The Republican Party became the Trump Party when Laura took the job as co-chairperson of the Republican National Committee. As a result, the never-Trump types will need to form some sort of party organization to fight the Republicans for dominance in the ongoing war to win American hearts, minds, and checkbooks. Will they get one of the “get off my lawn” curmudgeons in their 80s or 90s to be their champion? Since the Elephant and Donkey totems are taken, they must find something representing their movement (bull moose has been used before, as have the hammer and sickle and broken cross). As an independent voter who more or less hates everyone, I’m unburdened by their need for a new identity, tagline, and media stream. It would be the perfect place for the redundant and disaffected federal workers unemployed as a result of the Trump administration’s rise to power to congregate. They could call themselves the Swamp Party. Why not?
I hope the new Swamp Party will avoid the contemporary practice of hammering home “the duality of democracy” time after time as Ho Harris did. She wanted us to understand “the significance of the passage of time.” She is like those annoying dolls your daughter used to have that spouted out the same four or five phrases whenever you pulled their string. One of them is Bathhouse Barry shouting, “You didn’t build that!”
Informed Consent
Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, calls for federal officials to investigate troubling practices in recent Alzheimer’s disease drug trials. A New York Times report reveals that participants in trials for two drugs—lecanemab (Leqembi) and donanemab-azbt (Kisunla)—were not informed if their genetic profiles increased their risk of brain injuries after taking the drugs.
Participants were asked to sign consent forms acknowledging certain genetic risks but were not given the results of tests that would have revealed if they were personally at higher risk.
“The requirement under federal regulations to obtain informed consent before involving individuals in research is a fundamental protection for research subjects. The revelations about the secrecy provisions in the Alzheimer’s disease trials suggest that the principle of informed consent was undermined.”
– Dr. Robert Steinbrook, Director, Public Citizen’s Health Research Group
Steinbrook emphasized that if participants had known about their increased risk of brain injuries, they may have opted out of the trials. Public Citizen is urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) to investigate the conduct of the trials and the institutional review boards that allowed such secrecy.
The drugs in question—lecanemab and donanemab-azbt—were approved despite concerns about their modest clinical benefits and severe safety risks, including brain swelling and bleeding.
For more information, read the full press release here.
Breakthrough
It came last month, about 600 miles above Earth.
For the first time, the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency used lasers to transmit data more securely at light speed between military satellites, making it easier to track enemy missiles and, if necessary, shoot them down.
It was a milestone not only for the Pentagon. This was a defining moment for an up-and-coming military contractor, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which had built critical parts of this new system.
Over the last year, SpaceX has started to invest heavily in building military and spy satellites. This industry has long been dominated by significant contractors like Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, as well as smaller players like York Space Systems.
This shift comes as the Pentagon and U.S. spy agencies are preparing to spend billions of dollars to build a series of new constellations of low-earth-orbit satellites, much of it in response to China’s recent moves to develop its more advanced space-based military systems.
From Jules
“Well, would you look at that—a teapot with whiskers and a grin, tipping topsy-turvy tea down the tallest tower of tippy-tappy teacups! Perfectly peculiar, precisely improper, I say! Oh! Strawberry scones and rabbit bones—no, no, that’s not right…rabbit ears, isn’t it? I swear they were here a hop ago. But the watches! Always tick-ticking, but never tock-talking! You’d think they’d learn a lesson in manners and time -keeping. I tell you, it’s quite the botheration keeping track when the cards keep dancing about like spades in the butter, clubs under cups, hearts hiding in the tarts! Absolute knaves, the lot of ’em!
Oh, and the tea! Too warm? Too tepid? Too tip-top or tumbly-down? Never mind; it’s all madder than a March hare anyway! Now, would you care for a cake slice? Or would a slice care for you?” For sale here.
She reports on her recent visit to Italy in greater detail here.
Copper
The Economist: Chinese miners’ latest spending spree has tightened their grip on global minerals. Their focus has been expanding their share of copper, a critical element for electrification. In 2023, the metal accounted for around three-fifths of their overseas investment.
Last year, MMG, a subsidiary of China Minmetals, a state-owned company, said it would buy a copper mine in Botswana for nearly $2 billion and invest $800 million to more than double its output. At the same time, Chinese miners have continued to invest in the minerals needed for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
In May, Ganfeng Lithium, which owns mines from Argentina to Australia, bought out its partner in one of the world’s biggest lithium mines in Mali. As China’s hold on global mining strengthens, the West—and America in particular—is becoming increasingly anxious about its deepening reliance on its strategic rival.
America imports more than half the minerals it needs, and China is among its most important suppliers. Politicians eager to boost American manufacturing at home realize their ambitions may be hampered by a lack of access to the metals all those new factories will require.”
***
Bullet Points:
** Squirrel Lives Matter
** The Ho was chosen for her gender and color by people who say that gender and color don’t exist and if they did exist, they wouldn’t matter. One could say that, at this point, she doesn’t matter.
** Cats – I had to stop feeding the bobcats at the White Wolf Mine because mountain lions came and stole their lunch—size matters.
** Stars and Stripes reports US military deployments to the Middle East.
** My prayer is that when I die, Hell rejoices that I’m out of the fight. (CS Lewis)
** What is time? Aristotle saw time as the measure of motion, depending on change and continuity. Kant believed time is a mental construct that structures human experience, not an inherent property of the world. Marx viewed time through a social lens, linking it to labor and value within economic systems and class struggles, believing that capitalists invented time to sell more clocks.
** The relative sizes of US States:
** When the PRC appears generous, it chiefly masks its intentions. They are selfish to the core.
** Claudio reports that you can run but you’ll only die tired. NRO reports on the use of X surveillance satellites.
***
Identify the Aircraft
1
The larger greenhouse of this model made visibility less of an issue than it was in later models, where anything other than a long, slow approach was hazardous. The wing isn’t directly below the rotor. It’s behind it. This means that as it creates lift, it also creates a nose-down force that helps you need less forward cyclic in forward flight. When applying cyclic, you had to keep the airspeed up to keep the nose from pitching. It works better if you fly it like an airplane with big, deliberate control movements. It’s almost nothing like flying an MD500D (Little Bird LOH), which I had been trained on.
2
3
Not a bad helicopter. Over 300 made, still in production.
4
Everyone had a high opinion of them until the war with Ukraine. The Ukes shot them down when they entered the combat envelope.
The aircraft has a radar warning receiver, electronic warfare system, and chaff and flare dispensers. Aerodynamic cases at the wings’ end contain two dispensers with 32 x 26 mm countermeasures. The system works on the principle of evaluated response based on infrared or electronic impulse irradiation. None of it was effective.
The Russians pulled their frontal aviation fixed wing and rotor aircraft from combat because of significant and continual losses. Their air superiority has been spotty and situational and could not be sustained.
5
You know what it is.
Parting Shot (for MikeW)
End
3 is Mil Mi-26
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Mil Mi-24A Hind
2. Mil Mi-24M Hind
3. Mil Mi-26 Halo
4. Kamov Ka-50 Hokum
5. AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin
Correction:
2. Mil Mi-35M Hind
Yes, with the correction. Well done.
Parting Shot-
Is that a Vietnamese MAT-49?
Swedish K
Larry. Thank you kindly for the photograph of the Carl Gustav M/45, also known as the Swedish K. You really know how to hit where it hurts. When I first saw the photo I thought the fellow holding the weapon was, along with the two lower cord ones, also wearing a Montagnard tribal bracelet. However, when I blew the photo up to take a closer look, I saw that this was not so. There appears to be a metal link between the two open ends of the bracelet which the traditional Montagnard bracelets did/do not have. The ends on these were open, enabling you to remove them easily should you have a pressing need to do so. I stress the words “pressing need” as, usually, you do not remove them or, if you do, it is very infrequently.
I’ll post a Sterling SMG next time (maybe).
Thank you kindly good sir.
Sir,
I really enjoy your book “Hunting in the Shadow.” I’ve read it a couple of times and return to it to reread parts.
Have you read “The Jungle is Neutral” by F. Spencer Chapman D.S.O.?
It’s an excellent book about the Japanese invasion of Malaysia.
Thanks again!
RJ. Thank you for your kind comments regarding my book. Yes, I agree with you Spencer Chapmans book is excellent. I believe I have a copy amongst my books back in Australia.
Never-Trumpers: don’t what what their cheese eating habits are, but they always seem to imitate Surrender Monkeys in any political contest with the Dems. They could go with some white flag motif for their symbol. Or else a cave, with a slogan saying Join Us in Caving?
True.
Uncle Barry, ” you didn’t build that”. Yes we the people did!
Slow Joe, “I don’t work for you!” Your right, the Trump team does!
Ho Harris, “unburdened by what has been”
You can start packing now!
The next 3 months ( till 1/20/24 ) will be very pivotal. Praying for ” a peaceful transition of power”
” National gender reveal, it’s a boy”! Shawn Ryan post on YouTube.
X2. I have no idea what Pedo Joe’s handlers (including Bathhouse Barry) will do. I’m sure they’d like to start a US war somewhere. The problem they have with the loss of Congress and the Executive Branch is that there is the possibility of payback after January 20, 2025 and they may not want to risk it. This coming Trump administration won’t be like the last one.
“This coming Trump administration won’t be like the last one.”- I sure hope not! They have to hit the ground running…
All the obvious wars to “begin” are with the (D) Swamp’s allies, so….
*
– Kle.
Whew.
—
Too Big to Steal: Official Organs of the (Deep) State Announce Trump Victory.
CNN, MSNBC and NYT all say Trump is the winner. I do not read the New York Times, but did look at the electronic front page just now, and sort of want to read the editorials (below). With the same morbid fascination with which one pokes into grisly wounds. I suspect it will be similar to the experience of removing pus and debriding necrotic tissue from an infected and neglected wound. Only the stench will be psychic rather than olfactory. Remember, the Sulzbergers and their Acela-riding fellow travelers despise and fear you. Which is why they lash out so fiercely. (The irony of me typing this out as I’m physically traveling on an Acela train does not escape me.)
—
1) “Donald Trump played on fears of immigrants and economic anxieties to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris. He triumphed despite a criminal conviction, indictments, an assassin’s bullet, accusations of authoritarianism and an unprecedented switch of his opponent.”
2) “America Hires a Strongman: This was a conquering of the nation not by force but with a permission slip. Now, America stands on the precipice of an authoritarian style of governance never before seen in its 248-year history.”
3) “Pariah, Felon, President-Elect: How Trump Fought His Way Back to Power”
Yes, it was too big to rig. The Des Moines Register even posted a poll showing Kamala ahead by 3 points in Iowa on Sunday. President Trump carried the state by 13 points. The primal howl from the coastal elites (an odd blend of Never Trump Republicans and Marxists) was heard across the nation. The elites are right to fear the majority who are weary from their endless, mindless pontificating, which they feel is a right since they’re better than everyone else. The OLD Democrat Party (John Kennedy, etc.) is nothing like the present Democrat Party, which doesn’t give a flying f*ck about the workers, and the workers have finally caught on. Imagine that…the Marxists have more in common with the Never Trump Republicans than they do with the workers.
To big to rig? You mean Kamala didn’t get 81,000,000 votes like Joe got in the most free and fair election ever? Where o where did those 15 million ballots go? Also, joining the list of has beens: Ronna McDaniel.
One of the best things about this victory – you can get fries with that; and the winner knows how to drive a garbage truck. Which will come in handy.
I’m surprised that you even mention a paltry 15 million ballots. Here’s a booster shot for Covid.
>an odd blend of Never Trump Republicans and Marxists
Seems odd, but maybe less than at first blush. From my perspective from the cheap seats (speaking strictly as an amateur observer; plus the sun was in my eyes, I wasn’t ready, the dog ate it, but muh genetic trauma from Unit 731, [insert additional generic excuses here], etc, etc, etc) Establishment Republicanism has been largely pushed out by Neocon Republicanism, at least on the foreign policy end, and Neocons and Marxists are not that different. Imagine Jörmungandr 2.0 (updated for the 20th and 21st centuries), still wrapped around Midgaard, but now with two heads. One is “leftist” and the other “conservative”.
—
And yes, the old Democrat Party was nothing like the abomination of today.
—
On a personal note, I’m sitting on the Acela with a good friend of the liberal persuasion, at least officially. She’s given serious money to shake Hillary Clinton’s hand at one of those events, and so forth. Her only comment this morning was “Well, it looks like Trump will be President.” Later on it was “You know, I really like Vance.” This is the friend who was visibly shaken after walking around San Francisco with me the prior year, and shocked by the open stolen-goods bazaar on the sidewalk five blocks from the Moscone Center, and 80% of stuff locked up at the downtown Target. Plus the human excrement and needles in the street. Anyway, she displayed none of the distress I might have expected. We don’t talk politics, but she knows (mostly) where I stand. We were actually laughing about the meltdown one of our “quant” MDs is likely undergoing. That guy was the one texting me “Are you excited for Harris/Waltz [sic]?” the prior weeks. After 10 pm. Using the company message net. Sigh. The point of that anecdote is that at least some of the lefty-lib Acela class was sick of the mess under Biden, and couldn’t stomach Harris. (Just remembered a conversation from the beginning of the year, “It’s now costing me $500 to fill a cart at Whole Foods!” Hahaha. “Your problem is shopping at Whole Foods. But it costs me over $100 for a couple-three bags at the Market Basket[1], so, yeah.”)
—
[1] Market Basket is a New England “discount” chain with surprisingly decent-to-good house brand stuff, characterized by low(er) prices and horrific internecine squabbling among the family that owns it.
‘We The People’ are ready for bigly changes…already sense the shackles falling and pressure release valve emitting enough pent up steam from the Marxist pressure cooker. I felt it immediately…for those of us that called it good at 1:30am once we realized PA was in the bag and the ballot truck that showed up at Midnight in Philly failed to make up the 200K pr-printed Dem ballot deficit (b—tard’s actually tried). Was watching Live From Studio 6B and Charlie Kirk (Fox News – spit!spit! – but manged to semi-redeem to maintain some modicum of neutrality). Kirk was an hour ahead of other Alt News channels, WarRoom’s Bannon (fresh out of political prison) had John Solomon, who was spot on with measured calming confidence. The pressure relief is being felt both on us Middle Class Economic Engine types – and – by your always fun to read real time experiences with various associates – apparently some Liberals, who may have had a few scales fall from their eyes. Fear causes the mind to focus. Now, if we can get home construction down to $250/sqft from the $400 we deal with now American infrastructure might turn around so quick it’ll whiplash The Demented Power-Hungry Left.
> apparently some Liberals,
Some? Ahahaha! Nearly all. Two others were in an office with the door closed, hunched in misery. They saw me through the window and waved me in. “Are you guys okay?”
“Just depressed about, well, you know…”
“Hey, he doesn’t look unhappy. You voted Trump, didn’t you?”
“Of course. In SWING STATE, yet.”
Then like adults, we got on with work.
—
I later learned that several of the under-30 girls took the day off for Stress Reasons. And one who came in was actually doing her job, but so weepy and hoarse that her boss sent her home. Honestly, she was such a mess that several people (independently, at different times, though not me) thought she’d been sexually assaulted. It was that bad.
The Old Democratic Party is what just won.
*
Trump’s politics are those of a mainstream ’80s Dem. Tip O’Neal, Teddy, etc.
Musk is certainly no Conservative, merely a mild leftist outpaced by the (D) race
to utter Marxist insanity. RFK is a literal Democratic candidate for President…
*
Not complaining, just noting. It’s vastly better than the alternative.
*
– Kle.
They were looking for a squirrel… https://www.facebook.com/share/r/vrQo5yPEFwKgJo6o/
Last Night – https://www.facebook.com/share/r/CjsPD2AUkgaVxUqu/
That lawsuit will be epic. I wonder what the new DOJ will be doing about that breach of rights…
X2…and should be painful, like the perpetrators being subject to the common man’s result: Jail and their pickup’s and firearms confiscated.
Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Swampville—the mighty Hoe has struck out.
Time… Einstein came to a sudden realization: Time is not absolute. In other words, despite our common perception that a second is always a second everywhere in the universe, the rate at which time flows depends upon where you are and how fast you are traveling.
https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/einstein/time#:~:text=After%20one%20such%20discussion%2C%20Einstein,how%20fast%20you%20are%20traveling.
~~~~
I wonder how many of those surveillance satellites are watching the US?
“I wonder how many of those surveillance satellites are watching the US?”
All of them. Lots and lots of all of them. LEO to GEO
Not all of the GEOs are aimed at the USA.
Karma, meet bitch–
—
https://instapundit.com/682683/
Yes, she apparently went on a bender – much the way that Hillary did.
Some A.I.–
—
https://ncrenegade.com/a-message-from-biden/
Will Trump actually be sworn in Jan 20th? Will he still be alive? Will the Senate certify the Electoral College report? Will lawfare reach new heights? Will WSF ever stop his cynicism? Stay tuned. One certainty. WSF will enjoy watching the elites soil themselves along with the corrupt enablers. Rock on!
We can posit all manner of “what is time?” (seems kinda obvious and includes all three “concepts” you relate)…yet it was inevitable that we’d measure it to organized our daily life (first thing in every chip is ‘the clock’, otherwise we have [more] hi-tech chaos). Then again, ‘it waits for no one’ so might as well use it to our advantage..well, unless you are from the government and believe taking an hour from Spring and holding onto it until Fall, to be pasted back into the daily biorhythm like they gave it back to us…can’t fix that level of idiocy.
***
Nov. 5- We The People managed to get [mostly] free from the Marxist Turbulence and into some cleaner air…the work begins, keep the pressure up so these Constitutional cancer types don’t ever get another foothold…send them packing to the obscurity they belong. Let’s hope they don;t further trash the place before their 70 days is up. (Harris proves the Dem’s are a classless group, Harris never conceded directly last night, bailed like HRC but will give a “speech” at 4pm after her handlers figure out what she needs to say. Hey Kamala, how about, “Congratulations Mr. Trump and good luck.” Done.)
One fervent hope. He needs to keep the promise he made of not listening to the socalled deep state party experts as to advising him about who to pick for his Cabinet, etc.
He said he will go with his feelings on this, not the deep state entrenched lackeys. If so, there is promise for a good term
> how about, “Congratulations Mr. Trump and good luck.”
More like “Unlike Trump in 2020, we will accept the official vote count. Because we respect the rule of law and the traditions of this Republic, unlike Mr Trump. We will however continue to safeguard Our Democracy. And we will do everything in our power to ensure that Trump does not further mislead the people of America. That he does not turn the office of President, which Joe Biden and I have always viewed as a sacred trust, into his personal dictatorship. Because, and make no mistake about this fact, his goal is to seize and keep power. We will be the loyal opposition. Loyal to the principles of this nation, loyal to the Constitution. Not loyal to would-be dictators who do not deserve my loyalty, nor yours.” Good luck, America, and resist the tyranny.”
—
I’m sitting in some Asian noodle shop in Midtown Manhattan (not recommended, btw) having bad fake-homemade ramen (it’s machine made, don’t try to sneak a sunrise past a rooster) and it’s life as usual on the street. No one is getting excited. There’s no mobs howling for blood. Even the strong lefty adults at the office are quite calm. But some of the young (<30) women can barely speak, having literally wept and howled their throats raw. Amazing.
In their grief, take the young things (if they’re pretty) to a koi pond and speak about the meaning of life. There is nothing like looking at koi with the implied promise of their OWN koi pond that softens young Asian ladies to amorous advances. You can convince them to love Trump later.
I will keep that in mind about koi ponds. Who knew?
“I teach you love Trump long time.”
—
But the particular crying and hoarse girl associated with my projects is ethnically German, or possibly German-Jewish. Nice kid. Pretty too, as it happens. Normally even keeled and not given to profanity. But today she burst out right before a meeting “How can there be almost 70 million motherfuckers THAT stupid?” I was nice and didn’t laugh. AND I didn’t ask if she meant Harris voters. I figure that restraint was heroic, so I’m rewarding myself by indulging in an overpriced beer on the train ride home. 😀
If I’d known, I’d have suggested something more Teutonic, like bratwurst and a 64-oz stein of the finest local brew.
I’m Chinese. Do you think it’d be a good idea to feed a girl BRATWURST? Because comparisons are inevitable. Elbow macaroni, cornichons, that sort of thing is fine. Good even. But not bratwurst! And no Cadillacs for that matter (“because I always wanted one that was long and black” —Johnny Cash).
—
Actually I did end up feeding her. Nearly a pint of blackberries. My favorite street vendor had blackberries again: $2 a pint 😃. I bought two pints. Crying Girl saw me eating from one box and perked up. “You got fruit! Where’d it come from? I love fruit!” So I gave her a pint. Which she gobbled down in about 15 minutes. Then my lead tech saw my “backup” pint. “You have blackberries? They’re my favorite!” Sigh. So I gave her the other pint. The saying is “two is one” but today I learned that sometimes “two is none.” Sigh. 😢
Our Daughter-in-Law is in the group, Mike.
.
She had to take today off…….Good kid, excellent parent, excels at her job, but…..a Leftie. Oh, well…..
Yeah, I know, right? The ones literally crying at our place are nice girls who work hard, are generally competent, and look out for each other. (It’s quite nice to see the cooperation rather than the usual backstabbing — over petty nothings, yet.) Anyway, they’re good kids. But the stuff they apparently believe I really can’t figure out why anyone COULD believe that. And the stuff nearly everyone (office girls to department heads to physician-scientists with multiple doctorates) DOESN’T know boggles. Not that I’m any expert on politics or history or what we used to call “civics” in school. I actually think that what I know is about the bare minimum and that I really should read a lot more. But I seem to be somewhere in the top 10th percentile of general knowledge. And that’s both disappointing and more than a bit terrifying.
Has anyone explained politely to these ladies that if they want to remain employed,
they need to learn to keep their shit together, even when reality refuses to bend
to their personal whim?
*
They’re supposed to be medical professionals…
*
– Kle.
I agree with you, but it’s a different world than the one you and I grew up in.
People felt sorry for them. Over the “trauma” and all. Pretty much everyone was depressed (except me and a new hire – Navy vet – who is sort of considered to be “my” guy). The senior people held it together better is all, but they felt bad for those young women. Gave them the day off, or sent them home early, etc. Honestly, I didn’t even think “Harden TF up!” myself, because it would have been pointless. Sigh.
My world is long gone, Mike_C
When is the Ho going to concede? She needs to be “unburdened by what has been.”
“For the first time” ????
Hm-m-m …
Your opening line reminds of an 80’s song by RE-Flex. It has a line in it that says “The Politicians Are All Now DJ’s”. At least that’s how the MSM portrays them.
.
Lockheed-Martin also build black satellites. Boeing bought the commercial part of Hughes Space and Communications, but I don’t recall what happened to the part of Hughes that built the “other” satellites. Mr. Musk has himself quite and enterprise going. I’m sure he’ll be appalled at what his investigation will find.
.
Drill, Baby, Drill now has a companion…..Dig, Baby, DIG!
.
Symbol for the swamp party, the alligator of course!
Of course.
Great post but I’m not so sure I like CS Lewis’ point, which I saw the other day somewhere. Surely his fight against evil continues triumphantly from Heaven? Granted, that’s more a state of triumph than militancy, but still.