Oh boy!  Here's an opportunity to tell some real "whoppers" for fish tales.  I have a couple of fun ones, both true.  Probably two of my greatest fishing stories.  I have spent many, many, years as a fisherman, and even thought of going Pro for a while when I was younger.  So, some pretty solid fishing background and experiences.  Ironically, both of these stories happened within a week of each other too!...(Pretty unusual, as fishing stories go).  Both stories took place in southern Florida on the Gulf side (where I did a fair amount of my serious fishing).  The location for both of these stories was Marco Island, which was then considerably less populated than it is now (much of the island was just old fishing villages, with a modern kind of ritzy section being built).  Now it's a thriving metropolis.

The first story begins with a fishing contest me and my buddy, Todd, used to enter on an annual basis.  We both consistently placed in this contest, and even won a few championships between us.  We were both very competitive (with each other).  This particular contest was sponsored by a big fishing tackle and commercial fishing supply place, and they generally had some pretty nice prizes (i.e. expensive tackle, cash prizes and high-end gear).  They generally had multiple categories you could enter, and I generally always entered the saltwater contest in three fish categories, Snook, Redfish, and Grouper.  I was a pretty good Snook fisherman at the time, so I could usually plan on catching at least one good sized Snook.  The rules were (3) fish, and you could have any combination of fish in the (3) categories.  Each category was judged by size and weight in that category (or class), and then you also entered a total combined weight across all (3) classes...but only (3) fish max.  The contest ran for 7 days and you could bring an entry on any of the days, BUT once you entered a fish you couldn't 'un-enter' it and substitute a bigger/different fish.  Again, (3) fish total.

Days 1 -3:  Normally, I always caught fish, but then the question became should I enter that fish or try for a bigger one?  On the first three days I got totally skunked!  Aside from junk fish, or species outside the classes, I had 'zippo' at the end of day #3 (this was really rare for me).  

Day 4:  Changed some tactics (and tackle) and caught several fish before Noon.  Most were small Snook which I had to cut loose.  (18" min. legal size).  Then I boated a Redfish and a Snook which were both keepers, but nothing special.  I knew, at very best, neither of these fish would probably place (based on past experience...the competition was pretty intense, as you were up against local guides and everyone else).  After a few minutes of deliberation I decided to toss both in the fish locker and keep them, to fillet out the Redfish and eat it, and I'd take a chance on entering the Snook.

Day 5:  Nothin!  Wow!  A couple small ones, no keepers and a complete zippo for the day!  Checked in with my buddy (and a couple others I knew); everyone was struggling.  At least I didn't feel so bad.

Day 6:  Nothing in the morning.  Then I caught a good sized Grouper when I decided to hit a man made reef offshore for a while to break up the pace.  Grouper, being quite a bit bigger, was still good sized.  12 lbs as I recall.  He was going in the locker for sure and would be entered.  This was really unusual for me, because normally I'd have all (3) fish as Snook and they'd be turned in already (and this had been my goal up to this point).  Well, I wasn't having any results at all with Snook (or Redfish, which I didn't fish a lot anyway), so thought I should focus on Grouper.  That was it for day #6.  Turned in the Grouper and found out someone had turned in one bigger than my fish already (dammit!).  

Day 7:  Final day.  Time to put up, or shut up; the heat was on.  My buddy Todd had entered the freshwater category, so the whole time I was out on the boat, he was onshore fishing for Bass (and two other fish, which I forget).  Fished up until about 2pm.  I was fried to a crisp, as I'd been out all (7) days.  I was really about ready to call it a day.  5pm was the deadline.  I was done, and wasn't going to even place.  Decided to try this one last spot I knew of in the Marco River Channel.  There was a hole in this channel and if there were fish (at all) they were generally big, and often Grouper.  All of a sudden I snagged both lines big-time.  I was hung up bad.  This tackle was kind of expensive, so I didn't want to lose it.  I'd finish my day trying to get un-snagged.  That was UNTIL...my "snag" started to move!  No way could this be a fish.  I figured maybe I'd hooked a manatee or something, but it was pretty deep for a manatee (about 30').  It was definitely moving.  Holy crap!  Long story short...it was indeed a fish.

Got the fish up to the boat, and it was a Goliath Grouper, and it was WAY too big to get in the boat myself!  Now what??  Running out of time.  I didn't know exactly how big this fish really was, but he was a monster!  I managed to get a rope through his mouth and out his gills on one side and tied him off to the stern cleat.  Time was running out.  I would have to go very slow if I was going to pull this off, but I managed to get him to the Marco River Marina which was the closest place I had any hope of getting this fish out of the water.

Once out of the water and hanging from the scale, he weighed in a 397 lbs!!  No lie either!  Had to call the contest place and tell them I had this fish.  By this time the Miami Herald had showed up along with a pretty big crowd.  Some quick checks and I was 75 lbs short of a Florida State Record fish (bummer), but he was still a bomber!  Unless someone had caught another one like him, the contest would be in the bag.  

The contest folks sent someone to the marina to verify the catch.  Won the contest, hand's down, got my picture in the Miami Herald and even sold the fish to a local restaurant who had shown up.  Didn't take the State Record, but still, biggest fish I ever caught in Florida...by far!  Won a bunch of cool stuff in the contest (which was nice), and best of all...blew my buddy, Todd, out of the water!!

True story too, folks!

My 2nd story isn't about a big fish, nor an even particularly notable fish; it's just the story of catching it (sort of).  ...

(to be continued in Part II (next))  
(Note - It will be interesting to see if my next post "merges" with this one as a single post, or if it shows up separately).

OK the proof or innuendo is released... There are a few on the 2016 list I would like to see squirm in prison jump suits for the remainder of their days.

Quote:0:00
Yeah, thank you so much, Sean. This is
0:02
such an important issue and I just want
0:03
to start by saying that this is an issue
0:06
that is important to every single one of
0:09
us as Americans. This is not a partisan
0:11
issue. Uh it it has to do with the
0:14
integrity and the strength of our
0:16
democratic republic. And it lays out the
0:19
this over hundred documents that you're
0:20
referencing that I released,
0:22
declassified and released, spells out in
0:25
great detail exactly what happens when
0:28
you have some of the most powerful
0:29
people in our country directly uh at
0:32
leading at the helm, President Obama uh
0:35
and his senior most national security
0:37
cabinet uh James Comey, John Brennan, uh
0:40
James Clapper, and Susan Rice and others
0:44
essentially making a very uh uh intent
0:47
intentional decision to create this
0:50
manufactured politicized piece of
0:52
intelligence with the objective of
0:54
subver subverting the will of the
0:57
American people who in November of 2016
1:00
delivered a historic victory to
1:01
President Trump, defeating Hillary
1:04
Clinton and and President Obama and his
1:06
team. Their goal was to essentially not
1:09
accept uh the decision of the American
1:11
people and to use this this manufactured
1:15
politicized intelligence as a means to
1:18
enact what would become essentially a
1:20
yearslong coup against President Trump.
1:23
You have gone into great te detail over
1:26
these years of of what the effects of
1:28
this document and this decision uh have
1:30
resulted in. Uh obviously a yearslong
1:33
Müller investigation that cost taxpayers
1:35
almost $40 million. Two congressional uh
1:38
impeachments, endless smears and attacks
1:41
against not only President Trump but his
1:44
family. He had senior members of his
1:45
team who were uh uh investigated, some
1:48
arrested and jailed. We had heightened
1:51
and increased tensions between the
1:52
United States and Russia. The list goes
1:55
on and on about the consequences of
1:58
President Obama and his senior cabinet
2:00
members politicizing intelligence once
2:04
again and I say these words very clearly
2:06
to enact what was essentially a
2:08
yearslong coup subverting the will of
2:11
the American people in that election uh
2:14
in November. Now, you referenced this uh
2:17
this president's daily brief document
2:19
that was drafted for President Obama in
2:22
early December that reaffirmed what the
2:24
intelligence community professionals, as
2:26
you say, have had been assessing for the
2:28
previous 6 months leading up to the
2:30
election, which was that Russia neither
2:32
had the intent nor capability to
2:35
essentially hack the outcome of the US
2:37
election. As you said, President Obama's
2:41
political appointees
2:43
pulled that document before it could be
2:45
published, and it has not been published
2:48
until we released it today. And the very
2:51
next day after they pulled that
2:52
document, President Obama called the
2:54
National Security Council cabinet
2:56
meeting to discuss how Russia uh uh
3:00
interfered with the election. Again,
3:02
this is the first meeting. President
3:05
Trump had already won, correct? This is
3:08
the December 9th meeting that came
3:10
That's exactly right. The December 9th
3:12
meeting, we uh declassified and released
3:15
the what they called the summary of
3:17
conclusions from that meeting. Uh then
3:20
DNI James Clapper took the lead on what
3:23
President Obama wanted done and which
3:26
was essentially create a document that
3:29
tells us not if but how Russia
3:33
interfered with the election. President
3:35
Obama delivered the conclusion that he
3:37
wanted the intelligence community uh uh
3:40
to reach and and directed them to find
3:44
and essentially create and manufacture
3:46
the intelligence to support the
3:48
conclusion that President Obama wanted
3:50
to deliver to the American people. Once
3:53
that document was drafted, the deep
3:56
state kicked into gear and did what they
3:58
usually do. They started leaking this
4:00
classified information out to their
4:01
friends at the Washington Post and
4:03
others. uh who who are are working
4:06
handinand glove uh with the deep state
4:09
to lay the groundwork for the assessment
4:11
that they eventually released that
4:13
served as the basis once again for this
4:15
years'sl long coup with the goal of
4:17
trying to subvert the American people's
4:19
will and usurp President Trump from
4:21
being able to deliver on the mandate
4:23
that the American people gave to him
4:25
when they chose to elect him as
4:27
president of the United states.

For the first time Tommy opens up about how he joined the Ozzy Osbourne band , his relationship with Randy and what happened the day Randy died.

The video is 30 mins long but for fans of Aldridge or Rhoads essential viewing.


First professional band I saw was Ozzy Osbourne at the NEC in Birmingham , as a young drummer my mind was blown when during his solo Tommy threw his sticks out and played with his hands .... he's still doing it today and is still one of the greats and possibly one of the nicest people in rock.

It is about time !

Quote:Trump’s New Border STRIKE ORDER Just Sent CJNG & Sinaloa Into HIDING | Their Fortresses Are Empty Trump's new aggressive border strike directive has forced the Sinaloa Cartel to flee, leaving their strongholds abandoned In a major escalation at the southern border, Donald Trump's new strike order has sent shockwaves through cartel operations—especially the Sinaloa Cartel. Once-impenetrable cartel fortresses are now reportedly empty as members vanish to avoid the heat. This sudden retreat signals just how serious Trump's crackdown has become. What exactly is in the strike order? What does this mean for border security and cartel power going forward? Don't miss this deep dive into the unfolding situation and what could happen next. Watch now and stay ahead of the headlines—like, comment, and subscribe for updates as the story develops.

It`s pretty hardcore in China , the digital AI ALL-SEEING-EYE that tracks everything, everybody . It start to Look like America is heading to that direction now ...thank`s to Trump and the beautiful bill. 







Big Beautiful Bill makes Trump’s digital surveillance state permanent

Quote:Lost in all the talk from Trump and his Republican allies about the alleged tax cuts we’ll be getting from the Big Beautiful Bill recently signed into law is how the money financing border control will do little to secure the border but will do plenty to expand and make permanent his dream of creating a biometric digital surveillance state capable of spying on every American.
Many billions of dollars allocated in the bill is specifically earmarked for building digital tracking systems nationwide — mostly under the guise of ‘border security’ — beginning with the monitoring of all major state and federal highways (via BiometricUpdate.com):

The 940-page bill does much more than allocate dollars; it would codify a vision of the national security state where biometric surveillance, AI, and immigration enforcement converge at unprecedented scale.
DHS officials … say the funds are aimed at expanding ICE’s access to mobile biometric tools, integrating facial recognition into field operations, automating risk scoring for individuals in deportation proceedings, and accelerating case processing through AI-driven platforms.
Biometric provisions also extend to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which is slated to receive $6.168 billion for modern surveillance, biometric, and screening technologies. The legislative text outlines the deployment of Autonomous Surveillance Towers (AST) and artificial intelligence for threat detection, language that suggests an operational integration of facial recognition, gait analysis, and predictive behavioral models along the southern border.

Quote:Autonomous towers are equipped with a variety of sensors to detect activity along the southwest border, enhancing surveillance capabilities and providing real-time information to Border Patrol agents. Since 2020, 300 ASTs have been deployed by Anduril, providing approximately 30 percent of the coverage of the U.S. southern land border. [The bill] scales this system up nationally and integrates it with broader DHS surveillance infrastructure.
Under [the bill], CBP would gain broader authority to deploy facial recognition tools at ports of entry and along transportation corridors, in line with DHS’s 2024 strategic plan that envisions end-to-end biometric travel. The plan states that “DHS is aggressively pursuing innovative technologies for detection and strengthening identity verification for travelers within the United States through biometric and biographic techniques and technologies.” While framed as anti-terror and anti-trafficking measures, critics argue the systems normalize mass biometric surveillance with minimal oversight.
In one of the first acts of his second presidential term, Trump was joined by a group of his technocratic buddies in the Roosevelt Room to announce a new vision for America’s role in artificial intelligence: a $500 billion public-private infrastructure initiative known as Stargate. At the heart of this initiative was the creation of new data centers meant to power an explosion in AI technology.
Trump’s announcement was later followed by the appointment of Elon Musk to run the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) where he gave the multi-billionaire complete authority to remove any government agency and/or their employees standing in the way of creating his technocratic dictatorship. DOGE was supposed to lead to massive cuts in government spending, but it was really used to hide Trump’s plan to use it as a way to expand government’s domestic spying capabilities.
Shortly after the 2024 election, I wrote a piece warning that Donald Trump would use his “border emergency” as cover for making biometric digital IDs — a key piece of the surveillance state puzzle — mandatory for every American. Going back to his 2016 campaign and into his first term, we learned how this was his intention all along:
Video Player

Quote:“We will finally complete the Biometric Entry/Exit Visa Tracking System which we need desperately. It will be on land, sea, and air. We will have a proper tracking system.”

Quote:Trump and his Republican buddies, who were in control of Congress at the time, attempted to make this tracking system a reality in 2018 when the Republican-controlled House introduced the Securing America’s Future Act of 2018 (H.R.4760), a 400-page monstrosity authored by Rep Bob Goodlatte (R-VA). Encompassing everything from education and the workforce to Homeland Security and the military, this so-called immigration bill contained a tiny little detail about biometric identification in the form of a National ID card that would be required for every American.
H.R.4760 would have given some serious liberty-killing power to Big Brother Washington:

• It would have allowed federal bureaucrats to include biometric identification information on the card, such as: fingerprints, retinal scans, or scans of veins on the back of hands, all of which could easily be used as a tracking device.
  
• It would have empowered government to require every US worker, regardless of their place of birth, to carry the card, and it would have made it illegal for anyone to hold a job in the US if they didn’t obtain the ID card.
  
• It would have required every employer to purchase an “ID scanner” and use it to verify the ID cards with the federal government. Every time an individual applies for a job, the government would know about it.
  

And here’s something to ask yourself: How long do you think it will be before Trump’s biometric digital surveillance state will be controlling our daily lives? Before you answer that question, consider this: the Central Bank Digital Currency currently being pushed by tyrants in both parties in Washington would have that kind of power — making biometric digital IDs a perfect companion to the CBDC and the coming social credit system.
One more point on biometric digital IDs: Donald Trump’s AI Stargate Project has been hailed as the cornerstone of his “Golden Age of America” and the answer to the so-called crisis at the border, but the reality is that these IDs are a fundamental part of complete government control of our daily lives.
In the early debates over the details of the Big Beautiful Bill, it was revealed that Donald Trump would use the “border security” parts of the legislation to massively expand the surveillance state by building a digital biometric tracking system and make it a permanent fixture of life in the United States when US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents put out a call for tech companies to pitch real-time face recognition technology that can capture everyone in a vehicle, and not just those sitting in the front seats (via Wired.com):
United States Customs and Border Protection is asking tech companies to send pitches for a real-time face recognition tool that would take photos of every single person in a vehicle at a border crossing, including anyone in the back seats, and match them to travel documents, according to a document posted in a federal register last week.
The request for information, or RIF, says that CBP already has a face recognition tool that takes a picture of a person at a port of entry and compares it to travel or identity documents that someone gives to a border officer, as well as other photos from those documents already “in government holdings.”

Quote:“Biometrically confirmed entries into the United States are added to the traveler’s crossing record,” the document says.
An agency under the Department of Homeland Security, CBP says that its face recognition tool “is currently operating in the air, sea, and land pedestrian environments.” The agency’s goal is to bring it to “the land vehicle environment.” (Emphasis mine)
Real-time face recognition? Biometrically confirmed? Air, sea, and land? Sounds like Trump’s digital biometric surveillance state to me.
So, when you hear Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, the army of “conservative” Republicans in Congress, or the talking heads working for Con., Inc. tell you that the Big Beautiful Bill will make America great again, remember that the budget-busting monstrosity brings the digital biometric surveillance state one step closer to being a permanent fixture in American life.

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We were told 7,000 Afghans were being brought to our Country following a data leak a couple of years ago under the Conservative government outing some of them as having worked for us during the failed Afghan campaign , in this 2 minute video Nigel Farage outs the total number being brought here at 25,000 costing the tax payer nearly £1 Billion , we also know there are convicted sex attackers and criminals among them but the government deem them worthy of entry because reasons.


The first year under this government has been like living a nightmare , only 4 to go.

On the night of a Sept 18, 1980 a fuel leak occurred followed by a subsequent enormous explosion in the early morning hours of the 19th at a Titan II nuclear missile silo in Damascus, Arkansas. The incident, which took place at Missile Complex 374-7, involved an LGM-25C Titan II ICBM loaded with a 9-megaton W-53 nuclear warhead.

In this gripping episode, we hear the harrowing account of Greg Devlin, a former US Air Force technician who barely survived a catastrophic explosion at a Titan II nuclear missile silo in 1980.


He shares his journey from enlisting in the Air Force, the challenges he faced, and the fateful night that changed his life forever.

Greg vividly describes how he and his colleagues struggle to contain a potentially cataclysmic situation. With gripping detail, he shares the moment the explosion occurred, the physical and emotional toll it took on him, and the surreal experiences that followed.

Greg's story is one of survival against all odds. He reflects on the aftermath of the explosion and his long road to recovery, which included numerous surgeries and the enduring effects of the hazardous materials he was exposed to.



The fuel leak was caused by a technician that accidentally dropped a large socket "down the missile shaft—66 feet—bounced off the shaft mount ring, and hit the side of the missile, puncturing its hull. Fuel vapor started to fill the silo." That led to a massive explosion that killed one person, injured 21, destroyed the missile and silo, and hurled the 9-Mt warhead through the 750-ton silo doors. Serious pucker factor!


Aftermath:




The docu he mentions is this one:

So much for MAHA ?  


Trump’s DOJ Says EPA Will Appeal Landmark Fluoride Ruling

Quote:The decision to appeal came from the solicitor general at the DOJ, who reports to Pam Bondi and the White House. In February, a federal judge ruled against the EPA, concluding that water fluoridation at current levels poses an unreasonable risk to children’s health and ordering the EPA to address the issue

Quote:The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to appeal a decision last year by a federal court ordering the agency to address the risks of water fluoridation, according to Michael Connett, lead attorney for plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
“Rather than use the court’s decision as an opportunity to finally end water fluoridation (as most of Europe has already done), the EPA will spend its time legally challenging the court’s order,” Connett wrote in a post on X.

I've observed a problem which is kind of a PITA.  I like to request it be fixed.

If a person replies to a thread, a new 'reply' shows up.  And, if that same person replies again (with another, or 2nd, 'reply") to the same thread, but before any other member replies after their first reply, then the 2nd reply is appended to the 1st reply in the same reply box.  This makes it appear like the two different replies are in fact only one (now longer) reply...like the 1st reply was 'edited' to add the 2nd reply to the first reply.  There really isn't any delimiter which separates the two replies, and there should be.  This is confusing to the reader, especially if the 2nd reply is to a different poster than the 1st reply.

Often times I might reply (separately) to two different posters in a thread.  But if no one replies to the thread before my 2nd reply, then the 2nd reply and the 1st reply wind up looking like they were combined into a single reply.  It also annotates the 1st reply with an 'edited on xxx' text in the header (which is incorrect).  In other words, if I make 2+ rapid fire replies, they show up as one reply.

I have had to insert multiple line spaces and a dotted line (i.e. "------------------------------------------------") to separate my two replies because it's such a pain and so confusing.  But there's even some more...

This erroneous functionality isn't consistent either.  Sometimes a 2nd reply will actually display correctly as a two different/separate replies each with it's own textbox, but not always.  What seems to drive a reply showing separately, or combined, is the amount of time which elapses between the 1st and 2nd reply.  I haven't tried to zero in on what this countdown clock is set to, but it's definitely more than just a couple minutes.  As noted above, I try to delimit the replies with a dotted line to separate them, but when a reply does in fact display correctly, then there's this unexplained dashed line at the top of my 2nd reply (for no real reason) which I have to edit out to delete.

I think I have brought this same issue up previously.  Would really appreciate someone looking into a fix for this, because it looks pretty bad.

MUCH appreciated...Thanks!!

ETA - Sorry for the long explanation, but I have tried to be as succinct and descriptive as possible, because I figured my earlier post must not have been clear or did not explain the problem adequately. So, I have tried to 'over-explain' it here (if anything) in hopes it can be addressed and resolved once and for all. I have seen this same behavior on other websites, and after mentioning it the issue went away, so I'm confident there is a fix for this same issue here too.

I never heard of a death that was not fatal so I will post this anyway !

Quote:July 1942. Two pilots, Babe Alyesworth and Bill Hammersley are flying over Alaska’s remote Lake Iliamna in a routine flight. Everything’s going smoothly, so they decide to just look out the window and enjoy the sights. That’s when they saw something horrifying just lurking beneath the water. It was a massive aluminum-colored creature swimming below the surface. Its elongated body and fish-like tail were unlike anything they had ever seen. Years later, sightings of the creature began piling up. Fishermen claimed their lines were being ripped apart by an unseen force that could even bend metal hooks. Flocks of swans and other wildlife started mysteriously disappearing, and pilots reported shadowy, log-like shapes moving through the water. Some witnesses described the creature as a monster. Others believed it to be an undiscovered beast, swimming in the cold, unfamiliar depths of the lake, whatever it is, one thing is certain, there is something in the water and it’s bigger than Jaws This is the bizarre true story of the Iliamna Lake Monster, one of the most mysterious legends in the wild waters of North America.