Bolt-Ons

Bullet Points:

** California, it turns out, may be facing a problem just as severe, if not worse. A recent state audit estimates that as much as $72 billion may have been “lost” to fraud and improper payments, according to initial reports. And like Minnesota, social services sit at the center of the damage. Food assistance programs alone cost the state an estimated $2.5 billion—programs riddled with payment errors to COVID-era relief spending that evaporated with little accountability. Those initial reports may not have made clear that the $72 billion figure reflects the total amount of funds managed by statewide programs and agencies flagged as high-risk due to potential vulnerabilities to waste, fraud, or mismanagement. While still a staggering sum, it does not mean $72 billion had already been misappropriated or counted as a confirmed loss.

** Rising exports from Mexico significantly boosted oil flows to Cuba last year, helping the island weather a sharp drop in Venezuelan crude shipments. https://ft.trib.al/XgwCNo1

** Saudi Arabia said it will open its stock market to all foreign investors on Feb. 1, as it looks to reverse last year’s lackluster performance and enhance the liquidity of a market it sees as key to financing its economic diversification. While the move may provide a temporary boost, investors say it’s probably not enough to counter perceptions that better returns are available elsewhere. Attracting foreign investment into the stock market has allowed the government to raise money by selling down a variety of state-controlled firms in recent years, most notably Saudi Aramco. Yet that momentum ebbed as the market underperformed last year. Getting it back on track will be tough. Investors are concerned about corporate earnings growth amid weak oil prices, government spending cuts, and uncertainty around key diversification projects. Scrapping the restrictions on foreign investor access is probably less significant than proposals to lift a 49% cap on foreign ownership of individual stocks, though the timing of that change is unclear. Anything less than a complete removal of that limit could be viewed as disappointing by investors.

** The American Golden Dome – graphic. At this point, it’s aspirational.

** The Hampton Inn (Hilton franchise) chain in Minnesota refused to allow ICE to book hotel rooms. Hilton cut them off at the knees, and the story has been in the news. Just for kicks, ICE should raid the former Hampton Inn hotel. I would like to see how many illegals it has on its staff.

** Natural gas is increasingly flowing across borders in the Middle East — even between countries that until recently had frosty relations. This week, Qatar agreed to boost liquefied natural gas supplies and expand energy cooperation with Egypt. The move followed a $35 billion deal announced last month under which Israel will export gas to Egypt until 2040. Egypt also agreed this week to supply gas to Syria via the Arab Gas Pipeline. Together, the deals would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, when Cairo was part of the embargo of Qatar and the former Syrian regime was a pariah. Once the new supplies begin, Israeli gas may indirectly fuel power plants in Syria, a sign of how energy needs are reshaping trade flows across the region.

** Cuba and Venezuela were propping each other up. And just like a tent, when you break a pole or pull the stakes on one side, collapse is inevitable. Venezuela owed Cuba billions up to a few days ago. Cuba relied on them for oil, and more importantly, inexpensive food. Maybe Mousey Tongue’s progeny in West Taiwan will prop them up. They’ll descend like the termites they are with bad haircuts, worse breath, little red books, and odious manners to save Cuba. But we all know that investment will turn out much the same as their Venezuelan investment has.

** The Guardian Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran is running out of time as it works out the logistics of flying its loot to Moscow. Will the Israelis shoot them down over the Caspian Sea as they fly north? Will the Russians in Sheremetyevo (SVO), Domodedovo (DME), and Vnukovo (VKO) allow them to leave the airports WITH their loot intact, or will the Russians say, “What ayatollah? He never made it to Mother Russia.”

** UK inquiry into Pakistani rape gangs is discussed here.

** West China (a very superstitious, and still mostly peasant nation) has been buying up politicians from Maduro to the former Big Guy’s crime family, and Fang-Fang’s Congressional boyfriend in the US, and they’re hoping to conquer East China by 2027. They (the Chinese) were going to have bases just a couple of hundred miles from the American coast. Even if America wanted to get involved, it would be busy defending against spoiler attacks from your new bases in Venezuela and Cuba. Without the US, the Japanese and the ROKs, competent though they are, would not be enough to stop the red tide. It was all coming together. A little planted fear here, a little propaganda there, a bunch of domestic problems that will surely look more important to fix than beginning an adventure on the other side of the world. Yes, it was all coming together. Then calamity. Your mighty, vaunted air defense envelope, that can track and engage the best stealth fighters in the world, can’t track shit, and quickly becomes a missile sponge. Your superior anti-aircraft missiles are blown up before they can leave the rails. All your shit turns out to be TEMU garbage, bad monkey copies of Western or forty-year-old Soviet designs.  If they are willing to fly into an enemy capital and black bag the dictator for life, what’s the likelihood that they’ll wait three weeks for debating society arguments to stop your invasion?

** SECSTATE Rubio – “We are going to take between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil. We’re going to sell it in the marketplace at market rates, not at the discounts Venezuela was getting. That money will then be handled in such a way that we will control how it is dispersed in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people, not corruption, not the regime.”

Historic Interlude

Midget Submarine XE3

On the night of the 31 July 1945, British midget submarine XE3, skippered by Lt. Fraser, with, NZer Sub Lt. Bill Smith, Chief ERA Reid and diver, Leading Torpedoman Magennis making up the crew, had navigated 60 odd miles through the Japanese controlled waters of Singapore, zigzagging through Dutch, British and Japanese mine-fields, and had managed to penetrate an anti-submarine net, with the intention of laying six limpet mines and a huge Amytol side-charge, to sink the 10200 ton Japanese heavy cruiser, Takao. Their target vessel was anchored close in-shore in shallow water, and Fraser had managed to get the tiny submarine into a low part of the seabed, right under the midships of Takao.

The XE3 carried six limpet mines in an external carrier on the starboard side; each one weighed 90 kilograms and was so heavy that, in order for them to be handled underwater, they were designed to be slightly buoyant. The hull of the Takao was encrusted with seaweed and barnacles, but the magnetic mines would only stick to bare steel. Magennis, the diver, had to scrape away at the sea growth, knowing full well that if an alert sentry spotted the floating debris, the alarm would be given. He fixed the first mine in position, but it quickly broke loose and began to float towards the surface. Magennis swam after it frantically before it could be seen. Rather than risk this happening again, he decided to use the devices’ inherent buoyancy to secure them in place. He joined two mines together with a line and allowed them to balance each other, one on each side of the keel. He did this with the other two pairs as well, leaving all six mines in place.

After almost an hour of physical and emotional strain, very conscious of the lowering tide, Magennis was thankful to find there was still enough space between the hatch and the battleship’s bottom to squeeze back into the submarine. He was then obliged to wait as the wet and dry compartments drained down, while the others operated the mechanism to release the portside Amytol charge. The four-tonne explosive fell off onto the seabed right under the cruiser’s keel. This made the submarine unbalanced, and it was necessary to drop the two-tonne limpet carrier from the starboard side. But it would not disengage, and Fraser knew he could not travel far like this and hoped it would fall away once they started moving. The tide was still dropping, and it was time to get out from under the Takao before it crushed them into the mud. Fraser ordered slow ahead on the electric motor, but the submarine didn’t move. He ordered full ahead, then full astern, and even used maximum power, but with no effect. The tiny submarine was well and truly stuck under the 10200-ton battleship.

Fraser stopped the motor and considered what to do. The limpet mines had no time fuses but were designed to detonate sympathetically with the Amytol charge, the fuse of which had been set for six hours hence. In normal circumstances, this would have given them plenty of time to move stealthily away from the area before the explosions. If they now chose to wait until the tide rose sufficiently to release them, they would have to remain inside until just before the explosion. Realistically, their only chance of survival was to keep trying to manoeuvre the submarine out from under the cruiser’s keel, but the danger in that was the great volume of mud churned up by the thrashing propeller. An alert sentry on the ship’s deck could foil all their hard work, and the Takao could be moved away from the Amytol charge before detonation. The six limpet mines would probably not explode unless they were very close to the shockwave from the explosion of the main charge.

Despite the danger, Fraser ordered emergency full power on the electric motors, and the temperature inside the submarine soared. The crew was drenched with sweat as the motor screamed at maximum revs. Then slowly she began to move. Little by little, she inched away from the shadow of the Takao. They were out, but their troubles were far from over. The heavy limpet-mine carrier was still hanging down, dragging along the sea bottom like a broken wing and causing the XE3 to swing around to starboard. The captain called a halt about 30 feet from the cruiser’s bow in only 20 feet of water. To carry on would have risked detection from the trail of churned-up mud.

Someone would have to go outside and prise the jammed side carrier off. Although Magennis was still in his diving suit, he was obviously spent from his previous dives. It was unfair to ask him to go out again, and the captain decided to go instead. But he had not reckoned on the obstinacy of the diver and his sense of duty. ‘If you don’t mind, sir,’ said Magennis, ‘I’m the diver, and I’ll do the diving. If you’ll just give me ten minutes to catch my breath, I’ll go out again and do the job.’

Armed with a giant spanner, Magennis went out for the second time through the wet-and-dry compartment and set to work on the dangling limpet carrier. They were so close to the enemy ship that Fraser had told him to make no noise. But the carrier needed a lot of persuasion, and he was obliged to bang and crash with the spanner, knowing full well that a hand grenade thrown from the enemy ship would be fatal.

It took a mere five minutes to do the job, but it seemed an eternity for the men inside the submarine as they listened to the horrible noise the diver was making outside. The temperature was cooking them slowly, and their nerves were stretched to breaking point. Eventually, Fraser burst out in a stream of naval bad language, cursing Magennis, the Admiral, the navy, and himself for volunteering in the first place.

Magennis re-entered the submarine, and the captain ordered ‘Half ahead. Steer 090 degrees, and XE3 crept into deeper, safer waters, but even then, they were not entirely out of danger. Less than a mile from the Takao, they came into a patch of colder water, which forced them to surface, but the crew worked like demons to force the boat down again and prayed that they had not been spotted. They waited for the cover of darkness before surfacing again and proceeding out to sea. Much later, all four crew members received gallantry awards; Fraser and Magennis received the Victoria Cross.

Identify the Rotor

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End