Happy (or horrible) Halloween, depending on your taste!

 

Peter

The wheels on the trucks... are falling off?

 

The CEO of Freightwaves warns that the "Largest capacity purge in history" is coming to the US commercial trucking market.

The freight industry is experiencing what experts describe as one of the most interesting times ever in freight—though unfortunately, not in a positive way for most participants. Motor carriers and freight brokers across the spectrum are feeling significant pain from weak freight volumes and a rapidly changing operating climate. What we’re witnessing appears to be the calm before a significant storm, with indicators pointing toward what could become the largest capacity washout in trucking history.

With the risk of the market eliminating 600,000 active drivers, the largest capacity purge in history may be coming, bringing COVID-like spot rates. The difference this time is that there won’t be a flood of immigrants created by Biden’s open borders, which offered an endless supply of truck drivers. The capacity relief valve for shippers and brokers is forever shut, meaning carriers will have to pay up in terms of higher pay and bonuses for truck drivers. Capacity will also be much harder to find.

The Great Capacity Purge is coming and there will be no relief valve for shippers or brokers.

. . .

When accounting for the overlap between drivers affected by non-domiciled CDL [Commercial Driver License] restrictions and ELP enforcement, plus undocumented drivers and restrictions on new hires, the total at-risk population could exceed 600,000 drivers—representing about 17% of active drivers, according to transport economist Noël Perry.

Carriers that rely upon immigrant labor or carriers that don’t qualify under the new rules will likely go out of business.

The combination of regulatory changes and prolonged freight recession conditions is creating an environment ripe for significant market disruption. Industry experts anticipate numerous bankruptcies among both carriers and brokers in the coming months as financial pressures mount.

There's more at the link.

In one sense, this is going to produce difficulties in distributing goods from manufacturer or importer, to wholesaler, to retailer.  Shipments will be more expensive due to less trucks (and commercial drivers) on the roads.  It may cause serious economic repercussions for many businesses.

On the other hand, US truck drivers who've long complained about illegal aliens and foreign drivers taking over the trucking business are already seeing improvements in their prospects.  I've seen several drivers post on social media that they're getting rates 20-30% higher than before from spot brokers, and they look forward to this trend continuing.  If, as the article states, up to half a million or more foreign and non-domiciled CDL holders are eliminated from the trucking market, it can only be good news for American workers wanting their jobs back - assuming they do want them back, and haven't moved on to work in other industries.

On the other hand, the decrease in such drivers might have repercussions for the US truck fleet as a whole.

The proliferation of non-domiciled CDLs has coincided with a dramatic increase in trucking capacity across the United States. Since the FMCSA permitted foreigners to obtain non-domiciled CDLs in March 2019, the industry has added more than 310,000 trucks to American roads.

It is not a stretch to believe that at least half of the new capacity has come from non-domiciled CDL holders. We know that 200,000 CDLs were issued, but it is unclear how many of these are still active and currently driving over the road.

Regardless, the industry has suffered greatly from the surge of new truck drivers and the sudden influx of capacity. These new participants have contributed significantly to market oversupply conditions, resulting in the longest freight recession in history ... As the DOT and FMCSA work to implement stricter controls on these licenses, capacity will certainly tighten. The question on the mind of every freight market executive: When will we feel it?

Again, more at the link.

It might soon be a good time to buy that used 18-wheeler you always wanted to convert into a gigantic travel trailer setup . . .

Peter

Good question!

 

Found in several places on social media:

Perhaps, if enough SNAP/EBT recipients lose their heads and riot over the suspension of those benefits, the taxpayers who fund them will also rise up in revolt and demand that their taxes be used for the good of the country, rather than the feeding of the feckless.

Peter

The tragic poison of extremism

 

I've been worried for years about how the extremes of American politics, both left- and right-wing, have been growing stronger, and eroding the center.  Mutual tolerance, openness to new ideas, and acceptance that others can be right and we can be wrong, have always been the hallmark of civilized discussion.  Trouble is, as our civilization crumbles under so many pressures, so too do those hallmarks.

Rod Dreher, a commenter whose insights I value greatly, has written two columns about anti-Semitism and its disastrous effect on right-wing politics.  They epitomize the dangers I'm seeing in the body politic as a whole right now, because the same comments can be applied to other extreme viewpoints as well.  They're long articles, but worth investing the time to read them in full.

In his first essay, Dreher examines the rise of the "groyper" influence.

Every one of the right-wing Jews to whom I spoke last night believe that Tucker Carlson is the most dangerous man in America to Jews, because in their view, he’s the most important mainstreamer of anti-Semitism on the Right. This was painful for me to hear, because I consider Tucker a friend, and though I have been disturbed by the anti-Jewish turn his rhetoric has taken, I had not been aware of how extensive his anti-Jewish commentary had been (I don’t regularly listen to his podcast), nor the effect his rhetoric has had on the outlook of American Jews.

. . .

As we left the Green Room headed to the stage, we saw on our phones that Tucker had hosted [Nick] Fuentes on his show. For me, this was a bright red line that I was hoping Tucker would not cross. But cross it he did ... Tucker asked nothing about Fuentes’s past statements praising Hitler, or any number of horrific things that have come out of that kid’s mouth, (e.g., “We will make Jews die in the holy war.). And then there’s ... blaming “organized Jewry” for threatening the existence of America, because they allegedly put the tribe over the common good.

. . .

The fact that Tucker Carlson, the most influential right-wing media figure in America, went from dismissing Fuentes early this year as a gay twerp in a Chicago basement, to having him on his show and blessing him with a soft interview, is a sign of the times. And not a good one. It was a two-man Unite The Right rally. Bad times ahead. The time to find your courage, fellow conservatives and Christians, and speak out against this stuff, is NOW.

Fuentes comes off on the Tucker broadcast as reasonable, despite his anti-Semitism, sexism, and deranged bigotries. If you are tempted to think of Fuentes that way, I advise you to look at this long compilation of the sick pedophilic stuff Fuentes and his followers have posted online. (There is no pedophilia imagery, don’t worry; it’s just screengrabs of texts and videos in which they celebrate pederasty and rape.)

. . .

As I’ve long said: Jews are canaries in the civilizational coal mine. As the gatekeepers and authorities are collapsing everywhere, we are going to see horrible things. I am thinking this morning about my warning from twenty years ago to the Left that if they accepted anti-white identity politics, they were going to legitimize pro-white, anti-everybody else identity politics among a younger generation that lacks the taboos. And it has happened. It is a howling absurdity that Fuentes, Candace, et al. claim to be Christians while promoting this stuff, but you should know that outside the US, the connection between Jew-hating and Christianity is historically well-established.

So, by the same logic, if the Right legitimizes Fuentes-style identitarianism, it is going to push normie liberals (what few there are left) further into radicalism. This is the Weimar dynamic: the feeble and discredited center could not hold against the growing strength of left-wing and right-wing radicals.

. . .

Many of us on the Right have wondered for years why decent liberals in authority kept their mouths shut about the left-wing anti-white bigots. And then the crazies took over the party. It’s happening to the Right now. I don’t know where this is going, but it’s nowhere good — and it’s getting there with accelerating speed.

A frightening thought: what if there are no gatekeepers at all anymore? What if anybody can say anything, and do not risk political exile or irrelevance?

There's more at the link.  Disturbing, but highly recommended reading.

In his second essay, Dreher looks at the similarities between the Weimar Republic in post-World-War-I Germany, and current political events in the USA, and puts the "groyper" phenomenon in that perspective.

I was talking today with a Christian I know who is a big player in conservative politics, and who is as appalled by it as I am. He tells me that what normie outsiders like me don’t know is that something like 30 to 40 percent of the Republican staff in Washington under the age of 30 are Groypers — that is, followers of Nick Fuentes.

Let that sink in.

. . .

The essential appeal of Trump, I learned, is not so much from his policy proposals (there weren’t many), but because he was a big fat finger in the face of a corrupt Republican establishment.

I didn’t vote [in 2016], because I couldn’t stomach Trump, I would never have voted for Hillary, and my vote didn’t matter in Louisiana anyway, as it was destined to go to Trump in the electoral college. But watching how the Left went into manic overdrive to destroy him and everything related to him changed me. The Kavanaugh hearings in 2018 broke me. I realized that as bad as Trump was on so much, he was the only thing standing between Us and Them. I voted for him in 2020, and though I wasn’t in the US in 2024, I openly supported him then. The Biden administration showed us what wokeness in power would and could do. I had no qualms at all about supporting Trump 2024, even though his personal character flaws are all too clear, still.

Now it seems that Fuentes is having the same kind of appeal to Zoomers as Trump did for Boomers and others a decade ago. Compared to Fuentes, though, Trump comes off as Marcus Aurelius. The Fuentes you see on the Tucker interview is not at all the Fuentes of his livestreams.

I simply cannot understand the logic behind treating Fuentes as a normal political actor — even if he has a relatively big following. He is a deeply bad man, with no redeeming qualities. If his mode of discourse, and beliefs, become part of the mainstream of conservatism, we’re done, and we will deserve it. To normalize Fuentes is to move the Overton Window where it must not go. It’s like saying, “Well, I personally disapprove of sniffing glue, and I think it’s bad for us, but if we are going to stop people from glue-sniffing, we need to listen to them to see why they take pleasure in sniffing glue.”

Look at what happened to the Left once they started giving respect and attention to the radical Left. We got the Great Awokening, in which it was considered perfectly legitimate to attack white people as evil because of the color of their skin, and to cancel people for simply dissenting from whatever new radical thing they demanded we all accept as truth. Now they’re about to elect an actual old-Zoomer Islamic race communist as mayor of the most important city in America. Zohran Mamdani is a million times more charismatic than Nick Fuentes, but I see them as part of the same trajectory of American politics.

. . .

I’ve used the term “Weimar America” from time to time, but now, it be gettin’ real.

What we mean when we talk about “Weimar Germany” is that time in Germany between the end of the First World War and Hitler’s accession to power in 1933, when Germany’s democracy wobbled under the pressure of economic collapse, and the falling-apart of all institutions, including parties of the center. Moral norms evaporated, especially around sexuality. Real power in the streets shifted to extremes of Left and Right.

. . .

This past spring, at a screening of the LNBL documentary in Nashville, a woman in the audience asked if I thought the danger of “soft totalitarianism” had passed because Trump was in office again, and the woke were on the defense.

No, I said, because all the conditions that [Hannah] Arendt identified as present in a society ready for totalitarianism are still with us. I don’t want to live in a right-wing society like that any more than I want to live in a left-wing one.

. . .

I have zero sympathy for people on the Left in all this. They chose not only to platform, but to bring into policymaking people every bit as radical as Nick Fuentes, only more educated, and better able to negotiate institutional culture. For at least twenty years, I have been publicly saying to liberals that if you embrace and advocate for identity politics of the Left, you are going to call up the very same thing from the Right one of these days.

. . .

Let me say to you, whether you are on the Left or the Right (and I do have some left-wing readers): if you don’t have a Bright Red Line for the kind of radicalism you are willing to tolerate in public, you had better lay one down, because you are going to be tested.

. . .

Weimar America. If, God forbid, there is a high-profile political assassination, or a severe economic downturn, we are going to be in very, very bad trouble. You all know I’m a blackpill kind of guy, but it seems that reality is catching up to my doomerism.

Again, more at the link.

I can't argue with Mr. Dreher's opinion of Mr. Fuentes.  If you're in any doubt about that, go read the thread that outlines Mr. Fuentes' personal morality (linked above).  If that doesn't persuade you, you may be beyond help.

I've been more and more worried by the number of bloggers and "opinionators" (for want of a better word) who are growing more and more anti-Semitic in their diatribes.  To blame any one group for the troubles of our society, of our body politic, is ludicrous.  After all, if any one group was so consistently focused on achieving world domination, surely it would have succeeded long ago?  I reject any attempt to assign responsibility and/or blame to a group.  It's always the individual who's at fault.  Sure, a group of equally guilty individuals may gather together to achieve their joint aims, but inevitably, the group falls apart sooner or later.  (Read any reputable history book for evidence of that.)

Applying that to our country today, I don't blame Democrats, or Republicans, or liberals, or conservatives, or Jews, or snake-handling Bible-belt evangelicals, for the state we're in.  Those groups are part of the problem, but they're made up of individuals who've been more or less persuaded that their particular group has the answers, and everybody else is part of the problem.  I've been personally on the scene of at least a dozen civil wars and inter-tribal conflicts, and in every case the individuals involved were not the problem.  The problem was always charismatic leaders who used emotion, religion (or tribal superstition) and outright violence to achieve their ends.  When the dying was over, it was never a question of "He did it!" or "She did it!" - it was always "They did it!", with "They" being whichever group could be most conveniently blamed.  That simply meant that another generation would be raised to hate that group or groups, and the conflict would start all over again in future.

Right now, we have groups who are more than willing to kill Leftists, and others who are more than willing to kill Rightists.  They don't care whether the people they kill are good or bad - simply by attaching a label to them, they are defined as "on our side" or "enemies".  With such attitudes becoming more and more prevalent, these United States cannot stand united for much longer.  To put it in a Biblical perspective, "a house divided against itself cannot stand".  We've already seen far too many examples of that in this country:  try "Bleeding Kansas" for a start.  There are many others.

Please, friends, stop and think about this.  It's all around us - and it may yet destroy us.

Peter

Sad news

 

Regular readers will remember my bleg a few weeks ago to help James and Tirzah Burns.  James was suffering from pancreatic and other problems, and was in a bad way.  I linked to a GiveSendGo fundraiser for them.

Sadly, James didn't make it.  His illness was too far advanced.  He went home last week under hospice care, and died yesterday afternoon.

Tirzah is left with their two young children, a son and a daughter, and now has to take care of all the arrangements for the funeral and a host of legal paperwork.  James was the family breadwinner, so there's also the question of how the family will earn a living in future.  My wife and I love and highly respect Tirzah, so we're sure she'll be working hard to find solutions, but to lose one's "other half" is . . . well, to call it "traumatic" is a massive understatement!  She's got a very big load on her shoulders for the next few months.

If you're able, please click over to their fundraiser and help the family with even a small amount.  Every little helps.

May James rest in God's peace, and may his sins be forgiven him.

Peter

The convoluted world of international arms deals

 

It's been reported that Turkey is to buy 20 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from Britain.

It is the largest fighter jet export deal in almost two decades and will support thousands of jobs across the UK for years to come, the government said.

. . .

The Eurofighter jets are jointly produced by Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, and the deal was subject to approval from the other members of the consortium.

About 37% of each jet's production takes place in the UK, including final assembly at BAE Systems plants in Warton and Samlesbury in Lancashire.

The government said the deal would support 6,000 jobs at the two BAE plants, 1,100 in south-west England, including at the Rolls-Royce plant in Bristol, and 800 in Scotland.

It is the first new order of UK Typhoons since 2017.

Describing the agreement as the "biggest jets export deal in a generation", defence secretary John Healey said it would "pump billions of pounds into our economy and keep British Typhoon production lines turning long into the future".

There's more at the link.

What struck me at once was the minuscule size of the order.  Twenty fighter aircraft is a drop in the bucket compared to the Turkish Air Force's existing combat aircraft fleet, which includes well over 200 F-16's.  Furthermore, if the quoted figures are accurate, an ₤8 billion order averages out to a cost per plane of ₤400 million apiece - a ridiculously high amount, even if it includes future support and training expenditure.  To make matters even more confusing, Turkey is developing its own stealth fighter to replace its F-16's in due course.  The Typhoons are no better technology than the F-16 - so why buy them?  What's going on?

The answer is convoluted.

• Turkey has long been interested in using the Typhoon's power plant, the Eurojet EJ200 engine, in its Kaan fighters.  Based on a Rolls-Royce design, the latter company offered to help Turkey develop its own derivative of the EJ200 for the new fighter.  That agreement was derailed through political squabbles.  Initial prototypes of the Kaan will use US-sourced engines, and a locally-manufactured engine will power production models.  By buying Typhoons now, Turkey will gain access to European-standard engines and technology that can be used to train its pilots, engineers and technicians ahead of widespread introduction of the Kaan in due course;  and it can reverse-engineer Typhoon technology to improve its domestic equivalent products.  It will thus have access to both American and NATO-standard hardware and software.
• Turkey is trying to improve relations with other European nations, particularly given the geopolitical pressures caused by its involvement in Syria and other Middle Eastern nations.  By effectively "bribing" the British government with a massive arms order, it probably expects British diplomatic and economic pressure over Middle Eastern issues to decrease.
• The Typhoon is an aircraft type that has never seen combat in the Middle East.  Israel knows the capabilities of American combat aircraft very well, since it flies them in its own air force.  It may be that Turkey figures a different style of aircraft, with different electronics and systems, might give it an edge if it comes to a shooting conflict over Syria or elsewhere.

I get the feeling that Turkey is following Qatar's example.  Qatar is a tiny island nation in the Persian Gulf, but operates one of the most sophisticated air forces anywhere.  It flies Eurofighter Typhoons, US F-15's and French Rafale aircraft.  It's ridiculous to operate so many types of diverse aircraft in relatively small numbers, but that's not the point.  By spending tens of billions of dollars on such technology, Qatar is effectively buying influence in the nations that sell them.  They'll be less likely (Qatar hopes) to put pressure on that nation to support Middle Eastern initiatives it doesn't like, and less likely to approve Israeli action against Qatar for its ongoing support of Middle Eastern terrorist movements like Hamas and Hezbollah.  Instead of asking "What's the right thing to do?", diplomats from supplier countries will be forced to ask "What will it cost us in terms of sales and support of defense technology if we allow this or don't allow that?"  It's yet another example of "follow the money".

Effectively, Turkey is trying to lock the UK into the same kind of deal.  "We'll pay you well above the odds for a few fighters, provided you shut up about sensitive issues in the Middle East that affect us."  Furthermore, the current British government has made such a flaming mess of running the country that it's desperate for funds from anywhere, so it'll be more than willing to be "bribed" like this.

There's a distinctly distasteful odor about this arms deal . . .

Peter

Is the US intelligence apparatus deliberately playing us false?

 

From Larry Lambert over at Virtual Mirage:

(h/t Sam Fadis) Steve Witkoff called out CIA for providing him and Jared Kushner with completely faulty intelligence regarding Hamas and the negotiations to end the fighting in Gaza. And he did it on air on 60 Minutes.

The President himself is directly involved. Witkoff and Kushner are the President’s personal envoys. For CIA to get the intel picture completely wrong is a monumental failure and leads immediately to the next, and most important question: Why? Why was CIA so wide of the mark with its analysis? Two possibilities present themselves immediately. Either CIA’s intelligence was just that bad, or people in CIA and likely the broader Intelligence Community (IC) were deliberately feeding the President’s top men bad intel.

Today’s CIA quite frankly has little or no insight into the inner workings of groups like Hamas. That would require risk. That would require moxie. That would require leaving Northern Virginia and talking to foreigners. If you don’t want to risk it, you can take whatever intel the Israelis pass you on the subject and base your analysis on that. If the Israelis are telling the truth and have solid sources, you may be OK temporarily. If the Israelis, the guys who did not see a Hamas offensive building on the other side of a wall a couple of years ago, have bad intel, then we do too. Most alarming of all, of course, if the Israelis decide to lie to us for political reasons, we will not know it. We will be led around by the nose and steered in the wrong direction.

The Intelligence Community (in all its manifestations) has only one job. One. Provide truth to power. Clandestine activity (Covert Action) must stem from that, as does everything else. If you can’t provide the truth to power, you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.

People within the IC are deliberately feeding the President and his key people bad intelligence. And, just as bad, they are refusing to pass on certain information to the policy makers in this administration. There remain people within the IC who oppose this President and his appointees and are using intelligence as a weapon to frustrate President Trump’s political objectives. They want him to fail. They don’t care about the consequences for American national security. They want to inflict political damage because they are laser-focused on putting a Democrat in the White House in 2028 who will guarantee the continued existence of the Deep State and prevent the American people from regaining control over the vast federal bureaucracy.

Since Trump sat down in the White House for the second time, there has been no real reorganization. No meaningful change of any kind has actually occurred. Director Ratcliffe sits atop an organization that remains structured essentially as John Brennan wanted and run by people who made rank and climbed the ladder under either Brennan or his surrogate, Gina Haspel. All of the people who thought it was appropriate to designate “crying spaces” where employees could retreat to compose themselves when Trump won in 2016 are still there. All the folks who looked the other way when the attack on the CIA base in Benghazi was blamed on a peaceful demonstration that got out of hand are still there. All the individuals who sat and watched while a slow-motion coup against Donald Trump went on year after year are still there, just in much more senior positions now.

I can only hope that President Trump and his leadership team are fully aware of all this (which I assume they are), and are doing something about it (of which I'm not so sure).  One can't bring in complete outsiders to assume all intelligence agency leading positions without discarding literally generations worth of experience and insight.  Outsiders simply can't have that depth of insight.  However, if the existing leadership isn't using or providing that depth of insight, can we afford to keep them in place?

One has questions . . .

Peter

A meme that didn't make me laugh...

 

... but certainly caught my attention!

I'm guessing nobody got out of that one unscathed...

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 283

 

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

Sunday morning music

 

It's been a while since we've shared some classical guitar music here.  Let's enjoy Joaquín Rodrigo's 1967 Concierto Andaluz.  He composed it for four guitars, at the request of the world-famous Romero guitar quartet:  Celedonio, the paterfamilias, and three of his sons, Angel, Celin and Pepe, who were the soloists at its first performance in San Antonio, Texas.  It's one of my favorite classical guitar works.

Peter

Make hay while the crime shines?

 

I had to laugh at the marketing chutzpah shown by a German company.

A German company inadvertently embroiled in the Louvre Museum heist after one of its lifts was used in the theft is making the most of its free publicity - by launching a new advertising campaign.

Werne-based firm Böcker this week published a social media post, external featuring the now-famous image of its furniture ladder extending up to a balcony outside the Gallery of Apollo.

"When you need to move fast," reads a banner under the image. "The Böcker Agilo transports your treasures weighing up to 400kg at 42m/min - quiet as a whisper."

Video has emerged of the alleged thieves escaping on the mechanical ladder after stealing €88m worth (£76m; $102m) of France's crown jewels on Sunday.

The company's managing director, Alexander Böcker, told news agency AFP on Wednesday that, when it became clear no one was injured in the heist, it had used "a touch of humour" to draw attention to the family-run business.

There's more at the link.

It's almost always fun when companies apply humor to otherwise "difficult" situations as a marketing boost (provided no actual human tragedy resulted).  One of my favorites was back in South Africa, decades ago, when a motorist drove off a steep, unforgiving mountain road behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz E200 sedan.  To everyone's astonishment, he survived with only minor injuries (bumps and bruises), although his car was a write-off.  Mercedes-Benz South Africa made a big thing of it, with advertisements proclaiming that his survival was due to his driving a Mercedes, and suggesting he wouldn't have gotten off so lightly if he'd been driving anything else.  BMW South Africa promptly replied with its own advertisements, suggesting that if he'd been driving a BMW, its superior roadholding would have prevented him from going off the road in the first place!  Much amusement ensued.

Peter

Talk about entitlement!

 

Courtesy of Midwest Chick, here's a social media post highlighting just how entitled to free handouts many people think they are in this benighted country.

There's a brief video clip at the link, showing his feelings - no, his absolute conviction - of entitlement.  I urge you to click over there and watch it for yourself.

EBT funds - i.e. the so-called "food stamp" program - are due to run out in November, thanks to the current government shutdown preventing Congress from reauthorizing that expenditure.  There are millions of Americans who are angry, upset, even panic-stricken at the thought of losing them.

My first reaction is that the bloated mess that such food assistance has become is long overdue to be cut back to essentials only - no sodas, no pizza, no lobster tails, no chips-and-dip, just basic supplies of regular, nutritious food that will provide an adequate daily diet for a typical family.  If that gores the ox of the suppliers of soda and sweets, so be it.  Why should my taxpayer dollars support such waste?

My second reaction is that food stamps were intended (back when they were first thought of) to be a temporary means of assistance to families who found themselves suddenly without sufficient income to make it on their own.  They were never intended to become a multi-year freebie handout to people who would never work hard enough to restore their family finances sufficiently to get off food stamps!  Sadly, that's what they've become in all too many cases.  I called an acquaintance yesterday who works in the social services department of a major municipality, and asked her what proportion of EBT recipients there had been getting those benefits for longer than a year.  She reckoned that more than half of the cases in her city had been getting those benefits for longer than five years.  So much for temporary assistance!

I'm not heartless or uncharitable, but it seems to me that requiring 20-odd hours of work per week to qualify for EBT/food stamps is hardly unreasonable.  Any reasonably able-bodied adult should be able to contribute that to his/her support.  To the man refusing to do so - sucks to be your kids, I guess, because they're going to go hungry thanks to your fecklessness and laziness (not to mention your amazing sense of entitlement and superiority).  Buddy, this taxpayer does not work for you, and isn't willing to tolerate your attitude any longer.

I'm sure my readers can cite examples of their own where they've seen this sort of entitled attitude in action.  Let us know about them in Comments.

Peter

Do they call the Coast Gourd if they get in trouble?

 

Looks like the annual Pumpkin Regatta in Oregon last weekend lived up to its reputation.

I wonder what they do with all the pumpkin "flesh" they cut out of the gourds in order to make room for a paddler?  Do they cook and eat it, or throw it away, or what?  I suspect there'd be enough seeds removed to be able to plant half the state with pumpkins!

Peter

Life delivers another warning about financial preparedness

 

We've discussed many aspects of "prepping" over the years in these pages.  Some topics come up repeatedly.  One of them is financial preparedness:  establishing an emergency fund, getting out of debt, paying cash rather than going into more debt, and so on.  Part of that advice has always been to have a certain amount of money available in cash, without needing to go to a bank to get it.  If communications systems go down, you won't be able to verify balances, pay by credit card, etc.  Better have some cash on hand to take care of essentials for a few days.

Monday's Internet outage provided graphic evidence confirming how essential such a cash-on-hand reserve really is.

It’s not just that people couldn’t place mobile orders for coffee at Starbucks or ask Alexa for the weather. Hospitals said crucial communications services weren’t working, and teachers couldn’t access their planned lessons for the day. Chime, a mobile banking service, was down, too, leaving people without access to their money. Ring and Blink cameras, along with most smart home devices, stopped working.

. . .

One expert already estimated the total impact of the disruption will be in the billions of dollars.

“It creates a very large single point of failure that then impacts operations at warehouses, deliveries, people being able to sell their goods and services on websites,” Jacob Bourne, an analyst at eMarketer, told CNN.

. . .

The Doughertys ... stopped for lunch at Cattleman’s Roadhouse, where the manager offered to pay for their meal because the restaurant was unable to process cards.

“He said, ‘This is no fault of yours, and you’re already eating. I don’t guess you all have cash?’” Debi Dougherty said. “And we both looked at each other, and I’m like, ‘Not enough to cover this meal.’”

. . .

Dia Giordano was spending her Monday trying to untangle the mess that the outage made for her three businesses: an Italian restaurant, eight mental health clinics and a couple of rental properties.

DoorDash was “blowing up” her phone starting at 2 a.m., warning that the online ordering system, which is run through Toast, was down.

“What that means is one-third of my business is gone for the day,” she told CNN. “At least with the publicity (of the outage), people might be understanding, but I’m still getting messages asking if we’re open, because the website is just gone. It’s just not there.”

Toast, when reached Monday, declined comment.

At Giordano’s mental health clinics, her practitioners and administrative staff members were unable to validate clients’ insurance information because the online clearinghouse for that information wasn’t working.

And on top of that, Venmo was down, meaning she couldn’t receive the rental payments she normally would.

There's more at the link.

I've spoken to several friends and acquaintances who found they were unable to buy their normal purchases because credit card services were down.  Others had a little cash available, but not enough for everything they needed, and so had to make rapid decisions over what to buy, and what to do without.  In one case where little children were involved, disposable diapers and baby food took priority, meaning the car didn't get filled with gas and the family had to make do with less for supper.

I always carry at least $100 in my wallet, and sometimes more, and I've asked my wife to do the same.  If we'd been out and about when the Internet outage hit on Monday, we'd have had enough to get home again, including gasoline, food, etc.  However, I think a lot of people would not have been so fortunate.  (Remember, too, to carry smaller bills.  Offering a $100 note to a small business might bring the answer that they don't have enough change to break it, so it's either give them the extra, or do without whatever you wanted to buy there.  My wallet usually contains a mix of $20 and $50 bills for that reason.)

It's also worth remembering that Monday's outage was resolved within a day.  If it had gone on for a week, there are businesses that would literally have gone bankrupt through being unable to process payments from customers or to suppliers.  If it had lasted a month, the permanent damage to the US economy would undoubtedly have run into at least hundreds of billions of dollars, if not the low trillions.  It might have put many people out on the street, for that matter.  For example, how many companies could keep their staff on the payroll when they have no money coming in to pay them?  How many rental agreements contain clauses allowing the landlord to evict tenants for non-payment of rent, particularly if they're already a few weeks, or a month or two, behind in their payments?  Landlords (particularly the corporate variety) aren't renowned for their loving-kindness and humanitarian instincts.

I've always tried to keep at least one months' routine expenditure in cash on hand (i.e. available immediately, not in the bank), so that I could pay our essential bills if the banking system went down.  After Monday, and looking at the potential for greater disruption from terrorism, economic sabotage, etc., I'm seriously thinking it might be a good idea to increase that to two months' worth.  I can't afford that at the moment, but it's a worthwhile target, I think.

(Also, from a personal perspective, I'm currently undergoing rehab after my surgery last month, and preparing for a bigger operation next year.  What if I couldn't pay for those sessions, or for the medications I need?  I definitely need a medical cash reserve, over and above a general-purpose one!)

Monday's Internet outage should be a useful reminder to all of us.  Emergencies arrive on their own schedule, not ours, and they usually don't provide much (if any) warning.  If we're not ready when they happen, we're not ready.  Period.  It helps to be as prepared as practically possible, to survive the interruption(s) to routine that they bring with them, and come out the other side as intact as possible.

Peter

A thoughtful gesture, but...

 

I had to laugh at this report.

Animal rescuers in California shared security camera stills capturing the moment a foster kitten spiced up her human family's dinner with a special ingredient: a dead mouse.

. . .

"Wendy is a foster failure that was caught on the kitchen cam -- or kitten cam -- adding 'spice' to her mom's dinner," the post said. "We should all be as thoughtful as Miss Wendy!"

Wendy's foster owner said she was out feeding her dogs when the kitchen camera recorded the cat's attempt at cooking. She said the feline's suspicious behavior when she returned to the kitchen led her to check the camera footage and discover the surprise Wendy had left in the pot.

"As you can guess, it was takeout for dinner that night," Wendy's foster mom told KMPH-TV.

There's more at the link.

Our two cats don't try to feed us.  Instead, they're on a lifelong mission to persuade us that human food is really precisely what a cat needs.  Furthermore, there are some foods so cat-worthy that they deserve extra feline attention.  Just drop a small flat tin of tuna on the metal surface of our prep table, and seventeen-odd pounds of black Maine Coon will arrive at near-supersonic speeds, followed closely (and more arthritically) by an older, creakier lady.  Don't bother with seasonings, mayonnaise or anything else - just drain the tuna into cat-size bowls and put it down on the floor.  Kitty nirvana!

Peter

OK, another car question

 

Thank you to everyone who responded to my car question yesterday.  It looks like, thanks to tariffs and other issues, repairs may cost north of $3K, and given that the value of the car is probably not much greater than that, the calculus is leaning in the direction of replacement.

Online research shows that there's virtually nothing worth having under $10K in the used car market.  Either the mileage is as great or greater than our present vehicle, or there are persistent reliability issues, or availability is haphazard.  Moving up to $15K doesn't improve things very much, although there is a greater selection.  At $20K upward, there's plenty of availability, but low-mileage vehicles remain hard to find in good condition:  most are in the 80-140K mile range, with some notable exceptions.  That means, if we want a reliable replacement to use for the medium to long term, we have to look at new vehicles as well.

The cheapest new vehicle I can find is the Kia Soul (which I've driven before, and is OK as an urban runabout), or the Ford Maverick mini-pickup.  The Maverick's ride quality isn't great, but it's a truck, not a car, and can't be expected to be as soft-riding and comfortable as the Soul.  It does have the advantage of reasonably good utility, with a small loadbed and a back seat that can accommodate a fair amount of baggage or household debris.  Both the Soul and the Maverick (in base model configuration) are in the mid-$20K base price range, plus tax, title, license, etc.  If we move up to the $30-$35K range, there are a lot more options, but then, that's a lot more money.

There's also the big disadvantage that some manufacturers are now demanding monthly subscription payments to use even the most basic in-car services (Toyota, I'm looking at you!).  I'm simply not prepared to do this.  There are also dealers who advertise "no-haggle" prices (that always seem higher than those who will negotiate), and others who low-ball trade-in offers.  There are also too many dealers who add gimmicks pre-sale (e.g. windows engraved with an "anti-theft" serial number, nitrogen tire fills, etc.), and want to charge hundreds of dollars for them, and won't sell you a vehicle without them.  There are an awful lot of shysters out there, it seems to me . . .  Any advice on tell-tale signs that a particular dealer may be more trouble than he's worth?  Obvious red flags?

Therefore, I turn to knowledgeable readers again, to ask for your input.  The need is for local transport of one or two older people, with occasional longer-distance excursions (e.g. 300-400 mile round trip in a day).  Economy is important, as is reliability, and the vehicle should not cost an arm and a leg to insure.

1. If you were looking for a lower-cost vehicle for that mission, what would you recommend?  New or used?
2. Has anyone had experience with the Ford Maverick mini-pickup models?  I'd be very interested to hear what they're like to own, particularly reliability, ride quality, etc.  Their overall utility is appealing.
3. Is there any vehicle that you absolutely would not recommend, due to issues, problems, or whatever?

Thanks in advance for your input.  I'm grateful for your help.

Peter

Economic chickens coming home to roost

 

With all the bad economic news deluging us over recent weeks, some people appear to be panicking.  They're running around trying to find a safe haven where they can "ride out the storm" with their money and wealth intact, and get back to normal as soon as the trouble has passed.  Sadly, that's not possible any longer.  We've spoken about this for years in these pages, pointing out the consequences of bad decisions taken decades ago and how they've been piling on top of each other all along.  Today's situation is the culmination of a whole lot of them.

Furthermore, it's not a matter of partisan politics.  Both sides of our political aisle are equally guilty of over-spending, under-saving, and wasting trillions of dollars on policies that have burdened us today with a debt so vast that it can't be adequately envisioned.  Our minds can't grasp the reality of thirty-trillion-plus dollars.  It's too great to conceptualize.  All we can say is, we're broke, and yet our politicians are still bickering over shutting down the government, taxes versus tariffs, and all the rest.  Those matters are now small beer compared to the fire in our economic engine room.

If you haven't been paying attention to the economic news, I recommend you select a few articles from this list and read them carefully.  Some focus on specific areas, such as a business activity or precious metals;  others are more broadly focused.  All are informative.

• "I've Never Seen Anything Like This": One Bullion Dealer Sees A Rupture In Gold And Silver Markets
• Don't look now (money quote:  "The dollar has lost 3/4 of its value in the past decade, 90% of its value in the last 20 years, and 98.5% of its value since we went away from being a gold based currency in 1973. That isn’t the greed of the banks, that’s the greed of our government.")
• Wall Street has been worried about bad loans for weeks. Now those fears are spreading
• The Bizarre Bankruptcy At The Heart Of This Week's Regional Bank Meltdown
• Auto Loan Delinquencies Surge 50% As Cracks Deepen Across U.S. Credit Markets
• 'Nobody's spending $17 on an egg sandwich': Restaurant owners say inflation forcing tough menu choices
• L.A.’s Entertainment Economy Is Looking Like a Disaster Movie
• The Final Crisis: This is Our Future

I'm not posting those links because I want to be alarmist:  I'm doing so because some people still don't seem to grasp the depth of the water flooding in beneath us, and they aren't good enough swimmers to stay afloat when they lose their economic footing.  Some put their faith in precious metals;  others, in index funds;  still others, in stockpiling essentials to help keep the wolf from the door.  Unfortunately, none of those measures will help most of us in the longer term.  We're going to have to tighten our belts and work hard to stay afloat.  That includes abandoning everything that may weigh us down, including excessive possessions, wasteful habits, and a self-centered spirit that says "To hell with everyone else - I'm all right, I've got mine!"

We're all in for a very hard time, friends.  Let's do our best to help each other stay afloat.

Peter

Post-surgery update and car info request

 

As regular readers will know, one of my kidneys was removed in late September.  Close to a month later, things are on the mend, but painfully slowly (emphasis on the "painfully" sometimes!).

Some of the surgery scars are healing nicely, to the point that they're almost closed with minimal scab left.  Others - including the largest one - are unfortunately taking rather longer to close up.  I'm told that's inevitable, due to natural movement of my body as I walk around or turn over in my sleep, but it's nevertheless irritating me with the slowness of the process.  To add to the fun (?), those bigger scars are itching intensely as the skin grows over the areas where it had been cut open.  I'm constantly having to fight the urge to scratch them.  Keeping them covered helps, and keeps out the dirt, but then they don't dry out, either, which appears to prolong the healing process.  Catch-22, anyone?

The internal injuries caused by taking out the kidney appear to be well on the mend.  The initial pain and "hollowness" I felt have largely ended, and the hollow left in my abdomen by the sudden absence of a kidney is "balancing out" with the rest of my belly.  I'm on a lifting restriction of not more than ten pounds for another six weeks at least, and I have to be careful to observe that;  I've slipped up a couple of times, and the sliced muscles let me know very sharply that I shouldn't do that again.  Apparently I'll be allowed to lift up to 20-25 pounds by mid- to late November, which will help me get back to normal in helping around the house.  All being well, the recovery process should be complete early next year.

Thank you, yet again, to all of you who've helped with the costs of this operation, and with your good wishes and prayers.  It's become a cliche to say "I couldn't do this without you", but that's the plain and simple truth of the matter.  I don't have family in the USA, but I have a support network of readers and online friends and acquaintances, and you've all helped me to get over this particular hump.  I remain very grateful to you all.

Now, if I may, a quick question to the car aficionados among us.  Our 2014 Nissan Pathfinder SUV has just begun to show front suspension problems, which I'll have checked out today.  The irritating thing is that this will be the third time that we've had problems in that area (most recently just over a year ago), and fixing them is not cheap (including labor, over $2K in the past, and with tariffs and other increases, perhaps over $3K today).  The vehicle is about to turn over 180K miles, and is running well apart from the suspension issues.  My dilemma is this:  is it worth sinking another $3K+ into a known issue that may well recur in 1-2 years time, and keep the vehicle running, or is it better to trade it in whilst the rest of it is in very good condition, and find a newer and more reliable ride?  I can see pro's and con's either way.  Based on your knowledge and experience of the car market, what would you recommend?  Please let us know in Comments.  (And, just to reassure anyone who's worrying, no, we won't use any funds donated for surgical costs to pay for the vehicle!)

Thanks again, everyone.

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 282

 

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

Sunday morning music

 

A Polish animation studio, Egofilm, is producing some interesting short works that are . . . quirky, to say the least!  Here's their squirrel rendition of Queen's "We Will Rock You".

That's one way to wake up on Sundays!

Peter

Giving, and the mentality of giving

 

A few days ago I asked readers to support two friends, James and Tirzah Burns, as James struggles with very serious illness.  Thank you to all who responded.

One respondent, Boron, said this in a comment.

It tears at my heart not to be able to be as free with my money (provide to those in need) as I had been was while I was workng.

Whatever money I've put away; we need it most now that I'm retired with disabilities.

The pennies that have fallen through the cracks we use to provide the little extras for our children, particularly in these times.

The remainder we're putting aside for our grandchildren's education.

It is all the more painful for me as a Jew aware of my obligations: tzedakah and more particularly, gemilut chasadim.

The more important question of course, invades my conscience: "Do I take the crumbs from my childrens' mouths to feed a stranger?"

I often wonder what will be my answer to Him.

I've had some long discussions with friends and acquaintances about giving to others;  when it is (or perhaps is not) appropriate, how much one can/should give in relation to what one has or earns, deciding who or what causes deserve our contribution and which do not, and all that sort of thing.  It's been interesting to develop a way of looking at giving that isn't bound to any one religious faith or secular philosophy, but rather to the simple fact of living as a human being.  Here's how I look at it.

I begin by acknowledging the many times I've needed help - and not only economically, either:  emotional support, advice, encouragement, all are "help".  From there, it follows logically that if I have needed help, I should be prepared to offer help to those who need it, because they are human beings, too.  The nature, kind and amount of that help are, of course, open to discussion.  For example, I won't help an alcoholic or drug addict buy more of the poisons that feed their addiction, and I won't give them money to buy those things for themselves.  I will, however, buy them food, and help them get to a place where they can get the physical, mental and spiritual help they need to change their lives (e.g. the Salvation Army).

There are those who object that by refusing to help them do what they want to do, I'm in effect judging them, forcing them into moral or ethical compartments with which they might not agree.  I guess that's right - but by not exercising judgment, by helping them continue with their self-destructive behavior, I would be contributing to the inevitable end of such moral laissez-faire:  their demise.  I won't accept such co-responsibility;  I can't, due to my own moral code.  If that doesn't satisfy some critics, well, I'm sorry about that.  They can help in whatever way seems good to them, and I'll do likewise.

What worries me more than such questions is the number of people today who seem to regard it as a weakness to support anyone.  What's theirs is theirs, and they don't see why they should share it, particularly if they might have to delay or postpone something they want in order to spend their money, or time, or talents on someone else's need.  The concept of giving as a duty, as a way of life, seems foreign to them.  That stands in stark contrast to the unknown sage who said:

“I expect to pass through this world but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing that I can do, to any fellow human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it; for I will not pass this way again.”

All those points, of course, can be made irrespective of any religious background.  To a Christian, the Bible is filled with admonitions and encouragements to give what one has to help those who have not, and to support one another in the trials and tribulations of life.  Many regard those obligations as fulfilled by contributing to the collection in church on Sunday.  Fortunately, many more go further than that.

My own personal approach to giving starts by thanking God for the many blessings I've been given, some without requests to others, others as a result of asking for help (the most recent example of which being my bleg for help with medical bills last month).  That leads to a direct corollary:  if I hope and expect to receive help when I need it, I must be ready and willing to offer help when others need it.  It's like two halves of the same coin.  I may not be able to offer as much as another person needs, or the precise form of help they need, but I'll get as close to it as I can.  My wife and I don't "tithe" as such;  we rather say that our money is there to meet our needs and those that the good Lord puts in our path.  Some months we may give very little to others.  Other months we may donate a lot more than a tithe.  It all depends what needs present themselves, whether or not we feel led to respond, and our current ability to do so.  However, it's a fundamental rule for us that we should always be willing to respond as best we can.  If we try to hold on to everything we have, why should we expect others to be any different?

It's also true, of course, that we can't possibly meet most of the needs around us.  We're not rich, and are unlikely ever to be so.  Therefore, we donate according to what is practical and possible for us, and trust the good Lord to make up that which we cannot.

A final thought.  I think we would all do well to develop a "mindset of giving".  This is where we look around us, at people and activities close to us, and ask how we can contribute.  There may be nobody needing help with hospital bills, or trying to rebuild their home after a fire;  but our local small-town library may need funds raised, or our old folks' center wants money to upgrade their facility.  A few dollars from enough people can help them a lot.  If we actively look to pick just one project or need each month, and support it with a few dollars or a couple of hours of work, that's a start.  It puts us in the right mind-set to recognize larger needs when they arrive, and be willing to consider helping to meet them.  We don't just dismiss them out of hand, or casually disregard them.  If we all did that, I think a lot more of us would be willing to help out in all sorts of ways that we currently don't think about.

Hope I didn't bore you with this diversion into the weeds.  I just thought Boron's point, and similar comments made by a couple of other readers, deserved further attention.  I'll be interested to read your own perspective(s) in Comments.

Peter

Is it possible for a politician to be even more cretinous than usual? Oh, yes...

 

The politician in question is Cory Booker.  Basically, if it moves, as far as he's concerned it's Fascist, and must be condemned as such.  It would help - greatly! - if he actually knew the meaning of the word Fascist, as illustrated a couple of days ago, when he appeared on a podcast titled "The Anti-Cult Club".  He came up with this gem of political wisdom:

Yes, indeed.  I've never heard of any "old African saying" that "sticks in a bundle can't be broken" - and I'm a damned sight more African (having been born and raised on that continent) than Senator Booker.  However, I do know the meaning of the Latin word "fasces".  According to Wikipedia:

A fasces is a bound bundle of wooden rods, often, but not always, including an axe (occasionally two axes) with its blade emerging. The fasces is an Italian symbol that had its origin in the Etruscan civilization and was passed on to ancient Rome, where it symbolized a Roman king's power to punish his subjects, and later, a magistrate's power and jurisdiction.

The image of fasces has survived in the modern world as a representation of magisterial power, law, and governance. The fasces frequently occurs as a charge in heraldry: it is present on the reverse of the U.S. Mercury dime coin, behind the podium in the United States House of Representatives, and in the Seal of the U.S. Senate; and it was the origin of the name of the National Fascist Party in Italy (from which the term fascism is derived).

So, when Senator Booker uses the image of the fasces to illustrate opposition to fascism, he's heading in precisely the opposite direction to what he means.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.  Far too many of our politicians, on both sides of the aisle, behave in precisely the same way.  It's as if election to office knocks several dozen points off some (but fortunately not all) politicians' IQ scores.

Meanwhile, if you're logged into X, go enjoy the whole thread in which Sen. Booker's gaffe is discussed.  It's giggle-worthy.

Peter

Quote of the day

 

From a reader over at Larry Lambert's place:

"I like to think that my Scots-Irish ancestors came to America in the early 1700s because it later gave them one more chance to shoot at the British."

Now why is that so instantly believable?  Could be because I have Scots and Irish ancestors as well . . .

Peter

Yay pemmican!

 

A few years ago I mentioned Steadfast Provisions and their pemmican products.  Earlier this year I boosted their fundraiser, aimed at building a brand-new, much-updated commercial kitchen to produce much larger quantities of pemmican and other products.  I'm very glad to report that the new kitchen is up and running, and their pemmican is better than ever.  If this article sounds like I'm shilling for them, well, I guess I am, because I really like to see small businessmen come up with a good idea and make a living out of it - and I just plain like pemmican anyway!

(In case you didn't know much about pemmican, there's a very informative article about it at their Web site.  Recommended reading.)

The new product is similar to the old, but more finely ground, producing a powdery rather than a granular substance when crushed or folded into other foods.  I find the flavor much improved, too.  Last time I ordered the salted-only pemmican, without seasoning.  It was fine, but very bland, designed more to be added to other foods (e.g. soup or stew), or supplemented with flavorings if eaten alone.  In this way it would taste more like the main dish, but provide added protein.

This time I ordered the seasoned version, and find it's much more palatable to eat on its own, even without adding anything else.  The texture appears much closer to Plains Indian descriptions of it, where it was eaten by the pinch out of a parfleche rawhide bag.  I tried some yesterday flavored as the Indians did, with honey dripped over it - delicious!  One can also add dried or fresh berries for a fruitier, sweeter flavor.

I plan to keep several bricks of this stuff in stock as an emergency supply.  One could exist by eating only pemmican, if one had to, but that would get boring fairly quickly!  I regard it as an excellent "bug-out" food, energy-rich and nutritious, easy to get to while walking or driving.  The new version tastes good enough that I'll probably be eating some as a snack on a regular basis, too.  I don't think one could possibly get foods that are more "keto" than pemmican, so I'll take advantage of that.

I prefer to buy the "brick" package of pemmican, containing 2.2 pounds of concentrated beef.

It may seem expensive, with a price tag of $97 for 2.2 pounds of pemmican, but bear in mind how greatly the "raw" weight of meat has been reduced in the production process.  One of those bricks contains over 10 pounds of raw beef, and given the price of good-quality beef today, that's a bargain in anyone's language.  If you'd like to try something smaller and lower-cost, the company also makes a pemmican bar for $17.  Expect them to be hard to find for a few months as the word spreads about the company's new production and new flavors.

To all my readers who contributed to Steadfast Provisions' fundraiser, thank you very much.  IMHO, it's been worth the wait to get their new premises into production.

Peter

The Ukraine war is increasingly equipping and empowering drug cartels

 

South American drug cartels are deliberately sending some of their best fighting men and women to Ukraine, to learn how to use drones against an enemy, and how to convert ordinary civilian models into killing machines.  Because this is a growing danger within the USA as well, I'll provide an extended quote from the article.

Mexican intelligence officials tipped off their Ukrainian counterparts in July.

They warned Kyiv that cartel members were infiltrating Ukraine’s foreign ­fighter cadres to learn how to fly first-person view (FPV) kamikaze drones, which give pilots a bird’s-eye view of the target as they close in with an explosive payload.

Mexico’s warring drug cartels, who are engaged in their own drone arms race, now appear to be adopting the technology.

Last week, footage emerged for the first time of Sinaloa cartel sicarios, or hitmen, brandishing a new “fibre-optic” FPV drone, a model pioneered in Ukraine that is controlled by cable rather than radio signal to evade jamming devices.

“Ukraine has become a platform for the global dissemination of FPV tactics,” a security official in Kyiv told Intelligence Online, a French security website that first broke news of the investigation into Eagle 7.

“Some come to learn how to kill with a $400 drone, then sell that knowledge to whoever pays the highest price.”

Quite how many cartel hitmen have gone to Ukraine for drone “training” ­remains a mystery. The investigation in the summer is understood to have discovered at least three former members of Colombia’s disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) guerrilla movement, heavily involved in cocaine trafficking.

It would not be hard for a cartel member to blend in these days in Ukraine, as the International Legion is ­increasingly relying on Latin American recruits.

Most are from Colombia, where large numbers of former security personnel have found themselves jobless in the wake of the landmark 2016 peace deal with the Farc.

. . .

It is thought that several thousand have served in the International Legion over the past three years, with up to 300 killed.

Cartel members are understood to be taking advantage of the fact that Kyiv has limited means to vet overseas recruits properly.

“We’re seeing reports in recent months that both Mexican cartels and Colombian criminal groups are trying to infiltrate the Ukrainian military to learn techniques that they can take back to Latin America,” Alexander Marciniak, a Latin American intelligence analyst for Sibylline, a private intelligence firm, told The Telegraph.

“The cartels can use drones for all sorts of purposes, attacks and surveillance on each other and on the security forces, and for smuggling contraband.”

Mexico has seen a huge surge in the use of attack drones in recent years, from just a handful of incidents in 2020 up to more than 40 per month by 2023. It reflects a growing militarisation of the drug gangs, with cartels hiring professional ex-soldiers, many of them from Colombia, to give them an edge.

. . .

As well as getting access to vast ­arrays of weaponry, foreign volunteers can also learn a range of techniques for building home-made attack drones, many of them circulated on DIY-style instruction videos.

Meanwhile, both Colombia and Mexico face growing US pressure to crack down on cartels, following Donald Trump’s announcement that designated Mexican cartels would now be treated as “narco-terrorist” groups rather than street gangs because of their growing firepower.

Four suspected drug boats have been destroyed by US drone strikes in the Caribbean, and Mr Trump has also hinted he could send US troops into Mexico. Colombia is considering a bill to outlaw its soldiers from enlisting as mercenaries.

Critics, however, say that banning them from legitimate work could simply drive more into the ranks of the cartels.

There's more at the link.

This would also help to explain why the USA is ramping up its operations against drug cartels in several South American countries, including (that we know of) Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela.  If US forces and law enforcement agencies can "get ahead" of such technological advances, they can keep the danger at arms' length, so to speak.  However, if cartels are already carrying out tens of operations every month (again, those are just the ones we know about), it may be too late for such delaying tactics to succeed - and drones may make such operations a lot more dangerous for those tasked with them.

This points to a growing internal security problem inside our borders.  What if the current Antifa/BLM/far-left/progressive demonstrations are suddenly augmented by attack drones aimed at law enforcement trying to control the unrest?  Our police aren't equipped or trained to deal with such weapons, and it's hard to see how civilian law enforcement could be so equipped without transgressing a number of constitutional rights and issues.  Nevertheless, I'd say it's increasingly likely that they will face such dangers.  It's in the cartels' best interests to disrupt law enforcement, for different reasons, but towards the same end - making parts of the country ungovernable, so they can take advantage of that for criminal rather than political advantage.

Those of us who regard personal preparedness and willingness to resist crime and violence have some hard thinking to do here.  We don't (generally) have access to such technology;  but without it, we'll be several plays behind the game, and much more vulnerable.  That applies particularly to larger cities within which the users of such drones will find it easier to conceal themselves and operate untraceably.

Matt Bracken has written extensively on the growing danger of drone warfare within the USA.  I highly recommend that you read his article on the subject, complete with many photographs.  I think all of us will do well to consider how this danger may affect us, in our own regions and circumstances, and plan accordingly.

Peter