Do Trump's critics get it, or not?

If they did, they would find it hard to oppose Trump. But since they don't support Trump, then why not?

Trump's critics hate America, so when Trump does something good for America, they really hate it. The Venezuela deal is really good for America. It secures a source of the kind of oil that America processes (think refineries), but doesn't produce much of---heavy sour crude.

Probably is a lot easier to get a lot of sour crude, than to produce new refineries that can process light "sweet" crude. Maybe you don't get that here, but what we DO get is more in the line of the sweet than the sour. Therefore, America can produce the oil, buts its refineries cannot process it.

That can change with Venezuela's sour crude.

Dolly Parton airport (you got to get a load of this)

At Instapundit, no less. If you're hands start shaking, could it be the Ludovico treatment????

Gravestone doji

8/28/26:

This stuff never worked for me in my trading. Never. The only thing that seem like a lead-pipe cinch to be meaningful is a head-and-shoulders chart.

The Dow Jones showed one back in 2008, not long before the crash. I traded it, and made money off of it. Other than this, can't say that I've had any luck with Candlestick analysis.

As for the Dow having a Head and Shoulders chart, it wasn't a permanent decline. The Dow rallied into the stratosphere. Yep, I'd say that there's a risk in the markets about now.

There's a lot of rosy talk, too.

But on a serious note, the future isn't certain. As Yogi Berra once said: Predictions are hard, especially about the future. But here's another thought: Why bring this up now? There's an election. Somebody stands to gain if there's a stock market sell-off... I'm just saying it to put it out there....

12/16/14: The original post follows:

Japanese candlestick analysis is but one of many methods to read the financial tea leaves as a manner of speaking.  Just noticed a gravestone doji pattern in both the stock market and the gold market.

What does it mean?  Nothing good, I don't think.  Doji patterns indicate indecision---the market doesn't know what it's direction is to be.  In this pattern, it starts and ends at about the same price, but has a rally intraday.  Clearly, the rally will not hold, so this is not good.

Here's today's chart, courtesy Yahoo.  Note the rally and the opening and closing prices.

The Japanese Candlestick pattern for this would look like a horizontal line connecting the open and close, with a line going up to the high.  It looks like a gravestone, hence gravestone doji.

The fundamentals behind all of this is the FED.  If the FED attempts to normalize interest rates, the party is over and a bear market should ensue.

We'll see.

Update:

The gravestone doji analysis just died big time. What can I say?  These things are not science.

Update:

There's a press release from the FED which suggests that normalization of interest rates won't be happening soon.  That's what probably moved the markets yesterday.  It only proves that the markets are addicted to easy money.  The easy money has to end sometime.  Evidently, not now.

The Guess Who: "American Woman"

What's with the Canucks?

Evidently, there has always been something going on. Listen carefully to this song. It is full of hatred. Hatred??? Yes. Even in the tone, there is this tone that my mind searches for a word to describe, but it evades me.

Incidentally, this song came out when I was a teenager. When the song came on, Dad would say to turn it off. He banned the playing of that song in the house.

As kids, I don't think we got it. Well, after reading that post linking to a CTH story about what the Canadians just did, you have to be somewhat thick-headed NOT to see it.

NOTE: This song was recorded in the late sixties. My dad died in the early seventies. It's over 50 years old.

Yes, it absolutely makes a difference

for evidence of that, one needs to look at the example of CANADA. Canada doesn't have a 1st Amendment. It isn't the Supreme Law of the Land, therefore the Canadian media can lie endlessly to their own people. The people are uninformed, and therefore they make more mistakes because of their ignorance.

The first thing that a tyrant does is to shut down the free press, and then to confiscate all firearms. That's what Hitler did. Canada doesn't have a Bill of Rights.

Bongino Show, episode 2582

If You Don't Understand Bonds, You Don't Understand Money

Author: Fred - Money Historian (YouTube Channel)

What the lack of respect for the truth will do to you...

The video builds up a thesis that people don't understand bonds. The reason they don't understand is given late in the video. So I jipped it there. But by all means, watch it all.

This isn't a fault of the author of the video, but in order to save time, and can get to the point; which is that the people are uninformed because the news media and educational system doesn't tell you what you need to know.

But if you don't know, then it really is your own fault. It has been known for the longest time that these institutions are biased, and that bias isn't in YOUR FAVOR.

When it all goes down, the public is going to blame SOMEBODY, and the odds are that the blame will go where it doesn't belong, and that somebody innocent will become the scapegoat. That's the way of the world.

Therefore, when the SHTF, try to step out the line of fire. Know what I mean, Vern?

Basic Instinct AI discussion

Question:

Let's discuss the movie "Basic Instinct" made in the early nineties... In particular, the character Catherine Trammel, who was suspected of murdering her boyfriend Johnny Boz. The film leaves us with a question of the actual guilty party. Was Catherine so evil that she got away with murder, or was she innocent?

Answer:

The definitive answer provided by the film is that Catherine Tramell was undeniably guilty and got away with murder.

While the movie masterfully constructs a web of red herrings, psychological mind games, and plausible deniability to keep Detective Nick Curran (and the audience) off balance throughout the runtime, the final shot settles the question definitively.

Here is a breakdown of why Catherine is guilty and how the film explains her getting away with it:

1. The Definitive Proof: The Final Shot

The most explicit evidence is the final camera move of the movie. After Nick shoots Dr. Beth Garner and Catherine arrives at Nick's apartment, they make love. As they talk about the future, Catherine’s hand slips off the side of the bed, her fingers reaching toward the floor. When Nick embraces her and affirms his attachment to her, she lets her hand relax.

The camera then pans down to the floor under the bed, revealing a brand-new ice pick.

This visual punchline confirms two things:

- Catherine was planning to murder Nick in the exact same manner as Johnny Boz.

- She is the actual killer; Beth was merely her scapegoat.

Both director Paul Verhoeven and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas have confirmed in interviews that Catherine was always intended to be the killer.

2. How She Framed Beth Garner

Catherine’s brilliance lies in her ability to write real life like one of her novels. She understood the psychology of everyone around her: - The Past Connection: Catherine knew Beth had an obsession with her dating back to their college days. Catherine weaponized Beth's unresolved emotional issues.

- Planted Evidence: Catherine arranged the circumstances of Gus’s (Nick’s partner) murder at the hotel. She lured Nick there, knowing Beth would also arrive after being tipped off, creating the exact setup where Nick would shoot Beth in self- defense.

- The Apartment: The police subsequently found evidence in Beth’s apartment (the blonde wig, copies of Catherine’s book, newspaper clippings). Catherine had the resources, intelligence, and access to plant these items to ensure Beth took the fall for all the murders.

3. The Nature of Her Evil: The Ultimate Thrill-Seeker

Catherine is depicted as a pure, high-functioning psychopath. She isn't driven by ordinary criminal motives like money or simple revenge; she kills for:

- Research and Art: She literally acts out the murders she writes about to see if she can do it and get away with it.

- The Thrill of Control: Her greatest pleasure comes from manipulating powerful, aggressive men (like Johnny Boz and Nick Curran) into dangerous situations where she holds all the cards.

4. Nick’s Complicity Through Willful Blindness

Catherine didn’t just outsmart the police through clever plotting; she exploited Nick’s own self-destructive nature. Nick is an adrenaline junkie with a history of substance abuse, violence, and poor impulse control.

By the end of the film, Nick wants to believe Beth is the killer not because the evidence is airtight, but because accepting Catherine's innocence allows him to stay with her. He chooses the dangerous illusion over the lethal truth, leaving him completely at her mercy.

Conclusion

Catherine Tramell was not innocent. She was a remorseless killer who successfully manipulated the police department, framed an emotionally vulnerable former lover, and ensnared the lead investigator—walking away entirely free.

Comment:


Any follow-ups? There are suggested ones, but do I want to follow that, or another tack?

Here's GAB AI's suggestion:

What was the significance of Beth's background?

Answer:

In "Basic Instinct", Beth Garner’s background serves as the linchpin of Catherine

Tramell’s master plan. Catherine doesn’t just frame Beth by planting physical evidence; she exploits Beth's psychological history to ensure the police—and specifically Nick Curran—will accept the narrative that Beth is the killer.

Here is the significance of Beth’s background and how Catherine weaponized it:

1. The Psychological "Mirror"

Beth was a psychologist who had attended the same university as Catherine. Catherine reveals that they had a complex, intense history during their college years. By establishing this prior connection, Catherine creates a "motive" for Beth: obsession.

Catherine successfully paints a picture of Beth as a woman who was infatuated with her, someone who became jealous, grew to hate her, and ultimately decided to become her—imitating Catherine’s style, her books, and her murders to frame her. This allows Catherine to suggest that Beth is a "copycat" killer.

2. The Credibility of a Professional

Because Beth was a psychologist (and specifically one who worked for the police department), she was viewed as reliable and stable. Catherine used this status to her advantage:

- Access: Being a police psychologist gave Beth legitimate access to the investigation and to Nick.

- The "Reliable Witness": By framing someone who was a respected member of the police inner circle, Catherine made the police reluctant to look elsewhere. It was much easier for the department to believe that a "troubled" colleague had snapped than to admit that a wealthy, beautiful, and charismatic suspect had played them all for fools.

3. The "Scorned Woman" Narrative

Catherine knows how to manipulate the prejudices of the men investigating her. By pointing Nick toward Beth, she taps into the classic, misogynistic trope of the "scorned woman." She presents herself as the victim of a woman who is "obsessed" with her, knowing that Nick—already emotionally compromised and attracted to Catherine—is primed to see Beth as the dangerous, unstable force in his life.

4. Mirroring and Inversion

In a broader narrative sense, Beth acts as a foil to Catherine. If Catherine is a sociopath who lives without rules, Beth is the character who attempts to live within the rules but ultimately is destroyed by her inability to control her own past trauma.

Catherine notes that Beth is just as capable of being "dark" as she is, but while Catherine embraces her psychopathy as a source of power, Beth is portrayed as a victim of her own repressed volatility. By the time Nick "finds" the evidence in Beth's apartment (which Catherine clearly planted), the police have already been fed enough context about Beth’s "unstable" history to believe that she was capable of these brutal murders.

Summary

Beth’s background was the narrative architecture of Catherine’s defense. Catherine is a writer, and she understood that for a "story" (her innocence) to be believed by the police, she needed a compelling "villain" to take her place. Beth was the perfect vessel for that story: a former friend, a professional, and a woman with a history that could be easily twisted into the portrait of a murderer.

My final question about all this:

One final question with respect to the movie, if you please... The reason that I ask is this: can a person such as Catherine exist in real life, and if so, can you provide an example, and an explanation why the real person is an extraordinary evil person who "got away with it."?

Answer:

Can a person like Catherine Tramell exist in real life?

Yes, but with caveats.

In clinical psychology and criminology, Catherine Tramell represents an extreme archetype of Factor 1 Psychopathy paired with high intelligence, Machiavellianism, and malignant narcissism.

While Hollywood exaggerates the glamour and theatrical 4D chess moves, real- world individuals with this psychological profile share specific, lethal traits:

- Superficial Charm and Glibness: An ability to disarm others, exude confidence, and appear magnetic.

- Cold Rationality and Lack of Fear: A biological inability to experience genuine panic, guilt, or remorse.

- Predatory Empathy: The ability to understand what others are feeling—not to sympathize, but to identify weaknesses and weaponize them.

- Exploitation of Societal Biases: Knowing that people (especially men in authority) naturally struggle to see an attractive, poised woman as a ruthless predator.

Real-Life Example 1: Karla Homolka (The Psychological Manipulator Who Beat the System)

Perhaps the closest real-world analog to the psychological manipulation seen in Basic Instinct is Karla Homolka.

The Background

In the early 1990s in Canada, Homolka and her husband, Paul Bernardo, committed a series of abductions, rapes, and murders of teenage girls—including Homolka’s own 15-year-old sister, Tammy.

How She "Got Away With It"

When the police closed in, Homolka executed a masterclass in psychological manipulation:

1. The Victim Facade: She portrayed herself as a battered, terrified wife who was forced by Bernardo into participating under duress.

2. Manipulating the Experts: She convinced forensic psychiatrists, defense attorneys, and prosecutors of her supposed helplessness and remorse.

3. The "Deal with the Devil": Relying on her testimony to convict Bernardo, the prosecution granted her a plea deal: just 12 years in prison for manslaughter.

The Truth and the Evil

Shortly after the deal was signed and legally binding, videotapes hidden in Bernardo's ceiling were recovered. They showed Homolka was not a coerced victim; she was an active, willing, and enthusiastic participant in the drugging, assault, and murder of the victims.

Because of double jeopardy protections and the terms of the plea agreement, the deal could not be undone. She served her 12 years and was released in 2005. Today, she lives as a free woman with a family—having committed unspeakable horrors and outsmarted the legal system through calculated deceit.

Real-Life Example 2: Belle Gunness (The Literal Escape)

If looking for a historical killer who used romance, murdered her partners, and vanished without ever facing justice, the archetype is Belle Gunness (1859–1908).

The Murders

Gunness placed personal ads in Midwestern newspapers seeking wealthy suitors, inviting them to her farm in La Porte, Indiana. Once the men arrived with their life savings, she poisoned or bludgeoned them, butchered their bodies, and buried them on her property. She is believed to have murdered over a dozen suitors, several foster children, and two of her husbands.

How She Got Away With It

In 1908, when she realized the brother of one of her victims was closing in on her, Gunness set her farmhouse on fire. In the ruins, authorities found the headless body of a woman (deliberately placed to fool investigators) and the bodies of her children.

Excavations of the yard revealed the butchered remains of dozens of victims, but Belle Gunness—and the substantial fortune she had stolen—was gone. She vanished completely and was never captured or tried, having successfully faked her demise.

Why Are These Individuals Capable of "Extraordinary Evil"?

The evil of a real-life Catherine Tramell does not come from irrational rage or chaotic madness; it comes from calculating, self-aware clarity.

1. Instrumental Cruelty: They do not kill out of sudden passion; they plan murders like financial transactions or games.

2. Subversion of Human Trust: They deliberately use intimacy, romance, and vulnerability—the things human beings rely on to connect with one another—as weapons to trap their targets.

3. Contempt for the Rule of Law: For a high-functioning psychopath, the legal system and social morality are not guardrails; they are merely obstacles to outwit for the thrill of dominance.

=============================
Some final words for this post:

What does this have to do with anything at all?  It has EVERYTHING to do with the nature of man.  Human nature is to be deceitful.  It is the way of the world.  It is naive to believe that there is no such thing as evil in the world.  Turning away from it through denial does not deal with it.  It only confirms it.

What can you do about it?

It's up to you.  You have the power to find the truth, or to accept the lie and just give up on the truth.  It is in the Gospel of John.  The world loves the darkness, and hates the light.  

Therefore, to shed light on evil is DANGEROUS.  You have to accept that risk and be brave, or forever fall under its power.

Electron-Phonon Coupling at the Tungsten Surface

8/27/26:

The struggles in the political realm can give clues as to why this theory is not accepted as correct. Since Donald Trump came down the escalator in 2015, there has been an unrelentling campaign to run him out of the political sphere. It isn't because he did anything WRONG, but is because the political realm will not accept his existence.

The truth of the matter is that protectionism isn't endemic to America, but to the world. If America gives up protection of its vital industries, then the rest of the world will swooop down and take it over. Since WWII, that is exactly what has happened.

This has lessons in the political sphere. Indeed, the rejection of this theory may be political in nature. There are those with too much to lose by this acceptance, and they will fight it to the very end.

The fallacy is that there's no political motivations behind the rejection of Cold Fusion.

But that's nothing new. Not really. It has been suspected all along.

It is also nothing new in the history of science. Galileo was imprisioned. Quantum mechanics theory wasn't accepted at first. There are other examples, I'm sure. Human nature doesn't change even if science is involved.

But how do you prove it? That's a discussion in a seemingly unrelated post coming up soon.

7/25/11: The original post is below:

Another BECNF post here.  At first blush, this may not seem relevant since BECNF doesn't mention this coupling.  I got interested in it because of phonons, as phonons can act as bosons, which are relevant to the theory.

There may also be an objection with respect to Tungsten, since the BECNF is about Ni H systems, not tungsten.

What caught my attention, besides the phonon reference was this quote near the end:

This is an important dissipation channel for energy and will affect chemical reactions at surfaces, such as reactions on catalysts. Another interesting implication is the possibility of an electron-phonon-mediated superconductivity that is confined to the surfaces of metals and has a greatly enhanced critical temperature as compared to ordinary superconductors. [emphasis added]

As I noted before, "cold fusion" has been said to be a surface effect phenomenon.

A closer look at this paper allows another quote that I find interesting:

Since these "many-body" effects are often more prominent in physical systems with less than three dimensions  [ comment: as you would find on the surface] carefully prepared surfaces furnish good two-dimensional test beds for examining these effects in detail.

BCEs in this context probably qualify as a type of "many-body" effects referred to here.

Rossi's catalyst then, could be key.  Maybe that is why it is such a big secret.

At San Jacinto

8/26/26:

Anybody remember the Pearl of Great Price post? Can you guess why I mentioned it?

12/18/10: The original post follows:

Just got back from the San Jacinto Battleground.  I went there to take some pictures. The location really isn't unfamiliar with me since I've been there many times before.  But this time, I decide to look around the park and get the lay of the land.  I took several pictures ( about 25 ) of the various markers which show the disposition of the opposing forces on that day in 1836.

I wanted to get the feel for the situation on the ground just before the battle.  How did Santa Anna manage to get beaten so badly?  It was more of a slaughter than a battle.  Sam Houston's army didn't suffer that many casualties; hardly more than a handful.  On the other hand, Santa Anna lost hundreds of men and/ or hundreds more captured.

No doubt, the element of surprise figured significantly in the outcome of the battle.  But looking over the terrain, it is hard to see how anyone could manage to surprise anyone else.  The land is very flat and the grass and bushes don't provide much cover.

I recall reading that Houston's army used a "rise" as cover.  I looked for these and didn't find many, but there are some places that are low.  Of course, the closer you get to the marshes, the more cover there is.  Unless Houston's army was hanging out in the marshes, he didn't have all that much cover.

Another possiblity was the tall prairie grass that grew in those days.  The park management is trying to bring that back, but it is still too low to the ground.  In those days, the tall grass couldn't have shielded a larger force than what would appear to be the case today.

The battleground doesn't look all that large in area.  But one has to keep in mind that they didn't have cars in those days.  I found out the distances when walking around the park a bit.  Things have a different scale when you are on foot.

Sam Houston was shot out from under his horse in the midst of battle.  There was a marker there to indicate the spot.  Just a hundred yards away or loss is another marker for the position in which a cannon was in place.

That seems pretty close range for a cannon.  But Houston was hit by a bullet in his ankle.  Given the surprise, the Mexican army may not have had time to get off a cannon shot.

Marker where Sam Houston was shot from his horse.  About 100 yards from cannon marker.



Of course, there is the legend of the Yellow Rose who distracted the Mexican general with her charms.

Note: this picture wasn't taken today.  I took it several months ago.

What a misfortune for Mexico to have that kind of failure as a leader.  On the other hand, the Texians were lucky.  There was at least one other General in Texas during that war who would not have made that mistake. Just goes to show what could happen when the wrong man is in charge.

Santa Anna was captured.  And Fannin and his men were massacred at Goliad under Santa Anna's orders.


Both are examples are poor leadership and its consequences.

Jambalaya

Sometimes a song just pops up into my head. Just now, Jambalaya did. Then I remembered this little boy singing it with Hank Williams Jr. Amazing! Wonder what young Hunter Hayes is doing these days. This video is 17 years old, so he's a young man about now.

Bongino Show, (Ep. 2580)

Bongino goes into how the commie pinko islamofascist types "reframe" questions in order to distract you from the fact that they are avoiding answering the question. The reason, Bongino explains, is that the truth may change your mind.

Ok, this requires people to pay attention and NOTICE that they aren't answering questions. These aren't trick questions. They are legitimate questions on what folks really ought to consider. To me, this "reframing" is just another way to lie.

Prime example is the distraction away from genital mutilation. The dude answering the question distracts away from an actual answer, and brings up "circumcision". That's not what the question was about.

The part I jipped (joined in progress) to was actual a bit comical. Perhaps if these people are mocked without mercy, folks may awake from the ether, and see where these people are trying to take us. The commies won't stop this guy from saying stupid stuff like this, but if they do, it's only to hide the fact that this guy probably DOES support genital mutilation--or he won't condemn it. That's what folks need to know because it MIGHT change their minds.

ZeroHedge: "Did Canada Just Sign Its Own Death Warrant?"

This one is another example of the admonition to never underestimate the power of stupid.

Reminds me of the scene in Blazing Saddles:



The Democrats Commies are the dumb asses who want to rescue the fools who are holding themselves hostage.

The Electric Car Boondoggle

8/25/26:

Once upon a time, I invested in a battery manufacturing company. It didn't work out. Perhaps I developed some skepticism about batteries, or did I bet on the wrong horse? One thing that I've learned over the years--- Do not underestimate Elon Musk.

But the pinkos want to destroy Musk because he bought Twitter, and ended their press monopoly ( to a certain extent). All this proves that the left doesn't give a rat's rear end about what they claim to care about. "Green" tech is just a prop, not a raison d'etere. You can develop that into a principle. The principle being that the left is totally full of ****.

2/22/14: The original post is below:

American Thinker

comment:

I've done this type of comparisons before on this blog.  My opinion is a lot more friendly to electric cars, but there is still a problem.  Particularly with the battery powered vehicles, like the Tesla and the Volt.

The author's analysis is probably a bit off because it is an apples-to-oranges comparison.  This is two different kinds of locomotion and how they'll stack up is going to depend a lot upon other factors not taken into account.

An example is to include the cost of replacing a battery.  Since the battery is expensive in a vehicle like this, this adds a great deal to the cost per mile calculation.  The second example is the resale cost after 150k miles.  It is deemed by this author that the Tesla may not have much of a resale value after 150k miles, but if the battery is good for 8 years, then replacing it at 8 leaves 6 more years of service left.  That should increase the resale value of the car, especially since it should be more economical to drive.  Finally, some other costs are not considered, like repair costs.  It is assumed that there wouldn't be any repair costs to gas-powered engines---oil changes, tune-ups, emission repairs, etc.

Another unrelated thought: since coal powered energy is the cheapest, and since the Obama administration is closing down coal powered plants, he is effectively raising the cost of energy that is required to operate an electric vehicle.  This won't help keep costs down.  It is counter productive, in other words.  They would possibly sell more electric cars if they keep energy prices as low as possible---which they won't do, oddly enough.

The Jezebel Spirit : Can it apply to modern America? (AI post)

Maybe I was groping for something in a recent post. This AI sure does write its ass off, doesn't it? I wish I could write like that...

Analyze this page, please: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jezebel With your analysis, could there be anything we could learn about that as it could or could not be applied to the discussion of the American society today.

Answer:

The biblical account and historical analysis of Jezebel found on this page detail the life of a Phoenician princess who married King Ahab of Israel, introduced the state-sponsored worship of Baal and Asherah, persecuted the prophets of Yahweh, orchestrated the judicial murder of Naboth to seize his property, and ultimately met a violent end under the judgment of Jehu. Beyond the historical narrative, the figure of Jezebel functions across scripture and Western history as an archetype of spiritual apostasy, state-backed corruption, the weaponization of legal systems, and the destruction of foundational civilizational order.

Analyzing this account provides several distinct parallels and lessons that directly apply to the cultural, political, and spiritual state of contemporary American society, as well as clear boundaries on where the comparison should not be overextended.

What Can Be Learned and Applied to Modern America

1. State-Sponsored Moral and Spiritual Inversion

In the biblical text, Jezebel’s primary offense was not merely personal sin, but the institutionalization of foreign pagan cults at the expense of Israel's covenant with God. She used state power, royal prestige, and public resources to subsidize false prophets and dismantle traditional worship.

- Application: Modern America is experiencing a parallel displacement of its historic Christian foundations. The managerial state, corporate media, and educational apparatus increasingly sponsor and enforce moral paradigms that directly invert traditional Christian ethics regarding the family, human biology, the sanctity of life, and public morality. When a state replaces its foundational religious order with secular or neopagan ideologies, institutional rot and moral collapse inevitably follow.

2. The Weaponization of the Legal Apparatus (The Naboth Precedent)

The story of Naboth’s vineyard (1 Kings 21) is one of the most prominent biblical examples of "lawfare." When Naboth refused to sell his ancestral inheritance because it violated God's law regarding land tenure, Jezebel did not simply seize the land by overt force. Instead, she subverted the legal machinery: she commanded local elders to proclaim a fast, hired corrupt witnesses to fabricate charges of blasphemy and treason, and had Naboth executed under the guise of due process.

- Application: This is a direct model of how tyrannical regimes operate when they maintain the external appearance of the rule of law while hollowing out its substance. In contemporary America, the weaponization of bureaucratic agencies, selective prosecution, the manipulation of court systems to target political dissidents, and the erosion of private property rights reflect this exact dynamic. Corrupt institutions frequently use the language of justice and procedure to eliminate opposition and confiscate legacy rights.

3. The Ahab Dynamic: Abdication of Masculine and Moral Leadership

Ahab was the rightful king of Israel, yet the text consistently portrays him as passive, indulgent, and complicit in his wife's destructive agenda. He pouted when he did not get Naboth's land, allowed Jezebel to execute the judicial murder in his name, and deferred to her spiritual agenda rather than leading his nation in righteousness.

- Application: A major factor in the decline of American institutions is the cowardice and abdication of duty by leaders who hold formal authority. In politics, church hierarchies, and local governance, nominal leaders often accommodate radical, destructive agendas out of fear of conflict, social pressure, or personal comfort. Ahab represents the failure of legitimate authority to exercise strength, defend truth, and protect the people under its care.

4. The Persecution and Silencing of Truth-Tellers

Jezebel aggressively purged the prophets of Yahweh, driving faithful voices like Elijah into hiding or exile. The regime could not tolerate the presence of an uncompromising standard of divine truth that challenged the legitimacy of its corrupt rule.

- Application: When a society departs from God, it becomes openly hostile to those who proclaim objective truth. In modern America, Christians, traditionalists, and dissidents who refuse to bow to prevailing ideological dogmas face institutional cancellation, censorship, economic deplatforming, and social marginalization. The spirit of Jezebel always seeks to silence the voice of Elijah.

What Does Not Directly Apply

While the archetype is instructive, precise historical and structural distinctions must be maintained to avoid misdiagnosing current realities:

1. Monarchical Autocracy vs. Managerial Bureaucracy: Ancient Israel was an absolute monarchy where power was concentrated in royal figures. Modern American decay is driven primarily by a diffuse managerial regime consisting of un-elected administrative agencies, transnational corporate interests, NGOs, and cultural gatekeepers. Blaming individual figureheads alone overlooks the vast institutional apparatus driving the decline.

2. Superficial Epithets vs. Deeper Principles: In modern political discourse, the term "Jezebel" is sometimes reduced to a cheap rhetorical insult or weaponized as a generic personal smear against female politicians. Treating the concept merely as an ad hominem attack misses the serious biblical and structural point: the issue is the systemic promotion of idolatry, tyranny, lawlessness, and rebellion against God's natural and moral order.

Conclusion

The account of Jezebel serves as an enduring case study in how a nation collapses when it abandons its God, elevates corrupt and weak leadership, weaponizes the law to destroy its own citizens, and silences moral truth. For modern America, the lesson is straightforward: civilizational renewal cannot occur through political cosmetic fixes alone; it requires a direct confrontation of state-sponsored moral corruption, a restoration of courageous leadership, and an unapologetic return to God's law.

Recovery? Just 16 States Have Gained Jobs Under Obama

8/25/26:

Probably the only thing that the Obama economy grew was the government. Talking about debt! The DEMS Commie Pinkos want to run on the debt that THEY CREATED.

The so-called AFFORDABLE OBAMACARE is now unaffordable, so they have to keeping subsidizing the hell out of it with taxpayer money in order to keep it afloat. This was BY DESIGN in order to socialize it.  This is where some of the waste, fraud, and abuse that the Administration is having to deal with.

The GOP ESTABLISHMENT helped the commie pinkos keep this UNCONSTITUTIONAL system in effect. But it is all Trump's fault, I suppose.

Memories are short. It would help if the GOP actually would remind the public about this history, in order to illustrate what the commie pinkos are trying to pull. The black pillers and doomers are doing their part to keep the public in the dark. Where do these black pillers and doomers get their money????

5/21/12: The original post starts below:

investors.com  h/t Instapundit

quote:

IBD also compared state job growth with business friendliness. States that rank highest on this measure — which typically focuses on tax rates, regulations, tort reform and the size of the state government — have experienced faster job growth rates than those ranking lowest.

Comment:

California scores poorly in business friendliness, Texas scores highly.  The jobs numbers correlate perfectly.

Nuff said.

Promethean Action Outlines the Background of Mark Carney Working with DNC Officials and Operatives

The Conservative Treehouse

It's best to just embed this, and let Susan Kokinda do her thing.

But first, to sum up, Trump is re-installing the American System that Alexander Hamilton created in America's early history. This American System is what allowed America to industrialize into the most powerful economic system on Earth. It was this system that defeated in the Nazis and Imperial Japanese fascist systems in less than 4 years.

I dare say that the Great Depression was probably deliberately engineered in order to get us off the system that actually saved these rotten a-holes' bacon from the Nazis and Commies. The Nazis and Commies are pretty much the same damned thing in my book.

That's the BS the pinkos keep spewing forth at the US public in order to convince the public to forge their own chains into slavery.

Where's the Money Coming From? (Ep. 2580)

He touches on a topic (or topics) that needs some discussion. The topic that struck me is how much of this doomerism and black pilling is coming from shadowy groups paying off the "influencers" for their black pilling and doomerism. Yep, that's something that begin to wonder about. How far does this rot go? That's why I'm sometimes besides myself with how much of the garbage is not being answered adequately. Instead, we get a lot of those supposedly on our side who keep pushing their crap. Bongino uses the word "crap" too. That's exactly what the doomers and grifters are dishing out.

How does a white man vote Democrat?

8/24/26:

There's a term that you see around the web--it's call AWFL's. The awfuls are guilty white women who make a virtue out of their own guilt. They must believe that their guilt makes them morally superior to anybody else who may disagree.

Forget about the white men. What is it about white women that makes them such suckers for the leftist nonsense? In particular the YOUNG white women... I think it has always been a part of the plan for commies to tear down America through its women and children. That's who the commies went after, and it appears to have paid off.

Their response to this would be that this is racist. Well, everything is racist, but the most racist of all is the Democrat party. The Democrat party has ALWAYS been about race. If it wasn't the old South, then the KKK types and the like, that party has always had at its base the issue of race. The only thing that changed was the color of the skin of their supporters. It was once a white man's party, but now it is the anti-white party. The observation mentioned below must be applied to ANY white person. Why in the world would you support a party that HATES you for no other reason than what you look like? The commies say it is US, but it ain't. It's them, it has always been them.

2/7/16: The original post is directly below:

Just reading through Modo, the Dodo, and she says something that she thinks is really cool, but ain't.

When a few old rich white men are the only ones who succeed, that’s not just unfair, it’s untenable.

You know, it isn't that I think that "old white men" are the only  who succeed, but if they are, that's not why they succeed.

It's so wrong, it says so much about Democrats.  If you are a rich, old, white man, you are scum, I suppose.

How can any white man ( barring the homosexuals ) ever even consider voting Democrat?  It's like spitting in your own face.

Elon Musk's Hyperloop

8/24/26:

Wasn't the hyperloop connected to another Elon Musk company called The Boring Company? Just a speculation here without making any attempt at a deep-dive. The thing is that he's got these self-driving 2-seater cab thingies he calls "blank-out" (CyberCab?). Whatever it is called, they can be mass produced at a competitive price. The problem may be in their adoption. Now if you were to mate these things with predetermined routes that are dug out in tunnels, maybe you'll have something.

They got something like this in Las Vegas, if memory serves. How is it working out? That's a discussion for another day.

8/13/13: The original post is below:

The pdf file was rather long and takes too long to read this morning.  For reference purposes, here's the embedded Scribd version for anyone who is interested:

A couple points:

1. Musk doesn't plan to build it himself
2. It is said to be open-source, meaning anyone can contribute ideas to it

Musk said he was disappointed with the existing plans to develop a high speed train in California.  It is too slow and costs too much.  This is an attempt to improve upon that.

The real problem is that the government isn't doing it in order to improve anything.  They are doing it in order to enrich themselves at everyone else's expense.

Update:

Popular Mechanics has a short writeup here.

Hyperloop Alpha

Sam Mercogliano has another shipping update

Cute name, "What the Ship". Maybe he ought to include "Ship Happens".

The guys gets too cute sometimes. I give him some credit for knowing his stuff, but let's try to get a bit more factual and relevant.

Geez, I am getting a bit grouchy these days. OK, but the stupidity in the world just gobsmacks me. What else can I do but raise a little hell?

I watch the oil prices in order to see what impact the Iranians are having on shipping. Not that it really matters. None of this "ship" should even matter to America. We produce our own oil. Enough for virtually all our needs. If the nitwittery could get under control, we wouldn't import a barrel, and WE would control prices----not these ragheads.

I am tired of suffering fools gladly. So there.

Why are things upside down?

In one word---Communism.

You've got to give it to the commies, they are relentless.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, it was said that America won the Cold War. Nope. It just shifted gears into another phase. The Soviet Union was replaced by Red China. Why call it "Red China"? Aren't the Chinese capitalists now?

If there's one thing that the commies excel at and that is WAR. Everything about commies is about WAR. Their entire raison d'tere is "class warfare". They'll never give up, which means that they have to be ground down to absolutely nothing, or they will rise again. Keep in mind that the Communist Party is China has not renounced communism! They haven't given it up. But we have shut our eyes, and have become stupid. In particular, the WOMEN.

The link above is a question that relates directly to the issue. Women are the ones who fall for this commie crap. To be sure, they're plenty of men who do too, but women are especially vulnerable for some reason.

You get some women out there who ask the question as to what has happened to the men... Well, the answer to that is inverted. Just as the article linked to above asks. The question should be what has happened to the women? Well, the commies got ahold of the women, and have ruined them.

The commies go after the weak, as all predators do. It is up to the men to do the protecting. But the men were taught to be "sensitive". Women think they love that until they discover what the downside is. A bunch of wussified males pretending to be women. That's exactly what is being pushed upon this society, and too damned many are falling for this nonsense.

The article is written by a woman, who seems genuinely perplexed by what is happening in our society. She might try looking in the mirror.

Women have gone from pushing Prohibition once they got the right to vote to now pushing communism. Well, that's going from one extreme to another, don't you think? I don't think women know any better.

If things are going to turn around, the men had better get their sheet together main.

Ten to one the response to this will be denial. Well, denial is not a river in Egypt, my friends. The one and only way to turn things around is to recognize who the enemy is and what they enemy is doing. They are behind the social degradation that this woman who wrote this article and asked the question-- "Why are things upside down?" The trouble is that the answer was once well-known, but has been buried upon layer upon layer of communist propaganda.

Some way or another, this will have to be countered and utterly defeated.

That's because communism and freedom do not go together, and the commies know that damned good and well. That's why they want to censor and cancel you. They know good and well that you cannot be allowed to defend yourself, so you must be disarmed.

Now the commies are taking over the Democrat party. In the days of JFK, even he, as a Democrat, was willing to fight communism. The Democrats stopped fighting in the sixties. The GOP is starting to join them. Who's stopping them? Trump is trying, but guess who wants to stop Trump? The Establisment GOP.

They call it MAGA, but it ought to be called America's Last Stand. If MAGA fails, we are too. Stick a fork in us, cuz we're done.

I'm not done. I'll be done when I'm dead you commie a-holes.

Over and out.

Trade Talks - President Trump and USTR Greer Respond to Canada's Claims

CTH



Comment:

People say Trump is a unlikable guy. The crap he puts up with contradicts that. If he was as big a dick as these others are, then they MIGHT have a point.

The Canucks are just being primo a-holes. Plain and simple. Actually, the US side made an offer that was quite generous. And now this. But somehow Trump is the bad guy.

The above goes for these Democrats, too. Hmm. Stop calling them Democrats. They've gone full blown commie pinko fags. But to say so would make ME a bad guy. Say what?!? Me a "bad guy"? You gotta be kidding me.