Caption: Sort of an A-6…through an AI lens.
Bullet Points:
** New laser weapons could give the U.S. military a cheaper way to destroy incoming drones and missiles. The Army is working toward a contract for the Enduring High Energy Laser system after successful testing in New Mexico. Once installed, lasers could cost only a few dollars per shot and require no traditional ammunition.
** Jules channels her inner Picasso.
** “Do not let fear touch you. Fear is the torrent. The raging river. To fight it is to break and drown. But to stand astride it is to see it, feel it, and use its course for your own whims.”
** Lunar living – and building.
** Down Under – (h/t Claudio) Australia will become the first export customer for the AIM-260A Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM), an air-to-air missile that will be integrated onto the country’s full fleet of fighter platforms. It seems that they no longer want to be a colony of Red China. What’s up with that? Isn’t it racist not to want a Red Chinese master?
** Return on investment (right). The UAE has spent more than $270 million on lobbying in Washington over the past decade, compared with $422 million by Saudi Arabia and $269 million by Qatar, according to the Financial Times. But the paper credits much of the shift to Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE’s ambassador to the US since 2008, who cultivated politicians, policymakers, universities, and the media while encouraging influential Americans to visit the Emirates. His efforts are the “ultimate case study in how to run a government public relations campaign in DC,” the FT reported.
** (The National) Dubai’s $1 billion Trump International Hotel and Tower is moving into the construction phase, with developer Dar Global awarding the contract to build the podium of the 80-floor Sheik Zayed Road skyscraper. The developer says 80% of the units have already sold.
** Are the Ukes giving Vlad the jitters? (TMZ) From recent satellite imagery, the Russian Navy now looks to be using nets to protect submarines from drone attacks at a highly strategic base on the country’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula. There are also signs that Russian forces have been taking new steps at a separate base along the Black Sea to shield submarines against uncrewed aerial threats. The appearance of the nets over the submarines at the base in Kamchatka points to how Russia’s concerns about drone threats have extended to critical facilities far removed from the battlefields of Ukraine. (h/t Claudio)
** Spain is at a naval crossroads. They want to distance themselves from the USA, and that’s fine with me. The French can supply them if they want to, but more likely, Spain will find a greater need for welfare payments to Islamic immigrants than they will to maintain their navy. The European 6th Gen fighters are a distant dream somewhere after the USA is building 7th Gen. (more here). Likely not even then.
** The Desalination Pipeline – There is no finalized Arizona-Mexico water or desalination pipeline currently under construction, and no completion date exists. While state water authorities have advanced early-stage proposals—such as concepts involving a desalination plant and transport corridor in Mexico—the earliest any such project could realistically begin delivering water is the early-to-mid 2030s. Environmental reviews, international treaty adjustments, and formal permits across both U.S. and Mexican governments remain incomplete.
** The Iran War – One way to ensure that Iran isn’t building a nuclear weapon is to eliminate their capacity to export oil. I realize that taking that piece of the world’s oil supply off the table might be considered to be too strong a move. But that seems to be what they are pleading for. I think we need to dismantle the infrastructure to a basic level and reduce the humanitarian aid that the IRGC leverages against the population like any warlord. That seems to be the way this will work. Turn Karg Island into a hole in the water rather than an Island. You are broke, you’ll always be broke, and unless you can grow food, you’ll starve. I don’t know where the water will come from. Making more missiles will be very difficult. Roads connecting here and there will be destroyed at the chokepoints. No more bridges, no more rails, no more dams, no more power plants, no more natural gas, no more. Too harsh?
“I see that Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran are asking for compensation for the damage done to them during the last five months Military Conflict,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It is an interesting idea because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran.” Add compensation for all the harm done by all Iranian proxies since the Shah fell.
** Watching atmospheres form (h/t Claudio). Interesting science.
** Arizona’s mining industry will get a major federal boost through support for a potential $1 billion loan for a Pinal County copper project and a share of $180 million in nationwide mining education grants. The potential $1 billion loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank would support Ivanhoe Electric’s Santa Cruz Copper Project near Casa Grande, pending approval through the federal lending process.
** Apparently, Francesca Hong’s narrow loss in Wisconsin’s Democratic governor primary is raising a bigger question about how far voters are willing to go with ideological politics. Hong had built a strong communist profile, but several past comments, including 86 Trump, police uphold white supremacy, defund police, cancel Thanksgiving, and remarks about too many old white people, resurfaced during the race. Her defeat does not prove that those statements alone cost her the nomination, but it does suggest that even in a Democrat primary, voters may still have limits – just when we were certain they didn’t have ANY.
** The Iran War has made the payoff substantial for companies willing to take the risk, or for those with alternative sea routes to ply: Last month, Saudi shipper Bahri reported a sixfold rise in quarterly profit, and today, ADNOC Logistics & Services said its profit quadrupled to $951 million in the second quarter. The danger is real — at least two of its vessels were attacked in July, killing one person and injuring several others. Higher charter rates and an expanded fleet drove the Abu Dhabi company’s earnings. ADNOC L&S is committing $2.3 billion this year to buy more oil and gas tankers. It has also raised its profit forecast for a third time this year.
** Building a better kamakaze – Ukrainian drone operators have destroyed many Russian armored vehicles on the ground and even military helicopters in midair using $400 Shrike drones with explosive payloads. Now thousands of such drones are getting upgraded with an AI system capable of autonomously tracking and homing in on moving targets.
** A Muslim – by any other name – As the U.S. Senate race in Michigan begins, the battle centers on Republican Mike Rogers calling his opponent by his full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El Sayed. The Muslim candidate says Rogers is Islamophobic for pointing out that he, El Sayed, is a Muslim. Eight years ago, he sought the Democratic nomination for governor of Michigan. In a May 10, 2018, Michigan Press Association gubernatorial forum, Abdulrahman Mohamed El Sayed said to Republican candidates, “You may not hate Muslims, but Muslims hate you.” If we’d called Barack Hussein Obama by his full name, maybe it would have stopped him from sending $56 billion in cash to his beloved Iran? To the surprise of no one, NBC reported that Barack Hussein Obama Jr. is expected to campaign for Abdulrahman Mohamed El Sayed.
Identify the Vehicle
1
Identify the Ship
2
Identify the Aircraft
3
4
End
Identify the Vehicle
1. Schwimmwagen Type 166/5 with snow rollers
Identify the Ship
2. Spanish Navy Álvaro de Bazán
Identify the Aircraft
3. Vultee V-11T
4. Republic XF-12 Rainbow
That didn’t take you long, MLT. Outstanding.
#1 First impression was the body was molded. Was that being done that early? If not, that is some complicated (and expensive) metal stampings.
Metal stamping of some sort.
Identify the Vehicle:
1. Volkswagen Schwimmwagen
Identify the Ship:
2. Spanish frigate Almirante Juan de Borbón
Identify the Aircraft:
3. TBD
4. Republic XF-12 Rainbow
#3 thing Vultee (rhymed)
.
Excellent.
Do not let fear touch you. Fear is the torrent. The raging river.
Pierce Brown sounds like Sun Tzu.
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The A6 picture is evocative.
Sun Tzu or Frank Herbert – or both.
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You’re up early, Ed.
It is by the bean of java that I set the mind in motion?
😂
I’m stealing that…brilliant!
It’s based on the Programmer’s Mantra, which was a parody of the Dune mentat saying. Also called the Caffeine Mantra.
You can find them online –
Mentat Mantra:
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of Java the thoughts acquire speed,
The hands acquire shaking,
The shaking becomes a warning.
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
I’d think how Germany would never surrender until the country was sent back a century by the destruction of war. The same for Japan. Iran is no different, and maybe more determined. Personally, I think if they had sent Iran back about a century and a half with initial bombing, the economic strain would have been much better. Iran would have no doubt their game was over, and the continuation of wasting money on munitions would never have happened.
I don’t think that the US is wasting munitions on Iran. The JDAM bolt-on to a 500-lb iron bomb (snake) can be a 40- to 60-year-old weapon that has been collecting dust. Picking targets is a combination of art and science. I hate to second-guess the people who do it. The bomb damage assessment is classified (which is no fun for us).
There were opportunities for both Germany and Japan to surrender earlier that the Allied nations couldn’t agree upon along with the slogan Unconditional Surrender. Note: War is war and my opinion is that you kill when the fighting is on and that the Nuremburg trials were a huge mistake. There were plenty of Germans who would have taken care of the remaining leaders if they had the opportunity.
*With Germany, part of the discussion was sending Germany to the Middle Ages to prevent another effort to take over central Europe. That was the same idea as occurred after WW I which led to the European depressions and then to the US depression. Europe was short on cash because they overextended themselves fighting with bucks that they didn’t have. Germany started manufacturing things for the rest of Europe, but no one had the cash to purchase even though the prices were set by the Allied nations.
*With Japan, the Emperor sought out opportunities earlier and was rebuffed. While the war factions were not in favor, they would have bowed to the Emperor’s decisions or been killed. The portion of the war faction that attempted to take over after the Emperor’s decision to surrender was dispatched. The big problem was that the Emperor would not be bumped off or tried by the Allied nations. Again, the factions loyal to the Emperor would have taken care of the war party in a Japanese manner.
*Iran is a different problem as the IRCG and the Ayatollahs are firmly set on their particular form of Islam ruling the entire world by the sword. I don’t have access to strike reports, BDA or anything that isn’t in the news. What I do know is that with precision munitions, it is easy to run out of worthwhile targets. Yes, you can blow up every bridge in Iran, but most of those bridges don’t have any value in stopping the war.
–The IRCG is paid with funds they skim from oil shipments, blackmail of shipping companies in contested international waters and other enterprises that don’t make sense to Americans but do to the Iranians. The news didn’t report well on this, but, the theater commander reported to Trump that they had destroyed everything on the target list. LL’s suggestion for targeting Kharg Island is not overlooked by the administration, but was reserved for the Gulf States after action (per news reports). Karg and other islands were seized by Iran decades ago.
–Destroying Kharg and strikes on the oil well heads would put an end to the IRCG’s money stream. The problem then would be elimination of enough of the remaining IRCG commanders and sealing the tunnels they have their weapons stored in. The latter is easy. Note: The Norks love to run weapons in and out of caves and if they started a war, they would be sealed quickly. The same would be true in Iran if the decision is made to plug the tunnels.
*Just thoughts. Thank Jimmy and the agencies he allowed to make big moves in Iran when the Shah was ill giving us this problem today.
Good thoughts.
We bombed North Vietnam back to the stone age and they were ready to capitulate and then the Dems and the US media screwed that pooch.
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So, yes, returning the jerks back to dirt stage or setting the stage for the country’s occupants to revolt against their leaders is the only way to change the country.
Random comment – the house I bought in Missouri has a swimming pool. I have finally started finding time to check on it. The pH, alkalinity, and chlorine levels are all out of whack, and one pump hose has a crack in it(the nearby grass enjoyed all the water dripping out). The joys of owning/being owned by things…
…and yet, we are all living in a governmental HOA where they believe ruling over your possessions – that you maintain at your cost – is their purvey; taxing said possessions. “Ah, you have a Poooool, that’ll be another grand!”…in Theft Tax that provides nothing of value back to us. We The People pay our overlords to live in a country we own. Older lady living in her home was selling a window AirCon unit because the government meddler came around and told her – in 95 degree Pennsylvania muggy-ness – that she was disallowed to have a window unit because they had made a rule after the fact. This baloney (polite word) needs to stop….dead.
A pool is like a BOAT (Break-Out-Another-Thousand). I know; I used to be both a pool and a boat owner. I ended up hiring people to take care of both things. It worked out better when I did.
The HOA people can be reached. Even if they are not local. You can cause enough damage in their personal lives (loss of credit, insurance claims that lead to cancellation, loss of personal reputation, “evidence” of a cheating spouse, etc.) that they won’t have time to screw with the people in the HOA, so they focus elsewhere. It can be done. It’s usually easy enough to do. I know of one situation where an unscrupulous person put fliers up in the inner city promising five free bicycles would be given away at the HOA person’s home on a particular day. They showed up in large numbers. No bicycles? No problem – the place was vandalized for days. Reports to child welfare agencies that children were being abused at the location abounded. There is no moral high ground here, only expediency. They can face that, or they can leave you alone. There is always a choice.
‘Don’t get mad, get even’…even if in an impolite manner. I like your approach.
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Just two years ago the State here changed the [working just fine] septic system rules for “flood zones’, areas as defined by some FEMA schlub in a DC office, not real ground measurements. Stated reason was ‘to protect the rivers’, despite said rivers are nitrate and bacteria free as tested [by local residents incidentally – so what is it WTP get for our theft-ed cash?]. Tests indicate ‘pristine water quality’…a non-issue. Yet government once again creates a solution for problem that doesn’t exist, that WTP get to pay through the nose to get their unneeded permission.
Then we have the unintended (intended?) consequences; the new ‘after the fact’ reg change has made a problem for people with legacy systems needing replacement (50+ years), who now are told they can’t get a septic permit to replace the failing existing system (sooo…government disallows replacing a failing system that could cause a problem because of some superseding reg that actually creates a problem? Yeah, that.). Older folks wanting their toilet to flush where it always had are now sideways with some state reg and Meddler’s ‘fixing’ what was working. (Septic, and electrical are the only ones required in rural areas here).
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So what do most rural people do, especially ones who have lived here all their lives before the ‘Geniuses’ showed up? Install one anyway. What else are they going to do, spend all the replacement funds on some FEMA study? Not happening.
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Unfortunately this overwrought HOA-level government ‘anything for health and safety…even if it only saves one life’ idiocy’ that gives themselves permission to meddle on private property creates a moral dilemma for otherwise law-abiding folks. What are the Meddler’s going to do, tell you you can’t live in your home with a shower and flush toilet because it might theoretically harm the river despite it not showing any signs it has?
Thing is they exclude themselves and their pals from said reg’s and often pump ‘stuff’ into waterways without consequence. Eg. Colorado mine clean up disaster that no one went to jail or got fired over. ‘Rules for thee’ that we exempt ourselves with impunity. Yet WTP allowed this HOA mentality in government…at least partially.
Solution is to ignore the Meddler’s…what are they going to do, put you in jail for having a properly installed septic and flush toilet because you failed to get their [unneeded] approval?
Gonna get dicey around here with this ‘new and improved’ baloney.
“It worked out better when I did.”
It’s not enjoyable when it’s work.
There are some things that are overrated. (1) Do-it-yourself-boat-maintenance; (2) The FBI.
A pool service is a wonderful way to not go crazy with “Do I add this, do I add that?” As a former pool owner, that crap got old quickly.
That A-6 is not right. There is one on a pedestal at NAS Atlanta that closed 15 or so years ago that was part of Dobbins ARB. It was at the transition from USAF to NAS part of the base. The Georgia Air Guard took over the NAS facilities. The Reserve base host the GAANG HQ, Band, and 283rd Combat Comm. The old GAANG HQ was a do-not-go zones after dark. Got to like inter-city Atlanta.
No, it’s not right.
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Inner-city Atlanta is a study in blackness and what it means to be black.
Inner city Atlanta
Driving to Naples, FL from Commerce City, CO in a pre-production test car, the Interstate at Chattanooga was at a standstill. No problem, use the detour function on the GPS. Holly shit, one of the scariest thirty minutes of my life. This was in the late afternoon.
It’s as clean as a whore’s — part.
I can see you guys never got detoured off the East River or West Side Drive to take a pleasure tour through Harlem (or Spanish Harlem) late on a Sunday summer’s eve
‘tickerly in a TR4 with the top down.
The ‘Nooga used to be a nice city back even in the early 80’s. By 2000, well, a certain population had turned it into a hell-hole.
I had tickets to the Fox theater downtown for a show. The parking garage was sold out but it is only a block and a half to a MARTA station. After the show my wife and I are about half way to the station when and old black man hollered, “you cracker’s don’t need to be here. Some nigger going to rob you or do something worse if you don’t get out of here.” I unsnapped the strap on my shoulder holster but we made the station with no incidents. Do a google on alternat meaning of the mass transit system, MARTA.
I used to work in Georgia. I had an office downtown by the university (homo central), an office north, in Rome, and a facility in McDonough, a city in Henry County. I was there for about two years, though I traveled extensively and was not in Georgia all of the time. It’s good to carry there because everyone else does. I liked Georgia. I stayed in Buckhorn, down the street from Beau and Angela Turner (Ted’s son and uber-hot Italian daughter-in-law) — one of their homes. Sometimes I had to go downtown to Botswana. I always felt as if I was on safari.
MARTA = Moving People Rapidly Through Atlanta. Or something like that.
The A-6 is oh so not right the ground crewman is at loss on how and what to signal.
I gave Atlanta a hard pass when visiting the South. I’m lost without GPS, but not suicidal. My employer closed our Atlanta office fifteen years ago…
Georgia politics are, for want of a better term, confusing. I almost met the Black ex-Atlanta mayor who made sure the Stars and Bars still fly over Georgia.
Francesca Hong’s narrow loss.
The thing is that it’s a narrow loss.
Similar to Haley (remember her?) in Michigan.
A narrow loss.
That means that half the Democrat voting block approves Hong and Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed.
I bought a lever action hole puncher the other day.
It’s good to have a hole punch.
More Muslim.
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https://www.facebook.com/mgffast/videos/so-a-muslim-green-cemetery-is-coming-to-gwinnett-county-georgia-can-we-have-anyt/1007273918975856/
They built a mosque near my suburban home in California, and the neighborhood turned 95% Muslim almost overnight. I built the hovel at the White Wolf Mine in Arizona, sold my house to a Muzzie, and moved there seven years ago. It was the only way to solve the problem. I fled.
“** Watching atmospheres form”
“The researchers suggest that nothing with an atomic mass above nine would be able to escape the atmosphere.”
Of the 13 known isotopes of boron, only ⁷B and ⁸B have an atomic mass less than 9; ‘pears it’s quite difficult to get rid of boron.
Prickly and difficult to eradicate.
😀
It’s good to be the King. 🤣
Belated comment
I was away hunting (unsuccessfully this time) and missed your post about Australia yesterday.
The very first law passed by the Australian Federal Parliament in 1901 was to restrict Chinese immigration. Modern revisionists call it racism but there were good economic reasons for it.