by Nathan Barton

Good morning, and welcome to a world of insanity.  Nothing new, I admit, but the place is going bonkers even more rapidly than in the past.

Hamas, according to an Israeli analyst, has 3,000 “elite” soldiers ready to die in suicide attacks on Israel. No explanation as to why they have not yet done so, in order to reduce Israeli pressure on their civilian population (and military facilities) in Gaza.

Mama’s note: Some wholesale self cleaning of the gene pool…. Hope they can be stopped before they can hurt innocents, of course.

Nathan: I wonder just how they define “elite.”  Reminds me of Patton’s famous quote, which they clearly do not follow.  Of course, we should also note that partisans of Hamas are really not soldiers, which implies training, discipline, organization, and some adherence to ethical and moral behavior.  Hamas has little or none of any of that stuff.

The University of North Dakota publicly advocates theft of services in order to express your anger at a restaurant owner or any business owner for allowing people to openly bear arms in their place of business, as expressed by a video featuring a philosophy professor, which he considers solving the problem of open carry of weapons by common, ordinary people.  The video prominently features the logo of UND (in the lower right corner); for all I know, there are ten minutes of disclaimers (I didn’t watch the video, just skimmed the transcript) but the UND logo and website url give the impression that it is an official university publication.  The video tells patrons they should flee for their lives, abandoning their food or purchases, and NOT stop to pay for them, in violation of law and moral behavior, when ANY person (except a cop) comes into the establishment openly carrying a weapon (or at least, a gun).  I am disgusted by such a proposition, but have to consider the source: a profession and skill (academics and “philosophy” (if THAT can be considered a skill) who is so unqualified to do productive work that he has to subsist on money stolen by government is hardly a example of good morals.

Mama’s Note: They are just making themselves look foolish – well, ok, more foolish than usual. Most people in this part of the country do not see guns, or those who carry them, the same way the hoplophobe indoctrinated folks do in places like NYC. Even there, seems to be more than a little to indicate that people are waking up to reality even there. I’ve not read of any panic emptying of such restaurants, and I suspect we would if it happened.

The potential for war on the Korean Peninsula is escalating, and this time it is the fault of a nasty little chocolate confection you may not have heard of: Choco-Pies.  (I’ve heard of and eaten them:  they are chocolate, yes, but that marshmallow cream and the wafers are nasty stuff, in my opinion.  Once was enough, in childhood.)  But thousands of South Koreans are using these little balloons to waft them over the DMZ to people in North Korea, who apparently are addicted to the stuff, even though apparently it can result in the death penalty.  And Pyongyang is getting ticked off about it: the balloon delivery, NOT the death penalty.  Sounds like the PDRK and the American FAA have something in common: the FAA doesn’t want Dominos to deliver by air, either.

NASA: New “impossible” engine works, could change space travel forever (Sploid) “Until yesterday, every physicist was laughing at this engine and its inventor, Roger Shawyer. It’s called the EmDrive and everyone said it was impossible because it goes against classical mechanics. But the fact is that the quantum vacuum plasma thruster works and scientists can’t explain why. Shawyer’s engine is extremely light and simple. It provides a thrust by ‘bouncing microwaves around in a closed container.’ The microwaves are generated using electricity that can be provided by solar energy. No propellant is necessary, which means that this thrusters can work forever unless a hardware failure occurs.” (08/01/14)

Mama’s Note: Be interesting to watch how this develops. If it comes out of NASA, I wonder if it “works” the same way Obummercare “works.”

Nathan: I’ve no confidence at all in NASA: the only hope is if Musk or someone else in the private sector can take this and use it. But NASA will just bury it in the bureaucracy files someplace and this will be the last we ever hear of it.

Claims are being made that hundreds of border jumpers are turning up dead in South Texas, after crossing the Rio Grande.  Supposedly at least 259 bodies have been found in just one county in 2012-2014, and people claim that is only 20% of who is actually dying.  Now, that sounds like a lot until you realized that there were still 1,144 people murdered in Texas in 2012 (third lowest number since 1967).  Everyone blames everyone else for it: the open-border promoters say it is racist and hateful limits that let this happen, the big fence folks say that if there were fences, these people wouldn’t be getting in.  The Border Patrol just tries to hide out, I guess.  Assuming any of this is true I don’t think we can blame some particular group, not even the border jumpers themselves.  One thing, the dying isn’t going to stop.

Do you believe in conspiracy theories?  The Nation has one for you: that all the big efforts to stop the legalization of cannabis, of any type (medical, recreational, industrial) is the object of a large, nationwide conspiracy of pharmaceutical companies, prominent celebrities, and their allies.  Read it and see what you think.  And while you are at it, read “The Sinister Pig” by Tony Hillerman.

These twenty-five “facts” about the Ebola outbreak seem to be accurate, but the wording is definitely hype:  take it all with a grain of salt.  A third case of Ebola may have made it to the United States, apparently to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.  People are panicking, and it is panic that can turn what really is quite simple to avoid into a major disaster.  My advice is to consider moving to a small town, in a rural or frontier area, and stay away from the big cities.  But that is my (good) advice for a LOT of different things, not just Ebola.  But the best protection against something like this is good hygiene and your own discipline, not hoping for some magic cure.

However dangerous Ebola might be, many local governments have more serious things to worry about, like Agri-Terrorism and public libraries becoming seed libraries.  This fits right in with unpasturized whole milk and owning shares in a beef cow: evil pure and simple, and requiring the utmost efforts.  Or nearly: apparently this Pennsylvania public library didn’t get the SWAT raid treatment.