Caption: Is there a crisis looming? There is ALWAYS a crisis looming. On the Internet and even here at VM, it’s clickbait. (gotcha)
You are only as safe as you are dangerous. Weakness is not a virtue; it’s a target.
“I’m harmless; therefore, I’m good? No, that isn’t how it works. If you’re harmless, you’re weak, and if you’re weak, you can’t be good. A good man is a very, very dangerous man. He has that capability of violence under voluntary control.” – Peterson
Bullet Points:
** Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton unveiled a plan Tuesday to abolish California’s DMV as a stand-alone agency and cap annual vehicle registration at a flat $73. Under the proposal, county offices and certified local service centers would handle routine vehicle title, registration, and renewal services, while a smaller state operation would retain responsibility for driver’s licenses, REAL ID, other records, and safety functions. Hilton said California charges the nation’s highest registration fees for what he called the worst roads in the country. VM Comment: Among Californians, nothing is more despised than the Department of Motor Vehicles. The registration fees are extortionary. A number of friends of mine who live there claim my residence as their primary home and have inexpensive Arizona registration for their cars. Their second home is in California.
** Blog comments: Just a little housekeeping. If you’re going to rant on little old ‘me’ on the blog, that’s cool, but when you do it on a post days ago or so, it has much less impact. We’re all entitled to opinions and perspectives here on VM. Am I unfair to progressives, LGBTQ2+XYZ people, democrats, and the entitled? Maybe – explain yourselves. Do I dislike Germans? No. My grandparents immigrated to the US from Bavaria and Switzerland. Do I think that they’re allowing their culture to be subsumed by Islamic people? Yes- same with the British. Canadians, keep your elbows up and allow more immigrants from Red China and India. If Constitutional carry of private firearms disturbs you, maybe you should find another place to voice your opinion. Better still. Post a sign on your front door that your home is a gun-free zone and that you’ve voluntarily disarmed as a virtue signal to all. Let us know you’ve done it on the blog, and we’ll boost the signal along with your address as a public service.
** More from California: California will bar businesses, HOAs, and government agencies from watering purely decorative grass with drinking water, under a state law that starts phasing in on Jan. 1, 2027. The law applies to “nonfunctional turf,” the mowed grass that lines sidewalks, parking lots, and buildings but serves no recreational or community use. Single-family homes, parks, cemeteries, and sports fields are exempt, and the affected lawns can still be watered with recycled water. VM Comment: No more will old men be able to scream, “Get off my lawn,” at children. It will be dirt. They can say, “Get off my dirt,” though.
** Why/how is teaching that the 9/11 attacks were a product of Islam inaccurate? VMComment: Tying radical Islam to 9/11 should be about as controversial as tying Japan to the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the USA into World War II. Muslim groups such as CAIR (Fun fact: CAIR has been designated as a terrorist organization by both Texas and Florida) protested that this is discriminatory against Muslims. They also protested the part of the curriculum that teaches about the Prophet Muhammad’s brutal military campaigns against Jewish and Christian tribes, the normalization of slavery, and the taking of female captives as harem slaves, calling it an attack on their religion. This could also be described as history. I’m sure they would be equally outraged at history classes that teach the reality of the Spanish Inquisition.
** (G Captain) Russia has conducted two dark ship-to-ship (STS) transfers involving oil cargoes that traveled through the Northern Sea Route, highlighting the increasingly complex logistics to move Russian crude to Asian markets via the Arctic. Satellite analytics company SynMax identified two STS operations involving four oil tankers, according to data and imagery provided to gCaptain. The vessels were detected conducting transfers well offshore between Russia’s Far East and the Korean Peninsula. The tankers Jagger and Mirabel both traveled through the Russian Arctic after loading crude earlier this summer. Jagger loaded near Murmansk on July 20, while Mirabel departed Primorsk in the Baltic Sea on July 24, according to AIS data. Both subsequently transited the Northern Sea Route. VM Comment: It’s a fair shot to take at the Russians, but the Red Chinese have been blending embargoed crude oil at sea CONTINUALLY for the past few years. Malaysian Tapis Crude (light sweet crude) is routinely blended with Iranian Forozan Blend to disguise the crude’s source and take Red China off the hook. More to the point, has there ever been an instance when the Red Chinese haven’t cheated?
** The US Navy destroyed five (more) Iranian oil tankers yesterday, releasing video of ships ablaze before they sank. The U.S. military’s Central Command called its attacks a response to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeting a U.S. Navy warship twice with ballistic missiles over the previous two days. No Americans were harmed, the U.S. said. Washington has announced a new policy of sinking Iranian tankers in retaliation for fire that threatens its warships, and first said it hit three tankers on Saturday. “Iran continues to try to hit U.S. naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters during a visit to Colombia.
** A month after Pakistan joined Saudi Arabia and Turkey in a mutual defense pact, Pakistani officials have reportedly gone to Iran at Riyadh’s behest to press Tehran to rein in the Houthis, Reuters reported. The Iranian-backed militia has struck military and energy targets in Saudi Arabia, near the Yemeni border, prompting dozens of counterstrikes from Saudi forces in Yemen on Wednesday, and the group has disrupted shipping in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Saudi Arabia shipped 3.2 million barrels a day last month, the lowest level in at least nine years, according to Kpler data. VM Comment: Under the terms of the mutual defense pact, Turkey and Pakistan should be attacking Yemen right now – but they’re not – crickets – yeah. It’s not worth the paper it’s printed on. But we all knew that when they signed it.
** Sniping – according to Carlos Hathcock – one who knows.
** In Canada – PM Mark Carney ran on one thing. He was the banker who could handle Donald Trump. Sixteen months after that election, the talks are dead. Washington hit Canadian electronics, alcohol, dairy, paper, plastics and furniture with 50 percent tariffs, and Trump is threatening 50 percent on cars, trucks, parts and steel starting January 1. On Sunday, the president went further and told Canadian companies to pack up and move to the United States, where there are no tariffs. Carney’s own explanation for why the talks fell apart included American objections to our French-language protection laws. “Our factories are being poached, and Ottawa is arguing about language rules.”
** Cybertaxi
** One measure of the U.S. economy is the arrival of container ships to US shores. This year, the peak shipping season at major U.S. container ports is proving longer than expected, with September now forecast to become the busiest month of the year for imports, according to the latest Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates. September imports are forecast at 2.31 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), up 9.6% from a year ago and slightly above July’s 2.3 million TEU. That is a notable change from last month’s outlook, when September was forecast at just 2.16 million TEU, and May’s 2.24 million TEU appeared likely to remain the high-water mark for 2026. “We thought the peak season would be mostly behind us by now, but that’s not the case,” said NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold. Gold said part of the shift reflects vessel delays caused by bad weather in China, along with some ships rerouting away from the Panama Canal amid concerns over potential drought conditions. But demand has also held up despite tariffs, inflation and high fuel prices. “Consumers keep buying despite tariffs, inflation and high fuel prices, and retailers keep bringing in merchandise to meet demand,” Gold said.
** The WWM gets an Air Force. Some of you, like LSP, will say it’s about time. Called a “budget buy” (it’s like saying any boat is a budget buy), it’s an old Piper Aztec currently getting updated avionics at a hangar at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Prescott, AZ). I have been criticized for not being able to get from here to there quickly enough because the White Wolf Mine is remote. Criticize no more. The maximum unrefueled range of a standard Piper Aztec (PA-23-250) is 1,320 nautical miles. Some might say that naming an aircraft after a dead Mesoamerican people is cultural appropriation. WWM has already culturally appropriated wolves, so nobody cares. (This is a stock photo, not an original photo of the airplane, to preserve the sanctity of the genuine tail number from the Internet) As with buying ANY German car, it comes with a certified and licensed mechanic… (Take off from the feature film, Kelly’s Heroes – I just ride in ’em, I don’t know what makes ’em work — woof-woof)
** Former President Joe Biden set a precedent for promising cash depending on how elections went, as noted by CNN. In 2021, as Georgia voters held runoff elections for two U.S. Senate seats, Biden said a Democratic Congress would send $2,000 stimulus checks if Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock were elected. “If you send Jon and the Reverend to Washington, those $2,000 checks will go out the door, restoring hope and decency and honor for so many people who are struggling right now,” Biden said. Now democrats are upset that President Trump promised every adult American $5,000 if the Republican Party keeps control of Congress in the midterm elections. Make of that what you will.
Orange County California Rentals
These prices are reflective, and the first five cities on the list will get you a ghetto rental. Santa Ana, Garden Grove, and Stanton, for example, are cities where every rental will be a ghetto neighborhood rental; there aren’t any “nice parts of town”. Those numbers are all AVERAGES. If you want a nice place, double the number, and you’re there. You won’t get a nice part of town for any of those numbers until you get down to Irvine, and good luck finding a 2 br/2 ba you want to live in there for $3,500/mo.
Identify the Aircraft
1
2
3
Identify the Ship
4
End
4 is HMS Medway a Batch 2 River-class offshore patrol vessel
Yes!
DMV
Most driver’s licenses (once your past learner etc) are five years in Australia.
You can renew it online until your file photo is 10 years old. Then DMV, some police stations or post offices for a free photo.
Vehicle registration is 6 or 12 months fully renew on line. The only time you need to go into an office is if you do a private vehicle sale and transfer. Dealers can do it on line for new or used vehicles.
Most DMV visits are for driving tests.
How close is the nearest private/public airstrip to the WWM that will accommodate the Piper. Of course you will need a hanger also.
There are three, and I have access to an empty hangar owned by a friend about an hour away.
The President said that the $5,000 will only go out if Republicans win both houses because if they don’t win both houses, it’s not likely (i.e. impossible) they’ll pass ANY bill except articles of impeachment. And if he wants to give back my tax money, I’m not going to say “No, you guys keep it. You’re so good at managing money.”
Until Congress gets serious about money management, anyone complaining about deficit spending is just virtue signaling. Or as gramps said, standing in the rain complaining about being wet.
As others have said elsewhere, (1) 50% of Americans pay NO Federal Income Tax – so why should those who pay no tax receive a $5K payout from those who do? It looks like redistribution. (2) It’s inflationary. (3) See #2 – Is a stimulus that is that inflationary doing more harm than good?
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Maybe that payout will sway those easily swayed? I’m sure they’ve focus-grouped it to death.
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It’s anti-socialists arguing for socialism lite to stop the real socialists because this time redistributing the wealth is good…
Not a fan of handouts.
The government here did cash handouts during Covid. My wife and I as self funded retirees did not qualify even though 3 out of 4 of our rental shops tenants were closed.
One was a gym and they were closed for 18 months.
We were excluded for owning real estate. Even though the government had closed down the tenant
RNC’s polling must have DJT worried as the $5g checks sounds like a Hail Mary shot. Injecting that much cash would increase inflation. The 50% that pay no taxes would vote for it if they were informed, but I doubt it will be discussed on the View or whatever disinformation they watch so it is unlikely to happen.
PDJT is a master troll’r…this is for optics not reality (my unabashed opinion without any factual data to prove it). And correct, why should anyone not paying taxes get a refund on taxes others paid? They shouldn’t. PDjT is attempting to tell Republican politicians to get off their lazy rear-ends and follow the trail he has broken. They won’t…many are too weak.
The trolls get old. Flip-flopping to gain advantages gets old, too. President Trump wears people out. And it may cost him in the midterms. I believe that the Republicans will perform better than predicted, but stability will triumph over showmanship in the long run.
Maybe so, the man has been working at warp speed on all fronts…this is a nit on my scale. Can’t be all things to all people all the time, someone will always be a critic (not saying you, the others out there going all Scanners over this and other things he says/does). PDJT knows more than me, I’m not in his fray…so I defer to his judgement while operating on all fronts. So are as reasonable well as can be expected from one man who has had ZERO support from the ‘nice guy’ Republicans, who are infuriating and showing their spineless pink underbellies. R’s better step up themselves instead of dumping their responsibilities onto him…actually do something (damnit).
Ps. The Democrats are so under water in disarray without a map not sure how they can win one let alone both houses.
>It looks like redistribution.
I’d say “bingo!” except I’m not sure if that $5k business was thought out, or just more essentially random, quite-unmoored-from-reality blather from whatever has taken over Trump’s brain [1]. Or maybe this bullshit is merely the mythical “DOGE Check” [2] repackaged.
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>I’m sure they’ve focus-grouped it to death.
You have more faith than I do that whatever possesses (extremely deliberate word choice) Trump and the RNC has its act together to that degree.
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[1] I’m not ready to say “demonic forces” — not quite yet, but it might really be something else beginning with “D”. Is the guy publicly sundowning, what with the barrage of nonsense that he’s supposedly posting on Truth Social at night?
[2] What ever happened to DOGE? And for that matter, what happened to the Elon Musk who was openly Noticing even just a few Things That Cannot Be Talked About? “You may be the wealthiest man in the world, but we can un-make you.” Or maybe it was a direct, existential threat. I wonder what Elon received as a “gift” to remind him of his place. Trump was openly presented a gold pager (anyone who thinks that was to commemorate a joint and mutual triumph is too naive to be allowed out without a minder; it was a sneering threat). What did Elon get? A severed horse head in his bedsheets? Except for the timing, I’d say “a high-res video showing EXACTLY what happened to Charlie Kirk”.
This is tariff money, not income tax money. Anyone who bought anything has paid it.
It’s a fine distinction because the tariff money is, by law, applied to the full faith and credit of the United States.
He’s a business man doing the budget the way it used to be done. The tariffs were always championed as new funds to do new things, like eliminating other taxes and fees. You’re advocating rolling the SSI trust fund into the general budget. “Once we’ve collected it, for whatever reason, don’t worry about what we do with it.” I agree with you, it’d be nice if we managed our debt better, but I think it’s naive to think the deficit will start to shrink without Actions being Taken. Why would they? The tariff money will be spent like regular taxes.
Campaign promise money… -shrug-
PM Mark Carney has said this is not about tariffs but to hinder Trump in Novembers election.
I don’t think most Americans care either way. I doubt what Canada does or doesn’t do will meaningfully influence US politics.
Unless it brings more work here.
Now, if we just had more workers….
It’s not the tariffs, it’s the “Handling Charge” that kills you. Bougt a set of used brake calipers from a Canadian friend, and while the tariff was $6.42, the charge by the forwarder was $32!!!
Air Force One; 2 is one, so IMHO the fleet will incrementally grow. Aztec wolf status, will this qualify for carbon tax exemptions? Ground support positions available? Asking for a friend. :-)
Fortunately, I have biodiversity and carbon offsets…
Identify the Aircraft
1 – Junkers Ju 87 Stuka prototype
2 – Sikorsky S-40
3 – Sukhoi Su-15 Flagon
Identify the Ship
4 – HMS Medway as identified by RCC
Congratulations on the Aztec purchase. 1,300 NM without a bathroom is a stretch for us seasoned travellers. Next step a King Air
Outstanding.
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Mostly 500-mile hops between AZ and CA.
I’m not super familiar with all the Aztec variants, but is that one fuel injected, turbo? In any event it’s a solid aircraft. Nice purchase.
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Transferring oil between tankers at sea is a good deal more complex than the words imply.
Yes, it’s the turbo, and it’s better for several reasons.
Jordan Peterson.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwaLhSgi7q8
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Carlos Hathcock. I have an autographed copy of his book “Marine Sniper”. Also, the “Death From Afar” series. Has always been a subject of keen interest for me. Not to in any way imply that I ever had what it takes to do that job, and then live with it. At my age, I’ll never know, and that’s OK.
Forgot to add — Congrats on your new wings. Buddy of mine (Jim) used to fly, IIRC, a Piper Cherokee. We had an interesting discussion about on board fuel capacity vs. internal bladder capacity.
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Fun story. When we lived in Chico, CA we had line of sight to the airport where he kept his plane in a hanger. He called up one day and said he needed to go up to keep current, and did I want to go along for the ride? I asked how about I bring our youngest (Ethan, then a high school freshman) along too? So off we went. I had Ethan ride shotgun and I rode in the back. While we were up, Jim let Ethan take the controls for a few minutes. Ethan learned (just a bit) to fly before he got his driver’s license.
When I was a young boy, my grandfather always had an airplane. I learned about the yoke, trim, and weather long before I got a license to operate a motor vehicle. He always preferred the Mooneys with Lycoming engines (M-20C and then the M-22 Mustang) over the Cessnas with Continental engines. When I was a teenager, I worked for a medical doctor, cleaning his office while I was in Junior High and High School. He took me under his wing (literally) – his oldest daughter was my girlfriend. He had a Cessna 172, and I learned to fly it. So, well before military flight experiences, including a MIL MI-24 and the Little Bird (Hughes 500C and NOTAR), I had it in my blood.
Excellent conniving, RHT, and congrats to your son for getting the ride!
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I leaned to fly before I got my driver’s license, but that had to do with running the numbers and realizing I could afford a car or I could afford flight lessons, but not both. Commuting by bus and bicycle year-round in Alaska, starting in Fairbanks, was… character-building. I finally gave up when I got a far higher-paying job across town, and decided that no matter what the finances said, they didn’t account for the reduced life expectancy of commuting cross-town in Anchorage rush hour because I didn’t have two hours to catch the terrible connections one way, and the busses didn’t run at the other end of swing shift…. so I was broke on a much higher income while finishing my instrument rating.
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Larry, congrats on the new set of wings – may she serve you faithfully and well!
One more. California recycled water. Well, piss on that. Old comedy line — “Where Bambi goes, nuthin’ grows”.
Opening Salvo: 💯…had to rethink a few things and go against my nature (h/t Prager), predicated when a wise person said to me, ‘Are you a nice guy or a good man? ‘Nice guys’ generally appease, feeling obligated to any and all demands, whereas a ‘good man’ applies wisdom, saying ‘No’ and being straight with people when warranted.’
Had to shift my thinking a little once understanding this despite my example of a very strong father being ‘a good man’ (yet even he admitted to learning this same lesson as a young msn). Of course Peterson said it more succinctly…but we males wrestle with this, especially in our current ‘emotion driven’ society. I am betting the ‘holdout juror’ (as the scumbag media defined him) is a ‘good man’, and that drives the emotion-driven attention seeking woman nuts. He stood his ground, as we all should, because no one else will.
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Hilton is saying the quiet part out loud…this vehicle registration et al thing he proposes would end another expanding tax grift. His is an excellent idea…which is why he won’t win, so it doesn’t get implemented. Same goes for property taxes, effectively a rental tax on already owned property based on ‘unrealized gains’ that some government official says your place is worth therefore you should pay an increasing amount every year, basically taking your money at the point of threat of losing said property/home if you don’t pay so the thieves can throw the confiscated money down a rat hole never to be seen again.
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Aircraft: No surprise you are a pilot (your ‘Skills Punch Card’ must be close to full by now). BUT…maybe add a commuter helicopter to get from the WWM to the Aztec hanger, save the hour ground commute…. or to Scottsdale for those quick trips to Costco and lunch at Desert Cave in Cave Creek.
I think he’s rotary qualified also.
We are not worthy, in the presence of greatness.
Ignore the snark from pussies. In the corporate world (years ago), I was disliked by many but my attitude was fuckem’, I don’t work for you. Same attitude today. I’ve got minimum time left on the globe.
Do you have any density altitude concerns in Arizona? Turbos solve the power problem to a large degree but won’t change the runway length.
All three runways are under/around 6,000 ft in altitude, and none get that blistering heat that makes taking off with a full load of fuel a challenge in high summer.
“Our factories are being poached, and Ottawa is arguing about language rules.”
FWIW: that quote makes it sound like Carney disagrees with Ottawa, but some research says not.
I’m confused.
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“(it’s like saying any boat is a budget buy),”
My brother just sent me a video that discusses why so many boats are on the used market at “budget” prices or being scrapped.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?is=7F6_DCI2MZ8BAV54&v=JZfFs0JYp5k&feature=youtu.be
* TNX. but it still doesn’t define (to my way of thinking) the difference in the American people between the time of Pearl Harbor and the time of the Twin Towers. Maybe it was the way the newspapers/radio handled it, maybe it was the way our politicans handled it, maybe it was the “citification/urbanization/pussification” of the young men at the latter time.
And as long as people continue to kid themselves that we’re not in the midst of WWIII.
I’ll state it here:
It’s not that I hate Muslims (or anyone else for that matter), it’s only that I want to be comfortable in a trench with whoever it is guarding my back.
* yes! add me to the list of those who say “Prolly ’bout time (mor’ ‘n likely way past time).”
* If we’re gonna have a Real ID (a national ID), why put the processing thereof in the hands of the states; not that I’d trust any Fed bureaucracy any the more.
Seems weird to visit a blog to gripe at the owner.
Also seems extra-weird to hang around here if you don’t like/approve of/feel
comfortable about firearms. But then, people are often weird.
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9/11 Islam discrimination – truth always discriminates against lies.
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Congrats on the wings! It seems unlikely that the “avionics upgrades” include
the E/O turret, cueing helmet, and hardpoints that I’m imagining, but it’s
more fun to imagine it that way.
– Kle.
“abolish California’s DMV as a stand-alone agency”
Who will hand out voter credentials to illegals then?
I’ll be fine if I can get my lazy ass wolf off the couch… sigh… The Aztec is a nice little twin, but they are all at least 50 years old now, and if you get an F, you really need to check the turbos!
Previous owner was the local FAA inspector. Newly overhauled engines.
Congrats on the plane. Somehow I figured you as a buffed and polished twin beech m18 kinda guy.
I’m rougher around the edges, Klaus.
👍
“discriminatory against Muslims”
Aw-w-w. Poor little muzzies got their feelings hurt.
A little discrimination is good and necessary. They should be glad that’s all … so far.
Discrimination should be used when picking targets.
Piper Aztec. Rode in one from Denver to Lima Peru (with a few stops in between), then buzzed the jungles looking for oil.
Fun time. Once was enough.
“continue to kid themselves that we’re not in the midst of WWIII”
Of course we are. It’s just people expect a WWII type of war when we have a subtle invasion like termites eating a house away.
Time for the exterminator.
👍
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