Obviously, any vow of silence made on Virtual Mirage will be considered to be non-binding and more of an aspirational guideline than a realistic approach to life.
Your Sermonette is taken from LSP’s Blog
LSP explains here why graffiti art makes the Church of England more relatable to the unwashed masses. Beautiful, isn’t it, and so likely to draw in the crowds and pack the pews of the dismally declining denomination. I mean to say, who wouldn’t be attracted to worship God in all his numinous mystery in England’s foremost cathedral by graffiti posing as religious art? So much for some 2000 years of Christian aesthetics. The genius behind this installation is Alex Vellis, poet and “curator of Jacqueline Creswell’s collaboration with marginalised communities and a team of skilled artists.” How very awesome, and that’s what his “art” in Canterbury Cathedral’s all about, per the Daily Mail:
Language is the people who speak it, and graffiti is the language of the unheard. By temporarily graffitiing the inside of Canterbury Cathedral, we join a chorus of the forgotten, the lost, and the wondrous. People who wanted to make their mark, to say ‘I was here’, and to have their etchings carry their voice through the centuries.
Wondrous? Yes indeed, wonder at the mawkish suicide of a once great part of God’s Church and its desecration of England’s principal cathedral. Alex Willis was the organizer of the Sex Work Symposium in Canterbury in 2019. Why? Because of course he was. On topic, the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral is David Montief, who lives with his boyfriend David Hamilton in a “civil partnership.”
(VM Commentary – I never thought of bringing a can of spray paint to church and decorating the walls to my own tastes. C of E is definitely a trend setter. Can UK Muslims come in and paint the walls with quotations from the Qur’an? Now THAT would be woke. It would be more woke if they just turned the cathedral into a mosque now, to support the needs of the burgeoning UK Muslim community.)
U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance criticized the “graffiti-style” art installation at England’s Canterbury Cathedral, calling the artwork “really ugly” and “disrespectful” to the sacred and historical site.
After a Murder of Crows
Activism is Performance Art
“Today’s activism often resembles the performance of a ritual. Voyages, marches, and slogans serve as stand-ins for strategy. In this climate, sailing through the Mediterranean for social-media applause while chanting anti-Israel slogans has become a fashionable gesture. Reckoning with the reality of the war that Hamas started on 7 October 2023 is far less fashionable.
The so-called Sumud Flotilla—“Sumud” means steadfastness in Arabic—is the latest iteration of this pattern of Western activists staging symbolic acts of defiance that garner attention rather than bring any concrete relief to the victims they are supposedly designed to help. Such boats carry cameras and very little cargo—a few boxes of medical supplies or canned food at most, nowhere near the scale of the truck convoys that actually deliver aid through official crossings. The point isn’t to meet anyone’s material needs but to sail into a war zone as an act of defiance, a kind of political theatre in motion, and to get arrested and deported by Israel.
At the centre of the media storm around this latest voyage is Greta Thunberg. In her earlier years as an activist, Thunberg refused to fly to climate conferences, opting instead to traverse the Atlantic on a sailboat to avoid carbon emissions. Now she has crossed the Mediterranean on diesel-powered vessels—not once this year, but twice.
The Belt Road Boondoggle
(h/t Claudio and Ken Cao) How does a country drowning in debt lend a trillion dollars to other broke countries — and somehow call that “global leadership”? Welcome to China’s Belt and Road Initiative — the grandest infrastructure dream in human history, and quite possibly the most expensive ego project ever launched by one man: Xi Jinping.
The Boast: “China will build the roads, and the world will follow.” Ten years later? Those roads are cracked, the bridges half-finished, and the “followers” are defaulting, protesting, and walking away.
Let’s talk about how Xi tried to buy the world — and ended up repossessing other people’s disasters. In 2013, Xi unveiled the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — a trillion-dollar plan to rebuild global trade routes across Asia, Africa, and Europe. The slogan? Connectivity. Development. Win-win cooperation. The reality? Debt, dependency, and disappointment. Over 170 countries signed up. Ports, railways, power plants — all financed by Chinese state banks, built by Chinese contractors, insured by Chinese firms.
China became Santa Claus with strings attached. Except these weren’t gifts. They were loans with handcuffs — high interest, short deadlines, repayment in U.S. dollars. How does that help poor nations? It doesn’t. It allows Beijing to buy loyalty. The goal was never profit. It was power.
Take Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port — the poster child. China lent billions to build a port no one used. When Sri Lanka couldn’t pay, Beijing didn’t call a debt collector. It just took the port for 99 years. That’s not a bailout. That’s a repossession.
Or Pakistan’s CPEC, another “flagship.” Billions spent, chronic outages, protests in the streets. Locals now call it “neo-colonialism in a hard hat.”
Why do so many BRI projects fail? Because Beijing exported its worst habits: Corruption, inefficiency, and top-down planning by yes-men. Feasibility studies skipped. Costs inflated. You end up with railways to nowhere and power plants that can’t pay their own bills. It’s China’s ghost-city model — now made global.
Across Asia and Africa, the backlash is real. Sri Lanka defaulted. Pakistan turned to the IMF. Zambia is drowning in debt. Italy backed out. Dozens of others are quietly renegotiating. China’s trillion-dollar “gift to the world” has become a portfolio of bad loans and broken trust.
Here’s the irony: At home, Beijing still calls BRI a triumph. State media flashes glossy images of bridges and smiling diplomats. But abroad? It’s seen as what it is — debt-trap diplomacy.
Infrastructure can liberate nations. But debt can enslave them. Xi wanted to build a new world order. He ended up creating a trillion-dollar pile of bad loans. Because when your foreign policy runs on debt, corruption, and propaganda — You’re not paving roads to prosperity. You’re paving a runway for your own collapse.
H/T Frank
Red China Blues
Howard Zhang Founder @ H&S Capital | Veteran Journalist | October 9, 2025
As Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his aides struggle to contain the “China spy-gate” storm, and Donald Trump claims credit for a Gaza ceasefire (with the modesty of a man discovering diplomacy for the first time), few outside China have noticed the real panic of the week in Beijing.
The People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s trusty foghorn, has published eight editorials in eight days, each assuring readers that the economy is fine, socialism is splendid, and everyone should really stop moaning. When a government needs to shout “confidence” every morning, it instead suggests confidence has left the building.
Since 30 September, the paper has churned out daily sermons on “economic resilience” while denouncing anyone “talking down China.” On paper, it’s optimism; in practice, it’s a loyalty test — the economic equivalent of clapping louder so the leader feels reassured. Beijing’s “confidence” drive reads less like an economic strategy and more like a confession. The leadership sounds anxious about growth, succession, and legitimacy — though you wouldn’t know it from the smiley charts on state television. The People’s Daily now resembles the Party’s group therapy diary, repeating “all is well” in the hope that someone, somewhere, believes it.
Xi’s recent vanishing acts from the public eye and renewed health rumours haven’t helped the mood. The economy continues to sulk: the property market has gone from engine to anchor, youth unemployment hovers near nineteen per cent, and consumers are clutching their wallets as though they might explode. After years of purges, the bureaucracy now moves at glacial speed — which would be fine if glaciers weren’t melting faster. With few real policy levers left, Beijing’s preferred tool is narrative management — ordering optimism on demand.
Each editorial turns “confidence” into an ideological duty. Questioning policy is treated as questioning Xi himself. Meanwhile, the Cyberspace Administration is deleting “pessimism” online — a heroic attempt to censor reality. Confidence, in Xi’s China, has become a state-mandated mood.
Despite the populist tone, these essays are aimed not at ordinary citizens (who roll their eyes and get on with life) but at Party cadres, who know perfectly well what “confidence” means: obey, applaud, and don’t make eye contact with the data. The message is simple — stay loyal or disappear. For citizens, the campaign changes nothing. For officials, it deepens the paralysis. Short-term obedience is guaranteed; long-term honesty is not. When truth becomes dangerous, spreadsheets start lying back. Beijing’s “confidence” crusade isn’t a sign of strength. It’s a system staring into the mirror, whispering affirmations while the room fills with smoke. The louder it insists that all is well, the clearer it becomes that the only thing growing fast in China right now is denial.
Bullet Points:
** The Army of Salvation Pattern? (Ryan)
** The irony here is that tariffs, promoted by their proponents as tools to strengthen American industries and make the country less dependent on foreign markets, ended up hurting one of the nation’s most iconic domestic sectors: farming. The policy intended to protect American producers instead triggered retaliatory tariffs from China, cutting off a vital export market for U.S. soybeans and forcing Washington to step in with a $10 billion bailout. In effect, the same government that imposed the tariffs to foster self-reliance had to subsidize the very farmers those tariffs were supposed to help. It’s a perfect illustration of circular protectionism: using taxpayer money to compensate citizens for the damage caused by policies enacted in their name.
** Why don’t we build awesome stuff in the US anymore? Asked and answered.
** Southern Living.
** CDR SAL – …and never forget. As I always say, you are irreplaceable until you leave; then you are forgotten. You may love your nation, but that does not mean it loves you. Visit his Fullbore Friday post. It’s worth reading.
** Force doctrine is discussed.
** Why do liberals love garbage on the street and homeless encampments in their cities? Carolla discusses.
** Covid – and the international BS surrounding it.
** Wagner Group – they didn’t learn a lesson because they all died. Well snap. It wasn’t Benghazi.
Identify the Ship
1
Identify the Aircraft
2
3
Identify the Armor
4
Parting Shot
Danny Trejo
End
1 is RFS Bystry a Sovremenny-class destroyer of Soviet then Russian navy.
2 is De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter.
H
Good!
1 – Russian Navy RFS Bystry Sovremenny class destroyer
2 – de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter
3 – Soviet Ilyushin Il-54 bomber
4 – Soviet T-34
I know…too easy.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, collapsed on March 26, 2024 and Maryland officials have committed to replacing the bridge by fall 2028 at a cost of $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion. Four years to build a much smaller bridge than the one in China. It doesn’t make sense.
From the public view, government is useless and idiotic. From the government’s point of view they are geniuses and ‘following the procedures’ they put into place, which nowadays includes taking half the budget to pay their pals and themselves. If PDJT was involved in this project, ribbon cutting would have three years ago. My guess is little will happen by 2028 and these same officials will be asking the taxpayer to double the budget, holding the commuter public hostage until they acquiesce.
Exactly, the graft – the unions who are paid by the hour (and kick dues upstairs) and so forth change the dynamics.
If DeSantis’ crew can get the Pine Island bridge temporarily rebuilt for traffic in 3 days there is no good reason after a year and a half nothing of substance has occurred in Baltimore. Like the Palisades non-rebuild, this is on purpose. “Engineers have done ONE test piling to ‘verify load capability”….because modern engineers have to reinvent the wheel of a bridge that had been standing for a long time with the existing pilings. Design took a year. Really? Had to have a bunch of cocktail parties attended by all the players first.
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(incidentally, my “Trump would have had it rebuilt three years back” was a metaphor; there are those who get things done in short order, those who talk about getting things done while doing nothing, and those grifting ‘the system’ who talk about getting things done while lining their pockets as they slow walk tiny bits to show “progress”.)
Government contracting. The longer it takes, the more you make.
It is that simple. In the meantime commuters suffer. Saw they “moved” the bridge location downstream 260’ to widen the access from 700’ to 1000’…this no only makes the bridge rebuild a third ‘more’ but gives the road union a couple of years to rebuild the ingress and egress roads…because the old ones ‘just won’t do anymore’. So a longer bridge, new everything, and the demo crew gets paid extra for pulling the old piers and pilings (a huge job) while the state enviro-person stands watch so the work doesn’t add unnecessary silt into the river. Can’t make this stuff up…not even Correia.
Here in DeSantisland, (Florida,) Brightlines built a railroad, designed for two tracks (all the underlaying layers) but single tracked, through swamps, marshlands, over rivers, under highways, in 2 years, from Cocoa to Orlando (Orlando International Airport.)
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A bridge, pshaw. Easy peasy. We rebuilt the Sunshine Parkway after it got whacked, and, yes, it took 7 years but that’s because Florida was a lot more Democratic Party back then and the EPA got majorly involved. Today? 3 years tops.
#2 Otter questions; 1/4 mile for take off and landing, same for the twin. What other prop aircrafts are STOL in use for the bush pilots? 700 mile range for the afore mentioned. Which other aircraft or rotor wing Military ops for jumper units would out perform the twin? Benefits and drawbacks?
I Otter not answer. Where is MRSBRM when you need an Alaskan Bush Pilot’s opinion?
My husband appeared in the doorway and told me “The beacons are lit! Gondor calls for aid!”
…I looked down and grumbled, “My legs aren’t that pale!”
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When looking at Otter specs, make sure you look at if it’s a recip or been upgraded to a turbine Otter (DHC-3T). The turbines are absolute powerhouses, especially for moving freight (and pax) on floats in SouthEast Alaska.
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So, “outperform” is a very fuzzy term. Outperform in STOL t/o & landing? Outperform in range? Outperform in amount of weight you can haul in one trip? Cost of fuel & Mx? Or the highest requirement of all, on the civilian side, most economical to run?
What aircraft are in use? Anything cheap enough, reliable enough, and performing well enough; tailwheel better for ground clearance but not essential if you’re skilled enough and choose your landing spots wisely. My T-crate was up-grossed and up-engined, and she had a stall speed of 28 knots. Best length I ever took off in her was 200 feet, because plane flies better than the pilot and I wasn’t gonna push it. For Private enjoyment (lots of options, especially if you have more money than sense) or business? Making money mostly starts with Supercubs and Maules for moving one hunter (or scientist) and payload in and out of terrain, or fishspotting, or doing wildlife tours / surveys.
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From there, a few Cessna 182’s (Straight tail), Cessna 185, Cessna 206, Cessna 208, DHC-2 Beaver if you can afford the maintenance bills because she may fly like a pig, but she hauls, and the radial engine’s song suckers in all the tourists… (I love her, but she *really* flies like a pig, and drools and spits oil)…
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Moving up to the DHC-6 Twin Otter, and if you’re hauling a lot of freight or pax, Beech 1900. By the time you get there, it’s no longer STOL capabilities so much as handling gravel strip and icing load on the airframe and wings… We’ve tried a CASA, but she didn’t handle winter as well. Pity, because she loaded really easy and flew better than you’d expect the barn door to.
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As far as helicopters in use, here I will admit my ignorance instead of trying to blow smoke up your fundament. I didn’t really pay attention to them, so I know that I don’t know. ERA Helicopters split from the company shortly before I joined, so I wasn’t exposed to their fleet, but I know they had contracts getting people out to the oil platforms and back. Some folks were running heliskiing operations, where they didn’t have to worry about range, just payload and pinnacle landings… I know at least one lodge was running a helicopter because I remember seeing him just set down inside a pass when I was running from the weather with my tail between my legs. Saw him later in town and he told me it wasn’t economical for anything but short tours, but it was so nice to land, enjoy the fishing, and then continue on as soon as the mercurial mood of the pass shifted. Then there are the boys who clank when they walk, running medevac in all weather. More skilled yet, who-ever’s the USAF hauling the PJ’s around, they’ve got a specialized helicopter that can pull people off Denali (Mt. Mckinley.)
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Lastly, and with my highest respect, whatever the Coasties are running, that’s some *serious* helicopter skills out where there’s nowhere to land and they long-line their swimmers onto fishing boats and pull injured guys off. (Seriously, how do they get their flight suits on over balls that big? The scariest sight to see when running full-throttle for safe harbor ’cause you’re more scared of getting caught by that storm than of running your tanks dry at max fuel consumption and wear on engine life… is those bright orange birds headed the other way.)
Thank you!
X2
One of the benefits of the Otter series is they are overbuilt in comparison to more modern craft. You can crash one up pretty well and rebuild it. Many Otters have been rebuilt. Good solid platform. It’s a common thread in Canada’s DeHavilland aircraft, be it the Beaver, the Otter or Caribou. Built like brick poop-houses.
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And, yes, Mrs. Grant, seeing the Coasties in full rescue mode does make one shiver. I’ve been on the water in good weather and seen cutters and helos do the rescue thing and the first thing that came to mind was “I don’t want to be HERE right now.” Second, of course, is “Wonder what’s going on?” Third is “Do they need help?” But first and foremost is “Get me out of here!!!”
Your spirit animal…didn’t you just post a short on crazy woman only wanting one thing? Would not Ms. Dutton, as portrayed quite well by a Surrey born British actress, fit the bill? The few bits I’ve seen of Yellowstone that had her in it showed her as a “tough” piece of work, carrying on the traditions of Yellowstone woman who came before, only with a Porsche and law degree instead of a horse and carriage and an apron.
***
Liberals Loving Garbage: That is so racist and homophobic! Does that make them ‘garbage-spirited’? But seriously…because they emphatically believe ‘mental health coordinators instead of cops’ and ‘community organizers’ are more important use of taxpayers money. Either that or they pine for the days of no auto’s on the streets, because that was so much better, just ask them, even though they didn’t live back then. Feelings over reality substance.
I am contemplating purchasing a small amount of land in B.C., either in Surrey, Maple Ridge, or Coquitlam, for the primary purpose of raising mutts, very large mutts to be sold under cost to any resident of Pitt Meadows under the condition of maintaining the animal in good health for a minimum of two years.
Am I incisive, pro(pre)-canine, or anti-Islamic?
You may be better off doing this in Baja California (BC) rather than British Columbia (BC). Just saying.
Who cares what the whiny muslims think? They think that non-islamic women are animals (yes, really,) so it’s a-okay to do them, goats or camels because animals. Who cares?
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But under the current Canadian government, Canada has become a no-go zone for people who want to believe they have rights. Especially gun rights or property rights or financial rights or right of getting medical treatment or or or.
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Wyoming is probably a better bet.
Perhaps I am a fulll on retard (unaware)-
is Surly ok?
in my long time here (Earth), I learned Jesus basically said- if you are popular with the world-
you aint his.
leading me to this-
never mind his alleged bona fides (don’t misunderstand, I enjoy all of his “shows” to some degree. I think I’ve learned much),
but if (as) mister rye yon is so Popular, how does that work with Jesus’s words?
Also, from the beginning (here comes the heat), I’ve struggled with the “bars”in the backgrounds. Is that consistent with?
Granted, I was raised fundamentalist Baptist, so I know many inbuilt biases?
Swords at the bar (car or whichever), I am ok with.
nd why gummy bears (at a minimum?)
why not a gold embossed Bible with the guests name or sth?
not attacking his intents or anything.
just for years I struggle to match it all up.
yes, I know, we are all in different points of the “journey”
is a bigger bar consistent with the road to Jesus or…
Seeking wisdom guys.
a bit heavier than usual, granted.
that points back to me going full retard.
thanks to all here!
such a great community!
Juan
Looking at your basic point, “in my long time here”, I’ve learned that all souls (that’s all souls, each and every soul, no matter what they’ve done/accomplished here on Earth), after death, return to sit at the Right Hand of G-d to bask in His Warmth (and, perhaps, receive further instruction); each and every soul, bar none, is His creation.
I am not of your faith, obviously.
in re Surly: he’s always OK – IMHO.
I got turned off when he started singing the praises of psychedelics. Sorcery.
Spirit animals (warning–some F-bombs). Also posted over at LSP’s place.
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https://gab.com/TheOutlawJoseyWales/posts/115346551529564733
Yes, of course they are humans inhabited by demons.
I have unfortunately met some. I was very surprised that my father-in-law did not catch on fire when he entered the Church for my wedding to his daughter. A more evil and possessed person I never met, and I worked at a “not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity not-prison-because-insane” facility and met some really evil people (and some of them were not-inmate residents…
off-topic (perhaps)
I sure hope Mr. Netanyahu knows the fine points of the agreement to which he’s committed the state of Israel.
it appears that Indonesia has already committed 20K troops to a “peacekeeping” force; how many more western Asian countries have committed how many more troops to this force, in addition to the “police” force currently being trained up by Jordan and Egypt?
In any case, I sincerely hope The Donald isn’t, in any way, committed to “boots-on-the-ground” in that part of the world, even should the EU/various African nations desire to add their voice/troops to this force.
We should always remember the enemy gets a vote. Peace in Southwest Asia? Doubtful, just a pause while Iran proxies reorganize and rearm.
I don’t think that there will be peace with Iran, but that whole mess has yet to be sorted out properly. By sorted out, I don’t imply a(nother) preemptive attack. We’ll see how this all develops over the next couple of years of the Trump Presidency.
Russia and China want their alliances with Iran – because it’s what they do.
Muslim countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan will likely be among the paid peacekeepers.
And we trust HAMAS not to fuck this up about the time the hostages and bodies are supposed to be released? Seriously, I fully expect part of the whole ‘deal’ of the peace accords was to show the world one more time that HAMAS and their ilk cannot be trusted. Like, “Here is the last time we try this crap, they fuck up and we stop caring and let the Israelis finish these turds off.”
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Why do I say this? Because the Donald never argues from a weak position. And all peace accords that are real have some sort of “And if you fuck up, the Dogs of War will savage you so hard your ancestors will feel it” thing hanging around in the background.
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If HAMAS actually does the peace thing and works with everyone in rebuilding Gaza and not attacking or preparing to attack or rearming or stealing money and supplies, then, yes, I will gladly apologize to any of those cowards and dog-copulating murderers. Ain’t holding my breath.
hamas is using the respite to execute rival factions and tribes. no respite from the hate.
Regarding the Belt and Road, what happens if a nation defaults and then tells West Taiwan to piss off? Is China going to invade them? Whine about it in international court? Take it to the UN? Seriously, enough nations say “Suck it, Chinaman, Go Copulate Yourself!!!” and what’s China going to do?
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And, really, from what I’ve read the ‘infrastructure’ is at Tofu-Dreg levels of quality control. Concrete that’s unreinforced and not to the proper pressure rating anyways. Buildings with faulty wiring and equipment. Port equipment that doesn’t work right. Bridges that make northeast Yankee bridges look as sturdy as the Pyramids in Egypt. Roads that make northeast Yankee roads look as long-lasting as Roman roads.
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As to Xi disappearing, he’s done this before. And following his reappearance a bunch of people unappear…
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Regarding the reporting in state media about the economy, reminds me of the state media here in the US of A during the Half-Blooded Prince’s terms in office and President Autopen’s term.