March or die…you have a choice.
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Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Iran fell for the same trick as Hezbollah’s Nasrallah.
1) President Trump made an offer that required the Iranian side to discuss details. Maybe to ferret out who had been negotiating without a remit to do so.
2) Iran held a meeting to discuss the offer and develop a negotiation strategy.
3) The US/Israel struck the meeting, killing many officials – almost all that were left. Negotiations were used as a weapon to gather them all in one room while they felt safe. It’s the 3rd or 4th time this trick has worked.
Bullet Points:
** Question of the Day – Breakfast – You can have waffles, pancakes, oatmeal with raisins in it, or biscuits and gravy – which one do you want most? Bacon or sausage? Eggs – boiled soft or hard; scrambled; sunny side, over easy, over medium, or over hard; poached or prodded into an omelet with cheese and stuff added?
** (h/t Claudio – Strategypage) China is undergoing an unprecedented series of economic, demographic, and medical disasters. In the last four years, there’s been a 20 percent drop in American imports from China. The Chinese economy is consuming and producing less because the population is declining, while the national health system is trying to cope with continued covid19 deaths, some of them from a botched COVID vaccine that is not working and often killing people. The government denies this and threatens any Chinese reporters or health officials who speak out on what is happening.
State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are discussed. China still has many SOEs, which employ nearly a fifth of the workforce. For political reasons, the communist government cannot get rid of these SOEs even though they are a major threat to the banking system. Inefficient and often unprofitable SOEs consume about half of available bank credit while sustaining only a fifth of GDP. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) needs SOEs to provide jobs for many key supporters, which means much more corruption is tolerated in SOEs than in free-market firms. (much more)
** 60 Minutes – the decline of American shipbuilding.
** I was with a friend who wanted to stop at McDonald’s for a hamburger. I haven’t been there for some time, but being a good sport since he was driving, I trailed in behind him. They have a new hamburger they’re peddling. I don’t get out much and am never there, so I hadn’t seen it before. The Big Arch is $9.00 with tax for the burger alone, not including fries or a drink. (And at 1020 calories, I wasn’t going to add fries. For reference, 1020 calories is nearly twice as much as what a Big Mac contains.) For what it would have cost to add fries and a drink, I could have had a sit-down burger at Applebee’s or other similar places, though I suppose if you split one, it would be competitive. I went with the fish filet, and it was $5.00 for a tiny slider.
** Klavan lays it out for you.
** (h/t Claudio – Strategypage) Russian bitcoin mining, the electrical grid, and high finance in 2026. A year ago, Russia developed a method to circumvent currency problems imposed by economic sanctions. The solution was the A7A5 stablecoin cryptocurrency, which bypassed the long-dominant dollar and the SWIFT system for global money transfers. A7A5 is distributed via Grinex, a cryptocurrency exchange based in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan. Last year, A7A5 handled nearly $90 billion in transactions. This includes many Russian civilians who use their ruble-denominated credit and debit cards for everyday transactions. (more)
** Recommended viewing by CDRSAL – The UK’s Royal Navy (10 min). It’s a navy with more admirals than ships.
Spy vs Spy
In the Middle East, the USA is totally reliant on human intelligence provided by the Israelis. We are exceptionally good at pulling electronic communications out of the air and identifying targets from above. Our technical capabilities are better than any on the planet. The same cannot be said for our human intelligence apparatus.
CIA exists above all else to provide intelligence on plans and intentions. A satellite photo can show you that an armored division is present on your border. It cannot tell you what that division will do tomorrow. It cannot show you what is in a national leader’s mind or how committed your opponents are to a cause. If you want to know those things, you need a source inside your enemy’s headquarters, next to its leader, in the key meetings where decisions are made.
The CIA decided a long time ago that almost anyone could be a spy if you just sent them to the right school for a few weeks. CIA began to promote individuals who had never recruited a source and who never spent any time in the shadows, where the real work is done. They were really good at pushing paper and creating PowerPoint presentations and not very good at the actual business of espionage. They laughed at the boss’s jokes and never challenged the prevailing groupthink. Geldings replaced stallions. DEI was celebrated in month-long extravaganzas at Headquarters. Under President Trump, very little changed there, and no wholesale terminations occurred.
Identify the Aircraft
1
About 700 built
2
3
4
End
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Kokusai Ku-8
2. Mitsubishi G3M Nell
3. Aichi E11A Laura
4. Nakajima Ki-84 Frank
Slap! That was fast, Surly
(1) Ku-8 Goose / Gander.
(2) Mitsubishi G3M Nell.
(3) Aichi E-11 Laura.
(4) Nakajima Ki-84 Frank.
– Kle.
You really delivered on this one.
QOTD – biscuits and gravy; if the place has really good sausage I would flip a coin, otherwise I go with bacon; loaded/stuffed omelet.
Spy vs Spy – bean counter management never seems to get along with stallions.
Biscuits and gravy requires exceptionally fresh and delicious biscuits. The sausage, likewise, needs to be of a superior qualify – and they’re world beating. There is such a variety in what restaurants think constitutes acceptable B&G.
Some places offer gravy that’s thin with very little sausage in it. Others have thick gravy with large pieces of sausage.
There has to be sausage in it. Or it’s like chicken soup without the chicken.
Same concept goes for pancakes. Too many “pancakes” are like eating polystyrene, plus/minus a handful of sand if they’re “whole wheat”.
TL;DR — a sublime example of a nonfavorite food beats a lousy example of something I normally love.
Grits…so far no one mentioned eggs, bacon, biscuits, gravy and grits with a pot of hot black coffee (Seaport medium roast).
That about covers it for me Cletus, biscuits and red eye gravy, two eggs sunnyside up, applewood smoked bacon or sausage depending on mood, and if really cold out, a blop of grits…washed down with a dark roast coffee in a proper diner mug (not one of those thin-walled ones). Omelet – loaded – when the mood wants something different. Pancakes or waffles at home.
Cletus, it’s difficult to FIND grits in the west. They’re not served in many places, and when they are, they’re not prepared properly – like somebody waves butter over them and then announces they’re grits.
In case anyone forgot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWC0sKCS5oA
Since I gave up my 2 pieces of bacon a day, I’m out of lard.
Stores only seem to carry hydrogenated stuff.
I just got home from the butchers empty handed, even though they said they had it.
My daughter lives in New Hampshire after growing up in Atlanta. She buys premium Grits online and has them shipped in. She had some grits that were blue. They tasted like normal grits.
One part grits, 2 parts chicken broth, 2 parts water, a pinch of salt, and a little butter. Bring it to a boil then simmer for 25 minutes. Five minutes before it is done put a little cream cheese in the pot, this makes it creamy.
I just finished my oatmeal (not the quick stuff) with raisins (often craisins, but today raisins) in it.
I like eggs and bacon (crispy), or pancakes and sausage, but I pay for it later.
In a diner or hotel, oatmeal and bacon.
In the military, almost everyone would gripe about the chow. However, midnight chow always had the best biscuits and gravy.
Mid-rats was the best!
You and my dad, corned beef hash from his favorite diner. Fresh daiky…best he knew.
Oops, wrong place, for LL’s comment below. Using the phone…first mistake.
Breakfast; The staple for nearly 2 decades was hash-browns and gravy. The biscuits and other breads didn’t hold long for me, stopping to dine on the way to work at 5 am. For our large family, we mostly served a fare of oatmeal varieties, and alternated with good ol flapjacks with eggs and bacon. Weekends followed my mothers tradition of Swedish pancakes, German pancakes, and occasionally baked Oatmeal. For another two decades following a career change, starting the day with just a piece of fruit felt fine. Followed up later in the morning with a protein drink or a bowl of raw oats, supplemented with nuts and kefir. Most recently the habit of intermittent fasting has led me to skip the fruit and cook up a full egg, meat, and hash browns, breakfast late morning or even into early afternoon. On rare occasions we’ve served breakfast at supper time. My mothers go to was waffles with fresh cooked bacon bits. We served the kids a full choice menu.
Hard-working people needed a lumberjack breakfast to keep them going. If you’re a keyboard commando, egg whites and spinach in an omelet may be sufficient.
And sometimes it’s a hammer day and others a keyboard day. Breakfast accordingly.
Weekday breakfast: Toasted and buttered English Muffin with four large slices of pepperoni and a slice of Provolone cheese. Nuked for 30 seconds to melt the cheese. Hand-meal for work at the desk.
Weekend: Hot cereal – oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, grits, Malt-O-Meal, properly cooked on the stove. If not, eggs scrambled with some meat and cheese mixed in. Like a quiche but without the crust.
Anyone else here like scrapple with breakfast? A delicacy made with all the things that didn’t make the grade for hotdogs.
As a Bucks County, PA native, Scrapple (with a dab of maple syrup) was a must…need to order more altho apparently there is a butcher next town over that carries it, along with pork roll (aka Taylor ham).
I _love_ scrapple! Pork roll is also good.
You can get both here in R.I markets… sometimes.
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Also love fried Spam.
Of course, I pretty much like everything.
– Kle.
My weakness and guilty breakfast pleasure is well-made corned beef hash, with a couple of perfectly made over-easy eggs (white cooked, yolk runny). The hash must be freshly made and cooked until there’s a little crust on the outside, but the inside is not crispy. Eggs Benedict with corned beef hash is something I can’t pass up. It’s not scrapple, but it’s “something like scrapple.” Scrapple is the hot dog of breakfast foods. I like hot dogs and scrapple, so it’s not a dig at all. Scrapple needs to be fried crisp on the flat top.
For breakfast, biscuits and gravy of course. My daughter’s pretty good at making it, and whenever I’m visiting she’ll make a batch. I do like my eggs over easy. Either bacon or sausage is just fine, as is ham. What I really like though, is chicken fried steak with those eggs, with fried potatoes on the side and gravy over both.
>In the Middle East, the USA is totally reliant on human intelligence provided by the Israelis.
Are we THAT freaking stupid? That was rhetorical. It’s not even a comment on Israel. Such dependency/trust in ANY single entity is beyond foolish. If you’re a tiny nation, such as say, Iceland, maybe you have to do that. But for the US?
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>botched [chinese] COVID vaccine that is not working and often killing people
I find it funny, in a thoroughly morbid way, how the medical colleagues who gave me copious shit for refusing both the Moderna and Pfizer/Bio-N-Tech mRNA “vaccines” now hurriedly change the topic whenever it comes up. (For the record, I did knuckle under and take a traditional “attenuated/killed” actual vaccine for covid-SARS2. First dose seemed to go fine. Three days after the second and final dose, respiratory problems that have persisted to this day. I now wonder what I actually got shot up with. And yes, I did inspect the vials, but all I can do is check the label.) Anyway, I have no idea what the population-wide sequelae of the chinky-jab are, but the “Western” jab(s) has messed people up too.
Will those “doctors” who pushed that BS ever see the correlation of ‘clot shot/DNA manipulator’ to premature deaths by personal medical proclivities most would not see until they are in their 80’s (blood clots, myocarditis, RA,…death) if at all…or will they continue with hands over their ears going ‘lalalala I can’t hear you’? Doubtful they will admit it to themselves, that takes honesty. No different that those who got the shot with multiple boosters while telling you for not getting all of it ‘you were killing people’ (somehow, weirdly, by being inside the arbitrary 6 ft separation distance). Those people will never correlate premature deaths in the family or their various afflictions to this Mengele Concoction designed to cull the population. Takes courage to admit ones mistakes, and too many today have little courage under fire.
Mike_C: “Are we THAT freaking stupid?”
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We delight in sending women as ambassadors to Middle Eastern countries and demand that women take a leading role in recruitment, so naturally, they fail. I could go on endlessly but I won’t. Yes, we’re that inept.
Leslie Stahl is getting a bit past her “use by” date, isn’t she? Sort of like McDonalds……….but the premise behind the segment ain’t wrong.
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First of all, if you’re eating breakfast some place that has white linen tablecloths and waiters who lisp their name as “Bruth” or “Thydney” things will not go well. Go find a place with waitresses named Vivian or Mabel. Now then: If the biscuits are indeed good enough for biscuits and gravy, and at home they are, I consume the first biscuit hot right out of the oven with butter, lots and lots of butter, and then go back for another one or two with the gravy, which has to be sausage gravy. “Regular” gravy is meant for chicken fried steak and/or/with chunky mashed potatoes. Thankfully, Mrs. tolerates these proclivities. This is of course impractical in breakfast joints, so mostly I go with some form of pancakes, scrambled eggs or omelet in those havens for the soul. Hash browns because “breakfast potatoes” suck universally, sourdough toast and, below the Mason-Dixon line, grits.
Leslie was cute a long time ago before the age gene kicked in, but the elitist leftist Atlantic Monthly attitude dropped her to a 1 even on her best day.
Your analysis of waitress names is why Waffle House still serves a damn good breakfast and everything else is thoroughly edible. May not be good for you but it makes a turd and tastes good.
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Bonus points for the waitresses able to take out pro wrestlers if they want to.
Burford brown poached egg on crispy bacon on Cornish butter on sourdough. A flat white coffee.
Or
Top shelf marmalade on Cornish butter on farmhouse toasted bread. Like slabs like Grandma made. A big fat cup of tea with milk to wash it down.
Starving now.
Gee, we don’t see much of that on this side of the pond :)
Trying to make us hungry?
Too late…with all this breakfast fare discussion then Jules piling on (to the plate). Time to make the weekly grocery/Home Depot run, there’s a great little cafe that will be visited (as a special mid-week treat).
…and NOT Mickey-D’s, the Masters Degree crew have ruined the place trying to cut costs while implying ‘it’s all good’. Not on their lives is it anything as it was when I was a kid. If I want fast food I might hit an In-n-Out or for chicken go to Chick-fil-A or Canes…or better, the local shop, Super Chix.
I’m out and about today too, PaulM – and I think pizza – and a big enough one for leftovers at home.
I’m normally a Wendy’s guy, but I was working at a friend’s shop yesterday and didn’t want the drive time so I thought I’d hit the McD’s around the corner for a small fry and single cheeseburger to hold me over. $6 with almost $3 for the coffee from Tim Hortons across the street.
Next time I’ll make the drive, although my brother told me if you use the app it less expensive! And he said seniors get a free small coffee.
A Wendy’s Biggie Bag would have been more economical and tastier.
There was a time when I would occasionally hit up Wendy’s for their 99 cent menu. Small Chili (add a shot of ketchup and crushed crackers) and small “chicken” nuggets, water to drink. To quote an old comedy album, “Not any more, man”.
Where’s the Super Chix located, Paul? I haven’t heard of them before.
Yes. Oh look- it’s breakfast o clock!
😁
Jules, Buford brown poached eggs??
Are you a MIF person?
Once you’ve had a Burford, there’s no going back. Don’t do it, Bill. I did and now I’m skint. But my mornings are mind blowing.
Eggs over easy, bacon (lots) AND sausage links, fried taters, three hot biscuits, butter, blackberry jelly, half a waffle, black coffee, glass room temperature water. One large pancake if no waffle is an ok substitute. If toast then real homemade bread not the fake wonder bread.
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As to biscuits and sausage there needs to be plentiful sausage in it which typically is not the case. Gravy needs to be thick enough to stay on a fork and not require a spoon to eat the meal.
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March or die. They need to make a modern Legionaire movie in the spirit of the black and white versions and not the modern Hollywood one guy is super soldier. I’d think Vietnam pre 1968 would be a good setting where they parachuted in with heavy casualties (along with not being parachute trained) but voluntold to jump anyway rather than a sandbox story. There are lots of good Legionaire stories to work from.
Dien Bien Phu… without the USC writing school gelding/bun boy getting involved in the script.
The FFL movie.
I want to see the Eugene Bullard movie, starting his childhood in Georgia, joining the gypsies, being a jockey, hopping a freighter to Scotland and being a prize fighter, then the FFL and then the flying part with the monkey, not to miss the spy stuff while hanging out with Louis Armstrong, and then ….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Bullard
And insisting on burial in his FFL uniform.
The Fat Electrician tells it better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ7n-uYSVkA&t=4s
March or die. Being completely ignorant, I had to look it up. If I read correctly, the chap with the gold strap is a Senior Corporal.
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Breakfast. Eggs over easy and mushed into hash browns. Sausage and bacon. Waffle preferred. Omelet–build your own–Monterey Jack cheese, sausage, grilled onions, sauteed mushrooms. As others have noted, sausage gravy on FRESH biscuits.
The biscuits need to come out of the oven within 30 seconds of being served, slathered in gravy. There was a place in Russleville, Arkansas, that did that. The biscuits didn’t go into the oven until you ordered. I hate to use the word orgasmic, but yeah.
I really like biscuits & gravy but if the biscuits are not great I fell like I wasted both a chance at a GREAT breakfast & the money I spent.
Before wife was diagnosed with Celiac’s, we cooked a mean Southern biscuits and sausage gravy with eggs over easy. Chop everything up with your fork and eat the whole mess. First time I saw it I was appalled, but the taste won.
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Gluten-free flours are too sweet and just don’t impart the same flavor as regular wheat flour. Sigh. I’ll make it for her, but I don’t like it.
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So what do I do? Bacon with pan-fried potatoes, with a little scallion if I have it, served with 2 eggs over easy put on half the spuds. Ketchup for what potatoes remain after eating the resulting potato-egg mess.
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A full breakfast, which I haven’t had for years, bacon, breakfast sausage links, pan-fried or hash browned potatoes, 2-3 eggs over easy, toast with blackberry jam, big glass of tomato juice and a big glass of real cow’s milk (pasteurized.)
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Omelets are okay, though I like them wrapped in a burrito shell. Scrambled are okay, not my favorite way to eat eggs but they make a turd and it’s a safe thing to make for wife and me (I finally, just last years, mastered scrambled eggs the way my wife likes them.)
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I don’t normally eat pancakes or waffles, and only do if I have a good base of proteins already loaded. Been that way all my life. Now, the pancakes and waffles I do make are some of the most delicious due to… them being gluten-free. Pamela’s Products Pancake and Baking Mix. Follow the recipe from the webpage or the back of the 5lb bag but use 4 tablespoons melted butter instead of just one. And I always use jumbo eggs as I like a very eggy batter.
I am impressed by your love for your wife.
X2
Isn’t that what spouses are supposed to do for each other?
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God knows she’s saved me enough time.
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And, yes, I love her more each day. We’re that sickly sweet couple that doesn’t need to be around other people because we have each other.
At home, my “treat myself” breakfast is two eggs over-easy in a bowl of grits. Traveling, it’s Waffle House pecan waffle or scrambled eggs with cheese and raisin toast, always with a side of grits.
Except in Maryland. Was up doing an installation at Aberdeen – Waffle House grits came out sweet, with a brown tint, as if they had added syrup or brown sugar to it. Nope nope nope nope.
In NYSh*tty on the east side of Mad ‘tween 54&55th there was a dinner/luncheonette where every day @ 0500 M-S for >25 yrs I had a takeout fried egg with two rashers of crunchy crispy on a fresh Kaiser roll with a cup of black ambrosia; that was more than enough to sustain ’til dinner ~18/1900.
Question: why do we have authors writing books? most people can’t/don’t read: they watch TV, they listen to audiobooks written for the average IQ – ~86.
Yesterday’s breakfast – Hashbrowns with sausage gravy on top, 2 over easy eggs on top of that, link sausage on the side and a pancake.
When I go to Waffle House I generally get a “hashbrown bowl with sausage” and chili on top of that. With coffee & a tip it’s just about a 20 dollar breakfast.
Breakfast. I’m not fussy; make it quick, please. Currently working on improving gut health. The night before, mix chia seeds, ground flax seed, dried dates, rasins, walnuts and pecan pieces to soak overnight in milk. Once a week mess hall breakfast at the VFW. Overcooked bacon and sausage. Scrambled eggs, hash browns. Sausage gravy over everything. Biscuits, French toast and pancakes are available, but I usually pass. Strong, bitter black coffee. Why? Friends, supporting local veterans. The profits stay in our community.
Breakfast is my meal until an early supper. I like just about anything, as long as there’s some meat, and potatoes. I make some decent biscuits and gravy, and find milder sausage makes the best gravy. Cereals, and sweet breads, last about two hours, and leave my stomach growling.
Cereals – walking through the cereal isle at the grocery store reminds me of the Calvin & Hobbes special…Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs. No thanks.
Man does not live by bread alone. A tomahawk ribeye, loaded baked potato, and sides send a message to your stomach that you mean business.
Meanwhile, elsewhere: it’s been reported that a Chinese vessel illegally wandering around in Argentinian waters got converted to a submarine. If true…heh, heh.
Update – sounds like an old story that got reposted.
Hmmm… Eggs over medium, crisp bacon, home fries, biscuits and gravy. Yep, that’s a GOOD Southern breakfast! :-)
CIA began to promote individuals who had never recruited a source and who never spent any time in the shadows, where the real work is done.
Like Brennan
Like John Brennan.
The Coffee Shop in Sylva NC has a Chicken Fried Steak, grits or hash browns, 2 eggs, and Texas Toast or biscuit. I also get a black coffee and ice water to go with it. I like grits but prefer cheesy grits and I make better grits than most restaurants. I will usually go with hash browns with sweat onion mixed in while cooking and a slice of cheese on top. It is always Texas toast with strawberry jam.
I like chicken-fried steak and eggs and potatoes and grits for dinner. My German heritage yearns for chicken-fried steak and chicken-fried pork, otherwise known as schnitzel. But with Southern-style gravy.
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I just ate dinner and now my mouth is watering.
X2
X3
We have a very good place here called The Silver Grill that serves a pretty good breakfast. I usually get two eggs, scrambled, hash browns, sausage, rye toast, and a whiole pot od coffee.
And if I can still move, I get a to-go cinnamon roll….