The Panama Papers—11.5 million leaked documents that detail the inner workings of Mossack Fonseca, a law firm accused of helping drug lords, sports stars, Ponzi schemers, kings, presidents, prime ministers, FIFA officials, mafia members, high-profile thieves, high-ranking politicians, and at least one convicted sex offender launder money, evade taxes, and escape criminal prosecution—are a big…
Author: The Tactical Hermit
Armed Texan and Part-Time Bard.
World War Two/Holocaust Movies Worth a Damn: Son of Saul
Son of Saul is a 2015 Hungarian drama with English Subtitles directed by Laszlo Nemes. It is set in Auschwitz during World War II and follows a day-and-a-half in the life of Saul Ausländer, a Hungarian Jew and member of the Sonderkommando, the Jewish Prisoner Work Detail who aided in the initial control, and disposal of bodies in…
World War Two History: The Battling Belles of Bataan
If you ever had occasion to do an R&R in Tai Pei, you know why a 19 year old, hormone engorged, no-time-in-grade Army sergeant would consider Tai Pei and “The China Seas Club” a prime destination. As far back as I can remember, my parents always kept a house in the Shilin District overlooking Tianmu….
Crusader Corner: How Deep is the “Gray Zone”?
Among young European Muslims, support for suicide bombings range from 22% in Germany to 29% in Spain, 35% in Britain and 42% in France, according to a Pew poll. In the UK, one in five Muslims have sympathy for the Caliphate. Today more British Muslims join ISIS than the British army. In the Netherlands, a…
Military Defense News: USMC Implements New Security Guard Detachments after Benghazi
It has always been said that New Regulations in the Military are Written in Blood and are Painfully Slow to Happen…This is a CLASSIC Case in Point. -SF The Marine Corps is taking big steps to help prevent another attack like the one on a diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 that left…
Espionage Files: A CIA Officer’s Long, Futile Secret War
WASHINGTON — In Douglas Laux’s final days as a CIA officer, the futility of his mission prompted him to quote George Orwell to his boss. Laux had spent months in 2012 working with various Middle Eastern nations that were trying to ship arms to Syria to help disparate rebel groups there. But it had become…
“No Yoga On the Plane Dude”: USMC Saves The Day (Again)
Marines Take Down Unruly Man Who Tried To Do Yoga On A Plane After a passenger became disorderly on a Tokyo-bound flight, a group of Okinawa-based Marines intervened. A Tokyo-bound United Airlines flight was forced to return to Honolulu, Hawaii, on March 26 after a man became violent, shouting “there is no god” while resisting…
Military Defense News: The Army’s New CSASS Sniper Rifle
The U.S. Army has chosen Heckler & Koch to make its new Compact Semi-Automatic Sniper System. The March 31 contract award to Heckler & Koch Defense Inc. – worth up to $44,500,000.00 – allows the Army to purchase a maximum total of 3,643 Compact Semi-Automatic Sniper System (CSASS) units, according to an announcement on FedBizOpps.gov….
Espionage Files and Modern Crime: The Security Implications of the Panama Papers
For those of you that have not heard about the largest leak of Secret Documents in History, Here is some background from BBC and Business Insider. -SF Aside from their immediate shock value, the Panama Papers reveal the enormous extent of tax evasion on a worldwide scale. This unprecedented phenomenon is inextricably tied with…
Cartel Corner #72: 2015 Cartel Movie “Sicario” Will have A Sequel
Last year’s critically-acclaimed thriller, “Sicario,” starring Emily Blunt as an FBI agent who is thrust into the dirty war on drugs at the border between the US and Mexico, is going to get a sequel. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, upstart production company Black Label Media, which has had an impressive start with…