Also on today’s menu:
Updating Executive Orders On Military Recognition
Russia Acknowledges Lost Territory
Advocating For Teens Fighting Wars
Governor Chris Sununu sent two New Hampshire National Guard units to the southern United States border to cover approximately 250 miles, extending to the Gulf of Mexico. About 44 soldiers from the 941st Military Police Battalion HQ will support four subordinate units — “companies” from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Illinois, and Kentucky, numbering about 500 — while some 120 solders from the 237th Military Police Company will be deployed to primarily surveillance sites along the border.
According to the governor, soldiers are prohibited from being in contact with illegal migrants. Instead, they will notify U.S. Customs and Border Protection of any border crossing in an attempt “to primarily stem the flow of people and illicit drugs, weapons and money.”
The announcement noted that “A previous NH National Guard unit deployed to the southwest border from October 2020 through November 2021, which helped resulted in [sic] 207,320 assisted apprehensions, $893 million in illegal drug seizures, and 20 migrant lives saved.”
Updating Executive Orders On Military Recognition
President Joe Biden Jr. has amended executive orders dating back to 1942 that provide for the Air Medal to be awarded to “Persons Serving with the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States” to strike “Army and Navy” and insert “Armed Forces”; striking “any person” and inserting “those individuals”; inserting “Air Force, Space Force,” after “Marine Corps,”; and striking “distinguishes, or has distinguished, himself” and inserting “distinguish, or have distinguished, themselves”.
In the second sentence, the new executive order replaced “his jurisdiction” with “the jurisdiction of the Navy”.
Similar changes were made to executive orders pertaining to the Good Conduct Medal, Outstanding Performance in Action, the Bronze Star Medal, and Delegation of Authority to Approve Certain Military Decorations.
Russia Acknowledges Lost Territory
Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, normally focuses on his own military’s successes and the enemy’s losses, but on October 3, he was forced to acknowledge that Ukrainian forces had penetrated Moscow’s defenses in the strategic southern Kherson region, one of the four areas in Ukraine that Russia is now claiming as its own.
“With numerically superior tank units in the direction of Zolota Balka and Oleksandrivka, the enemy managed to forge deep into our defenses,” Konashenkov said, coupling the admission with claims that Russian forces had inflicted heavy losses on Ukraine’s military.
Meanwhile, Russia’s lower house of parliament has rubber-stamped the annexation treaties for Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk, with the upper house expected to follow suit after the Kremlin had orchestrated annexation “referendums” last week.
Advocating For Teens Fighting Wars
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a strong ally of Vladimir Putin, announced that his three sons, aged 14, 15, and 16, will soon travel to the Ukraine front line to fight with Russian forces. Although Kadyrov has recently criticized Russian military leadership, he wrote that a father should teach his sons how to protect their family, people, and fatherland. Kadyrov said his sons' military training began when they were much younger, and the time had come for them to experience a real battle.
Using children under the age of 15 to participate in hostilities is considered a war crime by the International Criminal Court, but Russia does not recognize its jurisdiction. Nevertheless, Russia has signed a UN treaty aimed at preventing children under the age of 18 from taking direct part in hostilities.
Kadyrov has ruled the southern Russian republic since 2007, when Putin named him to be the region’s president. While there has been a period of relative stability in Chechnya, which fought unsuccessfully for independence for a decade, Kadyrov has been criticized for ruling with an iron fist and allowing human rights violations to flourish.
Café Chatter
On Motorcycle Crashes: I had the sad experience of coming upon a motorcycle rider after he had crashed. He was not wearing a helmet or any leather, so I cannot imagine there was any hope of his surviving. It seems to me that whether a rider was wearing a helmet should be required reporting in all motorcycle accidents.
— Susan Duncan
On Destroying The Economy: Since so called “trickle down” economics we have definitely been, in my opinion, a reactionary economy. I too loved it when my 401K was gaining, but at what cost? Should we really have had 0% interest for months and months under the former administration? I don’t know. Doesn’t matter now. Talk about a correction. 😒
What is happening is global. It’s the war in Ukraine. It’s the rebound from Covid that was much more robust than expected helped exacerbate the supply line issues.
I can only hope that people will move from lies and fear and focus on what is true. True is not your opinion. It’s what are facts. By the way, the Supreme Court just denied the Pillow Guy’s appeal in 2020 election lawsuit. One good thing.
— Candace Skurnik
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