Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 5. Oh oh, it didn't work. Now What? The Pearl Harbor Edition.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

Matthew, Chapter 24.

What do we mean by the defeat of the enemy?  Simply the destruction of his forces, whether by death, injury, or any other means—either completely  or enough to make him stop fighting. . . .  The complete or partial destruction of the enemy must be regarded as the sole object of all engagements. . . .  Direct annihilation of the enemy's forces must always be the dominant consideration.

Carl von Clausewitz.

I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.

Isoroku Yamamoto.

It didn't work.

The United States did not destroy Iran's nuclear program, it merely set it back several months.

That was, quite frankly, a pretty predictable outcome.  Indeed, I predicted it.

The question is, now what?

Iran has learned that its security is, in fact, in building a nuclear weapon.  It's going to do it.

The only way to stop that would be a ground invasion of Iran, which we don't have the stomach to do, and which Israel can't do.

Israel gambled that they could take control of the air, and that this was the time to do it. That set up the scene for the US to come in with the GBU-57A/B MOP, which they gambled we would.  

We committed them.

It failed.

Military gambles are always judged in hindsight.  Japan didn't take out the U.S. Navy on December 7, 1941, as the carriers weren't at Pearl Harbor.  If they had been, the story would be different.  The Germans didn't defeat the Soviets in Operation Barbarossa, but they came close.  If it had worked, it would be regarded as one of the greatest military feats of all time, rather than a disastrous miscalculation.

We'll see what happens here, but my guess is that by this time next year, Iran has the bomb.

June 26, 2025

United States and Israel v. Iran

The Trump administration is getting increasingly spastic over the developing facts that Operation Midnight Hammer didn't really work, or rather than it achieved minor success but failed to achieve its objective.

As per usual, the administration simply accuses everyone who disagrees with them of lying or insulting servicemen.  That's complete and utter nonsense. The objective was a tough one and the odds were against it.

Hegseth held a press conference today that was essentially a rant due to these questions being brought up.  It was pathetic.

The big difference here, as compared to other Trump counterfactuals, is that the Trump smokescreen will evaporate with a mushroom cloud.

The question is how soon.

cont:

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei  declared victory in the recent war and discounted the damage caused by American airstrikes.  His tone was absolutely defiant.

June 27, 2025

United States and Israel v. Iran

After criticizing ‘warmonger’ Liz Cheney, Hageman backs U.S. intervention in Iran

I"m quite certain that Donald Trump could declare war on the entire world and Wyoming's delegation would support it.

June 29, 2025

Israel v. Hamas

As its seemingly now become too routine to take notice of, we will note that the fighting is still going on in Gaza.   The humanitarian crisis carries on, and Israeli strikes this week killed 72 people.

June 30, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

The war in Ukraine, the one that Trump promised to end upon being nominated but then later stated that was "hard", is heating up.

Looks like Trump was full of crap about his magical negotiation powers.  Where's that "art" of the deal?

Anyhow, Russia launched its biggest aerial of the war so far, firiging a total of 537 aerial weapons at including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles. 249 were shot down and 226 were lost.

The Russians have amassed 50,000 troops near Sumy.

Israel v. Hamas

Israel has ordered evacuations from norther Gaza.

United States and Israel v. Iran

An interesting post:

The inmates are running the asylum! That is what it looks like to me. Their entire administration is not based on anything that resembles sanity. 

And on the same topic:

 Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @AdamKinzinge· 12h

So what seems clear from the intel, is that we probably should have reloaded the B2s, and gone for a second round.  Instead the impulsive toddler was desperate to have a strong ending to the movie and declare a cease fire.

This is a show to him, entertainment, and he’s the “star”

July 4, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Kyiv is getting pounded by a large scale drone attack.

The US has halted many weapons transfer programs to Ukraine on the basis that the US needs to rebuilt its own arms stockpile.

July 8, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Roman Starovoyt, age 53, who had been fired as Russian transportation minister just hours prior, was found dead from a gunshot wound in his car.  Russian authorities stated suicide might be a possibility.

He's also been the governor of Kursk relatively recently.

July 9, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did not inform the White House before he authorized a pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine last week. Currently it seems Trump will resume them.

Trump reports he's upset with Putin, probably for busting the bubble that Trump has any persuasion over him.  Trump's efforts at bringing about peace have failed.\

July 14, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

It appears that the US will be increasing military aid to Ukraine, funneling the new arms through other NATO countries.

Trump has indicated that if Russia doesn't end the war in 50 days he will impose 100% secondary tariffs.

July 17, 2025

Israel v. Hamas

An Israeli artillery shell hit the compound of the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, killing three people and wounding 10 others, including the parish priest.

It would seem Trump's much vaunted ceasefire didn't hold.

I suspect as these were Catholic deaths, there won't be much press on it.

Syrian Civil War

Heavy fighting has been going on between Druze and Bedouin tribes in the southern Syrian province of Suwayda, as another ceasefire has collapsed a day after Syrian troops pulled out of the area.

The area has a Druze majority.

July 20, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

The war Trump did end upon being nominated or sworn into office has been seeing some massive Russian drone assaults, including a 300 drone raid yesterday.

Israel v. Hamas

Israeli troops fired yesterday toward crowds of Palestinians seeking food from distribution hubs run by a U.S.- and Israeli-backed group in southern Gaza, killing at least 32 people.  An air strike also occured.

Gee. . . it's almost like Trump didn't get peace in Gaza either.

Syrian Civil War

A ceasefire seems to be holding including Israel.

July 24, 2025

Thailand v. Cambodia

Thailand and Cambodia are fighting over a disputed border area.

July 25, 2025

Israel v. Hamas

France is recognizing the sovereignty of the territorial Palestinian Authority as a state.

July 27, 2025

Israel v. Hamas.

Israel is going to allow humanitarian air drops over Gaza.

July 29, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Trump has given Putin twelve days to end the war against Ukraine, which no doubt will be completely ignored.

Thailand v. Cambodia

The countries have entered into a ceasefire.

cont:

Israel v. Hamas

The UK has indicated it's set to shortly follow France in recognizing a Palestinian state if a peace isn't arrived upon soon.

It's almost like the US's opinion on this no longer matters. . . 

July 31, 2025

Israel v. Hamas.

And now Canada is moving toward recognizing Palestinian statehood, a move which caused the Trump to threaten trade negotiations with Canada.

It should be clear, the US has lost its first place in the free world status in terms of these matters.  Nobody is paying attention to the US on this issue and its now Eurocentric.  We were replaced.

August 4, 2025

Middle East

The Houthi's hit Israel with drones today.

August 8, 2025

Israel v. Hamas

Israel has announced it intends to take full control of the Gaza Strip and eventually transfer its administration to friendly Arab forces.

The city itself is essentially destroyed.  Who the "friendly" Arab forces would be really begs that question.

US v. drug cartels.

President Trump has secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations, according to people familiar with the matter.

New York Times.

August 9, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Donald Trump and Vlad Putin are going to meet in Alaska.

The optics of this, I'd note, are awful.  But then Trump's tastes are bad tastes.

Anyhow, they're going to discuss, apparently bringing the war to an end.  Putin will have the high side of any debate as Trump has proven to be totally ineffectual in regard to the war, and indeed, most things, at least from a beneficial prospective.

Putin's already apparently indicated that he'll stop the war in exchange for Eastern Ukraine. That's an awful proposal, but the risk is that demented Trump won't realize its an awful deal.

Also, we have this:

Missile-equipped farm plane spotted in Ukraine

 Missile-equipped farm plane spotted in Ukraine

Which is cool, in a weird sort of way.

This concludes this edition.

Explicit

Last edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 4. The GBU-57A/B MOP Edition.

Labels: 2020s, 2025, 2025 Israel v. Iran War, Cynthia Lummis, Donald Trump, Harriet Hageman, Iran, Israel, John Barrasso, Predictions, Russo Ukrainian War, United States, War, Wars and rumors of wars, Weapons, You heard it here first

The Agrarian's Lament: Going Feral: Boycott

The natives, it appears, are restless. 

The Agrarian's Lament: Going Feral: Boycott: An interesting, and frankly shocking to a degree, post by a co-blogger.  First the post, then some comments here. The Post.  Going Feral: Bo...

Going Feral: Boycott

An interesting, and frankly shocking to a degree, post by a co-blogger.  First the post, then some comments here.

The Post.  Going Feral: Boycott:    

Boycott

  

Cpt. Charles Boycott was an agent for remote land owners in Ireland who was regarded as particularly severe.  During the Irish Land War the Land League  introduced the boycott, directing it first at Cpt. Boycott. They refused him everything, even conversations.  The concept was introduced by Irish politician Charles Parnell, noting:

When a man takes a farm from which another has been evicted, you must shun him on the roadside when you meet him, you must shun him in the streets of the town, you must shun him at the shop-counter, you must shun him in the fair and at the marketplace, and even in the house of worship... you must shun him your detestation of the crime he has committed... if the population of a county in Ireland carry out this doctrine, that there will be no man ... [who would dare] to transgress your unwritten code of laws.

Charles Stewart Parnell, at Ennis meeting, 19 September 1880.

Maybe it's time to take a page from the Land League.

This comes up in the context of a Reddit post on Fred Eshelman's Iron Bar Ranch, his toy ranch in Carbon County about which he's zealously pursuing litigation in trying to keep people form corner crossing.  So far, he's losing, having had the local Federal District Court first, and then the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals endorse corner crossing as legal.  As we've noted here:

Eshelman is a pharmacist by training who has done very well, economically, in that field. So well that North Carolina's school of pharmacy, which he donates to, has named that school after him.  His bio appears on their site:

Fred Eshelman, PharmD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fred Eshelman is the founder of Eshelman Ventures LLC, an investment company primarily interested in private health-care companies. Previously he founded and served as CEO and executive chairman of Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPDI, NASDAQ) prior to the sale of the company to private equity interests.

After PPD he served as the founding chairman and largest shareholder of Furiex Pharmaceuticals (FURX, NASDAQ), a company which licensed and rapidly developed new medicines. Furiex was sold to Forest Labs/Actavis in July, 2014.

His career has also included positions as senior vice president (development) and board member of the former Glaxo, Inc., as well as various management positions with Beecham Laboratories and Boehringer Mannheim Pharmaceuticals.

Eshelman has served on the executive committee of the Medical Foundation of North Carolina, was on the board of trustees for UNC-W and in 2011 was appointed by the NC General Assembly to serve on the Board of Governors for the state’s multicampus university system as well as the NC Biotechnology Center. In addition, he chairs the board of visitors for the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the top pharmacy programs in the United States. In May 2008 the School was named for Eshelman in recognition of his many contributions to the school and the profession.

Eshelman has received many awards including the Davie and Distinguished Service Awards from UNC and Outstanding Alumnus from both the UNC and University of Cincinnati schools of pharmacy, as well as the N.C. Entrepreneur Hall of Fame Award. He earned a B.S. in pharmacy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,  received his Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Cincinnati, and completed a residency at Cincinnati General Hospital. He is a graduate of the Owner/President Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Indeed, the fact that Eshelman is very wealthy apparently was referenced by one of his employees in the initial confrontation with the Missouri hunters, which isn't a very wise thing to do as it looks bad.  Indeed, it looks bad right away, and then again in court.

So, Iron Bar Holdings is Fred Eshelman, very wealthy pharmaceutical personality.

The Reddit post, which was linked into an out of state news article, provoked a series of responses on how locals shouldn't accommodate Iron Bar economically, the posters apparently being unaware that he's a wealthy out of state landowner that doesn't, for example, hit the feed store in Rawlins.

But I wonder if they were on to something?

Iron Bar is employing locals, and those locals are serving to oppress Wyomingites.  There's no real reason to accommodate them. They probably do go to the feed store in Rawlins, probably stop by Bi-Rite in that city, and probably go into town there, or maybe Saratoga, from time to time.

Why accommodate them?

They're serving the interest of a carpetbagger and have chosen their lot. There's no reason to sell them fishing tackle or gasoline, or take their order at the restaurant.  

Beyond that, as I've noted before, in his lawsuit Eshelman is making use of local lawyers.  His big guns are, of course, out of staters, but he still needs some local ones.  Originally that person was Greg Weisz, who now works for the AG's office in the state. Megan Overmann Goetz took over when Weisz left.  Maybe she had to, as when a lawyer goes into the state's service, he leaves the work behind.  Both of them are of the firm Pence and MacMillan in Laramie.

I don't know anything about Weisz, but a state website disturbingly places him in the Water and Natural Resources branch of the AG's office, noting:

Gregory Weisz

Greg joined the Water and Natural Resources Division in January 2024 after almost thirty years in private practice. While in private practice, he focused on real estate transactions and litigation, easement law, water law, general civil litigation, agricultural law, and natural resources. At the Attorney General's office, he represents many Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality agencies including the Land Quality Division, Industrial Siting Division, Solid and Hazardous Waste Division, Storage Tank department, Abandoned Mine Lands Division, and DEQ itself with general legal issues. He graduated with an undergraduate degree in Natural Resources Management and a law degree from the University of Wyoming. His prior work experience included private forestry consulting, oil & gas exploration, water treatment, ranch labor, and forest products manufacturing.

Lawyers very strongly believe that the justice system is great, and that by serving client's, they're serving truth, justice, apple pie, and motherhood.  That allows them to stand themselves.  And to some extent, it's true, particularly in the criminal justice system.  The entire system depends on the accused getting representation, which is in everyone's best interest.

But that's not true of Plaintiff's cases.  Plaintiff's lawyers make a big deal of how they serve the little man, but much of it is a crock.  And in something like this, Weisz was serving the interest of a wealthy carpetbagger.  Maybe he believes in the cause, but that doesn't mean that people have to accommodate him, then or now.  Now there are questions that Wyomingites in particular and public lands users in general have a right to demand of Weisz, most particularly does he believe in  Eshelman's cause.  If he does, do we want him in the state's law firm, the AG's office?

Beyond that, for the Wyoming lawyers actively representing Eshelman, why accommodate them. They can be comforted by chocking down their service to a bad cause by liberal doses of cash.  Locals don't have to accommodate them, however.  Laramie and Cheyenne are not far from Colorado, they can buy their groceries there.

I know that if I was shopping for somebody to provide legal services, I'd shop elsewhere if I found my law firm was representing somebody trying to screw public land access for locals.

But it doesn't stop there.  All three of Wyoming's "representatives" in Congress voted against what Wyomingites overwhelmingly believe. That ought to be enough to vote them out of office.  But people don't need to wait until then.  All three are still showing up, I bet, at Boy Scout, sportsmen's and other events.  Quit inviting them. And if they do show up, do what Hageman did at the State Bar Convention last year, walk out on her if she speaks as she did to a speaker.

Is this extreme?  It is.  But these efforts never cease.

When being an employee of Fred Eshelman means you have to drive to Ft. Collins in order to buy a loaf of bread, it won't be worth it.  When Escheman can't get a plumber or electrician to come to his house, or anyone to doctor his cattle, or give him a ride from the airport, it won't be worth it for him. When lawyers have decide if that one case is worth not getting anymore, I know what decision they'll make. When John Barrasso quits getting invitations to speak, he'll know what to do.

There are limits, of course, to all of this.  You can't hurt people or property. If somebody needs medical service, they should get it.  If somebody is stuck in a blizzard and you come upon the, they should get the ride.  But you don't have to serve them at the restaurant or agree to fix their pickup truck.

Or, so it seems to me.  It would at least seem worth debating.

Boycott.

The comment.

Hobby ownership of substantial amounts of property like this ought to be banned.  If you own agricultural land, your primary income should be derived from it.

This could very easily come to be the case if states, including my home state of Wyoming, adopted agricultural corporation laws providing that only bonafide agriculturalist could own agricultural property, which I'd set at any amount of real property not used for industrial use which exceeded five acres in size.  That'd help preserve farm and ranch land from being busted up, and it would mean that the people who owned agricultural land were actual agriculturalist.  In order, let's way, to hold stock in such a corporation, no less than 65% of your income would have to be derived from agricultural pursuits.

Are we Wyomingites ready to throw off our colonial yoke?

We should, but I doubt we'll do it. Still, I've been surprised in the past.

Anyow, as these posts suggest, there's really no good reason to serve those in our midst whose masters have interests contrary to our own. Let those servants go live amongst their masters or abandon them. And as for the masters, there's utterly no reason to serve their interests through serving them.

More thoughts on this to be added later.

Huge Economic Problems Coming for Republicans and the U.S. | Explainer

 

Viewers Like Us: A Love Letter to PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Wednesday, August 8, 1945. Japan conditionally accepts the Potsdam Declaration. The USSR declares war on Japan.

The Japanese Supreme War Council agreed to accept the Potsdam Declaration contingent upon the preservation of the Japanese Monarchy.

The Soviet Union declared war on Japan, making the declaration proactive as to midnight, August 9.

The declaration stated:

On Aug. 8, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R. Molotoff received the Japanese Ambassador, Mr. Sato, and gave him, on behalf of the Soviet Government, the following for transmission to the Japanese Government:

After the defeat and capitulation of Hitlerite Germany, Japan became the only great power that sill stood for the continuation of the war.

The demand of the three powers, the United States, Great Britain and China, on July 26 for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces was rejected by Japan, and thus the proposal of the Japanese Government to the Soviet Union on mediation in the war in the Far East loses all basis.

Taking into consideration the refusal of Japan to capitulate, the Allies submitted to the Soviet Government a proposal to join the war against Japanese aggression and thus shorten the duration of the war, reduce the number of victims and facilitate the speedy restoration of universal peace.

Loyal to its Allied duty, the Soviet Government has accepted the proposals of the Allies and has joined in the declaration of the Allied powers of July 26.

The Soviet Government considers that this policy is the only means able to bring peace nearer, free the people from further sacrifice and suffering and give the Japanese people the possibility of avoiding the dangers and destruction suffered by Germany after her refusal to capitulate unconditionally.

In view of the above, the Soviet Government declares that from tomorrow, that is from Aug. 9, the Soviet Government will consider itself to be at war with Japan.

Following the war American critics often viewed this as the USSR rushing in to grab the spoils, something the Soviets were certainly not against, but in fact the Western Allies had been asking for the Soviets to declare war on Japan for some time, and had confirmed this intent as recently as Potsdam.  The timing of it, moreover, is not something the USSR could have rushed, due to the necessity to stage troops in Asia for Operation August Storm, it's invasion of Manchuria.

A war with the USSR was one of Japan's single biggest fears during the Second World War. For that matter, a Japanese attack on the Soviet Union was one that the USSR had initially dreaded, but which it new it was safe from due to the intelligence activities of Richard Sorge.

Radio Tokyo gave a full report on the bombing of Hiroshima, accusing the United States of barbarism, stating that the US had used methods that; "have surpassed in hideous cruelty those of Genghis Khan."

It's an interesting analogy in that Japan was never invaded by the Mongols, a point of pride and myth in Japan.

Truman issued a radio broadcast threatening to destroy Japan with atomic bombs. At the time, the US had exactly one atomic bomb left, and one under production, both of the "Fat Man" type.

Working on the bomb that would be dropped on Nagasaki, August 8, 1945.

The Nuremberg Charter was issued establishing the laws and procedures by which the Nuremberg Trials.

Last edition:

Tuesday, August 7, 1945. Fallout.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Aircraft, Army, Heroes, Hiroshima Japan, Japan, Josip Broz Tito, Operation Downfall, Operation Silverplate, press, Radio, technology, U.S. Air Force, World War Two, Yugoslavia

Stock growers will join corner-crossing pleadings in Supreme Court

Stock growers will join corner-crossing pleadings in Supreme Court: Hunters ask for another 30 days to respond to Eshelman's petition for high court review.

Pushing the Introvert

I've been introverted my entire life.

The way introverts experience the world is completely foreign to extroverts.  It's impossible to explain it.  It's stressful to not have extroverts grasp that.  It's also stressful to live in an extroverted society, which we do.

A lot of lawyers, although I doubt anywhere near 50%, are introverted.  That surprises people, and it may in particular surprise people that their own lawyer may be introverted.  Being introverted doesn't mean that you can't interact with people, even in a very public and effective fashion.  

Added to this is the phenomenon of "Type A" personalities, who are competitive and achieving, for lack of a better way to put it.  I have no idea if most Type A personalities are extroverts, but I'll bet they are.  It's always universally assumed that lawyers, particularly trial lawyers, are Type A personalities, and I'll bet most are, at least the trial lawyers. but not everyone is. I'm not.  I don't like competition at all and never intentionally get myself into most types of competition, at least public competition.¹   Knowing that I like history and know a bunch of stuff in general, people will try to draw me into competition or even force me into ones if I'm in a setting where I can't avoid it, which I absolutely despise.  "You're on my team!" I'll hear and we're off into a game of specified trivia or something, which I don't want to be in.²   I once had this occur with somebody betting on me following a bunch of "no, no, no" comments from me, all to no avail.  

More than one I've been talking with some other lawyer or professional who will say to me "we're both Type A personalities. . . ".

No, I'm not.

So why do I bring this all up?

I recently have had some legal matters which featured a crop of older lawyers.  Lawyers older than me.  Guys who really ought to be retired.  I heard at one of these things that "lawyers who retire are unhappy".  

These guys love the association of other lawyers.

Recently it occurs to me that I've never really liked that.  I don't pal around with big bunches of lawyers.  I have some lawyers who are my friends, but I don't call up other lawyers at random to go to lunch, or things like that.  Indeed recently the abuse that lawyers do to society and individuals has come into sharp focus to me, in part I guess, as I'm close enough to the end of my career that I don't have to pretend that every legal cause is somehow ennobling.  I think lawyers who have the attitude expressed above have it, as they love hanging around with other lawyers and, as odd as it may seem, they like the forced captivity of witnesses and deponents as they love the game aspect of the law, and just like being around with people they don't know, even if those people really don't want to be around them.  I've actually seen lawyers go on yapping at somebody in a deposition for the obvious reason that they're enjoying talking to the witness, who if examined closely is in agony.

Indeed, I bet they don't even realize that's the case. 

Okay, again, why do I bring this up?

Well, first of all, I'm supposed to go to an event this week. Well, today.  It's out of town.  But I have a lot of work to do, and I can't afford the time, and beyond that, I just don't want to go.

I just don't want to.

I don't want to sit around with the lawyers all day, and I don't want to go to the dinner.  I don't want to engage in small talk about the law, or tell war stories, or anything like that. 

I shouldn't have signed up for it, but there are CLE credits, and I need those.

So yesterday, I told my long suffering spouse that I wasn't going.

Then the hard sell came on.  

"You need to go".  "You need to keep the networks".

My wife and I, at this stage of my career, have substantially different ideas about the near term future.  I've come closer to death that I generally admit within the last couple of years, and this past week two people I know who were just a few years older than me suddenly died.  A woman I went to law school with I recently learned passed away four years ago, at age 58.  I really don't expect to be like those lawyers in their 70s, keeping on as (annoying) happy warriors until they die in their late 70s or early 80s.  Why would I?

They could probably answer that, but I can't even fathom it.

But my wife is an extrovert, and she can't conceive of a situation in which a person doesn't want to go to work every day, or even retire.  And she worries about finances, which of course is her absolute right.

So, the big push.

A lot of extroverts regard introverts not wanting to do things as something needing to be addressed.  It's sort of, in their minds, like kindergarteners who don't want to go to that first day of school.  They just need a little push.

And there's a lot of truth in that.  Sometimes introverts do need a push to go to something they'll like.

Sometimes, they need to be able to be left alone, or just with their families.

I generally work six days a week, sometimes seven. I'm in the introvert category that needs to have some downtime.  And, quite frankly, to be pushed to go to something by those who can't go themselves, due to other commitments, is agony.  My first question whenever I'm invited to something is to my wife, and that question is "are you going?"  More often than not, it's "no, but you need to".

I really don't.

And she doesn't grasp that, nine times out of ten, when I go and enjoy these things, it's because she went with me, which she very rarely does anymore.  It was her company I enjoyed, not the attendance at the event.

I tend to yield on these things, and we'll see about this one.  But, for those close to introverts, or married to them, knowing that we live in an extremely extroverted and competitive society, first do no harm.

"Don't make things worse for me" is sometimes my reply, which is not appreciated at all.  

In other words, taking somebody whose brain is wired for hard on full bore activity in public, and for whom there are no casual conversations whatsoever, and pushing them into having their brain work overtime, is not always a favor.

Footnotes

1.  I will participate in some sorts of competitions, but they're mostly ones that are really individual and I'm basically competing with myself.  In terms of team sports, I really only like baseball, which is a team sport that has such individual positions.  It's almost like a series of individual competitions. The man up to bat is really an individual.

I detest football.  I find soccer boring.  I do like rugby, however.

If I'm in an individual competition, I like to do well, but I'm not upset with myself if I don't.  I will note that highly competitive people, however, can make even individual competitions absolutely miserable by introducing their personal competitiveness into it.  Some competitive people make things into competitions that don't need to be.

As an example of the latter, two of my highly competitive colleagues are this way. On the rare occasions I've been bird hunting with them, "who has the best dog" becomes some sort of stupid aggravating competition and during football and basketball seasons endless arguments about adopted teams go on and on, in a public setting, on the presumed assumption that everyone likes to watch these verbal jousts.

For that matter, they both like to argue and will engage in verbal sparring on various topics just for sport, and again where everyone else can't avoid them.  Some time ago, I actually intervened to stop their arguments on religion as they were outright insulting to two people here who are members of minoritarian religions.

Oddly, I've found that a lot of former soldiers who really liked the military have the same mindset and don't follow team sports.  I think I know the reason why, but I'll deal with it in some other thread.

2.  I've actually had "we'll play trivia" thrown out as an educement to attend something, which nearly guarantees that I'll try to avoid it.  It's not that I mind trivia topics, or trivial pursuit as a game, but I don't want to compete with people out of a close circle who don't care if I win or lose.  I really hate being made the presumed champion who will carry a team to victory as its stress I really don't need.

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 99th Edition appendix. Sydney Sweeney has great jeans, and genes. So does Beyonce Knowles. And stuff.

The Sydney Sweeney jeans ad praising her genes is genius: How nice to have the Sydney Sweeney “great genes” controversy. It is happily of no consequence, which is . . . 

Froma Harrop.

The massive overreaction to Sweeney being in an American Eagle ad while being white continues on, and is nicely addressed by Froma Harrop above.  Harrop's article reminds us of a few other pretty women, which likely means that it's a good thing the article was written by a woman.

Coincidentally, Beyoncé Knowles ad campaign for Levis continues on as well.  It predates Sweeney's ad for American Eagle.  I don't know anything about American Eagle jeans at all, but I do about Levis as I wear them a lot.

Knowles is also hot.

From Knowles Levis commercial

Knowles, of course, is an African American.

Of interest in this, both Knowles and Sweeney manage to be hot while fully clothed, a good trend.

Sweeney from her American Eagle ad.

Also of note, they're both actually really curvy and not sticks.  In other words, they look like actual women, which is of course what they are.  Knowles is particularly notable as she's been regarded as hot all along, even though she doesn't fit into the traditional stick figure model category that modeling agencies have tended to use for years.  She's big.  

Of course, all this brought out the political clowns.  Robot from Texas, Sen. Ted Cruz (why hasn't ICE deported this foreign born interloper yet?) felt compelled to state that due to the Democrats  “beautiful women are no longer acceptable in our society.”  That's really absurd.  One of the things that Sen. Krysten Sinema, now an independent but up until recently a Democrat, basically took criticism for was being hot while in office.  Sinema, whose politics are eclectic, is clearly highly intelligent. She's also a fallen away Mormon who is "unaffiliated" in terms of religion, and a lesbian, all of which puts her in the infamia category for Republicans.

Republicans, it might be noted, really lashed on to Sweeney when they found out she's a registered Republican, which means almost nothing.  Most of the MAGA politicos would have been regarded as fringe Republicans at best up until King Donny.  Real Republicans, as Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray likes to point out, are now regarded as Democratic infiltrators by the current GOP, which is lead by a lifelong former Democrat, Trump.  We really don't know about her actual political views at all.

She registers in Florida, and of course she might register Republican for the same reason that horrifies Chuck Gray in Wyoming, it might for the most part be the only place to register. The Unconstitutional Primary Election in Wyoming tends to be the real election, so that's where people register.  Maybe that's why Sweeney registers that way in Florida. Who knows?

Republicans, starting with Trump, have really latched on to her already, which is a metaphor that should make Sweeney uncomfortable.  Some real boofador from Fox News even went so far as to suggest that seeing Sweeney in jeans might remind American men of their demographic obligation to procreate, whic his extremely weird, and referenced Dylan Mulvaney as an example of what might be deterring them. While Mulvaney is genuinely bizarre, and transgenderism not a real thing, that's probably not what's keeping the WASPs home alone in their basements rather than going out and meeting someone.

Somebody in this category, who is going out, as in out of the state, is Artemis Langford, who, having graduated from university, is packing up and leaving, claiming the state doesn't want people like him here.  Langford, who deserves real pity, demonstrated self pity in the interview, as he had to have known that being a big overweight man in a sorority would draw attention, although he no doubt didn't expect all the litigation that ensued.  The basic gist of his complaint is that he doesn't like it that there have been laws passed to protect actual women from being displaced in women's sports and the like, and he doesn't like it that society has moved towards recognizing "transgenderism" for what it is, a mental illness, so he's leaving.  At least as of two years ago, his intended career path was law school.  Being a man presenting as a woman wouldn' t stop a person from practicing law here, although it probably would be limiting, so pursuing that career elsewhere probably would be a good idea, if that's his actual intent.

All of this gets into the topic of conservatism, cultural conservatism, culture, and populism, but we'll try to take that up somewhere else.  Maybe in our 100th Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist edition.

Anyhow, one denim glad guy saw an opportunity here, and took it:

Wyoming Outdoorsman Spoofs Controversial Sydney Sweeney Jeans Ads

He does like the Sweeney ad.  I'll bet he likes the Knowles one too.

And all this comes up, sort of, due to denim, something that women didn't often appear in, and for that matter decently dressed men, until after World War Two.  While women wearing jeans had taken off well before that, Levis didn't introduce 501s for women until 1981.

Related threads:

Levis

Labels: 1870s, 1873, 1890, 1890s, 1940s, 1947, 1950s, 1960s, Agriculture, Clothing, Growing up in the 1970s, It was because of World War Two, Standards, technology, trends, World War Two

Last edition:

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 99th edition. Sydney Sweeney has great jeans, and genes.

Labels: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2020s, Advertising, Clothing, Conservatism, Culture, Ethnicities, Evolutionary Biology, flap de jour, Liberalism, nature, Patrick Dineen, Pronatalism, Sydney Sweeney, Women, Zeitgeist

Stop the presses: Wyoming press corps suffers historic blow

Stop the presses: Wyoming press corps suffers historic blow: Uinta, Platte, Niobrara, Goshen and Sublette counties become "news deserts" as News Media Corp shutters eight local Wyoming newspapers with no notice. The oldest had been in print for 122 years. Thirty people lost jobs.

This is sad indeed. 

This is part of a long term trend. . . the death of the written newspaper, and its a feature of the evolution of technology.

It's also part of what's made the United States a meaner, ruder, and stupider society in recent years.

Small town newspapers once thrived.  Every town had a newspaper, and even minor cities had more than one. Casper had two daily newspapers for years.  When traveling, one of the things I always used to do was to buy a local newspaper, usually first thing in the morning.  I'd normally read it as I ate breakfast.  For that matter, lots of cafes had newspaper machines there in anticipation of people doing just that.

Now my local paper, barely hanging on, comes to me with a digital format.  It's a shadow of its former self.

Also specter like is respect for the press.  People have always tended to hate the press, just as they hate lawyers, but for a different reason.  People don't like having their dirty laundry aired in public, even if they like looking at the dirty laundry of others, and people always feel that bad news is, somehow, a conspiracy.  But when the news was mostly distributed by print media, people still had to largely accept that the news was real.

This started to erode even when the internet was in its infancy.  Buffoons like Rush Limbaugh, who came on the radio and spouted propaganda, began to be taken as news.  Now they're everywhere.  People who'd prefer to get their news from the high school locker-room, for instance, can listen to Joe Rogan.  Fox News and  the like can provide streams of one sided blather a la Tass or the Völkischer Beobachter.  People, who don't really like to be distressed by the news, can take comfort in these sources that tell them exactly what they want to hear.

What they won't be hearing much about is local events, as the local papers pass away.

Tuesday, August 7, 1945. Fallout.

The news of the Atomic Bomb, including that it was just that, was now in the headlines.

Radio Tokyo reported the attack on Hiroshima, but without specificity.

Late in the day Japan's central commend stated that a new type of bomb was used, presuming that more than one was dropped.

U.S. radio read Truman's August 6 statement about the use of the atomic bomb. This caused the Japanese government to meet and confer.

The Air Force carried out raids on Yahata, Tokyo and Kukuyama.

The Nakajima Kikka, the Japanese ME262 inspired jet fighter, made its first flight.

Staff officers of the U.S. 1st Army met on Luzon to plan the invasion of Japan.

Tito refused to let King Peter II back into Yugoslavia.

The British revealed the existence of the wartime development Radar.

Last edition:

Monday, August 6, 1945. The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Blog Mirror, Chester Nimitz, Fr. Joseph Krupp, Hiroshima Japan, Japan, Operation Silverplate, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Wake Island, War Crimes, Weapons, World War Two

Gordon to deploy Wyoming National Guard to support ICE in Trump’s mass deportation effort

Gordon to deploy Wyoming National Guard to support ICE in Trump’s mass deportation effort: Gov. Mark Gordon is among a reported 20 Republican governors who agreed to the president’s request to use guard members for immigration enforcement duties — maybe paperwork.

As a former Guardsman, I'd absolutely hate this if I was still one. 

Shark attacks and bay tossing.

I don't recall these from basic in 1982.

‘Shark attacks’ may be coming back to Army Basic Training

I do remember these.

Army infantry training unit reverses ‘bay tossing’ ban

Overall, it would appear to be an effort to reverse the kinder, gentler, basic training that came in post co-ed Army.

John Barrasso, you own this.

 

People will die, Dr. John, because of this, and you will be morally accountable.

Fr Joe homily: Greed or Freed | August 3, 2025

Greed

Wenesday, August 6, 1975. 아니요.

The United Nations voted to decline South Korea's application for membership in the UN.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was extended for ten years with one day to spare.

Last edition:

Tuesday, August 5, 1975. Ford restores Lee's citizenship. South Africa enters Angola.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Angola, Angolan Civil War, Animals, Civil War, Cuba, Cuban Army, Dogs, Gerald Ford, Growing up in the 1970s, Operation Savannah, police, Robert E. Lee, South Africa, South African Army, Virginia