Monday, March 21, 2016

WATCH OUT NEW AREA CODE Costly NEW AREA CODE: READ AND PASS ALONG ...


 



 

8  09 Area Code

We actually received a call last week from the809 area  code .

 

The woman said 'Hey, this is Karen.

Sorry I missed you- get back to us quickly.

I have something important to tell you.'

Then she repeated a phone number beginning with809

 

We did not respond. Then this week, we received the following e-mail:

Do Not DIAL AREA CODE809284, AND 876 from the U.S. or Canada.

 

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION PROVIDED TO US BY AT&T. DON'T EVER DIAL AREA CODE 809

 

This one is being distributed all over the US ... This is pretty scary, especially given the way they try to get you to call.

 

Be sure you read this and pass it on.

They get you to call by telling you that it is information about a family member who has been ill or to tell you someone has been arrested, died, or to let you know you have won awonderful prize, etc.

 

In each case, you are told to call the809 number right away.

 

Since there are so many new area codes these days, people unknowingly return these calls.

 

If you call from the U.S. or Canada , you will apparently be charged a minimum of $2425 per-minute.

 

And you'll also get a long recorded message. The point is, they will try to keep you on the phone as long as possible to increase the charges.  WHY IT WORKS:

 

The 809     area code is located in the Dominican Republic.

 

The charges afterward can become a real nightmare. That's because you did actually

 

make the call. If you complain, both your local phone company and your long distance carrier will not want to get involved and will most likely tell you that they are simply providing the billing for the foreign company. You'll end up dealing with a foreign company that argues they have done nothing wrong.

 

Please forward this entiremessage to your friends, family and colleagues to help them become  aware of this scam.  

 

 

 

Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com/

 

Version: 2016.0.7303 / Virus Database: 4522/11469 - Release Date: 01/23/16

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This seems so very familiar - Maybe they are making a comeback - I have gotten a number of them (maybe them) but the giveaway to me is that the person says to call immediately about something very important to me but never gives a clue to what it is and, since i hate the phone anyway, it is not difficult for me to not call - Be careful

 

 

 

Friday, March 18, 2016

There is no Russian Withdrawal from Syria, and other stories ...

Military Newsletter
 
Latest intelligence on the world situation, updates on US military capabilities, news that affects Military retirees, 
and news that will probably never be reported by the "Liberal American Media!"
 
Edited by Lt Col Kent Vasby, USAF, Ret
 

 
 
 
There is no Russian Withdrawal from Syria
 
There is no Russian withdrawal from Syria, but rather a drawdown of the air contingent present in Latakia. 
 
Putin simply moved pieces on the board, without altering the equation. 
 
 


 
Kerry: ISIS is committing genocide against religious sects
 
Finally recognizing the truth?
 
 
 


 
Democracy is a joke, says China - just look at Donald Trump
 
Trump, or "Chuanpu" as they call him in China, has been a gift to Communist party spin doctors paid to convince the country's 1.4 billion citizens that rule of the people is a sure path to chaos and destruction.
 
Donald Trump has become the latest example of how allowing the masses a say in choosing their leaders is a bad idea.
 
 
 

 
 
 
Iran to build a statue of captured US sailors
 
 Iran's Revolutionary Guard likely to cause outrage in US with plans to build a statue of 10 American Marines captured in January as a "tourist attraction"
 
 
 


 
Top Israeli Commander Endorses Obama Doctrine; Gives Kudos to Moscow
 
Israel's number two-ranking officer on Monday conferred praise on global rivals Russia and the United States with his seeming support of the so-called Obama doctrine and respect for Moscow's "professionalism" in joint dealings in Syria. 
 
 
 


 
Obama Went Against Entire National Security Team on Egypt Coup
 
Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told Fox News that President Barack Obama ignored the advice of his entire national security team during the Egyptian coup in 2011 that ousted Hosni Mubarak, the countrys former president.
 
Gates, who headed the Pentagon during the Egyptian coup, lamented that, while he and the rest of the presidents national security experts advised Obama to handle the situation in Egypt cautiously, the president chose to listen to three junior officials instead and called for Mubaraks immediate ouster.
 
 
 

 
 
Scratch one more!
 
Sexually suggestive relationship ends career of Air Force general who ran air war
 
The Air Force assistant vice-chief of staff has been removed after an Inspector General investigation found he exchanged inappropriate emails with a female lieutenant colonel.
 
 
Lt. Gen. John Hesterman a major general at the time of the misconduct, relinquished his duties Thursday, and filed his paperwork for retirement.
 
WNU ED: What exactly is a sexually suggestive relationship. To me it is either yes or no .... but suggestive?!?!?! And it is enough to get you fired?
 
 
 


Here we go again.
 
Air Force Clarifies A-10 Retirement Plans
 
Amid some confusion over when the Air Force will retire the A-10 attack plane, top service officials this week clarified the plan to start drawing down Warthog squadrons in fiscal 2018. 
 
 
If the Air Force keeps the full A-10 fleet flying into the next decade, the service will only have half the manpower it needs to field the F-35.
 
 
 


Hawaii Air Force unit getting own power grid that uses trash 
 
The Air Force Research Laboratory is spending $6.8 million on a facility that will produce electricity for the Hawaii Air National Guard unit that flies F-22s, the nations most advanced fighter jet.
 
 
The Hawaii waste-to-energy facility would take plastics, green waste and other trash from the sprawling joint Air Force and Navy base that includes Pearl Harbor and Hickam Field.
 
 
 

 
 
 The FBI Warns That Car Hacking Is a Real Risk 
 
It's been eight months since a pair of security researchers proved beyond any doubt that car hacking is more than an action movie plot device.
 
Now the FBI has caught up with that news, and it's warning Americans to take the risk of vehicular cybersabotage seriously. 
 
 
 


 
Congress Says Obama Has Wrecked NASA 
 
NASAs budget proposal is far more concerned with spending on global warming research than supporting the agencys mission of space exploration
 
This budget takes our human spaceflight program nowhere fast.
 
 
 


Beyond record hot, February was 'astronomical' and 'strange'
 
Earth got so hot last month that federal scientists struggled to find words, describing temperatures as "astronomical," ''staggering" and "strange." They warned that the climate may have moved into a new and hotter neighborhood. 
 
 
Thanks, El Nino!
 
 


Obama-Backed Solar Plant Could Be Shut Down For Not Producing Enough Energy
 
 
California regulators may force a massive solar thermal power plant in the Mojave Desert to shut down after years of under-producing electricity not to mention the plant was blinding pilots flying over the area and incinerating birds. 
 
Ivanpah, which got a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the Obama administration, only produced a fraction of the power state regulators expected it would.
 
And it does all this at a cost of $200 per megawatt hour  nearly six times the cost of electricity from natural gas-fired power plants. 
 
Interestingly enough, Ivanpah uses natural gas to supplement its solar production.
 
 


 
Faith & Begorrah!
 
 
Pelosi - "50,000 Irish in the U.S. Illegally"
 
 

 

Obama's legacy - No child's behind should be left behind
Thanks, Dave
 
President Obama's latest priority as he winds down his final months in the White House is solving America's "diaper divide".
 
 
 


Heavy Recruitment of Chinese Students Sows Discord on U.S. Campuses
 
 
U.S. schools want their tuition dollars, which can run two to three times the rate paid by in-state students.
 
The PREMISE of this article is that these students feel entitled to a job or an internship in the US.
 
 
 


Current events quiz - Editor got 9 out of 10
 
 

 
A Chat with Dad
Thanks, Warren
 
Mike was going to be married to Karen so his father sat him down for a little chat. 
 
He said, "Mike, let me tell you something. On my wedding night in our honeymoon suite, I took off my pants, handed them to your mother, and said, Here, try these on." 
 
She did and said, 'These are too big. I can't wear them.' 
 
I replied, 'Exactly. I wear the pants in this family and I always will.'  Ever since that night, we have never had any problems. 
 
"Hmmm," said Mike. He thought that might be a good thing to try. 
 
On his honeymoon, Mike took off his pants and said to Karen, "Here, try these on." 
 
She tried them on and said, "These are too large. They don't fit me." 
 
Mike said, "Exactly. I wear the pants in this family and I always will. I don't want you to ever forget that." 
 
Then Karen took off her pants and handed them to Mike. She said, "Here, you try on mine." 
 
He did and said, "I can't get into your pants." 
 
Karen said, "Exactly! And if you don't change your smart-ass attitude, you never will."
 


BOOZE ON AN AIRPLANE 
 
A Mormon was seated next to an Irishman on a flight from London. After the plane was airborne, drink orders were taken. 
 
The Irishman asked for a whiskey, which was promptly delivered and placed before him. 
 
The flight attendant then asked the Mormon if he would like a drink. He replied in disgust, "I'd rather be savagely raped by a dozen whores than let liquor touch my lips. 
 
The Irishman then handed his drink back to the attendant and said, "Me too, I didn't know we had a choice." 
 

 
 

 
A Politician Dies And Goes To Heaven….
Thanks, Ken O
 
While walking down the street one day, a presidential candidate is tragically hit by a car and dies.
 
His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.
 
Welcome to heaven, says St. Peter. Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high-ranking official around these parts, you see, so were not sure what to do with you.
 
No problem, just let me in, says the politician.
 
Well, Id like to, but I have orders from the higher ups. What well do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.
 
Really? Ive made up my mind. I want to be in heaven, says the politician.
 
Im sorry, but we have our rules.
 
And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.
 
The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse, and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.
 
Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had getting rich at the expense of the people. They then dine on lobster, caviar and the finest champagne.
 
Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy and who is having a good time dancing and telling jokes.
 
They are all having such a good time that before the politician realizes it, it is time to go.  Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.
 
The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens in heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him. Now its time to visit heaven…
 
So, 24 hours pass with the politician joining a group of contented souls, moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.
 
Well, then, youve spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity.
 
The politician reflects for a minute, then he answers: Well, I would never have said it before I mean heaven has been delightful but I think I would be better off in hell.
 
So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell…
 
Now the doors of the elevator open and hes in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls to the ground.
 
The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulders.
 
I dont understand, stammers the politician. Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now theres just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?
 
The devil smiles at him and says,
 
Yesterday we were campaigning, Today, you voted.
 
 

NorK fires missile from truck; Former ISIS recruit speaks; An insider’s painfully honest look at the space industry; The week’s biz roundup; and a bit more...

The D Brief
March 18, 2016   
 
 

North Korea chucked another missile into the water, drawing the world's attention yet again—as well as concerns about whether Pyongyang will ever  one day kill that fish. "The missile was launched from an area northwest of Pyongyang at 5:55 a.m. local time and flew about 800 kilometers (500 miles) before crashing off the Korean Peninsula's eastern coast," The Wall Street Journal reports. U.S. officials said it "appeared to be a medium-range missile fired from a road-mobile launcher," Reuters adds, noting that "would mark North Korea's first test of a medium-range missile, capable of reaching Japan, since 2014."

South Korea did not confirm the type of the missiles, Reuters writes, "but 800 km was likely beyond the range of most short-range missiles in North Korea's arsenal. The North's Rodong missile has an estimated maximum range of 1,300 km, according to the South's defense ministry."

About 20 minutes after the first launch, the North "fired another projectile from the same area around 20 minutes later but it disappeared from radar screens shortly after launch," the Journalreports. South Korea said it disappeared at an elevation of 17 kilometers.

The preliminary takeaway: "The North appeared to be trying to give as little warning of the launch as possible," Stars and Stripes reports, adding South Korea's Yonhap News "cited military sources as saying it did not declare a no-sail zone as is required under international conventions for the safety of ships in the area." Further, they write, "The use of mobile launch platforms is also worrying, since they are more difficult to track before use, as is recent work the North has carried out at its traditional rocket site that appears aimed at camouflaging preparations for a launch. New satellite photos also have shown a flurry of activity at its submarine bay that could be part of efforts to develop the capability to launch ballistic missiles from submarines." Read the rest, here.

The Future of War: Planning for the Unpredictable
A new eBook from Defense One and New America's "Future of War" series

With surveys, analysis and commentary from a diverse panel of experts, this eBook is essential for those grappling with the questions surrounding the future of war and global security.

Download Now

 

The American from Virginia who went to fight with the Islamic State says Mosul is rotten with foreign fighters from Central and South Asia. He also said he regretted the decision to join ISIS as soon as he linked up with a woman who drove him into the group's territory. That, according to what the Associated Press calls "a heavily edited interview" with an Iraq's Kurdistan 24 TV station that aired Thursday night.

Mohamad Jamal Khweis, 26, from Alexandria, Virginia, "detailed his weeks-long journey from the United States to London, Amsterdam, Turkey, through Syria and finally to the IS-controlled Iraqi city of Mosul, where he was moved into a house with dozens of other foreign fighters," the AP reports. "Khweis said he met an Iraqi woman with ties to IS in Turkey who arranged his travel into Syria and then across to Mosul. There Khweis said he began more than a month of intensive Islamic studies and it was then he decided to try and flee."

His route: Khweis said he "left for Europe in December and wound up in Turkey where he met an Iraqi girl who said she was from Mosul — which was seized by ISIS militants in June 2014," NBC News reports. "They took a bus to the Turkish border and then a taxi to Syria that was arranged by the woman's sister, who had been married to an ISIS member, Khweis said. What followed was a series of stays in houses with other foreigners — including Asians and Russians — who surrendered their passports and identification and were given nicknames. Khweis eventually was transferred to Mosul with 10 other men who took a 10-hour bus ride to get to the ISIS-held Iraqi city, he said."

Khweis told his interviewer, "I wasn't thinking straight," and added this "message to the American people…life in Mosul is really, really bad."

But the Washington Post noted one particularly glaring omission from the interview—"why Khweis decided to travel to the Islamic State in the first place."

Catch the interview from Kurdistan 24, here.

And speaking of Mosul, the city runs on U.$. bucks. Why? "There are no official banks anymore. So the Islamic State makes the rules: No high interest rates and exchange rates that work in their favour. The latter means that, ironically, the U.S. dollar is king." Details, here.

In Syria, the U.S. doubled the number of Arab fighters in its predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, bringing the total to 5,000 from 2,500 a month ago, Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday. The update came as part of Dunford and Defense Secretary Ash Carter's appeal to lawmakers to free up "nearly $50 million in additional support to the indigenous forces," AP reported.

That comes on the heels of "a limited new plan" to train and arm Syrians, "relaunching a Pentagon program that was suspended last fall after a series of embarrassing setbacks," the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. "This is part of our adjustments to the train and equip program built on prior lessons learned," said Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the U.S.-led military coalition in Baghdad.

"The renewed effort," the LATs writes, "appears far less ambitious than the original program, which aimed to train and arm 5,400 fighters a year but never achieved that goal." Good luck, gentlemen. More here.

 
 
 
 
D  From Defense One

Special report: the U.S. military's new retirement system. Last year, Congress overhauled the system, moving away from the 20-year, all-or-nothing pension toward a more flexible — but complicated — arrangement. In a downloadable special report, Defense One explains what changed and how it will affect everything from wallets to service budgets. Get it (registration required), here.

This painfully honest look at the space industry just got an executive fired. The engineering chief of the nation's largest rocket-launch firm got a little too candid during a recent talk at his alma mater. Via Quartzhere.

Welcome to the Friday edition of the D Brief, by Ben Watson and Bradley Peniston. On this day in 1241, the Mongols outsmarted and destroyed a Polish army, then sacked Kraków. Subscribe here: http://get.defenseone.com/d-brief/. Got news? Let us know: the-d-brief@defenseone.com.

 
 

The Army is training without GPS, preparing to fight enemies who can deprive soldiers of their electronic tools. "For example, when brigades go to the National Training Center, they naturally bring all their usual GPS navigation systems — but now 'we routinely take that capability away from them,' said Gen. David Perkins, head of the Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). 'We're having to teach people at the Basic Course on up on how you operate if that is taken away, in other words introducing people to maps.'" Read the whole thing from Breaking Defense, here.

The Army has come a long way in just four years; here's a 2012 commentary piece in the (late, lamented) Armed Forces Journal calling for these steps and more. Read, here.

Biz Roundup: Patriot shoots down IRBM. Pentagon testers shot down a tactical ballistic missile Thursday using Raytheon GEM-T and Lockheed Martin PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors. The two interceptors were fired in rapid succession at the target over the White Sands Missile Range the New Mexico, according to a Raytheon statement. A PAC-3 interceptor collides with a target while a GEM-T flies close to a target and then explodes.

Thales buys cybersecurity firm. The French company announced Thursday it has closed a $424 million deal for Vormetric, a Silicon Valley data security company. "Vormetric will be progressively integrated into Thales's cybersecurity business in order to create a global leader in data protection," the company said in a statement.

Drone-maker gets cash. Enlightenment Capital, an aerospace and defense-focused investment firm has made an undisclosed "strategic investment" in drone-maker Aurora Flight Sciences. The money "will support Aurora's strategy for expanding the company's development and manufacturing scale as demand continues to increase." Earlier this month, Aurora won a DARPA contract to build a new military experimental plane.

Boeing, Russia, USO, hockey, 4th-gen fighter jet. Boeing is auctioning off a Washington Capitals-themed F/A-18 Super Hornet model autographed by Alexander Ovechkin, Braden Holtby, Niklas Bäckström, and Evgeny Kuznetsov, four of the NHL's top players. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the USO. There's some irony here since Ovechkin and Kuznetsov are from Russia, which Pentagon officials say is the top threat to the U.S.

Target practice, with missiles. Four destroyers and two cruisers from the Eisenhower Strike Group fired SM-2 missiles that destroyed "an advanced high-speed target" during testing in the Atlantic, the Navy said. The tests were part of the final certification before the ships deploy. Here's a video.

The U.S. Air Force's assistant vice chief of staff packed off to an early retirement. "Lieutenant General John Hesterman was removed from his post on Thursday," ABC News reports, "after an investigation revealed that emails he had exchanged with a female Lieutenant Colonel indicated an 'unprofessional relationship'... The three star general had assumed that post last summer after having been in charge of Air Forces Central Command where he conducted the air campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria." More here.

Also in this edition of GO's Behaving Badly: "The Navy has denied promotion to the admiral in charge of its elite SEAL teams, effectively ending his military career, after multiple investigations found that he had retaliated against whistleblowers," WaPo's Craig Whitlock reports after Secretary Ray Mabus's decision "to reject Rear Adm. Brian L. Losey's pending promotion to become a two-star admiral." Whitlock's been on the case for a few months now, and you can catch up on the issue here, or read his October report on Losey, here.

AEI wants BRAC. Every year, the Pentagon points out that closing unneeded bases would save money. And every year, lawmakers shoot down the request. Mackenzie Eaglen of the American Enterprise Institute has laid out "all the misleading reasons not to do BRAC," here.

Lastly today—the British military is putting some of its surplus Sea King helicopters up for sale, with initial asking prices of $14,000 (for "hulks") all the way up to $200,000 (for "working" helos). "The choppers are being sold off by Witham Specialist Vehicles Limited, which hocks surplus equipment for the British Ministry Of Defense (MoD) just like GovPlanet does for the American military over here," writes FoxTrotAlpha, which adds, "So far it looks like they've only listed this three-pack of Sea King HC4 Commando MK 4 variants that were designed to run in the mountains of Afghanistan. You can buy them directly from military storage for £150,000 ($211,723.52) with all necessary paperwork, but you'll have to provide your own engines to get them off the ground." That, here. Have a great weekend, folks!

Featured Post

RT @anti_commie32: Keep up the great work!!! https://t.co/FIAnl1hxwG

RT @anti_commie32: Keep up the great work!!! https://t.co/FIAnl1hxwG — Joseph Moran (@JMM7156) May 2, 2023 from Twitter https://twitter....