Ralf Stinson comments

Yes, in war there are individual suicides. A solder jumps on a grenade to save his fellows. A pilot in the heat of an attack, pilots the plane into the target. Organized suicide tactics are not so common. Japan did them in various ways, the kaiten (suicide human run torpedo), kamikaze corps, underwater patrols with staff/bomb to sink landing craft, Banzai charges, etc. Russia has a history of suicide tactics. Prisoner battalions forced to walk ahead of regular infantry to clear mine fields. Look at Russian tactics in Ukraine. As for Japan in WWII, the senior government and military knew the war was lost after Midway and Tarawa (last place where an American said "The issue is in doubt." The Japanese strategy became "Make it so painful for the Americans that they will negotiate a surrender and Japan can keep the Emperor and Imperial system at any cost." The cost was the suicide mentality. The atomic bombs did not end the war. A 800+ aircraft B-29 raid does more damage than an atomic bomb. The Russian Army entering the war and invading Manchukuo and Northern China got the Japanese to surrender. The Japanese Embassy in Moscow saw how the Russian Army behaved and the Japanese Government preferred Americans in Tokyo. The Japanese government chose a loosing strategy and caused a lot of good men to die for a lost cause.

Yes, but the fault was the Japanese government and high command. After US took the Marianas and on Saipan we saw Japanese women with their babies leaping off cliffs to die in the ocean because of the false government propaganda. US was unstoppable, and the Japanese government knew that. Unknown to US, the Japanese plan was to make it so difficult for US, the US would go to the bargaining table so Japan could keep the imperial system, no matter how many civilians died. After the B-29 Fire raids started, we felt sorry for the civilians, and even dropped leaflets telling the Japanese people the next target city, so the could save their lives. The GOJ made it illegal to read the leaflets. The GOJ did care about the people, they wanted war production to keep working. A 600 B-29 fire bomb raid kills more than a single atomic bomb. US was at wits end on how to get the Japanese to unconditional surrender. So US dropped the two bombs. It did not work! It was the Soviet invasion of Japanese territory in northern China. The fault was GOJ desire to keep the imperial system and no care for the Japanese people. Please carefully check history if you don't believe me.

The fault of dropping the atomic bomb was not the US Government, not the Military and not the industrial complex! It was the Japanese leadership! Please try to understand this. US firebombing raids on Japan were often 1000 plane raids that pick a city and reduced it to ash were near impunity, yet the Japanese government refused to surrender. The senior government and emperor did not care about the common Japanese people. US was feeling so bad about the raids, they even give the Japanese people target list of the next cities to be fire bombed because US felt bad about the civilian casualties! The atomic bomb was not much more than a 1000 plane raid on a Japanese city, and still the Japanese government did not surrender. US was at wits end to find a way of getting Japan to surrender, but the Japanese government wanted to push their agenda through at the expense of the Japanese people. The A-Bomb did not end the war! Russia entry into the war caused Japan to surrender. The Japanese high government told their people how bad the Americans were but they knew better. The German POW's in US were often treated better the our own Black Americans. They knew how the Russians treated the civilians in East Europe (bad). They knew how the Russians treated the German civilians (very bad). And they knew how the Russians treated the German Military POW's (extremely bad). The Japanese senior government chose to surrender to the Americans because it was better then the Russians. Think: East & West German. North & South Korea. What about North & South Japan? The fault of the A-Bomb usage is the Japanese fault. PS Japan had two A-Bomb programs in progress! Do you think imperial Japan would have used them if they could?

So you think it is a good idea for the guards to go down the public street with unloaded guns? If I want a gun, I now know a easy person to take it from!

Why 0% nuclear? Address Gen 4 reactors. What is the problem? Please be real in your answer.

From nuclear reactors in Japan, how many people have died? From mining coal and coal plants damage to the environment, how many people have died? Yes, solar and wind are renewables. Hydro-electric is not. Dams in Japan's steep rivers fill up in about 20 or so years. Tidal power can do significant environmental damage. Nuclear waste is a political problem, not a technical problem. No politician who wants to be re-elected will welcome a nuclear waste site in their back yard. Yes, Japan on the Pacific Fire Rim has problems with finding a good nuclear waste side, but there are other areas.

Fukushima nuclear disaster? Let's be real! At the Fukushima Power plant and the surrounding area, the Nuclear disaster cause 2 deaths by tsunami, one death by earthquake, zero deaths by radiation poisoning and a realistic possible future deaths by cancer 100 or less. This is realistic possible future deaths by cancer, not a bloated number for a person trying to use biased data for litigation advantage. Was that a real disaster, yes for the people who have died, but that was earthquake and tsunami, nothing nuclear except that they happen to be working at a nuclear plant! The disaster was for the other 15,000 people who died from the earthquake and tsunami. The nuclear plant safety system worked as planned! The emergency auxiliary cooling water pumps with the emergency diesel generator worked for the eight hours as planned. No one expected a 50 foot tsunami to wipe out the local infrastructure and the emergency generator diesel fuel tanks could not be refueled. Steps were taken to make sure plant worker did not get a radiation dose above 25 rem. People outside the plant were significantly less! A dose of 25 rem gives you a 1% chance of getting cancer from the radiation. From Center for Disease Control, 1 out of 4 people will die of cancer (normal situation)! That is a 25% chance. So you are worried about someone who has 1% or less added chance of getting cancer sometime later in life when 15,000 people died! I think your priorities are way off.

All military personal are required to get their medical attention from the military. Yes, emergencies happen and a person may be on leave (vacation) but otherwise, the care and medicines are from the military. If it was in the mail, no excuse, wrong! It is illegal (UCMJ and regulations) for a military person to get any medication from a Japanese drug store. Some over the counter drugs in Japan have narcotics and other illegal items in it, and that may cause a person to test positive in the random drug test.

Both sides knew the meeting was wrong in many ways, but they both did it and the meeting turned out to be a 'bust' but that is the surface you are to view! As a 'bust' you can say, look, nothing transpired so it was nothing. If you make a buy of explosives from an undercover government agent who sell you fake explosives, is it a good defense in court to say you did not buy anything dangerous so you are innocent? I think not. But getting back to why the Russians set up a fake meeting, it was not meeting or the turn over of information at the meeting, but the fact that the Trump side did not tell the government (FBI) about it, so the Russians learned that the Trump side wanted their assistance. That is the damaging part of the meeting!

In the country that an invasive animal (insect) originates in, there is usually a predictor or system that keeps them in check (from becoming an overwhelming problem). So they might not be a problem in the country of origination, in a new environment, they may not last, may become a minor problem, or become a major problem. "Overreacting" to an indication of an alien invader is not bad. That overreaction may be what saves a county from a real future significant problem. Look at Hawaii. There were Norwegian rats introduced by the Whaling ships. Then mongooses form India to kill the rats. Now there is a rat problem and the mongooses have eaten most of the native birds eggs! The list goes on and on. Don't put down a countries reaction to an alien invasion. It only shows how naive you are.

US Navy did not move a finger? Please read the rule of the nautical road. One ship had the responsibility to maintain course and speed as best as possible. The other ship has the responsibility to change course and speed to avoid a dangerous situation. So if the ship that has the responsibility to maintain course and speed does just that, then they did not move a finger, as the law dictates. Then you accuse them of not moving a finger. Nice logic!

The US Navy does not want to take a quick shot from the hip to quickly look good. So holding off for a full accounting is not an admission of guilt, just being careful to only put out correct information. Some people are like Trump who believes that quick loud talk (or tweets) whether true or not will convince everyone that they are correct.

Droll: If the Fitz was forward, and the Crystal was behind, making it an overtaking situation with the Crystal going faster, then how could a turn to port, with the Crystal passing on the starboad side be a bad move? Also, in an overtaking situation, the overtaking ship (Crystal) is required to maneuver and the ship being overtaken required to maintain course and speed as best as possible. If a situation starts as overtaking, then it stays that way even when the angles change.

The merchant ship was headed towards Tokyo and going a high speed as noted in various reports. If the Navy ship was going in same direction, but not as fast, then it was an overtaking situation.

RULE 13: OVERTAKING (a)    Notwithstanding anything contained in the Rules [of Part B, Sections I and II / 4 through 18], any vessel overtaking any other shall keep out of the way of the vessel being overtaken.

(b)    A vessel shall be deemed to be overtaking when coming up with a another vessel from a direction more than 22.5 degrees abaft her beam, that is, in such a position with reference to the vessel she is overtaking, that at night she would be able to see only the sternlight of that vessel but neither of her sidelights.

(c)    When a vessel is in any doubt as to whether she is overtaking another, she shall assume that this is the case and act accordingly.

(d)    Any subsequent alteration of the bearing between the two vessels shall not make the overtaking vessel a crossing vessel within the meaning of these Rules or relieve her of the duty of keeping clear of the overtaken vessel until she is finally past and clear.

So if the merchant overtook the Navy ship, the Navy Ship hand the responsibility to maintain course and speed. As the overtaking ship moves forward the situation does not change to a crossing situation, so even though the merchant ship is on the right, it is still obligated to stay clear of the Navy ship.

More information is needed to tell what the situation was, and which ship was required to do it's best to maintain course and speed, and which ship was burdened to alter course and speed to avoid a risk of collision.

Also, the ship that is required to maintain course and speed, can and should take action when it is apparent that the ship that is required to maneuver is not taking proper action. That is called extremist and can be difficult to judge.

Note on radar. It gives you the location of objects (if doppler, inbound and outbound speeds but usually not on surface search radar). So if a object (ship) makes a course change, and you have been tracking it, it will take some time for that change to be noted, and until that ship has steadied on a new course some time to know the new course.

Emcon - Emission Control. Yes, Navy ships are always under some Emcon condition, usually it is the unrestricted condition and all radios (communication) and radars (search) are active. Rarely is there complete radio and radar silence. That is turning off your eyes, a dangerous situation! I recall once having most of the radios and radars turned off, but left a surface search radar on (same electronic signal as on merchant ships) and going into the Sea of Japan at night between Honshu and Hokkaido. Clear weather and we were super careful. That was USS Midway many years ago. Sure surprised the Russian when we showed up unknown at their back door. In busy shipping channels, all the surface search radar are on, and being watch on the bridge and in combat (CIC or Combat Information Center). The US Navy Ship may be found to be at fault, or partially at fault, but I doubt it. With the public information that we have, saying the US Navy is at fault is irresponsible.

Several reports had the merchant ship making an 180 degree turn in a busy shipping channel. If they had the right of way, they were required to maintain course and speed. That did not happen! I don't know who is at fault, but rest assured, the surface search radars were active (emcon - emission control is not done in shipping channels!) and lookouts are always posted when underway. Yes, a deep draft ship in a shipping channel that is constrained by its deep draft has the right of way, but is obligated to maintain course and speed. That does not correlate with the reported 180 degree true! So lets sit back and see what the investigation turns up.

Every officer at fault? So are you saying the Engineering Officer of the Watch (EOOW) is at fault? As long as he/she provided the proper response to orders from the bridge, they are not at fault. There is a bridge watch, and a watch in CIC (combat information center). We know in combat, automatic systems can fail, so they are constantly backed up with manual system. Normal situation at sea, if a Navy ship see another contact, that contact is avoided. In a closer situation, with two ships, the rules of the road are used, and one ship is required by the rules of the road to maintain course and speed, and the other ship must change course to avoid collision. If the ship that is required to maintain course and speed does not, then the ship with the burden to maneuver is put at a great disadvantage not knowing what the ship that is required to maintain course and speed is doing! So now in a congested area, you are on the ship that is required to maintain course and speed, and there is now a third ship that is approaching you, and the rules of the road for this additions situation requires you to maneuver. So you now have one situation where you must maintain course and speed, and a new situation that requires you to maneuver. What do you do? I don't have a simple answer for that, and you don't! At least on the Navy ship, there will be a significant amount of recorded information, and that will be used to figure out first, what happened, and then later if the people involved acted correctly or not. I have served on the bridge of many Navy ships, and it is never carefree or over trust in automated system. In war, automated system fail, and then trained people take over. If you have not qualified as OOD (Officer of the Deck) on a warship, you are second guessing without any background or knowledge. I have been OOD on warships including an Aircraft Carrier going into and out of Yokosuka, Japan.

I have over 2,700 jumps. From what was written, this was probable the third jump on an accelerated freefall program. If that is the case, there were 2 instructors in the air with him until he deployed his own parachute (no ripcord, pull the pilot chute from a pouch). The instructors would have known if he lost conscience before the parachute deployment. The normal parachute opening force is about 4 G's for a very short time. Most healthy people can tolerate that. Sometimes (rarely) the parachute opens with a vengeance, and a 9+ G opening shock can occur. That force, even for a very short time can damage internal organs, especially if they have a weakness (probably unknown). Checking the parachute might show that it was a hard opening. The autopsy should tell.

Hay! It is bad to hit immigration with a 747 crowd, who want to be in a larger crowd. Then waiting and finding your baggage. Economic review has economy of size, but for people, there is a limit.

If the GPS was in the car he stole, then I don't see a problem. But if the police put the GPS in the suspects car, I can see an invasion of privacy. GPS in the suspects phone can be called an invasion of privacy, but in a victims phone or a stolen phone, good police work.

Tim Weiner's book "One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon" is excellent. When Tim Weiner writes, I read carefully and closely!

The two women were expendable. Do you think NK really cared if they died or not? Just that they could not point a finger to NK. As reported, they kept their hands away from their side and went to a restroom! So they know something was going on. Yes, VX soaks through the skin, but something can be put on the skin that could delay or prevent that. He was a playboy, do you think a jealous lover went to the trouble of obtaining VX for the murder weapon, I don't think a crime of passion. With VX being used, it was a State, not an organization. Even ISIS can't get their hands on VX. Go down the list of States that may have wanted him dead. Do you think US or China is trying to frame NK? Throwing up, could be physiological, but also people in good physical condition after a bad experience have thrown up. Could be physiological. My thought, it was NK, but why so public? Possibly not on on Chinese soil to avoid angering China. If NK did not have his schedule in Malaysia, then waiting at a 'choke point' such as the airport would make sense.

If it is truly a private club, then they get to make the rules on membership, and the Olympics should stay away. If they let business be discussed on the course or in the club house - it is not a private club. Are all membership fees paid by personal check and not any sort of money from the person's business? Does the club rent facilities from the public (land, etc)? I am willing to bet it is not truly a private club, and companies pay many of the fees. Ripe for a lawsuit! They are discriminating against women by not giving them an equal chance for business.

If the president elect who is very busy takes time to notice you and tweet about you, then you must be a significant person. Congratulations on being that important! Keep up the good work and 'wear' the tweet as a badge of Honor!

The Olympic Committee should go for Zero Tolerance! we have that in the US Navy. If you pop positive for drugs, you are out without an Honorable Discharge. No second chance. For an individual, ban for life. If a county is supporting their drug use, the whole country's team should be banned from the next Olympic cycle.

Yes. I agree it is troubling. Could Japan look at the politics and assassinations from 1931 leading up to Japan going into China, and then the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, etc? there was a lot of imperial interference in politics. Behind the scenes manipulations change Japan from the Strike North (Russia) to the Strike South faction. Read the book: The Imperial Conspiracy if you want some insight to what was going on. Makes you really worried about what is happening in the Philippines and may soon happen in the States.

Yes, that stuff floats, and there are microbes in in the ocean that will break it down, but unfortunately takes some time. There is a current in the western Pacific called KuroShio (Black Current) that is a warm one that starts in the South West and runs North East along the coast and islands of the north western Pacific. With the incident well east of Okinawa, it should miss Okinawa completely.

There are cases of people departing airplanes without parachutes and surviving. They left not as a stunt, but because staying in the plane was the worst of two choices. During World War II over Germany, a gunner in a B-17.

On January 3, 1943, his Flying Fortress—B-17F-27-BO, 41-24620, nicknamed "snap! crackle! pop!"[1]—part of the 360th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group,[2] was on a daylight bombing run over Saint-Nazaire, France, when German fighters shot off a section of the right wing, causing the aircraft to enter a deadly spin. This was Magee's seventh mission.

Magee was wounded in the attack but managed to escape from the ball turret. His parachute had been damaged and rendered useless by the attack, so he leapt from the plane without one, rapidly losing consciousness due to the altitude. He fell over four miles before crashing through the glass roof of the St. Nazaire railroad station. The glass roof shattered, mitigating the force of Magee's impact. Rescuers found him on the floor of the station.

Magee was taken as a prisoner of war and given medical treatment by his captors. He had 28 shrapnel wounds in addition to his injuries from the fall: several broken bones, severe damage to his nose and eye, lung and kidney damage, and a nearly severed right arm.

Magee was liberated in May 1945 and received the Air Medal for meritorious conduct and the Purple Heart. On January 3, 1993, the 50th anniversary of the attack, the people of St. Nazaire honored Magee and the crew of his bomber by erecting a 6-foot-tall (1.8 m) memorial to them.

Flight Sergeant Nicholas Stephen Alkemade (1922–1987) was a rear gunner in Royal Air Force Avro Lancaster heavy bombers during World War II, who survived—without a parachute—a fall of 18,000 feet (5,500 m) when abandoning his out-of-control, burning aircraft over Germany.

On the night of 24 March 1944, 21-year-old Alkemade was one of seven crew members in Avro Lancaster B Mk. II, DS664,[1] of No. 115 Squadron RAF. Returning from a 300 bomber raid on Berlin, east of Schmallenberg, DS664 was attacked by a German Ju 88 night-fighter, [Note 1] caught fire and began to spiral out of control. Because his parachute was unserviceable, Alkemade jumped from the aircraft without one, preferring to die by impact rather than burn to death. He fell 18,000 feet (5,500 m) to the ground below.

His fall was broken by pine trees and a soft snow cover on the ground. He was able to move his arms and legs and suffered only a sprained leg. The Lancaster crashed in flames, killing pilot Jack Newman and three other members of the crew. They are buried in the CWGC's Hanover War Cemetery.

Alkemade was subsequently captured and interviewed by the Gestapo, who were initially suspicious of his claim to have fallen without a parachute until the wreckage of the aircraft was examined. He was a celebrated prisoner of war, before being repatriated in May 1945. (Reportedly, the Germans gave Alkemade a certificate testifying to the fact.)

There are several way of controlling a situation. One very effective way is to keep your adversaries off balance by throwing completely unexpected items at them. Then when they are off balance, get them to fall where it is to your advantage. Not a leadership style I would recommend, but if done properly, it can be extremely effective! Trump is a master at this. Yes - this last significant accusation will cause a reaction and Trump will carefully study the reaction to see how he can manipulate it to his advantage! The best counter is to be careful and measured in your reaction.

As for rigging US election, what about Bush in Florida, and the present voting ID requirements! Trump is good at getting what he wants, but not good for USA.

1200 bps modem? I remember having to dial the old style pulse telephone, listen for the tone, then push the handset into the acoustic coupler on the teletype! 300 bps and we were happy! No CRT or monitor - strictly paper and punch tape. This was cutting edge!

If you are getting food in bear country (fishing, hunting, bamboo shoot gathering, etc), you are carrying food that the opportunistic bear might also want to eat. Some people don't like to give up their precious food to the bear and try to protect their food or harvested items. All the outdoor instructions I have read said not to feed wildlife, but if big wildlife want to take your lunch or dinner, let it go!

Yes, Obama should apologize after both the Emperor and Prime Minister apologize for USS Panay (PR-5) attacked in 1937 (not an accident, the Japanese were notorious for their accuracy), Unit 731 (Biological & Chemical Research & Development Unit in China 1932 to 1945 that used many thousands of humans as subjects), Nanking Massacre (1937), Pearl Harbor attack (Dec 7, 1941), Bataan Death March (1942) and Rape of Manila (Feb 1945). All had imperial connections! German apologized for their war crimes, Japan has not admitted nor apologized.