Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Going Feral: Disaster.

Going Feral: Disaster.:   Federal Land Can Be Home Sweet Home   Wall Street Journal America needs more affordable housing, and the federal government can make it ha...

Disaster.

 

Federal Land Can Be Home Sweet Home  

Wall Street Journal

America needs more affordable housing, and the federal government can make it happen by making federal land available to build affordable housing stock.

The Interior Department oversees more than 500 million acres of federal land, much of it suitable for residential use. The Department of Housing and Urban Development brings expertise in housing policy and community development. Together we are creating the Joint Task Force on Federal Land for Housing to increase housing supply and decrease costs for millions of Americans.

Under this agreement, HUD will pinpoint where housing needs are most pressing and guide the process by working with state and local leaders who know their communities best. Interior will identify locations that can support homes while carefully considering environmental impact and land-use restrictions. Working together, our agencies can take inventory of underused federal properties, transfer or lease them to states or localities to address housing needs, and support the infrastructure required to make development viable -- all while ensuring affordability remains at the core of the mission.

Streamlining the regulatory process is a cornerstone of this partnership. Historically, building on federal land is a nightmare of red tape -- lengthy environmental reviews, complex transfer protocols and disjointed agency priorities. This partnership will cut through the bureaucracy. Interior will reduce the red tape behind land transfers or leases to public housing authorities, nonprofits and local governments. HUD will ensure these projects align with affordability goals and development needs. This isn't a free-for-all to build on federal lands, although we recognize that bad-faith critics will likely call it that. It's a strategic effort to use our resources responsibly while preserving our most beautiful lands.

This is about more than building houses. We want to build hope. Overlooked rural and tribal communities will be a focus of this joint agreement. We are going to invest in America's many forgotten communities. As we enter the Golden Age promised by President Trump, this partnership will change how we use public resources. A brighter future, with more affordable housing, is on its way.  

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What total bullshit.

And a disaster.

We need 7 million affordable homes in America and 20% of America’s landmass is owned by the Department of Interior. Today, and I are announcing a partnership between & to identify and open under utilized federal lands for affordable housing.
1:30
HUD and DOI Open Under Utilized Federal Lands For Affordable Housing

Japanese Type 7 305mm gun, National Museum of Military Vehicles.



Last edition:

M103 Heavy Tank, National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Tuesday, March 18, 1975. An Lộc abandoned.

The South Vietnamese government reported to the US of dire developments in country.  On the same day the ARVN abandoned An Lộc with the 32nd Ranger Group withdrawing along Highway 13 to Chơn Thành Camp.   The withdrawal would be completed the following day.

A Scene Of Chaos – March 18, 1975

Herbert Chitepo, a lawyer by training, and the 51-year old leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), was assassinated by a bomb that had been wired to his car at his home in Lusaka, Zambia. Robert Mugabe succeeded Chitepo as the leader of ZANU.

Who planted the bomb has never been determined.

Billy Graham, whom I'm not a fan of, addressed Native American Christian leaders in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The television series M*A*S*H ran the final episode featuring the Henry Blake character, whom the audience was informed was killed off screen when the airplane taking him on the first leg of his trip home was shot down over the Sea of Japan.

Last edition:

Monday, March 17, 1975. "Starkly Bad News From South Vietnam – Burning Secret Papers – Onassis Laid To Rest."

Wednesday, March 18, 1925. The Tri State Tornado.

The deadliest tornado in U.S. History, the Tri State Tornado, swept across the states of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana killing 751 people.


The Yunnan–Guangxi War began in China's Yunnan province over succession of leadership in the Kuomintang.

Last edition:

Saturday, March 14, 1925. Spring.

Sunday, March 18, 1945 Landings in the Philippines, the largest air attack on Berlin.


"First wave U.S. troops from the Americal Division's 3rd Battalion, 132nd Infantry during the landing on Talisay beach, Cebu. Alligator LVTs are visible rolling up in the background. View facing south, Signal Corps photograph SC 204236."

The Battle of the Visayas began in the Philippines, commencing with amphibious landings. The campaign would continue until the end of the war.

Japan closed its schools in Tokyo and ordered everyone over the age of six to report for war work.

The largest Allied bombing raid on Berlin during World War Two took place.  1,329 Allied bombers and 700 fighters were countered by the Luftwaffe using the new Me 262s and air-to-air rockets. 

The U.S. Eighth Air Force lost six Mustangs and 13 bombers while the Luftwaffe only lost two planes.  3,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the city.

The US 3d Army took Bingen and Bad Kreuznach.

The Battle of Kolberg ended in Soviet and Red Polish victory.

The Battle of the Ligurian Sea was fought between British and German naval forces in the Gulf of Genoa.

The U-866 was sunk by the U.S. Navy.

Last edition:

Saturday, March 17, 1945. The Ludendorff Bridge collapse.

Former Wyoming lawmaker Cyrus Western tapped to lead EPA Region 8

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Monday, March 17, 2025


 

M103 Heavy Tank, National Museum of Military Vehicles.


A M103 Heavy Tank.


A Cold War giant, the M103 served from 1957 to 1974, with its final years being used by the Marine Corps.  By the time it entered service, the M60b was already in use and the Army regarded the heavy M103 as obsolescent.

While very impressive in size, the tank was too big even for its own era, and plagued with various problems accordingly.


This one must be a rebuilding project.  It's the second one I've seen, the other being at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center / USAHEC

Last edition:

Mortars. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Monday, March 17, 1975. "Starkly Bad News From South Vietnam – Burning Secret Papers – Onassis Laid To Rest."

 

March 17, 1975 – Starkly Bad News From South Vietnam – Burning Secret Papers – Onassis Laid To Rest.

Sunday, March 16, 1975. Withdrawing from the Central Highlands.

Saturday, March 17, 1945. The Ludendorff Bridge collapse.

The weakened The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen collapsed.  Twenty five U.S. Army engineers were killed in the event.

By this time, however, the US had already constructed more than one alternative bridges at the location.

"U.S. Seventh Army infantrymen move past a destroyer barrier made of steel rails in the Altheim Area, Germany, as they press new 7th Army attack. 17 March, 1945. 3rd Infantry Division. Photographer: T/5 Joseph A. Bowen, 163rd Signal Photo Co."

The Kriegsmarine completed the evacuation of 75,000 civilians and soldiers from the Kolberg pocket.

Kobe was firebombed.

Last edition:

Friday, March 16, 1945. Luzon Language Edition.

I became a federal worker to serve my country, not to get rich

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Wyoming’s elected officials disclose potential conflicts of interest

Wyoming’s elected officials disclose potential conflicts of interest: As required by statute, annual disclosure forms give the public a way to size up what lawmakers stand to gain from their elected positions.

Think Twice Before Attacking the Department of Education — Minding The Campus

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Sunday, March 16, 2025

Mortars. National Museum of Military Vehicles.










Last edition:

Sunday, March 16, 1975. Withdrawing from the Central Highlands.

The ARVN began to withdraw from the Central Highlands.  Senior officers left by helicopter, leaving combat troops to retreat under fire, with fleeing civilians, on Route 7B.

180,000 ARVN troops began the journey, only 60,000 would complete the retreat.  Vietnamese Rangers rallied to protect those retreating, with only 900 out of 7,000 surviving.  Mass desertions began.

The NVA was surprised by the ARVN collapse and had been planning on the war continuing on inot 1976.

Last edition: 

Saturday, March 15, 1975. Abandoning Buôn Ma Thuột and Huế.

Friday, March 16, 1945. Luzon Language Edition.


Yank had a feature on the Battle of the Bulge.

Ingrid Bergman was the centerfold.


Franklin Roosevelt stated in a press conference that Americans would need to sacrifice so that food could be shipped to countries devastated by war.

"Men of the 5th Inf. Div., U.S. Third Army, file through Nazi roadblock into the newly captured town of Corweiler, Germany. 16 March, 1945. 5th Infantry Division. Photographer: T/5 Robert J. Schneider."

The 41st Infantry Division landed on Basilan, Philippines

The U-367 hit a mine and sank northeast of Danzig.

Last edition:

Thursday, March 15, 1945.

The Best Posts of the Week of March 9, 2025.

The best posts of the week of March 9, 2025.

Friday, March 9, 1945. Firebombing Japan (Operation Meetinghouse). Japanese end French rule in Indochina (Operation Bright Moon)




















A note. "To be honest with you".






Last edition:

The Best Posts of the Week of March 2, 2025. The week where I suffered through Influenza A.