Changing Times

 

Bullet Points:

** Hey, Disney, I’ve heard you’re searching for another Snow White after the most recent film crashed. How about this actress? ->

** Costs associated with being a passport bro who wants to marry a girl from the P.I.

** The Soy Boy Army is upon you, America! They don’t know what they are protesting, probably gay rights in Gaza, but look upon your bespectacled Overlord and fear! All the protests will have gluten-free, non-GMO, and culturally appropriate snacks. Signs will be provided. If you fill out a form, you can be compensated for fighting the man.

Thank you,

The rag-tag remnants of the Soros rebel Marxist Alliance

** The path to wealth is explained.

** Washington Post: “German lawmakers passed a mammoth spending plan that could allow for up to a trillion dollars in debt-fueled investments in defense and infrastructure over the next decade, according to some estimates. The package amends the country’s constitution to relax strict debt limits that have long governed German spending. Europe is scrambling to strengthen its security amid concerns over U.S. commitments under President Donald Trump.

Claudia Major, a senior vice president of the German Marshall Fund, a U.S.-based think tank, said the plan’s passage shows that Germany is taking seriously the threat of an aggressive Russia and a retreating United States. “If you consider the amount of money Germany is putting there — Germany, a country that is so addicted to a balanced budget — that shows how seriously the incoming coalition is taking the current challenges,” Major said. “It’s about recognizing the existential threat Germany is facing. This is about survival.” Under the new spending plan, defense spending above 1 percent of gross domestic product would be exempted from Germany’s constitutionally enshrined debt brake.”

** Some people have said that T-Rexes can’t clap because they have short arms—they can’t clap because they’re dead.

** The USA is $36 trillion in debt. We spend more on servicing the debt than we do on Defense. WTF are we doing funding Australian colleges? US agencies asked Australian researchers to justify why they should continue receiving American research grants. Their surveys asked several questions, including whether the researchers had received funding from China and whether their university recognized only two sexes – male and female. The institutions whose funding has been cut are the Australian National University, Monash University, University of Technology Sydney, University of NSW, Charles Darwin University, Macquarie University, and UNSW.

** Ukrainian special operations forces (SSO) say they destroyed two Ka-52 Hokum attack helicopters and two Mi-8 Hip transport helicopters in an attack behind the lines in Russia’s Belgorod region. The helicopters were struck, according to SSO, by M130A2 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Alternative Warheads (GMLRS-AW), each containing a 200-pound warhead with 180,000 tungsten fragments. The destruction of these helicopters marks the most significant known single loss of Russian rotary-wing aviation in a ground strike since October 2023. That’s when Ukraine used its U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) short-range ballistic missiles for the first time, striking an airport in the Russian-occupied city of Berdyansk.

** Planetary structures of Neptune and Uranus are discussed here. (h/t Claudio)

***

The Moose is Loose

 

More on the Moose

The Daily Caller reported that the Department of Justice may prosecute the mutineers at the U.S. Institute of Peace, foolishly founded by President Reagan. In 41 years, the institute has not stopped the Gulf War, the Afghanistan War, the Iraqi War, and various combat deployments worldwide.

Wikipedia describes the institute as a nonpartisan, independent agency that “receives funding only through a congressional appropriation to prevent outside influence.” Ah, the purity of government funding. I suppose Wikipedia could describe the Gestapo as a nonpartisan, independent agency that was funded solely by the Reichstag to prevent outside influence.

The Institute of Peace has 300 employees and costs taxpayers $55 million a year. That works out to $183,333.33 per employee. Compensation (wage and benefits) for federal employees averages $143,643 a year, so basically, this is—or was—a bureaucracy that existed only to employ its employees. Its mission was to promote peace.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono used that as an excuse to spend a week in bed. The Institute Ono Band should cut a record, All We Are Saying, Is Give Me A Job.

The agency is not useful or independent. It is part of the executive branch, and the president is chief of the executive branch—the Constitution says so. Trump is euthanizing it to save taxpayers $55 million a year. Instead of obeying his orders to disperse, the Institute of Peace employees did not go away peacefully.

The New York Times called it the “Showdown at the Institute of Peace.” It took place on St. Patrick’s Day.

NYT said, “The dispute at the Institute of Peace began on a Friday, March 14, when Trent Morse, the deputy director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, fired all 10 voting members of the organization’s board—five Democrats and five Republicans—laying the groundwork for a takeover. DOGE tried to enter the building twice that day, bringing what they called a formal resolution removing George Moose, the institute’s acting president, and installing Kenneth Jackson, a State Department employee, in his place.”

The story also said, “Over that weekend, Colin O’Brien, the institute’s head of security, posted No Trespassing signs on the building’s front entrance—an ominous precursor to the events that would soon unfold.”

On Monday, St Patrick’s Day, “Mr. O’Brien arrived at the office early, followed by other top staff, including Mr. Moose, who had refused to accept his removal.”

They shut out the institute’s private security and contacted the NYT to document the mutiny. The new crew appointed by Trump brought in staff from the private security firm Inter-Con. As I read the report, I almost heard the Theme from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

NYT reported, “The Inter-Con employees tried to use their institute badges to enter the building via tap access. The badges didn’t work. When the Inter-Con contract was suspended the night before, Mr. O’Brien said, institute staff had ended the private security workers’ badge access and collected all keys—except for one.

“Unable to enter through the front doors, the Inter-Con employees approached a side entrance. Mr. O’Brien said that Inter-Con’s Kevin Simpson, who managed the company’s contract with the institute, had held onto a master key, which he used to enter the building and bring the others.

“Mr. O’Brien and two lawyers for the institute ran downstairs to confront them. ‘We informed them that they are not authorized to be in the building,’ Mr. O’Brien said.”

O’Brien, suing the Trump administration, said, “DOGE threatened to cancel every federal contract Inter-Con held if they did not come to the USIP building and let Kenneth Jackson inside.”

Jackson is the new head of the institute. Why should he not be allowed in the institute’s building? Taxpayers have paid Inter-Con more than $2 billion over the years. Of course, it had to let Jackson in. He’s the institution’s boss now. Inter-Con should have kicked the fired employees out.

NYT said, “The Inter-Con employees tried to use their institute badges to enter the building via tap access. The badges didn’t work. When the Inter-Con contract was suspended the night before, Mr. O’Brien said, institute staff had ended the private security workers’ badge access and collected all keys—except for one.

“Unable to enter through the front doors, the Inter-Con employees approached a side entrance. Mr. O’Brien said that Inter-Con’s Kevin Simpson, who managed the company’s contract with the institute, had held onto a master key, which he used to enter the building and bring the others.”

Congress and the courts established in 2021 that interfering with an official act is an insurrection. O’Brien and his band of mutineers (no other word describes them better) won’t face such charges, but AG Pam Bondi is floating the balloon of prosecution, using the Daily Caller as its balloon pilot. The Daily Caller story cited an unnamed official.

The Daily Caller said, “The official, who requested anonymity, told the DCNF the DOJ is examining whether certain USIP actions—such as removing and destroying internal and external door locks—created illegal fire hazards. The official also flagged the widespread distribution of internal flyers instructing USIP staff not to cooperate with incoming Trump administration officials as potentially obstructive conduct. The DCNF was the first to report on USIP’s internal flyer campaign and destruction of door locks.”

The Institute of Peace began planning its battle a month before Trump decided to kill it.

The Daily Caller reported, “USIP leadership began preparing for a confrontation weeks before the executive order was issued. A Feb. 6 internal document exclusively obtained by the DCNF outlined plans to deny building access to outside officials and reasserted the institute’s discretion over security systems and facilities. Flyers with the names and photos of Department of Government Efficiency officials were posted throughout the building, instructing staff to report their presence and avoid conversation.”

Warriors at the Institute of Peace learned from the January 30 Battle of US AID, in which employees at that bureaucracy acted like racketeers trying to prevent a federal raid.

The Jeff Bezos Post reported, “A career official tried to undo Trump’s purge at US AID. He was then purged, too.”

As well, he should be.

Nicholas Gottlieb, the purged director of employee and labor relations at US AID, wrote, “DOGE instructed me to violate the due process of our employees by issuing immediate termination notices to a group of employees without due process. I was notified moments ago that I will be on administrative leave immediately. It has been an honor working with you all.”

What due process? The president eliminated their agency as a waste and a detriment to Trump’s foreign policy. He put the agency under Secretary of State Marco Rubio. We elected him, not some person whose main accomplishment was passing a Civil Service test.

The strategy is to delay Trump as long as possible to shorten his four-year reign by tying his time up in frivolous lawsuits that enable out-of-control judges to issue Red Queen orders of off with their department heads. One judge even tried to order government planes to turn around in midair.

These are district judges whose orders are based neither on the law nor on the Constitution. In fact, the orders contradict both the law and the Constitution.

Some are showing restraint. The Daily Caller noted, “While a federal judge declined to issue a restraining order halting the leadership transition Wednesday, she sharply criticized DOGE’s cooperation with law enforcement, despite the circumstances surrounding USIP’s refusal to comply.”

The real damage to the nation is the refusal of federal employees to obey the Constitution, which vests executive power in the president and not them. They are the election deniers.

Prosecute the mutineers and get the Supreme Court to require any restraining order on a president to be issued by the Supreme Court and not by power-mad, little Boasbergs. The peaceful transition of power once was a hallmark of our country. Thanks to Obama and Biden, it is a distant memory.

 

Red China Blues

China’s real estate market has experienced a significant crash, and the country is now facing a new crisis. Observers debate whether China’s current situation is characterized by deflation or inflation. There is a consensus that China’s economy is in a state of depression and becoming increasingly dangerous.

A professional investor recently wrote that the real estate crisis is just the beginning. If it is not resolved, it will inevitably escalate into a financial crisis. He highlighted that China’s real estate bubble is the largest asset bubble in human history, once valued as high as $450 trillion. Now that the bubble has burst and prices have collapsed, this event has become a major historical milestone that has changed the world. Ignoring this context in decision-making is dangerous.

China’s current economic difficulties seem to stem from weak consumption. But why is consumption low and demand sluggish? Residents have overdrawn their future income for decades and must now repay their debts, leaving no money for consumption. The government shows no sense of crisis and has not taken timely action. Therefore, the situation worsens, leading to a sharp increase in bad bank debts and a financial crisis.

 

Weird Rocks?

It’s slag glass, the byproduct of refining (smelting) ore. This stuff is found all over Colorado, Arizona, and the East.

 

 

Crockett

It’s a crock, all right.

Crockett swiftly ran to MSNBC’s Alex Witt to “set the record straight,” dismissing Bondi’s threat with a defense suggesting she wasn’t being literal when she told rabid followers to take down Musk. It was the Tesla stock she was referencing. “I wasn’t calling for violence,” she said.

“It’s ridiculous that I even have to say something like that. But because they are trying to twist our words, one of the things that I told people to do is make sure you are adhering to the laws in your area.”

In her usual dismissive attitude, Crockett reiterated her explanation for the “slow people listening,” which was a reference to Bondi but likely more appropriate to anyone watching MSNBC. “I just want to say that I have never promoted violence whatsoever,” she claimed without evidence.

Her track record, however, betrays the slow congresswoman, as Crockett has repeatedly made incendiary remarks that could be construed as a call to violence against Trump administration officials.

 

Identify the Aircraft

1

 

2

 

3

A difficult ID – for some – livery is visible. 2 photos, 450 built

 

4

 

Parting Shot

B-52 tail gun ID Guide

 

 

The only reason they removed it after ’91 was cause they nearly shot their own plane down with a HARM missile that locked onto the radar of the rear gun.

 

End