Headline: Episcopal Church Ends Refugee Partnership with U.S. Government — Cites Moral Opposition to Resettling Persecuted White Afrikaners from South Africa.
It’s been in the news a lot, but I thought that I’d keep the signal strong by mentioning it on the sermonette.
My first reaction is, “What do Episcopalians have against white people who flee persecution?” Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde (pictured right)
Leadership of the Episcopal Church announced Monday that it is severing its nearly 40-year partnership with the U.S. government to resettle refugees, all because the Trump administration dared to classify white South African Afrikaners as refugees in need of protection.
The same Episcopal Church that prided itself on aiding persecuted people from war-torn regions is now walking away from its commitments simply because the next wave of refugees is white Christian farmers, victims of violent racial targeting in post-apartheid South Africa.
Bishop Budde, Prelate of Washington, D.C., is a Marxist in the same stripe as many of her colleagues and some of her contemporaries in her faith have branded her a Satanist as well. Given that, her persecution of those victims of violent racial targeting is not surprising.
It can be recalled that Bishop Mariann Budde, who famously criticized Pres. Trump during an inaugural prayer service, has been found to have pocketed a staggering $53 million in taxpayer funds through her organization, Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM).
Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) is the refugee resettlement and immigrant advocacy program of the Episcopal Church.
According to the New York Post, in 2023 alone, USGOV paid EMM $53 million to resettle (non-white) 3,600 individuals.
Bullet Points:
** Robot Doctors – Nature.com: “An upgraded version of Google’s medical chatbot can use smartphone photos to diagnose rashes and evaluate other types of medical imagery — improving the bot’s ability to pinpoint the cause of ailments. An earlier version of the artificial-intelligence (AI) system outperformed physicians in diagnostic accuracy and bedside manner. The upgrade also improved human doctors’ ability to interpret images such as electrocardiograms and PDFs of laboratory results.”
Diagnostics have been heavily influenced by various machine and software-based solutions. AI is the latest addition and will be transformative in many ways.
** It’s been going on for a long time.
** In an interview with the Kyiv Post, Michael Cecire explains the implications of growing China-Russia solidarity: “It suggests that Beijing is serious about supporting and potentially sustaining Russia in its war against Ukraine and broader aggression in Europe.” My question to you, dear readers, is whether you think Europe will fight them or join them?
** U.S. Army recruits are trending older. There are benefits to this. “Much of what happens in the military is very team-oriented, and maturity matters.”
** A new study conducted by researchers from RAND and the University of Southern California revealed that Americans’ use of illicit opioids could be 20 times higher than previously estimated.
** Arabs are a very shrewd people. Also very wealthy. They know which side of the bread the butter is on, and damn do they know how to butter it. President Trump enjoyed the pomp and circumstance. That is how he wants to be greeted in Congress. For all those who think this will sway Trump, go to his head, you haven’t been watching. He loves the Barbarians greeting him as Caesar, but he is still Caesar. Over there, anyway. What’s the good of being an Empire if you can’t be an Emperor in your client states? I wish Woodrow Wilson had not tricked us into WWI and we had remained a Republic, minding our Manifest Destiny and our Monroe Doctrine and letting the Eastern Hemisphere slit it’s own throat as it has since Cain clobbered Abel. That we did not do that is not Trump’s fault.
** ROK Assistance—(h/t Claudio) HD Hyundai and Hanwha Ocean Co., South Korea’s two largest shipbuilders, offered their expertise to help boost the U.S. shipbuilding industry and port infrastructure. U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer met with the two companies’ CEOs, Chung Ki-sun and Kim Chul, alongside the ministerial meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). “We deeply appreciate the United States’ commitment to rebuilding its shipbuilding industry. HD Hyundai is fully prepared and willing to contribute wherever our expertise is needed,” Chung stated.
Hanwha CEO Kim expressed a similar sentiment. “Hanwha Ocean aims to go beyond technology transfer and production infrastructure development to become a strategic partner in revitalizing the U.S. shipbuilding industry.” The company made headlines last year when it acquired Philly Shipyard for $100m, a first for a South Korean shipbuilder in the U.S. market.
South Korea may become a key ally in the U.S.’s efforts to overcome its reliance on Chinese technology and shipbuilding capacity. Currently, around 80 percent of cranes operating in U.S. ports are manufactured in China. The initiative to start replacing this critical infrastructure began under President Biden, with both manufacturers in Finland (Konecranes) and Japan (Mitsui) also offering to provide “made in the USA” equipment.
President Trump also suggested a 100% tariff on Chinese cranes to help accelerate the phase-out, though industry experts argue it’ll take at least a decade to provide American-made replacements. Currently, no U.S. manufacturer of ship-to-shore cranes exists. The American Association of Port Authorities also opposes the proposed taxes.
** (h/t Claudio) Ukraine Update – While the drones have won the air and naval wars, most ground fighting continues. Both Russia and Ukraine are running out of troops. While Russia has more than three times the population of Ukraine, Russian infantry losses are more than five times larger. Russia has run out of infantry, and Ukraine is not improving. In both countries, recruiters, often called kidnappers, are usually met with fatal resistance. These shortages have hurt Russia more than Ukraine because Russian offensive operations are stalled. Ukraine has made the most of being on the defensive, developing highly effective defense tactics that minimized its losses and maximized the number of Russians killed. Now, Russia is offering tempting cash bonuses to men in Central Asian nations that were once part of the Soviet Union. Even in Central Asia, people know that soldiers sent to Ukraine rarely return.
The Iranian defense industries were recently subjected to substantial Israeli bombing attacks. Factories that build weapons, including solid fuel motors for missiles, were destroyed. Iran also lost most of its air defense systems. Israel has been a very effective unofficial ally of Ukraine. Moreover, about 30 percent of Israelis have Russian and Ukrainian parents or ancestors. All these Israelis oppose the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
LL Commentary – for what it’s worth: The savage losses of both men and equipment are telling on the Russians, and Vladimir Putin feels forced to go for total victory to recapture what little honor he has left at home and abroad. The decreasing world price of oil means that the sharp discounts he was offering to China require that he sell even more for less. The world’s oil supply (worldwide commodity pricing) requires that Russia keep pumping oil to keep the price low. Supply and demand – it’s not in anyone’s best interest that the Russians stop pumping and selling oil completely.
The Russians control the tempo of the war because the Ukrainians are too war-weary and have lost too many fighting men to go on the offensive in any meaningful way. Z-Skyy may be able to play the piano with his courting tackle, but he doesn’t inspire confidence in the US, and the democrats can’t launder money through Ukrainian aid. The Ukes could do with 100,000 European troops, but I doubt they could field and supply that many even if they wanted to. And if you pushed Russia too hard, would Putin use nukes to stop them? European peacekeepers could be deployed, but the timid EuroFolks are unlikely to do that without some agreement that keeps their people from being injured by the Russians.
SEAL Delivery Vehicles (SDVs)
The Mk-8 SDV (pictured below in a recent Navy photo), which has been in continuous service since 1983, is used primarily for covert or clandestine missions to denied access areas (either held by hostile forces or where military activity would draw notice and objection). It is generally deployed from the Dry Deck Shelter on specially modified attack (SSN), guided missile (SSGN), or ballistic missile submarines (SSBN). However, it can also be launched from surface ships or land. It has seen combat in the Gulf War, Iraq War, and US intervention in Somalia.
The SDV was intended to be replaced with the Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS), a larger, dry submersible often confused with the SDV. The SDV is flooded, and the swimmers ride exposed to the water, breathing from the vehicle’s compressed air supply or using their breathing apparatus (closed or open circuit). The ASDS is dry inside and equipped with a full life support and air conditioning system. The ASDS was canceled in 2009 due to cost overruns and the loss of the prototype in a fire. The Navy plans to replace the SDV with the Shallow Water Combat Submersible (SWCS), designated the Mark 11 SDV. The SWCS was expected to enter service in 2019.
(USN Photo) Pictured: A SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) is loaded aboard the fast-attack submarine Dallas (SSN-700) in preparation for a Special Warfare Training exercise. The SDV is a “wet” submersible designed to carry Seals and their cargo in fully flooded compartments to provide a dry environment while preparing for special warfare exercises or operations.
The photo above shows that the Navy is still using MK-8 SDVs, which are over forty years old. I found that somewhat surprising. I realize the picture was taken before a training mission, but you train with what you fight with.
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The British are going unmanned with their new drone mini-sub. Royal Navy Director Develop, Rear Admiral James Parkins CBE opening speech during the naming ceremony of XV Excalibur.
On 15th May 2025, the Royal Navy unveiled its first Extra-Large Uncrewed Underwater Vessel in HMNB Devonport. The launch of the experimental platform is the culmination of a three-year-long innovation project called CETUS. Named XV Excalibur, the vessel is a significant step for the Royal Navy, at 12 meters long, over two metres, and displacing 19 tonnes, it is the largest uncrewed underwater vessel trailed to date.
Forgive my skepticism at the development of their ASDV knock-off (crewless), but it would take a lot to convince me that this vehicle could complete a complicated mission. I’m not anti-drone, but I remain unconvinced.
Tariff Talk
I’m not an expert on tariffs or an economist, but I read and recall. Trump’s tariffs are not Smoot-Hawley. Donald Trump’s strategy of using retaliatory tariffs to pressure America’s trading partners to lower longstanding protectionist barriers has launched a firestorm of controversy and debate. Critics have compared Trump to Herbert Hoover in signing the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. Most of those critics suffer from TDS and would kick if hanged with a new rope. Nevertheless, it may be a good idea to set the record straight.
Those who have resurrected the ghost of Smoot-Hawley include most of the usual suspects who will criticize Trump for anything: suddenly self-anointed tariff experts at CNN, the most trusted name in news; bitter and vindictive Paul Krugman at the New York Times—who urged tariffs against China when Obama was president, but now scathes Trump for them—and the rest of the Trump Derangement crowd.
The 1930 tariff and Herbert Hoover’s trade policy were near-mirror opposites of Donald Trump’s. 2025 is SMOOT-HAWLEY IN REVERSE.
The Great Depression
Smoot–Hawley Tariff: Although the tariff and the international response were major contributors to making the Great Depression worse, they did not “cause” the 1930s downturn. The Federal Reserve’s failure to stop nearly 10,000 banks from failing, the resulting monetary contraction, Herbert Hoover and FDR’s attempts to artificially boost prices and wages with widespread government price controls, and the two presidents’ fiscal policies were all larger factors.
For example, during the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover doubled federal spending in absolute terms and raised the top income tax from 25% to 63%. FDR then raised the top rate to 79% in 1936, and both presidents raised tax rates for income earners at all levels. All of these were far larger factors than trade. America’s decline in international trade accounted for at most 13%—14% of its fall in GDP. The other 86%-87 % was attributable to other factors.
President Trump’s retaliatory tariffs are Smoot-Hawley, but they’re the exact opposite in many ways.
1) In 1930, Herbert Hoover started a trade war by initiating (the key distinction here being “initiating”) the Smoot-Hawley Tariff against other countries that were not doing the same to the United States. In Donald Trump’s time, trading partners in the European Union, Asia, and China, in particular, initiated the trade war by launching protectionism policies against the United States, sometimes literally for decades. These have included: tariffs, central bank foreign currency exchange rate intervention, import quotas, and intellectual property theft.
2) After launching the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, America’s trading partners quickly retaliated with their tariffs, leading to a slowdown in international trade. In response to those retaliations, many of the TDS (Swamp people) economists who’ve recently signed the Trade and Tariffs Declaration correctly fault Herbert Hoover to this day while maintaining a “Well, of course they [America’s trading partners] were going to retaliate” position.
In 2025, by being the country that’s retaliating to longstanding foreign tariffs, the United States is playing the role of Canada and Europe in the 1930s, the same countries most economists absolve in the Smoot-Hawley story. The Swamp people have not said, “Well, of course the USA is going to retaliate against decades of overseas protectionism,” all while fallaciously comparing Trump to Herbert Hoover. Again, the Smoot-Hawley analogy completely reverses roles and blame here.
3) 1930 – The United States had a huge trade surplus, and the European nations ran massive trade deficits. This is all the more reason why Smoot-Hawley was a terrible idea: putting up protectionist barriers to expand the USA’s already large trade surplus. In 2025, the United States will have a huge trade deficit. This doesn’t necessarily mean tariffs are an automatic no-brainer. Still, a significant reason the USA runs such an oversized trade deficit is tariffs and other protectionist policies long-imposed by its trading partners. Meanwhile, China, the largest trade surplus country in the world, has continued with its nearly half-century of protectionist barriers. Once again, the USA and Donald Trump, in 2025, played the opposite role of Herbert Hoover in 1930.
4) In 1930, the United States was a huge creditor nation, and most of its trading partners were indebted. The main reason was World War I. To foot the enormous bill to fight history’s first-ever world war, the European Allies borrowed heavily from what was by then the world’s largest economy: the USA.
In 2025, the United States will be a huge debtor, not a creditor, country. For a fourth time, the United States represents the anti-Smoot-Hawley position.
5) In 1930, most of America’s trading partners needed to trade surpluses to repay war debts to the United States. Therefore, choking off their exports with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff was a horrible idea. Today, the U.S. government owes much money to foreign governments and investors. While today’s debt is primarily the result of reckless domestic spending rooted in Washington DC itself, not a world war, a more balanced trade arrangement would increase domestic GDP—GDP being the sum of consumer, investment, and government purchase spending plus net exports—and make repaying that debt a little easier (provided Washington politicians don’t simply find new ways to spend the money).
Yet another diametric opposite Smoot-Hawley correlation. Side note: If anyone is wondering why European countries running a trade surplus in 1930 to repay the USA was a good thing, keep in mind that Americans would hand over cash (converted to gold in the early 1930’s) for those European exports, and the Europeans would hand that cash (converted to gold) right back to the United States as a debt repayment. So when the smoke cleared, America was effectively being repaid with free goods and services. The Smoot-Hawley Act cut off that repayment mechanism.
6) Herbert Hoover launched the Smoot-Hawley Tariff even as the United States, in fact, the entire world, was entering a historic depression. The United States and the world are neither in nor entering a significant depression. The Democrat Party would be thrilled at a depression, but every measure and meter says the opposite. It’s all hinting at a golden age…
7) Finally, one of the only Smoot-Hawley analogies that holds up, but which is never mentioned. When Canada and European trading partners retaliated with their tariffs in the 1930s, America immediately felt the painful impact on its exports. The effects were so pronounced that one of incoming President Franklin Roosevelt’s first policy initiatives—after addressing the 1933 banking crisis—was to send Secretary of State Cordell Hull from country to country to negotiate bilateral removals of tariffs and trade barriers, successfully eliminating Smoot-Hawley and restoring America’s relationship with the world to the far freer trade environment of pre-1930. In other words, retaliation by trading partners succeeded in getting the tariff initiator—the United States—to abandon its protectionist policies, i.e., it worked.
Donald Trump has repeatedly said that his motivation for introducing reciprocal tariffs has been all along. This is another example of Trump playing the role of 1930s Canada and Europe. However, the fact that the 1930s retaliation worked is never mentioned in the Smoot-Hawley allegory, which instead focuses on framing Trump as Herbert Hoover.
Identify the Aircraft
1
2
The highest scoring fighter in the Fleet Air Arm – 600 built
3
Hint: Also served with the Fleet Air Arm – 52 built
4
Parting Shot
End
1 is Short Seamew AS.1 anti-submarine Royal Navy
2 is Fairey Fulmar
Yes
Random observation: I think it was Jerry Pournelle who wrote a story where drones would sit in hiding, analyze troops to see who was coordinating the upcoming attack, then run in, in masse, to take out the commander. He envisioned hovercraft in this role. In the story, the best defense against them was to go on the defensive yourself. Since then, gains in energy and material weight have made flying drones possible.
If a dictator’s world is coming to an end, would he be willing to let the whole world burn?
If a dictator’s world is coming to an end, would he be willing to let the whole world burn?
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That question has kept people up at night since we split the atom.
Let? I believe there’s a Doctrine of initiating the conflagration. And not just against actively attacking enemies. (I.e. it’s not MAD) Neutrality is not an option and will be punished. Now that’s the most moral people in the world. It’d be folly to assume that some random dictator would behave better.
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the author that always comes to mind with drones (repairing equipment) is James P. Hogan.
I liked some of his stuff in “Kicking the Sacred Cow”.
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Short Seamew
2. Fairey Fulmar
3. Airspeed AS-6 Envoy
4. Boeing RC-135U Combat Sent
A lot of people forgot about Airspeed Aviation. – Well done, Surly
The Fulmar looks like a light bomber rather than a fighter. Derivative of the Battle? The Seamew looks like it should be taking the Waiting Ones to Tomorromorrowland.
The Fulmar was a development of a proposed replacement for the Battle. There’s certainly a family resemblance.
My sea / sore rotation was 5 at sea 3 ashore , found myself at a joint shipyard/navy intermediate maintenance facility (PH) working in a rigging /weight testing shop . We weight tested anything that was loadbearing on surface and subsurface, J , from simple padeyes , weapons handling gear , boat davits , J- davits , Unrep gear , basically any gear that needed periodic testing and had a cert tag or cert record log . Sometimes we would make the short boat trip out to SDVT 1 out on Ford Island out in the middle of the harbor . Simple stuff , we’d make a day of it , and always got fed . The Seals were very nice , but were not particularly large muscle bound , very fit very lean , like a human Doberman , maybe because of their submarine associated duties , no doubt they could kick your ass , to the degree necessary . Fun times , we had four Navy guys and six Hawaiian civilians , we worked a lot of half days , our civilian boss knocked us off early because we worked too fast . I wore board shorts and a white tee shirt under blue coveralls and safari style wide brimmed hard hat at work and went up to the “big building ” about twice a month . I probably could have grown a beard , but that would have been a ballsy move . Fridays…forget it it was “Aloha Friday ” done at noon , and a big Hawaiian potluck lunch and pau hana (work is done Bruddah) . Great duty , great place , great weather and the kids never got sick . Military housing was decent , lived in MoanaLoa Terrace at first then we had to move out to Barber’s Point even nicer , short walk , drive or bike ride to the beach , used to boogie board quite often , especially when there was a south swell . My better half unfortunately wanted to go back to the mainland , I could’ve stayed forever there , I went local , totally . She won out , so we sadly moved . Bummer…still makes me sad .
I was at SDVT-1 when it was headquartered at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado (on the Glorietta Bay side). The unit at Ford Island was SDVT-1 Det Alpha. There was a Dry Dock Shelter (DDS) platoon at Ford Island, and various platoons from NAB Coronado would rotate through Hawaii for training. (NAB Coronado became Naval Expeditionary Base Coronado, and then they moved SDVT-1 to Bremerton, Washington, where they are now.)
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I always liked NAS Barber’s Point back when the Navy still owned it. I think that the real estate simply became worth too much. The P-3 crews flew from Barber’s Point and they were always fun. I stayed at the BOQ there, small PX, small O Club, family feel to it.
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In those days I had an office at FICPAC, across the street from the Arizona Memorial.
I too worked at FICPAC and then JICPAC. Those early days I was billeted at Arizona Hall.
We always tried to eat at Subase versus Pearl, with an occasional meal at the Posh Dining Facility…Hickam.
Fond memory of sitting on the beach at Hickam and watching the F-15’s take off, barely clearing the runway and going near vertical to clear the traffic pattern.
The Air Force O-Club at Hickam on the Pearl Harbor Channel was a favorite lunch spot.
I spent a lot of time hoofing it, or begging rides. I respect that I had to take the boat to Ford Island…..before the causeway. I paid my respects to the Utah, before most realized she was there.
In the late 80s I lived in the housing across from the Marine rifle range. A short walk to the beach behind the mini-mart…
I often wonder if I remember that as especially good times because I was way younger then? We left in June of 1990 & it’s almost June of 2025 now, that’s a fair amount of water under the bridge…
I think that as heavily democrat as it was then, wokeness has ruined the place.
“Leadership of the Episcopal Church announced Monday that it is severing its nearly 40-year partnership with the U.S. government”
That’s a separation of Church and State I can get behind.
I would imagine they mean they will no longer aid in the resettlement of migrants – NOT the receipt of taxpayer dollars. If the $s stop, the decision will be rescinded.
I’m sure they’d be in ‘full communion’ with another democrat administration that paid them $50 million a year to bring illegal aliens into the United States.
They are racists, out front and open about it… Think the clan all dressed up and burning a cross in someone’s front yard… it’s the same hate.
“it’s the same hate”
With respect, no it isn’t the same hate. Plain old KKK-style racism may be wrong and stupid, but modern leftist types add HYPOCRISY to the mix. Leftists are “100% totally against racism”, except against white people. In fact, they deny there can even BE such a thing as racism against whites. They (the leadership and theoretician types at least) are not stupid [1], so that’s not an explanation, much less an excuse. Ruling out stupidity leaves deliberate hypocrisy, or insanity.
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I despise hypocrites.
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[1] Definitely not stupid: The theoreticians of the Left often come from what we are told is are very very high IQ people indeed.
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I would think that if you brought in fresh NATO troops and they started into Russia the Russians would pull out the tactical nukes.
They’d be better off with a first strike to finish things off. When one nuke goes off, they all go off.
Ok, help ole Cletus’ out. In the right photo of the Egyptian statue, is the focus point on the hand or the carved images on the wall in the background?
The clenched fist.
Well, there we have it. But generally speaking, in this new-fangled era of AI images, or “plain old” digital images, the old photographic rules no longer apply.
Wide aperture = shallow depth of field (DOF, i.e. region/distance where the circle of confusion is acceptably small, for values of “acceptable”).
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Old days: Want large DOF? Stop down the lens (reduce the aperture) or use a smaller image sensor (piece of film, for a given focal length). The price you pay for stopping down is longer exposure time. Plus diffraction effects that degrade sharpness, if you stop down too much. For values of “too much”.
“Old” digital: All the above, plus image stacking, where you basically take multiple shots with slightly differing focal points, and digitally merge the “sharp band” of each image into a single composite that is unnaturally sharp throughout, and there is no “focal point”.
AI-generated images: Who knows?
Musk said that by 2026, I should be able to make a 15-minute themed “movie” as easily as a still is made today.
The United States requires huge sums to keep the machine running. Regardless of the success of new tariffs, sticking a finger in the dike of debt will never prevent the dike from failing.
The poorer 50% of the country pay no income tax….Mitt Romney, a traitor in other situations, wasn’t wrong about that. They do pay consumption taxes and many pay property tax.
Many of those taxes are loops of money generated by taxpayers, given to those that don’t pay taxes, sent back into the system, and the only way the economy doesn’t collapse is the continuation of printing money. The value of the dollar is only backed by faith, and that faith is running thin. The debt increases, the money is printed, accountability is lost in the bureaucracy, and the “ideasphere” is filled with tenuous promises. The bloated government, which includes even the smallest of communities, is run by too many that have no conception of how their greedy actions are self-destructive. When investing in the U.S. is considered as worthless as junk bonds, things will deteriorate rapidly.
Yes, but is it good for the Black Rocks and the JP Morgan Chases?
Ultimately, Mike_C, I think not, but you can’t convince them. They have a tiger by the tail. They don’t want to hold on, but they dare not let go.
Graduate level education here today. Well done.
How much effort (and $) did Bishop Budde put into helping Americans during the “Flint water crisis”, or anyone in Detroit, Baltimore or East St. Louis?
Ooh, ooh. I know! Pick me! Pick me!
There are despicable people in The Faith running grifts on their supposed followers, she’s so obvious that an investigation is warranted, freeing up a few IRS “agents” would be a good start.
I’ve been interested in Smoot-Hawley for years.
Was it the bad guy? I used to think so.
I’ve interviewed a few economists recently and they don’t believe that Smoot-Hawley had any effect whatsoever on the depression.
The New Deal certainly did.
They could be wrong.
And actually, Smoot-Hawley was codified into law, with no flexibility, whereas Trump changes his mind on tariffs at will depending on the response of the other side.
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Moody just downgraded our debt rating from AAA to AA.
Moody did it to F*ck Pres. Trump. That’s the reason. One day, Ed, we can have a talk about Moody’s and S&P. What ponces. I’ve dealt with both of those rating services personally – with their key employees. Not impressive, buddy.
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** “illicit opioids” I wonder about the age demographic. elderly people may have arthritic pain (severe, at times) and may find themselves “hooked on” various opiates when Tylenol and Advil are longer able to control the discomfort
** What did Richard Milhaus see in th early – mid 70s that prompted him to give China “most favored nation” status? what did Barack Hussein receive in return for the steel he gave to China in his “Cash for Clunkers” deal?
** just a silly question: if the USA had to go on a “full war footing tomorrow”, could we do so?
What did Russia do with all of that Uranium that the Clintons gave them?
“offered their expertise to help boost the U.S.”
Fine and dandy for today’s world but when I was growing up, it was the US that offered expertise – and had it.
So quickly we fell.
?uipment? I don’t know how we got there?
those are my idiodicies for which I take full responsibility.
Boron
Europe will fight them or join them? ” If ya go “woke” you’re going broke”. Recalling a Califonica financial lender mentioned here on v.m. a while back. It was mis management that broke them. Can’t answer for all of the E.U. cause there’s various countries that appear to still have a spine. As for the NATO aspects, I’m ignorant as well. As for some, such as U.K. and Germany, I’ll have to answer with a question.
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If they’re willing to be serfs to the Jihadists taking over already, which is worse, to become satraps to the dragon and the bear or Sharia law?
Is it better to be an Italian Fascist, a member of the National Socialist Workers’ Party, or a Marxist-Leninist Communist? And pray, tell, what is the difference in application?
I can see having an autonomous or drone sub to do the normal things like drop mines or do mapping of sea floors or such.
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But they are limited in what they can do autonomously. Some things need a human in the loop to do things.
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Taking so long and so much money to build basically a large torpedo is plain stupid. Geez, though I don’t have the technical skills, I still understand enough to know it’s literally NOT rocket science.
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And it’s not only the Navy that blows it big-time on procurement. Just look at the fiasco of the M10 Booker acquisition, which military brass knew how much it weighed before approving it, then cancelling it because it’s overweight.
Regarding ROK ships, I’m all for it. And let’s get Italy to build the FREMM frigate while we’re at it, as Italy has been shown to build better ships faster and far cheaper than US shipyards. I’m also very in favor of getting rid of pert near all unions here in these United States because until we do, we won’t be able to build ships better, faster and cheaper.
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We, the US of A, could build ships that actually work, in yards that actually function. But not till we kill the unions and kill the bullshit regulations and kill the outright theft and graft inherent in the US shipyards.
and get rid of the greenie environmentalists who “suggest” the regulations “for the betterment of all personkind
Russia- China
Recently watched an analysis of Trump’s visit with the Saudis. The point made was the Saudis will continue to trade in US dollars. Seems this boxes in China. With the tariff “war” China will have a difficult time raising enough dollars to pay for oil. Who will accept their currency?
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Next, any lowering of oil prices will further squeeze Russia. Because of sanctions, they are already selling their oil at steep discounts to those countries that will buy from them.
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Iran will have even more problems selling their oil.
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Not being a trained economist, I’m not sure I understand all of this. What I do understand lower oil prices will squeeze out the small producers in the US. The large energy companies can ride out low oil prices.