PM Starmer is in Trouble

 When even the Guardian goes after him. 4/21/26 Guardian:

Well, what would you do? You’re a top civil servant with more than 25 years of government service. You’ve worked for Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Theresa May. You went through Brexit hell as a lead negotiator. You were sacked by Boris Johnson and were then brought back by Keir Starmer.

You land a plum job as permanent undersecretary in the Foreign Office and do your boss a favour by appointing his man as ambassador to the US. You’ve already got a knighthood; that peerage is only a matter of time away. Then it all blows up in your face and the prime minister sacks you and trashes your reputation in parliament.

Call it the revenge of the nerd. On Monday we had the case for the prosecution during Keir Starmer’s statement to the Commons. On Tuesday, we got Olly Robbins giving his defence before the foreign affairs select committee. And, in its way, it was quietly damning. Mostly of the government, occasionally – if inadvertently – of himself.

Throughout, Robbins presented himself as a fundamentally decent man. Someone who lived and breathed public service. The sort of man Starmer believes himself to be yet somehow isn’t. An ingenu for whom process is everything. A man governed by ritual. You would guess his sock drawer is pristine and numbered. Someone crushed by his recent sacking. Heartbroken at losing a job he loved.

At one point, he insisted that the two books he knew by heart were the civil service manual and the Book of Common Prayer. Blessed are the geeks. For they shall inherit the Earth. Just a shame that Olly never got to the bit in the prayer book about anything to do with Peter Mandelson always ending in a vale of tears. A shadow of darkness. And unlike previous misdemeanours, this time there shall be no resurrection for him. Possibly not even for Olly or Keir.

A Gay Friend Shared This Video With Me About Trans Security Issues

 

Which of These Methods of Execution is Worse?

I am enjoying Jonathan Healey's The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England: 1603-1689. You doubtless know because you read this blog that treason in England was punished by drawing and quartering, of which castration was probably the least unpleasant part. So in reading the first sentence of chapter 3, I found myself wondering if the Gunpowder Plotters would have preferred execution by Ursus Horribilis:

I wish there was a way to rotate pictures on my phone.  I can rotate and save them in Photos but they stay upside from blogger app 

Letters of Marque and Reprisal

 
Instapundit was keen on using letters of marque and reprisal during the War on Terror. I am grading rough drafts of student papers. One awesome one by, unsurprisingly, an engineering major, makers the point that letters of marque were a force multiplier against a numerically superior Royal Navy during the Revolution and War of 1812. I think we should seriously consider whether there would be time to use such in the worrisomely likely war of Taiwanese Independence. Imagine the resale value to privateers of capturing a VLCC (very large crude carrier): about $100 million worth of oil. Are there Americans with the courage to seize a Chinese-bound VLCC in the Straits of Malacca to split the value of that much oil and the ship? Yes there are.

This is Stupid Crimes in California Week, I Guess

4/18/26 KABC:

IRVINE, Calif. (KABC) -- Irvine police arrested a man accused of purchasing Lego sets from Target, removing some of the valuable pieces and replacing them with dried pasta.

"You read that correctly, we are talking about durum wheat semolina pasta, and what we are calling a pasta-tively terrible plan," the Irvine Police Department said in a post on Instagram.

Target reported at least 70 thefts across the country allegedly tied to 28-year-old Jarrelle Augustine, of Paramount, police said. The thefts totaled about $34,000 in losses.

Not being part of Legoverse, I find myself wondering what are the "valuable pieces"? 

Another Snakeoil Remedy Fails

4/17/26 SciTechDaily:

 A sweeping new analysis published in The Lancet Psychiatry challenges one of the fastest-growing trends in modern medicine: the use of cannabis-based treatments for mental health. After reviewing a vast body of clinical evidence, researchers found no reliable support for using medicinal cannabis to treat anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

This should surprise no one. I am convinced Soros has been funding decriminalization efforts everywhere in the West to destroy the West  

It Appears Iran's Government Wants More Visits

 4/18/26 AP:

Iran swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, warning that it would continue to block transit as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.

Iran said Friday it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels, but U.S. President Donald Trump said the American blockade on Iranian ships and ports “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S., including on its nuclear program.

Iranian officials said the blockade was a violation of last week’s ceasefire agreement between Iran and the U.S. The strait “will not remain open” if the blockade continues, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, posted on X early Saturday. Trump imposed the blockade earlier this week after Iran restricted traffic through the strait due to fighting in Lebanon, which Iran claimed was a breach of the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire. Trump later suggested a second round of direct US-Iran talks could happen this weekend.

I have seen it suggested that no one is really in control in Iran, and their diplomats are making deals that others in the government do not approve.

An Insurance Fraud So Weird That I Do Not Need to Tell You in What State it Happened

 4/17/26 SFGATE:

Multiple people in Glendale have been sentenced in a bizarre felony insurance fraud case involving a bear costume and luxury cars. 

Officials from the California Department of Insurance launched the investigation back in 2024 after an insurance company flagged an unusual claim of a Rolls-Royce Ghost sedan being damaged after a bear climbed inside near Lake Arrowhead. The grainy surveillance footage appeared to show a bear rummaging through the vehicle, and photos submitted showed scratches on the interior of the car, which can retail for over $400,000 when new.

But the video and photos from the scene didn’t look quite right. During the investigation, detectives sent the footage to a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, who “concluded the animal shown was clearly a human in a bear suit,” according to the news release from the California Department of Insurance. The team then realized similar claims had been made about damage to two Mercedes vehicles. 

At least the "bear" did not drive it to a chop shop for disassembly. 

Have Any of You Had Trancranial Magnetic Stimulation?

Since my left hemisphere stroke in 2014, I have battled with dysphagia on the right of my throat as well exhaustion when talking. Being married to an extreme extrovert, this is a serious problem.

My ENT has decided that my failure to respond to GERD diet (anything you like to eat or drink is prohibited) suggests the problem is stroke damage. I also found out yesterday that my sleep apnea is not only obstructive but what is called central sleep apnea. My brain is sometimes failing to send the breathe command. Fortunately, this is only an occasional lost message.

I discovered from talking to SuperGrok that TMS has been found by meta-analysis of dozens of RCTs to be more effective than swallowing exercises alone or swallowing exercises plus sham TMS (placebo treatment) at treating post-stroke dysphagia.

The RCTs, unfortunately, are almost entirely within 12 months of the stroke. It also appears that Medicare only covers it for depression. If I have to pay for it out of pocket, as my son-in-law says, "It's only money," and there is no shortage of that 

Any experience with TMS?

If You Care About Gun Rights, This is Why Trump's Victory Was a Big Win

 The Biden Administration tried to change the definition of "engaged in the business" with respect to requiring a seller to have an Federal Firearms License (FFL). The old definition required that you be engaged in regularly selling of guns to make a profit. This definition I believe was because of some 1990s cases where collectors sold one high-end collector shotgun and were prosecuted.

Biden wanted a definition so wide that someone who bought a gun for $150 in 1990 could be prosecuted for selling it today for $250. (Inflation and all.)

Now the reason for this is that at a gun show, you may a gun walking around with a shotgun or rifle in a backpack with a for sale sign. I went to the Big Reno Gun Show some years ago where someone who probably a BATF undercover agent had what was apparently an M3 submachine gun "that I found in my father's attic" for sale. Yes, I have always wanted one and no, I did not inquire about the price.

There are people at gun shows who are FFLs selling guns at retail. All the background checks and paperwork must be completed. There are also people who ask no questions and are likely breaking the law under the old definition. They get prosecuted. This one in Boise. Some not even at gun shows, like these guys selling to Chicago street thugs.

A federal judge ruled in our favor. 4/16/26 AmmoLand:

U.S. District Court Judge Corey L. Maze of the Northern District of Alabama has issued an order staying further proceedings in a challenge to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) 2024 Final Rule on the definition of “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms. The stay will remain in effect until the United States Senate completes its vote on the nomination of Robert Cekada to serve as the permanent Director of the ATF. The judge did not disclose his reasoning on the docket, but did reference an April 7, 2026, telephone conference.

The docket entry reads: For the reasons stated during the April 7, 2026, telephone status conference, the court STAYS this case. The court ORDERS the parties to file a joint status report within 14 days of the United States Senate’s vote on the nomination of Robert Cekada to serve as ATF Director.

The underlying case, Butler v. Bondi (formerly Butler v. Garland), was brought by Alabama gun collectors Don Butler and David Glidewell, along with the National Rifle Association (NRA), against the ATF and DOJ. This was one of many cases against the rule. In September of last year. Judge Maze ruled the ATF exceeded its authority when issuing an expansive rule about when private individuals need a Federal Firearms License (FFL) to buy and sell guns. The court permanently enjoined enforcement of key parts of the rule against the plaintiffs and NRA members nationwide.

That ruling was widely celebrated by gun rights advocates as a check on regulatory overreach following the John Coryn-led Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022. The ATF’s Final Rule had created presumptions that could classify occasional sellers, those who advertise online, or frequent gun shows, as unlicensed dealers. This classification would subject these hobbyists to background checks, record-keeping, and potential criminal penalties.

Despite the plaintiffs’ victory in the courts, the case now sits in procedural limbo. The stay order came without explanation from the judge, triggering speculation amongst legal observers that the judge is allowing time for potential policy alterations at the ATF under new leadership. A phone call was referenced on the docket that could have given the parties in the case more information than available to the public.

Robert Cekada is currently serving as ATF Deputy Director. He was nominated by President Trump in late 2025 to lead the agency on a permanent basis. A career law enforcement veteran with over 30 years of experience, including more than two decades at ATF in field and headquarters roles, Cekada has been described by his supporters as a steady hand focused on enforcing existing laws against violent criminals and traffickers rather than targeting law-abiding collectors and hobbyists. This viewpoint would be a welcome change from Biden-era ATF Director Steve Dettelbach.

When Trump Decides What Needs Doing...

4/17/26 CNBC:

U.S. stocks rocketed higher on Friday after Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz “completely open” on the heels of a ceasefire announcement between Israel and Lebanon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 1,005 points, or 2.1%. The S&P 500 traded up 1.3%, crossing 7,100 for the first time, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.5%, with both hitting new all-time intraday highs. The Russell 2000 also reached a fresh high. The small-cap index was last up 2%.

If Trump keeps going, peace will break out everywhere and Democrats will commit group suicide.  He is an evil man, isn't he?

Gun Control As a Projection Mechanism

 4/16/26 Fox News:

Former Democratic Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax killed his wife and then himself in a shocking murder-suicide early Thursday morning, according to the Fairfax County Police Department. ...

Fairfax was accused of sexual assault in 2019 when two women came forward. The Virginia politician denied the allegations. 

One of the women shared a graphic statement saying he forced her to perform oral sex back in 2004 during the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Fox News Digital previously reported....

Fairfax shot himself with the same gun he used to murder his wife. Authorities do not know the details about the gun purchase. 

He supported Virginia’s first red flag law preventing individuals who show signs of being a threat to themselves or others from purchasing, possessing or transporting any kind of firearm....

"We have given commonsense tools like the ‘red flag’ law to law enforcement, the courts and our communities to help keep our families safe even as we ensure due process and protect Constitutional rights," he posted on X in 2022. 

Rape at a DNC Convention? Hard to imagine. 2/16/19 Fox News has details of the accusations, which according to the previous story led to divorce proceedings. To quote from a 4/16/26 CNN report:

Fairfax worked to pass gun violence prevention legislation during his time as lieutenant governor and repeatedly described gun violence as a “national health crisis emergency.”

“We need a new, innovative #HeadHandHeart approach to deliver universal and compassionate mental healthcare access and services, to keep weapons of war out of the hands of those at risk of harming others and themselves, and to address the internal damage and brokenness that drives people to cruelty and to want to destroy other people, families and communities,” Fairfax wrote in a 2023 Facebook post after leaving office.

 

Encyclopedia Brittanica (1983l

We bought these just before our daughter was born. They received very little use.  We are beginning to thin down our possessions before moving. I would think a home schooler or someone who wants something for post-EMP education would find this attractive. If you know someone in the Boise area that could these, have them contact me. If you want them out of area they will cost a bit to ship but post office book rate is not too bad. The bookshelf goes with them.

Most Amusing Insult That I Have Seen Recently

Did you have an accident with a few rubber bands, a liquid lunch, and a particle accelerator or something?

We Had a Dry, Warm Winter

We are noe having a cold wet spring. We need the water but it is a bit dreary.

Third World Employment: Be Glad You Live Here

 Painfully manual and inefficient processing to get gold out of computer circuit boards. It looks like they are adding sheets of lead, probably to bind non-gold materials. I am pretty sure that making aqua regia (hydrochloric and nitric acids) which dissolves gold. I do not want to see the livers of these Indians or Pakistanis doing this awful work. The only advanced technology I see is a 5L Pyrex beaker.

I Think I See Where the Money Is Going

4/15/26 City Journal:

Last month, we received a report from a whistleblower who claimed that illegal aliens were staying in San Francisco’s homeless shelters. Following up on the tip, we visited numerous publicly funded shelters in San Francisco, and spoke to employees and residents about their policies, sometimes through a translator.

We discovered not only that the shelters were housing illegal immigrants but also that they were apparently housing a population of male-to-female “transgender” illegal aliens, who had hoped to obtain “gender-affirming care.” And, to our shock, state and local governments apparently are providing it.

Not only providing an unnecessary service but for illegals.  According to some that they interviewed, this is widely known back home that break the law to come here and California will do your sex-change for you.  Of course, California's Medi-Cal program (Medicaid but handled by California) is only administered by California. All U.S. taxpayers are paying for it.

An ICE Fraud

I figured since this fraud is widely distributed among progressives, I would share this correction.  4/10/26 ABC Chicago:

DODGE COUNTY, Wis. (WLS) -- Law enforcement officials are saying a Chicago-area woman's claims of being detained for two days were a hoax.

A Wisconsin sheriff is now suing Sundas "Sunny" Naqvi for defamation, claiming she lied to the public last month, when she said she was held in the Broadview U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility and transferred to Dodge County, Wisconsin....

Schmidt, in his lawsuit, outlined what he calls a hoax allegedly carried out by 28-year-old Naqvi.

Naqvi's supporters spoke out last month, after the Evanston native claimed she was detained at O'Hare airport by Customs and Border Protection for 30 hours.

Her family said she was then sent to the ICE detention facility in Broadview and later taken to a facility in Dodge County, where they said she was released Saturday, March 7.

According to the lawsuit, Sheriff Schmidt says Naqvi was actually staying at a hotel near O'Hare and allegedly sending text messages from her room.

"She checked into the Hampton Inn and Suites in Rosemont, Illinois for the entire duration of this alleged event, traveled from the Hampton Inn and Suites in Illinois to the Holiday Express in Beaver Dam, (Wisconsin), was done to complete this hoax. She scammed a victim out of thousands of dollars in pursuit of this hoax against the federal government and the Dodge County Sheriff's Office," Schmidt said.

So not just political, but also scamming some gullible progressive. 

Knowing the Limits of AI

There is something like panic going on about AI in some circles. All the jobs that will be lost, student fraud on papers and tests, the inability to distinguish real photos and videos from fakes, the use of AI to plan mass murders as in this recent Florida case.

Of these, only student fraud seems a serious hazard to me. We can fix this for exams by going back to Blue Books.  (Remember those?) Of course, we thwn need to teach cursive. 

What I am doing for research papers in my U S. History class  is scheduling a 10 minute Zoom oral defense at the end of the term. If you cannot answer questions about your paper off the top of your head, it suggests you did not even read the paper you turned in. 

This reminds me of a funny story. English Composition at USC. The terribly nervous, chain-smoking (this tells you how this took place in a galaxy far, far away, and long, long ago) grad student teaching the class asked one of the football players to read an especially good essay that he had turned in. As he read it, it became obvious, at least to me, that he had never seen this essay before.

Anyway, job loss: AI has no idea what the task is. You need to give it prompts of some sort that tells it what you need. AI makes the task simpler, much like a word processor makes writing essays much easier. (For that English Composition class, I typed my essays on a Royal Ultronic.) Compared to the manual Underwood on which I learned to type, this was an unfair advantage.

Fake pictures and videos. PhotoShop already crossed this boundary with the picture of Boy George in the Oval Office with President Reagan. Hollywood has long had the ability to create films so good at bending reality that this is also not a new issue. AI can do it cheaper and faster is all.

Mass murder planning? Americans have been doing this just fine by themselves for more than a century. This new paper by me demonstrates that there has actually been a very slight decline in high fatality (6 or more dead) mass shootings in America since 1890.

I have become a big fan of SuperGrok (the subscription version of Grok with more capacity). It is more useful for technical problems than CoPilot or CHATGPT. It is still not a perfect solution. Recently I have used it for two problems: my Losmandy G811G mount has some slop in the declination axis; and my mill's X axis motor stopped moving as it should while making a horrible grinding noise. 

For the G811G, it attempted to talk me through a fix, but it clearly did not fully understand the mechanism even with pictures. It also misstated the size of screw that I needed to replace a lost motor mount screw. (It claimed it was 4-40 x 1/2". The actual screw was 6-32 x 1/2".)

For rhe mill SuperGrok was very useful, but as an advisor. It watched the video of the problem and correctly identified the cause. It mostly gave good directions for disassembly and repair of the X leadscrew assembly. In a few places, I substituted my knowledge about the mechanism and observations that it did not think about which to ask.

As an aide, it was very helpful and allowed me to fix the problem without sending it to Sherline for repair. If given control of hand tools, it would have ruined a repairable part.

AI is a useful tool, but no substitute for human intelligence. 

Low Competence Spearphishing

From plumbingpermts@delair.com

S0ClAL SECURITY ADMlN

Y0ur eStatement is Available F0r D0wnl0ad

Dear User, Please download your Social Security eStatement at your earliest convenience. We are currently conducting a verification process for all individuals under the SSA to ensure proper program administration. You are required to carefully follow all provided instructions in conjunction with Super Ops. Important Notice: Statements and documents are only compatible with PC/Windows systems and must be accessed in accordance with Super Ops instructions. Download Statement   Note: Document File saved as: ZZX5EX9ST24G_19SI0B7FBSUF4_windows_x64.msi

Insanity Defense

 4/15/26 KETV. Police responded to a kidnapping:

Investigators said officers arrived at the location and immediately found 31-year-old Noemi Guzman near the southern parking lot entry, standing by a shopping cart with the child inside.

Omaha police said Guzman was making multiple threats with the knife, and officers gave multiple verbal commands for her to drop the knife. She refused to drop it and cut the boy, officials said.

Two officers shot the woman, Noemi Guzman, after she cut the boy and refused to drop a knife she had stolen from the store, the police department said in a news release....

Omaha police said Guzman is the same woman accused of stabbing her father and breaking into the rectory of an Omaha church.

In 2024, investigators said Guzman doused her father with a flammable liquid and cut him with a knife.

That previous crime ended up:

Guzman pleaded not guilty to charges of assault, arson, burglary, and criminal mischief. She was later found not responsible by reason of insanity. The case is still open. KETV Investigates is continuing to examine the court documents.

I understand that there may have been good reason to find her not guilty by reason of insanity. (This incident seems to confirm it.) But why would you put someone out on the street with a history of insane violence? She could not lawfully buy or possess a gun, but as she demonstrated, getting hold of deadly weapons is not hard. In addition to risk to others, it is hard to imagine that she would be safe on her own. She certainly was not in this situation. 

Remote Desktop to Linux Works Very Well

XRDP is astonishingly responsive. It feels like I am sitting in front of my Linux desktop in the shop. No lagging. 

Of course Linux is running on a 2015 desktop with 32GB of RAM and an SSD. My PC running remote desktop has 128GB of RAM and the connection is at least 70Mb/sec. so it darn well better be fast.

The attraction of remote desktop is my office has a beautiful view of the marmots running across the lawn and a better chair 

Thanks to All My Readers

 89.9K views this last week.

An Interesting Correlation

 4/14/26 Science Alert:

Adults who have never been married are at a significantly higher risk of developing cancer than those who are married or have been in the past, new research suggests.

A team from the University of Miami found that incidence rates of cancer were 68 percent higher in never-married men and 85 percent higher in never-married women.

Interesting especially when you get into the details:

Some of the biggest differences were seen in anal cancer for men (around five times the rate in never-married men, compared to men who were married or who had been previously), and cervical cancer in women (nearly three times the rate in never-married women, compared to women who were married or who had been previously).

Why do single men get anal cancer. Because some single men get something that carries HPV in close proximity to their anus, just like women who are single and get that same high-risk HPV carrier in intimate areas. 

I know it is unpopular to say this, but STDs spread with the square of the increase in sexual partners per period of time. Double the number of different partners per month and you quadruple the STD spread rate. Quadruple the number of partners and it spreads at 16x the rate. 

I would not make a means-end argument for the constitionality of traditional laws against sodomy and extramarital sex. But the left keeps making the means-end argument for gun control laws. I rather doubt that they would find this argument persuasive.

 

Remember the Democrat Motto: Believe Every Woman

Of course, that is nonsense.  I have previously blogged about false rape claims where the accuser went to prison. Nonetheless, watching a prominent Democrat who played the rape accusation charge against a Supreme Court nominee is schadenfreude at its best. 4/14/26 Los Angeles Times:

Drewes said she met Swalwell three times as she was growing her fashion software company and toying with the idea of a political career.

On the third occasion, she said, she believed he drugged her glass of wine. She said they were supposed to go to a political event and they stopped by his hotel room to retrieve some paperwork.

She said she found herself incapacitated despite having had only one drink.

“He raped me and he choked me and while he was choking me I lost consciousness and I thought I died,” she said. “I did not consent to any sexual activity.”

Do I find this believable.  Sure this is the guy who had an affair with a Chinese spy named (I kid you not) Fang Fang, while sitting on the House Intelligence Committee. Intelligence is obviously not one of his strong points.

Mine Clearance is Hard

Especially because the Iranians apparently made no attempt to map where they put them. Also, the mines attempt dropped are pretty sophisticated.  They listen for large propellers and a large magnetometer reading, like a tanker. Also, it counts ships, going off after some programmed number 

The U.S. took its dedicated mine clearance ships (non-steel hulls) out of service in 2025. The current clearing is slow and likely not 100% certain. When a few months of now, a tanker gets blown up, count on the Democrats to blame Trump not Iran.

I have heard it suggested that Trump may not be in any hurry to clear the mines. Oil sales by the U.S. are helping our balance of payments situation; reduced or uncertain delivery of oil to China disarms the nation with which we are most likely to go war with before 2030; it starves Iran's sales to nations not participating in sanctions against Iran. 

Iran could build a pipeline to ports outside the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's oil fields are in or on the Persian Gulf or the Caspian Sea. From reading maps, that looks like 500 or more kilometers from the oil fields to a port on the Gulf of Oman. (And very mountainous.) How many days per kilometer does it take to build an oil pipeline?

"A Madness of Marmots" is What SuperGrok Ssys is the Collective Noun

From the effect they have on our dogs at the window, I was going to call it an insanity of marmots, but it lacks cobsonance. (I am sufficiently uselessly educated to know alliteration involves vowels.)

Silly Question

 Let's say you want to cut a piece of aluminum angle in 1.5" segments on a chop saw with a 100 tooth blade. It is rough on blades but cuts well.) I would prefer 1.5" wide -0", +.05". Can anyone suggest a method of doing this? Yes, I should use a band saw but I do not have one right now.

Solution: dig through my scrap pile to find a 1.522" wide piece that I milled. Put it against the blade. Press a piece Delrin against and clamp it in place as a stop against the back fence. Remove 1.522" piece. Push workpiece against stop.

The first two slices after running over the belt sander were 1 517" and 1.509". Taking them down to 1.50" on the mill will be easy  

End of _End of a Berlin Diary_

I finished reading Shirer's book. A few observations:

There are places where his comments especially in the Postscript reflect the immediate postwar liberal consensus: Germany is a fundamentally warlike and brutal nation which can never be trusted with industry again. The U.S. should focus on propaganda to defeat the Soviet Union, not military aid to the nations that were fighting Communist insurrectionists. Free enterprise was an outmoded concept; democratic socialism was the only way forward. The Great Depression was still widely blamed on capitalism and it seemed like a plausible suspect at the time. The failure of the New Deal was not sufficiently obvious at that time.

There are many pieces of information that he lists that were new to me: I did not know that General Beck actually had the wheels turning for a military coup d'etat against Hitler that was derailed by Chamberlain's betrayal of Czechoslovakia.

There are facts that I have often seen asserted without any specific documentary evidence. Shirer points to specific documents that demonstrate that the German General Staff recognized that preoccupation of the Rhineland in 1936 if resisted by France would have led to a humiliating defeat for Hitler. Similarly, the General Staff believed that if Britain, France and the Czechs had put up any military resistance to Sudetenland land invasion, Germany would have lost 

Not a Full Blockade

From reading Centcom's description this is not a blockade of Hormuz but of ships leaving Iranian ports. Much more sensible:

TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces will begin implementing a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports on April 13 at 10 a.m. ET, in accordance with the President’s proclamation.

And 4/12/26 The Hill  reports our Navy is clearing mines to open passage for other nations.

I wish Trump would be clearer when he makes statements on Truth Social.

Canadian Politician Proposes $500K Exit Visa For College Graduates

4/11/26 Canadian Natuonal Post:

Ironically, the special guest who made this suggestion during the Building a Stronger, More Competitive Canadian Economy panel which also featured federal ministers Mélanie Joly, Rechie Valdez, and Lena Metlege Diab, is a Canadian who left Canada for better opportunities himself.

Patrick Pichette was born and educated in Montreal and left Canada for work in the U.S. accepting a role as senior vice president and CFO of Google in California in 2008. He now lives in London, U.K., holds a Canadian passport and is a partner at Inovia Capital.

Inovai Capital says Pichette paid Canadian taxes continuously from 1989 to 2008 and paid an exit tax on all his assets at the time. Pichette currently pays both Canadian and U.K. taxes.

Pichette thinks today’s young Canadians should stay put, or cough up $500,000 if they want to leave..

Think about that, a Canadian who by his own admission went from college to Microsoft at $300K a year and lives in Britain wants to charge educated Canadians $590K to move to the U.S.? I think we are going to see a Berlin Wsll at thr 49th parallel.  Alberta needs to leave now while they can.

One of Those Reminders That Capitslism is Often a Gamble and Sometimes a Dumb One

Why Nobody Wants to Live in NYC's Thinnest Skyscraper. The problems included an absurd set of engineering problems. Even solved, the building sways and groans in high winds. At $10 million and up, spectacular views and a wonderful location on Central Park failed to sell all the apartments. The $2 billion (yes, with a b) invested led to foreclosure; the investors lost everything.

If I had $2 billion sitting around looking for a place to park, I would run like my mad from a hogh-risk project like this. My IRA has grown 41% this last year. I could take out $200 million annually with almost no risk. That $200 million could be invested in essentially zero risk tax-free municipal bonds with an annual return of $8 million. Some people are clearly too stupid to stay rich.

Blockadong Hormuz Looks Like a Mistske

Iran doing so is a violation of international law. The U.S. doing so is as well. Removing the mines was and is the right strategy. I understand the need to end ziran's nuclear ambitions but this seems a poorly thought out plan.

Maybe We Should Bill Them

Fox News is reporting that Iran cannot locate the mines it laid in the Strait, which is probably why the U.S. Navy is currently clearing mines. Again, the nation's most dependent on the Strait are doing nothing. Again, subsidizing the welfare states of nations that have relied upon us for decades. 

The good news us that Trump is reminding all tankers that we have oil and LPG for sale, no mines!

A friend suggests the facility that kept the records may have a serious problem with failure to exist.

Have Any of You Shipped Guns Through the Post Office Recently?

 I am still several months out from moving. Theoretically, you can mail long guns to yourself, even c/o X, as long as X does not open the gun and hands it over to you when you get there. The handgun mailing ban repeal is in the public comment stage but should be complete by the time that I move.

What a Win for Gun Owners

4/10/26 AmmoLand:


For years, gun owners have watched blue-state politicians pass one unconstitutional restriction after another while the federal government mostly stood on the sidelines. That may be changing.
In a April 10, 2026, letter to Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon put the Commonwealth on formal notice: if Virginia enacts a slate of anti-gun bills now sitting on the governor’s desk, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is prepared to sue.

Clearing the Strait

 4/11/26 Time:

President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States had started “clearing out” the Strait of Hormuz, just as the first direct peace talks between Iran and the U.S. began in Pakistan. 

“We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World, including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, and many others,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

There are some technical issues that I have seen discussed but it can be done. Yet more America doing the heavy lifting for countries that could do their part. 

I Was Suspicious of the Illuminati Recruiting Ad

But this one:

The World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum is looking for skilled and motivated individuals to work across Europe, Africa, the Americas, and parts of the Middle East. Be part of a forward-thinking team and make a meaningful impact on global initiatives. Send your name, age, and qualification to: jobs@weforums-job.org

World Economic Forum

I Guess Fang Fang Was Not Enough

4/10/26 San Francisco Chronicle;

A woman who worked for nearly two years for Rep. Eric Swalwell, a leading candidate for California governor, said she had sexual encounters with him while he was her boss and alleged he twice sexually assaulted her when she was too intoxicated to consent.

Is it possible she is making this up? For several years now, Democrats have been insisting that if a woman makes a rape accusation, you must believe her (especially if she is accusing Trump). Of course, this a guy who sleeps with a Chinese spy and threatened to use nuclear weapons to enforce gun control laws. I could believe almost anything of this guy 

It just gets worse.  4/10/26 CNN:

Three other women who spoke with CNN also alleged various kinds of sexual misconduct by the Democratic congressman – including Swalwell sending them unsolicited explicit messages or nude photos.

One woman who connected online with Swalwell over her interest in Democratic politics says she ended up extremely drunk inside his hotel room after a night out with the congressman, with little memory of what occurred. Earlier in the night at a bar, he kissed her and touched her leg without her consent, she said.

What Is The Error Circular Probable on Hatred?

4/9/26 College Fix:

In mid-September 2025, Delta State University student Demartravion “Trey” Reed, was found hanging from a tree on the Mississippi campus, as The College Fix previously reported. Within three days of Reed’s death, the state medical examiner concluded and released a statement on its autopsy report, which confirmed the findings of the local coroner. 

However, a group of black activists began circulating a theory that someone or a group of people actually lynched Reed. They came to this conclusion partially because Reed (pictured, right) was found 50 miles away from where Emmitt Till was lynched 70 years prior.

Yes and you multiply 50 times 70 you get 3500 which means, I do not know, but it clearly shows he was lynched!

I suspect that if you progressively draw larger and smaller circles around this young man's place of death you would find all sorts of horrible crimes.

I am actually sympathetic to concerns about coroner's inquests. In the early 1970s, an Arizona inquest found that a black man with his hands tied behind his back hanging from a tree was a suicide. Yeah, I find that most unlikely. But vague geographical connections?

Schadenfreude in Six Figures

I had no idea who George Conway is. (His PR firm is clearly failing.) He is a lawyer and activist. He complains about giving a million dollars to Biden's Reelection campaign and regrets that he could have left it to his kids.

He was concerned about leaving his kids a democracy. "You keep using that word. I do not think you know what it means." Princess Bride. Democracy means that voters can define marriage as one man, one woman; ban abortion; prohibit sodomy; elect someone who promised to deport illegal aliens and does it.

Now if Democrats want to argue as they have that there should be limits on democracy, that is a legitimate argument.  But they seem oblivious to what that word means.

Nice to Know There Are Governments More Wasteful Than Ours

4/8/26 Daily Mail:

A Canadian province spent thousands of dollars on a coffee truck promotion to recruit American healthcare workers, a taxpayer watchdog revealed. 

The government of British Columbia sponsored the coffee delivery stunt, which lasted approximately two days in June 2025.

It involved a branded pink-and-purple truck driving across Seattle to hand out 1,000 cups of coffee and napkins. 

The paper cups said, 'Fill your cup. Follow your heart to BC,' and included a link to the government's healthcare careers website...

However, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) revealed the province's government spent on $165,000 CAD ($119,134 USD) the promotion.

That breaks down to each coffee costing approximately $165 CAD ($119 USD) per cup.

That must be a very attractive employer if you need to spend that much money to recruit employees  

Does the Skunk Works Implement Alien Technology?

Is that why Area 51 is so restricted? 4/8/26 Newsweek:

 

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) deployed a new technology dubbed "Ghost Murmur" in the high-stakes operation to retrieve the second U.S. airman from deep inside Iran over the weekend, according to a new report.

The tool is able to pick up human heartbeats across long distances, and then uses artificial intelligence (AI) to sift out background noise, two unnamed sources told The New York Post.

The mountainous terrain of southern Iran was an "ideal first operational use" for the technology, one of the sources said....

The Ghost Murmur was reportedly developed by a secretive, experimental branch of Lockheed Martin's operations, known as Skunk Works.

U2, SR71. Dark Star? Is the Death Star beyond their capacity? I think not. For all we know, the Skunk Works might be building the Millennium Falcon in Area 51.

Mass Shooters Are Disproportionately White Claim

This is a popular claim by people promoting racial hatred. It is not true however. A majority of mass shooters are white because a majority of Americans are white. Crime Prevention Research Center gathers data on mass shooters.

None of these are shockingly disproportionate except Middle Easterners.

Transgenders commit mass shootings at 12x their proportion of the population. Pumping hormones into confused people is not a recipe for good results.

Kangaroo Markets

The morning started with indices down fractions of 1% which is typical profit taking after a strong up day like yesterday. I would be curious to see a breakdown by transaction size. I suspect the big down days are dominated by individual investors and the mild days are institutions taking profits from short-term positions that suddenly provide a nice profit to goose their annual return.

Institutional investors are typically mutual funds or pension plans. They have different constraints and goals. Mutual funds are looking for a good return in exchange for particular levels of risk. Pension funds are looking for little or no risk and a good return.

Anyway, confidence remains strong and indices are up a bit under 1%. I would love to see the code that program traders use to decide whether to buy or sell.

Cease Fire Matters

DJIA up 2.65%. NASDAQ up 3%. To satirize a 1960s slogan: "War is not good for corporations and other selling things."

There Has Been an Explosion of Colon Cancer Among People Generally Considered Too Young

 4/6/26 Science Alert:

Tattoos are generally considered safe, but growing scientific evidence suggests tattoo inks are not biologically inert. The key question is no longer whether tattoos introduce foreign substances into the body, but how toxic those substances might be and what that means for long-term health.

Tattoo inks are complex chemical mixtures. They contain pigments that give color, liquid carriers that help distribute the ink, preservatives to prevent microbial growth, and small amounts of impurities.

Many pigments currently in use were originally developed for industrial applications such as car paint, plastics, and printer toner, rather than for injection into human skin.