Grumpy Editor

STORY ON PENTAGON CLOSING STARS AND STRIPES NEWSPAPER STIRS ACTION

Grumpy Editor notes a Friday article in USA TODAY stirred some White House reaction with the headline and subhead:  "The Pentagon has ordered Stars and Stripes to shut down for no good reason.  Trump wants to pull funding from Stars and Stripes, a newspaper for American troops that began in the Civil War and has been serving our soldiers.

Then a few hours later President Donald Trump said he planned to reverse Pentagon budget cuts that would have permanently closed Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper that has informed and spoken for American troops over the decades.

 

The USA TODAY story mentioned, "Under Defense Department spending plans, the paper would cease print and online publication by Sept. 30, a move seen as expanding the Trump administration’s war on news media to include those paid by the government to cover the military.”

 

The Wall Street Journal and Associated Press later carried similar stories on Stars and Stripes.

 

Trump late Friday tweeted, "The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch,” adding, “It will continue to be a wonderful source of information to our Great Military!”

 

Grumpy Editor observes Trump, curiously, described Stars and Stripes as a magazine, not a daily newspaper distributed around the world to U.S. troops.

 

That means Trump is not familiar with Stars and Stripes.

 

The newspaper, headquartered in Washington and a souce of information for American troops since the Civil War, publishes four daily print editions for military service members with European, Middle Eastern, Japanese and South Korean editions. 

 

 

 IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

 

 

COLD AIR TO HIT DENVER.  A strong cold front is expected to smack Denver with a 62-degree drop in the temperature, from 99 degrees on Friday to 37 degrees tomorrow.

 

PORTLAND REACHES 100 NIGHTS OF PROTESTS.  Portland, Oregon, on Saturday reaches the 100th consecutive night of protests that escalates into a riot as people hurled multiple fire bombs, mortars, rocks and other items at police officers.

 

GIRL SWIMS ENGLISH CHANNEL IN 14 HOURS.  Vera Rivard, a 16-year-old from Springfield, New Hampshire, swims 33 miles across the English Channel --- from Dover to Calais --- in 14 hours.

 

FOX NEWS GETS HIGHEST RATINGS IN AUGUST.  Fox News in August was the most-watched TV network in all of primetime, averaging 3.63 million viewers.

 

BLACK WWII MARINE RECEIVES MEDAL.  Ambrose “Cowboy” Anderson of Gloversville, N.Y., a 95-year-old World War II veteran, one of the nation’s first African-American U.S. Marines, receives a medal and a car parade from the New York Senate as a birthday present.

 

FREE RIDES IN L.A. MULLED.  Free public transit in Los Angeles?  As ridership falls during the pandemic, officials are convening a task force to study the possibility of going fare-ffee.

 

WITH NO VISITORS, AQUARIUM CUTS STAFF.  At California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium, sea animals are happy during the pandemic, but business is tanking.  With the aquarium missing its entire summer tourism season, its finances are hit, triggering more than a third of its staff to be laid off or furloughed.

PET OWNERS SPEND HEAVILY ON FOUR-LEGGED FAMILY MEMBERS

Furry family members get top treatment

 

Pet owners are projected to spend about $75 billion this year on their four-legged family members, notes Grumpy Editor.

This is up from about $72 billion last year and $45 billion a decade ago, tallies the American Pet Products Association.

 

"Globally, however, the pet care industry is worth more than $100 billion and is continually growing with more than 67 percent of U.S. households owning a pet, which equates to roughly 84.9 million homes," according to APPA.

 

In a 2018 breakdown, APPA says owners spent more than $30 billion in food, more than $18 billion in vet care, more than $16 billion in supplies and over-the-counter medicine and nearly $2 billion for the purchase of the animals plus $6.31 billion on "other services.”

 

Basic expenses for dog and cat owners include surgical and routine vet visits, food, treats, kennel boarding, vitamins, grooming and toys, adds APPA.

 

An APPA survey also finds 28 percent of dog owners and 17 percent of cat owners give gifts to their pets on their birthdays and 11 percent of dog owners and 5 percent of cat owners hold holiday or birthday parties for their pets.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

 

PORCH PIRATES TARGETED.  A Colorado Springs, Colorado woman, after thieves stole at least 20 packages from her porch, gives porch pirates a taste of their own medicine by leaving trash-filled Amazon packages outside her front door, thus getting her trash removed at no charge.

CNN RATINGS PLUMMET.  Fox News averaged 2.2 million viewers during primetime hours of 9-11 p.m. ET from Nov. 25 through Dec. 1, while MSNBC averaged 1.3 million viewers during the same time period and CNN yielded 643,000 average viewers.  It was CNN’s worst performance in nearly three years and the network’s worst turnout among the key demographic of adults age 25-54 in over five years.

NORTH KOREA OPENS RESORT.  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un opened Yangdok Hot Spring Cultural Recreation Center, a mountain spa and ski resort for visitors to enjoy “high civilization under socialism” as the country uses tourism exemptions in sanctions to build revenue for a broken economy.

CALIFORNIA FINES CVS.  California is fining CVS Pharmacy a record $3.6 million because 81 of its  stores in the Golden State refused to redeem recyclables (bottles and cans) or pay a required $100 daily fee as an alternative.

POSTAL FACILITY RENAMED AFTER MARILYN MONROE.  The Van Nuys (Calif.) Civic Center postal depot will be renamed the Marilyn Monroe Post Office.  She was raised in that section of Los Angeles and was discovered while working at Van Nuys Airport during World War II.

FOUR-WHEELED ACTOR.  The Chevrolet Suburban now has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Chevy’s largest SUV has been in 1,750 films, making an appearance in a movie every year since 1950.

GLOBAL TV AD SALES DROP.  In the latest sign that advertisers are following viewers to the internet, Bloomberg reports global TV advertising sales fell almost 4 percent this year, the steepest drop since the depths of the economic recession in 2009.

 

'BEVERLY HILLBILLIES" MANSION SOLD.  The French neoclassical-style mansion at the Chartwell Estate in Bel-Air, California, featured in the TV show "The Beverly Hillbillies," recently sold for about $150 million, effectively making it the most expensive home ever sold in the Golden State.

Pentagon seeks decade-old bonus returned from troops

Grumpy Editor notes this is how the Pentagon these days treats thousands of troops who fought, some multiple times, in Iraq and Afghanistan, a decade ago after those in uniform received enticing bonuses of $15,000 or more to go overseas:

Washington wants its money back from the troops who saw battle.

A Saturday Los Angeles Times story by David S. Cloud reveals not only are the troops ordered to repay the enlistment bonuses, but they are “slapped with interest charges, wage garnishments and tax liens if they refuse --- after audits revealed widespread overpayments by the California Guard at the height of the wars last decade.”

Cloud points out; “Investigations have determined that lack of oversight allowed for widespread fraud and mismanagement by California Guard officials under pressure to meet enlistment targets.”

He adds, “Soldiers say the military is reneging on 10-year-old agreements and imposing severe financial hardship on veterans whose only mistake was to accept bonuses offered when the Pentagon needed to fill the ranks.”

Meanwhile, also being mistreated is Boston area Army reservist Capt. Shane Morgan, an Afghanistan veteran, who is struggling to pay his medical bills after he had a heart attack during a fitness test.  Now he's fighting to get health benefits from the Army.

Remember the old enlistment slogan, “Join the Navy and See the World?”

The Pentagon now sends Navy personnel, away from ships, to dangerous locations on land.

Such was the case last week in Iraq when 34-year-old Chief Petty officer Jason C. Finan, of Anaheim, Calif., died from wounds in a roadside bomb blast near Bashiqa, northeast of Mosul in northern Iraq.

He was assigned to a land-based explosive-ordnance-disposal mobile unit.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

Social Security recipients for 2017 will get a cost of living adjustment (COLA) of about $4 a month --- because "inflation is low"...Most voters aren’t buying the story that the Russians are trying to manipulate the election for Donald Trump but think the U.S. media is trying to swing things for Hillary Clinton, finds a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey...Vogue, the fashion magazine, endorses Hillary Clinton for president.  The publication has never endorsed a candidate until now...California State University, Fullerton, says “secretary” is an exclusive word that’s inappropriate to use.  Better to say “administrative assistant."  It also frowns on words containing "man" such as “mankind"...A U.S. Postal Service worker last week dumped his mail in the woods behind a subdivision in Decatur, Ga.  How much was tossed? The Postal Service sent five investigators to retrieve the discarded mail.  It took more than two hours to get it all out of the woods...Newspapers are being squeezed by an accelerating drop in advertising.  So there is a growing focus on trimming staffs...MetLife, the 148-year-old insurance company, is dropping Snoopy, the Peanuts cartoon character, in its advertising after 31 years.  

Oops!

A Richmond, Va. TV news anchor finds out the hard way that one letter can make a blushing difference when reading the teleprompter.

A typo causes him to say “check your panties" rather than "check your pantries."

Transported Hellfire U.S. missile winds up in Cuba

Not getting wide print coverage is the blushing case of a U.S. Hellfire missile that disappeared two years ago after departing Orlando International Airport for Spain, then moving on a truck through a chunk of Europe, eventually winding up a zig-zag trip in Cuba, observes Grumpy Editor.

What concerns many Americans is that technicians from not-so-friendly nations may perform reverse engineering on key parts of the Hellfire, an air-to-ground missile usually fired from helicopters.

Interesting is that much of the route taken by the wayward missile was not aboard U.S. Air Force transports.

The Wall Street Journal, aware of the newsworthiness of the stray missile, placed the revelation on Friday’s front page.

Citing thawing relations between the U.S. and Cuba, the Journal’s Devlin Barrett and Gordon Lubold wrote, “For more than a year…American authorities have tried to get the Cuban government to return the missile.

From Orlando, the Lockheed-Martin inert missile was shipped in a crate to Spain for a North Atlantic Treaty Organization military exercise in Europe.

Then via truck it went through Europe, reaching Germany, then on to Paris where, via Air France, it was transported to Cuba.

One wonders what else Washington has misplaced.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

While Washington insists there is no U.S. inflation, the average nationwide apartment rent last year jumped 4.6 percent, up from 3.9 percent a year prior…Alcoa is shedding 1,200 U.S. jobs, including shuttering its large aluminum smelter in Indiana, hit by cheap Chinese exports…Magazine circulation folks continue to lie awake nights dreaming up lures to obtain subscriptions. Latest example: O, The Oprah Magazine mails a pitch labeled “credit adjustment” to a non-subscriber, indicating the recipient has “a credit of $48 toward the purchase” of the publication. Subtracting the $46 from the inflated $54 annual cover price, the “adjusted rate’’ is $8…On Pentagon orders, two more Guantanamo Bay detainees were released last week and delivered to Ghana…The Marine Corps has been instructed to end gender-segregated initial training by April to comply with Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s decision to open all military jobs to women. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is examining plans proposed by each military branch to open about 225,000 previously male-only jobs to females.

How would Gen. Patton greet women-in-combat plan?

 

Not much eyebrow raising by media late last week when Defense Secretary Ash Carter gave the green light to women in uniform being allowed in all combat assignments including Special Operations Forces’ dangerous missions, observes Grumpy Editor.

World War II veterans and others who recall military history --- incidentally, remember that the U.S. entered WWII on this date in 1941 --- will wonder how Gen. George S. Patton Jr. and his top commanders would take the women-on-front-lines development from the Pentagon.

Words would not be printable.

It was Patton who led the relief of beleaguered American troops at Bastogne in the brutal Battle of the Bulge that spanned almost six weeks from mid-December, 1944 in freezing, blizzard conditions with relentless German assaults in the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France and Luxembourg.

It ranks as one the largest and bloodiest WWII battles fought by the U.S.

Action around Bastogne received special attention by media (and later depicted in black-and-white movies) because at that time it was a rest and recreation area for many war correspondents.

In the announcement Thursday, Carter expresses confidence that the change in front-line ranks “can be implemented in a way that will enhance combat effectiveness, not detract from combat effectiveness.”

In earlier days when most major newspapers had military editors or writers --- often with military backgrounds --- on staffs, they undoubtedly would have had some choice comments on the latest Pentagon move.

Now, though, it’s rather quiet on the Western front.

Interestingly, Carter, in a memo to service chiefs, mentions a study found that women participating in ground-combat training sustained a higher rate of injuries.  Worthy of note, too, is that at least 101 U.S. women in military uniforms have been killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon this week is mulling requiring women to register for the draft, something men 18 to 25 have been doing for decades.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

 

TRAMPLING ON A CRIME SCENE: In the aftermath of last week’s San Bernardino mass shootings, a crowbar was used Friday by the landlord to pry away the boarded up front door of the rented residence where the deceased two shooters lived, allowing dozens of news people to stomp through the rooms, rifle through documents, handle objects (even teddy bears) and sort through family photos.  Among those on scene with live TV cameras, MSNBC was most active in prowling the premises…Drawing static from readers and others, The New York Times, for the first time in 95 years, on Saturday ran a front page, top-of-fold editorial urging gun control, calling availability of deadly weapons “a moral outrage” and “a national disgrace”…Meanwhile, while most news outlets ignored quotes from the U.S. Justice Department head, Breitbart reports: “Rather than denouncing acts of terrorism, just one day after recent tragic events in San Bernardino, Attorney General Loretta Lynch told a group assembled for the Muslim Advocates dinner that the Justice Department is prepared to take ‘aggressive action’ against people employing anti-Muslim rhetoric that ‘edges towards violence.’ In effect, she’s saying she would use prosecution as a weapon to protect Muslims from others employing their First Amendment rights.”

ACTING PRESIDENTIAL:  California Gov. Jerry Brown, in Paris with a large California delegation at the UN climate change conference, will be busy over the next few days participating in about two dozen global warming events.  However, nothing on the schedule indicates promoting trade or travel with the Golden State, usually a major activity for a state's top politician overseas.

GLOOMY OUTLOOKS: The country’s manufacturing sector took a surprise dip last month --- at the fastest rate since the last recession, tallies the Institute for Supply Management. Meanwhile, Reuters reports company CEOs, for the third consecutive quarter, are growing more cautious about short-term economic prospects and subsequently plan to curb capital investments through mid-2016.

FEET DRAGGING ON DEATH BENEFITS: The New York Times, citing bureaucratic delays, reveals family members of Glen Doherty, CIA contractor and former Navy SEAL among four Americans killed in the Benghazi terrorist attack more than three years ago, have yet to see promised federal death benefits from the incident.

ADVISORY AIMS AT ‘POT’ ADS: The U.S. Postal Service advises newspapers in the Northwest that they might be violating federal law in running ads for the region’s booming marijuana industry. A memo points out it is illegal “to place an ad in any publication with the purpose of seeking or offering illegally to receive, buy, or distribute a Schedule I controlled substance.”

CHANGES AT DAILIES: The 180-year-old American Banker halts its daily print edition next month and puts its content online…Washington based veteran Bloomberg News reporter Dawn Kopecki, who wrote a lengthy memo in June criticizing operations that “fostered a climate of fear and mistrust that’s particularly acute in the D.C. bureau,” shifts to Texas as business editor of the San Antonio Express-News.

                    Reaches new high:

  Fox Business Network records its highest-rated month in November.

 

 

 

While Obama talks 'climate change,' is ice age looming?

 

Grumpy Editor says look for reams of stories this week --- and beyond --- coming out of the United Nations climate change conference, widely known as COP 21, that gets under way today in Paris.

Also look for President Barack Obama while in Paris to be a frequent utterer of “climate change” which, for months, he considered to be the biggest threat facing the U.S.

This is contrary to a Fox News poll that found 97 percent of Americans don’t seem to care about climate change when stacked up against other concerns such as terrorism or the economy.

Climate change has been uppermost in Obama’s mind going back to his last state of the union address to Congress when he declared, "No challenge, no challenge, poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change."

Even the Pentagon --- with its 23,000 military and civilian employees as headquarters for the U.S. Department of Defense --- is backing climate change, jumping into a field far remote from its focus on military activities.

A Pentagon report called “National Security Implications of Climate-Related Risks and a Changing Climate,” released four months ago and sent to U.S. combat commanders around the world, pointed out climate change as an “urgent and growing threat to our national security.”

In June, along with foreign policy remarks to more than 1,000 graduating West Point cadets, the president called for energizing the global effort to combat climate change which he termed “a creeping national security crisis that will help shape your time in uniform.”

Breitbart recently tallied “22 times Obama or his administrative officials claimed climate change a greater threat than radical Islamic terrorism.”

Meanwhile, something that will not be covered in Paris:

Is a new ice age coming?

Listeners to tonight’s Coast to Coast AM, airing on more than 600 U.S. radio stations, will hear a discussion on disturbing trends in global climate models pointing to Earth entering an ice age.

 

Trump recollection of jubilant Muslims backed

While major media were quick to shoot down what Donald Trump insisted he saw in New Jersey following the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on New York City, a writer for BizPac Review, West Palm Beach, Fla. backed up the GOP presidential front runner, observed Grumpy Editor.

Trump is telling the truth about Muslims celebrating in New Jersey on that day, said Carmine Sabia.  “It did happen, and I saw it," he maintained, “while driving with family members through Paterson, N.J. that morning, after the planes hit. It’s not the kind of thing you forget.”

"We witnessed people in traditional Muslim garb dancing, jumping, shouting and celebrating like their team had won the Super Bowl,” added Sabia.  “I didn’t see thousands of Muslims celebrating but I absolutely saw a pocket, perhaps 100, jumping for joy at the sight of the smoke rising from where the Twin Towers used to be."

Meanwhile, a Washington Post Sept. 18, 2001 story reported:  “In Jersey City, within hours of two jetliners’ plowing into the World Trade Center, law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river.”

Sabia pointed out, “The funny part of the media-made controversy is that until Trump recalled his experience on that day, these events were a commonly accepted fact by Jerseyans.”

On Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC, Trump said he has received hundreds of tweets and calls backing up his version.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

Bloomberg News on Thursday noted China’s President Xi Jinping announced a major overhaul of his country’s military “to make the world’s largest army more combat ready and better equipped to project force beyond the country’s borders”…Authorized by Congress in 1999, a Dwight Eisenhower memorial honoring World War II’s top U.S. commander and the country’s 34th president, remained a project in waiting.  But former Kansas Senator Bob Dole, now 92, is seeking private funds in efforts to move forward with the project…Many Los Angeles Times editorial staffers’ desks will be empty this week as the newspaper offered buyouts accepted by many veterans, including two assistant managing editors, several bureau chiefs and even obituary writers…Think delivering newspapers is easy?  An 80-year-old Omaha, Neb. delivery person’s Dodge Grand Caravan was carjacked in early morning hours by two men --- one with a gun --- wearing hooded sweatshirts who forced him out of the vehicle.

 

Harris County, Ga. sheriff Mike Jolley personally paid $553 for a sign in front of his office that warns visitors that his county is “politically incorrect.”  It reads:

“We say:  Merry Christmas, God Bless America and in God We Trust.  We salute our troops and our flag. 

If this offends you…LEAVE!”

Obama’s clean air regulations smack U.S. coal industry

Today’s unveiling of President Barack Obama’s proposed environmental regulations aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s power plants will be a blow to the U.S. coal industry, a long-time source of low-cost electricity generation, notes Grumpy Editor.

Look for few media outlets to mention the president’s latest salvo at the coal industry will mean higher power bills to households and businesses.  The regulations will favor solar power, wind and other renewable energy sources.

Overlooking North Korea and Iran with their nuclear threats, Islamist extremism, the country’s swelling national debt, growing federal welfare programs and reduced U.S. military forces, Obama for months has been declaring climate change (formerly global warming) as the biggest threat facing the U.S.

Three months ago with a commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Obama envisioned climate change aggravating poverty and social tensions that can fuel instability and foster terrorist activity and other violence. 

Going back to his state of the union address to Congress in January, the president declared, "No challenge, no challenge, poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change."

 Even the Pentagon --- with its 23,000 military and civilian employees as headquarters for the U.S. Department of Defense --- is getting into a field far remote from its usual military activities in jumping into backing climate change.

A Pentagon report called “National Security Implications of Climate-Related Risks and a Changing Climate,” was released last week and sent to U.S. combat commanders around the world.  It pointed out climate change as an “urgent and growing threat to our national security.”

Meanwhile, while the Pentagon now is focused on climate change, the Army saw a 14 percent shortfall in the number of recruits so far this year as it plans to pare 40,000 soldiers from its ranks over the next few years.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

The U.S. economy expanded less than previously estimated for 2012 to 2014.  A Bureau of Economic Analysis revealed expansion averaged 2 percent each year rather than 2.3 percent as reported under a prior method of calculating gross domestic product…U.S. consumer sentiment slipped to 93.1 in July from 96.1 the previous month, reported the University of Michigan…Fed rate hike chatter quiet for a few weeks.  The Federal Reserve last week dropped hints that it is close to seeing enough improvement in the job market and economy to prompt an interest rate increase next month --- maybe…Gee, only about $3 BILLION?  While Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidate, said he is worth more than $10 billion, Bloomberg calculated he is worth a mere $2.9 billion. Responded the real estate mogul:  ‘They don’t know what they’re talking about”…Where the auto jobs are.  General Motors will invest $5 billion over the next several years to develop a new line of Chevrolets via its Chinese partner…Hammering the message.  Pitching printers, Staples Inc. ran the same 30-second spot four times during a morning radio news hour, including three times within 13 minutes…More empty desks.  U.S. newsrooms last year lost 3,800 jobs, tallied the American Society of News Editors.  The job total at year end was 32,900, down about 40 per cent from a 2006 peak of  55,000...How public officials think. With 47,000 fewer weddings a year taking place in Las Vegas vs. a decade ago, rather than cut the marriage license fee to attract more “I do’s,” county commissioners voted to BOOST cost of licenses to $77 this month, up $14.

With AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV, look for a name change in the satellite TV provider.

Related articles

Number of U.S. troops, ships drops as other nations build

S.F. shooting underscores Trump's 'illegals' remarks

Reporters unload colorful words to describe Trump

U.S. relies on Russian-made rocket engines for military

The Pentagon, sidetracked with the new task of focusing on climate change as an “immediate threat” (see Grumpy Editor, Oct. 20), somehow is coping with rocket engines used by U.S. military --- that are made in Russia, observes Grumpy Editor.

This has escaped the attention of major U.S. media that, before staff cutting, used to employ military (or defense) editors/columnists who kept their eyes open to expose such developments.  (The Pentagon also has been involved in reducing U.S. military ranks and the number of active ships and aircraft, while Russia and China are boosting military forces and equipment.)

“Reliance on these Russian engines is offensive and a threat to our national security,” emphasized David A. Deptula in an op-ed piece Friday in The Wall Street Journal.

Deptula, a retired Air Force three-star general and former Air Force chief of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, declared, “The Pentagon is still injecting millions of dollars into the Russian military industrial complex.”

He pointed out that the U.S. Air Force paid $50 million for two new RD-180 rocket engines produced by NPO Energomash, a Russian company with about 5,500 workers.

Deptula mentioned, “For years the U.S. military’s use of Russian rocket engines has enriched a corrupt Russian government at the expense of U.S. taxpayers and helped finance Russia’s advances in missile technology.”  He added, “The U.S. military’s dependence on Russia for launches has long been an uncomfortable reality.” 

The former Air Force general cited a recent report for the Pentagon that indicated Russian-made engines are slated to be used in 56 percent of U.S. national-security launches in the next six years.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

Now, about improving security at that easy-to-jump-over White House fence. A higher fence would be the simple way to correct the problem. However, (like all government operations) it can’t happen without a study, then a review of the study, then recommendations and finally, actually getting it done, reminded White House spokesman Josh Earnest…Headline over a story released by The Associated Press read:  AP-GfK Poll: Most expect GOP victory in November.  A daily in the West, however, adjusted the headline to read:  Like it or not, most expect Republicans to win Senate…Quick action:  North Korea decided to close its borders to tourists due to concerns over the Ebola virus…Creative agency thinkPARALLAX, Encinitas, Calif., is offering employees $1,500 to travel to exotic destinations and blog about it...Bloomberg Businessweek will debut a Czech-language edition late next month…Long-distance printing: The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, will close its 46-year-old printing plant and shift that operation 130 miles away to a facility in Mobile, Ala., late next year or early 2016.  About 100 production jobs will be terminated in New Orleans…Yellow indeed means caution.  Chicago suspended a shorter-than-normal yellow traffic light, part of a red light camera program, after the Chicago Tribune questioned the practice that yielded 77,000 tickets (at $100 each), bringing in almost $8 million to the city in six months.

 

Does she read newspaper business sections? Hillary Clinton told a Boston rally:  “Don’t let anybody tell you it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs.” 

Pentagon brass prepare for 'Battle of Climate Change'

One would think the Pentagon, with its 23,000 military and civilian staffers, would have enough on its hands with U.S. airstrikes against militants in Syria, actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, on alert for ISIS threats at home and abroad, possible strikes against Iran if nuclear discussions falter, the dispatch of 3,000 U.S. combat troops to west Africa in connection with the Ebola epidemic plus awaiting further action there following President Barack Obama’s executive order last Thursday allowing the Pentagon to call up reserve troops for that area, notes Grumpy Editor.

Also, with growing global instability, Russia and China are building up military forces while the U.S. is reducing military ranks and the number of active ships and aircraft.

So what poses the immediate threat of great concern to the Pentagon? Climate change.

The Pentagon last week released “2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap.” 

With release of the report, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned rising global temperatures, increasing sea levels and intensifying weather events will challenge global stability, that could lead to food and water shortages, pandemic disease and disputes over refugees and resources.

Along with this, the Pentagon, gearing up for the impact of climate change, was conducting a survey to assess the vulnerability of more than 7,000 military bases and other facilities.

All this as if there never has been great changes in weather --- hot/cold periods along with wet/dry seasons over the years at home and abroad.  That’s the weather on Earth.  It’s natural.

Speaking out against the Pentagon report, Sen. James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee said, “It is disappointing, but not surprising, that the president and his administration would focus on climate change when there are other, legitimate threats in the world.”

In connection with the Pentagon’s “climate war, ” A Wall Street Journal editorial said, “The principal threats being multiplied here are hype and hysteria.”

Meanwhile, there’s more Ebola work for the troops.

At the request of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Pentagon on Sunday announced it is forming a 30-person rapid-response team --- including five doctors and 20 critical-care nurses --- to provide quick medical support to U.S. healthcare workers in connection with the Ebola virus.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

With appointment of an Ebola czar accomplished, President Barack Obama was off to the golf course at Fort Belvoir, Va. Saturday, back on the campaign trail Sunday in Maryland and returned to fundraising today in Chicago…The Pentagon came up with a name (sending some folks to dictionaries) in connection with the fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria: Operation Inherent Resolve…While print and broadcast outlets were closely following hurricanes aimed at Bermuda and Hawaii, most media missed a Sierra storm that hit the Lake Tahoe-Reno area with winds gusting to 85 miles per hour toppling trees, downing power lines, leaving 1,000 homes without power for several hours…Missing staff box.  Rather strange for a weekly magazine, nowhere in Sunday’s Parade was there an indication of editorial or advertising staffers and contacts.  Perhaps it had something to do with the recent sale of the 73-year-old publication that saw most of its 85 New York office staffers cut as the magazine was acquired by Athlon Media Group and moved to Nashville…Budget cuts at CNN Worldwide scrapped CNN’s Crossfire and HLN’s Jane Velez-Mitchell’s nightly show, part of 300 jobs axed by the cable operation, plus about 130 buyouts.

They are blushing at Indiana University's Media School in Bloomington, Ind.

A new bronze sculpture of Ernie Pyle, famed World War II correspondent who died in 1945 from a Japanese sniper’s bullet, has "correspondent" misspelled as "corespondent” on an arm patch.  The word was noticed just prior to Friday’s unveiling outside the media school’s building.

Proposed plan to shrink military, benefits raises eyebrows

While media covered, sometimes briefly on TV/radio news, the administration’s proposed reduction in Army troops from the current 520,000 to between 440,000 and 450,000 --- putting them back to the pre-World War II level --- other cuts were not widely emphasized or even mentioned, notes Grumpy Editor.  

Among eyebrow-raising other items, with the Pentagon’s blessing:

✔ Reducing the Army’s helicopter fleet by one fourth. 

✔ Retiring all of the Air Force’s A-10 Warthog ground attack jets. 

✔ Placing a limit on military pay raises. 

✔ Cutting subsidies for military commissaries that lead to discounted goods for families of those in uniform. 

✔ Hiking military families’ health-care fees on some non-urgent care. 

✔ Putting new limits on troops’ housing allowance increases. 

✔ Closing additional military bases. 

In addition, overlooked at a time when drug smugglers are increasingly turning to the high seas, a 25 percent reduction of operating costs has hit the Coast Guard, sole U.S. military service able to make drug arrests hundreds of miles offshore in international waters. 

AIR FORCE ONE OPERATING COSTS JUMP

Meanwhile, an unaffected military aircraft --- Air Force One, the Boeing 747 that shuttles the president and his entourage --- will see increased flight time in coming weeks as its operating costs per hour have jumped to $228,288 from $179,750 two years ago.  Additional costs stem from supporting aircraft on each presidential trip.

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank tallied that after a Mexico visit last month, President Obama this month was slated to fly to the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Saudi Arabia, followed next month by visits to Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and the Philippines.  In addition, noted Milbank, the president “has committed to doing at least 18 fundraisers this year.”

Also on the move this month will be Michelle Obama flying --- without the president --- to China for a week-long visit, March 19 to 26. She will be accompanied by daughters, Malia and Sasha, and her mother, Marian Robinson.  

 

In case you missed these…

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS…BUT.  No sooner did a whopping up to nine inches of rain from two storms get dumped on parched California over the past few days when the word BUT appeared (usually followed by “not enough") leading off the next sentence in news stories.  Or, as the second paragraph of an Associated Press story put it:  “It didn’t put a major dent in a drought.” 

 

PALIN ON TARGET WITH UKRAINE SIX YEARS AGO.  When she was a Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin told a Reno audience on Oct. 20, 2008:  "After the Russian army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama's reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence – the kind of response that would only encourage Russia's Putin to invade Ukraine next.” 

 

TURNING THE TABLES.  Actor Alec Baldwin, not noted for warm relations with the media, plays a newspaperman on NBC’s "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” that airs March 19.

 

LOOKS LIKE MORE BUSINESS AHEAD FOR GOLDEN STATE LAWYERS.  A record 1,590 California prisoners with life sentences have gone free over the past three years, with approval from Gov. Jerry Brown.  More than 80 percent of lifers go behind bars for murder, while the rest are mostly rapists and kidnappers.  Some people worry that parolees could pose a danger to the public and crime victims involved in their cases.

 

A NEW VIEW OF NEW YORK CITY.  News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch paid $57.25 million for the top four floors of a new 60-unit tower in Manhattan.  The four floors total 10,160 square feet.  The penthouse alone has five bedrooms and five and a half baths.

 

An autographed two-volume set of Adolf Hitler's Nazi treatise Mein Kampf, from 1925 and 1926, was purchased for almost $65,000 by an unnamed buyer at a Los Angeles auction.