Southwest Airlines
Announcing the vax mandate. “I encourage all Southwest employees to meet the federal directive, as quickly as possible, since we value every individual and want to ensure job security for all.”
The pilots union, which said it did not oppose vaccination, had warned that enforcement of such a mandate could lead to labor shortages and flight disruptions. The union is suing the airline for taking a series of “unilateral actions,” including the vaccination requirement.
SW Airlines was unable to account for over 1000 flight cancelations while at the same time other airlines flew… they blamed the weather. Well, that dog don’t hunt, Southwest. Call it for what it is.
I would have hoped that a Texas-based airline would have shown more spine to the progs. Apparently, an employee sick-out kept the jets on the tarmac. I have no intention to fly SW Airlines until they get that sorted out, but I’m just one passenger.
Norse Explorations
Until now it was believed that the Azores island group was discovered by Portuguese sailors in the 15th century. However, a new study shows Norse explorers had brought animals to the islands 700 years earlier. Furthermore, the Norsemen burned and engineered the wild wooded landscape to better suit cattle grazing. More here
Fine – Until — somebody rips past in a speedboat
Identify the AFV/Tank
This is a much harder one than I’ve tossed out in the past. Yes, mass-produced and currently in service, but not easy.
27.2mm Panzer-Wurfkörper 42 L
Sturmpistole Z
Manufactured by either Erma or Walther during WW2 by adapting Mod.34 ‘Heer’ army flare pistols. ~27mm caliber smoothbore barrel with rifled insert, firing explosive projectiles of all sorts. They featured Panzerfaust-type sights, MG13 / GrB39 style of stock with cushioned shoulder pad. Top break-action, single shot.
This is the basic flare pistol (above).
The Adaptation (above and below).
The Kampfpistole Z was designed to provide better urban combat weapons to the German army around 1942. Allegedly inspired by a German soldier firing a grenade stuck to a flare from a standard signal pistol out of desperation, killing several enemy soldiers and breaking his arm, it was meant to fight off lightly-armored vehicles with shaped-charge projectiles and otherwise use the variety of specialized cartridges developed for its predecessor. These included message canisters, smoke bombs, grenades, and of course regular flares. The Kampfpistole obviously had a strong recoil, and it was very soon issued in the Sturmpistole configuration with better sights and a welcome stock.
Smoke cartridges
I don’t know why our old enemy The Weather singled out South West, but there it is. Will I fly again, on any airline? Maybe private ones.
And here we thought that the donkeys had the weather well in hand.
Not just the air line pilots, but reports not from the eneMedia that several ATCs are basically unstaffed due to walkouts. All due to bad weather, of course.
That grenade launcher? Nice. Would be fun to have one to take care of the mope-mobiles, hoopties and the thumpa-thumpas that do disturb my wife’s sleep.
The ATC closures due to “illness” – don’t underestimate the plague – will do more than pilot illness IMHO
I had the HR Nazi ambush me with a mask a couple weeks ago.
First I told her we would be 6 feet apart if she hadn’t approached me with the mask.
She said we were in a “common area” (the only two people there).
I told her right there and then in a loud enough voice that there are other people offering me jobs daily.
Since then, nothing and no enforcement for anybody.
HR (aka “personnel”) people are often zealots to their own pop–psyche ideas foisted on the employee masses. I was called to an “engineering” meeting, sat down, looked at the “handout” while the others were involved in a discussion of said idiocy. Waited for a lull, asked “Who came up with this?” The “executive” HR gal said, “I did.” Looked straight at her, told her it was a waste of time and money and don’t presume to decide what engineering “needs” without first asking, then got up and left.
Now look where we are, mandates are for everyone. Bogus.
Good one, Paul!
I used to have little cards printed that I’d hand out to certain people.
They said: “Your Criticism of This Product or Process Reveals an Unsound Technical Background”.
I only gave them to select individuals.
SW has lots of ex-mil pilots. They’re taking their sick leave and vacation before being fired. THAT is the real reason…
They’re sending a clear message.
My knee-jerk ID is a Marder, but I’m not sure about the turret configuration.
No, but a fair enough guess. The Marder was a self-propelled gun and this is an APC
Guessing he means the IFV one from the ’60s / ’70s. Not it, though.
-Kle.
“Federal Directive”- I call Bravo Sierra. This was a backroom deal between corporations and The Moron in Charge foisted on the citizen. Anyone demanding you stick yourself with an unknown is tyrannical and dictatorial and should be told to “get off my lawn.” We will win the day with pushback in all sectors, mainly because elites are cowards and will fold like a cheap umbrella in a Wyoming breeze. If enough people say “Screw you and the horse you rode in on!” we can quietly bring the economy to a screeching halt. Game on.
A friend, born in Norway to Norwegian parents thru great great great grandparents, extended family…the whole lot, did his Ancestry test…came back with some small percentage of Australian. Imagine his shock. Told him his boys got around. Heck, we’re all probably some percentage Norse.
That’s a good raft, triple deck and nice lashings…needs a Wilson volleyball.
Btw, Have never flown SW, couldn’t get past the cattle call boarding setup.
It’s not my preferred airline but I’ve flown shorter hops on them. I agree, the cattle call holds no appeal.
“Australian”? What does that even mean? Aboriginal? (Yes, I know that there are many tribes or whatever, but I don’t know the names and can’t be arsed to look them up.) Otherwise there should be no “Australian” just English, Scots, Irish, primarily.
I’ve heard that outfits like Ancestry.com look at current-day genetic distributions and use those as the baseline. Therefore for “Swedish” you could get African genes in there, because of the ones they’ve let into the country. Or “Danish” could get you Kossovar genes from the post-Yugoslav breakup “refugees” (who are prone to be stalkery and rapey, or so I am told by my Copenhagen informant).
Scimitar MK II? Looks a bit different than the ones I saw when deployed in the early 90’s, but…
No, again a good guess. I told y’all that this would be a tough one.
Unless I’m mistaken, the Biden/Obama admin. and OSHA still have not codified the mandate. At this point, it’s still just a scare tactic. Walk-outs like this have to happen everywhere, if only to wake the sheep up.
Correct, no executive order, nothing codified, bullying at this point.
Since nobody answered the IDENTIFY THE AFV/TANK question correctly, the solution will be at the bottom of tomorrow’s post.
Abbott did the right thing.
Gov. Abbott issued a executive order Oct,11th @ 1630 banning vaxx mandates by any ‘Entity’ in TX.
https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-issues-executive-order-prohibiting-vaccine-mandates-by-any-entity-adds-issue-to-special-session-agenda
Good move.
At first I thought it was a CV-90 with some weirdo turret, but then I thought – oh, wait: it’s that Spanish thing!
I had to look up the name: Pizarro VCI. I guess it’s one of the ASCOD versions.
-Kle.
COVID fallout.
Yesterday saw a bumper sticker, small, with the words, “Keep the Faith” and a smaller Xiden logo. Pathetic, IMO.
Very.
They may be on their third booster shot?
Weekly! And Free! (Coming soon to a Walgreen’s or WalMart near you.)
You want fries with that?