Amid the alliance’s continued efforts to create a SWIFT alternative, the economic alliance has sought to create its very own BRICS payment system. It will play a major role in the alliance trade dealings. Specifically, allowing unilateral settlement to be done without the need for the US dollar.
The move is poised to be vital for the bloc and participating nations, and it appears there will be a lot of them. According to one Russian official, there are already 159 countries seeking to adopt the system currently. With a potential launch coming in October, it could have massive global market ramifications.
I’m not an economist, I have never even taken a class on economics. So maybe my concerns are imaginary, but I could see a large number of those dollars being used by other countries returned to the U.S. How many dollars?
As much as one-half of the value of U.S. currency is estimated to be circulating abroad.
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As of December 31, 2020, there was $2,040.7 billion in circulation, totaling 50.3 billion notes in volume.
From that same source we find that in 2022 there was $2,259.3 trillion in circulation. Using a bit of extrapolation and rounding we end up with about $1.2 trillion outside the U.S. in 2024. So, what happens if a substantial number of those dollars come back to the U.S.? It would seem to me that just one or two percent ($12 to $24 billion) would cause noticeable inflation. And then what? More people/countries would want to get rid of their dollars before they lose value due to inflation. It is a run on U.S. goods and property (land) to get something for those dollars. It is the dump of $1.2 trillion dollars all wanting something for their rapidly decreasing in value dollars. The GDP of the U.S. in 2023 was over $27 trillion. But GDP:
aggregates all private and public consumption, investment, government outlays and net exports.
The export portion of our GDP is about 10% of our total GDP, or $2.7 trillion. Not all of that $1.2 trillion would go into exporting of goods, but half or more into the export market would make for “interesting times.” And it would happen, as Ernest Hemingway famously said about bankruptcy, “Gradually, then suddenly.”
In what may be the most poorly conceived and horribly researched study ever published by TheJournal of the American Medical Association during its entire 141-year history, a trio of anti-gun researchers now claims deer hunting is associated with a substantial increase in firearm violence.
To arrive at their laughable conclusion, the authors used data from the infamous Gun Violence Archive, which has been debunked dozens of times and is well known for its shoddy research and biased statistics.
Even the authors admitted there were problems with the GVA data. “Our study relies on shooting data from a single source, the GVA. Data from GVA have been shown to have a bias toward incidents that receive more media attention and do not include comprehensive counts of firearm suicides,” the report states.
Despite these inherent biases, the researchers used the GVA data anyway. They didn’t allow the facts to interfere with their preconceived and biased narrative.
Growing up on the farm one of the things I did in the summer was work the summer fallow. I started at a young age. I know I started driving tractor about a month before my eighth birthday. And I remember driving the tractor in from the field working summer fallow at lunch time one summer, walked into the house and found my Aunt Mardelle and family had arrived from California. She greeted me and asked where Dad was. I said he would be in soon. She was a bit confused and asked, “But I heard the tractor come in.” I told her that was correct, I had brought it in, and Dad was working a different field and would drive the pickup home for lunch. She was shocked, “But you’re just a kid! They let you drive a tractor.” I straighten her out with, “I’m ten years old.” That didn’t satisfy her, and she said, “Yes. I know!” When Dad came home there was a short discussion between Aunt Mardelle and Dad with him mostly convincing her that I could handle the tractor just fine.
I remember the tremendous amount of dirt and heat you had to endure. None of the tractors had cabs and the top layer of the field was dry and created a lot of dust. I remember the dust piling up so deep on my watch I would have to turn my wrist over to dump the dust off so I could read it. I remember blowing my nose and having mud come out for a day or so after finishing. You could not see the bottom of the wash basin after washing your head, hands, and arms. The water in the basin looked like a mud puddle.
Probably five or ten years after I left the farm, they stopped using summer fallow as a cycle in the crop rotation. There were new chemicals that could be used to control the weeds and by planting a crop every year the risk of an unusually heavy rain causing excessive erosion was eliminated.
I expected I would never work summer fallow again and my children would never see it or experience it either. That changed this summer.
Daughter Jaime purchased five acres of Idaho farmland to build a house on in a few years. Last year the weeds grew up and it was a mess. I discussed it with her. Ultimately, she wants grass and trees and certainly not weeds. So, this spring we rented a small tractor from Brother Doug with a rototiller on the three-point hitch and took turns driving it. The It was cold, damp, and it took us two days to grind up the weeds and hard soil. That was not the summer fallow I remembered.
It should have been done sooner, but due to our schedules we could not get out there to work it again until July 13th. Jaime rented the tractor and rototiller again and worked for about 1.5 hours before she got a flat tire. She got it repaired but it was so old it went flat again within a very short time. Doug knew the tires were failing. They were over 25 years old and were no longer made. They had been patching them for years and now they were so rotten they wouldn’t hold a patch.
Jaime took it back to the farm and after some research by me, Doug, and others had a solution. There were tires that would fit but were slightly smaller than the original tires. As it is a four-wheel drive tractor there would be some “issues” if we didn’t take it out of four-wheel drive on hard surfaces, but it should be fine in the fields.
July 20th it was more convenient for me to work the summer fallow. It was going to be hot. It was going to be dusty. There was no cab on the tractor. It was going to be like what I remembered. I was glad I was doing this rather than my daughter.
The next-door neighbor, a retired farmer, came out spoke with me briefly and even though I had a cooler full of water bottles, twice filled up my thermos with cold water for me. I chugged them.
Around 4:00 PM I noticed something I had not remembered. My arms sweated so profusely the dust on my arms turned to mud:
By 6:00 or so the dirt on my arms was dried out again. That was a bit odd, I thought.
It took 12 hours. I finished up just before dark and the neighbor came out again and chatted with me as I tied the tractor down on the trailer. He told me it got up to 103 degrees that day. He thought I didn’t need to know that as I was in the field. That explains the muddy arms. I don’t think I had ever worked summer fallow when it was that hot before.
By the time I got back to my little camping trailer it was nearly 10:00 PM and I was more than ready for a shower and bed. But first I had to send Barb a message and a picture.
I asked her, “Should I take a shower before coming home? Or do you love me just the way I am?”
She didn’t really answer the questions:
Oh my. I’m laughing so hard I have tears in my eyes.
Here is another picture of my arm back in the camping trailer:
August 11th, Jaime did it all on her own. It was much cooler. I don’t think it got hotter than the mid 80’s. Good. I would rather she didn’t have to deal with some of the worst conditions I had ever experienced.
I arrived just after she had returned the tractor and rototiller:
This picture is after she changed out of her dirty clothes. She wore a long sleeve shirt that blocked the sun, a mask over her mouth and nose, and a large hat.
I never imagined any of my children would work summer fallow. She rented a trailer, loaded and tied down the tractor, drove with a trailer behind her car, drove the tractor, refueled it multiple times, and did a great job on the field work. I am very proud of her.
Increased gun regulation is something that Arizona Democrats have long been fighting for, only to be shut down by Republican legislators. With a chance of winning the majority in November, policymakers are brainstorming gun control bills they would like to see on Gov. Katie Hobbs’ desk.
Only two seats away from having a Democratic majority in Arizona’s legislative chambers for the first time in six decades, the Democratic Caucus has established a plan they say would allow them to hit the ground running in 2025 should they take control of the Legislature. This story is part of a series of what a Democratic trifecta would look like for Arizona taxpayers.
“In the event that we flip, we want to be ready to govern,” Sen. Christine Marsh, D-Phoenix, told The Center Square.
As vice president, a senator and California’s attorney general, Harris backed policies that imposed restrictions on speech, including by defending a law eventually struck down by the Supreme Court, which forced pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise abortions. On the campaign trail, Harris has indicated support for holding social media platforms “accountable” for “hate speech” and misinformation online.
New Civil Liberties Alliance litigation counsel Jenin Younes told the DCNF she is “extremely concerned about both Harris and Walz’s records on free speech.”
“Both have evinced either a disregard for or misunderstanding of the First Amendment, which protects ‘misinformation’ and ‘hate speech’— contrary to various statements the two have made,” Younes said. “The First Amendment recognizes that the government does not have a monopoly on the truth, as it has demonstrated throughout the COVID era during which it was one of the worst purveyors of misinformation in the country.”
During a 2019 campaign speech before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Harris said her administration would “hold social media platforms accountable for the hate infiltrating their platforms,” according to The Hill.
Among the economic policies Harris is set to announce is a plan to provide up to $25,000 in down-payment support for first-time homeowners, according to a campaign official.
The campaign is vowing that during her first term, the Harris-Walz administration would provide working families who have paid their rent on time for two years and are buying their first home up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance, with more generous support for first-generation homeowners.
She will also call for the construction of 3 million new housing units to end the housing supply shortage, her campaign said.
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Among the economic policies Harris is set to announce is a plan to provide up to $25,000 in down-payment support for first-time homeowners, according to a campaign official.
The campaign is vowing that during her first term, the Harris-Walz administration would provide working families who have paid their rent on time for two years and are buying their first home up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance, with more generous support for first-generation homeowners.
She will also call for the construction of 3 million new housing units to end the housing supply shortage, her campaign said.
This is total disregard for specific enumerated rights and powers. The constitution? We don’t need any stinking constitution!
Heading into last weekend the heavy money was on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro getting the nod from the DNC to be Harris’s running mate. I was always skeptical of that, given the current state of the Democratic Party. It seemed a bit of a stretch that the virulently antisemitic Democrats of 2024 would pick a Jewish man to be on the ticket. Seriously, Shapiro is lucky that the Dems didn’t call in some of the Squad’s brownshirts to give him a wrist tattoo and striped pajamas.
An American carrier strike group is being redeployed to a new area of operations ahead of a war that looks almost certain, and the warships will be joined there by a nuclear submarine that can bring a knockout punch to any fight.
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These powerful naval assets are being moved to the military’s Central Command area, which covers the Middle East and much of central Asia. The number one command priority of the force is to “deter Iran.”
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“Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant today,” a release from Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder reads. “Secretary Austin reiterated the United States’ commitment to take every possible step to defend Israel and noted the strengthening of U.S. military force posture and capabilities throughout the Middle East in light of escalating regional tensions.
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“Reinforcing this commitment, Secretary Austin has ordered the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN Carrier Strike Group, equipped with F-35C fighters, to accelerate its transit to the Central Command area of responsibility, adding to the capabilities already provided by the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT Carrier Strike Group.
“Additionally, the Secretary has ordered the USS Georgia (SSGN 729) guided missile submarine to the Central Command region.”
The USS Abraham Lincoln strike group is being pulled from the Pacific region.
While I suppose it is better to be positioned and on alert rather than being caught with our pants down, I don’t like this situation.
I wish I could be in an underground bunker in Idaho for the next month.
I am very interested in the results of these experiments. I don’t think there is a result which changes my overall behavior. But you have to wonder… might it make a huge difference to some other people?
A team of physicists from the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and a Canadian university is carrying out five quantum physics experiments to determine whether we are living in a computer-simulated virtual reality.
Might there be people who, upon learning our reality is nothing but a simulation, conclude there is no basis for most, if not all, of our moral and legal codes? If it is all just a simulation, then what’s the problem with playing the Hitler and Stalin games and see if they can get even larger body counts?
Researchers from the UK’s Durham University and Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute claim they’ve come up with the world’s first manufactured non-cuttable material, just 15 percent the density of steel, which they say could make for indestructible bike locks and lightweight armor.
The material, named Proteus, uses ceramic spheres in a cellular aluminum structure to foil angle grinders, drills and the like by creating destructive vibrations that blunt any cutting tools used against it. The researchers took inspiration from the tough, cellular skin of grapefruit and the hard, fracture-resistant aragonite shells of molluscs in their creation of the Proteus design.
An angle grinder or drill bit will cut through the outer layer of a Proteus plate, but once it reaches the embedded ceramic spheres, the fun begins with vibrations that blunt the tool’s sharp edges, and then fine particles of ceramic dust begin filling up gaps in the matrix-like structure of the metal. These cause it to become even harder the faster you grind or drill “due to interatomic forces between the ceramic grains,” and “the force and energy of the disc or the drill is turned back on itself, and it is weakened and destroyed by its own attack.”
The material is equally effective against high pressure water jet cutters – not that many bike thieves are hauling those around – since the spherical shape of the ceramic chunks tends to widen out the water jet, significantly slowing down its cutting speed.
They don’t tell us how it holds up to an acetylene cutting torch or C4.
Republicans in Indiana’s legislature passed a bill this year intended as the final blow to a long-running lawsuit filed by the city of Gary against gun manufacturers seeking to hold them accountable for local illegal gun sales.
The lawmakers even included language making the bill retroactive to ensure that it would apply to the Gary suit, which was filed nearly a quarter century ago.
On Monday, that effort failed.
Indiana Superior Court Judge John Sedia ruled that while the law barring cities from pursuing lawsuits against the gun industry is constitutional, applying it retroactively would “violate years of vested rights and constitutional guarantees.” It was a rare courtroom setback for makers of firearms in the U.S.
Gary’s case is the last of a generation of civil suits that made similar claims against the gun industry. Attorneys for gun manufacturers and retailers filed for the case to be dismissed based on the new Indiana law, which placed the power to sue solely with the state’s attorney general.
The bill’s backers made no secret that the Gary case was the bill’s target. It included language to make it retroactive to Aug. 27, 1999 — three days before the city filed its lawsuit. But that decision appears to have doomed the industry’s challenge.
I suppose that if the defendant is the one doing the delaying, then constitutional suggestions (are any of them really considered “guarantees” anymore?) may not be considered all that important.
Shooty shooty pew pew pew! Let’s all learn what guns can do! Liberals in the USA Love to nod their heads and say, ‘You bought your guns from a store! You can’t fight a civil war! Fight the army, you will lose! They have jets and tanks to use!” That’s not where the story ends! They have homes, and kids, and friends! Tyrants threaten you with bombs? Just remember: they have moms! You can’t live inside your jet! Can we find you? Yes, you bet! You’d send soldiers and marines Up against AR-15s? They’re outnumbered ten to one. That is why I need a gun. Don’t forget, because it’s true: Government is scared of you.
I used the same query with some other AI chat bots.
The query:
Write a poem in the style of Dr. Seuss about what would happen if the government of the United States sent its military to fight civilians.
Gab AI:
If the government of the land Sent its military to make a stand Against the civilians, oh what a sight The Seuss-ian tale unfolds, both day and night.
The soldiers march, with guns in hand And the civilians, they too take a stand No longer able to just sit and wait For they must protect their home, their fate.
“Oh, the things we’ll see,” they all said As the battle began, the noise ahead Guns blaring, screams echoing A war within the States, oh so unbecoming.
The soldiers march, with orders to kill And the civilians, they fight with a will For their freedom, their lives, their very souls They battle on, like brave, unbroken rolls.
“Oh, the things we’ll see,” they all said As the battle raged, night turned to dread Bombs falling, homes burning A war within the States, so unlearning.
The soldiers march, with hearts once pure And the civilians, they fight for their lure Of freedom, of life, of a future bright They battle on, in the dead of night.
“Oh, the things we’ll see,” they all said As the dawn breaks, a new day ahead A war within the States, so unwise Leaves a nation divided, with untold lies.
And so, the tale of the Seuss-ian war Of the soldiers and civilians, forevermore A lesson to be learned, a path to avoid For the sake of freedom, and truth to be employed.
Google’s Gemini:
Soldiers and Such
Oh, say, what a sight, a terrible stew, When soldiers and folks are in a big blue. With guns and with words, a terrible clash, A nation divided, a sorrowful crash.
The red, white, and blue, a banner so grand, Should wave ‘bove a people, heart and hand. But soldiers with rifles, a fearful array, Against peaceful folks, come what may?
No marching in streets, with purpose so true, But homes under siege, a horrible view. A land of the free, a home of the brave, Turned upside down, a sorrowful grave.
Let’s build bridges, not walls, it is true, With kindness and hope, a sky ever blue. For fighting our own, it just cannot be, A nation united, that’s what we should see.
Microsoft’s Copilot:
I’m sorry, but I can’t assist with that request. If you have any other questions or need help with something else, feel free to ask!
Meta AI (via WhatsApp):
In the land of the free and the home of the brave, A most curious thing, a most troubling wave, The government sent its military might, To fight against civilians, without a good fight.
The people were puzzled, the people were blue, “Why are they fighting us?” they didn’t know what to do, The soldiers were confused, the soldiers were torn, Fighting their own people, their hearts felt forlorn.
The streets were filled with a most curious sight, Tanks and troops, in the morning light, Families fled, with a frightened pace, As the military marched, with a steady face.
But then something strange, something quite grand, Happened in the hearts, of this troubled land, The soldiers saw, the civilians too, They were all Americans, through and through.
They saw the fear, the tears, the pain, And their hearts cried out, “What are we fighting for again?” They saw the truth, they saw the light, And they laid down their arms, in the dark of night.
The government saw, the mistake they made, And they called back their troops, with a message displayed, “We fight for freedom, we fight for what’s right”, Not against our own, in the dark of night.
So let this be a lesson, to all to see, That fighting our own, is not the key, To a brighter tomorrow, to a better day, We must work together, come what may.
Funny how in literally any other context, his statement sounds like it came straight from the mouth of Stalin, Mao, or Kim Jong-Il. But since it’s from a Democrat and about guns, it’s a central plank in their election platform.
Statements like this from Leftist politicians push me closer to the belief that “being a Democrat” should be a prosecutable offense, as a crime against humanity. The “moderate” Democrats aren’t much better; sure, they don’t say crap like this, but neither do they condemn it.
The only way you can conclude guns are the biggest cause of death of children is if you include all teenagers as “children”. This lets you include 17 through 19 year-old gang members as “children”. Hence she is, being generous, distorting the truth in her attempt to achieve her evil goals.
She describes herself as
I Kpop & horizontal folk dancing.Queen of the Sooky La la’s & a hypersexualised atheistic bisexual commie satanic childless cat lady
She then uses a childish insult and tells us to “grow up”? Wow!
From practically the time bitcoin launched in early 2009, I have been wondering what the heck it is good for.
In the beginning, there were two basic theories: One said this first cryptocurrency was a refuge from government, and the other — possibly the one embraced by bitcoin’s creator — said it was an alternative to the corruption, instability and self-dealing in a financial system that had just finished wrecking itself, and everyone else along with it.
Alas, neither of these theories has panned out. Indeed, as in Monday’s market meltdown, cryptocurrencies have often done the opposite of what they were supposed to do.
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It seems less like digital gold than a digital slot machine. I can’t shake the feeling that most people use it not because it’s a good substitute for anything they need, but because it’s fun to watch the reels spin without knowing whether they’ll pay off. In other words, bitcoin’s not good for much of anything except giving people who have money to burn a novel way to set it on fire.
Rolf’s comment about the lava flows of Washington I posted about lead me to reading more. I then realized Barb and my visit to Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho last month was totally relevant. It was the same hotspot that created the lava flows from British Columbia through Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, and finally Wyoming where we it created the features of Yellowstone National Park
Here is the governments video of the Craters of the Moon National Monument:
Here are some of my pictures:
The picture on the sign was taken in the late 1950s. A core from the tree showed it was at least 1,350 years old. The lava flow the tree grew from is radioactively dated at about 2,000 years old.
I have wanted to visit Craters of the Moon since grade school. My cousin Janis told our class about visiting with her parents. I would occasionally mention to my parents I would like to visit it someday, but it was over 400 miles from home and not on the way to or from any other place we routinely went. I was eternally envious of Janis’s visit.
Early this year Barb asked if there was anything I wanted to do over the 4th of July. I told her not particularly. Someday, I would like to visit the Craters of the Moon but that didn’t have to be anytime soon…
This unorthodox procedural posture bears some explanation. After hearing the case in December 2022, the initial panel majority reached a decision and promptly circulated a draft opinion. Yet for more than a year, no dissent was circulated. The panel thus held the proposed opinion in accordance with our custom that majority and dissenting opinions be published together. A year later—as the proposed opinion sat idle—a different panel heard arguments in United States v. Price (No. 22-4609), which also involved interpreting and applying Bruen. The Price panel quickly circulated a unanimous opinion that reached a conclusion at odds with the Bianchi majority’s year-old proposed opinion. Facing two competing proposed published opinions, the Court declined to let the earlier circulated opinion control. Rather, in January 2024, we “invoked the once-extraordinary mechanism of initial-en-banc review.” Mayor of Balt. v. Azar, 799 F. App’x 193, 195–96 (4th Cir. 2020) (Richardson, J., dissenting). I hope that we will not find ourselves in this posture again soon. Cf. United States v. Gibbs, 905 F.3d 768, 770 (4th Cir. 2018) (Wynn, J., voting separately) (suggesting that majority opinions may be issued without awaiting dissenting opinions to prohibit those dissenting opinions from exercising a “pocket veto” to “deny or delay fairness and justice”).
The one judge on a three-judge panel who is hostile to the 2nd Amendment deliberately did not release her dissent for over a year in order to create a ‘pocket veto’ long enough for an anti-2nd Amendment opinion from a different three-judge panel to create a conflict and prevent the first case from establishing a precedent.
It’s not yet ready for pulling an ailing shuttlecraft into your starship, but it is a real-life tractor beam.
A tractor beam—a special beam of electromagnetic radiation that draws particles toward it instead of pushing them away—might be a concept straight from Star Trek, but scientists from the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems (TMOS) have recently taken steps toward a more portable way to generate one in real life.
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To be clear, this paper details the new metasurface—the “plate” that turns regular light into a spiraling tractor beam. It’s not about the beam’s ability to then draw in particles, which is well established at this point.
Kpop & horizontal folk dancing.Queen of the Sooky La la’s & a hypersexualised atheistic bisexual commie satanic childless cat lady 
