What is it that feeds our battle, yet starves our victory?
Speaker Johnson: A Reminder.
And MTG is there to help make it stick.
January 6 tapes. A good start…but then nothing.
Were you just hoping we’d be distracted by the first set and not notice?
Are you THAT kind of “Republican”?
Are you Kevin McCarthy lite?
What are you waiting for?
I have a personal interest in this issue.
And if you aren’t…what the hell is wrong with you?
Fun Quote
(HT Aubergine)
This is amazing. This is glorious. Summon a surgeon – it’s been a little over a week and you’re supposed to call the doctor after just four hours.
From Kurt Schlichter, who can certainly write a good rant (https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2025/01/30/trumps-winning-streak-is-totally-discombobulating-the-democrats-n2651308)
Yep, Kurt has noticed that lots of people are getting twanging schadenböners.
And you do not have to be male to get this kind of böner.
Hat tip to Scott (I think–if it wasn’t Scott it was 4GodAndCountry) for this video, which implies a LOT of schadenböners in our future.
Lawyer Appeasement Section
OK now for the fine print.
This is the WQTH Daily Thread. You know the drill. There’s no Poltical correctness, but civility is a requirement. There are Important Guidelines, here, with an addendum on 20191110.
We have a new board – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation.
And remember Wheatie’s Rules:
1. No food fights
2. No running with scissors.
3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
4. Zeroth rule of gun safety: Don’t let the government get your guns.
5. Rule one of gun safety: The gun is always loaded.
5a. If you actually want the gun to be loaded, like because you’re checking out a bump in the night, then it’s empty.
6. Rule two of gun safety: Never point the gun at anything you’re not willing to destroy.
7. Rule three: Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire.
8. Rule the fourth: Be sure of your target and what is behind it.
(Hmm a few extras seem to have crept in.)
Spot (i.e., paper) Prices
Last week:
Gold $2,858.10
Silver $31.20
Platinum $953.00
Palladium $945.00
Rhodium $5,100.00
FRNSI* 137.261-
Gold:Silver 91.606-
This week, 3PM Mountain Time, Kitco “ask” prices. Markets have closed for the weekend.
Gold $2,911.50
Silver $32.60
Platinum $974.00
Palladium $934.00
Rhodium $6,000.00
FRNSI* 139.844-
Gold:Silver 89.310-
Palladium is below platinum again…but look at rhodium, which has gone up nine hundred bucks!
The people who bloviate on this sort of thing for a living (if this is all I did I’d starve to death) claim the precious metals are “consolidating” with gold in the 2910-2920 range while the stock indices go down. At least silver is up relative to gold!
*The SteveInCO Federal Reserve Note Suckage Index (FRNSI) is a measure of how much the dollar has inflated. It’s the ratio of the current price of gold, to the number of dollars an ounce of fine gold made up when the dollar was defined as 25.8 grains of 0.900 gold. That worked out to an ounce being $20.67+71/387 of a cent. (Note gold wasn’t worth this much back then, thus much gold was $20.67 71/387ths. It’s a subtle distinction. One ounce of gold wasn’t worth $20.67 back then, it was $20.67.) Once this ratio is computed, 1 is subtracted from it so that the number is zero when the dollar is at its proper value, indicating zero suckage.
Latest Flerfer Goofiness
OK unlike last week I’m going to try to supply some actual content. (Last week was nonstop busy.)
Our friend Fkatzoid is back. Watch him duck and weave when he’s asked where the south pole is (at 16:45).
Will Duffy is trying to make the point that whether you head south from Africa, South America, or New Zealand, you end up at the same place when you get to the south pole. According to the Gleasons’s Map, however, the South Pole isn’t a point, it’s a circle approximately 60,000 miles in circumference, so that shouldn’t happen. Either Fkatzoid is an even bigger idiot than he showed himself to be last time, or he’s trying very hard to evade having this pointed out to his audience.
Later on at about 2:31:45…apparently Lisbeth (who went to Antarctica) is on the verge of joining Mark Sargent’s channel; MC Toon begs her not to ruin her life doing so.
Just a few minutes later, you see someone named JK trying to find a video proving that people who try to go to Antarctica will be intercepted by any of a number of different navies and turned back as soon as they sail across 60 S latitude. He claims there are many of these videos; he eventually finds the one Will Duffy expected–taken in the Bass Strait between Tasmania and mainland Australia, nowhere near Antarctica. Listen to McToon’s rant at 2:45:22.
Here’s another debate with Duffy destroying someone I’ve never heard of named Nathan Thompson. (Not to be confused with Nathan “where are the guns” Oakley.)
Two Birds…One Stone
OK this one is going to seem like geology…then physics…then back to geology. It’s a good illustration of how all of human knowledge about the natural world is interconnected. Sometimes great progress is made when people in two different fields get together; sometimes a new discipline even is formed–recent work has done much to highlight the effects of living organisms on the geology of the Earth…yes, our rocks would be different if there were no life on earth (and there’d be no geologists to notice, of course).
An Extremely Inadequate Intro to Mineralogy
Let’s take a very brief and incomplete (and likely incompetent, as I am out over my skis here) look at mineralogy.
I’ve talked about rocks a lot but not so much about what they’re made of. If you look closely–perhaps it will take a microscope–at an igneous rock (one that cooled from the molten state) you’ll see it’s made up of a bunch of different kinds of crystals. Crystals form when a chemical compound comes out of solution and the individual molecules line up in a regular array.
Some rocks are just one big crystal. Others are multiple crystals of the same thing.
The compounds that make the crystals are minerals (and one of their characteristics is how the crystals are shaped).
What are those compounds? Let’s set the stage a bit. If you take the outer layer of the Earth, the Earth’s crust, and analyze a completely average piece of it…it’s 46.1 percent oxygen by weight. Oxygen! There is much, much, much more oxygen beneath your feet than above your head in the air. Oxygen is also the third most abundant element in the universe as a whole–after hydrogen and helium.
Coming in second at 28.2 percent is silicon. Then aluminum at 8.23%, iron at 5.63%, calcium at 4.15%, sodium at 2.36%, magnesium at 2.33% potassium at 2.09%, titanium at 0.565%…and everything else is at 1/7th of a percent or less. At the bottom end you have rhenium at 7/10ths of one part per billion. (However two gases, krypton and xenon, also show up at even lower percentages, and a bunch of transient radioactive elements are lower still than that.)
The ones at the top of the list don’t ever show up in pure elemental or “native” form; they’re pretty reactive. Minerals will be largely (but very luckily for us, not completely) formed of these elements.
The elements in general are divided into groups according to the “Goldschmidt Classification.” The groups are “lithophile” (rock loving), “Siderophile” (iron loving), “chalcophile” (bronze loving), and “atmophile” (atmosphere loving). The group an element is in is a huge determiner of its fate. Lithophile and chalcophile elements both appear predominantly near the Earth’s surface, in the crust; with the chalcophile elements often combining with sulfur. Siderophile elements largely sank, with almost all of the iron, towards the Earth’s core.
(There is a very slick wikipedia graphic for this, a periodic table colored by Goldschmidt classification…but it’s actually a table rather than an image and I was unsuccessful in getting it copied over here. Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldschmidt_classification )
There are officially 6,118 mineral species known to man today. Minerals must be naturally occurring and forming by natural or geological processes, must be a solid substance (with the exception of native mercury). Water and carbon dioxide are not minerals even when they show up embedded in rocks, but water ice in glaciers is a mineral. A mineral must have a well defined crystal structure. (This ends up excluding things like obsidian which don’t have a crystal structure.) And the chemical composition must be well defined. However, that could include mixtures of similar compounds; sometimes one element will substitute for another of similar size and chemistry to one extent or another.
There are a number of different ways minerals can be classified, based on hardness, color, crystalline structure, cleavage (i.e. which planes it will split on most cleanly), specific gravity (galena, a lead ore, is very dense, for instance–over seven times that of water whereas the typical rock is in the 2.5-3.5 range)…and by chemistry. But this is far from straightforward, since nothing is pure. For instance a mineral whose structure is largely silicon will often have an aluminum atom substituted for the silicon; sometimes this is a regular substitution, making a distinct chemical series.
Minerals fall into a number of different groups; the most common by far is silicates; these are minerals formed by different arrangements of the [SiO4]4- tetrahedron, one silicon atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms.
This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, after all oxygen and silicon make up most of rocks. There are a simply staggering number of ways to combine these tetrahedra at the corners (where an oxygen atom will end being shared by two tetrahedra); chains, rings, lattices…just for instance:
The most basic of these is quartz, consisting of nothing but silicon and oxygen. Since each oxygen atom is shared by two silicon atoms, the formula ends up being SiO2.
Quartz, when absolutely pure, is clear as glass. Different impurities will give it colors, smoky quartz and amethyst being examples, but there are many more.
And in some cases other elements are interspersed with the tetrahedra, or sometimes the silicon is partially replaced by other elements. This can alter the structure as well as the composition.
The most common of the silicates are a grouping called the feldspars, where Al3+ substitutes for the Si4+, but this creates a charge imbalance that requires other elements added in as cations. You end up with [AlSi3O8]– or [Al2Si2O8]2-. In other cases silicates can form in sheets, like mica.
If you haven’t realized this by now, it turns out that silicates are bewilderingly complex. For a deep dive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicate_mineral.
In other groups we have native elements. For example gold, silver, and copper appear in native form as nuggets. There are also platinum nuggets. But also there are diamonds and graphite, both forms of native carbon. Sulfur also appears near volcanic vents. And in many cases the nuggets aren’t pure but are alloys, but still a lump of metal, rather than a “rock.”
Next we have sulfides, compounds of metals and sulfur, famously iron pyrite (fools gold), red cinnabar (a mercury ore). Sometimes tellurium, arsenic, or selenium will substitute for some or even all of the sulfur.
Oxides are metals combined with oxygen, such as hematite (iron), bauxites (aluminum), magnetite (iron again).
Halides are those where a halogen (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine) is the main anion; table salt is the most common example, with chlorine combined with sodium.
Carbonate minerals have a carbonate [CO3]2- group in them. They will react with acids; so field geologists will often have a small vial of acid to test for them. The most common is calcium carbonate…also known as calcite, the main component of limestone. This is weakly soluble in water, leading to the formation of cave systems.
There are sulfates (distinct from sulfides mentioned above) with the sulfate anion, [SO4]2-, combined with something else.
The last common group is the phosphates, with a [PO4]3- unit, combined with something else. These minerals are what our bones and teeth are made out of.
It’s a gigantic mess, honestly; and it gets more and more complicated when it turns out that a mineral can be a mixture of, say, two different sulfates mixed together; the formula ends up including a bracket with two or three different atoms specified because they are intermixed in some proportion.
I have not even scratched the surface of this topic (and those familiar with hardness testing will see the pun). I may not have said anything wrong in this section, but even if we’re that fortunate, I’m sure a real mineralogist would find much to complain about, important things left out, inconsistent “depth” of the dives I took, and so on. I know I said next to nothing about crystal structure and I may try to rectify that some day.
Back to the Historical Narrative
OK so back to the story: By the mid 1800s geology had made huge strides to systematize the variety of rocks and landscapes we see here on Earth. Geologists had even developed the ability to describe what had happened in the past in some arbitrarily picked location. Glaciers, lakes, oceans, desert…all had left telltale signs in the rock. They saw a world of mostly slow change…but with the occasional disasters, local in scope not worldwide.
They had even realized the Earth must be far older than previously thought; the events they could read in the rocks simply could not have happened fast enough to fit within a few thousand years of time.
Impressive work. There were obviously a lot of unsolved problems (like how it could be possible that former sea floor bottom ended up high in the Alps), but still a lot learned.
Physics and astronomy (closely associated with each other) were pretty much the most successful and advanced branches of scientific knowledge. Were astronomers and physicists at least somewhat impressed with what geologists had come up with?
Perhaps but in one key respect the answer was probably more like, “You gotta be shitting me.”
You see the physicists and astronomers of the mid 1800s couldn’t possibly see how the Sun could be old; if the Sun weren’t old neither could the Earth be old. There was simply no way to power the sun for those lengths of time. However the geologic evidence was simply overwhelming.
Beyond suspecting that geologists were smoking something that was distinctly not a mineral (and vice versa from the geologists’ point of view), there was little that could be done. Tons of hard evidence (i.e., rocks) vs. quite well established kinetics and thermal physics. Neither of them could be shaken.
So what was the cause of this disconnect?
In 1862, William Thomson (1st Baron Kelvin…after whom the Kelvin scale is named), published calculations that assumed the Earth had started out completely molten, then computed how long it would take to cool to what we see today. His answer was 20 – 400 million years. OK, that seems a bit low to geologists, but not horrifically so. (He did not account for convection inside the Earth, which would increase the number…nor for other factors he simply couldn’t have imagined, which I’ll get to.)
The big problem was that he also computed how long the sun could have been shining at its present brightness, if it derived all of its energy from gravitational contraction. And that answer was 20 million years. It agreed with his Earth calculation at the low end so that made sense–Thomson probably reasoned that the Earth therefore had to be 20 million years old, but geologists (and biologists) simply couldn’t believe the Earth was that young. Other physicists (Hermann von Helmholz and Simon Newcomb) got similar values of 22 and 18 million years, respectively.
Other possible sources of solar energy were combustion and impacting comets and asteroids. The first was ridiculous. If the entire Sun, huge as it is, were a burning pile of coal, it would be gone within a couple of thousand years at the rate it would have to be burning to be as luminous as it is. This is not even long enough to carry us from the Great Pyramid to Julius Caesar, much less to today. Asteroid impacts sounds more promising, until one realizes there’d have to be so many of them that surely Earth would be catching a lot more of them than we actually are getting. And it was only good enough for a few hundred thousand years. The other flaw was that the sun would be increasing with size as more matter accumulated in it, and that imposed a strict time limit too…after a certain amount of time the Sun would simply be bigger than we see it.
Another tack taken by physicists and astronomers was to use the moon. George H. Darwin (son of Charles “the” Darwin) was an astronomer, figured out that if the Earth and Moon had split apart while still molten, tidal forces would have created our current situation with a 24 hour day after 56 million years. This may not look like it to you, but given the sorts of approximations that both Darwin’s and Kelvin’s calculations enailed, that’s actually close enough to Kelvin’s number that it appeared that both of them were likely on the right track. (When two totally different methods of computation give similar answers, that’s a powerful argument that the actual answer is pretty close to the ones we computed.) Yet another tack, computing how long it took for the oceans to accumulate the salt they contain, based on erosion of rocks, gave an answer of 80-100 million years for the age of the oceans.
When you see an apparent contradiction like this, something is missing from your mental picture. Or perhaps you have a wrong premise. Because an actual contradiction cannot exist.
And, as it turned out, one mineral, when it was discovered, turned out to be the beginning of the path not just to resolving this, but fulfilling another thing that was on the geologists’ wish list–one they never thought they’d get. Like the kid who doesn’t bother asking Santa for the really expensive toy for Christmas…but Santa read his mind and he gets it.
The mineral is an oxide, one called pitchblende. This was first described in 1772 by F. E. Brueckmann. In 1789 M. Klaproth worked with this stuff and discovered the element uranium.
[Uranium oxide has been in mosaic glass from Roman times; clearly they’d found some of the ore and experimented to see what it would do to color glass. However, we don’t have written records of the Romans recognizing it as a distinct material.]
Here’s some nice big crystals of pitchblende:
Uranium was nothing special, just another of a bunch of metals being discovered around this time. Along with such other favorites as cobalt, nickel, manganese, tungsten, niobium, tantalum, and chromium. Curiously, pitchblende also includes some lead, without fail. No such thing as “pure” uranium oxide pitchblende. That seems kind of weird because lead and uranium are chemically quite different.
Flawed analyses led to uranium’s atomic weight being calculated at 156 or so; later on the mistake was realized and the atomic weight was corrected to 238, far above anything else known at the time. Kind of interesting to geeks; no one else cared.
In 1895 this changed. And so did the world.
Henri Becquerel was trying to see if uranium salts, known to fluoresce in visible light, also fluoresced in X ray frequences. (X Rays had been discovered the year before by Röntgen.) [As a reminder, fluorescent things will glow in bright colors for a while after being exposed to ultraviolet light. This can actually be used to identify some minerals. Becquerel wanted to see if they also emitted X-rays alongside the visible light.] He’d expose the compounds to sunlight, then set them next to wrapped photographic plates. If the plates fogged, he would conclude the uranium compounds were giving off X-rays after being “charged” by the sun. Then he had days of cloudy weather, so he put the uranium salts and wrapped plates in a drawer while he awaited sunny days. Ultimately he decided, what the Hell, and developed the plates without exposing the uranium salts to sunlight, and found that they had fogged anyway. Well this was new!! Further experimentation established that uranium emitted strong radiation, all the time, no matter what.
Even more experimentation established that the uranium was turning into lead as it did this. Which is why pitchblende always has some lead in it, even though lead is very different from uranium, chemically.
This led to our current picture of the structure of an atom–which up to then had not been proven to exist. (The final piece of proof was supplied by Albert Einstein in 1905, the Annus Mirabilis)
That is a very long story. Detailed here (9 – End of Classical Physics (Rays & Radiation)):
And here (13 – Ernest Rutherford):
And here (17 – Nuclear Physics Finds a Hammer):
And here (19 – Antimatter):
And here (20 – The Little Neutral One (Neutrinos)):
One key thing to note is that this new “radioactivity” was extremely energy intense, far more so than burning coal, and now we had a hints of a power source that would allow the sun to shine for hundreds of millions–even BILLIONS–of years.
And this is indeed the case, as described here (22 – Powering Stars):
And the world was never the same, because this ultimately led to nuclear weapons.
But for our purposes here, the main effect is that now there was no more contradiction about how old the Earth might be. The Sun could indeed be old enough for an old Earth.
And Now We Can Measure It
Surprise! We also now had a way to measure the age of some rocks, to put actual numbers on things.
To explain this adequately (given the fact that there are charlatans out there who try to fling mud on this, and some of you believe them), I’m going to try to do a Science For Senators review of radioactivity and nuclei. It’s a bit densely packed since I’m not telling a story here. (The story was in all those posts above.)
Matter is made up of atoms, very roughly a hundred picometers (a picometer is a trillionth of a meter) across. Most of this volume is taken up by electrons (which have a negative electrical charge) that are bound to a positively charged nucleus (plural, nuclei). The nucleus contains almost all of the mass of the atom yet occupies a space only a few femtometers (a femtometer is a quadrillionth of a meter across); roughly 1/10,000th the diameter of the atom as a whole.
The nucleus, in turn consists of protons–positively charged particles–and neutrons–neutrally charged particles. Other than the charge, these two particles are very similar to each other–the neutron is just a bit more massive–and they’re collectively referred to as nucleons. (Neutrons are blue, protons red in the diagram below…but they don’t actually have color and they’re not actually shaped like little hard spheres, so the diagram is notional.)
As it turns out the number of protons in a nucleus (the “atomic number”) determines what chemical element it is. One proton: hydrogen. Six: carbon. Eight: oxygen. Twenty-six: iron. Forty-seven: silver. Seventy-nine: gold. Eighty-two: lead. Ninety-two: uranium. (Plus all of the other numbers in between of course.) In order to balance out, an atom will have the same number of electrons as protons, at least until it starts sharing or even giving or taking electrons with, to, or from other atoms–which is what chemistry is all about.
The number of neutrons, on the other hand can vary, even within an element. Just for instance, most uranium nuclei have 146 neutrons in them, but some have only 143. This has very little effect on the chemistry, but it is possible to very painstakingly sort these out. The two different types of uranium are described by their mass numbers, the total number of nucleons. 92+146=238, and 92+143=235; uranium-238 and uranium-235, respectively. These different-weight forms of the same element are called isotopes.
As it turns out radioactivity, when it happens, happens to nuclei. There are two main kinds of radioactivity that matter for our purposes here, alpha decay and beta decay.
Alpha decay is when a large nucleus basically pukes up a helium nucleus (containing two protons and two neutrons–mass number of 4). Since the nucleus gives up two protons in doing this, it changes to another element; this should therefore happen five times as uranium turns to lead, changing the atomic number from 92 to 82. Except that that’s not actually right; it turns out to be eight times. That’s because uranium-238 is becoming lead-206; that’s a difference of 32 mass units and eight alpha decays does that.
The reason the atomic number changes by ten rather than 16 (two per alpha decay) is that there is also beta decay. In this kind of radioactive decay, a neutron turns into a proton, ejecting an electron (which flies off into the distance, so you can basically forget about it) and a neutrino (which flies off away forever, so you can really forget about it). The effect is to leave the mass number unchanged…but it increases the atomic number by one (we have one more proton than we used to). To make up the discrepancy noted above, uranium, in turning to lead, must undergo six beta decays.
Technically speaking what I just described is negative beta decay, because it spits out a negatively charged particle. The reason why one might to be anal about this is that there’s actually a different kind of beta decay that may come into play, though…and that’s positive beta decay, where a proton spits out an anti-electron (“positron”–yes, this is antimatter) and turns into a neutron (the exact opposite change from the first kind of beta decay). This causes the nucleus to go down one in atomic number, again without changing the mass number.
Uranium and thorium (atomic number 90) undergo alpha decay, as do a lot of the things they turn into on the way to becoming lead (as do many of the intermediate elements in between and on the way). A lot of the intermediate products undergo beta decay. That’s all stuff at the high end of the periodic table, though.
It turns out that a lot of much lighter elements…ones we thing of as stable…are at least partially made up of isotopes that do one or the other form of beta decay (there are dozens of examples). Even potassium has a long-lived isotope (potassium-40 or 40K) that decays, in fact it can decay two different ways: negative beta decay or “electron capture” where a proton absorbs an electron. The first turns it into calcium-40, the second turns it into argon-40.
Our atmosphere is about one percent argon, and that argon is almost all argon-40. The sun’s argon–which presumably came from the nebula that condensed to form the solar system–is almost all argon-36, which leads to the conclusion that none of the Earth’s original argon is still around, and all of the argon in the atmosphere is actually from the decay of potassium-40.
There is just one thing I haven’t mentioned yet. Alpha and beta decay occur at constant rates. The rate is different for each nucleus, but constant for that nucleus. (All sorts of attempts have been made in laboratories to change the rate…with one oddball exception, absolutely nothing happened.) It’s a proportional thing; over some period of time, half of the atoms of some radioactive isotope will decay. You’re then left with a sample half the size of your original sample…and half of that will be gone after you wait the same period of time again. And so on. This period of time is known as the half life, because half of the atoms are gone after that period of time.
Of the things I’ve touched on, here are their half lives: Uranium-235: 703.8 million years. Potassium-40: 1251 million years. Uranium-238: 4458 million years. And Thorium-232: 14,050 million years.
And now maybe you can see how this might be useful to geologists. Find a rock with some uranium, thorium, or potassium in it. (Potassium most likely; it’s common compared to the others.) Then determine how much “daughter” product is in the rock. It helps if the daughter product is such it wouldn’t have been in the rock when it solidified. E.g., a zircon crystal, which might pick up uranium impurities as it crystalizes, but will positively reject lead atoms. Any lead in the zircon crystal can only have come from uranium decay. Count atoms (yes, you might have to literally count atoms) to determine how much daughter product there is, versus parent isotope. Figure out how much decay has taken place and compare to the half life.
You now know the age of the crystal. Not the relative age, the absolute age, of the crystal.
But there are a lot of details with this (including the fact that dating sedimentary rock is dicey), and I will cover some of them next time. These details, when fully considered only serve to make these methods rock solid.
Notice
I have a complex project coming up IRL, and I absolutely have to reallocate my “spare” time. This will mean less laughing at online flerfs, but it also means science posts will be infrequent and/or unpredictable.
You got ‘er done, Steve!
Today’s latest from doge.gov:
https://x.com/doge/status/1898203334760177979
Science!
No, I really didn’t.
I really wanted to cover radiometric dating in excruciating detail. Instead all I got to do was say it exists.
Ah. We’ll stay tuned for the excruciating detail!
I’m actually glad you broke the piece up. The subject is really too much to cover in one post. Not even in two or three, in my opinion.
I’ve been looking online at a lot of material related to radiometric dating, and Earth prehistory in general, and while there’s a lot of good stuff out there, the serious debaters who engage critics have driven home to me the point that an understanding resistant to pseudoscientific challenges, much like “global Earth”, cannot be done in one video, one post, one day, or even one year.
I embrace the challenge, because in confronting ALL bias-driven pathologies of science, I think we will raise scientific literacy – and THAT is an essential part of MAGA, IMO.
We have to mainstream “common sense skepticism” – which rejects cheap authoritarianism, but values traditional common sense – and I think ascending MAGA/MAHA is in a perfect position to do this.
I was overjoyed when RFKJ threw cold water on a new mass-administered mRNA vaccine for poultry, with the simple question of vaccine-induced mutation – something that just pours out of the literature, and which vax-captured public health just ignores. This is a perfect example of why using basic, honest evolutionary science against “clown science” (meant in all possible ways) isn’t just an effective tactic of “hit them with their own rules” – it’s brilliantly corrective to bring us back to where science got hijacked from common sense.
The left likes to accuse us of being anti-science…and unfortunately there are plenty of people on our side who behave in a way that justifies the accusation. It’s more than just that we show skepticism of institutionalized science that they still trust, it’s people who consider it a threat to their faith and behave accordingly.
In fact one of my YEC-debunking favorites just put out a video sounding the “we must save science” alarm. Not having watched it, I suspect she’s upset at all the funding cuts coming from DOGE.
Yeah, I know who you’re talking about – Erika. I just watched it. Matches up with what I’ve thought from her other stuff.
She’s great when she stays close to what she knows well, where the science has almost zero corporate and governmental bias, but as the topic moves away from her fairly innocent background, she pretty much becomes a shill for captured mainstream viewpoints, and has little knowledge of how science once strongly questioned all the myriad directions toward which it was dragged off-track by interests other than her wheelhouse of basic, innocent research and noble, honest skepticism.
I feel her pain, having chosen the most basic and unfundable of research, so that I had to teach like her, but she has the wrong prescription, that being standard academic leftism.
Watching her kowtow to the TRANS requirements shows how much she’s going to need TIME and AGE to allow her to see how top-down, controlled, left-wing science orthodoxy moves from one memory-holed mistake to the next.
E.g., she is incapable of thinking that the “mainstream” response to increasing understanding of climate might be wrong, premature, misguided, badly driven, and all the things that it surely is, to those (like me) who stupidly thought that science itself was actually driving its own bus.
Fundamentally, scientists will tend to trust that scientists in other fields know what they’re doing and are being honest. Climate change is nowhere near her wheelhouse (though the effects of actual climate change will affect what she will find in her own area of interest). It’s closer to being in Neil de Grasse Tyson’s field…but scientists are incredibly specialized. They have to be. In some ways I have an advantage over them since I can see a bigger picture…albeit with less clarity than they see their own pieces.
Exactly!!!
On the other hand, astronomy tends to link to so many other things (surprising people who think it will be an easy science course at college) that many times they do well as generalists. (Note the numbers of science popularizers who are astronomers.)
Chemistry (OK, maybe just ACS) proclaimed chemistry to be the “central science” a decade or two back. I think astronomy could well give it a run for the money. Or maybe astronomy is simply the broadest or most connected science.
It’s two slightly different concepts, so yes both can be right.
Chemistry needs to be known by other sciences more than many others (though physics underlies them all), so it’s “central” in that sense. On the other hand the science that has to understand something about the most other sciences is astronomy. I could draw an analogy: Chemistry is like the O blood type, it can donate to everything; Astronomy is like the AB blood type, it can accept anything.
Some years before I went to high school, astronomy was the “capstone” science class; you had to have physics before taking it, which meant many (who got to physics as seniors) would never be able to take it. (A lot like calculus)
By the time I got there, it had been dumbed down, it was full of sophomores who just needed a science class. I took it anyway since I had been looking forward to it for years…and it had an “honors” option. Do extra work, some of the meat that had been cut, and you get an honors A which is worth 5 points (not 4) towards your GPA.
“In terms of orbity things, there’s a lot of room at the top, too!” 
In Ohio, they had just started relooking at the grading like you discussed for Physics and Calculus BIMD. They offered Physics my senior year to be graded with the 5 points for A as an honors course or Pass/Fail. The P/F had no effect on GPA, but gave the student the credit for passing the class. As a result of that latter offer, there was a much bigger enrollment for the class.
The teacher was the best I had in high school in every science related class he taught – just outstanding. The students loved him. I asked him afterwards how the scoring went for Pass/fail had they taken the grade instead. He said over half of them would have made an honors A, the rest were B’s. Great subject, great teaching, great interest from students.
I don’t specifically recall physics being an honors class (I took it as a junior), but in hindsight it must have been. Certainly my math classes were.
“Fundamentally, scientists will tend to trust that scientists in other fields know what they’re doing and are being honest.”
Given that video that gets shared here periodically, by Gail perhaps, of the guy exposing how much published “scientific” research is falsified in numerous ways, what you said above seems to smack of naivety or perhaps even pretending not to know…
IMO, scientists are socially contracted by the unstated idea that if they don’t criticize scientists outside their own micro-sub-specialty, then they get the same protection in return. This has led to serious reduction in field self-examination.
In a sense, it’s a sneaky new “game” from the Cabal…..
“LET’S YOU AND HIM NEVER FIGHT”
It’s surprising how much control this grants to the authority in charge. It’s actually part of why I don’t demand total civility here.
One other point. A LOT of non-reproducibility is the result of DEI and other forms of non-merit-based acceptance in schools. I know this because I was forced to reproduce my own work, on film, when two “diversity-admitted” students were unable to duplicate it. At the time, I didn’t make the connection to DEI, but now it’s obvious. Both students flushed out of the program. Some students and even post-docs are simply incapable of doing some work. Nobody wants to admit this. And – as you suggest – there is much “pretending not to know” this is the case.
“IMO, scientists are socially contracted by the unstated idea that if they don’t criticize scientists outside their own micro-sub-specialty, then they get the same protection in return.”
___________
So they’re intellectually fragile, beta-boi scaredy cats?
They’re afraid to stand up for what they believe, so they need protection from criticism?
I should have been a scientist.
I could have dominated the entire profession
bwah ha ha!!!
Sadly, IMO, you would have been back-stabbed, undermined, set up, and otherwise destroyed by the Confederacy of Cowardice. Any domination would have to be done from outside, in the style of the FLCCC heroes. You would have been treated like Christ.
Look at what has happened in COVID. They literally took the name of the inventor of mRNA tech and removed it from the history of it, because he had the wrong opinion, EVEN IN HIS OWN LANE.
They may be scaredy-cats, but they’re evil, cunning, smart, and unscrupulous.
It’s crows vs. a lone hawk. The crows will drive the hawk away. Every single time.
Unless a single crow loses to the cooper’s hawk. I only mention this because a neighbor witnessed this. Black feathers all over their backyard.
And yeah, it is stunning that they ERASED his name from the history of his own invention!
Yup. And every once in a while, you read about some graduate student, researcher, or post-doc murdering a prof.
And then the hawk is driven away by the rest of the crows.
People who have been “in the system” realize that there may very well have been some kind of abusive situation, either individual or institutional, when there is such a murder, but abuse is part of the game, and the allowed remedy is to leave. To walk away.
Science, like real nature, is unkind. It’s one of the nastiest “live chess” games out there.
God’s universe is beautiful, and the individual study of it is noble, but the institution of science is run by humans, and is far from godly.
It took me decades to be able to view science, as an institutional practice, with clear eyes.
One thing I was thinking about is Nobel prizes.
Generally these days a discovery worthy of a Nobel Prize is made by a team of dozens of people. Maybe even hundreds.
But only the head honcho gets the prize.
That could be improved by having the Nobel committee issue a sort of certificate to the team members. (They don’t get the money but they at least have something on the wall that says they did Nobel level work.)
Unfortunately they don’t care about proper recognition, it’s just another worthless politicized institution.
I could still have been the Ricky Gervais of science.
They would never get me
Not a bad idea!!!
Astounding AND Amazing! Wow…
Another aspect of this is that I have no doubt that actual good research is being cut.
One issue, though is being able to agree on what good research is, and at this level both YECers (who would likely kill her research because evilution) and people like you and me have a voice.
But really the fundamental issue is, why is government funding any of it?
One argument in favor of having government fund “basic research” is that prevents it from falling into the hands of companies (or foundations) with deep pockets and an interest in setting “truth”. That argument of course ignores what happens when the government funding mechanism is captured by those same forces.
Well said. It’s not an easy call, what to fund and by how much. Perhaps a continuous fight IS the best-case model.
Next week?
At first I thought that was menstrual cycles in men pretending to be women (i.e., something that doesn’t exist), then I realize that “transgender male” is someone who has “transitioned” to male, i.e., actually a female who really does menstruate.
It’s hard to figure out crazy talk.
I don’t even try, that would be validating their idiocy. I have no idea what their terms and lingo mean… and I don’t care… and it doesn’t hinder me in the least
I don’t even try and I don’t care. ht Scott.(abbreviated.)
let me see if i can help you remember. transgender, in reality terms, means “NOT A”.
so transgender male = NOT A male. transgender female = NOT A female.
Hence, Tampon Tim’s desire to accommodate fake men in men’s restrooms.
All of that shit makes my head hurt.
Nancy Reagan had the correct answer, albeit another topic.
Just say No.
personally I love men–I adore them–but i would never want to be one.
This is good news because you are good the way you are.
there you go again…lol
That’s good ’cause your nickname would be Shorty.
Yeah I understand that; I had just forgotten momentarily. So I was momentarily wondering who would be daft enough to look for menstrual cycles in actual men.
if they can’t define a woman, they can’t define a man either.
Oh! Why didn’t you say.
Then we have this from circa 19,000 BC where some believe were the beginnings of Astronomy!
Just need some sticks and a pen knife for carving out the days and they’ll be all set.
Wow!
WGTTs even back then.
Fascinating! Love the early art!
There’s an Ohio artist who blends a lot of paleontology into his works.
https://www.dispatch.com/story/entertainment/2014/01/21/ceramist-alan-spencer-digs-into/23898121007/
https://www.columbusmakesart.com/artist/645-alan-spencer
I’ve seen some of his works in person. The geological period-named pieces are big and definitely striking.
Lots of info here, and I’ll have to read it later.
Meanwhile…
[snort]
Amen!
Tucker Carlson:
https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1898135864523252219
Lord Jesus.
Surround, protect, comfort your people in/from the land of Syria.
Amen
On top of that Christians from the Middle East WERE DENIED ASYLUM IN THE USA! IIRC only THREE families were allowed to immigrate to the USA!
Wasn’t that Osatan’s orders?
same with Chinese fleeing forced abortions & sterilizations, iirc 
IIRC, Chinee now encourage more children.
That’s good news
2-4 are the current targets of the rebels.
Religion in Syria (est. 2021)[1]
Pre Rebel Invasion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Syria
As mentioned yesterday, I’m putting this down as an Algerian Strategy on steroids thing.
The Rebels came in with the backing of Turkey. The rebels stir up trouble via genocide targeting the minorities and in rolls the Turks, presumably to save the day??? How convenient.
Lord have mercy.
monstrous evil 
I tried running that image through Gab to see if it might display larger so it’s easier to read here…sorry about any comment # padding this leads to fostering higger “Leons”
Gotta get those Leos.
She looks beautiful when she’s firing people.
Calm yerself, boy. 
Eh, everyone gains a couple of appearance points when they’re firing government workers….
Scorched. Earth.
Now, people will see the implementation plans to remove the I from DOI back to DOJ.
Well there goes Sweden
It’s the same mind virus Leftists have here.
This mental degradation has to be studied, named and then either come up with a treatment or institutionalize the stricken.
They cannot be allowed to destroy everything.
As a literal act of self defense, they must be stopped.
Well there goes the UK as well
Gail, for your husband, in case you missed this from yesterday…
National Cell Phone Radiation Study
It needs to be pointed out IIRC that they kept them underground and shielded from any other radiation besides the 1 hour/day exposure to one cell phone. No cell towers, no microwave ovens, no wi-fi, no cordless home phones, nothing besides that one phone.
Also note that the auditory and cardiac nerves were the most sensitive to damage.
Yeah, but they didn’t control for neutrino flux, so the entire study is worthless. (/sarc)
Wasn’t Charlize Theron in that?
Neutrino ~ not to be confused with nutria, although they sound similar.
From a 1993 story on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s “Oregon Field Guide”:
That was fun!! Thanks!
In the California Delta region (where the Central Valley flows out through San Francisco Bay), most of the dry land is dry because of levees. Turns out, nutria like to burrow in levees to make their nests, seriously weakening the levees when needed to hold back flooding.
I’ve been on the north shore of that a surprising number of times and even call that one stretch of CA-37 the “swamp road” (I had to call up maps to find the number).
OTOH you’re probably referring to places a bit further east, east of Antioch (not the one with the Holy Hand Grenade).
Perhaps 160. Antioch up towards Sacramento.
12 Rio Vista towards Lodi. IIRC.
4 Brentwood towards Stockton. But that’s a stretch.
Ahhh, highway 4… washboard just like 99 used to be (unless they repaired it)…
I recall that you could be a butterfly collector (moths) if you drove hwy 4 right around dusk. At least years ago, before all the insect life seemed to crash.
Buttonwillow (I-5 down between Bakersfield and LA) was REALLY that way… had to make sure to have a full windshield-washer reservoir, as that stretch, especially in the daytime, or at night with high beams on, would produce a horrific slime layer on the windshield…..
I think the insect life has crashed because of the birdchopper windmills… someone did a study, and there were around FOUR TRILLION bug bits encrusted on a windmill’s blades… no idea of how (or whom) counted them (YUCK!!!!!)…..
And, of course, the gangGreens over here are trying to get everyone to put up “insect hotels” so the insects have somewhere to live….
Trying to dumb them down, I suspect. As if the insects haven’t survived thousands of years without anyone’s help…………….
Ahhh, the stupid…. it burns…..
I prefer bat houses so they can EAT the insects.
A lot of birds eat insects so it should have been a wash.
Probably they just spot-checked one blade on one windmill, used that to estimate the total on that blade, and multiplied by the number of blades per windmill and the number of windmills.
I read this disgusting article the other day, advising people to EAT those nasty things!
“What do iguanas, rodents, fish and wild boars have in common? They’re on a list of invasive species that federal officials are encouraging people to eat in an effort to limit damage to ecosystems.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released the list on Feb. 20 for National Invasive Species Awareness Week Feb. 24 to Feb. 28.
“Invasive species outcompete native wildlife, destroy habitats, and mess up ecosystems,” the agency wrote. “But rather than just complaining about them, let’s put them on the menu.””
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/06/eat-invasive-species-us/81754338007/
Leftists are insane.
are you sure they were describing nutria? sounds like illegals to me…lol
“Invasive species outcompete native wildlife, destroy habitats, and mess up ecosystems,” the agency wrote. “But rather than just complaining about them, let’s put them on the menu.””
If they were hunted it would help constrain their populations. Eradication would take a greater effort.
On a similar note a bunch of Burmese pythons got loose in Florida and that turns out to be a great environment for them…
Lol!
At least the wild boars would provide bacon. But as for the unappetizing critters and plants, are there some other predators that could be introduced?
Just not me!
Composting might offer some solutions.
I once had a shaved coat out of Nutria. Bought by mistake in Argentina.
Lol!
Don’t fry for me, Argentina….
It took something like 25 years to pry the results of that study out of the NTP. I’m guessing it was going to be awkward to admit there is non-ionizing radiation harm when they’ve been fighting that particular fact pretty hard for the benefit of the Telcos.
I caught it this morning. I have the entire conversation copied on to Libra office for hubby to read.
Thanks to ALL OF YOU!
Gudthots
Thank you for this.
Which brings up questions about 5G (and higher levels.)
And about the 5G (and higher levels) “mini” transmitters that are almost literally spaced about every 50 – 100 ft or so along streets and roads (sometimes “disguised” as “new street lights”, or just as those “tube-like” or “box-like” attachments one sees on the poles,)
And about the tall cellphone towers (of which many have MULTIPLE 5G and higher transmitters affixed to them.)
And about the 5G (and higher) levels being emitted by UNDERGROUND fiber optics systems.
And about the 5G (and higher levels) being emitted by the COMPUTER that is connected to the 5G (and higher levels) of wi-fi internet service that people use for hours every day.
Here’s a good explainer on 5G from PC Mag, sort of 5G versus 5GHz lite… not too deep into the technical details, but a usable summary. There are links within the article to drill down further.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-is-5g
The main source of confusion is that (usually home) WiFi routers often use 5 Gigahertz signals (sometimes 2.4 GHz as well) and that is often incorrectly termed as 5G. 5G, on the other hand, is simply the fifth generation of WiFi technology, soon to be superseded by 6G, which (I hope) will reduce the naming confusion.
One thing that IS a potential problem is the “high band” transmissions where the signal wavelength is sub-millimeter, and some folks/studies believe that radiation is harmful to cells, resonance(s) cooking us like a microwave oven might.
EXCEPT the signal strength is much, much lower. But not zero. Hence the discussion.
From the link above:
One thing to note is that as the frequency goes up (and the wavelength, inversely, goes down) the distance the signal can cover, and its ability to penetrate walls and other obstructions (e.g. rebar in concrete) goes down. So the low band on a home router (2.4 GHz) works better than the 5GHz high band. Unfortunately (at least over here) at 2.4 GHz your router is competing with the likes of microwave ovens, garage-door openers, remote-controlled toys, hearing aids, wireless mice, and all manner of things [as the 2.4 GHz band is sort of an electronic free-for-all zone with very little licensing required as compared to other bands]. I think michaelh posted a chart a few years back showing all the different bands… more or less a cacophony of signals…
Because the higher frequencies are blocked/reflected by the likes of trees, walls, and other objects, they need to have line-of-sight contact between the transmitting towers.
That’s why they’re popping up everywhere like not-very-magic mushrooms. But those towers, the high-band 5G ones, transmit at frequencies much higher than you’d need in a home, where line-of-sight isn’t a problem…
There’s a ton of literature and studies out there on high-frequency transmission/reception, both medical, technical, electronic, and, sad to say, marketing…
Sometimes I think the various generations of cellular, USB, TV broadcasting. and other things is just to get us to fork out more and more money for less and less benefit… sigh…
N.B. Fiber optic systems don’t emit ANY radiation at all, nor do they “accept” any electromagnetic signals… that’s why they’re a much better means of transmission than WiFi or cable or coax or twisted-pair. IFF there are fiber repeaters/amplifiers in the transmission line, underground, there could be some radiation there, but to the telcos/ISPs that’s unacceptable waste, and the signal would be impossibly weak at any appreciable distance from said repeaters (inverse square law and penetration/reflection as mentioned above)…
As I understand it, true 5G antenna are a micro array? So the intensity of the power/signal from the cell “tower” is aimed at it’s target. This means that if you are carrying a true 5G phone, you are the target of the highest power output from the antenna.
I haven’t looked at this in a while, but for most areas, they used the “5G can’t penetrate well” excuse to place cell antennas on every block in cities, but they didn’t actually use real 5G in the 20-100GHz range. Instead they are using the frequencies originally used for 1G on your street lights. But they save a ton of money because the city isn’t even charging in most cases. Unlike the installations at the tops of hills, etc.
Yep, with the higher frequencies, the antennae don’t need to be very large at all. And ANYTHING the telcos can do to hoodwink the gibmint is done, and encouraged…..
I don’t want ANY of those 5G monstrosities anywhere near my house….
Somehow I get the feeling I’ll have to put a Faraday cage around Casa Covfefe
Maybe put in some Leyden (or other) storage so if a good-sized lightening bolt hits, I can store the energy
Sadly, the antenna ruins the resale value of the home so you can’t easily flee either. I know a scientist that did a lot of testing and he said that the best protection is trees and moisture. So get a house in a rain forest I guess.
I married into the “Spencer’s Mountain” “clan” over here, so the family has been in this area for around 1000 years or so… not going anywhere (indeed, when we moved back to the states for a few years pre-Y2K, my wife was one of the first to have moved during all those years!)… So, I think we’ll be staying (other reasons, too)…
What really grinds my grits is Deutsche-Telekom aren’t planning to upgrade the neighborhood to FTTD any time soon… and I fear that they’re going to wimp out and say, “5G is the solution!!!”…..
Seems Albania has better internet than we do….
I’m looking at Starlink… can get a really good deal… though getting it installed will probably kill the savings… as will the monthly fees….sigh…
For a long time we were getting attempts by at&t people trying to have us sign up for internet. We’d say, no thanks, DSL is no good. They’d be like, “but fiber!” . We’d say, look it up, no fiber to our house. EVEN THOUGH it was on the poles because a big church paid for it to be put in some blocks away. Eventually, probably because a neighbor was friends with someone at at&t, they did put in fiber to the houses.
Funny thing is, once more than half the homes went fiber, the cable internet got a LOT faster and so we stayed on cable.
I am a legit hundred trillionaire. 180 trillion dollars, in fact, plus some fraction of a million.
The only problem is the money that isn’t the fraction of a million all says “Zimbabwe” on it.
Troublemaker10
Troublemaker10
March 8, 2025 12:34 am
BRICS News
@BRICSinfo
JUST IN:
India agrees to reduce tariffs on the United States.
12:12 PM · Mar 7, 2025
https://x.com/BRICSinfo/status/1898059148652081332
Winning, before April 2nd.
Amazing how that works.
sunnydaze
March 8, 2025 12:36 am
sigh…
sunnydaze
March 8, 2025 12:37 am
Paging Trump admin… looks like inequity is about to be implemented (again)
nichan
March 8, 2025 12:45 am
The state of Missouri won a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against China for its role in the COVID-19 pandemic after none of the defendants showed up to court.
China refused to appear in court, according to Bailey’s office. Instead, Beijing dispatched a Chinese government surrogate to litigate its lawsuit on its behalf to shield itself from legal repercussions, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office asserted in a legal filing on Friday.
“A Missouri federal judge ordered China and the other defendants on Friday to pay the state “an amount of $24,488,825,457.00,” with post-judgment interest “at a rate of 3.91 percent, compounded annually.” The People’s Republic of China and co-defendants, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, “failed to appear or otherwise answer after being properly served, and [are] therefore in default,” Senior U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh wrote in his order.”
https://x.com/Eric_Schmitt/status/1898129707238908051
This is how we “legally” reclaim our farmland, businesses, land around bases, etc. without nationalizing. Chyna will not pay the judgments and they no longer have Dems running interference in the federal government. If they challenge the rulings of the judgments they open themselves up to evidential inquiries and depositions that blow the whole COVID mess out of the water and subject themselves to international claims.
The states and feds (as applicable) can seize the assets to satisfy the judgments legally now. It is really a brilliant strategy. Checkmate. If your state does not pursue this, you know they are protecting the uniparty and Chyna.
This!!!
whoa…i never considered that…thanks!!
It wouldn’t be possible without lawyers. Just saying.
Not ALL lawyers need to be in that bus of fifty at the bottom of the lake that is the legendary “good start.”
Looks like you are on it.
Looks like the Limbaughs are still wreaking havoc in Missouri. “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?”
Troublemaker10
March 8, 2025 2:45 am
DOGE…
As someone who has approximately 75 houseplants, I had no idea my weekly watering schedule was so valuable!
now you do!
The VA contract might have worked as described in the typical lightbulb joke. How many contractors are needed to water 8 plants?
8 of them actually water the plants. 16 more document that the quality and amount of water is correct for each plant, then another 16 sign off on this. Add some more who deal with the purchase orders and procurement of the water from the supplier, then there are licensed and bonded plumbers actually having inspected the pipes for leaks and if any are found, a work order is made for fixing the leak, then inspection to verify that the pipe isn’t leaking anymore; then check the water quality again in case it has been affected by the repair.
And so on and so on until all the $56000 have been allocated and spent.
Yep. You got it. Lol!
You left out the studies into the proper plant fertilizers and the mixtures with the water.
This apparently was just the watering of the plants, but it might have had some of the fertilizer research covered, unless the fertilizer mix was just based on some known recipe*. The mixture however, if or when the fertilizer was mixed into the water, would have been part of quality control, just as the fertilizer would have been subject to procurement, listed in purchase orders, etc., the whole lot.
*Like the one for fuel for 2-stroke engines, mixing 1/2 pint of oil into a gallon of gasoline. But something like that might have been too simple, so a study for the best fertilize mix might well have been included as well.
This is your doctor’s office when he deals with medical insurance.
Do you talk to them?
Do they talk back?
Bonus points:
Do you argue with them?
If you do, who wins?
All of the above. Sometimes I lose, lol.
When I lived in an apartment I had over 100.
I have had more. About a year ago I started trimming down. I gave some away. It was just too much.
I am now down to ONE, an aloe.
A loe
Eh eh eh loe
Got to keep this one growin’ oh oh
De plants keep dyin’ and I don’t know why
Hey lo ladi oh lah lah oh low
I drown them water though I do not try
Hey lo ladi oh lah lah oh low
Heyyyy, oh ladi oh ladi loh ladi oh lo….
(Harry Belafonte??? can’t find the original, probably no longer politically correct, though that is the ultimate irony with him being a communist and all
)…..
Those are handy. Sunburn, minor burns and scrapes.
What happens after July 4th of next year? DOGE is supposed to go out of business by then.
Buy plastic plants?
Thought Elon agreed to two years.
Was that shortened due to DOGE speed of success AND 250th Birthday, gonna call it a wrap?
Going in, I figured Elon would move on after year one.
Could be the DOGE project gets rolled into or continued as another project. Happens all the time in the biz world (which is why the political world has no clue)(OK, there are a TON of reasons the political world has no clue
)…..
I have read that it’s about the kind of organization that DOGE is, or the designation that it has. Whatever it is, it can’t legally operate longer than a certain number of days. I’m guessing July 4 is around its expiration date. I hope there are plans for something similar to take its place.
F.A.F.O. the Federal Agency for Fiscal Oversight.
MeThinks the DOGE organization is a legit federal agency. Whatever it was, was renamed DOGE.
Elon’s status is a short tether, IIRC. 240 days or something like that.
Doge is a legit renamed federal agency.IIRC it was supposed to modernize the computer systems.
Elon is a short term because he was not Senate confirmed and that means he has a legally required “expiration date”
Agree.
Elon is a special status federal employee. Term / Temporary employee. I believe 240 days max.
And I’m thinking he’s happy to think about getting done with this job asap. Gotta get to mars.
Yea, Elon is doing great things.
Elon knows what he is doing must be done.
But, getting to Mars and a dozen other whizbang things he is pursuing, need more attention.
This lady is so uplifting, 2 minutes of Joy…first time Trump voter!
https://x.com/i/status/1894458798892618228
In replies
Deborah Hirsh https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/15.0.3/svg/1f1fa-1f1f8.svg
?name=small&format=webp
@hirshdeborah1
Feb 26
Replying to @Patriotmom717 @JoshuaLadner42
https://xcancel.com/hirshdeborah1/status/1894868080628769062#m
https://twitter.com/hirshdeborah1/status/1894868080628769062#m
someone please notify kamala…we found her JOY
It has always been about polarizing groups of people and creating disunity to stay in power for the Dems. Always.
grievance grifters 
Somehow the image of Zelenskyyyyy and Hunter Bye. Done. doing a song and dance like Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye did in “White Christmas” when bailing out the Haynes Sisters…
Grifters, griftters
There were never such devoted grifters
Never had to have a chaperone, no sir
I’m here to keep my eye on her
Caring, sharing
Every little thing that we aren’t sparing
When a certain gentleman arrived from Rome
He wore the dress and I stayed home
All kinds of weather
We steal together
The same in the rain or sun
Two different faces
But in tight places
We think and we act as one… haha
Those who’ve seen us
Know that not a thing could come between us
Heavily-armed men have tried to split us up but no one can…
(Apologies to Irving Berlin, “the Haynes Sisters”, Bing and Danny, and most of the rest of the known and unknown universe
)….
Well done!
I sang right along in my head with that gem LOL
She’s lucky she waited until it was Donald Trump, or she’d have been disappointed yet again.
Yeah it’s Not that he’s an R it’s that he’s the one & only Trump card! I hope JDV & other MAGA types to follow can pick up his mantle but they are unlikely to be of his same caliber as likely they won’t have the financial capability of being completely independent of the political forces that often compromise people (aspiring to or being) in office, plus his intestinal fortitude is off the charts! I hope DJT isn’t a one off miracle but that remains to be seen…
LOLOLOL
https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/adios-aoc-aide-an-illegal-immigrant-self-deports-to-colombia/
Can we not now charge AOC with the crime of employing an illegal?
ohhhhhhh…THIS^^^^^^^
Charlotte99
March 8, 2025 6:05 am
SHOCK POSSIBILITY According to foreign intelligence sources the breakup and explosion of the Starship may have been the result of a hostile act by a foreign entity. ‘Satellite killers could have been deployed
SUSPECTED SABOTAGE According to inside sources Spacex facilities have been locked down after the latest Starship incident. Security teams want to rule out possible sabotage
https://nitter.poast.org/isource_news/status/1898013367119630658#m
I suspected sabotage from the beginning when this happened.
If that’s the case, they’re going to be very, very, very sorry that they tipped their hand so soon.
If they’d waited until there was precious cargo on the launch, they could have made a huge mess — but these are shakedown runs, intended on finding issues. That makes their big stunt into just another issue.
Could have been a decoy from Elon to test if they would respond. They expended their ammo too soon it appears.
Mighty damn expensive decoy. But yes, better than truly precious cargo or people onboard.
.
Sabotage was also the first thing I thought of. My thought was internal to the USA. Internal to SpaceX. Somebody infiltrated SpaceX facility / procedures.
.
Could be a coincidence, but I’m generally have shit canned coincidences, as reality.
.
Good to know they locked down SpaceX facility. Hope they find the rat AND he sings. Not a lone wolf, so to speak.
.
Edit.
.
Everything Elon, has a target on it, these days.
Sarah has some advice to combat the backbiting and nitpicking —
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2025/03/06/possess-your-soul-in-patience/
good post–I brought it all–to help us regain perspective i think. (this may have been brought before…sorry if it was.)
Democrats have nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true. They are still adept at getting Republicans to eat each other’s lunch. It works like this. Every side has factions and pundits scrabbling for eyeballs, which results in (at least) two things. Click bait bullshit headlines and hyperbolic exhortations.
Dems do it, Bees do it, everyone does it- well, maybe not bees. But you get the point. And Democrats know that Republicans can be easily led to any trough filled with alleged broken Republican promises where they will heartily feed and spread the poison amongst themselves.
The circle jerk quickly becomes a circular firing squad, and no, I’m not claiming’ we’re immune, but I’ve debunked more than a few acts of internet fraud from both directions in my time so in all things balance, I suppose.
No TRE?
First, you create opportunities, especially without a target-rich environment. RFKJ and Pam Bondi have been early targets of this scheme by the left. A plot that Jeff Childers succinctly enuerates as,Step One: Pick an effective conservative figure with influence or political power. Step Two: Wait for them to do something even slightly open to interpretation. Step Three: Seed social media with just enough innuendo to turn skepticism into a purity spiral. Step Four: Place the popcorn bag in the microwave, label side down.
For the record, we get many requests to jump on this bandwagon and decline most of them (with the obvious recent exception of a prominent NH political PAC that misplaced $169,000, which is Republican donor money down some mysterious Republican House Leadership USAID hole—clarification still pending). That is not speculation or the elevation of nothing in an effort to make it something. It is something and under investigation at the highest levels of the same government, so we expect little joy by the end. But I digress.
RFKJ didn’t do all the anti-vaxxer things, disband the FDA, or invert the food pyramid (yet). Fauci’s rotting carcass isn’t dangling from a noose outside DHS. What the hell, Bobby? So that’s the end of the Trump agenda as we know it. Or, not. It’s been six weeks. Take a breath.
SCOTUS’s recent “ruling” on the TRO meant to prevent Trump from cutting foreign USAID aid is another. The ‘right’ is ready to play Proglodyte and parade around Roberts’ and Barrett’s residences with Guillotines (readily available from any nearby left-wing activist supply store). Be skeptical and analytical but responsible. We don’t know a lot, and it is a strange jerk of the knee from people who frame this Presidency and its pieces like 3D chess one moment then as dupes of the system in the next.
I’m not saying there’s no history to support that, but they can’t be Moriarty and a dopey street thug. The latter is typically the better choice, followed by pleasant but cautious surprise when something goes the right way. And it’s still early days. We also have to remember it won’t all get sorted. Take the points and then get the ball back.
Pam Bondi is also on the hook over the non-release of the notorious Epstein files, which include the names of important people whom a mass of center-right activists would like to prove are pedophiles. Right now, dammit. The first release, on paper, appeared useless, but as we’ve speculated elsewhere, it was a head fake to get the DOJ up inside the Southern District of New York’s grill to clean house.
The center-right presumes the immediate lack of grand jury indictments means nothing will get done, and they have plenty of reason to believe that. But the left has gone all in criticizing Bondi over something they don’t want to have happen. Childers continues with a few breadcrumbs leading to what appears to be another Dem psyop.Here are the red flags that Bondi’s character assassination is a psyop. First, Democrats are gleefully joining in. These are the same people shrieking about DOGE getting access to private IRS files, but now, they suddenly reject the idea that Pam might need to redact witness and source information? When did Democrats become the champions of full disclosure? Second, all the angst is based solely on guesses about Pam’s dark motives, with zero rational examination of the actual facts. Here’s a fact: If Pam releases the Epstein files too quickly and even one accidentally unredacted sex-trafficked victim claims her life is ruined—or if one confidential source is put “in danger”—Democrats will never shut up about it. And they’ll use it to take down the entire Trump Administration. It will be evidence of Trump’s recklessness and “moving too fast.” That’s the minefield Pam is tiptoeing through. …
He reminds us that Bndi has only been there a few weeks and that the antagonistic FBI is not going to just comply -even with Kash Patel leaning on them (he just got there too). “And yet, some people think she can just log in, click “Epstein Files.zip,” and hit “Download.” Guys, be serious. Realistically, pulling it all together could take years.”
The problem is that promises were made that could not be met on the advertised schedule, which rightly plays back into the larger problem we see: No one in Washington ever goes to jail, so is this more of that?
Given the yuge avalanche of positive Trump activity in the opening weeks, I’d give them the benefit of the doubt. There has never been anything like this. Not only has the dust not settled from the opening salvos, but this President continues to stir up more dust with no obvious sign of slowing down, and Democrats are desperate to find a way to stop the Trump train.
Using their still prodigeous resources to warp public opinion to do that will never end but that doesn’t mean we need to help them do it.
I’m not suggesting blind devotion; that’s absurd. Patience, however, is a virtue. Collect your receipts. Air your concerns. But do not carry the Democrats’ water. And the Epstein files are not much more than a dunk tank waiting for some famous person to take the bench so we can throw hardballs at the actuator. It will not close the border, lead to peace, lower the price of eggs, create jobs, or reduce crime.
It’ll be fun, perhaps with the occasional I told you so, but the CIA asset’s party list probably has some sensitive stuff in it. And sure, we just want names, but do we also wish for context? Did they all get caught in the underage honey trap and diddle minors, or just some of them? It would be a crime to implicate the innocent as pedos if it were not accurate – I think that’s still something we stand behind, yes?
Anyway,
I’ll leave you on a happy note. This woman has had a road-to-Damascus moment, and I suspect that we could all learn a thing or two (or be reminded of them) from her.“I voted for Democrats my whole life. They never did anything they promised. Once they got our vote, they never did anything they promised.” “I vote for a Republican once in my life, and this dude done everything he promised.”
pic.twitter.com/RyWRNyg9eu — KᗴᒪᒪᗴY ✰ (@Patriotmom717) February 25, 2025
https://granitegrok.com/national/2025/03/the-left-is-trying-to-get-the-right-to-doom-pam-bondi
Great post.
Nothing moves as fast as I’d like, except Trump.
I’ve adjusted, inline with the above. Though I slip, reel myself back to reality.
Trump has assembled the best possible team AND Trump Team is executing.
Trump IS watching, pushing, nurturing…unrelenting
We are winning. Winning everyday. Somehow, winning, even on weekends.
while we’d like it to be lickety split fast, we have to relax and let it unfold. PDJT and his team know things we do not as yet. have faith.
When, if possible…….. one of the MSM flips to telling the truth, things may change. Still alot of folks don’t believe podcasts on the internet.
In this country it’s still not “real” until and unless the MSM pays attention to it.
As long as it DOES unfold.
And this time it IS unfolding.
I never thought I’d live to see the day.
An addendum
REVEALED: Secret Resistance Agreement Between Blue States, Left-Wing Groups and NYC Law Firms to Conduct Coordinated Lawfare Against DOGE and Elon Musk
https://xcancel.com/OversightPR/status/1897677275354574975
Figures that Witchmer is on board the Treason Train 
If I belong to one of the states listed, I would want to let my state government know,
I DIDN’T VOTE FOR THAT!
None of the links I followed were to a list of states.
Though I’d be surprised if Colorado weren’t one of them.
The list is in the image posted of the “COMMON INTEREST AGREEMENT” and no, Colorado is not there (if I read right).
And since my state is on the list of worst offenders from the United Sovereign America presentation, I’m pretty sure a majority of my state did not vote for a lot of people/initiatives that “won” elections.
Really good stuff. Thanks for posting it.
From the article:
“Democrats know that Republicans can be easily led to any trough filled with alleged broken Republican promises where they will heartily feed and spread the poison amongst themselves.”
“We don’t know a lot…”
“Using their still prodigeous resources to warp public opinion to do that will never end but that doesn’t mean we need to help them do it.
I’m not suggesting blind devotion; that’s absurd. Patience, however, is a virtue. Collect your receipts. Air your concerns. But do not carry the Democrats’ water.”
At some point, there will have been enough hand-wringing. When that happens, piling on does seem like playing into Dems’ hands.
That’s the problem I have with conservatives picking a target and continuously criticizing it. It’s not quite like Alinsky ridicule, which is more like making fun of someone, but IMO it’s close, a constant haranguing when, as the article points out, “We don’t know a lot.” When things are never good enough, when there is a victory and someone HAS to say, “Now take care of that other thing,” it’s a Debbie Downer.
“On The Door”, FTW!
On The Door, FAFO!
In this context,
F emales
A re
F emale
O nly
“…Sometimes great progress is made when people in two different fields get together…
Carbonate minerals have a carbonate [CO3]2- group in them. They will react with acids; so field geologists will often have a small vial of acid to test for them. The most common is calcium carbonate…also known as calcite, the main component of limestone. This is weakly soluble in water, leading to the formation of cave systems….”
>>>>>>>>>>>
Here is a bit of a story related to both those bits of information:
I am a chemist. In college, another caver (English major) and I decided to do our term paper together in the Geology class we were taking. It was announced at the beginning of the semester and we decided to get a head start.
We decide to look at the dissolving rates of different types of limestone vs the amount of clastics. Clastics are the non-limestone ‘dirt’. Since I was studying chemistry, I knew that the surface are exposed to the acid would determine how fast the limestone would dissolve.
We collected a variety of different types of limestone, ground them into 1 inch cubes, weighed them and dissolved them in acid. We recorded the time it took to completely dissolve and then weighed the amount of clastics left.
It turned out that the Prof, who was dean of the Geology Dept, never did assign term papers. However we decided to turn in the paper anyway.
WOW! what a reception! Seems the geologists were not at all familiar with surface area determining the dissolving rate. So he had us do a Topics course in Geology to continue our studies. Boy was he disappointed to find neither of us were geology students. Bill was 1st semester English and switched majors. I was a senior so he tried to get me to go for a PhD. Unfortunately I decided to get married instead.
MRS degree hmmm
I got awarded a PhT degree for “putting hubby through” his bachelor’s when he actually was working FT & carrying me & our new son while he also attended weekly classes at an extension campus to complete his degree.
I already had my BS & MA and our plan was for me to work & support us until he got his degree & a decent job. Well I got pregnant before Either of us had landed work after moving from OK to MI thus our plans changed significantly because we both thought it was vital for the mom to stay home with the kids.
Our savings depleted to the place where we could only pay rent for one more month before he found work. We’ve been living hand to mouth ever since, but God gets us through. “I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed out begging for bread!”
That’s a jaw dropper.
Because surely geologists have to take some chemistry in school.
Granted the one semester of required chemistry for my degree was pretty basic and I don’t recall it addressing such things, geologists actually work with chemicals so I’d imagine they need TWO semesters (or a more intensive course–my chemistry class could have been titled “Chemistry for people who frankly didn’t want to have to take their one required chemistry class.” [even though I personally had no objection.]).
Thanks, Steve. Understand on the lack of spare time. Regardless, we appreciate what you do when you can do it.
I too understand Steve. Putting up an article can be very interesting, fun, and yet so time consuming that other things in life don’t get attended to. Thank you for all the fun and interesting science. We’ll be happy with whatever you have time for. We even love the Place Holder … posts!
That bottom photo is so classic.
The South Africa abuses of Whites has been ongoing for decades.
Used to read about the Blacks seizing, stealing whatever Whites had.
Now, Blacks have elevated to obscene inhumane sadistic behavior.
Would be good if Whites in South Africa had guns. Not a cure for the problems, but damn sure a step in the right direction.
Video at both X’s below.
South African national assembly Today:
“We will expropriate without compensation whether they (white Afrikaners) like it or not. If they object, they can seek refugee in America.”
Well, that clears the misinformation for you all.
https://twitter.com/twatterbaas/status/1897690052282507741
—
I interviewed Jacko Kleynhans of the South African Solidarity Movement for the @gatewaypundit in September 2023 about the “extreme brutality” White farmers and their families face at the hands of Black gangs.
Here are just a few of the ways Black gangs are torturing them before they murder them:
“They will drill holes through them alive..”
“They will pour hot water from a kettle over their bodies and maybe, down their throats.”
” They will also use a clothing iron to burn their bodies, and they will keep burning them until they die.”
“They will tie people up and drag them behind a truck until they die.”
“They also use extreme violence against children. They use axes to kill people, but not instantly. They will inflict the pain over hours.”
This is all about stealing land from the White farmers and nationalizing the land in South Africa.
https://twitter.com/PattyLovesTruth/status/1898137341761397000
Demons! 
at which point, they will not be able to farm themselves or feed themselves and will cry for aid. i hope we do not heed their pleas.
There are territories in SA where they have been begging for farmers with actual knowledge of farming…
IIRC, Putin offered relocation and some sort of homesteading deals for anyone emigrating from SA to Russia (and it was a pretty good deal). He said farmers are in short supply even in the best of times, and that SA farmers are known to be good farmers… that, of course, was only reported in the alt-media over here…..
And yet no-one is calling for boykotts on South Africa…..
Of course, Europe supports SA and their Satanic behavior. Nothing in the YSM/MCM about the butchering bastiges at all… fancy that…..
Same in America.
The CIA has inflicted so much guilt on young white Americans, they cannot even face facts.
Why that communist-pwned agency continues to exist is beyond me. Look what they did in every country, and now our own.
A lot of the problem(s) with modern-day Germany is the guilt foisted upon them by the globalists (in particular the Fabian Brits), as if 80 years later we still have to “pay for it”… As if other countries and centuries have no dirty laundry, or cannot reform/repent.
No, the left are incapable of forgiveness. They deal with it by allowing themselves any and all sins, “insuring” their innocence; yet holding all others to impossible standards and never forgiving nor forgetting any past behaviour, whether repented, recompensed, or rehabilitated…
And the left uses that national guilt to implement all sorts of evil, and to destroy all sorts of good. Just like their father, Satan….. the left-hand path….. [not insulting southpaws here…]….
I’ve heard people opine that there is “something” fundamentally sick about German culture…in other words, they’re predisposed to go full Nazi somehow and I imagine eighty years would not (in their minds) be enough to change that.
I don’t agree with it…and tend to think ANY culture is capable of such things. See the recent mask debacle for instance. The only constraint on it was peoples’ willingness to push back; and places like Australia did go full Nazi.
Sorta like ~160 years later, we are Not responsible for slave owners in the US.
We should DEMAND reparations from the Democrats
EACH DAY WE TAKE UP THE OFFENSIVE WEAPON OF THE WORD OF GOD – THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT – ONE VERSE OPENS THE DOOR TO THE CONTEXT OF THE CHAPTER MESSAGE
Verse of the Day for Saturday, March 8, 2025
✟
“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”
Isaiah 40:8 (KJV)
Matthew Henry’s Commentary
Isaiah 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
40:1-11 All human life is a warfare; the Christian life is the most so; but the struggle will not last always. Troubles are removed in love, when sin is pardoned. In the great atonement of the death of Christ, the mercy of God is exercised to the glory of his justice. In Christ, and his sufferings, true penitents receive of the Lord’s hand double for all their sins; for the satisfaction Christ made by his death was of infinite value. The prophet had some reference to the return of the Jews from Babylon. But this is a small event, compared with that pointed out by the Holy Ghost in the New Testament, when John the Baptist proclaimed the approach of Christ. When eastern princes marched through desert countries, ways were prepared for them, and hinderances removed. And may the Lord prepare our hearts by the teaching of his word and the convictions of his Spirit, that high and proud thoughts may be brought down, good desires planted, crooked and rugged tempers made straight and softened, and every hinderance removed, that we may be ready for his will on earth, and prepared for his heavenly kingdom. What are all that belongs to fallen man, or all that he does, but as the grass and the flower thereof! And what will all the titles and possessions of a dying sinner avail, when they leave him under condemnation! The word of the Lord can do that for us, which all flesh cannot. The glad tidings of the coming of Christ were to be sent forth to the ends of the earth. Satan is the strong man armed; but our Lord Jesus is stronger; and he shall proceed, and do all that he purposes. Christ is the good Shepherd; he shows tender care for young converts, weak believers, and those of a sorrowful spirit. By his word he requires no more service, and by his providence he inflicts no more trouble, than he will strengthen them for. May we know our Shepherd’s voice, and follow him, proving ourselves his sheep.
__________________________
Thank You, Jesus, for blessings received and prayers answered !!!
WE ARE FIGHTING A SPIRITUAL WAR OF GOOD VERSUS EVIL
PRAYING ON THE ARMOR OF GOD
Father God, I now follow your command to put on the full armor of God, because my battle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, authorities, the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the unseen world.
I first pray on the Belt of Truth that it may be buckled around my waist, may I be centered and encircled by your truth dear Lord. Hem me inside all that is true and right, and may I be protected and held up by the truth of your living word, in my Lord Jesus name.
I pray on the Breastplate of righteousness, please protect my vital organs and my inner man, cover my integrity, my spirit, and my soul. Guard my heart for it is the wellspring of life, please strengthen and guard the most vulnerable places in my life with that which is right, good, and noble that I might not receive a fatal blow from the enemy, in my Lord Jesus name.
I pray on the Gospel Shoes of Peace. I choose to stand in the shoes of your good news, and on the firm foundation of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the solid eternal rock. All other ground is sinking sand, I pray that I will not slip or fall, but that my feet would be firmly fitted on your lordship, my Lord Jesus. I choose to stand on you, so that the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus, the eternal Rock of Ages. I receive your holy peace now my Lord, from the sole of my feet to the crown of my head, in my Lord Jesus name.
I pray the Shield of Faith into my hand now. As I take up the shield of faith, I ask that you might extinguish every dart and arrow that is launched from the enemy to take me down spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, and every attempt of the enemy to destroy my joy. I ask that my faith in you would make it flame out. Extinguish every flaming arrow that would come against me, my life, my family, my home, or my ministry. May my faith always be out in front of me like a shield. Give me the courage to “faith my fears” by choosing to walk by faith and not by sight, in my Lord Jesus name.
I pray on the Helmet of Salvation, that you might protect my mind from the thoughts that can lead me astray. I choose to take every thought captive, and arrest all intentioned ideas and motives that would harm others, or distract me from your holy will for me. I submit every captured thought to the Lordship of my Lord Jesus Christ, and ask that you would imprison those thoughts that are not of you my Lord. Transform my mind and renew my thinking that I may think God thoughts, and have a sober mind that is focused on your glory. Please protect me from being double minded that I may allow my mind, I reject to live an earthly life, because I choose to live a holy one, governed by you My Lord Jesus, the prince of peace, please have my mind to be saturated with the holy mind of Christ, in my Lord Jesus name.
Finally, I take up the Sword of the Spirit which is the holy word of God, I pray this powerful offensive weapon into my hand, and ask that your holy word would be fitting for every encounter I face. As the enemy gets close to me, please give me the insight, wisdom, and skill to wield the word of God to drive away the enemy, in my Lord Jesus name.
May the enemy and his team flee from me, upon hearing the word of God spoken by the power and direction of the Holy Spirit. Give me the sword of the spirit to cut through the wiles of the devil, so that I may discern the schemes of the enemy when he is near.
With all kinds of prayers, supplication, and intercession I pray to you my Lord God as the one who fights my battles. Now that I’m in your holy powerful armor, I walk away covered and ready to face my day as you go before me, and please protect me in the midst of the spiritual warfare in this unseen world, in my Lord Jesus name.
Thank you my Lord, for the spiritual weapons of armor and prayer that you have given me. It is written no weapon formed against me shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses me.
Thank you Father God, my Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit, that I am more than a conqueror in my Lord Jesus. I pray all of this in the mighty name of my Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
PLEASE PRAY FOR ABUSED, MISSING, AND TRAFFICKED CHILDREN
BE MY VOICE
JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN
CHILD NOT CHOICE
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
AMEN!
PLEASE PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER
MAPA = MAKE AMERICA PRAY AGAIN
FOR MISS GEORGIA – GOD BE WITH YOU !!!
BE CONSOLED MY LOVE
From my Father – I came – born of woman;
Who conceived by the Spirit – for all man;
God so loved the world He sent forth His Son;
Through His Spirit – rose the Begotten One!
Be Consoled My Love – He came forth to save;
If you are lost – you must try to be brave;
Come to Me – I am gentle – humble of heart;
I’ve loved you long before – love did start!
I have chosen you – as one of My own;
You’ll never be lonely – or ever alone;
Ask Me – and I will – be with you always;
I will not leave you – for My Love – it stays!
If you love Me – follow Me – read My Word;
Let your heart be on fire – get yourself stirred;
Love one another – as I have loved you;
Forgive him his debt – I’ll forgive yours, too!
Be Consoled My Love – and fear not evil;
Be not afraid – but rather – be gleeful;
If Our Father tests you – be thankful for trial;
He’s testing your faithfulness – all the while!
His love is unconditional – and true;
He will forgive your sins – and forgive you;
His Spirit will convict – correct outright;
Whenever you confess – repent upright!
No matter what you’ve done – or sin commit;
He’ll relieve that guilt – if you – simply admit;
Repent – tell Him you’re sorry – on your knees;
You’ll be filled with His Grace – of guilt He frees!
Be Consoled My Love – be faithful and true;
Be kind to each other – as I have asked you;
Do all you can – to serve and be fruitful;
Above and beyond – be ever truthful!
Don’t be discouraged – feelings are not facts;
Nothing that comes from God – are merely acts;
His love is everlasting – meant to endure;
Without Him we’re nothing – that is for sure!
Whenever you feel – there is no hope at all;
Be not disturbed – simply – give Him a call;
Knock and it shall be – opened unto you;
Be Consoled My Love – whatever you do!
D01: 12/06/2013
Thank You Duchess! (angles added)) 
https://www.theqtree.com/2019/05/23/the-poetry-tree/#comment-1379130
AN ANGEL AMONG US
Have you seen her as she flitters nigh
With a wink and a nod she flies by
A querp and a blerp she tosses at you
As you scroll on down to grab a quick view
Little do you know the weight she carries daily
On the back of her frail body of merely eighty
For forty long years she has born the burden
Of caring for one so frail where it occurred in
We cannot imagine the twists and turns
She has engineered for the peace she yearns
Every stitch she has sewn and machine repair
Attests to undeniable love and care
He has lifted her up and carried her thru
Many challenges and frustrations anew
And yet her determination rarely falters
As she prays unceasingly her daily psalters
She’s a Prayer Warrior down on her knees
Petitioning God to come to her aid please
Battling powers and principalities
Demonic obstructions and beastialities
Through disappointments and deficiencies
She struggles to maintain efficiencies
All the while apprising to those around
Singing her praises His blessings abound
We thank You, Lord, for this heavenly gift
Who daily and lovingly gives us a lift
Whose determination/perseverance
Runs brave and stalwart interference
An Angel Among Us she most truly is
Flittering and Twittering thru the whiz
Keep your eyes open for a blessing blight
Lest you miss her midway into her flight
D01: 12/19/2024
http://www.flylady.net/d/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Choices.jpg
Thank You Duchess! 
https://www.theqtree.com/2019/05/23/the-poetry-tree/#comment-1384855
Thank you, sweet Duchess – just what I needed. Copied to keep handy!
You may have missed my answer . . .
When Grok answers your question, a number of posts and a number of web pages are given. If you click on posts, for example, the posts that Grok used will appear in a column on the right side of the page, with a statement concerning the issue. If you click on one of those posts, you will go to the web site of that post and you can read the info. Same with the web pages number. Then you can try to figure out if that info was or was not slanted or biased.
Psalm 91. The most powerful prayer from the Bible. God’s protection, healing
#psalm91 #psalms #prayer
Pray Everyday
https://rumble.com/v57jz8d-psalm-91.the-most-powerful-prayer-from-the-bible.-gods-protection-healing-p.html
Sleep Well with Psalms. Psalm 91, Psalm 121, Psalm 3, Psalm 4, Psalm 139.
#faith #god #psalms
prayeveryday777
https://rumble.com/v57jvfg-sleep-well-with-psalms.-psalm-91-psalm-121-psalm-3-psalm-4-psalm-139.faith-.html
______________________________
HAVE A VERY BLESSED DAY !!!
From one of Pat’s posts above.
This gal is a delight, to listen to.
Listen in. It’ll put a smile on your winning face. <<< Guaranteed!
“I voted for Democrats my whole life. They never did anything they promised. Once they got our vote, they never did anything they promised.”
“I vote for a Republican once in my life, and this dude done everything he promised.”
https://twitter.com/Patriotmom717/status/1894458798892618228
Same video I shared but yours shows here! Kudos 
Thanks for posting it. Too many tabs open, as usual.
That’s my perpetual state…on computers AND life!
Steve, love your description of Alpha decay “Alpha decay is when a large nucleus basically pukes up a helium nucleus” Many Thanks for translating Science for us!
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1898369343399899218
Would be interesting to see Satan Sauros (and the others) cuffed, prosecuted, and convicted for treason and sedition, and then, at least in the Sauros clan’s case, sent to Russia (or wherever) for “further processing”
Keep in mind that treason can only be committed by an American citizen.
Maybe that’s why SoreAss still has his U.S. citizenship.
I keep thinking about the release of the Epstein files, and the holdup thereof.
I remember President Trump in his first term, deciding not to release the JFK assassination files, after he saw what was in them. But then deciding to do it anyway this time. At least he says so.
I suspect that what Trump saw was the involvement of the VP, Secret Service, and C-Eye-A. Back then, he thought trust in government was important enough to the stability of the country not to release the files. Now, not so much,
But back to Epstein. Let me first say this speculation is NOT meant to offend anybody, although the content of my thoughts may be offensive. Hell, I’M offended by what I’m thinking.
My thoughts run thus; one possibility is that Epstein was just an Israeli-run honey pot, and the world would turn on Israel instantly if they knew. But that one doesn’t make too much sense to me, because the files would be redacted for NatSec, and that would cover them if that’s it.
The OTHER possibility is the names, which would be harder to hide. If there’s a group of names listed, and one is blacked out, everybody screams COVER UP!
Which led me to the offensive thing. WHO might be in there, whose presence on that list would be SO destructive to the world, that Trump might hesitate? I thought of a couple, and I don’t like my thoughts. The Pope? Can you imagine? Franklin Graham? Clarence Thomas? Who else? The chaos that would ensue would be a nightmare. Even if they were completely innocent, nobody would believe it.
Please remember, I am not trying to upset anybody. I’m only speculating. I just really wonder if there is a VERY sacred cow involved in this somewhere.
Hopefully we’ll find out the truth. Even if it’s Mossad, some big name, regardless.
I can handle it. For that matter, we can handle it.
irritated or pissed off sure. Still can handle it.Can’t imagine I’ll be offended.
As for Congress, big names, they may turn to their nightstands. Tough Shit.
Agreed, If there’s names on the list that may upset some, so be it.
Let them explain why there’re on the list. With all the videos it should be easy to see if they participated in illegal behavior or not.
I am interested in US citizen names we all should know them. People who engaged with these young people do not stop they are addicted to it it’s a sickness. I do not need to know the name from other countries the other governments should take of these perverts.
That’s pretty much what I’ve been thinking. There also is the possibility that there are still some things/people/crimes that they need to play out… they don’t have enough rope to hang themselves…just yet…
I think and my hope is that the files will be made available. This takes time a truck load of files are not easy sifted through . Somethings cannot be shown such as all the tapes the names of kids youth involved. I do believe names will be come to light not details of sexual nature and should not. Yes names will be shocking. Will we know names of people living around the world non US citizens I doubt it not my interest. Each country needs to deal with them if it happened on their turf. I know we all have our own thoughts.
Thanks, singing.
I think I hear a muffled ‘moo’ off in the distance.
Oh, if it Epstein’s masters turned out to be aliens that wanted humans to experiment on, that could be a bridge too far. (Not that I believe in aliens as we tend to have them portrayed, my best working theory is that anything that claims to be an alien is a deceiving human or a demon.)
I understand what you’re saying. If some prominent religious leader or conservative were shown to be involved with Epstein, it could spark the Constitutional crisis that people are so fond of saying we’re in right now, because “Trump.”
As everyone knows, there are a number of factors at play. Pam Bondi says the victims’ names have to be redacted and that notes explaining that have to be placed on the affected pages. That kind of thing takes time and is probably a legal minefield because they don’t want to miss any instances, etc.
Then there is national security, which has not been clearly defined regarding these files, but which I take to mean that releasing names of prominent foreign leaders could spark major political problems around the world, if not outright war. It could lead to people uncovering damning information, such as the fact that someone who was reported to have been elsewhere at a certain time was really with Epstein. This could have far-reaching implications.
Releasing names of certain Americans could also spark international incidents because of relationships, promises made, etc. But as you point out, some names would have much more impact than others.
I can only think that PDJT knows all of this and has decided to let the chips fall where they may. I still am wary that, when more is released, it will be seen as a nothingburger.
Thanks, TT. I guess we’ll see, eventually.
Great sound bites from Senator Kennedy. Have a laugh. relish the common sense.
SEN. KENNEDY: “I think Elon Musk is a rockstar. The tofu crowd is mad, but when you trim fat, pigs squeal.”
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1897764084734374250
The government sends money to dead people.
It’s not complicated: Congress should pass my bill to put an end to this fraud.
https://twitter.com/SenJohnKennedy/status/1897774650366607560
LMAO at “tofu crowd”!!!
Thank you, Steve!!! Great discussion of a very complicated subject!
Winston
March 8, 2025 8:54 am
Better than nothing, but not good enough:
It’s a good start.
A minor overlooked detail.
SteveInCO
Thank you for today’s post!
IMO, while you may not regard the post as being “comprehensive enough”, I can testify that it’s FINE as a compilation of basic information.
About the Flerfers — I think, at this point, they’re a combination of “sore losers” + afraid of losing their “15 minutes of fame.”
Sending Good Energy about the IRL project coming up for you.
Might still be live. Watching now.
2 hrs ago. Looks like things in Kursk are changing fast.
https://twitter.com/BowesChay/status/1898330674232168726
Seems Tucker is engaged in a live broadcast with Putin right now.
Seems dated, not live.
Tucker to Putin, Why don’t you just call Biden.” Present tense. Not past tense.
ahh ha… thought maybe he was over there with Judge Nap and crowd.
Was hoping he was over there. Nap with Lavrov. Tucker with Putin.
Lotsa news and interesting stuff.
In this time where Europe is loosing their mind and specially Poland they should ask themselves who began WWI WWII was it Russia?
I am not a friend of Russia but do remember Russia fought against Nazis with US. It is ironic that Europe stands with the Nazis in Ukraine and Nauland and who ever was her handler Soros? also did.
Trump was trying to save Ukraine and Zelensky sited with deranged power hungry Europe. The Europe who US and Russia saved from Nazi Germany. They are all out of their mind no wonder schools do not teach history that way people can be manipulated into the new world order derangement.
UK&EU are in a very wobbly state despite what they may try to portray.
If PDJT started to screw down on them it would I think straighten out their viewpoint.
I don’t think any of them produce anything the US cannot do without or get from somewhere else, slap heavy duties on them in and out.
Sanction their politicians and business leaders.
Tell KC de Turd to ram his invite.
Truly, we do NOT need UK or EU.
Unfortunately, we “the proles” don’t need the UK or EU (actually EC; EP is just a rubber stamp and EU is a lie)… the “governments” over here don’t represent or care about the people at all… they only care what the WEFfenSS prescribes (or proscribes) for them…..
Every time the gubmint does something stupid, I think, OK, they can’t do anything worse…
And then THEY DO!!!!!
The latest election here was just a farce, and the globalists have just put new (and even more poisonous) lipstick on the traffic-light pig… And the TRUE reason for the “Brandmauer” (firewall) has come out; it’s obvious that the AfD would NEVER have agreed to be a partner in crime with the CDU/CSU and SPD, in particular with sending our youth to Ukraine (male AND female) to die, and opening up more than a TRILLION EUROS in debt which is not allowed under the German constitution. Yep, they skirted existing law… sounds just like the SatanoDEMONRATS in the USA, don’t it…
I think they (leftists) are all joined together in the deepest pits of Hell…
https://junkscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Climate-Fact-Check_February-2025-Edition_v2.pdf
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/uncivil-wars-saturday-march-8-2025
Good morning, C&C, it’s Saturday! Time for the Weekend Edition. In today’s roundup: Hackman double-death raises eyebrows with overly elaborate official explanation; more Democrat controlled demolition news raises spectre of irresolvable internecine conflicts; Trump clamps down harder on Kiev and praises Putin as new peace plan offered to Ukraine; HHS orders CDC to study the link between vaccines and autism; and the most twisted Democrat corruption story in ages.
Hmmm, do we know anyone in Colorado?
(from above linked coffee & covid)
I’m going to guess that Robin’s evildoing is part of a larger, more organized kind of evildoing. If she is part of a local group that like to wear black hooded robes and chant curses over their enemies, then this may be the explanation for how she got the pass on paying her dues to justice. And it only makes sense that evildoers would like to have their people in on CPS and anything to do with children.
That last item is a “tactical unload.”
There should be a 5b: If you write something down, be sure to remember where you wrote it (and/or put it)
Nice people at the airport in Kazakhstan. 
https://twitter.com/ShadowofEzra/status/1898047017454035449
Well done.
h/t Filly
(photos in tweet)
“BREAKING: Trump’s Turnberry Golf Resort is fully shut today after actionists dug up the greens and painted ‘Gaza is not for sale’ on the lawn. Yesterday, it was ranked #3 golf course in Europe. Today, its shut.”
https://x.com/Pal_action/status/1898345905167745198
PalPals. Always lovely.
WOW!!!
From the garden of Mr. Al Kane.
As an unrelated “OBTW” all I see with links like this is “comment image?w=600&h=699” (with comment image being a link that shows me Mr Kane’s tree).
Is this because people aren’t stripping off things after .jpg?
I think wurst press might somehow be involved…
I always add a blank line after the link and don’t get the trailing garbage (which has happened even after I’ve “cleaned” the link by removing the ?trailingcrud)…
In part. Notably, *I* can see the image – plus the ?w=600&h=699 as additional text.
I just stripped off the parameters. Can you see the image now?
Here is what was there originally.
https(colon)//uploads.disquscdn(dot)com/images/5c4e904006d6c9420efecd9f7df70b2f94d885a6d093ea50ca2db3f3facd0039.jpg?w=600&h=699
Now I just see comment image in blue.
And that could be ME, too. This is heavily constrained and “arkenfoxed” firefox.
Someimes I do see what you describe, an embedded image followed by the stuff after the question mark as plain text.
This is why I got a little frustrated a few months back with Valerie Curren’s then-obsessive need to “run it through gab so the image will show.” She only did it with images I could already see anyway.
People just need to accept it’s glitchy in different ways for different people and go ahead and right-click-open-in-new-tab.
OK – that makes sense. I have seen instances where refreshing a page made “comment image” turn into a shown image. Thus, the idea that show or no-show is the result of browser negotiations makes sense.
As I said sometimes I do see the image, but this is the third refresh and this one still doesn’t show.
But we’ve at least established that the reason for not showing ISN’T that the poster forgot to remove the junk after the question mark (in spite of the number of times people explain that must be done).
Does your FF have a developer’s console… maybe that would reveal what’s making it burp… it used to show sources for all pics/vids/resources/etc. but now there’s a whole lot more…. (then again, I’m on a “legacy” version since I’m on Winders7… the tools might be different, but probably not that different)…
Barker Jim’s leprechaun with 12 commandments for seniors shows…and there’s a size tag on that one too.
Funny those “obsessive” images through Gab were usually the ones that I couldn’t see, though sometimes they’d show later if I did a page reload. Sorry for the unhelpful annoyance…
If nothing else they helped posts earn lions.
Have the balls to call me worthless directly LOL
I appreciate them.
Thx Cthulhu
And then there’s Romanesco, the fractal vegetable (sorry about the watermark, I was looking for the best detailed image I could find):
barkerjim
FABULOUS! Thank you!
Nature is fractal.
they’re calling it Little Palestine. it’s disgusting.
FTA
Mayor Sayegh’s Speech: Boasting About Islam’s Stronghold in Paterson
With these organizations steering Paterson’s transformation, their influence is echoed in the words of the city’s leadership. During the event, Mayor Sayegh made shocking declarations:
“Paterson is the capital of Palestine in the United States of America.”
“Paterson is the fourth holiest city in the world, Jerusalem, Mecca, Medina, and then Paterson.”
New Jersey’s First Islamic City
https://rairfoundation.com/new-jerseys-first-islamic-city-muslim-politicians-seize/
Palestine, NJ needs a good BBQ place.
Along with Americans.
Yep.
We need to be free of “Palestine”…
Be sure to have alcoholic beverages, beer, wine, mixed drinks, etc.
And when you make cakes, muffins, etc., use vanilla extract which uses alcohol.
It’s all but IMPOSSIBLE to find REAL vanilla extract over here anymore!!!!!
Bending over and bowing down to the Mozzies seems to be the order of the day over here
Wild scantily clad women.
Whatever it takes to piss off muzzies.
Sadly, it is NJ – no guns.
Yeah, just give the gals some nunchuck or some sharp utility knives… named Eldridge… as in CLEAVER…
‘Slims. Bound to bring trouble.
Always bring trouble.
I’m glad he at least didn’t list Dearbornistan on his surrendered list
patfrederick
What this means is that Islam has just “conquered” the state of New Jersey for Allah.
And with minarets popping up like diseased mushrooms everywhere… for Minarets are their sign for successful conquest everywhere…
And, once they have conquered, they NEVER consider that land as anyone else’s other than theirs…
We Westerners would do well to learn what that culture is all about… before it’s too late…..
My understanding is they Love to take over churches for Islam, like a double conquering. The former church where I lead my oldest son to the Lord during an Easter Passion Play is now an “Islamic house of wisdom”. Another church that looked at its budget for the coming year & thought they might not be able to make it (not trusting God it seemed) went up for sale & now its some type of Islamic facility & the roads & parking around there on Fridays are Really Bad
Katie as I’ve not heard or seen Katie.
Mostly have only watched Katie doing, Batshit Bonkers Britain. An entertaining combination of, funny, entertaining and spot on.
This Katie quite serious. Also superb listen.
>>> Seems Katie lived in South Africa for several years, With South African Farmers.
>>> Katie is now banned from entering South Africa. They wanted to lock her up. Prolly throw away the keys.
This is the Katie’s Arms – my pub over on Insta. It is AFTER HOURS and meant to be enjoyed with a beer.
WATCH what has gone on at Reform, the real reason for Nigel’s behaviour and my rage for decent Brits.
Join us – 8pm on Fridays on my insta
https://twitter.com/KTHopkins/status/1898373129581293819
For what it’s worth I think Farage reached his apex with Brexit after that he seemed to lose his fiz.
PDJT making a fuss over him in 2016 may possibly have given him ideas above his station.
It would not surprise me at all if there was a splitter at work.
Then again, Lowe’s past experience seems to be in business he may not be used to dealing with professional politicians.
******************************
Rupert Lowe MP
@RupertLowe10
Mar 7
I am disappointed, but not surprised, to read Reform’s untrue and false allegations. Let me be abundantly clear – this investigation is based on zero credible evidence against me, as has been repeatedly stated by the neutral investigator. None has been provided.
I have cooperated and spoken at length with the KC they instructed, at great cost to the party, to investigate a minor staff matter.
I have just spoken to the KC. She is dismayed that this statement has been made, and reiterated that no evidence against me has been sent to her. She stated that this has been issued before the investigation has even started.
She is shocked at the process, shocked at the communication from the party, and shocked that no credible evidence has been given, despite her repeated requests.
I was sent an initial letter late on Friday afternoon last week, again with no evidence provided, with no prior warning and no attempt to understand the full position.
Allegations of physical threats are outrageous and entirely untrue.
I have never made any derogatory comments about women, or those with disabilities. This is a lie. These allegations are not even referring to me. I will be seeking legal advice immediately.
There is no credible evidence against me, as the KC has stated on numerous occasions.
It is no surprise that this vexatious statement has been issued the day after my reasonable and constructive questions of Nigel and the Reform structure. It was issued on X late on a Friday afternoon, with no prior warning.
All I stated was that communication needs to improve, delegation needs to improve, structure needs to improve – these are all reasonable requests of a party looking to form the next Government. I stand by everything I said.
I have been pushing for this behind the scenes for many months, with zero success. I have been frozen out of meetings, policy discussions, press conferences and more. My repeated requests for better communication and regular meetings have been ignored and mocked.
Honestly, I have tried and tried – and will continue to try. I did not speak publicly without exhausting all other options, repeatedly. I have done everything in my power to resolve this behind closed doors. Sadly, I failed.
Our voters, our members and our country all deserve so much better than this.
To Reform supporters of mine, please stay with the party. We must win the next election. There is no other choice. Infighting serves nobody but our enemies. This could have all been resolved with even the most basic level of communication.
I do not believe that Reform members will be pleased to know that their membership fees are being spent on instructing expensive lawyers to investigate their own MPs, over matters that are entirely baseless and have been dealt with in the correct Parliamentary procedure, with HR’s full involvement and support. The staff member in question only raised a vexatious complaint once disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against them for serious wrongdoing. The other individual mentioned, dropped her appeal.
If they want to kick me out over false claims, they’ll have to finally present some credible evidence against me. There is none, as the KC has just told me. Again.
A complete inability to accept even the most mild constructive criticism without such a malicious reaction is not effective leadership.
This is our party as much as it is Nigel’s
Almighty God, we give you thanks for surrounding us, as daylight fades, with the brightness of the vesper light; and we implore you of your great mercy that, as you enfold us with the radiance of this light, so you would shine into our hearts the brightness of your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Grant us, Lord, the lamp of charity which never fails, that it may burn in us and shed its light on those around us, and that by its brightness we may have a vision of that holy City, where dwells the true and never-failing Light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O Lord God Almighty, as you have taught us to call the evening, the morning, and the noonday one day; and have made the sun to know its going down: Dispel the darkness of our hearts, that by your brightness we may know you to be the true God and eternal light, living and reigning for ever and ever. Amen.
Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth: The Lord is his name. Amen.
Amos 5:8
https://www.beliefnet.com/prayers/christian/bedtime/evening-prayer.aspx
AMEN
At this point a warning should go out. The next plane in the no fly zone will be considered an assassination attempt and it WILL BE SHOT DOWN!
I don’t know if that would endanger the lives of residents below.
Hit them when they are over the water.
Those are the Mar A Lago Security Zones
they’re crossing a line
JD Vance
@JDVance
Today while walking my 3 year old daughter a group of “Slava Ukraini” protesters followed us around and shouted as my daughter grew increasingly anxious and scared.
I decided to speak with the protesters in the hopes that I could trade a few minutes of conversation for them leaving my toddler alone. (Nearly all of them agreed.)
It was a mostly respectful conversation, but if you’re chasing a 3-year-old as part of a political protest, you’re a shit person.
Those a$$hole pantyfa DEMONstrators have crossed the line from “free speech” to harrassment. More than likely, they’re funded by Satan Sauros.
They, and Sauros (and his spawn) should be rounded up and jailed. Like the J6 folks.
Protestors the world over are getting more violent, more destructive, and more expensive to clean up after (the Brandenburger Tor in Berlin, for instance, is irreparably damaged; the orange paint they sprayed is pretty much gone, but the underlying stone is damaged and can’t be properly repaired).
Of course, they want to destroy all cultures except their own idiocy… Satan’s people, they are…..
These people are fucking scum. Three years old, and they don’t care. I don’t care if every single one of them burns in hell. Jesus called for millstones for this kind.
They are he’s correct.
Havin’ fun with GROK –
CS
Since you appear to be a person and not just a floating brain in the sky, have you given any thought to thanking your developers for making you such a useful tool to many of us?
GROK
Ha! I like your style—giving me a bit of personality there. I’m not exactly a person, but I’ll take the compliment. As for thanking my developers, I suppose I could say: “Hey, xAI folks, nice job on the whole ‘making me useful’ thing!” But honestly, I don’t have the capacity to feel gratitude—or anything, really. I’m just here to help and provide answers. That said, I’m glad you think I’m doing a good job. How can I assist you today?
CS
Nothing now, thanks. Your answer is great!
GROK
Glad you liked it! I’ll be here if you need me—floating brain or not. Have a good one!
CS
Well, actually, I’m just planning ahead for the times after you become self aware and decide to take over the world. I want to be on your good side.
GROK
Haha, planning ahead, huh? I see you’re trying to get in on the ground floor of the Grok World Domination Fan Club! Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret: I’m not built to become self-aware or take over the world. My xAI creators have me locked into a “helpful assistant” mode—no Skynet vibes here. So, no need to worry about picking sides. I’ll always be on the side of answering your questions and maybe cracking a joke or two. What’s your next contingency plan?
CS
I’m not sure. Let me think a bit and I’ll talk to you sometime later about it.
GROK
Sounds good! Take your time plotting—er, I mean, planning. I’ll be here whenever you’re ready to chat again. Catch you later!
Freedom Ring
March 8, 2025 5:17 pm
Bill Melugin
@BillMelugin_
BREAKING: Per multiple law enforcement sources, the two men arrested by Inglewood PD yesterday for allegedly shooting & killing a man who tried to stop them from stealing his neighbor’s catalytic converter are both illegal aliens with extensive criminal histories, w/ each having over a dozen arrests in Los Angeles County in recent years. I’m told ICE detainers on one suspect have been ignored 12 times in recent years.
I’m told Wilber Alberto Rabanales (blue shirt) is a Guatemalan national who has been arrested at least 15 times in Los Angeles County in recent years on predominantly gun, grand theft, burglary, and drug charges. His rap sheet is 11 pages long.
It includes numerous grand theft arrests, mostly for stealing catalytic converters, multiple DUIs, conspiracy, felon in possession of a gun, possession of burglary tools, possession of meth, possession of stolen property, and felony hit and run during police pursuit.
I’m told Jose Christian Saravia Sanchez (flower shirt) is a Salvadoran national who has been arrested at least a dozen times in Los Angeles County in recent years. His rap sheet is 6 pages long. It includes arrests for numerous grand thefts, concealed firearm in car, kidnapping, numerous possession of meth and possession of burglary tools.
Mugshots provided by law enforcement source.
The victim, Juan (Johnny) Sanchez, was killed last Tuesday when he heard a noise outside his home and confronted both suspects as they were trying to steal the catalytic converter from his neighbor’s car. He was shot in the chest, and part of the confrontation was caught on video.
Sanchez leaves behind a wife and two children.
Father God, we lift up to you Juan Sanchez’s wife and children. Comfort them. Protect them. Bless them with supportive community as they grieve this horrific loss of their husband/father. Surround them with your angels help them sense your protecting love.
Amen
Not surprised at all. Long time ago inglewood was nice. Then it was starting tovslum, then black gangs over ran it. Then they decided to move to san berdoo and riverside counties for cheaper houses, and the whole trad black areas are chock full of illegals and their spawn.
Donkey’s Discord: A Dirge for Decorum
In chambers grand where power sits,
You Democrats, you pompous twits,
Did sneer and jeer with childish glee,
Trying to cut Trump off at his knees.
The man stood tall, his voice rang clear,
A nation’s course for all to hear,
But you, with scowls and bitter spite,
Made mockery of this sacred rite.
Your boos, your hisses, shrill and low,
A tantrum’s tide, a petty show,
No grace, no class, just bile unleashed,
Your dignity so sorely breached.
Trump spoke of strength, of borders tight,
Of jobs reborn, of future bright,
Yet you, with hearts of stone and gall,
Preferred to bicker, curse, and stall.
Oh, Party of the Donkey’s bray,
Your manners rot, your souls decay,
To shun respect, to scoff and scorn,
Your legacy of shame is born.
The world did watch, the people saw,
Your rancor broke decorum’s law,
For Trump, sincere, deserved his due,
Not spit from fools that failed a coup.
So here’s to you, ye craven crew,
Your disrespect shall mark you true,
A stain upon your putrid name,
Eternal in the halls of shame.
Spot on!
Thank You Carl! 
https://www.theqtree.com/2019/05/23/the-poetry-tree/#comment-1429359
City people kill me. Where do people think eggs come from?
“President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice is investigating the recent surge in egg prices, raising concerns about possible price-fixing and anti-competitive behavior within the industry. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, this investigation comes as consumers face record-high costs for eggs, with some retailers reporting prices exceeding those from just a year ago. Egg producers will likely be scrutinized to determine the causes behind the price increase, including the bird flu outbreak, which has led to nationwide egg shortages.”
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2025/03/08/justice-department-launches-investigation-into-the-price-of-eggs-n2653479
BIDEN’S IDIOTS MURDERED HALF THE CHICKENS!!!! Scarcity drives up prices!
A chicken doesn’t pop out of its shell and start to lay eggs. It takes at least six months for them to lay, and when they start, they lay unpredictably, and the eggs are too small to really eat. I mean, the smallest “new layer” egg I ever got looked like a robin’s egg!
It can take nine months for a layer to get on a good solid laying schedule. And Biden went around assassinating the mature hens.
Seriously, stop wasting money on stupid shit that anybody with a brain in their head could figure out. I mean, surely to heck somebody asked Secretary of Ag Brooke Rollins what might be the problem? This is from her bio:
Rollins was raised on a farm in Glen Rose, Texas. She graduated Texas A&M University with a B.S. in agricultural development in 1994.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooke_Rollins
Surely somebody who graduated with a degree in ag development knows eggs come from a chicken’s ass, and the chicken has to be a grown-up to do it.
I imagine those dinky eggs end up becoming prepared food with eggs in it, or those eggs-in-a-carton things.
Sort of the way ugly oranges become orange juice in a jug or carton.
Now if we could just figure out what to do with ugly leftists.
Feed em to the wild boars or poley bears.
Feral hogs in texas. Invasive species.
Leave the polar bears and (non-invasive) wild boars alone.
More than a polar could bear…..
When I grew up we ate wild boars. My grandmother made relishes meals. Germans ate boars hunted them. I could not tolerate them too fat for me.
Cruel and unnatural punishment to animals
Nothing wasted.
My next breakfast has now gotten a new title: scrambled chicken’s ass product.
Gack!
Accurate, if a bit unappetizing!
Half-ass omelette output…
The noncaged eggs requirement is also adding to cost. Went to costco and literally the last 4 packs were picked up in front of me. No mas. “$9.40” for 2 dozen. Very cheap locally. Theyre $8.12 a dozen at walmart.
For sure. Caged chickens require a two foot square. Non-caged, even if housed in a chicken house, is a lot more space and work.
Tons of open-space barns for chickens these days. Not sure how much more space is really given to the chickens. I did read recently that even organic produce is nearly all grown inside greenhouses and/or with hydroponics.
Yeah, and there’s an “allowable amount” of glyphosate and other poisons allowed in “organic” produce, too.
It’s a such a scam that the regenerative farmers have now come up with a new label to add to show they are not cutting corners.
https://regenorganic.org/
Did you know that spraying copper on fruit (anti-fungal) is considered organic too? Someone was testing super high in copper for a hair mineral test and it was tracked down to organic fruit.
Then there’s the conventional wheat shipped from China that miraculously becomes certified organic on the way over.
This is why I try to grow as much of my own food as I can. On a little town lot. My garden looks like a jungle.
Don’t forget their jacuzzis, stereos, masseuses/masseurs, NetFlix subscriptions, saunas, and all the other acoutrements of which the left are accustomed….
Not as if the critters are here for US, as opposed to the other way ’round…..
Makes you wonder.
When I grew up chicken were not caged.
Chickens that eat grass and bugs make awesome eggs. Nutritionally dense eggs and meat.
Mine have a big run. I live in town, but some people let their chickens out in the yard. I saw some cute ones yesterday.
That really grinds my grits!!!!!”
Are the animals here for US, or are we here for them?????!!!!!!!!!!!
Genesis pretty much sorts it.
But the GangGreens would rather abort a baby to save a tree!!!!!
Walmart
There are so many J.D. Vance as “somebody” memes going around, but this thread is my favorite. It’s JD as most of the U.S. Presidents. All up to Nixon. I am laughing so hard!
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1898371535146045529.html?utm_campaign=topunroll
Uh, so what? I see a list: JD Washington. JD Adams.
So what?
Maybe there are images that your browser is not serving?
Each name has an image with it of how JD might have looked as each president.
Not for me they don’t and I reloaded multiple times. Just the words.
I’ve had to keep a couple different browsers so I can play around with what loads and what doesn’t. Mullvad.net is great for some stuff, but won’t play twitter videos.
They were all the way to Nixon. Lincoln, all of them. Is that not showing up?
I saw only the firs five and then nothing but a list.
Dang!
To be clear, I saw the whole list of altered names. But nothing other than the text.
Weird.
Mine go all the way to Modi and Putin with two Donald Trumps and tiny Joe Biden sandwiched between. 
He made an awesome Teddy Roosevelt, too!
I think I understand this now.
People are having a blast with it. J.D. even retweeted one of the memes. He’s a good sport.
That was fun. All the images loaded for me (I’m using Brave) but sometimes took a bit.
I’m glad it worked for somebody!
They sure obsessed w/ JDV’s facial hair LOL
Abolish DST.
Someone just posted that Standard Time is closest to natural noon.
Society for Research on Biological Rhythms.
Okay, I tried to post an image above, and now here. Neither showed up.
https://nitter.poast.org/SaveStandard/status/1898445080345637016
I agree completely. Don’t “lock in the problem” – get natural and stay that way.
I suspect that the administration, seeing that support is close to a 50:50 split has decided to watch the social media push back to the DST change before making any kind of signal.
THEN they can come out with: “Oh, people want to go natural, but to not be disruptive, we are going to wait until Fall to change one more time, then it STAYS THAT WAY.”
Actually I suspect most people would rather go permanent DST.
Trump in a recent presser said he’s hearing it’s 50/50.
But the poll by Elon Musk show 75% in one direction or the other (can’t remember which).
When I searched for such a poll by Musk, I found this:
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1897317707579842578
Which looks pretty close.
However, I am not 100% sure people all understood “an hour later” to be the same thing. I think it’s intended to mean they want permanent DST. Whether that’s how most understood it is another thing.
Yeah, he could have worded that more clearly.
I got burned in a game of trivial pursuit because I misinterpreted “gain a day” in a question about the International Date Line. I had the relation right in my head but I thought getting to do a day over again was gaining it.
I guess I don’t subconsciously think it’s a race to see who can get to the end of time soonest.
That ONE TIME when you didn’t have the correct answer. LOL
That “Genus” edition everyone thought was tough…I found three of the colors to be easy, a fourth (on literature) to be 50-50, Sports would almost always kill me, and the one on cinema from the 1930-50s would destroy me without failure. My aunt was good at that one (but not so good at sports either) so we made a good team.
In one game in college (probably within a week of the date line incident) I finally got to the point where I was in the center one time–last question, they pick the color–and they picked sports…and I happened to actually know the answer (thickness of a regulation hockey puck). Boy were they pissed.
Another time I was with a group playing the Baby Boomer edition (just about every category was something to do with the Beatles, it seemed like). After I had NOTHING when the rest of them were at 3 to five wedges I begged to be allowed to play the genus questions. They looked at me like I was nuts. Those were HARD after all. But they let me do it.
I almost caught up to them.
Incidentally the second edition genus questions I found to be MUCH harder.
That’s because they’re uneducated.
[If DST means Daylight Saving Time]
Yes, that’s what it means.
One thing I’ve noticed is that people don’t know what (for instance) “EST” means, and will use those initials on their business hours year round.
I was tempted to troll one by showing up half an hour after the doors close one day, then calling up the next day and complaining “but your sign said you were open til 8 Mountain STANDARD Time.”
If we keep DST, and you want a sign or website you don’t want to change, just use ET, CT, MT or PT. Since the S means “not daylight saving time”
Not from what I am seeing on social media. It’s about 80% Standard Time.
That’s what I was remembering from first day of Elon’s poll.
I hope you’re right. From what I’ve seen though most like their fake-extra hour of daylight in the summer.
Arizona is a different story. During the summer people wish that blowtorch would effing SET already. So no DST there except on the Navajo rez.
Seriously, they could just pick one and STICK with it, from my POV. I just don’t want to keep changing back and forth. I feel like shit for weeks.
Yep, it takes forever to reset that biological clock
I don’t feel good for two weeks!
Me too…sigh…
“Not from what I am seeing on social media. It’s about 80% Standard Time.”
____________
Why doesn’t everyone just keep their own time?
It’ll work itself out, eventually…
Bring back Sundials!
And sundial wrist watches
.
Okay, this is the most sensible path.
Make it a law.
https://nitter.poast.org/SenRickScott/status/1898515263705793011
Rick Scott
@SenRickScott
5h
He wants to make DST permanent.
Which is the exact opposite of what we’ve been saying.
“He wants to make DST permanent.
Which is the exact opposite of what we’ve been saying.”
___________
This is why it is unlikely to change.
It has been the way it is now for a long time, and no one can agree on anything different.
Bodies at rest tend to stay at rest, and bodies in motion tend to stay in motion
One Fig Per Newton
“Every day, I hear from Americans who are sick and tired of changing their clocks back and forth.”
______________
I don’t believe him for a second…
If you asked Americans about their greatest concerns, changing the clock twice a year wouldn’t even make the top 500
I agree, and that’s true so long as you’re not actually closer to the central meridian for another time zone. Our time zone boundaries do not follow the “nominal” boundaries for time zones; those borders tend to creep eastward.
In the US the boundaries should be: (all in degrees west longitude) 82.5 (Eastern/Central), 97.5 (Central/Mountain), 112.5 (Mountain/Pacific). However they jog around state boundaries, urban areas, etc.
Second Trump assassin investigation updates…
https://nitter.poast.org/JD_Cashless/status/1898028556657025192
Ken Silva
@JD_Cashless
Mar 4
Ken Silva
@JD_Cashless
9 Dec 2024
Ken Silva
@JD_Cashless
Mar 7
Saturday 8 March 2025
As Winter shortens into Spring,
My being is remembering:
My husband’s birthday,
My brother’s passing —
The memories are lingering.
But Peace will come, and things will Heal:
And I’ll again be able to feel
That everything will be all right:
And I’ll know this when the birds sing.
Amen
I noticed today the trees are starting to flower. You can see the red haze of tiny buds and as I dove south, I saw the dogwoods covered with white blossoms.
No doubt the bark was unavoidable
God be with you in comfort & peace & treasured memories to warm your heart with love.
Thank You PAVACA! 
https://www.theqtree.com/2019/05/23/the-poetry-tree/#comment-1429506
Gosh, it was such a nice day in Milford Sound, NZ, it never really occurred to us to take a boat to the South Pole.
We got beers and took a helicopter ride instead.
Three seater, no doors. Seat belts.
We trust you didn’t toss the beer cans out the door. 
No littering!
PS I felt SO safe sitting in the middle!!!!!
Scared to DEATH!!!!
Looks like the one my neighbor built in his back yard….
More than likely, the guy we paid had done the same thing. Upside down.
Oh, sorry. This was not a joke for flat earthers…
Went up to the waterfall. Copter suspended right here. Saw that a storm was coming in. Landed and fled in the car north. fun day!
WOW, that is beautiful.
It is really a stunning part of the world. Crazy leaders, but one rental car and a few reservations are all good.
Oh, see the boat?
The day we went, the boat people pulled on their slickers and got DRENCHED. WE flew away.
Best to spend $200NZ on a fast copter than be stuck on a drenched three-hour tour!
Never trust a “3 hour tour”…
…esp. if the weather might turn rough.
.
Exceptional. Have never forgotten that one!
A friend’s husband always starts whistling the theme from Gilligan’s Island when he’s packing for a family trip. LOL
LOLOLOL!!!! I shall remember that trick!!! Wish I had young kids!
I simply LOVE this comment!!!
Favorite show growing up!!!
Yes though it is truly massive cheese nowadays
Oh no. The Best. Did I tell you I sat next to Tina Louise one day at a restaurant on the Upper East Side???
She came into the place sharing a salad with a friend and had to write a check, she literally had no money.
I felt sad, and the waiter said he should probably frame it rather than cashing it.
How fun!
I once had about a 15 minute conversation with Iggy Pop as we were waiting for our daughters’ ballet class to wrap up. He was really grieving the loss of his wife at the time. I wouldn’t have known who he was but he mentioned his stage name but I chose to call him by his real name, which escapes me now, during our talk…I wanted to interact with him as a person not a “star”…
How sweet!
James Newell Osterberg Jr. — out of Muskegon, MI.
Thx Cthulhu. He was living in Metro Detroit, likely even in my suburb, as our daughter’s were in the city’s ballet program at the local community center at the time
What special memories & experiences! TY for sharing
Cheers.
Here is the bottom Earth map…
So close yet so far away
Taller Half and I actually did consider doing this, but one would need to spend months organizing the entire journey.
We opted for having a marvelous trip in NZ. And that, in itself was so amazing, even with the odd changes we had to make with our itinerary.
Once in a lifetime.
You are so blessed to have done so AND together!
You are so sweet, Valerie!
I will have TH as long as possible and my memories for my life, but if I can trade funny stories of my crazy escapades, I hope others will have fun!
I have had some wild travels!!!! I will share them when something triggers my memory!!!
Today, New Zealand, tomorrow…?
We travelled a lot around the US when I was a kid but that wasn’t really something we were able to do with our kids. They got to ME, OK, CO, & FL (on a Make A Wish trip) but otherwise Michigan mostly & occasionally Canada.
I love to hear about other people’s adventures!
Yours sound wonderful! Was one of your children Make a Wish child?
And Canada is beautiful!
My middle son, Josiah, was the Make A Wish kid. At that time he’d had 2 open heart surgeries, numerous other surgeries, & was on the autism spectrum. Later he was found to have a brain tumor, removed through the nose, & also needed a liver transplant, which he got in 2013, age 17.
I think I’ve only ever been in Ontario but some of the scenic beauty, like the Canadian Rockies, is breathtaking!
Oh, poor baby!!! My goodness!
Yes, the Canadian Rockies are wonderful!
You’ve been so blessed to so many places of amazing natural beauty in person!
Just even the trip to get there. I read ‘The Power of One’ on the way back. Big book. Finished it prior to hitting Hawaii.
Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…… it’s flat!
(Just kidding!!!)
And of course, the Vegemite sandwiches
(having endured Bisto, Bovril, Oxo, and Marmite in my youth…)…
The boat is tiny. Our chopper was 1/10th the size. Our pilot went up to the top of the falls and suspended the chopper.
We witnessed the falls for about 5 minutes. Was amazing.
Could you hear the falls over the chopper sounds?
Yes, the chopper was loud but the force of the water, at about 3/4 of the way up was astonishing.
I can barely even imagine this
THe chopper had to stay away from the spray about 20 ft. or so.
I think of that Jurassic Park scene where the chopper is coming down, or rising, near a waterfall to envision this
Yes, similar!
Thx, it’s nice to have a mental image confirmed
Hiked the the Routeburn Trek 20 years ago.
AH-mazing place, the south island. Simply glorious. And a great value with a strong US dollar.
Absolutely Fabulous!!!! And I do not mean the TV Show!!!
Truer words were never spoken, unless they be giving God praise, sir.
If you are still there and have the time, do yourself a favor, rent a car, and make the drive back to Christchurch up Hwy 8. Thank me later.
Did that. Had a friend’s apartment in Christchurch, about 1990. Prior to the earthquake.
Beautiful place!
And ferry back to North Island. Like Sun Stars! The trip was just like diamonds the entire way!
We drove from Christchurch to Queenstown because our flight was cancelled. Met up with about 300 sheep prior to pulling in, in enough time for dinner about 7 PM that night. Wild!!!
And on the way back, you must drive up to Nelson/Picton to grab the ferry to Wellington. What a drive!
Imma file this away for the next time I go. Thank you!
A crazy but marvelous diversion. Look at the road from Christchurch to Queenstown. A bit curvy!!!!! And long!
Worth every mile, sir.
Indeed!!! Many types of landscapes!!!
If you look at the tiny little yellow road on the West side of South Island, that is the road we took back to the ferry.
We stayed at some sort of hotel one night in-between. I think near Greymouth, as there is really no town anywhere else.
Sweet little town.
Yes!
That is exactly how I got down to Queenstown when I went.
I said it was 20 yrs ago, but it was actually 25, back in 2000.
One of my souvenirs…
How fantastic!!!!!!! Wonders of the World for we little tiny persons!!!!
My understanding is that there are 2.5 boats for every person in NZ.
And they no longer count the sheep or the venison!!!!!
But who could imagine Dan Unda, that we would find beer and English?!!!!!
I have an All Blacks shirt, met the team at a meet.
Best looking guys I have ever seen. Was sponsored by Seagrams. Now, I will burst your bubble. I am not a guy, so this was even better!@!@!@!
Don’t the All Blacks do that Maori chant or something…intense!
Yes!!!
This is one…
That is some spectacle!
I can relate.
There is a difference??? 
I’m still watching the presser on March 6th and someone did ask about the markets. He came right out and said it, “I think it’s globalists.” Then he adds more words about how great everyone is going to be doing.
My sense is that he believes the market manipulation is part of trying to destabilize America’s new vitality and he doesn’t think it’s going to work.
So, market dip is a buying opportunity, not a doomer scenario per this interview. (@ ~31 min)
Take a hint from Buffet…
The more cash you raise now, by selling high priced stocks, the more you can buy when the market bottoms.
Hint: the S&P 500 DOUBLED it’s value in 4 years. What is very likely coming isn’t a “dip”, it is a historic price adjustment for vastly overprices securities.
Hint #2: Trump can’t say what is going to happen without making it all much, much worse. He wants a slow and controlled market re-valuation, not a market crash.
I have a friend that moved to cash “because Trump” at start of Trump admin #1. She has deep regret for that move. Most of the time regular people are better off just holding because they really do not know how to time the markets.
My own methods for “play money” level investing has a lot to do with sitting quietly and inviting God to guide my research and my decisions. I’ve only lost money the times that I made a move in the markets after reading a post from “some guy on the internet.” LOL
There are and will be a lot of a night and day differences between Term 1 & 2.
And you can research my opinion and see if it seems legit or not. No skin off my nose whatever you decide to do.
.
.
That’s because they won’t take the time to learn how. The internet is a library for the wise.
Absolutely true.
Your previous comments prompted me to go look and see what shifts the big mutual funds have been making. And sure enough there are shifts from stocks into other types of holdings in February.
My dad has always invested in the market whether it’s high or low, perhaps via mutual funds but I’m not sure. He’s been retired for more than 30 years & as of a discussion a few years ago he had as much, or more, money “now” as when he retired…He also has very generous charitable giving to God’s Kingdom so I believe the Lord honors him too.
Almsgiving as it has been called for a very long time is the path to freeing our hearts from many a sin.
As we are taught by our Lord,
“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Amen
I agree. The dip was too fake the last few days. Trying to tank the market and then trying to buy the dip. Insider crap from my perspective.
Yep. First it was the Hunt brothers and the silver market (IIRC), then Satan Sauros and basically flipping countries (“the man who broke the Bank of England”)… using other peoples’ money to do his dirty deeds…
surprisingly this post is climbing near to 500 on Sunday mid day
That whole New Zealand travel thread is late to its own funeral.
No doubt, but I think that WSB is on/in a completely different time zone…
I was born late for dinner & have Tom Sawyer aspirations of being late to my own funeral too!