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I've spent 16 months collating, reorganizing and beginning to scan the original military records of the AVG FTA Flying Tigers. The effort has been almost exclusively absorbed by hardcopy. The originals are delicate and most are already damaged.
Looking at the massive effort of dealing with the terabytes of digital information, I was facing months of work with the product of digitization.
@bot has come to the rescue. Faster than I can input the data, the complicated and error prone task of managing it afterwards is now done for me, better than I can do it myself.
I highly recommend engaging this incredibly efficient and diversely talented SI in every endeavor.
Mark retweeted
Project “Nice Girl” anniversary concluded today, November 3, 1967
Why was the SR-71 Blackbird chosen over the A-12 Oxcart?
From Oct. 20 to Nov. 3, 1967, the A-12 and the SR-71 were pitted against each other in a recon fly-off, code-named “Nice Girl” over the US, that included refueling, flying identical routes 1 hour apart on three different days, and both would complete the whole sortie with collection sensors operational.
 This is part of an article I wrote a few years ago and shared in  the Aviation Geek Club.
 One thing should be clear about the A-12 and the CIA, they like to allude to the idea that their Blackbird was faster than the Air Force's Blackbird, the SR-71
It was not faster. Both airplanes had the same limitation: the engine temperature could not exceed 427 °C.
 One fact is true: the A-12 was lighter than the SR-71, as it had only one cockpit and less fuel space. So it’s possible that it could fly a little bit higher, but that doesn’t do you any good to fly a little bit higher when the air is that thin; the result is the same: flying is very unsteady.  It could not be maintained for very long.
What couldn’t be revealed was classified in 1967.
The SR-71 had new ECM  electronic countermeasures. The A-12 did not have the same  capability. However, some of its cameras were considered better than the ones on the SR-71. The men who flew the test missions are listed below.
The conclusion was that they picked the SR-71 to continue flying.
The A-12s were retired. The A-12s were put in hangars and kept hidden until 1984; the program was declassified, and they were taken out and placed in museums.
Lt. Col. Al Hichew and I, Maj. Tom Schmittou flew mission #1.
Maj. John Storrie and Maj. Coz Mallozzi flew mission #2
Maj. Bill Campbell and Capt. Al Pennington flew mission #3.
I knew all of those men with the exception of Al Pennington.
Jack Weeks, a CIA pilot, flew all three A-12 missions.
I have read the documents; there was a bitter fight between the CIA and the Air Force for control of this program.
 The CIA could not prove how fast their bird could fly, but the Air Force could. Do you really think that the Air Force would publicly announce just how fast their airplane can go so that anyone in the world would have this information?
Written by Linda SHEFFIELD
Mark retweeted
UPDATE ON VIRAL BALLOT BOX STORY: A Point Loma resident reports witnessing ballots being removed from a ballot drop-off box and placed into a vehicle with Washington State license plates.
The optics are terrible for public trust in our elections. Voters deserve an explanation.
🚨 VERY IMPORTANT: DISTURBING REPORT FROM SAN DIEGO BALLOT DROP-OFF LOCATION
An eyewitness reports that the ballot drop box at the library on Voltaire Street was so full that voters were being turned away.
According to the witness, ballots were on the ground as election workers slowly emptied the overflowing box, filling TWO bags.
The witness says one worker then loaded the bags into an unmarked minivan.
When she began recording, an election worker allegedly told her to DELETE THE VIDEO.
She refused.
Mark retweeted
Is it my imagination, or do voting place technical difficulties only seem to ever take place in red districts in blue states?
Mark retweeted
Test Bird
This red logo on this SR-71 means something; here’s what it means :
The SR-71 Blackbird on display at Dulles (Serial Number 61-7972) was transferred to the Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) because it became the primary flight test aircraft for the Blackbird program’s final years.
The Transition to a Test Plane
Most active Blackbirds belonged to the Strategic Air Command (SAC), where they flew operational reconnaissance missions. However, the fleet required dedicated test aircraft permanently based at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, to evaluate equipment upgrades, structural modifications, and new software.
• Replacing #955: Originally, another Blackbird (SN 61-7955) served as the primary Palmdale test bed. In January 1985, after it became heavily modified and neared a required $5 million upgrade, the Air Force retired #955 from test status.
• 972 Steps In: Aircraft 61-7972 was selected to replace it, transitioning under the administrative custody of the AFLC. Because AFLC managed the logistics, depot maintenance, and contracting with Lockheed’s Skunk Works, the test bird bore the command’s logo.
This is why the SR-71 was not a regular Air Force Blackbird:
Bureaucratic Loophole
The Air Force did not want a speed run coast to coast; the SR-71 was an airplane that they were trying to get rid of it. They didn’t want any publicity, but a loophole existed.
Being an AFLC asset rather than a SAC asset led to unique moments in history. Notably, when Hollywood film crews requested an SR-71 for movie production, the operational “fighter mafia” at SAC repeatedly refused. However,
because the test fleet fell under AFLC jurisdiction, the logistics command bypassed standard operational channels and successfully approved the aircraft for promotional and cinematic appearances.
The plane retained these test-flight command markings right up until its final, record-breaking retirement flight in March 1990
So next time you're out at the Uday Hazy Center in Dulles, VA, looking at the 972, you can tell the volunteer who works there (unless it’s Buz Carpenter, because I’m sure he knows) that you know about the red logo on this airplane.
Linda Sheffield
Mark retweeted
Ben Garrison Cartoon from the archives- still timely
President Trump's shopping cart-🤠👍😝
Greenland just said yes.
The US military is reportedly expanding on the island.
The media laughed when Trump wanted Greenland.
Nobody's laughing now.
Was Trump right about Greenland all along?
This one needs to be shared.
grrrgraphics.com/president-t…
Copy this post's link and send it to someone who needs to see it.
Always @grrrgraphics for more hard-hitting cartoons. 👍🤠
Mark retweeted
Don't get over confident! Long way to go. The day is early! She is working on Texas now 🙏🙏🙏 Stay in line! Go vote!
Florida looking great in early voting - R+56,167 and climbing, almost Presidential margins. My Florida map updates every 10 minutes today. It'll be a shift map of *Election Day votes* only compared to the same time in Election Day 2024 - it's meant for advanced analysts.
We can likely tuck Florida in as safe GOP.
datarepublican.com/florida/
Mark retweeted
Beaver County, Pennsylvania… a voter reaches out to Scott this morning and says the machine that scans ballots is not working, so they are telling people to put their ballots in a box and they will scan them all after the polls close. After the polls close. Think about that for a second, because you are being asked to drop your vote in a box and walk away and trust that the same people who could not keep a scanner running on the morning of Election Day are going to carefully feed every one of those ballots through a machine tonight, after the cameras go home and the watchers get tired.
Now keep in mind, the county had not confirmed a widespread outage when this blew up, and the backup box is the legal fallback under Pennsylvania's own rules. Fine. I am not telling you the box is illegal. I am telling you the box is where trust goes to die, and every one of you who has watched the last six years knows exactly why. Ballots sitting somewhere for hours, waiting on a machine, waiting on a process, waiting on somebody you have never met to decide what gets scanned and when… that is the gap where chain of custody gets fuzzy and the glitch becomes the story nobody ever bothers to finish.
And it is not one county. Westchester this morning, Maricopa this morning, scanner trouble reported in Luzerne and Centre and Franklin in Pennsylvania, machines down at a school in Lucas County, Ohio, a voter in Hamilton County, Indiana saying five of six machines went down fourteen minutes after the polls opened, a barcode glitch in Broward… and the answer we keep getting is a jam, a paper problem, a programming problem, resolved quickly, please stay in line. How many coincidences do we get before somebody in charge admits the equipment is not the solution, it is the problem?
So here is what you do. If you are in Beaver County, or anywhere this happens to you today, do not leave. Vote your paper ballot, watch where it goes, write down the precinct and the time and who told you what, and get it to the poll watchers. Poll watchers, stay all night if you have to, stay until the last ballot in that box goes through that scanner with your eyes on it.
Beaver County Board of Elections, tell the voters of your county exactly how many ballots went into those boxes, where those boxes sit tonight, and who is watching them until every single one is scanned.
teapawt.net/ScottPresler/status/21…
Mark retweeted
Oh look - a swing district in a blue state is reporting every ballot scanner is down on a day when Republicans outnumber Dems 2 to 1.
It’s the Maricopa Method of stealing.
Katie Hobbs created it and now other Democrats are using it.
There is a problem with every ballot scanner in Westchester County. We do not yet know the exact cause of the issue, whether it is the ballot or the machine. The Board of Elections is working with their vendors to resolve it.
However, every ballot will be counted. Stay on line and vote. Do not leave the polling place without voting.
Mark retweeted
Springfield New Jersey residents are being lied to in order to force them into provisional voting.
Springfield is in NJ’s 7th state congressional district. The 7th is represented by REPUBLICAN congressman Thomas Kean Jr. He replaced a Democrat.
This district leans Democrat but can go either way.
We have a report from Springfield NJ (Union County) that in-person voters are being told they must vote provisionally because their name is on the Vote By Mail list. But they never registered for VBM and their name is actually not on the list - because we have a copy. Please reply with any similar issues here.
Mark retweeted
HUH?
DM me if you’re a Maricopa County Elections Judge.
Time to start investigating this.
9144919395
Due to power related issues, the Vote Centers located at Paradise Community College and Sunset Canyon School are temporarily closed. Please visit Locations.Maricopa.Vote to find a nearby voting location.
Mark retweeted
Ben Garrison Cartoon from the archives- still timely
Mike Lee is right.
It's Election Day, and we still don't require proof of citizenship to vote.
You need ID to board a plane.
You need ID to buy cold medicine.
Should proof of citizenship be required to vote?
I blame Thune for not passing the SAVE America act-
Does Thune deserve the blame?
This one needs to be shared.
grrrgraphics.com/pass-the-sa…
Copy this post's link and send it to someone who needs to see it.
Always @grrrgraphics for more hard-hitting cartoons. 👍🤠
Mark retweeted
This project, MD-21 was more secret than the Manhattan Project. ( testing nuclear bombs.) Look at the photograph of this aircraft.
M stands for mother; D stands for daughter.
21 was just 12 reversed.
The plan was to launch a drone into China to take pictures. Release the film in a safe area and bring the photographs back to America. The reason why we needed the information was the nuclear bomb arm race that was going on all over the world after World War II. As you know, America was the first to have a nuclear bomb, and then Russia. China was anxious to become a world power. They told the world that they did not have a nuclear bomb and that they were not developing one, but of course they were.
It was a scary time in America.
Does the MD-21 look like something that was built in 1962?
Kelly Johnson and his Skunk Works were the geniuses who developed and produced the A-12 the YF-12, the MD-21, and the SR-71.
Dave Bloomberg photo; he worked at Area 51 with the A-12s.
In most pictures of Area 51, the landscape is erased. This is a rare photo because you can see the mountain range in Nevada.
Only two M -21s were made. The surviving aircraft is at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.
Linda Sheffield
Mark retweeted
Received this message from a voter:
“Good morning! Many people have suggested I try to contact you to report a jammed ballot scanning machine at my polling site this morning. It is 51 Ferguson East in Centre County…the Lions’s Club building in Pine Grove Mills.
Machine was jammed so ballots were being inserted in bottom slot for workers to scan later when the machine is fixed🤷🏼♀️”
📍Centre County, PA
Mark retweeted
Dr. Bowden got a court order to help a dying father of six, and three and a half years later she's the one on trial.
To find out more about what medicine never tells us about, give me (@MidwesternDoc) a follow and visit me on Substack!
midwesterndoctor.com/
Mark retweeted
The hospital's complaint became the medical board case against HER, which still drags on to this day: "it's three and a half years. They can't find an expert witness to testify against me."
Mark retweeted
Bomb shelters opening in Israel.
One hospital in Jerusalem moving wards underground.
Warnings of chemical weapons use.
All of these reports happened in the last hour. You should probably brace yourself.
Mark retweeted
An Australian contact received this letter encouraging him to vote in the US midterms. He is not an American citizen and therefore is not eligible to vote.
The letter was postmarked Belgium and sent by the Center for U.S. Voters Abroad, a left-wing dark-money operation linked to the Soros-funded Arabella network. Michael Penuelas who signed the letter is a former Democrat staffer and left-wing climate activist.
@AsraNomani
@ItsYourGov @HarmeetKDhillon @FEC
Mark retweeted
Most people know him for a productivity rule. Almost nobody knows he predicted the exact collapse of the modern managerial elite.
Long before modern commentators tried to explain why bureaucratic institutions despise the working public, an Italian nobleman named Vilfredo Pareto already mapped the entire crisis. Today, business consultants reduce his legacy to the "Pareto Principle" (the 80/20 rule). In doing so, they conceal his far more dangerous work: a ruthless, mathematically precise philosophy that exposed the grand illusion of mass democracy.
Pareto was an aristocrat, mathematician, and civil engineer who ran Italy's railways before abandoning public life in disgust. Retreating to a villa on Lake Geneva alongside twenty Angora cats, he spent his final decades studying how power actually functions. While Karl Marx peddled the fantasy of a classless utopia and liberal academics preached that voters run the state, Pareto arrived at a colder truth. Society is never ruled by the masses. It is always ruled by an organized elite, and history is merely the battlefield where one elite replaces another.
His most lethal insight was the division of power between two archetypes: the Foxes and the Lions.
Foxes are the managerial class. They are subtle, cautious, manipulative, and obsessed with consensus. They rule through bureaucratic procedures, financial schemes, media spin, and institutional maneuver. They loathe physical courage, despise traditional religion, and avoid direct confrontation at all costs. Instead, they bleed a civilization dry through taxes, regulations, and endless legal pettifoggery, convinced that clever rhetoric can overcome basic reality.
Lions, by contrast, are grounded in loyalty, family, faith, and sovereign borders. They do not care for administrative games. They value strength, decisive action, and the preservation of their heritage. When a nation is young and rising, it is led by Lions who defend its sovereignty with unapologetic force.
Pareto warned that over time, the Foxes always infiltrate the administrative apparatus. They purge the Lions from universities, courts, and civil service, creating an insulated bubble of self-congratulatory managers. Yet because Foxes are fundamentally cowardly, they cannot defend their own borders or sustain the economic foundation they harvest. They mistake compliance for loyalty, and they mistake their echo chamber for reality.
Their rule always ends the same way. As Pareto observed:
"History is a graveyard of aristocracies."
When a managerial regime becomes entirely composed of decadent Foxes, it rots from within. The moment crisis arrives, their paperwork and procedural tricks collapse, opening the gates for a new generation of Lions to sweep them away. What we are witnessing across the West today is not an ideological accident; it is the inevitable historical reckoning Pareto guaranteed more than a century ago.
