Tilting at Windmills

Sunday, March 1, 2026

Martin World News, with prologue...

Okay, so I've been much too distracted by life to do a regular posting schedule besides Wisdom Truck. Well, that and the sum total of all my walk pictures this week was one half-sunlit shot of Misty and a woodpecker that turned his back on us. Work has evolved back to normal levels finally, and I've been following my OU softball girls intently, and haven't really given posting much thought.

HOWever, I want to speak up about the attack on Iran. I am disgusted by Congressmen who are whining about not being told when they WERE told. I am tired of idiots like Tom Massie and Rand Paul trying to make points about it being an "illegal" war when the Constitution- had they ever bothered to read it- clearly gives our President the authority, and 45 of 47 presidents HAVE used it. I am disgusted by Tucker Carlson declaring it an evil war, when it topples a regime that murdered 30,000 of their own people who Want. Them. Out. I'd love to know how many Iranian $ went into the selling of his soul. Ditto Marjorie Taylor Greene. I salute the courage of Democrat John Fetterman in telling his fellow democrats- as well as Massie and Paul- that they are, indeed, idiots. And if I never see Keir Starmer's face again, that would be good. Say what you want about Trump, he had the guts to do what 'politicians' did not.

That said, let me break into Martin World News!

In lieu of the usual tag pic, here's that rude woody...

GB News- The Green Party in 2 stories

Multiple headlines

The Green Party is apparently a UK party which has been somehow able to actually elect people, strange as it seems to me. On the same front page we have 2 stories. First:

A Green Party spin doctor has denied that women were raped in the October 7 attacks in 2023.

Abi Wilkinson, appointed just days before the party’s victory in Gorton & Denton’s by-election, posted on social media that "there is no Israeli woman who’s said she was raped by militants".

She also wrote on X: “There’s absolutely no new evidence, there is not a single identified victim.”

The article then goes on to account MANY verified stories of these rapes and attacks, ending with, basically, "She hasn't been sacked- yet." They go on to mention her X account is now gone.

Where have we seen this look before?

In a follow up, they mention other Pols who say that Green Party leader Zack Polanski should fire her, but it isn't likely to happen. Why? Well, that's story #2:

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has called for Britain’s “special relationship” with the US to end after Washington launched waves of strikes against the Islamic Republic.

As news of the military action broke, the 43-year-old London Assembly member wrote on social media: "This is an illegal, unprovoked and brutal attack that shows once again that the USA and Israel are rogue states."

"The UK must end our cosy relationship with the USA and our ongoing support for Israel."

So apparently Green is the color of anti-semitism in the UK.

CNN- But other than that, they're nice guys

Headline: Taliban allows men to beat their wives as long as they don’t break bones or leave open wounds

That's awfully generous, don't you think? I bet Tucker Carlson finds it okay, aand Rand Paul has no prob with it, because they're against that USA rogue state. (Actually, I don't think that, just pointing out the stupidity of their thought processes, such as they are.) Oh, and by the way, our LGBTQ friends might be interested in this side note: in the same proclamation, sodomy was made punishable by death.

Moscow Times- Here's one you thought you'd never hear....

Headline: Kremlin Clamps Down on Communists Ahead of State Duma Elections

Though we in the west tend to think of Putin as almost as bad as the old Soviet Union, one thing he isn't is a communist. And in duma election campaigns across Russia, Communist Party members are seeing prison time.

Veteran Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov accused the Kremlin of waging a deliberate campaign to hamstring Russia’s second-largest political party as it prepares to compete with the ruling, de facto Putin-led United Russia party in the State Duma elections.

“Our opponents see that the Communist Party is getting stronger, and the people have come over to our side. KPRF is actively fighting to protect small and medium businesses,” Zyuganov said.

Communists fighting for Bourgois businessmen and kulaks? That's a hoot.

Xinhua- one of those stories that really sinks your credibility...

Headline: Hamas condemns U.S.-Israel "blatant aggression" against Iran

I have but one comment to this...

Oh, and here's one that will nicely finish this rather less-than-fun post... I was just on the BBC World, where they are still reporting that the US and Israel bombed a girl's school in Teheran, killing over a hundred... while @grok confirms...

Iran's IRGC admitted on March 1, 2026, that a missile strike on a girls' elementary school in Minab, Hormozgan province, the previous day was an accidental hit during a drill, killing at least 36 children, after initially blaming Israel and the US.

With that I sign off, warning you once again, trust NO news report that you cannot dig into for yourself.

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Wisdom Truck 7

There is a fine line between wisdom and its opposite-as I can well tell you. I've been floating this latest verse in my mind this weekend, and a sermon I heard today (as I type) gave me a contrast to what I found.

First, the verse:

Deu 16:19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.

Now if I were you, I'd probably say, "Well that's certainly self-explanitory", but it isn't for a couple of reasons. First one is the next verse, which I'm going to put up, but ask you to keep it in your pocket for a bit:

Deu 16:20 Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

Then, I want to show you an almost-but-not-quite the same verse to expand the story a bit:

Exo 23:8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

Now, one difference is that the target verse is Moses reminding the people- the second one is God's own dictation, as it were. But more than that- what is 'the clear sighted'? Well, far enough back, it means to have your senses open to spiritual things. Or, in Martin terms, to be able to listen to God. Once again, we see wisdom as our connection to the Holy Spirit- and mammon being the main blockage of it.

Okay, back to that other verse. What, then, is considered justice? Once again with some hopscotching help from the various commentators, we land in Ezekiel 18: 5-9, where the Lord gives Ezekiel a list of things to look for in a just man- which I shall try to summarize:

- Stays clear of 'idols' (keeping in mind what idols can mean to modern man) in his heart and in his actions;

- Avoids sexual sin (Solomon will go chapter and verse, as it were, about this connection when we get to Proverbs);

- "approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity..." this is a tough one to analyze, but I think in modern thought it would bring into play the purity and sanctity of marital sex;

- does not oppress anyone, with immediate connection to restoring "the pledge of the debtor"- in other words. being honest and ethical in business dealings;

- commits no robbery;

-Gives to the poor;

- Lends to others without interest; interesting that while Jesus was okay with institutional lenders (the Parable of the Talents, for example), it is not allowed to charge your buddy (or more appropriately, your "brother") interest. The institutionals aren't off the hook either; the word here used means "to OPPRESS with interest," and the Mosaic Law didn't allow Jews to charge interest to fellow Jews.

- Keeps himself from evil plans;

-And judges fairly between one man and another.

Today, Chuck Swindoll was talking about Rehoboam (Solomon's son), and what he did on assuming the throne of his father. As wise as Solomon was- as we've talked about before- he gave his son written Proverbs to live by, but spent a lifetime trying to judge between earthly wisdom and God's wisdom, and as a result, Rehoboam followed the example instead of the testament:

- He did not set his heart to seek the Lord, (2 Chr 12:14), especially after he secured his now divided kingdom ( same chapter, v1);

-Spent his money on fortifying cities for his war with the new Israelite king Jereboam, rather than helping the people; that resulted in the lynching of his tax collector (1 Kings 12:18).

- He was prodigious sexually, though not on the level of his father (18 wives, 60 concubines, 88 kids);

- Based his rule on being more oppresive than his father (1 Kings 12), thus causing 10 of the 12 tribes to reject him.

It took an invasion from Egypt to finally knock sense into him, and after that God looked kindly on him because he humbled himself before the Lord. But if he had listened to his father's counselors, who were clear-sighted- instead of his buddies, whom Solomon warned him about in Proverbs 1:10-16- he might have topped his father and passed a whole, peaceful kingdom to his son.

Friday, February 20, 2026

The grocery post

So I saw this week a study done by Consumer Reports which went through the usual arcane statistical summaries to come up with the most and least expensive places to get groceries, usuing Wal-Mart as the baseline, or "0". 35 stores and supermarkets were tested; 80% were higher than Wal-Mart (and you wondered why you were missing us, Kroger?) Considering such things as sales, geographical differences, bla blah blah, they charted a whopping seven places that beat Wal Mart...

Not surpringly, the club stores- Costco and BJs, did the best...

With the %s being "per cent higher/lower than Wal Mart, the club stores were both in the 21% to the good range. A good thing if you are a big family that has a big house and can afford to get chicken wings by the flock and toilet paper by the forest. If you take those 2 outliers off, the rest beat WM by subsantially less-

Lidl, which is basically Aldi's for the east coast, and Aldis, which is your basic off-brand, bag/box it yourself, and don't forget the quarter you put in the shopping cart to make it go, both chime in at something over 8% better. WinCo, which used to be Cub Foods until they gave up on our part of the country, is another bulk store- but not near so cheap at the big 2, clocking in at around 3% cheaper. Finally, H.E. Butt, out of Texas (and I can't tell you how hard I laughed the first time I heard of them- an order at my old job, reading He Butt co., making me wonder if He-Man was dating Skeletor...)-

"How does your "he-butt" like THIS?"

- actually was only fractionally better than Wal-Mart. Market Basket, the New England outfit that seems to be in constant civil war, is the only one real close but more than Wal-Mart; 6 stores (Target, Wegmans, King Soopers, Safeway, Food-4-Less, and Meijer, of which only Target- who lost me at all-red decor and finished me off with woke- and Meijer- who at least has a decent beer department- are in our area) are in rhe 5% to .10% range. 5 more (Food Lion, Hannaford, Kroger (which clocked in at a surprising 14.8% to the bad), Stater Brothers (Not "Statler Brothers", as I kept trying to misread), and the poorly-named Save A Lot) manage to keep it under 20% to the bad. And the "hall of shame" includes the remaining 16, from Publix's 20.3% all the way to Whole Foods and their whopping 39% more expensive. Thankfully, none of the Dirty ~~Dozen~~ 16 are in our area.

Joining Whole Foods in the 30 % club were Shaws on the east coast, and El Rancho, in Texas, with Jewel-Osco coming uncomfortably close. That means that roughly 63% of the grocery store market costs you more than Wal-Mart; 7-9% of the market charges at least 25% more.

Thursday, February 19, 2026

A few things

Let's start with this: I apologize for no Wisdom Truck this week. I thought I was still two weeks ahead, so the post I typed up this week, I scheduled for next week. I should have checked the post date, and I didn't.

Which fits in with the rest of the day, as this is been the single stupidest day I ever experienced at my current job. I won't try to explain, because I was there and I still don't understand. I'll give you the least complicated example: I have to use these blue markers when I cut the "white patch fabric" (which isn't what we call it, but this way you actually know what it is...). They come in packs of one; which isn't all that bright, but you can roll with it since they last forever (on most things I need them for), and the things they need for anren't that common. A couple weeks back, I told my boss (this would be the same guy who described today as "a s#!ts#0w") I needed more, so he told our company purchasing lady (in Missouri, land of the intellectually challenged from our company's standpoint), and she ordered them. The question comes up now, did she screw up how she ordered them, or did the supplier simply "see us coming", because they arrived today. Five single pack markers in five SEPERATE shipping envelopes. With five seperate postal charges we get hit with.

Like I said, that was the easiest stupidity to explain. From there we climb the stupid stairs all the way to Einstein level WTFs. I'll just let you imagine.

Then, just now I read that our lovely Congressional budget office announced that those of us on Social Security ( like Laurie) or dearly wishing they could afford to (like myself, especially this week) have a cold shock coming. Because of all the money Congress has wasted on illegal immigrants put up in hotels, Minnesota Somali day care centers that don't actually exist, and Nancy Pelosi's insider trading network, we can expect our payouts to be CUT 7% coming very soon- and as much as 28% a year thereafter.

For those of you that hate Trump, this is what he's been trying to get rid of through DOGE and other investigations. Democrat Jasmine Crockett is just the latest Congressperson caught taking SS payments in the name of dead relatives- Elon Musk found that SS was paying out to people that were allegedly 150+ years old! But yeah, listen to your media when they tell you Orange Man Bad.

I don't know about you, but I would like to retire someday. But politicians on both sides have milked the cow for so long, I'll have to calculate the date of the Rapture and subtract about two months to find out when I will safely be able to.

Okay, enough of that. How about the weather? According to radar, we are about five minutes out from an hour of the cow standing on the flat rock.

In case you didn't get that one...

And sometime tomorrow, the power company is going to turn off our complex for about an hour. I think it's a Lenten observance or something.

In the meantime, the car that my son just got with his tax check is moments from blowing up after a week. Apparently the lovely Ford Escape has a built in design flaw, that allows anti-freeze to get in the water pump, locks it up, and warps the head. So now, just when my son had thought he'd finally at long last caught a break, the stupidity of auto manufacturers shoots him down. Now you understand why a 79 year old man went ballistic and torched 4 cars about 4 Julys ago (not the same dealership) because they sold him a lemon they wouldn't take responsibility for. Of course, he waited 36 years before getting his revenge, so if Fort Wayne Kia is in business still in 2062 (at which point we will be 100), they better look out.

And my new chip to replace the cheap-a$$ one that HP puts in my model computer came in, so either I will solve the problem this weekend, or you'll never hear from me again!

Just heard thunder. Think the rain is starting.

Monday, February 16, 2026

Dumb news stories

Okay, so I am lazy tonight- I stole the meme from my "grok's stupid questions" posts- AND I had grok gather my stories! First up:

Ski jumper disqualified for wearing boots that were 4mm too big

Austrian skier Daniel Tschofenig got booted (pun intended) from a major event because his boots exceeded the size limit by a whopping four millimeters. He called himself "extremely stupid" for not measuring them amid all the stress. In the grand scheme of Olympic-level drama, this feels peak petty-rule-enforcement energy.

Taking these blind so I don't know if the other Olympically stupid stories made it but- South Korean skiiers for having environmentally unsafe ski wax, the "extra finger" controversy in curling which is causing memes in every sport, A French hockey player getting the heave-ho from the games for getting beat up by Tom Wilson, and the ever-delightful woke Americans making us all look stupid.

Beer pong injury leads to surgery

A 19-year-old's casual beer pong game somehow ended in a bizarre injury bad enough to require surgery. Details are sparse, but the mental image alone qualifies as dumb-funny news fodder.

Apparently after having to drink after missing a shot, he drank a bottle cap that got tossed into his cup, and it got stuck in the back of his throat and inflamed. I remember when you just had to worry about cigarette butts in the cup (see "Caddyshack").

Well, that and someone puking said butt into your sunroof...

Cat rides 100+ miles on car roof, completely chill

(From recent weird news compilations still circulating) Ray Ray the cat clung to the roof of his family's van for over 100 miles during a move, unfazed, between luggage straps. Family discovered him at a stop, bought him a harness, and he finished the trip like a road-trip legend. Peak feline commitment.

Ray-Ray made about 2 hours worth of Pennsylvania to New Hampshire on I-80.

Obama has to clarify he didn't mean aliens are texting us

Former President Obama casually said on a podcast that aliens are "real" (in the cosmic sense), sparking viral alien buzz. He quickly followed up to shut it down: no evidence of contact, no Area 51 secrets. Classic case of a throwaway comment turning into a news cycle.

"But I've never seen one." Illegals, yes, space, no.

Dozens of dogs dressed as alligators, fairies, and superheroes protest pet cruelty

In Rio de Janeiro, owners paraded costumed dogs at a Carnival street party to highlight animal welfare. Adorable? Yes. Ridiculous news hook? Absolutely.

Apparently started after a doggie named Orelha met an untimely end...

"Eat yer heart out, Gal Gadot!"

Orelha was a community dog beaten to death by a group of teens, and their parents tried intimidation and witness tampering to get them off the hook. The young thugs reportedly fled to Orlando, where ICE is fighting a running battle with Mickey Mouse to capture and deport them.

And, at my request for a "killer closer":

Injured seabird desperately pecks at hospital ER door for help

In Bremen, Germany, a cormorant (that sleek black seabird that looks like a goth penguin) showed up at the emergency room entrance of Klinikum Links der Weser hospital, repeatedly pecking at the glass door like it was trying to check in. Staff finally noticed, called firefighters, and discovered a triple fishing hook lodged in its beak. They teamed up to remove the hook, treat the wound, and release the bird back to the wild. The thing basically self-triage'd itself to the ER—smarter than half the people who show up with "I swallowed a bottle cap in beer pong" stories.

"Roy, did dispatch say, "A Coromrant with a fishhook?"

Sunday, February 15, 2026

More pictures of the same stuff

I mean, if you were wondering why I didn't fill your weekend with pictures of my long weekend, there just wasn't that much to see. For example, I give you Thursday: