How do you plan to deal with the coming zombie apocalypse?
Harsh language has not been shown to be effective.
Peace through superior firepower.
A Deep Dive into the Near Future
Claudio asked for my opinion on the new Royal Navy closed-circuit equipment, which is sort of a modular Swiss Army Knife of dive gear. I’ll throw my cracker into the soup. I’ve used the tried-and-true Draeger and other systems used by the US Navy, as well as systems for trimix and trimix-style diving, at depths below 120 feet. These types of dives require extensive decompression time, a real risk of hypothermia, and so forth. I have not been read in to whatever DARPA is up to, so I can opine briefly. I’ve used ROVs professionally in the old days, and I have had recent conversations with people that lead me to believe that the newer generation systems are doing what I believe is best – taking the human out of the equation whenever possible. Think of a Tesla Optimus (non-corrosive) robot, with an advanced AI brain handling deep water work – and you’re now looking at the future. I think the new RN system (linked and referenced) is sort of a do-do bird (an evolutionary dead end). The novel equipment makes depth irrelevant and eliminates all of the human factors that limit – everything – that comes into play with depth. There are deep dive suits that allow humans to go deeper in a metallic shell, but you have all of the human problems baked into those as well. AI has become a game-changer in maritime robotics, and where “cost is not an issue,” development can move forward until economies of scale can address cost.
The same research into maritime robotics will apply to outer space environments. Ten years from now, it will be an even braver new world in that regard. There are a number of things that humans are not suited for, and once you can take them out of the equation, the equipment can become much smaller, more resilient, and more adaptable.
Maritime Nuclear Propulsion for Commercial Applications
(gCaptain) ABS issued approval in principle (AIP) for the integration of a nuclear reactor into a cargo vessel propulsion system developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE), and Capital Maritime Group. This design uses a special synthetic fluid to carry heat from the reactor core. Today’s designs typically focus on micro-scale thermal outputs of 10 to 20 megawatts. The MIT design’s near-atmospheric operating pressure can allow for thinner, lighter reactor vessels, supporting modular construction and easier transport.
This is the sort of thing I’ve been preaching on the blog for a while. If they make the system “modular” so it can be easily removed and replaced, they’ll be headed down the right track. Cargo vessel lives are defined by the life of their ballast tanks and the problems associated with corrosion. One of the problems I’m currently working on professionally deals with this. (Yes, I have more than one project that I work on at a time. In addition to writing, blogging, and so forth.) When you can manage the corrosion problems and can drop in a modular nuclear propulsion system, merchant shipping hulls could have vastly extended lifetimes, reducing costs dramatically.
Australian Submarine Program
(CDRSAL) Australia will now receive three Block IV Virginia-class submarines. These remain among the most capable attack submarines in the world. They carry more than 20 torpedoes and 12 Tomahawk land strike missiles. Much of the commentary this week has suggested that Australia has lost additional missile capacity because the submarines we’re receiving won’t have the “Virginia Payload Module” – a new hull section that allows them to carry more missiles. But that commentary is incorrect. The submarine Australia was expected to receive in 2038 was never intended to have that capability.
In conflict, Australia would predominantly use these submarines in an anti-submarine and anti-ship role. Land-strike missiles are not used for this, so the extra capacity isn’t essential. It’s also a capability the US has said it is not willing to provide.
President Xi is not pleased. Cry me a river, Xi.
As CDRSAL mentions, it’s not just about submarines; it’s about strategic positioning and a much closer partnership.
Bullet Points:
** Question of the day: The U.S. military has conducted at least 63 lethal strikes on alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, targeting at least 64 vessels since the operations began in September, with an estimated 200 narcos killed. Some view it as war. Some view it as murder. A person I know (RINO) in Northern Virginia- a retired DDG-51 commanding officer- was lamenting the loss of life. Not the drug overdose loss number, the dead narcos. The cartel leadership that keeps sending the drug boats north understands that the US is destroying them, and yet – they send them. My question to you, dear readers, is: how do you view the US classifying the cartel traffickers as narco-terrorists who can be dispatched on the high seas without benefit of a trial or Constitutional due process? DOW vs DOJ. Operation: Southern Spear.
** When you send your kid to public school in Minneapolis.
** Tactics matter in the eternal struggle.
** Signal boost for URT – this time the URT Club. The club has a long history, from the first caveman that wielded a stegosaurus femur to the red metal club that locked your steering wheel in the 90s. The club’s versatility is what has enabled it to stand the test of time. The URT Club has continued in this tradition. Unlock the URT Club’s limitless potential.
The URT Club is as useful as you need it to be. We won’t tell you how to use it if you don’t tell us how you use it.
I don’t have any financial skin in the game at URT – but they’re fine people trying to make a living in Coronado, California, while they surf, eat tacos, and reflect on life as it was downrange, snapping necks and cashing checks.
** Rock juice – Living in the mountains, drinking water from a well that draws water from 800 feet down (rock juice) that needs no added chemicals to make it potable, there is a temperature difference at the tap between winter and summer. Living in the city, it always seemed to be the same.
** How the Ukrainian Orthodox Church separated from the Russian Orthodox Church after 1,000 years of unity.
** Delta Selection.
** Elected officials come and go; the people pulling their strings don’t need votes. It’s better to own a politician than to be one.
** Khaldoon Al Mubarak, one of Abu Dhabi’s top money men, visited Washington last week to tout progress one year into the UAE’s decade-long, $1.4 trillion investment commitment to the US. Al Mubarak pledged to accelerate the UAE’s investments in technology and energy infrastructure in the world’s largest economy “despite regional and macroeconomic challenges,” he said in a statement. The Mubadala managing director and chairman of the UAE’s Executive Affairs Authority, which advises President Mohamed bin Zayed on policy, met with several members of the Trump administration, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who greenlit AI chips to the Gulf earlier this year, as well as Vice President JD Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The UAE has announced more than $100 billion in investment and trade deals since President Donald Trump’s visit to Gulf states in May 2025, according to the US-UAE Business Council. The UAE’s recent decision to quit OPEC puts it on track to reinvest additional oil revenue, according to its Ambassador to the US, Yousef Al Otaiba, further boosting its profile as a global investor.
** Update – For those who have an interest in the fourth book in the Duelist series, Vengeance and Retribution stands at 71,000 words, so about 3/4 complete. It will be finished mid-summer if all proceeds. Half Life (Original stand-alone sci-fi) is just about as far along and will follow Vengeance and Retribution. I have no idea what may follow those.
** ADMIN – There will not be a blog post tomorrow, and I don’t know about the following day, so feel free to use this one as an open microphone – complain, explain, or whatever – keep it civil.
At the Knicks Game – And liberal heads explode.
Identify the Aircraft
1
2
3
4
Parting Shot
h/t Frank
Frank suggests adding a statue with a streaming fountain to the Obama Cathedral in Chicago.
I have to admit that it would class the place up.
End
(1) F8 Crusader.
(2) P-8A Poseidon with the Advanced Airborne Sensor.
(3) S2F Tracker – my dad’s second plane.
(4) S-3 Viking.
– Kle.
Too easy, Kle? Very well done.
I always thought the wings on the Crusader looked like an afterthought.
It was an elegant solution to make a fast mover able to land on a carrier. First time I saw one and understood why the wing did that I thought someone had an extreme flash of brilliance.
Submerines
Nothing against the idea of nuclear boats but the first delivery if it stays on track is for 2032.
Suspect we should have bought the Japanese option in the original decision instead of the French option cancelled in 2021. So 11 years to deliver a used boat.
I can remember when we were buying the F-111 and it was 10 years late. Many similar things over the years. Just adopting the Steyr rifle ran 6 years late.
For the NEW Virginia-class boats. The three in-service boats arrive next year when the port facilities are ready – or that’s my understanding.
That seems to be the new deal.
I guess we can wait to replace those.
The USN must think that giving away three submarines to Australia is worth the basing agreement and the deal with the UK to put a boat in Australia, too. We build them slowly – one a year. Will Trump 47 increase that to two a year? And we must also build the new Columbia-class missile boats and the follow-on for the SSGNs.
Yeah, it became clear pretty fast that the French were screwing with you.
*
If it makes you feel any better, procurement here in the States is Charlie Foxtrot, too.
– Kle.
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Vought F-8 Crusader
2. Boeing P-8 Poseidon
3. Grumman S-2 Tracker
4. Lockheed S-3 Viking
Outstanding.
Question of the day – I have no problem with conducting operations in this manner. The products they ship only add to the destruction of lives and society by targeting the poorest and most vulnerable of the countries they are sent to. Morally I have no problem with taking them out wherever we find them – they made a choice to ship products that ruin lives and bring death to the end users so killing them to stop it is acceptable to me. The part of ” without benefit of a trial or Constitutional due process” – They waived any rights by attacking another nation with their actions.
The fentanyl products come from China and, to a lesser extent, from India. Proxies are always used in war. Even Rome used auxiliary troops. If the problem is properly viewed, it must be seen as “war by other means.” But nobody wants to pull the curtain back on the wizard openly because America is still dependent on China for metals, pharmaceuticals, and so forth. Trump 47 begins the change, but it can’t change overnight. Redistricting and requiring the SAFE Voting Act have the potential to restore the democratic process that we lost. Manufacturing and the jobs that come with that must return to the US, and the public will have to pay the price of higher labor costs.
.
Mexico is a narco state. Canada is headed in the same direction as its economy tanks (except for Alberta and possibly a few other provinces). Venezuela, while imperfect, has chosen the US as China and Russia slink off – waiting in the wings. The narco state problem isn’t going away while the US consumes, (to be a free nation, we must be a righteous nation – cause and effect), and I don’t know how we get our hands around the narco problem, but the secure border will be a major step in the right direction, as is the destruction of drug boats.
.
I hate to rant – polemic style – but Ephesians 6:12. The battle lines are spiritual as well as physical.
Is the narco problem symptomatic of a spiritual problem?
If the public were better grounded in the Christian faith and a better viewpoint of there surroundings (hope) with an education that gives them real self-worth (not awarded self-esteem), perhaps the demand would go down.
Religion (and we can argue how many angels dance on the head of a pin) by it’s nature, provides a system to make men and woman moral. I’d argue that most faiths do this. If Satanism is a faith, it’s one that does not. Much of what religion uses to control people is guilt. Guilt is a two edged sword. Christ didn’t teach that, but as a practical measure and meter, it happens. Guilt often leads to substance abuse. Alcohol is legal and drugs (for the most part) are not. Jesus Christ’s teachings uplift the human spirit.
.
Some people have problems with substance abuse. American Indians are a good class example (alcohol and drugs). Asians tend to have problems with gambling (not a substance but it’s an addictive personality trait). I have told many people (Christians and not) that 90+% of all crime in America is based on alcohol consumption. I stand by that number. You can add drugs in there too if you’d like. I have many friends who are alcoholics. You can define alcoholism any way you’d like. I’m not advocating for prohibition. Making something illegal (prostitution, for example) doesn’t stop it and rarely slows it.
.
Do I think that alcohol is inherently evil? I do not. But see the 90% number above. Do I think that gambling is evil? No. But I have known a number of degenerate gamblers. If you’ve met or known a “degenerate” gambler, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Some people are addicted to sex. Fire warms your house and can burn it down. Some people are addicted to religion, and you will know what I’m talking about when I write that – often it revolves around trying to assuage guilt.
.
Life is hard. Drugs and alcohol tend to deaden the ‘hard’ until you sober up. How do we fix it? Practically – I don’t know.
Really well stated LL…X2 to you both.
UPDATE – US Fighter Jet Enforces Blockade, Hammers Rogue Tanker Bound for Iran – In a display of American resolve, a US fighter jet launched from the USS Abraham Lincoln disabled an empty oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman after it ignored repeated warnings and tried to bust through the naval blockade to reach an Iranian port. The precision strike on the Palau-flagged M/T Marivex’s engine room sparked a fire, but all 24 Indian crew members were safely evacuated and airlifted out. No casualties reported.
.
Additionally, Israel took out the Iranian air defense grid that they’d rebuilt with gear from China after our original strikes in retaliation for the ballistic missile that Iran fired against Israel. It may pave the way for additional US strikes to persuade Iran to change its wicked ways. It may require that more Iranian leaders be removed from the gene pool.
Thinking about it a little cross-eyed, sniping narc boats on the high seas is kinda-sorta a consumption tax, ain’t it? And who in gubmint don’t like a tax? Plus the added benefit of target practice without having to pay for the targets is economically efficient. I say, find the bastids and pile on.
X2
The URT club comes in a light brown or black handle. I advise the black one as the light brown shows dirt too easily. But a fine addition to everyone’s collection of tools of the trade.
*
Drug boats? I would prefer a shot across the bow first, then when they don’t stop, off to visit Davey Jones. But the practicality of that is limited. Hence, lethal force without warning is ok. They know the risk and choose to make the run.
*
I await the new book “Vengeance and Retribution”. The prophecy. The end game. Then once that’s read I have the new book “Half Life” to look forward to. Thanks LL.
I suspect their warning shot was the first one we blew up.
Anything more encourages them to keep trying.
It’s important for them to know we’re serious.
Drug Boats: Not a problem for me, stop them in their skiffs before making landfall…makes CBP’s job easier, one less boat to intercept in our waters an the ‘product’ goes into Davy Jones’ locker never to be seen again. Better, no mentally tortured logic gets employed by Lefty’s pining for the narco Traffickers “constitutional rights” that they don’t possess. Besides, it’s good practice for our operator’s to refine their targeting skills. I say blow them out of the water and let God sort the pieces out.
***
Parting Shot…TOTAL improvement to that monstrosity.
***
Sidebar: Both MrsPaulM and I received email notifications by Colorado’s Cheaters-R-Us…errr…’safe and secure mail-in ballot system’ BallotTrax (aka legalized fraud machine). It proudly stated “Your ballots have been mailed”. Uh, geniuses, WE SOLD OUR PLACE IN OCTOBER OF LAST YEAR and are…have been…Montana residents. More galling is they knew this, and we – I asked – were assured the voter roles in the County Clerk & Recorder’s office would automatically be updated with the sale and title change. Apparently not. Gee, no surprise there. Griswold and her cohorts need to be in prison…with an exonerated and ‘record expunged’ Tina Peters standing in the court getting an apology and recompense for false imprisonment as the fraudulent get to swap places in floppy jumpsuits. Unreal.
But, but Colorado’s system is the Gold Standard! So says our Attorney General and candidate for Governor.
Of course it is…for fraudsters.
I got a response from ‘Michael’ with the Larimer County Elections Team…whateverthehay that is (more government jobs for people who basically do nothing all day), sent me a link and form – FOR US – to remove ourselves from voter registration roles…it was a State link. Ok, fine…went online, did the thing, and although despite now possessing Montana DL licenses (the Fed regulated ones, with the blah B&W picture and Real ID, that states are now required to use…yah know, for consistency, and fully supersede the now defunct Colorado ones in the database…can’t possess two DL’s)…anyway…the form wanted our Colorado license numbers…which, as outlined…were decommissioned in the national database and subsequently tossed, so had to use the last four of the SS#’s. Submitted both online forms and…I swear…within a minute got an email for each of us (yet another ID database had our emails apparently) that the request was received and WAS SENT to the Larimer Clerk’s office for their review.
Huh? In this day and age Amazon sends you a text within seconds of a package delivery, with a picture showing said delivery on your doorstep…how come the Clerk’s office couldn’t do this for the ‘Elections Office’ upstairs in the same building?
Nah…couldn’t be they needed two more ballots to use as they see fit.
I consider myself fortunate to live in Weld County. Our Clerk and Recorder seems to be honest. Different from Adams where the term limited sheriff was allowed to run for a third term when I lived there. Before mail in ballots, my mother served as an election judge for many elections. At least in that precinct the balloting was squeaky clean; nobody wanted to tangle with Harriet.
liberal tears- trump didn’t do any of that, just showed up, but the river flows anyway. some disparage that he went to a game and/or the ufc match while troops are in harms way. obama laid in a drugged stupor w/ reggie love or whoever while four brave men died and many more nights while the war/s went on. idk where biden was and neither did he when 13 died. their hypocrisy knows no bounds.
Drug boats are not the only threat. Old highway 80 in West Texas is a preferred route for drug convoys. It is off the interstate with fewer cameras and runs across the state. They run a rough bunch or motorcycles up front as an active decoy. Box trucks in the middle and family mini vans with the guns in the rear. I avoid them. The rough bunch going the speed limit is the tip off to be aware for followers. Not sure whose job it is, but it is a bit much for small town cops.
Do we use A10’s or Air Tractors?
AC-130 Gunship would be my weapon of choice. More ammo, bigger weapons, longer loiter time, more sensors.
Big bada-boom.
https://youtu.be/j8WLYzA0lCs?si=sOGPBKgmNP-EdpHx&t=31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj1L6CUZIIA
As I understand it, the concept of circling around to deliver sustained fire when I fixed target was inspired by missionary pilot Nate Saint who developed the way of delivering to the ground by lowering a bucket from a winch while circling.
“Question of the day”
It’s War.
If these “narcoboats” were carrying guns, explosives, communicable diseases aimed at/into our country, would/should we respond any differently?
And/Or to look at it from another direction, since it is War, what are we doing about the end user? What are we doing about/to the distributor(s) here in the U.S. (the Fifth Column, so to speak?
There are Roughly 300,000 to 350,000 people are currently incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails for drug offenses, representing about one-fifth of the total incarcerated population. This population is split across the federal system, state prisons, and local jails, with the vast majority serving time for drug trafficking rather than simple possession. So 1% of the population.
We are at War – with the community that is attempting to make (particularly) our younger population dependent upon their product(s), as well as destroying their minds. (I’ll get get to our Public Education system in another rant.)
Gawd! I sound just like the ’20s Temperance churchies.
But, if we can conscientiously eradicate people bringing these anti-personnel weapons to our shores, why are we so timid about eliminating the distributors – and those who manufacture these substances within our country?
The FBI is hopelessly corrupt (see Bongino), which we in the trades have known for a long time. Who conducts the investigations? And how do you assure people that Congress won’t turn on them in five or six years and call for their emasculation? 911 – A call for enhanced interrogation with a Congressional mandate. A few years later Congress calls for scalps. There is ample precedent. How many of America’s allies have we reneged on? Is there anyone out there we haven’t boned?
Some should not be there for having MJ or some tiny amount of narcotics in their possession during a traffic stop or reentering the country, total local DA or CBP overreach of low-hanging fruit to expand the prison system as if it was a business. Stopping the drugs IS a war,/but the war on drugs has been big business, both in government and remora grifters making bank on every one of these types of programs, prisons included…and some of we do to that end is massively overdone purely for effect, the the sideband parts that get roped in at full signal.
Particularly with asset seizure/forfeiture regardless of trial.
Exactly.
It’s CIVIL forfeiture – there can still be a trial but it’s preponderance of evidence not proof beyond reasonable doubt to a moral certainty – a much lower bar.
My son had $1k taken from him at a stop. Never found guilty, never got the money back.
I forgot to add, you have to sue to get it back.
Sue in civil court.
See how it works, all part of the legal machine…”Oh, oopsie, our bad.”…after you spend four grand to right a wrong while they are on the public paycheck, doesn’t harm them. Same goes for protesting a large seemingly arbitrary* property tax valuation, they assume only 10% will actually protest, most they’ll concede…it’s still a massive revenue win for them.
.
*Arbitrary…like most government self-perpetuating operations with no recourse to stop the expansion, it’s not actually arbitrary as they predetermine how more ‘revenue’ is needed to fund their pet projects and pay off their pals, so another avenue to further fleece people. But it appears legit when the uninformed believe it’s based on ‘comps’ and rising markets. Bunch of thieves so good at their shell game.
Question of the day. You cannot win a war when you are the only side playing by the “rules”.
—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvaBYOaMG8Y
agreed
Reference Drug Runners: In the 80s and early 90s, drug runners using different methods of transport were fair game on the high seas. As I remember fast boats were sunk and larger vessels captured and sold. It wasn’t just the US but also European and some South American countries. Guys in smuggling planes were shot down without complaint. US AWACS provided information. I don’t remember who all the shooters were. The action was based on international agreements at the time along the lines of stopping Bonnie and Clyde.
Smugglers Blues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSXKyHM133c
👍👍👍
Still great…
I liked Glenn, he was a good guy.
Sympathy for the Devil – no, I don’t mind killing the narcos. Indeed, I have
been saying we should do it for decades. AFAIK, there is no law beyond
“might makes right” on the high seas, so if someone wants us to stop, they
can try and make us.
*
I also think we should extend this activity to Chinese fishing fleets, and to
illegal border-crossers on land and sea (yes, even my distant cousins if they
are too dumb to cut it out). If that makes me a rat bastard, so be it.
– Kle.
I’m sorry it went down like this, and someone had to lose, It’s the nature of the business, it’s the smuggler’s blues
.
The sailors and pilots, the soldiers and the law, The payoffs and the rip-offs, and the things nobody saw
.
No matter if it’s heroin, cocaine or hash, You’ve got to carry weapons ’cause you always carry cash,
.
There’s lots of shady characters, lots of dirty deals, Every name’s an alias (My alias is EdB…) in case somebody squeals, It’s the lure of easy money, it’s got a very strong appeal
Heh…perfect lyrics. Now, place armed contractors on cargo ships to combat Somalian pirates, blow those skiffs out of the water if they approach and fail to yield. Problem solved, and fewer pirates…and maybe the inland Lords will get the hint.
Make Somalians peaceful – it’s a good slogan.
“I moved a copy of White Powder: A Novel of the CIA and the Secret War in Laos, which I had been reading, and tossed him a book on the Gulf War.”
Heh.
Larry. Thank you, and the other gentlemen, very kindly for the birthday wishes you, and they, extended yesterday. They are very much appreciated. Given I did not expect to see twenty five I am somewhat surprised to be nearing the end of my seventh cycle (in the Chinese/Vietnamese astrological sense). I apologise for not replying to everyone sooner, but I was in Bangkok and did not take my laptop with me. I have replied to each of you personally but am posting here as you might not look back to a post from a couple of days ago. Thank you also to Al Kirk, Old NFO, and BillB for the kind words regarding the book. They are also very much appreciated. I have to thank my father for saving my letters from those years, which I found in his possessions after he died, which had the descriptions of the cities, towns, villages, hamlets, countryside, premises, and people. The only things I had to remember were the events.
I wonder if it would be possible for you to come on my radio show and talk about your book and your experiences.
That would be excellent Ed…might need to make it a 2 Part show.
Happy (belated) Birthday, Mike!
My only problem with blowing up drug boats is why it took the US over 50 years to do it.
–
And I fully support bombing Cartel strongholds and other locations.
–
As others have said, it is a war. And needs to be prosecuted as a war.
–
I also fully support much much harsher penalties for transporting, selling, buying and using the drugs. Like fence off a portion of White Sands Missile Test Range, about a mile square, and dump all the drug criminals in said compound. And in great compassion, because I’m extremely compassionate, also dump all the seized drugs into said compound. Then stop sending anything to that compound except food and water while building another 1 mile square compound about 20 miles away. Let everyone in the first compound die off and rot. Ship criminals and drugs to the new compound. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Answer (mine anyway): Government Overlords need a lot of useful idiots stoned out of their gourds so they can be more easily controlled, so they like the drug ‘trade’ and allow the evil poison to flow into the country while talking out of the other side of their collective mouths what ‘they – the great merciful – are doing to fight the drugs pouring into the country’. Same as with the SPLC, and worse, the leader-bum lying straight to congress when pressed for answers…which is ironic (not speaking of Jim Jordan here, the others who pandered to this guy).
Beans.
excellent idea.
I’d even go so far as to pay a bit extra in taxes to support that
Water and space are not ‘that’ different in that they are hostile to humans. The first ROV, built by Scripps was actually built out of left over spacecraft parts… Re the drug boats, good riddance. Yes, it is a ‘war on drugs’ and the cartels, this time with actions, not just words.
I’ve always thought “character building” veiled code for “very unpleasant.”
You were right.
Just like learning patience.
Every once in a while I look up and say, “Uncle, Lord, enough of the character building for a while please.”
😀