As the summer travel schedule continues, I may be offline periodically. Expect light blogging. Meanwhile, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments if you’re moved to do so. As a matter of housekeeping interest, our friend and renowned author, MikeW, was hospitalized with pneumonia, has been released, and is now on the mend, resting at home.
Educated Idiots
Regular readers will have noticed my repeated, sardonic usage of the word, “Unexpectedly!” I started this a while ago, when I came across a clueless partisan reporter writing that in the wake of a push to defund the police, “crime unexpectedly rose.” That “unexpectedly” was so jarringly dumb that I couldn’t help but mock it, and the ideological prejudice that it betrayed. How can anybody not realize that if you make it harder for cops to fight criminals and crime, more criminals are going to commit more crimes?
I’ll tell you how: they are raised in an ideological bubble, and then they attend journalism school, where they receive a pre-digested set of assumptions, prejudices, and conclusions. These congeal and harden into the cement of obliviousness. Then, on graduation day, the newly minted “journalists” receive a diploma and a set of partisan blinders. And they snap those on, and from that day forward, they have a tough time discerning fundamental cause and effect.
I discussed this process with a friend of mine, and he told me I was referring to the Butterfield Fallacy. I told him that I don’t even know any gay slang, and also that I thought that was a Robert Ludlum novel. The next day I looked it up, and found out that my buddy was right. Fox Butterfield was a writer for The New York Times about 20 years ago, and among other things, he wrote a series of stories about crime in which he discussed what he called “the paradox of a falling crime rate but a rising prison population.” In one story, he wrote about an increase in the prison population “despite a decline in serious crime.”
In other words, his “paradox” and “despite” were my “unexpectedly.” The bad news is that I thought I was coming up with something new, and wasn’t. The good news is that the cognitive horsepower of Ivy Leaguers never fails to disappoint. Did I mention that Fox Butterfield graduated from Harvard University? Because, of course, he did. Also: Unexpectedly!
A few days ago, we received another fantastic example of this enduring phenomenon, this time from the Washington Post, where “Democracy dies in imbecility.” The WAPO discovered an odd anomaly: there seems to have been a significant decrease in fentanyl seizures on our southern border recently. I know what you’re thinking – and it starts with “Duh!” – but hold that obvious thought.
Because I’ve gone down into an underground chamber here at the White Wolf Mine, taken my conical purple wizard hat out of its pressurized Lucite case, put it on my head, and magically traveled 1000 miles and 5 days back in time, to a WAPO conference room in DC, where an editor was discussing story ideas with a clot (or a tumor if you will, Mike_C) of young reporters.
To establish the visuals: the male reporters tended toward man buns and sad David Hogg beards, and half of them identified as non-binary. Meanwhile, the females were characterized by scowls, unnatural hair colors, and a great deal of anger directed at their fathers.
Let’s listen in…
Editor: So there’s this big drop in fentanyl seizures at the southern border, and we need to figure out whether it’s worth covering. The first step is to brainstorm potential causes.
Male Reporter (MR) 1: Racism!
Editor: What does fentanyl have to do—
Female Reporter (FR) 1: Sexism!
MR 1: Come on, Karen, you always say sexism.
FR 1: Well, you always say racism, Bruce!
FR 2 (under her breath): It usually IS sexism.
FR 1: I know, right? (They fist bump and glare at Bruce.)
Editor: I don’t think it’s racism or sexism.
FR 3: Says the white male patriarch.
Editor: I identify as a gender-nonconforming Native American! You know that.
MR 2: You’re as white as Elizabeth Warren.
MR 1 (snickers)
FR 2: But you ARE a little on the gender-nonconforming side.
(FR 1 chuckles and fist bumps FR 2.)
Editor: Knock off the fist bumping! Does anyone have any other ideas about what might have caused the drop in fentanyl trafficking?
MR 3: Global warming?
FR 3 (rolling her eyes): Not this again.
MR 3: It’s an EXISTENTIAL CRISIS!
Editor: Of course it is. And it’s probably going to kill us all. But what does global warming have to do with less fentanyl at the southern border?
MR 1: Sun spots. (Confused looks from around the table.) Sun spots cause global warming, and the increased temperatures make Mexico even hotter, and the drug mules are probably passing out with heat exhaustion and dying halfway across the desert.
MR 3: Sun spots don’t cause global warming, Bruce. We’ve been over this a thousand times.
FR 3 (leaning conspiratorially toward the other female reporters): Here goes the countdown. (She raises her index finger and looks at MR 3.)
MR 3 (counting on his fingers): It’s big disgusting SUVs, cow farts, and capitalism.
Editor: I’m not sure—
MR 2: What about the Jews?
Editor: What?
MR 2: Maybe it’s… the Jews?
MR 1 (elbowing MR2 and whispering loudly): Janice is Jewish.
FR 3: No I’m not! My idiot dad is Jewish, but that doesn’t mean I am. (quieter) Stupid patriarchal jerk!
Editor: What do the Jews have to do with fentanyl in Mexico?
MR 2: Isn’t the emperor of Mexico a Jewish lady? Frieda Finebaum, or something like that?
FR 1: Mexico doesn’t have an emperor, Gary! And their president is Claudia Sheinbaum.
MR 2: That’s it! And she’s Jewish, right?
FR 3: Yes, but what does that have to do with—
FR 1: Well, they’re really sneaky. Everybody knows that. (FR 3 crosses her arms and stares at her.) I mean, like your dad. A lot of them are sneaky, patriarchal jerks like your dad.
MR 3: I’ve GOT it! (Everybody turns toward him.) Sheinbaum is a greedy Jewish capitalist who hatched this evil plot to get rich on fentanyl money. She brought the sexist and racist cartels in on it, so they’ve been loading up poor women of color with fentanyl and sending them across the desert to sneak into America, except that global warming is killing them before they can make it to the border.
Editor (after a long pause, during which everyone looks at everyone else): So you’re saying that it’s racism, sexism, Judaism, capitalism, AND global warming?
MR 3: Exactly!
Everyone starts nodding excitedly. The editor slowly does, too.
Editor (grinning): It all makes sense. (looking around the room) I smell a Pulitzer! (He stands up quickly.) Everybody get packed. This story is going to require all hands on deck, so you’re all heading for the border! Hail Satan!
I can’t completely vouch for the accuracy of that, but it’s probably a very accurate scenario.
However, I can direct you to the actual Washington Post story that resulted, which I am not fabricating. Mary Beth Sheridan wrote it, and she’s the Post’s “Mexico and Central America Correspondent,” so you know she’s outstanding.
The headline of the story: “The Mysterious Drop in Fentanyl Seizures on the US-Mexico Border.” The sub-head: “The reasons behind the decrease of fentanyl seizures…are complex.”
“Mysterious”! “Complex”! Seriously, you can’t make this up. The writer later goes for the trifecta, calling the drop “puzzling.” By the end of the article, the author even performs the Butterfield Rectal-Cranial Inversion move (which HAS to be gay slang, doesn’t it? To wit:
“The decline is occurring even as the Trump administration has deployed thousands of troops to the border and expanded drone flights. With more boots on the ground, you’d think seizures would go up, not down.” Again, as God is my witness, I did not make that up. This “journalist” is a purported expert on the region, and she knows that Trump has pulled out all the stops and gone Roman on the border. But she still cannot see the forest for the trees. She can’t see the forest OR the trees. Or the gigantic meadow in front of the forest and the trees. Or the creek that flows through the meadow and into the forest, and between the trees. It doesn’t occur to her that now that we’ve got a president who is serious about closing the border, the border has been closed. Or that cartels might send less fentanyl to a closed border being manned by thousands of Hulk Homan™ types with military weaponry than they did to a wide-open border with a big banner saying, “Bienvenidos, Shriners and Cartel Members!”
The tariffs might be confusing, and Musk might be slapping Trump like Mrs. Macron slapping Mr. Macron. Every partisan district judge with a Napoleon complex might be dreaming up new reasons why the Constitution forbids the Chief Executive from carrying out the duties of the Chief Executive. But this is the quality of our opposition, people.
They’re defending wife-beating gang-bangers and Jew-hating, illegal Egyptian pyromaniacs, and using Tampon Tim and Lil’ Davy Hogg to appeal to young male voters. They can’t figure out why closing our borders would result in less cross-border crime.
I think we’re going to be fine.
Battle for the Atlantic
I’m a big fan of the Fletcher Class destroyers. In that time, they were very formidable fighting ships. There was not much effort in providing crew comfort, but they had big teeth for surface action, with torpedoes serving as their main battery, anti-aircraft punch, and significant anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capacity. Most of the convoy escorts during the Battle for the Atlantic were depth-charge platforms with small guns. All it takes is one hole in the pressure submarine, and it can’t dive, so you don’t need a lot of guns on your convoy escorts if you’re fighting submarines as opposed to German cruiser groups. Thus, a U-Boat engaging a Fletcher Class destroyer in surface action is suicide. Torpedo attacks on destroyers were tricky things. They could turn fast, outrun you, and bows-on-shots for non-acoustic homing torpedoes meant you had to get very lucky to put a fish into (under) one and hope it detonated.
A Lament
In discussing the situation on the US/Mexico/Canada border, a cartel member, who shall hereafter be nameless (we can call him José – or Hose-A if you’re from Massachusetts), I repeatedly heard the phrase, “it’s not fair.” They’ve worked diligently to build up a business where everyone knew the rules. Grease was applied liberally to Los Yanquis to allow them to enter the Americano market, and they paid the tariff because of the profits involved in selling poison from China to the flower of American youth. Hey, they’re just the middlemen. They don’t distribute, and they don’t make it; they’re expeditors. Everybody knows the rules.
I said, you knew the rules. Now it’s a US Military operation, which means that the NSA isn’t working in the shadows anymore, and the CIA (with the gloves off) can do what they do as an un-uniformed branch of the US Military. Information is CLASSIFIED; it’s not the DOJ anymore, where you can buy the information you need. You’ve been categorized as terrorists, not criminals, which means wherever we find you, we can kill you and it’s CLASSIFIED. No tribunal, just a bullet.
But it’s so unfair, Viejo. (Viejo means old. Guero means white guy with white hair. I answer to both.)
Achillies
He wasn’t born with a weak spot. In the earliest Greek stories, Achilles was nearly invincible, but not because of a vulnerable heel. That twist came centuries later.
In Homer’s Iliad, Achilles is a fearless warrior, feared by enemies and honored by gods. But there’s no mention of his heel being his only weakness. The Roman poet Statius, writing nearly 800 years after the Trojan War was first recounted, added the dramatic detail that Achilles was dipped in the River Styx, but his mother held him by the heel.
Why add the heel? Does it make him more human? It adds poetic irony and allows for a tragic ending. Achilles had no weak point… except maybe his pride.
Bullet Points:
** It’s the first time in 60 years that the commander-in-chief deployed a state’s National Guard without the governor’s blessing.
** LAPD CHIEF BIZARRE STATEMENT REGARDING ICE RAIDS IN LOS ANGELES: “Today, the LAPD became aware that ICE was conducting operations in the city of Los Angeles. I’m aware that these actions cause anxiety for many Angelenos, so I want to make it clear: the LAPD is not involved in civil immigration enforcement. While the LAPD will continue to maintain a visible presence in all our communities to ensure public safety, we will not assist or participate in any form of mass deportations, nor will the LAPD attempt to determine an individual’s immigration status. Since 1979, our policy has barred officers from initiating police action solely to determine a person’s immigration status. The department remains focused on critical issues like crime reduction, enhancing public safety, and improving the quality of life for all Angelenos. I want everyone, including our immigrant community, to feel safe calling the police in their time of need and know that the LAPD will be there for you without regard to one’s immigration status.” (LAPD Chief – very woke)
** JUST IN: LAPD squad cars are being set on fire Sunday afternoon. President Trump has ordered his administration “to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots. Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
** Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said Sunday that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was threatening “to commit criminal tax evasion,” quoting a story from Breitbart News that noted Newsom’s threat Friday.
** California officials have been told to prepare for 30 days of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities in the Los Angeles area, according to a congresswoman whose district was pummeled by riots over the weekend.
And while I’m on the subject, yes, LA’s on fire. Again.
This time, as in the past, the Woke Avengers team assembled. Led by Governor Newsom and Karen “Absentee Woman” Bass – plus an assortment of anonymous, mediocre DEI hires who have never done an honest day’s work in their lives – they leapt into action. Annnddd… did nothing for 36 hours, at least. There’s a pattern emerging.
Well, that’s not fair to the Big Mouth Bass, because she released an outraged statement saying, “We will not stand for this!”
Unfortunately, by “this,” she didn’t mean hordes of violent thugs rioting and attacking ICE agents enforcing our laws. No, the “this” for which she won’t stand is…wait for it…ICE agents are enforcing our laws.
Even though Bass attempted to walk back that idiotic statement within about 12 hours, the damage had already been done. The Bass had taken the bait and been hooked on her stupidity. And like another fish-faced far-left mayor (I’m looking at you, Lori Lightfoot…and that’s not easy), this might finally cause her to be reeled in. Because she appears to have just been flipped to her dorsal side, and prepared for a political grilling that she probably won’t survive. But hey, it’s LA. So maybe she’ll get a “catch and release” parole. Angelenos sure seem to like doing that with violent illegals.
Two bits of good news can come out of this debacle. First, the pro-illegal-immigrant Left is showing who they are (again!), and that belies nearly everything they’ve said about illegal immigration for the last several decades. It’s hard to make the case that the vast majority of illegals love America and want to assimilate and contribute when thousands of them are attacking American law enforcement, burning American flags, and flying the Mexican flag.
Second, Trump has learned from his past mistakes. In 2020, he allowed antifa and BLM leftist mobs – and a school of apolitical scavenging looters swimming in their wake (bonus fish reference!) – to run roughshod in dozens of leftist cities around the country. He didn’t call out the National Guard, maybe because he figured that if leftist mayors and governors were content to let their towns burn and would fight any help he tried to give, they could reap what they’ve sown. But Trump 2.0 means bidness. He’s firing as many swamp creatures as he can, blasting away at Ivy League Jew-haters like a truckload of explosive de-groining pagers, and hammering the left with EOs like Sonny Corleone tuning up Carlo with that garbage-can lid.
This time around, the TWA (Triumvirate of Whoop Ass) – Trump, Hegseth and Hulk Homan™ (plus their chick sidekick in too much makeup and a too-tight costume, Kristi Noem, God bless her) – are going to make the violent radicals WISH the worst thing they had to deal with were some Rooftop Koreans! Let the mass arrests begin, and the mass deportations accelerate!
Finally, going from the most unexpected story ever, to perhaps the most expected story, I give you the latest in the Joe Biden auto-pen controversy. Last week, Biden refuted the contention that others had signed many official documents for him without his knowledge, due to his well-documented descent from low IQ hack to confused, to dementia-ridden, to full-blown, stage 4, cuckoo-fried-chicken status.
When his forthcoming statement was announced, many observers watched with bated breath, wondering whether his voice would be steady, his posture upright, and his delivery graceful. Annnnddddd… he released a written statement instead. Because the best possible way to refute an accusation that you are too far gone to make a clear statement, so someone else had to produce writing on your behalf, is to…produce a statement written by someone else on your behalf.
How do I know for sure that Joe Biden didn’t write “his” statement? If you don’t believe me – and to quote St. Greta the Self-Righteous, “How dare you?! You have stolen my dreams with your empty words!” – Here is Biden’s laughably phony statement:
“Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”
And now, here is how that statement would have appeared, IF Brandon had written it himself:
“Let me be, Claire. I made the incisions in my presh-dentsy. I made declensions about pardons, execrable borders, luhsshlation and presti… prestidigi… Come on, man! Any digestion that I didn’t is raddish and face. I mean…rhombus and pulse. You know, you know the thing. Ummm… uhhh…
Identify Vehicles used by the Mexican Army (SEDENA).
(Yes, I know that they’re mostly ‘technicals’)
1
2
3
Parting Shot
Conduct Unbecoming: A Collection of Short Stories is still for sale on Amazon.com
And if you’re desperate for great summer reading, there is always Broken Toys.
Broken people are willing to risk everything because they have nothing to lose…
Combat-wounded Sergeant Lucky Frank Brandt is taking pickup work to supplement his medical retirement paycheck in a world where his skill set is rewarded. As he plies his trade from the New Orleans slums to the Utah desert, his success puts him on a short list that will catapult him into the seats of power.
Captain Claire Hoffman’s life changed when an IED cut her Humvee in half, taking her legs with it. Struggling as a double amputee, army nurse Hoffman returned to school in search of a new way forward. The CIA, looking to fill a quota, offered her that opportunity.
Laurel Vega-Mendoza, a congresswoman from Texas, is tapped to fill a vacancy when the United States Vice President suddenly dies in office. Now on a trajectory to fill the sitting president’s shoes, she casts about for people she can trust among the most untrustworthy group of scoundrels on the planet.
Unbeknownst to them, an extrasolar spacecraft devoid of organic life crashed in the Pamir Mountains on the Roof of the World on November 4, 1932. There, in that place, an intelligence awaits its resurrection.
In a world of risks and rewards, they are poised to do things you wouldn’t.
End
Identify Vehicles used by the Mexican Army (SEDENA):
1. Panhard ERC
2. Panhard VBL
3. Ford F-150?
Agreed, I believe that the technical is an F-150
When did Mexico start buying French gear?
… and with what? France usually wants money up front.
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Are we sure those guys aren’t just the FFL (again) ?
– Kle.
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P.S. – the Mk. 19s on the VBLs are kind of a hoot.
LRAD(s) might help in L.A. , they might be illegal to use on civilians don’t know . I saw “The Who” in DFW in the late 70’s , my ears buzzed for two days , but I survived .
A friend of mine told me of going to see Herman and the Hermits in Indianapolis (you can guess the timeframe).
The opening act was The Who (the exact reaction of the audience).
Opened with a dark stage and UV spots on the band wearing white gloves.
After Keith Moon blew up his drum kit and Pete Townshend burned his guitar, The Hermits came out and got booed off the stage.
Bass – of course she won’t stand for it. Instead, she’ll probably sit and eat a carton of ice cream.
Riots – it’s all fun and games until the rooflines start speaking Korean. With enough Koreans the protestors will likely rush over to ICE for arrest and safety.
From over at Borepatch-
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https://borepatch.blogspot.com/2025/06/hahahaha.html
Speaking of illegals, did you see the news out of Osceola County Fl? One less corrupt cop on the beat.
CA: Daniel Greenfield has a nice writeup about their controlling oligarchy:
http://www.danielgreenfield.org/2025/06/californias-oligarchy.html
Musk’s data girl has a great writeup on the Karen Bass history too. Draining the water in the swamp sure brings the creatures to the surface so we can get a clear look at them.
“the paradox of a falling crime rate but a rising prison population.” In one story, he wrote about an increase in the prison population “despite a decline in serious crime.”
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Survivorship Bias.
to reduce immigration, the first step should be to erase/stop/prevent “para Español, oprime dos”
This is the United States of America where we speak English
this idea was originally initiated by the teachers’ union trying to convince John Q. Public that classes given in Spanish were necessary to transition students to English more rapidly
and many of us fell for their Bravo Sierra; now it’s become almost impossible to get an entry level job unless you’re bilingual
at present certain government forms are available in almost every language but English
rant over
The order’s already out on that:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/designating-english-as-the-official-language-of-the-united-states/
So it seems you’re in good company with that idea. It didn’t specifically prohibit dual-language, but it revoked the mandate to do it.
shame about Kent State,
without the ammo restrictions, the terrorists (particularly second generation) are saying, “WTH, what can they do to me, they certainly can’t deport me, I was born here.
Go ahead, send me to jail; five years free lodging, meals, TV and good street creds when I get out. WTH!”
From the mouth of wimps and ‘crats……”It’s not fair”.
Did Biden’s statement really open with “Let me be clear”? That’s Obama’s catch phrase, FFS. Are they mocking us? [rhetorical]
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5oNcHS0c5W8
I remember when California was a great state. Not anymore. Los Angeles is a perfect example.
Have a fabulous day and week. :)
“Conduct Unbecoming. A Collection of Short Stories” is a great read. As a reader I was able to read a story, then go and do something else, then come back later to read a new story. The book including several true life short stories by our MikeW. All in all an incredible book. Highly recommended.
*
“Broken Toys” is a science fiction novel that starts out slow building the characters then busts wide open. I’ll spare the details as it will give away the surprises. I am anxiously awaiting the continuing story of the characters in the next book in the series. The first book is self contained, but goodness as a reader you can’t wait to see what’s next in these peoples lives. Great reading.
*
Unexpectedly (had to work than in somewhere) I knew the two Mexican Panhards.
*
Safe travels LL.
If a group of young reporters is called a “clot”, does it then follow that a group of old reporters should be called an abscess? I had first thought of “scab” but presume that term is reserved for workers who cross the picket line.
Portmanteau of the day – “scabscess” !
– Kle.
I like scab – ny word can have more than one meaning
but a thrombosis of old liars/drunks may fit what you might be looking for
LA Bravo Sierra: Give them what they demand, pull ICE out, let them hang themselves without interference, leave them to their own devices. Oh, and suspend all WTP’s taxpayer government funding to the state. Money talks…Bravo Sierra walks. Since they’re so smaaat (as they say in Boston), let them have their way, see how well that works out. Maybe the rational LA-ers will finally revolt against TPTB, clean house and plug in people not working to line their own pockets at the peoples expense. Heck, if over half stop paying their property tax theft maybe those ‘in charge’ will get a clue.
***
Same goes for your funny “journalism” meeting, leave them to drive off the cliff of their own making. Incidentally, when did ‘reporters’ become ‘journalists”? Guessing it was when colleges went from a reasonable staffing balance and doing actual education, to Lefty indoctrination shops…hence nice gals going in only to come out Lesbo with multi-colored hair and tats, while males become ‘guys’ sportin’ manbuns and skinny jeans instead of developing into men.
reporters tell the actual news on the ground with a lack of bias and clear eyesight
journalists are fiction writers whose book sales approach zero
Exactly.
Do not pull ice out. Rule of law.
This is the revolution. This is la raza.
This is where to draw the line.
This likely will be a mess either way…however the proper show of force usually will have the La Raza type anarchists running scared once they realize things are not going their way. Most of America…I submit 85% of landmass…is behind deporting anyone here illegally. It’s simple, it is against federal law….so get offered a free ride back “home”, then submit paperwork to return. Maybe there could be some leeway given to those who own homes or the kids who had no choice in the matter, but anyone who has been a criminal or violated our laws (including taxes), sorry, time to leave.
[from trusted sources] LA ‘officials’ – being the pathological narcissists they are – have been lying from day one while spouting that “they care about their community”…all BS:
1) Bass told the police chief to stand down from onset of rioting, when pressed the feckless DA said she has no authority to do so. Flat out lied.
2) Just this morning the DA repeated what his superiors have pushed…that ICE “raided” Home Depot for a mass deportation. Truth is ICE has an office next door and were gearing up outside their office when social media “adherents” (polite term) decided to promote this with pictures as a raid. Not true.
3) Pro-grade tactical gear – vests, face shields, and gas masks – were delivered to the anarchists.
4) Video of someone arriving with tools to break up concrete to generate blocks/pieces that were used to throw at police etc.
5) Hispanic programs in California have lobbied for and gained taxpayers funds to support their various group, one (can’t recall the exact name) received $36 million for their “programs”. Turns out this is a radical shop behind the scenes and at the center of this so-called protest. Taxpayers are being fleeced for the anarchy.
.
…and that’s just the highlights. This entire “protest” has been a scripted effort from at least a month ago, partly to discredit/undermine PDJT and the will of WTP.
Wanna know how a pathological narcissist operates so convincingly while giving themselves a clear conscience – just like these LA politicians and their propagandists in the MSM – watch the Sherri Papini Kidnapping Hoax documentary on Prime (not the movie), then look up the 20/20 one which offers the truth of the matter from her former husband who was duped for a good part of a decade. There are scary people out there, not all have MS13 tattooed on their knuckles. (Incidentally — “Maryland Dad” Garcia – being championed by the mentally ill among us – was a massive human trafficker…something major media has squashed.)
LA would be more peaceful if those inciting the riots were kneecapped by snipers.
Define “incite”. If you mean those who plan and fund these civic events, well, if anything happened to those persons I’m certain there would be whining about “disparate impact”. Maybe I’m being unfair. Whining or no, there WOULD be disparate impact.
Groups such as “Indivisible” are openly in support of the many many planned anti-Trump protests on June 14th. There is a banner linking to such on their home page.
indivisible DOT org
I implore you to not look up the people who run Indivisible. Please don’t do it. Just accept that they are good people (better than you or me) and The REAL Patriots.
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Do y’all think this is all confined to Los Angeles? Be of good cheer, O VM readers. I’m sure most of you are within 30 minutes drive of one of the festive events planned for 14 June.
Ed: I see events in Ann Arbor, Canton, Belleville, Milan.
Paul M, DrJIM: There’s one in Ft Collins.
I’m spoilt for choice in suburban Boston. I might even be able to attend more than one since they are at different times.
—
Those of you I didn’t mention by name? You can look up the events for yourselves.
nokings DOT org
Milan would be a stretch. Surprised not Ypsilanti.
I’m reading Conduct Unbecoming. I’m liking it. The story about The Coils should become a novella.
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But today’s post is brilliantly hilarious. Particularly the newsroom.
Twisted logic.
Trump’s response to the LA riots is good for world peace. Shows the rest of the world he isn’t someone to ____ with.
I see where we’re back to ‘peaceful protests’ in LA again… And at least one Roof Korean is taking an interest…
Did you see where La Presidente of Mexico said that Mexico will attack the US if the Trump Administration taxes money being sent to Mexico by Mexican citizens?
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Can’t wait to see the fallout from that one.
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And, of course, shoot them all. If a person is in the streets ‘demonstrating’ by setting fires and doing destructive things then they lose the right to due process and, well… let the bodies hit the floor.
(Clutching pearls) What would we do if the Mexican army attacks?
Laugh?
I read an interesting interpretation of Achilles from a scientist who was also a historian.
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Seems that Greek chariot armor may be an explanation. And this may take a few paragraphs. Greek chariot armor, worn by the warrior, not the driver, of a two to three man chariot (driver, warrior, guy who hands warrior javelins and such) is composed of bronze hoops that overlap downward. Basically there’s a hoop around the chest and the next hoop hangs over the bottom outside edge of the first loop, next loop hangs over the bottom outside edge of the second loop and so on until the hoops are touching the warrior’s feet Shoulders and arms are covered by half-hoops overlapping, mostly from the hand to the shoulder. The overlap is very important. For mounted warriors, having the bottom band overlapping the upper band and so forth makes the armor nigh unto impervious from spear thrusts from below. Arms are overlapped opposite of this because most arm attacks are from ‘above.’
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Why is all of this important to the story of Achilles? Well, a full chariot warrior’s armor weighed a heck of a lot, hugely massive. Most warriors could wear it while standing on the deck of a chariot and while walking short distances. But wear said armor while fighting a moving shifting war on foot? That takes a very very strong man with lots of stamina. Which brings us to Achilles. Who, in order to wear said armor, must have been a very strong man with scads of stamina.
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So here’s Achilles, wearing said super armor and a helmet and a shield. Nigh unto invulnerable to any stab or slash or blow of any sort.
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But there’s one place he’s open to an attack. His feet. On a chariot, the front of the foot’s covered by the wicker shield around the front and sides of said chariot. And that leaves… the heels exposed as the only legitimate open spot on the warrior (as when worn while ‘on foot’ the shield and the warriors’ weapon ‘covers’ the front of the feet. Thus leaving, as I said, the heels exposed.
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Literally the ‘Achilles Heel.’
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Hit that sucker and you don’t have to worry about all that armor. All you have to do is hit that tendon, which is very hard to do if your fully armored opponent is relatively static, like normal people wearing heavy armor. But a buff muscular dude with tons of stamina isn’t a relatively static target, as he moves side to side, fore and back, sometimes even spinning. So Achilles, besides having one open spot on each foot, was probably, due to his exuberance, complicit in his own death, as getting one’s achilles tendon whacked or one’s heel smashed tends to pretty much render one unable to continue effectively fighting.
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Side note: The overlap bands of armor are a way to tell if a suit made of bands of armor is designed for a foot soldier or a cavalry trooper. Foot solders wear their bands overlapping from bottom up so as to not expose the wearer to a stab from above, while cavalry armor overlaps from top to bottom, stopping that pesky stab from below.
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Second Side note: No armor is perfect. Everything has a vulnerable place. Know your enemy and their equipment.
TNX much 4 the historical science – or is that the scientific history – of Greek armor
Late note: good to hear that MikeW is home and recovering.
x2 !
– Kle.
X3…these things can go downhill real fast (personal family experience). Very happy he’s back home recovering.
Sidebar: hearing the top of the hour news…how did the Stanley Cup playoffs get extended to into June? Obviously extend the season and owners gather more revenue. But once pro baseball starts hockey ought to be finished, this overlap is just…wrong.
The Stanley cup finals have been in June for many years. More than ten probably 20+
I know…used to follow and play, the Flyers was my home team…but seems odd to have hockey in June..unless you live in Mystery, Alaska.
For the protests – how about vehicles with loud speaker systems playing the first two verses of “Pushing Too Hard” on continual loop? If the volume is high enough it should interfere with their chants and attempts to communicate with each other. Who knows, some may even start dancing???
Elsewhere: I read that ChatGPT took on an Atari 2600 in a game of chess…and got wiped out.
watching live feed from l.a. i saw ll or his doppelganger meander thru the crowd. white polo shirt, jeans, ball cap, shades, completely out of place in that crowd, looked to be taking snapshots of ringleaders/agitators. funny…..the front group for this thing, no kings, is a couple of jewish kids with soros backed act blue funding with extra cash from harvard and a few businesses. having a big “nation-wide ta do saturday they say. looking at said footage it occurred to me that the leo’s know nothing of riot control tactics. the old school formations properly applied are quite effective. untrained or told to stand down? both i’d say.
I hope that the responding US Marines have used pugil sticks before in preparation for but-stroking and sticking rioters. But it’s too much to ask, RR. Yes, it would elevate the Marines to the status of Rooftop Koreans, and if they are able to rack up a high enough body count they might get a battle streamer out of it. Yeah, unlikely.
I notice you did not deny being in LA…
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> couple of kids
Turns out both Leah Greenberg and her husband Ezra Levin (Co-Directors of Indivisble) are in their late 30’s and have been in the spotlight for quite some time. (Though I had never heard of them until today.)
Wiki says, “She and Levin were selected by Politico in 2017 and GQ in 2018 for their annual lists of most powerful and influential people in Washington DC.” And in 2019 Time Magazine featured the couple on their “100 Most Influential People” list.
The breadth and depth of the forces arrayed against normal people, and the financial resources attached to them, is astonishing.
Oh, I noticed in Comments elsewhere someone laughing about how one of the Nokings demonstrations is supposedly scheduled for some small Texas town of his acquaintance. Said commentor was laughing about how it’s a conservative place and the protestors would likely get their asses handed to them.
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Maybe so. And that would be a win (for values of “win”) for the people behind all this. If some demonstrator was killed, or seriously injured it would be all over the news, and perhaps used as pretext for further attacks on 2A, demonizing regular whites, etc. Apart from the tactical part of the victimhood thing, keep in mind that being (or claiming to be) the victim is a Core component of the mindset of the Left. They actively seek out, or rather seek to engineer, situations where they can provoke retaliation or even plain old self defense. Look at the crap Rittenhouse went through. And notice that the three men he shot, “Jo Jo” Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber, and Gaige Grosskreutz (now called Paul Prediger for some damn reason), were not cowards. They were out there physically mixing it up.
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It’s fine to mock the opposition for morale purposes, but we’d better NOT believe our own propaganda. Maybe there’s 10 blue-haired, noodle armed “protestors” for each serious person, hell, make it 100, but there are still serious folks on the other side.
why can’t we call this exactly what it is:
a revolution by foreign Demsheviks (portmanteau not mine – wish it was) backed by Marxist/socialist money; prabably not Russian, possibly Chinese
this is an insurrection (by definition) and all captured should be examined by a military tribunal for sentencing (again, not mine)
does/can SCOTUS review the decisions of a military court?
I also understand that The Donald has no wish to be known in history texts as the president who divided/split the Country
Massive parade planned in DC for the Army’s 250 year celebration. Looking at all that, and all the crooks embedded in DC, kinda makes you go Hmmm.
yeah, my guardian angel is whacking me in the back of my head with a bat.