• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About

Radio America Online News Bureau

Army

Bergdahl Conviction Tossed, DOJ’s Shady SBF Decision, More Government Censoring

July 28, 2023 by GregC

Listen to “Bergdahl Conviction Tossed, DOJ’s Shady SBF Decision, More Government Censoring” on Spreaker.

Join Jim and Greg as they serve up two bad martinis and a crazy one to end a truly bizarre week in Washington. First, they fume as infamous Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl gets his laughably light conviction thrown out for a very flimsy reason. They also smell a rat as federal prosecutors decide to drop campaign finance fraud charges against FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Is it really because the Bahamas are playing hardball on extradition or do Democrats want to avoid a lot of embarrassing facts from coming out? Finally, they hammer the Biden administration for demanding Meta (Facebook) remove posts and memes about COVID back in 2021.
Please visit our great sponsors:
4Patriot
https://4Patriots.com
Use code MARTINI to get 10% off your purchase.

Share

Filed Under: Afghanistan, Big Tech, Business, COVID-19, Crime, Cryptocurrency, Elections, FBI, Foreign Policy, History, Humor, Journalism, Justice Department, Military, News & Politics, Social Media, Supreme Court, Taliban, Terrorism, Veterans Tagged With: #campaignfinance, 3MartiniLunch, Afghanistan, Army, Bergdahl, Biden, COVID, desertion, DOJ, Facebook, FTX, Meta, SBF, Trump

No Funds for Wuhan, Biden’s Decline, CNN’s Sandwich Coverage, Korean Border Mystery

July 19, 2023 by GregC

Listen to “No Funds for Wuhan, Biden’s Decline, CNN’s Sandwich Coverage, Korean Border Mystery” on Spreaker.

Join Jim and Greg as they serve up a double-fisted good martini along with a pair of crazy ones. First, they welcome the Biden administration officially refusing to provide further funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and Jim explains why Biden’s pathetic performance in the Oval Office on Tuesday is a good thing because the American people can see his obvious decline. They also react to CNN’s breathless coverage of Special Counsel Jack Smith going to get a sandwich for lunch and claiming it shows tremendous strength in his prosecution and investigation of Donald Trump. Finally, they try to make sense out of a troubled U.S. soldier in South Korea sprinting across the border and disappearing into North Korea.

Share

Filed Under: Afghanistan, China, congress, COVID-19, Elections, Entertainment, Foreign Policy, History, Humor, Iran, Israel, Journalism, Justice Department, Korea, law, Middle East, Military, News & Politics, Nuclear Tagged With: #JackSmith, 2024, 3MartiniLunch, Army, Bergdahl, Biden, CNN, COVID, Korea, Subway, Wuhan

GOP’s Senate Momentum, Army’s Dismal Recruiting, OPEC’s Possible Price Hike

October 3, 2022 by GregC

Listen to “GOP’s Senate Momentum, Army’s Dismal Recruiting, OPEC’s Possible Price Hike” on Spreaker.

Jim is back! Join Jim and Greg as they welcome the Axios assessment that Republicans seem to have momentum in the battle for the U.S. Senate thanks to shifts in a couple key races. They’re also concerned as the U.S. Army reports it fell 15,000 soldiers short of it’s recruiting goal in Fiscal Year 2022. That’s 25 percent below the target and the other branches posted disappointing numbers too. And they shudder as more and more signs point to gas prices rising again soon, including OPEC threatening significant production cuts.

Jim and Greg also reflect back to the D.C. snipers, whose killing spree began 20 years ago today and claimed the lives of 10 innocent people in the area.

 

Please visit our great sponsors:

Moink Box
https://moinkbox.com/martini
Keep America farming and get FREE Filet Mignon in every order for a year.

Share

Filed Under: Afghanistan, congress, Crime, Economy, Elections, Energy, Foreign Policy, History, Humor, Inflation, Journalism, Military, News & Politics, Police, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism Tagged With: 3MartiniLunch, Army, Barnes, Biden, Fetterman, gas, Johnson, midterms, OPEC, Oz, Pennsylvania, recruiting, Senate, Wisconsin

NPR & Looting, Cuomo’s Trash Talk, Pelosi Alleges Salon ‘Set-Up’

September 3, 2020 by GregC

Listen to “NPR & Looting, Cuomo’s Trash Talk, Pelosi Alleges Salon ‘Set-Up'” on Spreaker.

Join Jim and Greg as they welcome NPR’s admission that it failed listeners in its favorable interview of a radical author who thinks property ownership is a form of white supremacy, although they wonder why such a person was ever invited onto NPR in the first place. They also roll their eyes as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo warns President Trump he would need an army to return safely to New York City. And they try to figure out why Nancy Pelosi decided to launch a conspiracy theory about her flouting of the San Francisco COVID restrictions instead of just letting the story die.

Share

Filed Under: congress, Crime, Health Care, Journalism, News & Politics Tagged With: Army, COVID, Cuomo, looting, National Review, NPR, Pelosi, salon, set-up, Three Martini Lunch, Trump

Iran Stands Alone, Iraq Withdrawal Confusion, Impeachment Over Iran?

January 7, 2020 by GregC

Listen to “Iran Stands Alone, Iraq Withdrawal Confusion, Impeachment Over Iran?” on Spreaker.

Join us for three Iran-related martinis for you today. First, Jim and Greg are glad to see the likes of Russia and China offering nothing but word salad as no nation commits arms or manpower to Iran in the wake of the Soleimani strike. They also cringe as the Pentagon has to walk back a letter stating the U.S. Army would leave Iraq, only to have Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley explain the letter was just a poorly worded draft that doesn’t accurately express our policy and was never intended to go public. And they unload on California Rep. Ro Khanna for suggesting that Pres. Trump retaliating against Iran could warrant another article of impeachment, with Jim wondering if the Democrats are starting an impeachment of the month club.

Share

Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: Army, China, impeachment, Iran, Iraq, Milley, National Review, Pompeo, President Trump, Ro Khanna, russia, Three Martini Lunch, withdrawal

Boykin Rips Army’s ‘Insanity’

November 16, 2017 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/11-16-boykin-blog.mp3

The U.S. Army is rescinding its recently announced policy of allowing people with a history of mental illness to get waivers in order to serve in our military, a welcome move but one that should never have been necessary according to a former U.S. Army special forces commander.

Earlier this week, the Army announced it instituted a policy in August that allows waivers to be issued so that potential recruits could circumvent the ban on service members with a history of mental illnesses ranging from bipolar disorder to depression to self-mutilation and alcohol or drug abuse.  The Army admitted the move was designed to boost sagging recruiting numbers.

On Wednesday, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley said the Army is reversing course.  Milley says the policy on waivers was never actually implemented but was being debates with the Army’s leadership.

Retired U.S. Army Lt. General William “Jerry” Boykin, who spent most of his career in special forces, says the Army is making the right call after entertaining a terrible idea.

“I will take the chief of staff of the Army’s word for the fact that it was still being studied but it’s disturbing that we’re even studying this,” said Boykin, who believes the Army’s sudden shift is due more to public relations than because it believes this was a terrible idea.

“I think they were unprepared for the blowback.  I’m appalled that in a world that’s so transparent today you’d think you could do something like this and that this is not going to be a major story,” said Boykin.

He says the idea of allowing people with mental illness to serve in combat arms has never been embraced even when manpower was desperately needed.

“We didn’t even do this in Vietnam,” said Boykin, who says the biggest shift in standards was allowing GED recipients to serve rather than insist upon high school graduates.

“This is as low as the Army has ever dropped in terms of a lack of focus on readiness and quality people,” said Boykin.  “It’s hard to brag that we have the highest quality people that we’ve ever had in our military – which our Army does regularly – and then look at the fact that we’re bringing people in that have a history of self-mutilation.”

Boykin says combat already takes a great toll on the mental health of our soldiers and that putting people with mental health problems into the fray is a recipe for disaster.

“Combat itself is probably the most stressful thing that a human can do.  It;s not just the fear associated with it but it’s the long-term effects of seeing people that you care about die and be wounded in severe ways.  That marks you.

“That has an effect on an individual that is different for each individual but ultimately becomes a very emotional thing.  To bring people in that are already struggling is just insanity.  It makes no sense,” said Boykin.

Boykin says the very top of our military’s chain of command can and must do better.

“I’m disappointed in the leadership of our military.  Also, our president needs to step in and say, ‘Stop this nonsense.  We’re not going to do this.  We’ll do whatever we have to do to recruit a professional Army but we’re not going to do this nonsense,” said Boykin, who adds there is no way recruiters could weed out all the people with mental health issues who might pose a threat to themselves or members of their units.

One reason the military brass did not immediately kill the waivers idea is because they wouldn’t be tasked with dealing with problem recruits or the punishments related to their conduct.

A retired senior non-commissioned officer who served in Operations Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom who prefers to remain anonymous says it’s young officers and enlisted men who would be tasked with diagnosing these issues.

“The lowest level leadership are corporals, SGTs, SSGs, SFCs, lieutenants.  All guys 18-24 years old, have no inkling how to spot a potential suicide or mass shooter.  They’re also the guys that the command is going to hang out to dry if something happens for being “poor leaders” and not spotting something in time,” the Army veteran said.

He also says there is no protocol for dealing with mental health issues once a person is in the service.

“The low level leadership hasn’t been trained to deal with these people.  There is “suicide prevention training” which is a joke, but it’s more oriented towards a normal guy that’s had too many deployments, combat stress or family issues – it’s not tailored at all to somebody that already mentally ill,” he said.

Boykin also also appalled that at the very time when mental health problems tend to be an issue in many mass shooters, yet the Army either decided or was close to deciding to give guns to people with some of those same diagnoses.

Boykin also says this slide in standards is an ongoing symptom of the way the Obama administration treated the military.

“It is a reflection of eight years under a commander-in-chief who paid no attention whatsoever to readiness of our military.  That’s why you’re having trouble recruiting,” said Boykin.

“It’s because moms and dads during those eight years, when their son or their daughter had to give up their faith for example, or had to come in a military that was being used for social experiments, people got turned off to coming into the military,” said Boykin.

He says parents will have the same reaction to the Army considering allowing to people with a history of mental illness to take up arms.

Boykin urges the military to make all decisions based on one simple criteria.

“No decision regarding our military should be made until the question has been asked, ‘How does this impact the readiness?’  Is it a positive?  If it’s a positive, it’s OK to do it.  Is it a negative, it’s not alright to do it.  If it’s neutral, then it could go either way.  In this case, you have to know that this is a negative,” said Boykin.

But what if recruitment numbers aren’t met?  Boykin says there are more important things.

“I’d rather go into combat with ten good men that were reliable that I could trust than a thousand that were questionable,” he said.

Boykin says a laser focus on readiness will make the U.S. military the dominant fighting force it always ought to be.

“We can turn this around.  Stop the social experiments.  Change the rules of engagement, where men and women can go into combat to win and restore the military budget to where they know that they have the necessary equipment to fight the nation’s wars and be victorious,” said Boykin.

Share

Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: Army, combat, insanity, mental illness, military, news, obama, Trump

Army Wises Up, Franken Accused, Wisdom of the Pence Rule

November 16, 2017 by GregC


Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America breathe a sigh of relief as the U.S. Army announces it will scrap a rule that would allow waivers for people dealing with depression, bipolar disorder or self-mutilation to apply to serve.  They also slam Minnesota Sen. Al Franken after one of his colleagues on a 2006 USO tour accuses Franken of a forced kiss and provides a photo of him groping her while she is asleep.  And they respond bluntly to a New York Times op-ed from a Christianity Today writer who thinks the Mike Pence policy of a man never being along with a woman other than his wife is a damaging to women’s careers and is actually a “sanctified cousin” to “Weinstein-ian behavior.

Share

Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: Al Franken, Army, Harvey Weinstein, Leann Tweeden, mental illness, Mike Pence, National Review, Pence Rule, Three Martini Lunch

Army Lifting Mental Health Ban on Recruits

November 13, 2017 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/11-13-donnelly-blog.mp3

The U.S. Army is lifting an ban on recruits with a history of mental illness as a means of boosting recruiting numbers, a unilateral decision that could damage readiness and actually hurt the effort to recruit quality young Americans into serving their country in uniform.

The Army made the decision in August, but is only making it public now as it fears efforts to recruit 80,000 new soldiers by September 2018 may fall short.  Americans who deal with bipolar disorder, depression, self-mutilation or drug and alcohol abuse are not eligible to be recruited although the Army insists it will screen such applicants vigorously to ensure they are fit for service.

That’s not good enough for Center for Military Readiness President Elaine Donnelly.

“This is not a good sign,” said Donnelly.  “At least one expert quoted in the USA Today story said that when you induct people who have psychological problems, it is definitely a red flag.  Those psychological problems often get worse in the military.  Rates of suicide in the military are much higher than in the civilian world.”

She says one of the recruiting headaches is that a growing number of young people are not physically fit for the military, but she says that shouldn’t trigger a sliding standard on mental health.

“Issues of mental competency also are important.  Mental conditions that detract from readiness to deploy, that interfere with unit cohesion, that contribute to stress and controversy within a given unit, these issues also are important,” said Donnelly.

She it’s not the first time the military has gone down this road.

“We have pressures to include transgenders in our military.  Gender dysphoria is one of those mental conditions that render a person unqualified for military service.  It’s one of many.  Now we see the list being edited to include some mental conditions in the same way,” said Donnelly.

Donnelly says the policy decision makes life more difficult for others in the military, starting with the recruiters, who may soon be urged to accept applicants that ought to be rejected.

“I think the pressure will be on to meet the quotas,” said Donnelly.

She also says problem cases who slip through recruiting and training have and could again become major headaches for battlefield commanders.

An in an ironic twist, Donnelly says the effort to relax standards may actually hurt recruiting of the people the military want and need to sign up.

“The military is a very special institution.  It requires special young people to join.  If you start playing games with standards and making excuses for including people who are not suited for military service, that’s only going to make the problem worse,” said Donnelly.

“We have to be very careful.  Not everybody is eligible to serve in the Armed Forces.  And if you pretend like it is an equal opportunity employer, then you put everybody’s lives at greater risk,” said Donnelly.

So why is the Trump administration allowing this?  In short, it may not have much of a say at all.  Donnelly says the Army can change the policy without any input from Congress.  Furthermore, she says President Trump’s people still aren’t on the job.

“It was only last week the new Secretary of the Army was confirmed.  So this was a decision made by people from the Obama administration, not the Trump administration,” she said.

“The person in charge of personnel matters in the Department of Defense hasn’t even been confirmed yet, the Trump appointee.  So this may be an open issue that may be revisited and I hope it will be,” said Donnelly.

 

Standard Podcast [ 11:44 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: Army, mental health, news, recruits, social engineering

Primary Sidebar

Recent

  • Israel Targets Iranian Nukes, How Trump is Navigating Israel-Iran, Sen. Padilla’s PR Stunt
  • Gov. Newsom’s LA Riot Money Trail, Is Iran Conflict Imminent, Mayor Bass Floundering Again
  • ABC Boots Moran Over ‘Hate’ Tweet, Gabbard’s Nuclear Alarmism, Rep. Green’s Guyana Gamble
  • Massive Immigrant Shift to GOP, Organized Chaos in LA, Hawley’s Wage Hike Plan
  • Fire & ICE in LA, Media Calls Riots Fun & Flames, Gillibrand’s Midterm Misdirection

Archives

  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in