My father had a boyhood “best friend”. His name was Zeke.

 

He used to tell me stories. They would go fishing together as boys. They would do things. They would get drunk, and they would live their lives on “Polish Hill” a Polish-American suburb in Pittsburgh.

He was Zeke’s “best man” at his wedding. And he knew both Zeke and his wife quite well as they all were High School friends.

One day…

…I was perhaps 16 years old at the time, and having a long-distance, relationship with my girlfriend. With periodic phone calls, and weekend visits to her home in Lower Burrel, PA.

One day…

My father was crestfallen. He came home (from work) and was pale as a ghost.

It turns out that his buddy Zeke had an argument with his wife. It was pretty bad. And the wife took out a pistol and shot Zeke in the face.

BLAM!

It apparently blew most of his head off, and he was buried in a closed-casket.

It really shook my dad up, and I don’t blame him.

Now, myself, being much older… has had good long time “best Buds” Childhood friends dead… yeah I know what it is like.

Robbie… drug overdose. Marcus… Suicide by shotgun blast. My cousin Sincere’ … Coronavirus.

My brother, Daniel… I just don’t know… he doesn’t answer any e-mails. It’s been over a year now.

Life moves on.

People.

Life is too short to die over an argument. If you and your spouse are not getting along… then leave. No one needs to die over anything.

Plan your escape. And then just do it.

It sure beats being dead.

Today…

What is the single insight that most changed your life?

At the age of 39 I had it all. A loving wife, two fantastic kids, an apartment in New York City, a house in the country, new car, nice vacations and a high paying job as Creative Director of a hot creative advertising agency.

Everyone wanted to be me.

Except me.

On the outside I was the poster boy for Happy Successful Man Who Has His Whole Future Ahead Of Him. But deep down inside I was miserable.

I began to assault myself daily with that five word mantra. The one that so many of us begin muttering when they find themselves wandering through that unfamiliar, unsettling neighborhood known as midlife.

Is this all there is?

We don’t ask ourselves that question when we’re 25. It’s still too early in the first quarter of the game. We caught the ball on the five yard line and we’re making our way up the field.

But at 39, it’s halftime. Do the math. The average man is going to live till the age of 78. I was on the back nine.

I know — your actual mileage may vary. You could get killed falling off a ladder at age 60. Or at the age of 100 you could fall off a hooker. There’s a lot of latitude in The Middle. But somewhere between 30 and 50 you’re halfway done. It’s up to you to decide when to look at the face in the mirror and say:

Is this all there is?

No. There’s a whole lot more. And I’m going to tell you how to get there. Tonight I’m going to send someone to your house. He’s a teenager, about 17 or 18. He doesn’t know much about life — what teenager does? But he knows what’s cool. And after talking to you for a couple of hours, he’s going to be able to zero in on what’s a cool new direction for you to head in.

In fact, by the end of the evening, this kid is going to completely outline and plan the second half of your life. And that’s what you’ll do. Trust me, it will be cool.

What’s that you say? That’s the dumbest damn thing you ever heard? Why should you let some teenage kid with no world experience plan the second half of your life?

My answer is, why did you let him plan the first half?

This rut that you’re stuck in, this life that you’re trapped in, who planned it? Not you. Not the YOU you are now. Most of us form our life’s plans shortly after high school. Maybe we’re 16, maybe we’re 23, but for the most part we’re still kids. And then once we make a plan, we stick with it.

That was my insight. I was pushing 40 and still living the dream of some teenage kid.

That kid didn’t exist anymore, and yet I was still following the path he laid out for me. Most kids can’t project past next Saturday, much less conjure up what your life could be like 25 years down the road.

That was the moment I decided that the 40 year old me should start planning the life of the 60 year old me and beyond.

I was at the top of the ladder, and I suddenly realized I didn’t need one more rung. I wanted to find a new ladder.

I did. Climbing that ladder was at times terrifying, but never boring. Today I have all the things I had at the age of 39 and more. But this time around I’m deliriously happy with who I am and where I am. I still have dreams for the future, but I no longer wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and ask is this all there is?

My Act Two was conceived, written, produced, and directed by an adult. And I’m grateful for the insight that convinced him to take on the job.

EDIT – JANUARY 30, 2017: Dear People of Quora. I am overwhelmed by your response to my post. Not because the number of views and upvotes have skyrocketed, but because most of the comments and the private messages have asked me for more. Lots more.

One commenter, Traci Amick, said it like this: “Marshall, Marshall, Marshall… You can’t leave us hanging! When you made the decision to redirect and change your life what and how did you do it?”

There was a reason I left you hanging. I’ll get to that in a minute. But first, let me give you a brief (and I do mean brief) overview of what happened after the light bulb went on.

Here I was, pushing 40. At my core I’m a writer, but somewhere along the way the ad agency that hired me to write ads promoted me and paid me more money to stop writing and start managing. I wore suits, spent a lot more face time with clients, and I supervised a hundred other people. And while it was often gratifying, I realized that my career had stolen the one thing I loved doing most. Writing.

My solution was to start writing on my own. Over the course of countless nights and weekends I wrote a play, Squabbles, a comedy. Two years later it ran for eight weeks in a dinner theatre in Kansas City. (Since then it has played in thousands of theatres around the US.)

Shortly after Squabbles opened, ABC-TV asked me to turn it into a pilot for a sitcom. It didn’t fly, but now I was an accredited pilot writer, and for the next 6 years I kept my day job as an advertising agency Creative Director, and developed TV pilots for the networks on my own time. It’s unusual for a pilot to get picked up for a series, but two of mine did. I was 45 when the second one got picked up, and I decided to make the leap. I left advertising for TV.

I went to Hollywood, but it wasn’t fair to uproot my wife and kids to chase my dream, so they stayed in New York. I flew home as often as I could, which wasn’t often enough. Many of you asked if my quest for a new career wrecked my marriage. Just the opposite. After two years, despite the fact that I was on the fast track, I left Hollywood and came back to what was most important to me — my family.

There were some TV writing opportunities in New York, and I wrote a movie script which I sold and produced, and then — out of nowhere — a whole new creative avenue opened up. The Internet.

I caught the wave early. I opened Compelling Content, an Internet advertising agency, sold it five years later, and eventually zeroed in on the final frontier for every writer. A novel.

That took five years, and in 2006, I published The Rabbit Factory, my first crime fiction novel. Today I’m a #1 best selling author, with five books of my own, and the coauthor of the NYPD Red series with James Patterson.

I didn’t mention that in the original post because I didn’t want to be thrown off Quora for shameless self-promotion.

I’m not on Quora to sell my books. I’m here to exchange information, to share experiences, to give and take bits and pieces of life magic. I love this forum, and I’m grateful that one of my posts could resonate with so many of you.

One final note: Eight days after my original post I have a quarter of a million views, 3300 upvotes, and over 100 comments and messages. In the beginning, I responded to the comments, but I’ve reached the point where I no longer can. I wish I could, but I have to get back to my day job. Writing.

At the moment, I’m working on NYPD Red 5 with James Patterson. But this experience on Quora, especially your comments and messages, has made me realize that there are a lot of people out there going through the same mid life career angst that I went through. And that the 60,000 word version of my story just might make an interesting book.

EDIT 2 – FEBRUARY 15, 2017: One million views. Humbling to say the least (and I’m not exactly a guy who’s world famous for his humility).

The subject of life change is a hot button for most of us, but more often than not it’s the story of someone stuck in a dead end job who is looking for a better way. My experience wasn’t that. I walked away from a successful career that was stifling me, and today I’m thriving in the one I had been dreaming about.

I get a lot of head nods when I share my story in person, but I’m amazed that it resonated with so many people across this global forum.

Thank you for your eyeballs, your upvotes, and your feedback.

I was able to answer every direct message, but because of a Quora Quirk it’s extremely difficult to respond to the hundreds of comments. There’s no logic to the order in which they appear and no way to reorder them so the newest are at the top. That means I have to click on “comments,” scroll through five or six, then click on “more comments.” Eventually, I get to one I haven’t read yet, but as soon as I send a reply, the site takes me back to the top of the comments, and I have to go through the process all over again.

EDIT 3-MARCH 18, 2017: For those of you who wanted more details (really — it’s not my ego; some of you actually asked) I’ve expanded my answer into an article on Medium. Thank you for the encouragement. Here’s the link: The Thrills and Perils of Switching Careers

What’s the pettiest thing you’ve done to get back at a nuisance neighbor?

I rented the ground-level apartment in my friend’s split level for a few years. The guys who rented upstairs owned a party lighting company, and as a result they usually came home from work around 3 AM. I worked a nine-to-five job, and I’m a fairly light sleeper. When they came home from work, they’d occasionally turn on the TV, and usually fairly loud, which would of course wake me up, but most of the time I could drown out the noise by turning on a fan in my bedroom.

This was annoying but I could deal with it……until one of their girlfriends moved in upstairs. This nasty such-and-such had no problem with turning up the volume on the TV all the way, in the middle of the night every night, and watching for hours. This was the early years of flat-screen TVs and they had a big one, so likely it was verrrry expensive. When I knocked on the door to ask them to turn it down, I was told ‘this is when we get home from work and we’ll do what we want’. Even having my friend, their landlord, intervene, had no effect.

Well, a few nights of one or two hours’ sleep made me downright ingenious. I remembered that once, while microwaving my dinner, I had started vacuuming the floor and having both appliances turned on tripped the circuit breaker. I crossed my fingers that we were on the same circuit and during the next morning’s 3 AM showing of Willy Wonka, with the girlfriend screaming “I love this movie!” and turning the volume up even louder than usual, I turned on the microwave and the vacuum. Five seconds and poof! Blessed silence! I heard a little shuffling around upstairs, then one of them went down into the basement and reset the circuit breaker.

The power came back on, and so did the television. I waited about a minute before turning back on the microwave and vacuum. Poof! Silence! They reset the circuit breaker again, but this time there was no more TV. I went back to the most blissful slumber ever.

My friend later told me that they complained to him about the power going out because it was such an expensive TV and that could damage the electronics. I told him that if they kept the volume to a respectable level then I wouldn’t have to do anything about it, but I wouldn’t hesitate to if it happened again. The microwave/vacuum trick was only necessary a couple more times before they got the hint and kept the noise down in the middle of the night.

 

The Chinese are buying up more and more property in Western nations. Is there any agenda behind this?

No!

Chinese believes in owning assets and keeping a healthy cash flow. As a Chinese origin I do find western lease or rental mindset difficult to comprehend but it is a cultural thing.

Chinese people feel compel to own things and to not let others dictate lease terms to them. Westerners feel that buying assets when you can lease them makes more sense. But to me it is cultural. China is a 5000 years nation, the west like the U.S, Canada and Australia are merely 250 years or so. They are a warrior type mentality that fights all the time. I guess it impacted their mindset.

Chicken Scaloppini with Rustic
Tomato Olive Spaghetti

The ingredients are married perfectly to enhance the chicken.

Ingredients

• 4 ounces multi-grain thin spaghetti
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 large leek, white and light green parts, thinly sliced (or 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced fire roasted tomatoes, undrained
• 1 cup Lindsay® California Ripe Pitted Olives, halved lengthwise
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 cup dried Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 4 (4 ounces) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/4-inch thickness
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

Instructions

1. Cook spaghetti according to package directions.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Sauté leek and garlic in oil 2 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, olives and pepper flakes; simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
4. Meanwhile, beat egg whites with 1 tablespoon water in a shallow dish or pie plate.
5. Place bread crumbs in another shallow dish or pie plate.
6. Dip each cutlet in egg mixture letting excess drip off. Dredge in bread crumbs to coat each side lightly.
7. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chicken; sauté for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked through.
8. Drain spaghetti; transfer to four serving plates. Spoon tomato sauce over spaghetti; top with chicken and garnish with basil.

Prep: 15 min | Cook: 15 min | Servings: 4

Nutrients Per Serving: Calories: 401, Calories from fat: 132, Total fat: 15g, Monounsaturated fat: 9g, Cholesterol: 73mg, Sodium: 683mg, Total Carbohydrates: 33g Dietary fiber: 4g Protein: 33g

I asked AI to make a Music Video… the results are trippy

https://youtu.be/0fDJXmqdN-A

Which ruler in history was most brutal to his own people?

Pol Pot. Without question.

Pol Pot (real name Saloth Sâr) was the dictator of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, taking power at the end of the Cambodian Civil War. As soon as he took power, He and his administration transformed Cambodia into a one party communist dictatorship. Over the next 4 years, he and his administration committed various human rights violations and carried out what is now known as the Cambodian Genocide. To go into more detail, Pol Pot and his administration:

• Forced the Cambodian population to work without pay.

• Made the Cambodian population live in the country side by forceful removing them from their homes in the cites.

• Destroyed Cambodia’s legal system and replaced it with re-education and interrogation centers. If they thought that you were guilty, you would have been very hard pressed to convince them otherwise.

• Caused much of the Cambodian populace to starve, many times to death.

• Killed anyone they either felt didn’t fit into their new society or deemed to even slightly be a threat to their regime. these included: people with connections to the previous government, Doctors, Lawyers, Intellectuals, Journalists, Business Leaders, Vietnamese Cambodians, Chinese Cambodians, Thai Cambodians, Christian Cambodians, Cham Muslims and family members of prisoners who were thought to be a threat to the regime. Even wearing glasses or being able to speak multiple languages could get you killed.

• If you were to be executed (which was very likely), you would have been taken to one the various “Killing Fields” and would most likely be killed with a pickaxe, so that they did not waste any bullets.

By the time they were overthrown during a Vietnamese invasion, the Cambodian life expectancy was about 18 years old.

As bad as rulers such as Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin and Mao Zedong were for their people, I believe no one was as brutal as Pol Pot was.

I feel like their motto put it best:

To spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss.

What disgusting thing at work made you quit your job?

This doesn’t qualify as disgusting, but many years ago, I was involved with an Internet startup. They spent all of their time having meetings which achieved nothing, and were a complete waste of everybody’s time. One day, I was asked, no told, by the CEO to prepare a lengthy report on something that I considered ridiculous. I wrote 3 pages of it, and then decided to see what would happen if I didn’t finish it off, so I added 35 more pages of Loren Ipsum (Latin), and handed the report in. At the next meeting when everybody was present, I made a point of asking the CEO if the report was what he had wanted. He said “Yes, it was great”. I stood up, and told the entire room that this very important report that I had handed in, and which the CEO thought was great, actually contained 35 pages of Latin, proving that he hadn’t actually looked at it. I said “I quit”, and walked out of the door. The company went belly up 6 months later.

What is the most disgusting trick to ever be used by a police officer?

I don’t know if it was disgusting, but it was rather a unique trick. I used this a couple of times on drug dealers.

When I worked undercover in narcotics I would be asked to buy street-dealer weight in either cocaine or Heroin. The designer drugs weren’t around yet and this new stuff called crack was just making its way onto the market.

One problem every undercover faced was the hand to hand delivery of the drugs. During the actual purchase, you needed to be able to testify that you gave the money directly to the seller and they directly handed you the drugs. ( AKA hand to hand purchase).

Drug dealers were wise to this. When an informant would introduce me to the seller they would take the money but they would only give the drugs to the informant and not to me directly.

I couldn’t testify that I got the drugs from the informant. That would require me to identify the informant and have them testify. No way I would do that. So I came up with a cool little trick.

I would give the dealer the money and he would pass the drugs off to the informant who gave them to me. I would look at the package and say it was light (not the correct weight) and throw the package back directly to the dealer saying I wanted my money back. Drug dealers are not in the business of giving out refunds.

I’d move in close seemingly to get my money back, but we’d talk a little and I would agree to the light package if he would agree the next package would be a little overweight.

As soon as the dealer agreed, I’d reach out and take the package back directly from the dealer, sometimes almost pulling it out of his hands, thus completing a hand to hand transaction.

We would let the case sit for six months before we made the arrest, so they would not remember what informant walked me in. But my little hand to hand trick worked every time.

What is the craziest military tactic ever used?

Viewer discretion is advised… Imagine you’ve time travelled back to the 7th July 1944, and you’re now a squad leader on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands with the 105th Infantry Regiment of the US Army. As your cutting around giving the ‘grunts’ on the .30 cal Browing machine-gun their ‘arcs of fire,’ suddenly, multiple blood-curdling screams across the battlefield could be heard – BANZAIIIIII!!!!!

The Japanese have just launched a massive banzai charge, leading from the front are their officers, brandishing their samurai swords. Just behind the officers are thousands of Japanese soldiers with bayonets fixed, and as the sun glints down on the cold steel you feel the sweat beads across the forehead form. You lift your helmet and wipe the sweat with your sleeve as you wait for them to get in range. . . you wait. . . and wait. . . RAPID FIRE!!!

Your M1 Garand’s barrel is glowing red, the .30 cal is clattering away bursting your eardrums. As one of the enemy Japanese soldiers falls another one takes his place. They have now broken into your position and the hand-to-hand fighting is fierce. . . all of a sudden you’ve been brought back to the present, you don’t know why, but grateful that you’re now safe. . . I’ve dramatized, but I want to try to put you into the same position (‘foxhole’) as the defenders.

The Battle of Saipan and the US forces had pushed the Japanese back so far they had nowhere to go by 6th July, so the commander of the Japanese forces Yoshitsugu Saitõ made plans for a final suicide banzai charge for his soldiers and the civilians on the island. Saitõ said:

“There is no longer any distinction between civilians and troops. It would be better for them to join in the attack with bamboo spears than be captured.”

Why the Japanese soldier didn’t believe in surrender, was because they believed in the code of ‘Bushido’ the samurai code of conduct:

• Honour was a samurai’s life. Upholding one’s honour through suicide was regarded as a virtue. Loss of face was regarded as an insult that had to be avenged. Surrender was unforgivable sin that resulted in exclusion from civilized society. Dying in battle is what a samurai aspired to achieve.
• The Japanese would try to swarm the enemy in a mass frontal attack which the allies called a banzai charge. This was shortened from, Tennõheika Banzai “Long live His Majesty the Emperor.” This tactic was classed as an honourable suicide which was against well organised, dug-in troops with machine guns and artillery support.

The American soldiers/marines who fought at the Battle of Saipan were some brave men, they had “balls of steel.” This is what Wilfried ‘Spike’ Mailloux of the 105th Regiment facing the Japanese Banzai charge at Saipan, said:

“I was scared as hell,” said Mailloux, then a 20-year-old corporal from Cohoes, a mill town north of Albany. “When you hear that screaming — ‘banzai’ — who wouldn’t be?”

To me, the Japanese soldier’s banzai change of World War 2 was the craziest military tactics used.

JEFFREY SACHS FULL INTERVIEW ABOUT CHINA – U.S RIVALRY CONTINUE ? AND MORE

Oh my God. A deep madness.

https://youtu.be/cVYtF3HVSXY

Subtle Change in Ukraine Blame Means Deadly Trouble for Americans

World Hal Turner

OPINION-EDITORIAL — A very subtle change in the words coming out of the Russian Foreign Ministry signals the FINAL step before the annihilation of the United States.  We have now reached the final step . . .

The wording used by the Russian Foreign Ministry was very subtle, but its implications are anything but.    See if you can pick-up the subtle change in this excerpt from RT:

The US and its citizens are complicit in the deaths of the Ukrainian POWs who were killed last week when the Russian Il-76 military aircraft transporting them was shot down by Kiev’s troops, Moscow’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, has said. 

On Thursday, Russia’s Investigative Committee released a report stating that the cargo plane was destroyed using two US-made MIM-104A missiles fired by a Patriot air-defense system. The Il-76 came down in Russia’s Belgorod Region last Wednesday. All of those on board – 65 Ukrainian POWs, three Russian troops, and six crew members – were killed. 

Russian investigators stated that Ukrainian troops fired the missiles from a staging area in Kharkov Region, not far from the village of Liptsy, some 10km from the Russian border. They based their conclusion on 116 missile fragments found at the crash site bearing inscriptions in English. 

Responding to the report, Zakharova said in a Telegram post that US citizens “need to know where their money is going,” arguing that President Joe Biden and his administration have made Americans “complicit in a bloody tragedy.” 

Did you catch it?   Did you pick up the subtle change in the language they used?   It’s right there in front of you!

Here, let me focus it for you:

“The US and its citizens are complicit in the deaths of the Ukrainian POWs . . .”

Then again, in a later paragraph:

” . . .arguing that President Joe Biden and his administration have made Americans “complicit in a bloody tragedy.” “”

This tiny and subtle change points the finger not just at the US Government, it also points the finger at . . . . YOU.    And me!    Individually.  Personally.

This is a point I have made repeatedly on my radio shows in the past two years.  I have earnestly pointed out that what our GOVERNMENT does, is being done IN OUR NAME.   

Remember, this nation celebrates Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address wherein he posited that we have “Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

Ergo, when the US Government does something, it does it in OUR name.  You and me.   

The Russians have now made clear who it is they hold responsible for what the US Government is doing:  YOU and ME.

You see, we . . . . you and me . . . . ARE in fact, to blame!  

We sit back and do nothing while our government runs roughshod over the whole world.  Sanctions on this one and that one.   Military action here.  Military action there.   And whenever our Government engage in that activity, people we don’t know, in lands we’ve never been to or maybe haven’t even heard of . . . . die.

Oh, and while our government is doing all this crap to people all over the world, you and I sit back and do . . . . nothing.    We don’t make a phone call to our members of Congress or the Senate.  We don’t write a letter or send a fax.  We don’t even fire-off an email.   We sit on our asses and do absolutely . . . . nothing.  

The Russians are now making clear it is YOU and I who are doing this.  YOU and I who are to blame.  Directly.  Personally.

You know what?   They’re right.

WE are to blame.  We elect these people then sit back and tacitly approve of what they’re doing by our own, personal inaction.  They slaughter people all over the world.  They bomb countries back into the Stone Age.  You and I sit back and do absolutely nothing. Or worse, we sing idiotic Beach Boys Parody songs like “Bomb Bomb Bomb,  Bomb Bomb Iran . . . .” as if somehow what we’re doing is good.  It isn’t.

A Russian guy I know cited US Senator Lindsey Graham the other day to make a very valid point to me.   He showed me what Lindsey Graham, posted on “X” (formerly Twitter) wherein he said the following:

Then the Russian guy asked me “What if some member of the Russian Federation COuncil (i.e. a  Russian “Senator”) Posted this exact message on VKontake (Russian Social Media) only changed the countries involved, like this FAKE SAMPLE:

FAKE RUSSIA SENATOR

In case the Putin Administration is wondering, it is abundantly clear to the United States  and everyone else in the region, that the Administration doesn’t want war. But it will be difficult to tell the families of the fallen soldiers that the United States is not at war with us.

The United States is at war with Russia on multiple fronts through their proxies (Ukraine). Weak talk and weak action are putting our service members [in Ukraine], at risk.  If the United States doesn’t pay a heavy price after the deaths of our service members, and the wounding of many more, then the Putin Administration is derelict in their duties to protect Russian personnel in harm’s way.

To the Putin Administration: Stop the weak rhetoric and respond with strength to protect Russian interests and lives. Your current approach to United States/NATO aggression is not working. Change while you can.”

Same words as Lindsey Graham.  Same logic.

So I have to ask YOU, the Reader, if Lindsey Grahams words about Iran are good enough to warrant the US attacking Iran, would the FAKE Russian Senator’s exact same words about Ukraine, justify Russia hitting us?

Why not.  Same situation!

You see, this is a big problem for my fellow Americans.  We view the world as being ours to do with as we please.  We never once stop to think how other powerful nations, might decide to use OUR logic, when dealing with . . . . us.

Now, some of you will react by saying “They wouldn’t dare.”   Oh no?   Why not?

And you would respond “Because we would nuke the living shit out of them.”

Really?

Because they can also do that to us.   

Oh.

Yes.

Reality sets in.

And those same reactionary Americans who would say “They wouldn’t dare” would then likely say “They won’t, it would mean the end of the world.”

Yes.  It would.  And we would have done it to ourselves by the way we are behaving around the world.

Why should Russia sit back and allow us to supply arms to Ukraine, which are now clearly being used to kill Russians?

Why shouldn’t Russia tell the United States (again) to stop supplying weapons that are killing Russians and then add, or Russia will start hitting the United States?

Why shouldn’t Russia make it direct?  Blunt?

Well . . . . turns out, they just began making it blunt.  At the top of this Op-Ed, they have now begun blaming “American citizens.”   You and me.

Where is this leading?  Let me explain it this way:

What is the difference between “Killing” and “murder?”

Murder is the unlawful killing of an innocent.  But “Killing” is allowable if it is “justified.”  

For instance, if a guy is aiming a gun at you, and you do something which kills him, that is “self defense” and not murder, even though the guy is now dead.

So there is a difference between killing and murder.  One may be allowed while the other is not.

Same thing with countries.  

The U.S. is supplying weapons for Ukraine to use to kill Russians.  Russia has repeatedly told the US and NATO to stop, but we are not stopping.  ERGO, it would be “justified” for Russia to kill us in self defense.

Thankfully, the Russians have good morals and they know that perhaps the innocent American people ought not be harmed because of our evil government.  SO thus far, they have not killed us.

I think the change in Russian Foreign Ministry wording mentioned at the start of this Op-Ed, tells us that’s about to change.

The official Diplomatic Corps of the Russian Federation is now openly, and publicly, laying the blame for the deaths of Russians, upon “the American people.”  Me and you.

Having repeatedly told us to stop, the only thing left for Russia to do is to make us stop – by killing us.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has now begun laying the historical groundwork to justify exactly that.

By changing their statements to lay blame upon “the American people” they are building a record to justify killing . . .  us.

Wise-up folks.

Unless we reign-in our wayward government, and stop them from running roughshod over the whole world, you and I __can__ be held accountable.   You and I __can__ be stopped. 

The clock seems to be ticking.

Now, you can either step up and start being an active and engaged citizen, and start telling your elected public servants to knock it off, or you can go right back to sitting on your ass and doing nothing until the brilliant white flashes start.  Then you can feel sorry for yourself as you vaporize, except God already knows: You brought this on yourself by not getting off your lazy ass and stopping your own government while you still could.

No pity for you and me.

FEARFUL EUROPE! Europe Slows down De-Risking from China

https://youtu.be/EtRLLyht-gU

Have you ever caught a police officer lying in court?

Yes, as a 16 year old!

I had my fairly new license and was driving my parents car when a deer darted out in front of me. I swerved and put the car into a ditch. Not hurt.

I find a phone and call a tow truck. Get back to the car and there is a police car there. I explained I’d stayed with the car for 15 minutes but knew there was a gas station nearby.

He gives me a ticket for speeding because in his opinion that’s the only way this could have happened.

Now this is a small municipal court for traffic tickets. My license was from my parents home 3 hours away. He was expecting me to just mail in the fine rather than contest it. He approached me before court to “refresh his memory about the event” and naively I did. He gets called and testifies that I was speeding.

So, I asked him where he was when the accident happened and was able to witness me speeding. He said he passed me going in the opposite direction.

So, I asked: if you saw me speeding in the opposite direction & saw me wreck my car, why did I have to walk 20 minutes to the phone, call police headquarters to report the accident, and walk back before you wrote the ticket?

The judge stopped things at that point & dismissed the charges.

Ukraine – The Power Scuffle Continues

The scuffle in Kiev over replacing the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine General Valeri Zaluzny continues.

CNN reports that he will be fired within the next 48 hours.

Zelensky set to announce dismissal of Ukraine’s top commander within days as rift grows over war, source says – CNN, Jan 31, 2024

This will not go down well with the electorate and, moreover, with the soldiers of the Ukrainian forces:

A poll published by the Kyiv Institute of Sociology in December found 88% of Ukrainians supported the top general. Zelensky’s approval rating, though also high, was considerably lower at 62%.

Or, as the Washington Post provides:

It is far from clear that any new commander will be able to improve Ukraine’s difficult situation on the battlefield without significantly more forces and weapons — precisely what Zaluzhny has demanded of Zelensky, adding tension to what was already a fraying relationship.

Zaluzhny’s popularity — both within the military and among ordinary citizens — makes his removal a political gamble for Zelensky. It also poses strategic risks at a time when Russia has intensified its attacks and Western security assistance for Kyiv has slowed. The general has built strong rapport with his Western counterparts and has often been able to advocate directly for certain materiel and seek counsel on battlefield strategy.
…
Both Budanov and Syrsky are considered favorites of Zelensky and Andriy Yermak, the chief of the presidential office and Zelensky’s closest adviser. Nearer the front, however, there seems to be little appetite for change.

“My personal opinion is you can’t do something like this right now — Zaluzhny is someone 80 percent of the military considers a good authority,” said Oleksandr, a battalion commander fighting in eastern Ukraine.

“For what is he being removed? It’s not clear. And who will replace him? Syrsky? God, I hope not. No one in the army likes Syrsky,” Oleksandr added.

The German boulevard broadsheet Bild names one of the plausible reasons for the current conflict:

The Bild publication writes that Zaluzhny wanted to withdraw troops from Avdiivka a few weeks ago, but Zelensky refused him this and on December 30 he personally went to the city to the front line to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters.

So all the coffins that arrived from near Avdeevka to Ukraine since December 30 are solely on the conscience of Zelensky and his passion for narcissism.

Avdeevka is nearly surrounded and any attempts to hold onto it will cost many valuable lives of soldiers for no discernible advantage. But, just like with Bakhmut, Zelenski wants to hold on to the city to be be able point his western sponsors to some ‘successes’.

My hunch is that, after Monday’s kerfuffle in Kiev, the decision to fire Zaluzny was still hanging in balance.

The change now only happened after the noeconservative destroyer of Ukraine, Victoria Nuland, had landed in Kiev.

She made some awkward predictions:

When asked by a journalist whether Nuland had learned about Kyiv’s plans on the battlefield, she replied that, in her opinion, Ukraine would achieve great success.

“I have to say that I leave Kyiv tonight more encouraged about the unity and the resolve, about 2024 and its absolute strategic importance for Ukraine. I also leave more confident that, even as Ukraine strengthens its defenses, Mr. Putin is going to get some nice surprises on the battlefield and that Ukraine will make some very strong success,” the U.S. Under Secretary of State emphasized.

This hint does not foresee success on the ground but asymmetric operations within Russia or the Black Sea. More to the like of this which has happen last night:

Ukraine sinks Russian ship.

During a night attack by drones in the Donuzlav area, the Black Sea Fleet lost the Ivanovets MRK, built in 1989, 493 tons of displacement, armed with Moskit missiles.

Sinking that ship will do nothing to change the outcome at the battlefront. Nor would any attacks on Russia oil and gas infrastructure change anything.

Nuland’s remark also hints that the replacement of General Zaluzny will not come in the form of Army General Alexander Syrski, who is disliked by the troops for unsuccessfully holding grounds in Bakhmut and elsewhere at too high costs in men and material.

Nuland’s hint towards asymmetric operations points to the elevation of the Chief of Military Intelligence Directorate Major-General Kyrylo Budanov as a incoming replacement for Zaluzny.

Budanov has been responsible for some daring, if mostly unsuccessful, terror attacks on Russian land and interests.

Back in June 2023 the Economist explained why Zelenski might seek to elevate Bundanov:

Aides huddle close when the general speaks. Under his leadership, Ukraine’s main directorate of intelligence—HUR—has become a plucky, autonomous authority that punches above its weight. It resembles a gang. “Before we had managers, now we have a leader,” says one veteran officer. Oleg, an operative who has known General Budanov for decades, speaks approvingly of his ability to infect others with his fervour, comparing him to a snake “hypnotising you before he comes in for the kill. Restrained, measured, never panicked. You do anything he asks.”
…
As a confidant of the president—those in government call them kindred spirits—General Budanov is understood to be playing an ever-bigger role in behind-the-scenes peace negotiations. Sources say he is a conduit to secret talks with the Chinese, and he has also been in contact with Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s mercenary Wagner outfit.

In conversation it is clear that General Budanov has been thinking hard about post-war Ukraine. Last winter there was talk of him becoming defence minister. He insists his only ambition is victory. Yet secret polls conducted by Mr Zelensky’s office show they are thinking about using the cult of their hero spymaster to counterbalance a perceived rivalry emanating from Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s likeable and independent commander-in-chief. General Budanov’s colleagues say they are convinced he is destined for a big political role once peace comes—if he lives that long.

To the TV producers (Yermak) around the former comedian actor Zelenski it is all about ratings.

Budanov may be good at marketing his image as a successful terrorist.

But he has zero experience of leading any size of unit in combat. You can not lead a company, battalion, brigade or army by ‘huddling close’ with aides. It needs long term strategic thinking just as detailed attention to all kinds of day to day logistics.

Leading an army is like conducting a huge orchestra through a four year long Wagner epos. Having played the first fiddle in a chamber quartet does not qualify for that.

I am sure that U.S. military is not happy about this move. While there were some disagreements with Zaluzny about the right strategies those were between military professional who allowed for diverting opinions. Zaluzny was seen as an experienced  professional soldier. Budanov is seen as a spook who had never been in command of any real military. He well not be talked to at the same level.

When Zaluzny goes the experienced people in his staff are likely to follow:

According to one source, Zaluzhnyi’s senior staff are also expected to be removed from their positions.

With the new inexperienced leadership the situation on the ground will soon become a catastrophic mess for forces of Ukraine. There will be wrong priorities, miss-allocations of resources and large scale losses of men and ground.

On the other side terror attacks on Russian targets, industrial equipment as well as population centers, are likely to sharply increase.

The larger U.S. aim of all this, first announced as a 2019 RAND study, is still unchanged:

Overextending and Unbalancing Russia – RAND, 2019

The study at that time recommended the arming of Ukrainian’s army as the best way to unbalance Russia. We have since seen the escalation of that strategy. The move from the battlefield to the realm of terror is a response to the degradation of the first by empathizing the psychological effects of the second.

The foreseeable outcome though is unchanged. Ukraine will be smashed, Russia’s power will increase and the global view of the U.S. as a reliable partner will be diminished.

Posted by b on February 1, 2024 at 14:48 UTC | Permalink

Is American JEALOUS of China?! YES! This is Why…

https://youtu.be/DmkP2a8TSUg

How did you foil or dodge someone else’s attempt to cheat or deceive you?

I exposed a huge scam by my local gas distributor (cooking gas).

This is a typical cooking gas cylinder in India.

---

As you can see (not very clearly though), on the neck of the cylinder, net weight and gross weight are clearly mentioned.

Recently, I read an article in ‘The Hindu’ that revealed that a lot of gas agencies/distributors/delivery persons in India are stealing cooking gas. They take out about 1–2 kg of gas from each cylinder and sell it separately in black. The loss in weight is too small for an unsuspecting buyer to notice. But in terms of money, this translates into a loss of about 60 INR per cylinder. The article cautioned everybody to get their gas cylinders weighed before paying the delivery person (Delivery persons are mandated to carry a portable weighing scale along with them by the Govt.)

At first I laughed it off. My agency was trusted. It would never do that. But then on a whim, I decided to try it out. When the next cylinder was delivered to my home, I casually asked the delivery boy to weigh it. The color on his face instantly changed. He started stammering, started insisting that there was no need for this because the bond of trust we shared! I immediately grew suspicious. I pressed him. He then started making excuses that he forgot to bring along his portable weighing-scale.

Luckily, I had my own weighing scale at home. I immediately brought it out and weighed the cylinder myself. The gross weight printed on the cylinder was 29.5 kg, whereas the scale read 27 kg. A difference of bloody 2.5 kgs.

The delivery boy started begging me not to register a complaint against him. And that he wouldn’t repeat the mistake ever again.

Apparently, this is a huge scam going on all over India. If you are reading this answer, please get your gas cylinder duly weighed before paying for it.

Am I a Traitor to My Motherland?

https://youtu.be/nAJhWEuAhuM

What is the strangest reaction of someone who has just been fired?

Not exactly fired, but we thought it was a great reaction.

After a recent merger between two rather large companies, it was necessary to reduce personnel, so each department was asked to cut staffing by a certain percentage.

To encourage volunteers, management offered to give a full week worth of salary and paid medical benefits for each full year a person had worked at the company if they took early retirement. And anyone who qualified for a pension also got the full pension as if they had not retired early.

One member of our team was about 14 months away from his planned retirement date when he would start receiving full Social Security and pension payments.

He had worked for the company for 45 years. After some simple math, we all strongly encouraged him to take the deal.

He got 45 weeks of full pay, a whole year of benefits coverage (negotiated with HR), his full pension, and they also bought out the almost two months of accrued vacation time that he had been saving up in order to retire a few months early.

He basically got a 12+ month paid vacation with full benefits. We will be having a retirement party for him on his original planned retirement date in a couple of months. 😀

I imagine that wasn’t what management had in mind when they made the offer, but everyone on our team was very happy for him to get it!

The Duran: NATO Crossed Putin’s Red Line and Russia is Ready to FINISH It

https://youtu.be/-Q4iDLhUjuk

What is the greatest lie ever told?

1. Rich people : Money can’t buy happiness.
2. Boy: I’ll come home in just 5 minutes.
3. Girl: Wait!! I’ll be ready in just 10 minutes.
4. Coaching Institutes : You are all are now a part of one of the best institutes of this city.
5. Parents : Son, It is the hardwork of a just a couple of years, after that your life will be set.
6. Mother in law to daughter in law : You’re like my own daughter.
7. Everybody : I’m fine.
8. Company : Our product is no. 1
9. When relatives give you money and then your parents/grandparents say : “Let me keep the money right now, take it from me whenever you need it”.
10. Now the chief guest will say a “few” words.
11. Complete 10th STD with good marks then take rest.
12. Complete 12th STD with good marks then life is set.
13. PCB is easier than PCM.
14. 10th Std and 12th Std are the most important things in life.
15. If you don’t do anything bad, nothing bad will happen to you.
16. Swallowing seeds whole will make plants grow in your stomach.
17. “Maggie in two minutes “…Am I the only one who takes more than 2 minutes ??

18. Everything happens for a reason.

19. We will be friends forever.

20. Complan increases height.

21. If your leg slips when you start from home, something bad is about to happen.

22. If you get hiccups, someone is thinking about you.

23. “ Fair and lovely gives you fairness “…Ohh, may be for 15 minutes or even less ??

24. One day, everything is going to be fine.

25. “ I don’t need upvotes “…Some people write to express but everyone needs upvotes like a form of appreciation or encouragement.

The USA has become a nightmare

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wG5fyQKTl-k?feature=share

 

What was your “time to be an asshole” moment?

Yesterday, I was working with an Orthodox Jewish woman around age 25 on sparring.

Let’s call her Chaya. It was her first day training and I was taking her under my wing to mentor her a bit. (Yes, I have reached the level of being able to slightly teach others. Not much)

Chaya was very sweet, and found it hard to hit. She was so kind and shy, she found it so difficult to get up the anger to hit.

I was holding up the kick shield for her to practice on. (For those who don’t know, this but with punching)

Tiger Claw Foam Shield

 

She wasn’t hitting the body shield bag hard enough. She just couldn’t summon the anger needed. She kept giggling and being very gentle and kind.

I tried to rile her up. “Come on, Chaya. Imagine the teacher you hate most? Imagine being cut off in traffic? Imagine your air conditioner breaking on the Shabbat.”

Nothing. She just had no anger.

So I had to be a ***** and I knew exactly what to say. So I said “Imirtza Hashem by you, dear. Have you tried being less picky?” Which means “With God’s help by you,” in reference that she needs divine assistance to find a partner, something Jewish singles (especially female) hear ALL THE TIME AND IT DRIVES US ALL CRAZY! It’s condescending, it’s shaming and it’s really salt in our wounds. And we hear it from well meaning busy bodies all the time.

Chaya’s eyes narrowed and her jaw tightened with sheer rage. She punched the bag so hard, I was knocked back several steps. “See, I knew you had that in you,” I said triumphantly. “Now, you know you can punch.”

She delightedly thanked me and we exchanged worst date stories.

Sometimes, you just need some motivation and if it takes using evil, so be it.

Have you ever tried to annoy a scammer who called you? If so, what happened?

No. But may I highlight a dirty trick by a phone soliciter?

I’ll take that as a yes.

A neighbor of mine was a saleman for Sam’s Club. The guy who makes a pitch to your boss, offering a discount to any of his/her employees who’d like the group membership, put on sales presentations at state fairs etc., cold-calling as well.

Then I moved halfway across the state. He calls me one afternoon, disguising his voice and acting as if he’s calling on behalf of some worthless telemarketing offer. Of course I, not recognizing him, utter some choice words before hanging up. He calls me right back, identifies himself and proceeds to ask me why I couldn’t be more polite in declining whatever it is that’s being offered.

I told him why. Said my peace and then we chatted about whatever he had really needed to talk to me about.

He proved them wrong

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tGHRavmXdO4?feature=share

Have you ever called in a “welfare check” to the police? Did it turn out there was a real need? Officers, how often are “welfare checks” something where a person does need assistance?

Many years ago I was in a chat room of a group with hundreds of members. Predominantly adults but, there were older teens. I don’t remember what was being discussed but, this kid (older teen) started making rude comments then started making bizarre comments about school shootings,violence and basically hinting he was going to do something. Quite a few people ignored it or told him he was being inappropriate and that he would be reported to moderator. Most in the discussion didn’t take it seriously. I went to his profile which fortunately wasn’t locked down. So concerning posts and was able to figure out the state, town and high school he attended. And his actual name. So I called the police in that town. Explained what I had seen, sent screenshots etc. While I was on the phone with a detective they got a call from one other man who had done the same as me. Surprisingly, the detective called me back a few hours later and while he didn’t give me many details he did say, that between myself and the other man they were able to locate the boy and that everyone was safe. I confess to stalking the FB profiles later and saw that he had been hospitalized so hopefully he got the help he needed. I worried I was doing the wrong thing but, I just kept thinking how hard it would be to live with myself if I saw news the next day of a school shooting and HADN’T called.

Candies in a box

“I know that I have less to live than I have lived.

I feel like a child who was given a box of chocolates. He enjoys eating it, and when he sees that there is not much left, he starts to eat them with a special taste.

I have no time for endless lectures on public laws – nothing will change. And there is no desire to argue with fools who do not act according to their age. And there’s no time to battle the gray. I don’t attend meetings where egos are inflated and I can’t stand manipulators.

I am disturbed by envious people who try to vilify the most capable to grab their positions, talents and achievements.

I have too little time to discuss headlines – my soul is in a hurry.

Too few candies left in the box.

I’m interested in human people. People who laugh at their mistakes are those who are successful, who understand their calling and don’t hide from responsibility. Who defends human dignity and wants to be on the side of truth, justice, righteousness. This is what living is for.

I want to surround myself with people who know how to touch the hearts of others. Who, through the blows of fate, was able to rise and maintain the softness of the soul.

Yes, I hustle, I hustle to live with the intensity that only maturity can give. I’ll eat all the candy I have left – they’ll taste better than the ones I already ate.

My goal is to reach the end in harmony with myself, my loved ones and my conscience.

I thought I had two lives, but it turned out to be only one, and it needs to be lived with dignity.”

Brilliant Anthony Hopkins

and free interpretation of Mario de Andrade’s poem

 

What’s one thing you’ve heard a repairman say that made you question their expertise?

We had a dishwasher that wouldn’t latch, darn thing wasn’t more than 20, 24 months old. Called the repair guy. He “fixed” it, I paid the bill and off he goes. Well the darn thing starts leaking about two days later from the middle of the door at the bottom. So he comes back, takes the front of the door off. I can see the paths of the water leak from the “newly replaced latch” all the way down the insulation ( soaked by the way) to the spot where it leaked onto the floor. He informs me that we need a new door, over $450, we only paid $560 for it. So I informed him I wasn’t paying for a door, the latch was obviously installed wrong. Oh non, says he, the latch is fine. Oh no, say I, you broke it I’m not buying anything. So he leaves. I call the repair business office, they send a higher up, supervisor or some such ro lookat it. I show him the paper work, he looks at the machine and, Lo and behold the latch is incorrectly installed and the door needs to be replaced. New door for free, and no labor charge. He even refunded the work for the latch.

Very cringe

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Gmm0urux8cs?feature=share

 

 

What is a greater threat to America: China, Trump, or obesity?

The greatest threat to the U.S. is your mostly brain dead population created as a result of 75 years of U.S. media propaganda and spin by the US media to glorify the U.S. and demonised those that refused to be submissive and subservient to them.

I have been a business mechanic of sort for years on end till my retirement, and in my view, the first part of any change is recognition and acceptance of the need to change! In the case of the U.S. you guys don’t even know you are in life support and that your U.S. economy is one humongous Ponzi scheme!

There lies the US problem. If you don’t want to know that you are haemorrhaging cash due to forever wars and you cannot afford your defence spending. If you refuse to accept that Chinas has lapped you guys! You ain’t gonna fix it! There lies your problem. Americans must be the most ignorant and naive people on planet earth! You media has made all of you believe in your so call “exceptionalism”

You still think Chinese lives in caves with bats and Russians are Slavic underachievers! And you are 10 foot tall genius! Many here in QUORA still thinks we are in 1945 when the 2 world wars ravaged all other major powers! And the U.S. share of world economy is 52%.

China and Russia don’t need to lift a finger, Americans will implode the U.S!

Do the majority of people in China wish to remain communists, or if they had a choice, would they want democracy?

Please note that the antonym for Democracy is not Communism. It is Dictatorship. There is no logical contradiction between communism and democracy, as many in the US seem to believe. It is a ridiculous, gross misconception.

Is America a true democracy? In my opinion, there is no true democracy or true dictatorship in this world. Every country lies somewhere on a continuous spectrum between these two extremes. If America were a true and pure democracy, I should be able to look into Trump’s tax records and no one could stop me. Note I am not criticizing the American system, but only saying that you cannot call it a true and pure democracy in the sense of the word. It is just closer to the democratic end of the spectrum than some other countries.

I am from Taiwan, not China. I have not lived a single day under communism, but I have lived many years under an anti-communist dictatorship, and that was BAD. You cannot equate democracy with anti-communism. It is simply wrong.

It is very strange to me that communism is such a dirty word in the supposedly free and open-minded American public psyche, as if it were some kind of voodoo witchcraft. I find it totally anti-intellectual and closed-minded, not worthy of a true and free democracy.

Just dudes being dudes

I can relate to this.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3Mm_cewm2xk?feature=share

 

 

What is the sneakiest thing you did to get back at an awful neighbor? Did you get caught?

I lived in a townhouse with one shared wall. When I moved in, the neighbors were a very quiet couple, never heard a peep out of them. They moved out a year later – and 3 single male construction workers moved in. They played obnoxiously loud music at all hours of the day and night. Complicating matters – I had a 3 year old, and was pregnant with my second child. So sleep was a need.

My wusband (nicer than saying ex-husband because he WAS my husband at the time) politely went next door to ask them to turn down the music – several times. It got to where they wouldn’t answer the door when he went over there. We called the police several times – and they wouldn’t answer the door for the police either.

The situation was wretched – and I began looking for ways to get the message across. One night – they left their garage door open during a particularly loud jam session. I had already gone to bed, and was wearing a huge maternity nightgown – because – I was hugely pregnant. I quickly snuck into their garage, and flipped the breaker switch. And scurried back to my side of the townhouse quietly. They figured it out the next morning. And did their party thing the next night – and I repeated the process. After that they left the garage door shut.

Around this time, I had the baby I was expecting. My wusband and I decided to take the kids and visit a friend for a few hours on a Saturday when we knew all of the neighbors were home sleeping off their Friday night party. Before we left, we moved both of the stereo speakers over to the shared wall, and turned on some super loud heavy metal music to share with said neighbors. And left. We did this several more weekends.

The construction workers broke their lease and left a couple of months later.

And no, they never said a word to us.

What is the sneakiest thing you did to get back at an awful neighbor? Did you get caught?

Many years ago I had a strange neighbor that lived with his mother next door. I did not speak with them but I would wave if I saw them to be polite.

A few years later I had fallen asleep on the couch and heard this weird noise by the window like scratching. I thought it was my cat and started checking, I see the screen going up in the window and two arms, I started screaming get the f*** out of here and slammed down the storm window.

I woke my son up and called the police, unfortunately my description was two arms of a Caucasian male. This was in the country so not a lot of people around. Four police cars later and after getting my story they went next door. I figured they were asking if they saw anything, but no they were hauling out the guy next door. They found him hiding under a car in the garage. They told me they knew this guy and he had been in trouble before. He had actually broken into my house when the people before me lived there. That would have been good to know before…

So we go to court and you can tell this guy is not right in his mind when he talks to the judge stating he doesn’t understand: so after my victim impact statement, they hold him over but say I can go but not to worry he will not be back.

I do not know what happened but he was back two weeks later and now I have to live next to this guy.

All I could think of was this, my neighbor he knows when I am home or at work so what exactly were his motives to break in knowing we were home? Scared me to death and I had two kids to think about (my daughter was not home the night this happened luckily).

So I called my brother and he came over with a shotgun to teach me target practice. I printed off pictures of this guys mugshot to use for target practice in my backyard. When I was done, I posted them around my property so he would get the message…

Not sneaky but hopefully scared him off. I never had trouble for the next year I lived there but I also never leave a window or door unlocked at night either. Even in the summer months.

Luckily I have much nicer neighbors now and a much better gun to protect myself with if the need arises.

Opening Incredible Garage-Found Gun Safes After 8 Years | What Will We Find Inside?!

https://youtu.be/JRjB8LA6vMQ

 

 

What is your best customer service experience in hotels?

Update 4/12/17- Many, many folks have asked me to identify the hotel chain. It was a Hyatt!

I was on a road trip and needed to stay overnight suddenly because a fast moving snow storm was blowing in.

I could see the logo of a hotel chain I occasionally use a few blocks away. I called them and asked if I could have a room on short notice? No problem. Note that between the time I called and the time I appeared at the front desk was maybe 20 minutes!

Here is a portion of my front desk (FD) conversation-

FD- “Mr. B. thank you for staying with us on such short notice. I see you have our affinity card so you have a room on our priority floor. Please remember that we have complimentary coffee and breakfast on that floor beginning at 6:00 am.”

Me- “Thanks but I’m leaving early tomorrow and I’ll be gone by 5:00 am.”

FD- “I understand Mr. B. Have nice night.”

So I trundled up to my room and there on the desk was a small pitcher of ice cold milk and three fresh chocolate chip cookies along with a note. The note was handwritten and addressed specifically to me and thanked me for staying on such short notice. It was signed by the manager. I was very impressed but the best was yet to come!

The next morning my alarm went off at 4:30 am as I planned on leaving at 5:00 am. The message light on my room telephone was blinking but the phone never rang! Of course that would have disturbed me.

The message was something like this-

“Good morning Mr. B. We noted that you were leaving early this morning and couldn’t take advantage of the amenities on our priority floor. We took the liberty of placing coffee and breakfast pastries outside of your door. We didn’t know if you preferred regular or decaffeinated coffee so we included a carafe of each. Have a safe trip!”

Now that is customer service!

China now has the world’s largest navy. If necessary, can the United States Navy sink the Chinese Navy?

 

You know guys, sometimes I get the biggest belly-laugh when I read some of the answers here. Either they are terribly deluded, or they are immensely ignorant.

…

Here’s a REAL answer.

First of all, let’s throw out some FACTS to “set the table”, so to speak.

• China has the largest Navy in the world.
• China’s navy is not spread out all over the place (like the USN), but are concentrated at the projected battle fields.
• China’s navy is also the oldest navy in the world. It was operating CENTURIES before the first organized navy in Europe.
• China’s navy has been restructured, and operates NEW ships with cutting-leading-edge systems and technology. Many of which are unique and unknown to the West.

Were a war to occur between the USA and China, a Naval war would be the lest of the worries of the American “leadership”. Economic, social, and financial collapse would all be in free-fall.

But, let’s answer this question.

Can the United States Navy sink the Chinese Navy?

Here’s my answer…

• Yes, the USN has the ability to destroy vessels, aircraft, bases, and people of the PLAN.
• It is highly unlikely, however, that they will be able to completely destroy the PLAN.
• It is likely that in the process of this destruction, that the USN would suffer great losses in men, material, weapons, and vessels.

Both sides will likely take great losses.

But this is 2024. China’s city-destroying munition capabilities are global. The consequence of a United States (or proxy) war against China will result in the people of the attacking nation being hurt.

Thus…

• American major cities will also become targets for destruction.

…

Remember, boys and girls, China is a peaceful nation…

…until it isn’t.

…

Never forget the great losses that the United States incurred the last time they fought the Chinese.

Look at the BIG PICTURE. Not the tactical issues, but the strategic issues. Then faced with this reality, project the highest probability outcomes.

They are not pretty.

JUST NOW…States Under Attack NEED National Guard Deployed IMMEDIATELY

https://youtu.be/0hmiygQhmHA

 

 

 

 

What is something your country does differently than the rest of the world?

Modern architecture in Nigeria is built with total convenience in mind. We have more toilets and bathrooms in our houses than bedrooms. I’ve built two myself, although not opulent in any way, but it was unthinkable to construct a four-bedroom home with just one or two bathrooms.

When I travel and hear people or real estate agents in developed countries boast about their six-bedroom houses with two baths, the Nigerian in me can’t help but feel puzzled. In Nigeria, such a setup would be considered ridiculous.

I understand that building in developing countries like Nigeria is quite cheap, but just how much extra is it going to cost for a decent bathroom in every bedroom?

The unwritten standard amongst Nigerians is that each bedroom must come with its ensuite bathroom, just like a hotel, ensuring privacy and convenience. Additionally, there’s always a separate toilet for guests by the living room.

This practice in Nigeria also stems from practicality. With sometimes large families, the idea of waiting in line for a bathroom in your home seems absurd. To think that one would have to walk the entire hallway to get to the toilet, especially at night. This is unimaginable in a home with several boyfriends and girlfriends.:D

Our homes are designed to ensure that everyone has their own space, minimizing inconvenience and maximizing comfort. Building a bedroom without a space for a toilet, accessible only from the same bedroom is a great disservice to whoever is to occupy that room.

While mostly rich folks opt for homes with extensive bathrooms in developed countries, it’s intriguing to note that such a luxury, sometimes at a lower standard is a standard feature in a modern Nigerian building.

P.S.

In the comment section, some people have shifted focus to Nigeria’s poverty, rather than discussing architecture. About 23% of Nigerians, over 50 million people, belong to the middle-upper class, and many in this category can still afford to build their homes. This number alone is more than the population of many rich countries. Nigeria is a land of both immense wealth and poverty. If you’re looking for stories about poverty in Nigeria today, you’ll have to keep scrolling or better still, write it yourself! This post focuses on the architectural styles prevalent among Nigerians who have the means to build their own homes based on my observations!

Poverty is a real problem in Nigeria and it’s getting worse, but there is so much wealth in Nigeria too. Sadly, talking about Nigeria’s poverty and scams is more acceptable and beneficial to many westerners that we can’t even talk about anything else without backlash.

 

Have you ever had a teacher who had a really screwed up grading system?

Oh, boy, did I! My mother still blames him for my hatred of math 35 years later!

I had an Algebra teacher get it in his head that A students will always get an A, B students will always get a B, etc, regardless of the grading scale. If and A was 90-100%, A students will do the work to get above 90%, and if an A is 95-100%, we would do the work to get a 95%, etc.

So he decided to make his grading scale A= 98–100%, B= 95–97%, C= 92–94%, D= 90–91‰, below 90% is and F.

So what had been an A/B student (me) would instead fail. Yeah, we hated him. And it only took 1 semester to get him onto probation, and he was gone after the second semester.

He really screwed up by doing this to my class. Out of 52 kids in my graduating class, almost 10% were teacher’s kids, plus one was the principal’s kid! In rural Wisconsin, many normal kids had parents that were uninterested in grades or intimidated by teachers, but when the parents ARE the teachers and principal, that factor disappeared, and they had no problem pitching an absolute FIT until it was fixed.

But I still hate math, the damage was already done.

Papa Vento’s Sicilian Chicken

Like Chicken Parmesan, my father made this for us all the time while we were growing up.

Ingredients

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup olive oil (+ more for frying)
• 1 1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan
• Ground black pepper
• 6 large slices mozzarella cheese
• 1 large can (32 ounces) crushed tomatoes (regular or Italian seasoned)
• 1 medium onion

Instructions

1. Pound out chicken breasts between wax paper to 1/2-inch thick.
2. In a shallow bowl, combine breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. In another shallow bowl, pour 1/2 cup olive oil.
3. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Dip chicken breasts first in olive oil, letting excess drip off, and then press into breadcrumb mixture. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium / low heat. Sauté chicken breasts until golden on both sides.
4. Arrange chicken breasts on bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Pour crushed tomatoes evenly over chicken. Halve the onion and “sliver” cut it, sprinkling them on top of the tomatoes (quantity depends on your taste ). Lay 1 piece of cheese over each chicken breast and bake for 30 minutes until cheese starts to turn golden and sauce is bubbly.

My father makes this with pounded round steak and non-seasoned tomatoes but we love this version. You can make it either way and make up your own mind.

 

What did someone say in court that made you burst out laughing?

When I was born my parents lived in a flat (apartment ) in quite a rundown area as they were struggling to make ends meet.

My Dad worked 12 hour nights and came home to my mum in floods of tears. Shed been cooking a curry and the “skinheads” on the next floor didn’t appreciate the cross cultural culinary efforts that my mum was whipping up.

They kicked and banged at the door screaming “it stinks of f***ing P***s in here” and other derogatory and racist remarks. All while knowing full well there was a young mother and baby inside.

My Dad came home, and after mum told him what had happened, he decided to visit the chap upstairs.

Knocking was done via my Dad’s shoulder on the flimsy little Yale lock (Dad was a rugby player, Prop to be exact!) and upon entering the was confronted with the offender, in his underpants, swinging a mase at him. Dad kindly removed the offensive weapon from him and told him what a silly man him and his friends had been. Then, upon exiting, Dad noticed this guy’s new stereo system and it reminded him that he’d also had enough of his crappy music at all sorts of hours.

Dad informed him that “I’ve had e-f***ing-nough of this too” and proceeded to throw the stereo system out of this chaps window, which was obviously shut because Dad wouldn’t waste time like that.

Job done, Dad goes back down stairs to enjoy his curry. Then there’s a knock at the door and matey boy has phoned the police. My Dad was honest and willingly accompanied the officers to the station to attempt to resolve the matter.

Fast forward and it goes to court. Now there’s breaking and entering, GBH, criminal damage and………. burglary. This guy had had the audacity to say Dad had stolen his precious stereo system and, during questioning the Judge asked my Dad “so, do you know the whereabouts of the said stereo system”

My Dad replied “Yes your Honour, with all due respect I believe the stero is still in the f***ing tree”

The courtroom burst into laughter and after the judge reminded my Dad to watch his language, decided to send a constable to investigate my Dad’s claim.

After the proceedings resumed the constable concluded to the court

“Yes Your Honour, it would appear that the stereo system is still in the tree”

I believe the chap upstairs was done for wasting police time and moved not long after.

My Dad has always got plenty of these stories from his younger days and whilst I don’t condone any of his actions, they’re bloody epic!

If we compare with real American and Chinese people, are Chinese people smarter than real American people?

Yes generally so.

Chinese penchant for knowledge and continuous improvement means that Chinese will always become smarter that Americans in general. Americans in general are cursed by the perception that they are exceptional. Starting from this premise makes them think they are better and smarter than the rest.

That couldn’t be further from the truth. The U.S. became overwhelmingly strong due to the coincidence of history. The 2 world wars wrecked all the major economies and left the U.S. with one eye but the rest of the world has lost both their eyes! The became the king of the blind.

Confucianism ethics in every Chinese person mean they focus on being educated and learning. They will stop at nothing to give their children the very best education money can buy. Diligence and hard work is among the traits that gives Chinese the edge. This means apart from having a higher and better education that is at least 3 full years ahead of the west, the Chinese race never stop learning.

American has this feeling of entitlement and it thinks the world must be submissive and subservient to them and they can always be the best by hook or by crook. These days mainly by crook! Given any task Chinese will start faster and work harder at it and in the end Chinese will be more successful.

Candice explains why it is important for wives to be monogamous

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5thwB7_ZGbY?feature=share

Why is the US government restricting the importation of Chinese lower-cost cars and at the same time allowing US manufacturers to dramatically raise their prices?

Chinese lower -cost cars are the result of EV’s and they need batteries which China has the raw materials to make unlike the US so low cost EV’s represent the future of international relations between the trading Nations which has developed into a competition between two trading blocks.

Bipolarism has taken the world by storm BRICS led the way as the Russian Special Operation guaranteed retreat to be forbidden, the World post February 24 – 2022 will never be what it was from 1991 to 2011, I know that end date is not universally accepted it was when Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi refused to be cowered into submission and took on the British and French Arab Spring which had to be save by Obama coming to their rescue bombing Libya and alienating Russia, Vladimir Putin saw the need to jump into the Presidency again because Demitry Medvedev was too far gone supporting Obama, now Demitry Medvedev is an anti Western hawk compared to Putin, that’s how different things are in Russia today compared to 1991 to 2011.

After 2011 Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad followed in Gadaffi’s footsteps and unlike Muammar Gadaffi the Syrian leader remains alive while military Keynesian economics has conquered the United States of America after getting up to full speed under Obama in 2011, now the US economy is swallowing Europe using the pretext of war with all credible sources pointing to the modern times unprecedented threat coming from the Southern Powers China and Russia which is alarming the US, Britain and EU.

This international predicament developed from the US, British and EU’s 1991 complete victory over the entire political and economic landscape within which China has risen in that 33 years to reflect the exact opposite as the goods arranged on supermarket shelves are coming from China taking the place of Japan as the manufacturing centre of the US, Britain and EU’s operations, on top of that China as part of BRICS is now the largest exporter of cars to what is now becoming known in political and economic narratives’ as the Northern Group associated with the pattern of wealth acquisition in the North American continent and poverty in the Southern American continent.

BRICS represents the South and have gained control over a significant portion of the World’s economic landscape which the Northern Group of Nations the US, Britain and EU can’t afford to allow China’s belt and road initiative becoming the turning point of the Northern Groups 1991 to 2011 political and economic control of World affairs, one way the Government’s of the US, Britain and EU can reign in BRICS as they did Japan is to make China’s products economically non viable by pushing up the prices compared to the competition from other parts of the World that do not challenge the economic dominance of the Northern Group the US, Britain and EU.

Import duty is one way the Northern Group are pushing up the prices of what China has to offer, this Government policy does have limitations as the Northern Group manufacturers become protected and take advantage by pushing up the prices of their cars.

Fentanyl contains a chemical opioid that comes from opium. USA occupied Afghanistan from 2001-2021. During that period, Afghanistan produced 80% of opium in the world. Farmers were asked or forced to grow opium. Starting 2010, there was opioid related drug crisis in USA. Is this a coincidence? US population accounts for 5% of the world. Americans consume 80% of world drugs incl fentanyl. Why Americans suffer so much pain?

There were 3 major waves of drug crisis in USA.

1, In 1991, US pharm industry promoted opioid-related drug by saying opioid is harmless. Doctors could prescibe it to patients & drug stores could sell it. From 1999-2017, 200,000 Americans died from opioid. Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of OxyContin was sued & fined for $8.3 billion in 2020. Purdue is owned by a Jewish American family Sackler.

2, In around 2010, OxyContin was hard to get. People turned to heroin which is cheaper but stronger. It also uses an ingredient from opium. In 2010-14, CDC reported that the death rate due to heroin has risen more than 200% among “white” & African Americans.

3, The 3rd wave is fentanyl which started in 2014. It also contains an ingredient from opium. In Aug 2021-Aug 22, 100,000 Americans died of drug overdose. 2/3 were fentanyl.

Capitalism & politics

In the book “Death of Despair & Future of Capitalism”, economist Anne Case & Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton point out the collusion between pharm capitalists & politicians. Their deep collusion makes it difficult to control drug.

Politicians receive donation from pharm capitalists. Hence politicians will never come up with an effective law to control drug.

British Guardian reported in 2017 that, for the past 10 years, US pharm industry spent $2.5 billion in lobbying politicians. 90% of congress-persons & 97 out of 100 senators received political donations from pharm industry. At least once.

The fight between the 2 political parties is another reason. While both parties swear they would fight drug crisis, no party wants to cooperate with the other to effective beat drug abuse. No party wants the other party to become a hero.

scapegoat

In order to show they have done their part in fentanyl battle, USA blames it on China.

China adopts zero tolerance on illegal drug & is very strict on drug control. China is ahead of United Nations to classify drug into fine categories so as to effectively catch drugs that do not meet the requirement.

Since Sept 2019, US customs has not caught any fentanyl from China. But US politicians keep telling Americans that China exports fentanyl.

In 2023, USA sanctioned a Chinese police unit & lab that inspects for illegal drug. Perhaps USA is upset that China is too strict & US customs did not find any from China.

USA also sanctioned companies that produce LEGAL chemicals & equipment that can make fentanyl. The chemical is legal because, if used properly, it can be used to make pain killer for, say, cancer patients. The equipment is legal because it is a tool to make pills.

US politicians are not serious about solving problems.

Look at poverty: any theft below $950 is not a crime. ie USA encourages open robbery.

When USA loses jobs due to Clinton’s globalisation program, Trump said China steals US jobs.

Instead of curbing gun violence, USA militarizes teachers & babies.

If one day USA collapses, it is the collusion of US politicians & capitalists.

My dad taught me

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CRruhP56gxs?feature=share

 

How I make a friend in China for start business?

This is not the wisest approach.

How do you start a business? You must have these two.

• Business concept.
• Capital.

Do you have a great idea, or you have money to invest, or a little of both?

If you have money, this is the scariest part in China. Because if you are asking on Quora (instead of Chinese social media), you are likely a foreigner who aren’t familiar with Chinese language and society.

Like with any society, it’s not wise to advertise your willingness to spend your money. You are just ringing the dinner bell for scammers, more or less. There will be hundreds of people being very willing to become your best friends.

Isn’t China very safe? Very. But while police can protect you from criminals, police can’t protect you from yourself and your own bad decisions, persuaded by scammers.

---

If you have a great idea, you may think of ways to safeguard your ideas, trade mark if you can, so the people you pitch your ideas to will not simply steal your ideas and lock you out of any profit.

Chances are there are millions of people in the same boat as you: having great ideas, wanting investors.

---

What to do to start your dream business in China?

1. Starting a business requires more commitment than a marriage. You have to be ready to give 200%.
2. Need money. Unless you are lucky enough to have a financier, you need some initial capital to invest in your idea, to create some kind of a working prototype, to have something for show. This will put you above the millions of people who simply got ideas.
3. Get to know China.

China is like any society. There are honest people and there are really shady people. You can’t simply see it on their appearance alone.

If you are a lone warrior, your first investment is to live in China, even a few months at a time. Get involved in Chinese daily life, get involved in the industry you want to be in. Find a part time job there?

Or seek out an existing support network you can trust.

If you are Indian, seek out other Indians already working in the industry you want to start business in. They are likely more sympathetic to befriend and show you the rope. They may even find you a job.

But beware, even your own compatriots can scam you, or mislead you. Don’t be too trusting.

---

This is all I have for a Quora answer.

With only a very vague question, this is all you are going to get. Being an entrepreneur is full of risk. Your first lesson is not to get rich quick, but learn risk management. I rather you lose a few thousands today for a hard lesson, than to lose a few millions 10 years later for this same lesson.

Pro-Tip: Find professional legal consultation for second opinion.

Say you are about to engage in a business deal, whether with local Chinese or your compatriot, secretly go outside to find paid consultation services. They will know Chinese laws and regulations more than anyone. They can smell a fish from miles away. You can’t save money on this.

Pornstar’s ABANDONED Mansion ~ You Won’t Believe What We Found Inside!

https://youtu.be/IaAq1x21k4o

Malaysia man’s viral stunt of planting banana tree in pothole gets road repaired within hours

Public works department blame continuous rain as reason behind delay in road maintenance

Maroosha Muzaffar

Frustrated over the authority’s inaction, a Malaysian man planted a banana tree in a pothole on a road to draw attention to the problem.

Mahathir Aripin from Jalan Sandakan-Lahad Datu village in Sabah posted a photo of the banana tree standing almost in the middle of the road on his Facebook page.

The base of the tree was covered with some soil to ensure it stood erect.

He also posted a message expressing his concern for those using the road and humorously suggested he might use tar next time.

“I feel sorry for the road users. I’ll cover it with tar next time,” he said on 29 January.

Seeing the response to his Facebook post, the local authorities responsible for road safety – the Sabah Public Works Department – started work to repair the road.

Reports said the pothole was filled within hours of Mr Aripin bringing attention to it.

The public works department blamed continuous rain as a reason for delay in the road maintenance.

This method of highlighting road repair issues is not unprecedented. There have been cases reported in Kedah in the country, and even in Florida, US.

Mr Aripin’s post sparked a conversation on road conditions in Malaysia.

On social media, several commentators commended his effort to bring attention to the problem of road safety and maintenance.

One jokingly said that he should have planted a durian tree whose fruit is notoriously foul-smelling instead of a banana tree.

Others responded with the laughter emoji while some called his attempt to plant a banana tree in the pothole “naughty”.

The pothole’s location was about 500m from the spot where a recent accident claimed the life of a 4-year-old girl, believed to have been caused by a pothole.

According to Malaysia’s Road Safety Plan 2022-2030, the country aims to reduce road deaths by 50 per cent by 2030.

 

As a police officer, what is something you saw a civilian do that you definitely did not want to see?

The Final Letters

In police work, there are many things you see that you would rather have not seen. Suicide by firearm seems to be at the top of my list. I only experienced this once in my career.

Sure I have found people a day after the person lost their head, sort of, with the blast from a shotgun — what a mess. It’s very inconsiderate to the family members or even first responders who have to deal with this.

But only once, when I was responding to a call of a man with a gun was I quite close when the shot was fired. I was out of my patrol car with a partner and running up an outside staircase which led to the man’s apartment when we hear the bang. He is sitting on the landing at the top of the stairs with his back against the wall, looking at us. He had a small caliber handgun still in his hand, and the barrel remained in his mouth. He was alive for the moment, but it was apparent he wouldn’t survive.

My partner took out a pair of latex gloves because there was blood, and started to put them on. I didn’t wait for gloves and grabbed the gun with both hands and first peeled his finger off the trigger. I then peeled the rest of his fingers from around the gun and handed it to my partner.

I wasn’t sure how this man felt about the police, but I was going to be sure that he didn’t take one of us with him. The man expired while we were at the scene. There were skull fragments and white and gray brain matter against the wall behind where he was sitting. Even after shooting himself he remained upright and seated.

A crime scene was immediately taped off, and detectives were brought in to investigate. The first unique discovery was that the handgun was fired twice. The first bullet was later found flattened but still in the brain cavity. It must have struck the inside of his skull with sufficient force to fracture it but did not exit. The second bullet was found underneath the man’s body.

Something I learned from detectives that night is that it’s not uncommon for a person considering suicide by handgun to fire a test round to make sure the gun is working properly. The noise from the first shot was reported by a neighbor and drew us to the scene.

Had our arrival hurried this man’s final desperate act? That’s something we will never know. I would have loved to have had the chance to speak with the man and perhaps change his mind. But that wasn’t to be.

I was permitted to enter the man’s home with the detectives and found a neat and well-organized apartment. He had this entire event meticulously planned out.

On the dining room table were a series on neatly organized envelopes lined up in a perfect row. Three were separately addressed to family members, while one was marked Funeral director and last one simply said: Police. Inside the envelope, marked police was a neatly handwritten letter. The first thing I noticed was that the letter was dated with today’s date. The letter explained that he had taken his own life freely. He went on to explain that he suffered from a very painful and debilitating terminal illness which would lead him to a more painful state before his eventual death.

He provided us with the names and contact information for several doctors who were treating him. He also asked us to make sure we contacted the funeral director first, so his family members would not see him in his current state. He went on to ask us to hand-deliver the other letters to his family members and provided their addresses, which were all local. He closed his letter by apologizing to us for any mess his act may have caused.

We next opened the letter to the funeral director, as it was unsealed and only identified with the words funeral director. Again, we found a neatly handwritten letter reminding this funeral director of his pre-paid funeral contract. The letter advised that one of his children had the written agreement. He went on to provide significant detail on his final arrangements, down to the suit in which he wanted to be buried.

The final three letters were to his children and were sealed which is how our officers delivered them to his loved ones.

A cursory search of the apartment which is standard in any crime scene identified two more, nearly exact sets of letters. Each set of letters were also handwritten but had different dates on them. Each roughly a few weeks apart. It was clear that the man had planned his demise on several prior dates and but hadn’t or couldn’t go through with it, until tonight

We reviewed these earlier letters because they were not in envelopes or sealed. The letters to his children were very loving and apologetic; asking for their understanding and forgiveness for his decision. They also spoke of the hopelessness of his medical situation and the difficult decision of letting go.

I never met this man until that night, and yet I feel like I knew him. In reading his letters, I believe that he was a decent man confronted with an impossible problem with no good solution. His final written thoughts were of comforting and reassuring his family and seeking their forgiveness for his decision to end his pain and his life.

We Found A Abandoned Safe In The River. What’s Inside The ABANDONED SAFE? (OPENED)

https://youtu.be/viFqN0pwc7o

 

Do the Chinese know how much worse a war with the United States would be for their country than for the Americans?

Troll question.

Obviously, I mean OBVIOUSLY, they have never been to China and have no idea how fucking enormous it is.

If you hop in a car, and start driving, it will take you days… DAYS… passing huge apartment buildings full of hard working, militarized families, studying… working… training…

…building after building. Mile after mile. Kilometer after kilometer. Over and over and over.

One enormous giga-complex housing thousands of families… after another… and another… and yet another.

China is HUGE.

Simply enormous.

…

China is not the third world cesspool that the Western “news” says it is. It’s a nation thirty years in the future. It is proud. It is strong. And it is LETHAL.

It is a dragon wearing a cute panda-bear suit.

You all in the West are unaware.

Backwards. Retarded.

Fed garbage; not just figuratively, but literally. Most American doesn’t even know where California is on a map, or how many States there are, or how much 5 + 8 is.

When I say “stupid”.

I mean it.

Meanwhile in China…

I started using facial recognition and QR to pay back in 2013. That was ten years ago. I haven’t touched a coin or paper money in all that time. Using paper money is so 19th century.

My car is electric and it talks to me, and only turns on when my voice recognition software allows it to.

It self parks, customizes the interior with a rotation of interior motifs, plays my morning jazz tunes, and gives me a nice warm back rub as it links to the toll road and carries me off to my office.

In my office, my staff brings me my coffee and turns on my systems for me. Sometimes they might have a kid or two with them, being sick or what not. No worries, though, they are their next to their parents doing their studies next to the desks.

Lunch is paid for all my staff. It’s one of the state mandated laws, and after they eat a huge healthy cafeteria meal of fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, they go take their normal naps.

…

That’s just the first four hours of a typical day in China.

…

There’s a bunch of dunder-heads that think that the USA can invade China with D-Day style Naval assaults, and the threat of nuclear war.

Troll?

Moron?

Buffoon?

Ignoramus?

They believe that proud and powerful aircraft carrier will lay off the coast of China and launch cascade after cascade of fighters and bombers into China.

They think that stealthy submarines will sneak up and start bombing China. All this unopposed, and the Chinese will take it. Smile and say “… can I have another, master?”

They believe that the proud troops will be easily resupplied by Australia, Japan, Korea and Philippines. After all, that is the on-going American construction activity. Billets. Barracks. Supply depots, and large investments in bordellos for employment for the locals.

Fantasies. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

NEVER going to happen.

…

I am here to tell you that World War started in 2008.

Oh, sure, the elements started far earlier. But historians will write that the date of the war began was in 2008.

It peaked in 2020 with the bio-weapon(s) that the USA launched on China during CNY (John Bolton, and Mike Pompeo brilliance there), and fell back towards conventional war with the NATO conflict began in Ukraine.

It hasn’t gone that great though.

Wars don’t go to plan, and this crop of brain-dead, pathological psychopathic oligarchs are dangerously deluded.

Take Ukraine. Ah. The “war in Ukraine”.

What they mean is the unreported hostilities used to counter the Russian “special military operation”.

Over 3000 American soldiers (with countless more NATO gents) are dead. Just because the American “news” isn’t reporting it, doesn’t mean that it is not going on.

Dead Americans are all over the place. I have photos and photos. Movies and movies. But if I put them up, they get pulled. It’s “news you can use”, but that is bad for the Westerners to see.

Good men. Soldiers. American men.

Dead.

Over what? And why?

It is sad.

I cry for the widows at Fort Lenard Wood.

As that phase winds down with a European collapse (economic, social, industrial, and military) a new phase opened up.

All to schedule; a disruption of the middle eastern shipping lanes.

Ah… that’s gonna teach China a lesson!

In their wet dreams, perhaps. China is about 3450 steps ahead of the rest of the world. They know what underwear that you will wear two days from now. Long before you even decide to put some on. That’s how advanced China is.

This idea that “China can be isolated” has failed, and is bound to fail, as the Chinese BRI are now proving how far-sighted and successful the rerouting of shipping avenues have proven themselves.

No wonder both Russia and China are screaming forward; an economic gallop. While the collective “West” is mired in inefficiency, lunacy, and insanity.

None of which is being reported in the “news”.

Here’s some more American troops in Ukraine…

Meanwhile…

We are watching the United States collapse in front of our very eyes.

After all, Texas has laid forth the reasons for departure from the Federal monstrosity.https://metallicman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Texas-Governor-Throws-Constitutional-Gauntlet.jpg

And look at all the “steam” that it is gathering…

And yeah.

The USA has this dream of opening up a long-desired war in the Pacific over China. Troops, material and weaponry are flooding toward the Philippines, Japan and Australia. All ready to die for “democracy”.

Whatever the Hell that means.

A rally-cry of the moronic who still believe that “their vote counts” and that American culture (woke, red-pill, open marriage, LGBQ+) is worthy of preserving.

Woo! Woo! I’m gonna kill Commies for all that free gay sex!

And when that day comes… “death by cop” will be experienced in America. Up and down the coasts. As the United States will be bludgeoned by many, many, MANY people; and their nations. People who have been ridiculed and marginalized over the decades of pompous, elitist wars and flouting.

America is NOT respected in the world.

It is despised.

It is no mistake the distain that the illegal immigrants show towards American. And they are the polite ones. The USA is poised to get a much-needed Ass-Kicking at a scale of ferocity that is off the scale; in both ferocity, and in long-duration and everlasting pain.

And the United States has lost.

It just hasn’t been reported on yet.

Look around yourselves. The USA has no downtowns. No factories. No hard workers. No functioning anything. It’s just on the long slow crumble…

At this point in time, “war against China” will not be needed.

It’s OVER.

He HOARDED GUNS! I Bought The MOST EXPENSIVE Storage Unit In The Country!

https://youtu.be/iboOn7hNZjU