Whoever staged this needs to have the Golden Rule applied to them

 

@Alphafox78 on Twitter asks:

What kind of a message are democrats trying to send with this display?? 🤨

I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count:

For foreign readers who may not catch the resemblance, the photograph depicts a mannequin dressed as President Trump in the back seat of a vehicle similar to that in which President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 (shown below).

Such a comparison, after at least two and possibly as many as five assassination attempts against President Trump during this election campaign (depending on which news reports one believes), is so mentally sick that it's beyond rational comprehension.  It's an open, unambiguous suggestion that someone should try again.

I wonder how the person who thought up that visual comparison could regard it as in any way justifiable, but literally thousands of mainstream media articles are bloviating that President Trump is a "fascist" and a "racist" and a this, that and the other.  The propaganda is so overwhelming that it's already pushed some people - whose heads were probably already a few cents short of a nickel - to try to kill him.  Images like this will likely inspire more to follow their example.

I've said all along that voting won't solve our problems - not when we have a large section of our population so brainwashed that they actually believe such lies.  There are doubtless many who would cheer if President Trump was injured or killed.  Needless to say, if the situation were reversed and one of their favorite candidates was attacked, there'd be hell to pay . . . but that won't count in their minds.  They're not fascists, after all.

I continue to expect a deliberate attempt by the progressive left wing of US politics to cheat in this election:  to elect their preferred candidate to the Presidency, and even if they can't achieve that, to elect so many of "their" Congresspeople and Senators that they can block any initiative by the "wrong" President until they can reclaim that office.  I truly hope that the will of the people, as expressed at the polls, will prevail:  but looking at the shenanigans already unveiled during early voting, and the number of fraudulent mail-in ballots already submitted, I'm afraid that's a pipe-dream.

Don't get over-confident in the results of this election, and stand by for a massive nationwide campaign of fraud, disinformation and cheating that will make previous attempts pale into insignificance.

I hope I'm wrong . . . but I fear I'm not.  Only time will tell.

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 233

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.

Sunday morning music

 

I was reminded last week of one of Noel Coward's classic British comedy songs.  The reason for their success was not just their biting wit, but the fact that they were so often all too true - uncomfortably so, for those lampooned in and by them.

Here's "The Stately Homes Of England".

Another wince-inducing song was "Mad Dogs and Englishmen".  Being from a colonial English background, this rings all too true!  It's why English-speakers in South Africa were often called "Rooinek" - "Red Neck" - because the burning heat of the African sun did precisely that to their necks.

Then there's his advice to parents of aspiring actresses:  "Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs. Worthington".

As a frequent participant in serious amateur dramatics with the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) in Cape Town, South Africa, one couldn't help but realize how true that observation was!

I'm very grateful to my parents for raising me on a diet of Noel Coward's music, plays and films, among others.

Peter

Rediscovering a very big bang

 

It looks as if a South American volcano may have played a major role in worldwide climate and weather problems many centuries ago.  The article's over a decade old, but I've just come across it, and I thought other readers might be interested as well.

El Salvador’s Lake Ilopango, near the capital city of San Salvador, is known for boating, diving and the rugged, scenic beauty of its 100 meter-tall cliffs --- the lip of the caldera that holds the lake. However, 1,500 years ago, it may have been the site of one of the most horrific natural disasters in the world. It may also be the long-sought cause of the extreme climate cooling and crop failures of A.D. 535-536, reported Robert A. Dull of the University of Texas at Austin at the Association of American Geographers annual meeting in New York this week.

New research on the extent and the timing of the eruption now places the eruption --- previously thought to have occurred three centuries earlier --- at the right time and place. The massive Plinian-type event with pyroclastic flows would have instantly killed up to 100,000 people, displaced up to 400,000 more and filled the skies with ash and dust for more than a year. The new findings would make it the second-largest volcanic eruption in the last 200,000 years. “This event was much bigger than we ever thought,” Dull said.

Such an eruption would explain the episode in Mayan history known as the Classic Period Hiatus, when the Maya stopped building stelae, decorative stone columns erected to mark events, Dull said. It would also finally explain the global cooling of A.D. 535-536, an 18-month period of cloudy skies, crop failures and famines that was described in both Roman and Chinese historical accounts.

There's more at the link.

Later research appears to have "backdated" the eruption to about 431 AD, meaning it would not have caused the climate events of 535-536 AD:  but it would still have done a colossal amount of damage for many hundreds of miles around the explosion.  It may have caused the abandonment of several city-states, and damaged the overall Mesoamerican civilizations so severely that it may have been a factor in their collapse several centuries later.

Mother Nature can make humans look pretty puny, can't she?

Peter

The "Tanker Mafia"? Yes, we have our own version in the USA...

 

I recently came across an article titled "Tanker mafia causing chaos in South Africa".  Here's an excerpt.

South Africa’s water infrastructure has been steadily deteriorating over the past decade as municipalities have neglected maintenance and have not expanded their supply systems to cope with a growing population. 

This has resulted in a situation where the country has enough water but cannot get it to the end user, as much of it is lost to leakages on the way. 

. . .

While this is mainly due to the lack of maintenance, other factors contribute to this problem. 

Chief among these is vandalism and theft of infrastructure. In particular, electrical cables and equipment are often stolen, resulting in pumping stations being unable to pump water to the end user. 

These are deliberate acts to disrupt the supply of water and increase the need for water tankers in affected areas. 

. . .

“There is a thriving tanker mafia ... that actively sabotages the water infrastructure. They do this to continue and prolong their contracts with the municipalities to provide water tankers across communities that need water,” Turton said.

He added that these tanker suppliers do not source their water from safe, potable sources. Instead, they take unsafe water from dams or rivers as they are paid per tanker.

There's more at the link.

It occurs to me that we have an active "tanker mafia" in the USA as well.  Ours is involved, not with water, but with oil.  You see, railways such as BNSF (controlled by Warren Buffet's investment firm) make billions of dollars by transporting crude oil from fields in Canada and the USA to refineries.  They actively fight any proposal to build pipelines to convey that oil more cheaply and/or efficiently, to the extent of funding lobbyists to block legislation, and paying for activists (e.g. local tribes that refuse to allow pipelines to cross their land) to come together and work to stop such proposals.  There have been unconfirmed rumors that subsidies have even been paid to environmental activists who actively sabotage (i.e. commit crimes against) such construction efforts.  The railway companies are trying to protect their profits.  They don't really give a damn about the needs of the country or its residents.

I'm reminded of that every time I see a train thundering through our town, with dozens of black-painted oil tankers rattling and rocking as they bump their way over our level crossings.  I note, too, that we never know what's in all those tankers.  It's not just fuel - some cargoes can be far more dangerous.  Sometimes, when derailments or collisions have occurred, locals have found that out the hard way (most recently in East Palestine, Ohio, last year, resulting in mass evacuations and massive environmental damage).  Pipelines could eliminate or greatly reduce the tanker transport of such substances . . . but that would cut into the profits of the railroad companies, so they continue their opposition.

It's all about the money, as always.  People and society are secondary, and can be ignored.

Peter

Bureaucracy gone mad!

 

Elon Musk describes some of the bureaucratic, regulatory hoops through which he and SpaceX had to jump in order to get approval to launch their rockets.  It's mind-boggling, but also very funny.

If this is just one example of bureaucratic idiocy, how many more are out there?  And how much of their administrative deadwood is weighing down the US economy as a whole?

Peter

Another blogger gets it: economy edition

 

Atomic Fungus loses his cool over the economy and how government has mismanaged it.

This morning, as I was getting ready for work, it occurred to me that I'm never going to be able to retire. I led a feckless life in my youth, and made a lot of mistakes, but that's not why. I mean, even if I had done everything right, just look at the economy right now. Our government is hiding the truth from us because if the American public found out what the real numbers were, all the politicians would be hanging from lampposts by sunset!

Our government has literally spent all the money in the world. They're printing new dollars at the rate of ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS PER SECOND and there is no sign of stopping, or even slowing down. There's a story today about our banking system having a trillion dollars' worth of bad assets, things that count up to $1 trillion on the balance sheets, but are simply not worth that much, and won't fetch anything like that if sold. Someone said that so many banks have overvauled assets that FDIC can only insure deposits at 1:100--meaning that for every dollar you've got in the bank, they'll give you a penny.

When the collapse comes, every last damned asset that isn't in your hands is going to be worthless. Your 401k--whether it's $10k or $100k--won't buy a loaf of bread. The stock portfolios won't be worth anything; I mean, even with the Dow at 200 trillion, if a loaf of bread costs five hundred billion dollars, your stocks are worthless.

I am still of the opinion that the government will nationalize 401k and other retirement instruments before the end. Basically, they'll do to your savings what they did to the "Social Security fund": they'll spend it, and give you an IOU.

Bear in mind that FDR made private ownership of gold illegal, and people had to turn their gold in. They got dollars for it. ...dollars which started inflating almost immediately.

The financial cataclysm I see coming means that no one my age is going to get to retire. Anyone who actually has managed it will not be able to stay retired.

And the absolute worst part of this? The part that really keeps me up nights is that I'M OPTIMISTIC ABOUT HOW IT WILL GO. I'm betting that there are going to be some hard times when we'll be eating rice and beans for most of the week, with maybe a can of SPAM on Sunday--no treats, no cookies, no dessert, just the absolute bare minimum to keep body and soul together, and you eat what's put in front of you even if you hate it--but otherwise things will even out relatively quickly and get better. A year, maybe, of hard times. For everyone, not just us. Only the hyper-rich will not see their standard of living change dramatically.

And then I wonder why I have problems with anxiety??

There's more at the link.

He's more optimistic than I am about a short-duration crisis (I think it'll last much longer), but I can't disagree with his thesis overall.  We've been saying the same thing in these pages for a long time, most recently:

The scariest graphic I've seen in a long time

A nation of dependopotami?

I'd dearly love to see an honest politician stand up and state publicly that the USA is bankrupt, that it's our own fault, and that the only way out of this mess is to slash government spending by up to 50% - which will require cutting entitlement programs to the bone, and abolishing many of them.  Yes, people will suffer hardship as a result;  but they're going to suffer hardship anyway when our fiscal house of cards comes tumbling down.  Do it soon or do it later, it's still going to hurt all of us.

Unfortunately, the genus "honest politician" has so few members that one hardly ever encounters them, so nobody's going to own up to the truth.

Peter

World's smallest washing machine

 

One can only ask "Why?"

An Indian man showed off his miniature engineering skills by crafting the world's smallest washing machine, measuring just 1.28 inches by 1.32 inches by 1.52 inches.

Guinness World Records confirmed Sebin Saji's washing machine, which is smaller than a Tamagotchi digital pet, is the smallest in the world.

In order to qualify for the record, Saji had to demonstrate that his washing machine was functional and could run a full cycle -- wash, rinse and spin.

It's really tiny, I'll concede that . . .

. . . but given that you can't even wash a single sock or a handkerchief in it, what's the point?

Peter

Where did our military ranks come from?

 

I came across an interesting document from the US Defense Department that gives the history of each rank and its insignia.  It makes great reading for military history buffs.  Here are a few excerpts.  They're in the form of images, because the original .PDF file appears to be corrupted and doesn't copy across correctly.

There's much more at the link.  Recommended reading.

Peter

The mating game?

 

From Stephan Pastis.  Click the image to be taken to a larger view at the "Pearls Before Swine" Web page.

Swipe in any direction except left?

Peter

Interesting fiscal experiments in Argentina

 

Three headlines from Argentina caught my attention over the past week or two.  First, President Milei is abolishing their equivalent of the IRS.

Argentina’s government has announced it will dissolve its current tax bureau and replace it with a new “simplified” agency, cutting a third of jobs in the process.

. . .

The new entity will maintain AFIP's current dual role of overseeing tax collection and customs monitoring.

More than 3,000 AFIP agents who joined during former president Alberto Fernández’s 2019-2023 government will be laid off as part of a 34 percent reduction of current staffing levels, said the statement.

. . .

“This measure will reduce senior authorities by 45 percent and lower levels by 31 percent, which represents an elimination of 34 percent of the [overall] current structure, generating annual savings of 6.4 billion pesos," said the government’s statement.

The statement also said it would eliminate rules ensuring large salaries for senior officials, lowering their pay to similar to that of a Cabinet minister.

There's more at the link.

Next, the President is offering a tax amnesty for previously undeclared income and savings.

Argentines are declaring hundreds of millions of dollars of previously hidden savings in a tax amnesty that libertarian President Javier Milei hopes will boost the country’s moribund economy and scarce foreign exchange reserves.

. . .

Argentina’s long history of economic turmoil, marked by hyperinflation, currency controls and governments restricting access to savings, has pushed citizens to hold some $258bn in dollars outside its financial system, according to official estimates for early 2024. An unknown portion has not been declared to authorities.

Experts said most Argentines keep savings in dollars — either stuffed under mattresses, in safety deposit boxes, or in accounts in the US and other countries.

The government believes tapping those greenbacks would help solve its two biggest problems: reinvigorating a real economy that has been battered by a long-running crisis and Milei’s austerity measures, and adding to the central bank’s dangerously low hard currency reserves.

Again, more at the link (which may be paywalled).

Finally, one Argentine province, dominated by left-wing politicians, has taken to issuing its own currency in response to cuts in Government subsidies.  It's valid only in that province, and only if merchants will accept it.  Unsurprisingly, many won't.

Across La Rioja's capital, “Chachos accepted here” decals now appear on the windows of everything from chain supermarkets and gas stations to upscale restaurants and hair salons. The local government guarantees a 1-to-1 exchange rate with pesos, and accepts chachos for tax payments and utilities bills.

But there’s a catch. Chachos can’t be used outside La Rioja, and only registered businesses can swap chachos for pesos at a few government exchange points.

“I need real money,” said Adriana Parcas, a 22-year-old street vendor who pays her suppliers in pesos, after turning down two customers in a row who asked if they could buy her perfumes with chachos.

. . .

But as Milei and his allies tell it, Quintela’s alternative offers little more than a return to Argentina’s habitual Peronist preserve of reckless spending — and insolvency — that delivered the unmitigated crisis that his government inherited.

“You were used to having your tie fastened for you and your shoes polished, but now, you’ve got to tie the knot yourself,” Eduardo Serenellini, press secretary of Milei’s office, snapped at La Rioja business leaders on a recent visit to the province. “When you run out of cash, you run out cash.”

Serenellini picked up a chacho note, then flicked it away like lint.

More at the link.

That last story is surprising only in that one province has done so;  the others, who may resent the heck out of President Milei's policies, have refrained.  Nevertheless, the "deep state" equivalent in Argentina hates his guts, and would like nothing better than to see him removed.

Milei is cutting through decades of feather-bedding the bureaucracy, cutting government employment, slashing budgets, and ignoring screams of outrage from socialist-oriented trades unions.  In economic terms, his reforms are producing results, reducing inflation from unmanageable proportions to something much more bearable.  Unfortunately, to do that, he has to gore all sorts of sacred cows, and there's always the danger that those left out in the cold by his reforms will throw him out by hook or by crook and demand a return to the socialism that crippled Argentina's economy for so long.

I wish him luck . . . and I hope we may see some of his reforms in this country, too.  Whether or not that's a pipe-dream remains to be seen.

Peter

So... what were they up to?

 

The armed forces of the United States offer individual and unit awards for good performance, valor in action, leadership, etc.  They are usually equated to each other on a level.  For example, in the US Navy:

• The Meritorious Unit Commendation is awarded to a unit (a ship, shore base, etc.) for actions on the same level as would qualify an individual navy service member for the Bronze Star award, the fourth-highest award for valor in action of the US military;
• The Navy Unit Commendation is equated to an individual order of the Silver Star medal, the third-highest award for valor in action;
• The Presidential Unit Citation, the highest unit award offered by the Navy, is equated to an individual order of the Navy Cross, the service's second-highest award for valor in action (the highest being the Medal of Honor).

Therefore, the news that the Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Washington has just been awarded the Presidential Unit Citation is more important than it might seem at first sight.

"The award of the Presidential Unit Citation to the USS Washington is a profound honor, signifying the crew's exceptional dedication and strategic impact,” said Vice Adm. Rob Gaucher, commander, Submarine Forces. “Their work in challenging, high risk environments completing vital national level missions demonstrates the key role our submarines play in ensuring maritime security and global stability."

The PUC is awarded to any U.S. military unit that has distinguished itself by outstanding performance and heroism in action against enemy forces and is the highest unit award in the Department of the Defense.

During Washington’s deployment, the submarine, also known as the Blackfish, completed three demanding missions vital to national security that resulted in obtaining sensitive and unique intelligence information, where it executed the Chief of Naval Operations' maritime strategy by supporting national security interests and maritime security operations.

. . .

Washington steamed more than 37,000 nautical miles with the crew supporting diplomatic relationships by conducting port visits in Faslane, Scotland, and Grotsund, Norway. In recognition of the Blackfish’s exceptional service and dedication during operations in the strategic Arctic region, the Washington was awarded the newly announced Arctic Service Medal.

There's more at the link.

We don't know what the Washington did while on patrol, but it was sufficiently important and valuable to earn her the highest unit award the Navy has to offer, and also what may be the first ever award of the newly-created Arctic Service Medal.  Her crew will, of course, wear individual emblems signifying those awards on their uniforms.  What's more, this mission or missions took place during peacetime, not wartime, so the awards are doubly unusual.

Hmmm . . . Arctic service . . . heroism in action as an award criterion . . . one wonders what they were up to!  Veterans and well-informed observers can probably come up with some interesting possibilities.

Peter