Quote:Coastwatchers

In 1943 Lt. (j.g.) John F. Kennedy of the United States Navy—a future President—and 10 fellow crew members were shipwrecked after the sinking of their boat, the PT-109. An Australian coastwatcher, Sub-Lt Arthur Reginald Evans, observed the explosion of the PT-109 when it was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Despite US Navy crews giving up the downed crew as a complete loss, Evans dispatched Solomon Islander scouts Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana in a dugout canoe to search for survivors. The two scouts found the men after searching for five days. Lacking paper, Kennedy scratched a message on a coconut describing the plight and position of his crew; Gasa and Kumana then paddled 38 miles (61 km) through Japanese-held waters, at great personal risk, to deliver the message to Evans, who radioed the news to Kennedy's squadron commander. The future US president was rescued shortly afterward, and 20 years later welcomed Evans to the White House. Gasa did not make the trip, later claiming he received the invitation to attend but was fooled into not attending by British colonial officials. Gasa left his village and arrived in Honiara, but was not allowed to leave in time for the ceremony.

"After the rescue Kennedy said he would meet us again," Kumana says in The Search for Kennedy's PT-109. "When he became President, he invited us to visit him. But when we got to the airport, we were met by a clerk, who said we couldn't go—Biuku and I spoke no English. My feelings went for bad."

In July 2022, Coastwatchers James Burrowes and Ronald George Lee were still living, and were honoured in a wreath-laying ceremony by U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy (daughter of President Kennedy) and General Mark Milley, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Quote:Duck salad with figs and nectarine

Dumplings with Kamchatka crab

Grass carp fish

Sea buckthorn sorbet

Sturgeon with mushrooms and potatoes

Entrecote of marbled beef with baked vegetables

Taiga lingonberry with pine nuts and condensed milk

Eastern slope, Divnomorskoye Estate, Russia, 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon, Divnomorskoye Estate, Russia, 2020

Vostochny Cosmodrome September 13, 2023

Quote:Revisiting the 1979 VELA Mystery: A Report on a Critical Oral History Conference

A Potential Source of New Information

The discussions shed light on the existence of a source that was previously unknown to the conference organizers. During his remarks, Richard Muller mentioned the existence of a “rather substantial supplementary report [of the Ruina Panel] which was as I recall, it was as big as the initial report.”  Completed in early 1981, it covered “new material, including additional analysis done by NRL, including the sheep thyroids, which I believe are not in the first report.”

The National Security Archive has made attempts to locate this unquestionably important document, but its whereabouts remain obscure. The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library does not have a copy in its collections; whether a copy is in the National Security Council Institutional Files under White House control remains to be determined. Requests for the report have been made to other agencies, but the Covid-19 crisis has, for now, delayed searches for such documents.

Quote:I am sure that you have read the charge and you've heard that I, Senator Nixon, took $18,000 from a group of my supporters.

Now, was that wrong? And let me say that it was wrong—I'm saying, incidentally, that it was wrong and not just illegal. Because it isn't a question of whether it was legal or illegal, that isn't enough. The question is, was it morally wrong?

I say that it was morally wrong if any of that $18,000 went to Senator Nixon for my personal use. I say that it was morally wrong if it was secretly given and secretly handled. And I say that it was morally wrong if any of the contributors got special favors for the contributions that they made.
And now to answer those questions let me say this:

Not one cent of the $18,000 or any other money of that type ever went to me for my personal use. Every penny of it was used to pay for political expenses that I did not think should be charged to the taxpayers of the United States.

It was not a secret fund.
Full "Checkers" Speech Transcript

Quote:Operation Julin was a group of 7 nuclear tests conducted by the United States in 1991–1992. These tests followed the Operation Sculpin series, and were the last before negotiations began for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Shot Hunters Trophy was Lawrence Livermore's last nuclear test and the second to last nuclear test conducted by the United states. Its purpose was to evaluate the radiation hardness of space and high altitude systems, such as optics, sensors and materials for the Strategic Defense Initiative, and the hardness of Sandia detonators. The test consisted of a 850-foot (260 m) HLOS pipe and "stub pipes" to simulate different nuclear battlefield environments.

Hunters Trophy included the experiment Hydroplus. The Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) developed a means of verifying non-standard nuclear tests using ground peak stress and velocity at several ranges from a possible detonation point using computer hydrocodes. These codes required calibration data which was gathered at Hunters Trophy. Further Hydroplus experiments were conducted in shot Distant Zenith of Operation Sculpin.

Quote:The site has also sparked controversy. More than 536 demonstrations were conducted at the site between 1986 and 1994, leading to almost 16,000 arrests. Astronomer Carl Sagan, singer Kris Kristofferson and six Democratic congresspeople were arrested, according to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Historical Archives.
Las Vegas Review-Journal

(09-24-2023, 03:33 AM)EndtheMadnessNow Wrote: Happy Checkers Day!

Nixon's famous speech was broadcast Sept 23, 1952.

(09-25-2023, 03:05 AM)EndtheMadnessNow Wrote: Had to grow up fast back in those days. Meanwhile, today...

Quote:Today, every inhabitant of this planet must contemplate the day when this planet may no longer be habitable. Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or by madness. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.

But to halt the spread of these terrible weapons, to halt the contamination of the air, to halt the spiraling nuclear arms race, we remain ready to seek new avenues of agreement, our new Disarmament Program thus includes the following proposals:

• First, signing the test-ban treaty by all nations. This can be done now. Test ban negotiations need not and should not await general disarmament.
  
• Second, stopping the production of fissionable materials for use in weapons, and preventing their transfer to any nation now lacking in nuclear weapons.
  
• Third, prohibiting the transfer of control over nuclear weapons to states that do not own them.
  
• Fourth, keeping nuclear weapons from seeding new battlegrounds in outer space.
  
• Fifth, gradually destroying existing nuclear weapons and converting their materials to peaceful uses; and
  
• Finally, halting the unlimited testing and production of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles, and gradually destroying them as well.

Quote:We shall propose further cooperative efforts between all nations in weather prediction and eventually in weather control. We shall propose, finally, a global system of communications satellites linking the whole world in telegraph and telephone and radio and television.

Quote:Video summary:

In the third and last part of this series, we explore the actions of sailors and slaves during the Stamp Act Crisis. In the late fall of 1765, colonists wearing “soot, sailors habits and slouch hats” harassed Crown officials, tore down houses of prominent merchants, and violently hounded those suspected of involvement with the “damned stampt paper.” Descriptions of these disorderly, drunken protestors contrasted with accounts of symbolic protest scenes, such as funerals for “Liberty.”

Molly Fitzgerald Perry, Lecturer at Christopher Newport University, will analyze the descriptions of Jack Tar sailors alongside those of free and enslaved people of color, highlighting questions of these individuals as both social actors and political icons. Tracing the spread of news and heated debates between residents of New England port towns and plantation ports across the Lower South and West Indies, Ms. Perry will recreate the central role played by mariners and African Americans during this moment of imperial disruption.

Quote:Aliens, demons or PSYOPS? Catholics study, debate UFO allegations

ROME (CNS) -- When former intelligence official David Grusch testified before Congress in July that the U.S. government had retrieved crashed UFOs and covertly attempted to reverse engineer their alien technology, some Catholics already were primed to debate the compatibility of extraterrestrial intelligence and church doctrine.

That is because debate about non-human intelligence is as old as Christianity, according to the director of the Vatican's space observatory.

Whether it is "angels in the Bible or these crazy creatures in Greek mythology," Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno told Catholic News Service in June, there's "nothing new about that."

Paul Thigpen, author of the 2022 book, "Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith," has discussed UFOs on podcasts that have registered more than 100,000 listens. He has argued that Grusch's claims are credible.

Despite denials from Pentagon officials, Thigpen told CNS, "I believe that what he reported is substantially true."

Thigpen said he wrote his book as a "preemptive move" to reassure Catholics who might be perturbed not just by a potential discovery of life on distant planets, but by UFO whistleblowers who say that highly advanced life is already visiting ours.

"I wanted to be able to put a book out there for folks who are going to be hearing, if that happens, 'This contradicts your faith; this disproves your faith,'" he said.

Thigpen's book compiles statements of prominent Catholics throughout history, from church fathers to St. John Paul II, who have said that God may have created intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. The book includes an appendix on UFOs.

He quotes St. Padre Pio, for example, saying that on "other planets, other beings exist who did not sin and fall as we did."

Other Catholics go a step further, saying that both UFO reports and the miraculous stories of saints strengthen their belief in the supernatural realm.

Diana Walsh Pasulka, a professor of religion at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, explained that her research shifted from Marian apparitions and the ecstatic visions of saints to UFOs because she discovered striking similarities between the two phenomena.

...
While the Vatican Observatory does not study UFOs, Brother Consolmagno said he's often asked what he thinks about the phenomenon. CNS joined the queue and asked him about Grusch's claims when they first began attracting media attention in June.

Despite high-resolution cellphone cameras being ubiquitous, "we do not have any better evidence of Bigfoot, or the Loch Ness Monster, or UFOs," he said.

"I don't believe."

Quote:In a bid to reassure Berlin, senior British officials said that they had briefed their German counterparts in great detail about how they work with Ukraine in deploying their own Storm Shadow missiles, including revealing highly confidential operational procedures.

Ukraine had never hit any targets that the British wouldn’t approve, these officials told their German counterparts, assuring them that they could rely on Kyiv to honor any targeting agreement.

German officials said that if the Taurus is approved, its range would be shortened so as to minimize the risk of it being used to hit Russia. It is unclear whether Berlin would allow Kyiv to strike targets in occupied Crimea.

Germany Stalls Delivery of Long-Range Cruise Missiles to Ukraine

Quote:Early history of radiochemistry

Abstract

The development of radiochemistry is traced from the discovery of radioactivity in 1896 through its climax in 1913, when the concept of isotopes made it possible to squeeze more than 30 new radioactive "elements" into the half-dozen remaining vacancies at the end of the Periodic Table. The procedures first employed to isolate many of the radioelements are described in detail, frequently through the use of direct quotations from the original research publications. Each stage in the development is documented so that those wishing to examine a particular discovery in more detail can do so with the aid of more than 200 references to primary sources.

(09-29-2023, 03:22 AM)EndtheMadnessNow Wrote:

Quote:Here’s the thing: I grew up in Kentucky. I sold insurance door-to-door. I sold ladies’ shoes. I worked at an all-night liquor store. I would buy suits that were too big and too long and cut the bottom of the pants off to make ties so I’d have a tie to go on job interviews. I grew up understanding what it was like to not have health insurance for eight years. So this idea that I’m somehow the “Hollywood elite” and this guy who takes a shit in a gold toilet is somehow the man of the people is laughable.

   

(09-29-2023, 03:22 AM)EndtheMadnessNow Wrote:

Quote:Pathocracy

from Greek pathos, "feeling, pain, suffering"; and kratos, "rule"

A totalitarian form of government in which absolute political power is held by a psychopathic elite, and their effect on the people is such that the entire society is ruled and motivated by purely pathological values.

A pathocracy can take many forms and can insinuate itself covertly into any seemingly just system or ideology. As such it can masquerade under the guise of a democracy or theocracy as well as more openly oppressive regimes.

Characteristics

1. suppression of individualism and creativity.
2. impoverishment of artistic values.
3. impoverishment of moral values; a social structure based on self-interest and one-upmanship, rather than altruism.
4. fanatical ideology; often a corrupted form of a valid viable ‘trojan’ ideology which is perverted into a pathological form, bearing little resemblance to the substance of the original.
5. intolerance and suspicion of anyone who is different, or who disagrees with the state.
6. centralized control.
7. widespread corruption.
8. secret activities within government, but surveillance of the general population. (In contrast, a healthy society would have transparent government processes, and respect for privacy of the individual citizen).
9. paranoid and reactionary government.
10. excessive, arbitrary, unfair and inflexible legislation; the power of decision making is reduced/removed from the citizens’ everyday lives.
11. an attitude of hypocrisy and contempt demonstrated by the actions of the ruling class, towards the ideals they claim to follow, and towards the citizens they claim to represent.
12. controlled media, dominated by propaganda.
13. extreme inequality between the richest and poorest.
14. endemic use of corrupted psychological reasoning such as paramoralisms, conversive thinking and doubletalk.
15. rule by force and/or fear of force.
16. people are considered as a ‘resource’ to be exploited (hence the term “human resources”), rather than as individuals with intrinsic human worth.
17. spiritual life is restricted to inflexible and indoctrinare schemes. Anyone attempting to go beyond these boundaries is considered a heretic or insane, and therefore dangerous.
18. arbitrary divisions in the population (class, ethnicity, creed) are inflamed into conflict with one another.
19. suppression of free speech – public debate, demonstration, protest.
20. violation of basic human rights, for example: restriction or denial of basic life necessities such as food, water, shelter; detainment without charge; torture and abuse; slave labour.

The Pathocracy Blog

Quote:This was no ordinary FBI surveillance operation: The “acquaintance” Grishin referred to was himself an FBI agent—a man who, out of greed, desperation, and spite, had begun an affair with Ogorodnikov and agreed to sell classified information to the Soviet government. Eventually, this man—Richard W. Miller, a 47-year-old Los Angeles-based counterintelligence agent on the Bureau’s Soviet squad—would become the first FBI agent ever convicted of espionage.

And the man who would finally secure Miller’s conviction in 1990—after three trials over the course of six years—was a young U.S. attorney in Los Angeles: Adam Schiff.

“I learned a lot about Russian tradecraft: how the Russians operate, who they target, the vulnerabilities they look for,” Schiff recalls. “They want people with access to information that is of use to them. They look for people who are sort of at the margins at what they do, that have financial problems, who have marital problems that they can exploit. And they found a very good target with Richard Miller.”
...
Miller served a total of nine years and was released in 1994. According to Stanley I. Greenberg, one of Miller’s former lawyers, Miller trained to become a computer technician while in prison, moved back to Utah and remarried. He died about three or four years ago, Greenberg told me.

Quote:Possible Fatal Accident Aboard Chinese Navy Nuclear Submarine

Flag China Since August 22 there have been persistent rumors that a Chinese Navy (PLAN) nuclear submarine experienced a serious accident. They were first widely circulated on certain Chinese language social media. It has since been reported in Taiwanese media and there has been much wild speculation. However the rumor hasn't gone away, notably in Chinese sources.

Unfortunately I played an unintended role in this. The noise reached a level on August 22 that I tweeted about it in the hope of bringing more information to the surface. My tweet contained clear caveats. Despite this it was picked up by Taiwanese and other non-English language press and misrepresented to 'prove' that the incident occurred. It became a news story for a few days.

These rumors are still unconfirmed and should not be treated as fact. However, in case other information subsequently comes to light, it is worth recording them for reference. Where there is smoke, sometimes there is fire.

Treat with Caution: Unverified Rumors

Early Version Of Story, August 22

The initial telling of the story, reported by 'Lude Media', stated:

"Briefing: At 8:12 a.m. on August 21, 417 was carrying out the submerged survey operation assessment task under loading. The mechanical failure was caught by the anchor chain, which caused the cabin to depressurize and float slowly. It coincided with the thunderstorm in Lianyungang, and the rescue was trapped. After 6 hours of uninterrupted rescue, it surfaced at 14:04 on August 21, and the oxygen in the ship was exhausted, resulting in the sacrifice of 22 officers, 7 students, 9 non-commissioned officers and 17 soldiers who participated in the test mission. The details are still under investigation, and the next report will be at 10:15 on August 22.

This is a report to Xi Jinping and the Central Military Commission."

There are several aspects which raise questions in this account. Two obvious question marks are 1) Nuclear subs don’t normally run out of air for months, they can make it 2) Nuclear boats have a lot of power, anchor chain shouldn’t be fatal. The small crew is also worth noting as unusual, but not out of the question.

However, combined with other sources for these rumors, it was at least an indication that something took place. Media stories in Taiwan generally repeated this version.

Possible Fatal Accident Aboard Chinese Navy Nuclear Submarine

Quote:The Beep Heard Around the World

As the sun rose on October 4, 1957, many Americans were talking about baseball. The headlines reported that for the first time in nine years, a team from outside of New York had won a game in the World Series. The day before, in front of 65,202 fans filling Yankee Stadium, Hank Aaron launched a fly ball to center field. Mickey Mantle misplayed it, allowing Aaron to stretch the hit into a triple. The play sparked a rally for the Milwaukee Braves, and the Yankees were unable to recover, losing 4 to 2.

By the time the sun set that evening, however, a completely different topic dominated conversations. On the other side of the world, almost 6,000 miles from Yankee Stadium, another ball had been launched and its effects were both more dramatic and long-lasting.

At the Soviet Baikonur complex in what is now Kazakhstan, at 2:12 in the afternoon New York time, the world suddenly changed. Thirty-two rocket boosters ignited, the desert steppe shook and a three-stage rocket shot skyward, accelerating to over 17,000 miles per hour. At 142 miles above the earth, the rocket’s protective cone released its cargo. Humanity’s first satellite, called Sputnik, started to orbit the earth.

Quote:Rachel Lambert Mellon—the American gardening and design idol who died in March at age 103 and was universally known as Bunny—believed that style was order and that order brought pleasure. In the 1950s, when I first visited Oak Spring, the Mellons’ 4,000-acre stud farm in Upperville, Virginia, during a boarding-school weekend with her daughter, Eliza Lloyd, I opened one of my classmate’s bedroom cupboards to find shelf after shelf of rigorously color-coded stacks of T-shirts.

Far less known are the remarkable interiors of the dozen-plus homes that Mellon and her family occupied in the U.S., France, and the Caribbean. None were ever published at length—British photographer Michael Dunne snapped this article’s never-before-seen images for the Mellons’ archives—but their lessons left a mark on design professionals as well as admiring friends: Washington Post columnist Maxine Cheshire once noted that Mellon had "more influence in shaping Jacqueline Kennedy’s taste than anyone else in her life."

Tour Bunny Mellon’s Houses and Gardens