Wednesday Morning Joe: Budget woes and force restructure, hot pink Air Force phones, cool maps, book nerd bars...

January 22, 2014 at 7:46am

By Northwest Military News Team Comments

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Syria's government set a bitter tone today at the opening of talks meant to end the country's long and bloofy civil war, accusing Arab neighbors of sowing terrorism and insurrection while dismissing as interlopers the United States and other Western backers of Syrian rebels.

A Pentagon plan reportedly proposes to withdraw all forces by the end of Obama's second term.

While the Air Force investigates the biggest cheating scandal in the history of the nuclear missile force, top Defense Department officials are considering the possibility of raises for those officers to address morale problems.

Army brass are coming to terms with what a force of 420,000 could and could not do.

A federal grand jury indicted a former Connecticut man who attempted to ship boxes of stolen information on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Iran.

US dominance, major programs at risk in 2015 budget

When it comes to Air Force physical fitness training, reflective belts are out and black socks are in. Hot-pink cell phones are now OK too, while in uniform, as are morale T-shirts and patches - but only on Fridays.

An Osprey tilt rotor plane will join in a disaster relief training program between the U.S. Marine Corps and Japan's Self-Defense Forces in the western Japanese prefecture of Kochi next month, using U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Lobbying spending remained mostly flat for the top defense contractors in 2013, as they grappled with sequestration taking effect at the Pentagon.

Signs of consciousness found in rats brains after death.

Forty more maps that explain the world.

Robert Capa's colorful photos of the world after World War II.

Finally: Someone ranked the 10 best Grateful Dead songs.

Ten historic bars every book nerd needs to visit.

Listen: Jim James, Lil Bub, Tim Harrington, comedians cover "The Super Bowl Shuffle."

A day in the life of Carrie Brownstein.

Beck has a new song.

Is Friends the reason so many Gen X-ers are unbearable?