Back to the Drawing Board
Bullet Points:
** President Trump’s plan to convert Alcatraz back into a maximum-security prison could reportedly cost roughly $2 billion. How do you feel about that allocation of resources? It’s aimed at symbolism, and at the same time, using the facility for its intended purpose rather than as a museum.
** Jaywalking in Red China.
** Writers Guild wants NY AG Letitia James to probe CBS axing Colbert, implying the cancellation was a “bribe” to curry favor with Trump. A show reportedly burning $40 million a year is now being spun as a free-speech martyrdom.
** Womyn of the NBA are demanding fair compensation (including extensive back pay), saying, “Pay us what you owe us!” Fun fact: WNBA loses $50 million every year and has NEVER generated a profit. So what is “owed” is actually $0.
** Boating with EdB. Ed CLAIMS to be in the hospital undergoing treatment. This video shows that it can’t be true.
**In-N-Out Burger owner and heiress Lynsi Snyder is wisely relocating her family and headquarters from California to Tennessee because it is “hard to do business” in far-left California. There was a time when California was a great place to live and do business. The communists ruin everything.
** Will anyone ever apologize for the Big Bag?
** It is hilarious to me that proven, safe nuclear technology has existed my entire lifetime, and yet it was only ever used for military purposes. A reactor the size of a duffel bag that powers a submarine? Clean, affordable power for people to use for decades? No, proles, have windmills and solar panels! They don’t work, but damn does our Green lobby get rich off of them! BUT, as soon as AI comes along and needs limitless power, suddenly everyone thinks nuclear is great – the Machines need it! Just proof – if you needed it – that Global Cooling, Warming, Climate Change, ManBearPig was a complete hoax to milk the taxpayer and control the economy. Yet another lie.
** The Swamp Club – You’re not allowed inside unless you’re compromised. This is why President Trump (and Team Trump) is so dangerous to the Swamp – the Permanent Washington Establishment. Who can send their children to Yale and Princeton on a government salary? You can’t. However, don’t despair; money is available. Haven’t you ever asked yourself, “How do all of these powerful people allow themselves to be compromised this way? It seems like such an obvious setup.” Being compromised is the price of admission to certain circles of power.
**Is the United States of America divorcing cat women? One lawyer opines.
** There go my dreams of electric car ownership – right out the window: China has imposed new export restrictions on technologies essential for producing electric vehicle (EV) batteries, including lithium processing and cathode manufacturing for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. These controls, requiring government licenses for overseas transfers, aim to protect national security while consolidating China’s commanding lead in the global EV sector, where it holds over 67% of the battery market share and dominates LFP production. The measures mirror recent curbs on rare earths.
Defending American Interests
The Department of State, alongside HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has officially rejected the 2024 amendments to the World Health Organization’s International Health Regulations (IHR), citing threats to U.S. sovereignty, free speech, and privacy.
This bold move delivers on President Trump’s promise to prioritize American interests and protect national autonomy in public health policy.
The rejected amendments, adopted by the World Health Assembly on 1 June 2024, aimed to expand the WHO’s authority over global health responses, including pandemic declarations and equitable access to health resources. However, the U.S. argues these changes lack transparency, use vague terminology, and risk overreach.
Secretary Kennedy stated, “The proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations open the door to the kind of narrative management, propaganda, and censorship that we saw during the COVID pandemic. The United States can cooperate with other nations without jeopardizing our civil liberties.”
Kennedy further criticized the amendments for employing “extremely broad language that gives the WHO unprecedented power,” potentially stifling scientific debate and compelling countries to adopt digital health documents that could infringe on personal liberties. He emphasized, “For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration… Today’s action changes that— it restores integrity to federal social programs, enforces the rule of law, and protects vital resources for the American people.”
While this quote references a different HHS policy, it reflects Kennedy’s broader stance on protecting American interests, which aligns with the IHR rejection. The amendments also raised concerns about WHO’s influence, particularly from countries like China, which Kennedy previously noted have “exerted undue influence over its operations in ways that serve their interests and not particularly the interests of the global public.”
The U.S. rejection ensures that public health policy remains driven by American values, not international bureaucracies. As Kennedy told the World Health Assembly, he envisions “a new era of cooperation” with global health ministers, but only through institutions that are “lean, efficient, transparent, and accountable.” This decision follows the Trump administration’s broader push to reevaluate U.S. involvement with the WHO, including Executive Order 14155, signed January 20, 2025, pausing U.S. funding to the organization. The U.S. remains committed to global health cooperation but insists on maintaining sovereignty over domestic health decisions.
Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon
Invented in 1872 by Benjamin B. Hotchkiss, it was intended to be a lightweight cannon that offered substantially greater firepower than typical single-barrel weapons of the day.
Initially developed for use ashore, the weapon was quickly pressed into service as a naval weapon. Torpedo boats were becoming very common at the time. Their small size and high speed made them difficult targets for larger-caliber weapons that were primarily used on warships. The greater firing rate of the Hotchkiss cannons was seen as advantageous in dealing with these torpedo boats.
The Hotchkiss revolving cannons were built in four sizes, ranging from 37mm to 57mm. While the 37mm models were designed as land-based weapons, the larger versions were designed with naval use in mind, as being deck-mounted, they would not be as hampered by their greater size and weight. In any regard, plenty of the 37mm variants found themselves used on warships as well.
The Hotchkiss cannons proved to be a significant commercial success. They were acquired by many countries around the World, finding the greatest use in the United States, Russia, and Germany. They saw use for over three decades, finally being phased out just after the turn of the century. A few even managed to soldier on into the First World War, seeing use in various roles, including artillery and anti-aircraft defense.
It’s worth pointing out that they were not the same as traditional Gatling guns (which were also being used at the time). Instead, the Hotchkiss revolving cannons were essentially a single cannon that would swap its barrel out after each shot, allowing it to cool, improve barrel wear, and retain performance during extended firing (while a Gatling gun also operates on this theory, each barrel has its one bolt/chamber assembly. The Hotchkiss gun only has one).
Depending on the size, the Hotchkiss revolving cannons could achieve ranges between 2,000 and 4,000 yards. This was greater than the ranges enjoyed by early torpedoes of the day, allowing the Hotchkiss guns time to engage the torpedo boat before it got close enough to deploy its weapons. While capable of a high rate of fire, with some guns firing about 60 rounds per minute, they were hampered by their relatively small ammunition capacity. About five to ten rounds could be held in the feed, meaning the cannon would quickly burn through the available ammunition. It was the gun crew’s responsibility to refill the ammunition feed when in action. However, they could not keep up with the high rate of fire, meaning the gun would periodically run out of ammunition. Typically, the crew could maintain a rate of about 25 to 35 rounds per minute when in action. Still, this was an impressive rate of fire for the time. Eventually, large-caliber rapid-fire single-barreled cannons began to arrive during the 1890s, hastening the decline of the Hotchkiss Revolver cannons.
What’s going on in Alaska?
“Schematic of major tectonic regimes in Alaska and Western Canada. Labels describe the dominant process acting in each region. Red line denotes main plate boundary.”
Identify the Aircraft
1
It is a utility aircraft and regional airliner that has remained in production for 60 years since its first flight. With a high-wing, fixed-undercarriage configuration, the aircraft is simple to maintain and rugged to operate. For most of its production run, the plane was manufactured in Romania.
2
Iconic serpent
3
I’m sure that the USAF found a way to monkey wrench the project because they didn’t want the Army to have jet aircraft.
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Parting Shots
End
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Maltese Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander
2. Bell AH-1G Cobra
3. Lockheed XV-4 Hummingbird
4. RCN McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee
That was fast, Surly. Well done.
I was driving a deuce and a half in a convoy in a war game in North Carolina, Pineville? I was the first truck behind the captains jeep. Looking ahead down the logging road I saw a black beam sticking out of the trees over the road. I thought that did not look quite natural given the setting and hit my air horn and put on my brakes. The captain’s jeep continued driving forward, under the tubes of an air cobra that’s swung out in front of us. We were not declared dead because technically we weren’t involved in the exercise. We were taking advantage of it to test some remote tracking equipment.
There were a couple of those Hotchkiss guns outside an old local armory
as memorial monuments, but when the building was sold off they
disappeared. I wish I knew what happened to them.
– Kle.
Presumably, something as in glorious as paper clips or roofing nails
Unraveling the Twisted Swamp Nebula: One step closer to pulling the stopper to drain that insisted cabal. Let’s call it The Great Reset. Who is being quiet will tell how wide the net is reaching.
At the moment the big Swamp dwellers – the shot callers like Larry Fink (Black Rock) are maintaining a low profile, waiting for this swing in American politics to pass. Soros Jr. (now married to Huma, Hillary’s cast-off) is attempting to take the old man’s mantle on. A new generation of reptile is emerging from the murk.
Soros Jr & Huma…now there’s a match made in Hell. Interesting how “birds of a feather…”, screwing with the rest of us without consequence (at least on Earth), never fails to happen in history.
I think that Huma had offspring with Anthony Weiner. Obv, Hillary couldn’t give her more kids. Is she too long in the tooth to provide Soros with a genetic legacy?
Got to wonder what the attraction is.
They are both swamp creatures. Maybe that’s enough
A Hotchkiss was used in the film The Rough Riders as I recall. Milius also used a Colt potato digger or two as well.
I recall that. I like the film. I wish there were more of them. There’s not much to get me to the movies these days.
How about more Boat Repair with EdB? The adverse reaction will help. Unless you (or I!) wind up as the target of Ed’s revenge ramming. He’ll be fine, of course.
Seriously, get well soon, EdB.
X2…thinking on his treatment and recovery…like the stuck boat, might be high-n-dry now but “the tide” rises to lift.
Of All the places to anchor when the tide’s going out!
The doctor left my room the other day saying that I was the most boring patient they had on the floor. And as she walked out she said, stay boring my friend. So there’s no significant downturns. Just waiting it out.
Beauty Ed…stay calm and carry on.
X2
Boring is good.
Carry on.
That is all.
Two billion toward a prison exposed to salt air, inclement weather, and earthquakes is a bad investment. Use the money toward a prison in a desert. The surroundings are more hostile than most realize, the climate will allow a structure that will not deteriorate in a short period of time, and I’m sure any locals will be more appreciative than the denizens of San Francisco.
Electric cars are nothing more than expensive golf carts that most fire departments have few resources for extinguishing when one catches on fire. I consider them a toy for the affluent.
The WHO is as useless as the United Nations, and as evil.
Oh yes. The $2.5 Billion recently spent on the Federal Reserve’s building renovation was a much better investment.
The ROCK is visible to all. It’s as much of a symbol as a prison, presiding over liberal San Francisco Bay.
IF this were up to Congress or anyone – BUT – PDJT, this would take decades to get The Rock wrested from Park Service control as a tourist destination into an actual functioning prison facility. Once the Shovel-Ready Photo Op (with the Usual Suspects) occurs, it’ll take 6 years for the EIS, then another 10 years for ‘environmentally sensitive’ redesign, then another 5 years to put out for bids, with another 2 years to let the contracts…all the while the [newly formed] ‘The Rock Rebuild & Expansion Committee for Government Incarceration of the Less Fortunate’ (gotta have a super long name) will expand their offshore accounts…on WTP’s nickel.
PDJT’s Plan: Get it done inside of a year using his own contractors (think, Wolman Rink)…with all the modern bells and whistles including shoreline homemade raft sensors and alarms.
Alcatraz
Trump poking an ant hill.
Yes.
Maybe they can use the two billion they were giving to Stacey Abrams?
If they can claw it back, they could also house Stacy Abrams there. Maybe she could use her time in custody to write more erotic fiction about an obese negro woman.
👍
That one might just tip the island over, vindicating the Hank Johnson mentalist approach to not-so-genius. Best to lower her down in the center with a Huey.
I think you mean a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane.
Or this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAwZrg9UHKo&t=9s
Ewww.
I agree with Jess. Spot on.
Have a fabulous day and week. :)
Absolutely love the opening image…I have such an affinity for that period of time, the tinkering, the innovation, the trying…all to advance mankind and America.
Is that Dr. Jim?
Who else?
So we owe a debt of gratitude for many of our modern advancements to DrJim’s tinkering genius in his lab.
DRJIM is an unsung hero.
Yes, they were wonderful times. And the AI used the various shapes of “known” vacuum tubes. I recognize several.
I agree with the fact that a large secure prison in San Fran bay with current construction will decay rapidly.
However, the value of the glaring sign of Consequences that the bay will see at each sunrise will far outpace the cost to build and maintain.
The Second benefit will be when Americans set their will to building we will develop and invent ways to overcome these challenges and apply those skills to other areas in desperate Need (oh say, those dilapidated rust buckets our prior administrations’ Navy allowed to embarrass our Nation).
MSG Grumpy
What about anchoring prison hulks around Alcatraz instead of remodeling the prison itself? Instead of turning old aircraft carriers into artificial reefs, use them to create secure prisons. Feed the sharks with the food waste.
And the prisoners get to chip and paint.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. has fired two of the department’s top aides in a leadership shakeup, a spokesperson confirmed Wednesday.
Heather Flick Melanson, Kennedy’s chief of staff, and Hannah Anderson, deputy chief of staff of policy, have both been ousted. No reason was given for the change.
I had read recently that Kennedy had fired two senior staff members for approving the Moderna covid shot for children while he was out of the office. I wonder if these two were the offenders.
On May 29 from The Hill:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will no longer recommend that “healthy” children and pregnant women receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday.
Yet on July 10:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-10/moderna-s-covid-shot-fully-approved-by-fda-for-use-in-children
They were according to some reports. The Regime Operatives are feeling consequences of believing they can run open loop, defying authority.
Great opening artwork! Looks like you snuk into the “Curios and Oddities” part of my shop. And if it doesn’t work today, there’s always tomorrow….
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Good for Ms. Snyder. You’d think when Kalifornia loses an iconic business like In-N-Out they’d take notice, but nooooooooo.
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The Swamp critters have sold their souls for a few pieces of gold. Very sad.
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Good for Kennedy!
The Gatling (originally in .50 and 1.0 caliber) fired as the barrels rotated, which caused some loss of accuracy. Which, when you think about it, is actually a feature not a failure as the gun was basically a bullet hose aimed at suppressing an area. It also had a feature that caused it to automatically go back and forth across a designated adjustable ark, kind of like a sprinkler, which, since it was designed as an anti-infantry/anti-cavalry weapon, was very useful. Each barrel corresponded to a single bolt system, so basically the Gatling is a collection of guns hooked together with the bolts sliding in and out of a track in the breech. Since each barrel was a gun, if one firing pin went, the gun just didn’t fire from that barrel and ejected an unfired round. (There’s a western movie that’s full of bullscat where one barrel’s firing pin is broken so it jammed the gun. Nope, the other barrels would fire, the 2nd loader could pick up unfired ammo off the ground and reuse it.)
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The Hotchkiss stopped rotating as it fired, from the bottom barrel. Boom, rotate, Boom, rotate, Boom. Accuracy was much superior, but then again, the Hotchkiss wasn’t a bullet hose, just a rapidly loading gun. And the reason they were found in 37mm and not smaller caliber was because all the great powers agreed that 37mm was the minimum size for an exploding shell (at the time of design and manufacture, fuses and explosives at the time did not lend themselves to be effective at a caliber lower than 37mm, so it really wasn’t a problem. And worked well for the anti-material nature of the gun’s use.)
My Junior and Senior Highs shared the same library so it was awesome compared to most school libraries. One of the many great books was a fantastic history of the Gatling Gun. Including technical drawings and lots of drawings and photos that illustrated the fantastic weapon. I basically read that book at least twice a year because the gun was that good. The book also dealt with the Hotchkiss and the Frog’s Mitrailleuse.
The British used Gatling guns against the Zulu at Ulundi. If Custer had waited for his gatling guns and pack howitzers (firing canister) he would have stood a better chance against the Indian confederation. Likely the Indians would have engaged and retreated rather than risk the loss.
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The Zulu threw themselves against the British square at Ulundi and were unable to do much except die – which was the British plan.
Custer could have also done better keeping his command together rather than sending units hither and yon. Dumbass. Believed his own press, he did.
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My favorite Gatling war was the naval war between Chile and Argentina. Gatlings in the fighting tops shooting at each other. What wonderful times. Gats were also useful in the Spanish-American War.
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The engineering behind the Gat is amazing. Complexly simple, simply complex. Once you understand that the bolts for the barrels travel in a track and the track is a loop, then suddenly, “Duh, gee, so damn simple, why didn’t anyone think of this before?”
That reminds me of a Johnny Cash song from my childhood: Custer