We seem to have stumbled into the Autumn with a vengeance. We are not sure how it could have been prevented or altered to make it a less painful process. We do enjoy the one time in the working week that we can sigh, turn to face the production crew and say: “Yeah, all this stuff on the slide is actually happening.”

You have noticed that the Production Cycle on this Solar Cycle- that would be “SC-25” if you are keeping track- does not attempt to project the infallible image that all part-time Pundits like to project. In our case, the enormity of what is at stake in the American election. We believe in the Solar Cycle. There have been more than a couple dozen of them since they were discovered and described by amateur astronomers in Europe. We like to reflect on some of the changes observed in what is seen in the heavens above us. Solar Cycles are “about” eleven years in duration, so this would be “about” the fourth since we were warned the Earth was headed into another Ice Age.

The observations over time didn’t support that either, so we went to Global Warming, which seems a little less threatening than a Boiling Atlantic, which was the description for this summer’s climate mayhem. It is actually getting a little colder in this Solar Cycle, which is expected to be either boiling for freezing, depending on what is most useful to the Experts who are making this stuff up.

Yesterday was a little unique, as you can see from the weekly summary. That is another way of saying things are a little nuts at the moment. We have been puzzling over the newest war in progress. This one appears to have been started by Palestinian militants who crashed through border fencing and slaughtered attendants at a music festival. The topic of interest yesterday was who was responsible for the rocket that struck a Gaza hospital. There were some 500 deaths from what was reported initially as a strike by the Israeli Defense Forces and later a mis-fire from Palestinian forces.

That, of course, was the start of a long day of recriminations mixed with other ominous portents. The ‘ATACMS” were a popular topic yesterday. They are the heart of the U.S. Army’s MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System. It was a big deal because some have shown up in Ukraine and have a range of nearly 200 nautical miles. That capability puts Russian Terrain under the ATACMS missile footprint and increases tension in a Real Shooting War. The missiles are manufactured by the US defense company Lockheed Martin and are part of a deadly system using solid propellant in a platform 13-feet long and two feet in diameter.

They are perfect for lobbing across the Black Sea at Russian Naval (and other) targets. You can see how this is going. Both recent Chief Executives were in the “Breaking News” department as well. The Current Chief flew on Air Force ONE to Israel to have substantive talks. The Israelis have been plain about their view that kinetic conflict appears to have spread from Ukraine to The Strip. A former Chief Executive has a gag order imposed on discussions about the people to have thrown him under a bus or against a fence. The idea that political opponents are now subject to law enforcement proceedings is an interesting development, since that implies that the Justice Department will be sizing up charges for anyone who claims there is mismanagement in our legal system.

The biggest story of “yesterday” is whether the connection between wars with expand into an encounter with thousands of nuclear weapons. And an FBI that appears to be more interested in the investigation of local school boards than who is coming across our flimsy Southern Border. That is a popular theme being played out in the memes published about our collective future. We would like to see our Congress elect a Speaker so we can appropriate funds for the wars in progress (that we know of) and maybe another one in the South China Sea and north to Taiwan.

It is a bit discouraging in terms of the public interest issues laying around in public sight. Whatever it else it iis we are doing, there is talk about eliminating some of the appalling overload in spending that has dumped us $33 Trillion in Debt. We are going to smile at that, since clearly spending like that is… what…unsustainable?

That is a great word, but it suggests that the current situation may spring a leak somewhere along the way. We would hate for that to happen because things are busy here on The Patio. We have a Solar Cycle to manage and some rockets we need to deliver to a war in progress. SC-25 may be colder or warmer, but we are almost ready to deal with anything in the cycles to come!

Copyright 2023 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com