underway for members of the cultlike Zizian group following a series of violent incidents across multiple states. The FBI conducted a search earlier this month in a wooded area near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where the group had previously rented properties, and the effort follows a deadly shootout with Border Patrol officers in Vermont that left one agent dead.
The Zizians, led by 34-year-old Jack "Ziz" LaSota—who uses female pronouns and allegedly faked a death in 2022—are linked to at least six deaths in three states. The group, composed mainly of young, intelligent computer scientists, is known for its radical veganism and anarchist beliefs. Members often wear long black coats and have been involved in protests and violent confrontations, including an attack on a landlord in California and the double murder of a couple in Pennsylvania.
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Thanks to Litning
Good story on "Lucky" Fluckey. Also known as "The Galloping Ghost of the Far China Coast". He autographed his book for me at a USNA reunion years ago. He was once MAG Portugal when I came thru on a personal visit to Morocco. His aide was a classmate and good buddy, fellow sub guy, Larry Julihn. When I called Larry from Rota to see if he could get away and join me, I told the guy who answered the phone what I wanted to do, and ADM Fluckey, it turns out, said "no problem, I write his orders, sure he can get away". Easy going guy with big cajones! Larry's dad was a WWII submariner too - lived near Mount Helix! - another story!
Litning
Thanks to Micro
For those that didn't get a link, here's another attempt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFPXf6mLUAM
Subject: Elon Musk is Sherlock Holmes - Movie Trailer Parody featuring Donald Tru...
Another from Micro
Army redirecting food funds away from providing food for troops: https://www.foxnews.com/us/army-redirecting-millions-collected-from-soldier-bas-pay-meant-food-services-elsewhere
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Thanks to Richard
My Martha Raye Story
My callsign during Desert Storm was Chiller52. The moniker stuck with me. Hence my email address. The piece below is from a good friend, former Thud driver and fellow aerobatic pilot. Needless to say we both traded an endless litany of war stories.
My Martha Raye Story
Hi Chiller,
In November of 1966 I ejected about 20 miles NW of Nellis when the noise fell out of my Thud.
Had a difficult ejection. Parachute didn't open properly – broken/cracked vertebrae, some leg and 'tain't' damage, 24/7 'discomfort', etc.
I was in the Nellis hospital for about ten days. After about six days I was get'n restless and talked two of the nurses into dropping me at the club (they used the Ambulance!) for an hour or so.
The main club was in rehab so an old WW II barracks was given a spot overhaul to accommodate a bartender and his liquor cabinet. I walked in, braced with a cane, and propped myself up at the main (only) bar. There was no one in that dim dusty old club but the bartender and me – for a while.
I had been there about an hour when a guy and a gal in civilian clothes walked in and sat down next to me.
Turned out they were Martha Raye and Earnest Borgnine.
We got to talking and I asked them why here – why now? Simple, they said – to get away from the Vegas bull-shit. Or perhaps it was so none of the 'wrong' people would see them together. Who knows. Or cares. Regardless, we had a great time. They asked me if I would be back 'tomorrow'.
"Sure".
"Then so will we".
And they were. They were great folks, really great.
The way it was 46 years ago when the Air Force was terrific, the flying unbelievable, and the nurses 'understanding'.
J M
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Random Acts of Kindness Foundation
There's no better way to celebrate today than by becoming a Random Acts of Kindness Activist, aka a RAKtivist. The term was coined by the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation (yes, there's a whole organization dedicated solely to these sweet gestures), and per the nonprofit, a RAKtivist's goal is to make kindness the norm.
"These are the people who turn ordinary days into something special with small, thoughtful gestures — like a sincere smile or offering a seat on the bus," the foundation says. "These acts of kindness reconnect us with our humanity, reminding us of the love in the world and inspiring us to pay it forward."
Helping others is a lovely enough motive in itself, but there's even more incentive to hop on the train: Research shows that doing so can benefit your health. Acts of kindness may improve life satisfaction, according to a 2009 study, and reduce anxiety and depression by promoting social connection, per a 2022 paper.
The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation offers heartfelt resources for interested RAKtivists, including a gratitude letter-writing activity guide and instructions for making seed bombs to promote biodiversity. "Random Acts of Kindness Week and Day serve as powerful reminders that kindness is not just an action but a way of life," the org's Vice President Brooke Jones said in a statement. "By participating, people can create ripple effects of positivity in their communities." If you'd like to join the RAKtivist gang, head to the foundation's website to sign up or download resources, like the "25 Ways to Be Kind" poster seen above.
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This was from last year and I think that we have seen the tide turning thanks to our new president
From the archives and worse than a year ago
. Thanks to Mugs
A pitiful situation, indeed! We've let the "Greatest Generation" down...........................
We pass this on in full agreement, but most of us are guilty of exactly the passive inaction that has led us down the slippery slope of accepting Saul Alinsky,s subtle, yet effective, outline for change, that brings us closer to socialism and the inevitable communism that follows behind it.
TELLING THE SAD TRUTH – NEVER SAID BETTER . . . . . AND FEARFUL
Time is like a river. You cannot touch the water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again. Franklin Graham was speaking at the First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, when he said America will not come back. He wrote:
* "The American dream ended "The first term of Joe Biden has been the final nail in the coffin for the legacy of the white Christian males who discovered, explored, pioneered, settled and developed the greatest republic in the history of mankind.
A coalition of blacks, Latinos, feminists, gays, government workers, union members, environmental extremists, the media, Hollywood, uninformed young people, the "forever needy," the chronically unemployed that do not want to work, illegal aliens and other "fellow travelers" have ended.........Norman Rockwell's America.
You will never again out-vote these people. It will take individual acts of defiance and massive displays of civil disobedience to get back the rights we have allowed them to take away. It will take zealots, not moderates and shy, not reach-across-the-aisle RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) to right this ship and restore our beloved country to its former status.
People like me are completely politically irrelevant, and I will probably never again be able to legally comment on or concern myself with the aforementioned coalition which has surrendered our culture, our heritage and our traditions without a shot being fired.
The Cocker spaniel is off the front porch, the pit bull is in the back yard, the American Constitution has been replaced with Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" and the likes of Chicago shyster David Axelrod along with international socialist George Soros have been pulling the strings on their beige puppet and have brought us Act 2 of the New World Order.
The curtain will come down but the damage has been done, the story has been told.
Those who come after us will once again have to risk their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to bring back the Republic that this generation has timidly frittered away due to white guilt and political correctness.."
Got the guts to pass it on? You bet I do and just did….
IN GOD WE TRUST
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From the archives
Thank to Mugs
Nobel Winner Refutes Climate Change Narrative
From a friend in Austin.
Mugs
A little long but worth the time to read to get a different perspective on climate change.
Charlie
Nobel Winner Refutes Climate Change Narrative, Points Out Ignored Factor
By Jan Jekielek and Mimi Nguyen Ly
9/9/2023
Nobel Prize laureate John Clauser has recently been in the spotlight for challenging prevailing climate models, which he said have ignored a key variable.
Mr. Clauser, who was a recipient of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to quantum mechanics, holds degrees from Caltech and Columbia University. He has served in roles at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the University of California–Berkeley. In 2010, he was honored with a portion of the Wolf Prize in Physics.
Recently, Mr. Clauser joined another Nobel laureate and more than 1,600 professionals in signing the World Climate Declaration (WCD) organized by Climate Intelligence. This declaration asserts that there's no "climate emergency," that climate change science isn't conclusive, and that the Earth's history over thousands of years shows a consistently changing climate.
In an interview with The Epoch Times' "American Thought Leaders," Mr. Clauser voiced his reservations about current climate research quality and contended that U.S. climate policies are misguided.
Clouds
Prominent climate reports, such as those by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), National Academy of Sciences, and The Royal Society, emphasize the role of CO2 but miss the mark on the critical role of clouds in the climate system, according to Mr. Clauser.
His curiosity about clouds began when he was a sailboat racer.
Mr. Clauser said: "I raced across the Pacific Ocean at least a dozen times. I had set up the boat with solar panels to charge the batteries. ... I had an ammeter on the power output from the solar panels, and I noticed every time we sailed under a cloud, the output from the solar panels dropped by 50 percent to half of its value that it was, and then we came out from behind the cloud and boom, their power went back up. And I thought, 'I wonder why it's just about a factor of two.'
"This is how I became very curious as to how clouds work. When the climate issues came along, I very quickly realized that cloud cover has a profound effect on the earth's heat input that the clouds are reflecting a massive amount of light back out into space.
"And so I read all of the various IPCC reports, National Academy reports on this. As a physicist, I'd worked at some excellent institutions—Caltech, Columbia, Cal Berkeley—where very careful science needed to be done. And reading these reports, I was appalled at how sloppy the work was. And in particular, it was very obvious, even in the earliest reports, and all carried on through to the present, that clouds were not at all understood. ... It's just simply bad science."
Mr. Clauser highlighted insights from former President Barack Obama's science adviser, Steve Koonin. In Mr. Koonin's book, "Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters," the author noted the inconsistency of the IPCC's 40 computer models, emphasizing their inability to explain the past century's climate and suggesting that these models lack a crucial piece of physics.
'The Missing Piece'
"I believe I have the missing piece of the puzzle that has been left out in virtually all of these computer programs," Mr. Clauser said. "And that is the effect of clouds."
Many theories of anthropogenic climate change naturally focus on the effects of human-produced CO2, but he said these models overlook the significance of cloud dynamics.
Mr. Clauser referenced the 2003 National Academy report, which he said "totally admitted" its lack of understanding about clouds and made "a whole series of mistaken statements regarding the effects of clouds."
Referring to former Vice President Al Gore's film, "An Inconvenient Truth," Mr. Clauser said, "[Mr. Gore] insists on talking about a cloud-free Earth." According to Mr. Clauser, this cloudless portrayal of the earth reflects the approach taken by many in the climate science community.
"That's a totally artificial Earth," he said. "It is a totally artificial case for using a model, and this is pretty much what the IPCC and others use—a cloud-free Earth."
Mr. Clauser pointed out that satellite images consistently show wide variances in cloud cover, which can span anywhere from 5 to 95 percent of the Earth's surface.
"The cloud cover fraction fluctuates quite dramatically on daily weekly timescales. We call this weather. You can't have weather without having clouds," he said.
Clouds play a significant role in regulating the Earth's temperature, serving as a "cloud-sunlight-reflectivity thermostat" that "controls the climate, controls the temperature of the Earth, and stabilizes it very powerfully and very dramatically," according to Mr. Clauser.
Because they make up two-thirds of the Earth's surface, oceans are instrumental in cloud formation, he said.
Minimal clouds result in heightened sunlight exposure to the ocean, triggering increased evaporation and subsequent cloud formation, resulting in more clouds. Abundant clouds reduce this sunlight, thus curbing evaporation rates and cloud formation, resulting in fewer clouds, according to Mr. Clauser.
This balance acts like a natural thermostat for the earth's temperature, he said.
Mr. Clauser contends that this "thermostat" mechanism has a vastly greater influence on Earth's temperature than the effect of CO2 or methane. He presented to The Epoch Times preliminary calculations that suggest that the effect of this cloud-reflectivity mechanism might overshadow CO2's influence by 100 or even 200 times.
All clouds, irrespective of their altitude or type, appear bright white when viewed from the direction of the sun, according to Mr. Clauser. They usually reflect almost 90 percent of incoming sunlight, he said. The reflectivity fraction is referred to as albedo. The albedo has been inaccurately kept constant in various climate models, according to Mr. Clauser.
He said he finds it baffling that these significant variations, ranging from 5 to 95 percent cloud cover, have been overlooked.
Mr. Clauser also said clouds are integral to weather dynamics, yet current climate models, whose authors "admit up front that their models cannot predict weather," have been wielded to foretell drastic climatic shifts, including "climate crisis apocalypse."
The term "climate" refers to weather condition averages over the long term, usually at least 30 years. While reliable weather forecasts are limited to about a week with standard weather prediction models, which take into account the role of clouds, Mr. Clauser pointed out a contradiction noted in Mr. Koonin's book: Just a 5 percent rise in cloud cover can largely counterbalance the temperature effect of doubling atmospheric CO2. Despite such nuances, the IPCC's models persistently assume constant albedo and ignore the vast cloud cover variations, according to Mr. Clauser
'Very Dishonest Disinformation'
Mr. Clauser observed that the drive to address human-induced climate change is increasingly shaping political agendas and influencing the strategic direction of entire nations.
"The whole world is doing all of this. A lot of the pressure is actually coming from Europe, all of these various world conferences," he said, speculating that much of this push might have its roots in Mr. Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," which he feels has incorporated inaccurate science.
Mr. Gore's film claims that humanity is triggering a dire climate crisis that necessitates global action. But Mr. Clauser said that "'climate change' is actually very dishonest disinformation that has been presented by various politicians."
He pinpointed a 2013 Physics Today article (pdf) by Jane Lubchenco and Thomas Karl as pivotal in shaping the narrative, especially during the period when "global warming" was being rebranded as "climate change."
"The reason that was given was, 'Well, because it's really more than just warming,'" he said. The article champions a "U.S. Climate Extremes Index," claiming that anthropogenic climate change led to a significant increase in extreme weather events over the three decades ending in 2012.
The index is supposedly backed by a century's worth of data from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) and is said to combine various metrics, including floods, hurricanes, and droughts.
Curiously, Mr. Clauser noted, the index leaves out the frequency of EF3-plus tornadoes—perhaps because, as highlighted by Mr. Koonin in his book, those were on a noticeable decline.
"This, in my opinion, is a rather egregious breach of honesty by the U.S. government by NOAA," Mr. Clauser said.
He used data from the article and plotted it chronologically and also in reverse. He observed that the two plots were virtually indistinguishable, challenging the assertion of an obvious rise in the index.
"Are you really willing to bet trillions of dollars that you know which [plot] is right? ... Is it really increasing? It is clearly not," Mr. Clauser said.
"Not only, as I understand it, are these extreme weather events not increasing, but our ability to mitigate them has increased. So they're just not as much of an issue.
"This worry about CO2, the worry about methane, the worry about global warming, is all a total fabrication by shock journalists and/or dishonest politicians."
He said he even agrees with the CO2 Coalition, which argues that CO2 is a beneficial gas.
"Historically, for example, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, the CO2 levels were 10 times bigger than what we are experiencing right now," Mr. Clauser said. "Dinosaurs couldn't have survived on this earth with this low CO2 level [today], because you don't grow trees fast enough and foliage fast enough to feed them.
"Promoting CO2 as being actually a beneficial gas, as far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with [that]. And in particular, as I have just mentioned earlier, it is not at all significant in controlling the earth's climate."
He criticized U.S. government efforts to reduce CO2 and methane as a colossal misuse of resources better allocated for humanitarian endeavors. Such initiatives "should be stopped immediately," he said.
"[It's] a total waste of money and time and effort. It is strangling industry," Mr. Clauser said.
But he said he isn't holding his breath.
"My suspicion is what I am saying here will be totally ignored because people don't like being told that they've made big mistakes of this magnitude," Mr. Clauser said.
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This Day in U S Military History February 18
1944 – Following the usual pre-landing procedures, an intense bombardment and air strike look place on Engebi beginning at 0843. Two battalions of Marines landed and overcame enemy resistance very quickly. By 1600 the Island was reported secured. During the attack by the Marines on Engebi, elements of the 5th Amphibious Corp Recon Company and the Scout Company were methodically occupying the smaller islands along the reefs. Japanese resistance of Engebi, although ferocious, was marked by an obvious lack of preparation. Numerous underground shelters and coral lined pill boxes were found as were sniper positions in coconut trees. However, so rapid was the Marine advance that few requests were made upon the ships for call fires. In the attack on Engebi our losses wore 78 killed, 166 wounded, and 7 missing, for a total of 251. The number of Japanese dead buried on Engebi was 934. Sixteen prisoners were taken. So heavy and accurate was the Navy and air bombardment that observers stated destruction was greater than that which had occurred on Kwajalein. Practically all structures above ground were demolished. A prisoner stated that about half the defenders were killed or wounded prior to the landings. During the afternoon of 18 February, advance preparations were made for the attack on Eniwetok Island. The 106th Regimental Combat Team of the 27th Division was designated to make this assault.
1944 – The Germans commit 26th Panzer and 29th Panzergrenadier Divisions to the attack on Anzio. Strong allied artillery holds off and blunts the attacks. Kesselring and Mackensen realize that the Allied beachhead cannot be wiped out. The Germans launched a more intense assault against the 45th Division at dawn and destroyed one battalion of the 179th Infantry before pushing the remainder of the unit back a half mile farther to Lucas' final defensive line by midmorning. Fearing that the 179th Infantry was in danger of giving way, Lucas ordered Col. William O. Darby, founder of the WWII era Rangers, to take command of the unit and allow no further retreat. The regiment held, later counting 500 dead Germans in front of its positions. Elsewhere, the 180th and 157th regiments also held their positions in spite of heavy losses during three days of German attacks. By midday, Allied air and artillery superiority had turned the tide. When the Germans launched a final afternoon assault against the 180th and 179th regiments, it was halted by air strikes and massed mortar, machine gun, artillery, and tank fire. Subsequent enemy attacks on 19 and 20 February were noticeably weaker and were broken up by the same combination of Allied arms before ground contact was made The crisis had passed, and while harassing attacks continued until 22 February, VI Corps went over to the offensive locally and succeeded in retaking some lost ground.
1944 – American forces continue their raid on the Japanese base at Truk. Over the course of the two days, US aircraft log 1250 sorties. The Japanese lose 1 cruiser, 2 destroyers, several other warships and 140,000 tons of shipping to air attack. The battleships Iowa and New Jersey sink 1 cruiser and 2 destroyers. In addition 250 Japanese aircraft are reported destroyed. American submarines sink several more vessels. The US forces lose less than 30 planes and damage is sustained to the carrier Intrepid.
1967 – J. Robert Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb," dies in Princeton, New Jersey, at the age of 62. An expert in quantum theory and nuclear physics, he was enlisted into the fledgling U.S. atomic weapons program in 1941. In 1942, the "Manhattan Project," as the program became known, was greatly expanded, and Oppenheimer was asked to establish and direct a secret laboratory to carry out the assignment. He chose Los Alamos, a site in the New Mexico desert that he had visited earlier in life, and together with some of the world's top physicists began work on the bomb. On July 16, 1945, the world's first atomic bomb was exploded at the "Trinity" test site in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and only three weeks later the United States dropped the first of two bombs on Japan. Over 200,000 Japanese eventually perished as a result of the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Oppenheimer regretted the use of the terrible weapon he had helped build, and he worked with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to win approval for international control of atomic energy. The USSR refused to support the U.S. plan, and in 1949 the Soviets successfully detonated their first atomic weapon. The loss of U.S. atomic supremacy, coupled with revelations that Los Alamos scientist Klaus Fuchs had given nuclear secrets to the Soviets, led President Harry S. Truman to approve development of the hydrogen bomb. Oppenheimer strongly opposed development of the H-bomb, which was theorized to be hundreds of times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Japan. On November 1, 1952, the first "superbomb" was successfully detonated in the Pacific. In 1953, because of both his opposition to the hydrogen bomb and his admitted leftist leanings in the 1930s, Oppenheimer lost his security clearance and was ousted from the AEC. The case stirred wide controversy, and many people came to his defense. After leaving the government, he returned to teaching. He died in 1967.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
* FERNANDEZ, DANIEL
Rank and organization: Specialist Fourth Class, U.S. Army, Company C, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry (Mechanized) 25th Infantry Division. Place and date: Cu Chi, Hau Nghia Province, Republic of Vietnam, 18 February 1966. Entered service at: Albuquerque, N. Mex. Born: 30 June 1944, Albuquerque, N. Mex. c.o. No.: 21, 26 April 1967. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp4c. Fernandez demonstrated indomitable courage when the patrol was ambushed by a Viet Cong rifle company and driven back by the intense enemy automatic weapons fire before it could evacuate an American soldier who had been wounded in the Viet Cong attack. Sp4c. Fernandez, a sergeant and 2 other volunteers immediately fought their way through devastating fire and exploding grenades to reach the fallen soldier. Upon reaching their fallen comrade the sergeant was struck in the knee by machine gun fire and immobilized. Sp4c. Fernandez took charge, rallied the left flank of his patrol and began to assist in the recovery of the wounded sergeant. While first aid was being administered to the wounded man, a sudden increase in the accuracy and intensity of enemy fire forced the volunteer group to take cover. As they did, an enemy grenade landed in the midst of the group, although some men did not see it. Realizing there was no time for the wounded sergeant or the other men to protect themselves from the grenade blast, Sp4c. Fernandez vaulted over the wounded sergeant and threw himself on the grenade as it exploded, saving the lives of his 4 comrades at the sacrifice of his life. Sp4c. Fernandez' profound concern for his fellow soldiers, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for February 18, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
18 February
1918: "Lafayette Escadrille" transferred to American forces as the 103d Pursuit Squadron and began operations on the front under tactical control of the French. The "Lafayette Escadrille" was a unit in the French military comprised of American volunteers who joined the fight before the United States entered World War I. (4) (24) The 95th Aero Squadron, the first proper US fighter unit, arrived in France. (5)
1921: Airmail pilot Carroll C. Eversole made the first emergency free-type parachute escape from a plane near Minneapolis, Minn. The jump took place at 800 feet from a De Havilhand DH-4, which had lost its propeller and had gone into a dive and spin. (24)
1930: Lt L. F. Schoenhair used a Lockheed Vega-Wasp 450 to set several world and American speed records with payload, including records of 185.49 MPH for 100 kilometers with a 500-kilo load, 176.0 MPH for 100 kilometers, and 168.27 MPH for 500 kilometers with a 100-kilo load. (5)
1938: WOMEN'S EVENT. Jacqueline Cochran received The General William Mitchell Memorial Plaque for her achievements in aeronautics, based on her speed records. (24)
1943: The first class of 39 flight nurses graduated from the U. S. Army Air Forces School of Air Evacuations at Bowman Field, Ky. (24)
1957: Through 20 February, the first national scientific symposium on problems with space travel held. (24)
1958: At the Arnold Research and Development Center, Tullahoma, Tenn., a wind tunnel test attained an airflow speed of 32,400 MPH for one-tenth of a second. (5)
1959: The 576th Strategic Missile Squadron at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., received the first Atlas D missile. (6)
1963: At the Atlantic Missile Range, the first dual launch of Hound Dog missiles succeeded. (6)
1965: USAF jets soloed for the first time without Vietnamese Air Force crewmembers in an attack against enemy targets in South Vietnam. The USAF flew Martin B-57 Canberras and North American F-100 Super Sabres against the Viet Cong near An Khe. (21)
1972: Pacific Air Forces assigned its first C-9A aeromedical aircraft to the 20th Operations Squadron at Clark AB, Philippines. The C-9s replaced the C-118s. (17)
1977: The Space Shuttle made its first captive flight atop a carrier aircraft, a modified Boeing 747. (16) (26)
1978: Rockwell International received an $18.9 million contract to build a spacecraft to carry the Teal Ruby experiment. This payload included a downward-looking infrared sensor with a mosaic focal plane to measure aircraft signatures and background flux at infrared wavelengths. (5)
1986: Through 22 February, the 129th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Group and the 41st Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron used four H-3s, two HH-53s, and three C-130s to rescue 33 flood victims in the Russian and Yuba River valleys of Northern California. The helicopters also delivered over 3,000 sandbags to Army troops responding to the disaster site. (16) (26)
1994: Operation DENY FLIGHT. The USAF deployed aircraft, five KC-135s, to France for the first time in 20 years. The tankers flew from French bases to refuel aircraft flying over Bosnia and Herzegovina for the operation. (21) The last F-4G Wild Weasel aircraft left USAFE. They flew from Spangdahlem AB, Germany, to Nellis AFB, Nv. (16) (26)
1997: Operation ASSURED LIFT. Through 3 March, five C-130s from the 3d Air Expeditionary Group's 37 AS airlifted 1,160 African peacekeepers and 452 tons of cargo from various African countries to Liberia to restore order after a civil war there. (21)
1999: Operation DEEP FREEZE. The last US Navy LC-130 left Antarctica to end naval support DEEP FREEZE. Operational support switched in 1998 to the New York ANG's 109th Airlift Wing. (32)
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