A Progressive Prayer

Of course, we know that the woke only pray to their reflected image in the mirror or to the half-blood prince perhaps.

but…they are known to bray…and cackle. They have the cackle down cold.

and they’re all real fans of build-back better…which works as well as everything else that they set their hands to. To the woke, it is never about making people’s lives better. Their horrible records in the American inner cities are monuments to their results.

And that is the sermonette.

 

Ancient Tech

A question that has always intrigued archaeologists is how past civilizations made their objects and monuments.

I want my mummy…

Works such as the exquisite staircases of Machu Picchu, the geoglyphs of Acre, and the pyramids of Egypt raise questions about the use of technologies and tools.

The lack of understanding usually leaves room for hypotheses about contact with space aliens or the idea that these people were beyond their time. Those are all dangerous arguments when it comes to a faithful understanding of the past.

The ancient Egyptians, known for their temples, pyramids, and hieroglyphic writing, have always been a challenge for researchers.

And a skill that still intrigues many people is the ability to carve objects in granite – rock much harder than limestone or sandstone.

So, what tools did they have to hand? How long did the carving process take?

Egyptian artisans, the working class responsible for all the grandeur that has come to us, used instruments depicted in paintings that resisted time, showing the use of axes, saws, and bows, among others.

The most accepted theory is that these builders used wooden, bronze, and copper tools to carve the granite, mastering strict rules that allowed them to do remarkable work.

Are we relying too much on our own technologies and applying contemporary ways of seeing the world and trying to fit them into the past? Or maybe it was space aliens…

 

Radiation and the Ukraine Invasion

The Russian Army made a conscious decision to entrench around the Russian nuclear accident site at Chernobyl.  There were reports of around a regiment of Russian soldiers suffering from acute radiation sickness. I’m sure that there general was fine. If form follows the pattern, he was likely promoted and given a medal.

They remained for more than a month, some Russian soldiers bunked in the earth within sight of the massive structure built to contain radiation from the damaged Chernobyl nuclear reactor. A close inspection of their trenches. subsequently has been impossible because even walking on the dirt is discouraged.

When the Russians hurriedly departed March 31 as part of a withdrawal from the region that left behind scorched tanks and traumatized communities, they took more than 150 Ukrainian national guard members into Belarus. Shevchuck fears they’re now in Russia.

 

Do you Recall Syria?

Zones of control in Syria, as of May 16, 2022.

For quite some time Syria was in the news and now, you don’t hear much about it because Ukraine sucked all the air out of the news. It’s not even clickbait anymore. As the Ukraine front stalls and becomes static you never know when it will become popular and a topic of interest again. It didn’t go away. Now if you were to ask me how I felt about the war there, I would tell you that I could frankly care less, except that I keep tabs on places like that because these topics recur in some of the work that I do.

Is there any interest on the blog in a dive and discussion into Syrian politics as they now stand?

 

The Map (below)

The number of firearms in private hands in the USA is grossly underestimated in this 2017 study by at least 3x. The same would be true of Mexico,  where cartel imports have made their way into civilian hands over the past decade. Presidents like Obama and Brandon have caused the demand for firearms to expand along with the demand for ammunition – even at today’s extortionary prices.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

36 COMMENTS

  1. “Is there any interest on the blog in a dive and discussion into Syrian politics as they now stand?”
    Yes! Please. Very much so.

  2. I am always interested in your take on world affairs. (And ‘most everything else for that matter)
    Thanks for the time you put into educating the rest of us.

    • Just when he thinks he’s out, they pull him back in? Maybe. Assad Senior was one murderous thug. I think of Junior as sort of born to it. Alawites, of which the Assad Family are blood members are said to share the belief of members of the main branches of Shia Islam, of which Ithna Asharis or Twelvers are the largest group, that Ali was the rightful successor to Muhammad as leader of the Muslim community following his death in 632. To understand the Assad Family and to really understand Syria, one must understand the Alawites. Maybe I’ll chop something out about that in the coming week.

      I know a member of the Alawite Clan – born to it, who has been running around the world on a terrorism watch list. He changed his name, he tried (not really) to change his spots but the guy is simply toxic. He obtained a US passport fraudulently, ran scams and a semi-legitimate limo business but in his heart, he was blood.

  4. A thought about gun control.
    We are told to give up our guns and rely on police.
    The police that sit outside a school for an hour while the killing continues.

    • A police chief in a democratic party run city issuing a ‘stand down’ order to police should not surprise anyone at this point in time.

      • It’s difficult to know what was in the hearts of the officers in Texas during that shooting incident. We can clearly judge them by their actions and that judgment is harsh. Never surrender your weapons. The Second Amendment is a hedge against tyranny.

        • Yes, however I don’t have any weapons. Boating accident, sorry. Now Bidenflation is killing my budget.

          • Those canoes can’t be trusted – and yet we do.

            The only cure for Bidenflation is ruinously high-interest rates and laying off federal government workers in large numbers. Given that those fed workers have few job skills beyond the bureaucracy, they become hard core unemployable.

  5. LL, always interested in your take on things so plus one on the Syria study.

    Astounded that the Russians thought it a good idea to entrench around Chernobyl. I can see that it is on one of the quick routes to Kiev so it might make sense to go past it but don’t stop there.

    • The general who ordered the entrenchment in that place has some dark stuff in his heart. Somebody should frag the SOB.

  6. Claudio sent me this in e-mail. https://strategypage.com/htmw/htiw/articles/20220524.aspx

    It’s worth a read.

    I know Russians in Russia who don’t drink the Putin Kool-Aid. I don’t communicate with them now because it would be dangerous for them. They’re not anti-Putin per se. Russians want strong leaders and always have. They’re clearly anti-Ukraine invasion though and it puts them at odds with the power structure.

    Russians want respect, they want security and they want to be like everyone else, only it’s more of an obsession. In next week’s Sermonette (yes, already written because I’ll be traveling) there is a brief discussion of their failure as a nation. It’s not a sweeping indictment, because they don’t deserve that, but the communist system and its fall put them behind the curve.

    The Russian people have a wicked and sharp sense of humor and irony and they have survived despite horrible tragedies in war and in government. They don’t enjoy wide oceans and safe neighbors the way that the US does. They’re far more ‘racist’ than the average Klansman. And their nation is failing and falling further behind. The invasion of Ukraine, a horrible miscalculation, was an attempt to bring some balance to that fall. Post communism it has become a Christian nation and it’s important to keep that in mind when indicting them all with one broad brush.

    There is significant push-back to the war and many Russians have a sense of justice that the invasion of Ukraine offends. Whether they can bring enough pressure to the Putin government remains to be seen. The article that Claudio sent (referenced) is one puzzle piece in a large mosaic.

    • “the communist system and its fall put them behind the curve”

      Indeed. Decades of mismanagement and abuse under communism; then after the fall of that system, massive looting by a small group of “oligarchs”, no few of whom might or might not be oddly similar to many of the key players who created the communist system. Gosh, that is disturbingly reminiscent of the situation here in the good ol’ USA, where over the last decades there has been massive transfer of wealth and attendant political power into the hot hands of a small group of de facto oligarchs.

      • The US middle class was and remains much more robust than it ever was in Russia. The new elites feed on the middle class the way that a parasite would and they’re feasting without restraint. With the possible demise of Xi in China that situation won’t change and Putin only provides an excuse for a more robust armaments market.

    • WSF, this blog benefits from a number of people who comment and contribute, yourself included.

      I’m fortunate enough to have been an eyewitness to things and to know others who have as well. I’ve also been on the inside at times to some extent. Hopefully, it contributes. We used to have ‘the news’. I haven’t seen the news in a very long time. We have crafted propaganda on both sides. Finding some sense of balance and truth is a struggle for all of us.

  8. As for ancient engineering…

    Modern people are generally too lazy and short-attention-span to understand what can be done with simple tools, many hands, and time.

    Back in the day, you generally didn’t have a choice to be lazy. For the vast majority, it was do what you were told and put some elbow grease into it, or get whipped to death. That kind of thing is a real motivator.

    -Kle.

  10. Ancient workmanship…”the aliens helped them” is the funny response. One real response would be time and skillsets of a few trades with no distractions. That graphic of the Roman road being built, last Spring built the back patio and barn path with pavers…same layering technique and so far it’s been bulletproof.

    The Top Gear boys did a Chernobyl show, actually went into the Zone…discovered animals were not dying but thriving. Maybe we are the weaker species in some fashion.

    Was out coating the new Main Entry Gateway posts and side-wing barrier fence before the storms blew in. Out there for two days setting posts then building the wings once the components were prepped. Interesting how you can send information months in advance yet apparently no one knows how to read. Surprised faces on about half those coming in. Moral is, if you wait on others you’ll be waiting a long time. There can be no design by committee, nothing would get done as ego’s and indecisiveness get in the way. So you just “do”, forget asking. The government takes this aspect to the pro-level; totally inept because ego-centric incompetence gets in the way of anything useful.

    MrsPaulM and myself are heading to town to see TG Maverick…an actual theater experience, almost like the past two years have been voided from my 60almost2 years on the planet.

    As others have stated above, your well- traveled insights and eclectic content is informative, interesting, and trustworthy. Many thanks for the effort. Like the entry gate build, all people see is the end product completely failing to comprehend or acknowledge the work involved…sorta like Christ on the Cross.

  11. Do progressives pray? Guess it’s a different kind of “prayer” than I’m familiar with.

    I’ve always been fascinated by The Old Way of doing things. It’s good to know how we got here in case we have to rebuild it all.

    Political situations around the world make my head hurt….

    Does that chart take into account the large number of Tragic Boating Accidents that have occured recently?

  12. Could we build a Great Pyramid today with all its mathematical precision? But what am I asking, we can’t even count votes correctly.

    Civilizations rise and fall.

      • Say what you want about Cruise, the man can make an epic movie. This was so well done it defies the past two years. Apparently the flying scenes are the real deal, insane and awesome. Got choked up in quite a few places…mostly because it shouts that America is the best against all odds. The way I figure it, any weasel, whether politician, media type, anarchist, or all-around whiner…screaming otherwise, deserves a one-way ticket off the continent because they don’t possess the knowledge of why we are us, and never will. It’s either innate or nonexistent.

        We need more movies like this.

        • Nice to hear it’s worth seeing. I’ll let SLW drag me to the theater. The first one was shredded by some as a “Two Hour Recruiting Film”.

          So what?

          I wonder what they’re saying about this one….

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