Not the fat top heavy hydraulic bot of yesteryear ..... For sure..

The way they are programing the machine is the cutting edge approach (mimic programming) to actually creating an independent general use Bot IMO.

Quote:On 9 December 1992, US Marines rolled up on a beach in Somalia, to blazing spotlights and CNN cameras rolling, launching a UN-sanctioned invasion of Mogadishu.

And thereby hangs our tale.

I really don’t understand why folks are so shocked by the graft and corruption in Minnesota’s welfare programs. Even in scale it hardly rises to “interesting,” when compared to the Big Picture.

If you begin with the premise that an organization can grant itself the power to steal your money at gunpoint, convince you it’s legitimate, and make any public accounting of those funds as opaque as possible, then we can only conclude that all governments everywhere and at all times are nothing more than criminal rackets. If that is the foundation, then anything that organization does is corrupt and depraved.

So the US, with the UN’s blessing, invaded Somalia on the premise that corruption was preventing “aid” from reaching the little people. This was essentially sending Al Capone to arrest Lucky Luciano.

After the US made a complete wreck of Somalia (it was only a partial wreck before), Uncle Sugar imported thousands of “refugees,” who for some unexplainable reason, settled in Maine, Minnesota and Ohio. Naturally, these folks formed a ghetto like all other immigrant groups who’ve come to the US (see New York City). They maintained their language and customs, elected their folks to city, county, state, and national office, and quickly learned that the US is a level of corruption that makes the rest of the world look like a two-bit street hustler.

The Somali story in Minnesota is a microcosm of the larger system. Dozens of phony NGOs are set up, piles of grants and “aid” are poured in, the money is distributed with everyone involved getting a taste. Substitute military contractors, large-scale public works, “educational” organizations — any government-supported collective — for NGOs, and it’s the same game. It’s been going on since Hammurabi licensed beer breweries.

Deep down inside, do we really believe that the billions and billions shovelled into the Ukraine actually went into the national economy? Are we sure all those weapons weren’t just sold on the black market, with the proceeds being divvied up among the grifters? How about the $45 billion worth of gear abandoned in Afghanistan? No profit sharing scheme there? If SpaceX can build a Super Heavy booster and Starship for $90 million (the largest, most powerful rocket ever), does it really cost $1.1 billion for a Patriot missile battery?

Governments are essentially legalized mobs. They stake out territories and specialize in certain “goods and services”. They set up cut-outs that look legitimate on the surface, but are just window dressing, having almost nothing to do with operations behind the scenes.

There is a relevant case study in the Houston Police Department. A number of years ago, they put out an internal directive defining “gangs” and how to spot them:

• Gang-related tattoos, symbols or graffiti that match known identifiers linked to criminal street gangs.
  
• Hand signs, colors or clothing worn consistently to show affiliation.
  
• Associating with known gang members in documented gang crimes or being arrested with them for offences consistent with gang activity.
  
• Frequenting documented gang areas (territory recognised by law enforcement).
  
• Recruiting others, including online or via technology.
  

This essentially describes the police and law enforcement. The only significant difference is that government agencies claim legitimacy for themselves and exclude all others. Government is a protection racket:

Threat → Offer of Protection → Payment → Enforcement → Legitimacy (Real or Fake)

The Somalis were forcefully removed to the US because of a mess the US caused and/or exacerbated. The states of Minnesota, Ohio and Maine lobbied to take the “immigrants” as cheap (read slave) labor on behalf of corporate interests. The governments (state and federal) used the Somalis in a money laundering scheme. The Somalis were set up with cut-out corporations and billions of dollars were funnelled to them from the taxpayers. Those dollars were then filtered out to various NGOs and politicians as “donations” or other innocuous transfers. In keeping with a protection racket, the government (after getting caught) stepped up to “enforce” the law.

Create the problem, offer the solution, the guilty walk away rich. Classic Hegelian Dialectic. If taxpayers get too nosy or insistent, whip out the race card.

Maybe it’s just me, but this operation is so transparent as to be ridiculous, and perhaps that’s a defense mechanism. It’s so obvious that it can’t possibly be true. And the Somalis are just one tiny piece of the entire operation, which has (to date) stolen some $34 trillion from US taxpayers. All those borrowed dollars have nothing to do with offering the “legitimate” government services and payroll.

The Somali scandal might result in a few high-profile arrests and perp walks. It might even get a sitting member of CONgress defrocked and deported, but I doubt it. However, the politicians and corporations who benefited from this scam will never be called out. They never are.

And business will go one as usual. Government will continue to scam taxpayers using an infinite number of variations on a theme, and taxpayers will continue to be shocked for about five news cycles before moving on to the next Big Thing.

There’s a reason I haven’t voted since 1992 — (coincidentally?) the year the US filmed its Somali “invasion”. I realized then that the entire thing was a mob operation and I wasn’t going to participate in my own captivity. It’s amazing to think that the seeds of a scandal in 2025, were planted in 1992, and no one saw it until now. I can only ascribe that to willful ignorance — if you refuse to acknowledge a problem exists, then you shirk the moral obligation to take action.

As Linda Ellerbee liked to say, “And so it goes.”

=====

Today’s cinematic fare is a bit on the nose, but relevant at so many levels: Wag the Dog (1997). Based on the novel American Hero by Larry Beinhart, this Barry Levinson flick throws some high-powered stars at the issue of government creating problems to justify its existence. When the film came out, I was working in broadcast news during Desert Storm, and I experienced the story happening in real life. I saw the film more as a documentary than a comedy. Worth revisiting.

A New "Reconstructed" Venezuela, destroyed by socialist dictators, rebuilt and secured under the control of the United States, will be a land of opportunity.

They have abundant natural resources, with oil and gold aplenty. Not to mention that Venezuela possesses significant untapped reserves of rare earth metals.

Now, I'm not suggesting we all go down there and do some carpetbagging (OK, maybe I am), but they need almost everything you could think of and more. This will be boom times down there, and it will be taken advantage of. The question is exactly how to do that without a huge investment of time and money.

Find out which oil companies are going down there and invest in them. Same with any other company that intends to fill the void and occupy the opening niches. It could be food and agriculture as much as mining and oil operations.

I'd like to see some ideas from the Rogues, I think this could make a lot of people some big money when the US fully takes over and it is safe to do business.

Hell, let's all brush up on our Spanish and get down there, it might end up better than what is happening up here. Might be the place to go retire.

Phenomenal landscape photography. A big place worth visiting, preferably in the summer.

Quote:Journey into Siberia, the vast frozen soul of Russia — a land where endless taiga forests, crystalline lakes, and silent snowfields stretch beyond the horizon.
This Travel Documentary unveils a Siberia few have ever seen: raw, mystical, and breathtakingly alive.

From the legendary depths of Lake Baikal to remote villages shaped by ice, wind, and time, discover the untamed beauty and resilience hidden within one of the coldest regions on Earth. A cinematic 4K journey into the wonders of planet, where nature whispers ancient stories beneath layers of snow and stars.

They couldn't let the Irish keep the color green; now it represents Muslim American Heritage, not Irish heritage. If I wear green, am I proud to be a Muslim? When the Chicago River turns green, is it for Mohammad? How long before St Patrick's Day gets deleted in favor of Ramadan?

Quote:Gov. Kathy Hochul Orders World Trade Center Replacement Building and Other New York Landmarks Lit in Green to ‘Celebrate’ Muslim American Heritage Month.

. . . 

“Home to the largest Muslim American population in the nation, New York is proud to join in this month-long celebration, recognizing the values, faith and traditions of our Muslim American communities,” Governor Hochul said. “New York remains committed to being a beacon of hope, tolerance, and inclusivity that celebrates the diversity of its Muslim American population and protects them from Islamophobia, hate, bias, and harm.” 

CNN is trying to blame Trump for the Minnesota Somali fraud scandal.. Why would anyone expect anything different from the Clinton News Network 

OK there have been other proposals for nuclear powered rockets that could conceivably shrink the time travel between places in our solar system but evidently they believe they are ready for the real meal deal in 2027 ??

If I see it then I will believe it but here is hoping. 

Quote:Psychology, depression, personal growth, mental health, and philosophical wisdom are discussed in this video which reveals a psychological awakening. This social commentary is a meditation told with dark humor explaining why so many of us feel broken in a world built on illusions. This is a brutally honest look at the human condition, mixing introspection, self-improvement, and radical honesty with a kind of comedic despair only modern life can produce.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re not actually depressed, you just saw through the lie, this video explores why that realization is both terrifying and liberating. We dig into meaning, identity, emotional exhaustion, societal expectations, spiritual detachment, and what “healing” really means when the system itself is sick.

1. China will continue to piss the world of and may even say some of Russia now belongs to China.
2. The Russian Ukrainian war will end
3. It will become widely known that billions and billions of fraudulent dollars and waste in government programs are being shut down.
4. The Democrats will become more idiotic and strident claiming the economy sucks even though gas goes below $2 a gallon, prescription drug prices are cut in half if not more, tax refunds will be the largest they have ever been for most working people, with inflation now down from the Biden's regime 9% to something like 3 percentage and still falling most people with a brain will thank their lucky stars the two Democratic candidates did not win the election. 

I will just wait and see if my 8 ball fortune telling gizmo is accurate or if it was made in China and is a piece of junk !!



Your Turn

I saw the following on Facebook...dated December 27, 2025, at/around 4:56 p.m. from an account "Maria Jarvis Mitchell"
Not going to link it, because it's on Facebook...

. . . . .

Has this already been discussed, here...and, I missed it?

. . . . .

"...

THE FACTS …..
“Trump Isn’t “Pirating Ships” — He Must Seize and Sell 300 Venezuelan Oil Tankers to Satisfy an International Court Judgment Owed to U.S. Companies
A lot of people are reacting emotionally to the idea of oil tankers being seized, but most of the outrage comes from not understanding what is actually being discussed.
So let’s slow this down and explain it clearly, legally, and step by step.

This is not war.
This is not piracy.
This is judgment enforcement — the same principle used every day when courts seize bank accounts, property, aircraft, or cargo from someone who lost in court and refuses to pay.
1. What Venezuela did (the part that always gets skipped)
   In the 2000s, under Hugo Chávez, Venezuela seized oil projects owned by foreign companies, including major U.S. firms such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.
   This wasn’t a policy disagreement.
   It was expropriation:
    • Contracts were broken
    • Assets were taken
    • Compensation that had been agreed to was not paid
   That is not controversial. It is historical fact.
2. What the courts decided
   Those U.S. companies didn’t complain on social media.
   They went to international arbitration and U.S. courts — the proper legal venues.
   They won.
   The rulings were:
    • Final
    • Binding
    • Enforceable
   Venezuela lost and was ordered to pay tens of billions of dollars in damages.
3. The real problem: Venezuela refused to pay
   Here is the key point most critics ignore:
   Venezuela refused to comply with the court judgments.
   In any legal system — domestic or international — when a party:
   • Loses in court
   • Owes a judgment
   • Refuses to pay
   …the law allows creditors to seize commercial assets belonging to the debtor outside its borders to satisfy the judgment.
   This is called judgment enforcement.
   Countries do not get a free pass simply because they are countries.
4. Why oil tankers even enter the conversation
   Venezuela’s primary commercial asset is oil.
   Oil moves on oil tankers.
   Those tankers:
   • Carry state-owned Venezuelan oil
   • Are commercial property, not military or diplomatic assets
   • Can be lawfully seized by court order in cooperating jurisdictions
   This is no different in principle from seizing:
   • A bank account
   • A plane
   • A shipment of goods
   Calling this “piracy” is legally incorrect.
    Piracy is theft without lawful authority.
    This is court-ordered seizure to collect a debt already ruled on.
5. The math everyone avoids
   Let’s use conservative, realistic numbers so no one can claim exaggeration.
   • Estimated unpaid court judgments: ~$35 billion
   • Oil price used: $62 per barrel
   • Typical large oil tanker (VLCC): ~2 million barrels
   Value of one full tanker:
   • Gross value: ~$124 million
   • Net value after realistic court-sale discounts: ~$115 million
   Now do the math:
    $35,000,000,000 ÷ $115,000,000 ≈ 300 tankers
   That’s where the number comes from.
   Not one tanker.
   Not ten.
   About three hundred.
   One tanker only covers about one-third of one percent of what Venezuela owes.
6. What this means — and what it does NOT mean
   This does not mean:
   • Tankers are being randomly grabbed
   • This is a military action
   • The goal is punishment
   It does mean:
   • Courts already ruled
   • A debt legally exists
   • Enforcement is the only option left when payment is refused
   When Donald Trump talks about seizing oil shipments, he is not inventing a new power.
   He is talking about using existing legal authority to enforce judgments Venezuela already lost.
   In plain English:
    You took property, you lost in court, you refused to pay — so your commercial assets are seized and sold until the debt is satisfied.
   That is how the rule of law works.
7. Why you don’t see hundreds of tankers seized
   Because enforcement is:
   • Legally narrow
   • Jurisdiction-dependent
   • Deliberately targeted
   Venezuela also structured its exports to:
   • Avoid enforceable ports
   • Use intermediaries
   • Break shipments into smaller pieces
   So tanker seizures are rare, careful, and strategic, not mass roundups.
   Tankers are leverage, not a magic wand.
The bottom line
   • Venezuela seized U.S. assets
   • Venezuela lost in international court
   • Venezuela refuses to pay
   • The debt is ~$35 billion
   • A tanker is worth ~$115 million net
   • It would take ~300 Venezuelan oil tankers to make the judgment whole
   This is lawful enforcement, not piracy.
   This is accounting, not aggression.
   This is what happens when court rulings are ignored.
Final thought
   People arguing “this sounds extreme” are missing the most important fact:
   The court already decided.
   Once that happens, enforcement isn’t optional — it’s inevitable.
   Everything else flows from that reality.

#Venezuela #oiltanker #OilTankerSeizure #pirates #piracy #Trump #captured.  James L Wells”
"

. . . . .

(All emphases and some formatting added by me. No change/s to any language within the quotes.)