In The Shadow Of Mt Hollywood

In yesterday's post, I mentioned the puzzle of the 1899 Harriman Alaska Expedition, in which the rail magnate Edward Harriman sponsored a major scientific investigation of Alaska's coast. Nobody has so far been able to explain just why he did this -- the suggestion in yesterday's Wikipedia link was that his doctor said he needed a break. But Alice Roosevelt Longworth is said to have described Harriman as "a little brown man who never seemed to play", so it would be in character for him to turn for what others might seem to be a vacation into just an opportunity for a different sort of work. Pierpont Morgan, a contemporary of Harriman and an equivalent figure, took an interest in Alaska at roughly the same time. The Kennicott [correct original spelling] copper deposit was discovered in July 1899, and by 1906, in response to the copper discovery as well as coal deposits not far away in south central Alaska, the "Alaska Syndicate," was formed in ...

If you do a web search on any phrase like "map of Russia in 2050" or something similar, you can find dozens of fanciful maps of how former Russian territory might be divided following the collapse of the Putin state. I've posted a few here now and then, and here's another one today. But so far, I've seen very little serious discussion of what any such outcome might actually be, even though every indication is that Russian military capability was wildly overestimated before the current war, while Russia's stockpile of obsolescent weapons and its available military manpower have now been seriously depleted. In other words, the actual balance of world power is shifting big time as we watch. I've run into are a few early glimmers of analysis. In Foreign Policy yesterday : For the first time, Iran is involved in a major war on the European continent. Iranian military advisors, most likely members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, are on the g...

The overwhelming news this morning was Pennsylvania US Senate candidate John Fetterman's distressing performance in last night's debate with Dr Oz, starting with his opening statement, "Hi, goodnight everybody!" The conventional wisdom discussed his medical condition, although nobody has yet asked how a clearly robust 53-year-old man could suffer a stroke and what that might mean (I wouldn't rule out white powder). But leaving that aside, what we heard was word salad, whatever its cause. In his case, for instance, My doctors, the real doctors that I believe, they all believe that I am ready to be served, or, I absolutely support fracking. . . . I do support fracking and — I don’t, I don’t, I support fracking, and I stand, and I do support fracking. But how does this differ from Vice President Harris? For instance, We invested an additional $12 billion into community banks, because we know community banks are in the community, and understand the needs and ...

I think we're seeing a puzzling phenomenon, which appears to be a schism within the lizard people. If I apply the sort of populist sociopolitical analysis pioneered by Ferdinand Lundberg and C Wright Mills, the best-credentialed member of the power elite currently in Washington is Secretary of State Antony Blinken, member of a wealthy and powerful upper-class family that's had political influence for at least two generations, but possibly more. His close ally is Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin , with whom he has been and continues to be a partner in Pine Island Capital Partners , a "strategic partner" of Blinken's WestExec, a geopolitical consulting firm "comparable to Kissinger Associates". Although Austin initially implemented predictable Biden policies like enforcing COVID measures in the armed forces and discouraging "extremist" views among members, since Putin's invasion of Ukraine, his near-exclusive focus has been managing US militar...

Via the Washington Examiner, President Joe Biden made good on his promise to host TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney at the White House Thursday. "I get to sit down with Joe Biden with Now This News, and I get to ask him a few questions surrounding trans issues in the United States," Mulvaney said in a TikTok marking the 222nd day of Mulvaney's gender transition. Mulvaney, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman, said the purpose behind the interview was to represent the transgender community and wore the transgender flag colors, white, blue, and pink, to honor the community. . . . The interview is set to air on Sunday. The odd thing is Mulvaney's utter lack of gravitas (photo above). According to the web, Mulvaney is well-known for chronicling her firsts as a woman in the “Days of Girlhood” series. In the meantime, Mulvaney stated in the podcast of the cosmetics company Ulta, “The Beauty of…” with gender fluid celebrity hairstylist David Lopez...

Via CBS News : The U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division has been deployed to Europe for the first time in almost 80 years amid soaring tension between Russia and the American-led NATO military alliance. The light infantry unit, nicknamed the "Screaming Eagles," is trained to deploy on any battlefield in the world within hours, ready to fight. CBS News joined the division's Deputy Commander, Brigadier General John Lubas, and Colonel Edwin Matthaidess, Commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, on a Black Hawk helicopter for the hour-long ride to the very edge of NATO territory — only around three miles from Romania's border with Ukraine. . . . Skirting northward along Romania's Black Sea coast, the Black Hawk eventually touched down at a forward operating site where U.S. and Romanian troops were pounding targets during a joint ground and air assault exercise. The tank rounds and artillery fire were real. The drill was meant to recreate the battles Ukrai...

Scary clip BIDEN: "It's my intention to run again." MSNBC: "Dr. Biden is for it?" BIDEN: crickets MSNBC: "Mr. President?" BIDEN: "Dr. Biden thinks that uh, my wife thinks that uh, that I uh, that, that we're, that we're doing something very important." pic.twitter.com/lPVyEi2kv3 — Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 21, 2022 When I think back on my corporate career, I remember case after case where the Senior VP, or whatever the big boss's title was, had been told he was no longer needed. At that level, they were never escorted out the door, but it was plain they had only weeks remaining. Still, they were allowed to keep up appearances until the end. But you could read the signs. They didn't show up at the planning meeting for next fiscal year, for instance. Rhetorically, President Brandon's remarks in the interview linked above give the game away: "It's my intention to run again." Not "Don't be s...