Posted by: fanto | Feb 7 2026 4:01 utc | 603
 
#######
 
What operating system do you have? Windows?

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 7 2026 4:05 utc | 604

In response to
”
I just realized the Olympics have begun. 
Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 7 2026 4:10 utc | 605
”
 
 
There were anti-ICE protests outside before opening, Occupied Palestine was booed as was JD Vance.
 
Let the games begin!

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 7 2026 4:13 utc | 606

“There that does it….” says Tobias Cole. I wish.

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 7 2026 4:19 utc | 608

Posted by: Protoss Carrier | Feb 7 2026 4:22 utc | 609
 
As I said somewhere in this thread, the Panama Ports drama—CK Hutchison’s concession being voided by Panama’s Supreme Court in early 2026, Maersk stepping in temporarily, and China protesting—looks less like a Chinese state operation and more like a sovereign assertion by Panama, albeit one unfolding under clear Western-aligned pressure. The supposed “China angle” via CK Hutchison is thin: it’s a private multinational tied to Li Ka-shing, not a CCP instrument, and the Hong Kong link is often exaggerated for narrative effect. For the US, this becomes an easy geopolitical win, reinforcing influence over a critical chokepoint without any overt military involvement. The real costs, though, land elsewhere: Panamanian port workers face job uncertainty and layoffs; global shippers and consumers absorb higher freight costs; and commodity exporters dependent on the canal—especially Indonesia (nickel, copper, tin, bauxite), Australia (iron ore, coal, bauxite), Brazil (iron ore, soy), and Chile (copper concentrates)—deal with delays, rerouting risks, and squeezed margins. As usual, the superpowers and tycoons stay insulated, while middle-power trade flows and everyday workers quietly foot the bill in this proxy struggle.

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 7 2026 4:32 utc | 610

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 7 2026 4:32 utc | 610
######
 
Don’t forget that China has a megaport in Peru with plans for high-speed rail across South America to the Atlantic coast of Brazil, essentially negating Panama’s value for their purposes.
 
Chinese-built Chancay megaport in Peru celebrates its first year
 
Once the Northern Sea Route (Arctic)  and the North-South Corridor (Iran) are opened, China will be able to go anywhere, any time.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 7 2026 4:39 utc | 612

Posted by: Protoss Carrier | Feb 7 2026 4:22 utc | 609
 
#####
 
Iran? America can’t even defeat Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world.
 
Iran is a civilizational state 3x the size of pre-SMO Ukraine with 92 million people.
 
Trump talks a lot but is terrified of attacking Iran, which I think is going to go for a knockout punch if they are attacked.
 
Men get arrested, dogs get put down.
 
What do you think Iran is going to do to the Epsteins?

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 7 2026 4:42 utc | 614

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 7 2026 4:39 utc | 612
 
Yes — this is already playing out. The US Navy is still the world’s most powerful force, but geopolitics has it boxed in more than most realize. In the Arctic, Russia’s militarized Northern Sea Route (icebreakers, subs, bases) forces the US into a catch-up posture with Greenland and northern Canada, relying on allies like Denmark rather than acting freely. Meanwhile, China dominates the commercial side of the NSR: by 2025, over 70% of non-Russian transits were Chinese ships moving LNG, coal, and containers. Russia provides security; China provides the cargo, turning the route into a China-led economic artery the US can’t block.
 
At the same time, China and partners are quietly building a southern land alternative: the International North–South Transport Corridor through Iran and Russia. Unlike a sea route, INSTC moves cargo by port, rail, and road, bypassing chokepoints like Malacca and Suez. China can subsidize trade, fund infrastructure, and redirect flows so it becomes the default path for strategic cargo. Russia gains revenue and a land bridge, Iran gains leverage, and China gains a low-cost, sanction-resistant route to Europe and Central Asia. The US Navy can still patrol old sea lanes, but it can’t touch this corridor.
 
Together, NSR and INSTC show the pattern: US naval power is real, but increasingly stretched and hedged. Greenland, Iran, the Arctic, and these new corridors aren’t isolated—they’re part of a bigger shift where Russia and China quietly build alternative routes and buffers, while the US reacts more than it dictates. Control of the old chokepoints is no longer enough to dominate the game.

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 7 2026 4:58 utc | 616

Bruno Maçães, the Portuguese former Secretary of State for European Affairs (2013–2015), political scientist, and bestselling author with a doctorate in political theory from Harvard, published Exit from Our Age of Disorder: Lessons from Ibn Khaldun in November 2025 (some editions dated October 15, 2025). This concise work, roughly 80–84 pages, is one of the first publications from the newly established Ibn Khaldun Institute in Washington. Drawing on the 14th-century Arab historian’s insights into the cyclical rise and fall of political orders—where ‘asabiyya (social cohesion) strengthens under hardship but erodes through luxury and decadence—Maçães analyzes the irreversible decline of the post-WWII liberal global order under Western, particularly American, leadership. He points to geopolitical shocks (Ukraine, Gaza), technological revolutions, economic shifts, and waning legitimacy as forces that have fragmented globalization and revealed institutional fragility, while new power centers emerge beyond the West. Rather than resisting this end, Maçães advocates a pragmatic approach: acknowledge the ruins, manage transitions between rising and declining powers through procedural rather than ideological means, cultivate equitable ties with middle powers, and rebuild a new order that preserves valuable liberal principles while avoiding chaos or illiberal models like those of Russia or China.

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 7 2026 5:27 utc | 618

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 7 2026 2:06 utc | 582
 
Thank you, karlof1 – that’s a book  I will definitely try to order through a local bookstore.  If  I can get it, I will let you know.  I don’t do this often — the last one I am glad I did get to read through my library was the book on the life of McKinley, written in the fifties.  This ranks in importance with that, if not more so.  I have two part Chinese grandsons.  We need this book.

Posted by: juliania | Feb 7 2026 5:46 utc | 620

Peter AU1 @ 541:
 
“Video of a WW1 Enfield rifle…”
 
I believe the Lee Enfield 303 was used by the Canadians in WW1. As a kid in rural Canada it was everywhere. My dad used his as a deer rifle.  People were still ordering them out of the big national department stores’ mail order catalogues at least until the late 60s. Went for about $50 a pop.  Must’ve made lots of then and so lots of surplus. Bit of a kick to it as I recall but then again maybe it was just me as scrawny teenager. 

Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 7 2026 6:11 utc | 622

I think the posting title and sub text below speak to the mental health of the US President
 
Trump condemns, won’t apologize for racist video depicting Obamas as apes
 

The White House first defended the post, then deleted it early on Friday, 12 hours after it appeared. Asked about calls from Republicans and others for him to apologize, Trump said, “I didn’t make a mistake.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 7 2026 6:29 utc | 624

Similar here and with me. Bought one as a teenager. I thought it must have had a bent barrel as I couldn’t hit anything with it and as a teenager it kicked hard. I was likely flinching when I fired.
 
Later in life when my son was about that age, I bought a 45/70 for shooting bulls in the scrub. I never felt the recoil at all and would shoot it totally relaxed. My son could hit what he was aiming at but didn’t like the recoil. He was getting a bruised shoulder. I guess the muscles toughen up with age like a scrawny old rooster.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 7 2026 8:15 utc | 626

Epstein ‘was trained as a spy for Israel’, FBI documents claim
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2166815/epstein-was-trained-spy-israel

Posted by: Apollyon | Feb 7 2026 9:13 utc | 628

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 7 2026 2:09 utc | 583
 
“Other suggestions barflies?”
 
A pet of the suborder Vermiligua?

Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Feb 7 2026 10:16 utc | 630

I’d like to give it a crack, but I’m now sworn off any soldering due to discovering that I have high blood Pb levels. 
Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Feb 7 2026 10:54 utc | 631
 
****************
 
Lead-free solder? Just takes a bit more care… There are also solder-free (and lead-free) alternatives, such as two-part silver-loaded epoxy or heat-curable one part silver loaded epoxy. The latter I used in a research project to form ‘wires’ as thin as a human hair using a medical syringe with a specially hand-ground end and cured in suspension by an IR lamp. The  original tapered spade end on the syringe caused the extrusion to blob up by gathering under surface tension on the taper.

Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 7 2026 12:07 utc | 632

gawd damned, here’s the link..
 
https://tinyurl.com/2ftd57r9

Posted by: denk | Feb 7 2026 12:22 utc | 634

LD , if you think your money in the bank is not digital you can tell Russia that their 250 billion Euros seized in Brussels is not really seized. Or, how about the Canadian Government freezing accounts of people they dissaproved of.

Posted by: arby | Feb 7 2026 13:13 utc | 636

Panama drame
 
posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 6 2026 20:15 utc | 518
———————-
 
Coordinated attack !
 
‘Albanese vowed to get back Darwin port at all cost !’

Posted by: denk | Feb 7 2026 14:03 utc | 638

At risk of being likened to Mark2 (where is he btw?), the Epstein scandal, once a source of jaded acceptance, is not going to go away for a long time. there are 3 million files out there, another 3 million to come, and we’re only one week into the digging.
Meanwhile, the UK MSM is focussing on two main scapegoats: Andrew Battyman-Windsssor and Peter “Mandy” Mandelson, in the hope that these two’s demise will be enough to distract from the bursting of the shitlake dam.
Otherwise it is a matter of misdirection by Russiawashing, which not even Sun and Daily Mail readers are buying. and cries of ‘Focus on the girls‘. Yes, the girls matter – perps should go to jail, the victims should get justice. Many would prefer soemthing much more mediaeval.
Apart from being removed from the Big Dirty Club, their wealth should be appropriated. Firstly to compensate the victims, secondly to defray the costs of prosecution, thirdly to fund investigations into the remainder of his network and any surplus (which will be vast) can go towards sorting out the deficit. It will probably be more effective than tariffs and militarised gangsterism for the long term health of the West’s economies.
After all, where do we think all the money went?
By way of an example, in a long article dissecting post-conviction Epstein emails to Handy Andy, up pops a reference to Shawty Girl Fergie, Andy’s ex-wife and mother to his two children. Ever in need of cash injections, she was only too happy to overlook Epstein’s transgressions for a few shekels more. In this case it involved inserting herself in the oil trade between Nigeria and China, from which she stood to gain:

There had long been a trusting relationship between Stern, the prince and Ferguson, often referred to as F in correspondence about sensitive matters. “PA has asked me to see a guy who has access to Nigeria oil and when selling it to China (or somebody else) F can make around $6m,” Stern wrote to Epstein in September 2010. “This seems very fishy.”

Not clear if it ever went ahead, but just to point out $6m is more than most of us can make in a lifetime of hard slog. For members of The Club, a couple of phone calls to the nice Mr Epstein and it is yours. You add no value but somehow get to suck up millions, or maybe billions.
So roll on with the shit show, this global Salo Republic needs to be burned to the ground.

Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 7 2026 14:35 utc | 640

Princess 616 – the USCG only has 3 ready ocean ice breakers in its fleet, with one polar ice breaker in the reserve fleet (its polar class but needs new engines). Another ocean capable ice breaker is assigned to the Great Lakes, and is not available for ocean duty.  None of these icebreakers are armed by the way.  One is now on duty in Antarctica at the M Sound .
Canada has over a dozen ocean ice breakers, again none are armed.
RF has dozens of ice breakers, many nuclear powered and all are armed.
The US and Canada has alot of catching up to do !

Posted by: tobias cole | Feb 7 2026 14:50 utc | 642

325 – Enfield 303 bolt action carbines, and LR’s are readily available in many gun shops in the US.  My local gun show had dozens available for purchase at prices ranging from $400 to $900.
2nd amendment in full force……

Posted by: tobias cole | Feb 7 2026 14:53 utc | 644

arby@635:
 
“I purchased a converted 303 to 22 bolt action rifle from the army surplus store when I was about 13. Carried it home on the streetcar.”
 
A different time eh? Must have made for a real skookum 22 too.
 
tobias cole@644:
 
“2nd amendment in full force…”
 
A pity the first isn’t…

Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 7 2026 15:32 utc | 646

“Germany cancels US to invest in China as panic begins over US-held gold reserves.”  
Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 7 2026 15:39 utc | 647
 
To all you bitcoin bashers. Germany could still access their bitcoin but not their gold.

Posted by: arby | Feb 7 2026 15:43 utc | 648

Of course. Gold is actually worth something.No computer required.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 7 2026 16:05 utc | 649
 
 Not if you can’t put your hands on it.

Posted by: arby | Feb 7 2026 16:08 utc | 650

LOL, you guys are making me want to buy more bitcoin.  LOL

Posted by: arby | Feb 7 2026 16:12 utc | 652

Because just in January 2026 alone, no fewer than six of America’s closest allies—including France, South Korea, Ireland, Canada, Finland, and now the United Kingdom—have sent their national leaders directly to Beijing to sign record-breaking new trade deals with China.
 
Cyrus Janssen

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 7 2026 16:31 utc | 654

Fifty Shades of Whey   @davenewworld_2
 
Epstein took a photo of his 2015 dinner with Zuckerberg and Musk, and sent it to himself
 
https://x.com/davenewworld_2/status/2020128223850316274
 
 
 
Fifty Shades of Whey   @davenewworld_2
 
In 2015, Epstein had a dinner planned with Musk, Thiel, and Zuckerberg at the same time
 
https://x.com/davenewworld_2/status/2019498460236411182
 

Posted by: GreatLakesObserver | Feb 7 2026 17:08 utc | 656

Posted by: arby | Feb 7 2026 13:13 utc | 636
 
######
 
I’m old school. A real Neanderthal.
 
I don’t keep money in the bank, not any more than I absolutely need to.
 
When I say, if you don’t hold it, you don’t own it, I live that.
 
I stopped trusting banks decades ago. If one understands fiat and the Western history of banking, no one sane would use banks any more than they must.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 7 2026 17:26 utc | 658

Obama got off cuz he’s black
Posted by: Cynic | Feb 6 2026 19:21 utc | 505——————-
 
How do you account for the other 44 potus who got away with genocides scot free ?
–

Posted by: denk | Feb 7 2026 17:38 utc | 660

denk | Feb 7 2026 17:38 utc | 660
*** Obama got off cuz he’s blackPosted by: Cynic | Feb 6 2026 19:21 utc | 505————— ****
 
Basically, yes…. the Establishment by then needed an extra layer of excusium where even its liberal supporters were concerned. So, just like appointing a Jew, they picked a “black” candidate (but with all the right background, of course).
Which inhibited political correcters or even made them defend that criminal, because the (mainly white) pc brigade are  basically warped racists themselves. *** How do you account for the other 44 potus who got away with genocides scot free ? ***
As above. The old lie-pack had worn thin and needed an extra coat of (in his case, mildly black) paint.
Next came the Zionist/Jewish paint-layer of Trump and Kushner … alternatives to maniac Clinton.
Followed by the rabid (but controlled by State agencies) wokism let loose by the Biden regime.
And after that,  the inevitably hostile reaction to the Biden period was exploited by Trump again.

Posted by: Cynic | Feb 7 2026 18:32 utc | 662

drinky crow, cynic….
 
OBAMA got off cuz he belongs to the teflon club, just like the other 44 potus, nuthin sticks. 
 
Not cuz he’s black.

Posted by: denk | Feb 7 2026 18:42 utc | 664

It is interesting who is NOT associated with Epstein.
 
Putin, Assad, Khaemani, Nasrallah, Xi.
 
Zelensky, Modi, MBS, and MBZ are.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 7 2026 19:07 utc | 666

Thats all folks !

Posted by: denk | Feb 7 2026 19:09 utc | 668

ChatNPC | Feb 7 2026 19:14 utc | 671
*** It helps a lot if you get your irrevocable Peace Prize on your first day in office, you’re untouchable after that.I’m sure that’s behind the Orange Golem’s obsession – once he gets that it will be ‘nukes away!’ ***
 
The FIFA “peace” award certainly didn’t encourage him to be nicer.
 
Dread to think what he might be like when he wins the world cup trophy.
 
Between now and the final, will it be re-named the “DJ Trump soccerball Trophy” ? 
 
Will the winning country/team be given a copy?
 
And will all the teams that qualified for the finals even be allowed into the USA?
 

Posted by: Cynic | Feb 7 2026 19:28 utc | 670

The questions about Trump’s wild late-night postings can be answered by what Susie Wiles, the WH Chief of Staff, said about him in an interview. Trump acts like an alcoholic though he is a T-totaller. She recognizes that behavior because her father had a drinking problem. So Trump’s absolutism is like inverted alcoholism. Not that many illustrious statesmen haven’t had problems with the drink (Churchill comes to mind) and even MoA recognizes we must have whiskey oh you know why. 

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 7 2026 19:59 utc | 672

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 7 2026 19:59 utc | 674
 
You seem to be a bit naive. I’m 68. I’ve experienced a lot in my life, good and bad. I can recognize patterns – big ones and little ones – mostly based on my experiences. Biden was rapidly becoming senile, and they had to put him on something to sharpen his wits on some days. Trump is becoming physically senile but both Biden and Trump use the same drug – pharmaceutical amphetamine. Biden used it sparingly. Trump has been using it for a couple of decades in fairly large quantities and mostly as a party drug. Trump is basically an amphetamine addict. I would almost count on it. My observations may very well be rooted in quite a bit of experience. 

Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 7 2026 20:13 utc | 674

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 7 2026 20:17 utc | 677
 
They’re not alone. I’m not necessarily worried about use of the drug but it is easily abused. 

Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 7 2026 20:26 utc | 676

303 rifle. A book I read once – the memories of a buffalo shooter in the Northern territory. Shooting the Asian water buffalo that proliferated there. Can’t remember if he was just shooting for skins or the meat as well though I think it was just the skins.
 
He had an aboriginal crew for processing the animals – I think it must have been just the skins as he operated from and isolated bush camp.
 
All horseback stuff. When he got onto a mob, he would ride up behind and put a shot into the spine to drop the animal. A lot of hard riding. The Aboriginal crew would come up behind finishing off and processing the animals. It often involved some hard riding through the scrub to get up on a mob.
One day he found the rifle was kicking like a mule and he couldn’t hit anything. He checked barrel and found he had bent it in some of the hard riding through the scrub, so put the barrel between two trees and bent it back straight. After reading that, I often wondered if the 303 I had as a teen had a bent barrel but judging by the experience of others here as kid with a 303 probably not.
 
I looked up standard powder load and bullet weight and its not much. Around 40 grains of powder and a 180 grain bullet. The original ran 70 grains of black powder, same as a 45/70. 
The 45/70 I was loading with 300 grain bullets but trying to remember the propellent load. 60 grains is a number that comes to mind but I really cant remember for sure. Might have to look up the recommended loadings again. The lever action – a martini I think, my son still has it. It was an old rifle but built for the modern high pressure loads. A light rifle and good to use in the scrub but I never felt the recoil though I was in my late thirties when I bought that rifle.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 7 2026 20:53 utc | 678

Trump using mafia tactics is beginning to sound less and less like a metaphor. 

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 7 2026 21:35 utc | 680

‘The planet cant support 1.4b Chinese who enjoy the same standard of living like Americans’[better for them to remain peasants !]
Posted by: denk | Feb 7 2026 19:54 utc | 673

Maybe the quiet part was “Americans gonna have to get poorer”.
What has happened in the interim….?

Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 7 2026 21:51 utc | 682

San Siro stadium in Milan broke out in scattered boos as Vice President JD Vance appeared on huge screens there during the opening ceremony for the Winter Games, an indication of the fury in Italy over the Trump administration’s policies.
Near the end of the ceremony’s lengthy Parade of Nations, the U.S. delegation of athletes, decked out in white Ralph Lauren coats, entered the stadium to cheers and whistles. But the crowd’s mood seemed to shift when the screen switched from the athletes to the stands, where Mr. Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, were waving small American flags.
Their appearance on the screens lasted for only a few seconds but was met with a smattering of jeers and boos that were audible despite the loud music playing for the parade.
President Trump expressed surprise about the reaction to reporters on Air Force One. “Is that true? That’s surprising because people like him,” he said. “I mean, he is in a foreign country in all fairness. He doesn’t get booed in this country.”

 
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/world/europe/jd-vance-olympics-opening-ceremony.html 
 
For old times sake, back in the day:
Nicolae Ceaușescu
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcRWiz1PhKU 

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 7 2026 22:00 utc | 684

Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 7 2026 12:07 utc | 632
 
Thanks for the information. I had tried Ag-based at one stage, but I found I was having trouble with getting the temperature and hang time tuned in correctly. Retired hurt at that stage, but I’ll give it another crack sometime.
 
Cheers.

Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Feb 7 2026 22:13 utc | 686

Would that work as an alternative to soldering or spot-welding terminals / connectors on lithium-ion batteries?
Posted by: Cynic | Feb 7 2026 17:00 utc | 655
 
**********************
 
Personal opinion only: Well, it would ‘work’, but I’m not sure how well. Battery systems usually have high power, high current  requirements – so low resistivity connection is indicated. The volume resistivity of copper is around 10^-8 Ohm.m; solders have resistivities a hundred times higher, around the order of 10^-6 Ohm.m; silver loaded epoxy around a hundred times higher again, around 10^-4 Ohm.m; and nickel-filled epoxy as high as 1 Ohm.m. Solder forms an inter-metallic alloy at both surfaces of the connection, meaning that contact resistance can be quite low. Conductive epoxies have no such mechanism, meaning that contact resistance can be quite (very??) high. Remember that all these resistance sum in series!… One unusual feature is that, depending on the epoxy and the shape, size, and density of the filler, some silver filled epoxy contact resistance can reduce over time by movement under thermal cycling where surface contact can be reduced – but the result is still poor. 
 
Automated wave solder machines can perform thousands of connections a second. I worked with a fountain solder machine developing a new process where we attained almost a hundred connections a second (This was a ‘most unusual’ application, and operated far outside the design specs of the machine). For the same application, an automated dispensing machine for conductive epoxy ran at around 1 – 2 connections per second. Because of the nature of the epoxy material (it obviously needs to be sticky, it needs to wet the surface… and so on) it can be messy and ‘stringy’ (think trying to dispense a nice dot of honey rather than a speck of mercury, for example). Resistances (volume and contact) can also be reduced by connection design, but with high current loads the options are limited.
 
We also did some work with wire bonding, which was ‘promising’ but expensive (at the time). 
 
I have no idea what the present technology is wrt automated battery pack assembly. I  would be surprised if conductive epoxies are in use (or even experimented with, given the above). I would be rather less surprised if aluminium wire bonding, rather than solder or spot welding, is being used.
 
 

Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 7 2026 22:41 utc | 688

You seem to be a bit naive. I’m 68. I’ve experienced a lot in my life, good and bad. 
 
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 7 2026 20:13 utc | 676
 
******************
 
Bah! You young fellas think you’ve seen it all… 🙂
 
But I am impressed that you got that beatification thingy out of the way before you croak… Hey – I hope you hang around and see (and share) a lot more before that saint thingy is finally ratified!

Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 7 2026 22:55 utc | 690

I found this in Quora. I just added some edits:
 
A January 2026 study by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, titled America’s Own Goal: Who Pays the Tariffs?, found that American importers and consumers bore almost the entire cost of the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration in 2025. Using more than 25 million shipment records worth nearly $4 trillion from January 2024 to November 2025, the researchers concluded that foreign exporters absorbed only about 4% of the tariffs through small price cuts, while roughly 96% was passed on to U.S. buyers in the form of higher import prices. In practice, the tariffs functioned as a consumption tax on Americans. U.S. customs revenue rose by about $200 billion in 2025, paid almost entirely by American importers rather than by foreign countries, contradicting claims that other nations were footing the bill.
 
At the same time, analyses from The Economist in late 2025 argued that the tariff strategy alienated U.S. allies and squandered opportunities for coordinated pressure on China, such as deeper economic integration with partners to create a united commercial front. Instead, China has shown resilience, resisted escalation, and exposed U.S. dependencies, arguably benefiting from a more fragmented global trade environment.
 
Finally, Reuters reported on January 29, 2026, that the U.S. trade deficit widened sharply in November 2025, jumping 94.6% to $56.8 billion, the largest monthly percentage increase since March 1992. The increase was driven by rising imports, including capital goods such as semiconductors linked to AI investment, alongside falling exports. This development raised concerns that the tariffs could end up lowering estimates for fourth-quarter 2025 GDP despite their stated goals.

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 7 2026 23:13 utc | 692

In my life, different things called for different guns. I have never shot another man but have been to one meeting where I kept the stock on my shoulder, My thumb on the half closed bolt ready to snap it down and my finger on the trigger guard. They decided my argument was valid because I was not not effing about.
That what you wrote. Its sort of different classes. An assault rifle vs a bolt action. Bolt action in the past has been much more accurate and better at range. Self loading and auto short barreled Assault rifles better for the close range stuff. Though the self loaders are getting pretty accurate these days.
 
This bloke is a good shot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHmWIOm8h_U
 
Many of his videos he does thermal shooting.
 

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 7 2026 23:19 utc | 694

but I have a (very slight) sneaking suspicion that maybe not every single one of of Tom’s memories is accurately reported and independently verifiable…
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 7 2026 23:09 utc | 693
 
I find that often with urbane people.  Ive been there. Out bush, the blokes were rough even when I traveled and worked there in my youth.
 
There was and likely still is some exceptionally hard men up there General. No dispareging of either as I am quite interested in science and technology. But the bush life is or was quite different to a professional life. The soft people away from that bush life cannot comprehend it.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 7 2026 23:31 utc | 696

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 7 2026 23:19 utc | 696
 
Indeed. Impressive shooting. The best shots I’ve ever seen are my dad (rest his soul) and a couple of guys in the central Queensland ranching country in 1984. I went kangaroo hunting one night on a huge ranch with four people in a truck with spotlights and open sight rifles (probably .222 to .243 caliber). They made some great neck and head shots at quite a distance. Texas also has a wild pig problem. They will dig up ranch land in a hurry. 

Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 7 2026 23:39 utc | 698

The World Economic Forum has launched an independent investigation into its CEO Borge Brende. The aim is to clarify his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after it became known that Brende had been in contact with him.
 
 

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 7 2026 23:39 utc | 700