Not such apex predators

 

I had to laugh at this blog post from fellow South African expatriate Kim du Toit.  He and I see eye to eye on many issues (not surprising, given our similar backgrounds).

This morning he wrote about an article titled "One Super Predator in Africa Instills More Fear Than Lions".  The super predator, of course, turned out to be humans.  We use brains and tools to conquer our environment and the nasty things that we find there.  We've done it for millennia, and will doubtless go on doing it until the extinction of our species and/or the entropy death of the universe.

Kim doesn't mince his words.

We are, in the animal kingdom, like marshmallows.  Pork-flavored marshmallows, to be precise, just the thing to make lions sharpen their claws before putting on a dinner napkin.

So why do these dangerous animals think that we are the apex predators?

Because we don’t fight fair.  As though fighting for one’s life, or hunting down food requires us to be all Marquis-of-Queensbury types;  what foolishness.

**** that.  If a pride of lions wants to target a few humans for brekkie, well… say hello to an A-10 Warthog or an Apache attack helicopter, and let’s see who’s really the apex predator, Fluffy.

Click over there to read the whole thing.  It's giggle-worthy . . . and true, too, for the most part.

Of course, if one of those predators catches you alone and unarmed in the bush, you're toast, but that's your fault.  Being a successful apex predator requires remaining on the apex, so to speak.  Step off it, and there will be consequences.

Peter

More thoughts on America's 250th birthday

 

I was reminded recently of William J. H. Boetcker (1873-1962).  He's perhaps best known for his 1916 pamphlet, "The Ten Cannots".  In summary:

• You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
• You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
• You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
• You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
• You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
• You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
• You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
• You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
• You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.
• And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

He also authored this list of "Seven National Crimes":

• I don't think.
• I don't know.
• I don't care.
• I am too busy.
• I leave well enough alone.
• I have no time to read and find out.
• I am not interested.

Both lists bear thinking about as we celebrate our nation's quarter-millennium anniversary.  May our descendants still remember them when the half-millennial anniversary rolls around!

Peter

The ultimate put-down of the anti-meat scammers

 

Watts Up With That? links to this tweet.  Click the image below for a larger view on X.com.

That's a beautifully simple explanation - and every word of it is true.  You'll never hear vegetarian and vegan activists admit to that, though.  If they did, they'd expose their scam operation for what it is.  They rely on scaring people into taking them seriously - and this tweet demonstrates that they're anything but serious.  Their loud screams about the permanent climate damage caused by eating meat and breeding cows are nothing more than "sound and fury, signifying nothing".

Pass it on.  The more people who understand this, the better.

Peter

Tell your children...

 

... that as they prepare to enter adult life, they really, really need to adjust their thinking on what they're going to do for a career, let alone a short-term job.  From a post at X.com:

Mike Rowe: “We’ve been telling kids for 15 years to learn to code.”

“Well, AI is coming for the coders.”

“It’s not coming for the welders, the plumbers, the steamfitters, the pipefitters, the HVAC, or the electricians.”

“In Aspen, I sat and listened to Larry Fink say we need 500,000 electricians in the next couple of years—not hyperbole.”

“The BlueForge Alliance, who oversees our maritime industrial base—that’s 15,000 individual companies who are collectively charged with building and delivering nuclear-powered subs to the Navy … calls and says, we’re having a hell of a time finding tradespeople. Can you help?”

“I said, I don’t know, man … how many do you need? He says, 140,000.”

“These are our submarines. Things go hypersonic, a little sideways with China, Taiwan, our aircraft carriers are no longer the point of the spear. They’re vulnerable.”

“Our submarines matter, and these guys have a pinch point because they can’t find welders and electricians to get them built.”

“The automotive industry needs 80,000 collision repair and technicians.”

“Energy, I don’t even know what the number is, I hear 300,000, I hear 500,000.”

“There is a clear and present freakout going on right now. I’ve heard from six governors in the last six months. I’ve heard from the heads of major companies.”

There's more at the link, specifically an extended video clip addressing these issues.

The business and technical world has changed so much since I entered it more than half a century ago.  First off, I had to go to work right away, because my parents couldn't afford to pay for full-time studies.  No problem:  I did four years in the military, then trained on-the-job as a computer operator (IBM System/370, for those of you who go back that far).  I transitioned into programming and systems analysis (again using on-the-job training).  All that time, I was tackling a B.A. degree by correspondence.  Due to work, military call-ups, etc. I could only average one course a year (ten were required for graduation - much longer, more intensive courses than US universities).  However, in the end I made it.  I moved into more senior jobs while tackling a post-graduate diploma in Management, then went on to a Masters degree in the field.  All were white-collar jobs.

Nowadays, if I tried to follow a similar career path, I wouldn't get past "Go", much less collect $200!  A university degree is a basic prerequisite for white-collar work at most big companies, even though it's essentially unrelated to the work employees actually do every day.  Masters degrees are pretty common, particularly at middle-to-senior-management level.  The competition for white-collar jobs is intense, with vacancies attracting hundreds (sometimes thousands) of applications, but very few succeeding.  The game is no longer worth the candle.

Tech jobs, on the other hand . . . almost every tech-oriented business I know or have used in the past few years complains non-stop that they can't hire enough people to cater for the customers they have, or want to have.  The vehicle dealer whose service department I use for our cars is operating at about half capacity, not because they want to, but they can't hire enough qualified people who are willing to work hard and earn their pay (which is pretty high these days).

I advise every young person with whom I speak (about life, the universe and everything) to look into such jobs.  They'll be earning a lot more money, much faster than most of their white-collar peers.  I know one man who left high school with a 3.9 GPA.  He turned down scholarship offers to university, and instead took a two-year associates degree in welding, which included certification to weld dissimilar metals.  He did the degree part-time while working full-time as an apprentice welder, gaining valuable experience.  The day he finished the degree, he was offered a six-figure salary on the oil fields here in Texas, plus free accommodation, with his own work truck equipped for the job, and generous time off.  He's a happy man these days, while his high school friends mutter under their breath about "I want his luck!"  They fail to realize that he made his own luck out of very hard work and application.  I can only hope others follow his example.

Tell your children, and your friends' children, that they need to reconsider their career options.  The demand out there is huge, if you have the right qualifications and experience.

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

And so say most of us!

 

Found on Gab:

Precisely!

Peter

So much for prepping!

 

Stephan Pastis aces it again.  Click the image to be taken to a larger version of the cartoon at the "Pearls Before Swine" Web page.

It's funny, of course, but it's also something to keep in mind when we talk about preparing for emergencies.  We can make all the plans we like, and stockpile goods and materials to our heart's content, but in the end, if something nasty happens, we'll just have to deal with it on the fly.  It may destroy all our preps, and disrupt all our plans.  We have to be flexible enough to "roll with the punches", adapt our plans, and do whatever is needed to get through the situation.  It may not even be possible to do that . . . in a critical situation, survival is not a guaranteed outcome.

Anyone who tells you to "buy this" or "build that" to be sure of survival is talking through his or her hat.  By all means, prepare yourself and your supplies for emergencies;  but flexibility, adaptability, good health and fitness are going to be much more important than most people realize.

Food for thought.

Peter

One can only salute her courage

 

A highly rated fencer "took a knee" in a Maryland tournament rather than face a transgender opponent.

Women’s fencer Stephanie Turner refused a match against a transgender opponent at the Cherry Blossom Open in Maryland this past weekend, opting to take a knee instead.

. . .

“I knew what I had to do because USA Fencing had not been listening to women’s objections regarding [its gender eligibility policy],” Turner said.  “I took a knee immediately at that point. Redmond was under the impression that I was going to start fencing. So when I took the knee, I looked at the ref and said, ‘I’m sorry, I cannot do this. I am a woman, and this is a man, and this is a women’s tournament. And I will not fence this individual.”

“Redmond didn’t hear me, and he comes up to me, and he thinks that I may be hurt, or he doesn’t understand what’s happening. He asks, ‘Are you OK?’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry. I have much love and respect for you, but I will not fence you,” she added.

Even though Redmond warned Turner that she would likely be disqualified for refusing to compete, she accepted her fate anyway. Indeed, minutes after her refusal, the referees gave Turner the black card penalty, and she was expelled from the tournament.

. . .

USA Fencing defended its transgender and non-binary athlete policy as a means for inclusion.

“The policy was designed to expand access to the sport of fencing and create inclusive, safe spaces. The policy is based on the principle that everyone should have the ability to participate in sports and was based upon the research available of the day,” it said in a statement.

“We respect the viewpoints on all sides and encourage our members to continue sharing them with us as the matter evolves. It’s important for the fencing community to engage in this dialogue, but we expect this conversation to be conducted respectfully, whether at our tournaments or in online spaces. The way to progress is by respectful discussion based in evidence,” it added.

Turner acknowledged that she will face backlash for her decision ... “It will probably, at least for a moment, destroy my life. I don’t think that it’s going to be easy for me from now on going to fencing tournaments. I don’t think it’s going to be easy for me at practice,” Turner said. “It’s very hard for me to do this.”

There's more at the link.

Of course, I agree with her position, which is medically and biologically unassailable.  One's sex - and, yes, one's gender too, despite protests from the "woke" - is determined by one's chromosomes.  A man can undergo all the sex-change surgery he wants, and a woman likewise, but their chromosomes will remain as they were at birth.  Changing the outward appearance cannot and does not change the underlying person.  For anyone or any body (sports or otherwise) to argue otherwise is to defy science, to spit in the face of reality.

We're going to have to continue to confront this evil twisting of reality and denial of truth for years to come, because those behind it are diabolically persistent in trying to overturn science in favor of their own brand of pseudo-science.  Congratulations to Ms. Turner for upholding the truth and refusing to be cowed by falsehood.  May her example motivate many others to do likewise.

As Theodore Dalrymple has pointed out:

When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control.

One may safely assume that Ms. Turner will not be "easy to control".  Excellent!

Peter

I fear he's not wrong...

 

As usual, Stephan Pastis does a bang-up job (you should pardon the expression) of describing American society in this day and (troubled) age.  Click the image to be taken to a larger version of the cartoon at the "Pearls Before Swine" Web page.

I've heard from a number of contacts in the firearms industry that before last year's elections, most of their customers were conservatives or libertarians.  Since President Trump took office, they report many more liberal and progressive Democrats coming in to arm themselves.  That's not what I'd call a very optimistic forecast for social discourse in America . . .

Peter

This is long overdue!

 

I'm 100% behind this request.

Concerned Catholics are asking the DOJ to look into the actions of multiple Catholic related individuals and entities and their relationship and actions in response to government funding.

. . .

Prominent Catholics ... have sent the following letter to Vice President JD Vance:

<snip>

Many Catholics believe the USCCB, Catholic dioceses, Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services, and all NGOs that have received government funding through the Catholic Church must make a full disclosure of how the funds were used. For example, it was reported that the Diocese of Fort Worth, TX, which has received over 1 billion dollars in federal funding, partnered with the Islamic Circle of North America that has ties with terrorist organizations.

Although the USCCB has argued that it has used federal funds primarily to help resettle vetted refugees and immigrants, one wonders if the USCCB exercised due diligence in respect to those whom they settled. How many illegal immigrants did they assist? Did any of the funds end up in the hands of cartels who are involved in criminal behavior such as sex trafficking and the smuggling of Fentanyl? What did they do to protect vulnerable children and women?

In fact, most faithful Catholics are happy that it seems that USAID will no longer be using the USCCB to help settle refugees and immigrants. It grieves us a great deal to suggest that the Church cannot be trusted, but we fear that is the case.

There's more at the link.

As regular readers will know, I served the Catholic Church as a priest and chaplain for several years, until the American bishops' abysmal, immoral, disastrous mishandling of the clergy youth sex abuse scandal led me to walk away.  I saw at first hand how many Catholic organizations had become so focused on the worldly aspects of their mission that they'd almost forgotten the Divine.  Some were no longer ministries - merely charities, and pretty secular ones at that.  What's worse, over the past couple of decades they have become one of the principle architects and enablers of illegal alien migration into this country, abandoning what should have been their primary national loyalty in the name of transnational secular humanism.

I hope and pray the Vice President will follow up on this open letter, and do something about it.  If you'd like to add your name to the list of people seeking intervention, you can sign a petition here.  I've already added my name.

Hmmm . . . could we camouflage Elon Musk and a few of his D.O.G.E. assistants in cassocks, and sneak them into the next meeting of the Bishops, to penetrate their computer network and see what they've been up to?  It might cause an unholy row, but then, right now that's the point, isn't it?

Peter

That's one way to do it

 

I'm sure many readers have seen photographs of US Navy ships looking rusty, bedraggled and dilapidated as they enter harbor.  That's the result of many years of bad decisions, allocating fewer sailors to ships than they need to care for themselves, and cutting budgetary allocations, time allowed for maintenance, and so on.

John Konrad, the head honcho at GCaptain, has some ideas about how to fix the problem.

We need a Homan for Navy ship painting!

Reporter: Are we going to have Admirals deported every single day?

Yes.

Reporter: is that sustainable?

Yes

Reporter: Do you think it’s safe to have sailors swinging off the side of ships with paintbrushes?

Yes.

Reporter: We hear reports that they are using strong acids that are dripping into the sea.

Yes.

Reporter: You are okay with a fish dying? 

Yes.

Reporter: I’m told these sailors are overworked and tired. Will they be painting every day?

Yes, and we are going to widen the aperture. Next week, we will be clearing out Pentagon desk wieners and giving them paint brushes.

Reporter: Many of the people in the Pentagon are aviators or cybersecurity or other jobs with no painting experience. 

Yes, and they will paint too.

Reporter: But swinging off the sides of a ship is dangerous.

Yes.

Reporter: Might some of them get injured?

Yes, if they don’t follow directions.

Reporter: What about civilian pentagon staff, some of whom are disabled?

Yes, we have the ability to lower wheelchairs down the side. 

Reporter: Are you going to have Admirals and Generals swinging over the side painting too? Some are over 60.

Yes.

Reporter: Are you going to be able to sleep at night knowing half the Pentagon hates you?

Yes, like a baby.

That's telling them!  One hopes the new Secretary of the Navy will take heed.

Peter

VDH brings the smackdown to the Los Angeles fires

 

Victor Davis Hanson calls the current and ongoing California wildfires "a DEI, Green New Deal Disaster, something out of Dante's Inferno".  In the blurb accompanying the short video below, he "discusses the mismanagement of resources, lack of effective forest management, and prioritization of diversity and inclusion over merit in firefighting efforts. He labels the situation as a 'systems breakdown' and warns of the larger implications for California's future."

It's a very succinct look at why and how the wildfires got so big, so quickly, and so far out of control.  It's less than eight minutes long, and well worth your time to watch it.

He concludes:

I don't want to be too pessimistic or bleak tonight, but this is one of the most alarming symptoms of a society gone mad, and if this continues and if this were to spread to other states, we would become a Third World country if we're not in parts already.

It's hard to argue with that, isn't it?

Peter

The reality of skin color

 

Found on MeWe from Marc Adkins (sorry, MeWe won't provide a direct URL to his post):

Of course, that's absolutely true.  That really is why darker skin hues are concentrated in hotter regions of the globe, and lighter ones to the north and south of that, in cooler climes.  We've evolved the shades of skin as a defensive measure against some of what mother Nature can do to us.

Nevertheless, to hear racists (of any color) rail and bitch and complain against (any and all other colors), it's obvious they've never heard of that reality.  Sure, there are cultural and educational and societal differences too, but they always point to race as the problem, and they always identify skin color as the identifier for race.  No, dummy, that's not the issue - that's a mere defensive mechanism against nature.

Peter

A lesson in reality

 

Mr. B, writing at "In The Middle Of The Right", makes an entirely valid and very important point that seems to have been forgotten by most of the mainstream media, our establishment, and the progressive left.  Here's an excerpt.

Reality is what it is. If your viewpoint, your version of reality,  is different than everyone else’s, you need to look at what you think…..Ferinstance: if you think that saying that the world is flat is correct in the face of evidence otherwise, then you are wrong. Period. Full stop. Believing the world is flat is, frankly, stupid and delusional. Getting angry because your “viewpoint” is rejected, and lashing out is childish and spiteful and just plain foolish. We, as a society, are just as foolish by allowing people like the dude above to think their (obviously invalid and foolish ) view is valid and acceptable and putting up with their stupidity just gets us more stupidity. White is white, and black is black, saying that they are another color is lying…to yourself.

Just because a woman wants to think “Big is Beautiful” doesn’t mean that fat girls are as pretty or attractive as women who take care of themselves. Shy’s lying to herself or to her fat friend.  Trans people (I.E. Men that pretend to be women or women who pretend to be men) are not the opposite sex just because they put on a skirt or pants. To believe otherwise is stupid. Trans men can’t have babies or nurse, and trans women are not strong men, even with supplements of Testosterone. Saying otherwise is stupid.

. . .

People who deny reality because it makes them uncomfortable or they just don’t like what is….are fools ... Sticking to that belief in the face of evidence that shows otherwise is stupid. Otherwise intelligent people are often stupid. Of course, telling or showing them that they are stupid (and being stubborn about it) often angers them even more, making them even more stubborn….and more stupid.

I can believe I can fly all I want, right up ’til I step off that cliff. Being upset when reality (and the ground) smacks me in the face is stupid….Stepping off the cliff is stupid. Don’t like the truth? Reality and the world just don’t care. Being upset that you can’t fly is also stupid.

Man or woman (and those are the only choices), to deny reality is stupid and it really is stupid to think otherwise. Reality is what it is.  Deal with it. Stop being foolish.

We, as a society, need to stop pandering to people, be they straight or trans or gay, men or women, old or young, that feel that their alternate view of reality is just as valid.

There's more at the link.  Go read the whole thing.  It's important.

This blatant falsehood manifests itself particularly in the "You can't criticize me!  You can't judge me!  You can't say I'm wrong!" crowd.  Look, if what you're believing, or preaching, or doing, flies in the face of objective fact and natural reality, I can judge you (your actions, at any rate - not your soul, that's God's business) and I can say you're wrong.  I will.  Loudly and frequently.  To indulge your false fantasy would make me as guilty of ignoring reality as you are!

I saw this particularly as a prison chaplain.  We had psychologists on staff whose job was to help inmates figure out where they'd gone wrong, and help them to change.  The problem is that far too many of those psychologists tried to lead the inmate to come to the right conclusions on his or her own, without actually telling them they were wrong.  In many cases, those inmates had never been taught how to think, and had none of the normal frame of reference (morality, civics, etc.) used in our society.  To expect them to come to the "right" conclusions when they were filled with the "wrong" personal history, information (or the lack thereof), relationships, etc. was nonsensical - yet those psychologists persisted in that approach.  They had to.  That's what the "system" demanded - and that's why we have a 70%+ recidivism rate among US prison inmates over the first five years after they're released.

I was considered an unsympathetic and "hard" chaplain by many inmates because I would not indulge their self-centered fantasies.  I also wouldn't allow them to blame others for the bad choices they made.  Sure, their backgrounds, families, experience, etc. all helped condition them;  but the ultimate decision to do wrong was theirs, and theirs alone.  Do-gooders were always on at me to accept that they were criminals because of their deprived background:  but those same do-gooders refused to face the reality that others growing up with precisely the same background (in many cases, brothers and sisters of the criminals) did not make the same choices, and did not become criminals.  In the end, it all boiled down to an individual's personal choices and personal judgment.  He/she could not blame others for what he/she had voluntarily chosen to do, and to become.

The same applies to those who want to live in a fantasy world without reference to reality.  It's on them - and we do them, and ourselves, a disservice if we allow that to continue.

Peter

True dat

 

From Ashley St. Clair on X:

Whether or not one supports President Trump, it's hard to argue with that!

Peter

Remember this, no matter who you vote for

 

There are very, very few honest politicians out there.  Let this be a reminder.

It's from the musical "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas".  Reminds me of a lot of what we're seeing and hearing on the news and social media at present, from both major parties.  I think, if you ask a lot of those recently affected by hurricanes in Georgia and North Carolina, they'd recognize a lot of that behavior in their local and state politicians - but those in the rest of the country, with a few honorable exceptions, wouldn't be much different, or much better.

"Put not your trust in princes" - or in their democratic/republican equivalent, politicians.

Peter

It might work...

 

Stephan Pastis offers a potential solution to the rabid partisanship bedeviling American politics.  Click the image to be taken to a larger view at the "Pearls Before Swine" Web page.

That reminds me of our situation in South Africa in the early 1990's, when rabid radicals on both ends of the political spectrum were attacking and killing each other with diabolical enthusiasm.  Many of us thought that establishing two more bantustans or "homelands", in the style of the old apartheid system, would be an optimal solution.  They'd be right next door to each other.  One would be designated for racists and white supremacists;  the other for black power and communist/terrorist supporters.  Fences would separate them from the rest of the country, but there'd be no barrier between them at all.  While the fanatics of both sides went about killing each other, the rest of us could get on with ending the conflict and restoring democracy.  When everything had been sorted out, we'd let the survivors (if any) out of their "homelands" to rejoin civilization.

It never happened, but we had longing thoughts about it . . . as I'm sure many Americans are about our own homegrown extremists today.

Peter

Word

 

I agree!

Peter

Makes you think...

 

Found on several social media channels (origin unknown).  Clickit to biggit.

Yeah . . . that makes this old fart feel very glad he's not in uniform any longer!

Peter

Another good one

 

Following on our previous post, here's a meme from Matt Bracken.

True dat . . . and all of them are letting - actively aiding and abetting - the so-called "refugees" and "migrants" to invade and take over our country.

Peter