Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

We will not go back.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Petty moves from a petty man.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

You are here: Home / Gun Issues / Gun nuts / The Amusement Never Stops

The Amusement Never Stops

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I’m still checking in on that wingnut gun nut site, and they continue to believe I was lying about my service because I carried a .45. Apparently, the kerning states that everyone carried 9mm’s at the time. So I just imagined carrying it, qualifying on it, breaking it down and using clp to clean it, doing nightly sensitive items checks to make sure we had our weapons and night vision goggles, etc., having it dig into my chest while sleeping in the tank, and the lanyard attached to me and the weapon.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not upset or angry, I’m laughing at these maroons. The best part of the whole thing is I was a fucking TANKER. The .45 was little more than a pain in the ass for me, nothing more than some other shit I had to keep track of all the god damned time and a holster that was always getting caught on stuff in the close confines of an M1A1. I mean, if the enemy defeated the 120 mm smooth bore, the TC’s .50 cal, the loaders 240, and the gunners 240, then our shit was so in the fucking wind that the .45 would have been no help anyway. It’s really quite hysterical, especially since I was on the CO’s tank, and the only damned thing he cared about was the radio. We could be upside down, on fire, but if the radio was working and Black Six was in touch with the scout platoons, the armor platoons, the mortar platoon, and red leg, that was all he fucking cared about. I can still hear him today- “If you don’t weigh 200 lbs, you are nothing but a big woman” and “clean the v-pacs (the air filters, which you had to bang out bout 5 times a day or more in the sandy climate), but check the radio first.”

These people have so lost the plot.

Reader Interactions

171Comments

  2. 2.

    Rex Everything

    With the social safety net hoisted onto the chopping block, we hear nothing from Balloon Juice except fish-in-barrel shots at McArdle, the NRA, Bork, demented anti-feminists, etc.

    PLEASE: Call your congressperson and urge him/her to oppose any raw deal. ttp://act.boldprogressives.org/call/call_ssmc_2012_congress_dem_nos/?source=link-auto&referring_akid=a12464458.1645676.vr8oLa

  3. 3.

    Robin G.

    “Lost the plot” is a phrase that needs to be more widespread here in the US. So is “gone pear-shaped”.

  4. 4.

    JPL

    They would have served but they had hemorrhoids. Now they have to sit on a donut and offer help. Have a little love for your asshole friends..

  5. 5.

    Dave

    I mean, if the enemy defeated the 120 mm smooth bore, the TC’s .50 cal, the loaders .240, and the gunners .240, then our shit was so in the fucking wind that the .45 would have been no help anyway.

    This is the exact same logic that convinced the Empire to leave that little thermal exhaust port on the Death Star.

  8. 8.

    ranchandsyrup

    @Robin G.: I resemble both of those remarks. I am working on integrating all permutations of wank. So far, the wanking hand motion in lieu of ye olde middle finger has generated the most responses.

  10. 10.

    JPL

    @Rex Everything: Call your congress folk and ask them to outlaw concealed weapons. If I go into Macy’s I want to know who is packing so I can leave.
    John Wayne didn’t conceal. I should be able to shop without knowing who has a gun.

  14. 14.

    JKormac

    Here’s the plot: We’ve been choosing to keep the guns and lose the kids.

    But that’s just turned around.

  18. 18.

    Lee

    The morans cannot even be bothered to check wiki?

    It officially entered service in 1990

    From here.

    Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the military knows that it takes forever to get anything done. And more than likely they are not going to upset the SOP for deployed units.

    Fucking morans

  20. 20.

    Rex Everything

    @bootsy: There is no easier or or less controversial activity for a Balloon Juice writer posting on Balloon Juice than to attack the NRA, loony wingers, McMegan, or (for christ’s sake) Robert Bork. This is what is meant by shooting fish in a barrel.

    By the way, call me “asshole,” will you? Your face looks like a mosaic of craters.

  21. 21.

    The Dangerman

    @John Cole:

    …because Boehner blew it up…

    As I guessed yesterday, anything with tax increases is DOA in the House; shit, Boehner wouldn’t be able to pass the 1M limit except it’s DOA in the Senate. We’re so going over the cliff, now it’s just theater, and Obama gets to play the man willing to cut SS, knowing full well the Right won’t sign on with the taxes at 250K.

    Of course, this is all prelude to the Right threatening to shoot the hostage over Debt Ceiling and it appears Obama is going to say shoot (the Right wouldn’t dare pull the trigger, I don’t think).

  22. 22.

    The Red Pen

    Just read through a bunch of the comments. I’m think the wingnut playbook has been reduced to simply shaking their collective fist at reality hoping that it will eventually get off their collective lawn.

  23. 23.

    Calouste

    Cole, any opinion about how the two Senators from your state are doing the legwork for the NRA by trying to lay the blame for gun violence on video games?

  24. 24.

    General Stuck

    @Rex Everything:

    A poison pill is a poison pill for all or nothing deals. Obama flipped around the ratio for cuts and revenue, as a thumb in the eye of the wingnuts cause he won the election. If you recall, Boehner and the nutters said it would have to be 10 to 1 spending cuts over revenue enhancers and no raise in marginal rates – before the election.

    So after, Obama doubles down his offer at 2 to 1 tax increases over spending cuts. And currently, makes the final offer 1.3 trillion in new tax revenues, to 840 billion in cuts. That is big fucking unicorn head in Boehner’s bed. An offer he can’t accept, just like before. All the other shit is prattle in the wind, or left wing rumor freekouts by the Emoprogs of Angst. So launch yer canoe, we goin’ over the fiscal cliff.

  25. 25.

    Soonergrunt

    Anyone who was in the Army in the 1980s and early 90s remembers some units carrying .45s. It’s not like the transition to 9mm happened overnight.
    When I was a patient at Letterman Army Medical Center at the Presidio of San Francisco in 1992, the MPs still carried .45s. Being Infantry, my unit had 9mm pistols that the Army was changing to, but all the NCOs talked about how the .45 was the better weapon.
    I was Light Infantry in the early 90s and when we exercised with a Mech Infantry unit form 1st CAV at NTC, all the Bradley crews carried .45s and M-3 grease gun sub-machine guns. This was a couple of years AFTER Desert Storm.

  26. 26.

    Mnemosyne

    @Rex Everything:

    With the social safety net hoisted onto the chopping block, we hear nothing from Balloon Juice except fish-in-barrel shots at McArdle, the NRA, Bork, demented anti-feminists, etc.

    Because, really, who gives a shit about 20 dead kindergarteners and the adults who died trying to save them, amirite? Obviously, it’s all a plot to hide the details when Obummer kills Social Security!!1!

    Out of curiosity, are you in the camp who thinks it was all a false flag operation by Obama to conceal his nefarious plans, or do you just think he’s an opportunist?

  28. 28.

    Linda Featheringill

    I don’t know if Obama is just messing with the Republicans but he is certainly giving the folks over at Great Orange Satan fits. They stroke, and then spasm, and then seize, and then . . . .

    I agree with John on this one though. Nothing has passed yet, nothing has been signed, nothing is written into law.

  30. 30.

    Jay in Oregon

    John, as you know from your time in the wingnut-o-sphere, “shoot the messenger” is SOP. If you can offer a valid argument or present irrefutable facts, then you are fair game.

    It’s why we joke about granite countertops here on BJ; it’s why John Kerry is loathed by the jock-sniffing weekend warriors; and on and on.

  35. 35.

    JCT

    @Linda Featheringill: Don’t we go through this every single time? GOS explodes into a frenzy of “he sold us out, he owes us, AHHHH” and then none of these doomsday scenarios come to pass.

    Obama knows damn well that he is dealing with the weakest Speaker in modern times and a batshit insane House that can’t agree on anything. He’s not going to sell the farm here. Especially not when he has the leverage.

  37. 37.

    Boehner's Plan B

    I don’t need to be an oncologist to know I don’t want to get cancer. I don’t need to be a NASCAR driver to know I don’t want to get in a bad car wreck. I don’t need to know every detail about guns and gun terminology to know something’s got to be done about gun violence in this country.

  38. 38.

    Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)

    @Rex Everything:

    By the way, call me “asshole,” will you? Your face looks like a mosaic of craters.

    It’s easier to just call him a ‘Moonie’.

  41. 41.

    Omnes Omnibus

    In the late 80s and early 90s, Corps assets in Germany had .45s and M-16A1s. Divisional units had 9mms and A2s. I carried both an A1 and a .45. I used a 9mm as a qualification weapon once, but that was it.

  42. 42.

    Scott S.

    @Mnemosyne: Emoprogs like Rex aren’t that much different from the wingnuts. They all suffer from a weird lack of empathy and a weirder pride in their inability to care.

    And they’re all enraged that there’s a black guy in their White House…

  44. 44.

    Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)

    @ Mnemosyne

    Plan ‘B’ should be always B closing, cuz 2nd place gets you a set of steak knives.

  45. 45.

    General Stuck

    @Violet:

    It is pathetic, and Kos with his clown graph from exit polling claiming Obama’s negotiating style is costing him and democrats. I guess he hasn’t received the memo yet on how the election turned out.

    Krugman too. And all the conspiracy theories drummed up like the wingnuts do, in a kind of left wing wurlitzer frothing of increasing impending ultra betrayal, and a kind of joyous relief that they are finally being betrayed like they deserve to be.

  46. 46.

    Roger Moore

    I mean, if the enemy defeated the 120 mm smooth bore, the TC’s .50 cal, the loaders .240, and the gunners .240, then our shit was so in the fucking wind that the .45 would have been no help anyway.

    I assume you were supposed to have a personal weapon so you wouldn’t be defenseless if your tank got hit and you had to bail out. Obviously didn’t happen much in Desert Storm, but it was a reasonable worry in Germany.

    And the idiots who are flaming you need to learn to check Wikipedia. A quick check there points out that while the B92 M9 was officially adopted in 1985, actually buying the damn things and getting them into service took quite a while.

  47. 47.

    cathyx

    If a big stink isn’t being made until the agreement is signed, then it’s too late. Let the kvetching continue.

  48. 48.

    Hill Dweller

    @Linda Featheringill: IMHWO, once a deal wasn’t agreed to quickly, Obama knew Boehner would never deliver his caucus. So he started leaking compromises that were never going to happen in order to inoculate himself from blame when we go over the cliff.

  49. 49.

    Rex Everything

    @Mnemosyne:

    Out of curiosity, are you in the camp who thinks it was all a false flag operation by Obama to conceal his nefarious plans, or do you just think he’s an opportunist?

    Neither. I think opposing wealthy and powerful interests is incredibly difficult for a president even if he wants to, and impossible if the public doesn’t exert pressure. I think Obama was referring to this fact every time he urged us to “hold [his] feet to the fire.”

  51. 51.

    Jeff Spender

    With regard to GOS and all of the freakout, I am rather ambivalent.

    With regard to Boner, who didn’t see that coming?

  53. 53.

    Mnemosyne

    @JCT:

    Don’t we go through this every single time? GOS explodes into a frenzy of “he sold us out, he owes us, AHHHH” and then none of these doomsday scenarios come to pass.

    Yep. At this point, I’m starting to feel like someone with a relative who’s a Harold Camping follower who keeps saying this week is when the Rapture is going to happen … okay, it’s going to be this week … okay, I was wrong before, but, really, it’s going to be this week … okay, now, really, two weeks from now it’s totally going to happen …

  54. 54.

    ranchandsyrup

    After many years of liberals being ridiculed for their circular firing squad technique, then mocking conservatives for using the same circular firing squad technique, liberals are still forming the circular firing squad.

  55. 55.

    General Stuck

    @Rex Everything:

    I think Obama was referring to this fact every time he urged us to “hold [his] feet to the fire.”

    LOL, you can justify all kinds of specious shit under that banner. Leftists going full “retard” wasn’t what Obama had in mind, I don’t think.

  58. 58.

    Mnemosyne

    @Rex Everything:

    I think opposing wealthy and powerful interests is incredibly difficult for a president even if he wants to, and impossible if the public doesn’t exert pressure.

    So “opposing wealthy and powerful interests” were the ones who murdered 26 people in Connecticut to try and distract people from the ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations? Because I really don’t understand why anyone with a normal amount of empathy would dismiss people’s anguished posting about the events in Connecticut as “fish-in-a-barrel shots.”

  60. 60.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @cathyx: Make a big stink, fine. Make sure policy makers know that fucking with SS is unacceptable. Great. But don’t say that Obama is finally getting his chance to destroy the social safety net.

  61. 61.

    Ted & Hellen

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m not upset or angry, I’m laughing at these maroons.

    Sorry John. Love ya, but you’re obsessing about what these moron wingers think about you, and there’s some reason for that.

  63. 63.

    Mnemosyne

    @Rex Everything:

    Please identify the person who is talking about “Plan B” so I know that you actually have some clue what you’re talking about.

    Also, I don’t think anyone here objects to people calling and writing to their representatives to oppose any bad compromises. Many of us have already done so. We’re just trying to warn you that if you write to your rep saying that you want him/her to stop Obama from killing Social Security, your message is getting tossed into the “nut job” pile.

  68. 68.

    Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)

    @Mnemosyne:

    if you write to your rep saying that you want him/her to stop Obama from killing Social Security, your message is getting tossed into the “nut job” pile

    Yeah, because everyone knows the last thing this President defaults to is, political expediency..

  71. 71.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    You know I did weapons training when I was in the WRNS. I hated it. The 9mm pistol was fine except that I shredded my fingers every time I tried to cock it, the rifle was fine other than the fact that it punched the shit out of my shoulder when I fired it, the shotgun was fine except that the blowback sent me on my arse. Don’t ask me about the machine gun, I couldn’t even lift the barrel to do anything but shoot a nice hole in the ground about three feet in front of me. I was really good with the plastic explosive however, do you have any idea how much a mickey mouse plastic explosive figure can lift a tank off the ground?

    The one think that I discovered I was really good at however was batting my eyelids and saying “Stan, I really don’t know how to clean this weapon can you do it for me pleeeeeeeeeeese” (bat eyelids some more). Yeah I was good at that.

    What can I say, I am a gurl.

  72. 72.

    Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    don’t say that Obama is finally getting his chance to destroy the social safety net.

    That’s not the concern, and I think you know that,

  73. 73.

    I_D_Inuse

    Do Not FEED the less than human internet wanders who need a gun or an assault weapon to find a way to feed the sickness in their souls and minds. Rather ask, what.. in our society or community is lacking and how can we as a caring and concerned individuals that believe in life do to help?

    I am beginning to think the paranoid mental illness is far more prevalent and dangerous in our American experience than ideology. I am more than scared…..

  74. 74.

    Mnemosyne

    @Rex Everything:

    Dude, this is what you linked to:

    The president proposed cutting Social Security benefits. Tell your member of Congress to OPPOSE cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits.

    That part that says “the president”? That means President Obama, not some other president of something else. You are specifically asking us to contact our representatives to prevent the president from cutting Social Security.

    If you don’t agree with the thing you linked us all to, you need to say so.

  75. 75.

    SGT Hammer

    I went over and instigated a few hundred iterations of blatherskite idiocy in that 900+ thread. The OP eventually implicitly admitted that Cole was in the Army but sidestepped to saying that following orders to put tape over the rounds in his magazine whilst on guard duty meant that Cole couldn’t have been a STRAC super-trooper like himself.

    IMO, it’s stupid to question whether a soldier actually served without questioning that person first. But if you do it, and you’re proven wrong, and you don’t step up and apologize for your mistake… you’re basically saying, “I’m a soup sandwich.”

    The whole crowd of them are soup sandwiches. Except for the OP. He’s a shitty soup sandwich.

  76. 76.

    The Tragically Flip

    Hopefully this John-Cole-Faked-His-Army-Experience thing takes off with a whole movement devoted to demanding Cole’s LONG FORM SERVICE RECORD.

  78. 78.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Oh and by the way I just spent my evening at about every English food online shopping site ordering my once a year blowout of English foods, Quavers, Hula Hoops, Pot Noodles, English Bacon, English Bangers, Gammon Steaks, Pork Pies, I am going to be eating non stop until March.

  79. 79.

    YellowJournalism

    @JPL:

    They would have served but they had are hemorrhoids. Have a little love for your asshole friends..

    Fixed that for you.

  81. 81.

    The Tragically Flip

    your message is getting tossed into the “nut job” pile

    I don’t think we’ve seen any evidence that members of congress have such a pile. Every teahad phone tree operation makes them go rubbery in the knees, even the Democrats who could never ever get those peoples’ votes.

    I’m fairly sure if 1,000,000 people wrote to their member of congress to demand gravity be repealed, there would be a bill introduced the next day, and it would have co-sponsors.

  82. 82.

    Blue galangal

    @Soonergrunt: My husband was stationed at Ft Knox in 1988 and was a platoon leader in a mech infantry company. He was issued a .45. He did not get a 9 mm until he was assigned to Germany in 1990. (He liked the .45 better, fwiw.)

  84. 84.

    Rex Everything

    @Mnemosyne: But dude! Dudette! The president DID propose cutting Social Security benefits! Who denies this? Read Krugman! Read Digby! Read the Washington Post! Read the Huffington Post! It is a fact!

    If you think simply linking to a page that simply states the fact that Obama proposed something = criticism of Obama—specifically, criticism that reveals the critic to be a racist who is only exercising his hatred for a black president—I will suggest that you’re reading a great deal, a vast deal, into the conversation that is simply not there.

  85. 85.

    Cassidy

    You would think these Xbox Commandos would know that MARSOC is using 1911’s, currently, and that ARMY SOF is fond of Sig Sauer and H&K in .45 and .40. But hey, they saw something in a movie once, so there is that.

  91. 91.

    Jay S

    @Litlebritdifrnt: My wife is always suggesting next time we go to England we need to find out what the “custard tarts” are from the PBS reruns of “As time goes by”. A mail order source might help a great deal since my default for next time is never. Not that I have anything against England, I just hate travel.

  92. 92.

    jl

    Cole says he was in the army. But looks like he was never trained to gang rush bad guys unarmed and take them out that way. Heck, even little kids can do that, against machine guns. Cole? Army? I don’t believe it.

    /snark

  93. 93.

    MikeJ

    @Soonergrunt: Totally unrelated to anything, but since you’re here, didja see the article on Ars today about hospital IT? It’s on my stack of things I haven’t gotten to yet, but I thought of you when I saw the title.

  94. 94.

    Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    What is the concern then?

    On economic matters, especially, it’s Capitulation to those who do want to destroy the safety net.

  95. 95.

    Rex Everything

    @Mnemosyne:

    if you write to your rep saying that you want him/her to stop Obama from killing Social Security, your message is getting tossed into the “nut job” pile.

    The link I posted does NOT say “stop Obama from killing Social Security.” Or anything like it.

    It says “The president proposed cutting Social Security benefits”—which every effin’ news organ in the country is currently saying—and “Tell your member of Congress to OPPOSE cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits.”

    Just thought someone needed to make that clear.

  99. 99.

    Rosie Outlook

    You’re not fooling those heroes, John. They know that while the other soldiers were defending our freedom in Kuwait and cleaning sand out of their 9 mm’s, you were lounging around inside your tank reading a clip–er, a magazine . You’re busted and you might as well come clean.

    We can has pet pictures please?

  100. 100.

    Politically Lost

    Just got back from the company Christmas Party. The office glibertarian started in on Benghazi by talking about Clinton not being able to testify and how it’s all so strange and then Patraeus getting canned…it just raises so many questions.

    I innocently poured gasoline on the fire by asking what it was that he was so upset about. And, kept asking. Until the rest of the party had to tell him to shut up. “Four innocent Americans,” ended up being shouted a number of times after the shut up command.

    I admit, it felt good to press the buttons.

  101. 101.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I knew my limitations, I accepted them. Thankfully I had the absolute best, and I mean the best supporting group of guys that the world has ever seen on my side, I was one woman in a Naval Air Squadron of hundreds of macho men that you can imagine. Every single one of them would have laid down their lives for me, and that is the reason that I left the service when then started sending women to sea.

  102. 102.

    Concerned Citizen

    I love how every comment in that thread contains tough guy hyperbole. It’s full of awesome sauce.

    I was at a Fenway and I guy I was having a argument with said to me “I’m going to fuck you in the ass like the bitch that you are”.

    I said “What’s up with the gay sex stuff, I thought we were fighting?”

    He said “I’m no faggot, I fuck the shit out of my girlfriend every night” as he grabbed a hold of the girl next to him.

    I said “She must be the proudest woman in Fenway park right now”

    That guy and his buddies eventually went to get the security guard and told on me for being mean. There was no rape attempt. Too funny.

    Sorry for the long post, but reading that site brings me back to that moment. Those guys post on that site.

  104. 104.

    Mnemosyne

    @Rex Everything:

    The president DID propose cutting Social Security benefits! Who denies this?

    You mean other than the White House? I know that Boehner is pushing hard for chained-CPI, but I haven’t seen anything saying that the idea originated from the White House, aka was proposed by them. Do you have an actual link to an actual quote from a named person at the White House, or just more second-hand reporting?

    Read Krugman! Read Digby! Read the Washington Post! Read the Huffington Post! It is a fact!

    I think you have a little trouble distinguishing between “fact” and “rumor.”

  105. 105.

    Rex Everything

    @General Stuck:

    LOL, you can justify all kinds of specious shit under that banner. Leftists going full “retard” wasn’t what Obama had in mind, I don’t think.

    I’m not surprised by much that you post. But I am amazed that you consider contacting one’s congressional representative, in an attempt to oppose cuts to Social Security, to be “going full retard.”

  106. 106.

    Bobby Thomson

    @beltane:

    Half of them are in fullbore “Obama is worse than Bush! He sold us out!” mode while the other half are just shaking their heads. Very bipolar place today since its creation.

    Fixed. Again, the GOS is not monolithic and does not speak with one voice. That’s why it’s ridiculous to generalize about what people are doing there. I got bored with the place when they institutionalized cliques so that the Jets and Sharks didn’t have to mix anymore and could play by with themselves.

  108. 108.

    Brian

    The whole argument is because someone calls soda pop, they therefore couldn’t possibly have been in the military.

    That is the best argument they can come up with?

  109. 109.

    Norbrook

    @Lee: I remember the wailing and gnashing of teeth among the traditionalists when the .45 was being considered for phase-out. Yes, I also remember having to break it down, put it together, and all that other crap when I was in. Even though we were told that we’d actually be issued M16’s, but according to various SOP’s we were supposed to using the pistol.

  110. 110.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @MikeJ:

    Ha I have probably a ten year supply of “brown sauce” cause my Mum brings it over with her every year and I never use it, I absolutely hate it. The only time I use it is when I am perhaps making barbeque sauce, other than that it stays in the cupboard until Mum and Norman come to visit.

  111. 111.

    Soonergrunt

    @MikeJ: Yup. Medical IT is a weird mix of throwback OSs, the latest in networking hardware, off-the-shelf tech, and customized stuff that has to be bought and managed as an entire piece.
    We are testing iPads, but they are a major security concern, and there’s things the Doctors need to do that we won’t let them do with iPads because we can’t secure them adequately. We have state of the art stuff in pre-deploy, but we can’t use it on some floors because some hardware/software combo only works with WinXP and only with certain tech that was invented in the 1990s, while other stuff is the newest, shiniest, fastest shit you’ve ever seen.

  112. 112.

    MikeJ

    @Omnes Omnibus: You are of course correct:
    Book 6, Dr. No, page 34:

    “Morning, Armourer. Now I want to ask you some questions.” M’s voice was casual. “First of all, what do you think of the Beretta, the 25?”
    “Ladies’ gun, sir.”
    M raised ironic eyebrows at Bond. Bond smiled thinly.
    “Really! And why do you say that?”
    “No stopping power, sir. But it’s easy to operate. A bit fancy looking too, if you know what I mean, sir. Appeals to the ladies.”
    “How would it be with a silencer?”
    “Still less stopping power, sir. And I don’t like silencers. They’re heavy and get stuck in your clothing when you’re in a hurry. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to try a combination like that, sir. Not if they were meaning business.”
    M said pleasantly to Bond, “Any comment, 007?”

  113. 113.

    Elias

    You’re lucky you had that .45 Cole. You know the orders. Out of commission become a pillbox. Out of ammo become a bunker. Out of time…

  115. 115.

    Cassidy

    @Rex Everything: I’m curious. Why did you feel the need to derail two threads? We got it. “SOLD US OUT! WORSE THAN BUSH!”. I mean shit, if you got something to say that’s so damn important [to you] go start a damn blog.

  116. 116.

    Soonergrunt

    @Brian: I’m calling you out. Everybody knows that we called it “Drink, cola flavored with soda water and artificial sweetners”.

    In other words, yes. That’s what they’re claiming.

  117. 117.

    Rex Everything

    @Mnemosyne:

    You mean other than the White House? I know that Boehner is pushing hard for chained-CPI, but I haven’t seen anything saying that the idea originated from the White House, aka was proposed by them. Do you have an actual link to an actual quote from a named person at the White House, or just more second-hand reporting?

    I said everyone in the country is saying the President proposed cutting Social Security benefits. I feel that the following backs that statement up (or at least makes it ridiculous to pretend the idea was invented by me & a few firebaggers):

    ABC News: “Now that the GOP and the White House have both offered plans to change how inflation is calculated, it appears likelier than ever that some new CPI formula–and some cuts to Social Security benefits–will be included in a final deal.

    MSNBC: “President Obama’s new fiscal cliff proposal includes cuts to Social Security and a middle-class tax hike”

    HuffPo: “President Barack Obama, with his latest fiscal cliff offer, proposes extending the Bush tax cuts for everyone earning less than $400,000 a year, and paying for it by increasing taxes on the middle class and cutting Social Security and Medicare.”

    Greg Sargent: “This may cheer liberals who are worried that the White House is giving too much ground to Republicans by proposing “Chained CPI” for Social Security as part of a final fiscal cliff deal — in effect agreeing to a cut in Social Security benefits.”

    NY Times: “The White House says the president’s plan would cut spending by $1.22 trillion over 10 years, compared with $1.2 trillion in cuts from the Republicans’ initial offer. Of that, $800 billion is cuts to programs, and $122 billion comes from adopting a new measure of inflation that slows the growth of government benefits, especially Social Security.”

    Boston Globe: As part of negotiations with Republicans, Obama has raised the possibility of changing the inflation index used to calculate automatic, annual increases in Social Security benefits.

  119. 119.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Soonergrunt: It’s that terminology I always found amusing. I wasn’t in the service, but eons ago I was at summer camp where they had surplus blankets labeled “Blanket, bed, O.D., wool.” This 8-year old found that funny for some reason.

  120. 120.

    jl

    Thanks to the wingnut reaction to the recent tragedy, this year’s round up of the 10 weirdest animal discoveries of 2012 seems kind of tame. Here are my favorites.

    7. A new fish with a penis on its head

    9. Zombie worms use acid to eat bones, have weird sex life

    If you need even more proof of the horrors of the deep, consider the zombie worm, which feeds off the bones of whales and other scavenged sea creatures … despite not having a mouth. This July, researchers at the Society for Experimental Biology’s annual meeting announced that they’d figured out how this mouthless creature eats bone. It excretes acid.

    The acids allow the worms to break down and absorb the bone, the researchers explained. But that’s just the tip of the weirdness iceberg for these amazingly adapted worms. The females grow about an inch (3 cm) long, but males never grow larger than 1/20th of an inch (1 millimeter). They seem to live in the gelatinous tubes covering the females, serving no purpose but to fertilize her eggs.

    10. Turtles pee from their mouths

    The 10 Weirdest Animal Discoveries of 2012
    news.yahoo.com/10-weirdest-animal-discoveries-2012-174755525.html

    I kept the text of number 9. Why did such an awful thing happen to the man zombie worms. I say, zombie worm gun control did it.

  122. 122.

    jl

    Huh, my comment is in moderation. Why? Because a guy can’t post anything about a fish with a p3nuc in its head, that’s why, on this totalitarian blog.

    Thanks to the wingnut reaction to the recent tragedy, this year’s round up of the 10 weirdest animal discoveries of 2012 seems kind of tame. Here are my favorites.

    7. A new fish with a p * n * * on its head

    9. Zombie worms use acid to eat bones, have weird sex life

    If you need even more proof of the horrors of the deep, consider the zombie worm, which feeds off the bones of whales and other scavenged sea creatures … despite not having a mouth. This July, researchers at the Society for Experimental Biology’s annual meeting announced that they’d figured out how this mouthless creature eats bone. It excretes acid.
    The acids allow the worms to break down and absorb the bone, the researchers explained. But that’s just the tip of the weirdness iceberg for these amazingly adapted worms. The females grow about an inch (3 cm) long, but males never grow larger than 1/20th of an inch (1 millimeter). They seem to live in the gelatinous tubes covering the females, serving no purpose but to fertilize her eggs.

    10. Turtles pee from their mouths

    The 10 Weirdest Animal Discoveries of 2012

    news.yahoo.com/10-weirdest-animal-discoveries-2012-174755525.html

    I kept the text of number 9. Why did such an awful thing happen to the man zombie worms. I say, zombie worm gun control did it.

  123. 123.

    lyrics4losers

    Their dillusions are so ingrained they will deny reality even when it doesn’t serve any purpose.

  124. 124.

    Cacti

    I keep hearing from my progressive betters that the “chained CPI” or somesuch is now the mostest importantest thing in the world.

    It’s the new public option.

  125. 125.

    Tractarian

    The amount of Army lingo in this post should be enough to convince anyone that John Cole is no bullsh!tter when it comes to his service.

  126. 126.

    dmsilev

    Sad news to report: The “Eagle carrying away small child” video is a fake; both the eagle and the child in the video are CGI. (link)

  128. 128.

    chopper

    @Rex Everything:

    I said everyone in the country is saying the President proposed cutting Social Security benefits.

    i’ll bet everyone in your family says you’re the smartest kid in 5th grade.

  130. 130.

    e.a.f.

    if some politicians want people to carry guns all the time won’t that be a problem if they are drunk or high on crack? Just wondering. Then what if people are having a really heated discussion on politics, religion, or sex & they decide to end the discussion & someone shoots to end it? Anyhow, how are some people going to carry guns all the time. Like it totally, totally ruins the line of suits & what about yoga pants. Like where do you put the thing? I meazn the gun. My evening bag isn’t big enough for a gun. it barely has room for my lipstick after I put my driver’s license & money in it. some of these poltiicans gotta be men.

  131. 131.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Jay S:

    My wife is always suggesting next time we go to England we need to find out what the “custard tarts” are from the PBS reruns of “As time goes by”.

    If you have a Portuguese bakery nearby, a pastel de nata is a very good approximation, and very good in its own right.

    I notice that Litlebritdifrnt hasn’t expressed a preference for Quality Street vs Roses, the British equivalent of the 9mm vs. .45 argument.

  132. 132.

    Soonergrunt

    @Gin & Tonic: The Supply guys would actually start to talk like that in their normal conversation.
    ME: I need a 556 cleaning kit
    Supply Sgt: One Kit, cleaning small arms with brush.

    ME: Hey, what’s for chow?
    Supply Sgt: Rice parboiled, stew veg beef, and cake marble.
    ME: fuckit. I’m gonna rack out.

  133. 133.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @HobbesAI: Nope the only Pot Noodle flavours worth talking about are Chicken and Mushroom and Beef and Tomato. Anything else is frippery. One of my favorite bloggers in the world described Chicken and Mushroom Pot noodles thusly.

    Now, the thing is, if you’re an English male, what you do when you leave home is go to the shop nearest to your new place, buy a Pot Noodle (Chicken and Mushroom), feast on its delights slumped on the sofa in front of the TV, swill out the plastic carton it came in, then use this carton for all your subsequent meals until you get married. There’s a beauty of economy to it.

  134. 134.

    Raven

    @Gin & Tonic: That’s is what is called “noun nomenclature”. PBR, PATROL BOAT, RIVER, 1 each. Think about the famous “Poncho Liner”. A poncho has snaps on the edges and a hole with a hood in the center. A “poncho” liner has no such hole so how in the fuck is it a liner?

  135. 135.

    Or something like that.Suffern Ace

    @Cacti: Yep. The first article from huffpo on this outrage made me think someone was trying to make a cave in which the president got most of what he wanted into the biggest crumble ever kind of turned me off. Apparently raising taxes on those making 400k a year and restoring the social security tax on everyone was the bridge too far. Sure, the working stiffs got to keep their eitc and their bush tax breaks, but since 250k was raised, we might as well go home. Oh, and the social security tax cut is apparently the new gulag for progressives. Who cares about keeping that trust fund solvent or middle class income tax rates when we can whine about the taxes not going up for those making 251k – 399k.

  136. 136.

    Soonergrunt

    @Raven: tie it in with ties at the corners into the ring grommets, and snap the poncho together and turn it into a lightweight sleeping bag.
    Rarely if ever used the heavy bag they gave us as light infantry cause you had to carry that fucker. So travel light, freeze at night. Then they replaced it with a Gore Tex unit that was fucking awesome!
    When I was Mech, we had the heavy stuff, but we also had the Bradley to schlep it around.

  138. 138.

    gwangung

    @Rex Everything:

    Neither. I think opposing wealthy and powerful interests is incredibly difficult for a president even if he wants to, and impossible if the public doesn’t exert pressure. I think Obama was referring to this fact every time he urged us to “hold [his] feet to the fire.”

    Well spoken.

    However, some folks don’t seem to know the difference between holding his feet to the fire and throwing him in the fire. (or at least it seems to me).

  139. 139.

    Raven

    @Soonergrunt: I slept on the ground in the down bag in Korea, fucker was heavy but it sure was welcome. I have a nice stash of poncho liners but not for lining no fucking ponchos!

  143. 143.

    Jerry

    Are you sure they aren’t talking about penis size? ‘Cause that right there could be the source of the confusion.

  144. 144.

    The Tragically Flip

    Is this yet more projection? They run around exaggerating or inventing military careers for themselves so Cole must be doing the same.

  147. 147.

    Raven

    @Omnes Omnibus: Fuckin A, what’s a goddamn “specialist”? Of course I was one twice and I responded a lot better to private! I still think of myself as Private Doctor. . .

  148. 148.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Soonergrunt:

    It’s always been this way. I don’t know how this was done, what strings were pulled, etc, but HHC 9th ID was one of the first units to get kevlar helmets, just in time for an exercise deployment to Germany, in 1986.

    The troops IN Germany didn’t have them.

  150. 150.

    General Stuck

    @Rex Everything:

    I’m not surprised by much that you post. But I am amazed that you consider contacting one’s congressional representative, in an attempt to oppose cuts to Social Security, to be “going full retard.”

    And I’m not surprised by much that you post, that is a bald face lie. I never said to not contact your rep, I was speaking all through this thread about emoprogs on the internet going full retard. Your comments being good examples.

  151. 151.

    Dave Ruddell

    John, when you refer to the ‘.240’, are you, in fact referring to an M240, rather than a weapon chambered in .240 calibre? I’m not trying to be snarky, but this is the sort of thing that the lovely people would seize on as ‘proof’ that you were never in the army.

  153. 153.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @cathyx: I wouldn’t mind any “Tell Obama to Not Touch Social Security” diaries. I can’t stand the “He Sold Us Out Again” diaries.

  154. 154.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Raven:

    You know this, of course, but there used to be Spec 6s, Spec 7s, Spec 8s.

    It was a rank for enlisted guys who had seniority, but were not in leadership positions, and held down technical billets.

  155. 155.

    Raven

    @Villago Delenda Est: And before that they had

    “Technical Sergeant was a rank in the United States Army until 1948. During World War II it was abbreviated as TSgt. or T/Sgt. The rank was above Staff Sergeant and below Master Sergeant. The grade was considered to be grade 2 at the time (the equivalent of an E-6 today).”

  156. 156.

    Mnemosyne

    @Rex Everything:

    Remember last week, when everyone was reporting that the Medicare age was going to be raised to 67? And then it turned out that all of the “reporting” was tracing back to one Jonathan Chait blog post that Ezra Klein wrote a piece about that Krugman wrote about?

    Feeding frenzy by the press =/= truth. How many incorrect “facts” were published about the shooting in Connecticut that have turned out to be false by this point?

    At any rate, I’m bored now. I predict at this point that we will go over the fiscal cliff, because it seems to be the only thing the Republicans will understand, and you will be right back here in the New Year screeching about how Obama is totally going to sell us out in those negotiations without a single iota of self-recognition.

  157. 157.

    Colossus and Guardian (We are One)

    I just threw the equivalent of a fragmentation grenade on said post (as it approaches close to 1000 posts.)

    With that, I think breaking 1000 posts won’t be a problem (and since I spooled up Tor backed by anonymouse.org, methinks the mouth-breathers will have a fun tine figuring out who to threaten.)

  159. 159.

    John Cole

    @Dave Ruddell: God, you are so right. It’s a 7.62 round but an M240. It’s amazing what you forget when it’s been twenty years since you used something. I probably don’t remember all the BRUN commands on my Apple IID, either.

    Fucking lunatics.

  160. 160.

    Fax Paladin

    @Soonergrunt: Friend of mine often greets me with “Morning, one each.” Not sure whether he served or just knew people who did, though I’m pretty sure that’s where he got it.

  161. 161.

    Jay S

    @pseudonymous in nc: Thanks. I don’t know of any Portuguese bakery in the Seattle area. Google isn’t helpful. I doubt they are really the same any way. The show versions are shelf stable and probably child oriented rather than an adult bakery version. More like an American Moon pie or Twinkie than an adult pastry, I think. I know there are recipes for a real tart, but I think these are grocery store imitations.

  162. 162.

    Chris

    @Politically Lost:

    I innocently poured gasoline on the fire by asking what it was that he was so upset about. And, kept asking. Until the rest of the party had to tell him to shut up. “Four innocent Americans,” ended up being shouted a number of times after the shut up command.

    For innocent State Department employees, who in any other context would be getting sneered at for being faggy hand-winging government bureaucrat girly men who don’t know enough to shut up and step aside so the U.S. military can invade the entire world because that’s the only diplomacy we need.

    I’m sorry, but the idea that the people who’ve spent their entire life shitting and pissing on their service somehow just happen to give a shit about the people whose security budget they just cut is pretty hysterical.

  163. 163.

    Chris

    @Brian:

    The whole argument is because someone calls soda pop, they therefore couldn’t possibly have been in the military.

    Yes, everyone knows there are no soldiers from the Midwest.

  164. 164.

    MosesZD

    @Soonergrunt:

    I still have the Browning 9mm I bought because I figured if the Russians went nuts, supply would be a hell of a problem and getting .45 ACP would be near impossible. So in the really tiny, tiny chance it happened, I figured the $500 I spent would be worth it.

    Then came getting the fuck out of the military and not needing it. So it’s sat in my closet, in it’s case, no bullets, for thirty-years now.

    BUT, it has a huge magazine and a spare. And could get $800 to a $1,000 from one of the gun nuts for it just for those reasons. But since it’s a military side-arm (or was for NATO) I’m not selling it. Gun nuts don’t need that. They need AirSoft, at best.

  166. 166.

    Lojasmo

    @Ted & Hellen:

    Sorry, but two or three posts on a busy blog with a handful of comments in the two posts is not obsessing.

    YOU on the other hand, with your incessant ranting about our blah president? Obsessing.

  167. 167.

    GMVictory

    Slack-jawed troglodytes don’t know what the hell they are talking about. I was in the 89th MP BDE ’89-’91 and I can still remember the bitching the MPs did when they had to switch over to the 9mm.

    MP: The .45s got stopping power! I’d have to fire twice as many rounds to drop someone with that!

    Armorer: Maybe you should learn to be a better shot.

    Or, more likely, they’re nitpicking liars trying to swat down an argument they have no real way to counter.

  169. 169.

    Lurker1011

    Yeah, I’m gonna back up Soonergrunt here. I was a tanker in the 80s, when I proudly defended Ft. Knox, Kentucky against the Soviet menace. As a tanker, I was authorized to wear special boots–with straps–and I qualified on an array of weapons. All tankers were issued .45’s, and we all qualified on the “grease gun,” a .45 caliber submachine gun. Tank gunners and commanders qualified on the M240 machine gun, and a turret mounted .50 caliber machine gun. (I never qualified on an M16.) Is this where I add the obligatory, “I’ll kick anyone’s ass who calls me a liar!” The guys at “This Ain’t Hell” should be able to understand that kind of internet bravado.

  170. 170.

    pattonbt

    Dead thread, but whatever. I was in the Army at the exact same time with the exact same MOS as JC. We were the lowest of low priority posts (at the time – 4th ID) so we didnt deploy to DS (though they did come through looking for volunteers to fill slots of units deployed – being offsite drunk when that happened I didnt volunteer, not that I would have if I had been there). We joked that if we deployed it would have to be a Red Dawn lost cause kind of apocolypse because we sucked big time. Though being stationed at Ft Carson in Colorado was sweet. We were lovingly referred to as Ft Cartoon we were so inept.

    Being the lowest priority unit (heavy unit) in the entire Army meant our unit was the last one to transition to M1’s (not M1A1’s mind you, M1’s) and we still had 45’s (9mm came in about 2 years later). I remember the first time I got my 45 from the armoury and the damned thing rattled from all the loose parts it was so old. It couldnt hit the broad side of a barn nor could it hit the same spot (or even remotely close) twice even if aimed exactly the same.

  171. 171.

    Redleg

    John,
    I served as a field artillery officer in I-Corps artillery in the late 80s and early 90s and I carried an officer’s model .45 as my sidearm. Not all units got the “new” 9mm Beretta right away. Being corps artillery, we were down the list but still ahead of the non-combat arms types.

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