Monica and air dropping supplies to ISIS

She's Baaaaack
Monica Lewinsky is back in the news to claim that Matt Drudge ruined her life.  Isn't that akin to a car thief saying "the cops ruined my life" when he gets caught?  Or how about the most famous blame shifting line in the history of blame shifting lines, Caligula D.C. Mayor Marion Barry's "The b*tch set me up" when he was caught doing cocaine?  No doubt Dillinger blamed bank managers for his life of crime.

Drudge's culpability in Monica's demise was to report what she and Billy Boy Billbo Clinton were doing in the Oval Office.  Drudge didn't arrange or encourage Monica's dalliance with a married (at least when it was convenient to act that way) man.  "Give 'em hell Harry Truman" was once asked about that moniker.  He replied, "I don't give 'em hell.  I tell them the truth and they think it's hell."  And so it is with Monica and Drudge.  Drudge didn't ruin Monica's life.  He told the truth.  The truth ruined Monica's life.

Oh, and if her life is soooooo ruined, why does she keep showing up to take advantage of her "ruin?" 

Dropping in on ISIS
The US managed to drop supplies intended for our rebel allies in Syria to ISIS Islamo-Terror-Fascists.  In stead of being furious, Pentagon brass said, "Well it was a windy day.  The sun was in the pilot's eyes.  The chute took a bad bounce. And what the hell, it was only 1 of 28 drops that went astray so that's pretty darn good."  Uh, BS!

I don't know much about air dropping supplies, but as an artilleryman I do know it is possible to correct for wind.  We'd fly what was called a met balloon.  The balloon was filled with a precise amount of helium and sent aloft.  While it rose through the air, it was tracked with a theodolite.  At certain times readings would be taken.  By knowing how fast the balloon should rise with no wind the readings would give the smart guys wind direction and speed through the various levels aloft.  Knowing wind speeds and directions aloft allowed artillery computers to correct for the wind's affect on an artillery round while ascending and descending.

If that process works for the artillery which has to navigate the sequence on the ascent and the descent, the problem should only be half as hard for something dropping from the sky.  It seems to me they could drop a couple of test chutes to test for accuracy.  Maybe they did.  Maybe the winds changed or the pilot was just a bit off course.  Maybe they were trying to drop them to forces in close contact with the enemy and there was little margin for error.  I don't know.

What I do know is that air dropping supplies to the enemy is akin to an artilleryman dropping rounds on his own troops.  When that happened, the brass was not saying, "Oh, what the hell it was only one round that killed Johnny.  All the rest were on target.  So that's pretty darn good."  No, when rounds fell short, someone's head rolled.