Caption: Don’t overthink it. VM, blogging from the road.
Bullet Points:
** Trump to UK: “I strongly recommend to them, however, that to get their Energy Costs down, they stop with the costly and unsightly windmills, and incentivize modernized drilling in the North Sea.”
** Shawn Ryan on Yemen – his favorite place to work. It is the wild west, and as such, the rules are based on operational expediency rather than on some dick in Virginia setting rules of engagement.
** Politics has an entertainment value. First, you cause a problem. Then, you react to a problem and pretend to solve the problem that YOU caused. Carolla calls out Greasy Newsom over the “homeless crisis” in California.
** CDRSAL says the end is near. It’s a well-thought-out piece. To save the Republic, Congress must remove the government from the healthcare business entirely, regardless of how much we’ve paid into it—the same applies to Social Security. In fiscal year 2024, 22% of the federal budget was allocated to Social Security, and 14% was allocated to Medicare. It would balance the budget. And we need a Constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. Would it create havoc? Yes. But it’s that, or we default on payments and bankrupt the country, which would result in the payouts for Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security being suspended anyway. Now or later. Sorry.
** Squeezing the Lemon.
** The Appalachian word of the day…
** Finding a cherry patch. ICE is arresting migrants at courthouses after immigration hearings. In at least some of the arrests, immigration judges had just dropped active cases against migrants and their family members. The move could allow U.S. authorities to put them in a fast-track deportation process known as expedited removal. A lawyer friend said he knows it happened in Phoenix and San Diego. Activists complain that entire families are being removed. The flip side is they’re being removed together, and those same activists were concerned that families would be separated.
** The Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act – If you’re Canadian and move your business to the US, you can face 5 years in prison.
** During WWI, soldiers exposed to mustard gas suffered horrific injuries, but medics noticed a strange side effect: it severely reduced their white blood cell counts. Decades later, during World War II, Yale pharmacologists Dr. Louis Goodman and Dr. Alfred Gilman revisited this data and saw potential. If the chemical could suppress white blood cells, could it also stop the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells? They tested a modified form of mustard gas—nitrogen mustard—on a patient with advanced lymphoma. The results were groundbreaking. While temporary, the tumor shrank significantly. This moment marked the birth of chemotherapy, transforming a tool of destruction into a weapon of modern medicine.
** Boating with EdB. Boat launching with EdB.
** Musk discusses “magic money computers.” They send funds with no backing – just out of thin air.
** One day you’ll leave this world behind, so live a life they will remember.
I know you hate California, but what would the picture look like (cascading failure) if it were gone?
The Long March
CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis says that China represents an “existential threat” to the United States. The agency’s top priority is outpacing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in a high-stakes technological arms race that spans semiconductors, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence.
“China is the existential threat to American security in a way we have never confronted before,” Ellis told Axios in an interview published on May 21, adding that a key CIA objective is to help U.S. companies maintain a “decisive technological advantage” to counter the CCP’s malign actions against the homeland.
In separate remarks, including an interview at the beginning of May with investor Anthony Pompliano, Ellis emphasized that President Donald Trump’s intelligence team is laser-focused on denying China any strategic edge, especially in advanced technologies that underpin the economy and national defense. However, fields such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing are not areas in which the U.S. intelligence community (IC) has traditionally been involved, and the CIA is looking to change that. “The IC is very good at … counting Soviet tanks … to be ready for a possible conflict in Europe in the Cold War,” Ellis said. “But … when you ask the IC to look at issues … where Chinese companies are in artificial intelligence research, it’s not one we’ve been well-positioned historically to think about.”
Ellis said that the CIA is looking to develop more resources, including personnel, as part of its shift in focus toward the tech race against adversaries such as China. This includes recruiting people with expertise in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. “We need more people with science and technology backgrounds, which is again a little different than the global war on terrorism mindset of the last 20 years,” he said, adding that the CIA is also increasingly looking at partnering with private-sector leaders—including recent consultations with Elon Musk—on how to cut waste, adopt artificial intelligence tools, and stay ahead of adversaries using emerging technologies like drone swarms.”
Getting Serious about Home Repair
Gongs
On May 24, 1969, Warrant Officer Class II Keith Payne, 35, commanded the 212th Company of the 1st Mobile Strike Force Battalion near Ben Het Camp in Kontum Province, South Vietnam. His unit, part of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV), was conducting a search-and-clear operation in the highlands near the Cambodian border. The area was contested by large and well-equipped North Vietnamese Army (NVA) forces who had been maneuvering through the jungle to cut off allied positions and strike remote outposts.
That afternoon, Payne’s battalion came under a large-scale coordinated assault from an estimated battalion-sized NVA force. The attack came from three sides and was supported by heavy rocket and mortar fire. The intensity and surprise of the assault quickly overwhelmed the forward elements of the battalion. The NVA aimed to encircle and destroy the entire force in the field. The battalion commander was seriously wounded, and the two forward companies became isolated. Payne’s unit was one of them.
As the situation collapsed around him, Payne immediately took control. He moved across open terrain under direct fire from small arms, rockets, and automatic weapons. Bullets kicked up dirt around him as he sprinted between fighting positions. He shouted orders, fired his rifle, and threw grenades to push back enemy assaults that were breaking into the company’s perimeter. During this action, Payne was wounded in his hands and arms by fragments and bullets, but he remained on his feet.
He covered the withdrawal of the battalion headquarters group, including the battalion commander, several American advisors, and a few remaining troops. Once they had pulled back, Payne turned his attention to the rest of his men. He crossed the fire-swept clearing again, alone, to reach the surviving elements of his company who had become separated and disorganized.
Payne regrouped scattered soldiers under heavy fire and formed them into a new defensive perimeter. Many of them were Montagnard troops, indigenous soldiers who had lost contact with their leaders. Payne steadied them, redistributed weapons and ammunition, and got them firing again. By nightfall, he had restored a fragile defensive line and bought time.
Once darkness fell, Payne set out alone into enemy territory. The jungle was full of scattered wounded. Some had crawled away to hide, and others had been left behind in the confusion. Payne moved through the dark, avoiding enemy patrols and positions and listening for voices or groans. When he found wounded men, he treated what he could and carried several of them, one by one, back to the temporary perimeter. He kept moving for three hours, searching and rescuing, repeatedly risking ambush or capture.
When he finally returned to the perimeter, he learned that the rest of the battalion had withdrawn further toward the base. Leading the group of wounded and exhausted men he had assembled, Payne guided them through more enemy territory and brought them safely to friendly lines.
He had saved the lives of approximately 40 soldiers, most of whom would have been left behind or killed. His actions prevented the destruction of his unit and preserved dozens of lives under impossible conditions.
Warrant Officer Class II Keith Payne was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for valor in the Commonwealth, for his leadership, courage, and refusal to abandon his men. He became the first Australian soldier in the Vietnam War to receive the VC. Payne survived the war, continued his service, and remains one of Australia’s most respected military veterans. His conduct near Ben Het on May 24, 1969, remains one of the most extraordinary examples of battlefield leadership and personal bravery in the conflict. He is still with us.
Scenic Arizona Byways
The Route 66 eight-mile stretch between Oatman and Kingman is known as “The Sidewinder”.
It has 191 curves, turns, and switchbacks with no guardrails.
Power Down
You may recall that a sudden and unprecedented power outage struck the entire Iberian Peninsula in late April, plunging nearly all of Spain and Portugal into darkness for several hours. The blackout, one of the largest in recent European history, also briefly affected parts of southern France and the Principality of Andorra. Essential services, public transportation, telecommunications, and financial systems were severely disrupted. At least eight deaths have been linked to outage-related incidents.
The blackout was triggered by a rapid, cascading failure in the grid, resulting in the loss of approximately 60% of Spain’s electricity supply within seconds. The event was linked to the grid’s inability to handle the variability and intermittency of renewables, especially solar and wind, without sufficient backup from more stable sources, such as gas or nuclear power.
Now, in the aftermath of this blackout that could have been much worse, Spain has significantly increased its reliance on natural gas-fired power plants to stabilize its electricity grid.
This strategic shift is the direct result of concerns about the grid’s ability to handle high levels of renewable energy, particularly solar and wind, which accounted for a substantial share of generation during the outage.
Identify the Aircraft
1
Not just an A-6
2
3
4 & 5
Two variants – and two names, but in essence, the same aircraft
Identify the Sister Ships
6 & 7
One of my very favorite classes of US Naval Ships in WW2 (a Navy War)
Identify the Rifle
8
Parting Shot
End
Mustard Gas
My wife’s father was one of the soldiers the Australian Army tested gas masks on in WW2 using mustard gas then hid it as an official secret. Unsurprisingly he died of lung cancer before I met her. This was not a volunteer thing they just got told to show up for a job.
Keith Payne
One of the training Warrant Officers I had was in the training team at the same time and in the next valley during the battle. In his opinion a brave and lucky soldier (most VC’s are posthumous) but a jerk most of the time. A few other people I know who worked with him told me the same thing. Not sure how accurate their opinions were but 4 out of 4 didn’t like him.
Not that uncommon. The guys you want next to you in a fight (or in a nasty fire) are often jerks the rest of the time.
As Chesty Puller said: “Take me to the brig, I want to see the real Marines.”
Speaking of Chesty Puller, he was awarded 5 Navy Crosses and the U.S. Army Distinguished Cross. Both are only one tier below the Congressional Medal of Honor…
Actually, most VCs are not posthumous. The postuhumous option was not even possible before 1902; of the 521 Crosses awarded between 1856 (inception) and 1904 (last pre-Great War Cross) 14, or 2.6% were posthumous awards, and they were not granted until a series of adminstrative decisions made between 1902 and 1907. This allowed granting the Cross to men mentioned in despatches as “would heve been recommended for the distinction of the Victoria Cross, had they survived.” Of the 577 VCs granted during the First World War, 117 went to men Killed in Action or Died of Wounds, roughly 20%. The Warrant of the Victoria Cross, its governing document, was revised in 1918 to bring it more in line with modern warfare, as the Victorian ideal had died in the mud of Flanders. The Committee had to address, among other things, the possibility of women being in a position to earn a VC. To avoid the intrusion of sentimentality into the recommendation process (and, quite honestly, to make sure a woman never won one), the Committee drastically increased the threshold of VC-caliber heroism and carefully included the phrase “perfomed in the presence of the enemy.” As a result, far fewer VCs…a total of 182…were awarded during the Second World War than in the First, and the “cost of courage” in terms of men KIA or DOW in winning the Cross increased dramatically. That being said, even in the Second World War only 47% of the recipients (86 out of 182) died in the process of winning the award. In total, there were 1,280 VCs awarded between 1856 ad 1945, of which 217 were posthumous, generating an overall 17% posthumous rate.
Trust me on this: I literally wrote the book on the Victoria Cross: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Awarded_for_Valour/SsaHDAAAQBAJ?hl=en
FBI Special Agent Joe Pistone (aka “Donnie Brasco”) was similar, according to my late father-in-law, who was also FBI and worked undercover, but in Texas. Longish hair, beard, open shirts, hairy chest, and heavy gold chain necklace — he was stylin’ and profilin’ in the era. He said Pistone was a jerk with a swelled head who knew everything, but really didn’t in Texas. Worse, he bought the house next door… My f-i-l left the FBI a year later, unable to stomach doing another 8 years to get a pension. He’d seen enough.
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Grumman KA-6D Intruder refueler
2. Ilyushin Il-28 Beagle
3. PZL P.24
4. Percival Provost
5. BAC Jet Provost T.1
Identify the Sister Ships:
6. USS Worcester (CL-144)
7. USS Roanoke (CL-145)
Identify the Rifle:
8. I’ve seen it but don’t remember its name.
8. Johnson rifle
Yes, the Johnson rifle.
Sloppy NCOs allowing those sloppy covers.
Native troops…
Where, though?
There weren’t ever a whole lot of Johnsons, and I’m curious as to
the details here.
– Kle.
“Boating with EdB.”
Having a 20′ aluminum cabin cruiser with a 115hp, I used to scare myself and everyone aboard when throttling up to plane.
The bow would come out of the water and if we were going into the wind I thought we would flip over backwards.
Dolphin fins and later a “Turning Point” multi pitch prop stabilized everything.
Always solutions to avoiding a mess.
Drove the eight-mile stretch known as the “Sidewinder” between Oatman and Kingman several years ago. First we stopped in Oatman to grab a bite to eat, in one or maybe the only “eatery” in the town. Driving in met the pelosi/schumer wing of the “Crat” party (burro’s with foals begging for food) and a bunch of Danes on motorcycles. As we left the eatery, cashier quizzed me regarding my military service and if my oath had an expiration date. Most of us know the answer to that question even though my DD 214 shows “Expiration of Term of Service and the date”.
While driving the “Sidewinder’s 191 curves and switchbacks with elevation changes, I was reminded of how easy it was for the Old West Highwaymen to pull off a gold shipment robbery. (Took someone else’s word for the number of turns and switchbacks).
Glad to see the store pictured in your article, is still selling memorabilia and assorted tourist crap.
Trinkets of the old West are still for sale in Oatman and in that area. Tourist traps can be fun though if you allow them to be and moderate your expectations.
My rant for the day:
I would hope that the “Iberian Episode” would send a strong message to the Green element in this country that the energy needs of an advanced society cannot be supplied by unicorn farts and dancing fairies; that a carbon (read carbon dioxide)-less environment cannot be achieved without killing off every living thing on Planet Earth.
Question: Most of us during our teen years revolt against “authority”; is it a sign of growing up when we join the chorus singing “Wir müssen…”?
CO2 in the quantities we’re talking about is not a problem. Period.
.
If the permafrost in the Arctic (primarily in Russia) melts due to global warming, it could create a problem because of the methane released into the atmosphere. But there is no credible evidence of man-caused global warming. Or man-caused global cooling. Nobody understands why the most recent ice age, which ended approximately 11 million years ago, began or ended. It wasn’t because of mankind. Asteroid impacts, volcanism, and the solar system passing through a dusty area of space are all possibilities for starting and stopping, but nobody knows.
“send a strong message to the Green element”
They are unwilling to hear it.
Love me some Appa-Latch-Eeon words, lIke “winder”, as in “Close the winder, yer lettin’ out all the bought air.”
***
Power Outage: Also heard they were embracing nuclear…about time we told these government officials “saving the planet from light, heat, and aircon” to get on board and quit fiddling around…people are dead because of a lack of modern day reliable power. (Who pays for that disaster?”
***
ICE Arrests: ANY judge or city official who blocks ICE from doing its federally legal job of collecting illegal aliens from our midst needs to see the inside of a jail for a month or more, in GenPop. Might just fix their socialist wagon.
***
Tunnels under Chicago: Amazing what a bunch of guys with hand tools and equipment could do…nowadays they have to tell the yungin’s to not eat laundry pods or jump off high things believing they can fly.
Close that there winder cause the skeeters from dow the crick will come in and bite ye.
The small skeeters will bite ya’. The big-uns from Alaska will carry ya’ home to fambly for a feast.
That Irish brogue turned into a seriously difficult accent to understand in them thar hollers.
“the same applies to Social Security. In fiscal year 2024, 22% of the federal budget was allocated to Social Security, and 14% was allocated to Medicare.”
The thing is both SS & Medicare are still bring in a lot of money, you need to do the math before you start assigning percentages.
FWIW the biggest single tax expenditure is interest on the national debt, that was larger than what we spent on defense.
I didn’t say they won’t collect the same amount of money that they now take with a bayonet. I’m just saying that they can’t pay out.
Love Oatman and the trip from Kingman to Oatman is a cool day trip if you have the time.
Olive Oatman’s story still fascinates.
There are a number of true accounts of settler children being captured by the native American Tribes, then raised as one of their tribal family. Some of the family of Quannah Parker, Comanche Chief born of an Anglo mother, live locally here in Central Texas.
X2
.
Olive was given an Indian (local native) name that I won’t mention here because it’s a family blog.
Despite being 12yo boys inside, we’re all adults…after what has occurred in the past few year, pretty sure we can handle it.
Lustful.
The tribe named her (translated) bad smelling vagina. Apparently an untreated malady
Re: Canada. Et tu, Kalifornia? Here is just one article.
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https://accountinginsights.org/is-the-california-exit-tax-unconstitutional/
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Now where did I stash that Gonzales flag?
Don Lemon is embarrassingly stupid.
He needs to be in a network setting where things are controlled and scripted, because he absolutely cannot handle one-on-one interviews.
Lemon is not quick with a comeback, or a deflecting joke. I mean, after than Elon crack, you can just see the hamster scrabbling desperately on that internal wheel that powers Lemon’s brain trying to come up with a response. Also, Lemon doesn’t seem to get that stupid people are uneffective trying to pull off the sanctimonious condescension/victimhood schtick. Some people are disturbingly good at it, but he is not one of those people. What a dipstick.
Some would label your remark as ‘racist and homophobic’ because Lemon, as a negro sodomite, is a victim.
Being Mike_C…when he mentioned “hamsters” within the context of Lemon-ny Snickers I was bracing for the inevitable…uuhh…never mind. Luckily he was speaking of what was powering the guys tortured brain, which Mike covers well enough…we see the guy for who he is, and that isn’t too far from the other end.
I don’t know that Lemon was involved in “gerbiling” but I wouldn’t be surprised if either he or Big Mike Obama engaged in the practice.
I was once trapped on a quad lift at Keystone (Colorado) with three guys who were discussing the gerbilling thing with considerable enthusiasm and (what seemed to me to be) inside knowledge. (“Inside” knowledge. Heh.) I recall looking down and wondering, “How bad would I be hurt if I just jumped off of this MF’er right now?” That was me back in grad school. These days I’d regale them with stories about … er, things. “What kind of things, Mike?” “Oh, just … Things. You know, like … stuff.” (The best defense is an insane-sounding and totally unbalanced offense.) Anyway, I recall a couple of tips:
1. Use nail clippers to remove the gerbil’s claws. And smash out the teeth. You don’t want a perforated colon, after all.
2. Rub the gerbil’s nose in cocaine shortly before insertion. It increases the squirmy quotient. “Coked for his pleasure. Ewwww.”
That’s all I remember. Sorry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoRXQDPkDcs
Thanks, Garth!
Gerbiling was a big thing back then. When Richard Gere, the actor, was admitted to County USC Medical center with sever abdominal distress they found seven gerbils (dead) in plastic sacks embedded in his colon. My recollection was seven. It could have been six.
.
If that’s the only way you can achieve an orgasm, you have a lot of problems in life. More than I can possibly imagine.
Worcester-class cruiser. Six turrets, an even dozen 6-inch/47-caliber Mark 16 guns, each gun capable of firing 8-10 rounds per minute.
Potent
Live near Tail of the Dragon, and have been up and down it a few times. Really should stop at the restaurant and eat there. Dunno why I haven’t.
There’s a news report that the illustrious geniuses in Colorado are trying to force a church camp for kids to put boys and girls in the same cabins and share the same showers.
Sounds like grounds for some interesting law suits…if the camp isn’t forcefully closed first.
It’s in court now. SCOTUS, I believe.
Colorado has gone full Satan. In the not so recent rearview these people would be in jail for indecent acts on a child, but now that small faction of lunatics and cretins have worked hard to normalize aberrant behaviors against children.
I full well realize that LL’s on a road trip and this should not give me license, but, the 2nd ROTD …
Ever consider the words on the polished aluminum sign above the elevator button(s)
“In Case of Fire
Elevators Are Out Of Service
Use Fire Stairs”
Anyone have a suggestion what a person with two walking sticks, or a much-needed walker, or a self-operated (meaning no companion) wheelchair is to do?
https://youtu.be/pG8TyIEAqps?si=-mOpSPZmbjMRgKW7&t=33
—
What can I say? It sucks to be infirm.
TNX.
There are times I’m grateful my hearing’s going as well
With enough problems, they start solving each other ….
Boron… If it’s a real emergency, fire and smoke, use your cell phone, or landline and call 911 and report location will be stairwell landing, on floor x, and you are handicapped so can’t self evacuate.
*
Then if possible get to the stairwell, close the door and wait. If stuck, call811 back and provide you’re new location, explain why so they understand.
*
Carry a whistle in your pocket. Blow it on occasion to draw attention. Periodicity open stairwell door, check hallway for others.
*
The firemen will search the stairwells. If stairwell fills with smoke, check hallway, if clear move into hallway but try to stay where you can be seen. Blow whistle on regular basis.
Make your peace with God. If you have a weapon, hold it so the valkyries will take you to Valhalla. If the police see you holding the weapon while you await rescue, they’ll shoot you, accelerating the process.
I would feel both embarrassed and exalted to clean Heiðrún’s stall, let alone be allowed to drink of the mead that runs from her udders
I’m so glad I await a better reward than that. :)
TNX
Boron, re: elevator signage…when I first got to Colorado, coming in from Southeast PA, Boulder Canyon had these signs posted every half mile or so: “In case of flood climb to safety”. I thought, “Do they really need to tell people that?” Later I discovered the answer to that question…it being Boulder and a certain type the place attracted.
Kindle book purchased this morning… now I have a weekend evening activity… thanks LL…
Thx
The Appalachian word of the day for marinara had me laugh out loud so hard my wife came from the other room to check on me. Tell that kid she’s a star.
DAMN!…….Now I have to sweep my lab for hidden cameras! How’d you get past the dog, LL?
Well, then, nice hair style ya got there…that “220, 221, whatever it takes!” voltage can be dangerous stuff when probing around.
The Iberia mess is what happens when there is too much ‘dependence’ on ‘nature’ to provide power, and not enough back up capability (e.g. coal, gas, nuclear) to carry the full load. Frankly, I’m surprised they were able to get a dark start and get back on line at all.
“I strongly recommend to them, however, that to get their Energy Costs down, they stop with the costly and unsightly windmills, and incentivize modernized drilling in the North Sea.”
EL SENOR is truly messing up their nasty little party. I like that.
Respect to Warrant Payne.
Tunnels under Chicago? Sounds like a job for the IDF.
Vague memory – wasn’t there a breach in one of the tunnel walls that filled them with lake water? MI