Occupation of Independence

This is a real challenge.  Try to think of something to say about the state of the world that is not divisive and partisan; not childish name-calling; not religious, tribal, and cruel. ...but is rational, adult, and halfway realistic. My best offering for something most Americans could agree to is that we have serious institutional problems that need our attention, and that the world doesn't need America running around the world preaching about 'freedom and democracy' merely as a sales-pitch for a militaristic empire. How could a country that has elected Trump 1.0, Biden 0.0, and Trump 2.0 have the arrogance to think that it should practice regime-change in one country after another, and thereby 'fix' those countries?!  This arrogance started after World War II when most countries were rubble, and America was prosperous because it had the Pacific Ocean on one side, and the Atlantic on the other.

Have you seen the speed of some of those missiles hitting Tel Aviv?  Amazing.  It is so easy to think that modern war is about bombs, drones, and missiles hitting valuable targets on the surface of the earth. But a big part of war is putting valuable targets underground -- 100 feet, or is it 200?  I have trouble visualizing that.  I always thought they used t unneling equipment, similar to building underground coal mines.  After  getting down 200 feet, they would have to create a big "cave" to hold a large building.  Building that seems so slow and expensive since you need to remove all the loose stuff via tunnels, and then bring in the construction materials through those tunnels. I don't think they dig out a giant open-pit, and then build structures at the bottom of the hole in the usual way, and finally fill in the hole with "loose fill." It seems like loose fill would be less protective than a similar depth of solid rock, b ut solidity itself is no...

Here we go again.  These times are certainly exciting for armchair generals, like me.    Charlie Chaplin in "The Great Dictator" I read an interesting article by Larry Johnson (sonar21.com) talking about the difficulty of Trump/Israel sustaining an air war against Iran by using aircraft.  Iran will fight back with (repaired) air defense, missiles, and drones. American aircraft are maintenance-intensive.  Missiles and drones aren't.  Aircraft needs pilots who receive years of training.  Missiles and drones only need electronics and computers. Of course the Zionist axis has missiles and drones, too.  But they have depleted much of their supply with a losing war in Ukraine.  How fast can they manufacture new missiles and drones? Consider China's role in the war against Iran.  Iran is an important energy supplier to China.  Wouldn't it be a great opportunity for China to test its missiles and drones in combat?  China's manufacturi...

You gotta' give Alberta credit for having a nice motto on their license plates: Wild Rose Country.  But actually, wild roses are all over the place in the northern Rockies.  (Perhaps they even take in a wider territory than that.)   June is the month for them.  Don't wait too long -- they fade pretty quickly.  Their colors are most vivid when the blooms first open up.  I like how this photo shows blooms of different 'newnesses': Sometimes the wild roses clump into 'flocks' of one hundred.  At some point you can stand away from them and smell them.  Is there any fragrance more delightful?! But why are overpowering good or bad odors so rare for human beings?  It seems like most animals are drastically superior to homo sapiens in their ability to detect odors.  If you argued that olfactory ability is an essential tool for being a successful hunter, that doesn't really answer the question, because humans lived by hunting and gathering u...