Bullet Points:
** President FJB’s failure in Afghanistan continues to haunt the United States, now by potentially assisting the army we’ve spent billions helping another army to defeat. On Wednesday night, Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana told Newsmax of a report that indicates Russian President Vladimir Putin is in negotiations with the Taliban to purchase the weapons the U.S. left behind when Pedo Joe ordered a sudden withdrawal.
The sudden seemingly panicked and disorganized withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 left behind over $7 billion in military equipment and weapons. Russia is in need of this equipment for its own army as it continues to wage war with Ukraine. As Newsmax reported, the deal allegedly includes recognizing the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan:
The Telegram account of General SVR, widely reported to be run by a former Russian intelligence officer, said Tuesday that Putin is negotiating with the Taliban, which Russia, like the U.S., considers a terrorist group, by offering to recognize the government in exchange for weapons badly needed by the Russian army as it struggles to gain ground in the 11-month war against Ukraine.
“The Taliban possess weapons and equipment that are scarce for the Russian army at the front, including those seized after coming to power in Afghanistan,” the post read.
** My generation:
** BRM cautions that certifications may not be worth the paper that they’re printed on in some instances.
It was decided years ago, with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that it was unfair and discriminatory to treat students with intellectual disabilities (what used to be referred to as retarded) the same as other students. So this law was passed to make things more equitable. (Not equal, which is the same standard, but equitable, meaning that they have the same outcome.)
** What do you put on your fish (and chips):
(a) HP Sauce
(b) Nothing
(c) Vinegar
(d) lemon
(e) newsprint
(f) mushy peas
** Nobody wants to sit in traffic -When FBI Director Christopher Wray wants to use the bureau’s $60 million Gulfstream G550, he typically summons it to nearby Reagan National Airport instead of being driven 30 miles to the regional airport where it’s kept, a whistleblower told The Daily Wire, describing a costly habit paid for by U.S. taxpayers.
Records obtained by The Daily Wire show the jet has made the roughly 15-minute flight between its base at Manassas Regional Airport in Virginia and Washington, D.C., area airports 140 times since 2020. The whistleblower and currently suspended FBI agent, who spoke to The Daily Wire, said the local trips are made to save Wray and possibly other bureau bigwigs from the 45-minute drive to and from Manassas on either end of their flights.
Navajo Code
The Japanese tried to break the code and they captured Navajo men. However, they were unsuccessful in using them to decipher the code. The reason was simple. The Navajo Code was a code that used Navajo. It was not spoken Navajo. To a Navajo speaker, who had not learned the code, a Navajo Code talker sending a message sounds like a string of unconnected Navajo words with no grammar. It was incomprehensible. So, when the Japanese captured a Navajo man named Joe Kieyoomia in the Philippines, he could not really help them even though they tortured him. It was nonsense to him.
The Navajo Code had to be learned and memorized. It was designed to transmit a word-by-word or letter-by-letter exact English message. They did not just chat in Navajo. That could have been understood by a Navajo speaker, but more importantly, translation is never, ever exact. It would not transmit precise messages. There were about 400 words in the Code.
The first 31 Navajo Marines created the Code with the help of one non-Navajo speaker officer who knew cryptography. The first part of the Code was made to transmit English letters. For each English letter, there were three (or sometimes just two) English words that started with that letter, and then they were translated into Navajo words. In this way, English words could be spelled out with a substitution code. The alternate words were randomly switched around. So, for English B there were the Navajo words for Badger, Bear, and Barrel. In Navajo that is: nahashchʼidí, shash, and tóshjeeh. Or the letter A was Red Ant, Axe, or Apple. In Navajo that is: wóláchííʼ, tsénił , or bilasáana. The English letter D was: bįįh=deer, and łééchąąʼí =dog, and chʼįįdii= bad spiritual substance (devil).
For the letter substitution part of the Code the word “bad” could be spelled out a number of ways. To a regular Navajo speaker, it would sound like: “Bear, Apple, Dog”. Or other times it could be “ Barrel, Red Ant, Bad Spirit (devil)”. Other times it could be “Badger, Axe, Deer”. As you can see, for just this short English word, “bad” there are many possibilities to the combination of words used. To a Navajo speaker, all versions are nonsense. It gets worse for a Navajo speaker because normal Navajo conjugates in complex ways (ways an English or Japanese speaker would never dream of). These lists of words have no indicators of how they are connected. It is utterly non-grammatical.
Then to speed it up, and make it even harder to break, they substituted Navajo words for common military words that were often used in short military messages. None were just translations. A few you could figure out. For example, a Lieutenant was “one silver bar” in Navajo. A Major was “Gold Oak Leaf” n Navajo. Other things were less obvious like a Battleship was the word for Whale in Navajo. A Mine Sweeper was the Navajo word for Beaver.
A note here as it seems hard for some people to get this. Navajo is a modern and living language. There are, and were, perfectly useful Navajo words for submarines and battleships, and tanks. They did not “make up words because they had no words for modern things”. This is an incorrect story that gets around in the media. There had been Navajo in the military before WWII. The Navajo language is different and perhaps more flexible than English. It is easy to generate new words. They borrow very few words and have words for any modern thing you can imagine. The words for telephone, or train, or nuclear power are all made from Navajo stem roots.
Because the Navajo Marines had memorized the Code there was no code book to capture. There was no machine to capture either. They could transmit it over open radio waves. They could decode it in a few minutes as opposed to the 30 minutes to two hours that other code systems at the time took. And, no Navajo speaker who had not learned the Code could make any sense out of it.
The Japanese had no published texts on Navajo. There was no internationally available description of the language. The Germans had not studied it at the time. The Japanese did suspect it was Navajo. Linguists thought it was in the Athabaskan language family. That would be pretty clear to a linguist. And Navajo had the biggest group of speakers of any Athabaskan language. That is why they tortured Joe Kieyoomia. But, he could not make sense of it. It was just a list of words with no grammar and no meaning.
For Japanese, even writing the language down from the radio broadcasts would be very hard. It has lots of sounds that are not in Japanese or in English. It is hard to tell where some words end or start because the glottal stop is a common consonant. Frequency analysis would have been hard because they did not use a single word for each letter. And some words stood for words instead of for a letter. The task of breaking it was very hard.
Here is an example of a coded message:
béésh łigai naaki joogii gini dibé tsénił áchį́į́h bee ąą ńdítį́hí joogi béésh łóó’ dóó łóóʼtsoh
When translated directly from Navajo into English it is:
“SILVER TWO BLUE JAY CHICKEN HAWK SHEEP AXE NOSE KEY BLUE JAY IRON FISH AND WHALE. “
You can see why a Navajo who did not know the Code would not be able to do much with that. The message above means: “CAPTAIN, THE DIVE BOMBER SANK THE SUBMARINE AND BATTLESHIP.”
“Two silver bars” =captain. Blue jay= the. Chicken hawk= dive bomber. Iron fish = sub. Whale= battleship. “Sheep, Axe Nose Key”=sank. The only normal use of a Navajo word is the word for “and” which is “dóó ”. For the same message the word “sank” would be spelled out another way on a different day. For example, it could be: “snake, apple, needle, kettle”.
On the video, is a verbal example of how the code sounded. The code sent below sounded to a Navajo speaker who did not know the Code like this: “sheep eyes nose deer destroy tea mouse turkey onion sick horse 362 bear”. To a trained Code Talker, he would write down: “Send demolition team to hill 362 B”. The Navajo Marine Coder Talker then would give it to someone to take the message to the proper person. It only takes a minute or so to code and decode.
From EdB
The Jonah
If everything went wrong on board and you stumbled from one misfortune to the next, the sailor tended to look for a scapegoat. There had to be a reason for this, so it could only be that a woman was on board. Sometimes the carpenter’s wife (three women were always allowed on board and these were the wives of the carpenter, boatswain, or gunner) was looked at askance, but she had been on board for years and was used to it and put an end to this, with a grim look on her part.
So someone else had to come along… one or the other crew member caught the eye of someone who wasn’t behaving properly and didn’t really belong to the team. And then they had their scapegoat – their Jonah.
A Jonah was a person – on ships, usually a man – who was considered unlucky. Just like the biblical Jonah out of fear, defied God, who had told him to bring his word to Nineveh, by sailing in the opposite direction that he had been told to sail. God then punished Jonah and all those on board with him by conjuring up a mighty storm. The crew threw Jonah overboard to appease God and calm the waves, whereupon Jonah was swallowed by a whale or large fish. When he escaped the beast, he made sure that he obeyed God’s will.
So the sailors on the ship concluded that they would only get rid of their problem if Jonah disappeared. And usually, the person concerned was forced to sacrifice himself and went overboard, drowning himself to restore peace on board. For those who have seen Master and Commander, this is where the superstition is riffed on and the victim, Midshipman Hollom, finally takes his own life after the crew declares him to be the Jonah.
The Navajo Code Talkers have always been the most amazing part of WWII to me.
“Another day of outrage”… seems kinda normal doesn’t it?
Yeah, just another day.
I doubt any government official would waste money if it was immediately taken from his pay, his pension, or in a reduction of staff. Of course, since they decide was is considered waste, nothing is ever waste. Not even thousands of dollars in flying a jet to their location because driving is so middle class.
It’s “pedestrian” – far beneath the equestrian class (now called the jet set).
Salt and vinegar. Mushy peas on the side. Dollop of ketchup. Yum.
x2
No HP Sauce? Interesting.
Jules is right on this.
Nope, salt and vinegar only. HP sauce is for red meat. And the newspaper is mandatory.
Navajo Code Talkers-Ed, never knew there was a code embedded in the Navajo Code Talkers tribal language. Apparently only 3 of those souls remaining above ground.
Four Corners area where a large number of them came from is a very interesting and scenic place to visit.
Thanks for sharing.
Cletus Valvecore
Four Corners isn’t all THAT far from home.
The Gulfstream G550 cost $3.5k in fuel per hour to operate and one and a half times that for maintenance and operational cost. It can be configured for 14 to 19 passengers. It is one of the more efficient small jets.
So, you’re telling me that it’s a bargain for FBI Director Wray to avoid beltway traffic?
That’s really good information to have, I wonder about it every time I spend the $2 on BIG lottery ticket.
So once Vladimir Vladimirovich successfully concludes his treaty with the Taliban, we go back to war in Afghanistan?
It would be a great way to start spending money there again. A lot of high net worth individuals would breathe a sigh of relief.
Vinegar, and to be honest, occasional tartar sauce.
Interesting deep dive on the Navajo code talkers. Simplicity in things like this is brilliance. It was Navajo, but it wasn’t simply Navajo.
More than simple Navajo.
Vinegar and lemon. Pass on eating newspaper, thanks, can’t stomach that crap these days.
Interesting the jet is based in Manassas but easy to see why Fay Wray and company don’t like that trip. Yankee gubmint scum have found that a hard place to make it back from since the early 1860’s (an ancestor was enlisted into the 33rd Virginia Infantry of the Stonewall Brigade and shot up during the second engagement, but survived).
Fish and Chips. Just a bit of salt then a bit of ketchup. I will gladly forgo the mushy peas so that Jules does not run short.
Interesting history lesson about the code talkers. Sometimes low/no technology ideas are king. Beats the heck out of things like the enigma machine for its specific use.
Gulfstream. If you subtract out the 10-20 minutes it would take to get to the jet at Reagan international they are really only saving about 20 minutes maybe. Why do I get the feeling that the disruption to normal passenger traffic at Reagan from the “higher” priority flight being inserted into the daily flights was a plus to Mr. Wray. “See I am important, I just delayed your takeoff for my important flight puny prole”.
Afghanistan/Russia. I would not be at all surprised that Russia is trying to buy all of the abandoned weapons and vehicles. One way to get to near peer I guess.
I hate the mushy peas. Jules considers me a barbarian for scraping that off onto her plate.
Pedo Joe might ship the Taliban some M1A2 Abrams that were inadvertently flown to the USA so that they could sell them to Russia, less 10% for the Big Guy.
Wasn’t this the guy who promptly left a subcommittee hearing because he was “catching a flight” to the Adirondacks for his vacation “getaway”? Turns out it was private, not commercial. The guy is another putz who believes he’s more impressive and important than anyone else. I guess being an unabashed narcissist is a prerequisite for these higher level government jobs., either that or the bum is simply an egomaniac.
The List will never see the light of day. I do wonder if Ms. Wretched Maxwell has it in a secure undisclosed place that, ala MAL before the raid – the FBI requested she add another deadbolt to the closet? Could be in Weird Uncle Joe’s Corvette glovebox, that’s super secret secure.
Biden is the DC Jonah. Will he do the honorable thing and off himself? Not likely (see “narcissist “ above).
Fish-n-Chips- similar to Jules but the occasional tarter sauce and of course the American requirement of ketchup (Heinz 57, even if Mr. Wooden Hair Climate Czar gains some benefit from his marriage).
Heinz Food was sold to a Brazilian company 6 or so years back. Before they sold it, one of my clients was Heinz and yes, they paid top corporate dollar. I did for them what I do now – solve problems. In their case, it involved fixing some of the labor issues they faced in Communist China. Labor disputes led to workers taking hostages. I flew there and settled the crisis without violence 3 times (different subsidiaries) as memory serves.
So thaaaat’s how it works…you marry into money, sell off the company, set for life, distance yourself from the details of how the largess was environmentally destructive, then – with a low IQ clear conscience – start telling everyone else how they should give up creature comforts and live on less to save the environment while hopping from place to place in your previously gained private jet (therefore environmentally laundered). Got it.
NOW you tell me…..
The Navajo Code Talkers deserve all the recognition they get. All were Marines. Other branches of the military used Native Americans from other tribes for the same reasons as the Marines. These Native Americans receive little recognition for their contributions.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
A subject that influenced my younger years with my first born being autistic. Luke vs Arizona was a decision that held, if a state taxes all citizens to fund public education, then the state is obligated to provide each and every student with “an appropriate public education”.
The schools resisted as compiling with the law is expensive and resource consuming.
While living in Washington State in the 1970’s the Education for all Law was drafted on our dining room table and my wife spent three years as an unpaid lobbyist working to get it passed.
Sadly, this time period saw the successful effort to depopulate institutions housing retard and mentally ill people. I argued against it as I knew the resources they needed to live in the community would not be available to meet their needs.
My son, now 51, lives on his own with the help of a monthly visit by a social worker. I can’t say he leads a quality life but it is what it is. He is one of the fortunate ones.
I just cannot see of what was left in Afghanistan (UH-60, MD-530, Mi-17 helicopters, AC-208 and A-29 COIN aircraft, Humvees, small arms, etc.) being of much use in the type of war being fought in Ukraine. Perhaps the Mi-17 might be of use given it is already in use in the Russian army but the rest is either unsuitable (COIN aircraft) or not worth the effort given equivalents are already in Russian service. Of course, it may just be psychological warfare.
They’ll take the MRAPs just to rub our noses in it. The helicopters we left there are too expensive to fix.
“certifications may not be worth the paper that they’re printed on in some instances”
So there I was…I have my own story about worthless certs…
I took over managing a Special Forces Weather Unit from a less than honorable person (He ended his career with a resignation rather than face a Courts Martial).
One of the Officers he had hired was presenting a problem, it wasn’t just that he wasn’t a good Forecaster, but I suspected that his degree was fraudulent.
After some really bad signs, I tested this Lt’s met knowledge with a simple test:
With witnesses, I tasked him to outline the Jet cores on a 300mb chart…
(Given a person with a high school education, I can instruct in 10min the way to properly identify and outline a Jet core)
He failed spectacularly, I decided to contact the college that showed in his records and verify if the degree was forged…
I talked to the head of the Met department at the University of Hawaii,
Strangely enough, he remembered this student and asked the following question:
“He was such a nice guy, we passed him. He’s not doing Operational Meteorology is he?”
His next OPR the Unit Commander and I tried to give him a referral OPR because he posed a danger to personnel and resources with his demonstrated lack of skills…
The local JAG nixed the referral OPR and demanded firewall ratings because:
“He is a minority and might sue us” (He was Pilipino)
Fortunately for him and the people we supported, the day after 911 the Commander had a talk with him and he transferred out, last I heard he was a PA officer answering phones at Scott AFB.
The reason it was good for the LT, is that it was common knowledge within the Unit and the teams that if he was ever sent to a combat zone he would experience first hand the “Jonah” effect.
Certain aggrieved groups have effective and deep skills in working the US Military bureaucracy. Ask (Fat) Leonard Glenn Francis of Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA). Among other things, Fat Leonard supplied whores, blow, and limos to senior military officers. Some married the whores, so skillful were those little vixens. Your LT obviously lacked some of those more obtuse skills, but I suspect that they would have served him well.
There was an intelligence officer at Naval Station North Island who obsessively collected newspapers and stored them in the junker car where he lived. Because he didn’t threaten his incompetent leadership, he was retained and advanced. Yes, he was mentally ill, and a convivial drunk, but he was sheltered and retired at O-4. I knew him. It was difficult to hate him because he was like a woodland fawn, but he should have been cashiered.
I had that same cowboy shootin’ set from Mattel! The derringer in the belt buckle was cool, but I was so skinny I couldn’t push my tummy out far enough to release it from the latch. Went through tons of “Greenie Stick ‘Em Caps” that Summer….
Never had real Fish and Chips, so no comment….
Met several Navajo Code Talkers on the Iowa when a group of them came by. Very interesting bunch of guys.
Salt and vinegar, maybe even ketchup for the chips.
But who is the Jonah, will we cast the Doddering Old Crook overboard?
I picked up an excellent book written by the guy who developed the code talkers from the bookstore at Northern Arizona U in Flagstaff while visiting my cousin, while she was a nursing student. The thing that really stuck with me was when they all mustered out after their service, the bulk of them were still privates, while the stateside band welcoming them home all outranked them. It really seemed quite disingenuous to them, with just cause. I need to look though my books and give that another read.
Stubbs BBQ sauce has replaced ketchup for me and goes on fried fish well. And the chips.
BBQ sauce on fish? That should put hair on your chest.
DC to Manassas is 45 minutes on a GOOD day, bad day, 2 hours. And you just never know ‘which’ day it is… I never had those particular guns, I was stuck with the Sears Roy Rogers set. Re the fish/chips, lemon and catsup for the fries. 🙂
Fish and chips with homemade tarter sauce….case closed. Mushy peas make good fertilizer. Just started Bullet Garden and the two sad sack privates Archer and Goldberg are hilarious. That is all, carry on.
I’m enjoying the book too.
A medium rare still bleeding and talking filet sounds good to me between that roll and chips. The cryptography of the Navajo was genius. The lenape Indians had some words for geese too called Wawa. I’m sure the FBI director didn’t learn that flying on a G6 on the taxpayer dollars. Go Birds!
If I am not anywhere near wife, nor will be near wife for at least 8 hours, then I’ll have some fish with my malt vinegar. Seriously, enough on it that you start sweating vinegar. That’s the good stuff. Goes well with chips, too.
Else, a dish of tartar sauce and a dish of ketchup and I’ll dip the fish and occasionally the chips in the tartar sauce and vice-versa with the ketchup.
But I am really peeved that there is no Long John Silvers or Captain D’s in this town. Because I really miss fish and chips with lots of malt vinegar.
X2
Fish and chips — I have eaten it in England, Scotland and Ireland ( Northern and Republic). Had it from the truck that came through Mildenhall AB. For me, salt and malt vinegar are the only condiments. Straight ketchup (catsup?) on fish is an abomination.
I like mushy peas but never had them with my fish and chips. Love them with roast pork.