March 15, 2024 · 9:26 pm

Fool me once and I’m done, thanks

The illegal immigration issue has been a political football for as long as I can remember. Here’s a 2020 article from the University of Arizona, A Brief Legislative History of the Last 50 Years on the U.S.-Mexico Border, with short excerpts on illegal immigration policy in the US through both Democrat and Republican administrations. Somehow this problem, despite Americans’ support for secure borders, despite experts galore, despite taxpayer money galore, and despite political promises galore, never gets resolved. A cynical person might conclude that special interests profiting from the illegal immigration problem hold more power over politicians in Washington than the voters, who elect them. The majority of Americans consistently support securing our borders.

Even worse than our leaders in Washington not dealing with the illegal immigration problem, is American tax dollars are actually funding it. Here’s a Daily Caller article from 2023: EXCLUSIVE: Red Cross Packets Show Migrants Where To Cross The US Border, detailing how DHS funds the American Red Cross and many other non-profits, particularly religious charities, who provide shelter, food, medical care, etc. for illegal immigrants. These groups rake in millions upon millions in federal funding and are deeply invested in the illegal immigration “business.”

Haiti’s government collapsed again, which happens repeatedly. When Haitian internal chaos escalates, thousands upon thousands of Haitians usually flee and many head to the US. The news media is filled with reports of violent gangs running rampant in Haiti. Right-wing media reported on a Haitian gang with a leader named Barbeque, because he’s rumored to advocate cannibalism. Of course, that led to liberal media backlash. Here’s a NBC report from a couple days ago: Elon Musk and right-wing influencers use ‘cannibal’ claims to smear Haitian migrants amid crisis. This NBC news report insists that the right-wing media hyping cannibalism is baseless and meant to disparage Haitians as cannibals, but it includes this paragraph:

“The accusations of widespread cannibalism are based on what experts said was a likely intimidation tactic from select gang members: In some videos, the most prominent examples being at least two years old, alleged members of violent gangs in Haiti appear to bite into human flesh. Experts said these videos are likely part of propaganda campaigns designed to scare rivals and terrorize local Haitians rather than a reflection of common or normalized behavior. One former armed group went by the name “Cannibal Army.”

NBC referenced “experts” who say this was likely an intimidation tactic by gang members. I hope their experts are more reliable than the Biden administration experts, who assured us that all those Afghan refugees were being properly vetted.

So far, we’ve recently been warned by the FBI director about potential terrorists in the midst of the massive influx on illegals and that there are thousands of military-age male illegals from China, Iran, and other places flooding in and he doesn’t know their intentions or even how many of them got into the US. The prospect of a violent gang of cannibals invading our country somehow seems about par for the course with the Biden administration.

So, with the prospect of an increase in Haitian illegal immigrants heading to America, there are two political approaches so far. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida activated military and got legislation passed to deal with this impending crisis: Florida Deploys Officers, Fleet to Halt Potential Haitian Influx.

The Biden administration is concerned about “vetting” Haitians and considering expanding the use of Guantanamo Bay for processing Haitian migrants. Here’s a CNN article from a couple days ago: Biden administration discussing using Guantanamo Bay to process possible influx of Haitian migrants. This article has this line, “The Department of Homeland Security has been dusting off mass migration event plans, as they’ve done before with Haiti, including in 2022 as the number of Haitians interdicted at sea ticked up.”

One can hardly wait to see how the Biden administration, which has botched every crisis thus far, handles this one. Back in 2021 with the Afghanistan withdrawal and that effort at refugee evacuation, the Biden administration repeatedly assured us that all refugees were being carefully vetted. This assurance seemed hard to believe when reporters were showing the scenes of mobs of refugees and chaos at the airport in Kabul. The liberal media repeated the White House assurances about this careful vetting process, without question.

Here’s a August 2021 CNN piece, Here’s how Afghan refugees coming to the US are being vetted, describing this super-duper vetting process:

“National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday that this vetting includes “biometric and biographic background checks” that must be cleared before Afghan evacuees can be brought to the US or relocated to another country. Biometric vetting often refers to voiceprints, iris scans, palm prints and facial photos.”

A year later, here’s a CBS news report, DHS officials lacked “critical data” when vetting Afghan evacuees, watchdog finds. The DHS Office of the Inspector General issued a 34 page report and concluded:

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not always have critical data to properly screen, vet, or inspect the evacuees,” the report by DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari said. “We determined some information used to vet evacuees through U.S. Government databases, such as name, date of birth, identification number, and travel document data, was inaccurate, incomplete, or missing.”

We went from 2021 WH assurances of biometric and biographic background checks to 2022 an IG investigation that reinforced that the chaos we were seeing from news reports was the reality.

How many times should we believe the Biden administration when they assure us they’re on top of a crisis situation? Should we feel confident that a DHS official is dusting off mass migration event plans? No one was fired or held accountable for that Afghanistan withdrawal debacle and the same crowd that bungled that are still in charge now. Are you confident they’re prepared for a potential Haitian migrant crisis?

At this point, considering the liberal brain rot and how many Americans have taken to the streets to champion Hamas terrorists, after they massacred over a thousand Israelis (mostly civilians), I would not be surprised if the next liberal cause is defending Haitian cannibal gangs. Truly, I can already imagine looney liberals protesting in the streets defending Haitian cannibal gangs and waving campfire roasting forks…

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Filed under Foreign Policy, General Interest, Politics

March 11, 2024 · 7:53 pm

Some thoughts on protecting our children’s minds and TikTok

The US House of Representatives is preparing to vote this week on legislation to force TikTok ownership to change. TikTok has direct ties to the CCP, China’s communist ruling party. For several years, many technology experts and US lawmakers have made allegations that China is using this platform to feed propaganda to American young people. Reports are this current bill being considered doesn’t ban TikTok in America, but will force TikTok to cut ties to the CCP. Here’s a Time article explaining the proposed bill: What to Know About the Bill That Could Get TikTok Banned in the U.S. 

TikTok has recently waged a massive advertising campaign to convince Americans that TikTok is as American as apple pie and a force for good in the world. I’ve seen TikTok ads of a nun talking about how she can reach people with her Christian message, a ranching couple, who claim TikTok allows them to share their food production stories, and others. These ads are trying to sell TikTok as a positive force in American culture. Of course, there are many prominent right-wing influencers, who rant about TikTok and yet make their living scouring TikTok for the craziest liberal videos, to incite their right-wing followers. They rely on TikTok for their bread and butter, to create right-wing Outrage Theater content.

I don’t use TikTok.

The potential for insidious hostile foreign efforts to poison our kids’ minds certainly alarms many Americans, but will a new law forcing TikTok to be sold, in an effort to sever the CCP’s control, really save our kids’ minds? I don’t have any strong opinion about this legislation, other than I don’t think TikTok or hostile foreign propaganda is the real threat to the minds of American young people. We have chosen to allow our popular culture to become a wasteland. It’s easy to blame evil Marxists, but for all the alarm and outrage, most people, right-wingers included, go with the flow – especially when it comes to social media, entertainment, and tech gadgets.

Over the weekend I listened to an audiobook of Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451. The story is set in an America in the future, where people’s lives are consumed by non-stop entertainment and a life filled by technological distractions. This constant noise and distraction have rendered people unable to concentrate and engage in critical thinking or have any meaningful conversations. Personal relationships have devolved to shallow and hollow interactions. People spend their days just reacting to technological and pharmaceutical stimulation.

The main character, Guy Montag, is a fireman and his wife Mildred lives her life staring at her “parlor walls,” where they have wall-sized TV screens coving three walls and her big dream is get a parlor wall for the fourth wall. They paid for some adapter that “personalizes” the broadcasts, with the broadcasters calling out to “Mrs. Montag” constantly. Mildred considers the characters on the screens to be her family. When she’s not in her parlor, she stuffs “seashell radios” in her ears that block out the real-world noises.

Without giving away the entire plot, Montag being a fireman no longer means putting out fires, but instead the firemen set fire to books, which are banned, and to the homes of people who break the rules.

Bradbury’s 1953 story envisioned wall-sized TV screens, which exist today and we have air pods to stuff in our ears, but he didn’t envision small cell-phone screens that keep many people and kids trapped for most of their waking hours today. In recent years there have been numerous studies that detail how damaging the social media and online scrolling/clicking behavior is to our attention spans. This article, Your attention span is shrinking, but you can grow it back, reports:

“Gloria Mark, Chancellor’s professor in the Department of Infomatics at University of California, Irvine, wrote a book about the disappearing attention span. Her just-released “Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity” says that nearly 20 years ago, people averaged 2.5 minutes of focused attention when they were working online or doing something involving screens, before switching to a different screen. By 2012, that time span had shrunk to 75 seconds. And by 2021, it had compacted to a measly 47 seconds.”

I spend too much time online and have been working to wean myself away from some of the screen time. All that scrolling hasn’t been good for my attention span and most of my online time isn’t productive in any way, shape or form. While many people take pride in their ability to “multi-task” and flit between various tasks online and in real life, all at the same time, I’ve found that my brain needs less distractions for better performance of most tasks. My attention span, after being online years, first with a PC, then also using a cell phone, isn’t what it used to be, where I could read many hours at a time. I’ve been carving out more quiet time now, where there’s no technological distractions.

Millions of kids and young adults only know this online life and fixating on screens. For years, studies have come out highlighting all the negative effects of smart phones on personal communication and social skills and for years other experts counter and point out all the marvelous good electronic devices bring to people’s lives. From personal experience, I do believe screen time can easily become both a huge time waster for me and has decreased my attention span. I also notice that many people hide behind their smart phones rather than make eye contact or speak in public. And I’ve also been in social situations where I felt totally alone, because other people around me were constantly looking at their phones. These behaviors before the digital age would have been considered extremely rude. There’s also something disconcerting to see young people sitting together with none of them speaking to each other, as each one stares at his/her cell phone.

How all of this came to mind listening to Fahrenheit 451 was I kept thinking it probably wasn’t necessary to ban books or burn them, because once the people are hooked on technological stimulation constantly, books become like obsolete junk, that few people even pay attention to. A character like Mildred Montag, who isn’t content with 3 wall-sized TV screens chattering constantly and dreams of a fourth “parlor wall,” isn’t ever going to curl up in a quiet corner with a book – even if books were legal.

The only Bradbury work I recall reading was Dandelion Wine, when I was a kid and sci-fi/dystopian was never one of my favorite genres, but I recommend this novel. It will make you think. Bradbury was a short-story writer, before writing novels, so Fahrenheit 451 is a quick read, being a little over 200 pages. I listened to the audiobook version on Hoopla and it was under 6 hours.

There’s a reason shorter and shorter social media formats, like TikTok, are replacing longer forms – like outdated blogs. People want to scroll by quickly. It’s unlikely they’re going to read a news article that’s several paragraphs long, so them sitting down to read books that are hundreds of pages is unlikely. Sure, there are still many bookworms around, but I’d bet there are fewer among younger people, who only know the digital age. Perhaps, we think in outdated terms about totalitarian control, when often people voluntarily give away their free will, preferring to be swept along with the fads and cool, shiny gadgets advertisers assure will make their lives better, in every way. Too many people rush to adopt all the weird new words, phrases, hashtags that partisans and activists amplify. They also rush to plaster emojis behind their username on social media to express their solidarity with causes most know nothing about.

For all the noise many people make about their “freedoms,” it often seems to me that most people allow themselves to be held captive by bright, shiny tech objects and crave more and more and more of them, especially if everyone they know has them. If one social media platform disappears or changes, assuredly another one, that’s just as bad or worse, will fill the void – and millions upon millions of Americans will rush to download the app. The other uncomfortable truth when it comes to protecting our children online, for many reasons, from being clueless on technology to not seeing any harm, most parents don’t carefully monitor their kids online activity. A new law or banning TikTok can’t fix that.

Note 3/12/2024: Here’s a Pew Research link from November 15, 2023, More Americans are getting news on TikTok, bucking the trend seen on most other social media sites , which states about a third of US adults under 30 are now getting their news on TikTok. TikTok usage is growing in the US.

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Filed under General Interest, Politics

March 8, 2024 · 10:51 am

Biden delivers pitch-perfect State of Our Disunity address

Last night President Biden arrived late to deliver the annual State of the Union address. Once at the podium, the president bypassed the normal protocol of the Speaker of the House introducing the president and just launched into a vitriolic 2024 campaign speech.

He railed against Republicans and yelled for over an hour. There was no effort to speak of national unity.

Biden finally spoke the name of the young woman in GA, who was murdered by an illegal immigrant recently, but he muddled her name, saying “Lincoln” instead of Laken Riley and he blamed Republicans for the border problems. The truth is Biden rescinded all of President Trump’s tougher border policies in 2021 when he took office and that has led to this massive illegal immigration increase in America.

A man yelled out during the SOTU address and was escorted out by security. It was later reported that what he yelled was, “Abby Gate,” and he is a Gold Star father, whose son was killed during Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. President Biden has never spoken to this Gold Star father or spoken his son’s name publicly.

For Biden’s efforts, Democrats and liberals raced on social media and TV news to praise Biden’s “fiery” speech and cheer his vigor.

The president’s hour-plus diatribe was followed by the GOP rebuttal speech delivered by Alabama Senator Katie Britt. Britt used her kitchen as the backdrop for a high-pitched, roller-coaster of female histrionics that seemed overly staged and disingenuous.

Both speeches were just more bad political theater. To complete the evening’s political clown show optics, Rep. Rashida Talib and some her Democrat Squad members came decked out in black and white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene donned a red MAGA hat.

Both speeches were an insult to the American people, talking down to us and worst of all using gimmicky ploys to try to manipulate our emotions.

Biden did make one big foreign policy announcement – a plan for the US military to spearhead building a pier in a Gaza port, to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza civilians. In typical Biden administration fashion – there were no details given, but Democrats roared with applause last night.

Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade on Gaza for over a decade to deter arms supplies and counter Hamas terrorist activities and now Biden is suggesting putting the US military in the midst of this active Israel-Hamas war zone to build a pier. The same architects of the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle are still in the Biden administration and still in charge – no one was relieved or fired. These same people would be heading up this Gazan pier project. It’s an insane idea to stick American troops into some war zone as humanitarian workers.

So, there was the Gold Star father being led away by security, as he reminded us of the Biden Afghanistan withdrawal debacle, and along comes Biden to try to lead America into a “humanitarian” Gazan pier-building project in the middle of a hot war zone. Sure, that makes perfect sense…

It’s been reported that this Gold Star father has been arrested.

A ranting old man was talking about putting US troops into a war zone for a humanitarian pier-building project and he insisted at the same time that there will be “no boots on the ground” and Democrats happily cheered. An angry father whose son died as the result of a Biden foreign policy debacle was led away by security and arrested…

Who the hell is going to protect US troops while they build this pier?

The inmates are running the asylum – that’s the real state of our union.

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Filed under 2024 Election, Politics

March 6, 2024 · 2:19 pm

A few more blips in the information war

A few news bits, that will likely be quick blips that flit by caught my attention. There are so many bigger stories going on with the presidential politics, wars, and more high-profile issues, but these warrant some attention.

On March 4th, there were reports of three cables under the Red Sea being cut. The cause is unknown at this time. Here’s a bit from the Washington Post, :

“DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Three cables under the Red Sea that provide global internet and telecommunications have been cut as the waterway remains a target of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, officials said Monday. Meanwhile, a Houthi missile attack set a ship ablaze in the Gulf of Aden, but caused no injuries.

What cut the lines remains unclear. There has been concern about the cables being targeted in the Houthi campaign, which the rebels describe as an effort to pressure Israel to end its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis have denied attacking the lines, however.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/04/red-sea-undersea-cables-yemen-houthi-rebels-attacks/2f2c6b8a-da34-11ee-b5e9-ad4573c62315_story.html

US News & World Report ran a piece, 3 Red Sea Data Cables Cut as Houthis Launch More Attacks in the Vital Waterway This article reports:

“It described the cuts as affecting 25% of the traffic flowing through the Red Sea. It described the Red Sea route as crucial for data moving from Asia to Europe and said it had begun rerouting traffic.”

An attack affecting 25% of data moving from Asia to Europe seems like a blip to pay attention to.

There’s been a ransomware attack going on for over a week in the US, crippling many pharmacies and healthcare providers connected with Change Healthcare. Wired reports:

“The ransomware attack targeting medical firm Change Healthcare has been one of the most disruptive in years, crippling pharmacies across the US—including those in hospitals—and leading to serious snags in the delivery of prescription drugs nationwide for 10 days and counting. Now, a dispute within the criminal underground has revealed a new development in that unfolding debacle: One of the partners of the hackers behind the attack points out that those hackers, a group known as AlphV or BlackCat, received a $22 million transaction that looks very much like a large ransom payment.”

https://www.wired.com/story/alphv-change-healthcare-ransomware-payment

Last year the group that my primary care provider belongs to was hit by a ransomware attack, that took down their phone and computer system. I had to physically go into the office to schedule an appointment and when I saw my provider, they couldn’t access records on their computer system. They also couldn’t process payments. Ransomware attacks against hospitals, banks, governments, businesses in the US are increasing. A few years ago, my local water department was hit by a ransomware attack that took a couple months to resolve. During that time online payments could not processed, so customers had to physically show up with cash or a check at the water department or mail in a check.

Yesterday there was a short-lived blip on the domestic ideological culture war front:

This crazy announcement was authentic, but due to social media backlash from the right the VA Secretary overruled this decision. I saw some prominent right-wingers on X applaud the VA Secretary and suggest the person who made that decision be fired. This blip might seem like one random leftist crazy within the VA making this decision, but I am sure this is just part of a vast, orchestrated left-wing culture war effort. The person who penned that public announcement likely won’t be fired and we have no idea how many documents, records, or other information within the US government are quietly being altered, removed, or “edited” to fit the DEI thought police.

Why make a public announcement banishing an iconic image of America’s victory in WWII within all VA facilities?

Back in 2020 during the BLM protests, when the statue-toppling exploded as an acceptable form of public protest, all sorts of politicians, historians, experts rushed to embrace the BLM position that the protest was against US Civil War statues of Confederate generals and therefore noble and heroic, not criminal destruction of public property. Several US military bases were identified for renaming. Many Americans bought into the BLM cause, despite the glaring Marxist ideological undertones swirling. There were scenes of white people participating in white privilege sessions, where they were berated for their “white privilege” and pressured to publicly renounce their “white privilege.” These sessions were eerily similar to Mao’s Chinese cultural revolution and the struggle sessions, that used this exact form of ritualized public humiliation to force conformity to the new rules. Speaking out against anything connected to the BLM protests risked being labeled a racist.

Tell-tale signs were present back in 2020 that the statue-toppling was about more than statues of Confederate generals. By 2022, the historic homes of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, two of America’s most famous founding fathers, have now “gone woke,” A 2022 FOX News opinion piece, Jefferson, Madison’s homes become woke monuments attacking Founding Fathers’ legacies, by Douglas MacKinnon asserted:

“Jefferson’s Monticello is being reimagined to “finish the restoration of the landscape of slavery” — there is signage and interactive displays which incessantly link Jefferson to that subject. One of the main tours now at his home is entitled: “Slavery at Monticello.” On the website of the internationally famous home, visitors see: “Thomas Jefferson wrote that ‘all men are created equal,’ and yet enslaved more than 600 people over the course of his life.” 

There have been numerous other blips of efforts to erase American history since 2020, statues other than Confederate generals have been targeted, numerous historical sites are being “reimagined” is a popular leftist term that’s now used to smear founding fathers as evil racists, very similar to how the trans movement mainstreamed the term “gender-affirming care” to normalize puberty blocking drugs and mutilating genitals of children, as the only humane way to deal with gender dysphoria in children.

On February 14, 2024, protestors showed up at the National Archives and dumped a reddish powder on the display of the original US Constitution, while police looked on. The protestors were allowed to give their speech, before police escorted them away. Here’s a bit from an AP report:

““We are determined to foment a rebellion,” one man said, in a video posted on social media. “We all deserve clean air, water, food and a livable climate.”

Police then led the pair away, leaving a trail of powder out the door.

In the immediate aftermath, cleanup crews were reluctant to use any sort of water or liquids in the cleanup, especially since they were still unsure of the exact makeup of the powder.”

https://apnews.com/article/constitution-protest-red-powder-national-archives-evacuation-2a6dcfadbf35a3263887ac2fce1e813e

Here’s a NBC news report on the incident, National Archives closes after climate change protesters dump red powder on U.S. Constitution, which states, “The two men were immediately detained and escorted out by security personnel on site.” Well, I guess here we’ll have to haggle over the meaning of the word “immediately, ” since the NBC report includes a link to this social media video that was posted:

In the social media video the security personnel allowed the protestors to pour reddish powder all over the display and stood by and allowed them to make a prepared speech and it looks to me like the security guards didn’t even try to intervene until about 50 seconds into this video. The one protestor was spreading the red powder across the display case and this is an irreplaceable American historical document, but there was no rush to protect it.

In WWII, there were all sorts of efforts to try to preserve art, historical documents and books from Nazi destruction. Librarians, scholars, and even bookshop owners risked their lives hiding books and documents to preserve them for posterity. The US government embarked on hiring civilians, many librarians, to collect and microfilm documents, publications, and books from overseas, as part intelligence-gathering, but also to preserve this information from destruction. Now, we have security personnel, who just stood there while two extremists poured red powder on a display case of one of our most precious historical documents.

America today is nothing like the generation who won WWII.

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Filed under American History, Culture Wars, General Interest, Information War, Military, Politics

March 3, 2024 · 2:45 pm

Let’s try to see a brighter future

“Hang on to your hat.  Hang on to your hope.  And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.”

-E.B. White 

With last week’s cell phone outage in America, I mentioned ordering a free state road map online. Friday the road map and the Georgia 2024 Official State Travel Guide arrived in the mail. Since most states try to attract tourists, it’s likely many other states offer free road maps. It took only a minute or two to fill out the online request form and submit it. Having an up-to-date paper road map in my car won’t take up much space and while having a road map in case GPS stops working isn’t as vital as having a spare tire in case of a flat, it felt like a good thing to have in my car. Here in southeast GA, we don’t get freezing temps often, but I still keep an ice scraper in my car too and have used it on occasion. The ice-scraper is like a road map – doesn’t take up much space and can be an invaluable tool in certain circumstances.

My father worked in highway construction for many years and he taught me how to read road maps when I was a kid. He explained the US interstate highway numbering system and taught me to pay attention to mile markers on the interstate. Mile markers on north-south interstates begin the mile count on the south side of the state. Mile markers on east-west interstates start the mile count on the west side of the state. Road maps contain a legend, a box with information about the symbol meanings and a scale in miles. Using that scale you can easily figure out distances, which can be useful if there’s no GPS or internet map apps available.

We also had geography classes in elementary school when I was a kid (1960s) and many kids learned map reading and navigation skills in scouting. Despite my non-existent sense of direction, having a map and paying attention to mile markers, signs and landmarks has helped me find my way many times.

Modern technology has led to great comforts and conveniences in our daily life. It’s also permeated almost every nook and cranny of how our society functions and created dependency on new technologies. There are some diehards, who for various reasons cling to old-fashioned ways or decide to abandon modern life and seek a lifestyle that’s off-grid, but most people embrace new technology without any deep-thinking or concerns. If new gadgets and gizmos hit the market, most of us go with the trends. Asking serious questions about new technologies and discussions about downsides usually come long after a new technology has become deeply entwined in our daily lives and become a normal part of our culture – and much harder to change or abandon.

I’m not an innovative or creative thinker and I certainly am not someone with a pulse on the cutting edge of technology and social change. The late Alvin Toffler was a futurist who wrote about the technology and information revolution that we’re still in the midst of and he wrote several popular books, Future Shock, Powershift and The Third Wave. His opening paragraphs in his introduction of The Third Wave, published in 1980, sounds like he’s writing about today:

“In a time when terrorists play death-games with hostages, as currencies careen amid rumors of a third World War, as embassies flame and storm troopers lace up their boots in many lands, we stare in horror at the headlines. The price of gold– that sensitive barometer of fear–breaks all records. Banks tremble. Inflation rages out of control. And the governments of the world are reduced to paralysis or imbecility.

Faced with all this, a massed chorus of Cassandras fills the air with doom-song. The proverbial man in the street says the world has “gone mad,” while the expert points to all the trends leading to catastrophe.

This book offers a sharply different view.”

The Third Wave, by Alvin Toffler, page 1

In The Third Wave Toffler broke civilization into three main waves, agricultural, which lasted thousands of years, then the industrial wave, which lasted hundreds of years. Toffler predicted we’re in the midst of the Third Wave, a technological/information wave that will fundamentally change every aspect of human life.

Most of us don’t look at the world in such big picture terms as Toffler did and I know I don’t think like this. Toffler wasn’t trying to predict the future, but to explain the changes he studied throughout history and then use that information to formulate a framework for how the future might evolve.

On Hoopla I recently listened to an audiobook, The Chaos Imperative: How Chance And Disruption Increase Innovation, Effectiveness and Success by Ori Brafman. He is an innovative thinker, who specializes in organizational culture and leadership. In his book he makes the case that during the Dark Ages, the large number of deaths in Europe from the plague, created chaos, but also gaps in institutions, like the Catholic church, which allowed what he termed unlikely suspects, to enter and make dramatic changes. He asserted that those gaps allowed new ideas and new ways of thinking to gain traction inside institutions – leading to The Renaissance. Brafman also argues that those gaps (what he terms white space)- allow for pockets of unstructured discussions and interactions among individuals from different areas (and levels) of a company or institution, who ordinarily don’t interact. Those interactions can lead to innovation and positive changes or help find solutions to problems within an organization. Brafman contends chaos can be the catalyst for creating gaps for some innovative advancements to breakthrough rigid hierarchal structures.

Last week my oldest sister, who is 71, was talking to me on the phone about seeing a news story about the liberal political bias in AI and said perhaps we should go back to having encyclopedias and reference books (I never got rid of those in my home). Her comments surprised me, because she embraced computer technology years earlier than I did and she’s one of those annoying, loyal Mac computer people, who reminds us constantly about Mac’s superiority.

Why don’t we ask more questions before we adopt new technologies?

For years I kept asking more tech-savvy family and friends why computer gaming systems, cell phones and other high-tech consumer goods require purchasing a totally new product, so often, while, for instance, I could use the same telephone for decades? They never had any satisfactory answers and I settled on it’s a big, money-making game these companies are playing on consumers. The same tech experts who drive pop culture and normalized this disposable high-tech culture are the same people now preaching to us about sustainability, conserving resources, and in recent years there’s been a pop culture craze on pushing minimalism. I never had a drawer filling up with old telephone equipment with my landline phone, like I do with cell phones.

A steady stream of fearmongering swirls about the dangers of AI, but it’s actual real people who have been imposing their political biases into every aspect of our lives for many years. AI is an emerging technology, but the real people with power who impose their ideologies on us have been around for decades. The liberal PC censorship efforts have been more pervasive and effective than any angry, right-wing parents at school board meetings demanding sexually-explicit books be removed from school libraries could possibly be. Right-wing media power has grown as the right-wing media expanded its reach, but the liberal media still dominates in America. AI creates a vast new area in the technological realm and since the tech world is dominated by liberals, it seems to me this has been forming another front in the political information war.  AI will likely bring about vast positive changes too, so a throwing out the baby with the bathwater approach probably isn’t a wise course of action.

What’s an ordinary person to do?

The most important thing we can all do is not get worked up or worry. Rather than ditch the modern technology for the old ways, I continue to use both, but I’d rather spend my money on physical books than e-books. I don’t have confidence that purchasing an e-book, means I will have access to that e-book, in the same way as when I purchase a physical book and can have that book, free from alterations, for the rest of my life. At the same time, I do use Hoopla and Libby, which are free web and media streaming services available through my local library. I still use the e-books I purchased on my kindle.

I will continue to use map apps and GPS, but I am back to looking at physical maps too. I have thousands of links saved on my Pinterest, but I kept my cookbooks and craft/needlework books and patterns. I use both. As these new technologies change, rather than try to hide under a rock, in fear, perhaps the better course would be to weigh pros and cons, then pick how much or how little of these new technologies become a part of our daily lives. Our partisan news info war battleground is not a neutral or objective way to gather or assess information. The social media spaces echo and amplify the news media info war drama.  

Trying to learn more about these new technologies isn’t easy for many people who grew-up before the digital age and weren’t involved in technology, but we can read more and try to avoid reacting in fear constantly.  My kids were in middle school when the internet age exploded in the 1990s.  My grandchildren only know the digital world.  Keeping bridges between the two worlds, pre-digital and digital, seems vital as these technological changes accelerate.  The present becomes our past and the future becomes our present.  We can’t go backwards.  The idea that we’re going to somehow revert back to the “good old days” has never happened no matter how many old people sit around complaining. 

Trying to look for some of those “white spaces,” where we try to look at things from a different perspective or try to understand someone with a completely different perspective isn’t easy for me, but that’s what I’m working on.  I had heard of Alvin Toffler decades ago, but I never picked up any of his books until now.  This innovative thinker, Ori Brafman, is a leftie Berkeley professor, and definitely not someone I would have listened to 20 years ago.  His previous book, The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, began circulating among the US military, as they were grappling with Al Qaeda (a non-hierarchal organization) and then ISIS.  That’s when I became aware of his book and read it.  It was fascinating and I learned a great deal.  Too many partisans in America spend more time trying to plug their ears to any viewpoints that don’t align with their own than trying to cultivate an open mind.  I used to be one of them.  Even if I disagree with 99% of someone’s views and ideas, that 1% where I do agree might be something important, that benefits me.

I believe we’re in the midst of some rapidly changing times and chaos does seem to be spreading, but we can still control our attitude and try to see the many good things all around us.

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February 29, 2024 · 8:56 pm

Who’s really a RINO?

The Trump-loyal part of the GOP has been cheering the announcement that Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell is stepping down. A sizable percentage of the Trump-loyal GOP are just like Trump – they weren’t involved in the Republican Party before the 2016 presidential election. I’ve been a pretty loyal Republican since 1980, when President Ronald Reagan was elected and now I consider myself a “none-of-the-above” when it comes to Washington politics.

Many of the Trump-loyalist comments I’ve seen online were trashing McConnell, saying good riddance and there’s a theme of how McConnell wasn’t a true “conservative” and now they’ll hopefully have some real conservative leading the GOP in the Senate.

One of Trump’s biggest weaknesses as president was his total lack of knowledge on the Constitution and how our federal institutions work – including the powers and duties of the President of the United States. Trump does not pay attention to details or study policies and his positions fluctuate constantly, based on what the buzz is in the media. Throughout his four years, he often announced policies or actions, then backpedaled when he was informed he didn’t have the presidential power to do that. He also believed that he could cut deals just like he did in the civilian business world and those invariably failed too or he’d pivot to some other spin battle with another liberal media personality or more often than not – target another “RINO” to attack. Of course, there was always the nebulous Deep State to attack to rally the faithful too. Despite, all that, there were many Trump administration policies that I supported and still do support – especially securing our borders.

Today I heard some Trump-loyalist comments online labelling McConnell as a “RINO,” which is completely absurd. McConnell has a decades-long track record of championing conservative causes and winning. And he was instrumental in there being a conservative majority on the US Supreme Court. The “RINO” smear that Trump-loyalists toss about constantly more accurately fits Trump, who was a NY liberal and Bill Clinton’s golfing buddy, before he decided to enter the 2016 presidential race than it does Mitch McConnell, who was fighting conservative battles back when Trump was cheering on Bill Clinton.

Trump’s doing well in the polls right now and the non-stop Democrat lawfare efforts to neutralize Trump’s 2024 presidential bid have been backfiring in dramatic fashion. Trump could very likely win the election in November. The Biden presidency, in my view, has been a total disaster, but the incendiary combination of Trump’s impulsiveness and the Democrat/liberal media deranged efforts to stop Trump could lead to more destabilization within America.

There’s no soft-landing regardless what happens in November, but when it comes to the Senate, I expect a Trump-loyalist led GOP in the US Senate to be much like the current Trump-loyalist led US House – constant in-fighting and a non-stop GOP circular firing squad – that will accomplish nothing. The Trump-loyalist faction in Washington loves to label and take out Republicans, who are effective at navigating within the US legislative institutions. Unfortunately, for the GOP, those purged knew how to cut deals and actually get legislation passed, while the Trump-loyalist crowd spends most of their time online, preening in front of media cameras, and smearing other Republicans as “RINOs.”

The big picture is America’s two main political parties are deeply fractured, corrupt and driven by radical factions. Both main parties are being hollowed out by extremists – the far-left in the Democratic Party and the Trump-loyalists in the GOP. Both parties no longer seem able to tolerate moderates or centrists, which is a symptom of how deep the partisan divides have grown in America. Within Congress, the only way to get legislation passed or stop legislation is to have seasoned legislators, who understand the intricacies of how the House and Senate function and can build consensus. That usually takes years of experience in Congress. Mitch McConnell was quite successful at that and so far the Trump-approved House Speaker, Mike Johnson, has been even more ineffective than Kevin McCarthy and the House GOP dominated by raging Trump-loyal firebrands has accomplished absolutely nothing.

Any political party led by people who are more committed to internal purges (destroying RINOs) over any sort of political platform that allows for differing viewpoints will become more and more dysfunctional and more radicalized. This bodes poorly for the longevity of the Trumpian GOP, once Trump is gone, and it bodes poorly for the GOP in the House or Senate being able to build consensus and pass legislation in the near term. On the other side, the Democratic Party keeps trying to appease the most extreme factions on the left, so there’s no moderating force to be found there. Both sides seem poised to become more radical and more extreme and that’s terrible for all of America.

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February 24, 2024 · 1:04 pm

A bit about the cell phone outage on Thursday

Wild flowers on my back fence.

On Thursday there was a large cell phone outage across the US. Here’s a FOX News article: Cellphone outage hits AT&T customers nationwide; Verizon and T-Mobile users also affected. So far there’s been a lot of speculation about what caused this outage and it’s under investigation, but thus far no definitive answer.

Last night I watched a prepper video, by Mike Glover, discussing this outage and he discussed things he’s thinking about now and ways to be better prepared. He included statistics on how few Americans still have landline phones and mentioned that’s something he’s considering. Always being reluctant to get rid of things I’m used to, I still have my landline phone. I do have a cell phone too. He mentioned various radios and other things to consider and I found this video informative, even though I’m completely clueless on technology stuff. I skipped by some videos about “The Collapse Is Upon Us” “type headlines. This man discussed the situation calmly.

I had a medical appointment Thursday morning in a city an hour away and I had never been to this location before. I had asked the receptionist where this office was located when I scheduled the appointment and she had given me general directions and told me to watch for the CVS store on the left-hand side of the street and their office was directly across from that on the right-hand side. Having landmarks to watch for has always been very helpful information for me with directions. When I saw the news about the cell phone outage on my PC, I googled a map with directions from my home to the location of my appointment and printed it out. I figured that if the GPS in my car stopped working, having this printed out map would be useful. My GPS worked, but it felt good to have a back-up map.

Yesterday, I was thinking more about this outage and GPS. I googled road maps for my state and ordered two for free print versions from my state’s Department of Transportation. They had downloadable maps available too. I do have a Rand McNally Road Atlas book of the USA, but I thought a new GA road map would be good to have.

The more I’ve tried to learn about emergency preparedness, the more I’ve realized there is to learn and the information overload can feel overwhelming, especially if you consume online preparedness content, where lists upon lists of items you need and more and more critical skills get discussed. I’ve realized that I’m only one person and that I can’t become an expert on everything, nor can I afford to buy everything mentioned in prepper lists or videos. I’ve been narrowing my focus to one or two areas at a time. By steadily taking steps toward learning more and working on my own preparedness, I can see definite progress, especially with my attitude when something out of the ordinary happens. Some people are naturally calm, cool and collected, but even though I usually can maintain an outward appearance of calm, inside my head my default reaction is momentary panic and feeling unsure of what to do.

No matter what point you’re at in life, your life can take unplanned turns and you can find yourself facing challenges you didn’t expect. I’ve been learning to do some of the things my late husband handled, but I’m also learning to ask for advice and help sometimes.

This cell phone outage didn’t affect my cell service and I haven’t spent time pondering what caused it. In the video I watched, there were arguments made for it being due to a solar flare, an argument for malignant actions and perhaps even some sort of equipment failure, but truly I’m totally clueless on technology and I could listen to persuasive arguments for all three of those options and think, yes, that’s it. I don’t understand enough about cell phone technology or solar flares to make an informed decision on what actually happened, but printing out the Google map directions to my medical appointment location seemed like a good thing to have in my car, in case my GPS stopped working and I thought having a new state road map might be a good thing too. I’m not going to rush out and buy a ham radio set-up or other expensive communications equipment, that I know nothing about or even how to use.

Violas sprouted in a crack in the concrete slabs of my patio.

I’m working on my container garden set-up and trying to make improvements with that and I’m spending some money on some hobbies too. I learn so much on YouTube and I’ve been watching an older man who does videos on drawing and an older lady who does videos on painting, so I’m working on that. Plus I’ve always wanted to learn some calligraphy, so I’m reading up, buying a few supplies and I’ve begun practicing on improving my handwriting too.

I stuck in a few flower photos, because flowers make every day brighter.

A viola grew on the side of a grow bag on my patio.

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February 15, 2024 · 11:01 am

American news media went on an “Alert” frenzy again

Yesterday was another bizarre news “Alert” day. It started like this:

As Washington’s political class, news media and the political punditry circles churned this around, once again we got few facts and lots of partisan theorizing to bolster political talking points. Some of the right-wing punditry circle rushed to the conclusion this statement was just fearmongering to scare people into supporting the Senate foreign aid bill that moved to the House, which includes more aid for Ukraine.  Some of the right-wing pundit class went down even crazier conspiratorial rabbit holes. Some Republican officials in Washington offered various takes, trying to tamp down alarm by stating Rep. Turner’s information is real, but trying to calm fears, by stating we’re not facing an imminent threat. 

Russia is way ahead of America on hypersonic missile development and this Washington news yesterday seems to be about Russia developing space-based nuclear weapons. 

The right-wing punditry circle in right-wing media now has some “super-stars,” who are clueless about national security and military matters. Some of them live in Deep State paranoia and insist there is no Russian threat and it’s the evil US intelligence agencies, who are the real threat. Both are a threat – Russia is a threat and so are US intelligence officials operating outside the parameters of the law or for domestic partisan advantage. Here’s a FOX News pundit just making fun of and completely dismissing the Russian threat. Waters framed this as all about Ukraine funding and news media hysteria:

I believe China, Russia and Iran are already aligning to challenge the West – and that definitely includes America. This threat is there, regardless which party controls the White House or Congress in America. China has been working to implant malware within our computer systems that control our critical infrastructure, in order to launch cyber-attacks against critical American infrastructure – especially near US military installations. A space-based nuclear capability could allow our adversaries to take out satellites and our power grid (EMP attack). That’s the gist of this latest threat from the little bit of information that came out yesterday.

So many Americans are now completely immersed in seeing the world through an Us vs. Them domestic political lens, that they are unable to fathom that the world is much bigger than just MAGA vs. Woke/Globalist Elites. We still have actual countries who have their own political and territorial aspirations. China wants to take Taiwan and expand influence in the Pacific, plus become the world economic superpower. Putin wants to restore as much of the former Soviet Union as possible, Iran wants to be the regional superpower and Shia Islam to control the Islamic world. All three of these adversaries’ aspirations require unseating America from its world superpower status. There’s also North Korea that wants to seize control of South Korea, which is part of that China, Russia, Iran alliance.

With Rep, Turner’s statement and the news media doing what it does best – creating drama and hysteria to fill in airtime, when no new information is available- his statement probably did more harm than good. Most of the American public has no clue about an EMP following a nuclear blast at high-altitudes. And most people have never even thought about an extended grid-down situation. I hadn’t given this much thought either until recent years. Making sensitive intelligence information public usually tells our adversaries way more about what our intelligence experts know about their programs than providing useful information to the American public.

With this crazy “ALERT!” news hysteria all day yesterday, it’s probably more sensible to be aware of new information pertaining to the weapons system advancements of our adversaries, but to just go about our daily lives. I can’t speak to Rep. Turner’s motivations for issuing his statement yesterday, but there’s a sizable segment on the MAGA right, that will dismiss any warnings about Russian threats, especially since Tucker just went to Moscow. Plenty of the Trump-right have bought into the belief that Ukraine should just surrender to Putin – because they should want peace – even though Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of their country two years ago. And of course, Ukraine (or any of the other former Soviet bloc countries bordering Russia) should not want to align closely with the West or want to join NATO, out of fear of Russian aggression. Why on earth would they believe Russia might want to invade their countries… 

Again, Russia launched a full-scale invasion into Ukraine two years ago. 

History matters. In 1994, the US agreed to protect Ukraine from Russian aggression, in return for Ukraine returning the Soviet nuclear weapons in Ukraine to Russia. Russia signed that agreement to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty in that Budapest Memorandum and then invaded Ukraine in 2014 and in 2022.

Russia is not the victim. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago, even Finland, a country that prided itself on neutrality between the Soviet Union and the West, has now joined NATO and Sweden wants to join too. Yet, Trump wants to abandon NATO and cozy up to Putin… For the life of me, I can’t fully understand why so many right-wing pundits now sound like 1960s radical leftists, with making excuses for Russian aggression and siding with our adversaries, who want to destroy America, but that’s where we’re at. Tucker waxing on about how wonderful Moscow is compared to American cities sounded like Bernie Sanders’ 1988 honeymoon trip to Russia. 

The larger part of the right-wing lurch into siding with Putin though, I think, goes to 2016 and the corrupt Hillary campaign creating a fake dossier about “Trump-Russian Collusion.” The Clinton campaign’s Steel dossier dirty trick evolved into the left’s #Resist effort and then even into pandemic “Russian disinformation” hysteria constantly, which Dems used to silence opponents on social media and malign people with differing views about COVID.  This Democrat spin war effort of calling everything “Russian disinformation” has made “Russian disinformation” a meaningless term and many people on the right just automatically dismiss any mention of Russian disinformation now. 

However, Russian threats to America are real, whether we choose to believe it or not. The Russians trying to build this space-based weapons system sounds like it’s further off than the Chinese, who already have implanted malware in American critical infrastructure, according to FBI reports for several years now. Reports about a threat posed by American cell towers using Chinese Huawei equipment were coming out during Trump’s presidency too. 

National security is about all Americans, not just the left or right.

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Filed under Foreign Policy, General Interest, Military, Politics

February 11, 2024 · 12:14 am

Are Americans really buying into Putin’s version of history?

Today, I watched a short video by The Rubin Report, where Karol Markowicz was a guest. At 2:28 she states that she speaks Russian (she was born in the Soviet Union and her family moved to America) and that the translation of what Putin said in a widely shared clip is incorrect. She also says that the people who hate Tucker Carlson will say he’s a Russian stooge and the people who love him will say he’s the greatest journalist to ever journalist She explains that the incorrect translation completely flipped the meaning of what Putin actually said.

The European and liberal American insane reaction to Tucker Carlson doing this interview certainly went totally off the rails into Cuckoo Land. I didn’t see this kind of reaction when other Americans journalists or when Oliver Stone interviewed Putin. Putin’s a master at these interviews with American media, just like he was a master at manipulating Trump in that meeting and came with that soccer ball to hand to Trump – carefully planned Russian propaganda move there.

Here’s a Pravda headline from yesterday: Putin presented Tucker Carlson with copies of historical documents

I’m halfway through the Tucker Carlson interview of Vladimir Putin and this is a classic KGB-staged performance, to foment distrust of the US government among mainly Trump supporters, who are, thanks to Trump’s fawning all over Putin and the relentless right-wing media efforts (especially Tucker Carlson’s efforts) totally willing to side with Putin. Putin also repeatedly waded into blaming the American “Deep State” for causing problems, which plays well with Trump supporters now, although years ago, that sentiment played well with the left in America. What’s always missing though is any concern about Kremlin malignant actions around the world, especially in Ukraine. Why so many Trump supporters have become sympathetic towards Putin and buy into his bs, I’ll never understand. Putin and his influence operations in America, also have worked very hard to turn Americans against NATO and against aiding Ukraine. Trump also holds anti-NATO views and spouts many things about NATO, that are completely untrue, yet his followers have completely bought into those views too. 

In this interview Putin was also playing to bolster support for his war in Ukraine among the Russian people and that’s where his carefully constructed, laborious recitation of his version of Russian history comes in – he goes to great pains to show the historical legitimacy of Russia’s present claims to Ukraine. The handing Carlson copies of historical documents was a masterstroke of theatrics – sort of “I’m handing you copies of these sacred historical documents.” I tried not to laugh.

Americans have to be pretty gullible to buy into this, but so many seem to despise Democrats and the corruption within the US government so much that they’re willing to trust a Russian despot, who has his political enemies murdered, without hesitation. Sadly, it seems most Americans don’t understand how the Soviet Union seized control of Eastern Europe after World War II and they’ve forgotten all the lessons of the Cold War. Putin hasn’t forgotten the Cold War though, because as a KGB agent, he was an active player and true believer in the Soviet Union. 

It was hilarious how Putin had rehearsed all these ancient historical details to sell legitimacy that Ukraine is really part of Russia, but when Carlson asked him which president he was referring to when Putin was talking about a conversation with an American president, Putin wouldn’t say which president said that. Yet, he went into excruciating detail on the ancient Russian origin story… but with the modern history that’s really relevant – it was vagueness. 

Putin can’t say, that after watching Biden’s withdrawal debacle in Afghanistan and seeing America retreating in such an embarrassing manner, it was a very opportune time to try a bold military action – a decapitation of the government in Kiev military effort. Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was intended to be carried out swiftly – in a few days, Putin expected Kiev to fall and he expected Western Europe and especially the Biden WH to not be able to aid Ukraine quickly. None of that turned out the way Putin intended. Obama had not responded when Putin seized Ukrainian territory in 2014 and it’s understandable that Putin expected Biden to waffle too. Anyone who believes Putin is a peacemaker is a fool.

Americans who buy into this will be in for a rude awakening I fear, because China, Russia and Iran are preparing to launch more bold military actions and many of them will be asymmetrical – like China hacking our infrastructure. They aren’t into peacemaking – they’re setting the stage for wider war. China has been building artificial islands in the South China Sea to expand China’s military reach in the region for years. Here’s a March 20, 2022 article from The Telegraph: China has fully militarized three islands in South China Sea, US admiral says. China, Russia and Iran have also expanded both their economic and military reach in Central and South America – all the way into Mexico. 

Wake-up America!

Iran is arming proxies, who are attacking American forces daily.

I’ve heard a lot of isolationist sentiment on the right in America and Trump amplifies that, even though he did authorize military attacks while president. It’s become popular on the right to be isolationist and some Americans want all American troops home, which would quickly place America into being irrelevant on the world stage and it would quickly lead to Americans’ standard of living plummeting even worse than it is now, as world shipping lanes would then be controlled by China, Russia and other rogue actors. Say good-bye to dollar stores. There seems to be zero comprehension that American military forces around the globe provide security for international shipping lanes.  Yes, we should secure our own borders, but that doesn’t mean we should just retreat from the world.

Putin invaded Ukraine, because he didn’t expect the Biden administration and Europe to respond. He’s got more territorial aspirations too.

I’ll try to listen to the rest of this interview later, but the first half was something else – carefully constructed propaganda designed to turn Trump supporting Americans against the American government… and to sell the war in Ukraine to war-weary Russians.

2/11/2-24: I did a little bit of editing and added some thought to this post this morning – post-publication. 

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February 9, 2024 · 6:23 pm

Some links and notes on the threat China poses to the US homeland

A NBC article from February 7, 2024: Chinese hackers spent 5 years waiting in U.S. infrastructure, ready to attack, agencies say This article says:

“Chinese hackers have at times secretly hidden in U.S. infrastructure for up to five years, ready to conduct a potentially destructive cyberattack if the two countries were to go to war, federal agencies said Wednesday.”

“The claim was published in a public cybersecurity warning, one of the largest and starkest of its kind, from six U.S. agencies, as well as allied cybersecurity and intelligence agencies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K.””

FIVE YEARS, the CCP has been working on this…

This NBC article mentions a February 7, 2024 public cybersecurity warning, with a link to a Joint Cyber Advisory by the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada titled PRC State-Sponsored Actors Compromise and Maintain Persistent Access to U.S. Critical Infrastructure.

This isn’t going to be a blog post. It’s a bunch of news links, some quotes and my notes and thoughts on the growing Chinese threat. I’d encourage everyone to do their own research and start paying attention to these news stories about Chinese espionage and other malignant activities.

Last year, with that Chinese spy balloon episode, here’s one of the early reports from February 15, 2023, ABC article: US tracked Chinese balloon from launch, may have accidentally drifted: Official. This article mentions how the narrative shifted:

“U.S. intelligence agencies tracked the Chinese spy balloon from its launch in China and watched as it may have been inadvertently blown into U.S. airspace, a U.S. official has confirmed to ABC News.”

“This latest revelation differs significantly from the previous narrative related by the White House and U.S. military officials over recent days, which has changed repeatedly since the balloon’s existence became public when it was spotted over Montana on Feb. 1.”

The Biden administration’s initial response was to make excuses for the Chinese government and it’s emblematic of how they respond to America’s adversaries – they initially made excuses for Russia with the Ukraine situation. With Iran, at first the Biden administration suggested Iran wasn’t aware of the plans Hamas had of attacking Israel and they suggested Iran didn’t have control over Hamas, They also initially made excuses that Iran didn’t have control over it’s proxies, who are firing missiles and launching drone attacks against American troops. With the Chinese spy balloon last year, there were excuses like the balloon had just drifted off course and also that the Chinese government (CCP) wasn’t aware of this spy balloon effort and the weather balloon activity is run by some military agency. 

In each case, once the overwhelming evidence piled up, the Biden administration switched their narrative. It’s important to remember that their initial response is to appease our adversaries, but they’re quick to denigrate American law enforcement immediately. Since Team Biden is the same as Team Obama, with Obama on the sidelines, this is familiar – like Obama chastising the Cambridge police department in 2009: Obama: Police Acted ‘Stupidly’ in Gates Case . Team Biden was quick to latch onto that hyped false border patrol on horseback story accusing them of whipping illegal Haitian immigrants:

September 21, 2021: White House condemns border guard use of whip-like cord against Haitian migrants

July 8, 2022: Biden admin admits Border agents did not ‘whip’ migrants, punishes them anyway

I’ve collected numerous news articles about that Chinese spy balloon and other stories about China’s malevolent actions, because I had been following the Chinese infiltration of America for a long time. There are many tentacles to the Chinese infiltration – from buying up American land, especially close to American military installations, to Huawei cell phone equipment on cell towers, to the mass illegal immigration of Chinese, to even Chinese “tourists” trying to access US military installations. There’s also the persistent political corruption in Washington with the Chinese government buying off American officials (here’s looking at President Biden)…

Huawei is a Chinese cell tech giant. Here’s a July 25, 2022 CNN story: CNN Exclusive: FBI investigation determined Chinese-made Huawei equipment could disrupt US nuclear arsenal communications. This CNN article states:

“Since at least 2017, federal officials have investigated Chinese land purchases near critical infrastructure, shut down a high-profile regional consulate believed by the US government to be a hotbed of Chinese spies and stonewalled what they saw as clear efforts to plant listening devices near sensitive military and government facilities.”    

“Among the most alarming things the FBI uncovered pertains to Chinese-made Huawei equipment atop cell towers near US military bases in the rural Midwest. According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, the FBI determined the equipment was capable of capturing and disrupting highly restricted Defense Department communications, including those used by US Strategic Command, which oversees the country’s nuclear weapons.”

July 25, 2022 Article from The Warzone by Thomas Newdick: Nuclear Experts Question Possible Effects Of Chinese Cell Towers On U.S. Missile Silos

In 2019, the Trump administration banned Huawei and the FCC developed a “Rip and Replace” program, to aid cell phone companies to replace the Huawei equipment. However, that program has run into funding and implementation snags along the way. Smaller cell phone companies (often in rural areas, which is also where some of our most critical nuclear bases are located) are much more likely to have Huawei equipment, which was cheaper and these smaller companies are less likely to have the money to replace it, like the big cell phone companies. There have been delays along the way with Congressional funding to assist small companies to remove the Huawei equipment.

Last year, March 30, 2023, FOX News reported: Chinese illegal immigrants are crossing into US in unprecedented numbers. This report states:

“Chinese nationals are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into the U.S. in unprecedented numbers this year, with the first few months of FY 2023 already eclipsing the total for 2022.”

“The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reports that just under 2,000 Chinese nationals crossed the border in FY 2022, but the first few months of FY 2023 have already seen 4,300 encounters, according to federal data.”

Let’s move along:

April 3, 2023 – Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive U.S. military sites, despite U.S. efforts to block it

April 3, 2023 – Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from US military sites: report – This is a NY Post article – includes map of the path of Chinese spy balloon and list of US military sites:

Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana – One of three bases that maintains and operates Minuteman III ICBMs.

Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska – Headquarters of US Strategic Command, overseeing America’s nuclear forces.

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas – Home of the Army’s Combined Arms Center & key officer training location.

Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri – Home to the B-2 stealth bomber.

Fort Campbell, Kentucky – Home of the Army’s 10st Airborne Division, a key rapid-deployment unit.

Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina – One of the Air Force’s largest bases.

Naval Weapons Station, Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina – Home to two nuclear submarine squadrons.

Most people forgot about the Chinese spy balloon incident and I doubt most people care one iota about the subsequent news reports. America was following the illegal immigration invasion though.

April 18, 2023 – Mayorkas to testify on border crisis after visiting Darien Gap

April 19, 2023 FOX News report: Reporter says he filmed hundreds of military-age Chinese men heading toward US in migrant groups

July 29, 2023 – Biden administration searching for Chinese malware with potential to disrupt military: Report

“The Biden administration is searching for malware it believes China has buried in networks that control a variety of utilities to military bases, according to a report from the New York Times, which Fox News has not yet independently confirmed. 

“One congressional official told the New York Times that the malware is “a ticking time bomb” which could hand China power to disrupt movement of the U.S. military by shutting off water, power, and communications to bases.”

July 29, 2023 – Chinese Malware Could Cut Power To U.S. Military Bases, Businesses And Homes, Report Claims

July 25,2023 – CNN Exclusive: FBI investigation determined Chinese-made Huawei equipment could disrupt US nuclear arsenal communications

“The administration believes malicious computer code has been hidden inside “networks controlling power grids, communications systems and water supplies that feed military bases,” officials told the Times. The discovery has heightened concerns that hackers could “disrupt US military operations in the event of a conflict,” according to the Times. The two nations have been increasingly at odds over Taiwan as well as over China’s actions in the Indo-Pacific.”

“One congressional official told the newspaper that the malware was “a ticking time bomb” that could allow China to cut off power, water and communications to military bases, slowing deployments and resupply operations. Because military bases often share the same supply infrastructure as civilian homes and businesses, many other Americans could also be affected, officials told the Times.”

August 7, 2023 – U.S. Military Systems Infected by Chinese Malware: How Deep Does It Run?

“The Chinese malware appears to be primarily targeted at overseas military bases that would likely be in heavy use in the event of a conflict over Taiwan. But homes and businesses in the area would also be impacted, as the critical infrastructure is shared between military systems and civilian residential or business areas.”

“The threat is not limited to overseas territories or bases, however, as the officials indicated that the Chinese malware could also likely cut off utilities to civilian areas of the continental United States. Indications are that this particular campaign has been active since at least mid-2021, and traces of the code that targeted military systems in Guam has also been found stateside.”

Sept. 4, 2023 – FBI tracks over 100 incidents of Chinese nationals posing as tourists to breach US military sites: report

“The FBI and Department of Defense have reportedly tracked more than 100 incidents of Chinese nationals posing as tourists to attempt to breach U.S. military bases and other federal sites.” 

“Those responsible, dubbed “gate crashers,” range from Chinese nationals detected crossing into a U.S. missile range in New Mexico, to scuba divers caught swimming in murky waters near a U.S. government rocket launch site in Florida, several U.S. officials recently told The Wall Street Journal. The growing trend represents a potential espionage threat, as authorities believe the Chinese government in some cases is compelling nationals into service in order to test out and report back about security practices at the installations.”

Dec. 3, 2023 – Weekly U.S.-Mexico Border Update: Congress negotiations, increased arrivals, migration from China

“U.S. authorities encountered over 28,000 citizens of China at the U.S.-Mexico border over the 12 months ending in October, a more than tenfold increase over the previous 12 months, with more than 8,000 arriving in September and October. Most are coming to San Diego. People who flee China tend to be middle class or lower middle class. They are escaping persecution but also cite fears of falling into poverty as the world’s second-largest economy falters.”

So, in March of 2023, officials were warning about the dramatic increase of Chinese illegals flooding across our southern border and by December, US authorities encountered over 28,000.

There’s a February 1, 2024, Bret Weinstein interview with Tucker Carlson, How China and the UN are Fueling the Invasion of America, about Weinstein’s trip to the Darien Gap in Panama to try to understand what’s going on. I watched this interview and also watched his January 31, 2024 YouTube channel video: Trojan Migration? The 210th Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying on what he saw in Panama. Weinstein is an evolutionary biologist, not a journalist, and he did his graduate research in Panama, so he was curious about what’s going on in the Darien Gap, which gets mentioned in news reports frequently in regards to this illegal migration. DHS Secretary, Myorkas, took a trip to Panama last year to see the Darien Gap too. Weinstein also related how what used to be the US’s Central Command headquarters formerly Fort Clayton, which President Carter signed away, is now home to the City of Knowledge, which looks like a UN-funded effort and it’s also home to one of the UN’s two global administrative center of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

I am not a Tucker Carlson fan, but I think this interview is worth watching and considering. Hopefully, our CIA and US military have been paying close attention to what’s going on in the Darien Gap too, but watching that Chinese spy balloon fiasco last year, my hopes aren’t high.

Moving along some more:

January 31, 2024 – U.S. Government Disrupts Botnet People’s Republic of China Used to Conceal Hacking of Critical Infrastructure

I mentioned this December 28, 2023 NBC News report about the Chinese spy balloon in a previous post: U.S. intelligence officials determined the Chinese spy balloon used a U.S. internet provider to communicate. So, we went through many “official” narratives about the Chinese spy balloon and I doubt this December story got much attention, since most people are fixated on all the culture war dramas and presidential political dramas. Who cares about a year-old story? That article stated:

“The balloon connected to a U.S.-based company, according to the assessment, to send and receive communications from China, primarily related to its navigation. Officials familiar with the assessment said it found that the connection allowed the balloon to send burst transmissions, or high-bandwidth collections of data over short periods of time.”

“Primarily related to its navigation,” so what about the other things that weren’t part of navigation?

Okay, well, did it connect to Chinese nationals on the ground in America? 

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