Caption: Dangerous curves ahead.
AI-Assisted BioWeapon Design and Production
After COVID-19, we need to consider the next gain-of-function product. No single safeguard can prevent an actor from using AI to build a bioweapon. Different threats require different defenses: Measures that might stop a lone individual are different than those that might deter a well-funded group or a state-backed program. So rather than relying on any one approach, the DC Beltway think tanks are suggesting a layered strategy for biosecurity in the AI era. Good luck with that. They don’t know what to do, so they suggest that everybody does everything to CYA.
In January 2026, the FBI and local police raided an illegal biological lab operating inside a residential home garage in northeast Las Vegas. While the facility was operated by a Chinese national with documented ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), intelligence and law enforcement officials have not officially classified it as a bio-warfare facility, instead identifying it as an unpermitted site focused on black-market medical testing kits. However, national security experts have raised serious alarms about its potential biosecurity risks. (more here from Lawfare)
Is Russia’s Endgame – Global Thermonuclear War?
Tucker Carlson maintains that if Putin doesn’t get his way, it’s curtains for us all. Whether Russian President Putin has overplayed his hand in Ukraine remains a central debate among geopolitical analysts, with mounting evidence suggesting his maximalist demands and prolonged attrition strategy are triggering significant Western economic and diplomatic pushback. He clearly didn’t think that the Ukes would wipe out the better part of the Russian military.
Many Russia watchers believe that if Putin were to retreat back into Russia after losing half of their equipment strength and over a million men killed and wounded, he wouldn’t last a week. So Russia fights for Putin’s ego and his neck.
Bullet Points:
** China now holds the world’s largest strategic petroleum reserve. (While the United States holds 413 million barrels of oil, China may have as many as 1.4 billion.) According to a new RAND Europe study, China’s stockpile may also be a powerful geoeconomic tool. Its sheer size could help Beijing influence other countries, protect its national security, punish adversaries, and shape global supply chains. In short, China’s oil reserve may give it significant leverage in global energy markets—and the broader world economy.
** Thanks to those of you who have purchased a copy of Vengeance and Retribution. I hope that you enjoy the story. Positive reviews are appreciated. As I work on the next (5th) entry in the series, Interventions, which I expect to have out in the Fall of this year, I reflect on my original intent at writing historical fiction on this period. There may be a stand-alone book in the future that deals with the Apache Wars and the Geronimo Campaign – more historical fiction. I’m always torn on these projects because they represent an investment in time.
** Boating with EdB.
** Democrats must be terrified of the growing movement for Voter ID and other election integrity measures because this report by Natalie Winters at Substack shows that they are really ramping up the vote-buying side of their turnout operation. That includes giveaways of “free” groceries, gift cards, restaurant meals, and a chance to win a $4900 concert package. Check out the link for a lot more details. Some of us feel really old since we’re able to remember when bribing people to vote for you was illegal. Maybe the Dems consider that offering voters free stuff paid for by someone else isn’t bribery; it’s just a free sample of what they’ll do if elected.
** Girl Scouts can now earn a merit badge for visiting a mosque. How woke.
** A New USN Torpedo – The USN is very ambitious, and takes Autonomous ASW very seriously. The money quote: The Navy seeks a weapon that can be carried internally or externally, and is compatible with a standard BRU-61/A bomb rack. The torpedo should have “compact, lightweight form factor similar to the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) to maximize aircraft carriage options across multiple manned and unmanned platforms.” This means a weight of no more than 268 pounds, a length of no more than 70 inches, and a diameter of up to 7.5 inches. The RFI does not specify the range of Silent Anvil (the Mark 54 has a range of about 5.7 miles). h/t Claudio – That is a very small torpedo for those of us who are familiar with the US Navy’s family of fish.
** Printing money (right) – Some claim it can go on forever, but interest on the national debt (which, in essence, drives borrowing costs in the US) is problematic for a healthy economy.
** The Central Bank of Canada and CANGOV are telling journalists not to refer to 9/11 as a “terrorist attack.” It was a few isolated aircraft hijackings and landings in unfortunate locations on the same day – or some such bullshit. Pres. Trump retaliated by renaming Lake Ontario. When has politics not been petty?
** Interesting YouTube Video (h/t RHT) on firearms and ballistic development. The S&W Volcanic handgun and the Winchester lever action. The Volcanic reminds me of the S&W Schofield, though it is not a top-break reloader.
** “Minneapolis police reportedly raided the apartment of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s son, seizing firearms and ammunition and arresting his 22-year-old roommate, Abdulrahman Abdi.” Isn’t he also her nephew?
** Donald Trump tweeted, “The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela. At my direction, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, working closely with Highly Respected Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, and, through a partnership with private business, have secured majority U.S. control of more than 65 BILLION BARRELS of proven Oil Reserves in Venezuela, at no cost to the American Taxpayer.” USA oil reserves now are 46 billion barrels. He’s doing in Venezuela what Bush said he’d do in Iraq. The implications for Canadian tar sands should concern them. If they no longer ship oil to the US, Venezuelan oil will replace it at American refineries that are set up to process the same crude grades. The pipelines will reverse the flow direction from south to north. Then again, if Alberta declares independence in October, Big Canada might not have so much to say on the matter.
From the Mail Bag:
Q – What does the Iron Dome anti-missile system cost Israel per interception?
A – Each shot of an Iron Dome Tamir interceptor missile is estimated to cost between $40K and $50K to produce, though broader operational and replenishment costs can range from $80 =K up to $150K per interception.
Financial & Operational Breakdown
-
- Production Cost: The core manufacturing cost per Tamir missile sits at approximately $40K to $50K, backed by estimates from institutions like the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
- Operational Interception Cost: When accounting for deployment, maintenance, and the standard military practice of firing two interceptor missiles per target to maximize success, a single successful interception often runs between $100K and $150K.
- Complete System Cost: A full Iron Dome battery—which includes an advanced radar system, a battle management computer, and 3 to 4 launchers, each holding 20 missiles—costs roughly $100 million to manufacture.
Economic Asymmetry vs. Higher-Tier Systems
While a $50K defensive shot is significantly more expensive than the cheap $800 to $3,000 unguided rockets fired by groups like Hamas, it is much cheaper than Israel’s long-range defense tiers:
| Defense System | Threat Target | Cost Per Single Interceptor Shot |
|---|---|---|
| Iron Beam (Laser) | Mortars, drones, short-range rockets | ~$3.50 (electricity cost) |
| Iron Dome (Tamir) | Short-range rockets and artillery | $40,000 – $50,000 |
| David’s Sling | Medium-range missiles and cruise missiles | ~$1 million |
| Arrow 2 / Arrow 3 | Long-range ballistic missiles | $3 million – $4 million |
To keep these costs sustainable during large-scale conflicts, the system uses advanced radar software to track projectiles in mid-air. It only fires an interceptor if calculations show the incoming rocket will strike a heavily populated area, allowing empty fields to take the hit safely and saving millions of dollars per attack.
Q – Has anyone put an energy weapon on a loitering munition for anti-drone warfare?
A – Much of that is classified, and there is a lot of work going into that area of research. I refer you to RTX (Raytheon) Coyote Block 3 (series) missiles currently carried on US Navy Ships.
In June 2025, during the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, the Arleigh Burke-class (Flight IIA) destroyers USS Bainbridge and USS Winston S. Churchill were both pictured with a pair of Block 3 Coyote launchers on the aft superstructures. On April 8, 2026, USS Carl M. Levin was seen in the Pacific Ocean with a new unknown launcher on her aft, between her port-side torpedo tubes and VLS launchers. Following the sighting, a U.S. Navy spokesperson revealed the launcher was an upgraded version of the Block 3/Coyote LE SR launcher previously seen on the Bainbridge and Winston S. Churchill. The Coyote launcher design had received four more cells, totaling to eight cells
In short, things are headed in that direction.
More from VDH
Identify the Aircraft
1
2
3
Parting Shot
h/t WSF
You don’t have to run fast to get away from a bear. You only have to run faster than your friend.
End
2 looks to be Russian Navy Beriev Be-12 designed for ASW.
Bears-
As the old joke says .22 pistol to shot friend in the leg.
Yes, this is a museum aircraft at Kaliningrad.
#1 is Vought F7U Cutlass (a.k.a. Gutless). No clue about 2 and 3.
Yes a gutless Cutlass
Identify the Aircraft
1 – Vought F7U Cutlass
2 – Russian Beriev Be-12 Chaika
3 – Russian Ilyushin Il-20M
Outstanding
I don’t think the threat of single agents or larger agencies regarding bio-threats are distinguisable. They both produce the same results which must be detected and dealt with.
.
Besides the two Chinese that were intercepted bringing harmful biowarfare components threatening agriculture, there are a number of cells producing anti-American threats at University of Michigan.
They are headed by professors there. In the open.
For some reason I can’t fully explain, the Mohammedan threat is not taken seriously enough.
Because the people who actually run this political entity we live in (it’s NOT a nation at this point) must have an external enemy to justify their misdeeds, numerous trespasses against our liberty, and their other crimes. Also, many of these people literally define their personal and cultural identity primarily as victims of irrational hatred. Just like the execrable SPLC funded “white hatred” groups, so must our owners ensure there are people to hate them. (Boy, that Scofield scam backfired in the long term, didn’t it? Hah!) Much as Voltaire supposedly said about God, “If radical Islam did not exist, we would have had to invent it.”
Sadly, you’re hitting the mark.
That oil reserve in China is as valuable as a gold repository like Fort Knox.
It’s not just an oil reserve…
X2
X3…Gold, what gold? What happened to the audit?
There’s no independent audit of China’s oil reserves, either.
Top art work today. Very nice colors in the background accent her. However, the young lady needs someone to buy her a nice string of pearls. Plus she hasn’t eaten at a five star restaurant in days. Surely someone on VM can help?
Indeed
It gets bothersome when you take one of these out for dinner and they don’t eat.
Grilled salmon on lettuce.
Looks pensive, as in, ‘He looks rich and might have a place on Lake Como.’
Excellent detail, really captures the moment. (Altho betting Jules doesn’t approve)
>out for dinner and they don’t eat
Never a problem with the Pretty Korean Girl. I once saw her eat literally a pound of barbeque then ask for the dessert menu. “Hell no I am NOT splitting dessert with you. Get your own!” Her weight control strategy was simple: “I eat whatever I want, as much as I want, until I hit 125 lbs. Then I watch my diet until I am back down to 120.” For a 5’6″ woman this means a BMI range of 19.4 to 20.2 kg/m^2. (Though she is actually 5’7″ but lies about her height [1] because she is embarrassed to be “too tall” compared to the average Korean woman. Hangups are weird, eh? “Oh, my steak is too juicy. My lobster is too rich and buttery. SMDH.)
[1] So I had the opportunity to see a few dozen medical professionals and industry people get measured and weighed (as part of a cardiovascular risk profile screening). Almost universally, women would kick off their shoes to NOT have the weight of the shoes counted against them, height be damned. And ALL men kept their shoes on, because that extra inch is worth whatever weight penalty comes from the shoes. TL’;DR: We all lie. Just about different things.)
It’s interesting how the relative value of “things” changes over time as we age. Maybe I’m speaking of myself, and not as a representative sample. Yes, that’s a departure from what we lie about to what we value.
If I’m allowed to vote without receiving any demoncratic propina, 8.30 is my choice for caption of the year. Thankfully the curves I’ve been dating for 45 yrs now never cease to amaze me. Plus, there’s nothing, and I mean nothing dangerous about her.
It appears the communists are telling the Native Americans in Arizona that they are not smart enough to vote on their own.
They do that a lot here. Cash payments for votes on the Rez are more the exception than the rule.
Boating: Yeah…and exactly why I don’t…and if I ever did it wouldn’t be anywhere near the General Public. (What could possibly go wrong tooling along a crowded lake with 500 other ‘boaters’ with full coolers of adult beverages?) Same goes for RV camping…people hauling massive campers up the road to ‘get away by going camping’, often with a boat or 4wheeler trailer in tow. I tend to pass these rigs quickly to keep them in the rearview.
If we decide at some point in the future to move to Florida – which does require getting a boat (because we don’t golf or play pickleball) – we’d try to find a little shack on some secluded spit with a dock that has a dinghy moored. That’s about my speed.
all you need for your move to Florida is a year’s supply of 50+ SPF, a bathing suit, and a good hat with a bill/brim that’ll shade your nose (first place any Florida dermatologist looks for incipient melanoma)
Oh! and a place with easy access to the Gulf of America
Exactly! Do they still allow Speedo’s…best way to get pesky neighbors to move, do your yard work while wearing one.
banana hammock
If you move to Florida you need one of these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfzwsU-kLHo
🤣🤣… captioned, ‘wait until the end’. Need to see that opened up, get from fishin’ hole to fishin’ hole in a blink, scaring away anything biting while on the way.
all you need for your move to Floorida is a year’s supply of 50+ SPF, a bathing suit, and a good hat with a bill/brim that’ll shade your nose (first place any Florida dermatologist looks for incipient melanoma)
Oh! and a place with easy access to the Gulf of America
I’m not stuttering
my computer needs a bit of Glen Livet to clean the contacts
Heh…what The Danes call a morning pipe cleaner, a little Akvavit or Gammel Dansk to clear the cobwebs.
Akavit can be nasty, like the stuff one of my Uncles made, or it can be very good, like what SAS serves.
True. Can get Linie here, smoother…keep it in the freezer.
Observations from the Ross fire:
Horse thieves should be shot. The ranches are leaving gates unlocked and thieves are immediately stealing equipment.
People do not understand what volunteers are. You cannot force them to do anything. You cannot control what they give. Take it all the supplies and share with other fire departments. You can only inspire them to give.
People cannot distinguish between tax payer funds and donations. I argued with a lawyer that fund raising from our volunteer auxiliary is not tax payer money. He insisted it is the same as tax’s payer money. That because we pay sales tax it is tax payer money. Sales tax is an expense that takes away from what we provide the VFD. Either he is stupid and cannot count or cannot back down on anything as a lawyer. Our auxiliary is the goose that lays golden eggs. We provide twice as much money as the county to our VFD. It was an insight as to how out of touch the world is. He is older guy and not a white woman. A disgrace to old white guys.
Helicopter crews are very young. My wife is delivering food and drinks to the chinook that lands 250 feet from our front door. They look about 14. Their mustaches are still thin.
People are putting fake pictures on face book. There are no curbs or side walks in our 1/2 of the county.
The fire is up to 93,000 acres and back down to 12% contained. 8 homes destroyed, 60 damaged, 143 buildings burned. 28 miles long and 10 miles wide. The largest fire in Texas was the Possum Kingdom Complex fire in 2011, 150,000 acres with 150 homes destroyed. It was also 4 miles from my house. The fuel load is definitely being reduced. 90% is old cedar trees and mesquite on very rocky soil.
The fire trucks are suffering from burnt tires, mesquite thorn flats, burnt hoses and fire damaged u-joints from melting the grease out, I like the homemade fire trucks fleet of Converted military, agricultural sprayers and very old airliners and old helicopters, Obsolete fire trucks etc… . I have not seen any of the fracking water trucks used as water stations for brush trucks like I have seen in other counties.
That is all.
We have 158,000 acres just off the Snake River still burning since July but finally 98% under control. Very rough, not-flat terrain. Ranchers gave firefighters enough grief with threats and harassment that the Forest Service pulled them off the fire for a while. Burned off a lot of grazing land.
I thought that the prescription for horse thieves (historic precedent) was hanging, not shooting. Or perhaps shot and hung?
in re The Donald (VDH):
I think (no! I know) it helps to understand him if you’re an Irish kid from Da Bron’x, a Jewish kid from Brooklyn, an Italian kid from Staten Island, or a black kid from Harlem who grew up while Fiorello was mayor (even O’Dwyer).
There was a certain toughness and bluff that was built into the everyday common (men’s) language that would keep the oppo looking over their shoulders (if they had any smarts at all).
Torpedo… I was on a Coast Guard cutter (378) for a deployment with a helo, while on board I saw my first real torpedo! Later that trip we were at Gitmo, I was talking/walking with a sailor and he invited me to come have a look at his nuke attack sub. It was a neat tour and I saw a REAL torpedo, the CG had a baby torpedo, the submarine had the daddy!
Not a small thing at all..
Torpedoes are drones because they’re uncrewed delivery systems, and in the modern sense, the Mk 48 through Mk 48 ADCAP series are wire-guided.
Bear, and ‘…run faster than your friend’: Brother and uncle were heading out early to the stream for some fly fishing, come across some fresh bear scat. Uncle says, “Good thing I have my sneakers on, I can out run you in your hiking boots.” Laughing. Brother says…flipping open his pocket knife…”Not if I stab you in the leg first.” 🤣
They’re thinking it through…
Mr LL, here’s a book for which you might find a place in your home.
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResultsan=Max%20Brand&sts=t&tn=The%20White%20Wolf&ref_=search_f_hp
“The White Wolf” by Frederick Faust (as Max Brand, also the author of the drKildare series and “Destry Rides Again”), written in 1926 about a bull terrier raised in a litter of wolves. The animals speak to each other, fights to the death happen, people are people. I stumbled across a worn 55-yr-old copy in the westerns section of a local used-book store. Written 100 yrs ago it is surprisingly readable and enjoyable.
A New USN Torpedo
Wasn’t the WWII Mark 24 “Mine” a successful weapon? It had a 92 lb charge. The Hedgehog usually had a 35 lb charge. As a landlubber not knowledgeable about naval matters, my question is how big a charge is needed to make a submarine have a very bad day (assuming direct contact?
US Navy Depth Charges (hedgehogs excepted) in WW2:
Mark 6 Cylindrical (“Ash Can”) 300 lbs TNT -The standard, most widely used early-war US depth charge.
Mark 7 Cylindrical (“Ash Can”) 600 lbs TNT – Heavier version designed for deeper diving targets.
Mark 8 Cylindrical 270 lbs TNT Utilized a highly unreliable magnetic proximity fuze.
Mark 9 Teardrop (Streamlined) 200 lbs Torpex – Featured side fins to spin and sink quickly in a straight line. (shaped charge)
.
The hedgehogs didn’t need as heavy a charge because the shaped charge (brisance) was directed at the hull specifically and required CONTACT to detonate. If the pattern didn’t hit a target, there was no explosion to disrupt sonar/hydrophones. They could be reloaded, but it took time. Usually there were two banks of hedgehogs, so you had two shots with those before relying on depth charges.
Ah, debt. My dad, rest in peace, a Yale alum from back when it was a real school, had a flaw, he thought credit card debt could go on and on forever. When he died, my Mother, who you you know, paid that debt off and cancelled all the credit cards.
How is a family budget different, in substance, from a country’s?
The country can make laws, raise armies, and imprison you for debt (debtor’s prison)…
>Yale alum […] thought credit card debt could go on and on forever
Not sure that is any different from how this country is being run. Then again, a shocking proportion of major political figures in the US have “Harvard” or “Yale” in their CVs, so maybe it’s all consistent. Besides, at this point it’s pretty much moot anyway. We are now in the “looting the treasury” of phase of the “American” Empire.
Quotation marks because this hasn’t been our country since at least 1913. For a few decades it wasn’t publicly obvious, but in retrospect it’s been in the open since 1946 when the national religion transitioned from Christianity (in all its forms) to Something Else.
Story 1: “China now holds the world’s largest strategic petroleum reserve. (While the United States holds 413 million barrels of oil, China may have as many as 1.4 billion.)”
Further down the page:
“USA oil reserves now are 46 billion barrels”
Re the oil reserve, what the Chinese don’t have is the capability to actually extract the oil from the ground… They’ve tried to steal US tech, but a lot of the ‘tech’ is in people’s heads that do the drilling and that takes time and experience.
Yes, there is a lot of art involved in successful oil drilling, casing, and extraction. The art is based on science, experience, and so forth.
Since you brought up wildlife…
I’ve heard that with a good bit of effort it is actually possible to put shoes and socks on a bear.
[Of course, it’ll still have bear feet.]
groan
Have a Kindle copy of V&R, and started it this weekend. Excellent so far (no surprise) and liking the change in narrators as the chapters progress. Review forthcoming upon completion.
Thank you so much, Chris.