I don't have much direct experience with beavers, but I have read a lot about them over the years. I don't think that they're especially smart, most of what they do seems to be instinctive. I recently read about a guy who found an orphaned baby beaver and raised it as a pet. Whenever somebody would be running water in the bathroom with the door closed, this beaver would try to stuff towels or clothing under the bathroom door. It seemed unlikely that he was consciously trying to accomplish anything, he was probably responding instinctively to the sound of running water.
All beavers don't build dams you know, some of them dig holes in the bank of a river or lake and just live in them. Those citified beavers in Chicago were likely just after the branches of the trees they cut down. Beavers eat tree bark almost exclusively, preferring popple (aspen), with willow as a second choice. What they need their ponds for is to float tree branches to their lodges to store for winter consumption. They will use a natural pond or river if it's available, but if it isn't, they will build one. I suppose their pond gives them protection from some predators, but not minks or otters who can easily swim out to and raid beaver lodges. People who trap beavers routinely make "bonus" catches of otters, but I think they need to set smaller traps for the mink, which they will do if they see signs of mink activity around.
I don't think beavers really use their tails to slap mud on their dams or to fight off predators. If they sense danger they will slap their tails on the water to warn other beavers before diving for cover. I suppose that slap of the tail might confuse or intimidate a following predator to some extent, but it's mostly to warn the other beavers.
Beaver dams are valuable structures in wild areas, conserving water and providing habitat for other animals, but they can be a nuisance around farms or populated neighborhoods. Just demolishing the dam is ineffective because the beavers will rebuild it overnight. If you really don't want beaver dams around, you have to get rid of the beavers first and then demolish the dam. When beavers were scarce, conservation people used to live trap and relocate problem individuals, but anymore they usually just invite a private trapper to come in and clean them out. Trapping is hard work and, when fur prices fall below the break even level, landowners will sometimes pay a bounty to encourage trappers to stay on the job.
We used to have some beavers around Beaglesonia before it was Beaglesonia but, but by the time we bought our land, irate neighbors had pretty much exterminated them. All true sportsmen have respect for their quarry, and there is nothing grudging about it. Farmers who have to make a living off their land, not so much.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
beavers
The more you read history the more you realize there are no good guys. There are some really bad guys, so maybe the guys fighting them are a little better in those cases, but that is as good as anybody gets. We think we are the good guys because we are us, but everybody else thinks the same about their country. Pretty much everybody on our side is in it for the money or whatever they think they can get out of it and not because they think we are in the right and they love America. Go figure.
When I was a little kid I used to think of my rise to power, mayor, governor, president, and at last head of the United Nations, the most powerful man in all the world. Har. I don't know who the head is now or has been since hum, some Pakistani guy I think, oh there he is, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and then only because he had those repeating names. There's the big boy council with us, Britain, France, Russia, and those Red Chinese who can veto anything they don't like, and then there is everybody else who can piss and moan all they like and they generally like, It's not an independent entity, every country in the world has some kind of input, however small so there's not a lot of agreement, and if there is anything the US does not like we veto it or ignore it. We went into Korea flying the flag of the UN, and when we withdrew the reason was most decidedly not because the UN told us to.
Wag the Dog was a good movie. Woody Harrelson had one of his classic, though minor roles. As Old Dog says at the time we were getting into the Balkans and the scuttlebutt was that Clinton was doing that to distract attention from the stained blue dress, but I think that was just coincidental.
The Red Chinese can mass 150K troops at the drop of a hat wherever and whenever and we never know why. They don't want to conquer North Korea because who wants to try to run that hellhole and they don't want to fuck with it severely because of all the resultant refuges on their border, They would like the current Kim to tone it down, but you know, kids.
Those colonial countries used to complain about all those artificial borders being the cause for their troubles, but that was years ago, they have had plenty of time to readjust them, but they haven't because they won't concede any square inch of land that was ever part of their country. It does look like the Kurds may be able to take the northern parts of Iraq and Syria, these troubled mideast times are good for them, but of course they are only in it for the Kurds.
But what I wanted to talk about was beavers. There was some article in the news the other day about breaking up some beaver dam in the far out burbs. Apparently this happens all the time. What is it with beavers? Oh I get it that they like to create those shallow pools to protect themselves from predators, but wouldn't you think that tail would, whack, send the coyote off spitting out his teeth?
But I thought the tail had something to do with packing the mud and sticks together to make a dam. Does the beaver think he is making a dam to make himself a nice place to live or does he just have some genetic tic that makes him enjoy slapping sticks and mud together?
There used to be some nice trees on the Chicago River just south of the Merchandise Mart, but when they cleaned up the river the beavers came back and gnawed them down. Nobody had thought of that. And were the beavers thinking they could dam the Chicago river? Did they have high hopes? Strangely enough in that song it is a ram butting a beaver dam. I don't think anybody knows why.
I read a story some years ago about some guy who had a piece of land but the beavers kept putting up dams, or this one beaver anyway, and the guy was a nature lover and he loved animals including that beaver, as a matter of fact he acquired a grudging respect for it because everything he did to try to dissuade it, that high hoping rodent kept right on gnawing it and in the end the guy had to shoot it. Sad story.
You know you read these stories about how hunters or fisherman have some bear or big fish that they are always trying to trap or catch, but it eludes them every time and so they develop an affection for it. I wonder if Beagles has ever experienced anything like that or is it just a silly sentimental story told by city folks.
And inasmuch as those 88 acres are swampy what is the story of beavers in Beaglesonia?
When I was a little kid I used to think of my rise to power, mayor, governor, president, and at last head of the United Nations, the most powerful man in all the world. Har. I don't know who the head is now or has been since hum, some Pakistani guy I think, oh there he is, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and then only because he had those repeating names. There's the big boy council with us, Britain, France, Russia, and those Red Chinese who can veto anything they don't like, and then there is everybody else who can piss and moan all they like and they generally like, It's not an independent entity, every country in the world has some kind of input, however small so there's not a lot of agreement, and if there is anything the US does not like we veto it or ignore it. We went into Korea flying the flag of the UN, and when we withdrew the reason was most decidedly not because the UN told us to.
Wag the Dog was a good movie. Woody Harrelson had one of his classic, though minor roles. As Old Dog says at the time we were getting into the Balkans and the scuttlebutt was that Clinton was doing that to distract attention from the stained blue dress, but I think that was just coincidental.
The Red Chinese can mass 150K troops at the drop of a hat wherever and whenever and we never know why. They don't want to conquer North Korea because who wants to try to run that hellhole and they don't want to fuck with it severely because of all the resultant refuges on their border, They would like the current Kim to tone it down, but you know, kids.
Those colonial countries used to complain about all those artificial borders being the cause for their troubles, but that was years ago, they have had plenty of time to readjust them, but they haven't because they won't concede any square inch of land that was ever part of their country. It does look like the Kurds may be able to take the northern parts of Iraq and Syria, these troubled mideast times are good for them, but of course they are only in it for the Kurds.
But what I wanted to talk about was beavers. There was some article in the news the other day about breaking up some beaver dam in the far out burbs. Apparently this happens all the time. What is it with beavers? Oh I get it that they like to create those shallow pools to protect themselves from predators, but wouldn't you think that tail would, whack, send the coyote off spitting out his teeth?
But I thought the tail had something to do with packing the mud and sticks together to make a dam. Does the beaver think he is making a dam to make himself a nice place to live or does he just have some genetic tic that makes him enjoy slapping sticks and mud together?
There used to be some nice trees on the Chicago River just south of the Merchandise Mart, but when they cleaned up the river the beavers came back and gnawed them down. Nobody had thought of that. And were the beavers thinking they could dam the Chicago river? Did they have high hopes? Strangely enough in that song it is a ram butting a beaver dam. I don't think anybody knows why.
I read a story some years ago about some guy who had a piece of land but the beavers kept putting up dams, or this one beaver anyway, and the guy was a nature lover and he loved animals including that beaver, as a matter of fact he acquired a grudging respect for it because everything he did to try to dissuade it, that high hoping rodent kept right on gnawing it and in the end the guy had to shoot it. Sad story.
You know you read these stories about how hunters or fisherman have some bear or big fish that they are always trying to trap or catch, but it eludes them every time and so they develop an affection for it. I wonder if Beagles has ever experienced anything like that or is it just a silly sentimental story told by city folks.
And inasmuch as those 88 acres are swampy what is the story of beavers in Beaglesonia?
Monday, April 10, 2017
Who Are the Good Guys?
I got caught up on this Tomahawk thing over the weekend, turns out it had nothing to do with ISIS. You guys seem to know more about the Mideast than I do, so answer me this if you can: Who are the good guys? I always thought that the Israelis were the good guys, but we don't hear much about them anymore. I understand that the Saudis are supposed to be on our side, but I think they're just in it for the money. Most of the other players don't seem to care about money, they just use it to finance their unholy war against us and each other. It's a little early to tell, but it looks like Trump doesn't have any more of a cohesive Mideast policy than any of his predecessors. It's just drop some bombs here and send in some troops there with no discernable long range goals in mind. We are the Americans, we are supposed to be the good guys, and we should be supporting other good guys all over the world so that they can be like us when they grow up. If we're not going to do that, or if there are no good guys, then we should just stay home and mind our own business.
The United Nations is supposed be promoting world peace but to my knowledge, they have never done that. The first big thing they got involved in was the Korean War, and that's still going on more than 60 years later. What they did there, and everyplace else that I know of is wait until the good guys start winning, and then call a cease fire. This gives the bad guys time to rest and regroup, insuring that the conflict will go on indefinitely. Call me paranoid, but I think they do this on purpose. The best thing we can do with the U.N. is to expel all the diplomats from the U.N. building, and then bring in one of those teams that blows up old buildings so that they collapse into their own basement. I would say blow it up with the people still in it, but good guys don't do things like that.
None of my 88 acers is suitable for agriculture, which is why I got it so cheap back in 1986. It's not really good for commercial timber production either, but it supplies me with more firewood than I can use, or have time to cut. I mostly bought it for hunting, and it's okay for that, but there are better places to hunt around here. The best thing about it is that I have it all to myself, which alone makes it worthwhile in my book. It's quiet here, nobody bothers us, but the neighbors are close enough to be of help in case of an emergency. Everything we want to do is close at hand, except for visiting my daughter who lives some 50 miles away. It's not for everybody, but we like it.
The United Nations is supposed be promoting world peace but to my knowledge, they have never done that. The first big thing they got involved in was the Korean War, and that's still going on more than 60 years later. What they did there, and everyplace else that I know of is wait until the good guys start winning, and then call a cease fire. This gives the bad guys time to rest and regroup, insuring that the conflict will go on indefinitely. Call me paranoid, but I think they do this on purpose. The best thing we can do with the U.N. is to expel all the diplomats from the U.N. building, and then bring in one of those teams that blows up old buildings so that they collapse into their own basement. I would say blow it up with the people still in it, but good guys don't do things like that.
None of my 88 acers is suitable for agriculture, which is why I got it so cheap back in 1986. It's not really good for commercial timber production either, but it supplies me with more firewood than I can use, or have time to cut. I mostly bought it for hunting, and it's okay for that, but there are better places to hunt around here. The best thing about it is that I have it all to myself, which alone makes it worthwhile in my book. It's quiet here, nobody bothers us, but the neighbors are close enough to be of help in case of an emergency. Everything we want to do is close at hand, except for visiting my daughter who lives some 50 miles away. It's not for everybody, but we like it.
The cradle rocks
Very good synopsis of the Syrian mess from Uncle Ken. I found a (short, 7 min.) YouTube video that says pretty much the same thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFpanWNgfQY .
I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop, and maybe this is it: According to Korean news agency Chosun, the "Chinese army has deployed about 150,000 troops to the North Korean border in two groups to prepare for unforeseen circumstances."
Oh boy, 150K troops sounds like a lot, doesn't it? I'm still wondering about all this global intrigue, and how much is posturing and theatrics. The Tomahawk attack is suspect in my mind since planes were flying out of the airfield a day later.
Which got me wondering about an old movie from '97 that dealt with a phony war to distract attention from a sexual scandal during a presidential election campaign. The movie is Wag the Dog, and I gave it a repeat viewing this past weekend. Years ago this dark comedy seemed a bit unlikely and far fetched but current events cast it in a completely different light, a fine example of prescience.
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Mr. Beagles has mentioned that he is the proud steward of 88 acres of the finest marshland that Michigan has to offer and I had to do a little calculating to visualize how big an area that is; maybe Uncle Ken will find it informative.
Imagine an area, if you will, bounded by State Street on the east, Kinzie on the south, Wells Street on the west, and Chicago Avenue on the north. That's eighty acres, so add 10% and you have the total area of the Beaglesonian Freehold. Quite a spread, but how much of it is arable, and what kind of mosquito problem is there? Sorry if those questions have already been asked and answered, but I lost my homework.
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Here's another can of worms for you guys to consider: what do you suppose is required to make the United Nations more effective in resolving international conflicts? I'm thinking that some of the national boundaries, arbitrarily drawn in the 20th Century, should be reconsidered. It's ironic that the big problems of the day are occurring in the "Cradle of Civilization."
I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop, and maybe this is it: According to Korean news agency Chosun, the "Chinese army has deployed about 150,000 troops to the North Korean border in two groups to prepare for unforeseen circumstances."
Oh boy, 150K troops sounds like a lot, doesn't it? I'm still wondering about all this global intrigue, and how much is posturing and theatrics. The Tomahawk attack is suspect in my mind since planes were flying out of the airfield a day later.
Which got me wondering about an old movie from '97 that dealt with a phony war to distract attention from a sexual scandal during a presidential election campaign. The movie is Wag the Dog, and I gave it a repeat viewing this past weekend. Years ago this dark comedy seemed a bit unlikely and far fetched but current events cast it in a completely different light, a fine example of prescience.
-----
Mr. Beagles has mentioned that he is the proud steward of 88 acres of the finest marshland that Michigan has to offer and I had to do a little calculating to visualize how big an area that is; maybe Uncle Ken will find it informative.
Imagine an area, if you will, bounded by State Street on the east, Kinzie on the south, Wells Street on the west, and Chicago Avenue on the north. That's eighty acres, so add 10% and you have the total area of the Beaglesonian Freehold. Quite a spread, but how much of it is arable, and what kind of mosquito problem is there? Sorry if those questions have already been asked and answered, but I lost my homework.
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Here's another can of worms for you guys to consider: what do you suppose is required to make the United Nations more effective in resolving international conflicts? I'm thinking that some of the national boundaries, arbitrarily drawn in the 20th Century, should be reconsidered. It's ironic that the big problems of the day are occurring in the "Cradle of Civilization."
Mess O Potamia
Hafez Al-Assad (had to look that one up, mostly he is just called Assad. I wonder why they don't just call him Al) is a very bad man/ His father was a very bad man and there had been some hope that the son wouldn't be that bad, but that hope turned out to be ill-founded.
Six years ago (That long? How time flies when you are barrel-bombing your people), the rebellion began amid the heady winds of the Arab spring. People took up arms to get rid of an unpopular dictator. It looked good at first, they were winning. Assad is an Alawite, some form of muslim, the important thing here is not sunni. He has sort of gathered the shias and other non suunis including Christians and yazidis and whatever about him against the sunni horde.
Anyway he was losing until Hezbollah threw in their lot with him. This made it more of a sunni/shia thing and then we saw al queda come in and the al nusra front and other hard liners who were all for getting rid of Assad sure, but also into killing shias and any of the other rebel forces who crossed them. Then there was ISIS.
There has periodically been talk of the Free Syrian army who oppose Assad but don't necessarily want to kill all the non sunnis. We even trained and armed a few of them who in their first outing had their guns taken away by a more ruthless force. Seems to me that any more the anti Assad forces are pretty hard cord anti shia. Bad men.
So there we are, bad men on one side, bad men on the other. Pick a side, I don't get too upset about Dump shooting off some fireworks, as long as we don't have our guys there I think that's the best we can do.
And i am not all that fired up about ISIS either. The problem is not that there is an ISIS, the problem is that people want to join ISIS. If we defeat them some other force that looks just like them will pop up its head.
Speaking of popping up heads, there is a whole huge war going on with the Saudis bombing the fuck out of the Yemenis, which we turn our head from because we don't want to offend the Saudis because we see them as a force for peace.
The reason Nixon went to China was not to be nice to the Chinese, it was to piss of the Russkies, which it did. Also Nixon sort of hoped they would rein in the North Vietnamese. But the North Vietnamese hated the Chinese (fought a forgotten war with them shortly after they kicked us out) and rather fancied the Russkies.
As far as Jesus saying there will be wars and earthquakes in various places before the apoclaypse, well shit that could be anytime.
I wonder along with Old Dog on that false flag thing with the gas attack. Al is winning his war. He could just as easily killed those people with barrel-bombs, the approved way, why start this shit storm,by using gas. I just haven't seen the hard proof that I would like to see, It just doesn't seem like people aren't doing due diligence, which I understand is hard to do in a war zone.
Six years ago (That long? How time flies when you are barrel-bombing your people), the rebellion began amid the heady winds of the Arab spring. People took up arms to get rid of an unpopular dictator. It looked good at first, they were winning. Assad is an Alawite, some form of muslim, the important thing here is not sunni. He has sort of gathered the shias and other non suunis including Christians and yazidis and whatever about him against the sunni horde.
Anyway he was losing until Hezbollah threw in their lot with him. This made it more of a sunni/shia thing and then we saw al queda come in and the al nusra front and other hard liners who were all for getting rid of Assad sure, but also into killing shias and any of the other rebel forces who crossed them. Then there was ISIS.
There has periodically been talk of the Free Syrian army who oppose Assad but don't necessarily want to kill all the non sunnis. We even trained and armed a few of them who in their first outing had their guns taken away by a more ruthless force. Seems to me that any more the anti Assad forces are pretty hard cord anti shia. Bad men.
So there we are, bad men on one side, bad men on the other. Pick a side, I don't get too upset about Dump shooting off some fireworks, as long as we don't have our guys there I think that's the best we can do.
And i am not all that fired up about ISIS either. The problem is not that there is an ISIS, the problem is that people want to join ISIS. If we defeat them some other force that looks just like them will pop up its head.
Speaking of popping up heads, there is a whole huge war going on with the Saudis bombing the fuck out of the Yemenis, which we turn our head from because we don't want to offend the Saudis because we see them as a force for peace.
The reason Nixon went to China was not to be nice to the Chinese, it was to piss of the Russkies, which it did. Also Nixon sort of hoped they would rein in the North Vietnamese. But the North Vietnamese hated the Chinese (fought a forgotten war with them shortly after they kicked us out) and rather fancied the Russkies.
As far as Jesus saying there will be wars and earthquakes in various places before the apoclaypse, well shit that could be anytime.
I wonder along with Old Dog on that false flag thing with the gas attack. Al is winning his war. He could just as easily killed those people with barrel-bombs, the approved way, why start this shit storm,by using gas. I just haven't seen the hard proof that I would like to see, It just doesn't seem like people aren't doing due diligence, which I understand is hard to do in a war zone.
Friday, April 7, 2017
Wars and Rumors of Wars
I'm not up to date on the latest developments in Syria, but I know that there are several factions fighting against the Syrian government as well as against each other. One of those factions is ISIS, the guys we are fighting against in Iraq, so it would make sense to lob some missiles into Syria if ISIS installations are being targeted, although I do not know for a fact that's what's going on. I'll try to catch up over the weekend so that I can discuss the current events intelligently.
I think there was a similar situation in Russia for awhile after the Czar was overthrown. One of those factions was called "The Whites", and another one was called "The Reds", probably because of the color of their flags. The Communists were the Red faction, they ultimately won out, and Communists have been called Reds ever since.
Something similar happened in China during and after World War II. Both the Nationalists and the Communists fought against the Japanese and also against each other. After the Japanese were defeated, the Communists drove the Nationalists into exile on the island of Taiwan, which had been called "Formosa" by the Japanese. For a long time, the Nationalists kept insisting that they were the legitimate government of all China, and the U.S. government backed them up until President Nixon reversed course, recognized the Communist Chinese government and sold Taiwan down the river for two teddy bears. Actually, it was two pandas which technically aren't bears, but U.S. labor leader George Meany mistakenly called them "teddy bears", and also mistakenly called Taiwan "Formosa" when he introduced Nixon thusly: "President Nixon just got back from a diplomatic mission to China. It went well. They got Formosa and we got two teddy bears." Anyway, before that happened, there was the Republic of China on Taiwan and the People's Republic of China on the mainland. Because the names were so similar, people started calling The People's Republic of China "Red China" to distinguish it from the Republic of China on Taiwan, which came to be known as just plain "Taiwan".
What, you may ask, does the title of this post have to do with any of this? The Bible quotes Jesus as saying that, in the days leading up to the Apocalypse, "There will be wars and rumors of wars, and earthquakes in various places." So hang on to your asses boys, the end is near.
I think there was a similar situation in Russia for awhile after the Czar was overthrown. One of those factions was called "The Whites", and another one was called "The Reds", probably because of the color of their flags. The Communists were the Red faction, they ultimately won out, and Communists have been called Reds ever since.
Something similar happened in China during and after World War II. Both the Nationalists and the Communists fought against the Japanese and also against each other. After the Japanese were defeated, the Communists drove the Nationalists into exile on the island of Taiwan, which had been called "Formosa" by the Japanese. For a long time, the Nationalists kept insisting that they were the legitimate government of all China, and the U.S. government backed them up until President Nixon reversed course, recognized the Communist Chinese government and sold Taiwan down the river for two teddy bears. Actually, it was two pandas which technically aren't bears, but U.S. labor leader George Meany mistakenly called them "teddy bears", and also mistakenly called Taiwan "Formosa" when he introduced Nixon thusly: "President Nixon just got back from a diplomatic mission to China. It went well. They got Formosa and we got two teddy bears." Anyway, before that happened, there was the Republic of China on Taiwan and the People's Republic of China on the mainland. Because the names were so similar, people started calling The People's Republic of China "Red China" to distinguish it from the Republic of China on Taiwan, which came to be known as just plain "Taiwan".
What, you may ask, does the title of this post have to do with any of this? The Bible quotes Jesus as saying that, in the days leading up to the Apocalypse, "There will be wars and rumors of wars, and earthquakes in various places." So hang on to your asses boys, the end is near.
Nothing to hide?
Do either of you fellows understand this business in Syria? As far as I know, the Russians are supporting the leader, the US is supporting some rebels, and this is devolving into a proxy war of sorts to see how far each side can push each other and who will blink first, with Syria in the middle. But are there other forces/factions involved, or is there more than one rebel group? I can't keep up with all the incoming information, or should I say propaganda?
Depending on which news source you read, that airfield that was hit by the Tomahawks was either (a) completely destroyed, or (b) suffered little damage. The loss of life was quite minimal considering the airfield was hit by more than fifty cruise missiles, some of which probably missed the target. I wonder if those missiles were going stale and were past their "best used by" date and were deployed as an excuse to refresh the current inventory; can't get new, upgraded weapons until the old ones are all used up. And it was awfully nice that the US gave the Russians a thirty minute advance notice of the incoming ordnance, wasn't it?
Another item that muddies the waters is the likelihood of false-flag operations. I've read about them, and they are most commonly described by the tin-foil hat brigade. I had to do a little research and it looks like many nations have used false-flag operations at one time or another, and the US is no exception. These global intrigues are like the layers of an onion, with everybody lying to each other and the truth is unlikely to be revealed. In the interests of National Security, of course. Being misinformed and misled is now part of our new reality.
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Nobody has mentioned anything here about the recently signed legislation that allows ISPs (internet service providers) to sell your personal information. Browsing history, GPS location, social media contacts, all kinds of metadata are available to the highest bidder. It used to be that the user could opt out of sharing this information, which is mainly used for advertising, but no more. Isn't that a little scary, given how insecure much of the internet is? It's not just advertisers I'm thinking about; how about law enforcement or other authorities? No warrants necessary, just pony up a few bucks; I'm sure they will be offered generous discounts.
It's an ongoing trend, this invasive snooping by the government. I believe international travelers are already required to unlock all devices for TSA inspection. And I've read anecdotal stories about police demanding the same thing, even for trivial matters like a traffic stop. Unlock your phone because you were going five mph over the limit? That's not right.
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Although I've seen it a couple of times over the years, I gave Goodfellas, a film some critics consider Scorcese's finest work, another viewing the other night. Good golly, it holds up well, even better than I remember. There are things I never noticed before, such as a production error where, in a scene that takes place in 1963, this guy is leaning on the trunk of a '65 Impala. Mr. Beagles has mentioned a dislike of movies with bloody scenes, so this is not a movie for him, even if those scenes are highly exaggerated and unrealistic. But it's a well told tale, very stylish, and well acted. Good soundtrack, too.
One thing I noticed is that most of the crimes committed happened with the collusion of police, security guards, and other insiders, who were all properly rewarded. I don't recall any out and out "stick 'em ups." But if you screw up and violate their code the penalty is severe; you will get whacked. Their system is rigged, too.
Depending on which news source you read, that airfield that was hit by the Tomahawks was either (a) completely destroyed, or (b) suffered little damage. The loss of life was quite minimal considering the airfield was hit by more than fifty cruise missiles, some of which probably missed the target. I wonder if those missiles were going stale and were past their "best used by" date and were deployed as an excuse to refresh the current inventory; can't get new, upgraded weapons until the old ones are all used up. And it was awfully nice that the US gave the Russians a thirty minute advance notice of the incoming ordnance, wasn't it?
Another item that muddies the waters is the likelihood of false-flag operations. I've read about them, and they are most commonly described by the tin-foil hat brigade. I had to do a little research and it looks like many nations have used false-flag operations at one time or another, and the US is no exception. These global intrigues are like the layers of an onion, with everybody lying to each other and the truth is unlikely to be revealed. In the interests of National Security, of course. Being misinformed and misled is now part of our new reality.
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Nobody has mentioned anything here about the recently signed legislation that allows ISPs (internet service providers) to sell your personal information. Browsing history, GPS location, social media contacts, all kinds of metadata are available to the highest bidder. It used to be that the user could opt out of sharing this information, which is mainly used for advertising, but no more. Isn't that a little scary, given how insecure much of the internet is? It's not just advertisers I'm thinking about; how about law enforcement or other authorities? No warrants necessary, just pony up a few bucks; I'm sure they will be offered generous discounts.
It's an ongoing trend, this invasive snooping by the government. I believe international travelers are already required to unlock all devices for TSA inspection. And I've read anecdotal stories about police demanding the same thing, even for trivial matters like a traffic stop. Unlock your phone because you were going five mph over the limit? That's not right.
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Although I've seen it a couple of times over the years, I gave Goodfellas, a film some critics consider Scorcese's finest work, another viewing the other night. Good golly, it holds up well, even better than I remember. There are things I never noticed before, such as a production error where, in a scene that takes place in 1963, this guy is leaning on the trunk of a '65 Impala. Mr. Beagles has mentioned a dislike of movies with bloody scenes, so this is not a movie for him, even if those scenes are highly exaggerated and unrealistic. But it's a well told tale, very stylish, and well acted. Good soundtrack, too.
One thing I noticed is that most of the crimes committed happened with the collusion of police, security guards, and other insiders, who were all properly rewarded. I don't recall any out and out "stick 'em ups." But if you screw up and violate their code the penalty is severe; you will get whacked. Their system is rigged, too.
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