Category Archives: Idaho

Idaho, Technology, U.S.

MAFFS bombs Idaho!

Video

23 April 2017 / 18:41 UTC-07 Tango 06  (03 Ordibehest 1396/26 Rajab 1438/28 Jia Chen 4715)

Staff Sgt. Benny Romero, 146th Airlift Wing, California Air Militia, inspects the C-130J’s main landing gear on Gowen Field, Idaho, 20APR2017. U.S. Air Force photo by Major Jolene Ortiona.

MAFFS 9 (C-130H) of 152nd Airlift Wing, Nevada Air Militia, east of Boise, Idaho, 21APR2017. California Air Militia photo by Staff Sergeant Nieko Carzis.

Video of MAFFS practice water drops in western Idaho, 22 APR 2017:

 

MAFFS 2 and MAFFS 5, from Air Force Reserve’s 302nd Airlift Wing, Colorado, on Gowen Field, Idaho, for USFS training.

Nevada Air National Guard MAFFS 8 (C-130H) of 152nd Airlift Wing “High Rollers”, east of Boise, Idaho, 21APR2017. California Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Nieko Carzis.

IDAHO CONDUCTS MASSIVE MAFFS TRAINING, IN PREPS FOR HOT WILDFIRE SEASON!

HOLY VIRTUAL ‘COPTER! IOWA MILITIA 1ST TO USE BAT-cave!

 

Idaho, Technology, U.S.

Idaho conducts massive MAFFS training, in preps for hot wildfire season!

Video

20 April 2017 / 18:27 UTC-07 Tango 06  (01 Ordibehest 1396/24 Rajab 1438/25 Jia Chen 4715)

“We look forward to this joint training with our military and civilian partners. Training together with all four MAFFS wings alongside U.S. Forest Service and other wildland firefighting agencies here in Boise provides a significant opportunity as we prepare for another challenging wildfire season.”-Colonel Bryan Allen, Air Expedition Group

MAFFS=Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System

More than 4-hundred state National Guard and federal Reserve personnel from California, Colorado, Nevada and Wyoming arrived in Gowen Field, Idaho, for a week of U.S. Forest Service training: “MAFFS have played a critical role in wildfire suppression for more than 40 years by providing surge capacity when commercial airtankers are fully committed or not readily available as they frequently are during periods of high wildfire activity.”-Kim Christensen, USFS

C-130 aircraft from three National Guard units and a U.S. Air Force Reserve unit arrive at Gowen Field, Idaho, 20APR2017. California Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Nieko Carzis.

“Dude!”, 2013 Wyoming militia MAFFS drop:

2013 Wyoming MAFFS load up:

2013 California militia MAFFS drop:

MAFFS: WILDFIRE SEASON 2018 GOING TO BE A HOT ONE?

Business/Economics, Idaho, Technology

Obama Legacy: Death of ‘Outdoors’ stores, and don’t blame the internet!

11 April 2017 (15:54 UTC-07 Tango 06) 22 Farvardin 1396/14 Rajab 1438/15 Jia Chen 4715

Independently owned ‘outdoors’ store Element Outfitters shutting down its 2nd brick-n-mortar store in Pocatello, Idaho.  But don’t blame the internet, they have a website. (elementoutfitters.com)

Element Outfitters, Yellowstone Avenue (aka U.S. highway 91) Pocatello, Idaho

Soon to shutdown Element Outfitters on Yellowstone Avenue (aka U.S. Route 91) Pocatello, Idaho

The original Element Outfitters, towards the south end of town, will continue to operate.  The owners say the economic situation is such that they must consolidate operations to become more efficient.

Interestingly a local news report ignorantly (perhaps lazily) blamed “e-commerce”, failing to mention that most brick-n-mortar stores also have websites that sell merchandise.

Michigan based MC Sports went bankrupt in February of this year, and is shutting down all 66 stores.

Last year the largest ‘outdoors’ chain died.  It was called Sports Authority and it too had a website.  In fact, in its bankruptcy it was revealed that not only did its brick-n-mortar sales crash, but so did its e-commerce sales.  Administrators said there was too much competition for both brick-n-mortar ops and internet ops.  By the end of 2016 Dick’s Sporting Goods took over the remaining Sports Authority operations.

In April 2016, Vestis Retail Group killed off Sports Chalet and then sold off its other outdoors ops Eastern Mountain Sports and Bob’s Stores.  They had websites too.

The owner of now dead California based clothier Wet Seal, Versa Capital Management, took over Bob’s  and Eastern Mountain Sports.  Then suddenly in February of this year (shortly after killing off Wet Seal) Versa began quietly killing off Eastern Mountain Sports and Bob’s Stores.  Versa is bankrupt and some reports say it might be sold-off to British empire based retailer Sports Direct International.

In February of this year, VF Outdoor announced it would shutdown its four years old ‘sustainable’ outdoors and  clothing product HQ in Alameda, California, killing 52 jobs by April.  One of the outdoor clothing brands associated with VF Outdoor is The North Face.  VF Outdoor is a division of North Carolina VF Contemporary Brands, which also announced it would kill off nearly 1-hundred manufacturing jobs in Los Angeles and Vernon, California, by April.

Just like with the U.S. apparel industry blaming too much competition (both on and off the internet) for its demise, so too is the related outdoors retail sector. And just like the apparel industry death spiral, the outdoors industry death spiral began under the watch of Barack Obama. 

OBAMA LEGACY: CHINA KICKS AMERICA’S ASS IN JOBS FOR AFRICA!

Business/Economics, Idaho

Dollar General secretly executes Dollar Express & Family Dollar!?! Another blow to Chubbuck?

09 April 2017 (17:23 UTC-07 Tango 06) 20 Farvardin 1396/12 Rajab 1438/13 Jia Chen 4715

In my routine reading of state WARN (Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification) listings I discovered massive listing for Dollar Express shutdowns.  I’ve also found local news reports revealing that Family Dollar stores are also being shutdown.  This is connected to the takeover of Family Dollar by Dollar Tree in 2015, and the takeover of Dollar Express by Dollar General just days ago.

Is the Chubbuck, Idaho, Family Dollar about to bite the dust?

On 30 MAR 2017, Dollar Express notified Idaho Department of Commerce that its store in Emmett was shutting down.

In 2014 I wrote how Family Dollar was being sold to a company called Dollar Tree.   I also wrote how New York based Yankee One Dollar went out of business, blaming jacked up employee insurance costs due to ObamaCare. And in 2013 I reported how Idaho based Honk’s $1.00 suddenly died and was shutting down. Initially Boise news media claimed that no Honk’s stores were shutting down, until days after BlindBatNews posted the evidence, then the Boise main-streamers finally reported the shutdowns!

To get the takeover of Family Dollar approved, the federal government required Dollar Tree to sell-off more than 3-hundred stores.  Those stores became known as Dollar Express in 2015 under ownership of a vulture capitalist company called Sycamore Partners. At the end of March of this year Sycamore Partners quietly sold them to competitor Dollar General, who immediately began shutting them down.

Dollar General’s sudden takeover and shutdown of Dollar Express (not to be confused with car rental company Dollar EXPRESS) is interesting because in 2016 Dollar General administrators said they were about to embark on a massive expansion program.  The sudden shutdown of Dollar Express will kill 2-thousand-7-hundred jobs! That’s according to news media in the state of North Carolina, where Dollar Express is headquartered.

But wait, at the same time news reports are popping up around the country revealing that Family Dollar stores are shutting down as well.  A Family Dollar in Saint Louis, Missouri, and one in Saranac Lake, New York, are shutting down by the end of June.  It turns out that many of the Family Dollar stores sold-off in 2015, to create Dollar Express, were allowed to continue operating under the Family Dollar name!

What this looks like to me is a complicated game that the top U.S. ‘dollar’ store operators are playing with federal regulators, in an attempt to create a monopoly.  Many analysts say which Family Dollar stores will shutdown depends on if there is another dollar store nearby.   Keep in mind that dollar stores target poor people, yet because poor people don’t have enough money to support the dollar store industry desperate dollar store owners are trying to create a monopoly, it’s proof we’re in a depression not a recovery. Thousands of dollar store employees have lost their jobs since the U.S. dollar store wars began in 2013 (under the rule of Barack Obama)!

RUE21, HI-TECH RETAIL FAIL! ANOTHER BLOW FOR CHUBBUCK?

‘ZOMBIE’ PAYLESS SHOES SUDDENLY SHUTTERS 400 STORES! ANOTHER BLOW TO THE CITY OF CHUBBUCK?

MORE ECONOMIC DECLINE: VANITY DIES IN IDAHO

Business/Economics, Idaho, Technology

Rue21, Hi-Tech retail fail! Another blow for Chubbuck?

06 April 2017 / 20:07 UTC-07 Tango 06 (18 Farvardin 1396/10 Rajab 1438/11 Jia Chen 4715)

Rue21 issued a massive 4-hundred store shutdown list, Idaho will lose two stores, click here for the list.  To find out which store is closing click on your state, then click each city listed, the stores that are closing will have “Closing Store” posted above the location name.

Will the relatively new rue21 store in the Pine Ridge Mall be forced to shutdown?

Will the relatively new rue21 store in the Pine Ridge Mall be forced to shutdown?

Unnamed sources inside rue21 told main stream news media that the ‘teen’ clothing retailer is about to go bankrupt, and has hired counselors who specialize in shutting down and/or selling off brick-n-mortar stores.

In Chubbuck, Idaho, the Pine Ridge Mall has a large rue21 store.  The store opened only four years ago. It never seems to have a lot of customers.

Other main stream news media reports say rue21 has massive debts and failed to make loan payments.  Suppliers have even stopped shipments of new clothes for fear of not being paid.

At the beginning of this year rue21 created new executive positions, claiming they would “propel the company forward”.  Last year rue21 was described as being the largest fast growing fashion retailer in the United States, apparently that was a lie.

Don’t blame the internet, or hi-tech, rue21 has a website and uses the latest retail tech platform called Aptos.  The use of hi-tech resulted in rue21 winning the Gold Award for Customer Engagement, just last year!

Last year’s technology upgrades were an attempt to revive the clothing seller, obviously technology failed.

‘ZOMBIE’ PAYLESS SHOES SUDDENLY SHUTTERS 400 STORES! ANOTHER BLOW TO THE CITY OF CHUBBUCK?

OBAMA LEGACY: U.S. APPAREL INDUSTRY DEATH-SPIRAL

Idaho, International

Snake River Militia (?) spends taxpayer money building hospitals in Central America!

05 April 2017 / 20:14 UTC-07 Tango 06 (17 Farvardin 1396/09 Rajab 1438/10 Jia Chen 4715)

Former National Guardsmen from Montana, now Army Reservists (but still wearing the patch of Idaho based Snake River Brigade), are in the Central American country of Belize building hospitals and schools under a U.S. Southern Command sub-operation called Double Head Cabbage.

Former Snake River Brigade member Sergeant Ramon Firestone, from Montana, measures a 2×4 for use in making roof supports in Belize

Belize was once a colony of the British empire, called British Honduras, gaining so-called independence in 1981.  In 2006 oil was discovered in the area known as Spanish Lookout.

Double Head Cabbage is part of a larger operation between United States and Belize, called Beyond the Horizon 2017.  Beyond the Horizon will provide free medical help to the people of Belize, at U.S. taxpayer expense!

Specialist Troy Hanson, from Montana. Defense Department reports say he’s with Army Reserve, but note the National Guard Snake River Brigade patch on his sleeve.

Interestingly the personnel from Montana claim to belong to a federal Army Reserve unit, yet they wear Idaho National Guard’s Snake River Brigade (116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team) patch (see pics above).

The Army Reserve unit the personnel claim to be from is known as the 672nd Engineer Company.  I discovered that the 672nd was deactivated back in June 1959, but reactivated in September 2008.

The Montana reservists are wearing the National Guard patch on their right sleeves to indicate they were deployed to a combat zone with the Snake River Brigade.  Recently rules were changed concerning the wearing of the ‘combat patch’.  For a long time the size of the unit you deployed with, how long you were deployed in a combat zone, and whether or not Congress actually declared war, determined the wearing of the combat patch.  Another problem has been that some brigade level commanders actually banned the wearing of combat patches.  The wearing of the combat patch is voluntary.

VEHICLE ID: SNAKE RIVER M1A2 SEP, LIVE FIRE ROMANIA!

CANUCKS JOIN SNAKE RIVER MILITIA, AIR ASSAULT MOVE TO CONTACT, ROMANIA!

116TH SNAKE RIVER’S 2015 NTC ROTATION

Business/Economics, Idaho

‘Zombie’ Payless shoes suddenly shutters 400 stores! Another blow to the city of Chubbuck?

04 April 2017 (16:20 UTC-07 Tango 06) 15 Farvardin 1396/07 Rajab 1438/08 Jia Chen 4715

“…with the immediate closure of nearly 400 underperforming locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico and work to aggressively manage the remaining real estate lease portfolio either by modifying terms, or evaluating closures of additional locations.”-Payless statement, 04 APR 2017

Despite Donald Trump running The White House, the Obama regime initiated apparel industry death spiral is ramping up.  Discount cheap-o shoe seller Payless suddenly ‘died’ today after filing for bankruptcy.

4-hundred U.S. stores forced to shutdown immediately!  The thousands of remaining stores around the world will undergo ‘managed’ shutdowns!  (click this link to the official shutdown list)

Payless is officially not dead, but should be considered a zombie retailer as executives struggle to keep the company going: “This is a difficult, but necessary, decision driven by the continued challenges of the retail environment, which will only intensify. We will build a stronger Payless for our customers, vendors and suppliers, associates, business partners and other stakeholders through this process. While we have had to make many tough choices, we appreciate the substantial support we have received from our lenders, who share our belief that we have a unique opportunity to enable Payless — the iconic American footwear retailer with one of the best-recognized global brands — to remain the go-to shoe store for customers in America and around the globe.”-Paul Jones, CEO

Payless in struggling Pine Ridge Mall, employees swear they've been told no shutdown for them

Payless in struggling Pine Ridge Mall, employees swear they’ve been told no shutdown for them

However, the Payless ShoeSource employees at the struggling Pine Ridge Mall in Chubbuck, Idaho, swear they are not being shutdown.  They claim that corporate administrators say the Chubbuck Payless is actually making money.

In related news, the Payless store in Pocatello, Idaho (which was quietly shutdown back in October 2016), was supposedly shutdown because of landlord/tenant problems, not lack of sales.

MORE ECONOMIC DECLINE: VANITY DIES IN IDAHO

U.S. RETAIL/BANKING/SERVICE SECTOR COLLAPSE, JANUARY 2017: Kansas based Payless shoe seller suddenly laid off 110 HQ employees!  Elsewhere, another 55 Payless employees were suddenly dumped.  Local news media say laid off employees were given no notice and were escorted out by security guards!

 U.S. RETAIL/BANKING/SERVICE SECTOR JOB LOSSES, OCTOBER 2016: Payless Shoes shutting down three stores in Illinois, right after Thanksgiving, blaming “landlord issues”.

U.S. JOB LOSSES & STORE CLOSINGS, SEPTEMBER 2014: NO MORE PAYLESS?

U.S. JOB LOSSES & STORE CLOSINGS, JANUARY 2013: Payless Shoes HQ in Topeka, Kansas, laid off 45 people and eliminated 97 vacant positions. New owners of Payless say the job cuts are an effort to keep the company operating.

Idaho

More Economic Decline: Vanity dies in Idaho

22 March 2017 / 21:07 UTC-07 Tango 06 (03 Farvardin 1396/24 Jumada t-Tania 1438/26 Gui Mao 4715)

The struggling to come back from the dead (under new management) Pine Ridge Mall in Chubbuck, and the Grand Teton Mall in Idaho Falls, and Boise Towne Square mall in Boise, and in Coeur d’Alene, and in Twin Falls, all losing yet another national/regional tenant; women’s clothier Vanity.

Vanity is now bankrupt dead and shutting down all 137 stores across 27 U.S. states.

Statements by Vanity admin, and so called retail experts, both blamed internet sales for the demise of local malls, but I’ve been witness to the decline of brick-n-mortar retail long before internet shopping skyrocketed, and have documented the decline of Chubbuck’s Pine Ridge Mall (a former employer of mine) on BlindBatNews.

When I worked for Pine Ridge Mall, under the original owner J. Price and then under GGP (General Growth Properties), surveys were constantly taken of mall shoppers as to what stores they wanted to see in the mall.  The overwhelmingly consistent number one response was “more clothing stores”, specifically more “women’s” clothing stores!  Idiots!  At that time more than half the mall was filled with stores selling women’s clothing or accessories!

Even today, Pine Ridge Mall with less than half of available spaces filled (within the original mall location) still consists mainly of women’s clothing retailers!  And that’s the true cause of the death spiral of women’s brick-n-mortar stores; there are too many of them selling the same ugly ‘shit’ for way too much dollars (even with their fake discounted pricing, yeah every friggin’ week that I worked at Pine Ridge Mall, JCPenney would have a huge sale on clothing, the result was after a while nobody but an idiot would shop there during the work-week ’cause they knew prices would drop for the weekend)!

Even when my daughters were in high school they hated shopping at brick-n-mortar stores for clothes “because the clothes suck!”  What is really driving people to shop on the internet, for clothing, is true variety in style and pricing of clothing.  So whose really to blame for the death spiral?  The corporate weenie heads who run those brick-n-mortar clothing stores!

OBAMA LEGACY: U.S. APPAREL INDUSTRY DEATH-SPIRAL

Sears Kmart Death Spiral: “substantial doubt exists related to the company’s ability to continue”

U.S. retail/banking/service sector collapse, January 2017: “I DON’T SLEEP AT NIGHT, IT’S KILLING ME” MASSIVE MACY’S MELTDOWN?

MORE ECONOMIC DECLINE: WHO IS THE NEW OWNER OF CHUBBUCK’S PINE RIDGE MALL?

REIT PLAN TO CHANGE THE WAY YOU SHOP, AND THEY BLAME YOU THE SHOPPER!

Business/Economics, Idaho

Ammo maker kills 210 jobs in Idaho & Minnesota, blames Trump!

22 March 2017 / 20:13 UTC-07 Tango 06 (03 Farvardin 1396/24 Jumada t-Tania 1438/26 Gui Mao 4715)

“…we experienced a challenging retail environment due in part to a weak hunting season and the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.”-Amanda Covington, Vista Outdoor-Federal Cartridge (Federal Premium Ammunition)

At the beginning of March, Vista Outdoor (formerly known as ATK) owned bullet maker Federal Cartridge suddenly laid off 110 people at its Anoka factory in Minnesota, and quietly furloughed 1-hundred employees at its Lewiston factory in Idaho.

Vista Outdoor also gives credit to Barack Obama for record level gun and ammo sales during his eight years as President of the United States (proving once again that Peace Prize winner Obama is king of the gun runners).  Vista administrators actually blame the sudden crash in sales on the election of Donald Trump: “The shooting sports market softened significantly following the election as consumer demand was reduced due to a more certain regulatory environment for gun owners under the current administration.”-Amanda Covington

GUN BAN FAIL: ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AGAINST U.S. GOVT. EMPLOYEE IN TOTAL GUN BAN MEXICO!

AFGHANISTAN GETS MORE U.S. TAXPAYER FUNDED HELICOPTERS & GUNS!

Idaho, U.S.

Idaho female becomes 1st ever U.S. PanzerFräulein!

05 January 2017 (05:32 UTC-07 Tango 06) 16 Dey 1395/06 Rabi ‘ath-Thani 1438/08 Ji Chou 4714

In August 2016 Sergeant First Class  Erin Smith was awarded with Idaho’s Spirit of Freedom Award.  Her ‘exceptional’ act was becoming the first ever female ‘tanker’ in the United States military!  (I wonder why the U.S. main stream national news media didn’t mention it?)

SFC Smith officially became a M1 tanker (MOS 19K) in June of 2016.  Her original MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) was healthcare specialist.  She deployed to Bosnia in 2002 and then Iraq in 2004, where she was awarded the Combat Medical Badge.

Smith’s transition to a combat MOS was the result of U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter opening combat jobs to women at the end of 2015.  However, I’ve always known some women can handle combat jobs no problem.  Several NATO member countries have had female’s in combat jobs for decades, such as Idaho’s neighbor to the north Canada.

While deployed for a ‘friendly’ armor contest with Canadian tankers in 2002, an impromptu main-gun loading contest was held between Bravo Company, 2-116th Armored Cav, Idaho National Guard and Canadian tankers in Alberta.  Main-gun rounds weigh about 19kg (40 pounds) and unlike the auto-loading Soviet/Russian panzers most U.S.-NATO tanks are manually loaded. Guess who won the manly competition? A skinny Canadian army officer who just happened to be a female!

But that’s not the first time I witnessed a female kicking ass over males. While attending Army Basic Training in 1982 one of my Army Drill Sergeants was a little female who could out push-up and out sit-up the men!

Still, I’m proud the Idaho National Guard can boast having the first female M1 Abrams tanker in the U.S.!

IDAHO: “THIS IS WHERE ARMOR FIGHTS!” FIRST FEMALE COMBAT MECHANIC!