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Got my new passport today but a little annoyed at both Thai Post and of course the managment office of my building. 1. Sent out my renewal application to BKK Embassy on May 28 2025. 2. BKK Embassy mailed my new passport and old passport to me in CNX on June 24. It was received by the apartment management office on June 25. 3. Never got an email, text or Line message from anyone that the Thai Courier Pass Book had been delievered. Instead it was hidden under boxes that had been delieverd to other tenants in front of the management office. It's a good thing that today I rummaged throught the boxes and found my enevelope. This is the way my apartment handles mail and parcels: They just dump them in small boxes labeled by floor number and all boxes and parcels are stacked on the floor in front of the managment office. Not too secure but I keep reminidng myself "TIT". Overall I was actually impressed by the turnaround time. It was 29 days from start to finish. The new passport definitely looks different than the old passport. It actually looks like there are more security features imbedded into the passport book.

A Norwegian tourist claims having this photo on his phone got him denied US entry. I mean it's funny but what is the harm if thsi story is actually true.

Possibly just in case more strikes are needed? Better to keep a low profile on this General? Better to just keep Gen Kaine as the face of the operation(s).

Of course I know CENTCOM. There are two type of General Officers: 1) The ones who get too much attention 2) The ones who get no attention. The latter are the one who get things done. In my last deployment to Astan the ISAF commander was Lt Gen Eikenberry. In 2009 he retired and Obama nominated him as the Afghan Ambassador. He always maintained a high profile. He definitely fit into the first category.

I never said he planned or coordinated the attack. He just gave a good explanation of the mission. Overall he is the JCS so everything the DOD and all US Forces do come under his command and ultimate responsibility. Just like back during Gulf War Norman Scwharzkopf gave the breifings and got a lot of the credit but his subordinates planned and executed the missions.

My new hero is Gen Dan Caine (Chariman of the JCS). He said many of the B-2 Crew were graduates fo the USAF Figher Weapons School "where they do not play beach football or vollyeball". Of course this is a dig at the Navy and the Top Gun movies. I was very impressed with how he explained the mission unlike Sec Def who sounded like he was going after "the lying media" with much of his time. The contrast between Sec Def and Gen Caine was dramatic. One is a dedicated professional who has served his country and the USAF for over 30 years and the other is just embarrassing.

I guess his job is Tattoo artist?

It's not just restaurants. Had lunch at some of my faovrite places back in CA in Feb 2025: 1. Chicken Burrito and a soda at Chipotle was $16 2. 3 Chicken Finger combo at Raising Canes was $13 3. Breakfaast at Ihop (3 panackes, 2 eggs and a coffee) came in at $15 4. The saving grace was at my all time favorite, In N Out, where a single cheeseburger combo was under $10. Even lunch at a fast food for under $10 is now a bargain. Most of the places except for In N Out was not packed as it used to be in the past. It seems fewer people are eating out back in CA. I cannot imgaine what it would cost for a family of 4 to eat out at a fast food place wouild come to.

State Assemblyman Zoran Mamdani will face incumbent Mayor Eric Adams for NY Mayor later this year. I have never lived in NY NY but the election will be interesting. Mamdani describes himself as a Socialist Democrat and some of his campaign promises had the key word of "Free". That is free public transit and freeze all rents are just two examples. There is a good chance the largest city in America will have a socialist as mayor. Good luck NY.

Recently some on Youtube have uploaded videos that seemed to imply many expats are leaving LOS. I have been in CNX for 7 years and I doubted this. It seems like business as usual here in CNX. Loads of Koreans, smaller number of Chinese, the Low Budget Backpackers and the usual old expats that I have seen for years are roaming the streets. I was really surprised to find out a Youtuber based in CNX, The Narrow Gate, has moved to Vlore Albania withi his wife and two dogs. He posted some really good vidoes about CNX and seemd like he was going to be a lifer . He rented a house, bought a car and even brought his dogs from the US. He was in CNX for 4 years and seemed to have settled for good. He genuinely seemd to be happy in CNX. The new videos reveal the good and bad about life in Albania. I thought Tony and his wife Kendall would be the last people to leave LOS for another country. I have considered Albania as a possible tuture destination because as an American I can stay for one year without a visa. Are a significant number of long term expats actually leaving LOS?

Deception is a miltary tactic. Maybe this time POTUs actually listened to mlitary leaders. But of course when POTUS writes his memoirs (or his ghost writer) he actually came up with "Midnight Hammer"? The question that needs to be answered is will Donald Trump finally be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Some Air Force and Navy fighter mission can last up to 8 hours with mulitple air to air refueling. I thought how can anyone sit in that ejection seat for up to 8 hours. The B-2 has ejcetion seats so the feeling is similar but at least the crew can get out and stretch a little.

Ah, the second photo is the cockpit and instrument panel of a B-52. The B-52 has been in service for over 60 years.

Look who has now come out of irrelevance. He just made a speech in Paris a day after the US strikes. Looks like his old man. Does he really think he will be the next Shah?

This might upset Beijing. This is because Beijing wants to be the Big Daddy of Asia. Japan, S. Korea and the nations East and sE ASia burn a lot of oil as well.

To bomb or not to bomb but we all know one thing: The USAF can put bombs on target. The USAF is the toughest branch of the US Militray to enlist and to obtain a commission and they prove it again and again. Besides they get the most expensive aircraft and equipment. On the otherhand I cannot believe this was tweeted by the LASD. In my time(this was a long time ago) the LASD was an effective law enforcement agency that patrolled many parts of LA County, ran the county jails and were bailffs in courthouses. As usual the current Sheriff, Robert Luna, is silent. Luna shows he is just politician with a badge.

I used to see Border Patrol Agents in Los Angeles County back in the 1980's. It was comical to see illegals running and Border Patrol Agents chasing after them. BP was in the white trucks with the "Border Patrol" in greeen and all were in their green BP uniforms. People could see coming from. This might one of the reasons ICE uses unmarked vehicles? A decade later I realized it was all for show because when I arrested a suspect who had an Immigration detention hold (these have been around for decades) Border Patrol would give the standard reply: We will pick him up. Rarely did the BP actually show up and unless the suspect was remanded to county he or she would be released from our jails.. As result for years many have not seen immigration laws being actively enforced. Of course this type of large and aggressive enforcement could be shocking to some. It was not just the Biden Administration who was not enforcing immigration laws but so were many other previous administrations.

12 could be the entire inverntory of GBU 57's? It's not like the USAF has a warehouse full of 30,000 bombs. Could be difficult to execute a follow on strike on Fordow. I wonder when the bombing footage will be released. Each GBU 57 has about 5,000 lbs of explosives and the ground probably was shaking after each impact and detonation.

Read a post from Trump's favorite guy on Fox, Hannity, that 6 GBU-57 were dropped. That is 180,000 lbs dropped on Iran. It sounds good but have to wait for the BDA (Bomb Damage Assessement).

Air Defense can be as simple one soldier with a hand held Igla-S (The Russian version of the Stinger). Control of Air Space once attained has to be maintained. This means sorties day and night. To ensure that Iran's air defense is completely knocked out would require verification from the ground. I do not see that happening anytime soon.

Anything that flies can be shot down. Even with the simplest of weapons and with a little luck even the Soviets downed a U2 that was flying at over 60,000 and even the Bosnians downed an F117, All flying machines can develop technical problems whiile airborne. If the B2 is actually sent on the bunker busting machine, I hope it goes smoothly because Air Force PJ's would have to fly a long way to rescue them. Just flying in Iranian airspace is one thing but actually dropping bombs on them is on a way different level. A different level with more risk.

But the $64,000 question is "how close are they to a bomb?". If it is two weeks, a month then a first strike against this threat seems justified. If current DNI (the one Donald Trump appointed just months ago) says they are not close to a bomb and Donald Trump disagrees then why even have a DNI. My guess is John Ratcliffe(CIA director) is up next. I wonder what he will say about Iran and the Bomb? It is always preferable to have your people say what needs to be saId rather than what their boss wants to hear.

Possibly but back then it seemed like all were just agreeing with what the CIA said about Iraq. Even back then most western intel agencies had few actual human agents inside of Iraq. The same could be said about Iran today. . Long range intel gathering is useful but nothing beats an actual human being on the ground to confirm or deny the intel. Who knows mabye Mossad has a high level Iranian governmental type on their payroll. Doubt the CIA has anoyone inside of Iran. When I was in the Army we called military intel "oxymoron". Most intel reports or as the agencies called them "assessments" are mostly educated guesses. Also, this was back in 2002 when most of the world had sympathy for the US and supported us after 911. Most of the world actually believed what the US actually said about looming threats. AKA America actually had credibility back then. It all changed after the Iraq war. America has never regained that level of support and trust from the world. Tony Blair and Bush were BFF's back then and were vitually in lock step about Iraq.

Powell is an honorable man and he relied on intel that was provided to him. Of course I don't know about George Tenet (CIA director).

It is a false premise to believe one bombing mission will be enough. Granted we are talking about the GBU -57 (MOP-Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb) but history of war and combat says rarely does dropping one bomb accomplishes the mission. I hope the Commander in Chief knows this but I doubt it. Let's say in two weeks a B-2 drops the GBU-57 from 50,000 feet on the underground Iranian nuclear faciity and executes a direct hit. The logical next step is to conduct a BDA (Bomb Damage Assessment). An aerial or a distant BDA will not tell the complete story. Is Netanyahu willing to order his special forces to conduct a ground level BDA? This could be a one way mission. The true state of Iran's nuclear program is not known. Maybe they are weeks from building a bomb? Maybe they are years away? I just keep thinking about what Secreaty of State Colin Powell said at the UN about Iraq's WMD program? But then of course if we see a large mushroom cloud then we can say "Mission Accomplished?