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How did knives on planes get here?

Anygunanywhere

And yet no one can show evidence that DHS actually purchased 2700 MRAPs. Every blog seems to reference a USMC contract to refurbish 2700 MRAPs.

donkey wrote:And yet no one can show evidence that DHS actually purchased 2700 MRAPs. Every blog seems to reference a USMC contract to refurbish 2700 MRAPs.

That's funny, I am seeing no less than several dozen news (not blogger) sites across the political spectrum referencing the purchase.

It's hilarious how many people I speak to who were terrified of the government under the Bush Administration, but now that Obama and his henchpersons are in charge the government just loves us and wouldn't do anything to hurt us.

Redneck_Buddha wrote:

donkey wrote:And yet no one can show evidence that DHS actually purchased 2700 MRAPs. Every blog seems to reference a USMC contract to refurbish 2700 MRAPs.

That's funny, I am seeing no less than several dozen news (not blogger) sites across the political spectrum referencing the purchase.

It's hilarious how many people I speak to who were terrified of the government under the Bush Administration, but now that Obama and his henchpersons are in charge the government just loves us and wouldn't do anything to hurt us.

None of those sites link to anything. They all reference the blog sites which simply state as fact that DHS has purchased 2700 MRAPs. Where's the contract? Where's the press release from Navistar? There isn't one. Even Business Insider had to post a correction to their story that the 2700 MRAPs mentioned were for the USMC not DHS.

Every story about this points to the the USMC contract with Navistar.

Ignoring the fact that the contract is for the USMC not DHS, let's consider the facts.

That contract was to refurbish 2717 MaxxPro MRAPs and was completed in May 2012.

This is a MaxxPro made by Navistar:


This is a Golan made by Rafael: NOT a MaxxPro


This is an Alpha made by Oshkosh: NOT a MaxxPro


There are no photos of MaxxPro MRAPs in use by DHS. All those photos are of Golans and Alphas, neither of which are produced by Navistar. So it seems as if that USMC contract really was for the USMC.

The Golans and Alphas were orginally purchased by the DOD (100 Alphas, 60 Golans). After initial testing and evaluation, it was found that these vehicles would not work for the military and no further orders were placed. The vehicles already purchased were withdrawn from service and declared surplus at which point some were transferred to law enforcement agencies. This is nothing new. The military has transferred armored vehicles, rifles, body armor and even helicopters to federal, state, and local law enforcement in the past. (Check out DRMO and LESO from the Defense Logistics Agency).

anygunanywhere wrote:How did knives on planes get here?

Anygunanywhere

If budget cuts is what it took for Americans to be able to carry a small pen knife on airplanes, I say ramp up the budget cuts! Maybe we will finally be able to carry a SAK or Boyscout knife again.

donkey wrote:Every story about this points to the the USMC contract with Navistar.

Ignoring the fact that the contract is for the USMC not DHS, let's consider the facts.

That contract was to refurbish 2717 MaxxPro MRAPs and was completed in May 2012.

This is a MaxxPro made by Navistar:
[ Image ]

This is a Golan made by Rafael: NOT a MaxxPro
[ Image ]

This is an Alpha made by Oshkosh: NOT a MaxxPro
[ Image ]

There are no photos of MaxxPro MRAPs in use by DHS. All those photos are of Golans and Alphas, neither of which are produced by Navistar. So it seems as if that USMC contract really was for the USMC.

The Golans and Alphas were orginally purchased by the DOD (100 Alphas, 60 Golans). After initial testing and evaluation, it was found that these vehicles would not work for the military and no further orders were placed. The vehicles already purchased were withdrawn from service and declared surplus at which point some were transferred to law enforcement agencies. This is nothing new. The military has transferred armored vehicles, rifles, body armor and even helicopters to federal, state, and local law enforcement in the past. (Check out DRMO and LESO from the Defense Logistics Agency).

This is actually an excellent comparison post!!! Good job Donkey!!! You pointed out some distinct differences in the vehicles pictured in various sources, again good job...

The only corrolation, I found, to the word "refurbished" was used in an amplifying article talking about this turreted M1117 vehicle used by the Marine Corp, talking about refurbishing 400+ of those vehicles to be used by the DHS, in addition to the aquisition of the 2700+ MRAP vehicles...Putting those numbers together creates an overall concern that demands some sort of confirmation...

Some of us are asking questions, only in the desire to confirm the purchase of this equipment...I have family doing what they can (as voting constituents) to confirm this from a US congressmans office (who happens to be on the full Finance Committee in the House of Representatives...He has confirmed the purchase of the ammunition we have all heard about, we have also asked about the 7000+ Personal Defense Weapons purchased by the same department, and all these armored vehicles...Once we get absolute confirmation about these "other" purchases, then we can proceed to the next step...If the purchases can be debunked, then that may very well be the end of it, as far as I, and many others are concerned...

I agree, lets cool off, see what info comes our way...

One thing is for sure, there is a lot of flak out there to fly through, and a lot of mis and disinformation flying around out there as well, which tells me something sure is trying to stir the emotional side of this issue on both sides!!!

I think its great we are talking about this, and we should, and are entitled to answers...And we need to be sure they come from credible sources...

I admit, I may have gotten caught up in some of the nonsense, but I'm still sorting this all out...

anygunanywhere wrote:

“After we win this election, it’s our turn. Payback time. Everyone not with us is against us and they better be ready because we don’t forget. The ones who helped us will be rewarded, the ones who opposed us will get what they deserve. There is going to be heck to pay. Congress won’t be a problem for us this time. No election to worry about after this is over and we have two judges ready to go." Valerie Jarrett

Anygunanywhere

Nov 10, 2008

The co-chair of Barack Obama's Transition Team, Valerie Jarrett, appeared on Meet the Press this weekend and used, shall we say, an interesting word to described what she thinks Barack Obama will be doing in January when he's officially sworn into office. She told Tom Brokaw that Obama will be ready to "rule" on day one. It's a word that reflects the worst fears that people have for Obama the "arrogant," the "messiah," that imagines he's here to "rule" instead of govern.

Jarret told Brokaw that "given the daunting challenges that we face, it's important that president elect Obama is prepared to really take power and begin to rule day one."

I've had some time to think on this stuff so far...And it brings up additional questions...

Has the Dod run out of money where they cannot budget for the refurbishment of 2700 vehicles and recycle them back into operational status???

And it took the DHS to step in and put their own money into this deal???

What strings were attached to that expenditure??? I cannot for the life of me imagine that there were NO strings attached in that contract...We're talking about mega millions, possibly a billion here and there for the money that was spent on that contract...It has to be...

I thought that we had this all confirmed at one point recently (I was incorrect, muh bad), and that further clarification from the source is not forthcoming...I have to wonder why???

If all of this turns out to be a bunch of bunk, then fine, I can dig it, but to not get credible information where everyone is on the same page is unacceptable in my book, and it shouldn't be accepted by anyone else!!!

BTW, I am not really this paranoid, and I do not believe everything I see on the internet, and I am not dating a French model I met on the internet either...

I'm going to shut up about this for now...No use in beating a dead horse, not a lot of people seem to care enough about the negative potential of this issue...

Regards...

What would suggest that the DOD ran out of money? This contract was awarded well before sequestration. The DOD had the money for this project. Also this contract was not for 2717 new vehicles, but for new "rolling chasis" for 2717 existing MaxxPro MRAPs. The new chasis improves the vehicles off road handling which is vital in Afghanistan. The only suggestion that this was in any way related to DHS came from a blogger with zero evidence. What's funny is that around September of last year there were bloggers claiming that DHS had purchased 2500 MRAPs.

http://www.whiteoutpress.com/articles/q ... _172748539

http://independentnewshub.com/?p=60586

You'll notice the only "evidence" they have is pictures of surplus Golans (and remember that they DOD only purchased 60 Golans not 2500).