Caption: Staring into a pool of water to hypnotize yourself. Apparently, it’s a thing.
Cover: This is what it looks like – if you ever wondered. Thanks to my old shipmate/dive buddy, DaveC, for sending the photo.
Bullet Points:
** I don’t know which brand of coffee you drink. The most exotic coffee drink is generally considered to be Kopi Luwak, also known as civet coffee. It’s served in the finest restaurants in the Middle East. This coffee is produced from coffee beans eaten and excreted by the Asian palm civet, a small mammal. This process gives the coffee a unique flavor profile and a high price. That’s only a rumor to me. I’ve sworn off coffee. EOP/POE for me.
** Boating with EdB. EdB sometimes needs help with his boat, and it’s good of you to be there for him. And yes, one more…
** $14 billion in income left New York City when 125,000 residents moved to Florida. I’m sure that the fat cats in the Big Apple couldn’t care less. California lost over $102 billion in income from 2020 to 2022 due to the migration of taxpayers to other states. This includes a net loss of $2 billion in state income taxes in fiscal year 2022-2023 alone. While the specific amounts vary by year, the trend of outmigration and its impact on California’s tax revenue is clear. Their response has been to double down with woke crazy. Good move. Meanwhile, the move-outs are Californicating other locations…
** Professor VDH speaks to higher education. What happens when you turn over the rock?
** The Economist: Chinese military exercises foreshadow a blockade of Taiwan. Some observers see “flashing warning lights” that China is preparing to bring about “reunification” by force. Others reckon China’s leader, Xi Jinping, will wait to reap the benefits of Donald Trump’s wrecking-ball approach to alliances. Few doubt, however, that China will keep squeezing Taiwan through “grey-zone” aggression, meaning coercion short of war. Indeed, the upheaval in global geopolitics may provide an opportunity to test new forms of intimidation. Chinese forces often rehearse an amphibious invasion of Taiwan. They recently tested new barge-borne bridges, expanding the number of potential landing spots and getting troops onto the ground faster. However, these D-Day drills have recently been supplemented by rehearsals for a full or partial naval blockade.”
** Show me the way to go home… Unfortunately, I sing this to myself when I’m driving home, like all the way home. Not out loud, but my brain sings it.
** First, the UK decides it knows what a woman is again, then the Reform Party wins. The times they are changing. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has warned woke employees of English councils working on “climate change initiatives, or diversity” to seek alternate employment after his party won historic victories in Thursday’s England elections. Nigel Farage addressed supporters and election-winners on Friday night after the final results for over 1,600 elections across England came in, confirming his Reform UK party had undeniably won the day, stating: “I do genuinely believe what has happened yesterday, the length and breadth of England, is a truly historic landmark”.
WSJ on China Trade
China has signaled that, as a nation, it is better able to tolerate the pain of a prolonged tariff war than the U.S. But cracks are starting to show, suggesting how deeply that pain already sets in across its economy. Plunging trade across the Pacific is halting production and threatening to undermine job stability for millions of Chinese.
On Wednesday, China’s economy showed its first significant signs of damage from the trade war, with a drop in export orders in April and the weakest production at the country’s factories in more than a year. Chinese officials have played down any evidence of hardship, reiterating their confidence that this year’s growth target of around 5% will be reached.
In recent weeks, signs have accumulated that many businesses are struggling to survive. Companies reliant on sales to the U.S. market, ranging from makers of toys, furniture, and T-shirts, to metal producers and manufacturers of electrical appliances and construction equipment, have suspended production and put employees on leave. Those that need to source U.S. components for production, such as semiconductor plants and carmakers, have been scrambling to keep operations running. Some business owners have likened the disruptions to production shutdowns during the Covid pandemic—with the warning that the outlook appears more dismal this time.”
***
Covid 19
Children’s Health Defense (CHD) is backing a new federal lawsuit challenging the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over its Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program — a policy critics say punishes doctors and low-income families who opt out of COVID-19 vaccination.
The suit was filed on behalf of California pediatrician Dr. Samara Cardenas, who refused to give COVID-19 vaccines to healthy children. Because of that stance, she was expelled from the VFC program, lost her Medicaid contract, and was ultimately forced to shut down her practice.
Under current CDC rules, doctors serving Medicaid patients through the VFC Program must offer all vaccines on the CDC’s schedule — including COVID-19 shots — or be excluded from the program entirely. There’s no middle ground for physicians who object on scientific or ethical grounds.
After the attack on Ben Gurion Airport, there is no option but to take them out with extreme prejudice. Iran is a pustule that needs to be excised. Maybe with the core of the religious zealots dead, the Persians can recraft a civilization again. I harbor doubts, but they can do it without fissile Uranium.
Identify the Aircraft
1
630+ built, 629 in inventory.
2
1,600+ built.
3
89 built – Hint: It has a tail hook. If you need more of a hint – Короткий Взлет и Посадка
4
76+ built
The center aircraft has a version of a TARPS pod slung underneath. I won’t hold you responsible for the variant unless you want to take a stab at it. The top aircraft flies the tanker mission obv.
Parting Shot
End
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Sukhoi Su-30
2. Mikoyan MiG-29
3. Mikoyan MiG-29K
4. Sukhoi Su-30MKI
Correction to 4:
Shenyang J-15
I forgot China also has Su-27 developments.
Exactly, Surly. Well done.
Later reports indicate 2 Flankers down, and Sidewinder, instead of Archer.
*
Either way, the Russians were using the Flankers stupidly.
– Kle.
Yes, they took them down with AIM-9s
“Iran is a pustule that needs to be excised.” So is China. Them what run that charade seem to schedule some kinda “Great Leap Forward” or “Cultural Revolution” every few decades and don’t seem to care what it costs them, Covid being the latest example. Their leaders couldn’t care less about their people or their so-called economy. Very much like California, wot?
I’ve chatted with friends in and around China and they’re not sure that Xi will survive. I said that he will only be ousted when the People’s Liberation Army loses confidence in the graft that he provides them. That’s how things really work behind the Bamboo Curtain. China faces some rocky roads ahead. The happy time has passed for them.
I still believe that a blockade is the way they’ll go. Sure Tiawan is a thorn in their side militarily, but I think Xi wants their manufacturing capability too. What’s the point in taking possession a bunch of smoking ruins…. And if by doing that he’s get us to fire the first shot, even better.
China has the military muscle to declare war on Taiwan and blockade it, but a blockade is a declaration of war. It’s a tricky business. Will Taiwan (and the US) deploy captor style mines (unmoored) in the Straits? Where does it go from there. And once that is in place, is the Pakistani oil corridor secure enough that China will no longer need to use the Straits of Malacca to transport goods? I realize that there is no current linkage, but stand-by for that. The Chinese and the US knows that one thing leads to another once your ships and submarines are encountering ships from a potentially hostile nation. They start shooting, we start shooting, then nukes fly. Does the PRC want Taiwan that much?
And right now Pakistan is engaged in a shooting war with India, which may remove Pakistan’s ability to provide service with Red China.
I find it hard to fathom the unwillingness by officials to examine the theory that states many of the injections mandated by government officials are causing more harm than what they’re supposed to prevent; especially if the research passes all peer review, whether in the past, or in the present. Considering the push- back by those with the most to lose, there is a huge problem, and there are many that will only deserve a hanging.
Naval drones show that after getting kicked out of Kursk they can make a pinprick deep into the Black Sea. Putin is probably getting pressured to take the rest of the coast to include Odessa. On a completely unrelated note, what defense do we have against any such use in our coastal waters?
Larry,
What evidence, source provided Russian plane being downed? Ghost of Kiev?
Luther’s Turd
The Russians confirmed the downed aircraft.
The drone ships that the Ukraine use are short range vessels. The US intercepts so-called drug subs from Mexico all of the time and our look-down radar would seem to be better than the Russian capability in the Black Sea. They lost an AWACS on that mission about three months ago.
you allude to NooYawkers and Californicators, but no one mentions the weenies/whinees? who’ve left Wisconsin and the nigh impoverished from Taxachussetts who’ve fled southeast to take up residence in (income-tax-free) Flowreeda; where is Hank Johnson when you need him?
Since I don’t live in Florida, I don’t experience the influx in the same way that you do. Even in Arizona where the influx is mostly from California, I don’t suffer it daily. I experience campers in the tens of thousands escaping the summer heat for the pleasant forest highland where I reside. I’d think you’d be thrilled with all that capital fleeing Wisconsin for Florida.
I don’t benefit from the influx of capital.
To the contrary, that huge influx of capital from this group of ultra-liberal nouveau riche, an unbelievable number of former government employees: state and federal; (teachers and paper pushers) fleeing here has only raised the “actual cost-of-living”.
The stores, in general, have adopted the attitude: “If they’ve got it, it’s our business to take it from them.”
Housing (and building) costs have skyrocketed over the past 5 years
So yes, I am thrilled (16th C. definition – perforated by a pointed instrument) to welcome them.
The same thing happens in Arizona as Californians with the ability to pay are driving up the cost of property, goods and services. They come from a high-tax environment and aren’t afraid of paying more in taxes, so they will advocate that to obtain the services that follow taxation (in theory).
And, my friend Boron, I’m somewhat guilty of this myself. On the local fire board, I advocated for increasing firefighters’ pay from $14.70/hr—minimum wage—to $17.00/hr. Even at that, we were losing people to Chick-fil-A and In-N-Out hamburgers. It resulted in higher taxes. We spent a fortune on training only to lose that in employee flight. $17.00/hr is not enough to feed a family. Not even close. It may have been 30 years ago, but the dollar is worth much less now. You can argue that firemen moonlight with other jobs and they do, but the level of responsibility primarily in the area of emergency medical aid means that you really don’t want somebody who can’t qualify to turn burgers arriving to save your life.
Was on our rural VFD Board for a year, generally great people, but had to deal with THAT PNE who was complaining over the cost of Firehouse snacks for the guys doing the work, advocating on their behalf with a look of disbelief on my face and tone in my voice, eventually pulling a fifty out of my own wallet to pease this person. Left shortly after, could not believe someone in charge of the checkbook collected from taxpayers could be so stingy and tone deaf.
Our local department is not a volunteer fire department. We have employees and apparatus all paid for by the taxpayers of the district. They just didn’t want to pay the going rate.
Paul, is that the RCVFD?
No, LVFD…but in the ensuing years the have become a serious outfit run by great people (they were before, even when I was trying to do my little part, but on a really tight budget for the area they covered, including Hwy 287).
That fool with his outboards still running needs to go directly to the repair shop. His impellers are toast.
——–
Canada
That Danielle Smith reminds one of Margret Thatcher.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFOLSbKfSL0
——–
The vaccine programs are like many government programs. Initially, beneficial. The bastards take charge and use it to gain control over, We the People. I have never had a Covid shot. Family members, all much younger, enthusiastically jumped on board. Now several have health problems, most commonly edema. I’ve been a vaccine skeptic for over forty years after watching my second son go from a happy and normal toddler to high on the Asperger scale in just a few weeks after multiple “childhood” inoculation given all at once.
so many people have been reporting this syndrome on-line (problems after/resulting from childhood/infant innoculations) that you’d think it might behoove The Donald to appoint a task force (medical) to investigate
The whole vax system has to be examined. I lack personal expertise but have seen the same thing that you have. The first rule needs to be “do no harm.”
Mike Morgan’s latest video (Outdoors With The Morgans) includes some commentary on their son Hunter, who he said went from a healthy alert baby developing some word vocabulary to non-speaking autistic inside of three days after receiving a bunch of CDC recommended vaccines all at once. That was 30+ years ago. As a result their son suffers from seizures and still does not speak. I have ZERO trust in 9 out of 10 government agencies (that Reagan most terrifying 9-word line comes to mind, “I’m from the government, and am here to help.”), and The Covid PsyOp proved my stance was/is correct, in spades.
👍
Same with my brother’s son. Happy, normal toddler, vaccine injured within two weeks non speaking, seizures and behavioral problems that persist to this day, he is now 38 and my brother is 72. My nephew still lives at home for now. But that will change, my sister in law is showing signs of early dementia and also seizures, all of them had the covid fallacy.
I think that PM Carney expected something different than what he’s experiencing at the White House today. It’s breaking news of a sort, but I don’t believe that President Trump will back down easily on the Canadian Liberal (Communist) government. Their economy needs the US more than the US needs Canada and concessions from the US will be hard fought. The Great Yellow Hope won’t materialize in any meaningful way and the Chinese won’t solve the Canadian problem for them despite their secret hearts yearning for a skyhook.
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The US is building steel plants, aluminium plants, and auto plants, and the President is involved. Trump said that the US doesn’t need cars made in Canada, Canadian steel or aluminium. PM Carney looked like he was eating spoiled oysters.
😄
>>BREAKING NEWS<< At the beginning of his meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Carney, President Trump announced that the Houthis essentially asked for peace in the Red Sea and promised not to attack anyone anymore. . That was as a result of Israel incapacitating the international airport at Sanaa, Yemen, with a bombing strike. Why didn't they do this a year ago? I don't know how this will play with Iran, which pays the Houthis' bills and will want more attacks on international shipping.
my 2¢ (not worth even that much; trust me)
Muḥammad bin Salmān Āl Su‘ūd is getting annoyed
Two cents costs the US four cents to make. Investing in pennies could mean big returns.
They reserve the right to bomb Israel.
That dog won’t hunt.
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I know that they want, but it’s not going to work out the way they want it to.
“Honey pot”: No danger here for me, never travel in any circles that places me in the presence of someone who could be an operative….that I’m aware of that is…I think. (Hey, what happened to my retirement account? Dangit.)
***
PDJT offering $1000 and plane ticket to any illegal who self-deports, says it’s a more dignified exit while decreasing deportation costs 70%. Serious out of the box thinker while keeping the whiners scrambling for a foothold.
There are measures in place to keep you from going back and forth and collecting $1K on each trip in case you were considering a new profession.
The reworked Deport Tracker App takes care of this, those DOGE boys are pretty savvy with contingencies and potential grifters.
Civet Bean coffee – no way. While I like coffee, brake fluid is even cheaper and more readily available. Several years ago, I was working under a car when some brake fluid dripped into my mouth. At first I spit it out, but found that the aftertaste was not that bad. I continued working under the car when some more brake fluid found its way into my mouth. This time I swallowed. I really liked the taste, and the alcohol-based fluid got me a cheap buzz! Soon enough, my now-ex-wife found me drinking brake fluid from a cup in the shop. “I don’t think that’s safe” she pleaded. “Don’t worry” the I assured her, “I can stop anytime!”.
The Russian Air Force mechanics developed a taste for pure alcohol. I don’t think that they cut it with tonic water. The Russian tankers drank the brake fluid and it caused problems for the tanks when they needed to stop. My point is that you might have a different career trajectory than you anticipated. Who’d have thought that the beverage would be preferred over coffee beans that passed through a rodent’s intestinal tract?
IIRC, it was particularly the MiG-25 starting fuel that was consumed. Alcohol-based to prevent freezing. Grounded most of the fleet. Probably tastier and safer than Tri-ethyl Borate…
Ethanol freezes at -174.6°F so it would remain liquid even in the Siberian winter. Triethyl borate freezes at -121°F. Which begs the question of the mix with tonic water.
So, apparently, TEB mixed with H2O makes ethyl alcohol and boric acid. Spicy mix no matter what. Make a TEB with spring water martini. Filter out the boric acid and feed that to the cockroaches (two or four legged) and use the alcohol as appropriate. Fuel, mixer, cleaning solvent, you get the idea.
Ain’t chemistry great!
I don’t even want to be around TEB!
Life is too short and unpredictable to have a lousy cup of joe, even moreso to pay good money to have some rodent (or elephant..yeah, that too) eat it first to add some sort of perceived “goodness” only someone with more money than sense believes is special. Us… ‘Seattle’s Best’ is the day to day, great coffee with a smoky hint, brewed thru a Moccamaster (simple yet well built, an excellent brewer without all the extraneous do-dads like a Beville). Peets is good for that earthy flavor without bitterness, however, Costco’s Kirkland dark roast is up there for the price considering it comes in a huge can. Then we had breakfast and coffee at True North Cafe’ in Livingston, MT this morning, best straight black cup we’ve had in a long time.
Countering the honey trap:
https://youtu.be/smmAuiJ-lxY?si=gP7h4Q34__TlaIx9&t=176
Training…
G. Gordon Liddy, or near enough.
On autism and vax, I read an interesting comment that wondered if it is an increase in autism or an increase in insurance fraud. They were specifically referring to Somali clinics.
I no longer trust vaccines, but think the follow the money leads to som interesting places. Tom
Looking at your buddy’s photo, I have to ask…..Do you clank when you walk?
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I get my coffee from Costco. It serves my purpose.
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Yes, it cheezes me off, too, that people want to despoil their new nest. We escaped from Kalifornia, and it’s really annoying to see what the Big Developers want here. Unfortunately, they refuse to accept that we DO NOT have enough water for massive expansion.
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X2 DrJim….and yet city and county planners continue unabated. The new reservoir north of town is water for Greeley, slightly out East. Yet, as the ranchers say, all they needed to do was dredge Halligan Reservoir, twice as much water with the same acre-feet of evap…but the geniuses have their own reasons for a new reservoir: money…for boats, camping, etc.
If you build it they will come…with all the crazy demand that comes with the influx.
There was a time when I considered all that completely routine, DRJIM. Easy in fact…but the only easy day was yesterday so factor that in too.
“I’ve sworn off coffee. EOP/POE for me.”
Dr. Strangelove?
Of course.
Read or saw somewhere that Red China/West Taiwan is working on their version of Mulberrys (floating caissons designed to be turned into beach port facilities.)
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Which begs the question. If Red China’s building culture can’t build a strong 3 story house, how reliable are large concrete caissons going to be?