I hope that you’re having a Good Friday. The significance of Good Friday is inextricably linked to Easter. Without Christ’s death on Friday, there could be no resurrection on Sunday.
Good Bullet Points (for a Good Friday):
** Voting Integrity is Good (The White House) Yesterday, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to strengthen election integrity by ordering citizenship verification for Federal elections and modernizing and securing mail-in and absentee ballot procedures through the United States Postal Service (USPS). The federal government will tell the states the names of people legally entitled to vote in federal elections, so the states can ensure that only those individuals cast ballots.
** What do you think of the Catholic Church?
** VDH discusses the situation with Iran.
** Explaining the soft kill. (CBU-94 explained)
** Good Drones – (h/t Claudio) (What’s not to love about a drone?) The evolution of drone interceptors builds new paradigms and approaches to manufacturing. (more here) After Ukrainian companies built interceptor drone factories abroad without state approval, multiple buyers complained because the drones were sold without the warheads or expertise needed to operate them properly, Zelenskyy said on Friday, per Ukrainska Pravda. “They had also been sold a certain number of interceptors — again without explosives,” Zelenskyy said about a European country he visited recently. “And they asked me whether we could send more operators. I said no.” The bottleneck isn’t the interceptor itself, but the logistics infrastructure to produce and sustain them at scale, officials said. “Many believe Ukraine could simply send a few hundred interceptor drones to the Middle East and stop the Shahed drones currently hitting critical infrastructure,” Moroz said. “Drone warfare is far more complex than that. “Yes, hardware matters. And Ukraine knows how to build drones at scale. But the real advantage lies in the infrastructure behind them.”
** Good Passports? The practice of birth tourism is utterly absurd. Foreign nationals deliberately travel to America, pay tens of thousands of dollars for temporary stays in luxury maternity hotels, and give birth solely so their children can claim automatic U.S. citizenship with all its benefits and passports. This blatant exploitation turns our nation’s foundational principles into a paid loophole for opportunists seeking unearned advantages. Pregnant women, mainly from China, timed their visits to deliver on U.S. soil while operators profited from visa fraud, false statements on entry documents, money laundering, and tax violations. The Supreme Court needs to clarify the 14th Amendment. Birthright citizenship was never intended as a shortcut for birth tourism or anchor babies.
** Good CCW on Military Bases – I always thought it odd that everyone in the military was trained to fire and make any firearm they encountered safe, yet carrying a firearm on a base was, for the most part, forbidden. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth just dropped the hammer, announcing the immediate end to these suicidal restrictions. In his powerful video message, Hegseth declared: “Our military installations have been turned into gun-free zones—leaving our service members vulnerable and exposed. That ends today.” The new directive is straightforward and pro-warrior: Installation commanders must approve requests for service members to carry their privately owned firearms for personal protection. There’s a clear “presumption of approval” — no more endless red tape or blanket denials. Exceptions remain only for training ranges or military police duties, where rules already make sense.
** The U.S. Forest Service’s Headquarters is moving from Washington, D.C. to Salt Lake City, UT. The Forest Service (part of the US Department of Agriculture) laments the move from the seat of power. I’ve been hearing wailing. However, most of what the US Forest Service oversees is in the Western United States. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) manages federal lands, natural resources, and tribal trust responsibilities through eleven primary bureaus, including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Geological Survey. It makes sense to me that the DOI moved to Colorado, but many bureaucrats didn’t. Leaving DC was unpopular for many of them.
** Good Strategy – Straits of Hormuz
** VDH on Swalwell and Fang-Fang.
It’s a Good Friday in Yemen
(AND) Riyadh dropped three hundred forty-six million dollars for salaries across Yemen, including in the Houthi zones. Fighters and state workers there had gone unpaid for ages—sometimes for months—so this batch finally allowed the Houthis to clear the backlog. After the Houthis got the cash, they began to hit Israel, but they pointedly avoided taking any action detrimental to Saudi interests.
The Houthis are Yemeni rebels and allies of the Iranian regime. They recently entered the war with the United States and Israel and began to fire missiles at Israel. To date, however, they have refrained from shooting at shipping in the Red Sea. Right now, tankers filling up with oil at Yanbu, the Saudi port on the Red Sea, are in many ways the world’s lifeline. Thirty tankers are docked there at a time, taking on oil delivered via a pipeline across Saudi Arabia. This allows oil to flow out of Saudi Arabia and bypass the Iranian stranglehold on the Straits of Hormuz.
Why have these Iranian allies not closed the Red Sea to shipping? The answer tells you a great deal about how the Middle East works and what the word “ally” really means in the Middle East. In 2023, Saudi Arabia and Yemen entered into a Road Map deal to end fighting between the Houthis and Riyadh. Saudi Arabia now sends tens of millions of dollars to Yemen every few months. Ostensibly, this is support for the Yemeni government, but a big chunk of this money goes to the Houthis directly. The Saudis pay the salaries of the Houthi fighters.
We call this protection money, baksheeh, mordida, etc.
The Houthis don’t make any serious effort to disguise it as anything else. Earlier this year, the Saudis were behind on their payments to the Houthis. Houthi fighters were not being paid. There were reports of famine in some Houthi-controlled areas. Acting de facto Prime Minister Mohammed Ahmed Muftaf, speaking in place of Houthi de facto President Mahdi Al Mashat, then delivered a strongly worded warning to Saudi Arabia. He urged Riyadh to release funds to pay Houthi salaries as a “basic right” and said that “time is running out and patience has limits.”
The Saudis tried and failed to militarily defeat the Houthis. They decided it was easier to buy peace.
“As the Saudis failed to rebuff the Houthis, their Plan B has been to appease them and, by extension, Iran. The Saudi idea was simple: Saudi authorities would turn a blind eye to Houthis’ aggression, terrorism, sectarian violence, and resupply in Yemen, and in exchange, the Houthis and their Iranian backers would concentrate their fire on non-Saudi targets. For the Saudis, this was a significant win as the Houthis had earlier fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Saudi airports, cities, and oil infrastructure. Essentially, Saudi Arabia’s new strategy was based on fear and purchasing quiet, not on a desire to win.”
Michael Rubin, American Enterprise Institute
This is the way the Middle East works. This is the way it has always worked. In the early years of the United States, we confronted the Barbary Pirates, a group of small North African city-states that attacked shipping in the Mediterranean. The Barbary Pirates seized merchant vessels and took hostages, and sold the crews of the captured ships into slavery. The countries in the region had long since adopted the practice of paying the Barbary states protection money and ransoming their citizens when they were captured.
President Jefferson had a different idea. He sent the fledgling U.S. Navy and Marine Corps to demonstrate that we did not negotiate with pirates. The words “shores of Tripoli” in the Marine Corps’ hymn still commemorate that era. Americans do not take kindly to the idea of being held up at gunpoint. We hang pirates; we do not reward them. The Middle East does not understand that kind of principle. Everyone makes deals. Everyone is hiding something. Everyone is hedging their bets. “Ally” is a very flexible concept.
We are at war with Iran. Israel is our ally in that conflict. Saudi Arabia is as well. And yet, even as the drones and missiles fly, Saudi Arabia is making deals with Iran’s Houthis partners, the Pirates of the Red Sea, to protect itself and allow Israel to be attacked. Only Americans would find that surprising.
Identify the Good Aircraft
1
18 built
2
About 900 built
3
A design study for a flying wing. It never got beyond paper, but can you identify it?
End
1 – Junkers Ju 90
2 – Junkers Ju 86
3 – Junkers J.1000
Outstanding – Good effort on a good day! Have a blessed Good Friday!!
On this day Let us all remember that Jesus’ suffering and death accomplished God’s plan of salvation and made forgiveness possible for all who trust in Him.
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“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”
Thank you for this.
Amen and amen!
Amen and amen and amen!
What is the maximum number of amens allowed?
I was hoping you could tell me.
Or that we would test it.
It’s earling in the morning at the White Wolf Mine. My lament – https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1FBeKE1n9e/
We all have our crosses to bear…
Some crosses are heavier than others.
As stated before, L.L. with your high achievement levels, caffeine messes with the machine. May your lamentation lead to finding enjoyable alternatives. A good rFiday and weekend of remembrance to you and yours as well.
Identify the Good Aircraft:
1. Junkers Ju 90
2. Junkers Ju 86
3. Junkers J.1000
SLAM!
**The U.S. Forest Service’s Headquarters is moving from Washington, D.C. to Salt Lake City, UT.**
Good news!
Yes, it’s about time.
We have a large USFS ‘campus’ here in Fort Collins. It’s located close to CSU, and barely a stone’s throw from here.
Birthright Citizenship is nothing but a modern day cheatery construct to muddy-up plain Constitutional language as defined for the actual historical aspect of 14A. (Same goes for 2A) All this gong banging and parsing of language by a bunch of Liberal (now Lefty) lawyers desperate to cheat the system is designed to obfuscate their purposeful criminality to allow illegal people free citizenship into the country, gaming a defined immigration policy. And why does it always seem 14A is vociferously argued by Democrats? Because they who can’t get elected honestly and need low-info voters.
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The arguments being made to SCOTUS on both sides are weak and stupid, and some of the statements by ‘those in black robes’ are equally idiotic; 14A…for normal people who understand our history…was for freed slaves, not people here on modern Visa’s, Greencards, Aliens of any sort, or [unbelievably] foreign pregnant tourists looking for free [taxpayer funded] healthcare and benefits then using their newborn as an anchor point to then gather the entire chain of family members to come here ‘legally’. (For the lawyers who apparently don’t know this: ‘tourists’ are not citizens.)
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It is very simple: Not a citizen? Then your newborn is NOT a citizen. END of argument…anything beyond that, surrounding that like a fog, is irrelevant.
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As for the ‘lawyers’ arguing to SCOTUS (all but four are useless Constitutional jurists), let’s be simple and clear for those who can’t understand simple language: The Federal government created 14A to eliminate the states differences on the matter of ‘freed slaves and their children’ in order to unify the nation on the subject — In turn, the President’s EO is sound and it is past time for The Federal Ditherer’s to knock this grift off and make his Order a clarification of law.
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I’m so over this idiocy….Hell, I could argue this better than what I’m seeing…especially with that ACLU hack activist on the other side…then again I’m not a lawyer trying to define simple terms 42 different ways depending on the situation or outcome.
…enough on that, except this will not have the preferred outcome it should…because…lawyers. (Shakespeare was correct.)
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Good Friday (and despite the above commentary): My Mother’s admonition, as reminded to us ‘boys’ this morning by our older brother…
“No activity between 12-3, be calm and quiet because that is when Jesus died.”
Sauer was hard to follow, not just because he sounds like RFKJr, but he spoke so fast.
The best argument (that he failed to make) would have been that anyone thought the word “and” was needed after “All persons born or naturalized in the United States,…”.
The left would like to see “subject to the jurisdiction thereof, ” ignored since they would make it of no effect.
The problem is that theses justices rely so much on precedent, no matter how flawed.
Good arguments were made that jurisdiction applied to allegiance, even domicile (intention to stay legally).
United States v. Wong Kim Ark had little to offer but was referred to constantly.
Those parents were here legally, had established residency and intended to stay.
Thus the word domicile. Allegiance.
But it was misconstrued to support birthright citizenship to non-citizens.
Heard that case constantly being referenced…another lawyer red-herring to smokescreen the lack of a real argument. Yet what I heard was the parents had Visa’s and were not citizens, residency or not…which, to my pea-brain, was THE disqualifier and made the ‘shill for anyone not a citizen’ ACLU’s argument entirely moot.
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Had a neighbor, a lawyer, ‘good people’…later discovered she was an advocate for illegals. Never once broached the subject, but if it came up my only question would have been, “How do you get around the fact that they committed a felony by entering our country illegally?” Unjustifiable as far as I’m concerned, especially when no other country on the planet allows this idiocy, fully showcasing the Liberal mindset who morph laws and rules to fit their desired outcome, which are often nefarious or, minimally, sinful misplaced compassion. A nation cannot be sovereign with leaky borders or weak allowances for what constitutes citizenship…in a word: Allegiance, as you point out.
I listened to the hearing. It’s a coin flip to how SCOTUS will rule. If they rule against Trump he has the executive authority to instruct that the Port of Entry in the Solomon Islands conduct pregnancy tests for all foreign national (ChiCom) women. They can be tested while being “inspected & admitted”. No one has Constitutional rights & protections until the Inspectors conduct their inspection and admit them.
The situation is out of control in the US. Draconian measures are called for to bring things into balance and then normalcy can prevail.
Moving Federal Offices to locations that make sense: About time…and this took so long because? Oh right, lobbyists and the allowance of those tasked with certain infrastructure stewardship to hide in the DC Nebula for all manner of reasons, usually to avoid actual work for We The People.
It puts bureaucrats within reach of those they serve.
Gee, what a concept…holds them accountable to actually do something outside their bubbled vacuum that tends to harm WTP not help.
Maybe they don’t want to be in reach of people with rope, tar or feathers.
Exactly, they prefer to operate secretly behind the curtain, like the Wizard of Oz, except using our money and resources with no oversight. (Which pretty much sums up almost everything one could say about government…while in contrast PDJT holds multiple Q&A spots during any given day, like many of his Team.)
“** What do you think of the Catholic Church?”
I’m not out to alienate anyone.
I am fascinated by friends and acquaintances who have joined the Catholic Church late in life and ask them their reasons.
But my friends who are Catholics do not depend on church membership or good works for their salvation, but in a faith in Christ and what he did on that cross on Good Friday.
X2…Having grown up in a Christian home but the Catholic religion I later realized what faith truly meant, then decided the rest is man-made ritual to support ones faith. Th Liturgical calendar, Mass, even some extra-biblical operations…never was as important to me beyond my personal faith journey and discovering what God was, what Jesus did for my puny self, and what The New Testament said on how to live one’s faith everyday…assuming that’s even possible for mere mortals.
It’s only possible to live it if you ask the Holy Spirit to live it through you.
We are not on our own.
Never.
** Explaining the soft kill. (CBU-94 explained)
Is there an explanation of the cleanup/restoration process? I have young relatives who are linemen.
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** Good CCW on Military Bases
About time! One reservation is handguns in barracks. Youth, alcohol, and tempers will result in a few incidents. Are the commanders prepared to deal with the outside uproar?
On bureaucrats being with in reach, our local bank officer kept a very rusted six shooter artifact on his desk. It sent a message. Being Texas he also knows it goes both ways. I was very extremely shocked the Enron executives were not shot in their drive way at home. I only bank local, but they don’t offer credit cards.
On major Banks, my replacement card was hacked a second time before I ever used it. I am going to two cards one for auto pay bills only that stays in the safe and a second for gas etc. Both will have the credit limits pushed way down.
CBU-94 and its derivatives also saw use in the Gulf War in 1991, and in 1999 in Yugoslavia
And I am ‘sure’ the polities involved will be screaming about the loss of access to the halls of power with the moves. But I’m glad to see them being forced out to where the work actually takes place! We went through that when SPAWAR was booted to the left coast. Sigh…