"Lost without trace to unknown causes ..."

SAT 31 OCT 1942
Pacific
While en route to from French Frigate Shoals to Midway, district patrol craft YP-345 is lost without trace to unknown causes, about 80 miles northeast of Laysan Island.

Submarine Grayback (SS-208) damages Japanese army cargo ship Noto Maru off Rabaul, 04°37'S, 152°30'E.

Indian Ocean
South African naval forces board the forward portion of U.S. freighter Anne Hutchinson, torpedoed and shelled by German submarine U-504 on 26 October 1942; British tug HMS David Haigh tows the bow portion (the after part has sunk in the meantime) to Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Hallowe'en Horrors

Remember, would-be terrorists/revolutionaries, those merely acting to defend themselves from the depredations of capitalism/landlords, & population reductionists, you're not limited to guns & explosives. Cars are probably more efficient for a serious body count, & renting one is much less expensive than buying guns & ammo or explosives.

And here's another tool this world of shit & pain has given you: Gas!

50 Homes Evacuated In Venice After Gas Leak, Police Say Ex-Tenant Intentionally Tampered With Gas Line

"Christ, What A Jar-Headed Asshole!"

As well as an ignorant, ill-informed clown more than willing to share his bestial stupidity.

 Olivia Beavers / The Hill:

Kelly defends Confederate statues: 'History's history'  —  says it is a mistake to pull down Confederate-tied symbols and scrub markers of historical importance, arguing that it is a “dangerous” practice to retroactively project current attitudes onto past events.

Discussion:

Brent D. Griffiths / Politico:   Kelly says Civil War was caused by ‘lack of compromise’

RELATED:

 Dave Lawler / Axios:
Kelly wants investigation into allegations surrounding Clinton

Discussion:

Tina Nguyen / Vanity Fair:   John Kelly, in Spicer Moment, Calls Robert E. Lee ‘Honorable Man’

Say, you don't suppose King of Shit Kelly's idiotic statements have anything to do w/ this slice of the putrid culture of these United Snakes, do you?

Collectively, these men couldn’t be more different from the proverbial grace of the old Irish American liberals like Tip O’Neill, full of poetic allusions and noble ideals. What motivates them is a passionate antipathy to the “liberals” who destroyed the America of the 1940s and 50s. That vanished world created space for their fathers and uncles to achieve a modest prosperity, and it’s worth remembering how hard-won material success and social respectability was for the Irish. Although they built enclaves of ethnic political power back in the nineteenth century, well into the post-World War II era they remained outsiders in the Ivy League, the State Department, or the White House. By the 1960s, however, Catholics, especially Irish Catholics, had finally made it and become fully “white,” a long process indeed. Having fought their way to full inclusion, many were intent on pulling up the drawbridge.

You may remember when Kelly was lying through his teeth about Congresswoman Wilson a few wks. back, he whined “You know when I was a kid growing up a lot of things were sacred in our country. Women were sacred, looked upon with great honor. That’s obviously not the case anymore as we’ve seen from recent cases. Life was sacred. That’s gone. Religion. That seems to be gone as well. Gold Star families, I think that left in the convention over the summer.”

Yep, same sad "Liberals ruined everything, but I got mine so fuck you" shit. And do enjoy the irony of a professional murderer bitching about the sacredness of life and bemoaning the loss of religion as he violates the commandment against lying.

Two Tunes Tues.

Circle Jerks - "World Up My Ass"

Our concession to the candy & costume manufacturers & their culturally appropriated holiday. (Nothing "holy" about it, because nothing is sacred.)

Now Here's An Anniversary!

Today in revisionism: It didn't happen 500 yrs. ago today, The New Yorker advises, per a link in this Atlantic article which points out how silly Xians look w/ their stupid schisms. Warranted a pull-quote, even:

“We also look silly to the rest of the world, I think,
if we’re all fighting with each other.”

Apparently believing there is a great big fairy no one has ever seen (but they're pretty sure it lives in the sky) whose ass you'd better kiss or you'll go to hell isn't silly. Also noted: Big sky fairy is quite the hothouse flower; too scared to manifest itself here & now on earth & deal w/ those who don't follow its instructions. You just wait, Mr. Doubting Thomas; once you're dead the big fairy will show you alright!! (I can't tell you how scared I am.)

Not just the Jesus freaks, of course, all of whom, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Prot., or even less-connected-to-reality offshoots qualify as one of three "great" religions/schisms that all claim to worship the same big fairy, yet in actuality worship the vaguely historical figures Moses, Jesus H. Christ & Muhammad. And don't think for a hot minute that the other two cults aren't just as divided as Jesus's chumps. It's almost as if the entire thing were a work of fiction (a fairy tale, even) & every so often someone comes up w/ fan-fiction that is even more successful w/ some chumps than the original lies were.

Other Historical Horseshit:

From the same folks who brought you Pearl Harbor, the Toyopet:

1957

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. opens in Hollywood

In the mid-1950s, there were very few small cars on the road in America. People had plenty of disposable income for the first time in decades; gas was cheap; and American car companies were churning out enormous, elaborately be-finned models like the Ford Thunderbird and the Plymouth Fury. But those cars were not that easy to drive or park (especially, some people believed, for women, many of whom were learning to drive for the first time) and buying more than one tended to be too expensive for an ordinary middle-class family. As a result, foreign small-car manufacturers saw an opportunity. Volkswagen, for instance, exported more than 100,000 of its small, efficient Beetles to the United States in 1956 and the next year Toyota brought the Toyopet to Hollywood.

Though the car had been an overnight sensation in Japan, particularly among taxi drivers, it was a flop in the United States: It could barely meet California’s standards for roadworthiness, it guzzled extraordinary amounts of gas and oil and when it traveled on the freeway, it tended to shake violently, overheat and stall without much warning. Meanwhile, most Americans were simply too big to fit comfortably in its tiny cabin.

1952
The United States explodes the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific

Aleutian Invasion!

FRI 30 OCT 1942
Pacific
TG 64.2 (Rear Admiral Norman Scott), comprising light cruiser Atlanta (CL-51) and four destroyers, bombards Japanese positions at Point Cruz, Guadalcanal.

Small reconnaissance seaplane from Japanese submarine I-9 reconnoiters Nouméa, New Caledonia.

Japanese land second invasion force at Attu, Aleutians.

Disclaimer/Clarification

Concerning the item directly below: I've been walking around mumbling "I will slit your fucking throat" or a variation thereof sotto voce for several yrs. now; the "Monday Mantra" item was conceived, typed & scheduled last Saturday, & had nothing to do w/ this stuff, which appeared yesterday, Sun. 29 Oct., about an (allegedly) attempted throat-slitting by a Republican (Surprise!) Representative, who, by the fucking way, is still serving (another "surprise") as a Republican Member of Congress:

 Tim Alberta / Politico:

John Boehner Unchained  —  WEST CHESTER, Ohio—He swings the golf club like a right-hander, which he is, but putts as a southpaw.  Maybe it's a metaphor for a conservative politician who often turned to liberals in crunch time, but I'm too busy losing $20 on this hole to appreciate it.

Discussion:

Caleb Ecarma / Mediaite:   Boehner Unloads on GOP Lawmakers: 'F*ck Jordan. F*ck Chaffetz. They're Both A*sholes'

RELATED:

 Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:
GOP lawmaker once held a knife to Boehner's throat

Discussion:

Susan Wright / RedState:   Former House Speaker Boehner Tells a Tale of When Congress Was like the Wild West

David Ferguson / Raw Story:   GOP Rep. once held a 10-inch knife to John Boehner's throat during an argument

Caleb Ecarma / Mediaite:   John Boehner Blasts ‘Right-Wing Idiot’ Sean Hannity

The Hill link above gives us this nauseating item:

This isn’t the first time Young has been reported as brandishing a knife in the House; he reportedly pulled out a knife on the House floor in 1988 when a lawmaker introduced a bill that would have restricted logging in Alaska.

Let's hear it for the assholes of Alaska, who have elected this two-bit thug to be their at-large Congressional representative since 1973. That's 44 fucking yrs. Drain the swamp already, Alaskans!! (We can also ask why a state that hasn't enough population for more than one Congresscritter gets two fucking Senators.) I'd love to be alone in a room w/ this old bastard & a knife for 30 secs.: Let the punishment fit the crime!!

---

Meta: Note well that the opening paragraph is all one sentence!

Malignant's Mantra For A Monday

Om Shanti, I will slit your fucking throat, you stupid son-of-a-bitch!
Om Shanti, I will slit your fucking throat, you stupid son-of-a-bitch!
Om Shanti, I will slit your fucking throat, you stupid son-of-a-bitch!
Om Shanti, I will slit your fucking throat, you stupid son-of-a-bitch!
Om Shanti, I will slit your fucking throat, you stupid son-of-a-bitch!
Om Shanti, I will slit your fucking throat, you stupid son-of-a-bitch!
Om Shanti, I will slit your fucking throat, you stupid son-of-a-bitch!(Works on other days of the wk. as well.)

In Which We Ask A Question

On which peninsula is WAR (civil or nuclear) more likely, the Iberian,

or the Korean?

With her brother on her back, a war weary Korean girl tiredly trudges by a stalled M-26 tank
at Haengju, Korea. June 9, 1951. (U.S. Navy/Maj. R.V. Spencer, UAF)

Is it too much to hope for further population-reducing activities on both peninsulas?

Brief Reprieve

THU 29 OCT 1942
Pacific
Submarine Grenadier (SS-210) lays mines in Tonkin Gulf off Haiphong, French Indochina.

PBY (VP 11) sinks Japanese submarine I-172 west of San Cristobal Island, Solomons, 13°01'S, 162°45'E.

Atlantic
German submarine attacks on British Isles-bound convoy HX 212 continue: U.S. tanker Pan New York is torpedoed by U-624 about 550 miles west of Northern Ireland, 54°58'N, 23°56'W and her cargo of aviation gasoline catches fire, virtually incinerating the ship. Of the 56 souls on board (39 merchant seamen and a 17-man Armed Guard), only 14 (13 crewmen and one Armed Guard sailor) are rescued by Canadian corvettes: HMCS Rosthern picks up 13 (one of whom dies after being rescued); HMCS Summerside two. Escort vessels shell and depth charge the doomed ship. U-224 torpedoes Canadian tanker Bic Island as it straggles from the convoy at 55°05'N, 23°27'E, and sinks her with all hands (including the 44 men rescued from U.S. tanker Gurney E. Newlin on 27 October 1942).

U.S. freighter West Kebar is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-129 14°57'N, 53°37'E, while en route from Freetown, Sierra Leone, to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; three merchant seamen are killed. The survivors take to two lifeboats and one raft (see 8, 10 and 18 November 1942).

Cars & Guns: If One Doesn't Get You The Other One Will

A married couple, who had survived the Route 91 Harvest music festival shootings, were the two people killed in a fiery car crash in Murrieta two weeks ago, accrding to a Las Vegas newspaper.

The deadly wreck was reported about 10:50 p.m. on Oct. 16 on Avenida de Arboles, north of Palo Alto Lane, in an unincorporated community known as La Cresta, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The Riverside County Coroner’s Office identified the victims as Lorraine Carver, 53, and Dennis Carver, 52, both of Murrieta.

Their deaths left their daughters, aged 16 and 20, orphans, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. [Note to the Review-Journal: No one 18 & over is an "orphan". — M.B.]

The husband and wife had been at the Route 91 Harvest music festival on Oct. 1 when machine gun fire sprayed the audience, killing 59 people, the Las Vegas newspaper reported.

When the first shots rang out at the festival, Dennis shielded Lorraine to protect her and minutes later they ran out of the premises hand in hand, the paper wrote.

About two weeks later, the couple were in their 2010 Mercedes-Benz sedan going northbound on Avenida de Arboles when its driver failed to negotiate a curve in the road, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Mike Lassig. The car drifted onto a grassy area, slammed into two brick pillars that were part of a residential gate and burst into flames, he said.

The couple had been together for 22 years and are survived by two daughters. [Note to City News Service: You already mentioned the two daughters, redundant morons. — M.B. again.]

–City News Service

[mynewsLA.com]

Today In Dog Bites Man: Professional Murderers Murder Another Professional Murderer

Our glorious & noble warrior caste/class reveal themselves as exactly the psychopathic murdering scum we know them to be.

Eric Schmitt / New York Times:

2 Navy SEALs Under Suspicion in Strangling of Green Beret in Mali  —  WASHINGTON — Navy criminal authorities are investigating whether two members of the Navy's elite SEAL Team 6 strangled to death an Army Green Beret on assignment in Mali in June, military officials say.

Discussion:

Mary Chastain / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:   Death ruled a homicide.  —  The New York Times reported …

Jonah Bennett / The Daily Caller:   Navy SEAL Team 6 Under Investigation In Strangling Of Green Beret

Murder or not, still a clear indication that the U.S. Navy is badder-assed than the punks in the U.S. Army.

Recently in the militarized society. Time to destroy the Military-Industrial-Congressional complex & start over?

Spaced Out Sunday

This certainly suggests an answer to some of the questions we philosophers ask ourselves daily, among which are "Why am I living?" & "Existence: Futile, or simply beyond absurdity?"

The universe as we know it should not exist, scientists working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, have said.

After performing the most precise experiments on antiprotons that have ever been carried out, researchers have discovered a symmetry in nature that they say just shouldn’t be possible.

If this universe of shit & pain shouldn't exist, I, for one, see no reason not to start mass extermination/extinction immediately. Nobody lives forever; this proves there is absolutely no reason to continue the pointless struggle.

And not that big a deal, but not un-interesting:

Mysterious object seen speeding past sun could be 'visitor from another star system'

Newsweek version, less informative (as one might imagine) than The Guardian's.

The question here is whether or not "Homeland Security" will send some of its Nazi thug I.C.E. agents to get this allegedly alien visitor out of "our" solar system.

U-Boats 'Round The Globe

WED 28 OCT 1942
Indian Ocean
Thirty-seven survivors from U.S. freighter Anne Hutchinson, torpedoed and shelled by German submarine U-504 on 26 October 1942, are rescued by civilian fishing trawler and taken to Port Alfred, South Africa. Aircraft sight the drifting freighter, now broken into two pieces, at 34°13'S, 26°55'E (see 31 October 1942).

Atlantic
German submarines continue to stalk British Isles-bound convoy HX 212: U.S. tanker Gurney E. Newlin, abandoned after being torpedoed the previous day by German submarine U-436, is given the coup de grace by U-606 and sinks (see 29 October 1942).

"SUCK. ON. THIS." Sat.

Need I repeat myself?

Compare & Contrast

"YouTube rapper" (Wha'?) is mentally ill & very dangerous:

A Washington State man who fatally stabbed his father after the older man called him a Nazi has now been revealed to be a former Milo Yiannopoulos intern, pro-Donald Trump reditter, YouTube rapper and conspiracy theorist who blogs as Seattle4Truth.

Lane Davis, 33, was unemployed and living with his parents Catherine and Charles Davis on Samish Island, according to a deep dive by The Daily Beast, which follows the twisted, bizarre case from Davis's early internet obsession with the right wing until July 14 when an outburst about “pedophiles who were taking over the country” ended with his dad bleeding out in the backyard.

Now then, who are the actual pedophiles?

Manuel, the former chairman of the University of Missouri-Rolla’s chemistry department, was arrested in 2006 on two counts of rape, four counts of sodomy and one count of attempted sodomy as a result of sex abuse accusations by his children dating back decades, Columbia Daily Tribune reported in 2008. Most of the charges were dropped, but he was convicted of attempted sodomy of his 11-year-old daughter in 1989, according to Missouri’s state Sex Offender Registry. His sentence remains unclear.

″[T]he part about my 2008 conviction for attempted sodomy of an 11-year-old girl is false and an emotionally charged distraction from solid empirical evidence the Sun’s pulsar core controls the climates of all planets and human destiny,” Manuel wrote in an email to HuffPost after this story published. He did not respond to questions about what was false.

[...]

Manuel spent much of his career crusading for his theory that the sun is made primarily of iron, not hydrogen. The solar-magnetic fields that attract burning gases such as hydrogen to the surface of this iron core actually control the Earth’s climate, he contested in papers explaining his view. He presented a paper arguing the theory to the American Astronomical Society in 2002.

"Staring at the Sun" - The Angry Samoans

But his website TheSunIsIron.com displays the hallmarks of a conspiracy theory site, with low-fi design, a header reading “Truth is victorious, never untruth,” and an image of a document brandished “CENSORED” in big red letters. In 2010, Anthony Watts, who runs the popular climate change denier blog Watts Up With That, wrote in a post that he’d banned Manuel from his site “for carpet bombing threads with his vision of the Iron Sun Theory, which I personally think is nutty.”

Watts was also proposed to the EPA on the Heartland Institute’s list. Other names included Edwin Berry, the self-funded researcher who spews Islamophobic vitriol online and compares belief in climate change to Aztec human sacrifices; Alan Carlin, the so-called “whistleblower” who challenged the EPA’s finding that rising greenhouse gases warm the planet; and Joe Bastardi, a meteorologist who made repeated appearances on disgraced former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly’s show to yell about why global warming isn’t a problem.

Dictators - "Science Gone Too Far!" - Winterland, 7/30/1977

Sexual & scientific perversion go hand in hand, don't they? Sick gawddamn fucks.

Hornet Sunk

TUE 27 OCT 1942
Pacific
Abandoned carrier Hornet (CV-8)*, damaged by bombs and torpedoes and attempted scuttling the previous day, is sunk by Japanese destroyers Akigumo and Makigumo, 08°38'S, 166°43'E.

Battleship South Dakota (BB-57) and destroyer Mahan (DD-364) are damaged in collision while retiring from the Battle of Santa Cruz.

PBY (VP 91) bombs and damages Japanese destroyer Terutsuki.

Atlantic
German submarines attack convoy HX 212 as it heads toward the British Isles: U.S. tanker Gurney E. Newlin, is torpedoed by U-436; three crewmen are killed. The rest of the 37-man crew, and the 19-man Armed Guard, abandon ship into three boats and two rafts. Canadian corvette HMCS Alberni rescues six merchant seamen and six Armed Guard sailors; Canadian tanker Bic Island picks up 31 merchant seamen and 13 Armed Guard sailors (see 28-29 October 1942).

U.S. freighter Stephen Hopkins's survivors reach Itabopoano, Brazil; 32 of 40 merchant sailors, as well as 9 of the 15-man Armed Guard, have perished either in battle or from exposure during the month-long ordeal in the lifeboat.

Survivors (ten merchant seamen and six Armed Guard sailors) from U.S. freighter Steel Navigator, sunk by German submarine U-610 on 19 October 1942, are rescued by British destroyer HMS Decoy. The other lifeboat containing the other 17 survivors is never found.

Indian Ocean
Ten survivors from U.S. freighter Anne Hutchinson torpedoed and shelled by German submarine U-504 on 26 October 1942, are rescued by U.S, freighter Steel Mariner (see 28 and 31 October 1942).

---

*The Wiki reveals how little value American taxpayers got for their dollars.

Hornet portrayed during the "Doolittle Raid".

Hornet was in service for a year and six days [Commissioned‎: ‎20 October 1941] and was the last US fleet carrier sunk by enemy fire.

If There's A Hell Below ...

...I'll see you there!

Pres. Coolidge Beached, Sinks

MON 26 OCT 1942
Pacific
Battle of Santa Cruz Islands occurs as TF 16 (Rear Adm. Thomas C. Kinkaid) and TF 17 (Rear Adm. George D. Murray) engage a numerically superior Japanese force (Vice Adm. Nagumo Chuichi). Although the Japanese achieve a tactical victory, the failure of their simultaneous land offensive on Guadalcanal means that they cannot exploit it to its fullest. The dwindling number of Japanese carrier planes cannot eliminate Henderson Field, while fuel shortages compel the Combined Fleet to retire on Truk. Americans control the skies above the sea routes to Guadalcanal.

The victory, however, does not come cheaply in this, the fourth major carrier battle of 1942, for Enterprise (CV-6) is damaged by planes from carriers Junyo and Shokaku; Hornet (CV-8) is damaged by planes from Junyo, Shokaku, and Zuikaku;

battleship South Dakota (BB-57) and light cruiser San Juan (CL-54) are damaged by planes from Junyo; destroyer Smith (DD-378) is damaged by a crashing carrier attack plane; during the operation of fighting Hornet's fires and taking off her survivors, destroyer Hughes (DD-410) is damaged in collision with the doomed carrier (as well as by friendly fire earlier in the action). The attempt to scuttle the irreparably

Aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8), severely listing, is abandoned by her crew
at about 17:00 hrs during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October 1942.

damaged Hornet by gunfire and torpedoes from destroyers Mustin (DD-413) and Anderson (DD-411) fails; destroyer Porter (DD-356) is accidentally torpedoed by battle-damaged and ditched TBF (VT 10), and, deemed beyond salvage, is scuttled by destroyer Shaw (DD-373).

SBDs (VS 10) from Enterprise damage carrier Zuiho; SBDs (VB 8, VS 8) from Hornet damage carrier Shokaku and destroyer Terutsuki; TBFs (VT 6) from Hornet damage heavy cruiser Chikuma.

Battle of Henderson Field ends as marines repulse Japanese land and air attacks.

U.S. liner President Coolidge, chartered for use as a troop transport, blunders into U.S. minefield off Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides; the ship is beached to facilitate salvage, but slips into deep water and sinks. Four of the 5,050 Army troops are lost in the accident, as is one of the 290-man merchant complement. There are no casualties among the 51-man Armed Guard.

Submarine S-31 (SS-136) sinks Japanese transport Keizan Maru off Paramushiro, 50°10'N, 155°36'E.

Indian Ocean
U.S. freighter Anne Hutchinson is torpedoed and shelled by German submarine U-504 some 90 miles off East London, South Africa, 33°12'S, 29°03'E; three crewmen are killed in the attack. The rest of the ship's complement (37 merchant sailors and the 17-man Armed Guard) take to two lifeboats (see 27, 28, and 31 October 1942).

Atlantic
British motor torpedo boat rescues 39 merchant seaman and the 10-man Armed Guard from U.S. freighter Reuben Tipton, sunk by German submarine U-129 on 23 October 1942, and are transported to Barbados.

Additional Hornet info:

On this day in 1942, the last U.S. carrier manufactured before America’s entry into World War II, the Hornet, is damaged so extensively by Japanese war planes in the Battle of Santa Cruz that it must be abandoned.

The battle for Guadalcanal was the first American offensive against the Japanese, an attempt to prevent the Axis power from taking yet another island in the Solomon chain and gaining more ground in its race for Australia. On this day, in the vicinity of the Santa Cruz Islands, two American naval task forces had to stop a superior Japanese fleet, which was on its way to Guadalcanal with reinforcements. As was the case in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, the engagement at Santa Cruz was fought exclusively by aircraft taking off from carriers of the respective forces; the ships themselves were not in range to fire at one another.

Japanese aerial fire damaged the USS Enterprise, the battleship South Dakota, and finally the Hornet. In fact, the explosions wrought by the Japanese bombs that rained down on the Hornet were so great that two of the Japanese bombers were themselves crippled by the blasts, and the pilots chose to dive-bomb their planes into the deck of the American carrier, which was finally abandoned and left to burn. The Hornet, which weighed 20,000 tons, had seen battle during the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo (its commander at the time, Marc Mitscher, was promoted to admiral and would be a significant player in the victory over Japan) and the battle of Midway.

While the United States losses at Santa Cruz were heavy, the cost in aircraft to the Japanese was so extensive—more than 100, including 25 of the 27 bombers that attacked the Hornet—that they were unable finally to reinforce their troops at Guadalcanal, paving the way for an American victory.

Footnote: The Hornet lost at Santa Cruz was the CV-8; another Hornet (CV-12) launched August 30, 1943, led a virtually charmed life, spending 52 days under Japanese attack in many battles in the Pacific, with nary a scratch to show for it. That is, until June 1945, when it was finally damaged—by a typhoon.

Dear Money-Grubbing Middle-Class Pigs On The iNternet

If no one is holding a gun to your head you must be doing this crap because you like doing it, so stop grubbing for money like a fucking gawddamn Trump. Jeezis!

This reporter's total annual income is less than $US17,000.00/yr., & I currently have $8.40 in the credit union, no currency, U.S.$13.75 in quarters (laundry money) & $0.73 in non-quarter change.

[Above typed at the end of Sep't., but I decided not to bitch & moan, nor to appear to have my hand out. (Never panhandled even when I was "urban camping" & surviving on general relief of US$220.00 cash & $162.00 in food stamps every month.) Financial situation worse this mo., & of course every gov't. program on which I depend is in almost immediate danger of being severely cut. I hope every last one of you sons-of-bitches loses your house & has to live on the streets for the rest of your empty meaningless life. You rotten bastards will have to up your money-grubbing skills then, won't you? — M.B.]

Big Tank

Perhaps not as interesting as the Army Corps of Engineers model of San Francisco Bay,but the Navy's "Indoor Ocean" is certainly something. 

It's 240 feet wide, 360 feet long, and holds over twelve million gallon [sic] of water. This is the MASK, the maneuvering and seakeeping basin at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Carderock.

The Dep't. of Defense, always at war w/ the English language.

Your Tax Dollars At Work (& Play)

WASHINGTON — Since 2013, military investigators have documented at least 500 cases of serious misconduct among its generals, admirals and senior civilians, almost half of those instances involving personal or ethical lapses, a USA TODAY investigation has found.

Many cases involve sex scandals, including a promiscuous Army general who led a swinging lifestyle, another who lived rent-free in the home of a defense contractor after his affair fell apart and another who is under investigation for sending steamy Facebook messages to the wife of an enlisted soldier on his post.

Yet despite the widespread abuses, the Pentagon does no trend analysis to determine whether the problem is worsening, nor does it regularly announce punishments for generals and admirals — all public figures, USA TODAY has found. Senior officers found to have been involved in adulterous relationships, a violation of the military’s code of justice, have been reassigned with no public notice and allowed to retire quietly, in some cases with full honors.

No, really? I'm simply shocked. You'd think that people who sole purpose for existence is killing (& "breaking things") would have some kind of moral code, perhaps even a code of military justice of some sort.</sarcasm>

In 2014, then-Defense secretary Chuck Hagel created an office to investigate ethical problems among senior leaders. It was shuttered two years later without determining the depth of the problem, a task Hagel gave it when he opened the office.

“This is another example of top (Pentagon) officials refusing to demand accountability and sweeping major ethical problems from commanders under the rug to the detriment of the men and women who serve admirably under them,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat and member of the Armed Services Committee, told USA TODAY.

Because the Pentagon obscures the extent of the sexual scandals, problems emerge piecemeal as new cases are ferreted with the aid of whistle-blowers. The Army, for example, was unaware that Maj. Gen. Joseph Harrington was sending Facebook Live messages to the wife of a sergeant until USA TODAY showed them to officials. He was fired on Oct.13.

It goes on & on & this reporter hadn't the patience to finish. When the fucking hell do we drain the Pentagon swamp of its ranking alligators & crocodiles?

[USA Today]

Outraged? You Bet I'm Outraged!

.@MarkHalperin Does "stepping away" include not being paid? I certainly hope so. Better start saving for those settlements/pay-offs.

— M. Bouffant (@MBouffant) October 26, 2017

So what? Who cares? Why don't you go rub up against someone you supervise, instead of wasting our time w/ this inane crap?

— M. Bouffant (@MBouffant) October 26, 2017

A Pair Of Pussy-Grabbin' Putos

Puto Trump & his butt-buddy puto Halperin.

pic.twitter.com/SzNegABIuK

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) October 26, 2017

Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:

Five women accuse journalist and ‘Game Change’ co-author Mark Halperin of sexual harassment  —  Veteran journalist Mark Halperin sexually harassed women while he was in a powerful position at ABC News, according to five women who shared their previously undisclosed accounts with CNN and others …

Discussion:

David Ferguson / Raw Story:   ‘Game Change’ author Mark Halperin accused of sexual harassment by five women: report

more at Mediagazer »

Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:

Five women accuse veteran journalist Mark Halperin of sexual harassment while he was at ABC News; Halperin apologizes  —  Veteran journalist Mark Halperin sexually harassed women while he was in a powerful position at ABC News, according to five women who shared their previously undisclosed accounts …

Discussion:

Joseph A. Wulfsohn / Mediaite:   Mark Halperin Has Been Accused By Five Women of Sexual Harassment

Ross A. Lincoln / The Wrap:   ‘Game Change’ Author Mark Halperin to “Step Back” From Work Amid Multiple Sexual Harassment Accusations

Mathew Ingram / @mathewi:   Whenever someone's name was trending I used to assume they were dead, now I assume they've admitted to sexually harassing people for decades

Yashar Ali / @yashar:   This has been another open secret in the media....kudos to @oliverdarcy for nailing down what others couldn't. http://twitter.com/...

Staci D Kramer / @sdkstl:   so young + new “I wasn't sure if that was the sort of thing that was expected of you if you wanted something from a male figure in news.” http://twitter.com/...

Asawin Suebsaeng / @swin24:   Multiple outlets were working on this story in one form or another. Was wondering who was gonna pop first this week http://twitter.com/...

Keith Olbermann / @keitholbermann:   The percentage of men who will leap to this jackass's defense will be about .001 http://money.cnn.com/...

Michael Cohen / @speechboy71:   Trying to imagine what it's like not knowing that pressing your genitals against a work colleague is inappropriate http://money.cnn.com/... pic.twitter.com/9Sda7IPCjX

Josh Barro / @jbarro:   A good rule of thumb is not to do things you couldn't bring yourself to describe out loud having done. http://money.cnn.com/... pic.twitter.com/diJShnSiSo

Adam Jentleson / @ajentleson:   Game change http://money.cnn.com/...

Oliver Darcy / @oliverdarcy:   HALPERIN, to me says he is “going to take a step back” from his “day-to-day work” while he deals with the situation http://money.cnn.com/... pic.twitter.com/1aTuNpkr5F

Brian Stelter / @brianstelter:   Halperin apologizes for “inappropriate” behavior. Says “I'm going to take a step back from my day-to-day work” http://money.cnn.com/...

Hannah Gold / Jezebel:   Report: Five Women Claim Political Analyst Mark Halperin Sexually Harassed Them

Perhaps this sack of shit should "step back from work" & keep stepping until he is in the street & hit by a speeding bus, or steps off a fucking cliff. Certainly he should never be seen or heard in the media again, other than as the subject of a report or two on how much he had to pay to settle the accusations. A quick story on "disgraced pundit/puke Halperin sentenced for sex crimes" would be acceptable as well.

Adventures Of Dan'l Boone

SUN 25 OCT 1942
Pacific
Submarine Whale (SS-239) lays mines off Honshu, Japan, at entrance to Inland Sea.

Second division of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three, consisting of motor torpedo boats PT-37, PT-39, PT-45, and PT-61, arrives at Tulagi.

Off Guadalcanal, tug Seminole (AT-65) and district patrol craft YP-284 are sunk by gunfire of Japanese destroyers Akatsuki, Ikazuchi, and Shiratsuyu; submarine Amberjack (SS-219), which has arrived that morning to deliver her cargo and passengers at Tulagi, is unable to attain a firing position to help Seminole and YP-284. Later, high speed minesweeper Zane (DMS-14) is damaged by the same trio of enemy warships in Sealark Channel. Japanese destroyers, however, do not emerge from the day's action unscathed. Off Lunga Point, Marine shore batteries (and VMF 121 F4Fs) damage Akatsuki, while USMC F4Fs (VMF 121) damage Ikazuchi; USAAF P-39s damage Samidare and Akizuki. Amberjack later disembarks USAAF enlisted men (67th Fighter Squadron and 347th Fighter Group), 200 100-pound bombs and 9,000 gallons of aviation gasoline at Tulagi. Released from duty under ComAirSoPac, Amberjack sets course for Brisbane.

USAAF B-17s sink Japanese auxiliary minelayer Kotobuki Maru at Rabaul.

Japanese light cruiser Yura, damaged by SBD (VS 71) and USAAF B-17 or P-39 off Santa Isabel, Solomons, is scuttled by destroyers Harusame and Yudachi, 08°40'S, 160°00'E.

Dutch submarine O 23 damages Japanese army cargo ship Shinyu Maru off Penang, Malaya, 05°28'N, 99°56'E.

Atlantic
Master and one merchant seaman from U.S. freighter Reuben Tipton, sunk by German submarine U-129 on 23 October 1942, are recovered by PBM and transported to Trinidad (see 26 October 1942).

Caribbean
U.S. freighter Daniel Boone strikes mine while off coast of Panama; there are no casualties to the 42-man crew and 11-man Armed Guard, and the ship reaches port under her own power.

Antoine "Fats" Domino, 1928-2017

The NYT gives us a money quote from America's Pelvis:

Mr. Domino had more than three dozen Top 40 pop hits through the 1950s and early ’60s, among them “Blueberry Hill,” “Ain’t It a Shame” (also known as “Ain’t That a Shame,” which is the actual lyric), “I’m Walkin’,” “Blue Monday” and “Walkin’ to New Orleans.” Throughout he displayed both the buoyant spirit of New Orleans, his hometown, and a droll resilience that reached listeners worldwide.

He sold 65 million singles in those years, with 23 gold records, making him second only to Elvis Presley as a commercial force. Presley acknowledged Mr. Domino as a predecessor.

“A lot of people seem to think I started this business,” Presley told Jet magazine in 1957. “But rock ’n’ roll was here a long time before I came along. Nobody can sing that music like colored people. Let’s face it: I can’t sing it like Fats Domino can. I know that.”

Others who've already given "Fats" some thought, & managed to embed some of his tunes:

Fats Domino: the big easy from The Big Easy…

C&L's Music Club Remembers Fats Domino

Gwen Thompkins / NPR: Fats Domino, Architect Of Rock And Roll, Dead At 89

Discussion:

Nick Vadala / Philly.com:   Philly's Chubby Checker got his name thanks to the late Fats Domino

TMZ.com:   Fats Domino Dead at 89 (UPDATE)

Breanna Edwards / The Root:   Fats Domino, Rock ‘n’ Roll Icon, Dead at 89

Comrade Misfit embedded the song that started it all, maybe, "The Fat Man":
Some, however, will say that "One Mint Julep" was the cause of it all, 'though it was released a yr. or two later.Or "Rocket 88". Points for the distorted git-fiddle.Other candidates. Ear of the beholder, really.

Anyone else noticed that almost all the well-known who've shuffled off this world of shit & pain this yr. have been, unlike those caught in 2016's Parade of Celebrity Death, in their 80s & 90s, & probably more than ready to go?

Annals Of Idiocy: "Ivy League" Trump's "Ivy League" Daughter

a running list of words Ivanka Trump doesn't know how to use: relative, albeit pic.twitter.com/IHg2xFcI1E

— eve6(66) (@evepeyser) October 24, 2017

Yes, she went to the same shitty school Daddy attended, Wharton. Neither of them went there for four yrs., however; apparently Lumpy had to get his grades up at Fordham for two yrs., & Clown Princess Ivana Marie Jr. had to spend two yrs. at Georgetown before getting into Wharton. Fordham & Georgetown, both Catholic/Jesuit schools. I thought the Jesuits were smarter than that. Another myth debunked.

Meanwhile, Trump again makes little to no sense while attempting to inflate his own ego.

President Donald Trump touted his Ivy League education on Wednesday, highlighting his experiences as a college student nearly 50 years ago as proof that the media is reporting a false image of the 71-year-old president.

“I think the press makes me more uncivil than I am,” Trump told reporters Wednesday afternoon before departing the White House.

“You know, people don’t understand. I went to an Ivy League college,” said Trump, who graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. “I was a nice student. I did very well. I’m a very intelligent person. You know, the fact is, I think, I really believe, I think the press creates a different image of Donald Trump than the real person.”

Trump did not elaborate on the apparent correlation between education and civility. But the president did accuse the media of reporting “fake stories” and “a lot of bad things” he said are untrue. He did not specify what stories he considered fake or untrue

“I think to a certain extent, maybe I can blame the media. But politics is a rough business,” he said. “There’s no question about it. I will say this: I think the Republican Party has a pretty good unity.”

Is unified? No: "Has a pretty good unity." Literally does not speak American (or any other recognizable version of) English. Fuck the Ivy League. You let these people graduate?Also:

Trump's Ivy League is not the same as the Ivy League for the rest of us

Stay Tuned For More Fucking Abuse

Spinal Tap - "Gimme Some Money"

Another fucking pinterest acc't.
You figure it out. (As if you care.)

Yes, do stick around. If I can overcome the apoplexy (or even calm down enough to sleep) I will eventually be ripping several new ones by discussing class, money & the awful pigs who grub for money w/ neither shame nor self-respect, & right here on the iNternet, before your very eyes.

That includes such as Jurassic Pork, although I haven't seen one of his pathetic beggings-for-alms/scams (Remember those?) for some time, but he can just go fuck his tiresome self on general principles.

As should, it appears, everyone else, including public radio stations. Is October the official Whore Month for Non-Profit Radio?

Don't tell me that the University of Spoiled Children can't fund "Classical KUSC" w/o begging. I worked there in 1973 & wasn't paid one damn cent, so you know the money isn't going to salaries. Unless it all goes to management salaries. I rather doubt the station manager is living on ramen for the rest of the month.🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕

Block That Metaphor!

No (visible) pearls in this pool photo, just some of the ugliest & cheapest looking appliqué or Bedazzler action ever.

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer is Sarah "Pearl Choker" Huckabee* Sanders, mouthpiece for Trump. At today's lie-fest she said this:

MS. SANDERS: Look, the President is fighting for an agenda, and he has -- as I've said, if he gets hit, he's going to hit back. And people didn't elect him to be weak; they elected him to be strong. And if he feels it's necessary to respond, he's going to do that.

And at the same time --

Q  But you have -- there is no margin for error, though, Sarah.

MS. SANDERS:  -- he can talk and chew gum at the same time.  He's pushing forward on an agenda.  It takes 30 seconds to send out a tweet, and he spends the bulk of his day working on and pushing policy initiatives like tax reform, like tax cuts, and that's what he is committed to doing.

A) It's rude to talk & chew gum at the same time. B) The actual expression is "walk & chew gum at the same time".
Or something. Who knows or cares any longer? C) Perhaps if Trump gave more than 30 secs. of thought to his idiotic Tweets ...

---

*You think her father, Big Ol' Lumpy Huckabee, is worried that Trump might grab her by the genitalia? (Or is he worried that Trump won't?)

Late Night In Corporatism Is Fascism

Fuck these Nazi bastards back to the corporate hell they came from!

Tuesday night, as many Americans were preparing to go to bed, an evenly divided Senate voted to give broad lawsuit immunity to credit card companies, auto lenders, credit reporting companies like Equifax, and many other financial firms. The 50-50 tie in the Senate was broken by Vice President Mike Pence (R), and the House approved the lawsuit immunity measure. President Trump is expected to sign it.

The resolution passed by the Senate overrides a rule created by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which prevents many financial firms from engaging in two abusive practices. The rule prohibited much of the financial industry from using “forced arbitration” agreements — a common tactic where a company refuses to do business with consumers who will not sign away their right to sue the company in a real court.

Consumers who sign away their right to sue must resolve any disputes with the company in a privatized arbitration system that favors corporate parties.
[...]

It’s worth noting that the 50 senators who supported the CFPB rule represent well over 30 million more people than the 50 senators who voted to rescind it. But, in the Devil’s arithmetic that governs the United States Senate, the will of the people plays only a minor role in determining who controls the Senate.

Really, how much longer are you punk-ass chumps going to bend over & take it? If you don't do something soon that thing will be stuck up there permanently. Tight fit too, what w/ your heads already being shoved all the way up there.

Not That Nautilus

SAT 24 OCT 1942
Pacific
Submarine Nautilus (SS-168) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Kenun Maru about 20 miles east of Shiriya Zaki, off northern tip of Honshu, 41°24'N, 141°50'E.

Submarine Trigger (SS-237) damages Japanese oiler Nissho Maru in Bungo Channel, 32°06'N, 132°34'E.

What's That Sound Up There?

Thought WWIII might be starting, then realized the sound of a jet aircraft at low altitude was (probably, I hope) just the Christian fascist U.S. Air Force ritualistic military fly-over of Dodger Stadium as the "World" Series opens.

And now the Astros are done in the first. Heh-heh.

Annnnnnd Chris Taylor whacks the very first pitch he sees out of the effin' Stadium! HAW HAW HAW!!!

I'm A Loser Baby ...

... so why don't I kill YOU?

Makes a hell of a lot more sense to me.

Return of The U.S.S. George Stevens (SS-234)

FRI 23 OCT 1942
Pacific
Submarine Kingfish (SS-234) sinks Japanese gunboat Seikyo Maru at entrance to Kii Suido, Honshu, 33°20'N, 135°27'E.

USAAF B-17s damage Japanese submarine chasers Ch 31 and Ch 32 at Rabaul.

Japanese submarine I-7 shells Espiritu Santo.

Atlantic
U.S. freighter Reuben Tipton, bound for Trinidad, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-129; three merchant seamen are killed in the attack (see 25 and 26 October 1942).

Elysian Park Graffiti & Vandalism

Via The Eastsider:

Batting for Los Angeles #46 ( box that is) Done deal hope they win this shit!!! #gaso #mta #wca #jor #2017boxtourcontinues

A post shared by SUPERUNLEADED (@superunleadedgasoline) on Oct 22, 2017 at 2:37pm PDT

This one I've seen in the actual pigment & metal, & managed to make the connection between the two.

Box #38 done deal.... For the good folks over at Station 52 Melrose y Western....#gaso #mta #wca #jor #2017boxtourcontinues

A post shared by SUPERUNLEADED (@superunleadedgasoline) on Sep 17, 2017 at 2:28pm PDT