After viewing a recent U.S. Navy training video Chinese, North Korean and Iranian military leaders must be concluding: “WOW! This is going to be a lot easier than we thought.”

A wildly woke training video featuring two rainbow-clad U.S. Navy sailors explaining how to create a “safe space” by using “proper gender pronouns,” and “inclusive language” must have America’s foreign military adversaries roaring with laughter and gleefully rubbing their hands together.

The feedback in the U.S. from expected sources has been merciless, as it should be.

Retired Navy SEAL combat veteran and Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw tweeted: “Here’s an idea, fire everyone in the Navy who puts pronouns in their email signature and focus on how to be better at war. For God’s sake, stop this stupidity.”

In a video posted on Facebook and Instagram on Tuesday, June 21, Crenshaw added: “And look, side note: we already have inclusive language in the military. It’s called ranks. You can just call somebody a chief, or a petty officer or a captain or a lieutenant. Boom. Inclusive. Problem solved.”

Rob O’Neill, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama Bin Laden, echoed Crenshaw’s comments, calling the guidance “ridiculously useless. Let me make it simple for the entire @USNavy: Your pronouns are shipmate/shipmates. There. I just saved the taxpayers millions by avoiding ridiculously useless training. Anchors aweigh,” he tweeted.

In the absurd Navy video, Naval Undersea Warfare Center engineer Jony Rozon introduces himself by telling the viewer that he uses “he/him” pronouns. His co-host, engineer Conchy Vasquez, then says she uses “she/her” pronouns.

The video goes on to promote the use of “inclusive language” and being “allies,” as well as instruction on what to do if someone is “misgendered.”

When I was in the military the video would have been an instructive narrative on how to get a Section 8 and its producer treated for a mental illness, then dishonorably discharged.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and head of the Joints Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley should be court-marshalled for dereliction of duty and dishonor to our country. They’re  practically inviting a test of America’s resolve as they’ve apparently forgotten that the military exists to defend the country not to carry out zany social experiments that render its troops ridiculous in the eyes of our adversaries.

How can a military adversary take seriously an opponent that treats the recognition of gender differences as a grave offense. Instead of pulling triggers all they have to do is shout the wrong pronouns across the battlefield to send American troops scurrying away in terror.

These loons are turning the U.S. military into a Monty Python movie, except more unbelievable.

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Nothing But One’s Here: The overturn of Roe v. Wade has led to temper tantrums in the streets and on social media with scores of frantic activist women who didn’t get their way calling for abstinence in the form of a nationwide sex strike to protest the Supreme Court’s decision.

These feverish sex boycotters are all over social media throwing demonic rants against the Supreme Court, against men, against Christians, against everybody like they’re possessed.

They’ve gone bonkers. The photos, and videos I’ve seen of these gals indicate that most of those calling for a “sex strike” are the ones the late Mickey Gilley was singing about in his iconic tune “Don’t All the Girls Get Prettier at Closing Time.”

However, after observing these gals there’s not enough whiskey in Texas to drink any of them anything close to pretty. Think Maxine Waters, Joy Behar, Wanda Sykes, Elizabeth Warren, Lori Lightfoot, or  Lena Dunham. And after listening to their shrill screeds there’s nothing any drunk guy, no matter how toasted, would possibly find desirable. Abortion should not be an issue for anyone in this protesting crowd.

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Wait! What? The Supreme Court protestors nationwide are accusing the Court of taking rights away from “women”, leading to confusion by many since none of these protestors have indicated they are biologists and therefore capable of defining what a woman is.

Like the goldfish swallowing fad of the late 1930s transgenderism is a craze issue on which conservatives are enjoying success in the battle of public opinion for obvious reasons. The biggest one is that they have biology on their side. If someone is a man, he is a man. Putting on lipstick, a dress, taking hormones, wearing a wig, and undergoing cosmetic surgeries cannot change that biological fact.

Parents also don’t want this woke gender garbage in their children’s schools. They want a safe place for their children to learn — not a place for some stranger to inject them with a cockamamie distorted pile of nonsense.

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Mining For Vapor: Mining jobs are not what they used to be.

Images of sweaty men with lighted helmets, performing back-breaking work in underground caverns for minimal pay apparently are a thing of the past.

Bitcoin mining is as confusing as the tofu mining described in the Amelia Island News Wrecker.

Today’s miners according to financial news outlets are earning billions of dollars mining vapor – Bitcoins. The work may not be as backbreaking and performed in underground shafts, but it consumes a lot more energy than previous mining operations.

The Associated Press reported that the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index estimates that in the past year, bitcoin mining used about what the state of Virginia used in 2020. The New York Times reported that bitcoin consumes seven times more electricity than all of Google. The Times also reported that usage “has increased about tenfold in just the past five years.”

Despite their energy consuming operations using large computer systems, the results are showing fewer and fewer returns for those still at it. In fact, they’re losing money, lots of it.

The cryptocurrency they are mining is all make believe, and has no inherent value, nor is it a real currency.

The WSJ says the entire crypto sector has lost about 66%, or $2 trillion since last November’s high. The Federal Trade Commission reports that 46,000 people have reported losing $1 billion in crypto scams since January 2021.

I’ve never understood the Bitcoin. There is nothing there. It’s air. Have you ever seen a Bitcoin? Me either. And what about NFT’s, non-fungible tokens, a financial security of digital data stored in a blockchain, some kind of a distributed ledger. Try and figure that out.

Etherum, one of the companies involved in cryptocurrency arena, calls its fees “gas,” which it claims is a small computational fee that covers the cost of processing a transaction. “Gas” seems to be an apt description.

Crypto is empty air. It is down from $69,000 to $19,000 and dropping….now down 74%. It’s not a real currency. It is all make believe. NFTs are even worse.

This past week billion dollar cryptocurrency bank Celsius halted withdrawals, locking out investors and stoking fears it may be insolvent, according to CNBC.com. You can’t get your money out.

Some crypto experts predict Bitcoin could fall a lot more, with one even predicting a drop to $6,000.

The closest thing to the current crypto mania I can think of was “tulip mania” in The Netherlands some 500 years ago when contract prices for some bulbs of the recently introduced and fashionable tulips reached extraordinarily high levels.

The major acceleration started in 1634 and then dramatically collapsed in February 1637.It is generally considered to have been the first recorded speculative bubble or asset bubble in history.

Like cryptocurrency the price of tulips skyrocketed because of speculation in tulip futures among people who never saw the bulbs. Many fortunes were made and lost overnight.

Tulip mania reached its peak during the winter of 1636–37, when contracts were changing hands five times. No deliveries were ever made to fulfill any of these contracts, because in February 1637, tulip bulb contract prices collapsed abruptly and the trade of tulips ground to a halt.

The difference between cryptocurrencies and tulips is that at least tulips were tangible and smelled nice. Something stinks about cryptocurrencies.

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Things I Wish I’d Said: “Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill

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Aftermath of typical Fernandina budget session

Caution! It’s Fernandina Budget Time: Keen Fernandina Beach city observer Dr. Gerald Decker alerts us to the fact that the City Commission’s agreement to fund major pay/benefits increase for City employees will have a significant impact during the upcoming budget discussions.

“The increase was required to improve retention and be more competitive in hiring—all reasonable actions in the tight labor market caused by the Great Pandemic, “ points out Dr. Decker.

But he also warns that the consequences of this strategy will significantly increase personnel expenses—estimated at $2 million for this next year alone, thereby calling on Commissioners to minimize the impact on taxpayers.

He calculated that a millage rate of 0.6 mils will generate enough revenue to cover this added personnel cost based on projected property assessments. For a property assessed at $250,000, for example, the “Personnel Tax” would be $150.

Dr. Decker says Commissioners need to take into consideration two additional facts:

1. We are currently experiencing inflation over 8%, and economists warn we are headed into a recession—gas, food, clothing, and just about everything is getting more expensive day by day.
2. For the last two fiscal years the City Commission has approved the “Adjusted Roll-Back Rate” for property tax collection—driven by the economic impact of the Great Pandemic. The “Adjusted Roll-Back” basically limits revenue from property taxes to the prior year’s revenue plus an “adjustment” for inflation—minimizing the tax burden for everyone during stressful times.

“As we continue to struggle even more economically, it would be reasonable to again adopt the “adjusted” rate—except we have to fund that $2 million staff pay raise,” he adds.

Therefore, he says that the City Commission should again adopt the “Adjusted Roll-Back” rate and add that 0.6 mils on top to pay city staff.

The formula must be “Adjusted Rollback + 0.6” so taxpayers are spared, and city staff are fairly compensated.

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A Sycophant’s Sonata: In a comment posted here last week local resident Coleman Langshaw criticized me for pointing out the disparity between Fernandina Beach’s population and its budget and the county’s much larger population and its meager spending.

To me it read like Langshaw, a fired City Marina manager and failed candidate for public office, is attempting to secure another taxpayer funded position within the city. Once again he boasted to readers here that he pays more than $10,000 annually in taxes. Maybe he assumes that entitles him to a city job or special consideration.

Long-time city critic and tax reform advocate Pat Keogh responded to my scolding by the city sycophant cleverly pointing out issues Langshaw conveniently ignored.

Here’s what Pat has to say:

“You just knew when Dave and one of his fellow travelers pointed out the gross disparity between City and County employees you would hear from the City Serial Sycophant Choir with their ‘We’re Different Fernandina’ theme song.

Those guys will use any excuse to break into that familiar home town rhythm. No one leads the Serial Sycophants better than Coleman. You have heard the Choir a lot. City charges 5 1/2 times the county’s building fees to implement state codes; why? “We’re Different Fernandina.” City charges unlawful impact fees and after the courts twice rule them unlawful the City reinstates them under another name, why? “We’re Different Fernandina.”  City and County provide identical public services and citizen satisfaction on the County side of the street is always much higher than the City, why? “We’re Different Fernandina.”

I am particularly impressed with how the Choir has so well adapted the “Don’t Cry for me Argentina” tune to the lyrics of “We’re Different Fernandina.”  Coleman Langshaw does Madonna proud.”