Decapitation
Those termites… When you think people will be lulled into a false sense of security, the PRC lashes out, revealing itself and its intentions. Nobody knows whether the goose-stepping Chinese legions can fight because they haven’t done any actual fighting in memory – but they act like they can. In response, the Japanese are on a serious military build-up for war in the Western Pacific (WESTPAC), and the Chinese are helping them prepare for that fight…because they’re termites.
This week, China’s Consul-General — an actual government representative — went on social media and threatened to “cut off the dirty neck” of Japan’s Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi.
(h/t Claudio) We recall that several years ago, China’s ambassador to France publicly stated, ‘It is inappropriate to regard the small Baltic states formerly as independent nations.’ This remark by a diplomat dubbed a “war wolf” provoked strong protests from the EU and the respective countries. Now, another such “war wolf” diplomat appeared.
Regarding remarks by Xue Jian, the Chinese Consul-General in Osaka, implying a ‘decapitation theory’ concerning Japanese Prime Minister Takagi Sanae, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara Minoru stated at a press conference on the 10th that Xue’s comments were ‘highly inappropriate’ and that Japan had lodged a protest with China.
During her first appearance before the House of Representatives Budget Committee on the 7th, Ms Takaichi stated that ‘an incident involving Taiwan’ could constitute a ‘crisis threatening Japan’s survival,’ asserting that Japan’s current security legislation permits the exercise of collective self-defence rights. She is the first sitting Japanese cabinet minister to make such a public declaration.
On the night of the 8th, Xue Jian, the Chinese Consul General in Osaka, reposted an Asahi Shimbun report on social media platform X, writing: ‘Such an intruding filthy head should be beheaded without hesitation. Are you prepared for that?’ He accompanied the post with an angry emoji. Although he deleted the post on the evening of the 9th, it had already sparked controversy in Japan.
At the aforementioned press conference, Kihara stated that such remarks from the head of a Chinese diplomatic mission abroad were, frankly, utterly inappropriate. He added that Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had protested with China via its embassy in Beijing, expressing strong dissatisfaction and demanding the immediate removal of the posts.
Following the deletion of his decapitation remarks, Xue Jian continued posting, asserting that ‘the notion that “an incident in Taiwan is an incident for Japan” is a path to destruction chosen by certain foolish Japanese politicians,’ that ‘this violates Japan’s obligations as a defeated nation in World War II,’ and that ‘Japan must restore a minimum level of rationality and the spirit of the rule of law to avoid suffering national extinction akin to defeat in war.’ and that ‘the Taiwan issue concerns no Japan and should be resolved by the Chinese people themselves.’
Increasingly, there are signs that Xi Jinping’s China bears some resemblance to Putin’s preparation for the invasion of Ukraine, in that it seeks to eliminate all potential foreign obstacles to China’s military seizure of Taiwan before hostilities commence.
Between Xi, Putin, and Rocketman —the Nork —the free world is taking notice.
Book Review: Smuggler – A Memoir
About the book: Roger Reaves grew up a poor farm boy in Georgia and went from making ‘moonshine’ to becoming one of the most prolific smugglers of the 20th century. He covered six continents, transporting 20-ton shiploads of hash, tons of cocaine, and completed more than 100 sorties across the US border with plane loads of marijuana. His friends and associates spanned the globe from Medellin Cartel kingpins Jorge Ochoa and Pablo Escobar, to “Mr Nice” Howard Marks and the infamous Barry Seal, who was Rogers’s close friend and employee. He escaped from prison on five separate occasions; was shot down in both Mexico and Colombia; and tortured almost to death in a Mexican jail. Despite it all, Roger still has a twinkle in his eye as he recounts his life story. And you have probably never heard of him…till now.
VM Commentary: Reeves wrote the book without an editor, which makes it a rough read at times. I asked myself, “Who is that again?” as the list of notorious characters played their parts in his life. He considers himself a hero. I think that he was an adrenaline junkie who loved the highs of the smuggler’s life. I know most of the characters he described in the bar and judiciary in Los Angeles, and he was fair in his characterizations. Reeves had/has contempt for the law, cozied up to a lot of filthy people like Bill and Hillary Clinton and Pablo Escobar, and made (and lost) hundreds of millions of dollars in the trade. Bottom line, he trafficked in poison and didn’t take responsibility for his part in the pain and sorrow that he inflicted on the victims of his actions. He was in it for the money and didn’t overly concern himself with the lives of his family that he upended. Roger Reaves is a sociopath. That said, despite the rough read at times, he has an interesting story to tell, and I read the book cover to cover.
Reaves has several Facebook interview videos out. For more on the subject: American Made, starring Tom Cruise. Barry Seal worked for Roger Reaves.
Flashback!
As part of the engagement known as the Easter Sunday Raid, which was the Indian Ocean raid by carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy on April 5th, 1942, a wave of Aichi D3A dive bombers took off from three Japanese carriers to attack the Cornwall commanded by Captain Percival Manwaring, RN and Dorsetshire commanded by Captain Augustus Agar VC, DSO, RN 200 miles south-west of Ceylon, and sank both cruisers. Total British losses were 424 men killed; 1,122 survivors spent thirty hours in the water before being rescued by the light cruiser Enterprise and two destroyers.
Excavation
(MSN) Queen Neith is believed to date to around the time of the Sixth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, and is associated with King Teti, whose pyramid complex she lies beside. Her name appears carved on an obelisk in her mortuary temple—her identity restored after millennia of anonymity.
Her burial complex isn’t just a simple tomb. It lies amid a web of coffins and mummies, and features a pyramid dedicated to her. This is the evidence that she held a high status, though the full details of her life remain elusive.
Because her name did not feature in the usual records of queens and pharaohs, her rediscovery is the re-entry of a voice into Egypt’s royal narrative.
The excavation yielded more than just one pyramid. Investigators uncovered around 300 coffins and over 100 mummies in interconnected shafts, alongside a pyramid dedicated to Queen Neith.
The shafts ranged from roughly 30 to 59 feet (9 to 18 meters) deep, and many coffins bore elaborate decorations and detailed faces. These finds link Neith’s pyramid to a broader funerary complex spanning Old Kingdom and New Kingdom elements. This revelation prompts historians to rethink how burial zones at Saqqara were used over time and how royals and elites were placed near King Teti’s burial zone. (more in the article)
Bullet Points:
** Private Schools vs Public Schools – a discussion.
** Dating advice for crying Tick Tockers. (Walsh)
** “A Man should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” – Heinlein
** J-6 Pipe Bombs (Beck) A former DC Police Officer is a match for the pipe bombs. FBI covered it up…wow, who would have thought?
** Off the dock – more boating with EdB.
** Bounty Hunting Illegal Aliens – DonB threw this over the transom. (ZeroHedge). Very early in this Administration — last February, if memory serves — President Trump spoke about wanting to do this. Apparently, it’s being considered again. (here) The original concept required the contractor to hold a Private Investigator license and to have a connection to a bail bondsman (skip tracer) to be certified to apprehend illegal aliens (also known in some circles as wetbacks) and deliver them to ICE facilities for processing. You’d only need one licensee to oversee crews of mercenaries working under that specific contract. I spoke to people close to the matter back in February and to an attorney I know who is connected to a bondsman. The Federal Government was talking $1,000 a head, and my sense was (and is) that I could likely scoop ten bodies a day myself with knowledge that I have – targeting the Chinese birthing operations in the San Gabriel Valley (Los Angeles). Pregnant Chinese ladies aren’t going to run far or fast, and it’s a twofer. You could branch out, but it would be a lucrative trade. The Trump Administration pulled back on the notion, but as DonB points out, it’s back on the table.
** Who is the most disgusting person on the planet? (Ryan)
** In China, the Hongqi Bridge collapsed in Southwest China, months after opening. It was a massive bridge connecting Tibet to the rest of the PRC. Elegant proof that bamboo is not as good as rebar.
Living Above the Transition Zone
There are distinctly different sections of Arizona. The basin (locally referred to as ‘the Valley’) is hot. People who live above the transition zone and the valley say of the hot lowlands, “If I owned this place and Hell, I’d rent this place out and live in Hell.”
The White Wolf Mine is located comfortably ABOVE the transition zone where few others dare to live.
People in the Valley often respond this way: “The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won’t let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn ’em all away. But they’re not punishing you, he said. They’re freeing your soul.”
You go with that.
Pelosi’s Replacement in Congress
(Link) If you think men don’t belong in girls’ bathrooms, kids shouldn’t get irreversible sex changes, or cops should stop street prostitution of minors, Scott Wiener probably thinks you’re a bigot.
Indeed, it seems easy to offend Wiener, the San Francisco Democrat running for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D.) seat — and anyone who holds mainstream or conventional views on biology, women’s or parents’ rights, or conservative governance frequently does.
Last month, Wiener found it “gross” that San Francisco women turned up at his annual Halloween event to protest his transgender policies. He called the late Charlie Kirk a “vile bigot” before and after the conservative activist was brutally, publicly murdered. Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are also “bigots,” and Republican diplomat Richard Grenell is a “self-hating gay man.”
Identify the Ship
You could not have won a war without them—true then and true today.
1
First of her Class
2
3
4
Identify the Aircraft
5
Parting Shot
The Moose is loose!
End
(1) Liberty ship.
(2) Limited capacity troopship?
(3) I think it’s a T-2 tanker.
(4) IDK, except that it looks like another Liberty type.
(5) Skyraider AEW.
– Kle.
I think that I may have stumped you a little, Kle. #5 is a Skyraider AEW.
Yep, today’s examples do not play to my ID strengths.
– Kle.
1 – USS Basilan originally a Liberty Ship
2 – USS Klondike
3 – USS Mississinewa
4 – SS Ceasar Rodney Liberty Ship
5 – Royal Navy Douglas Skyraider AEW.1
Outstanding.
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USS Basilan was a Basilan-class miscellaneous auxiliary acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. The ship was designed as a combined barracks, stores, and water distillation ship, but was later converted to an electronics repair ship. The AGs, of which Basilan was one, served in various supporting roles.
Off the dock; 3 times a charm, lol,lol, watched it the 3rd time, lol. Best cup O’ Joe I’ve started the day with in a while!
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That’s the one time a body could be glad she broke the line, lol!
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I caught one jack salmon, the only keeper this summer. 4 natives I landed had to turn back. The 2 Chinook I landed, the netter lost. One of them after jumping out, went under tge boat and broke a swivel, in its place the captain’s cowboy dude hat fell into the net. No lol’s.
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The other day recruits were being sought for Ed’s high speed shark hunter outfit. I have no experience with harpoons. Is he interested in materials now for more ballast in the bow? Had that anchor made it off the dock, would that craft be like taking water over the stern?
Ballast in the bow. That’s one way of putting it.
I’m chuckling picturing you chasing pregnant chinese women down the streets of L.A. , in my mind it is set in Adam12 days . Not that you would look funny doing it , just that the chinese ladies would be screaming in chinese over their shoulders as they ran .
The Heinlein quote is something to think about , quite a bit to think about actually .
Thanks for the thought provoking words.
Heinlein often leaves you thinking…
It feels like I’ve been seeing that Heinlein quote all my life, but it’s only 55 years or so. The last line, “specialization is for insects” was a regular saying back in my days of working all day and working on a Master’s at night. That led to the saying, “a PhD means learning more and more about less and less until you know everything about nothing.”
Yes, it’s funny.
4 when you dont want to givea drug smuggler even a small donation:
https://annas-archive.org/md5/41b46ea91529bb5ded17224fd40b7e27
That’s pretty cool, Tam Bora.
Unfortunately, that Web site steals the text of books from all over, and thereby steals the income the author should be able to expect from a sale of the book. As an author myself, I hate this: a number of my books are on that site, and there are plenty of other sites doing the same thing. Being semi-disabled, my writing is my sole source of income, so to see sites like this literally stealing the bread from out of my mouth . . . it leaves a very nasty taste.
I just checked. They only have one of mine. What’s the deal, Peter? Do they buy one copy and then spider it out on the web or do they manage to swipe the first digital copy without paying for it?
How are they getting around copyrights?
THAT is a very interesting question. Maybe the site and data are in a country that doesn’t recognize US copyrights – like communist China or Cuba?
Mostly they obtain books submitted by their readers/users. Some of them will hack the copy protection on a mainstream e-book format (you can download packages such as Calibre that will “translate” Kindle books into ePub and other formats). In some cases, they photocopy the print edition and use an OCR program to convert it to editable text, then correct the errors. No current security system seems to stop them.
As for copyright protection, it’s a joke. They have mirror Web sites all over the place; if you shut one down, another two will spring up in other countries within a matter of hours.
Thanks, Peter. I wasn’t fully aware of this.
I spent a few weeks up by Flagstaff one summer, really nice climate! Around 85 in the day and 60-65 at night which I find to be great for sleeping.
I met a guy who claimed to be a “snowbird” because he winters in Tucson and summers in the Flagstaff area. I’ve been to Tucson in July, and I get it.
But, it’s a dry heat….
I’m on the Colorado plateau at the same altitude as Flagstaff =/- a few feet. The climate is nice. Yes, there’s some snow in the winter, but nothing too extreme mostly.
I don’t care about “dry heat”. If it’s hot, then it’s HOT!
We lived in Tucson for 17 years and it was indeed very warm, although the maximum temperature averages about 10-15 degrees cooler than Phoenix. I used to joke that babies are born in Tucson being able to say: “Yeah, but it’s a dry heat.” Having lived in the humidity of northern Virginia and Southwestern Japan, there is a noticeable difference.
In 2006 we bought 40 acres outside Snowflake (on the Colorado Plateau at 6000’ elevation) and started prepping the off-grid homestead for retirement. In 2019 we relocated and it’s been very nice since then. I do a lot more ranch work now, but working on what feeds us is rewarding.
Transition Zone: Just because Scottsdale/Cave Creek has green golf courses, nice gated communities, and good restaurants (with misters during Summer so patrons don’t wilt into their Cobb Salad), doesn’t mean man should live there, yet many do,and love it. First visit there on business you could fry an egg on the sidewalk. No thanks. The Transition Zone is more ‘hospitable’ for rugged individualists.
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It has become clear that Congress is utterly useless to MAGA, and by extension, We The People. What can be done to fix their fecklessness? Maybe nothing.
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Opening Picture: Who was creepier as The Joker, Heath Ledger or Joaquin Phoenix? Neither…it’s Scott Wiener for the win! (Why do these Democrat weirdo’s always have names that are meme-friendly? Always something in a name, or as MrsPaulM says, “Never ride a horse named Widowmaker, no matter what the head wrangler tells you.”)
MRSPAULM – words to live (or not live) by. When I was a kid and rode a different kind of bike from my Ducati (She Devil), there was a mountain in Utah called “The Widowmaker,” and everyone wanted to ride it – mainly because of the name. I never went there and did that, which surprises me at this point in my life, because in those days, I took all challenges.
If you did you could write another book about the adventure (could also have some probability of an ‘I Shouldn’t Be Alive’ episode). Experience tells one to either advance or retreat on such adventures, especially when in a predictable ‘life threat’ situation. Was up in RMNP on a 3-day backpack, took the new roommate. Went straight off the top of Trail Ridge down into the valley below, heading to a shelf lake on the other side. (To the dismay of onlookers.) Not a lot of people go there. Woke up the next morning to a heavy Spring snow coming down with 6 inches already on the ground. Told him that it was time to go. Got back to the car in the sloppy mess and drove down. Got to the gate with people in shorts and t-shirts in the sun waiting for the road to reopen…the look of relief on the Ranger was priceless. Told him, “Yeah, we could tough it out, but this time wasn’t one of them.” He said, “We figured we’d be going in after you two, so thanks for making my day and not being ‘one of those’.”
Reading Smuggler right now. It’s as described. Good read for relaxation. Never understood why people do drugs. I understand the adrenalin rush. In reality, the guy is a true scumbag POS.
The more you get into the story, the more of a dirtbag he is. In the end, he moralizes that he is the hero and “the man” is the problem. He needs to spend more time in the inner city and take a hard look at what cocaine does to people. Though some blog readers may disagree with me, I make a similar case for marijuana. And for this historical record, I’ve seen a lot of lives destroyed by alcohol, so don’t play that card either. Cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl just do it faster.
I briefly had contact with him, as he needed some aviation knowledge I had (a colleague passed him to me as “there’s something very wrong with this and I don’t understand him. Can you deal with it?”)
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Definitely a sociopath, with a high level of charm, a lot of skill at wielding it, a silver tongue, and an unshakeable conviction that he is always right, and even if he wasn’t, it was worth it for the adrenaline rush, and “come on, you got to agree it was fun!”
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Afterward, my much more innocent colleague came to me to try to figure out what had just happened. “You seemed like you were getting along with him?” … No, honey, that’s the kind of man you identify as a predator, and then keep smiling and laughing while you quickly figure out where the exits are, and if you need to grab anyone else on the fastest, shortest route the heck out of there. Don’t *ever* let them get between you and the door, agree to nothing, and treat it like you’re going to have to give deposition on it…
X2 – The thing about sociopaths and narcissists (I lump them together but there may be clinical differences) is that they believe their own line of BS and care nothing for the pain and suffering they inflict.
Sometime back around 2000, wife, youngest son, and I went aboard S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien when she was docked at the Port of Sacramento. Aboard, we met Marill Johnson and bought a copy of his book “Thirteen Desperate Hours”.
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1372834.Thirteen_Desperate_Hours
What’s new about the illegal alien bounty hunting program is that the govt proposes to do it on an industrial scale. Info about illegals would be released to skip tracers in batches of 10,000 names. Seems like a great application for automation and AI.
Yeah, I could make more money on my own by hunting them in batches, since they tend to hang together (ghetto philosophy). Let the other guys follow the government trace lists. I admit that, eventually, it will come down to government traces, but those are one-off things and manpower-intensive. Going for things like Chinese birthing centers allows you to snatch a lot of pregnant Chinese women and refer the property they were staying at to the Justice Department for civil forfeiture (of which you also get a cut). If the property is used exclusively for a continuing criminal enterprise, adios. So the gift keeps on giving. You don’t get that from skip tracing.
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I used the pregnant Chinese woman scenario for fun (sorta), but at the $1K/head rate, I think that somewhere between 5 and 10 people a day for a smaller crew using an airport van (12 seater) for transportation is very doable in California. $10K a day less overhead (fuel, insurance, bounty payouts to employees) is a decent payday.
It truly needs to be done on an industrial scale. The numbers are that big.
Ten million remaining (plus or minus) as a low number.
Interesting (as in scary) reaction in PRC to Japan on Taiwan.
And I’m pleasantly surprised she went there.
Nice to poke China in the eye.
However, while we are not allied with Taiwan, we are with Japan.
This is the back door guarantee of support for Taiwan by the US.
The last time the ChiComs tried something really militarily outside their country, little Viet Nam handed them their collective socialist asses.
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As to the marching video, Good Old Xi sure looks like he’s got a case of Parkinson’s. Tad bit shaky there, Xinny the Pooh. Mayhaps stories of his ill health and imminent demise are not so far off. Still unfulfilled, but looks like he’s getting closer to the great downstairs.
It was disturbing to find the novel that my daughter and I wrote on the Anna’s Archive. Thieves…
I am a day or two late.
but I am compelled to comment on the babylon bee opening.
As they so often do-
THEY NAILED IT!
now on to the rest of the post.
thanx again, for ALL you do for us mangy mutts.
some praise pdjt for donating his pay.
I would dare say Mr LL is more benevolent.
He does all,
without any recompense requested, accepted nor allowed.
(though, I do recall rumors of Labert dollars/vouchers/scrip or some such. I have filed these rumors with tripe hunts, jackalopes (even though i have a taxidermy head mounted in my living room ), bigfeet, space critters nd honest politicians.
myths
flights of fancy, etc
Juan
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26209823-ice-request-for-information-with-bounties-for-successfully-locating-immigrants/
For those who don’t know. Wolf Warrior was a 2015 Chinese movie about a Chinese special operations soldier. It set records when it was released in China. And the theme kind of became Chinese policy with the diplomatic corps of China. Basically “We’re the best and we treat you like crap. What are you going to do about it.” They had high level meetings during Bidens presidency in Alaska where they treated the American delegation like crap. I’ve been waiting (It’ll never happen.) for someone at State to present the Chinese delegation or Xi would be even better with a pile of wolf pelts and remind the Chinese that America used to have a wolf problem. Now the wolves live and range at our pleasure. And if they become a problem well, the problem gets taken care of.
X2 – great idea.