Bet You Didn’t Know…

Little Known and Completely Useless Information (but fun!)
San Diego was once struck by a Hurricane — in 1858!

It is the ONLY hurricane to ever strike the West Coast, according to my favorite local newspaper, the Voice of San Diego.

Far more destructive was the rain river from Hawaii that hit California in 1861, that basically flooded half the state with 43 consecutive days of rain!

SpaceX Success

SpaceX rocketed the robotic Air Force X-32b into space before Hurricane Irma closed the sky on them. With Irma approaching, there was only a 50% chance of the shot getting off on Thursday as scheduled. 
This is the first time that SpaceX has been used for this robotic space shuttle, and they are using their Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX has tested their new massive rocket, Falcon Heavy, and it is scheduled for a liftoff in November.

SpaceX is eating everyone’s lunch these days, with costs half to two-thirds cheaper than anyone else

Dreamers Upset For Nothing

The “Dreamers” (average age 25) are not going anywhere. They are a Blue Chip to trade for votes on the Border Wall. 
Since many major Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, have previously voted to fund the Border Wall, it should be doable, if not easy, to point out the hypocrisy. 

Trump was right to throw the problem to Congress, which was bypassed illegally through Obama’s Executive Order. Trump giving the Congress six months puts a stark bar for a lethargic Congress to get their act together, and all things considered they will try to punt until the next, and whether Trump has the nerve to pull the plug if they do that is questionable. 

In the end, it is unlikely the Dreamers will go anywhere but it is likely that their families will not get the same protection. At some point the Dreamers’ families will, predictably, claim that the United States is “Breaking up families” which is true, but only because the families broke the law and brought their underage children!

North Korea Has Achieved Its Goal

It appears that the world, and in particular we have accepted a nuclear North Korea, and that absent an actual missile attack on the US (which is unlikely), North Korea has reached its goal — permanent protection of the regime.
One thing is made obvious — the UN is both toothless and useless. (The same can be said for the past three US administrations who have set all sorts of red lines, which have been passed while North Korea developed, and stockpiled 20 nuclear bombs!) 

Add to it this administration, whose actions have not matched his words, as ICBMs first flew and now continue to fly. President Trump promised that would not happen, but it did.

Accepting a nuclear, ICBM armed, North Korea, means that in the future, South Korea will be blackmailed (as will the US) into political and economic concessions. 

There will be another ICBM test within the next few days. Absent an attempt to shoot it down (possible, but unlikely for fear of failure), North Korea has achieved its goal.

Note to Dreamers:

You know, if your Daddy robbed a bank, and bought you a new car with some of the money — you would not be allowed to keep it! 

You can’t benefit from illegal activity, and remaining here would be just such a “benefitting from illegal activity.” As a humanitarian issue, the US may allow you to remain but just think, neither the US nor Mexico can take away your US taxpayers K-12 education, perhaps even college education and knowledge of what your country should become! 

Texans Came Through.

The reaction of the residents of Texas and Louisiana is no surprise to me. I was raised in San Antonio, and Texas has the best people in America. This was made obvious in the TV coverage of the Houston disaster.
Everyone learned a lot from Katrina, so federal help was thrown in early, but it was the Cajun Navy, and private boats from the neighborhoods that made the early difference. 

It was particularly satisfying to see the US Military finally being thrown into helping save lives. Here in San Diego, Navy fire bombers were held on the runways while more than 2,000 homes burned just a few years ago, because state officials said the Navy pilots were “not qualified.”

Because of restricted readings of Posse Comitatus, the American military is sent worldwide to major disasters, but can’t help at home. That has obviously been loosened, and there is also the problem of our military being used as a rescue force rather than the fighting force that General Mattis envisions.

Only the US Military has the ability to bring in portable hospitals, even hospital ships, and hundreds or even thousands of portable generators.

But in the end, it is neighbor helping neighbor that keeps the disaster from being a worse disaster. 

Texans came through. As expected!