New WordPress edit format doesn’t show draft copies unless I look for them, so I missed this..so this is not timely nor am I inclined to delay it by giving it a needed work-over and rewrite. Spring Fever, what is denied only grows in force.
Alarm on Hill over Russian troop buildup, as NATO general briefs lawmakers
Ted Cruz: The Russians are ‘openly laughing’ at Obama
Sen. Ted Cruz believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian leaders no longer respect President Obama because of his failure to lead.
“The only thing Putin respects is strength … At this point the Russians are openly laughing at the president,” Cruz, R-Texas, told the Washington Examiner.
Cruz added that Putin’s aggressiveness was “a direct consequence” of the absence of American leadership in the world.
“The weakness and incoherent foreign policy of the Obama administration — from President Obama, under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and under Secretary [John] Kerry — has undermined our allies and has strengthened our enemies and put Putin in particular in a far stronger position,” Cruz declared.
Sailors leaving Navy over stress on social issues, Top Gun instructor says
A Navy F-18 fighter pilot and former Top Gun instructor is publicly warning admirals that retention is beginning to suffer from the military’s relentless social conditioning programs.
Cmdr. Guy Snodgrass, until recently a Pentagon speech writer for the chief of naval operations, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, said sailors are becoming fed-up with the constant emphasis on social issues — an apparent reference to gays in the military, women in combat and ending sexual harassment.
SEE ALSO: Obama to kill Navy’s Tomahawk, Hellfire missile programs in budget decimation
“Sailors continue to cite the over-focus on social issues by senior leadership, above and beyond discussions on war fighting — a fact that demoralizes junior and mid-grade officers alike,” Cmdr. Snodgrass wrote this month on the U.S. Naval Institute website, an independent forum for active and retired sailors and Marines.
Senators weigh impact of proposed Tricare fee hikes
“FRA is concerned that Congress has not learned from past mistakes that pay caps and other benefits cuts impact negatively on retention and recruitment,” Davis said….
Without the estimated $2.1 billion that the benefits proposals would save next year, and with an additional $30 billion in sequester cuts coming over the next five years, readiness and modernization will suffer, said DoD Comptroller Robert Hale.
“These cuts are going to have to come out of readiness and modernization. There’s nowhere else to go,” Hale told lawmakers during the hearing.
The advocacy groups oppose nearly all the proposed benefits cuts in the fiscal 2015 budget, including changes to housing, commissaries and pay increases.
On the North River 