Month: March 2023

Texas May be Taking Border Protection into Its Own Hands

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Gov. Abbott and the Texas Legislature look ready to do something about the wide open border that Biden has created.

“The state legislature is reportedly finalizing some new laws that would empower state law enforcement to take a much more active and aggressive role in securing the border and ensuring the safety of the Texans living in the affected areas. The plan will potentially include an entirely new police force dedicated to blocking illegal migrants’ access to the Lone Star State.”

And apparently they want to utilize the Texans whose property is being trespassed to help solve the problem.

“Allowing the new law enforcement agency to deputize people living near the border is another interesting twist. More than 45% of Texas households have at least one firearm in them. (Compare that to 19.95% in New York.) That puts the old expression about not messing with Texas in perspective. And many of those gun-owning Texans who have been watching bands of migrants traipsing across their property and menacing their families would likely be eager to sign up for a deputy’s badge. Also, being deputized would likely shield them from some repercussions if they are forced to respond to violent migrants.”

About damn time.

The First Cracks Appear in the Washington/Ukraine Alliance

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When a Democrat organ like Politico announces problems between Washington and Kiev I think you can assume the honeymoon is over and finger-pointing is about to commence.

 

“Multiple administration officials have begun worrying that Ukraine is expending so much manpower and ammunition in Bakhmut that it could sap their ability to mount a major counteroffensive in the spring.”

The Ukrainians have allowed themselves to be encircled in the ruins of Bakhmut and now it’s believed that at the very least they will have to abandon their heavy weaponry there.  And there are real concerns that several thousand men are also trapped there too.

 

“Meanwhile, an assessment by U.S. intelligence suggested that a “pro-Ukraine group” was responsible for the destruction of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines last fall, shedding light on a great mystery. The new intelligence, first reported by The New York Times, was short on details but appeared to knock down a theory that Moscow was responsible for sabotaging the pipelines that delivered Russian gas to Europe.”

This assertion seems very odd because it’s assumed that the US military blew up these pipelines.  Perhaps this is a fairy tale they’re telling to give the German Chancellor cover over his support of Washington.  The destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines was a crippling blow to the German economy.

 

“There has also been, at times, frustration about Washington’s delivery of weapons to Ukraine. The United States has, by far, sent the most weapons and equipment to the front, but Kyiv has always looked ahead for the next set of supplies. Though most in the administration have been understanding about Kyiv’s desperation to defend itself, there have been grumblings about the constant requests and, at times, Zelenskyy not showing appropriate gratitude, according to two White House officials not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.”

Regardless of Washington’s intent, the unavailability of artillery rounds in the quantity that would offset the Russians seemingly inexhaustible supply is the sticking point.  Russia is grinding down what’s left of the Ukrainian army and even Abrams tanks and Patriot missiles isn’t going to help with this problem.  Existential panic is starting to set in.  Soon Zelenskyyyyyyyy may begin practicing his impression of Hitler in the bunker.  Being a comedian maybe he can make it more entertaining than the version from the movie “Downfall,“

14MAR2023 – Microscopic Images – Space Zoom

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I guess this is the opposite of a microscopic zoom.  Pretty cool zoom.  I’ve always been a fan of the Andromeda galaxy.  I’ve done some astrophotographic shots.

Are the Wheels Coming Off?

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I would be the biggest liar on the planet if I said I know how all this madness ends.  The masters of the universe running the show in Washington and on Wall Street may think they do or maybe they’re just making it up as they go but even if the geniuses think they know how all of this turns out there have been some developments in the world.  Things have changed.

A lot of the latest developments haven’t gone very smoothly.  The COVID mess cost trillions and has unleashed high inflation on a system that was running flat for more than a decade.  So, the Fed has been raising the prime rate by a quarter of a percentage point at a time for the last year and that has started to destroy the liquidity of the smaller and weaker banks.  Two of them folded this week and Biden had to guarantee all of the big accounts that weren’t already covered by the FDIC limits.  And now the Fed will have to back off the rate increases and that will re-ignite inflation.

And now the Ukraine war is disrupting the energy supply for the whole western world and rearranging the balance of power between the West and the rest of the world.  And just to make sure no domino is left standing Biden starts a war of words over Taiwan.

Now it may be that some tremendous super computer has worked out all the moves of a five-dimensional chess game that includes all the financial and geo-political variables.  All these moving parts are completely accounted for.  And all of this ends with Joe Biden getting his face added onto Mount Rushmore.

But then again maybe not.

Starting with COVID and moving through the George Floyd riots, the breakdown of law and order in the cities and now the economic and financial disruptions, people have heard from Joe Biden and his minions how everything is getting better and nothing is unusual.  The Ukrainian war is going very well and there is nothing unusual about us engaging in brinksmanship with a nuclear superpower.  The plummeting stock market is just another sign of how dynamic the US economy is.  Empty store shelves and double digit increases in food prices are nothing to worry about.  Crime was much higher in the 1970s so what’s all the commotion about a few murders and the fact that Walmart and some drug stores have closed down in some cities?  What’s to worry about a few Mexican drug cartels taking up residence in Long Island and Washington?  Why shouldn’t the government increase taxes by six trillion dollars?  How could that go wrong?  It’s only billionaires being soaked, right?

Everything is hunky dory.  Nothing to worry about, nothing to see here.

I don’t know.  It’s usually wrong to bet against the ability of the American people to believe the unbelievable.  But we may be getting close to the tipping point.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I don’t believe that the people in charge would let a little thing like popular sentiment get in the way of winning the federal elections.  Far from it.  But we may reach a point where our country resembles the situation that existed in the Soviet Union right before the fall.  People will be told about the glorious conditions all around them but all they’ll see is incompetence, injustice, plundering and poverty.  They will understand that everything they are told is a lie and their entire loyalty will be to whoever can help them survive in an irrational world.

So, we’re going to find out just how smart our rulers really are.  Maybe they really are super geniuses and their plans to get rid of the majority of us through attrition will succeed.  They’ll control the temperature of the pot and slowly boil the frog without any fuss or muss.  And once we’re all gone they can get back to returning the planet to a pristine eco-paradise where transgender elves frolic through the fields while the few necessary serfs harvest the organic crops and enjoy their cricket based diet.

But I kind of think the wheels are beginning to fall off the cart.  Maybe the plan isn’t quite as perfect as advertised.  Maybe Big Brother won’t win.  What do you think?

Banking Expert Quiets Jittery Nation

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This about sums up my thoughts on the state of our economy.  The only thing I would have added would have been a giant dump truck filled with hundred dollar bills that are overflowing onto the roadway.

Maybe we could have “Send in the Clowns.” playing in the background.

Honestly, it’s gotten way past mockery and anger.  I don’t know if they’re crashing the system on purpose or whether they just don’t care or they’re just too stupid to fix what they’ve broken and just keep doubling down on every crazy thing they can think of.  But we can’t have much longer to wait for the meltdown.  But think of it.  This clown act has another year and a half before we can pull the plug.