And so it goes, as the chicoms' tentacles wrap ever so more snugly around the island nation nearest its longtime target. They've been patient, said all the right bon mots to the western businessmen to whom they've long planned to sell the rope.

Well done, chairman mao.

"Use capitalism to build communism to destroy the West."
- official state policy of the Peoples' Republic of China

Samuel L. Jackson, the prominent actor, recently said it: "Everyone had guns when I was growing up and no one got shot. It's not about guns, and gun control is not the answer to evil people."

There was an hysterical outcry years ago when Florida streamlined its concealed carry laws to permit more citizens to carry firearms. The press and the gun-control crowd predicted that every minor car accident would turn into a bloodbath as enraged drivers shot one another in the street.

Typical leftist media lies.

The opposite occurred: crime dropped because criminals knew their next crime might be their last, as citizens were now capable of defending themselves.

In New Orleans twenty years ago there occurred a rash of carjackings. A law was passed which permitted citizens to defend themselves against these thugs by means of lawfully possessed firearms. Without a shot fired, the carjackings stopped, as criminals realized their next carjacking might be their last.

Presently in America, about forty states have loosened their gun laws to permit citizens to carry firearms provided they meet the requirements.

In those states with relaxed gun laws, crime is low and dropping because criminals do not wish to endanger their lives by preying on citizens who can defend themselves.

In jurisdictions with 'good strong gun control to keep people safe', such as Baltimore, Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles, crime rates are high and rising because criminals know that citizens cannot fight back.

Cesare Lombroso and Cesare Becaria, the founders of modern criminology said, more than two hundred years ago, based upon all their historical research, that nations which permit their citizens to own firearms enjoy low rates of crime because criminals are fearful of citizens who can defend themselves. But nations which deny their citizens the ability to keep arms suffer high rates of crime because criminals know they can prey on defenseless people with impunity.

You're spot on. Gun control increases crime by shifting the balance of power to the criminal, who knows he can prey on defenseless citizens without any fear of retaliation.

If one wants more crime, one needs only to ban guns. If one want less crime, liberalizing the gun laws is a good way to lower it.

Good point. Wondering what might knock out power islandwide.

Redundant main feeders might help, but if one substation feeds the island, then when that does down, so does the power.

Was this a direct hit? Any lasting damage?

No doubt utility poles are all grounded; do they also have lightning arresters on them?

As you ask, are zener diodes in use? If not, is it because they're not applicable, inadequate to the high voltages on the lines? Or is it due to economic reasons? Something else?

Are other lightining protection devices available?

One thing about lightning, the more one learns about it, the more questions one has.

And nothing survives a direct hit, rare though they are. Most lightning hits are in the woods or on the water.

Most lightning damage to electrical devices is caused by induced voltages rather than direct hits.

A bolt within a mile, even though it falls harmlessly to earth, can nonetheless induce a potential of several hundred thousand volts on power lines. This voltage and resulting current wants to get to ground by the path of least resistance. Sometimes that path runs thru power lines, into one's home and thru one's appliances.

Other times, though home wiring systems and substations alike are all grounded, ground potential due to a strike can rise 'above ground potential' to flow thru the ground wire back up into the home's appliances and electrical devices.

Lightning's funny stuff, a mind of its own. One can take steps to minimize its disruptive effects but there is sometimes no eliminating them.

Over on this side of the Bahama Bank, trolls are paid by StinkSoros, SoreStinkos, StinkProgMess, and other 'progressive', i.e. Marxist criminal front groups to post disruptive, inane, vapid drivel to deflect from stated facts.

They get about five pennies a post, and if they're especially fatuous, soros throws in a few peanut shells - without the peanuts - for them to crunch on.

Given what's occurring in American markets, thanks to the chicoms lying about their not-so-booming Potemkin economy and the nyslimes going right along with the gag, scolding that we should all have a chicom-style controlled crony economy, this situation with Baha Mar has dire implications.

Sir Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has a detailed analysis today which basically points to the collective stupidity of so many in authority around the globe who bought the chicom lie that Controlled Market Leninism was the way to go, far preferable to straightforward Free Enterprise.

Now comes due the piper's bill, and it seems to be a stiff one.

I do hope I'm wrong about that because I hate it when I'm right.

You make a good point. Take mine for that which it's worth, merely a fleeting instinctual impression gleaned whilst driving thru and past the complex last week. The place had the look of many a hi-rise in China, built of sand & glue, something just looks a bit 'off', something thrown up quickly in defiance of established practices and standards. Again, this is a mere fleeting instinctual impression, nothing more.

I hope that I'm wrong and look forward to being proven so. Because I hate it when I'm right.

There's an epidemic of Kamikaze Government going around, of late.

Well said, sir.

"The asylums of Calcutta are filled with westerners who tried to outhustle the East."
- Rudyard Kipling

Tal -

You're too kind. Lost what people laughingly refer to as my 'mind' years ago!

Tal and banker -

Good thing the goat was gone when my wife and I went into The Caves last Wednesday, nothing down below but a puddle toward the rear. I'd have been driven to rescue it, get it to BHS for treatment; poor creature.

The Caves is a beautiful place, first saw it as a small boy ca. 1961 when Uncle Foti showed it to me and stated that pirates had buried their treasure there and by scratching around in the sand, one might find it.

You know the rest. This kind gentleman had already thrown a few coins into the sand for me to 'discover' - what a thrill.

Well, last Wednesday we stop by and guess what? First thing exiting the car, I find a Bahamian coin, first thought was Uncle Foti's kindness and as you say, The Caves are a wonderful place.

My wife and I photographed The Caves and as well, Sullivan House out on Rock Point, where some of Thunderball was filmed, for benefit of those uninitiated into Bond lore. Also stopped as usual at The Perfume Shop, clearly seen in the film as well.

We realized that we pulled off the road just west of Sullivan House and parked and went in the water to snorkel in '03, what a pleasure.

This situation with Baha Mar is worrisome to say the least, hope and pray for the sake of the Bahamian people it is resolved.

I did notice the massive parabolic reflectors called "Forward Scatter" out at Delaport Point had at last fallen to advances in undersea cables.

A pleasure to read your posts, gentlemen, thank you for taking time to reply to mine.

Stopped in City Market out by Melia to pick up a few snacks, needed some change, didn't have loose coins. A very kind lady behind us right away volunteered hers. Kindnesses such as this you remember always.

Having visited the Bahamas and Nassau in particular, it's like going home. The islands are beautiful and people are welcoming, hospitable. What more could one want? It's a bond which remains forever.

Say what you want, but as with the late 60s thru the 80s, as with today, when PLP reigns it's never dull, is it?

Never. Always something new and interesting to discuss when PLP rules, yes?

When PLP reigns, one is never bored.

Does it seem to you that the reported doings out at Baha Mar are vague, conflicting, baffling? It's hard to sort out the players and make sense of their baffling actions, isn't it?

When something is baffling, confusing, conflicting, complex and elusive, isn't that a sign of chicanery?

Never dull with PLP, having seen the laying of the keel during the late 60s and 70s, as with today, always interesting; in the fullest sense of the ancient Chinese curse, isn't it?

Were one given over to conspiratorial thinking, might one be tempted to say the chicoms are advancing their long held plan to control Bahamian affairs by means of economic crisis?

But of course, that's conspiracy talk, isn't it? The chicoms would never do such a thing, even though official chicom government policy is to 'Use capitalism to build communism to destroy the West", would they? Why no, of course not. Everybody's pals now.

"May you live in interesting times."
- timeless Chinese curse