Caption: The Virtual Mirage Blog – exploring the human condition one day at a time without dumping bleach into the gene pool (very often).
Bullet Points:
** DETRIMENTS! I resent the accusation of blackmail… (sure, his sister is a tramp) let him put that in his blog if he needs news!
They didn’t stick to the contract terms, and it went south quickly.
** I commented the other day on the relative value of living in Newport Beach on a budget. Or I could become a communist.
** Give generously in their hour of need. There are a lot of people out there who are too grievously oppressed to work. 20,000 cents a day will help elevate the downtrodden.
** And while I’m on the subject of generosity.
** The Russo-Ukraine War drags on with more Russian infrastructure falling prey to the Ukrainian cruise missiles and drone aircraft. (h/t Claudio). At some point, will the Russians nuke Kiev? That is your question of the day. Cast the runes, prognosticate a conclusion to the war and throw out a date while you’re at it. We need to start a pool on the war’s ending date. There is also the series Lioness, which asks: how many swallows do the Ukrainians have working the Beltway cocktail circuit? How many honeypots are out there? We could do a pool on that too. The number is difficult to arrive at, but I’d be surprised if there were less than a dozen self-propelled receptacles working the DC bars on behalf of Kiev. No, not as many as Red Chinese (see Swalwell and friends).
** Abraham Lincoln once asked General Winfield Scott this question: “Why is it that you were once able to take Mexico City in three months with five thousand men, and we have been unable to take Richmond with one hundred thousand men?” “I will tell you,” said General Scott, “The men who took us into Mexico City are the same men who are keeping us out of Richmond.”
** It’s a negotiation.
** Former New Mexico House Democrat Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton (right) Found Guilty on All 37 Federal Counts. Sheryl Williams Stapleton, former House Majority Leader, was convicted on every charge, including bribery, mail fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy. Prosecutors said she used her position at Albuquerque Public Schools to steer more than $3 million in education funds to a friend’s company, then took about $1.15 million in kickbacks for herself.
** Quiet EdB needs one. Add tracers. Crack for the ammosexuals.
** A guy I know casually mentioned that he had a therapist. (he claims a legitimate one, not a the-rapist giving him a mind-f*ck for money). I learned very early in my career that you never give way to the blandishments of management when they suggest “therapy.” One of my colleagues took one for the team, and implanted the barium enema by confessing to the the-rapist that he fantasized about a female known to us all wearing pink onesie bunny pajamas with floppy ears and a drop-down panel in the back. Senior personnel were heard cackling about this disclosure. Later, I submitted an evaluation of an instructor on an anonymous evaluation by referring to her (different woman) as “ice tits.” It turns out that the anonymous evaluations weren’t. The question of the day is whether you have ever had a therapist and how it worked out. More is discussed here.
** Boron – speaks for itself.
** The old ObamaDay – September 11 is a day to honor community organizers is back in play. I was invited (anonymously) to attend an event honoring community organizers on September 11 this year. I’ll be dipping the tips of my bullets in pig fat on September 11 – thanks for asking. Never forget.
** Old NFO delves into the power of prayer.
** “See if you can guess what I am now.” It never gets old.
** In California – they’re building a two-mile-long low-speed airport rail/shuttle at LAX. SkyLink is an automated people mover system currently in testing to serve Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The 2.25-mile (3.62 km) line. It was scheduled to open in 2023, but it’s way behind schedule and over budget. What a shock.
** Bill Maher says Democrats in the US are throwing other identity groups such as LGBTQIC+ and POC supporters under the bus to kowtow to Muslims.
** LSP wondered why I did not join the British Army. One reason was the spring-loaded anti-tank gun. Yes, I know they’ve always been on a budget.
** Effortless superiority is explained. Am I effortlessly superior? Why yes, I am. How nice of you to notice. It must be the old school tie! Please don’t ask me to tell you what happens inside the Tomb at Skull and Bones. It’s a secret. Don’t ask me about anything else. It always begins like this.
** Oh, that’s what it’s called.
Identify the Aircraft
1
2
3
Parting Shot
| Trump: Don’t tell me this is true? |
| YOUR SUPPORTER STATUS HAS BEEN CANCELED
PATRIOT: Larry Reason: Your signature of support is MISSING |
| FINAL CHANCE TO MAKE THIS RIGHT |
| The thought of losing you makes my head hurt. I know you would never intend to cancel your journey with the MAGA Movement and me.
If you’re still with us, I need you to send me your signature to renew your MAGA Membership before the hour clock runs out. > |
End
Identify the Aircraft:
1. McDonnell F2H Banshee
2. Fokker D.XXI
3. Curtiss BF2C Goshawk
You’re up early today, Surly! Outstanding.
3 is Republic Of China AF Curtiss Hawk III mid 1930’s
Exactly, RCC. Well done.
Therapy. After a conversation with the county coroner on scene of an unattended death once she ended our talk with the statement
“you need to get some help!” To which I simply replied “I have never suffered from ptsd, but I’ve certainly caused my fair share of it!”
Close enough for me.
Yes, I’m certain that I’ve caused a lot more than I’ve felt, FHubert. Most unattended death situations (and I’ve been there to cut paper too) are not particularly sad. Was this of a child or a more unusual Darwin Award-winning sort of situation?
I’ve heard many comments from peace officers that the violent death of certain types of people should be referred to as a “public service homicide”.
I’ve heard it called retroactive birth control. And when one scrote kills another and goes to prison, it’s a two-fer. It’s like Chicago. Nobody cares how many inner-city people kill other inner-city people over drug turf or because “he looked at my bitch wrong.”
The version I heard was “putting them out of society’s misery”.
😄
“** Boron – speaks for itself.”
It’s part of a “pod” series on P Chem/”Atomic Chem” explained quite well (in unaccented English) by Saurabh Korake which I’d seriously recommend to any first year chem major.
takes me back to dozing off in lectures in Sept ’58; back to when we’d pour over the material the night prior to the following day’s lecture.
TNX
Russia – a while ago one site was saying it appears that Brussels is planning a false flag operation to make it look like Russia was attacking a NATO country. Recently there have been a couple of rumbles out there that Russia is planning on attacking some-country. False flag, info war battle field prep by Russia, or some combination?
I’m just a dentist with absolutely no background in world anything.
On that basis I’ve been watching Brussels (the European money people) go out of their way to annoy the Двуглавый орёл (the double-headed eagle) since Hector was a pup. They’ve found (and are paying for) a front man, an comic piano player who history will regard as naught but a jest, a vulgar acne pustule on the face of world affairs (to be kind about it).
(Russia, afterall, can be carved up profitably into states the size of Luxembourg, each with its own царь/комисса́р/whatever.)
Brussels, it appears to my eyes, is trying to push Vladimir Vladimirovich to the point where he will say, “Enough already!” and respond in kind.
Brussels will then come running to Mommy for more intel, more money, and more boots on the ground and the money men (the people who back the DemoSocioCommo Party party in out country will gather their minions to march in the street (G-d forbid they should ever volunteer for the Armed Forces) – followed by, to quote Jerry Pournelle, “and so it goes.”
as I age my fingers slip more on the keyboard: “…the DemoSocioCommo Party party in out country…” “that should be “our country”
Well, it WOULD be nice if they were out of our country.
Newport Beach Hovel: I wouldn’t buy that for that price with YOUR paycheck. While nicely done, this property could be had in a hundred other places in the country for 1/10th of the price, especially since there is yet another rail boondoggle being built (🤣) with taxpayer monies (same difference as Wind & Solar). Besides all that, who wants the 5 ft side yard setback where you are staring into your very close neighbors bedroom, and vice-versa? Stay rural if you can.
***
Sidebar: Read a blurb about an older Kentucky couple who turned down $26M for their legacy farm slated for a Data Center. Any bets these two ‘get forced’ off their property in short order? Data and AI Centers are being touted as the next necessary thing, I submit they are privacy invaders as they collect data on us for sale, whether government, an NGO (same thing basically), or a private shop. Watch Statham’s The Beekeeper, similar premise at all levels.
Convinced Belushi made that up on the spot…and no, never gets old, some things are simply timeless. (‘No Coke! Pepsi! 🤣)
Newport Beach – You need $20 million to get into that housing market. More on Lido Island if you have a boat slip, or at the Wedge. $5 million gets you a fixer-upper with issues.
Sell your dot.com and move right in…once the extensive permitting process comes through for the architect and builder, including environmental impact studies (plural, waterfowl, water quality mitigation plan, etc,), the alternative energy plan, and payoffs to local officials to ‘streamline’ your project. Oh, and let’s not forget the interior designer, who will decide what your decor should be…at a premium.
I say, for that kind of money and headaches (plural), buy a boat slip and live on the yacht.
LL, the wrapper for the Facebook reels is quite nice.
Thx Dave. There is a tribute to Frank coming up.
>Or I could become a communist. [re housing costs]
The third world is already here in terms of shitty housing conditions; you don’t need to become a communist. I drove around some Brampton, Ontario (~800k residents, 52% South Asian, 81% “visible minority” and only 19% White) neighborhoods over the weekend. An area of modest single-family homes (much like the one I grew up in) had mostly ranch houses (for non-Murricans, this is a single-floor house that is “built low and wide” — you don’t have to raise cattle to live in one). From the size, these were likely 3 bedroom, 1 and 1/2 bath places. I noticed that about 40% of the houses had 3 to 5 cars parked on the driveway. Many of these had three cars on the driveway, and two additional on that little piece of concrete between the tarmac of the street and the concrete sidewalk. (This also partially blocked the sidewalks; bad news for anyone in a wheelchair or using a walker [1].) When I could see persons in the yard of these properties, they were invariably South Asian. This does not at all mean that the “New Canadians” in Brampton are highly prosperous and can afford 5 cars per family. This tells me that those single-family ranch house are serving either as rooming houses, or that several families are living in them, one family per bedroom. Import third world people (for some unknown reason [2]) and get third world results. (And imagine the burden on the municipal sewage system with 10-15 bottoms busily crapping per house.)
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[1] Blocked sidewalks screws the old and the crippled. So there were basically two types of residents. One was South Asians, from doddering grandparents to children, LOTS of children, but also a lot of military-age males; MAMs prevalent out of proportion to the other ages/sexes. The other was old White people desperately not noticing that their neighborhood had magically been transported to the subcontinent. You could also generally tell, apart from the number of cars, which was owned by whom. The old White people yards were kept nice. with flower beds, edging on the neatly clipped lawns, etc. The others were … not nicely maintained.
[2] Oh, we know the reasons. We just can’t talk about them. Look at the crapstorm coming down on Matt Walsh’s head for him merely suggesting that we not start foreign wars that don’t benefit the US in the least. (And for the record, I don’t even particularly care for Matt Walsh.)
I have a 5-car garage with 2 rigs parked outside…. no boarders. But I take your point.
> how many swallows do the Ukrainians have working the Beltway cocktail circuit?
Are any actual Ukrainians in charge of anything regarding the Ukraine since 2014?
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>Former New Mexico House Democrat Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton
With $1.15 million you’d think she could get some more tasteful clothes. Then again, a flour sack (a la Dobby the house elf) would be more tasteful than her ensemble.
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>he fantasized about a female known to us all wearing pink onesie bunny pajamas with floppy ears and a drop-down panel in the back.
A FEMALE? Hah! Insufficiently woke. He should be fantasizing about a morbidly obese one-legged Sudanese man with Tourette Syndrome in a pink onesie. I denounce this man’s racism, his antisudantism, and his failure to adhere to fundamental body positivity principles.
**Are any actual Ukrainians in charge of anything regarding the Ukraine since 2014?**
That’s a really good question!
Excellent question. I think they’re a wholly owned subsidiary of BlackRock.
Just BlackRock? How dare you?!! 😡
“Toria” Nuland and the Kagan clan deserve their (large) share of the credit. Unless you’re saying that the Finks and the Kagans are in it together.
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Oh, forgot to ask. Is “swallow” a term of art in the espionage world? Because a chick with a tattoo of a swallow implies something. Especially if tattooed on her neck. (It’s a degenerate society we live in, no doubt about it.)
In KGB parlance, Russian women trained in sexual persuasion and seduction were officially called “swallows” (ласточки). And yes, they were trained to.
.
Fink had his people in the Biden White House unabashedly advising Nuland and friends: Brian Deese, Wally Adeyemo (at Treasury), and Mike Pyle as a top international economic adviser. The strings had been cut to make Biden dance like a puppet because he needed his naps and pudding…but there was Jill, the babysitter and the rest of the nest.
“…the Ukraine since 2014…”
since 1991?
Random note: spent yesterday driving from move-to house back to move-from house. About 13 hours. Currently, I-24 is a joke(too much construction) so I’ve been avoiding it, which adds a bit more time to the drive. Now try to finish packing up stuff for the move.
Don’t let packing and moving keep you from checking in on the blog.
That’s part of the plan :)
Newport Beach? Hell no! Not even for 1/10th that price!!! Any bets whether or not Stapleton does a day in jail? And no to tracers! They also point to ‘exactly’ where you are!!! And they burn down gun ranges when the asshole Army guys lie to the RO before shooting into rubber backstops… sigh
The best thing I can say about Commiefornicatea—a fool is soon parted from his money.
Fact!
Parting shot. So, the saga continues from yesterday?
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Therapy. A day at the range is a mental health day. Which reminds me, I’m overdue.
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Detriments indeed. Complete clip–
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmZbCwmOC6I
The saga is daily. I’m just posting them now because I’m amused.
Sorry for the late reply. Busy day. Unintended death. Old farmer 3 yrs older than I with according to his sister, “trust issues!” Combined with “excessive storage” issues. Had to chain saw an 8’ by 8’ hole in the end of his house and drag his plus sized self out mattress and all. Involved 4 separate departments as a team building exercise. The female coroner was concerned about my seeming lack of empathy. I told her we had 9 cows in the lot who hadn’t been fed or watered for 7 days who also had some trust issues. That’s another story.
Ah, normal day at the office. Thankful for firemen who can person-handle expired clay like that. You’re lucky that he hadn’t been smoking in bed and the mattress was smoldering for six days, cooking him into sort of a chile verde mix. Yes, you could have vacuumed the mess into a hopper, but where’s the human dignity in that?
> chain saw an 8’ by 8’ hole in the end of his house and drag his plus sized self out mattress and all
Oy! That’s one hell of a day. The largest human being I ever saw (in person) was over 800 lbs (admitted for non-ST myocardial infarction). He was not my patient, just a guy on the wards. I remember wondering how they even got him transported to hospital. (Not to mention who cleaned him up after he pooped, for that matter.) Anyway, most people (including those of us who see patients in the hospital) don’t consider how hard the EMTs and firemen on the sharp end have to work.
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> The female coroner was concerned about my seeming lack of empathy.
I’m surprised that a coroner would have that attitude. Being in the medical trades tends to beat that out of a person. Much as it is, only more so, for police and firemen, I assume. And it’s not a sociopathic thing either, it’s a combination of self-protection (otherwise one would every day go home and weep for the suffering in the world) and simply having seen something like it so many times. Two brief stories.
1. Good friend from high school is a radiologist. He had some serious health issues that nearly killed him and took over a year to recover physically. And he had PTSD from it. “For a year after I was medically recovered, I would break down when seeing films of patients with what I had. Because I knew what they were going to suffer.” Good thing he’s a radiologist, I guess, because he rarely has to interact with patients. At least adult cardiology is mostly older persons, one (of the many) reasons I had no interest in pediatric cardiology. But it could be worse. I know a pediatric neuro-oncologist. I could NOT do that.
2. An endocrinologist friend’s mom was diagnosed with DCIS breast cancer (the most treatable form). Needless to say the entire family was very upset. At the family meeting, Friend (the only medical person in her family) explained the nearly 100% 5-year survival rate, and outlined the treatment plan. (It’s not going to be fun, but this is what is going to happen. You, we as a family, will get through this.) Friend’s sister went from weepy to ballistic. “Why aren’t you crying? Mom has CANCER! What is wrong with you?”
Frank Beard, ZZ Top’s drummer. Rip. Another part of my youth gone.
They’re dropping fast and furious.
My intro to the was around ’73, when I went to Texas with an ex-chaplain and got to hear a college band try to impress the crowd with their covers of ZZ Top songs.
Yet again, a great post. This stood out to me, Therapists.
Therapists, the same people who’ve dosed up 25% of the country’s women on SSRIs and who knows how many children.
First thing I did with my eldest when he came back home, a few years ago, was take him off every single one of the many psych drugs he’d been proscribed by Therapists. You know this.
Net result? Sergeant. Good come back.
Dam Therapists.
Pop Psyche is a blight on a normal society…Dr. Laura they are not, especially the ones getting free trips from Big Pharma. Ever do the recent medical paperwork baloney, done electronically now…the list of drugs and ‘conditions’ is endless. People need to go split some wood, take a walk, cast a fly, visit the range…and go to a good church.
Sheryl Williams Stapleton: Yet another corrupt Democrat on top of the others we keep hearing about, Swalwell is back in the news, plus Fauci’s #1, Morens, being indicted. I am curious (sort of) what percentage of Democrat politicians and their operatives in OUR Federal and Local government are just like her? Place your bets…20/30/70/80 percent? Past time for a reset, run these criminals out on a rail.
Therapist. Does this qualify? Dealer principal had $500 deducted from my wash out check. Said I needed anger management. Fast forward two weeks, he cornered me and asked when I was going to anger management. My response, “I had to pay for it; I didn’t know I had to attend”, wasn’t well received. I never did go.
THAT is why you’re my hero, WSF.