I think there’s enough of this stuff out there to give everyone a good idea of just how nuts she is.
Author: photog
31JUL2024 – The Curse Has Come upon Me. Well Pretty Soon Anyway.

A terrible fate is creeping up on me. Periodically, First Selectman Cthulhu has to have his external parasites burned off by soaking in a lake-sized vat of boiling sulfuric acid. It’s uneventful but a very long process that requires someone to supervise. From next Monday until the Wednesday of the following week I will be in a form of purgatory. Isolated from the site and forced to endure almost unimaginable tedium I shall not be able to write my posts under my normal conditions. Whatever output I produce will be stilted, uninspired and generated in a state of exhaustion and mental duress. Come to think of it, you may not notice the difference at all. But undoubtedly, the word count will go way down. I should be able to load up the Pictures of the Day and the Quotes of the Day this weekend. But beyond that everything will be hit and miss.
Like some kind of latter-day Prometheus bound with cruel spikes driven through my immortal flesh into the adamantine stone beneath and with a cruel eagle constantly devouring my ever-regenerating liver, I will endure all this uncomplainingly knowing that I do it for the good of all mankind, or at least for the good of the MAGA Republicans. Maybe Trump can visit me on my mountain crag and speak words of encouragement and snide insults at the eagle. If he has the time.
If any of you have any content that you want posted feel free to e-mail it to me and I’ll make sure to publish it as a way to keep the readers happy. When the time of my internment is through, I shall return renewed and rededicated to the proposition that all internet links are created unequal. That they are endowed by their content creators with varying quality based on the qualities of these creators themselves and on how hard they are willing to work to make the content entertaining.
As the hours slowly pass during my captivity I’ll try to imagine what it will be like when President Kamala Harris is the commander in chief of this formerly great nation. I imagine how she will take the rostrum in the House of Representatives and give the State of the Union address and we’ll all applaud as she describes the glories of her electric yellow school bus bill. This bill will require the confiscation of all private, gasoline powered automobiles and mandate the use of buses for all travel. With a $40 trillion dollar price tag it will be the boldest and most expensive bill ever passed and it will certainly convert us into a banana republic in the image of Venezuela.
I was just listening to Trump at one of his rallies riffing on what a loser Kamala Harris is. It was funny. I guess I’ve missed his rally patter. It really is quite hilarious the way he describes her failure as “border czar” and her statements on defunding the police during the Summer of Floyd. And his equally harsh mockery of Biden is quite amusing. I think Trump is wise to highlight the fact that Kamala kept Joe Biden’s condition as a secret from the country. That is indeed a damning accusation against someone trying to gain the trust of the country while running for the office of president.
Today is the last day of July and I consider it the end of New England Summer. I’ve read that measurable snowfall has been recorded in every month of the year except for July in southern New England. If that is so then August is early winter. I have already begun preparing for it. I’ll begin prepping the snowblower and break out the snow shovels. I may wait a few weeks before wearing thermal underwear but it’s almost time. Turkey deep fried on the barbecue for Labor Day? We’ll see.
01AUG2024 – Quote of the Day
The laws of Rome had wisely divided public power among a large number of magistracies, which supported, checked and tempered each other. Since they all had only limited power, every citizen was qualified for them, and the people — seeing many persons pass before them one after the other — did not grow accustomed to any in particular. But in these times the system of the republic changed. Through the people the most powerful men gave themselves extraordinary commissions — which destroyed the authority of the people and magistrates, and placed all great matters in the hands of one man, or a few.
Charles de Montesquieu
01AUG2024 – Photo of the Day
Guest Contributor – TomD – 31JUL2024 – Lessons of War
I would have thought that the main lesson of the Viet Nam and succeeding regional wars was or should have been: Don’t initiate or enter wars unless you intend to win and pay whatever price necessary to do so. WWII would be a prime example.
But, apparently, that lesson is too esoteric or functionally difficult to be put into practice by our masters. Just what has been accomplished by the US providing Ukraine with just enough weaponry and resources to prolong the war and kill millions on both sides? Not to mention waste God knows how many $100’s of billions of dollars. What was the point? Anyone? Send a message, perhaps?
Update:
Comments
photog in reply to TomD
If I had to guess what lesson they think they learned from Vietnam, it was to emulate what the Soviets did in that war. Find a proxy to fight your enemy for you. So Russia had the North Vietnamese. The neo-cons in the State Department have the Ukrainian Azov faction who are willing to burn Ukraine down to punish the Russo-Ukrainians who make up 25% of the population. The fact that millions will die and Russia will become our implacable foe forever is neither here nor there.
Chemist in reply to TomD.
Tom D asked: “What was the point?”
10% for the big guy.
Sorry to burst anyone’s bubble, but this has always been about graft.
At least is has from the US side.
I think the Poles genuinely wanted to get their licks into the Russians but the US congress, State dept and POTUS were all in for their cut.
photog in reply to Chemist.
I wonder where they’ll play the game next after Ukraine dries up? Iran?
War Pig commented
We leared the lesson of Vietnam when a Vietnam officer, General Schwarzkopf, refused to play Vietnam rules and insisted on using maximum effort to win-the-frigging-war.
It was LBJ who insisted that he knew better than generals how to fight a war. Ditto Biden.
The US won all the battles in both Vietnam and Afghanistan, but lost due to crooked and cowardly politicians. The lesson is that you do not face the US military head on, you nibble at the edges. Be prepared to take a horrible kill to death ratio because you will lose virtually every battle, and outlast American politicians.
Tom’s World – 31JUL2024 – Gulf of Mexico Oil Field Work Boats- 3
Moving the focus a little, this is still boats in the gulf and contains two oil field boats but it has two shots from a different view.
Captain America, from it’s resume: “Captain America” will be capable of involvement in offshore installation and decommissioning projects worldwide, including installing floating wind farms, says the firm. The vessel’s 399-person accommodations make it suitable for decommissioning preparatory work, platform support for maintenance, field upgrades and allow it to “provide offshore support as a flotel,” adds the firm. It has a 1,000 ton crane.
Another of the many tugs seen around here. This one is bringing coal to a local power, a calling that I suspect is short time. This coal probably come from next door Alabama. We’ve got a great intracoastal system around here, you can go for hundreds of miles from here east or west without ever getting in the Gulf which is a good thing because I’m not sure this particular rig would do well in any seas to speak of.

This boat is in a “less prosperous” marina located at the top of Pensacola Bay where the Escambia River empties. Those are tidal flats in the background. If you look at the flats from the vantage of the bridge in the back ground, you will see a fair number grounded boats sprinkled around (some quite big) where they were placed by various hurricanes.
Speaking of hurricanes, this boat has been here since some hurricane or other sunk it years ago. If I were going to title this picture, this would be, “But the Payments Continue”.

Kiev and NATO Begin Preparing the West for Eventual Capitulation
All of the various media outlets in the West are beginning to admit that not only are the Russians making significant gains along the length of the war front but that the size of the Russian army is beginning to overwhelm the ability of the Ukrainian armed forces to hold it back.
As War Gets Bleaker, More Ukrainians Appear Open to a Peace Deal
“The Gloomy Ukraine Reality That NATO Insiders Only Want to Talk About Anonymously”
“In Brussels, almost no one expects Ukraine to regain its lost areas. Only nobody wants to talk about it – at least officially. WELT has spoken to a number of insiders who justify their bleak outlook with a fact that Europe itself is indebted to.”
Russia has been ramping up the number of soldiers it fields while the Ukrainians have hit a wall. Recruitment is being resisted by flight, concealment and lately by attacks on the recruiters. One tactic being used is to burn the vehicles that the recruiters use as they travel around the country, dragging “recruits” out of their homes.
Russia opened up a new front in the north (Kharkiv) that many believe is a feint to draw away resources from the main areas of advance in the east.
All along the Donetsk front slow but steady advance has been the experience ever since the breakthrough at Avdiivka in the spring. Of late the exhaustion of the Ukrainian soldiers is beginning to show. It will probably accelerate as the retreat moves into areas that do not have the extensive tunnels and reinforced bunkers that were provided in places like Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Chasiv Yar.
Of course nothing is assured in war but it seems increasingly likely that Kiev will be looking for a peace settlement after November.
2024 Summer Movie Talk – Part 13
My Favorites from 1940 – 1949
I won’t make any claims other than these are the movies from the 1940’s that I like best. And without trying I could add a whole bunch more (see the runners up list below).
It’s funny. I have a much different feel about the movies in the ‘30s versus the ‘40s. When I look at the movies from the ‘40s I feel like I’m more jaded or something. I haven’t included a single monster movie. Maybe I shifted to the fairy tales with Sabu like “The Thief of Bagdad” and the “Jungle Book.”
Well, as usual, have at it in the comments.
- The Bank Dick (1940)
- The Great McGinty (1940)
- The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
- The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
- Our Town (1940)
- The Maltese Falcon (1941)
- Sergeant York (1941)
- Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
- Casablanca (1942)
- Jungle Book (1942)
- Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
- Double Indemnity (1944)
- Gaslight (1944)
- Going My Way (1944)
- Henry V (1944)
- To Have and Have Not (1944)
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
- Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
- The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)
- The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
- The Big Sleep (1946)
- Notorious (1946)
- Life with Father (1947)
- Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
- Hamlet (1948)
- Key Largo (1948)
- Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
- A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
- The Third Man (1949)
Runners-Up List
1940
Dr. Cyclops
Edison, the Man
Foreign Correspondent
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Dictator
His Girl Friday
The Letter
The Philadelphia Story
Rebecca
Road to Singapore
Swiss Family Robinson
The Westerner
Young Tom Edison
1941
Buck Privates
Citizen Kane
The Corsican Brothers
The Devil and Daniel Webster
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dumbo
High Sierra
How Green Was My Valley
The Lady Eve
The Little Foxes
Meet John Doe
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Suspicion
They Died with Their Boots On
Tobacco Road
The Wolf Man
1942
George Washington Slept Here
The Glass Key
Kings Row
The Magnificent Ambersons
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Mrs. Miniver
Now, Voyager
The Pride of the Yankees
Saboteur
Tortilla Flat
Yankee Doodle Dandy
1943
For Whom the Bell Tolls
The Human Comedy
The Ox-Bow Incident
The Song of Bernadette
1944
Arsenic and Old Lace
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
The Canterville Ghost
Hail the Conquering Hero
The Keys of the Kingdom
Lifeboat
The Lodger
National Velvet
Thirty Seconds over Tokyo
1945
The Body Snatcher
Brief Encounter
Our Vines Have Tender Grapes
Spellbound
The Story of G.I. Joe
They Were Expendable
1946
The Beast with Five Fingers
The Blue Dahlia
Gilda
It’s a Wonderful Life
The Killers
My Darling Clementine
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Stranger
1947
The Bishop’s Wife
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
The Lady from Shanghai
Odd Man Out
Out of the Past
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Sinbad the Sailor
1948
3 Godfathers
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Fort Apache
I Remember Mama
Johnny Belinda
Macbeth
The Naked City
Oliver Twist
Red River
Rope
Sorry, Wrong Number
The Three Musketeers
1949
All the King’s Men
The Inspector General
Mighty Joe Young
Sands of Iwo Jima
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Twelve O’Clock High
White Heat
31JUL2024 – Photo of the Day
31JUL2024 – Quote of the Day
In a free nation, it matters not whether individuals reason well or ill; it is sufficient that they do reason. Truth arises from the collision and from hence springs liberty, which is a security from the effects of reasoning.
Charles de Montesquieu



