A Plague Retrospective
— illuminatibot (@iluminatibot) August 13, 2023
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Trust the Mainstream Media to Guide Your Life!
Was systemic racism and transphobia at the heart of the firestorm on Maui that left 93 dead? Or was it global warming? I go to Hawaii often for both work and fun – is there an actual building code that applies to the cracker boxes that were put up in the past? Meanwhile, the news reports that the Global Climate Catastrophe Certain Death Super Apocalypse may be responsible for heart disease, stroke, heart failure, or arrhythmia. Global Warming will also be responsible for mass starvation in India in the upcoming 1980’s, and the ice-free Arctic summers in the upcoming 2000’s.
Bullet Points:
** Big Mike for President? Maybe. In our clown car world, who knows? Are there pictures of Michelle’s dick on Hunter’s laptop? I’m just asking the question. I don’t know the answer.
** CDR SAL wrote a very good blog about decoupling from the People’s Republic of China. You should read the whole article. In my admittedly weird life, I meet all sorts of people from across the planet. The world is decoupling from Red China and it’s happening quickly. The Chinese see this and they approach the problem with a profound sense of confusion. Why would people wish to decouple from their betters, from Celestials?
The part of CDR SALs article that is unspoken reflects the extent to which Pedo Joe sold out America to the Chinese and continues to do so sub rosa.
What about Venezuela? You didn’t ask but what about the Venezuelans? How does that Marxist government feel about the Chinese? Strange, but they view them in much the same way as the rest of the world. I was on the phone with an official of that government who expressed the same misgivings. “We’ve stopped doing business with them.” He told me that if he advocated trade with China, he’d end up in jail. Is that true? I’m persuaded that it is. Times are changing – even in Venezuela.
** What a shock. Why would they do that?
Several witnesses complained that testimony had been selectively edited to distort or even reverse its meaning, and that members of the committee had publicly accused them of wrongdoing, without evidence, and which they had denied in their testimony. Republicans also suspected that the committee was communicating with President Joe Biden’s White House, and with the Department of Justice — perhaps to circumvent witnesses’ procedural rights in obtaining material for future prosecutions.
** Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Work like you don’t need money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like no one’s watching.
** Municipal Suicide – At least it’s not the only one circling the drain. Misery loves company.
** Yesterday Mike_C wrote in the comments:
If Erdogan was serious about it they’d stop with the Türkiye business and instead try to get neighboring countries to change THEIR names to things such as “Giblets”. What if the land was of the Hellenes became “Gravy” or Cyprus became “Cranberry Sauce”. Imagine the joy it’d bring to reporters and readers alike to see a headline such as “Tensions Rise Between Turkey and Gravy over Cranberry Sauce Independence Movement.”
I reply:
American families love Turkey. But it’s racist and sexist. Are you a leg man or do you prefer a breast? Dark meat or white meat? And look at that patriarchal setting – disgusting conditioning for Americans.
Sultan Erdogan is trying his best to fight Islamophobia and to defeat these American practices of preferring a white breast to a dark thigh.
Picture of the Day
A Century of LEGIO II ADIUTRIX on patrol in the valley of the river Granus (today’s Hron, Slovakia)during Marcomannic wars. The primary column of legionaries marching on an unsurfaced track is protected on both flanks in front and behind by infantry and cavalry of auxiliaries. Downed tree trunks reveal that the road has only recently been modified by Roman engineers so that at the range of the bow there were no trees on either side behind which the enemy could hide.
Medical Corner
From the Courtroom
The judge says to a double-homicide defendant, “You’re charged with beating your wife to death with a hammer.”
A voice at the back of the courtroom yells out, “You bastard!”
The judge says, “You’re also charged with beating your mother-in-law to death with a hammer.”
The voice in the back of the courtroom yells out, “You bastard!”
The judge stops and says to the guy in the back of the courtroom, “Sir, I can understand your anger and frustration at this crime. But no more outbursts from you, or I’ll charge you with contempt. Is that understood?”
The guy in the back of the court stands up and says, “I’m sorry, Your Honor, but for fifteen years, I’ve lived next door to that bastard, and every time I asked to borrow a hammer, he said he didn’t have one.
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Identify the Aircraft
Identify the Aircraft:
Mitsubishi A5M ‘Claude’
Yes, the forerunner to the A6M (A= Carrier-Based, 6th Generation, Mitsubishi) family of magnificent fighters. Unexpected heavy losses of pilots at the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway dealt the Japanese carrier air force a blow from which it never fully recovered. The US rotated pilots back to the US to serve in training roles but the Japanese flew until they died for the most part.
Looks an awful lot like a Boeing “Pea Shooter” (P-26?). Was it a copy of or an inspiration for that aircraft?
Parallel evolution. You also see the same design show up in Russian and British planes.
Given the same parameters; speed, horsepower, engine type, armament, landing requirements, range, yada yada, they all look like low wing monoplanes with skirted non-retractable landing gear and open cockpits and a NACA inspired engine cowling.
You see the same thing with P-51ish planes in practically every country; large in-line engine, thin wing, same cockpit, same armament layout.
There’s even Japanese planes that paralleled the evolution of the P-47. Given a big-arsed radial engine, you end up with a thick body, tall landing gear and yada yada.
The Schneider Cup and other aviation racing competitions in the years before WW2 helped to refine designs that were taken home (wherever home was) and worked on. Beans is right, but the competitions that were held influenced those WW2 designs as well.
Will the voting public never hold those responsible for keeping us from boating, gardening, remodeling during their fascist lockdowns accountable.
Are people so stupid that they re-elected Gretchen Whitmer, or did she steal the election?
C’mon, man! You know we now have selections, not elections. Bread and circuses.
Our leadership is now installed into office. Voted in by the acclamation of the masses, who love Big Brother.
Oh blinding light!
I cannot see,
Lookout for me…
Insert: “Oh light that blinds”, between line one and two..
Ed, No.
And in about 6 months they’ll start that mess all over and, you watch, half the people will go along to get along, enjoying their captivity out of fear.
I’d appreciate help with the signature of the artist who painted the Roman forces; I’d like to look at the rest of his œuvre
Giuseppe Rava
http://www.g-rava.it/biography/
http://www.g-rava.it/shop/
Thanks Don.
Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you’re already dead! Brothers, what we do in life echoes in eternity… (I love that kind of talk)
Me too..direct without equivocation.
Thank you Don. Rava’s signature’s almost as incomprehensible/illegible as mine on a script.
We’re closing our house in Oregon and becoming permanent residents in Fla.
Too much stuff flying about in Orygun and the wife’s worried that sooner or later some of it’s gonna hit the fan n’ I’ll respond and find myself on trial.
She’s getting more n’ more upset every time (daily) I’m practicing with the 10mm in the “backyard”; I might annoy the neighbors (it’s alrighty when she’s practicing though).
IDA:
1.) Mitsubishi A5M
People dropping dead left and right in full view..yet the General Public is so mind-numbed in their compartmentalized lives they will never allow themselves (admit) the correlation. Pfizer executives and the board should be in a prison camp, or shot at dawn for peddling poison. Saw a bit of “Painkiller”, a slightly veiled expose’ about that OxyContin family. Yeah, same deal, nothing to see here…promulgated by cheats and criminals. The opiate of the masses is more than drugs.
Sidebar: Read a blurb that under FJB-Swiss Cheese Brain-NWO Puppet we have no one in charge of the Army, Navy, or Marines. If this is true, What the hell?!!!
Sure we do. Barack is there.
Well that’s comforting, Dufus Minimus at the helm giving orders between interviewing a new personal “chef”.
in re “Painkiller”
I never saw it nor did I have any desire to watch it; I have my own thoughts about “docudramas” which I’ve found are 95% fertilizer and 5% distorted facts.
I was on the front line, so to speak, providing a variety of pain obtundents for ~ 30 yrs, depending on the severityof pain and the patient’s tolerance.
The oxycodone compounds, available only by perscription, could be a very kind friend for many while a great enemy for others; I’d expand upon that, but this is not my blog (nor do I have have one).
My other great concern is this “Government War on Opiates” which will affect the aging, cancer-prone population in our country, leaving them without any means of pain relief (other than suicide by any means) as they’re lying there in extreme pain with the attending doctors afraid of losing their licences due to “overuse of opioids.
If this is G-d’s plan for “end of life” or “entry to Heaven”, I’m not surprised that atheism has taken hold today as families watch their loved ones pass.
Yes, many sides to the story, one is true, the rest are fabricated for affect. When the government declares war on something it inevitably turns into another dumpster fire the rest of Peons get to pay out to cover the idiocy.
Big and Little Pharma do make good products to help people live better, but power and money corrupts the soul when it is allowed to grab hold of a person. I run on helping others in everything I do (Matt 22:39), these people may start out that way. Only saw a little bit of Painkiller (I’m away and don’t have Netflix…it was on). The better one was “Heist” about the Kentucky Bourbon “theft”. Unreal, but in first person. The power elite were the buyers of stolen Pappyvanwinkle, so sanctioned the theft ring. Funny in a way.
Painkiller is typical over the top, but the point is made that there are some seriously bad actors in Armani suits ruining lives…they need a “behind the woodshed” session…which will never happen. DrMrsPaulM likes to say, “They’ll never cure cancer…there’s no money in it.”
For the historical record, I do NOT oppose the use of opioids in a medical setting and feel that the war on them is absurd in the extreme. There was no particular war on Chinese and Indian fentanyl that slaughters American addicts. We do not interdict shipments from China on the high seas and scuttle those ships.
A war on prescription medication of that sort makes no sense.
The plague shots are a different matter completely.
Me as well (both yours and Borons comments). Anything can be misused, and the war on drugs is stupid. The war should be on the pharma chain to the patient that allows people to get these drugs without better oversight and control. Heck, Limbaugh had a problem when his ear infection pain got untenable.
When I hurt bad enough, I want an opioid. Period.
But I go through a lot of pain to avoid them.
I had unrelenting kidney stones for two years during Covid and they wouldn’t treat me because I ddin’t have the plague. I pissed blood and passed broken glass for two years including one botched surgery and one good one and I didn’t take opiates for fear that I’d never get fixed if I was strung out on that. Thus my personal concern. I had some post surgical but maybe 7 pills.
Modern medicine has become a pharma-driven racket..in this era NO ONE should have to endure that level of pain and suffering because half the damned doctors have become shills for the system, effectively useless to patient care and treatment.
After never seeing a doctor for 30 years we had no choice…the industry is a friggin mess, unprofessional, and asinine, having discovered the hierarchy is “a whole, bunch of admin/pharma/insurance cheats/doctor/other…then fifty feet of crap…then the patient.
Needs an overhaul, it’s upside down.
Suppose you had a STRUCTURE which was implemented by an interlocking set of mutually supporting BEAMS. Remove 1 in 1,000 of the BEAMS and the STRUCTURE may not even sag.
Now consider if STRUCTURE = “government policy”, and BEAMS = “laws”. Suppose you are personally not willing to assist the enforcement of laws banning medically-appropriate drug use by snitching when you see high doses prescribed. You’re a contentious objector about the drug war. But you are still happy to snitch about money laundering or prescription evasion or smuggling or tax evasion. The military effect of your actions is still to help enforce the drug laws. You’re still supporting the war effort. I conclude you have to be extremely Libertarian to produce much libertarian effect at all.
Shockingly (and disappointingly as it might be to some people) I have no opinion on the Sackler family, other than to say that I enjoy the Sackler Museum of The Smithsonian.
I had already left clinical medicine when The Opioid Crisis became a Cause, and I was glad of that, because I thought the policies were largely stupid, would punish patients in genuine pain, yet not meaningfully reduce the illicit narcotic problem. I knew severely limited (mobility-wise) patients with serious chronic pain, who were told they had to appear in clinic every three days to get physical scrip for their narcotics (and then had to take that piece of paper to the pharmacy). These were persons who couldn’t drive and were dependent on public transportation (ie buses), and were too poor to afford taxis or Uber. Getting to clinic was often a 3-4 hour ordeal for those patients. I’m sure I’d have been investigated if I was still in clinical work then.
Even for those (idiots) who subscribed to the “sone innocents must suffer for the Greater Good” worldview, it was still stupid because punishing persons with genuine severe chronic pain did Jack squat to reduce the opioid problem on the streets. I could still see semi-zombies on the street doing the “opioid lean” as well as street whores plying their trade (often because of their opioid addiction), so what good did those policies do? Hell, there’s an illicit trade in Suboxone (even), and I know the street price (as of a month ago, at least) in Manchester, NH. It’s a racket, and many very cynical, if not frankly bad, persons are involved at all levels. But I feel worst for the poor patients with actual severe chronic pain, who are effectively being punished by the well-meaning but idiotic War on Prescription Opioids. (Yes yes, there certainly were, and are, pill mills. That’s not good. But go after those individuals fraudulently prescribing, not everyone.)
X2
Picture of the day question-
Off to the right we have cavalry and a line of men with round shields, on the road all the men have rectangular shields.
What do the different shaped shields mean?
Auxiliary troops often used oval shields of the type depicted. If they had armor it was usually hamata (chainmail) not segmentada (plates). HOWEVER, there is a big cautionary note here when discussing armor in any period.
Officers and wealthy soldiers often commissioned their own armor. Some soldiers made significant money on campaigns from spoils of all sorts. They could afford to buy better armor. Common soldiers (of any age) often picked up armor on the battlefield (both sides) and used that. As the Roman Empire evolved, some formations were heavily standardized like the Praetorians and some of the backbone legions. Shield markings by legion were standardized and specified gear for auxiliary troops, archers, slingers (light artillery) became more easily identified on the battlefield.
Steven Pressfield’s novel, “A Man at Arms” might be interesting to you. It’s a well-researched book.
The more rectangular shields and the full rectangle shield are much better in a shield wall as they leave less open spaces for pointy objects to get past said shields.
Rounded shields are better for fighting behind as it gives the bearer more ability to get around one’s own shield. But rounded shields require a more active shield style. Even the large ones tend to require more movement than when using basically a door.
I’ve used a fair variety of shields, from small round to big rectangles. And different grips from center hand gripped to vertically held strapped to angled strapped. They all have good points and bad points. Each is better at one thing than another.
When you’re light to medium foot, you’re fighting more open, so shield movement is much more important than heavy foot, which fights in a close formation.
You can use a light or medium style shield in a close formation, you just set yourself and the people on either side of you for getting gacked first.
I’ve often been the last man standing of a shield formation due to me carrying a proper heavy foot shield. And being last, well, suddenly I become a skirmisher and that barn door I’m carrying is gonna go from being ultraprotective to getting me killed pretty darned quick.
Sword/weapons design had a lot to do with shield design. Rapier/gauche fighting and two-hand swords didn’t involve the use of a shield. A short gladius or an axe did in a shield wall. Roman cavalry (often native conscript cavalry in the early days) evolved into an equestrian class that carried longer swords necessary for mounted combat and smaller oval shields. It evolved into heavy cataphracts and armored mounts. Even Hadrian’s Wall age Roman mounts had leather/brass head armor because the enemy learned how to remove the horse from the equation.
For centuries, Roman heavy articulated infantry supported by Roman engineering and combined arms in a more minor role were unbeatable. Then came the Teutoburg Forest (“Arminus, where are my legions?”) when all that training worked against the legions and the doctrine of the fixed-piece battle wasn’t available.
Roman engineering allowed the army to be supplied and supported. They’d look for a good hill, chop down the trees, fortify it, and the heavy infantry supported by artillery would wait for the Germans or Britains to attack. It was unbeatable.
Seems the time span between a conspiracy theory and public fact is six to nine months.
How inconvenient for the Lightbringer/Xiden mob that the tattered Constitution still has power with the Senate stalling the appointment of Chiefs of the Armed Forces.
How dare those poxy Senators want competent people in those positions when “fundamental change” is still needed?
Oh, they dare. The swamp with big swamp money has their backs.
I think I understand. This is a fight between the woke and the military/industrial complex for power and purse control.
Yes
“Are there pictures of Michelle’s dick on Hunter’s laptop?”
I think if he had Mike’s dick pix he’d be dead.
Good call
I might be unattributed instead of annotated?