Random News and Notes 3 November
There are a couple of interesting and/or important historical notes for today. First up, there were several US Presidents elected today starting with Ulysses S Grant in 1868. William McKinley, William Taft, FDR for his second term, LBJ and Slick Willie all won elections on 3 November.
Tsar Nicholas all but signed his death warrant on this day in 1905 when he signed an amnesty for all political prisoners and exiles. This led to the resurgence of the communists in Russia. By 1918 he and most of his family would be dead, executed and dumped down a well by the Bolsheviks. There is a lesson to be learned there. . .
Now on to the news.
There were a couple more (relatively) high-profile reliefs at the Pentagon over the past few days. Well, one outright relief and one lateral transfer, but more on that one in a second. We start with the outright firing. Lieutenant General Joseph McGee was the director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Joint Staff, also known as the J5. If you’re curious as to what the J5 actually does, they “propose strategies, plans, and policy recommendations to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff “. His relief was announced in a terse statement:
“Lt Gen. JP McGee will retire after nearly three years of outstanding leadership and service on the Joint Staff. We are grateful for his 35 years of honorable and dedicated service to the Nation. . . ”
. . .Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan “Raizin” Caine, on issues ranging from Russia and Ukraine to military operations in the Caribbean.
McGee was appointed to the position by President Joe Biden in 2024, with some in the Office of the Secretary of Defense seeing him as too close to the “old guard” of the Pentagon, particularly Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley, and Former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Hegseth and Caine also became frustrated with McGee at times because they believed he moved too slowly, a similar compliant they reportedly had towards the Commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), Adm. Alvin Holsey, who announced his retirement earlier this month amid stark disagreements with Hegseth and Caine over the legality of ongoing military strikes on suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean.
McGee was close to the “leadership” of the last administration. He had been nominated for a 4th star but the nom stalled when the Autopen lost and the 118th Congress ended.
The second move was as I said a roughly lateral move. Until recently, Rear Admiral Kurt J. Rothenhaus had been the head of the Office of Naval Research. He is now the commander of NAVWAR – Naval Information Warfare Command – which had been without a commander. The reason this one is even being discussed is that Rothenhaus’ replacement is a 33 year old civilian, Rachel Riley. Riley had previously been a partner at McKinsey, so she is no slouch. It is not uncommon for civilians to lead the various service research commands.
SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program) bennies did not go out over the weekend. I am expecting to see more videos like this one in the coming days.
30 years???? What the actual f*ck? I can understand the need for a hand up because of a bad year or whatever, but 30 f*cking years? That really pisses me off.
President Trump took a shot at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Mogadishu) over some ridiculous statements she made.
Your Editor has history with Somalis, and frankly, I wouldn’t piss on one if they were on fire. Hell, I might look for some fuel to add to the blaze depending on the day. Omar probably committed immigration fraud and should be denaturalized and deported.
It is day 34 of the Schumer shutdown. 34 days of Chuck Schumer holding the entire country hostage because he is afraid of the far left loons in his party. Chucky knows AOC is gonna primary him, and he wants to hold onto the bit of power that he has as a Senator. House Speaker Mike Johnson called him out for it.
I expect that the shutdown will end on Wednesday, Thursday at the latest.
