Been rather busy. Have had to catch a military cargo hop to Joe’s town twice this month. The assassination of the Wagnerian boss is causing more trouble in the evil empire than you would think. Him and his deputy were the most capable commanders the Emperor had. On the wider front, the Ukes aren’t doing quite as well as they claim, but the Empire is faring far worse than they claim as well. Big reorganization going on. The Emperor doesn’t want to believe how much corruption has had and is still having on his forces. They are desperate for oriental technology but as others are finding out, the Oriental’s weapons are mostly paper dragons. The Hermit has offered supplies for long boomers but they want just not cash but concessions. They are taking a chance that the Emperor will not be replaced by some internal Sith lord.
The further away the reporting, the more bullshine in the story.
This was in West Germany. I was there between 1978-81 on that tour with the Army.
When our tanks went out on exercises of any size, at least 25% had to be fully combat loaded in case the Warsaw Pact and the Rooskies decided to make a surprise attack, hoping to catch us with empty guns. The 25% could hold the line/ delay the attack while we uploaded the rest.
This was a large-scale exercise and the tanks were loading up on trains to be taken to the training area. One of the M-60 Patton tanks which was uploaded with ammo as one of the 25%, swiveled its turret and fired the main gun point blank into the turret of another tank of the same unit. It killed the only man aboard, the tank commander. Likewise, the tank commander was the only one in the firing tank.
It was the old triangle. The dead GI was having an affair with the firing tank commander’s wife. Of course, he was tried by courts-martial and either got life with no parole or it may have been a death sentence.
By the time the story got back to the US and then rebroadcast by Walter Cronkite, the story’s own mother would not recognize it. It was attributed to racism or a near mutiny of the troops in Germany, a communist infiltrator, and likely Martians for all I know. It was the same in Vietnam before. Only what fit the liberal mantra was reported. All else was ignored or outright falsified.
That is why the average GI wants nothing to do with the press or embedded press teams. They are worthless as unbiased tellers of facts and will gladly throw a wounded warrior to the hyenas for something that fits their agenda.
“Four very young men, all carrying guns, beat me violently down to the ground in front of our kids,” Shivanthi Sathanandan said in a Facebook post. “The young men held our neighbors up at gunpoint when they ran over and tried to help me. All in broad daylight.”
Well. Four juveniles. So I think we can say it was illegal for them to have guns. Does this liberal now understand that gun laws will do nothing?
No.
Further in her post she says they need to get the guns off the street.
It isn’t the gun, lady. It’s the person using it.
It is so sad when people refuse to learn.
Here’s a thought: What if even one of her neighbors had been armed?
The outcome would have been very different. The beating would not have gone on as long as it did and, maybe, some bad guys would be in jail.
I’m way out of the way this time on the Panhandle. But we get our share.
Ivan in 2004 was a class 5 as it was approaching but hit as a 4. Damn near destroyed the area. A 20 something foot storm surge, It destroyed the multi-mile long I-10 bridge over Pensacola Bay and around 70% of the remaining buildings had blue tarp roofs for years.
I had a fishing boat that I kept on base at NAS Pensacola. I was over a month later before anyone could get on base. Going over the bridge to the base, we saw 100’s of boats just everywhere, beached, capsized, holed, sunken, I was pretty sure it insurance time. Got to the marina, which was also an RV storage yard, all junked at this point. I found my boat in the RV area still sorta attached to the trailer. It hadn’t drifted off to join the boat graveyard in the bay because the lower unit on one of the motors had jammed through and wedged in the wall of a big RV that had somehow stayed in place.
Another big one hit the following year but there was nothing other than the odd tropical storm until 2020 when one came through and destroyed a good portion of the Pensacola to Gulf Breeze bay bridge. Believe me, that was a BIG deal cutting the metro area in half for 1-1/2 years until they got a couple of lanes. Every one had to do a almost 40 mile detour.
Down here, it doesn’t have to be a hurricane or tropical storm. Spring 2014, we had 25 inches of rain in an 8 hour period. It was the freaking apocalypse. Damage was still being repaired in 2020.
I’ve listen to ‘Little Songs’ a couple of times in the past few days. The first thing that I noticed was the audio improvement compared to his last album. My second takeaway after two listens was that I like all the songs and the flow of the album. I don’t recall a standout cut yet, which gives me the feeling that there may not be one, but I don’t care about hits when I listen to Colter. I like the laid back peaceful honesty in his originals, and his covers are always carefully selected and originally performed. I do miss his previous vocal style, that is what was partially responsible for my becoming a fan, but I respect the fact that he is the leading authority of his instrument and the minor changes he made don’t really affect my listening pleasure very much. He is one gifted vocalist to be sure. And songwriter extraordinaire!, especially in the almost extinct genre he has revived.
I’m a fan, I just ordered the vinyl version of this offering, and I’m looking forward to the next 20, something listens. Colter is the real deal, and has been big favorite of W.B Walkers Old Soul Radio Show for years now. W.B.knows a class act when he hears one, and I like to think sometimes I do too.
H/T to ArthurinCali for the link. When the NY Times anoints an Republican candidate they might as well include a stamp that says “NEOCON.” Nikki Haley or Chris Christie? Which is more emblematic of controlled opposition. What’s next, the adoration of the magi? Will Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham and Paul Ryan come bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh?
More cutting edge political analysis we've come to know and love from NYT. /s pic.twitter.com/AhC9pK4oac
Camera Girl and I journey today to the southernmost border of New England where the smoldering ashes of what was once Gotham City color the horizon with a somber palette. But we will be celebrating family and life and all that stuff. This week will be Camera Girl’s greatest challenge. She will be besieged by teeming hordes of berserk descendants desperately trying to fend off thoughts of the impending school year.
It will take all her powers to occupy these desperate young’uns and divert their attention from the impending horror. Of course it will really help if somehow we can avoid torrential rains for the week. That will provide us with so many more options for activities than being stuck in the house with the boob tube and my feeble wits.
But once the week is complete, it really will be fall. And it’s been a very strange summer. So much rain and so little sun has destroyed the vegetable garden. Other than some tomatoes and what looks to be a decent crop of eggplants it has been a disaster. I think we’ve gotten one zucchini and so far no butternut squash. And while we’ve gotten a few red razzberries from the plants I put in last year and the plants have increased and spread, I can hardly say they have been a success yet.
And as far as the blueberries, whereas I managed to get a few handfuls of berries last year, this year the birds perfected their technique of picking the fruit precisely before I myself judged them ripe enough to eat. And it was a bumper crop. I guess if I’m really serious about eating any of this fruit I’ll have to start using netting over the plants. Who am I kidding? I’m too lazy to do that.
And likewise, the rain put a serious dent into the flowers in the yard. The butterfly bush died back to the ground because of the lack of snow cover during the coldest part of the winter. It sprouted from the roots eventually but was a mere shadow of its size and bloomed very late. And many other plants were late and stunted. The only pleasant surprise was the Inula helenium (elecampane) that I put in last year. The stalks were seven feet tall and there were plenty of bright yellow flowers.
Also there were very few butterflies this year. Probably the sparse snow cover again. Well, complaining won’t do any good so best to just move on. I’ll just chalk it up to experience and hope that this year we get more snow. Wait, more snow? What am I saying? Oh well.
So fall in Dunwich is a busy time for me. We’ll be pretending to re-elect First Selectman Cthulhu which is always a painful process involving the loss of several bureaucrats in his entourage when he becomes aggravated and therefore hungry. My part in the process is also, let us say, delicate. I’m required by tradition and statute to second the motion for his unanimous re-election by acclaim. If I hesitate by more than a split second after the original motion is exclaimed my fate will be sealed. Therefore I have perfected the “echo method.” As the motion is being spoken I echo the words coming out of his mouth almost simultaneously. It sort of sounds like that scene in the movie “Pride of the Yankees” where Gary Cooper is saying, “But today … today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.” And so I can keep each word going just that little time extra needed to detect the last word and begin my sentence without any noticeable pause. Actually quite ingenious. It’s quite remarkable what fear can do for your IQ.
Well, it’s time to get going. The sun is shining and nothing has burned down or exploded in the news yet so I can wish everyone a nice day with at least the hope that it’s possible. Adios amigos.
Updates
Bigus Macus
It was down in the mid-sixties with low humidity this morning in Hampton Roads. It will be hotter tomorrow, but I’m ready for Autumn to start. I’m getting the fireplace cleaned and inspected this week and I need to cover the firewood for the start of the season.
TomD
Meanwhile, down here in the Florida Panhandle, fall hasn’t yet appeared on the distant horizon as we’re looking at a white hot week: in the 100’s with saturating humidity. It has been like this for a month, there is a big and stable high pressure system camped out in the middle of the country.
What we need is a tropical storm to come through and bust this weather stasis up. A similar pattern seems common in late summer and will just stay until pushed out by a big system.
Unlike California, tropical storms are common enough down here as to not overly upset us.
A few years ago, I decided to see what it would be like to ride my road bike (bicycle) in a tropical storm (wind only at that time). At one place where there’s about a 100’+ 5% grade hill to climb, the wind was pushing me up the hill at over 20 mph.
"What would effective opposition to this enterprise look like? What it definitely does not look like is civil 'debate' over 'the issues', as if emotional and aesthetic perceptions in general are altered through reason."
“Gender affirming care” is mutilation. Doing it to children is evil.
If a teen girl suffering from anorexia says she is fat and wants gastric bypass surgery we don’t do that because that child does not know what is good for them and they are mentally ill. They need help getting over the illness, not surgery.
This is the same thing.
So many tells in this video:
Look at what that family is eating – do you see any meat on that table?
Might that be part of the problem?
Where does the mother get the idea that anyone would want to hurt her son?
Protecting the children from mutilation is not harm.
Son says he became trans after reading about it on the internet.
Oh, you’re uncomfortable – welcome to puberty. It sucks but you get through it. . .
Unless your parents sign you up for irreversible hormone therapy and surgical mutilation and you become a patient for the rest of your life requiring millions of dollars in hormones and surgeries and you will be uncomfortable for the rest of your life!
This is exactly right. Make your laws a source of self-segregation and you will magically make your state a much better place. Do the same with welfare, education, illegal immigration and crime and you start to turn your state into a functional and desirable place to live.
I have a feeling DeSantis will find out that being governor of Florida is a much more valuable position than president. He has real power now. He can make a real difference. The blue states haven’t hit bottom yet. Maybe then they’ll be ready to change. Right now most of them are like the parents in that video clip. They have a son in a sun dress taking puberty blockers and they blame the state for it. Sanity is nowhere on their horizon.
Pass laws they hate. And when they complain, pass even more laws they hate. Never let up.
It’s what blue states did to their political enemies. It’s about damn time red states returned the favor. https://t.co/PBbXFG3R1i
