June
1 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
I have more distilled water now plus more cooked hulled barley and oat groats. All the household chores are done. Ready to start another month with no plans to do anything.
I do need to go to the Post Office when I go to town next. My hearing aids do not aid me much but the right one is not working at all. I need to mail them in for repair.
As I have emphasized in my writings, the United States is the Constitution. In the absence of the Constitution, the United States no longer exists. Some other entity has taken its place. The disrespect for the Constitution is bi-partisan. It was the George W. Bush regime that declared the power to suspend habeas corpus and hold citizens indefinitely without due process. It was the Obama regime that declared the president's ability to execute citizens on suspicion alone without due process. It is the Democrats who discriminate against white males, declare white people “racists,” impose censorship, and attack the 2nd Amendment. Law schools dissolve the Constitution into an ever-changing “living document” changed at will by judges and law professors.
Western civilization has been replaced by a rootless tower of babel, a structure without strength. The question Republicans and Democrats should be asking is how can a civilization as weak as the West go to war against Russia and China? ～ If We Are to Survive We Must Learn to Ask the Right Questions, Paul Craig Roberts
How Gun Control Works
Step 1 A wolf attacks a sheep, killing it.
Step 2 Other sheep see that the sheep was killed by teeth.
Step 3 Teeth are dangerous; all of the sheep agree to remove their teeth and turn them in.
Step 4 The wolf still has teeth
2 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
I had a middle of the night clean up last night. Patches was throwing up in her bed and on the bamboo mat beside it. She would have done the same to Erik's bed but I got it and all the rugs up off the floor. She then had free range of the bare floor and took advantage. She was chipper this morning, took her glucosamine and heartworm ‘treats’ readily, did her usual morning walk and has a good appetite.
The neighbor that was to leave is still here although there are signs that they may leave today — maybe. I have shopping and other stuff to do in town tomorrow. Today I'm going to do as little as possible. I did what I had to do last night.
Dune Messiah continues the story of Paul Atreides, better known—and feared—as the man christened Muad'Dib. As Emperor of the Known Universe, he possesses more power than a single man was ever meant to wield.
And even as House Atreides begins to crumble around him from the machinations of his enemies, the true threat to Paul comes to his lover, Chani, and the unborn heir to his family's dynasty… ～ Book promo @ goodreads.com
This was part of my posting on 19 April 2018.
“I got a new neighbor directly in front of me yesterday around 10:00. They had been in a space in front of the Club House when we went for our morning walk and then moved. They have a month old Bowlus Road Chief towed by a relatively new Mercedes SUV. Now that is a rig I could live with! HA”
Yesterday I got an email from the Editor at Happy DIY Home saying that he had found what I wrote above. The reason he was contacting me was two fold:
1) He stroked my ego a bit when I mentioned the Bowlus.
2) Bring to my attention that they had published an updated, comprehensive guide on best value travel trailers on their sister site Your RV Lifestyle. On the linked page there is an article in which it has given “Best Overall Travel Trailer to the Bowlus Terra Firma Travel Trailer”
The reason why I don't believe much of what the MainStream Media offers is the conflicting reports. I did find two sources that agreed on how long it took the police to respond and engage. However, only sputniknews was willing to report that the shooter was “ described as a Black male between the ages of 35 and 40.”
Officers responded to the scene within four minutes on Wednesday afternoon to find a “catastrophic scene”, said Tulsa police Capt Richard Meulenberg. — Independent.co.uk
Responding officers who arrived within minutes “were hearing shots in the building, and that's what directed them to the second floor,” [Deputy Chief] Dalgleish said. — CNN.com
Calls on the shooting were first received at 4:52 p.m. local time, with officers making contact with the suspect at 5:01 p.m. — sputniknews.com
…dispatchers first received a call of an active shooter in the Natalie Medical Building at the St. Francis Health System campus at 4:52 p.m. Four minutes later, police said officers arrived at the location. By 5:01 p.m., authorities say officers made contact with the victims and the shooting suspect after hearing gunshots on the second floor of the building. — usatoday.com
3 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: June 3, 1934
I did two trips into town today. Not that I wanted to but I had so much on my mind that I could not remember what was on it.
The first sign of that was my plan to do laundry first when I got to town the first time. Went past the laundromat to the grocery store then remembered that I was going to do laundry. After the grocery gathering I did go do my laundry.That included Patches' blankie that she threw up on.
Then went to Adria'a the only restaurant that is open for breakfast at a time that I consider breakfast time. They are not open on Sunday but open at 8:00 Utah time, 7:00 my time the other days of the week. There were no omelets on the menu but I told the waitress what I wanted and the cook was able to make it for me. I'll be going back; it was much better than what I have managed to do at home.
On my way out of town I stopped at Quality Printing and asked if they could help me satisfy the UPS Store requirements for a completed form and copies of my current IDs. They said they could and gave my contact information that I will send to the UPS Store in Sierra Vista.
It was not until I was back in the Park and had coffee water starting to boil that I remembered leaving Patches' blankie at the laundromat. That was the reason for the second trip to town. I was lucky that it was still there, either lucky or no one wanted it. That is enough for this morning, I'm going to skip the noon walk and rest my mind.
Fẹmi Akọmọlafẹ is an African author and commentator that was educated in the United States but has gone off the reservation. This is a quote from a good article.
There is little doubt the arrogance of the Collective West is fueled by ignorance which is a result of the poor quality of the education produced by the ideological institutions the West call universities, which have been transformed from places of rigorous learning into ones that produce only selfish, self-centered, narcissistic, hedonistic ideologues who are incapable of any thought beyond the ME!
Education reflects the mental attitude of the people. A society that recognizes neither wrong nor right, truth or falsehood cannot produce upright people who are capable of subjecting their thoughts and actions to deep reflections and applying the necessary breaks to curb their animalistic impulses.
Right from infancy, Westerners are brought up to regard everything as relative and to mix up rhetoric with actions. ～ It's education, stupid! , Fẹmi Akọmọlafẹ for the Saker Blog
4 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
There was one other stop that I made yesterday that I forgot to mention. I went to the Fredonia Post Office and mailed my hearing aids to the Sierra Vista VA Clinic asking them to fix them. The right one was not working at all.
I was also going to comment on gas prices here. I filled up in Kanab when I got here a month ago and every time I have been to town since then I noticed that the price had gone up by about 10¢. As of yesterday the price was up 41¢ or almost 9% in one month. If that rate of increase continues it is going to cost me over $7/gallon, almost $300 to fill Desperado's tank, when I start my south migration.
High clouds this morning but that isn't going to keep it cooler. Near 90° expected today. The next week to 10 days have increasingly hotter highs forecast with near 100s on tap. That should bring in thunderstorms.
The past few days the Park has been bringing in loads of dirt-gravel to fill in some of the bigger holes. That included the mud hole in my previous space. The material that they are using is going to provide limited improvement in my opinion. The dirt part of the mix is going to wash away quickly leaving the gravel which will help. They needed to add just gravel.
Inflation has gone from temporary to this:
💬 Biden: [W]e can't take immediate action, that I'm aware of yet, to figure out how we bring down the price of gasoline back to three dollars a gallon. And we can't do that immediately with regard to food prices either.
5 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
When I moved into my new space the Park Host said that my neighbor was going to move on Tuesday I assumed it was the southside neighbor. I saw the man of the house late on Tuesday and he said they were going to leave tomorrow (Wednesday). That did not happen but my northside neighbor left on Thursday and the southside neighbor is still here.
There were high clouds again this morning but the forecast high of 90° again does not think that will keep it as ‘cool’ as the 84.4 of yesterday. The daily forecast highs gradually increase during next week with a 99° high expected on Saturday. No rain in the extended forecast but I expect there to be thunderstorms starting soon with the hotter days.
I'll get holding tanks dumped and water added this morning and then settle in with the A/C. There is hominy soaking today to be cooked tomorrow and books to be read on Fire 8 and online.
💬 Bill Maher: …but it wouldn't have made any difference in the school shooting in Uvalde, TX because the shooter was in the room for 40 minutes. It wouldn't have mattered what kind of gun he had, any kind of gun could do any amount of damage in that time.
I'm not a big fan of Bill Maher but I have to give him credit where credit is due. He has got this exactly right. All the talk about AR-15s is simply virtue signaling. The rate of fire for a muzzleloader is about 2-3 shots per minute in the hands of someone who knows what they were doing. So the Uvale shooter could have gotten off 80-120 shots during the time he was in the classroom.
6 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
The only things going on here today are red hominy cooking in the Thermal Cooker and me cooking in Desperado. It is rather nice during the morning hours but the A/C needs to go to work around noon until 7-8 at night. The high temperatures are 4-5 degrees cooler than Huachuca City where I had to stay last summer so I will survive. That doesn't mean I won't complain.
In the Shadow of Hob's Hill…
Brecken Kendall doesn't plan on becoming a composer. She also doesn't expect to encounter one of the eldritch realities H.P. Lovecraft borrowed for his weird fiction [At the Mountains of Madness]. A sophomore at Partridgeville State University on the edge of the New Jersey pine barrens, she's trying to leave behind the bitter memories of her childhood and get a degree in music education. Lovecraft? He's just one of the authors discussed in a class she's taking that semester, where she learns about the polymorphous monsters called shoggoths. Those are nothing but an old legend, she thinks…until a young shoggoth, traumatized by a night of fire and death, appears in the kitchenette of the converted garage where Brecken lives.
This book is not for everyone so approach it with an open mind. It is also nothing like what Greer has written in his nonfiction and the two previous novels that I have read. I will be reading the sequel that continues the story.
This quote is from another article that is blocked to readers in the United States.
What Kissinger is hinting at is that the so-called ‘war of attrition’ doesn't work well for either the Ukraine or the West. The inevitable departure of Russia from the western sphere will not bode well for the West both in terms of security and trade and will be harder to reverse. Putting the genie back in the bottle will be near on impossible in fact if the war in Ukraine continues to drain western coffers and present the EU with new flows of immigrants from the MENA [Middle East North Africa] region. Many western media ‘experts’ like to fool readers by presenting facts in a paradigm which is consumer-friendly but is in fact irrelevant to the facts on the ground which they (the journalists) probably struggle to grasp themselves. The ‘war of attrition’ is in fact bandied about without context (normally such wars are where both parties are stagnant which is not the case at all in the Ukraine); secondly in recent weeks we have seen many references to the “20 percent” of the Ukraine occupied by Russia. This figure, no doubt offered by Zelensky, has been used over and over again by defense correspondents and editors in London as a reference point. Military experts, even British ones who support Ukraine, however dismiss it as irrelevant. So why the smoke screen?
A number of factors, but largely that the journalists of today who cover such hugely historical events such as conflict aren't the same caliber of those twenty years ago. Different level of intelligence, education and a demonstrably different set of journalistic standards. In many cases, our so-called defense correspondents have become editorialists. They opine rather than report.…No doubt the European Commission's multi-billion euro propaganda unit already has the press releases and grandiose speeches prepared to deflect blame and to point the finger at [the United States] others. ～ The So-Called ‘War of Attrition’ Is Stacked Up in Russia's Favour. And Kissinger Knows It, Martin Jay
7 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
The open space on my northside was filled again yesterday. This is not a surprise, I expect this to be happening throughout my stay here. I'm in the short term sector of the Park so there will be a lot of people coming and going.
The red hominy and cranberry beans are cooking in the Thermal Cooker now. I'll bring them to a boil again late today and let them cook again overnight. That should be enough but if not then just bring to a boil once more and let the Cooker do its thing.
Dmitry Orlov always writes a good article and has done it again with this one from which I have quoted the first two paragraphs.
The systemic crisis which we are currently witnessing in the West (and in other parts of the world that are too tightly interconnected with the West to avoid experiencing it as well) is objectively being caused by the West itself. But Westerners, being unaccustomed to acknowledging their mistakes (being all superior, indispensable and infallible-like in their own addled minds), are forced to resort to explaining away their epic failures in virtually every sphere by blaming it all on Putin. That is, they don't even blame Russia in general, but blame Putin personally; after all, Russia can be good and agreeable at times (as it was under Gorbachev and Yeltsin) but Putin makes it misbehave. That's why it's all got to be Putin's fault.
Here's what it's come to: an entire President of the United States (or whoever runs his teleprompter), who, in the course of his election campaign, swore up and down that he will take responsibility for whatever happens under his command, now blames “Putin's Price Hike” so regularly and monotonously that the phrase has become a meme. ～ How blaming Putin is helping Putin, Dmitry Orlov for the Saker Blog
This quote is just one good point made in the article. I have added the underline.
Apart from raw material extraction, technological corporations, weapons industries and vast service sectors (services servicing services), the Western world relies on ‘funny money’ in order to survive. In other words, it lives off printing presses that print banknotes. These create unpayable debt and systemic inflation. For decades the Western world has been living in a fool's paradise of debt. However, it is now reaching a point when it can no longer even pay off the interest on that debt. Bankruptcy beckons.
On the other hand, the real world relies not on speculation in ‘derivatives’ and ‘futures’, but on solid things, commodities, food to eat (grain, maize and the fertilizers to grow them), oil and gas to power and heat, raw materials and minerals to manufacture with. In other words, for several decades the Western world has been living in a bubble. That bubble is now bursting: the chickens are coming home to roost, perhaps already this winter, if not before. Expect widespread protests throughout the Western world and against the Western world. ～ The Very Special Operation, Batiushka for the Saker Blog
Death by automobile and drug overdose are considered natural causes in America and have been considered to be so since Verne wrote this book in 1904.
“Some accidents had already occurred, other machines were hopelessly behind. Not more than a dozen would contest the finish. Several chauffeurs had been injured, but not seriously. And even had they been killed, the death of men is but a detail, not considered of great importance in that astonishing country of America.” ～ The Master of the World by Jules Verne
8 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
The red hominy and cranberry beans are done. The next thing that needs to be cooked is more breakfast, probably do that on Friday. Tomorrow I go to town again for my regular shopping plus get the paperwork for my UPS Store sent to them.
“Today's temperature is forecast to be WARMER than yesterday.” When Weather Underground speaks of warmer they then show a forecast high or 98°. They never say it is going to be HOT. Now to my way of thinking the high yesterday of 93.4° was HOT and the forecast of 98 for today is HOT.
The Master of The World is the follow-up novel by Jules Verne to Robur the Conqueror. The sequel was written 18 years after the original and takes up the story at the end without connecting the two very well. The tone and the style of this novel is vastly different from the other. In the first (1884) Verne presents us with an advanced heavier-than-air craft that presages the modern helicopter and planes at a time when balloons were the most common form of airship. The existence of the Albatross is secret, but it does not prevent Robur from openly flying across the globe.…
Why couldn't I find any MainStream media coverage of Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on June 6, 2022? There is a lot of alternative media coverage which The Establishment has not blocked so his statements can still be read but you must search for them. Not newsworthy? Or, critical of the United States? The MainStream Media will cover what Blinken says but not any rebuttal.
💬 Global Times: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused China of conducting coercive diplomacy in his speech outlining the administration's approach on China. What is China's comment?
💬Zhao Lijian: China never coerces others, and we firmly opposes coercion by other countries. “Do not do to others what you don't want others to do to you” — this is a long-held Chinese cultural belief. One of the traditions in China's diplomacy is that we believe all countries, big or small, are equal. When national sovereignty and dignity is under coercion or violation, China responds with reasonable and lawful countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests and uphold international equity and justice. China never threatens other countries with force. We never form a military coalition or export ideology. We never make provocations at others' doorstep or reach our hands into others' homes. We never wage trade wars or groundlessly hobble foreign companies. And we never bully, sanction or carry out long-arm jurisdiction.
Coercive diplomacy starts with the US. It is nobody else but the US that invented, patented and owns the intellectual property right of “coercive diplomacy”. In 1971, US scholar Alexander George coined the concept of “coercive diplomacy” to describe the US policy on Laos, Cuba and Vietnam. For years, from military threats to political isolation, from economic sanctions to technological blockade, the US has shown the world what “coercive diplomacy” is through what it has done. Some Chinese netizens have put it this way — to know what “coercive diplomacy” entails, just check what the US has done.
The US keeps talking about dealing with other countries from a position of strength. This, in effect, means whoever has a bigger fist calls the shots. Isn't this “coercive diplomacy”? The US spared no effort to crack down on China's Huawei, France's Alstom and Japan's Toshiba and coerced the TSMC, Samsung and other companies to provide to the US chip supply chain data. Isn't this “coercive diplomacy”? The US forced countries to take sides in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and wantonly threatened to impose unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction. Isn't this “coercive diplomacy”? After China and Solomon Islands signed the security cooperation agreement on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, the US immediately sent officials to South Pacific island countries in an attempt to exert pressure on them and intimidate them to stop them from having normal cooperation with China. Isn't this “coercive diplomacy”?
Secretary Blinken said that “all countries will be free to chart their own paths without coercion”. For that to happen, the US must first and foremost change its old habit of pursuing “coercive diplomacy”, stop interfering in the internal affairs of others, stop forcing countries to pick sides, stop abusing unilateral sanctions and stop hobbling hi-tech companies of other countries. China is ready to work with all countries upholding justice to stand against various coercive behaviors in the world.
9 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
The trip to town went reasonably well. I stopped at Honey's Marketplace first because Adria's would not open until 8:00. That was the time that I as told last week that they opened. However, that is just a ‘target’ opening time. They actually opened this morning at about 8:30. They also wanted to charge me almost double what I was charged last week until I disputed the charge.
I had to wait for Quality Printing to open before I could sign the form and send it to my UPS Store. Did that and had the signed form plus copies of two ID's Faxed back to the Store. I hope that is taken care of.
It was HOT yesterday (high of 97°) with the forecast of the same today. I think it will be even hotter than the forecast. We did a half mile shorter walk yesterday at noon and only half of the afternoon walk. The temperatures then were 91 and 96-97°. Probably do even more restricted walks today and through the weekend with highs at or above 100.
I have a big Class A now for a neighbor on my southside. They have put out their patio rug, chairs, bicycles and drug a table up between us that leaves only a narrow walkway past Desperado. The spaces are narrow!
A person who was born to freedom in an ancient tribe had a sacred obligation to serve and support the folk, and to keep the customs of a free people, and to respect the rights of others on pain of banishment. In modern America too many people have forgotten this side of our inheritance. They think of liberty as license without responsibility, and freedom as entitlement without obligation. To think this way in the modern world is to remember only half of these ancient traditions. ～ Liberty and Freedom A Visual History of America's Founding Ideas by David Hackett Fischer
“A ship's a fool to fight a fort.” ～ Horatio Nelson
That has not stopped the United States from building more aircraft carriers to fight land bases.
“Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: “Do not march on Moscow”. Various people have tried it, Napoleon and Hitler, and it is no good. … Rule 2 of war. It is: “Do not go fighting with your land armies in China”. It is a vast country, with no clearly defined objectives.” ～ Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein
There are a lot of people in the United States that want to test both of those Rules either separately or concurrently.
10 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: June 10, 1934
Our noon walk yesterday was slightly longer than the day before with the temperature 1-2 degrees cooler. The reason for the longer distance was to go to the Post Office and mail copies of IDs to my UPS Store. They said that the Faxed copies were too dark.
Later in the day I took pictures of the IDs and emailed them as email Attachments. Told them that was all I could do at this time to give them copies of the IDs that they were requiring. Haven't heard anything from them so far today.
It didn't quite reach the 98 that was forecast for yesterday so they are guessing that it will be 99 today and tomorrow. Slightly cooler Sunday and Monday with strong winds; that should be pleasant. HA There is now a forecast for isolated thunderstorms next Friday so they are going to start soon. That should make the afternoon walking conditions cooler with some cloud shade.
Does this quote sound like it was taken from something written yesterday rather than around the 3rd century?
In order to enslave the many, the greedy began to appropriate and accumulate the necessities of life and keep them tightly closed up, so that they might keep these bounties for themselves. They did this not for humanity's sake (which was not in them at all), but to rake up all things as products of their greed and avarice. In the name of justice they made unfair and unjust laws to sanction their thefts and avarice against the power of the multitude. In this way they availed as much by authority as by strength of arms or overt evil. ～ Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius
11 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
I went out and got holding tanks dumped and added water before it got too hot. It was already above 70° at 7:00 so well on the way to the forecast 99. I will not be surprised if it breaks 100 today or tomorrow. Yesterday the high was only 96.6 when we did a short afternoon walk.
The noon walk was shorter than usual in temperatures of 92-93. We were in the shade about half the time and that makes a difference. Went to the convenience store/gas station here in Fredonia to inquire about propane. They sell the filled bottles but do not fill fixed tanks in an RV. They were able to tell me where in Kanab that I could get the tank filled. I couldn't find a place using Web Search.
The other constructive things that I have going are distilling water (I seem to be using more of it) and cooking some hulled barley and oat groats for breakfast (eating the same amount each morning). Not so constructive activities are reading a novel online and switching to a nonfiction book on Fire 8. Both of them are quite long so I'm going to be awhile getting through both of them.
I have not quoted from Pitchforks soon in Europe? by Jorge Vilches for the Saker Blog just providing a link. It is a long article with a lot of referenced links; well worth reading.
12 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
The only thing happening here is the weather. The high temperature yesterday was only 94.8° which was much lower than forecast. That has led to a reduced high forecast of only 97 for today but the wind gusts of 40mph are still on tap for today and tomorrow. The possible thunderstorms on Thursday have been dropped and a forecast high of 100° has replaced them. No rain in the 10 day forecast, just HOT.
I didn't watch the prime-time made for TV House select committee investigation the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. From what I have read there were a lot a people that didn't watch it. Many of those that did were sorry that they had. Future episodes are probably going to draw even smaller audiences. The entire purpose of the investigation is to keep Trump from running for president which I don't think he plans on doing. It is all political theater; poorly done and meaningless.
The Democrats need to focus on destroying Josh Hawley and Ron DeSantis. In my opinion they are more of a threat than Trump.
13 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
We skipped the afternoon walk again. Desperado was swaying in the wind driven dirt and I didn't feel up to fighting it. It was HOT when we did our usual noon walk distance but we took the route with the most shade and the wind was at a nice breeze level. The forecast is for continued winds but not as hot. We didn't get the expected 40mph gust yesterday, only 30mph, but the weather guessers think there are still 40mph gust to come.
We will enjoy the cool morning as long as it lasts and then rely on the A/C for the rest of the day. Maybe do our usual walks or maybe not depending on the winds. Distilling is finished and more breakfasts are ready so the day will be filled with reading.
Unguarded Gates
WIDE open and unguarded stand our gates,
Named of the four winds, North, South, East, and West;
Portals that lead to an enchanted land
Of cities, forests, fields of living gold,
Vast prairies, lordly summits touched with snow,
Majestic rivers sweeping proudly past
The Arab's date-palm and the Norseman's pine—
A realm wherein are fruits of every zone,
Airs of all climes, for, lo! throughout the year
The red rose blossoms somewhere—a rich land,
A later Eden planted in the wilds,
With not an inch of earth within its bound
But if a slave's foot press it sets him free.
Here, it is written, Toil shall have its wage,
And Honor honor, and the humblest man
Stand level with the highest in the law.
Of such a land have men in dungeons dreamed,
And with the vision brightening in their eyes
Gone smiling to the fagot and the sword.
Wide open and unguarded stand our gates,
And through them presses a wild motley throng—
Men from the Volga and the Tartar steppes,
Featureless figures of the Hoang-Ho,
Malayan, Scythian, Teuton, Kelt, and Slav,
Flying the Old World's poverty and scorn;
These bringing with them unknown gods and rites,—
Those, tiger passions, here to stretch their claws.
In street and alley what strange tongues are loud,
Accents of menace alien to our air,
Voices that once the Tower of Babel knew!
O Liberty, white Goddess! is it well
To leave the gates unguarded? On thy breast
Fold Sorrow's children, soothe the hurts of fate,
Lift the down-trodden, but with hand of steel
Stay those who to thy sacred portals come
To waste the gifts of freedom. Have a care
Lest from thy brow the clustered stars be torn
And trampled in the dust. For so of old
The thronging Goth and Vandal trampled Rome,
And where the temples of the Cæsars stood
The lean wolf unmolested made her lair.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1882)
Named of the four winds, North, South, East, and West;
Portals that lead to an enchanted land
Of cities, forests, fields of living gold,
Vast prairies, lordly summits touched with snow,
Majestic rivers sweeping proudly past
The Arab's date-palm and the Norseman's pine—
A realm wherein are fruits of every zone,
Airs of all climes, for, lo! throughout the year
The red rose blossoms somewhere—a rich land,
A later Eden planted in the wilds,
With not an inch of earth within its bound
But if a slave's foot press it sets him free.
Here, it is written, Toil shall have its wage,
And Honor honor, and the humblest man
Stand level with the highest in the law.
Of such a land have men in dungeons dreamed,
And with the vision brightening in their eyes
Gone smiling to the fagot and the sword.
Wide open and unguarded stand our gates,
And through them presses a wild motley throng—
Men from the Volga and the Tartar steppes,
Featureless figures of the Hoang-Ho,
Malayan, Scythian, Teuton, Kelt, and Slav,
Flying the Old World's poverty and scorn;
These bringing with them unknown gods and rites,—
Those, tiger passions, here to stretch their claws.
In street and alley what strange tongues are loud,
Accents of menace alien to our air,
Voices that once the Tower of Babel knew!
O Liberty, white Goddess! is it well
To leave the gates unguarded? On thy breast
Fold Sorrow's children, soothe the hurts of fate,
Lift the down-trodden, but with hand of steel
Stay those who to thy sacred portals come
To waste the gifts of freedom. Have a care
Lest from thy brow the clustered stars be torn
And trampled in the dust. For so of old
The thronging Goth and Vandal trampled Rome,
And where the temples of the Cæsars stood
The lean wolf unmolested made her lair.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1882)
This poem could just as easily have been written now about the southern border.
Nota bene: The formatting of a poem that is centered on the page with the lines aligned left is NOT the easiest thing to do in HTML. However, having done it once I can probably do it again. It is also not going to look as good on a small screen but I can do only what I know how to do at this time.
This symbolical narrative tale The Tale of the Evil King by By Batiushka for the Saker Blog is a very good short story. Recommended!
I recently bought a toilet brush…
long story short, I'm going back to toilet paper.
14 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
We skipped the afternoon walk again because of strong winds and blowing dirt. The wind even continued to blow after sundown which usually does not happen. Still some wind this morning but not much more than a breeze. Maybe get back on schedule today with HOT afternoons but no winds forecast.
Not going to do much today. There will be a shopping trip tomorrow to break up the do nothing routine.
A good article about the New Order of war that the armchair generals and the LameStream Media do not understand. There are ‘some’ in the Pentagon that do understand but they are not listened to.
On a strategic level, the U.S. has run its localized wars based on an effort to win and hold territory. The thinking went, the more territory that you hold, the better that you're doing. This was most noticeable during the twenty year war in Afghanistan [and Vietnam] when at one time the Taliban forces were restricted to a few tiny inaccessible pockets of the country.
Yet the Americans still lost. When the tide turned in 2021, vast areas of Afghanistan flipped to Taliban rule in a matter of weeks. The strategic aim to hold land proved to be worthless when that land could so easily revert back to an enemy that still existed as a fighting force.
The same Western generals who ran those wars are now providing the bulk of the mainstream media commentary on what is happening in the Ukraine. The expert commentators are of the firm opinion that Russia's war is going very badly indeed, since the territorial gains are supposedly not up to standard.
But Russia's strategic aim is not to win territory, but rather to grind down and destroy the ability of the Ukrainian military to successfully wage war. It's a body count executed by artillery in various forms, with infantry providing a follow up to finish off what's left on the ground. ～ The Paradigm Shift In War, Adam Piggott
Does this quote rhyme with what has been happening in the United States during the 21st century. Might we see men of intelligence and integrity competing for the presidency in 2024? I have my doubts.
In the campaign of 1912, something extraordinary happened in American politics. Four first-class candidates competed for the presidency. All were men of intelligence and integrity, and each had a creative vision of a free society. The result was another great debate on the meaning of liberty and freedom, and one of the most important elections in American history.
The event was driven not merely by the candidates themselves but by fifteen million voters who were deeply worried about the future of the republic. In 1912, many Americans believed that their nation was in peril.
The times seemed out of joint, and the economy had been not working well. The deflation of the late nineteenth century had come to an end. A long inflation had begun in 1896, and the cost of living was rising more rapidly than wages. A financial panic, short but very sharp, had disrupted the American economy in 1907, and unemployment had increased. Most worrisome was the growing concentration of wealth and power in a few large corporations and trusts, who were thought to be dangerous to liberty and freedom.
At the same time, the “new immigration” reached the highest recorded levels in American history. Cities struggled to deal with severe urban problems. State governments became more active in passing social legislation but less successful in solving social problems. In Washington, congressional leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties were increasingly corrupt, out of touch, divided among themselves. These many interlocking problems created a sense of social crisis. ～ Liberty and Freedom: A Visual History of America's Founding Ideas by David Hackett Fischer
15 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
It was cool this morning. So cool at 52.4° that I put on my windbreaker. The forecast high for tomorrow is 99 which the weather guessers have missed on the high side in the past. Then starting Friday through Sunday the winds return with expected strength of 20-30mph and higher gusts. That the weather guessers usually get right so we will have blowing dirt through the weekend.
A quick grocery gathering with no selection of non dairy yogurt and only a few of the coconut key lime on the shelf. I think there may soon be no non dairy available at all. There was a one gallon limit on some of the bottled water with other shelves showing gaps. Fortunately the produce section continues to be well stocked.
CHS has a good post on the recent Go Galt Movement; I have quoted only one paragraph.
Once the rats are no longer interested in the rewards because they're out of reach, they jump off the wheel. Once the tax donkeys flop down in exhaustion and ask why they're working so hard to pay outrageous taxes and fees, they lose interest in carrying their heavy load ever again. When debt-serfs stop and calculate their chances to pay off their debt and reach upper-middle class Nirvana, they bail on the entire project. ～ What Happens When the Workforce No Longer Wants to Work?, Charles Hugh Smith
The people and the government of Ukraine, led by President Zelensky, must decide on their own the issue of the possibility of territorial concessions. — US Secretary of State BlinkenWe see more and more western statements that Ukraine can end the war, via loss of territories. This is sheer desperation to avoid even an iota of responsibility for the loss of lives that they caused. They don't know how to get out, they have to get out, they have to save face for their domestic audiences in the face of a spectacular loss of prestige, so again, Zelensky is being thrown under the bus and Ukraine is an orphan.
Russia in any event says nyet! It will be on our terms, not yours. ～ Messy Grind again and more Great Walkback, Amarynth for the Saker Blog
You think there is going to be a worldwide move to green energy? I doubt it very much. The quote is from an article about what Australia has planned. This is just Australia not Europe which is in the process of committing energy sucide. It will take 96,450,000oz of silver to make 150 million solar panels which is about 10% of the annual silver supply. With an expected useful life the solar panels will need to be replaced after about 30 years. This may become the next broken supply chain.
And that's just the start of plans for Australia's ambitious green hydrogen and green ammonia projects — fuelled by wind and solar. It will require maybe 150 million solar panels on just the announced projects to date, but it's going to require some careful planning. ～ Hot, humid, dusty and… boring: Building solar farms in the outback is not piles of fun, Giles Parkinson
16 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
I picked up a package at the Post Office while on our Tuesday walk. It contained two shirts that are 55% hemp and 45% cotton. They are traditional button shirts with a collar that I got to wear when going shopping or to appointments. Wore one of them yesterday and it felt so light and soft I was pleasantly surprised and happy with the buy.
I have some t-shirts that are also hemp/cotton that are a heavier fabric that I have been wearing while doing our walks. Although they feel heavier they are not hot to wear even in the 90s that we have been having. Perhaps even better for hot days than the seersucker shirts I have worn the past couple of summers.
All of those shirts will get a workout these next couple of days with the forecast of a 99 high today and 97 tomorrow. Windy during the weekend then some cooling into the 80s before getting hot again. June is going to be a long month.
The United States and EU sanctions must have impacted the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) with only 90 countries participating. I can just imagine the State Department working desperately to get a list of those countries.
The best News that I have read in months.
“Today, Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and Chief Medical Advisor to President Biden, tested positive for COVID-19 on a rapid antigen test. He is fully vaccinated and has been boosted twice.” the NIH [National Institutes of Health] said in a statement.”
I think he needs another booster, perhaps a couple more just like when he was touting double masks.
I think the current born generation is “the one after can't make it work and lights a fire in the middle of the floor”. This quote is just a good part of the blog posting.
Hate to tell him, we can very well go backwards.
I'm sure Romans during their peak were thinking big thoughts of where they'd be in a hundred years, what with a form of central heating and indoor plumbing and whatnot.
They did an excavation and revealed a typical well-to-do Roman house. There was evidence of campfires in the great hall. When they did a dating on it they figured two generations is all it took for the knowledge to evaporate. One generation creates it. The next maintains it. The one after uses it, but doesn't know how it works but can't fix it, and the one after can't make it work and lights a fire in the middle of the floor instead. Wasn't too long after that they were living in hovels like barbarians. ～ Yeah. That'll Happen, Pat
17 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: June 17, 1934
The forecast high of 96° is going to be COOLER than the 98.3 high of yesterday. So says Weather Underground. I doubt that I'm going to notice the difference.
These hotter days we have been doing the noon walks along a route that offers shade and it has not been too bad. The afternoon walks have been cut in half so we are out there for only about 15 minutes. If we get blowing dirt, as is expected for today and tomorrow, the dogs just get to go outside for a potty break and no walk.
John Dos Passos's literary response to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, The Grand Design critiques the gargantuan growth of bureaucracy in Washington during the Great Depression and World War II. The satiric novel conveys the author's frustration with federal overreach and the hollow rhetoric that sells it to the people.
PCR has a good post to his blog; the quote is only part of what he has to say. I have added the bold.
Trump and the Republicans are themselves far from a reliable defender of freedom, free speech, and free thought. Republicans have supported the PATRIOT Act and all other legislation that erodes liberty in the name of security, just as Benjamin Franklin, a Founding Father, said would happen. Scare the Americans and they run into the embrace of the totalitarian state.
In addition to these powerful corruptive elements that are destroying the free world, we now have in addition the attacks on the indigenous white populations of the Western world, the fount of modern progress. White people are racists who must be replaced or exterminated, who first must pay reparations, who must first confess their sins against “people of color,” homosexuals and lesbians, feminists, transgendered, transpecies, and everyone else in the universe whether fanciful or real.
The doctrine is hardening everywhere in Western universities where the solution to humanity's problems is the elimination of normal white people. ～ Betrayed Americans, Paul Craig Roberts
A great meme.
Men with beards 1890:
“I'll kill that bear with my bare hands.”
Men with beards 2019:
“Is that hand cream organic?”
18 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
I said that there had been a dirt and gravel mix brought in to fill some of the holes that would become mud bogs when the rains come. At the time I wrote that I also said that the rains would wash away the dirt. Wrong! The winds will have blown it all away before the rains come.
We started our noon walk a few minutes early with a nice breeze that became a not so nice wind by the time we got back to the Park. There we were met with a blowing wall of dirt coming straight at us up the road where all that newly laid dirt and gravel had been laid down. No afternoon walk.
There will be more wind today although the forecast is that it will be cooler. So far this morning has been very cool, wish it would remain like this but know it won't. The wind started to pick up around 8:00 so it will probably be a repeat of yesterday as has been forecast.
Fischer has got this exactly right and we are getting a current lesson. But this will pass; it might take a generation but it will pass.
The agents of repression were both liberals and conservatives, but liberals have often been cruelly repressive in times of stress. The worst tyrants are true believers in one single vision of liberty or freedom that rigidly excludes other visions. In moments of danger they tend to be very careless with other people's rights and utterly unscrupulous about their own methods. It matters little if they are true believers of the left, right, or center. They share an idea of a higher law and do not hesitate to break lower laws, even the Constitution itself. ～ Liberty and Freedom A Visual History of America's Founding Ideals by David Hackett Fischer
“The objection to Puritans [Progressives] is not that they try to make us think as they do, but that they try to make us do as they think.” — H. L. Mencken
I think JHK may be right; there is a 50-50 chance that there will not be a midterm election. If there is one, the level of voter fraud will make 2020 seem like a clean election.
“Joe Biden” is running on empty. His regime staggers on in a delirium and an odium, like one of those groaning, brain-leaking zombies on cable-TV. The voters are poised to unload two barrels of buckshot to this monster's head in September, if we are not prevented from holding elections by yet another bogus “emergency.” Until then, we're in a race to see just how the Party of Chaos completes the destruction of the economy, which is the prelude to the people of the USA destroying the Party of Chaos. ～ How Low Can You Go?, James Howard Kunstler
19 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
Happy Juneteenth National Independence Day
Yes, yesterday was a repeat of Friday but the dirt blowing down the street in the Park started an hour earlier. We did not do a noon walk or an afternoon walk. I took the dogs out for a potty break but even doing that required a fight with Desperado's door. The wind gusts were only around 20mph at noon but reached 36mph during the afternoon.Much cooler today if the forecast is correct but the winds continue. Maybe no wind tomorrow; or at least winds that are not as strong.
The reason for the current panic among western elites is that the Ukraine project isn't going as planned. Instead of Russia being bled on the battlefield, it is Ukraine and the West that bleed. Instead of the Russian economy crashing resulting in Putin's replacement by a Davos-compatible leader, it is the West's economy that is crashing. Instead of Russia being isolated, it is the West that is being increasingly isolated. Nothing is working, and to top it all off, Europe has given the Russians the means and motive to destroy the European economy by partly shutting down its industry. Without Russian resources, there is no European industry, and without industry, there are no taxes for paying for unemployment benefits, pensions, all the refugees, and pretty much everything else which holds European societies together. The Russians now have the ability to engineer an uncontrolled crash in Europe which is not what Davos planned. An uncontrolled crash might see Davos's heads roll, literally, and that is causing fear and panic in elite circles. The only solution for them is to move on with World War 3 and hope for the best. ～ World War 3 for dummies, Gaius Baltar for the Saker Blog
The MainStream Media has been replete with stories about Russian generals being killed in Ukraine. However, I could not find that any of them have bothered to report this story. They seem to have lost interest in reporting any story concerning Ukraine now that it has become obvious that it is losing the war. They remained silent regarding the loss of the M777s as well; in May they were gushing about how the big guns would defeat the Russians.
“The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that the country's warships destroyed a command center with Kalibr cruise missiles, killing dozens of Ukrainian officers.
‘More than 50 generals and officers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were killed,’ the statement said.
The strike took place near the village of Shirokaya Dacha in Dnepropetrovsk Region. The strike hit the compound where commanders of several Ukrainian units had gathered for a meeting, Moscow said.
The ministry added that Kalibr missiles were also used to destroy 10 M777 howitzers and up to 20 armored vehicles that were recently delivered from the West, and had been stored inside a factory building in the southern city of Nikolayev, RT reported.”
Americans gave the legend of the cornucopia another meaning in the early republic. They developed the idea that material abundance was an artifact of liberty and freedom. In the process, they also invented a new meaning of freedom itself and changed it from a spiritual idea to a material condition. This vision appeared early in the new republic, when a common motif was an image of Miss Liberty with an American flag in one hand and a cornucopia in the other. In the 1920s it became a major theme, even a central theme, in American culture. ～ Liberty and Freedom A Visual History of America's Founding Ideals by David Hackett Fischer
20 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
No afternoon walk again yesterday with the dirt blowing. We did our noon walk an hour early when I saw that the wind was building in strength. I knew that a package, containing my coffee order, had been delivered to the Post Office so I wanted to go get it. As it turned out I had two other packages as well; my hearing aids were returned and the mail forwarding from my UPS Store.
It was cold this morning with the low at 44°. Will be in the mid 80s today for the high and moving back into the 90s again starting tomorrow with rain in the forecast next Friday and the weekend. Maybe have some cooler days when the monsoons start.
In 1935, Communist parties throughout the Western democracies changed their tactics. They received orders from the Soviet Union to join with socialists and liberals in “Popular Fronts.” In the United States, Communist leaders adopted the language of liberty and freedom, especially in the years from 1935 to 1939. The head of the party, Earl Browder, developed the Marxist doctrine that he called “American exceptionalism.” It held that the dialectical process of feudalism, capitalism, and socialism did not operate in American history and that Communism could be combined with American traditions of a free and open society. This became an egalitarian vision of liberty and freedom. It had strong appeal to a small number of radicals and intellectuals in the United States, but most Americans regarded it as a contradiction in terms.…
Martin Luther King understood an old truth in American politics. Equality divides Americans; freedom unites them. ～ Liberty and Freedom A Visual History of America's Founding Ideals by David Hackett Fischer
I have quoted nothing from a transcript of Putin's Speech at SPIEF. I do suggest that you read it, although it is long, and compare his State of The Union to President Biden's.
21 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
The Summer Solstice arrived right on schedule; today Tuesday, June 21, 2022, at 2:14 A.M. Arizona time. I was up at that time, taking Erik out for a pee, so was able to experience the beginning of Summer. It was not much of an experience.
The shopping trip was also uneventful if you disregard the one item on my list that I didn't pickup. The breakfast was also the same except this morning when I got the bill I saw that they had given me a ‘locals’ discount. Asked for directions to a barber, or someone that would cut hair, where I stopped on the way out of town and made an appointment for next week.
This book studies American ideas of liberty and freedom as visions of an open society, through the symbols they have inspired from the Revolutionary era through 9/11. Before 1776, a variety of icons
We did our usual distance for the noon walk yesterday for the first time in days. Stopped at the Post Office to return the completed form to my UPS Store but they were closed in recognition of Juneteenth. That was Sunday but when it falls during a weekend the federal employees get Monday off.
That was for the best because it had me at the right place at the right time for a serendipitous meeting. I have self doubts about my training of Erik and how well, or poorly, I have been doing it. The meeting eased some of those doubts.
There was a woman filling her car with gas at the station as we walked past and she asked to meet Erik. I told her how she should approach him because he was not very well socialized. She then said “You did exactly right in telling me that. I'm a dog trainer so it is what I would have told you to do. I saw that you were walking him with a short leash which I also use in training. You are doing a good job.” We had a long chat and Erik got some socializing, as did I.
22 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
I saw smoke to the north last Saturday and it has grown larger everyday since I first saw it. It is the Left Fork Wildfire that was last reported to have burned 3,009 acres and only 5% contained. It is 31.2 mi NNE of Kanab or about 40 miles from me with the smoke blowing mostly toward the east.
My package that was to be delivered to the PO Box by FedEx didn't happen because the PO was closed. The tracking was not working yesterday but I found this morning that FedEx was holding it in Hurricane, UT awaiting further instructions. Had a Chat with the vendor and maybe(?) have redirected the delivery to the Park.
I have gone a week without neighbors on either side of me. That changed late yesterday. I am guessing that they will only be here a few days while they check off National Parks on their ‘bucket list’.
This is a new twist to school shootings. The Robb Elementary School in Uvalde is to be demolished.
💬 Mayor Don McLaughlin: You can never ask a child to go back or teacher to go back in that school ever.
I don't think you will find much coverage of these developments in the MainStream Media. The US needs to impose more sanctions to protect the world from these tyrannical moves by the evil Russians.
President Putin said that banks from BRICS nations can freely connect to the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), Russia's alternative to SWIFT. “The Russian system for transmitting financial messages is open to connecting banks from the five countries, adding that the geography of the use of the Russian payment system Mir is also expanding.” He further noted that work is underway to create an international reserve currency based on a basket of BRICS currencies.
23 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
There is nothing happening here. Just waiting for a delivery by FedEx. Maybe they will bring it to my space or to the Post Office today or maybe tomorrow.
The weather gurus were only teasing. They have dropped all the rain forecasts from the next 10 days and have high temperatures in the 90s. I do hope they are wrong.
The Left Fork wildfire is being reported as having burned 4,631 acres as of this morning with no containment anytime soon. The smoke has not been as visible from my location but is still blowing toward Bryce Canyon National Park.
I wonder how many people have realized, in fact, just how awkward a revelation the total failure of Biden's sanctions has turned out to be. The US and its client states have slapped just about every economic sanction on Russia that they can think of; the result has been that the Russian economy is doing fine, but the economies of the United States and Europe are cratering. The unpalatable truth that has been revealed by this turn of events is that the “global economy”—that is to say, the structure that has been erected since the collapse of Communism to manage the flow of real and financial wealth from country to country—benefits the United States and its inner circle of client states, and nobody else. To Russia, and arguably to a great many other nations as well, it's entirely parasitic: a means of pumping wealth out of their hands and into those of America's and western Europe's kleptocratic elites.
That matters, because now other nations have an alternative. That's why India is eagerly cutting deals, not just with Russia, but also with Iran and influential regional players such as Vietnam; it's why Russia itself has just signed a new set of agreements with Nicaragua, which include the right to base Russian troops and planes in that small but strategically vital Central American country, and why Iran is making agreements of its own with Nicaragua and Venezuela. It's why the president of Mexico rolled his eyes at US demands and pursued his own nation's interests at the expense of ours. The age of American global hegemony is over, and the only people in the world who don't seem to have noticed it are the self-proclaimed masters of the world in Washington DC. ～ The Twilight of Empire, John Michael Greer
The quote is from a good article that I recommend.
The Kobayashi Maru is a very apt description of both the U.S. and the global economies, which are currently running a real-world no-win scenario called “Profits, Infinite Growth, Low Inflation, Full Employment.” (PIGLIFE). To win in the PIGLIFE scenario, you need permanent expansion of GDP, consumption, profits and employment and a permanently low limit on inflation. Anything less and you lose.
Central banks and political leaders have managed to “win” the PIGLIFE scenario for decades, but at a cost that can no longer be cloaked by happy-happy statistics. The economy has been fatally hollowed out into a fragile shell of monopolies and cartels profiting from hyper-financialization and hyper-globalization, a system in which the only possible outcome is hyper-inequality and hyper-self-exploitation as the immense profits enable the purchase / capture of political and regulatory power. ～ Our No-Win “Kobayashi Maru” Economy, Charles Hugh Smith
No quote just a link to a good article, Putin Humiliates Great Reset Scum At Brics Forum by The Night Wind
It has been years since I have read about anyone dying of natural causes. That cause of death was stamped out way back in the 1980s. Yet we are to believe that a 25 year old NBA player, Carl Swanigan, died of natural causes as cited by the Allen County Coroner's Office. Not likely.
Jaylon Ferguson, a Baltimore Raven player, has died at the age of 26. His cause of death is yet to be determined but I have serious doubt that it was from natural causes. Professional athletes do not die of natural causes at the age of 25 and 26. I wonder if both of them were vaxxed and boostered to the max?
24 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: June 24, 1934
I got my package from FedEx yesterday. It was delivered to the Park. I am very pleased with the Iron Forge Hemp® Canvas 5-Pocket Pants from Patagonia; although not happy with their shipping. I also got a surprise.
I didn't read the description that closely, just assumed that 5-pocket would be like all others. That is there would be two front and two rear pockets and a watch pocket. These came with a right side utility pocket which can probably hold a phone. There is no watch pocket, but there are very few people that carry a pocket watch.
On 13 January 2020 I wrote ‘I bought another brand of cargo pants that are wearing better but I don't like how they fit.’ These pants were from First Tactical which I don't think sell the model anymore. They sat low on my waist, which I did not like, and the rear pockets had velcro flaps that I grew to hate. They are going to a new home at the local thrift store along with a few other pieces of clothing that I haven't worn for years.
We got rain! There was not a lot, maybe 0.10'', but enough to keep the dirt from blowing. It came soon after we finished our noon walk. I could see a cloud not far to the west that was dumping a wall of water but did not expect it to reach here. A lot of clouds are still around this morning with one big black one overhead during our morning walk. It sprinkled on us just a little but let us go without a drenching.
In December 1940 American war correspondent Ernie Pyle entered England for the first time. With the German Luftwaffe flying overhead, he had entered it in the midst of the Blitz. He would stay in Britain for the next four months.
With his distinctive writing style, that would later earn him a Pulitzer Prize, he vividly depicts Great Britain in her darkest hour. With France defeated and America not yet in the war, the future did not look bright for Churchill's country. Yet, as Pyle finds out, this was not a country resigned to defeat, instead it was carrying on as best it could, determined that it would not buckle under the pressure of Hitler's aerial raids.
Pyle's inquisitive nature leads him to spend time with dockworkers of Glasgow, R.A.F. pilots in a bomber station, miners of Wales, policemen of London and families across the nation to uncover how the ordinary men and women were coping under the pressure.
Ernie Pyle in England is a fascinating account of Britain during one of its darkest periods, and how with amazing resilience the British people survived. ～ Book promo @ goodreads.com
This quote is the closing of an article that The Establishment has blocked in the United States. It is critical of the United States so must not be available to be read by the deplorables. I suggest that you read it.
An old adage says “When you seek revenge, dig two graves”. That's never been truer than it is now. We are witnessing an unprecedented level of cooperation between countries from around the world. Recent meetings with Maduro from Venezuela, visiting Iran, Turkey, Algeria; Fernandez from Argentina visiting China; Bolsonaro from Brazil visiting Russia. Just a few of many more unlikely relationships being forged. The common denominator is that they are all U.S. exclusionary. Economic blocs in Central Asia, Africa, and Latin America are developing independently of American influence. This is in anticipation of the post-dollar, post-IMF world that is rapidly approaching. Before long America won't be able to exact its revenge capitalism, not financially at least. America's rampant abuse of its dollar hegemony hasn't made it look strong. On the contrary it makes it look petty, small-minded and spiteful. An increasingly weakening America may soon feel what revenge capitalism feels like. When the time comes, and it will, it can only hope the rest of the world is more forgiving. ～ Revenge Capitalism and the Empire's Long Memory, Eamon McKinney
25 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
We got slightly wet yesterday during our noon walk. For a few minutes we took shelter under a big tree until the shower of big rain drops passed. It continues to be cloudy but I can't get any cloud shade when we do the afternoon walk.
Many months ago the vendor that sells me hulled barley and oat groats gave me a gift package of dry soybeans. I finally got around to cooking them yesterday and now have a different ‘dish’ for my ‘linners’. I will use the cooked soybeans just like I have been using the precooked beans and hominy by adding vegetables.
The soybeans are very high in protein, even more than all the beans I have been eating, plus other good nutrition. The 1.5 billion Chinese and Japanese have been living well, and long, by eating soybeans so I'll incorporate some in my diet.
The joke in Russia is that while McCain famously once said that “Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country” with contempt, “Biden” is now saying the same thing, but with deep envy.
I was walking past a farm and a sign said “Duck, eggs.”
I thought: “That's an unnecessary comma — then it hit me.”
26 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
I have distilled more water. This morning I need to do the holding tank dumps and add water again. That will probably be all I do today. Tomorrow is laundry day and shopping with a haircut appointment on Tuesday. Busy week. HA
I have this suspicion that Ms. Maxwell is not ‘on suicide watch’ but has been placed so the powers that be can watch her suicide. She knows far too much to live. Ghislaine Maxwell, the former Epstein “pimp” was removed from the general population of inmates at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, put in solitary confinement and placed on suicide watch.
The multiple sanctions against Russia have been so successful that the G7 has ratcheted them up. If this new sanction works as well for gold as it has for oil I see a big increase in the price of gold. It is going to be interesting to see what the spot price of gold will be late today when that market starts to trade.
President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders agreed to impose a ban on the import of new gold from Russia. Boris Johnson confirmed the upcoming restriction as he arrived at the G7 summit in Bavaria, Germany. Sanctions will apply to gold mined after the ban was imposed, and will not affect gold already acquired (Note: I'm not sure how this will be determined).
When people whistling past the graveyard assure themselves that the Ukraine conflict won't widen and that nuclear war is impossible because countries don't commit suicide, they ignore the massive role of delusion that operates throughout the West that provides assurance of American hegemony. Not only is the US going to bust up Russia into small states, but also, according to the US National Security Council, “Zelensky is going to get to determine what victory looks like” and to determine “when the conditions are met to build peace.”
The war has already widened with the US and NATO countries falling under the Kremlin's designation of combatants for supplying Ukraine with weapons and military intelligence. The war has been widened to the extent that Lithuania now prevents Russia from supplying Kaliningrad, a part of Russia, and by NATO's intended expansion into Finland, thus greatly lengthening NATO's presence on Russia's borders. People can fool themselves that this is not widening the conflict, but they forget that the conflict originated in the West's refusal to acknowledge Russia's legitimate security concerns. Now the West has greatly expanded the area of Russian concern.…
The West is so deluded that Russia is not taken seriously. Even tiny, insignificant, Lithuania is not afraid of Russia. Even countries heavily dependent on Russian energy repeatedly stick their fingers into Russia's eyes. How much more can Russia take? This is a situation very ripe for a big war. ～ The US Government's Plan to Partition Russia Into Small States, Paul Craig Roberts
27 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
Erik and I got soaked yesterday doing the noon walk. It started covering the sidewalk with rain drop splatters the size of quarters so we took shelter under trees across the street from the big tree that had sheltered us before. After a few minutes it seemed to have quit but Mother Nature was suckering us. She allowed us to get where there was no shelter anywhere nearby and dumped on us.
By the time of our afternoon walk we had dried out but the wind was blowing gusts of 30mph and it looked like more rain. I decided to give it a pass.
The trip to town this morning started with a stop at the laundromat which did't take long. The a block away at Honey's Marketplace I got everything that was on my shopping list. Then I went to the only restaurant in town that is open for breakfast. Claiming to open at 8:00 but usually open around 8:30. I got there at 9:00 and they were not open. I don't know if this restaurant is just a hobby or what but it sure is not managed like a business.
Back to my space in the Park where I made my usual breakfast. I am anticipating a HOT day with the forecast of 91 but it is getting hot early in the day. Maybe we will get lucky and have some cloud shade for our walks.
I go back to town again tomorrow for my haircut appointment. The rest of the day needs to be spent doing month end chores. Maybe get started on some of them today.
I don't think President Biden is going to come away with any mid-term election talking point from this G7 meeting.
“Looking at the seven countries comprising the G7 we find out that five of the seven countries are fractured at home,” says Paolo Raffone, a strategic analyst and director of the CIPI Foundation in Brussels. “The US is dangerously split over domestic affairs, living a low-key civil war ahead of mid-term and presidential elections that will occupy the stage until 2024… Germany reunified in 1990 but is dramatically split between West and East and South. Recent polls show that there are at least three Germanies with divergent perceptions and needs in energy, economics, democracy, rule of law, and with respect to Russia and the war in Ukraine… The UK is far less united than it pretends, as Brexit has shown… France is split in half between the Macronists and the opposition. Macron has failed so far in delivering both domestic benefits and international relevance. The EU is as irrelevant as its leaders.” ～ G7's Unity Check: Western Nations Split Over Russia Sanctions, Economic Crisis, Say Scholars, Ekaterina Blinova, a freelance journalist
28 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
I will post this early today before going to town for my haircut. When I get back I think I will get started doing the Will Rogers weekly article preparation for another month.
There will be the noon walk with Erik and the afternoon walk with Patches and Erik. That will almost fill my day. Any spare time will be used up with reading. I have downloaded three more books that were not on my To Read list that I want to get to.
29 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
I got the haircut — expensively. Also got the Will Rogers weekly articles prepared for another month. That made yesterday a productive one. Today I'll get started on the month end household chores.
I will most likely finish the novel that I have been reading and get started on one of the three nonfiction books that I have downloaded. The biggest challenge will be to stay cool; the high yesterday was 100°. Only about 90 when we did our noon walk with it 96-97 in the afternoon. The forecast for today is that it will be cooler with a chance of scattered thunderstorms. We could get wet.
The economic News is not very good and consumers are finally waking up. Investors are waking up as well with all the markets down including precious metals. We are going to be living through some very interesting times between now and 2024. Then perhaps some even more interesting times for years after that election cycle — which may not happen.
“A closely followed University of Michigan survey released Friday [24 Jun 2022] found that US consumer sentiment hit a new record low in June — the lowest recorded level since the university started collecting the data 70 years ago.
The June index saw a 14.4% drop since May as consumers became increasingly alarmed about inflation. About 79% of those consumers said they expected bad times for business conditions in the upcoming year, the highest level for that metric since 2009.”
30 June 2022
Wheel Inn RV Park
Fredonia, AZ
I decided that the risk of getting wet during the noon walk was not worth it. So we get a trace and the reporting station gets a little on a quarter of an inch. A few sprinkles during our afternoon walk which was done under heavy clouds that looked like they would rain.
I started a new project yesterday. Installed WordPress Twenty Twenty-Two at my Host which was free. The project now is to customize what I have to what I want. Twenty Twenty-Two is the first default block theme in WordPress so there is less ‘how to’ customize it available on the web. I'll be a pioneer of sorts and you now what they say, “The pioneers were the ones that took the arrows.”
I was wrong about the three nonfiction books that I had downloaded. One of them was fiction, which I have started to read. I do have three nonfiction books ‘pending’ two downloaded and one online.
It's 1868 and Sir Harry Flashman, V.C., arch-cad, amorist, cold-headed soldier, and reluctant hero, is back! Fleeing a chain of vengeful pursuers that includes Mexican bandits, the French Foreign Legion, and the relatives of an infatuated Austrian beauty, Flashy is desperate for somewhere to take cover.
Flashman on the March—the twelfth book in George MacDonald Fraser's ever-beloved, always scandalous Flashman Papers series—is Flashman and Fraser at their best. ～ Book promo @ godreads.com
I believe the American Republic would be well served to take Adam's [President John Quincy Adams also the first U.S. Ambassador to Russia] words to heart and construct a new foreign policy that is not based on sending our troops abroad to die in meaningless wars. The good heart that powers America still beats. But it is under assault at home. Russia does not threaten our Republic. Our peril is at home. ～ Americans Do Not Understand Their Own Military History, Larry Johnson