Seriously???

NYC spent almost $1M on robots to patrol the subway…

This week, the New York Police Department rolled out several robots to patrol Times Square and the city’s subway system to fight crime. 

According to the New York Post, this includes two “Digi-dogs,” which cost nearly $750,000. Another egg-shaped robot can patrol the subway system to detect people in the subway during restricted hours and “is equipped with more than a dozen microphones and a 360-degree HD camera, as well as sonar and lidar sensors,” as well as a license plate reader.

Full article, HERE.

Anybody want to bet how long it will be before they are ‘tagged’, damaged, or destroyed?

If you follow the twitter links, there are already comments on how to ‘kill’ the dogs by pulling the batteries…

Sigh…

Snort…

Sometimes you just gotta have fun… Navy style…

Early 2000s during an airpower demonstration at sea!

The F-18 driver was a former Blue Angel, so he knew what he was doing (and probably laughing his ass off as people realized he was inverted)…

In other news, so much for the Xiden administration NOT knowing about the raid on Mar a Lago…

And another one… Not only was the Afghan withdrawal report an absolute cluster they tried to blame on Trump, which was refuted by numerous boots on the ground and people who were in the know, the Pentagon leaks have shown how the ‘sausage’ is made, and it’s not pretty, nor, obviously, secure…

But Kirby is out there spouting the usual BS…

White House National Security spokesman John Kirby warned against sharing leaked documents, while still refusing to confirm their authenticity…

“Again, without confirming the validity of the documents, this is information that has no business in the public domain,” he told the press in a Monday briefing. “It has no business — if you don’t mind me saying — on the front pages of newspapers or on televisionIt is not intended for public consumption, and it should not be out there.

Full article, HERE at PJ Media.

And Larry, over at Virtual Mirage has an update on the Jan 6 mess. At least FORTY 4 0 undercover operatives were involved just from the FBI, and no telling how many more from other agencies… HERE.

And they got shirts made??? Really???

Sigh…

It’s always nice…

When one gets a shout out…

Especially when you’re one of the ‘and more’ authors!

Thanks Les!!!

Oh yeah, you can preorder, HERE!

PIcking and choosing…

Is a quick way to get this country in DEEP trouble…

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (R-NY) demands that President Joe Biden ignore a Texas judge’s ruling to halt the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. 

“I believe that the Biden administration should ignore this ruling,” AOC said on CNN, adding that “deeply partisan” judges have “engaged in unprecedented and dramatic erosion of the legitimacy of the courts,” calling the ruling “unfounded.” 

Full article, HERE from Townhall.

Soooo… What happens when ‘we’ start making those same decisions of what to obey and what to ignore?

Then who’s fault is it? Of course, it will be ‘our’ fault… sigh…

Rules for thee, and not for me seems to be the way this administration is treating not only judicial decisions, but damned near everything else!

Grrr…

Happy Easter!!!

There, I SAID that dirty word… At least in some quarters… Sigh

He is risen!!!

Happy Easter to all, and remember it is more than Easter eggs and chocolate rabbits…

Now go spend time with your loved ones!

And the obligatory cute pic…

Easter-Brunch-Raleigh

And I truly hope you remember where you hid ALL the eggs… 😉

67 years ago, there was a different feeling toward Christianity. Good Friday, 1956, NYC.

Points to ponder…

This is one Victor Davis Hanson column you really need to read.

We are in a Jacobin Revolution of the sort that in 1793-94 nearly destroyed France. And things are getting scary.

The Democratic Party vanished sometime in 2020.

It was absorbed by hard-left ideologues. They were bent on radically altering, or hijacking, existing institutions to force radical, equality-of-result agendas that otherwise do not earn majority support.

The American people want affordable power and fuel and energy autonomy. They do not want a Green New Deal that results in dependence on the Middle East.

They want fiscal sobriety, not a permanent stagflationary economy marked by bank failures, soaring interest rates, crony capitalism, and subsidies for those who choose not to work.

Full article, HERE.

We are getting closer and closer to the edge of ‘something’… And I’m frankly afraid of what that may be…

As we celebrate this holy week, with the Jews celebrating the feast of Passover, and Christians celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, christianity in any form is under attack from all sides.

I found THIS article to be an interesting read for the comparisons and, again, things to think about…

We need to be pulling together to pull this country out of the doldrums and problems rather than playing partisan politics, word games, and letting the loudest screamers get their way…

Twisted Tropes…

Is ALIVE!!! Finally…

Click on the cover for the Amazon link!

The blurb-

Things are never what they seem, and on the other side of this cover, what you know isn’t so!

Plunge into eight tales of that will feel familiar, only to careen through more twists than a country road at night, and stranger turns: From noir private eyes, to Fae battles, to the cookies of the dark side, you’ll find a surprise in every story!

Caliborne’s Curse Monalisa Foster
Late Night Drive Ethan Whisnand
Plaza of Pain Tom Rogneby
The Luck Breaker Rhiain O’Connell
The Chosen One Cedar Sanderson
Dog Saves Man Christopher Markman
Demons and Dishes Dorothy Grant
Nick Slade-Private Eye JL Curtis

Thanks to the usual suspects, and Jesse Baggett for the cover art! She is a local artist who does ‘whimsical’ paintings of animals. HERE is a link to her work!

Who knew…

T-Rex had lips???

Theropod dinosaurs such as the iconic Tyrannosaurus rex have long been portrayed with their teeth fully visible, similar to extant crocodilians. This pattern of portrayal largely had to do with relatedness between dinosaurs and crocodilians and the relationship between tooth and jaw size.

Full article HERE from Science magazine…

And every little six year old boy in the world (and those who remember being six) are going NOOOOOooooo… Teef, they has big teef!!!

Sigh… Sometimes science does destroy our dreams… LOL

And this one from Norway is even more interesting! Some scientists decided to take a look at the farmland around the Jell Mound in southern Norway to see if anything else was there.

(Jellhaugen is the second largest burial mound in Norway and among the largest in Scandinavia and Northern Europe. It has a diameter of 85 metres and a height of around 9 metres. It’s difficult to know exactly how old it is, but has been dated to around 1,500 years ago.)

What they found was completely unexpected!!!

The Late Nordic Iron Age (AD 550–1050) was characterised by significant change in political, military, judicial and religious structures across Scandinavia, most clearly manifested in the appearance of high-status ‘central places’ in the landscape. Recent ground-penetrating radar surveys at Gjellestad in Norway have revealed a site comprising several large burial mounds—one of which contains a ship burial—in addition to a possible cult house and a feasting hall. This combination of features suggests that Gjellestad was part of a hitherto unknown central place on the eastern shores of the Oslofjord. If correct, the authors’ interpretations demonstrate that the layouts of these sites were formulaic, and that central places may be more common than previously thought.

Full article, HERE from Cambridge University Press.

So we keep learning as technology allows more and more ways to ‘examine’ previously unknown locations…

Book promo…

Larry Correia’s fourth book in the Saga of the Forgotten Warrior is out- Tower of Silence 

As always, click on the cover for the Amazon link!

The blurb-

WAR RAGES AS THE GREAT EXTERMINATION SPREADS IN THE LATEST INSTALLMENT OF LARRY CORREIA’S BESTSELLING SON OF THE BLACK SWORD EPIC FANTASY SERIES.

The assassination of the Chief Judge has pushed the Capitol to the edge. The Great Extermination has spread to all the land. The casteless must be annihilated.

Their only hope is the fallen Protector Ashok Vadal. But Vadal is being held prisoner on the island of Fortress. In order to save those who need him most, he must escape and find his way across the demon-infested sea and return to Thera, the prophet of an illegal and forgotten god. It is she who has sent the Sons of the Black Sword to war against the warrior caste, hoping to buy time until Vadal’s return.

But as the chaos swirls, Grand Inquisitor Omand Vokkan launches a coup to install Lord Protector Devedas as his puppet king. Devedas has no intention of being anyone’s puppet, but it may not matter. For Vokkan has struck a secret bargain with a demon. Vokkan will destroy the casteless for this ancient being; in exchange, he will be granted the power of the ancient gods.

Ashok Vadal, Thera, and the Sons of the Black Sword face foes both human and supernatural, Byzantine political intrigue and bloody hand-to-hand combat, gods and demons alike. But Vadal is a warrior with a warrior’s heart, and woe to those who would stand in his way—man, god, demon, or otherwise!

Next is a little short from Kelly Grayson- Cecil the Combat Wombat

The blurb-

He didn’t ask for cartilaginous ass plates, but military science made him a warrior. And late at night when the nightmares come of innocents killed or twerking an enemy to death in a dark tunnel, he tells himself he did it to protect the other wombats in his unit. He sucks it up, soldiers on and does his duty.

He’s Cecil the Combat Wombat, and he’s seen some shit, man.

Mike Watson has returned to his Tri-Cluster Confederation series with The Prodigals

The blurb-

In the midst of an interstellar war, three people find themselves facing a long road home.

Roger Blankenship fled his home when the EarthGov tyranny drove the Thirty Houses from SolSystem. Blankenship placed his small group of warships between the EarthGov dominated System States Alliance and the Thirty Houses, fleeing to a new home.

Marcus Tolliver fled his home to escape the machinations of his father, a Magnate of Endicott’s World, to join the Confederation Navy. After the death of his older brother, Marcus refused his father’s demand to leave the navy and return home to be his father’s heir.

Katje Kappel had her life planned out. She wanted to enter the naval academy and be like her older sister, and her father, a naval ship’s captain.

However, events forces change. Roger Blankenship, after the warships of the Thirty House navy is turned over to the Confederation Navy, finds himself leading a small Confederate task group returning to SolSystem and finding human life on the verge of extinction. Marcus Tolliver finds himself given a task to deploy a new technology assisted by a young woman who is not what she appears. Katje Kappel, not meeting the requirements for entry into the Naval Academy, finds herself on an alternate path. One she hadn’t expected or wanted.

With the spread of war, each faces unexpected tribulations, danger, and uncertainty of their return home.

It’s up for pre-order, releasing later this month!!!

Oopsie…

It sucks when you can’t remember ‘whom’ you’re logged in as…

A burner account, kids, is an anonymous account that a person, often a public figure, uses in order to have the freedom to say things that the public figure in question wouldn’t dare say if they could be attributed to him or her. One of the most notorious burner accounts was Mitt Romney’s Pierre Delecto, which he used to champion the last principled, upright politician in the land, a chap named Mitt Romney.

Now, however, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been unmasked as the operator of a burner account that gives old Pierre a run for his money. AOC has apparently even used it to wish death on at least one person. What? You thought Leftists were as sweet, loving, and tolerant as they claim to be?

Full article, HERE.

So, once again a Pol is caught out with a burner account… what a ‘surprise’… NOT!

Ever since the creation of the Intarwebz and emails, people have been spoofing, phishing, and/or creating fictitious accounts for various reasons, most of them nefarious in nature…

And oopsie #2…

The Chinese spy balloon that was allowed to spend a week flying over the U.S. was able to transmit secret intelligence to Beijing about several military bases “in real time,” according to a Monday morning news report.

Three unnamed officials told NBC News that Communist China was able to “gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites.”

Full article, HERE.

There were a number of backchannel discussions about this IRT, and the basic agreement among the folks was that it WAS transmitting real time via satellite and that it had not been jammed, since that would have required either ‘burning’ it or putting a jammer in proximity to it for the entire route…

Hate to say we were right, but we were… Grrr…