Bullet Points:
** She loves Mexico – but she doesn’t want to go back.
** Considering a hunger strike? That will show the man!
A Few Thoughts on the Xi-Trump summit in Busan (October 30, 2025)
There’s a lot of chatter out there about Xi kicking Trump around like an unwanted stepchild at Busan. The always reliable New York Times and the Atlantic echoed that bit of propaganda. I don’t know what was said because I wasn’t there. However, if you read Virtual Mirage, you get an LL take on the problems that China is facing, which are not inconsequential. We all know the issues that the US has with the Patriots and Communists backed by the Deep State in America. The Chinese situation within the Sino-American bipolar framework is complicated. They are stuck with some really nasty allies: Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela, which is showing signs of falling off the list. The Chinese thought they had things in the bag, only to find they didn’t suddenly. China is trying to find its position of advantage in a world that is no longer bending over for them. As the Prime Minister of Iraq told me a month ago in person in Baghdad, “There is only one country in the world that matters and that’s the United States.”
The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius?
President Trump speaks often of an American Golden Age. By the time President Trump leaves office, tariffs will be, for the most part, much higher than they are now, but to rebalance trade, it was necessary to ease up on most countries. Trump’s goal is to drastically cut government spending, reduce its costs, and fund it through external sources. America is extremely lucky as it can be self-sufficient.
Can folks afford 5-8 TVs, six cars, and a host of other wasteful things? Probably not, but we are headed back to basics; we are moving away from financial services being the largest, richest group of folks in the country. Arrived here at this juncture by exporting all the jobs and turning into a service and welfare economy. We are finally moving away from that. Tariffs are here to stay, and folks are going to find out that it’s the best way to finance the Government because it’s non-inflationary. Because the government is funded with outside money, we no longer need to borrow, and therefore, we no longer need the Federal Reserve. At least, that is the direction the country is moving, and it’s why those in financial services oppose what Trump is doing.
The financial sector rails against tariffs, they rail against jobs and manufacturing coming back, and a host of other things. Money is made /stolen/misappropriated in our current system. As we move into the new financial system, you’re going to get your money by working for it or investing in it with a reasonable ROI, because under the old system, people made massive amounts of money through financial schemes, destroying industries and folks’ lives. Those days are coming to an end as we move into the golden age. Rare earths will be mined and processed here, and the majority of all goods will be manufactured here. A totally new age is coming, so get ready for it.
Identify the Ship
1
End
5-8 TV sets? The first TV I bought was a small B&W to serve as a monitor for a Commodore 64. If I did watch TV it would only be one set at a time – I can’t picture needing more than one to watch and one as a replacement. Besides, TV programming tends to give me hives.
Identify the Ship – Japanese Navy Kumano Mogami-class frigate
Yes
Sure appreciate the art. It’s pleasant for the wake up hour. Enhancing ability to muse. Thought provoking ingredients to start the day. Especially in the new era we are entering.
President Trump is playing for time now. Will the trillions in commitments relate to trillions that arrive and are put to work in the US? He’s betting on it primarily because of tariffs, and also because of a resurgent, dominant America.
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EVERYTHING that Communist China does – absolutely everything is designed to weaken or damage the United States. It’s their sole focus, and they’ve put a lot of effort into it. They’ve been successful in their war against the US (that we don’t often acknowledge) in many situations. Will the death of a thousand cuts work?
China’s sole focus is damage to the United States and the Democrat’s sole focus is damage to the President of the United States… sounds like they almost have common goals doesn’t it?
They have a lot in common.
👍
X2…all about the demise of America and her (our)President.
And the Donks would have us right back in the Dark Ages if they could. And they can. It ain’t over. It ain’t NEVER gonna be over. To quote Captain Redlegs in The Outlaw Josey Wales, “doin’ right ain’t got no end” and that cuts both ways.
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When Hilary Clinton and his wife got elected the first time, a buddy said we’d only have to put up with them for four years. I told him we’d be putting up with those two azz-holes for the rest of our lives, and I take no satisfaction in the accuracy of my prophecy.
You’re on the money, WWW. As is often quoted, Benjamin Franklin said that they delivered a Republic to us if we could keep it. Who would have thought that the Clintonians would end up being “moderates?” The Clintons were, first and foremost, crooks, as were the Chicago Cartel that came into office with Bathhouse Barry and his husband. You can argue that most presidents were tainted (not pure) to different degrees, as are most politicians. American politics has always been messy, but it beats the alternative. Who wants Canada to the north or Mexico to the south?
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When we go into the sunset, it will be up to others to keep the ball rolling – if they can.
one year (1978) into Jimmy Carter’s presidency (yes! I’m ashamed to admit it took me that long), I realized that we’d bought a peanut farm.
to me, the Clintons were just another bunch of crooked peanut farmers
Was Jimmy Carter a well meaning idiot or was he evil? The Clintons (particularly Hillary) were evil.
Carter was a solid Christian…but a nice guy, not a good man…could not make tough decisions. Some would call that being naive, especially considering he managed to occupy the highest office.
Internet sources seem to have polished his Navy career. A friend was a deck officer on the Enterprise. He told me Carter’s last sea assignment was on a replenishing ship – not a career trajectory for a career submariner. I’ve never had much respect for him, both as the President and after he left office.
They did the same thing to Big Mike Obama, Barack’s husband.
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I’ve mentioned before on the blog that his son ran for the US Senate in Nevada. I recall driving through Las Vegas, and in a supermarket shopping center and attached strip mall, there was a campaign stand—maybe fifty or sixty feet long, with a big sign: “Meet President Jimmy Carter.” He was there shaking hands and stumping for his son (who was beaten like a redheaded stepchild by his competition). There were six or seven people there. Everyone else ignored him.
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The same was true of a Biden rally in Phoenix during his presidential run. I drove by when Old Pedo Joe was there, and there may have been 20 people. I wondered at the time how many were newsies, how many were paid supporters, and who might have been there from the public. If it had been President Trump, there would have been twenty or thirty thousand. Yes, Biden won Arizona and turned out to have received 20 or 30 million more votes than Obama did… Biden will go down as a turd in the same way that Carter will. Obama will be celebrated for being a mulatto…sort of the George Floyd of politicians.
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You can try to polish a turd, but it will never be anything but a turd. Trying to pick up a turd from the clean end is an exercise in frustration.
https://www.military.com/history/how-jimmy-carter-saved-canadian-nuclear-reactor-after-meltdown.html
As I understand it, that report is accurate. But I wonder if anyone actually wanted to work with him. Sometimes competence and even bravery isn’t enough.
Maybe the radiation got to him.
To be fair, he did stop the deportation proceedings against General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, which in that day and time took more than a little moral backbone, considering Carter’s avowed political party.
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Other than that, I didn’t have any use for him.
Identify the Ship:
1. JS Kumano
Excellent
Frank,
The Commodore 64 still in working order? My Commodore VIC-20 couldn’t hold a candle to yours but is still in working order. It’s amazing how far we’ve come.
It needs a new power supply, other than that everything was working. Commodore dropped the ball when it came to the software side of things, otherwise they’d probably still be going strong. Also have a Gateway computer from the Windows 95 era that is still going strong.
Speaking of software – read elsewhere about a five man team creating a combat duck game that sold two million copies in two weeks, “Schedule 1” created by one guy that sold 5 million copies, “Silksong” created by three guys that sold six million copies. Meanwhile the BIG NAME software game companies are floundering, like they don’t know how to write a good game.
I have two, working, Commodore 128’s, four disk drives, and a ton of software for them. They still work “as new”.
I couldn’t keep mine running. Or see a reason to.
Seemed like I was always aligning the disk drives.
I think it’s in a box in the attic.
Taking away government largess, and moving it to self-sufficiency, will be easier when the demand for employees other than illegals is continued. The hardest thing will be removing the mind-set the government is responsible for all aspects of life by those with decades of that heritage for example. My experience shows many young men are looking for more, and with some teaching on the job, they learn skills that move them forward in life. Of course, that involves becoming responsible for their spawns. That’s a daunting task when all financial support in the past was provided by taxpayers. Children are expensive, and the demand to remove benefits for more than one child is necessary. Mistakes happen, but rewarding those mistakes is too costly on society.
I think that we’re nearing a social inflection point with the convergence of AI and robotics. Their impact on society will be profound in the developed world. (Africa will still be Africa)
Amazon is pink slipping a large number of employees who are being replaced by “automated” management systems using AI. Oops…guess “learn to code” was short-lived.
It must be galling to “make yourself redundant.” A lot of people in jobs do just that. The secret to longevity in any position is to become indispensable to management.
Training your replacement is an old assignment.
Pushing you out after you’ve finished training your replacement is also a common situation.
please note:
many hospital jobs (minimal education required) remain open
We’re short on tradespeople as well. As LL and Ed said, never make yourself expendable, if possible…and as dad said to me too many moons ago, “Learn a trade, you’ll always have a backup.”
Taking one for the team.
Your sacrifice is noted. Other blog readers won’t fully understand how much you’ve given for the sake of the online forum, but I do.
(1) TV…or more accurately, ‘flatscreen’. (Not including the desk laptop monitor). Heck, a 65” Smart TV is fairly inexpensive now compared to years ago. But no TV allowed in the bedroom…it’s a sanctuary away from the world. None in the kitchen or garage (ok, maybe the garage, so that’s two). No matter, agree on the tariff deal…mailbox money from others. And absolutely the FedRes needs to go, fiddling with market forces, aka. their Wall Street finance pals that enrich themselves while 30 year-olds can’t purchase a home like my parents did on $23k a year.
My 17 year old 44″ flat screen Samsung died on Monday. Bzzzzt and the magic smoke was released. It cost $450ish from HH Gregg (which is long gone…)
Went to Best Buy the next day and bought a 50″ LED Samsung. For $240. The 6″ increased diagonal size and the higher resolution makes seeing even old 60’s and 70’s tv shows look like they’ve been filmed last year.
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For $210 less I got 500% more. Electronics have come down so far in cost and gone up (if you choose a good company, and those Koreans can build a quality product) that it’s ridiculous.
Two things that are being ignored that the CCP is doing are illegal fishing inside foreign EEZ, including ours, and drilling for oil in the Gulf of America. BOTH of those should be stopped with predudice!
Kicking the Venezuelan cartels in the teeth is the first step in re-establishing the Gulf and Caribbean as US controlled waters.
X2 ASAP