The Ministry of Truth
In an article, Gov. Mike Huckabee lays out plans for it's official launch. More here
The fascist fashionista and her “progressive” acolytes are pushing for the creation of a government Ministry of Truth to help “rein in” the press and combat “misinformation.” She said, “It’s one thing to have differenti...
Greening Africa?
To combat the threat of desertification of the Sahel (the region immediately to the south of the Sahara), the African Union is leading an initiative to plant the Great Green Wall, a 7,775 km (4,830 mi) belt of trees crossing the entire breadth of north Africa.
For the historical record, I don't object to plantin...
Navy News (h/t Claudio)
I have a difficult time getting my head around this announcement (more here) but the US Navy wants to stop its string of ship building failures. Wow. There have been a lot of failures. So many that one would think they were deliberate. I guess nobody consulted a fifth grader before moving forward on t...
Identify the Aircraft (captioned)
This is a tough Navy aircraft to identify, so the answer is at the bottom of this blog.
A Game that Plays People
"When I saw QAnon, I knew exactly what it was and what it was doing. I had seen it before. I had almost built it before. It was gaming’s evil twin. A game that plays peop...
A Cautionary Note
From the American Thinker.
"If you want to exercise your Second Amendment rights, do it the way you have always done it: keep your weapon in a safe place where you can get to it if you need it to defend yourself from imminent harm or if you are engaging in a gun-safe activity (e.g., a firing range or hunting); foll...
Housekeeping
The site hacking has grown to a fever pitch as shleps try to take down Virtual Mirage. Denial of service, brute force on the server, and so forth. I care - I guess, but the question is why? Seriously. The next thing will be ninjas at the physical site where the server lives, and the gunfight will be legendary.
But the b...
Captioned Photo: This is the track of Hope, the leatherback sea turtle, who wears a GPS locator. She swam 6,000 miles since last summer.
Stars - Fallen on Hard Times
The plague has forced some Hollywood celebrities to find other sources of income. Former A-Lister, Gwyneth Paltrow will sell you a water bottle with a crystal...
This Day in History - 1842
Elphinstone's Army was Massacred
On January 13, 1842, a British army doctor reached the British sentry post at Jalalabad, Afghanistan, the lone survivor of a 16,000-strong Anglo-Indian expeditionary force that was massacred in its retreat from Kabul.
He told of a terrible massacre in the Khyber Pass...
On the Lighter Side
Plot Interrupted
I e-mailed Adrienne (in North Idaho) and suggested that if the coms went down, we could lay a long string connecting soup cans and communicate between the Canadian Border area where she lives and Arizona's Mogollon Rim. The Tech Giants have obviously put a stop to that. They're just one step ahea...
It looks wrong (captioned photo)
An F-35A, flying with its weapons bay doors open. It's too exposed. I want to put a drape on it or something. It's like -- Air Force porn. Avert your eyes. Ed B., who reads this blog defined porn recently as something you can't have... and this fits because I can't have my own F-35A.
...
JANUARY 871: Elements of the Danish "Great Heathen Army" repulsed the Saxon assault on their base at Reading, England.
The first Battle of Reading was just one of a series of battles, with honors to both sides, that took place following the invasion of the Kingdom of Wessex by an army of Danes led by Jarls Bagsecg and Halfdan Ragnarsson; in an att...
News
There are two bits of news from today that are not Internet gossip or conspiracy theory.
I have a friend who is an attorney who has two new clients today. Both had their pictures taken in Washington DC on January 6, not at the Capitol building, but at the demonstration. Both were identified from those photos on the Internet and both have b...
Sara at Diego Garcia
For those uninitiated, there is no good liberty at Diego Garcia. You might as well just stay on the ship.
Saratoga (CV-60) Arrives in San Diego after the First Gulf War. Worth going ashore.
Mushballs
No, it's not a nickname or moniker that I acquired through my life. It's a condition tha...
JANUARY 5, 1477
Charles the Bold and his army were cut down by the Swiss at Nancy.
In the disastrous conclusion of the Burgundian Wars, Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy is overwhelmed once again by the aggressive pike-and-halberd tactics of his Swiss opponents. Despite having perhaps the best balanced army in Europe, with a true co...
Views
Views through night vision gear have changed dramatically in my lifetime - from illuminated IR to active (easily detectible) night vision - where the enemy round is going right to the source, to passive night vision and then to broad view passive night vision where you're seeing a panorama.
Helmets are beginning to accumul...
Crystal Cathedral (captioned photo)
A prominent house of worship in Southern California was flipped — from a towering glass megachurch of a flamboyant televangelist to the new seat of the seventh-largest Roman Catholic Church diocese in the United States.
The landmark, originally named the Crystal Cathedral, hosted its first Mass in Jul...
On January 8, 1916, Allied forces staged a full retreat from the shores of the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, ending a disastrous invasion of the Ottoman empire.
A great deal more is known about how to conduct an amphibious operation now than it was then. And often, understanding in a military context, is purchased with blood. (Liam Clancy)
T...
Opening Thoughts
Before the Second World War, the American intelligence establishment has been gutted. The quote was, "gentlemen don't read other gentlemen's mail." Do you recall that? The man who said it was, US Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson.
Context and Precedence: Headed by Herbert O. Yardley (1889–1958), the Black Chamber ...
Captioned Photo
A brief but interesting article on Saturn's Moon, Enceladus. Titan is just as interesting - maybe even more so. But they are a long way from Earth and won't be explored seriously in my lifetime.
Life that feeds on Silacon?
Descende, audax viator, et terrestre centrum attinges (Des...
No More Free Speech?
Apple is currently threatening to ban Parler -- the free speech alternative to Twitter -- unless the service enacts draconian censorship policies demanded by left-wing Big Tech oligarchs, according to two sources familiar with Apple's threats. (Zero Hedge)
We can't have that. Imagine what would hap...