Ethical Relativism

The Bang – So, what’s more likely? What’s more in line with the laws of physics and the mechanics of the universe? A stable universe that works according to predictable rules, or an exploding one with a beginning that violates everything we know about physics? I can provide you with two or three alternative explanations for the microwave background that don’t require a Big Bang. What do you think, DRJIM?

There are other big bangs in pop art, but I’m not going in that direction.

 

In Hollywood

(zerohedge) In “The Floor Fell Out: LA’s Entertainment Industry Is In Full Collapse,” the author warns that Hollywood’s once-stable middle class is evaporating. According to the piece, the aftermath of the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, coupled with streaming platforms’ budget pullbacks and cost-cutting pressures, has led to a sharp decline in production and widespread job losses.

Veteran animators, sound mixers, and production managers recount how steady work has vanished, forcing many to leave Los Angeles or change careers entirely.

Film commissions report that movie and TV activity in the region is now at its lowest levels since at least the mid-1990s, and full recovery looks increasingly uncertain.

Beyond the studio lot, the collapse has rippled through local businesses once reliant on entertainment revenue — cookie shops, restaurants, and boutique services are shutting down, and the fabric of the industry’s ecosystem is buckling.

The article portrays a harsh reckoning in LA’s entertainment sector — a sudden downturn with deep human and economic consequences, and few signs of relief ahead.

 

Weddings (historical)

Weddings were often inviting targets for somebody who wanted to wipe out the joining families and supplant them. You don’t see that as much anymore. The medieval tombstone  (left) is of a bride and groom murdered at their wedding, along with all their guests. The scene depicted here is their wedding. 10th century AD, Noratus Cemetery, Armenia.

Historically, weddings were as much about merging fortunes (or protecting established ones) as they were about forming a love connection. The get from the union were usually bound by established rules of primogeniture, which meant that if you weren’t first, they’d try and get you a commission in the army, or in the priesthood (parallel power structure). Women were considered chattel to be sold for the benefit of the family’s social or financial standing.

Weddings were often a debauch where attendees wore fine clothes instead of armor, and what personal weapons they had were less effective when swung with a 3.+ blood alcohol level. Try to draw a longbow (or a Turkish recurve) in your cups and release a shaft effectively. I’m sure that the Mongols, who grew up drinking arak (fermented mare’s milk blended with horse blood), could have pulled it off, but they were more unique in history.

Even men-at-arms, providing security, were often less vigilant during a party. At times, they’d be served poisoned wine by the attackers, which rendered them less vigilant. Don’t tell me that the “good old days” were safer, happier, or that people were freer or more prosperous.

 

The World’s Largest Jackalope Shrine

Wall, South Dakota

There are free-range jackalopes throughout the Rocky Mountain West and across the plains states. Many people disregard them as being prey animals, but they can be formidable if cornered. I’m waiting for people in Colorado to erect a larger shrine to WSF’s dog, Banner.

 

Bullet Points:

** Survey – Do you prefer dumplings or no dumplings in your stew?

** The world order is ending. The UN is irrelevant. Old Europe is decoupling, and the landscape is undergoing significant changes. The Old Guard is resisting conservative movements, but their power only grows.

** Californication

** Reuters: “Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if the United States supplied Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine for long-range strikes deep into Russia, then it would lead to the destruction of Moscow’s relationship with Washington. Less than two months since U.S. President Donald Trump met Putin at a summit in Alaska, peace looks even further away with Russian forces advancing in Ukraine, Russian drones allegedly flying in NATO airspace, and now Washington talking about direct participation in striking deep into the world’s biggest nuclear power.”

** Is it fair? Now there’s a question for the ages.

** Hamas and Israel have both signed off on the Trump Peace Plan. If President Trump doesn’t receive the Nobel Peace Prize for this, they need to cancel the Peace Prize going forward. Obama received it for being 1/2 negro and not doing anything.

** The Danish Palestinian Study – details matter.

** NYT – In 2014, VP Biden attacked a corrupt developer in Romania who owned land around the US embassy. In 2015, Hunter goes to work for the corrupt developer, lobbies the US ambassador to pressure Romanians to drop the case, then proposes to settle the case by cutting in his China client. I wonder what the Chinese could want with land next to a US embassy?

 

Uke Drones Strike Western Siberia

(zerohedge) I’ve been waiting for the Ukrainians to begin targeting the Tyumen refineries, and it happened on Monday evening. Authorities in Western Siberia’s Tyumen region said they downed three drones near an industrial and oil refinery site in what marks the furthest known Ukrainian drone incursion reported inside Russian territory since the start of the war.

Tyumen residents posted videos online showing fire trucks and ambulances rushing toward the Antipinsky oil refinery, among the region’s largest, with a processing capacity of 9 million tons of crude per year. “A prompt response from emergency services prevented a detonation. There were no casualties, explosions or fires. All enterprises in the area continue to operate normally,” the Tyumen government press service said. At least two explosions were reported, likely in the air, according to local news sources, along with mobile network disruptions in the area.

Crucially, the region is located roughly 1,240 miles (or 2,000 kilometers) from the Ukrainian border. However, it appears that the inbound drones may have been intercepted before reaching any industrial site, as a regional statement stated that three drones were “detected and neutralized on the premises of an enterprise.”

Tyumen Oblast (red)

 

Insurance in the Worker’s Paradise

(h/t Claudio via Ken Cao)

Only Imperialist Powers have a Navy and Mao (spit) would never countenance such a thing, modern Red China has the People’s Liberation Army’s Navy (PLAN) because it’s ok if the Army has a Navy…twisted communist logic.

Is it right for Communist countries to have insurance companies, the bastion of capitalism? Sure. Unless they fail. Oh, snap, what just happened and the end of last month? A Red Chinese insurance company just defaulted. On September 30, a week ago Tianan Property Insurance dropped a financial bomb. (elsewhere called dropping a solid.)

5.3 billion RMB in capital bonds — gone. Can’t pay principal. Can’t pay interest. That’s not just a number. That’s the first-ever insurance bond default in Chinese history. And with one headline, the last illusion of financial safety in China just died. And what’s more – it may be the first but it’s not the last domino to tumble.

For decades, China’s sense of security could be summed up in two words: Bank + Insurance. Big banks might wobble. Small banks might fail. But insurance? Never. That was the bedtime story of the Chinese middle class. I still remember a colleague in Beijing bragging: “Even if all banks collapse, my insurance policies are untouchable.” Well… those policies are now touchable, flammable, and officially worthless.

In 2015, Tianan issued bonds paying 5.97 %. By 2020 it jumped to 6.97 %. Everyone rushed in — banks, pension funds, “smart money.” A sure bet, right? Like buying a Mercedes with free gas for life. Where is Ponzi when you need him? Oh, he hasn’t gone anywhere…

Then 2020 hit. Payments froze. Still, everyone believed — because insurance companies don’t fail. Fast-forward to 2025 — default. Ten years later, the “sure bet” turned out to be a decade-long slow-motion scam. And Tianan’s official explanation? “It’s not that we don’t want to pay. It’s that if we pay, we’ll die.” Translation: We’re broke.

How did one of China’s “safest” industries end up here? Simple — they stopped being insurers and started being gamblers. They poured billions into real estate, local-government projects, and the stock market — the very sectors now bleeding out. Instead of managing risk, they became the risk. Tianan was over-leveraged, over-invested, and under-supervised — a time bomb waiting for a holiday to explode. Because they weren’t just investors — they were the silent financiers of China’s entire debt bubble. They weren’t victims. They were part of the same machine. So when that machine finally broke, they went down with it.

This isn’t about one company or one bond. It’s about trust. For years, people watched P2P platforms implode, developers vanish, and banks get seized. Insurance was the last sacred thing. Now even that’s gone. If the industry that sells peace of mind starts defaulting — what’s left to believe in?

Some say, “Relax, it’s only 5.3 billion yuan.” Yeah — and Lehman Brothers was “only an investment bank.” Insurance is the backbone of China’s financial system. If it bleeds, everything bleeds.

Evergrande Default (2021).

Country Garden Default (2023).

Zhongzhi Default (2023).

Local governments (2024). China’s local government debt is a substantial “hidden” financial challenge, primarily accrued through Local Government Financing Vehicles (LGFVs) to fund infrastructure, with estimates of total LGFV debt reaching around 60 trillion yuan (over $8 trillion USD) by late 2023, or roughly half of China’s GDP. This debt has created significant financial strain, exacerbated by a real estate downturn and declining land sale revenues, leading to austerity measures and fears of financial instability. In response, the central government has begun a debt reduction program, but the scale of the issue remains a major concern for economic growth and financial stability. 

Tianan Property Insurance (October 2025).

That’s not coincidence — that’s systemic collapse. China’s middle class built its life on three pillars: house, bank, insurance. Now all three are crumbling. That’s not a bad sign. That’s the end of an era. However you can trust President Xi when he says, “Don’t worry.”

Vladimir Putin believed President-for-life Xi when he said those million military truck tires were A Numba One! And they rolled half-way to Ukraine.

In China, your pension plan rests on a son and heir who will feed you and care for you and a daughter-in-law who will be your slave until you shuffle off this mortal coil. With the male/female imbalance still in place and a significant number of the males unemployed, that plan doesn’t look very rosey at the moment. Maybe the elderly in China can learn to code? Or they can look to Canada and its endless supply of MAID suicide drugs for the elderly and infirm.

 

When I was Younger

I’ve shared some experiences from my youth summers, which are neither here nor there. I have mentioned the “Sheep Camp” trailers, which can also be used for cattle camps. A friend, younger than I am, shared this picture from the early 1970s of one of those camps with me, and I’ll share it with you in turn. There were a few manufacturers of these Basque-style four-wheel trailers. Elwood Eddy and Sons in Mt. Pleasant, Utah, made the one in the photo. Elwood passed away, possibly a decade ago.

I expect that a lot of these trailers are still in use. They were designed to last a long time and withstand rough use.  If a 4×4 truck could go anywhere, it could do so while hauling a high-clearance trailer. There were very few creature comforts, but for a boy pulling cattle out of quicksand in the Green River, they were better than camping rough under a homemade lean-to with a sheet of canvas to help repel the rain.

It was jobs like this one that encouraged me to try and do something different for a living.

 

 

Identify the Aircraft

1

 

2 & 3

 

4

 

 

 

 

Parting Shot

 

End