Caption: Painting by smearing or splattering
Bullet Points:
** From the Hoover Institution – Click here to request your free copy of The History of Socialism and Capitalism.
** Claudio suggested that I buy these for the White Wolf Mine.
** George Floyd is celebrating his fourth year being drug-free. His fellow inner-city thieves, burglars, currency counterfeiters, and addicts should follow in his footsteps.
** In Los Angeles, There’s $7.5 BILLION missing that was tasked to beef up hydrants, pipes, and water infrastructure for fire suppression. The money was spent, but nothing happened with the systems. People are starting to ask uncomfortable questions.
** The discovery of artificial sweetener – discussed – interesting.
Pay for Spray
NY Post – Desperate one-percenters are dropping small fortunes on private, professional fire crews to protect their mansions as California’s most expensive wildfires continue to devour some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Private fire protection companies often contract with state and local governments to help battle wildfires. Still, in recent years, California’s fire firms have begun offering “on-call” services, ready to show up with their own water supplies, trucks, hoses, fire-quenching chemicals, and other industrial-grade equipment.
But these heroes-for-hire come with a hefty price tag, with some outfits charging $2,000 an hour for their services, the Daily Mail reported. Chris Dunn, owner of Covered 6, told that outlet his phone has been “ringing off the hook” as the Hollywood elite jockey for his bespoke services.
The Small Combatant Rabbit Hole
(h/t Claudio) PP(X) OPV=Offshore Patrol Vessle – The new generation OPV design is the result of the close cooperation between the Italian Navy General Staff, NAVARM, and OSN. The platforms are to conduct high seas patrolling operations, contributing to homeland security and protecting sea lines of communications and national interests in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The new OPV will conduct maritime interdiction operations (MIO) without neglecting combat employment profiles and complimentary tasks supporting the community, such as contributing to anti-pollution operations in case of oil spills at sea.
To satisfy the Italian Navy’s requirements, the new OPV design is based on an evolved version of the FCX20 platform from the Fincantieri’s FCX naval ships family, which hull lines have been refined to offer excellent sea-keeping capabilities and reduced drag, alongside enhancements to reduced radar cross section and acoustic signature of the platform, key requirements for a “combat capable” vessel. Another main driver of the new OPV design was the capability to operate in rough seas, ensuring full operations without restrictions up to Sea State 5 conditions. Among the innovative design features, the new OPV has the Naval Cockpit already introduced on frontline vessels of the Italian Navy, as well as a command and control room and equipment for operating unmanned systems. (more at the link)
___
It’s important to differentiate missions and expectations. I’m sure that the Italians have done this. In the case of the US Navy, we made a horrible decision in the case of the Littoral Combat Ship. They are “combat ships,” not coastal patrol vessels, and did nothing right. Coastal patrol and rescue missions conflict with combat missions for the most part because of the necessity of ships designed to fight aircraft and other ships. Combat ships usually have surface-to-air/surface-to-surface (guns, missiles, and the newer energy weapons) missions primarily with special warfare, mine warfare, and other interdiction (small arms, lighter cannons) requirements. They can assist with rescues in extremis, but that’s somewhere on the fifth or sixth tier regarding design priorities. Coast Guard missions don’t incorporate combat requirements, and those ships are better off staying out of harm’s way unless it’s something like an interdiction mission.
H/T Frank
Extreme incompetence is indistinguishable from malevolence
So let me get this straight:
– An illegal immigrant was arrested by citizens, not the police.
– He was already on probation, meaning the police had already arrested him before the LA Fires.
– During the LA fires, he was caught near a fire with a blowtorch.
– The police are not charging him with arson due to lack of “probable cause.”
– He won’t be deported because of California’s sanctuary laws and will most likely be released back into the city.
– Yesterday, Gavin Newsom committed $50m of taxpayer money to protect illegal immigrants from deportation.
If you wonder why people take conspiracy theories seriously, there you have it.
Spuds
Identify the Armor
1
Austrian, not German. The concept was for an artillery towing vehicle, which Germans inherited after the Anschluss. It was then renamed and used as a forward artillery observation vehicle in North Africa.
2
Too EZ, but we haven’t had one here for a long time.
Identify the Feature Film
Honoring Gene Hackman, one of the very best in the business and now retired.
A
B
C
He built a house even though he was not much of a carpenter.
D
Freebie
The Curtiss Twin P-40 is a modified P-40 Warhawk incorporating twin engines mounted in nacelles above each wing and a rounded nose. Little information exists about it; below is the only known photograph. Given the limited photo and the lack of production information (if any), I thought posting it as an ID – the – aircraft was unfair. It looks a little like a Beaufighter, but it’s much smaller. It’s just an FYI.
Parting Shot
End
Identify the Armor:
1. Sd.Kfz. 254
2. Panther Ausf. A
Identify the Feature Film:
A. Enemy of the State
B. The French Connection
C. Unforgiven
D. The Firm
Must be over your cold Surly.
No computer virus there.
I think I’d prefer the new celebrity home tour, actually.
*
That Curtiss is also similar to the Grumman Skyrocket.
*
– Kle.
The way things look today, it would be challenging to tell one celebrity home in Pacific Palisades from another.
I was wondering if the homes right on the beach that went away will be allowed to rebuild.
The Coastal Commission as presently constituted will never allow that.
That a lot of allocated money unaccounted for. Considering how government works, a committee will be formed, which will take a year to decide on who runs the committee, another year to decide on individual tasks, a year of investigation, another year of verifying the information, three retirements, another 100 million spent on the committee, and at least one year of court pleadings to decide if the report can be given to the public. Of course nothing will be found, but they will sure show how they are spending public money wisely to save tax dollars. It’s amazing how much money can be spent instead of a special forces team with the goal of gathering intel by any means.
X2
X3…Same with Central Park’s Wollman Rink, which had been run by NYC…into the ground. It was a mess. Taxpayers agreed to a bond to rebuild it, six years later NOTHING had happened except it was all torn up with heavy equipment and some materials sitting there. A worse eye sore. Yet! the Wollman Rink Committee [of course] goes back to the public to request more money. Trump gets wind of this (as only a proper entrepreneurial developer would see when others – like The FBI – watch and wait) then immediately offers the new Committee a deal to finish the rink BUT demands to run it for a decade. They agree, rink opens a year later (I believe, but certainly quickly in comparison) and it is run efficiently and well maintained. Of course The Committee has their self-congratulatory fanfare Grand Opening, and have since taken back its management (years back) and once again they are losing money.
– Nothing ever changes with bureaucrats except there “procedural” binder gets thicker and more complicated.
Wow, Managed to read the whole blog and links before leaving for work and I have nothing to comment.
I knew the films, but the AI makes knowing anything pointless.
Including how to point and aim it seems.
Does that mean that I’m slipping? Not enough content?
Ed heads into work: Uh, have a seat Ed…you are being replaced by AI, here’s your complimentary watch and a bankers box, the officer will see you out.
(Funny but not funny as a large portion of city-dweller society thinks computer-driven “reality” is actually reality and therefore better…until it isn’t and things start looking like LA when people pass the responsibility buck while relying on computerized feedback systems to make proper decisions on safety operations.)
:)
“….and the basement on your right belongs to Sean Penn. He had no insurance.”
A number of the super wealthy (most have several homes) are self-insured – ooops.
Dr. Strangegun or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the A.I.
A convert, LSP!
a.i. assist and chat gtp @ W.W. mine; Would 2 or 3 be sufficient to cover all quadrants against the hord? Especially if the units are surplus from the IDF. Have they been tested and proven effective in the Gaza strip?
“In Los Angeles, There’s $7.5 BILLION missing…”: It’s not “missing”. This sorta says it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xW9bMblSw4
***
Some hobbyist sure had a lot of time on his hands. Sure makes Christmas Light Controllers look like child’s play…that’s MIT-grade work right there but showcases what can be done with available tech (might even find most of it on Amazon). Guy probably created a phone App connected to WiFi in the event of an invasion. Next will be a 3AM knock at the door, they either want his tech or arrest him for unauthorized firearm build (the in-tow MSM reporter-ette will breathlessly shout this guy is a “terrorist”).
***
Might need to re watch ‘Enemy of the State” tonight, raise my fear of government a little more. Then again “Deja Vu” with Denzel is cooler.
Incidentally…I will not sanction paying one nickel to California to help unless it goes directly to an individual “not of means”. The Husk/FEMA will somehow manage to find millions “to help”…but We The People should not be on the hook…this is not a natural disaster, it is man-made by the very people now stating “they will Marshal Plan an new LA”). These greasy scumbags are already gaslighting everyone, whistling past the very graveyard they created in order to sound “proactive and compassionate”. They sabotaged a great state for their own grift yet now want us to believe they give a damn. They don’t.
With all the “help California” talk going on I wondered if the FEMA trailers ever made it to NC & the surrounding area or are the people still in tents?
From what I know, they’re living in tents. I hope that changes.
Beck was speaking to this earlier at the front end of his show, a bunch of folks were put up in hotels but FEMA has started kicking them out. Beck’s Mercury One group is starting to pay the rooms because people have no where to go. Government does not care about We The People, and this is only one example proving that detail. Lahaina is another. Palestine OH, another. The list is endless.
Lots of ranches around here have their own fire trucks and they work with the VFDs. One of the better ideas I’ve seen was using fracking water trucks as tankers. They line them up and have police escorts.
If the justice system does not work, there may be a return of lynching. Not all lynching was racial. Lots of whites were hung to. The drug business takes care of their own. I would not want be caught burning down their house.
Maybe ask the friendly RED haired painter lady if she’s smearing or splattering her artwork this morning.
The AI-driven gun is neat, but not particularly useful. It’s laying down suppressive fire, and that certainly has its place, but until he puts vision systems on it that doesn’t seem particularly useful. It’s like if I put a system on my CNC machine tools and said, “drill a hole off to the left.” It has to me far more precisely stated than that, like XY coordinates to three decimal places.
I’d imagine you can tell the gun to shoot things that move. That would keep the rodents down if nothing else…
Great point…but he did spend a lot of quality time building the thing. 5 axis is fairly easily purchasable tech these days.
Good for Antoine-Augustin Parmentier. He understood human nature. And made it work for him.
It’s like how you get rid of an old water-heater tank or busted microwave oven or something. You have to pay extra to get it hauled away by the legit trash service, but you can put it on your curb with a sign on it saying “Water Heater, $20” and someone will steal it.
Exactly!
Clint Eastwood, “Unforgiven”.
—–
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCI0oAAKme4
While Claudio has a excellent suggestion for the WWM. With this system you can use multiples to create a wolf pack as they suggest in the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYhlNBfMZl4
Welp. Another stereotype overturned today.
“Asians are smart.”
Mazie Hirono: “Hold my Mai Tai.”
I could feel my brain cells dying, listening to her flailing away at Pete Hegseth.
She is a very dim bulb.
Extreme incompetence is indistinguishable from malevolence
Yes indeed.
Remember Our Lord’s words from the Cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
At what point, and to your point, does “ignorance” become culpable? Certainly reached the threshold of guilt in LA.
In LA the actions constituted gross negligence.