E-bikes, E-scooters, Egad!

"All of sudden, a joy ride on a toy can end up with a long hospital stay - or worse. It is too late to outlaw these things, as the 'horse is already out of the barn'. These things are here to stay. But they need to stay in the bike lanes, should your city have bike lanes. Not the best solution, but the best I could think of on short notice."

Am I the only one who sees the proliferation of E-bikes and E-scooters as a problem? I know, I know - the kids love them. But here is my issue with these semi-toys. First off, they are not toys at all. They are motorized things which can take a twelve-year-old into traffic and have an unfortunate meeting with a much larger car or truck. Wait - am I saying these things should not be allowed on the street. Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. Then where to ride them? Sidewalks? Nope. Too dangerous for the peds who should be using the sidewalks.

As much as it saddens me to say this, it is only a matter of time before some kid makes a wrong decision. And not to take sides, but in my opinion, the scooters are much more dangerous than the bikes are. I have seen some of these young kids, wearing no helmet, going 30mph or faster on a scooter. I may be old school, but that is a prescription for disaster. I have seen young folks driving these things, going pel mel fast, taking all kinds of chances. Why? Young people think they are bullet proof. I know I did when I was young. The young brains are not developed as yet to sense danger.

The RV campground where our RV is located, is terrible for allowing young folk to ride these things fast and loose. Two years ago, some kid came a few feet from meeting his maker. Why? Taking chances on his E-scooter. Almost had a head on collision with a Ford pickup truck. One would think that after a very close call like that one, this foolishness would come to an end. It has not.

Here is the long and the short of it. When in traffic, E-bikes and E-scooters are no different than motorcycles or motor scooters. One wrong move and a much larger vehicle will ruin the day. All of sudden, a joy ride on a toy can end up with a long hospital stay - or worse. It is too late to outlaw these things, as the "horse is already out of the barn". These things are here to stay. But they need to stay in the bike lanes, should your city have bike lanes. Not the best solution, but the best I could think of on short notice.

  

 

Oh endorsements - where art thou?

"I feel for Kendall Qualls and Adam Schwarze. What a slap in the face. I feel sorrier for MNGOP, however. This organization may not be dead, but it sure is on life support. As an old Marine Corps Gunny that I knew in the service would say, when something was totally useless - 'Better kick some dirt over it before it starts to stink'. And with MNGOP, I can smell the odor already." 

As I live and breathe, I have never, not ever, seen anything like this. The MNGOP endorsement convention is long over, and it is as if it never happened. Somebody looking in from the outside might even think that there is (was) major disconnects between the delegates at the convention and the rest of the interested voters. How so? Some of the endorsed candidates will probably not survive the August 11th primary.

The race which is the biggest head scratcher is the one for the open senate seat. Adam Schwarze. Adam, the former Navy SEAL, came out of practically nowhere and won the endorsement. He even beat Michelle Tafoya, who had a ton of name recognition (and money). Now it was onward and upward to the general election, with just a minor pause at the primary. But wait! That minor pause for the primary has turned into a showstopper. Adam, who was king of the hill at the convention, is now in last place in the polling. He has less support than the nebulous person named "undecided".

That race, in and of itself, is a real cluster. But it gets worse. Mike Lindell, who recently received a tip of the hat from POTUS, is now in first place, ahead of Lisa Demuth. But wait - what? Lisa did not receive the endorsement - that was Kendall Qualls. Even though this race is a bit tighter than the blow away race for senate, the endorsed candidate (Qualls), is in third place behind Mike and Lisa. Riddle me this - what the what is going in with the MNGOP endorsement process?

As a former state delegate three times over, I can attest to the fact that attending these conventions are not always a bowl of honey. They are expensive. They are time consuming. They can be (and often are) - confusing and frustrating. After the nothing burger that this past convention became, good luck on getting volunteers to attend the next one. As they say in the citrus industry - the juice was not worth the squeeze.

I feel for Kendall Qualls and Adam Schwarze. What a slap in the face. I feel sorrier for MNGOP, however. This organization may not be dead, but it sure is on life support. As an old Marine Corps Gunny that I knew in the service would say, when something was totally useless - "Better kick some dirt over it before it starts to stink". And with MNGOP, I can smell the odor already. 

 

Isreal please! More decapitation!

 

"I don't think we can finish the deal without the help of the IDF. Time to get them back into the fray. They are solid fighters with excellent intel, and they always have our sixes (putting the USS Liberty aside). Time for the kill shot Mr. President. Let's take it."   

Ever since the jump, the IDF had one major focus in the war with Iran. Decapitation. Regime change. Why? They knew that the only way to change the snake was to cut off the head of the current snake. The United States on the other hand, was only concerned with the degradation of Iran's military and missile program. Oh - one more thing - the nuclear dust at the bottom of the Fordow facility. Between the IDF and US forces, much of what was on the menu - was accomplished.

OK - war over, right? Well - not exactly. Here is what the Washington Whispers are saying. Iran is a tougher nut than we thought they would be. Every time we smoked one of the IRGC goons who was in charge of something in Iran - up pops another goon. It is like a never-ending chain of bad guys. And then, when POTUS tried to show our other cheek during a "pause" and give Iran the chance to sell some oil, they used it to reconstitute some of their drones and missiles.

Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz is slowed to a crawl because of the IRGC continuing to take pot shots at commercial shipping. The flow through the Strait slows down, the price of oil goes up, the President's approval numbers go down. As far as Iran is concerned, their plan is working out nicely. As far as the good guys are concerned, the stench of a forever war is starting to be noticed.

Since Israel was the closest and best target for the IRGC, the US decided to turn down the heat a bit. Have the IDS stand down. Come to a peace deal with Lebanon. Here is the problem. Decapitation. It is not happening like it was. The Mossad was doing an excellent job in getting all kinds of current G2. My opinion? We need to get the IDF involved again in decapitation. Otherwise, this war could start to drag on. And on. And on.

I don't think we can finish the deal without the help of the IDF. Time to get them back into the fray. They are solid fighters with excellent intel, and they always have our sixes (the USS Liberty aside). Time for the kill shot Mr. President. Let's take it.   

Return to Pickaxe Mountain

 

"How is this going to end? No more talking as the IRGC have proven to be liars and cheats. All I know is this - I am grad I don't have to make the choice on what to do about Pickaxe. That is way above my paygrade, and I am glad it is."   

Yes, there really is a mountain in Iran called "Pickaxe". When I first heard that name, I thought it was either a misprint or a joke. Why? "Pickaxe" sounds like the name of mountain in our old west, which was named by an old prospector. But it is not. It is a real name for a real mountain in Iran. And right now, this real mountain with a real name, could spell trouble for us and for Israel. 

One of the things we lose sight of when thinking about Iran, is just how big this place is. Like bigger than Texas and California put together. So what? Here is the what - with a country that big, and that nefarious, there are PLENTY places to hide things you should not have. And Pickaxe Mountain, due to its heavy granite composition, was a perfect place for the IRGC to hollow out and put in a deep, deep underground storage and nuclear facility. 

The Iranians have done their homework. They know just how deep they needed to go to escape the power of our GBU-57 A/B MOP bomb. This monster bomb, which can only be carried by a B-2 bomber, can be dropped on a hardened target and penetrate (then explode) down to 200 feet. This what was used on Iran's Fordow facility during Midnight Hammer. The bunker busters dropped that night, were just heavy enough to get through to the bad stuff in Fordow and destroy it. 

Okay - if that be the case, why not try those bunker busters again on Pickaxe? Because Pickaxe is deeper and better contained in granite. Our current bunker busters would just make noise, with no real damage. And now we know the real problem. The real choice - and it is not a good choice.

We also have something in our hip pocket which has never been used before. It is called an Earth Penetrating Weapon (EPW). It is a nuke. It is the bad ass bigger brother of the non-nuclear bombs used at Fordow. If we use this weapon, it will be the first time since WWII that an atomic or nuclear bomb has been used in anger. It will be a game changer, in that warfare will never be the same again. We will have crossed the Rubicon should we use this weapon.

Wait - we must have other choices. We do. First off, we can do nothing and continue to attrit the Iranians by our nightly bombing. That may or may not work. Or - we can send in our ground pounders for some boots on the ground action. That could end up being bloody and messy, with no guarantee of success. So that is it. Our choices are do keep on doing what we are doing, start a ground war, or nuke the mountain. 

How is this going to end? No more talking as the IRGC have proven to be liars and cheats. All I know is this - I am grad I don't have to make the choice on what to do about Pickaxe. That is way above my paygrade, and I am glad it is.   

Has China beat us to 6g?

"Back to 6g for a second. Elon Musk thinks his Starlink product might be the closest to getting 6g. If that is true, it will be Elon, once again, to save us. If Elon is just blowing smoke and he is no closer to 6g than 2030, then we might have to give a tip of the hat to China. Will China be a fair trader with us on their 6g products? Are they fair traders on anything? Case closed."

Let me start this by saying there is absolutely nothing wrong with all the super technology which is packed into your current cellphone. By now, most of us (unless we still love the flip phones), have 5g technology in our phones. That was a huge jump for the industry, as it really cut the latency time down for downloading and such. But is good enough ever good enough in the world of technology? Nope. Right now, our smart folks in phone labs are working on the anticipated 6g phone. Why? The latency time will be a hundred times faster than the 5g. What does that mean? You could download 5 movies in less than one second.

Okay - forget the movie example for a minute. There are hundreds of other applications which would be good, very good, to have faster latency. Some of which are medical, and some involve national security. But not to worry - we are way ahead of the rest of the world in this critical development. Or are we? It seems that last week, China announced they have cracked the code (so to speak) and come out with a 6g prototype. If this is true, and not just Chinese smoke and mirrors, that would put them over three years ahead of us. Currently, we are racing to have 6g on the market by 2030. 

Not to be the bearer of not so good news, but there is more. China, who is our main competitor in the world of AI, seems to have fast tracked their AI development a bit faster than us. The lead (all be it small) we have had over the Chinese seems to have evaporated. Now it is an old-fashioned foot race. But all things being equal, here is the real bothersome part to me. Current intel shows the "go to market" pricing that China will have on AI technology will be 40% less than ours. If their product is as good as ours, yet 40% cheaper - that will be a killer on global sales.

Meanwhile, what is going on in the world of our AI. Kathy Hochel (governor of NY) has just put a one-year moratorium on the building of any new AI data centers. In this footrace where every week counts, to have a major state like New York put a hold on any new data centers will not help us - not one bit. And locally here, Elk River just voted down permitting on a new data center. Why? NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard). And the NIMBY bug could be spreading across the nation.

Back to 6g for a second. Elon Musk thinks his Starlink product might be the closest to getting 6g. If that is true, it will be Elon, once again, to save us. If Elon is just blowing smoke and he is no closer to 6g than 2030, then we might have to give a tip of the hat to China. Will China be a fair trader with us on their 6g products? Are they fair traders on anything? Case closed.  

Sliding into another "forever war"?

"Wars and rumors of wars. Sounds familiar? Wonder why our DOW (formerly DOD) ask if for $1.5 T this next fiscal year? War cost money and it costs lives. Many times, the juice in not worth the squeeze. Really? Just ask Putin how his day is going."  

If you stop and take a deep breath, you can almost smell Iraq instead of Iran. Iraq, the "shock and awe" war that G.W. Bush led us into to make quick work of getting rid of Saddam and restoring Iraq to democracy - became a quagmire. The "shock and awe" portion of the war was not too bad, but the years of insurgency following, on was very painful for the USA. And just like that, as we start out the new millennium, we were knee deep in messy "boots on the ground" wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Once we finally extracted ourselves from both wars, the clamor went up from the masses saying - NEVER AGAIN! 

I am reminded of that old saying - wars are easy to start and very hard to finish. Don't think so? Try asking Vladimir Putin on how his four-day military action in Ukraine is going. The four-days have somehow turned into years, with Russia losing 1.5 million men. Right now, Russia is stuck in another "forever war" in which they could never have foreseen. But there they are - spending national blood and treasure for what? To eventually lose?

But were are too smart to fall into that kind of a trap. We were going to teach the IRGC as hard and fast lesson. One and done, in there and out of there. A clean, easy-peasy type of war. So, we thought. But for some reason, Iran had another idea. And now, with a good part of our fleet sitting off the coast of Iran, the "in and out" war is turning into a "forever war". And as much as we all hate to hear these words, to really cut out the cancer in Iran, to get rid of the IRGC and let peace return to the shire - it will take some boots on the ground. And with boots on the ground will come more misery and death for America.

It would have helped if we could have built a "coalition of the willing" like Bush 41 did before the first Gulf War. With that kind of help, the "shock and awe" war made mincemeat of the Saddam predicted "Mother of all wars". It was over in just a few days, with victory for the good guys being almost sanitary. But that was then, and this is now. Those easy days are over. To truly vanquish this foe in Iran, we really need to put the pedal to the metal. Total commitment. Air, sea and land. But if we do that, there will be a cost to pay. Blood and treasure. Right now, I am getting that spider tingling that we might be stuck. Either cut and run, fight to the death, or fight another "forever war" of attrition. 

Do I blame Donald Trump for getting us into this mess? Not really - a nuclear Iran would be unacceptable to Israel, the United States, the Arab neighborhood, and even Europe. Also, a regime who guns down tens of thousands of its own citizens has no right to exist. If we had a viable United Nations, maybe they could have done something about that issue. No - Iran needs to change, needs to de-nuke, and once again the toilet cleaning job falls on the US military (with a strong assist from the IDF).

Wars and rumors of wars. Sounds familiar? Wonder why our DOW (formerly DOD) ask if for $1.5 T this next fiscal year? War cost money and it costs lives. Many times, the juice in not worth the squeeze. Really? Just ask Putin how his day is going.  

And then there is, once again - crazy

 

"We need more NORMAL people to run for office. I know they are out there - they just need to make themselves known. I like people who love this country and are as American as apple pie. Does that make me a 'Nationalist'? Maybe - but in my book, that makes me an American before anything else."   

Ladies and gentlemen - meet Ashley Webb. He/she/it/they are (is) running to be a UNITED STATES SENATOR from the state of Maine. Let that marinate for just a minute. The great state of Maine, a state I called home for almost two years of my life, has finally rejected having a man with a Nazi tattoo on his chest, and is now auditioning for a more normal replacement for him. Normal? Have you seen or listened to Miss/Mr. Webb? What in the world has happened to Maine? I know it is not the water, as I drank plenty of it while living there.

All of a sudden, nationwide, the jar of fruits and nuts seems to have been shaken, stirred and then poured out. From seeing the collage of oddities who were running for governor of California as well as the mayor of LA, to the oddballs running for senate in Michigan, all I can say is WOW! It is like normal has taken a coffee break, and average looks a bit too radical these days. The name of the game is the stranger the better. And - as a plus up - hating America as it stands is a huge new value for the crazies. 

Just thirty years ago, if some of these "candidates" made it onto the public stage, the American public would have thought it was a skit from Saturday Night Live, or some other comedy show. But today, we are expected to look at this loony bin and accept them as serious. In what world could that happen? Not the world I live in. We have enough oddballs in Congress right now, without adding to the mixture. Like whom, you might ask? Rose DeLauro. Enough said.

America - what in the world is happening here? I know we are a diverse country, but now we have gone way, way over the edge by running Commies for office, as well as fruits and nuts who have fallen off the turnip truck. I fear to see what comes out of the next election. I fear even more what will come out of the Presidential election in 2028. With the trajectory of the new left, I could see Hunter Biden making a run for the White House, with AOC as his running mate. 

We need more NORMAL people to run for office. I know they are out there - they just need to make themselves known. I like people who love this country and are as American as apple pie. Does that make me a "nationalist"? Maybe - but in my book, that makes me an American before anything else.