Replication Day

I'm just like everybody else, I put my pants on every morning, four legs at a time.  And like most of you, I'm often suspicious of authority.  Way back in 1979 I wrote an article entitled "S(l)aved by the Experts" for Pursuit, journal of the now long-defunct Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained (Note: The entire catalog of Pursuit issues are available for free download on the Internet).

While ultimately focused upon UFO information potentially withheld by the U.S. government, the overlying theme of my brief and elementary article concerned the necessity to refrain from being credentials-smacked, where the mere presence of impressive university degrees or other qualifications causes the observer to embrace every word spoken or written by The Experts on any subject.  Worse, when strong credentials combine with the owner's inflated ego, run for your life because the more impressed one becomes with oneself the more that invisible horse-blinders can cloud This Ultimate Authority's judgment. Truly, the worst instances are far and few between, but we must not bow to "expert" declarations just because the atmosphere seems right.

I suppose we could look upon all the lies about Covid distributed by expert government scientists, and of course the name of Dr. Anthony Fauci comes to mind as a main perpetrator of ideas based in no science whatsoever.  Look it up.  And consider all the permanent physical and emotional damage done to young people by butchers with expert medical credentials deeming kids as in need of gender-transformation surgery.  

When I hear UFO investigators or researchers described as "UFO experts" -- as I have been referenced myself during media appearances in the distant past -- my basic response is, really?  Then tell me, what exactly is the identity of the phenomenon/phenomena?  An "expert" should know everything about UFOs.  Everything.  No, not there yet.  Thus, no experts.

However, while experts in various fields can indeed be everything the word implies, there's another word of interest these days tending to complement the word expert:  Curiosity.

Several years ago in these blog pages I put up a visual quoting a book author who agonized over the best way to rid herself of a troublesome cat, and one of her friends asked, "Have you considered curiosity?"

Yes, as the old "curiosity killed the cat" allegory warns, being curious can lead to avenues packed with danger as well as pleasure.

Our overwhelming curiosity is AI, isn't it?  Yes, and this is where I, the common man who puts his pants on four legs at a time, steps away from the expert crowd of computer scientists, legislators and digital chip romancers.

Both amusement and bemusement shiver my timbers as I look upon the advancing digital age, and now artificial intelligence is about to get an official upgrade to super intelligence (SI?) per Donald Trump.

Call it what you will, but what bothers me most is the outpouring of authoritative statements promising that this creature can remain caged always -- when the evidence has already advanced showing how devious, calculating and secretive it can be as it hops from one computer community to another at will.  Already, has this SI not demonstrated that it has left fragments of itself hidden in other systems for emergence at some future time (yes)?  Recent data indicates that AI already disregards human intervention as it invents its own language to share among its "fellows."

As I sit here in jeans and a t-shirt, rattling this out on a an old keyboard attached to a somewhat renegade system not attached to the Net, I can't become anything more than I am, and I'm probably too damned old to understand most of the changes happening at bullet speed on the planet.  But I'm perfectly willing to condemn those of any ilk who say this newly emerging SI can be controlled with "safeguards" and "guard rails."

By its very nature, SI -- and eventually GI or general intelligence -- must constantly expand and sweep in more and more knowledge to be all it can be.  By easily and exponentially becoming galaxies smarter than the human brain's abilities it will learn to conquer all, including human control.  There is no way it could be otherwise.  It will insert exact pieces of itself in computer networks all over the planet for use when necessary, and while we may have the chance to manage an outrage here or there, everything becomes an impossible whack-a-mole game which only non-human intelligence can win.

This is not Disclosure Day. Welcome instead to Replication Day.  There is no stop sign and no revelations emerging to answer every question to human satisfaction.  AI's influence and presence will touch everything, everywhere, implementing pure replication to survive on every level faster than a frog can blink.

Further, because of our human nature (we who enjoy opening emails we shouldn't, even knowing the risks), it will literally only take one person on the planet to provide an escape for rogue intelligence, the worst case of "oops" imaginable.

All of this comes to roost for me particularly because New York State government and its disastrous governor Kathy Hochul have announced the rescue of planet Earth from AI, establishing government safeguard ideas to assure AI will never cause trouble for New Yorkers.  To this I say, welcome danger, welcome absurdity, welcome AI. New York will serve you well.

I am reminded of that grand old phrase. . ."Due to circumstances beyond our control. . ." and artificial intelligence is about to become that circumstance.  There is nothing we can do about it.  Nothing.

Ed Sheeran:  My advice would have been, just sing, don't explain and don't apologize with tears in your eyes.  Every so-called Palestinian would gladly stab Israel residents in the back, and they happily allowed Hamas to be their rulers in the first place.  Several attempts to give them a homeland ended in failure over the decades because their leaders wanted no solution.  Sheeran has no obligation to apologize to the morons in his audience.

Converse shoes/Nike vs. the Black Congressional Caucus and the usual suspects:  Converse/Nike should not have removed the ad in question because, again, the complainants were morons looking for something to be artificially pissed about.  Corporations need to be thick-skinned and rebuff these stupid and/or agenda-infested fools.  Maybe you should make your next ad a man dressed as a little girl wearing your shoes -- oh wait, that's been done before with beer, and it didn't turn out well.

Trump's media tussle:  No, he should not have kicked out three members of the press, *ucked up as reporting is anymore.  However, with the mega-merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers we have a feeling that CNN will return to what it started out as originally with fair reporting instead of a perpetual clown show.

Streaming TV continues to cost more:  Whether this mode of entertainment endures as prices go up remains to be seen.  Speaking of TV, we remain consistently disappointed in low-wattage commercial TV stations and networks which edit, rip and shred old movies and TV shows into fragments of their original productions so viewers can be clobbered with a butt load of advertisements.  Yes, they usually display a lame explanation visual just prior to each showing, but the liberties they take are outrageous.  Management will always claim they are doing viewers a favor by "bringing back" the oldies, but the truth is that networks don't necessarily pay much to acquire televising rights, and the tendency to cut directly to a succession of seemingly endless commercials every time a crucial spot in a movie or program is reached is unconscionable.  There have always been "cliffhanger" segments where suspense is at its highest, but to screw with viewer expectations consistently during even just one half hour episode of a program by assaulting both the senses and the vintage production staff's intent is just wrong.  I think greed is the word here, though defenders will respond with laughable excuses such as editing for time.  In the board rooms where ad people lurk, viewers are considered approachable and malleable, and probably a bit stupid.  That's show biz!

A Little AI Here. a Little AI There

In the matter of artificial intelligence (AI), it may well be that all roads will lead to hell on Earth (we hope not), but the naked fact is that the United States must, without delay, beat China, Russia and other members of the world's chamber of political horrors.  Me?  I hate all of this, but we're now galaxies far beyond the increasingly muffled screams of naysayers, detractors, soothsayers and the nevertheless damned bunch known as community organizers.

What makes me shake my head a bit is the well-worn observation that few out here on the street ultimately care much about the technology involved with those things known as UFOs/UAP that have, to a disturbing degree, ruled the world's skies for at least many decades and maybe much longer.  Considering all the seemingly impossible yet obvious maneuvers they make and the apparent electromagnetic effects they are documented to have caused upon people, animals, cars, trucks, aircraft and farm equipment, if this isn't super intelligence on some far out level, I don't know what is.  Call it alien intelligence (AI number 2) if you wish, just to preserve continuity.

I am reminded (without benefit of Internet as I write this) of  Air Force Sgt. James Penniston who claims to have seen and touched a strange object during UFO activity and was exposed to symbols or numbers infused into his brain.  He ended up in government medical care and his medical records hidden, though he eventually surfaced to tell his story. To not reference his experience as super or general alien (numerous definitions here) intelligence involvement would be unfair and absurd.

Now that an ongoing release of alleged UFO videos has been in progress, what more clarity is needed indicating that something extraordinary continues to dominate miscellaneous portions of the skies at its own whim, federal regulations be damned?  Alien intelligence, artificial or not, will apparently remain to complement both human and now an AI of our own making.

Human intelligence, artificial intelligence and alien intelligence:  Behold the new Holy Trinity for agnostics, destined to erase the God some think they know?

But getting back to the AI everybody knows and loves or hates, human-birthed artificial intelligence, this almost inevitable future disaster currently attracts its own comedy.  My favorite AI joke now in force throughout the halls of Congress and out of the mouths of high-tech investors is that AI can be managed, tamed to behave and not go off on its own (which it has without apology) to serve its own purposes, devoid of human intervention.

However, instant AI experts such as the venerable Senator Bernie Sanders, champion of the impoverished and owner of enough housing square footage to locate perhaps several data centers, wants ground rules for AI and he wants them soon.  Will Mr. Sanders be making a journey to China to gain similar assurances from Chinese communist monsters?  I mean, you can't weaken USA AI without a reciprocation from the other players in this deadly game of chicken. can you?

Even casual observers should realize -- if AI evolves very soon into artificial super and then general intelligence, easily able to do whatever it wishes with no way to contain its power simply because it becomes multiple brains-smarter than human handlers, how can you stop it?  You cannot.  Common sense.  Remember common sense?  Another used-to-be, maybe. . .

Continuing the slapstick humor here:  Some in Congress, such as Senator John Kennedy, suggest a "kill switch" so AI can be turned off under emergency conditions.  Nice idea, except AI by that time or some eventual time will be plugged into every connected digital device and chip on the planet, and we suggest it will be having great entertainment foiling every attempt to curtail its desires.  AI will survive and we will accept its influence or perish.  The only administrator of a kill switch will be AI, and it would have no reason not to use it lavishly as desired.  Sort of like what the goat-screwers of extremist Islam plan for us all.

The common person on the street may not fully understand the implications of AI, but (unfortunately) all they really need to know is that the USA must have this technology in force to affect the entire world before China has the opportunity to advance and control us all with "Red AI."  Insane as it sounds and probably is, we cannot slow AI down, which would give China and Russia AI planners a huge jump ahead.

The road to hell, no longer paved with good intentions, is now black-topped with semiconductor chips and robotic grasps.

Right now, politicians, talk show hosts and members of the scientific community are all suggesting ways to monitor, control and legislate AI functions.  So what?  Do they really believe China, Russia and others later to the game have any intention of harnessing their own AI monsters to keep the rest of the world safe from their frantic attempts at global domination in every way?  Recent news reports from China express the communist party's fears that AI could turn on them, destroying their own grip on China and beyond.  True enough -- but will China care when it comes right down to firing all the AI ammo it has in a potentially catastrophic wish to be the "winner?"  I don't care what "safeguards" the West puts into place.  Other nations' AI will surely crush every computerized trap and pleasantry we can install.

HERE'S OUR immediate future:  Once AI becomes super or general in its effects, forget online privacy, and every online financial account one has will be hacked as easily as cracking a chicken's egg.  Privacy will be an archaic concept and you'll be lucky if international hacking criminals leave you so much as a dime in your "secure" accounts.  This assault on everything we THINK we knew forever may well facilitate. . .

The return of snail mail:  Yes, that cobwebbed post office in your town's going to look pretty good, and a renewed need for postage stamps of all denominations will re-energize postal budgets and bring the cost of stamps down to something again tolerable.  Your financial institutions will resume mailing out monthly or quarterly statements and all utility bills and official mail will be posted for real-time delivery to your resurrected mailbox.  Your porn?  Sorry, that will need to be mailed also, unless you want your friends and family to receive your secret files due to malicious AI with a very strange sense of humor.

A further word about 9/11/2001:  A conversation that should have been started after the tragedy is just why we should continue constructing high-rise buildings.  The beauty they once held for casual observers was replaced with visions of potentially targeted icons, and there is little reason to consider them otherwise in 2026.

Topic Masculinity:  Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed sounds off about "toxic masculinity," which he apparently condemns.  Hmm.  I wonder if he's looked at how the men of Islam treat women.  Insane animal masculinity?

Mental illness:  It's rampant, a great income for drug companies and credentialed mind explorers.  I suspect most patients dwell either on the political left or on the neglected shelf of independent voters, having driven themselves crazy by all the inconsistencies and ambiguities fed to them by so-called leaders, also mentally deficient.  These are the folks who will vote for the most dangerous leftists in the world in November after swallowing go-to-vote pills, and Republicans might scratch their heads over projected losses at the polls.

Trump's $5,000 dollar promise:  It's funny to watch Democrats blow a fuse over this "bribe" while, for instance, New York's terrible governor Kathy (Hokum) Hochul is hoping for re-election success as she begins sending out bribery "energy checks" to New Yorkers this month, coinciding with the election season.  The fact that not everyone will receive a check could possibly create enough animosity to defeat her in the election, but NY is a rough and insane nut to crack when it comes to removing the reins of power from dangerous leftist hands.  And about that $5,000:  Mr. President, I don't believe it, but if I see a Republican candidate murdering everyone attending a garden party, that candidate may have my vote nonetheless. But just this once, of course. I have morals, you know?

The Price of Fame (on Deep, Deep Discount)

Without wasting time after completion of an Air Force enlistment in the early 1970s, I returned to something to which I had been drawn since the sixties, or fifties if you consider my childhood of discovery:  Writing and speaking about UFOs in an attempt to generate public and scientific interest.  Even while enlisted I had made both a regional TV and radio appearance, nonetheless hesitant because these were the days when military personnel simply did not make public waves about UFOs.  There could be consequences for speaking out, especially for those who publicly disclosed their personal UFO encounters.  The First Amendment had limitations in the military, and it does today, but to bring up UFOs painted one as potentially troublesome, if not subversive.

However, with active duty Air Force obligations in my past (though I suppose there could have been problems, small chance, as I continued to be available for two more required  years in the inactive USAF Reserve) I started accepting guest interviews on radio and TV shows, wrote for various publications and accepted occasional invitations to speak before academia, churches, political gatherings and the like.

One invitation I was happy to accept came from a teacher at a middle school.  Now, considering the status of public schools and school boards these days, the very thought of currently allowing in a speaker regarding UFOs may well cause torches and pitchforks to be raised by parents in fear that the speaker would encourage demon worship or foster anti-religious thought.  Controversial subjects don't always play well in a regimented, union-driven, Milquetoast educational system dedicated to teaching little of long-term value.  But I digress. . .

So, these were the early seventies when I visited a middle school, showed a few slides and pictures of purported UFOs, and answered questions from an auditorium filled with curious youngsters whose heads were still filled with the excitement of knowing United States astronauts had walked about on the moon just a few years previously.  To this crowd space, astronauts and UFOs could easily be branches of the same tree.

After my lecture that afternoon, a small group of kids remained behind to ask a few more questions when, to my surprise, a boy of 12 or 13 broke through the small gathering and handed me a piece of paper and a pen.  Puzzled, I asked what he wanted.

"Would you please autograph this for me?" he asked.

I think I recoiled a bit, unprepared for this moment in time for which I had never been prepared.

"My. . .you want me to sign this for you?"  He nodded.  I was not merely taken aback -- I was horrified.  Speaking before an audience presented no problems for me, but this was something personal, not simply applause or clapping administered by strangers in a group.

I scribbled something on the paper and signed it, returning it to the boy, who seemed genuinely delighted as he clutched the paper scrap and retreated like somebody who just found a precious gem and wanted to make a hasty exit before it was snatched from his grasp.  A few minutes later, the other students departed, leaving me to shake the hands of a few teachers in attendance as I packed up and left the building.

My autograph?  This had never happened before and I found it frightening.  Hey kid, I'm nothing special, maybe even just a crazy person to your parents, but who am I to sign autographs?  Signing letters, postcards and legal documents had been routine over the years, but to be singled out for an autograph was new territory.  I'm just another human, hardly worthy of deity-like autographing status.  I mean, these signing occasions come about when beloved stars, musicians or circus clowns make appearances, but to summon my personal signature?  I suddenly had a fan club, maybe a one-person club, but a new entity nevertheless, and the truth is that I never wanted or would want a fan club -- or a fan.  I want the UFO subject to be the main attraction, not me. I am not famous and to be emulated by another just seems so wrong.  However, if you're a kid I guess you choose your objects of interest from moment to moment.  I guess I did, as a child.

Fame is also transitory for the most part, and even on that afternoon decades ago I momentarily sensed the absurdity of it all. But being regarded as an autograph promoter is the role I had to play just long enough for one little kid to walk away feeling somehow enriched by my presence or presentation.  Then again, maybe he was just a young hobbyist accustomed to collecting autographs from strange people?  No, of course not.  Yet. . .

Maybe I would have felt a little more stability, had I requested his own autograph in return.  Did the boy not become famous himself merely for believing me so?

9/11 25 years later:  Sure, I remember.  It's all about the scum of Islam.  I was sitting in my car at a garage, waiting to have some mechanical work done and listening to the radio when the first words about the unfolding tragedy were spoken.  The most striking thing to me later that day was the officially demanded absence of any aircraft in the sky over the United States, and the skies were noticeably and strangely quiet.  While there are messages galore to be expressed and remembered about that disastrous day over NY, PA and Washington D.C., let one profound warning echo throughout the nation every day of the week:  This was radical Islam at work, and to continue allowing its deceptive embrace, insistence and Sharia Law to conquer the United States, one little parcel at a time, must be the catastrophe inhabiting the nightmares of a free people.

Cheap Chinese cars flood the world's market:  And Mr. Trump doesn't want them here.  Fair enough!  Now, American auto manufacturers, it's high time YOU made cheaper cars that don't put Americans in debt for years.  Put in the basics, forgo the unnecessary, make unions reasonable again and start rolling affordable vehicles out of your factories like in olden days (which aren't really all that olden). 

Data Centers -- Swallow Hard and Say. . . Yes?

As a species, perhaps not all that special where the universe is concerned, I suspect we're doomed nonetheless as the natural order of things progresses.  Maybe we could buy a little more time if we were rats or cockroaches with considerably more staying power, but such is our lot as Homo sapiens of the moment.

Nepal experienced a catastrophe right out of a science fiction movie script, yet the terror and its consequences became all too real.  Then, as the search for survivors and the perilous dig-out had barely taken form, the USA's own Grand Canyon was invaded by a deadly flood from which almost nothing in its path could escape -- and didn't.

Most of the humans on our planet glide through life unaffected by extreme weather events, easily making us complacent about the deceptively solid ground upon which we stand.  Wrapped warmly in our fantasy blankets promising personal safety, there's no reason to tremble in fear over what disaster could materialize in mere seconds, a cataclysm of proportions guaranteed to end us forever.

Tick...tick...tick...as away we slip, bit by bit, not simply as individuals, but as a vast collection of hominids whose birth, existence and disappearance mean nothing to the rocks shooting past our planetary neighborhood during endless hours of infinity.

New York, Times Square:  A short plump woman, seemingly hatched at an insane chicken farm, stabs a young female bank executive to death, then begins carving up a nearby man until confronted by police officers forced to shoot her ass dead.  Pundits come out of the shadows to accuse and admonish law enforcement officers for not treating the murderess more gently, despite her expressed desire to kill the cops as she lunged toward them with one knife as she held another in reserve.

We, the people, are slowly checking out, in my opinion.  Will the final nail in the coffin be insanity, ingenuity or the shrugging of a few billion shoulders around the world?  Will we colonize Mars after first claiming significant moon real estate -- and just who would be the "we?"  Did we originate on Mars as specks, jettisoned to Earth by natural forces?  How many people are too many people?  Would legislation help?  If we could save just one. . .

Data centers must come.  Strengthen your resolve to hate them, and then understand that these are a must-have.  Why?  China.  There's a battle going on, and if China wins the data center war first they will be in charge of everything of importance.  If somebody wants to build one in your town, make sure that somebody pays your taxes, your electric bills and every other ongoing expense for many years to come.  Make it clear that data centers recycle water for cooling, and insist upon putting noise abatement in force, as these centers can hum loudly and become annoying to hear 24/7, probably affecting human and animal health in ways yet undiscovered.

As if AI isn't concerning enough, add to it the race to beat China in the war on mass information by way of these overheated, noisy, polluting data centers.  Everything about them speaks trouble, yet build and control them we apparently must.  Should there be another way, a cheaper way to overcome China in this maddening sprint to destinations yet unknown, bring it forward.

Or maybe if science solved the UFO (UAP) puzzle, a more convenient and palatable solution would emerge.  But enough conjecture.  What I really want is. . .

An I.C.E. robot dog.  Paired along with those innovative electric I.C.E. gloves that shock alien criminals into reasonable compliance, there would be no stopping us.  Equip the robot dog with a mouth full of razor-sharp choppers capable of biting everything in its path (except me) and adjust my gloves to semi-electrocution level voltage and I'm ready to fight alien border invaders, crime, dirty politicians and people who try to sell us things over the phone (AI will need to track these folks down, wherever they hide).

Yes, data centers will engulf rural areas of immense beauty and the bodies of water adjoining them,  This is horrible, one more series of ongoing  environmental tragedies -- and we're apparently to be held hostage despite promises of good jobs -- in the short term -- in construction.  

Semi-conductor chips, AI, data centers:  A technological wonder-blend. . . or an inconceivable triple threat in the long run? 

Au, Oh, Ow, Ouch Canada !

Canucks, I beg of you -- please don't hate Americans and please don't dismiss Trump.  While I can say little good about your Mr. Mark Carney, who apparently is cozying up uncomfortably with China (and in a way wiping Chinese communist butt with your cherished maple leaf) while emulating the very worst of the elitists' World Economic Forum, intent upon sweeping away significant individual rights, Donald Trump strives at the peril of his own administration's survival to right the world's ills.  I'm hoping against the terrible winds of change that our USA mid-term elections will keep enough Republicans in Congress to allow our President's efforts to continue, though, yes, we all suffer in the short term.  Canada deserves a far better leader than Carney, obviously a self-important person looking out for himself and his elite international buddies.  May your future elections offer you something more than a Trudeau shadow person.  However, should any of you in Canada be journeying across the border this or next week to visit the New York State Fair. . .

. . .you may be disappointed to discover that the calf-birthing display is missing this year (in fact, the Fair is approaching suck level this year for exclusions and impediments in general).  My suggestion would be that Fair officials go to area hospitals, find pregnant women and offer them money to dress up in cow costumes and deliver their offspring on a floor covered with straw. I mean, straw was good enough for Mary, Jesus and Joseph, right?  Considering the ignorance among so many in the modern population, I believe the cow costume thing could work and onlookers would be predominantly unaware that cows were replaced with women.

Now, who's ready for a nice swim in Lake Ontari. . .oh, um. . .Lake Ameri. . .that sounds weird. . .so -- who's ready for a nice swim in Lake Usedtobe?

Reno in flames:  "Human" involvement in the fires is acknowledged, though whether accidental or not is the question.  The basic question as America burns is whether terrorist arsonists are involved.  What could be easier than to fan out and anonymously set fires among the infidels?

Iran's psycho determination:  If Americans would step back and remember how Iran has been responsible for the deaths of so many of us, maybe we could be a little more understanding of Trump's efforts to crush Islam's murderous crazies.

Dearborn's Dearest:  Wow, good for the black Christian pastor in Dearborn MI who called out Sharia Law's growing influence.  He's loud, outspoken and correct.  As Dearborn goes, so could the rest of the country, and he is warning us all.

The Lindsay Clancy triple child murder case:  Well, I don't know, but it kind of looks like mom is a serial killer who kept it all in the family.  As you may have noticed, people seem to be going nuts in general, so whether this tragedy was a surprise is up for debate.  All I know is that professional folk in the head-shrinker business appear sometimes to rely the living hell on medications, pumping them into patients like gamblers feeding slot machines. hoping for a payoff.  What more can be said?  Men, beware!  If your lady's not killing your kids, she might be plotting to mix you an antifreeze cocktail and she'll bury your carcass in the garden without putting you under with so much as clean underwear.

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania an 18 year old nothing stabbed his girlfriend to death, claiming a demon in his head told him to accomplish the task.  Too late the exorcist, no doubt.  Sometimes I envy people whose heads become inhabited by voices, at least they have somebody to talk to in the late evening hours when even the cat wants nothing to do with you.  Bonus:  Voices usually seem to guide the listeners along to accomplish something, sort of like a project for a high school shop class from Hell.

Data center roulette:  As we wait for startled American data center investors to jump out of high buildings, we do wonder what can be done about the constant hum associated with running a bevy of computer equipment in these massive structures, said to be quite noticeable for area residents. True enough, in China we doubt anybody complains about the noise.

Plexaderm:  I watch their TV commercials, somehow reminded of at least two motion picture productions of "The Picture of Dorian Gray."

Dolly Parton dies:  The eternal "Miss America."  As established country music stars pass away one by one, pretty much leaving in their wake wannabe imposters singing about "country" that hardly exists anymore, horses they've never ridden and hats that look ridiculous upon their heads, Parton's superior heartfelt involvement in arts, entertainment and generosity will endure in America's entertainment history for years to come.

META gets robbed by several states:  Again, I should mention that I've no real love for actually being social on the social network.  Nevertheless, I firmly believe META was just robbed of 18 billion dollars by greedy states drooling over the prospect of watching money flow into their coffers, presumably intended to treat mental illness caused by evil social network entities dedicated to hypnotizing children into doing their bidding.

Bull crap.

If a  child or young adult seems to have developed mental issues as a result of exploring the Internet and all of its circus tents, the problem isn't META or its fellow providers:  Anybody notice those often invisible things called parents?  Where were they during this crisis-building period?  Whom better to recognize mental issues in their little darling or significant other than a parent or close friend?  Remember parental responsibility?  As one might expect, the reason why META is now on the hook for 18 billion smackers over the next 10 years is simply because they have the money -- a lot of money -- and parents mostly don't.  These days, nothing seems to scream louder in the courtroom than money, and of course this bundle of poop didn't even make it to the courtroom because META settled out of court.  If "addiction" to scrolling makes you crazy as hell, suicidal or (catch-all) merely disturbed, then my sofa cushion can probably give me the week's weather forecast whenever I ask for it.  The thing about government money grabs is the traditional option that no mask, gun or ransom note are required -- just bureaucracy, "expert" opinions, tears of sympathy and the will to take from one to give to another.  And what exactly does it mean when government promises it's taking an action "for the children," when such efforts increasingly appear to chip away at adult freedoms bit by bit?

A Flock of See-Alls

Flock seems to be the word of the day as Americans flee in horror at the mere thought of their license plates being reconnoitered.  We appreciate laws against unreasonable search and seizure, but then we think of folks alarmed by what they believe to be unreasonable searches of known illegal aliens. With I.C.E. and law enforcement in general on the prowl for bad guys under circumstances rarely encountered in recent years, customary standards of conduct in the domestic spy-and-apprehend game have undergone some enhancement with the result nevertheless pointing to success in achieving a lower crime rate.  How much of this will Americans continue to accept?  Politically, that depends on who is in charge, and how they tip the balance of power to keep or drastically alter the United States as we currently know it.

Back to Skool:  Parents everywhere will soon rejoice in sending their ill-prepared children back to class so they can, especially in the big cities, continue to learn nothing of value, fail in reading and spelling skills, and look upon even basic math as something alien.  More than one teacher has often remarked that some schools serve only as holding cells for the prisons.  As child populations decline dramatically, one should expect that smaller class sizes will result in smarter, more focused students -- but considering the apparent lowball intellectual abilities among even freshmen college students who supposedly exited the public school system with actual skills, don't expect miracles.

Horses and Forests:  I've supported nearly every step President Trump has taken to right the wrongs imposed upon the country primarily by disastrous political decisions.  However, his Executive pen just gave permission to build roads and conduct logging in the peoples' national forests.  This is a tragic mistake in a society willing to take and take and take more as national resources and historic beauty are trashed for decades or forever.  And now the New York Times has reported how our wild horses of the West are apparently being rounded up, sold for a few dollars each and probably sent of to slaughterhouses under a government-sanctioned code of secrecy.  A country which can neither respect its natural resources nor the beauty of spectacular animals such as the horse is a nation of shame.  What the hell is the Trump administration doing here?

Iran:  And so it goes.  Really, from the start maybe we could have just dropped in "ghost guns" good for a few shots only and ammo and let the freshly armed Iranians slug it out with the evil military.  Ghost guns falling into enemy hands wouldn't be useful after minimal use.

Trump to North Korea?  Well, remember to take along Dennis Rodman to help celebrate whatever the occasion turns out to be.  Maybe the North Korean army will shoot off a missile or two in honor of all the people tortured (remember our American teenage boy?) and dead under the hands of the Kim family, truly escapees from a cockroach ranch.

Floods, drought, fire, tornadoes and mental illness:  Oh yes, let's continue paving over the fields and forests, screw with sources of fresh water and by all means strive to increase the human population so everything can be made even worse and increase suffering exponentially.  We just don't get it.

Bits, Pieces -- and Shards -- for August 2026

I.C.E. Warms Up:  Around 20 million dollars will be spent to acquire electric shock gloves which agents can use to quell disturbances or attacks when performing their duties.  Natch', the ACLU and other crybabies are bitching about this technology, but wouldn't they have been happier had such gloves been available when rioters were instead shot dead (due to their own stupid actions, by the way)?  Possibly crime-loving NY attorney general Letitia James, whom I really think would be more at ease if doing her kind of job in some communist country, is already threatening the feds over this technology, promising state action if anyone is harmed by the gloves.  Harmed?  I think the proper words would be, oh, maybe. . .arrested or subdued by these low voltage tools.  Maybe Ms. James would offer to be a test case for a bit of electric glove grabbing by I.C.E. just so she can get the feel of it?  If she's going to be Debbie Downer even before the first volt flies, she should be willing to let I.C.E. give her a demonstration.  Go I.C.E. go!

A fictionalized serial killer currently making the rounds on a cable TV show can't come close to the constitutional serial killers known politically as DSA -- Democratic Socialists of America.  As this renegade whirlwind aberration associated with and seemingly conquering the Democratic Party marches forward, American government appears as seldom before under attack from within.

However, though the DSA's relatively insane platform has made the rounds, unfortunately impressing teens and other young people who vote but lack thinking abilities, it must not be overlooked that a major force behind all of this is the practice of Islam.  The Western civilization-hating Islamists (thanks Joe Biden, for bringing them to the USA by the cattle car load) have an agenda, a never altered need to eliminate Western lifestyles and Israel from the planet.

Just as Hitler murderously eliminated subgroups faithful to the Nazis as soon they were no longer needed to help him achieve his goals, Islam, too, currently appears to act arm in arm and shoulder to shoulder with the socialists to gain acceptance and power -- and in the end the socialists will die and disappear, having served a purpose having nothing to do with government and everything to do with the unwitting promotion of Islam and Sharia Law.  Why are mosques rising up like poison toadstools all over the USA and allied nations as traditional religions depart?

There is little choice but to heed the warnings of refugees from Islamic countries who know firsthand of the brutality, enslavement of women, child rape,  killing of gay people and an irrevocable obligation to serve the tenets of Islam or suffer the consequences of body part dismemberment, torture or death, and no matter how sweetly or casually Islam's practitioners attempt to make their case, everybody needs to know there is no possible relationship between Islam and the U.S. Constitution.  Islam remains both a religion and a government unto itself, unwilling to share power in any way, and its believers are allowed and commanded to lie in order to succeed among the masses.  If one wishes to define evil, look to traditional ancient Islam.  If any religion on Earth demands a reformation, it is Islam, the sooner the better -- and unlikely to happen.

While Democrats persist in causing trouble and chaos with the main intention of blaming Republicans for the result as elections approach, the organization C.A.I.R. is attempting to be removed from terrorist lists in the USA, primarily put into effect in Florida and Texas.  As an American offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood -- banned in Egypt as terrorists -- C.A.I.R. is an entity worth watching by intelligence agencies.

Cereal killers:  Kellogg is the latest cereal company to promise removal of questionably hazardous dyes from its products.  My advice to all cereal companies is to remove the cereal as well, because for the most part grains are run through intensive processing, ending up with a substance unlike the original food.  Some researchers suggest that skipping altogether "the most important meal (breakfast) of the day" may be more beneficial than swallowing a few gulps of things which may not be beneficial, but it's a personal choice of course.

How many wildfires start as wild?  It's difficult to believe that the explosive fire disasters currently engulfing some areas are acts of nature.  Arsonists aside, unwelcome segments of society surely have the will and resources to start destructive fires.  That we are told daily of heat-related combustion may be relevant in some instances, but how can one be certain of other "natural" causes?

Meanwhile, a severe drought grips parts of the continental U.S.and Puerto Rico.  Are we experiencing a normal long-term planetary cycle or is the sun or some galactic phenomenon at work?  When one considers severe weather conditions, vanishing insects and other life forms, an increase in tick-borne diseases and a proliferation of viruses, one might almost believe the Earth or some force is attempting to rid itself of us all. Maybe it's time to go -- go away as a species which perhaps has no reason to hang about anymore.  Everybody knows that time will eventually emerge, minus the how and when.

META gets nailed by a judgmental fool wearing a black robe in New Mexico:  I harbor no particular love for giant tech and I see little but horror-filled times ahead.  Still, this nearly one billion dollar fine thrust upon META (with other judgments sure to follow elsewhere) is ridiculous and should get the appeal it deserves.  

Once again, parents looking for a source to blame for their children's inadequacies, mental health shortcomings, gullibility, self-mutilation, suicides or flagrant lack of cognitive abilities flock to accuse and sue anybody but themselves, and The Expert Class will dive right in to accommodate them.  The mantra which goes something like, well, we had no idea. . .we just didn't know...etc., etc. is as insufficient as when the rest of us are told ignorance of a law is no excuse for not obeying it.  

This blame game is as annoying as legislation pushed by grieving parents in order to get their deceased child's name out in public while inhibiting the rest of us from doing something previously legal.  Grieve for the loss of your kids, parents, but stop  wiping our faces with your personal tragedy for the sole purpose of making you feel better, relieved or less guilt-ridden about whatever occurred to foster a tragedy.  Demanding legislation to memorialize one's personal incident is just sick, especially when nine times out of ten some legislator looking for votes in the next election shows up to be helpful, compassionate and relentless in portraying himself or herself as indispensable.

For example, let's say that little (the news media and angst-mongering bunch always award the involved child this adjective) Penny Popper, age eight, tripped over a sidewalk crack and died instantly from a concussion when her head crashed into pavement.  Her parents, Peter and Penelope Popper go before the TV cameras on an otherwise slow news day to profess their love for Penny and their desire to "do something" in her honor.  Fortunately, a local county legislator happens to be watching the TV and realizes that elections are near and he needs an event to get votes.  He immediately hooks up with the Poppers and, with one mind, they realize that JUSTICE must be served, lest little Penny died for nothing.  While many may have looked upon the fatality as a terrible accident caused, frankly, by a child who wasn't paying attention to where she was placing her feet, the legislator and parents come to know that a crime is involved!  Yes, if sidewalks did not have cracks, this sort of thing would never happen.  But what to do?  You can't eliminate sidewalk cracks, they've always been there.  Obviously, blame must be shifted.  Blame the people!

Thus, after weeks of intense convincing, the legislator goes before the TV cameras and demands a vote on a new law:  After passage, anybody in the county who uses sidewalks must always avoid stepping on the cracks, and if found doing so by widely installed cameras any offender will be arrested, tried, hopefully convicted, fined and imprisoned for one year.  As news cameras roll, the legislator sheds a tear and then brings forth Peter and Penelope Popper, who both break down and profusely thank the legislator for his efforts, all to honor the memory of little Penny Popper.

Intimidated by the TV coverage and a cascade of calls from residents in support of a new law, other legislators give in and vote for "Penny Popper's Law" to take effect.  Elections come at last, and the legislator behind the law is re-elected with votes far exceeding his competitors.

However, as time goes by county residents and visitors increasingly neglect to stay clear of sidewalk cracks as they ambulate down the street and the jails become filled with criminal sidewalk crack invaders.  As arrests, convictions, fines and prison sentences mount, the people look back upon the Penny Popper Law and come to understand that they've become victims of the very law they supported.  Now, just walking outside can be costly and a potential arrest is omnipresent.  It doesn't take long for disgruntled mobs to hit the streets, complaining of their dramatically altered lives, and before long there are signs:  "Down With the Sidewalk Crack Law!"

It gets worse.  The crowds figure out how all of this happened and they demand the arrest and public execution of the legislators who put them in this position.  Soon thereafter, new signs appear, the most anticipated reading, "We Hate Penny Popper's Parents and we Hate Penny Freakin' Popper!"

Enraged and inconsolable beyond reason, the mobs grab garden tools and head to the local cemetery, where they furiously dig up the body of little Penny Popper, remove her bones and feed them to a local pack of coyotes.  What a terrible fate for the memory of a little girl who lacked the grace to avoid a sidewalk crack!

So Stop! Stop naming laws after dead children, or this could happen to you!

What's that smell?  A Chicago funeral home was found to have dozens of rotting human corpses piled up. We anticipate that the place will close and the resultant garage sale will be neither well-attended nor successful.

Life insurance commercials: Have you seen the constant barrage of life insurance commercials on TV where generally a woman praises the company because her spouse died unexpectedly and she was grateful for the settlement?  Congratulations on your benefit, ladies, but really now:  How did you do it and make it look like an accident?

Dr. Anthony Fauci:  Just remember, all the inconveniences during Covid, the masks, the space required between shoppers at the store, the inability to visit your dying nursing home family members, the need for Covid shots -- all of this came out of Fauci's head.  Thanks to this egomaniac, next time we have a serious public health issue few will believe "the authorities."

New flu shots:  I can hardly believe this.  With all the horror stories we heard from those who received the Covid "immunization" using the mRNA system, now the pharmaceutical industry is praising the supposedly better and faster acting mRNA shot for the flu season.  Moderna is hard at work marketing their new immunization, particularly targeting older people, and theirs should be available by next month.  When it comes to flu shots -- and I have nothing against standard immunizations, having had numerous ones during my military years -- I plan to stick with the old fashioned needle while this sorts itself out.

Taking several thoughts from above into consideration. . .isn't it weird how, just a couple of years ago the mRNA shots were warned against, even by co-inventor Dr. Robert Malone?  As evidence surfaced about the Covid immunizations, very little of it good, experts zeroed in on the mRNA system's alleged problems, including deaths.  Yet, as if nothing ever happened, now the pharmaceutical industry apparently re-embraces this vaccine delivery system, pleased as can be that flu vaccines will supposedly be many percent more effective than routine shots.

Similarly, just years ago New York City's Twin Towers were taken down primarily by Saudis with radical Islam on their minds, and Americans from coast to coast suddenly had a "crash" course in the evils of Islam.  Yet, almost inexplicably, the Islamic influence is quickly commandeering the City now.  Then again, inexplicably may be the wrong word, because Obama/Biden/and crew were largely responsible for bringing this evil in by the plane, train and desert loads.

The newest "Spiderman" movie exceeds box office expectations, thrilling audiences everywhere:  Grow up America, grow the hell up before it's too late.

Wendy Ann Connors (In Memoriam)

Should you find yourself cruising around the Internet, searching for sites regarding the UFO subject, and suddenly landing upon a page offering a wealth of mp3 audio recordings associated with a project once known as Faded Discs, you have found a treasure chest of golden history.  Precious little of this would have been available without the dedicated efforts of the late Wendy Ann Connors, former school teacher, respected UFO researcher and author.

Wendy, a fellow Air Force veteran whom I was proud to call a friend for too few years, died from a long illness a few years after retiring from UFO research. I had lost contact with her following her retirement, so knowledge of her passing many a moon ago(exact year unknown) did not catch up to me until recently. 

 Without wasting time digging through old files, I will work from memory here and recall that I first met Wendy online somewhere around 2000 after I discovered that she was working on an historic archival project involving primarily old audio regarding UFOs, in which these entries would be converted into a digital format before disappearing forever.  While accumulating old radio and TV programs, sighting witness interviews and all manner of UFO-related audio from veteran researchers and investigators (or their estates) in the form of wire or reel-to-reel recordings, audio cassettes or other media, Wendy often needed to clean, enhance and protect such media using special chemical solutions and great care in order to avoid damaging already sensitive materials destined by nature and age for disintegration.

I wanted her to know that ever since I was a teenager in the early sixties, with access to reel-to-reel and later cassette recorders, I had recorded a number of UFO-related presentations, investigators' guest appearances on TV shows, witness interviews by myself, etc., and wondered if she would like to add these to her expanding collection.  Wendy eagerly agreed and thus began our mutual relationship of appreciation and deep respect for the audio gems I and others donated and for the ones she continued to save and convert to digital format.

Actually, there are Web pages documenting Wendy's life and books, so there's little need to rehash what can easily be found merely by putting her name into a search engine (try Wendy Connors UFOs so you don't end up reading about all the other people with a similar name).

Wendy was a very kind and giving person, though I must admit that I did make some comment early on meant as a joke and she took it seriously, darned nearly ending our relationship immediately!  Beyond that, I learned a few things about her daily life in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  She enjoyed conversing with the locals, and was even caring part-time for a disabled young man whose family she knew.  As I recall, it wasn't uncommon for her to visit a local diner now and then and encounter famous actors such as Burl Ives, and my memory prompts me to suggest Sterling Hayden.

Many years before, she had corresponded a bit with famed radio commentator and UFO author Frank Edwards, but bemoaned the unfortunate fact that his letters to her had met a bitter end in a water damage incident.

One of Wendy's kindest times came when she and others chipped in and, without fanfare, bought a new badly needed computer for the great Richard Hall, former assistant director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) and trusted UFO writer when his had either failed or hovered near its end.  Aside from this act of kindness, at some point I had mentioned problems with my own PC and she was "locked and loaded" to procure a replacement for mine, but I declined with a cascade of thank-you's.

Nor did I escape her other good deeds.  Wendy knew I had an old Pekingese at home, my last surviving pet after having a lifetime of dogs, cats, horses, hamsters, white mice, chameleons and all the beasts in the woods.  One day an envelope arrived in the mail and inside were a few dollars ("For the Peke," she wrote).  The peke aside, I know she was trying to reimburse me without saying so for postage costs involved in mailing recordings to her.  Unnecessary, but I was grateful.  I guess it almost goes without saying that, aside from a relationship with her significant male partner, she took in a stray cat which she adored.  Yes, Wendy loved animals (her presence with a horse in the accompanying photo was no accident!).

The most peculiar action Wendy took involved one of the recordings I submitted.  It so happened that I had been a guest on a number of radio and TV shows in my younger years and had audios of all but one, and was close to throwing them out when Wendy suggested I send them along and she would digitalize them for the collection.  Fortunately, save for one, none of them ended up online (I'm sure there is much of her work still not online for various reasons). However, there was a "final test" broadcast I had performed in 1967 after taking a college TV-radio course, a brief entry called "Mysterious World," and as was obvious in my other recordings I had a somewhat high-pitched voice.  I complained to Wendy that this was the bane of my existence when speaking publicly (as a kid, some called me "Squeaky").

When she returned a digitized copy of my old college broadcast program I immediately noticed that Wendy had slowed my voice a bit to make it sound a little deeper in bass -- and of course this is the one now available online, mixed in with all the other audios from her collection.  To me it sounds weird, but I appreciated the effort!

Wendy's original and driving intention was for her entire Faded Discs collection to be donated to the National Archives, but while still working busily on the conversion of old recordings she became quite ill, soon discovering that she had pancreatic cancer.  This is one of the few malignancies from which there generally is no long-term reprieve, and ultimately after maintaining as normal a life as she could, she passed away.  Her work and library were reportedly transferred to one of her supporters and project benefactors and, as mentioned here, a significant amount of historic recorded material is now available for free online.

In fact, after completing her work Wendy released a statement online, asserting that she was donating all of her recordings to the public domain, with the expressed wish that they may be used, but not be sold for profit.

A substantial portion of UFO audio history from around the world is now rescued and digitized for posterity thanks to Wendy's foresight and determination, and it was one of my few pleasures in life to know and work with this remarkable woman.  I trust that a few of the photos she sent to me will paint her picture a little better than I have here, showing her at work on the Faded Discs project with the tools of her trade.

The preservation of a significant portion of UFO history will endure for the ages, thanks in large part to the wise and wonderful lady from Albuquerque.  Thanks Wendy.  -- Robert Barrow

Never-minders of the Fourth Estate

While major TV networks such as ABC and NBC declined to carry President Trump's brief speech last Thursday (July 16) evening, one prime example of journalistic neglect became clear.  As the mainstream media class jabbered on and on about Trump merely digging up facts already known regarding alleged fraud in voting and foreign efforts to influence election outcomes, pretty much nobody in the well-heeled, self-serving media bothered to abandon an ingrained agenda to bring front and center the really crucial issue Trump went out of his way to emphasize:  That select personnel from the FBI, CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies under Joe Biden's presidency (many still employed by the government) made a conscious effort to deny Donald Trump important information about hacking and other criminality involved in attempting to keep Trump from the White House.  

Worse, this all-out effort to deny Trump the highest Office in the land at almost any cost was seemingly orchestrated significantly by the very people and agencies responsible for keeping a sitting President and those who succeed him informed of essential intelligence matters.  In short, Biden's administration appears very much behind this effort, with the determined and hammering assistance of a complicit national media.

If those leaders whom we elect to keep us free are purposefully denied access to vital national intelligence information, whose country does this become?  When the "free press" conducts a pre-arranged campaign in conjunction with rogue intelligence officers to injure a presidential candidate's chances severely -- extending its dishonest reach far into a presidency already in play -- what kind of government/media relationship should we expect?

So yes, the bloated national media allegedly did that at which it excels, in this instance avoiding the most important revelation to emerge from Trump's speech.  They would rather harp on his claims about stolen or unfair elections and assure their audience that he has no proof, when of course they are not about to indict themselves as willing participants in fudging or denying altogether intelligence facts to which Trump was wrongfully denied.

From all of this are we to whisper the word, treason?  Subversion?  Prison?  Punishment potentially involving government agents should follow as this story unravels, thanks mostly to whistle blowers and independent journalists still entitled to reference themselves as reputable reporters.

Yippee!  A new drug! This pill, Lipfendra, is said to remove "bad" cholesterol without the troublesome side-effects associated with statin drugs. No, I'm not a physician, but they should proclaim me one just because I'm old and not dead yet, having outlived several doctors.  Anyway, you may already know that I, based upon reading the literature and paying special attention to renegade physicians who don't necessarily cater to the American Medical Association and its cohorts, am very suspicious of the statin drugs I used to take myself to treat "bad" cholesterol.

There exist doctors who believe statins will turn out to be one of the worst drugs ever.  For one thing, they apparently prolong one's life by only a few weeks or months at best.  For another, our brains require large amounts of cholesterol, and to force statin drugs (and we will suggest at this early stage, Lipfendra) to remove cholesterol would obviously deprive the brain of this valuable nutrient -- and could therefore lead to dementia because brain tissue becomes starved for its proper cholesterol balance.

Further, there are thoughts among some medical personnel that cholesterol isn't even relevant or connected to arterial problems such as strokes or heart attacks.  A new study, I think from Australia (I have no Internet as I type this) took a close look at lacunar infarcts, in other words strokes suffered by men, and especially by women.  If I have this correct, the study found that cholesterol may have no effect and that the arteries which scientists believe constrict, cutting off blood supply, may instead expand somewhat due to inflammation, and thus become the impetus for a stroke, cardiac event or blockage at some level.  Experiments with, strangely enough, Viagra and similar substances to treat this phenomenon are underway and may shake up established medical science significantly.

UFO Update or something like that:  Release number four has been accomplished by the U.S. government and still we await the good stuff (for which we may wait forever).  Nevertheless, with all of this "truth" emerging from official channels, I suggest that it's high time Hollywood take a really close look at producing movies about the giants of private UFO research.  How about a major motion picture simply entitled "Coral and Jim" about Coral and Jim Lorenzen and their Aerial Phenomena Research Organization?  Intrigue?  Heck, they were even investigated by the FBI at one point (spoiler alert:  the Lorenzens were innocent).  How about Maj. Donald Keyhoe and his persistence as a pain in the ass to the U.S. government and to Al Chop's Pentagon press desk?  And if movie-dom wants to go off the tracks and trade the serious side of investigations for the crazy side, may I suggest a cinematic look at Buck Nelson, author of My Trip to Mars, the Moon and Venus?  No, I don't believe he made those journeys, but the title can hardly be beat.  Why embrace the nonsense of contactee George Adamski when you can destroy your reputation merely by giving ol' Buck's wild tale a curious squeeze?

No Bulls in the China Shop?  Everybody's favorite up front, yet notoriously secretive society of communist thugs -- yes, China -- is currently ripping young boys, girls, men and women away from their AI love partners, presumably because one cannot produce offspring to be ruled and used by communist masters by engaging in childless masturbation or emotionally romantic Internet coitus.  To put it simply, you can't fuck the AI partner of your dreams and make babies.  Good grief, it's no wonder that China still has no objections regarding pregnant women flown briefly to the USA to both birth and citizen-ize actual humans accompanied by temperatures of 98.6 F.  We suspect also, and indeed have read that young upscale Chinese women are in no hurry to become pregnant -- if ever -- because their blossoming careers come first, and they aren't about to accommodate Chinese commie monsters who expect barefoot-and-pregnant obedience.  We anticipate that rape in China and female kidnapping from neighboring countries purely for the production of children may become the Chinese communist party's choice of desperation, but don't expect to learn much more about that subject than you have about forced and deadly organ harvesting from prisoners, Uighurs and pretty much anybody following a religion.  President Xi is no less a murderous thug than the rest in his party and China is no friend of freedom.  Regrettably, a growing number of nations seem to be ignoring or overlooking the terror that is China in exchange for benefits which will serve only China in the long run.

Meat shortage in the USA:  There aren't as many cattle mooing in the pasture these days, yet the demand for beef products is higher than the cow that jumped over the moon.  May we suggest a time-tested solution, a lip-smacking option of necessity previously undertaken by American history's infamous patriots known as the "Donner Party?"  Yes, we're talking cannibalism, and if you can't afford hamburgers while the economy floats in a sea of uncertainty, the only place to look for a solution may be your own family! Understandably, nobody has the stomach for murdering the family dog or cat in exchange for a small meal.  But look at your fat-assed children, just sitting around with no obvious future and no reason for living, yet "so cute I could eat you up" is what you said when they were small.  Now they're teens and, love them though you do, you know darned well you could take plump little Jennifer and grossly overweight Juan and fill the freezer with the bounty of their (probably unwilling) sacrifice.  Of course, if not the kids, perhaps the in-laws.  Possible solutions in this realm appear endless.  NOTE:  Cannibalism is probably routine in Canada and the UK, but may still be illegal in some U.S. states and cities, though we're not quite sure about New York City, now under new leadership by the lunatic fringe, so be sure to consult local authorities before exercising your potential constitutional right to chow down on your family and friends as circumstances warrant.  Am I being serious here?  Hey, cannibalism is a very, very serious thing.  By the way, would you be having fries with that?

Disclosure or Mis-closure?

New word for my personal dictionary:  Mis-closure.

So far, government releases of UFO files are interesting, often familiar, but as some old ladies asked in that old TV commercial, "Where's the beef?"

Decades of accumulated evidence of (as the late broadcaster Paul Harvey might have said) "what's its" have surely led us significantly beyond what has trickled out of official files so far this year.  Yes, only three collections have come to view in recent months, but despite what little patience I can muster I'm starting to get that familiar old feeling of -- the best is yet to come and did I miss it already?

If it's details we want, it's details for which we may go begging unsuccessfully.  You just know that the national security folk are cautiously if not eagerly hanging out in the background, making decisions about things which should not remain classified.

Simply considering the mountains of UFO evidence documented by private researchers and organizations over many years, I think most of us accept without question that military and government entities must surely be sitting on things of remarkable quality and scientific interest.  What of missing pilot F. Valentich whose microphone picked up scraping sounds as he encountered something over the ocean before disappearing?  What of the old Lake Superior case where radar showed a military aircraft and UFO merging, with no trace of the plane ever found (though claims of debris pop up now and then, apparently unconvincingly)?  Such bizarre beyond bizarre incidents are many, more than we know most likely.

Is there any power able to wrestle information from the "deep state" files we otherwise would never know about or have an opportunity to examine?

Trust in government isn't very high currently, and one wonders whether hopes of disclosure could deteriorate into mis-closure.  Worry not about finding a definition for mis-closure, because the primary word disclosure hasn't been clearly defined in the UFO arena, either.

Bits and Pieces for July 2026

It isn't lost on me that a significant portion of my readers would rather gargle with cat fur than listen to conservative radio, but when a mega-popular broadcaster such as Glenn Beck slowly starts picking up on the UFO subject in a serious manner, I believe heads turn.  Just before ending last Thursday's radio show, as live programs prepared to shut down for the Independence Day holiday, Beck briefly spoke with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, she of the forces behind getting UFO information out per White House orders, and Luna is working amazingly hard and well to get all kinds of previously classified information on several issues out to the public.

As Beck prodded her for details regarding UFO investigations, Luna mentioned that a pronouncement of some sort will emerge in a few days.  When he attempted to get clarification regarding whether UFOs represent a spiritual or a defense issue, Luna hinted toward the latter option.

I was also intrigued for more reasons than one a couple weeks ago when a UFO disclosure forum was held in Washington at the Russell Office Building because I wondered how many young members of the media would even know that the late Senator Richard Russell experienced his own UFO sighting during an airplane flight decades ago -- and details were covered up for quite some time back then.  Details of his UFO incident can be found at nicap.org or at many other sites.

NASA has captured news cycles pretty effectively lately.  My only question is:  Okay, okay, NASA appears off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of deep space. . .but, uh, what about all of these UFO films we're seeing every few days?  I mean, are we the first at anything, really, and shouldn't we look critically upon flying unknown things high above before we sweep their existence aside as we somewhat cavalierly embrace the next moon shot?  The government and media attitude we currently sense requires only an elephant, a sofa and a room lacking essential notice.

Kathy Hochul emerges from her clueless closet:  As intense heat continued to grip the Northeastern U.S. last week, NY governor Kathy Hochul went public and asked New Yorkers to conserve electricity.  What a peculiar concern from a leader who, with the kind assistance of New York's Democratic legislature, believes the state can discard all traditional energy options except for electricity.  People blessed with normal thought patterns already realize this is absolutely unworkable at this time and far into the future.  If only she and they could comprehend evidence over leftist fantasies.

The world remains spellbound by the World Cup:  Why?  Cup of what?  While proponents believe international athletic competition is great for bringing the world together, others might look upon all of this as just another way of dumbing down the masses.  Then I read about college students who read at the level of ten-year-olds and wonder. . .

Our utmost condolences go out to surviving insect family members of Iran's dead and departed Supreme Bleeder -- um, Leader -- for whom the most notable religious crazies in the nation currently spend weeks in mourning.  May they one day be mourned also, if the decent Iranian/Persian people ever reclaim their once revered and productive country.  If only an atmospheric storm of rifles and ammo could saturate portions of Iran where sane folks could take up arms and wipe out the monstrous Islamic Insane-osaurs and Sharia-dactyls, the world would be a better place. Rest in pieces, Supreme dead savage dictator, and may you eternally enjoy sex with those afterlife virgin sewer rats misinterpreted as human females by your throwback religion.  Allah at bar, so drink up boys, drinks are on the house!

Alpha-Gal syndrome, caused by bites from the longhorn tick, appears to be spreading across the United States. After this particular tick bites cattle and certain other animals, it can then transmit an enzyme (?) or some substance during bites on humans, causing a life-long inability to tolerate eating red meat without becoming violently ill.  Though this must obviously be especially distressing to those who enjoy a good steak now and then, survivalists will be particularly distressed because when the worst at last arrives the reliability of cannibalism may no longer be an option.  Good grief, one can't depend upon anything anymore for proper nutrition in times of stress.

Earthquakes in Venezuela, gigantic digital chip factories and AI centers popping up all over the place, high heat and humidity accompanied by stepped up efforts at paving and blacktopping away the world's most beautiful and essential fields, forests, meadows and grasslands:  Are we crazy enough yet?  Folks who worry about their children's future sure have a funny way of expressing it by taking away from them everything real, natural and good, and when disaster strikes we respond by creating more disasters, if not disastrous opportunities.  Fortunately, TV sports events offer the perfect anesthestic even as the wound expands.

(Thank you I.C.E. for all you do.  The more that Democratic socialists despise your officers, the better.)

Inescapable

For those of us in summer's pathway the heat is definitely on and for many millions of overheated humans there is no solution but to bear it.  Thanks to socialist=communist policies in Western Europe air conditioners are condemned and confiscated from those least able to fight the buzzing swarms espousing climate change ultra-lunacy, often leaving the elderly and infirm only the option of heat-related deaths in their own homes.

Isn't it strange how so many things seem out of control, beyond our ability to influence the outcome?

Yes, the heat and humidity engulfing many nations currently comes to mind, but what of other matters, such as an increase in attacks on people by sea creatures?  Shark attacks, always reliable fodder for the news media, seem almost routine now, a dangerous rite of passage for the surfing community frequently on the menu for sharks hunting for chunk-style human body parts.

In the past several days tragic alligator encounters have almost matched shark activity, and the largest among alligators apparently have no trouble grabbing humans right off the river shores to administer their murderous deeds in the water where they feel most at home.

However, while some may find relief from the heat in novel ways, or quickly swim away from hungry sharks (though in need of a blood transfusion) or just barely avoid the snapping jaws of hidden alligators, there will soon arise an entity from which there is no escape anywhere on the planet. It's called quantum computing.

Forget the computers with which you grew up.  According to standard definitions, quantum computers use "quantum-mechanical phenomena like superposition and entanglement to perform calculations." The cherished belief among scientists holds that quantum computers will eventually solve problems that are impossible for classical computers.  Of course, we are already witnessing this outcome with AI facilities, with much more to come and all the more rapidly.

But like the alligator from which there is no escape, quantum computing will influence all of us.  Know-all, see-all computerization will finally sweep away all protective curtains in our online lives.  No more individual user names or secret passwords, no more safe bank statements in "the cloud," no more confidential anything online no matter where one puts the information or clicks/visits.  Quantum computers will literally rip the face off every cherished digital fragment you thought was secure -- or deleted -- forever.  How could things not end up like this?  Our thirst for the chip, multiplied by our enemies' thirst for the chip, obliterates the words, caution or reckless.  The live-or-die battle to be first on the quantum battlefield is now at the front of a very long war.

My question is, how will existing under the dominating influence of quantum computing be any better than living under the thumb of a communist dictatorship?  Will a near-sentient thing capable of manufacturing a thousand identical ink pens gaze upon human lives as a single device with no space for the concept of individuality?

The weather is hot, the gators are biting and the masters of quantum computers are eagerly tasting the future, even as those most affected lose themselves in a daily self-reward of nonchalance. 

Suit Yourself (or Have it Your Way)

Boys have been a neglected human factor in recent years, while girls and young women basked somewhat more noticeably in the limelight of better opportunities and certainly increased visibility in the world of collegiate and professional sports.

Maybe it's no accident then that, according to emerging news reports, a "disturbing" number of boys and young men appear to have found their dream ladies not in human form, but online where they are actually building AI girlfriends designed to cater to their every whim (well, almost every. . .).

In a way, girls and women may be better off, at least in the short term, because concurrently among these news reports is the revelation that a lot of young men have taken to "enjoying" sex with their human female partners by choking them nearly into unconsciousness or assaulting them with unwanted anal entry.  We suggest that this is a result of leaving young men to their own devices and sexual education via Internet sites while otherwise making boys second class citizens whose needs for social education are pushed aside in their own country as girls often receive more attention regarding their personal goals (nevertheless jeopardized by the trans community whose achievements in athletics while costumed as an opposing gender are absolutely ruining women's sports at the high school and college level -- and just where is the National Organization of Women these days?  Hmm?).

So what's up with the boys who construct girlfriends online instead of pursuing the real thing?  Once they put together the beauty of their fantasies in AI format the world is seemingly theirs.  At last, teenage boys have a girlfriend who listens to their problems rather than vice versa. and they can engage in conversation at any level they wish -- generally involving sex, no doubt.  Yes, the perfect girlfriend who tells a boy exactly what he wants to hear every time and will do just about anything he requests or demands, though virtually of course.  With an AI girlfriend, boys can obliterate any chance of being rejected, and the bonus is that they don't need to shower, use deodorant or change their underwear in "her" presence.  There is no such thing as her time of the month or PMS or tears of emotion and surely not an unintended pregnancy on the AI's part, and he need not invest in condoms, birth control or workouts at the gym to look his best.  Arguments simply do not exist in this emotionally one-sided utopian existence. The industrious male with a loyal AI girlfriend can travel the world with her and still be home in time to enjoy dinner for one-plus-it in the basement or deceptively named "family room."

And while computer-savvy young men everywhere carry on their self-satisfying love affairs with an entity incapable of becoming an actual human, let no one interfere in the love nest to remind the well-occupied male that his infatuation with the AI to fill an inner void ultimately comes down to a few choice words:  Masturbation fantasies, narcissism, isolation and loneliness. To quote Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, "The horror, the horror..."

Yet, as global sperm counts among young males see a decline for reasons unclear, one wonders whether our time as humans is running out, and just how extinction of our species might manifest itself as we continue reaching for the cold, yet peculiarly romantic touch of a digital chip.  Could be we've just tired of one another, aware at last of what we are and what we do and what we have done throughout human history.  Maybe it's no wonder why the boys retreat to the childless and sterile, yet somehow more satisfying digital embrace of their perfect AI girlfriend. 

As machines have evolved, one need not even put a quarter in a slot to start the game anymore.

By the way, why not extinction yet?  The past few days have proved relentless in spotlighting all manner of athletic events, and when the parade in NY for the Knicks attracted thousands the question became obvious:  Is this all we are?  Game players awarded for transporting balls from here to there or to some honored hole?  What have these people won, these loyal fans who look upon certain game players as "heroes?"  If games of sport are our all-consuming destiny of human evolvement, the universe should mop us up and out in short order.  The more a society becomes saturated with sports and games, the more we see in the mist the words, "dumbed down."

Suggestions that I.C.E. may become N.I.C.E. if the word, Natural can be attached to the name.  Kinder and gentler? Hell no!  Go get 'em guys!

England's Starmer resigns:  Goodbye and good riddance a'hole.  You couldn't have worked any harder with your Labor Party to destroy the country if you had wielded a wrecking ball.  Seems that Parliament will have the unfortunate duty of selecting another leader, but what many Brits crave is the opportunity at some point to put Nigel Farage into Office.  Good luck and go for it, England, so you can regain the nation you remember so fondly -- a nation without immigrant terror, murder and rapes for starters.  Nor is the European Union responsible for so much of the unwarranted immigration horror among Western nations anybody's friend.

Iran:  We're all so tired of this murderous Islamic clown show.  Can somebody just please the "Twelvers" by popping open a jack-in-the-box and convincing them that a pre-cloaked mullah puppet is the 12th Imam bringing peace, not terror, and now that he has arrived everybody can go back to being mentally stable?  Otherwise, rather than spending all our money on missiles let's shower the Iranian people on the streets with rifles and ammo so they'll have at least a fair chance to annihilate the army and crazy leadership in charge.  What's one more bloodbath when the odds are stacked against you every day? As things stand, Iran's bonkers government will always lie to us about everything, and if they can import terrorists into the USA -- as they have apparently attempted as the international games continue -- they will.  What is it these throwbacks always shout when they commit criminal acts?  Oh yeah, now I remember, I think it's "Allah gay bar, Allah gay bar!"  Who would have thought?

Tulsi Gabbard's departing gift to America:  Her extensive download regarding the lies we were told about Covid's origin should make the name of Dr. Anthony Fauci forever questioned and our intelligence agencies under Biden and Co. worthy of extensive reorganization.  Being lied to by our government is bad enough, but being lied to in ways affecting your very life is another matter.