"Beach Boys: Pet Sounds" (opens in separate window)

anxiety attack

friday, july 4th, 2025

You must have noticed by now how this Fourth Turning bidness disorders the collective mind. The churning zeitgeist is hard on the nerves, while something strange is birthed by mankind, the end of one way of life and the beginning of another. Everybody’s got a story, and most of them are pretty spooky — A-I Globalist hell. . . de-pop and neo-slavery. . . chemtrail death. . . lizard people. . . caliphate on-the-march across Western Civ. . . World War Three. . . escape to Mars. . . . Mercy!

The last thing you might imagine is a tranquil evening in the town square among happy and prosperous neighbors, the dogs frisking and the children chasing each other as lights begin to twinkle against the lovely violet sky. Rather, you have to wonder just when is that hard rain a’gonna fall? When will some obdurate enemy try to bust a cap in your country’s ass? And at the center of this psychic maelstrom, the provocative visage of Mr. Trump. The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.

So, let’s stipulate that it’s natural to be alarmed by events. But must you lose your mind? Many did during the Covid set-up, and they have not recovered. Most particularly the political Left. The Covid operation was supposed to rid the world of DJ Trump for good, and it flopped. What it accomplished politically for four years was to demonstrate that the Left cannot be trusted to run our national affairs. That, and the cumulative failures of lawfare, have made the Left crazier than ever — while the Democratic Party goes broke and bleeds out support-wise.

Meanwhile, the political Right struggles to hold things together, especially the morale of the people. The great national megaphones — CNN, The New York Times, et al. — are no help at all. They only multiply the mental disorder. And they will do everything possible to undermine the efforts of MAGA to reform a system that foundered under corruption and delusion. Where there is not gridlock these days, chaos breaks out. . . violence of action and opinion.

The focus of all this angst for the moment is Israel. Suspicion runs deep that Israel “owns” America, bends us to its will, treats us like a mere lackey in its quest to dominate the world. It does this, they say, through AIPAC, its chief lobbyist, stuffing money into every pocket and every campaign treasure-chest in DC. In reality, political payoff-wise, AIPAC, at $3.3-million (according to OpenSecrets.org) doesn’t hold a candle to the National Association of Realtors at $63.5-million, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, at $30-million, and the US Chamber of Commerce, at $29.6-million.

Of course, the AIPAC suspicion tends to redound upon plain-old, age-old hatin’ on the Jews. (Full disclosure, yours truly is one.) It’s true enough, for such a low percentage of the US population, Jews seem to run an awful lot of things here: Wall Street firms, Ivy League universities, medical research, Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Broadway, the news media. How to account for that? Well. . . it is said that in the shtetls of old Europe, the richest fathers married off their daughters to the smartest young men in the village. Hence, their offspring sailed into Ellis Island with a certain advantage. It could be as simple as that. What else might it be? Luciferian magic, some seem to think.

So now, obviously, Israel is engaged in trying to beat the crap out of Iran in order to persuade them to discontinue that country’s quest for deliverable nukes. Every other means of persuasion has failed, you understand, while Iran has never ceased to advertise its wish to “wipe Israel off the map” — a leitmotif not subject to disambiguation. Strange to relate, this has utterly inflamed the political Left against Israel and the Jews. Strange especially because until the day-before-yesterday the political Left in America was dominated by Jewish orgs, Jewish money, and Jewish individuals.

As we speak, Jewish Democratic Party lawyers run the Lawfare endeavor: Norm Eisen, Marc Elias, Benjamin Wittes, Michael Bromwich, Brooke Goldstein (Exec Director of The Lawfare Project org). Marc Elias has served as the Left’s chief election law finagler through three national elections, while Norm Eisen coached Special Counsel Jack Smith, New York AG Letitia James and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg in mounting their cases against Donald Trump.

Now, ironically-to-the-max, The Lawfare project is battling against the wild outbreak of antisemitism on Ivy League campuses (surprise, surprise) — Harvard, in particular, where the antisemitic frolics are presided over by the university’s Jewish president, Alan Garber. So, now it’s Jew-on-Jew, which is just another angle on the political Left eating itself alive. In case you’re wondering, I consider the Jewish lawfare ninjas a disgrace to my ethnic group, for the simple reason that their years’ long exploits against Mr. Trump have been altogether garishly dishonest. The lawfare gang has done much more damage to our country than AIPAC ever has.

And also now, at this inflection point in the Fourth Turning, Mr. Trump stands by in Israel’s campaign to put Iran’s nuke project out-of-business. This dilemma has inflamed both ends of the political spectrum. Looks like Mr. Trump is very reluctant to commit the US to an act of war. He is apparently unconvinced that our bunker-buster MOABs can successfully penetrate Iran’s nuclear Fordo mountain stronghold. For the moment, he is playing for time, probably hoping that Israel alone can “finish the job” (de-nuke Iran) somehow without US intervention. There is even some reasonable hope that Iran’s mullah theocracy can be tossed out, at best by the Iranians themselves.

Israel is much-resented for beating up on its enemies. It left Gaza for dead after the horrific Oct 7, 2023, rape, murder, and hostage attack. The American Left has labeled Israel “Hitler 2.0” for that. The American Left is insane of course. The news media is working the story hard that Israel is now hated by everybody in the world, even Ol’ Tucker Carlson. The Jewish lawfare ninjas are just layin’ low on this one, which seems a bit churlish for such otherwise combative punks. Only Alan Dershowitz dares speak up for Israel, and he’s not associated with the Left anymore. It remains for Mr. Trump to keep a clear head about this while everybody else runs around with his and her hair on fire.

I will make a bold prediction: Iran will be successfully de-nuked. The world will be better for it. Eventually, world opinion about Israel will shift. The world will be grateful that Israel dared to take on this problem. Eventually, too, the lawfare ninjas will find themselves in court — but, this time, sitting at the defendant’s table on a seditious conspiracy rap. That will toast my bagel.

A Day In The Life.

Up at 5:45a on Friday, a (mercifully) cool 64°F, moderate humidity, cloudy morning, I made coffee, took an aspirin for R/S Sciatic pain, fired-up the Win-7 Pentium HP Desktop to let 32 million lines of code load, had a couple smokes in the garage and checked the leftover errands list. I scanned the news and weather, tuned into the "CS Show LIVE" from 6-9, and the "CP Show LIVE" from 9-12. I scanned the news and weather headlines, and neither were "normal" for the coming days and weeks. JoAnne, my cleaning lady, would be in at 8:30, and the Regal Plumbing Tech had a 9-11 window, and WEIS Market (Enola, PA, thru Amazon) would deliver my order, also in a 2hr window, 12-2p.

JoAnne arrived at 8:30, and Roger from Regal Plumbing arrived at 8:45. It was a busy place for 25mins. The plumber finished after 25mins; JoAnne was here until 11:15. I had some condo chores to finish, and new ones to start. The WEIS Market delivery arrived around 2p, and I unpacked it and got it under refrigeration quickly. What a contrast yesterday and today were: hot/cold, day/night, sweaty/comfortable, boiling/freezing, good/nasty, ETC ad nauseum. I worked on "The Document" for an hour, but got back to finishing a couple of condo chores, as I hate starting and not finishing projects. The WEIS Market delivery had quite a few missing items, aka OUT OF STOCK.

After a light dinner, I watched the evening news, 2 FNC shows, called Sherry -- she's doing much better -- and switched to new episodes of Discovery's "Gold Rush" until 11:30. Lights out.

Awake for the 3rd time, and up at 8:15a on Saturday, a cloudy, very humid, 64°, I made coffee, scanned the news and weather sites, and checked my daily to-do list. Mmmmm, Saturday, and all is clear for today. With the cooler temps, but still high humidity, I stayed inside, did some minor chores, and went down the basement to my 17 sets of "Prepper Shelves, and continued inventorying supplies. By 2p, I was hungry for some lunch, and had a nice 3hr snooze on the LR couch. It took a while and 2 mugs of leftover morning 2nd carafe coffee, to wake-up, after 3hrs, but I finally did. After dinner, I watched the news, and switched to Discovery's "Expedition Unknown", until 12 midnight, and unplugged.

Up at 8:15a on Sunday, I really wanted to go back to sleep, but needed to get the day started. I made coffee, got the F-1 GP Austria race on my computer (27" screen), and watched, with several smoke breaks. By 12 noon, I went upstairs, got ready for the day, and started the first load of laundry. I backed the Jeep out of the garage, got the recycle bin and garbage bag ready-to-go later, poured another mug of Kona Coffee, and got back to the computer to scan the news and weather. Sniper situation developing in Idaho, damn.

I did laundry all afternoon, took out the recycle bin and garbage bag, cleaned out the garage and followed the Idaho Sniper situation, on and off. After dinner, I watched the news, checked the "to-do" list for the week, and tomorrow, and hit the sack early, at 11p.

Up at 8a on Monday, a high overcast, 82°, VERY HUMID morning, forecast to be 91° with severe t-storms, in the afternoon. The past 10 days have SUCKED, and more of the same is coming. SUMMER'S HERE! I made coffee, scanned the news and weather headlines, tuned into the "CP Show LIVE" until 12 noon, and skipped breakfast. After a few minutes of weeding in the front garden, I was out-of-breath, and had to take a break. No wind or breeze. AGAIN. I left at 12:45p for my 3-4 stop trip down in southern York County. Traffic was a HORROR SHOW. Construction choke points everywhere, on all main roads. Finally back home around 3:15p, I realized that I hadn't had anything for breakfast or lunch, and after unloading the Jeep, I dove into a Rotisserie Chunky Chicken Salad sandwich and Cornbread. That was good.

92° and 65% humidity -- just as last week -- really did me in, so I grabbed a short nap on the LR couch. A MASSIVE lightening strike and clap of thunder, woke me as I rolled off the couch when the condo shook! The hit was very, very nearby. Heavy rain, too, which we needed. Huge t-storm cells were moving thru the area, and York-Lancaster were catching a fair share. Less than 2hrs later, 4 MASSIVE lightening strikes in a row, also very nearby! The lightening display, and thunder, went on all evening, as did the rain downpours, in the southern sky. A ***SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING*** was posted around 10:30p, and all hell broke loose outside. Yowsir!

I had some Chicken Pot Pie for dinner, watched the evening news, switched to MT's (Motor Trend) "Iron Resurrection" until 11:30p. Lights out. 10a Dr's app't, so I'm getting up early.

Up at 6a on Tuesday, a foggy, heavily-clouded, humid 72°, with showers and t-storms forecast all day, I made coffee, scanned the weather and news, and noticed a ***FLOOD WATCH*** was posted for this are, due to the torrential rains last evening. Swell. I tuned into the "CS Show LIVE" until 9 and switched to the "CP Show LIVE" until 9:25, when I left for my 10a Dr's app't, down south. I left at 9:20a, for the sprawling Apple Hill Medical Center Complex. Halfway there, I'd forgotten my Emergency Inhaler (Combivent Respimat), but was taking multiple calls from friends and business people, and had to get to the app't. It went well, and I hurried home to get the inhaler.

A ***SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH*** was posted around 12:30p, for all afternoon, quickly garaged the Jeep, my WEIS Market delivery arrived, I had lunch, and hit the LR couch for a nice nap, despite some idiots saying it's a bad idea. Eff them, I like my naps, when I want them.

I finished-up a couple of small chores, had dinner, watched the evening news and switched to History's "The Mystery at Skinwalker Ranch" series, until 1a, and unplugged.

Awake at 5:45a, I went back to sleep until 8:15 on Wednesday, made coffee, had a smoke in the open garage, scanned the weather and news, and tuned into the "CP Show LIVE" at 9. It was 72°, forecast for 88°, heavily overcast, ready to rain all day, but a cold front was coming tomorrow, with much more comfortable temps and lower humidity. I'll take it! So much crap in the news, I have a difficult time just reading that stuff, let alone 'commenting' on it, in here. All I can do is shake my head in disgust.

Final tally: we got a lot of rain, as did the surrounding areas. I had breakfast, got ready for the day and Sherry, who'd be here around 1p. Torrential downpours, and floods everywhere in York, Lancaster and 8 other counties. 6" in under 24hrs will do that.

Sherry arrived around 1p, and we drove to Flinchbaugh's Orchard & Farm Market, and then to Saubel's Market, to get some food goodies for both of us. After unloading all foods into my condo to keep cool, we talked until 6p, when she had to leave. I had some dinner, watched the evening news, and switched to History's "American Pickers" and "Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch" until 1a, and then unplugged.

Awake at 6a, I rolled over and slept until 9:30, finally got up, made coffee, fired-up the Ol' Trusty HP Desktop, scanned the weather and news, and tuned into the "NOT the CP Show LIVE" -- hosted by his favorite sub -- and settled-in w/ Kona Coffee, for a while. I got Dad's Ol' 18" x 12" American Stick Flag out, and put it in my front garden, put out more red grapes for the birds, and had another smoke in the garage. Very hot & humid already, so I'll be staying inside today.

I had a very small lunch -- still too hot for my appetite -- and did some niggling "paperwork" on the computer. No nap yesterday or today. By 6p, I'd had a small dinner, watched the evening news, and switched to History's "Ancient Aliens" until 11:30p, and unplugged.

Tomorrow starts a new week, here in the "Journal", and except for some labs/bloodwork, at nearby Stonybrook, it looks clear. Nice.

Trump Slashes CO2 Regs Behind War on Energy.

The Trump administration just dealt another blow to the anti-energy, anti-prosperity agenda pursued by the Biden administration underpinned by the man-made “climate change” hypothesis. Under the proposed repeal of previous “climate” regulations on energy production announced this month, many of the power plants targeted for destruction could remain open, and CO2 would no longer be considered dangerous “pollution.” Naturally, that has the “climate” movement screaming bloody murder.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the effect of the so-called greenhouse gases coming from U.S. energy production using hydrocarbons (or “fossil fuels”) is so small as to be negligible. The agency also pointed out that the CO2 from power plants is not actually hurting people’s health, contrary to the demonstrably false claims of previous administrations. The latest announcement is part of a suite of two dozen “climate” decrees being eliminated by the administration.

Under the plan, coal and hydrocarbons could continue to provide power for U.S. consumers and businesses. “Rest assured President Trump is the biggest supporter of clean, beautiful coal,” EPA chief Lee Zeldin announced at the agency’s headquarters. “EPA is helping pave the way for American energy dominance because energy development underpins economic development, which in turn strengthens national security.”

The EPA regulatory changes, explained in a proposed rule released this month, would “repeal all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for fossil fuel-fired power plants,” the agency explained. “The EPA is further proposing to make a finding that GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants do not contribute significantly to dangerous air pollution.”

CO2: The Gas of Life

In reality, CO2, the greenhouse gas in question, does not contribute at all to “air pollution.” It is known to serious scientists as the “gas of life.” Indeed, it is exhaled by all living people and animals, and it is essential to plant life — that is why farmers pump it into greenhouses. Human emissions of CO2 do not even make up 1 percent of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. And concentrations of CO2 have been four to five times higher in the past.

“CO2 is actually good for the world, and people ought to be encouraged to make more of it,” Princeton physics Professor William Happer, who served as Donald Trump’s climate advisor during his first term, told The New American in an interview. Speaking of the idea that CO2 is “pollution” to be regulated, Dr. Happer said: “This is the same evil fanaticism that has plagued mankind since we began.”

Industry groups, Republican governors, and climate realists all celebrated the news. West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey, for example, celebrated the EPA proposal as a win for the nation and his state. “[This proposal is] a major victory for West Virginia, our energy producers, and every American who depends on reliable, affordable electricity,” said Morrisey, who as state attorney general worked in the courts to resist the feds’ climate agenda.

Climate Lobby Furious

Of course, high-paid climate lobbyists whose industries depend on their discredited hypothesis — along with their compliant media propagandists — are in an uproar about the changes. “These regressive proposals are bad for public health and bad for climate, all to prop up some of the highest polluting power plants in the nation,” complained Clean Air Task Force legal director Shaun Goho in a statement to taxpayer-funded propaganda outlet NPR.

The extremism from the well-funded climate movement — much of it supported by Russian state oil money, Rockefeller cash, and other dangerous enemies of the U.S. Constitution — only got more extreme from there. “The EPA is hoisting the white flag of surrender on the power plant pollution that’s poisoning the air we breathe and harming our climate,” Manish Bapna, president and CEO of Natural Resources Defense Council wrote in a statement.

Sounding like a doomsday preacher, “environmental health attorney” Ryan Maher at the Center for Biological Diversity went even more over the top. “If these reckless rollbacks are allowed to stand they’ll only fan the flames of extreme heat and wildfires, and they’ll trigger more child deaths, more cancers, more lung diseases and more heart attacks,” he said in a statement quoted by NPR, claiming Trump was seeking to “shovel dirty coal down our throats.”

Fake Media Outrage

NPR, which promotes left-wing extremism and climate hysteria at taxpayer expense, did not even pretend to offer a fair hearing. “Carbon dioxide from human activity is the main driver of global warming,” claimed NPR’s Jeff Brady, without mentioning the growing number of peer-reviewed scientific studies showing that solar activity and the “urban heat island” effect are the primary drivers of very slight temperature increases observed in recent decades.

Far-left media outlets such as Politico, which also feasted on millions of taxpayer dollars throughout the last administration, could barely conceal their disgust at the news. Blasting carbon dioxide as “climate pollution,” Politico framed the policy as “removing the cornerstone of a decadelong strategy to douse one of the nation’s largest sources of heat-trapping gases.”

In addition to its over-the-top statements and expensive public relations campaign, the climate industry — feasting on trillions of dollars extracted from taxpayers worldwide — is vowing to fight in court. The proposed EPA rule on power plants and CO2, likely to be finalized before the end of the year, will almost certainly be challenged legally by those who claim the federal government “must” regulate the gas of life.

UN Doubling Down

Even as Trump works to rein in the extremism, the United Nations International Court of Justice is considering a case on the supposed “legal obligations of states” with respect to “climate change.” With a World Court ruling expected later this year and UN officials calling it among the most important cases in history, legal experts expect the kangaroo court to claim that governments have an “obligation” to reduce and control CO2 emissions.

Meanwhile, the UN’s International Maritime Organization is on the verge of imposing the first ever global tax on humanity. Under the guise of taxing CO2 emissions, the rogue UN agency is seeking to charge ship owners money, paid directly to a UN fund that would then distribute the loot to businesses and governments. The Trump administration called it “wealth redistribution under the guise of environmentalism” and vowed to resist.

Americans Not Buying

As numerous polls and surveys show, most Americans do not even believe the hypothesis that human emissions of CO2 are responsible for alleged climate change. Even among those who do believe it, there is little appetite for the costly and draconian “solutions” proposed by alarmists. Indeed, a recent poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found just one third of Americans were willing to pay a single additional dollar on their monthly energy bill to fight climate change.

The situation is so dire for alarmists that some leftist climate luminaries are now claiming the Left needs a new strategy. “There’s no way around it: The left strategy on climate needs to be rethought,” said Jody Freeman, who served as counselor for energy and climate change in President Barack Obama’s White House. “We’ve lost the culture war on climate, and we have to figure out a way for it to not be a niche leftist movement.”

While Freeman admitted she was “struggling” to articulate what the “new strategy” might be, it must include the option of using hydrocarbon fuels such as natural gas as a “bridge” to a “zero emissions” world supposedly powered by “renewables.” But the end goal of the tyrants remains the same: Control every human being by controlling every human activity under the guise of saving “Mother Earth.”

Trump on the Move

Trump, however, is on the warpath. Over a decade ago, he famously took aim at climate alarmism by calling it a hoax to benefit the Chinese Communist Party. And during his first term in office, he pushed back in a major way, opening up U.S. energy, rolling back regulations, reining in U.S. funding for climate schemes, and even starting the process of withdrawing from the UN’s Paris Agreement.

Since then, Trump has doubled down, even declaring before taking office the second time that the climate “hoax” must be a top target of his MAGA movement and America at large. “One of the most urgent tasks, not only for our movement, but for our country, is to decisively defeat the climate hysteria hoax,” he argued during a 2022 talk in Florida in which he lambasted green energy and the alarmism surrounding CO2.

He hit the fraud hard on the 2024 campaign trail, too. “We don’t have a global warming problem; they don’t use that term anymore,” he said. “At certain points it starts to cool a little bit … so they changed it. You know what the term is? Climate change. This way, if it gets warmer … if it gets cooler, if it rains, if snow comes down in the middle of the summer, it’s climate change…. And we’ve spent trillions and trillions of dollars … putting windmills all over these magnificent plains, and fields, and valleys, and oceans…. It’s all a big hoax.”

Congress Must Act

Unfortunately, Trump’s efforts to rein in climate extremism have not been enshrined in law thus far. That means as soon as another Deep State Democrat or Republican takes over the White House, Americans can expect all of it to come back like a tidal wave, just as occurred when Joe Biden seized power after the first Trump administration. The GOP-controlled Congress must take action to prevent these unconstitutional abuses, or they will be back soon.

Iran’s Last Chance at the Bomb: A Hidden Race Behind the Calls for Ceasefire.

As the world watches the escalating confrontation between Israel and Iran, Tehran seeks to project a posture of strength, insisting it will fire the final shot. Yet behind closed doors, the Islamic Republic is doing the opposite: quietly pushing for a ceasefire. Not for the sake of regional stability, and certainly not for the safety of its own people, but for one singular purpose: gaining the time it desperately needs to finalize its nuclear ambitions.

Recent U.S. strikes on three well-known nuclear sites—Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan—were widely interpreted as major blows to Iran’s atomic infrastructure. But intelligence sources suggest otherwise. These facilities, long exposed and monitored, had already been emptied of their most sensitive material. The regime, fully aware of its security vulnerabilities, had preemptively moved its enriched uranium stockpiles to undisclosed underground locations beyond the reach of satellites, IAEA inspectors, or international oversight. As Iran calls for a ceasefire, it’s not peace it seeks—but time to finish the bomb it’s been building in the shadows.

Within these hidden fortresses, Iran is now operating with renewed secrecy and efficiency, drawing closer than ever to the nuclear threshold. The technical knowledge, financial means, and ideological justification are all in place. What Tehran lacks is time, and a ceasefire would offer precisely that.

Interpreting recent shifts in Iran’s rhetoric or diplomatic tone as a sign of moderation would be a grave mistake. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, like the regime’s founder Ayatollah Khomeini, adheres to the Shiite doctrine of taqiyya, a religiously sanctioned practice of deceit in service of ideological goals. Under this doctrine, false assurances and strategic lies are not only permitted but encouraged when advancing the interests of the Islamic Revolution.

To believe that the Islamic Republic has abandoned its nuclear ambitions is to fall victim to the same diplomatic delusions that have haunted Western policymakers for decades. If Tehran is granted even a temporary pause in hostilities, it will use that reprieve to complete what it has long pursued in secret: a functioning nuclear weapon.

The regime’s post-conflict playbook is consistent. First, it brutally reasserts domestic control by rounding up dissenters and executing alleged collaborators, fostering fear and obedience. Then it accelerates its nuclear program under the justification of defensive necessity. Finally, it announces a strategic shift in defense policy, citing foreign aggression as the rationale for legitimizing its nuclear breakout.

This is not merely a regional threat. A nuclear Iran represents a global danger: a volatile theocracy armed with the ultimate weapon, unbound by international norms or rational deterrence theory. Its constitution mandates the export of revolutionary ideology. Its history proves a willingness to sacrifice its own people and regional peace to preserve its grip on power.

Yet there is another Iran, one represented by the millions who have taken to the streets in recent years, demanding change. The regime has never been weaker in its ability to suppress dissent, and the people have never been stronger in their desire for transformation. Under the symbolic leadership of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, a growing segment of Iranians envisions a secular, democratic, and stable future.

Such an Iran—free, peaceful, and aligned with global values—would be a far more effective guarantor of regional security than any bunker-busting missile. The international community must recognize this moment for what it is: a historic inflection point. It is not just about disarming a regime. It is about enabling the rise of a new Iran, one that safeguards not only its own people but also the shared interests of a civilized world.