Friday, December 12, 2025

Notes From The Coming War

    These 'Ghost Armadas'—clandestine fleets shared by Iran, Russia, and Venezuela—are no longer distant threats; they are at America's doorstep - navigating waters dangerously close to the US.

    Shelley told the Daily Mail that the seizure of the Skipper is just the tip of the iceberg, revealing new data on the massive revenue these ships generate.

    'At UANI, we have acquired data showing that there are at least 10 additional dark fleet vessels in the Caribbean with a similar history of transporting illicit Iranian oil,' Shelley said. 'In total, these 10 vessels have in the past carried over 29 million barrels of Iranian crude, generating approximately $1.8 billion for the Iranian regime.'
   

  • "They Droned Back"--Digital Digging. The article relates: "Seven German journalism students tracked Russian-crewed freighters lurking off the Dutch and German coast—and connected them to drone swarms over military bases."
  • "Communist China Still Infiltrating Texas"--Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog. News of a Chinese AI chip smuggling ring, and Texas A&M’s associate head of graduate studies of chemistry, who had access to federally funded research, abruptly heads back home to China. 

Epstein Photo Release

Before the official release of Epstein documents, which might be ruinous for the Democrats, they are trying to spin the narrative by releasing over a dozen new photographs of  Epstein "parading around" with Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, among others. I am reminded of this piece from Dr. Naomi Wolf back in July, entitled: "'The Network" in the Worlds of the Elites." Wolf was trying to explain why Trump was so reluctant to release the Epstein files because Epstein, by the nature of his activities, was going to be seen as having not just associated with powerful deviants, but also many people that were innocent of participating in Espstein's honey trap. She explains:

    I think that it is likely that multiple people who are critical to this administration’s success — my guess is, that these are mostly guys from the Silicon Valley community, who have been the ones to put the fuel of their billions and their technical and media support into President Trump’s campaign and administration’s engines — whether they are innocent or guilty, are in the Epstein files. (Remember why Mrs Gates broke up with Mr Gates?) And I think this nation’s most important scientists, innocent or guilty, are in the files. And my guess is that the funders have confronted President Trump.

    Why do I think this? There are several clues.

    One is the interview of the late Epstein’s former lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, with Chris Cuomo. Remember, Dershowitz used to represent President Trump as well. Dershowitz confirmed that there is a redacted list of people accused of improper conduct, stressed that no one who is a public figure who is in office currently (you get it) is on the list, and called on AG Pam Bondi to ask the New York Courts, who have custody of this list, to release it.

    If you read the hieroglyphics here correctly, what you should see (this is why it is useful to have been a political consultant; you can read the code, which often involves triangulation or “deniability”) that A/ President Trump is not on this list. B/ President Trump does not wish the horrific baggage of being the one to infuriate all the powerful people who are on this list, by releasing it himself via his AG. C/ They — the Trump administration — want it released by others, ie, the New York courts, so that they themselves don’t receive the appalling blowback.

    I also believe that there are make-or-break tech bro Trump supporters on the list, because of a moving interview given by Eric Weinstein on July 14, 2025— interestingly, in the midst of the Bondi furor — to Steven Bartlett, on the “Diary of a CEO” podcast. 
 

She continues:

    On the podcast, he stated that “[s]ex offender Jeffrey Epstein was a "product of one or more elements of the intelligence community." Weinstein, who said he had met Epstein, described him as "certainly was not a financier in any standard sense. That was a cover story."‘

    “British entrepreneur Bartlett asks about Weinstein having met Epstein, and he says, "He wasn't a financier the day I met him." Weinstein goes on to describe Epstein as a "weird guy," who "didn't seem to know a lot about currency trading."

    Weinstein also describes Epstein as a "construct"‘.

    This interview has been seen by 2.4 million people. It is riveting. I felt a deep sense of recognition when Weinstein was speaking. My sense is that Weinstein was speaking extremely carefully; that his goal, among others, was to establish that one could be enmeshed in documentation around the Epstein community and “lists”, without being a pedophile — indeed, one could be enmeshed in those documents simply for being a cutting-edge scientist; and that one intention of his was to put this situation on the record. 

 What did he mean by "construct"?

    Weinstein argues that the Epstein “construct” was what the military calls “dual use” --that is, that Epstein had multiple missions running concurrently.

    One mission, of course, was that of running a grotesque sexual honeypot, exploiting minors, for purposes of blackmail.

    But another, Weinstein argues, is the management and direction of Western science itself. Weinstein notes that Ghislaine Maxwell’s father, the late publishing magnate/reputed intelligence asset Robert Maxwell, founded the scientific imprint Pergamon Press, the Oxford-based imprint that published medical books and journals, which was bought by Elsevier, which is the main scientific publishing imprint (and the advance guard scientifically for the COVID/vaccine narrative; indeed, Elsevier created a “resource hub” about COVID for “librarians, campuses and health professionals”, an oddly activist offering from what is supposed to be a neutral scientific platform).

    Weinstein notes that Epstein funded a number of important scientists, and that he had an office at Harvard. Weinstein says in the podcast, with what looks like suppressed rage, that he wants to know why Epstein was aware of his, Weinstein’s, work, and why Epstein was embedded in the Harvard mathematics department. 

 And he directed and managed the direction of science, or at least certain fields, by bringing together scientists with the wealthy, powerful, and influential in finance and technology and other fields. She expounds on this a bit more:

We are also looking at a “construct” that seduced and lured scientists; that was institutionally set up to seduce and lure scientists; and that may have created conditions that look compromising on paper, whether the scientists did anything wrong or not. We are also looking at a machine constructed to entrap and perhaps pressure, whether they are innocent or guilty, a generation of the most important scientists of our time.

Why? Perhaps, as Weinstein is suggesting, to steer science itself. 

Unfortunately, she does not know the purpose of this steerage of science and the large tech companies, although she alludes to the idea of trans-humanism. I will add that while the concept of trans-humanism can be rather benign and pedestrian--improving humans through genetics and cybernetics to get rid of diseases or enable us to live in environments in which we otherwise would be unable to survive--it can also be seen as a means to achieve a kind of godhood: extreme intelligence, immortality, physical capabilities beyond anything possible today. And since the common person will never be able to enjoy these extreme benefits, the elites will truly be godlike, lording over a lessor humanity. 

    But back to Trump: 

    What you need to understand, taking this all back to what I believe is President Trump’s dilemma, is that that calculation about the power of “the network,” and the scary losses sustained by crossing “the network”, let alone losing its protection and resources, are not restricted to the Edge Foundation.

    All of liberal elite society works in this exact same way.

    It is all kind of like the mafia — you may not agree with the capo or some of the dons around you, but you know very well that crossing them means certain destruction for yourself.

    So: everyone aligns.

    I think this is what President Trump is also trying to explain, though of course he cannot state all this overtly.

    Understand, too, what Weinstein and Dershowitz are separately trying to tell you. The Epstein files probably contain many innocent people as well as many guilty ones; but again, they are very likely to contain, innocent and guilty, some of the most powerful of President Trump’s current supporters; and some of the greatest of scientists and some of the most influential technologists of our time.

    And even someone as powerful as the American President, in my calculation, can’t cross that most powerful of all powerful “networks.” 

 Her piece is lengthy--well beyond what I've quoted--so I would encourage you to read the whole thing.

FEMA Ordered To Washington To Deal With Flooding

"Trump orders FEMA aid to Washington as residents cling to car roofs in catastrophic state flooding"--Daily Mail.  From the lede:

    Washington is under a state of emergency after days of torrential rain unleashed historic floods, forcing thousands from their homes and leaving residents stranded on rooftops of cars and houses.

    Governor Bob Ferguson announced Thursday that President Trump had ordered emergency FEMA aid for the state, saying on X that he 'expressed my thanks to Secretary Noem on behalf of the people of Washington during this extremely challenging time.'

    Flood warnings in the western part of the state have put 100,000 residents in Skagit and Snohomish counties under Level 3 evacuation orders, meaning they were told to 'leave now.' 

Taking The Long Shot With A Handgun

In his article, "Long-Distance Handgun Shooting: How and Why to Take a Long Shot" at Handguns Magazine, Richard Nance discusses long distance (for a handgun) shooting. An excerpt:

    While the odds of having to make a long-distance shot with your handgun may be low, the stakes are unquestionably high, which is reason enough to add this important skill to your training regimen. But tactical relevance aside, developing the ability to fire your handgun accurately at distance is bound to make you a better shooter at more probable shooting distances.

    As a case in point, I reflect on my days as a karate student. Despite training in a traditional style of karate that emphasized kicking no higher than waist level, I spent countless hours working on high kicks. I could easily kick over my head with accuracy and power.

    In a real fight, the chances of delivering a kick to an attacker’s head in a fight are minimal, while at the same time leaving you vulnerable to having your kicking leg caught or having your support leg swept out from under you. However, high kicks helped me develop the flexibility, balance and technique that made me a much better all-around kicker.

    This logic can be applied to long- distance shooting. Being able to hit a target at distance will invariably make hitting a closer target that much easier. But there are some nuances specific to shooting a handgun at longer distances.

    When it comes to shooting, the more stable you are, the more accurate you will be. As such, when a long-distance handgun shot is required, taking a low kneeling or even a prone position is advantageous. Of course, any sort of available rest works as well.
  

More:

Broken PC Toolkit

I am no longer as knowledgeable about computer issues as when I was in college, but I thought those readers that are techies might find this useful.  In "My 'break glass' USB drive has everything to rescue a broken PC" the author describes how he put together a "kit" of software on a flashdrive that allows him to troubleshoot and fix PCs that have suffered catastrophic failures due to hardware failures or malware infections. It starts with loading Ubuntu and Ventoy ("an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files") onto a flash drive (the author recommends one with at least 64GB of space). He also lists and discusses some other software he uses for diagnostics, recovery, and restoring data. 

Fed Mulls Elimination of Paper Checks

The Daily Mail reports that the Federal Reserve, which runs the national system that processes and clears paper checks between banks, "is considering ‘winding down’ the check services it provides to banks. The notice, posted quietly on its website, sYeahignals a possible long-term retreat from paper-based payments.

The Fed said it now faces rising fraud, falling usage and soaring infrastructure costs tied to paper checks. It is weighing whether to invest heavily to keep the system running — or slowly let it fade.

But while checks "account for only about 5 percent of transactions, they represent 21 percent of the total value of all payments," and are heavily relied upon by small businesses and low income households. It seems just another way to force everyone to use digital payment transactions (and the huge fees it generates for banks). 

VIDEO: Before You Buy An M14/M1A

Following up on a couple prior posts regarding the M14 and M1A, I came across this video that discusses the rifles, but also notes that not all M14 clones are equal. The author shoots an accurized M14 and has apparently tried different models. He indicates that he has owned three Springfield M1As and gives them a hard pass because of "serious" accuracy, quality control, and durability issues. (Although I would note that 9-Holes Review did one of their "practical accuracy to 500 yards" videos of the M1A several years ago and its seemed to do pretty good). Another one that he recommends against are those from BULA Defense Systems because of QC issues on the model he had reviewed. He instead recommends the ones produced by LRB Arms, claiming that they are the only mil-spec models on the market. However, they look like they start at about $3,500.  

VIDEO: "M1A / M14 - Before You Buy"
ParaBella (14 min.)

You Know What They Say About Men With Big Feet...

From Smithsonian Magazine: "Archaeologists Keep Finding Massive Shoes at an Ancient Roman Fort—and They Have No Idea Why They’re So Big."

    The supersized footwear comes from a Roman-era fort called Magna, which is located along Hadrian’s Wall, the 73-mile stone fortification built beginning in 122 C.E. that marked the northwest boundary of the Roman Empire. Also known as Carvoran, the fort was operational from 85 C.E. to 122 C.E., according to the Roman Army Museum.

    Since May, archaeologists working at Magna have unearthed eight massive leather shoes that each measure more than 11.8 inches long. The extra-large specimens now make up roughly a quarter of all the shoes found at the site so far.

The article indicates that the longest shoe found at the site measures 12.8 inches long.

Thursday, December 11, 2025

Tehran May Run Out Of Water, Be Evacuated

Reports are that "Tehran may be evacuated as taps run dry due to water crisis."

    In early November, Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian warned: “If it doesn’t rain in Tehran by late November, we’ll have to ration water. And if it still doesn’t rain, we’ll have to evacuate Tehran.”

    Typically, rain should start falling in Iran in autumn, following Iran’s hot summer. But the September to November period just gone is the driest the country has seen in half a century, the National Weather Forecasting Centre has reported. Rainfall has been 89 per cent below the long-term average. 

    Mr Pezeshkian described the situation as “extremely critical”, citing reports that Tehran’s dam reservoirs have fallen to their lowest level in 60 years, some as low as 10 per cent of capacity. Officials say that in the east of Tehran, the Latyan Dam – one of five key reservoirs – is only about 9 per cent full. The Karaj dam, which supplies a quarter of Tehran’s drinking water, is 8 per cent full.  

And if they are like U.S. cities, that remaining water is for important things like golf courses. 

Bovine Fart Meds Have Unintended Consequences

 From Legal Insurrection: "Norway Pauses Use of Fart-Reducing Cattle Feed in Wake of Danish Cow-Tastrophe." Europe is under some delusion that (a) there is man made global warming and (b) it is caused by flatulent cows. (If animals farts could have caused global warming there would have never been ice ages). Authorities have tried various measures to reduce cow farts, including getting rid of farmers and their cattle. But apparently their latest effort was to force farmers to use feed containing a methane-reducing additive called Bovaer. But in Denmark, where the feed is mandated, "[s]ome farmers claim their cattle experienced severe symptoms after eating the additive-infused feed, including collapse, lethargy, reduced feed intake, fever, diarrhea, miscarriages, and significant drops in milk production." The issues have caused farmers in Norway to stop using the additive. And Danish farmers "who have stopped using the additive-infused feed have noticed an improvement in their animals."

Notes From The Coming War

" Ominous fleet of Iranian-linked tankers off US coast sparks alarm about Trump's widening war with Venezuela "--Daily Mail.  ...