How the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) looks at night...

Not to be confused with the People's Democratic Republic of Kalifornia (PDRK)

Ages ago I read Dick Cheney's autobiography, In My Time.  One of the points I remember was he put in his office, when he was the Secretary of Defense, a picture of the Korean Peninsula at night. Everything below the DMZ was fully lit, especially around Seoul. North of the border, with some exceptions (Pyongyang), was completely dark. 

I subscribe to 38th North, a daily summary of unclassified intelligence on the DPRK. Yes, once an intel nerd. always an intel nerd. But I've been studying this country since 1988 (when I got my first assignment out of my Army basic course), and while countless Asian nations have entered the 21st Century, it is still in the years before the mid-20th Century. And this latest photo shows it. 

I've read a bio of Lyndon Johnson and how he was instrumental in getting electric power to Texas Hill Country people. The wires were run, but there was no power for ages. Then one family was walking back to their home just as it was getting dark, and they thought the house was on fire. No. It just had electric light for the first time. 

Somewhere in my office is a picture of me in the summer of 1989 on the DMZ. And I've recently heard that another idiot walked into North Korea, and Army private. Why they would do that, I don't know, but knowing Lloyd Austin et all will trade a fortune for him. I was about 200 yards from the border, and that was close enough. 

See the future liberals want for all of use (well, not them you understand...). No lights, no power, no transportation, etc. 

An Easy Solution Environmentalists Don't Want To Use.

I've often said I'm an not an "environmentalist," as they are radical anti-growth and frankly anti human development people, many of whom want to spare themselves of the pain they push on others. Just recently John Kerry, hypocrite extraordinaire, was actually called out on his use of his private jet to go to one conference after another demanding we stop using internal combustion engines. Like the one in "his" plane and the limo he always rides in. 

In fairness, it was not his plane. It was his wife's. 

I prefer the term conservationist. I believe the Earth's natural resources should be efficiently exploited for the benefit of mankind. That include oil, natural gas, coal, water, and air. Keep the air and water clean, absolutely. Stop using things that work (e.g. automobiles, aircraft, etc) while the hypocrites lecture us from their 200' yachts? I don't think so. 

One point made countless times is there is a source of electricity the leaves no "greenhouse" gases, but many of the enviro nut-jobs want no part of is nuclear power. Legitimately there is an issue of where to store the radioactive waste, but that should have been settled ages ago. Yucca Mountain in Nevada has been designated as a national storage site since 1997, and it's still an open issue after resistance from local politicians. Hopefully a Republican president in 2025 will use eminent domaine to seize the land, establish the final site and name it after a man who's deserved this honor. Let's call it the Harry Reid Toxic Waste dump. 

But I found this interesting. The Army is working on portable nuclear generators to deploy to the field. If we can send these to 3rd World nations, why not  downtown USA? 

Pentagon to build nuclear microreactors to power far-flung bases

Pentagon officials recently announced that the Defense Department will build a nuclear microreactor that can be flown to an austere site by a C-17 cargo plane and set up to power a military base.

A statement released Wednesday by the Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities Office announced the construction and testing decision that followed the office’s Environmental Impact Statement work for “Project Pele...”

...The plans call for a 40-ton reactor that can fit in three-to-four 20-foot shipping containers and, once set up, provide 1 to 5 Mega Watts of power on full power operation for up to three years before refueling.

The microreactor will ultimately join a newer type of nuclear fuel being used in the program at the Idaho National Laboratory. Testing and experimentation will occur in 2024, with demonstrations anticipated by 2025, (Program Manager, Dr. Jeff Waksman) Waksman said.

“Advanced nuclear power has the potential to be a strategic game-changer for the United States, both for the DoD and for the commercial sector,” Waksman said. “For it to be adopted, it must first be successfully demonstrated under real-world operating conditions.”

...Waksman responded to that concern with a twofold answer to Army Times this week, saying that the microreactor will be used for austere locations, some of which were identified in the original 2018 Army G-4 report, “Study on the Use of Mobile Nuclear Power Plants for Ground Operations.”

Those include places such as Fort Greely, Alaska, and Lajes Field, Azores.

Second, Waksman said that both the newer designed reactor, a “high-temperature gas reactor,” and its fuel source, known as high-assay low enriched uranium tristructural isotropic fuel, provide more safety measures than older generation reactors and fuel.

The design also has protection features built in that are currently classified, Waksman said. Additionally, commanders can enhance protection with barriers or by burying the reactor underground, he said.

“This thing is very resilient,” Waksman said.

The fuel type offers another layer of protection.

“The uranium is in millions of tiny pebbles, less than 1 mm in diameter, each individually encapsulated,” Waksman said. “Each fuel pellet is its own barrier...”

 

The article is long and there is  a lot of verbiage from opponents such as the Union of Concerned Scientists, a group of scientist with less credibility on nuclear proliferation than the Southern Poverty Law Center has with "hate groups." Legitimately they raise the issue of exposure to air attack, but this would be less of a threat than they publish. The idea is for this generator to be far behind the lines, not on the front lines. This is where you have air defense coverage, not to mention ground security. 

Progress. Seeing these "scientists" want us to mine for rare minerals for EV batteries in spite of the pollution that causes. Or air conditioning is "destroying the planet" but they don't shut their AC units off. I will remind these "experts" the US came in under the carbon restrictions of the Paris Climate accord thanks to fracking, allowing us to use more natural gas for electricity generation. And it will be business, not idiots with PhDs, who will lead us into a powered future. 

One Again, All Together, Thanks Joe

A lie spread across the world is 90% of all weapons in the hands of Mexican gangs comes from the US. Very wrong, as STRATFOR has documented on multiple occasions. Yes, they get firearms from the US, but the majority that can be verified are from other nations. 

One of Joe Biden’s many disasters since entering the White House (and he was a disaster before entering the White House) was the calamitous withdrawal from Afghanistan. It made the final days in Saigon look organized and dignified. A helicopter leaving the embassy is one thing, people grabbing the nose gear of a cargo plane is even worse. 

 

Thanks to Joe and his idiot Defense Secretary, we handed over to the “Taliban  at least 78 aircraft, millions of rounds of small ammunition, and over 300,000 rifles, over 9,000 air to ground weapons, not to mention 42, 000 pieces of night vision, surveillance, ‘biometric and positioning equipment.’”  Now the Taliban have become arms dealers for other 3^rd World enemies. 

The Taliban Are Now Arms Dealers

Terrorists are shopping for left-behind American weapons—and turning them against Washington’s friends around the world.

Taliban fighters stand guard next to weapons on display for media representatives
in Kunar province, Afghanistan, on Sept. 25, 2022.  AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. military retreated from Afghanistan two years ago, leaving behind weapons that are now turning up in far-flung trouble spots where terrorists are fighting and killing America’s allies. In markets that have sprung up across the southern and eastern badlands, where the hottest fighting of the war took place, merchants with Taliban permits are offering U.S.-made automatic assault rifles and handguns for sale alongside hardware from Russia, Pakistan, China, Turkey, and Austria. Business, like terrorism, is thriving.

Under weather-beaten tarps slung across wooden poles, in isolated strip malls deep in the desert, or laid out on dusty carpets along bumpy tracks off the major highways, these ad hoc weapons bazaars are offering rockets and bombs, shoulder-fired grenade launchers, night vision goggles, sniper rifles and scopes, and ammunition. The wares are priced in afghanis, rupees, and dollars; recent price increases reflect the business acumen of one of the world’s richest criminal cartels that has sought to keep tight control on supply.

Left-behind American assault rifles command a premium: an M4 in good condition can fetch up to $2,400, a status symbol with as much cachet in the Himalayan tribal belt as a luxury handbag in Manhattan. In contrast, a Pakistan-made knock-off of an AK-47, the world’s most ubiquitous killing machine, can go for as little as $130…

And the results of this new found “capitalism” for small arms, etc. “The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Pakistan’s torn northwest tribal regions and separatists in restive Balochistan are using made-in-America weapons to kill police and soldiers in an escalating war against the Pakistani state.“

…The Taliban, allies of if not quite affiliates of al Qaeda, are at the center of a global smuggling web that earns billions of dollars from heroin and meth. Now they appear to be funneling small arms to like-minded extremists inspired by their victory, not least next door. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Pakistan’s torn northwest tribal regions and separatists in restive Balochistan are using made-in-America weapons to kill police and soldiers in an escalating war against the Pakistani state.

Dramatic TTP videos show apparent attacks on Pakistani police and army outposts by militants armed with American weapons and using night vision and thermal sights, which Afghan Peace Watch said in a new report are “highly sought-after accessories supplied to Afghan Special Forces.” The report quotes a Taliban fighter in Nangarhar province, bordering Pakistan, as saying night vision items sell for $500 to $1,000…

Sometimes I hear someone say, “They can’t be that stupid, can they?” My response is, “Don’t challenge them. They will surprise you.” Well, here we go, another example of leaving children and ideologs in charge of American policy. 

Happy Independence Day

We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor...

In the very hot summer of 1776, representatives of the original thirteen colonies of Great Britain met in Philadelphia, and discussed as serious a subject as could be deliberated. They were about to commit treason against the sitting monarch of England, George III. As this meant nothing short of death in case they were captured, there was no going back once this document was signed. And many of the 56 signers  paid the ultimate price for their actions that summer.

Rush Limbaugh Jr., the father of the late great Rush Limbaugh, gave a presentations on what happened to these men. Of the 56 signers, five were captured by the British, tortured, then executed as traitors. Nine fought in the Revolutionary War and died. Two of the signers lost sons serving in the Colonial Army, while another two had their sons captured by the British Army. Twelve lost all their worldly possessions when the British ransacked and burned their homes. 

A sobering thought at what men in the 18th Century risked and sacrificed to establish the United States of America.  

I've heard from some that America has never been so divided as today. Seeing we had a Civil War break out, not to mention minor open rebellions (e.g., the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794) I can't agree. But as we've had one challenge after another, on the anniversary of our independence, it is good and proper to reread the document that started it all. And while we will not "...mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.," we are, as citizens, called upon to continue the work to make us a more perfect union. And on the 247th anniversary of our nation's founding, please read the document that founded the greatest nation on Earth.  

My fellow Americans, Happy Independence Day.

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, 

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

---

Georgia

Button Gwinnett

Lyman Hall

George Walton

 

North Carolina

William Hooper

Joseph Hewes

John Penn

 

South Carolina

Edward Rutledge

Thomas Heyward, Jr.

Thomas Lynch, Jr.

Arthur Middleton

 

Massachusetts

John Hancock

Maryland

Samuel Chase

William Paca

Thomas Stone

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

 

Virginia

George Wythe

Richard Henry Lee

Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Harrison

Thomas Nelson, Jr.

Francis Lightfoot Lee

Carter Braxton

 

Pennsylvania

Robert Morris

Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Franklin

John Morton

George Clymer

James Smith

George Taylor

James Wilson

George Ross

Delaware

Caesar Rodney

George Read

Thomas McKean

 

New York

William Floyd

Philip Livingston

Francis Lewis

Lewis Morris

 

New Jersey

Richard Stockton

John Witherspoon

Francis Hopkinson

John Hart

Abraham Clark

 

New Hampshire

Josiah Bartlett

William Whipple

 

Massachusetts

Samuel Adams

John Adams

Robert Treat Paine

Elbridge Gerry

 

Rhode Island

Stephen Hopkins

William Ellery

 

Connecticut

Roger Sherman

Samuel Huntington

William Williams

Oliver Wolcott

 

New Hampshire

Matthew Thornton

Officer Down

                                                        

Police Officer Aréanah M. Preston
Chicago Police Department, Illinois
End of Watch Saturday, May 6, 2023
Age 24
Tour 2 years, 6 months
Badge 15870
Cause Gunfire

Police Officer Aréanah Preston was shot and killed during an attempted robbery at 8157 South Blackstone Avenue in Chicago at about 1:40 am.

She had finished her shift and was returning home when armed subjects confronted her, attempting to rob her. She was able to draw her weapon and exchanged shots with multiple subjects before being mortally wounded. The subjects stole her gun and fled the scene.

An officer who was responding to a nearby crash discovered Officer Preston on the ground. The officer rendered aid and transported her to a local hospital in a patrol car.

Five suspects, including one juvenile, were arrested the following day. Four of the subjects were charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, arson, burglary, and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

Officer Preston had served with the Chicago Police Department for 2-1/2 years and was assigned to the Fifth District. She is survived by her mother, father, and twin sibling.

Rest in Peace Sis…We Got The Watch

Nemo me impune lacessit

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh.

Even Montgomery is looking down at this and crying

Ages ago, when I was a second lieutenant in Korea, my brigade executive officer had a great term I've used for ages: Oxygen thief. Generally a useless buerocrat who serves no constructive purpose. As any bureaucracy grows, it generally gets filled with more and more of them. The Department of Defense is an excellent example of one. 

Two years ago the Navy put out an instructional video on how to use pronouns and create "safe spaces." The fact this pathetic joke is seen as anything other than the waste of oxygen and resources is beyond me. I pray come January 2025 a new president purges the DOD of the people who created this crap and we  can concentrate the military on its real purpose, to win our wars. 

But such stupidity is not just in our service. From our greatest ally, London, we have a problem. 

Army boss considering scrapping 'masculine' titles like Guardsman 

General Sir Patrick Sanders says he wants to ensure everyone in the Army can be themselves.

The head of the Army is mulling scrapping traditional military ranks such as Rifleman and Guardsman because they are masculine. General Sir Patrick Sanders, in a plan to make regiments more inclusive, is set to move away from centuries of history by ditching the titles.

Gender-neutral ranks may replace the world-famous Guards regiment, and even General Sir Patrick’s own regiment, the Rifles...

...The decision in the hands of General Sir Patrick may also have wider implications for other strands of the armed forces.

In the event that he opts for gender neutral ranks, the Navy may be pressured into doing away with historic titles such as “midshipman” and “seaman”.

General Patrick, your army's recruitment is down even with a tough economy. You are supporting another nation's war against Russia. You have continued real issues with handing an army, and you are concerned about this crap? 

...Speaking to the Centre for Army Leadership podcast, General Sir Patrick said it was nations rather than simply armies that fight conflicts, and as such it was necessary for the army to reflect the nation it represents.

The Chief of the General Staff added: “If you want to tap into people's potential, people have to feel they can be themselves...”

Sir, with all do respect, you are dead wrong on this. An army is a team. "It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team." Perhaps you missed something about basic training. The instructors break the individual down to almost nothing, and rebuild them, ready, "part of a team." The day we lose that focus, we have lost. 

The problem is the Brit's (and the Americans) are not "loosing" that focus, but embracing the destruction of that focus. Ten years ago this concept would be laughed at as a bad joke Now it'e being metastasized into military culture. 

After the disaster of Vietnam, we spent a generation rebuilding what Washington destroyed. We will have to relearn the lessons and rebuilt again.