Note to self – Make sure ALL connections on the outdoor gas range are tight and leak proof before turning on the gas and applying flame.

Ancillary note – Eyebrows grow back in a week or two.

In other news, the multiple spider nests that were blocking things up have been evicted, so I do not need to have mujltiple pans of boiling water in the house when we can food this summer.

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I was doing a deep dive on United States policy toward Iran yesterday (don’t judge). I concentrated on how our government has worked toward keeping Iran from creating nuclear weapons.

A thought occurred to me on hour four of this quest for understanding of international policy and strategy – How do you say danegeld in Farsi?

Anyway, I’ve come to the conclusion that Iran and the rest of that side of the world would be better served by pausing their own development efforts and just buying a couple dozen warheads from North Korea. Once you have that and have demonstrated that at least one of them works with an above-ground test live streamed to both your own populace and the world at large, you will then be left alone to create your own home-grown weapons in peace.

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Speaking of Iran, the news media is reporting that the Iranian regime is getting their bloodbath machine cranked up. So far, a bunch of people have been arrested and a handful have been executed. The odd part is that reporters and commentators have the audacity to be shocked at this.

Iran was just humiliated on the world stage. Israel effectively neutered their air force and air defense in less than 72 hours, then started bombing whatever struck their fancies. Tehran found out what in the heck happened to their nuclear facilities when President Trump broke OPSEC and held a press conference about it.

During all this, we saw Iranians dancing in the streets and chanting about getting rid of the current regime. To those poor, beknighted souls, all I can say is ‘good luck’. We were never going to invade Iran, the Iranian military is never going to go head to head with the IRGC, the IRGC is never going to attack the regime, and the Iranian people are never going to coalesce into a cohesive mass that can overwhelm their government.

So, to all those who held a political rave, complete with webcams but bereft of face coverings, I can only suggest getting you, your family, and your family’s family the heck out of Dodge. They haven’t come for you yet, but they will come for you. Tehran has an urgent requirement for scapegoats, show trials, and slave labor that they feel you just might be a perfect match for.

And for those who keep encouraging unarmed civilians to rise up and throw off their dictators without any support or supply, shame on you. 1989 and 1991 worked because the Communist military and security forces were at least neutral, if not complicit, in the downfall of their respective regimes. Y’all have probably gotten a few hundred thousand people killed, and more imprisoned and tortured, trying to catch that particular bolt of lightning in a bottle ever since.

Unless and until the IRGC and their ilk around the world are neutralized or corrupted, folks taking to the streets demanding regime change are just marking themselves for easier roundup.