The idle musings of a former military man, former computer geek, medically retired pastor and now full-time writer. Contents guaranteed to offend the politically correct and anal-retentive from time to time. My approach to life is that it should be taken with a large helping of laughter, and sufficient firepower to keep it tamed!
The first civilian video of the damaged Nord Stream pipeline has emerged. Screen captures from the video appear to show that the explosion originated inside the pipeline, and blew outward. Click either image for a larger view.
That would tend to support Lawdog's theory that the explosions were caused by methane hydrates, that congealed into a hydrate plug inside the pipeline. If an explosion had occurred outside the pipeline, it would have blown the metal inwards, rather than outwards. Of course, those few images aren't conclusive, but the deep trenches blown into the seabed around the explosion site would tend to support the theory. If an external explosion had caused the blast, it would presumably have made a crater (a deep divot in the ground) around the explosion site, in a roughly circular pattern. If the video is to be believed, this explosion did not do that; but it might well have propagated a seabed rupture reaching out to either side of the pipeline, as the seismic effect of the blast made itself felt through the concrete surrounding the pipe and protecting it on the sea floor.
I'm not an engineer, and I'm not an explosives expert. Nevertheless, I've caused a few loud bangs in my time (back when I was in uniform), and I know a little about the subject. I'll be watching this with great interest, to see what else comes out in the wash.
Mexico's Roman Catholic Church has suspended a controversial priest who has advised parishioners to carry guns to fight off drug cartels. Better known as "Father Pistolas," Rev. Alfredo Gallegos is a priest in the violence-plagued western state of Michoacan who has himself sometimes carried a weapon.
A circular from the Archdiocese of Morelia, the state capital, instructed other priests not to allow the Rev. Gallegos to celebrate Mass.
. . .
Even for Michoacan, it was surprising when the Rev. Gallegos called from the pulpit in 2021 for parishioners to arm themselves against warring drug gangs.
"The cartel gunmen come, they take the livestock, they screw your wife and daughter, and you do nothing," the Rev. Alfredo Gallegos said in a sermon. "Well, get yourself a gun, the government can go to hell."
"We have to defend our lives," Gallegos continued.
. . .
Michoacan has a history of armed civilian "self defense" vigilante militia movements dating from 2013 and 2014. Back then vigilantes managed to chase the dominant Knights Templar cartel out, but rival cartels like the Viagras and the Jalisco cartel have moved in. Kidnappings, killings and shootings have prompted thousands to flee their homes.
I said "displeasure" because the Knights Templar Cartel, from its foundation, was widely known to be associated with the leadership of the Catholic Archdiocese of Morelia (covering the Michoacan province). I've heard reports from trustworthy law enforcement sources that the Archbishop at the time used to get his cut of the proceeds from the Cartel's operations.
It's therefore with some cynicism that I hear that one of the Archdiocese's priests has been suspended for urging his parishioners to defend themselves against cartel excesses. Let's just say that, in the light of recent history, I think that decision might be a teensy-weensy bit self-interested and unbalanced . . .
A recent move by the Biden administration has really put the boot into China's high-tech industries. In a series of tweets, Jordan Schneider sums up the situation. Here's part of Threadreader's condensed version.
The US government's new export controls are wreaking havoc on China's chip industry.
New rules around "US persons" are driving an "industry-wide decapitation."
The following is the translation of a thread posted earlier this week by @lidangzzz.
"Lots of people don’t know what happened yesterday.
To put it simply, Biden has forced all Americans working in China to pick between quitting their jobs and losing American citizenship.
Every American executive and engineer working in China’s semiconductor manufacturing industry resigned yesterday, paralyzing Chinese manufacturing overnight.
One round of sanctions from Biden did more damage than all four years of performative sanctioning under Trump.
Although American semiconductor exporters had to apply for licenses during the Trump years, licenses were approved within a month.
With the new Biden sanctions, all American suppliers of IP blocks, components, and services departed overnight —— thus cutting off all service [to China].
Long story short, every advanced node semiconductor company is currently facing comprehensive supply cut-off, resignations from all American staff, and immediate operations paralysis.
This is what annihilation looks like: China’s semiconductor manufacturing industry was reduced to zero overnight. Complete collapse. No chance of survival.
China cannot let this stand. Premier Xi dare not allow his country's high-tech industries to be stranded like this. He must and will retaliate, so hard that (he hopes) he can force the USA to back down. That may include measures such as invading Taiwan, to get his hands on that island nation's high-tech chip foundries and expertise. This may be the event that triggers such an invasion. It's that serious. (Yes, Taiwan is doubtless prepared to destroy its chip foundries if China invades; but if Xi is persuaded that his own special forces can carry out a lightning strike to take over the foundries before they can be destroyed . . . oh, boy.)
Frankly, I don't know how the Biden administration managed to stiffen its sinews enough to do this. We all know that the Biden family is in the pockets of Chinese financiers and politicians - there's been so much evidence of that in recent years that it's beyond dispute. The same can be said for many US politicians, on both sides of the aisle. That being the case, why/how have US politicians taken a decision that so drastically impacts their paymasters? I'd love to know.
Every country in the world that has a high-technology economic sector - including Europe - must now weigh up the risk that a unilateral decision by another country (the USA, of course, but also conceivably other high-tech nations) may completely disrupt (a) vital part(s) of its economy without warning. That may have profound implications for future government funding and industry focus in the biggest economies in the world.
Peter Zeihan sums up China's dilemma like this:
I suspect things are going to get very "interesting" (in the sense of the fabled Chinese curse), very quickly . . .
Here's a short (15-minute) video clip outlining what the introduction of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will mean. The video speaks about the British banking system, but exactly the same thing would happen in the US banking system if CBDC's are introduced, and cash is outlawed.
THIS VIDEO IS REALLY, REALLY IMPORTANT. Please don't dismiss it, or say "I don't have time to watch it". Once you've seen it, you'll understand - and I hope you'll share it with your family and friends. Too many people are complacent about what CBDC's mean for our financial future, without considering their very real dangers and the implications for control over almost every aspect of our lives.
We've had several sessions with old English folk songs (and their modernized folk rock versions) over the years. I like the genre, and it seems many of you do too. I've always been fascinated to learn more about how a really old folk song developed. What were its roots? How did they become the inspiration for music? How did they reflect the era or culture or environment that gave rise to them?
One of the oldest English folk songs is simply called "Padstow", after the town where it originated. It's part of the ancient history of Cornwall, dating back to near-Roman times. Part of its heritage, still celebrated today, is the so-called 'Obby 'Oss Festival, which takes place every May Day.
It involves two separate processions making their way around the town, each containing an eponymous hobby horse known as the 'Obby 'Oss.
The festival starts at midnight on May Eve when townspeople gather outside the Golden Lion Inn to sing the "Night Song". By morning, the town has been dressed with greenery and flowers placed around the maypole. The excitement begins with the appearance of one of the 'Obby 'Osses. Male dancers cavort through the town dressed as one of two 'Obby 'Osses, the "Old" and the "Blue Ribbon" or "Methodist" 'Obby 'Osses; as the name suggests, they are stylised depictions of horses. Prodded on by assistants known as "Teasers", each wears a mask and black frame-hung cape under which they try to catch young maidens as they pass through the town. Throughout the day, the two parades, led by the "MC" in his top hat and decorated stick, followed by a band of accordions and drums, then the 'Oss and the Teaser, with a host of people, the "Mayers" - all singing the "Morning Song" – pass along the streets of the town. Finally, late in the evening, the two 'osses meet, at the maypole, before returning to their respective stables where the crowd sings of the 'Obby 'Oss death, until its resurrection the following May Eve.
You can read more about the Festival and its history at the link.
Recently I came across this video clip from 1953, explaining more about the town, its history, and the Festival.
And here's a live performance of "Padstow" in folk rock style from Steeleye Span.
I hope you enjoyed the background story of one of England's oldest folk songs.
I had a very late night, sorting through various bits and pieces at home and reorganizing storage. I've only just woken up (with catly assistance - she hadn't had her usual morning milk, and was highly indignant at this untoward turn of events!).
Therefore, I've had no time to prepare the usual Saturday Snippet. Please amuse yourselves in the archives, or with the other bloggers in the sidebar. I'll have the usual Sunday Morning Music post tomorrow.
Jeffrey Carter puts his finger on a universal truth - one that the current administration and its hangers-on don't seem to recognize.
No one is truly safe anywhere in the urban jungle these days given the way violence against people has been randomized. A lot of wealthy people I know in NYC, Chicago, and LA are traveling a lot right now. They aren’t at home. They stop in for a few days, regroup, and go to the airport again.
If you look at Minneapolis, Chicago, and San Francisco, it is a race to see who can be Detroit first. NYC is terrible right now when it comes to crime and daily living. So is Los Angeles. New Orleans is the murder capital of the country. Memphis, St. Louis, Louisville? Please spare me the Chamber of Commerce pitch. No doubt, tourists are balking at going to those places due to fear of crime.
Name an urban area that is a delightful place to live, has great public schools, doesn’t have rising crime, and you can build wealth right now. The only ones I can think of are in the Old Confederacy.
John Galt is shrugging. He is moving places. It’s not the weather.
We're finding that personal safety and security are big factors in people moving to Texas from California and other progressive-infested hellholes. A friend moved here from Eugene, Oregon last year, and has had to make a couple of trips back there to finalize her affairs. Her commentary on that city is incendiary, to say the least!
Big-city Texas does have its crime problems, although they're often localized to certain neighborhoods. In the small town where my wife and I live, it's not unusual to find that people don't even bother to lock their doors, even when sleeping at night. For a start, the great majority of residents here are honest; secondly, one knows one's neighbors by sight, and often speaks with them; and lastly, if anyone saw a stranger going in and out of another home, particularly if he's carrying something, they'd challenge him - and, being good Texans, they're well-equipped to do something about it if he shouldn't be there.
As a result, this is a very peaceful town. The most serious police involvement we've had in our street was when a neighboring farmer's cows got out, and were grazing on our grass (and our neighbor's rose bushes) while leaving hoof-shaped divots in our lawn! It was fun seeing our cops, with their high-tech SUV's and tactical flashlights, trying to persuade a cow to stop eating the tasty flowers and go back to her field. Talk about failure to comply!
Right now, I wouldn't move back to a big city - particularly anywhere near an inner-city urban ghetto environment - if you paid me . . . or unless you paid me enough to build a secure residence, with systems in place to make sure I'll live undisturbed. Even then, I'd hesitate.
(This article will deal with matters of religious faith, so if you're not into that, you might want to skip it.)
Fellow author and Christian John C. Wright has penned a magnificent essay, one of the best I've ever read about our modern world and the society in which we live. It's Christian in focus, but I think it also contains general wisdom that even those without religious faith can recognize. He titled it "The Empire of Lies". Here's an excerpt.
No-fault divorce, and the corruption of manners, abandoned women to a sexual free-for-all, with obvious and expected results: see the rates of self-mutilation and suicide among women.
Sodomy is legal, and sodomite union is honored and celebrated not just as equal to matrimony, but granted privileges clearly superior: no homosexual baker fears to refuse to make a cake for a normal couple.
The ancient horror of killing unwanted infants, the practices of Carthaginians honoring Moloch, or the Spartans tossing stunted or crippled babes into the pit of Apothetae, has not only returned in a greater number and more grisly form, it has been honored as a legal right and sacred rite.
And horrors never practiced even in the darkest years of even the cruelest excesses of Aztec or Babylonian are currently promoted as necessary medical and psychological practice, namely, the castration and sexual mutilation of children, and drugging them with hormones to hinder adolescent development permanently.
All this is done in service of a vision of the self-anointed visionaries. At one time, it was done in the name of a coming Utopia, albeit that rhetoric has trailed off into awkward silence in my lifetime.
Now all this is done in the name of nothing and no one, for no clear purpose. Anarchic riots are funded and organized by proponents of totalitarianism; totalitarian thought-policing is done by private companies in the name of safety; socialism is promoted by plutocrats; racism is denounced by racists enacting racist policies in the name of anti-racism; atheists fund and applaud jihadist terrorism; and on and on.
Each policy or group promoted by the vision of the blind is contradicted by another. The riddle has a simple answer: the alliance of dogmatic relativists, anarchist totalitarians, socialist plutocrats, and atheist jihadists springs out of their mutual hatred of Christ, of Christendom, of the Western civilization in general, and America in particular.
This blind vision has no name, for to name it is to banish it, but it is nihilist in philosophy, subjectivist in ethics, socialist in economics, collectivist in law, totalitarian in politics. In theology, it is the summation and sublimation off all prior heresies distilled and combined into one. It is hence the total rejection of Creator and of all creation, hence of all things true and beautiful and good.
Eighteenth-century poet Alexander Pope famously wrote, "The proper study of mankind is man". However, he did so within the context of a Christian faith that had informed and given structure to every legal code in Europe, and was an accepted norm in his society. Today, where Christianity is under siege by secularism - so much so that ours has been called a post-Christian society - that structure has vanished. There is no conception of any authority or wisdom higher than humankind. That leaves moral and ethical development to bog down in a morass of competing human philosophies, emotions and feelings that pay little, if any, attention to the great philosophies of life developed over millennia by our forefathers.
In losing that structure, that history and tradition and evolved wisdom, I fear - like Mr. Wright - that we've lost our way. If we have no primary claim on our loyalty, morally or in any other way, then we are adrift on a human sea at the mercy of the prevailing societal winds. There is no star to steer by, no rudder to guide our course. Any moral or ethical norm is as good as any other, because there's no overriding yardstick against which to measure it.
And, I suppose, that's just what the secular humanists want, those in charge of our society at present. With nothing to guide them except what they believe or desire, with no constraints on what they do or how they do it, they can (and will) do as they please. Far too many people follow that example. How many parents still set standards for their children, and raise them to observe those standards? Too many simply shrug their shoulders and abdicate the moral formation of their children to schools and churches - almost all of which have also been overtaken by secular humanist ideas, and are no longer sound institutions at root. Is it any wonder that our youth turn to hedonism and self-indulgence? "If it feels good, do it" was a rebellious mantra of the '60's, but it's now the unspoken assumption that appears to guide the majority of society.
Indeed, anyone wishing to live a Christian lifestyle is now regarded with suspicion by many of the organs and structures of society. Often, they will face official and commercial oppression. For example:
There are many other such incidents that one could cite, but for reasons of space I'll just mention those three.
I agree with Mr. Wright. We are living in an empire of lies. That makes it even more important that we take a stand for the truth in which we believe. Yes, it will cost us to do so - but Christ warned us about that. We should expect nothing less.
From the start of its development in 1996, SOFIA required engineering ingenuity. A Boeing 747SP jetliner had to be modified to carry the 38,000-pound, 100-inch (more than 17,000-kilogram, 2.5-meter) telescope provided by NASA’s partner on the SOFIA mission, the German Space Agency at DLR.
Engineers at Ames developed a garage door-like mechanism that rolled up to let the telescope observe the skies. In that configuration, it was “one of the largest open ports ever flown on an aircraft,” said Paul Fusco, a NASA engineer, now retired, who helped design the door system, “and the largest certified to fly at all altitudes and speeds with the door open. It was a really thrilling aviation innovation.””
The mission’s pilots couldn’t even feel when the door was open. And the stability of the telescope itself was equivalent to keeping a laser pointer steady on a penny from 10 miles away. SOFIA had achieved a smooth flight and a steady gaze.
And that was only the beginning. By 2014, the observatory had reached its full operational capability, and for eight years SOFIA helped astronomers around the world use infrared light to study an impressive array of cosmic events and objects invisible to other telescopes.
Magnetic fields observed by SOFIA in the galaxy Centaurus A
“SOFIA’s unique scientific achievements were the result of the ingenuity of the incredible international community that grew up around the mission,” said Alessandra Roy, SOFIA project scientist for the German Space Agency, “which was only made possible by the collaboration of NASA and DLR.”
That's pretty amazing technology. The results of SOFIA's missions were spectacular, both from a scientific and a photographic perspective. You'll find many of the images here, and they're well worth viewing. They're every bit as spectacular as those from the Hubble or James Webb space telescopes, taken as they were above the stratosphere.
Congratulations to NASA on a really productive and fruitful scientific mission. I'd call that taxpayer money well spent.
That's what consulting firm Edify claims to have uncovered in a recent report. (A tip o' the hat to the anonymous contributor who brought it to my attention.). I have no way to verify all of the claims made in that report, and the conclusions derived from them, but much of it is in agreement with other public information sources. There's enough circumstantial evidence to indicate that there may be fire behind the smoke. I leave that up to my readers to decide.
In conjunction with a client who remains confidential, EDIFY developed the nexus schematics featured in this brief that are well-evidenced and identify and connect a slate of important individuals, entities and nations respective to a wide swath of past and ongoing scandals, corruption, crime, treason and bioterrorism.
This brief serves to expand and back-fill the details of the featured graphics while providing meaning with some granularity. At the same time, it informs important ongoing matters and litigation.
The findings develop along six vectors to demonstrate how the entanglements, relationships and overlaps translate to an effective network. The network is positioned to impact important matters like COVID-19 and the Hunter Biden laptop story as just two examples and whereby Twitter's censorship of both makes Twitter the central node.
The six vectors are:
Twitter, its censorship policies and the application and enforcement thereof,
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati [WSGR] an international law firm with over 1,000 attorneys representing many of the world's largest corporations, as a hub with spokes running to critically-positioned individuals that is suggestive of WSGR as an interface for political control and influence across a wide array of Big Tech and geopolitical domains,
Alexander Macgillivray as a WSGR product who serves in the critical position of Principal Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer for the Biden Administration and who served the Obama White House similarly,
Vijaya Gadde as a WSGR product who was installed by Macgillivray at Twitter when Macgillivray served as Twitter's General Counsel and where Gadde went on to suspend President Donald Trump,
Former FBI General Counsel James Baker as a common thread through Twitter to President Trump and the FBI/DOJ FISA abuse against Trump and
Alison Fauci, Dr. Anthony Fauci's daughter, as a Twitter engineer and Twitter's overlap to and potential communication and intelligence conduit for the COVID-19 enterprise fraud construct via Anthony Fauci and his NIH interface.
I repeat: I have no way to verify the bulk of this report, but what I have been able to verify on a cursory pass through public sources of information confirms at least some of its details. I'm posting the link to it, and the brief excerpt above, as potentially useful material for those interested in the subject. It's up to readers to make up their own minds.
If the report is correct, one wonders what effect Elon Musk's proposed buyout of Twitter might have. Will it be allowed to go through? Or will the "political class" short-circuit it, due to Twitter's usefulness to them? One wonders . . .
The Russian military is reportedly set to receive some 800 refurbished and possibly upgraded T-62 tanks in the next three years to try to help make up for severe losses it has already sustained in its ongoing all-out invasion of Ukraine. Many of the nearly antique T-62s have already been pulled out of deep storage and sent to Ukraine, where they have shown to be of debatable utility.
If the situation is as it is reported to be, the decision to reactivate hundreds of these remarkably old Cold War-era tanks offers fresh evidence that western sanctions and other factors are hobbling Russia's arms industry. It also provides more evidence as to the poor state of Russia's more advanced armor, with many hundreds of tanks destroyed, damaged, or captured and others sidelined due to being worn out or without high-tech replacement parts after nearly nine months of continuous combat.
. . .
Gurulyov reportedly said that the T-62s in question would be modernized with new thermal and night vision optics and additional armor and other defensive features, particularly to help protect against anti-tank guided missiles like the U.S.-made Javelin. He does not appear to have provided any granular specifics about these planned upgrades. There was no mention of updating the tank's armament, which consists of a 115mm main gun, a co-axial 7.62x54mm machine gun, and a 12.7mm machine gun on top of the turret.
Russia certainly has many hundreds of T-62s in storage that it inherited from the Soviet Union, the vast majority of which are understood to be T-62M subtypes. The first T-62s entered Soviet service in 1961. In the 1980s, the Soviets had put thousands of these tanks through a broad modernization program that included adding more powerful engines, upgraded fire control systems, and new defenses.
. . .
It is worth noting that T-62s, while thoroughly obsolete for modern tank-on-tank combat, could still potentially provide valuable armored fire support assets for engaging lighter armored and unarmored vehicles, fortifications, and troops in the open.
The article speculates that the large-scale refurbishment of T-62's is due to Russia's inability to source parts (particularly electronics) to upgrade or produce more of its T-64's, T-72's, T-80's, T-90's and the new T-14 Armata tanks, which are not yet in full production. That's probably quite true, along with most of the other observations by the author.
However, I suspect there's another reason that makes the T-62, despite its age, a very desirable battlefield asset for the Russian army. You see, it's the last generation of Soviet tank that was not equipped with an autoloader. The autoloaders on subsequent generations of tanks proved to be a major weakness in their design. Not only were they rumored to occasionally attempt to load a member of the tank's crew into the breech, instead of a round of ammunition (which was alleged to be the source of the Red Army Choir's soprano section!), but the autoloaders required more than a score of rounds and their propellant charges to be exposed in a sort of carousel beneath the turret. If an enemy shell or missile penetrated the turret, the rounds in the carousel would be at grave risk of detonating or catching fire. This would kill most of the crew, and could even blow the turret right off the tank. (This became known as the jack-in-the-box effect.)
During the 1970's and 1980's, the T-72 and its siblings performed reasonably well against Western tanks and missiles, because almost all of the latter were designed to attack the side of the turret or hull. However, with the advent of smart weapons, particularly top-attack missiles, during the past three decades, the T-series tanks proved very vulnerable indeed. The armor on top of a tank (including the top of its turret) is thinner than on the sides, to save weight (and because until recently, few weapons were capable of targeting that area). However, once top-attack weapons became common, that was exposed as a deadly flaw. An explosion penetrating the top of a T-series turret would almost inevitably bore on through to its ammunition carousel, with devastating results.
Here's a video clip showing a number of T-72's and other models of Soviet-era tanks being hit by anti-tank weapons. Note how the exposed carousel rounds detonate or catch fire almost immediately. If you're a person of faith, you might want to say a prayer for their crews, because most of them did not get out. (Ignore the music background track. I suggest you watch with the sound off.)
I agree that the T-62 is probably unsuitable for modern tank-versus-tank combat in the open field, although in an urban, close-quarters combat environment it might be able to sneak up on other tanks and take them out before they realized it was there. However, the fact that its ammunition is not exposed, as in later generations of Soviet tanks, means it's much less likely to burn or explode when hit; and therefore its crew has a better chance of escaping alive. For the kind of meat-grinder combat the Russians are facing in Ukraine, that's a major asset.
Another factor may be that at least some of the thousands of conscripts and former servicemen being called up to serve in the Russian armed forces may have trained on the T-62 and earlier tanks, rather than more modern types. They'll be able to get up to speed on the older model much more quickly than they would a newer tank, which has far more bells and whistles.
I have unfond memories of the T-62, having run into it on more than one occasion in Africa in the 1980's. It was a pretty effective design for the relatively simple, uncomplicated bush warfare of the time. South Africa's Olifant main battle tanks (modernized versions of Centurion tanks, first designed in the mid-1940's) were able to cope with it. Despite its obsolescence, I daresay under the right conditions, with a well-trained crew, it could still give a good account of itself.
I thoroughly enjoy cartoonist Stephan Pastis' sense of humor. Here's one from a couple of weeks ago that made me giggle - and it put prepping for disasters in its place. Click the image to be taken to a larger version at the "Pearls Before Swine" Web page.
My wife (God bless her!) isn't afraid to challenge me (lovingly, but firmly) when she thinks I need a wake-up call. She did so last night, pointing out that I'm becoming a "grump", preoccupied with all the negative things going on in the world, but failing to recognize that there's still a lot of good in it, too, if one only looks for it.
I had to admit that she was right. In my focus on the political, economic, cultural and social collapse going on all around us, I'd forgotten that looking down at the problems all the time makes us miserable. If only we remember to look up now and then, we see that the sun is still shining, there are lots of good people all around us, and God and His grace and mercy are still there for us, just as they've always been.
I needed that reminder, and I pass it on to you, dear readers. We've got more than enough to worry about in the world, but that makes it even more important to balance that by looking for the good that's still there. As individuals, we can't do anything about most of the really nasty problems lurking in the shadows. They're too big for us to handle. On the other hand, most of the good things are on a more personal scale, where we can help someone in need and put a smile back on their faces - and on ours, too, because "it is more blessed to give than to receive". We could all do with a blessing now and then.
I'm starting to make mental lists of things I should be thankful for, particularly when I feel depressed or worried about something. Examples:
Looking at potential future economic woes, where we may not be able to earn a living, I'm going to remind myself to give thanks that today, I can afford what we need. (The Our Father's emphasis on "give us this day our daily bread" means that it's no good asking for tomorrow's bread, or next week's bread - we can ask for that when the time arrives. We live in the now, not the past or the future.)
Worrying about whether I've made sufficient preparation for hard times? Why not give thanks for the preparations I have been able to make? When I add them up, they're pretty substantial, and I should be more grateful that I was able, by God's grace, to make them.
On bad pain days, when my injuries make me want to curl up into a ball and hide from the world, I need to remind myself that there are people with the same injuries who aren't walking at all - they've been wheelchair- or bed-bound since they were hurt. I'm pretty well off compared to them.
I'm sure all of us can provide our own examples of things for which we need to give thanks. I'm going to try to get back into the routine of doing that more and more often. I need it, for my own mental and spiritual health - and to keep my wife and friends happier. Nobody likes a wet blanket, and she deserves better than that from me.
I'll try to do that on this blog, as well. A bit more brightness and cheerfulness will help to counterbalance the gloom that's sometimes crept in over the past few months. Sorry about that!
Reader S. L. sent me the link to this video from cattleman Jim Mundorf describing "how there is an obvious campaign to get cattlemen, who criticize the way the industry currently operates, to shut the hell up". I recommend spending 8 minutes of your time watching it. In particular, note what he says about foreign meat imports being re-labeled as a US product and sold as such.
I've been talking to local farmers and ranchers for some time about the sourcing and pricing of meat, as regular readers will recall. Mr. Mundorf's news fits what they've been telling me. Here in northern Texas, we haven't been subject to as much pressure from "Big Meat", but I understand producers in more northerly states are "under the gun": if they complain, the big feed lots won't buy their cattle, putting them out of business.
That's also why my wife and I have long made a practice of buying our meat from a nearby butcher, who sources locally and can tell us where everything came from. He's not the cheapest source available, but his quality is unmatched. He also makes up things like sausages to order. I recently asked him to make me some of his (justly famous) bratwurst flavored with boudin seasoning from Louisiana. The result was extremely tasty, and (because I ordered in bulk) the price was very reasonable, about 60% of his usual list price for bratwurst. I wasn't complaining!
He's also partnered with others in a small-scale regional processing facility, slaughtering up to 1,000 animals every year. You can order a whole cow or portions thereof, or a pig, or whatever. I find the prices a bit high, but the facility points out (with justification) that you're getting top-quality meat for the money, with no imports and no sub-standard cuts. (You can even go to their farm and select the cow you want - a friend of ours did that recently.) In that sense, yes, I guess the higher price is justifiable. Certainly, the one-third of half a cow that we recently shared with two other families is proving to be very good eating.
My advice? Whenever possible, find a local supplier who's trustworthy, and buy from him. It pays dividends in helping to avoid the shenanigans described by Mr. Mundorf.
It comes down to a few simple points, which I’ve explained several times over, but will repeat here.
The Western elitist banksters have maintained utter control of their respective financial currencies; this debt-slavery system is the basis of their power. It has been, for all intents and purposes, their private playground. This power has been used to buy anyone they want, in government, the military, the media, anyone they want.
The Western banking system is based on debt issuance. It is dying rapidly. The entire fiat-money system, a Ponzi scheme of epic proportions, is now so heavily overloaded with bad debt that it is collapsing under its own weight. Countries who don’t use that funny-money as their sovereign currency but have been forced to utilize dollars/euros/yen for international trade, are busily switching to alternative currencies from countries that produce something besides fiat money. In other words, the demand for the Western currencies is rapidly declining.
The much-touted “Great Reset” is a plan to depopulate the world (1st and 2nd world through vaccinations, the 3rd through starvation), and reset the financial system back to zero, so that everyone begins in the new system with zero debt… and zero property or possessions. The “Great Reset” will usher in the new trackable and controllable fiat-money currency, where they decide what and when you can buy approved products. And if you speak out against whatever bullshit the bankster-owned government is selling (which will be tallied via a Chinese-style social credit system) your money could be reduced, confiscated or flagged for your arrest the next time you go shopping with their new digital currency. You’ll toe their line, or you’ll starve.
The “Great Reset,” where everyone will adopt this bitter pill of slavery, will only be accepted if people are desperate for government intervention due to starvation, lack of energy (heat for your home, gas for your car) or disease. And it will only be accepted if there’s no alternative currency which people can utilize to maintain some level of purchasing power without “Big Brother” watching over your shoulder, and deciding what you can- or cannot- purchase. The Russian ruble is exactly such an alternative.
The BRICS countries- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa- have resisted globalist efforts to become part of the Western banking system, and are now challenging that system, with currencies backed by commodities instead of the worthless promise of more fiat money. Thus, the represent a viable alternative to the “Great Reset” agenda, one which dooms the efforts to re-start the fiat money system from zero- with the same elitist banksters at the helm.
The BRICS countries therefore represent an escape from the fiat-money system, and therefore are mortal enemies of the banksters, which have built their empire over the past 208 years. They must therefore be destroyed by the West, using whatever means necessary, at whatever cost is required in lives (but who cares about us debt-slaves, anyway?).
The BRICS countries- most openly represented by Russia at this point in time- are not about to join the system, and now realize that it is- literally- a fight to the death for them, as well.
Therefore, neither side will back down, the escalation will continue, up to and including nuclear weapons.
I posted these conclusions at the beginning of April, 2022, and they stand on their own, today.
Eric goes on to note, concerning the Ukraine war:
[Putin is] gearing up for NATO and the USA. And, given his early mobilization, their war-economy footing already, and rigid discipline with which they’ve fought to this point, there is no other logical conclusion. In contrast, the American military is fat, woke, undertrained, and running out of ammo. And we haven’t even started WW3, yet.
I don't know enough about what's going on behind the scenes to offer an opinion. I only note that there are as many pro-Russian commentators as anti-Russian out there, and none of them really know what's going on either. They're analyzing the situation through their own sets of filters, their own preconceived ideas, and coming up with what they believe are plausible perspectives. I don't pretend to have a plausible perspective, because so much about the Ukraine war is hidden behind ulterior motives, massive corruption in both Ukraine and Russia as well as most of the First World nations supporting either side, and the malign influence of globalist partisans who want to use the Ukraine war as a lever to accomplish their overarching objectives. It's a toxic stew of motivations, means and ends out there, and - as usual - the people suffering for it all are mostly innocent civilians and citizens, in the war zone and also across Western Europe. The rest of the world will join them in that as the current famine and energy crises take hold more firmly and shake the foundations of modern geopolitics.
There's a very real danger that NATO could be drawn into the conflict with Russia (some would say that's already happened). The consequences for Europe could be devastating - and I'm not talking about nuclear war, just the economic and sociopolitical fallout of such an event. It could spread worldwide.
When waging methodical, professional sabotage campaigns, professionals will use something like a CARVER matrix to identify and prioritize targets. This was something Green Berets learned and trained on. You always have limited resources and so prioritizing bang for buck is essential.
. . .
A global CARVER is unfolding on energy and food supplies. We are witnessing Gigacide ... On a global CARVER matrix, all energy flows into Europe are ripe and most are easily harvested. Refineries everywhere are ripe and are being hit all over. Something is happening. Possibly the most massive coincidence ever, or applying Occam’s Razor the world is being de-industrialized. Global Sabotage.
Suez and Panama Canals are high value targets. Massive bang for buck.
As individuals and small groups, we can't affect events on so large a scale. All we can do is prepare ourselves, our families, our loved ones and our friends to face whatever's coming as best we can. It's surprising how often that's helped people live through world-shaking events, and come out on the other side. (My parents were living examples to me of that, living through the Great Depression of the 1930's as children and young adults, then being pitchforked into World War II from 1939-1945. Through hard work and sheer guts, they made it through all that. We'd do well to remember our own ancestors who were caught up in that mess, and learn the lessons they imparted to their descendants.)
I was struck by this photograph, which appeared recently at Daily Timewaster. It shows models of three Northrop "flying wing" designs: the piston-engined YB-35, a later jet-propelled version called the YB-49, and the contemporary B-2 Spirit. Click the image for a larger view.
The 120-degree angle of the wing sweep, precisely one-third of a 360-degree circle, persisted from the 1940's all the way to the modern B-2. Jack Northrop had a good idea to begin with, so good that it hasn't been improved upon (as far as we know). That says a lot about his genius.
Shortly before he died, Jack Northrop had the opportunity to see how his early work on flying wings had influenced the B-2 design. Disciples of Flight reports:
Jack Northrop retired in 1952 at the age of 57, and the Scorpion was the last aircraft he would personally have a hand in engineering.
After Jack left the aviation industry, he reportedly “dabbled in real estate,” losing most of his personal fortune. However, it became apparent that he never stopped dreaming about aviation and the flying wing design he fixated on for most of his career when, in 1976, he approached NASA. He was convinced that his flying wing concept, with its low drag and high lift, was paramount to the advancement of aeronautical technologies. NASA replied that the concept was never abandoned, which provided Jack some comfort before a variety of ailments left him unable to walk or talk.
In 1980, the US Air Force gave him an honorary clearance to see confidential aircraft designs and hold a scale model of the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit (the famous stealth bomber). The B-2 shared many of the design elements in Jacks flying wing designs, even down to the wingspan, which was the exact length of the YB-49. Hands shaking, Jack scrawled on a sheet of paper, “Now I know why God has kept me alive for 25 years,” most likely referencing his retirement from aviation. Just 10 months later, Jack Northrop died, on February 18, 1981.
One can't help but wonder whether, somewhere up there, Jack Northrop isn't experimenting with new designs for angels' wings, seeking to improve on the original!
“An [Accepted Use Policy] notice recently went out in error that included incorrect information,” a PayPal spokesperson said. “PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and this language was never intended to be inserted in our policy. We’re sorry for the confusion this has caused.”
Uh-huh. Suuuuure.
"This language was never intended to be inserted in our policy" - but it was inserted. (I'm obliged to Karl Denninger for downloading and preserving that copy of its proposed new policy version.) What's more, Paypal's a major corporation. It has bushels of lawyers, layers of management, and (presumably) guidelines under which any changes to its policies have to be signed off by multiple levels of control, all the way up to the top. Under those circumstances, you'll pardon me if I find Paypal's weasel words to be less than convincing. "Never intended", indeed! Pull the other one, Paypal - it's got bells on it.
This is yet another example of using corporate power for political, partisan ends. Google's doing it by removing and/or censoring blogs that don't toe the party line. Twitter does it by suspending or canceling user accounts. Facebook blocks people for varying lengths of time for saying the politically incorrect thing. Paypal's just the latest "woke" company to jump on the bandwagon.
It's time we took a stand - all of us who value liberty, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression. If we allow faceless corporate drones to act in lieu of - but in reality as agents of - a government that's not supposed to do things like that, then we effectively acquiesce in the neutering of our constitutional rights.
I'm therefore transferring the small balance in my Paypal account to my bank account, and as soon as that's done, I'll be nuking my Paypal account altogether. I can't trust them to be objective and rational in their decisions, and that's a risk I see no reason to incur when I don't have to. I highly recommend that everyone do the same thing. The risk of doing business with Paypal is simply too great to be borne. That also goes for Venmo, which is owned by Paypal. Because of that, I can't trust it either.
If you have a PayPal account OR ACCEPT THEIR PAYMENT AS A MERCHANT you are consenting to letting them STEAL $2,500 for anything they deem a "violation" without any due process, evidence or proof.
Note that if you linked a bank account they can and will debit the bank account for this and if you keep your account there you're consenting to that.
. . .
Note that "misinformation" can be anything they so-deem and whatever they determine you are bound by. So can anything they deem "unfit for publication" which has no objective definition whatsoever.
. . .
And, note that there is no requirement that the conduct be in any way linked to their services, which have nothing to do with the movement of money, ever, in this regard. Since PayPal is a money transmitter nothing you can send, post or publish has anything to do with the movement of money, which means they can fine you $2,500 for saying that the jabs are dangerous or that there are only two genders no matter where you say it, on what platform you say it or even if you say it in a non-electronic form entirely.
. . .
Close your accounts and under no circumstances EVER do business with these ******** nor EVER hire ANYONE who works for them EVER AGAIN.
Looking for an alternative? Try Gab Pay. Gab is a social media service that's consistently been solidly free-speech in orientation, even though that means racists and neo-Nazis have flourished there. Gab's solution to that is simple - rather than play the censor, it relies on its users to be adults, and block anyone whose views offend them. I do that almost every time I'm online there. If I come across an anti-semitic or racist user, I block them on the spot. Fortunately, there are plenty of Gab users who are neither anti-semitic nor racist, and I get on just fine with them. Gab Pay is one of the platform's new initiatives, designed to take the place of Paypal and other such services. So far, it looks pretty good. Check it out for yourself.
There may be other alternatives. If any readers would like to suggest one, please do so in Comments. I caution, however, that if it's part of the Big Tech world, it's more likely than not to have "woke" elements in its user policies, and may therefore not be fully trustworthy. Caveat emptor, and all that sort of thing.
As for Paypal, I can only suggest that its shareholders and directors ponder the saying "Get woke, go broke". After betraying their customers' trust like this, that's a consummation devoutly to be wished, IMHO.
Some weeks ago the theme on the mobile template for my blog changed from light to dark. Numerous readers complained that made it more difficult to read text, particularly highlighted items.
I think I figured out how to change it back to a light background. If you're using a mobile device, does that work for you? Is it more readable? Please let me know in Comments, so I can continue to fiddle with it if necessary.
