First Blood

 A friend's father once told me when I was 18 years old that, "...life's a bitch and then you die."  I really did not think much of that statement until I got older.

Rambo: First Blood (1982) is about a Vietnam Medal of Honor recipient, who wants no part of violence, until first blood is drawn against him.  Then he retaliates with a vengeance...

I thought of this movie as soon as HAMAS invaded Israel and after first blood was drawn Israel swore revenge with a vengeance.

The rest of the world has called FOWL against Israel...  how dare you retaliate!!!

The global media is full of war crimes against Israel but mentions no war crimes against HAMAS.

Only an idiot would not be able to see the hypocrisy in this statement.

This also reminds me of the war in Vietnam where our own US Congress refused to let the US military do its job because they were afraid of the consequence of the casualties inflicted upon the enemy.  As a result, thousands of Americans DIED.

Whether you are pro-Palestinian, pro-terrorist, pro-Israel, or pro-American, ALL SOCIETIES...  ALL CULTURES...  have a RIGHT to defend themselves against aggression.  If right is taken away, then our world DEVOLVES into chaos...  as people will fight regardless of the geo-political outcomes...

This is the MAIN REASON why our Founding Fathers gave us the FIRST and SECOND amendments to the US Constitution...  sometimes, if you want to be FREE, you have to fight for that FREEDOM.  And, when you fight, you might as well fight to win, otherwise the fight is meaningless.

• Ukraine should fight for their freedom
• Israel should fight for its freedom
• If it happens, then Taiwan should fight for its freedom
• The USA retaliated after 911 as we should have

FREEDOM IS NEVER GUARANTEED BY BIRTH...  NOT IN THIS WORLD...

Buffalo Springfield

 

Biden's Policies Embolden Iran's Islamic Regime

Prince Reza Pahlavi (LEFT), Advocate for a Secular Democratic Iran, speaks at the 2023 Women’s Forum U.S.A. hosted by Vital Voices and the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society at Vital Voices Headquarters on March 29, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images)

The exiled crown prince of Iran called out the Biden administration's weak policies after Iran's president issued an ominous warning that Israel's actions in Gaza "may force everyone to act."

"The [Iranian] regime… is trying to push the envelope, trying to see whether they can take advantage of a weakness, which currently seems to be the case. That's why they've become emboldened every time the West hesitates or doesn't apply the necessary pressure, as it should have, to at least contain this," Reza Pahlavi told FOX News' Steve Doocy on Tuesday.

"Right now you have a situation where you encourage the regime that, if you take hostages, you will be rewarded and get some more cash in your hands," he continued later.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

The EV Race in the USA

• 124 million households in the USA
• Median household income is $74,500
• Average price of an EV is $53,600 after factoring in state and federal incentives
• Average price of an gasoline vehicle is $33,800
• 23 million millionaires
• 735 billionaires
• 100 million households that are not millionaires

THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A MINUTE OR TWO...

IF your family's combined annual income is $75,000, are you more inclined to spend $34,000 or $54,000 for a vehicle?

Logic would dictate $34,000

However, logic is not always applicable to Americans

Millionaires and Billionaires might buy 2 electric vehicles per family but probably not more than that.  So, how many do you think the rest of us will buy?

What we need to take into consideration?

• Married Households
• Married Households with children
• Households who buy or rent homes
• Cost of Utilities
• Cost of Healthcare
• Cost of Food
• Car and Household insurance
• Cost of home maintenance
• Cost of entertainment and recreation

What about Hybrids?

• Cost more than gas vehicles
• Maintenance costs are higher
• Resale values is lower
• $10,000 cost of battery replacement 3-5 years
• Miles per gallon drop on the road versus in town

There are basically FOUR factors that keep me from investing in an electric vehicle...

1. cost of vehicle
2. cost of maintenance
3. time to recharge
4. number or changing stations available

I would think that more of the 100 million households are thinking like me as opposing to thinking they should buy a hybrid or an EV unless they are absolutely FORCED TO BUY ONE...

Panda

 

Biden's War on Oil Threatens Energy Goals

The Biden administration's plan to hold a historically-low number of offshore oil and gas lease sales may indirectly threaten its offshore wind energy goals, thanks to a key provision in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).  The Department of the Interior (DOI) issued a congressionally-mandated five-year offshore oil lease plan last month that included just three fossil fuel lease sales through 2029. 

However, the IRA, Democrats' climate and tax bill passed in August 2022, prohibits the DOI from issuing an offshore wind development lease unless the agency has offered at least 60 million acres for offshore oil and gas leasing at some point in the previous 12 months.

"It's constructively a time of moratorium on the issuance of offshore wind leases in those gap years. We recognized that as soon as they came out with the leasing program," Erik Milito, the president of the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), told Fox News Digital in an interview. "We were a bit surprised that they wouldn't do oil and gas lease sales annually because annual sales are needed if they want to have uninterrupted wind lease sales in the offshore."  READ MORE...

When I'm SIXTY-FOUR

 

We Are Upside Down

While part of America is protesting the Israelis invading Gaza, we have students in high school are protesting trans bathrooms.

While we are trying to defund the police, citizens in some of our larger cities are stealing from stores every day.

While we are forcing Americans to obey the laws, we are allowing illegal immigrants by the thousands to cross into the USA.

While we are trying to encourage students to attend college, we are pushing for AI/Robots to take jobs away from them in a few years.

While we are pushing towards green energy and EVs, the rest of the world is building coal fired power plants and pushing the use of petroleum crude oil.

While we are destroying ourselves, we haven't got the slightest clue of what we are doing to ourselves.

Now and Then

 

Army Creating False Arrest Records for Soldiers

A new class action lawsuit alleges the U.S. Army knowingly stuck thousands of soldiers and veterans with a false arrest record over the past six years.

"Defendants have shown that they would rather indulge in bureaucratic inertia rather than fix a problem that has now destroyed the lives, reputations, and careers of numerous service members," attorneys wrote in the class action suit against the Army, its Criminal Investigation Division (CID), the FBI and the Department of Defense, as well as each agency's respective leader.     READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Skateboarding

 

Signs of Fall

When I was growing up in Alexandria, Virginia, 1950-1962, we had 3 very distinct seasons:  Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.  Winter was from the middle of December to the middle of March; Spring was the middle of March through May; Summer was June to August, and Fall was September through the middle of December.  Granted there was some overlap depending upon the shifting weather conditions, but you could pretty much bank on these four seasons.

The school year went for Labor Day to Memorial Day and sometimes extended well into June depending upon how severe the winter was.  Winter was winter and we got plenty of snow that usually kept us out of school for about 5 days.

While Spring had some nice weather as it opened its doors to summer...  you could count on summer being hot and humid with a little rain of some sort.  Fall was the ideal time for me, since winter was always too cold and you had to wear too many clothes when venturing outside.

Fall was jeans and light sweatshirt weather, and one could put in a lot of work having fun and never sweat or get over-heated.  It was a perfect time for hot apple cider or hot chocolate although Christmas was a better time for the latter.

But it was the leaves turning colors that was the most spectacular thing of all to observe.  When the leaves were turning, we would pile into the family car and our dad would drive us up to the Appalachian Mountains, on Sundays, after church to look at the colors of all the turning leaves.  If we had spent a lot of time driving around, we would pick up something to eat or our dad would cook fried chicken in his cast iron frying pan.  It was the only one he would use to fry chicken.

So...  for me, Fall begins in September and the leaves turn in October, and you eat fried chicken and drink hot apple cider.  The temperature is brisk but not cold and there may be just a slight bit of wind.  For those of us who don't get cold quick it is T-shirt weather as well, but not shorts.

Somewhere along the way, the seasons of the years changed along with the school year, and I cannot remember when we had an old fashion fall...  as it seems to go from summer into winter...

I am sure that many blame this on climate change, but I am not so sure...  It's just that our weather patterns have changed which happens every thousands of years or so.

Whatever it is, for me, is not that important, as long as we will one day return to Fall...  the old Fall that I remember as a boy.

Mother and Child

 

Companies Required to Share AI Risks

President Biden on Monday will sign what the White House is calling a "landmark" executive order that contains the "most sweeping actions ever taken to protect Americans from the potential risks of AI systems."

Among them is requiring that artificial intelligence developers share their safety-test results – known as red-team testing – with the federal government.

"In accordance with the Defense Production Act, the Order will require that companies developing any foundation model that poses a serious risk to national security, national economic security, or national public health and safety must notify the federal government when training the model, and must share the results of all red-team safety tests," the White House says. "These measures will ensure AI systems are safe, secure, and trustworthy before companies make them public."  READ MORE...

Treadmill

 

AI Apocalypse Team Formed

Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly, bringing unprecedented benefits to us, yet it also poses serious risks, such as chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats, that could have catastrophic consequences for the world.

How can we ensure that AI is used for good and not evil? How can we prepare for the worst-case scenarios that might arise from AI?

How OpenAI is preparing for the worst
These are some of the questions that OpenAI, a leading AI research lab and the company behind ChatGPT, is trying to answer with its new Preparedness team. Its mission is to track, evaluate, forecast and protect against the frontier risks of AI models.                          READ MORE...

Attack in Iran

 

Light Man