In the 80's I recall hearing on shortwave radio "Sky King Sky King this is Looking Glass. Do Not Answer Do Not Answer. Authentication X-ray Bravo" (or similar phonetics) and the word was this was a communication to the airborne command post.
I just read of Fed Chairman Powell saying the ever growing US debt is unsustainable. Unsaid but also true is the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere.
This puts me in mind of the prediction that the sun will swell in billions of years so that the inner planets will be destroyed, leaving earth a charred and barren rock. The way humanity is going with the US in the lead seems analogous to the fate of the sun. Millions of years since we departed on the tree of life from the chimps, let alone far longer since life appeared on Earth and it all ends up in a huge expansion of wealth and consumption in a couple of centuries. No blast doors will offer protection.
For all the bravado of those two soldiers posing in front of the blast door, an alien could be excused for thinking "this is silly"
Clif: I was one of them "Soldiers" Young posing in front of the 80 Ton Blast Doors. A SAC "SkyCop" literally from my military USAF Enlistment days.-- early 70's. to late 70's., and I can tell you unequivocally that you intercepted an Authentication from a AWACS plane because when I toiled the missile fields of SAC in my penal servitude that was their Call Sign "Looking Glass" I only had a "Secret" security clearance though. And finished up as a Buck Sergeant in SAC! "Peace was "literally" my Profession." I'm glad I punched out, but I can't say it wasn't interesting.
Thanks for my own authentication! All kinds of things were on SW back then, I heard the emergency teams conversing during the 3 Mile Island nuclear reactor incident in PA. With everything going to satcoms, I imagine SW is very quiet now.
My curiosity got me into one of the Atlas silos in TX in 1969, not long after it was decommissioned. I got to see blast doors though not the size of the one shown here. The electricity was on and it was clear someone was occupying the silo, fortunately not there when I got in with a buddy or I might not be here today. The living quarters were fully functional with a fridge, a stove and a table and chairs. Of the 12 silos most had the blast doors closed and the entryway flooded, so you can imagine the excitement of a 18 year old upon finding one wide open.
Hi Bill, I served as an intelligence analyst (85-89) I too felt doomsday was at hand. I noticed you did not mention Biden. He frightens me as much as Reagan did.
Yes, I didn't say much about Biden since this is an older article from 2017. I basically see Biden today as a figurehead for the national security state. He has little-to-no autonomy.
Every president in my life time has been a figurehead of the military/corporate power elite. I did not know it when I swore my oath of office but, I soon discovered defending democracy was not what I participated in. There were many crimes committed by the leaders of the intelligence community which I was a small part, Iran Contra for example, congressional democracy was circumvented.
I don't believe that our leadership is completely insane. Psycopaths or sociopaths , yes but not completely insane which would prevent them from achieving what they have achieved. In fact, they want to live forever by uploading their conscience into computers- probably decades away if at all possible. Now they are constructing luxury underground bunkers but for what purpose?
There are 3 crises facing humanity now which would result in its extinction -
Climate change
Ecocide
Nuclear war
The last nuclear war is totally under the control of governments.
The first and second are the result of overconsumption and overpopulation.
Lowering the population would solve both problems.
Nuclear war would work but would destroy the environment and climate and the majority of living creatures including plant and oceans leaving the world uninhabitable.
Have you considered a pandemic from bioweapons to lower the population to acceptable levels? Is it possible that the COVID pandemic was actually a bioweapons test for the military? The test objective being seeing how fast it spread, medical response, geographic spread and others? The COVID pandemic has many unanswered questions and plausible deniability for the US since the leak occurred in China. The answers given are completely bogus. Fauci approved it, killed millions of people and is regarded as a "hero".
My opinion is the bunkers the elite are constructing are not for nuclear war but for a pandemic. A place to hide while the chaos above ensues and the bodies rot.
With the advances in genetics and virus research over the past 10 years it's likely that a bioweapon can be constructed with an effective vaccination. It's also possible to selectively administer it to the select few. It's also a "logical solution" for saving the planet and human species along with all other species.
Thanks for the photo of the blast door. I always wondered what they looked like. Not as thick as I thought......
Toma, honestly, who knows? I think the "lab leak" theory for Covid is likely. That's the problem with bioweapons: how do you contain them? Accidents can and do happen. I don't think Covid was a "planned" accident, but the so-called experts sure learned a lot from it, as more wealth flowed upwards.
On a lighter note I forgot to put in the previous comment.
One of my engineering courses 40 years ago was taught by the head of QA for AVCO Systems where they designed and made the MIRV's for the ICBM's. There was a small design problem and all the warheads we're arming themselves in the silo.
The two main tools of American diplomacy are bombs and sanctions. Both of which serve no purpose other than to alienate anyone who might want to be a friend and to make enemies.
One wonders if that is not strategic planning within the POTUS/Congress/State/Defense/Intelligence/Industrial complex. These assholes are all in it together.
The sad part of this is that most American tax payers can't even grasp what a million dollars looks like, much less a billion or a trillion. If people could grasp the real meaning of these figures, relative to their own meager earnings, then maybe we could start a tax-payer revolt.
Just think. For the average Joe earning $56,000 annually, he would have to give up all his income for 3 years just to pay for one hour's E-4B flying time. To make a million dollars, he has to work 18 years. To purchase a single Minuteman III missile (at $33.5 million), he would have to give up every penny for 598 years.
When the numbers become a blur, people don't understand how the numbers impact them, so they don't challenge them. If we could somehow make people realize how they are impacted by these monumental costs, maybe we could stir up some real opposition.
You are absolutely right Dennis, but don't lose the thread. The key point is how to get people to grasp the gravity of these huge costs. Above, you said (which you hear frequently), "Pretty soon we'll be talking real money". That very statement is indicative of a lack of comprehension of the gravity of those numbers. To many, millions, billions, trillions, is all a blur.
There are too many people that "don't do numbers", and when you don't do numbers, the numbers come up and bite you in the ass.
There's a short chapter called "High Finance" in a delightful little book called "Parkinson's Law and other Studies in Administration" by C. Northcote Parkinson that demonstrates how people can relate to small numbers but can't relate to really big numbers and how it affects decision making.
Dennis: went with my Fam. to an Airshow back in the day mid. Nineties @ Weymouth Naval Air Sta. saw a Flyover of a B2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, and a Demonstration of the Harrier Jump Jets, Blue Angels, Pararescuemen jumpiing from Rescue Helicopters--etc.etc... The Announcer announced that we the Audience there were thousands of us could've all heated our homes that Winter with what them Demo's. just Cost in Taxpayers $$
In the 80's I recall hearing on shortwave radio "Sky King Sky King this is Looking Glass. Do Not Answer Do Not Answer. Authentication X-ray Bravo" (or similar phonetics) and the word was this was a communication to the airborne command post.
I just read of Fed Chairman Powell saying the ever growing US debt is unsustainable. Unsaid but also true is the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere.
This puts me in mind of the prediction that the sun will swell in billions of years so that the inner planets will be destroyed, leaving earth a charred and barren rock. The way humanity is going with the US in the lead seems analogous to the fate of the sun. Millions of years since we departed on the tree of life from the chimps, let alone far longer since life appeared on Earth and it all ends up in a huge expansion of wealth and consumption in a couple of centuries. No blast doors will offer protection.
For all the bravado of those two soldiers posing in front of the blast door, an alien could be excused for thinking "this is silly"
Clif: I was one of them "Soldiers" Young posing in front of the 80 Ton Blast Doors. A SAC "SkyCop" literally from my military USAF Enlistment days.-- early 70's. to late 70's., and I can tell you unequivocally that you intercepted an Authentication from a AWACS plane because when I toiled the missile fields of SAC in my penal servitude that was their Call Sign "Looking Glass" I only had a "Secret" security clearance though. And finished up as a Buck Sergeant in SAC! "Peace was "literally" my Profession." I'm glad I punched out, but I can't say it wasn't interesting.
Thanks for my own authentication! All kinds of things were on SW back then, I heard the emergency teams conversing during the 3 Mile Island nuclear reactor incident in PA. With everything going to satcoms, I imagine SW is very quiet now.
My curiosity got me into one of the Atlas silos in TX in 1969, not long after it was decommissioned. I got to see blast doors though not the size of the one shown here. The electricity was on and it was clear someone was occupying the silo, fortunately not there when I got in with a buddy or I might not be here today. The living quarters were fully functional with a fridge, a stove and a table and chairs. Of the 12 silos most had the blast doors closed and the entryway flooded, so you can imagine the excitement of a 18 year old upon finding one wide open.
Hi Bill, I served as an intelligence analyst (85-89) I too felt doomsday was at hand. I noticed you did not mention Biden. He frightens me as much as Reagan did.
Yes, I didn't say much about Biden since this is an older article from 2017. I basically see Biden today as a figurehead for the national security state. He has little-to-no autonomy.
Every president in my life time has been a figurehead of the military/corporate power elite. I did not know it when I swore my oath of office but, I soon discovered defending democracy was not what I participated in. There were many crimes committed by the leaders of the intelligence community which I was a small part, Iran Contra for example, congressional democracy was circumvented.
Dear Prof Astore
I don't believe that our leadership is completely insane. Psycopaths or sociopaths , yes but not completely insane which would prevent them from achieving what they have achieved. In fact, they want to live forever by uploading their conscience into computers- probably decades away if at all possible. Now they are constructing luxury underground bunkers but for what purpose?
There are 3 crises facing humanity now which would result in its extinction -
Climate change
Ecocide
Nuclear war
The last nuclear war is totally under the control of governments.
The first and second are the result of overconsumption and overpopulation.
Lowering the population would solve both problems.
Nuclear war would work but would destroy the environment and climate and the majority of living creatures including plant and oceans leaving the world uninhabitable.
Have you considered a pandemic from bioweapons to lower the population to acceptable levels? Is it possible that the COVID pandemic was actually a bioweapons test for the military? The test objective being seeing how fast it spread, medical response, geographic spread and others? The COVID pandemic has many unanswered questions and plausible deniability for the US since the leak occurred in China. The answers given are completely bogus. Fauci approved it, killed millions of people and is regarded as a "hero".
My opinion is the bunkers the elite are constructing are not for nuclear war but for a pandemic. A place to hide while the chaos above ensues and the bodies rot.
With the advances in genetics and virus research over the past 10 years it's likely that a bioweapon can be constructed with an effective vaccination. It's also possible to selectively administer it to the select few. It's also a "logical solution" for saving the planet and human species along with all other species.
Thanks for the photo of the blast door. I always wondered what they looked like. Not as thick as I thought......
Your thoughts? Or is it too heinous to consider?
Toma, honestly, who knows? I think the "lab leak" theory for Covid is likely. That's the problem with bioweapons: how do you contain them? Accidents can and do happen. I don't think Covid was a "planned" accident, but the so-called experts sure learned a lot from it, as more wealth flowed upwards.
"Who knows" is right.
On a lighter note I forgot to put in the previous comment.
One of my engineering courses 40 years ago was taught by the head of QA for AVCO Systems where they designed and made the MIRV's for the ICBM's. There was a small design problem and all the warheads we're arming themselves in the silo.
"Luxury fallout shelter." 😂 Doomsday is not luxurious.
"WE MUST NOT ALLOW A MINE SHAFT GAP!"
What was the ratio of men to women Strangelove proposed? "With animals to slaughter!" Oh what fun!
The caption under the photo in this article should read: "America, the home of the brave".
Don't they look brave?
I am a USAF (SAC, ADCOM) cold warrior about 15 years older than you.
A point about Obama's, now Biden's trillion buck upgrade to the nukes!
Replacing Minuteman is running 100% over cost and delayed somewhat like F-35.
The earlier 'new' ICBM, aka Peacekeeper, was 'deployed' in the 90's and as far as I know is now mothballed. Not a good sign for Biden's 2 trillion!
I can't write about some of the things I saw then and suspect today
The two main tools of American diplomacy are bombs and sanctions. Both of which serve no purpose other than to alienate anyone who might want to be a friend and to make enemies.
One wonders if that is not strategic planning within the POTUS/Congress/State/Defense/Intelligence/Industrial complex. These assholes are all in it together.
One thing is certain, Dennis: the Air Force always wants more money.
Thanks for the photo you sent! You look good on that bike.
The sad part of this is that most American tax payers can't even grasp what a million dollars looks like, much less a billion or a trillion. If people could grasp the real meaning of these figures, relative to their own meager earnings, then maybe we could start a tax-payer revolt.
Just think. For the average Joe earning $56,000 annually, he would have to give up all his income for 3 years just to pay for one hour's E-4B flying time. To make a million dollars, he has to work 18 years. To purchase a single Minuteman III missile (at $33.5 million), he would have to give up every penny for 598 years.
When the numbers become a blur, people don't understand how the numbers impact them, so they don't challenge them. If we could somehow make people realize how they are impacted by these monumental costs, maybe we could stir up some real opposition.
You are absolutely right Dennis, but don't lose the thread. The key point is how to get people to grasp the gravity of these huge costs. Above, you said (which you hear frequently), "Pretty soon we'll be talking real money". That very statement is indicative of a lack of comprehension of the gravity of those numbers. To many, millions, billions, trillions, is all a blur.
There are too many people that "don't do numbers", and when you don't do numbers, the numbers come up and bite you in the ass.
There's a short chapter called "High Finance" in a delightful little book called "Parkinson's Law and other Studies in Administration" by C. Northcote Parkinson that demonstrates how people can relate to small numbers but can't relate to really big numbers and how it affects decision making.
PS The other chapters are just as good.
Dennis: went with my Fam. to an Airshow back in the day mid. Nineties @ Weymouth Naval Air Sta. saw a Flyover of a B2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, and a Demonstration of the Harrier Jump Jets, Blue Angels, Pararescuemen jumpiing from Rescue Helicopters--etc.etc... The Announcer announced that we the Audience there were thousands of us could've all heated our homes that Winter with what them Demo's. just Cost in Taxpayers $$