- Honor the Fallen and Veterans: Pay tribute to the 2,403 Americans killed and 1,178 wounded in the attack. This is formalized every year on December 7th, which Congress designated as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
- Observe a Moment of Silence: The attack commenced at 7:55 a.m. Hawaiian time on December 7, 1941. Observing a moment of silence at this time is a simple, powerful way to reflect on the day’s events and their historical significance.
- Fly the American Flag at Half-Staff: On National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, it is customary to fly the American flag at half-staff until sunset to honor those who died.
Sunday Sermonette: Have you thought of joining the cult? Many have, and you get a discounted hot dog and a fountain drink. I haven’t even gotten around to the rotisserie chickens. You have to join – membership only – no card, no entry. No, you don’t have to sacrifice a cat to get in – not yet. Do you need wholesale for a whole soul?
Bullet Points:
** Bull fighting and losing.
** Minnesota is one of those states, like California, that loves to dole out massive amounts of money for “good causes” (to the “right people”), but never bothers to do an in-depth accounting of where it was spent or where it ended up. Voters: You got what you voted for. Don’t look shocked or cry in your soup. Please fix it. Put the guilty in jail and get back whatever $$ you can. If you don’t care that you got ripped off, you deserve it. Minnesota is trying to lure tourists into its Somali paradise by asserting that the ENTIRE state isn’t Little Mogadishu. No, but enough of it is that I have no interest in ever visiting.
** The front page of a French magazine from 1929. The headline reads: “Arab fanatics massacre Jews in various neighborhoods of Jerusalem.” Please, tell us more about how wonderfully the Arabs treated Jews before the establishment of the state of Israel (Interesting how anachronistically the Europeans visualized Arabs as late as 1929!)
** My third (of 4) daughter moved into a gentrified area. Lovely house in an area that used to be ethnic before all of the white people started buying the less expensive homes and remodeling them or demoing them and starting over. Ben discusses the process.
** Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announces that she stands with Venezuela against the Trump administration. It stands to reason that two narco-states would band together, but is that a winning move for Mexico? I spoke with a friend on the ground in Mexico the other day and asked if the narcos had a long-term plan. They’re working on one that involves replacing the Jewish lady before her term ends. I asked, “Plata o plomo?” {translates to “silver or lead,” a phrase popularized by drug lord Pablo Escobar to mean a choice between taking a bribe (“silver”) or facing death by a bullet (“lead”)}. My friend didn’t know which would end her term.
** Comedy show in woke Tacoma. And moving on.
** The Tulip – During the Soviet–Afghan War, some Soviet troops reportedly used a field improvisation nicknamed the “Afghan Tulip,” where a hand grenade was placed inside a glass or ceramic cup before throwing it. The cup held the spoon in place even after the pin was pulled, so the fuse would not start until the glass shattered on impact. This allowed soldiers to throw the grenade farther without it detonating mid‑air and also made it worthwhile for booby traps, such as balancing the cup and grenade on a door so that opening it would drop and shatter the cup, releasing the spoon and triggering the fuse.
** During the Battle of Stalingrad, close-quarters combat made grenades essential for clearing rooms. To counter German soldiers who stretched wire nets across windows to block grenades, Soviet soldiers innovated by attaching fish hooks to their grenades. These hooks would catch onto the wire nets, preventing the grenades from bouncing off and allowing them to explode right in front of enemy positions.
** On the Atlantic Wall – One classic way to clear a bunker is simple: toss a grenade through a firing slit or down a vent and let gravity do the work. The Germans knew this, especially along the Atlantic Wall, where underground bunkers depended on ventilation shafts to keep their crews alive. Those vents were perfect grenade funnels – at least, that’s what an attacker was meant to think. On some Normandy bunkers, German engineers built a devilish “fake” air vent. Drop a grenade down the pipe, and instead of rolling into the bunker, it snakes through a hidden curve and pops out right at the attacker’s feet. The shaft still worked as a real ventilation system, but its internal tubing was arranged so anything dropped in was sent right back where it came from.
** Fool’s March.
** How were your wings attached? “Blood Wings” is one of the U.S. military’s most controversial traditions. (not contentious in the military – controversial elsewhere) Dating back to WWII paratrooper training, it involves pounding the metal parachutist badge into a newly qualified jumper’s chest, turning the pin into a painful “rite of passage.” Some service members have viewed it as a badge of honor and unit bonding. The practice is officially banned across the Armed Forces for being a form of hazing that can cause injury. Despite the prohibition, it has reportedly continued quietly.
** The U.S. has paused green card and U.S. citizenship processing for migrants from the following failed states and developing countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. Please add RED CHINA to the list.
** It is important, when assessing the fortunes of war and the likely courses the war might take, to remember that great defeats and hardships often precede eventual victories. The will to continue fighting, to survive, and never lose hope, frequently cancels out temporary reverses in the end. Soldiers who are fighting for their home, family, their soil, and their freedom are more motivated and determined than those who are fighting for something else, and those patriots will often endure far greater losses and sacrifices to prevail.
** There is a controversy over the Ajax APC. Is the vehicle a lemon, or are the British too stupid to operate such a cool armored personnel carrier? (more here – we haven’t heard the last of this)
** Power resides where men believe it resides.
** I read that Rosie O’Donnell, a feral, fat lesbian, had a child, and I couldn’t believe that any man could bring himself to go there. It turns out that one of her ‘wives’ self-bred with biological material from a sperm bank. That makes more sense, but poor child. Very sad.
How are Drugs Still Getting Into the US?
It’s a fair question, I’m glad that you asked. The cartels are still smuggling in high-value cargo, such as Chinese illegal aliens, via jet ski through the ocean corridor between Baja California Norte and San Diego County, CA. The jet ski (often stolen in the US to begin with) is abandoned on the shore, and a member of the snakehead network meets the driver of the ski and the Red Chinese termite. They’re challenging to apprehend on these one-off deliveries. It’s easier to deliver small (backpack quantities) of drugs and illegal aliens this way than through more sophisticated systems that are more prone to discovery.
The Trump Administration’s Big Beautiful Wall has been effective, and their aggressive actions toward locating drug/illegal alien cross-border tunnels have likewise been working. The drug pangas have been blown up at sea, and several people who have been taking bribes from the cartels have been loud in decrying this practice.
Drugs still arrive by the ton through the ports of entry, where border protection people are paid massive amounts in cash to allow loads through. An idea has been floated to replace CBP at the ports of entry with US Marines to disrupt these payment schemes. It’s not a bad idea. The narcos will work on bribing the Marines, but it will take time to do that. When you can earn a year’s worth of pay to wave a car through, fighting corruption will remain difficult.
The answer is to impact the users. One possible way would be to institute involuntary civil (not criminal) commitment for anyone under the influence. Dry them out over a period of supervised treatment. Civil libertarians would go nuts, but it depends on how you feel about hundreds of thousands of dead Americans each year resulting from this problem.
Democrats can’t identify a woman, a criminal, a peaceful protest, dementia, or which bathroom to use, but they sure can identify a fishing boat when they see one.
What if Communist West China (PRC) Blockades Free East China (ROC)?
The Japanese clarify their position: “If battleships are used and a naval blockade involves the use of force, I believe that would, by any measure, constitute a situation that could be deemed a threat to Japan’s survival,” Takaichi said, implying the criteria would have been met for the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to be mobilized.
Naturally, the PRC melted down in a grand mal seizure because that’s what they planned to do, but they didn’t figure on the Japanese breaking the planned blockade with their navy (which would automatically bring the USA into the fight). It’s one thing for the Communists to blockade Free China, and it’s quite another if the entire world declares war on them as a result of the blockade and breaks it forcefully. Of course, it’s all Comrade Xi’s and Comrade Putin’s doing. Without them, the Japanese would go on about their business as the US fleet quietly rusts in wokeness, with entropy doing what it does.
Read CDRSAL’s recent article on the subject here. Communist China claims — everything — the land, the sea, the sky, and outer space for the Middle Kingdom…they’re termites. Clearly, based on Russia’s recent assertions, they feel that they’re entitled to Europe, for starters. Eventually, they plan to have it out with China, but for now, they’re allies of convenience.
For now, remember Pearl Harbor. There are two kinds of people and nations: Prepared and unprepared. Peace through superior firepower.
Communist China is Looking for a Win.
I don’t see that happening. (h/t China Boss & Claudio) Communist China’s property market is (still) defying the Politburo. The Economist’s recent read puts it bluntly: even China’s 23-member Politburo can’t will the housing sector back to life. After an emergency push in late 2024, sales briefly ticked up. A Shanghai villa even set a record. Then the floor gave way. Again. The bubble burst (again).
It isn’t just “worsening data.” China is unwinding the central pillar of its growth model. Real estate wasn’t a sector — it was the country’s balance sheet. And nothing else, not EV exports or green tech, can close the gap. You want the truth, but can you handle it? The defaults, abandoned shells, and eroded collateral are now revealing what engineered statistics and years of Western boardroom wishcasting—what many legal practitioners would simply call fraud—once concealed.
The Communist China miracle always relied on global subsidization and sustained confidence from the West and particularly the United States — and both are now petering out. The current leadership bears some blame, but an engine running on fumes doesn’t need a steep hill to sputter.
This week’s signals point to a slowdown that’s broadening, not bottoming out:
• Services activity slid to a three-year low.
• Factory output remains in contraction.
• European firms are shifting supply chains as Beijing leans on export controls.
• The Netherlands is raising parcel costs for Chinese e-commerce. Looks like a new trend in Europe.
• China is exporting gas engine cars it can’t sell at home — another sign of collapsing domestic demand.
Falling home values are erasing household wealth, choking consumption, and undermining trillions in property-backed business and personal loans. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese households will be underwater by year-end, and over a million in 2026.
Source: The Economist
Remember that there is no pension system in China. The philosophical pension system is this: Your son must marry, and the daughter-in-law becomes your slave while the son supports you until you expire. Given that the Chinese have aborted females for decades, so they can have that one son who provides for them in conjunction with somebody else’s theoretical daughter, it’s unlikely to work across the board. Add to that, modern Chinese women (even peasants) don’t want to become slaves to a nasty and demanding mother-in-law. Modern Red Chinese women are more like “Shanghai Girls” than anything else. Look up the definition of Shanghai Girl if you’re not clear on it.
The second pillar of pensions in China was an ever-expanding real estate Ponzi Scheme, and you can read (not just here) about how that’s working out for them.
The third leg of the three-legged stool is manufacturing. The West is no longer buying, and the actual unemployment rates in the Worker’s Paradise (where there is no such thing as unemployment insurance) are alarming.
Attacking Taiwan/ROC/Free China with a blockade to bolster national pride (see Japan, article above) doesn’t look likely to work, either.
The Declining British Royal Navy
(h/t Claudio) HMS Lancaster’s decommission will leave the RN with just seven frigates in commission, and no ship can be spared to replace her in the Middle East. It is possible that the first Type 31, HMS Venturer, could be forward-deployed in Bahrain. Still, even if construction and first-of-class trials go exceptionally smoothly, she would be unlikely to arrive before mid-2027. They couldn’t find it in their hearts to return her home before they scrapped her. The decline and fall of the British Navy has been steady. They do have two aircraft carriers that can be brigaded with other navies’ escorts if they can be deployed, but the constant entropy is evident to everyone.
Russian Navy: ~300-600+ total vessels (including submarines, corvettes, frigates, patrol vessels, etc.). Many of the Russian ships are old and could never deploy out of the harbor. They keep some of their submarines in good shape. Their steady losses in the Black Sea to the almost non-existent Ukrainian Navy have been telling.
Royal Navy: ~70-87 total commissioned ships and Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) vessels (e.g., 2 carriers, 6 destroyers, 7 frigates). RN’s submarine fleet, including their nuclear missile umbrella, is judged as effective, but even that is shrinking.
Both the Russians and the British struggle to keep a credible Navy.
***
Russian Navy Basing Agreements with Sudan
Don’t clutch your pearls quite yet. Some people seem to be, but you can hold off on that for now.
The Russians have used Port Sudan (a shit hole in the middle of a bigger shit hole) as a naval supply depot for forward deployments for some years now. They recently concluded a 25-year naval basing agreement in the Red Sea with the unusually flaky Sudanese. There is not much at Port Sudan, though there is a small harbor, and they can buy navy distillate for their gas turbines. The Saudis (25 miles across the Red Sea) will likely have to fly in any foodstuffs that the Russians will wish to purchase.
What is billed as the most consequential expansion of Moscow’s African footprint to date, creating the Kremlin’s first formal naval hub on the continent and giving it an unprecedented vantage point over one of the world’s most strategic maritime chokepoints. Looks far more ominous than it is. Under the proposal—quietly presented by Sudan’s military rulers in October—Russia could station up to 300 personnel and host four warships, including nuclear-powered vessels, at Port Sudan or an alternate Red Sea facility. The Russians will sell them weapons to slaughter their own people in an ongoing civil war, where other nations are reluctant to do that.
The Sudanese will shift alliances and throw the Russians out (as they have before) if somebody else offers them a better deal. It’s how the Sudanese roll. Alternatively, the RDF (Sudanese Police, the rebel force) could capture Port Sudan and drive the Russians out, hoping to lure the US or another nation into a deal. Both sides in the conflict in Sudan are sitting on large piles of physical gold, but don’t expect them to spend a single coin with the Russians. It will be a soft money deal – basing rights exchanged for weapons. The Russians will likely deliver old guns to both sides.
Identify the Ship
1
She entered history and is remembered through retaining her commission.
2
Hint: Consider the date.
Identify the Aircraft
3
4
Parting Shot
End
3 if it’s the current plane it is one of the Steward-Davis Aichi Vals built from Vultee BT-13s for the movie ‘Tora! Tora! Tora!”. Painted as Japanese Navy BI-211. On display in California.
4 is Nakajima B5N Kate
Absolutely!
1 – USS Arizona – God Bless them all
2 – USS Oglala
3 – Imperial Navy Aichi D3A Val
4 – Imperial Navy Nakajima B5N2 Kate
Precisely!
December 7, 1941 “a date which will live in infamy” Let Us Never Forget!
My father born in 1930, served in Korea, hated the Japanese for their actions on December 7th and the rest of the war until the day he passed. I was not aware how much he hated them until when I was about 20 years old and I purchased a Toyota. He let me know how wrong I was on several occasions!
Pearl Harbor Day; Adding a plug here if I may, Ed B’s live show yesterday was very informative on matters related. Our authors opening paragraph says enough so I won’t comment further. Responsibly urged to do so with caution I’m adding a link to the Spotify podcast with Ed and Bruce discussing details that filled in many blanks of my 11th grade education.
–
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1nTBez76dd6mpEQaUIkbTo?si=nBYxduOnQ5SjA6vh3dgjaA&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A1LXpWXH62qWYNxxcMY9HLX
–
A question of curiosity. Would the evidences of the Sun empire atrocities in China and their submarine activities been enough for a preemptive strike, and have saved the battleships and lives lost on 12/7? Or would such a matter have been a marathon of ping pong in Congress resulting in more Lees covering their hands wilst the Nazis marched on through Europe?
Never would have got it through Congress as we were still, until 12-7-41, acting and believing we were very isolationist.
–
Yes, we had plans for first strikes and retaliatory strikes and such, but those were plans. Like the plan we actually used to fight Japan, which we thought up in the mid 30’s, only with some modifications (like having to retake and fortify the Aleutians.)
I am a member of the Aldi cult. My wife is worse. She visits the Aldi fan club site weekly and reads me stories. I like the small store, non-Costco size portions and the German Christmas cookies. Their cheap wine is not bad either. Tom
I’m an Aldi fan too! I like the way they deal with shopping carts, that quarter deposit makes sure that the cart ends up back in the cart corral.
I like going to Aldi’s, but lately they’ve had a lot of “Bioengineered Food Products” showing up on the ingredient lists.
Aldi has some of the fastest check-out folks on the planet, in contrast to the cashiers at my local supermarket.
I am a Publix cultist, for most things. Any supermarket you can’t smell the seafood department when you walk in is a good thing. And every stock-person has a phone so they can look up items for you and tell you the prices, any sales and quantity that are supposed to be in the store. They make the best subs and the Bakery will make fresh bread and pizza dough on request.
–
Otherwise I am part of the Sam’s-wise. Best meat around, good deals on many things, and I can be in and out within 15 minutes with a full cart.
I’ve probably related this story here before so my apologies if you’ve heard this before. My father, who took the oath of enlistment at the tender age of 33, served with a Navy Chief whose brother Clifford was killed on the West Virginia on December 7, 1941. Except he wasn’t, and the Navy never told his parents what actually happened to him.
.
Lest we forget: https://usswestvirginia.org/stories/story.php?id=23
Thank you for that story. May we remember those men always.
I did a broadcast on Pearl yesterday and did a shout out to Larry.
I hope I didn’t embarrass him :)
Japan was our enemy and China our ally.
My, how times have changed.
On the listen list for this afternoon…thanks Ed.
Pearl Harbor (great header graphic!): Bad on me for only remembering once clicking on the VM post this morning. ‘Infamy’ means this must be reminded of each year…yet even with me – a non-military stint person – it is waning in the memory as time marches… at least until forced to the forefront as it should be. As GFW2 notes above, will be making time for EdB’s broadcast to get more of the proper details of what happened…Ed is always a great listen. (How DOES he do it?)
–
On a more modern take of the Pearl Harbor effect: That falls under ‘Some things never change.’ Today the inept ones ‘in power’ have taken to decrying what Our President is doing to stop the drug invasion one avenue at a time. These scumbags are ACTUALLY advocating FOR the poison and human traffickers scum. While PDJT chips away at major boat hauls speeding our way, these bums in suits scream he’s a war criminal, effectively saying he is not allowed to end the ‘invasion’ (likely because “the (non)war on drugs” was lining their pockets, as with some in CBP only with a much larger ‘take’). As always, it’s ALL about the money. LL’s comment about moving CPB…a massive and costly organizational effort…off ports, then installing Marines, might add that extra punch to slow this garbage from entering our country. Simple supply and demand, cut off the snake supply and ‘use’ will reduce significantly…at least for a time, people like their drugs for some reason.
***
Costco and Sam’s are in our bullpen…more recently Costco, which is better than Sam’s, altho Sam’s has picked up their game. As mentioned above, would likely shop at Aldi’s but there aren’t any here in the Rocky Mountain states, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, etc.
***
Parting Shot: BabBee may not be too far off the mark as some people have become so weak-minded they might actually go for it. Next it’ll be The New York Hijabs instead of Giants…never know, could happen under the ‘we did this to ourselves but will blame everyone else when things go MORE south’ newly elected mayor.
An amen on the sermonette Paul. We joined the cult for a good deal on a trampoline back in the large family homesteading days. We have often not had the choice between the two, and have gone with Sam’s more often. With an empty nest we’ve just found trips to Aldi ‘s and HEB in Texas to suffice. Out west, Grocery Outlet and the common chain stores like Trader Joe’s fill in what we are not ordering through a food co-op. Poll; what’s the favorite items besides the ice cream and other snack bar choices at Costco? My friends go for the tires, glasses ect… Our kids headed straight for the muffins. These days, going “diet” and “light” I’m drawn to the taco carts and the BBQ wagons.
–
The involuntary civil commitment really seems like part “B” that addicts could really use. Part “A” being deployment of hard core no BS enforcements efficiently chocking the supply, north and south. Perhaps find a way to expand a non dei infected agency like the Coast Guard and expand it pro actively to secure our borders? Part “C” should be that detainment is regiment enough that residents are motivated to earn their way out of hard labor and enter into skilled training and a pathway to integration of a secure social envoirment on the outside. IMHO
It is nice to have options…about ready to meet with the current small town grocery owner to ask if I can help get the store back on track and humming along; when there is zero ice cream in the freezer…that’s a problem, but moreso a huge indicator of a deeper concern. The Covid era government tyranny baloney really took out some of these smaller stores that service communities across America, many just could not survive. For those that struggle, they just need a little clean up help in the business ‘aisle’, whereas the bigger stores did okay as ‘essential’ stores…with lobbying (aka bribing) capability.
Trader Joe’s in Fort Collins was a monthly stop for other things not found anywhere else, including ‘Thaw and Bake’ Chocolate Croissants…or even better, O&H Kringle they’d get every once in a while…saved on direct buying and shipping where Colorado decided us Peons were to pay an extra 29c tax on every ground shipment (was 27c, next year it’ll be 32c, never to be repealed despite it being an obvious (odious?) theft.)
…
As the for the latter, well said…but there we go again coming up with good solutions, whereas ‘Those In Power Structures’ (TIPS) aren’t looking for solutions. (Time to eliminate TIPS.) Of course we ARE looking for solutions, and so is Our President…who manages in his inimitable fashion to see past the weeds blocking the problem view and offer simple solutions; ‘blow them out of the water before getting to shore’ works 100% of the time. Likely PDJT will eventually move to using something like your multitiered approach to eradicate (reduce maybe) the poison peddlers, while having the benefit of reducing trafficking of woman and minors. That would be a massive ‘cherry on top’ win that decades of throwing money at the politicians…err…problem…had zero affect, except to make it worse.
…
Church service Message today, for the Second Advent Sunday, was on ‘Peace the Lord gives us despite a world of selfish behavior, personal turmoil, chaos, and distress’. Spot on relevant…even if often peace must be achieved by first doing a little “damage” to those wanting to generate problems.
👍
speaking about money:
I absolutely refuse to pay (taxes) for the “involuntary civil (not criminal) commitment”: treatment of druggies 9I calls ’em as I sees ’em)
I am a kind person… just not that kind (take it either way)
I don’t particularly care which way you want to commit suicide, just don’t involve (damage) me or my family while you’re dong it.
Me too…why is it my responsibility to pay for someone else’s poor decisions through taxes and so-called “fees” (that are taxes masquerading as costs)? It’s not.
When I pulled my garage permit the county laundry list of asinine “services” my stupid garage build was paying was unreal. But question any of it and those who come up with these things (TIPS ™, as I call them) get indignant then call you the hater. Nope, not buying or owning any of it. Time to bring back [properly] state run insane asylums and mental hospitals, and quit directly guilt-saddling the residents with paying for societies problem children who [most] actually don’t want help.
you’re much, much kinder than I am; it still costs money (they are/have been to date publicly funded) to build, run, and maintain institutions for those who otherwise are unable to lead stable lives and provide a benefit to family/society.
although I was a two-year wonder (AF dentist), I still like to consider how the Armed Services would respond were such people forced upon them; how would you feel about the guy, high as a kite, next to you holding a weapon not precisely certain which direction he should be pointing it.
Not the same, you say! wadda about these individuals (flyers) driving in the opposite direction, next to you? ( I don’t even want to think about alcoholics)
I can’t say I know what to do with them: I’m a dentist, not an ethicist, but the direction in which the Liberal element of our society is leading us will only lead to destruction of our society/country – IMHO!
and I don’t even wanna hear about “clinically” Rx’d doses of MJ
You already pay for it. The question is whether you want something that might work or you’re content with something that doesn’t work.
“how would you feel about the guy, high as a kite, next to you holding a weapon not precisely certain which direction he should be pointing it.”
Sounds like Vietnam …
I am not nice.
*
I think we should really stop Narcanning them.
If people want to kill themselves, let them.
That goes for other methods, too.
– Kle.
My uncle Bob was already a career army officer on that fateful day and ended up spending the war in the European theater. My dad went to New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell and graduated in 1944, whereupon he enlisted and spent his basic training in Camp Roberts, CA. IIRC, they credited his HS military experience and he went in as a corporal, trained as a forward observer. He was in San Francisco waiting for his ship when his brother Bob arrived from the East coast. They were there on VJ Day (and there was much rejoicing). My dad ended up being deployed first to the Philippines for a few months and training as a radio operator. He was then deployed to Japan as part of the Occupation Forces and made SSGT. He served on Shikoku and Kyushu for the rest of his hitch. Bob got to Japan much quicker and somehow ended up in a minor role on MacArthur’s staff in Tokyo. He left Japan in the early 1950s and spent the remainder of his career in Germany, ending up a Lt. Colonel. Almost all my uncles and male cousins of that same era served somewhere during the war, but our family only lost two souls. One, ironically to an ordnance accident in the UK. My uncle Dale was a Navy doctor killed on the USS Drexler during the Battle of Okinawa. When our country called, they all answered and did their duty well and truly.
Gentrification.
There is an older neighborhood near downtown Ypsi with those large former turn of the century homes that had fallen into disrepair.
A friend of mine bought it as you would any fixer upper.
And it’s beautiful. Others followed his lead, restoring these homes.
Then the outcry of whitey moving in and displacing the poor. What they meant was displacing the blacks.
The same thing is happening in Detroit. In the neighborhoods that housed the early 1900 millionaires, mansions could be had for a song a few years ago, but it would cost more than a song to restore them, or even maintain them. But they are coming back.
It is interesting how when homes and neighborhoods get abandoned then ‘fall’ into disrepair, when folks of a certain demographic, often similar to the original owners, purchase these derelict properties, then spend a small fortune fixing them up, the prior demographic, whether resident or community activist – now seeing the result of hard work and money – cry foul.
Never ceases to amaze the short-sightedness of people who waltz (Walz?) in after the fact demanding something they had no business demanding, especially since ‘that type’ created the mess. I really despise that mentality.
The abandoned neighborhoods in Detroit, which could be purchased for a song, were part of the Clinton’s money skimming scheme. The no down payment regardless of income was sold as giving poor folks a chance to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. Of course, the thought that those who were alcoholics or drug addicts would use the cash for paying the mortgage or taking care of a house was put aside as unthinkable. Franklin Raines made piles of money via Fannie Mae and there is no telling how much cash the Clintons put aside from that scheme.
Any food or old clothes that you may wish to send to the Clintons this holiday season can be addressed to the Clinton Global Initiative, 1 Rockefeller Plaza, NY, NY
100%!
I’m glad I knew John Finn. My flag is at half mast today to honor him and those lost 84 years ago.
Remember Pearl Harbor.
*
One wonders if we learned anything post Pearl Harbor about sneak attacks and at peace defense posture. White a fleet is unlikely to sneak up today (if one did even that day) the modern throw away drones could be a real eye opener.
–
If an adversary bought up land near multiple inland airfields, troop bases, and harbors, plus clandestinely shipped in containers full of throw away drones until one day they unleashed the entire mess in one huge 30 minute attack. Then add in preplanned submarine attacks on the at sea assets. The next day what would the battle space look like? Would we be down to tossing nukes as our only viable response?
*
British Ajax APC is so screwed up as to be abandoned. Apparently the noise and vibrations are so bad that after thirty minutes the crew is throwing up and even with hearing cancelling muffs the crew can’t hear for several hours. Then small issues like road wheels rip off due to poor fabrication or all the coolant sprays out after it goes over a bump round out the design. Perhaps they could consult with British Leyland on how to build a proper failure filled vehicle.
*
China. It’ll eventually all go to hell. Let’s hope it does so internally without first having them start a war with Taiwan, S. Korea, Japan, India, or some other SE Asian country. The other worry of course is their nuclear weapons being tossed around out of some kind of desperation. Keep us informed LL so when this quagmire does finally go south at least those here will know and understand.
Before downsizing earlier this year, Costco was exactly 5.5 miles away, even though we lived in the country. I could make a run, buy my stuff and return in 45 minutes. Now, we are 12 miles away and 2 Sundays ago, I made the run, bought my stuff and returned in 50 minutes. Can’t get near the food court. Too many bovines milling around there, so I haven’t experienced a Costco dog for awhile. Most times, I get out of there for under a hundred bucks.
When I was on active duty in the Marine Corps, we always got blood pinned with our new utility chevron rank pin.
While in the corporate world with Ma Bell, I worked the Mexican border counties of Cochise, Santa Cruz and Yuma in Arizona as both a craftsman and manager, often along the border fence or near it in very remote areas. Drugs or other contraband can easily be smuggled even with security apparatus in place. One oft overlooked part of the problem is the morons that use.
Gotta have a plan and proper route to navigate the hoards. The food court, while terrific and a loss leader for Costco, is just too crowded to overcome grazing needs. I’ve taken to grabbing a sample or two to tide me over, or opening the bag of Brownie Bytes while waiting in line. Oh, and gotta really scope the cashier line if not doing self checkout…always one line off to the left or right (depending on layout) that seems to go quicker because usually people in those lines want to get out of there and not turn it into an event to offset a boring existence (well, seems that way…not much of an impatient type anymore, but geez people, get your card out before hitting the register).
I appreciate your inside track on the endless drug war. Besides the POE issues, there’s this problem….
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-senior-dea-official-indicted-conspiring-provide-material-support-foreign
Never forget, never forgive. Lost two relatives on USS Arizona. Talked to people who were at Ford Island and Kaneohe that day. They never forgot…
My mother’s brother turned 18 just as WWII was ending. He served a hitch aboard the USS Chicago (CA-136) as a cook, shipping out in January of 1946. In 1964, our extended family took a vacation trip to Hawaii. We boarded a tour boat and sailed up the coast and then into Pearl Harbor. I still remember standing on the deck of the USS Arizona Memorial, watching the oil slowly come to the surface. I was eleven years old.
—
My dad was inducted. On December 7, he was about two weeks into basic training at Ft. Ord. He pulled guard duty along a stretch of beach armed with a pick handle and a whistle. He eventually wound up as a B-17 pilot over Europe. He served for the entire war.
Major hat tip to those sharing their family members WW2 military involvement…an incredible time to put it poorly.Had some in my family as well…never spoke about it much…but we boys all knew and respected their service.
Oops – * …an incredible time…to put it poorly. (‘Incredible’ does not give the time and events much justice)
Things that make you pause. Circa 1995, Washington State, a Mitsubishi van with a Pearl Harbor Survivor personal license plate.
Like a Dead Head sticker on a Cadillac.
“Please add RED CHINA to the list.”
And India.
China; the 3 legged stool collapsing effects. You’ve mentioned the number of homeless or ( unregistered?) there several times before. Can you possibly elaborate more on that sir?
The Floating Population numbers in China (Homeless) far exceed the TOTAL population of the USA.
Britain is, notoriously, an island. That’s why it’s important for the Sceptered Isle to continuously shrink their navy. No wonder, all those imported votes don’t come cheap!
My late friend Nate Weiser was at Pearl, then went to and left OCS, whereupon he was sent to land at Normandy and then Bastogne. Survived it all and died a week shy of 100 years old. Stayed married all his life to the gal he met at a USO dance.
Regarding clearing bunkers, in the Central Pacific, if the bunker wasn’t cracked open by a battleship or cruiser round, and didn’t fall to a 75mm tank or howitzer round, and shrugged off any 37mm rounds, then the appropriate way was to use a flamethrower. If that didn’t work, go around it, come back to it from the rear and open up 4-10 55 gallon drums of fuel over the bunker and rehit it with a flamethrower. If that didn’t work, wait until the island is mostly under control and drag fuel lines over, fill it up with as much diesel and gas as they could spare, set it on fire, let it burn, wait for secondary explosions and then let the SeeBees cover it up with the remains of other cracked bunkers and chunks of coral and then sand.
–
At Kwajalein Island, at the northern end of the actual island (not the built up ‘new’ extension made from dredged-up coral and whatever leftover bunkers and vehicles and metal garbage lying around) there is ‘Bunker Hill’ which was a Jap command point for the norther portion of the island and it received the aforementioned ‘hard’ treatment. As kids in the early 70’s we tried digging into it at night so we could get to the skeletons inside, which, due to coral sand, chunks of concrete and rusty metal, we never got past 3′ into the side of the mound. The MPs patrolling every hour on the hour on jeeps required us to dig like we were in a WWII prison movie with lookouts, places to hide, a covering over the holes and tools and such. The stupid things you do as a kid…
Regarding Communist China and international treaties, it matters not what is written on paper and what is signed by various people from the PRC and other ‘sophonts’ from other countrys.
–
Why?
–
Because the ChiComs think they are the only ones that matter and that everyone else is either a half-human hybrid or an actual talking monkey so no matter what, dealing with any other people means, like Islam, that the ChiComs can, and should, lie like a rug to non-ChiComs. It’s so bad in ChiComLand that the Han can and do lie to the lesser races of ChiComs.
–
Larry can attest to this. A most untrustworthy bunch of entitled butt-holes, they make arab muslims seem positively only slighty untrustworthy.
–
And I’ve been saying since about 3 months after the start of the Uke-Rus war that Putin was setting up for to lose Siberia and all the PRC posturing about Taiwan was posturing (much easier to move into mostly empty lands when the ‘owners’ are occupied elsewhere (and have thrown away most of their active military) than to try to stage an amphibious assault through waters controlled by everyone that hates you.) And Sarah Paine, a good analyst, also believes that the PRC are gonna try to swallow Siberia.
–
As to the naval power of the People’s Liberaton Army’s Navy, well, yeah. Numbers do matter, they got the hull numbers, but the quality issues are still pretty bad. And an amphib invasion requires everything to work right to be even partially successful.
–
As to Japan, I trust their weapons and systems to work. And the Japs are a fierce, strange people even now. What looks like weakness to Europeans is often the silk glove over a mailled fist. And the Japanese people have been experiencing Chinese-Fatigue over the last two years. Too many ChiCom tourists acting the maggot in Japan and the nation is tired of it.