I didn’t give much attention to the African Peace Mission to Russia/Ukraine because it had no hope of success but there is one aspect I’d like to note. One of the delegates is President Ramaphosa of South Africa whose country you would call a basket case, if you wanted to insult basket cases that is.

Given the issues of violence, crime, electricity, infrastructure, and an inability of basic services in his country that he either can’t or won’t address it makes perfect sense for him to fly half way around the world to earn brownie points. It’s sort of like Gavin Newsome going after Florida. Much easier than solving problems at home.


For as long as I can remember Muslim were called upon to condemn Jews in general and Israel in particular over their treatment of the “Palestinians”. It was called “genocide” which is odd because if Israel wanted the Palestinians dead they could wiped them out half a dozen times over every week since 1968 and still rest for the Sabbath.

So when the head of the Palestinian Authority went to China you might expect him to have said something about their treatment of the Muslim Uyghers: He did, this

In the statement, the Palestinian Authority said issues regarding China’s policy toward Muslims in Xinjiang have “nothing to do with human rights and are aimed at excising extremism and opposing terrorism and separatism.”

“Palestine resolutely opposes using the Xinjiang problem as a way of interfering in China’s internal affairs,” the joint statement said.

Apparently some Muslims are more equal than others.


This actually makes me think that the GOP might have a chance for real inroads in the US Muslim community. Their hatred of Israel separates them from the GOP and their unwillingness to give into the gay agenda for their kids separates them from Democrats.

But the reality is for all their bluster on the subject in speeches and at colleges Israel is 8000 miles away and doesn’t affect the Muslim community in the US in general or in Michigan in particular. The gay agenda being pushed affects their own kids and community.

Which do you think these families will give priority to?

If conservatives play this right this can change the gameboard in several states really fast.


The most interesting thing you will read today is an exchange between Harvey Risch, Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology at Yale School and a Chatbot called Rebelio on the subject of hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19.

The chatbot gives false and misleading answers to questions until corrected by Mr. Risch and then confirms his accurate information while downplaying it citing consensus. The key exchange comes at the end:

User:

This answer did not answer the question that I asked. All of the errors you made were statements contrary to facts that you verified in subsequent answers. Since you had the correct factual information, why did you cite incorrect facts?

RebbeIO:

I apologize for any confusion or frustration that my previous responses may have caused. As an AI language model, I do not intentionally provide incorrect information. However, I understand that I made errors in my previous responses, and I apologize for any confusion or inconvenience that this may have caused.

I strive to provide accurate and helpful responses based on the information available to me, and I understand the importance of providing correct information, especially when it comes to matters of public health and scientific research. I will continue to do my best to provide accurate and helpful responses based on the information available to me, and I appreciate your patience and understanding.

One must already remember that regardless of bells and whistles all these AI chats are just computer programs, programed by people, some of who have agendas which means the 1st rule of computers applies:

Garbage in, Garbage out.


Finally the most interesting part of the story concerning the Pride Celebration at Dodger Stadium including the anti-Catholic so called “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” is not the 5000 strong protest outside or the prayers and speakers, the large amount of Latino’s among the protesters, the statement from Bishop Barron or even the final attendance of 49K for the game itself agasint their hated rival the San Francisco Giants.

What is interesting the teams decision to hold the ceremony to honor them when there were only maybe 40 or 50 people in the stands. Even that tiny amount of people produced boos. The Dodgers could well imagine how loud those boos would have been if they held their ceremony when the park was full.

Next year will be VERY interesting.

Johnson in photo.

By John Ruberry

If I screw up at work, to the tune of $1,000 or so, I’ll get hollered at by my boss. 

And an error of mine that costs my employer $10,000 will see me filing for unemployment benefits the next morning. 

Chicago’s newly sworn-in mayor, Brandon Johnson, just made a $10 million whopper of a mistake

ShotSpotter, which this year changed its name to SoundThnking, is a firm that sells gunfire-detection software, has few friends in Chicago. It is blamed, wrongly in my opinion, for setting up the chain events that led to the death of 13-year-old reputed gang member Adam Toledo in a police shooting. A Northwestern University study found that 86 percent of Chicago police deployments initiated by ShotSpotter alerts led to “dead-end deployments.”

During this year’s mayoral campaign, Johnson vowed to cancel Chicago’s contract with SoundThinking. But earlier this month, a contract with his e-signature approved a $10,184,900 payment to SoundThinking, covering a contract extension approved by his predecessor, Lori Lightfoot, last autumn.

The mayor’s senior advisor, Jason Lee, says Johnson’s e-signature was mistakenly attached to the document authorizing the hefty payment. Of the contract carelessness, Lee said, “That’s not the procedure that we will have moving forward, but that’s what was done.” 

The SoundThinking snafu was a two-day story last week in Chicago. Kudos to the Chicago Sun-Times for breaking the story but had Johnson’s moderate opponent in April’s runoff election, Paul Vallas, made a similar mistake, we’d still be hearing about the $10 million e-signature debacle. And of course, the national media, which is a phalanx of the far-left, is completely ignoring this story. 

Hunter Clauss, who writes the Rundown, a popular political newsletter on behalf of Chicago’s NPR affiliate, dismissed the $10 million blunder as nothing but “growing pains” for the Johnson administration.

Chicago, because of its massive unfunded public worker pension debt, is essentially bankrupt. Its former cash cow, the North Michigan Avenue retail strip, suffered another departure last week when AT&T announced it was closing its local flagship shop there. Macy’s, Disney, Banana Republic, Verizon, and the Gap have shut down their North Michigan Avenue locations since 2020. The retail strip, also known as the Magnificent Mile, was hit by two rounds of rampant looting and rioting three years ago.

Chicago cannot afford $10 million “growing pains” errors. Don’t forget, ShotSpotter has not served Chicago well as a crime fighting tool.

Prior to his election, Johnson was a Cook County commissioner while also serving as a paid organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union. He was a Chicago Public Schools teacher before being hired by his union. 

Vallas was the former CEO of Chicago Public Schools. He was in charge of three other school systems. 

Prior to becoming mayor, Johnson was in charge of nothing of importance. Well, he does own a large home on Chicago’s West Side. But Johnson owed over $3,000 in unpaid water bills and fines until he paid up shortly before he was elected this spring. He also recently owed over $1,000 in traffic tickets.

As Barack Obama famously said many years ago, “Elections have consequences.”

John Ruberry regularly blogs five miles north of Chicago at Marathon Pundit.

“Herr Haupt, In the day traveling to Stalag 13 he’s slammed him against the wall, tripped him into tree, hit him with a board & pushed him off the truck, always seemingly ‘accidentally’. He’s trying to slay him!”

“Clearly the Ensign is trying to stop the Captain from exposing the plans!” said Hockstetter

“Plans?” Binghamton protested, “I don’t have any plans! Parker’s just a bumbling boob.”

“And killing your commanding officer is against regulations.” Parker added solemnly.

“Bah!” shouted Hockstetter, He was convinced the Captain was lying, although that man DID look like a bumbling boob.

Previously: A Stymied Sortie Next: An Accidental Meeting

On a recent visit to Colonial Williamsburg, I had the good fortune to listen to a speech by a Marquis de Lafayette re-enactor. He was good. He was really, really good. After his speech I chatted with him, and he recommended reading the book Lafayette by Harlow Unger. So I grabbed it off Audible and over the past two weeks it has entertained me on my drive to work.

If you need a book to read or listen to, get this one. Unger does a great job of being historically accurate while remaining interesting. He highlights not just the events that happened, but the personal relationships and how they influenced history. While I knew about Lafayette from my time studying the Battle of Yorktown, I did not know about how pivotal his financial contributions to the Revolutionary War were, nor how important he was to opening French markets to America after the war.

But perhaps the most stunning portions of the book relate to the French Revolution. Unger does not mince words describing how Lafayette blundered trying to replicate the liberty and ideas from the American Constitution into France. At multiple times, Lafayette turned down opportunities to lead his country in establishing a constitutional monarchy or a republic, which eventually fell into the hands of terrible men like Robespierre and Danton, whose bloodlust plunged France into terribly bloody revolution that likely killed over 1 million citizens and 2.5 million military in the ensuing wars. Random people were pulled off the street, beheaded and then had their heads displayed on pikes. Unger’s direct quotes from a multitude of direct sources, many of them Americans such as Thomas Jefferson. None mince words describing the horror of mob rule. While Lafayette himself would escape execution, France was never the same again.

The beheading of Robespierre, which “ended” the Reign of Terror in France

The chapters that describe the fall of France’s government were telling in that they had many parallels to modern-day America. The gradual descent into lawlessness, while good men either sat idly by or refused to take action, seems eerily reminiscent of the descent of many large American cities into chaos following BLM-related riots. The takeover of the government by the Jacobins, who seemed to lust only for more blood and power, resembles so many statements from prominent lawmakers, whether its to strike down white women from positions of authority, kill Trump supporters, or call people a threat to democracy. In French Revolution fashion, its even OK for people to display a severed head of a politician. I’m just surprised it wasn’t placed on a pike.

Anyone clamoring for revolution should read about the horrors of the French Revolution, and how multiple missed opportunities for a peaceful removal of the King resulted in massive violence that plunged France into darkness. Anyone who thinks they will run the mob should read about how Robespierre and Danton both faced the very guillotine that they used to execute thousands of their own countrymen. Anyone that thinks we should strive for this style of revolution is a madman.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.