I just finished up the Independence Day episode. That was really something. So, since I’m going back to work soon, I want to at least get this one started since it comes out the day after the last one. It is just a regular issue, which means that we’re just here to have fun!
So, let’s have some fun!
Okay, this one is from Stephanie. Make sure you turn the volume on and pay attention. It is outstanding. Click here: HERE
Since we’re doing stuff from Stephanie, here’s another pretty good one. Click here.
This is an incredibly interesting article sent in by Stephanie. I’m putting it together by bits and pieces. WELL worth the read.
I’m a Christian pastor who was born in Egypt. Here are 3 facts I learned about Iran’s nuclear obsession
Attacks by Israel and the United States against Iran’s nuclear facilities have dealt a serious setback to the clerics’ nuclear ambitions—but don’t be misled
I grew up in a Christian community in Egypt. Like many other families, we suffered firsthand under the oppressive rule of the Islamo-socialist regime of Gamal Abdel Nasser, chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council of Egypt. Later, Nasser’s military dictatorship controlled every aspect of our lives.
As a young man, I escaped the repression of Nasser’s Egypt and made my way to freedom in America. Having lived under Islamo-socialism in Egypt, I have a deep compassion for the suffering people of Iran. They only want to live in peace.
But the leaders of Iran are committed to a death-cult ideology—and to a nuclear showdown with Western civilization. Here are three key facts that show why Iran’s radical clerics will never abandon their nuclear obsession:
Fact No. 1: A nuclear-armed Iran cannot be deterred by Cold War nuclear doctrines.
During the Cold War, the logic of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) kept nuclear superpowers in check. Every president, premier, and prime minister knew that launching a nuclear attack would invite annihilation.
I’ve heard people say, “We’re already living with a nuclear-armed North Korea and a nuclear-armed Pakistan. Would a nuclear-armed Iran be any worse?”
In fact, a nuclear-armed Iran would be infinitely worse. The reason is that Shiite Islam—the ruling ideology in Iran—makes Cold War doctrines of deterrence obsolete. Here’s why:
Fact No. 2: Iran’s leaders have a religious incentive to launch Armageddon.
I’ve spent countless hours talking to Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the Middle East. I also studied cultural anthropology at Emory University, with a focus on radical Islamic movements. My research was published in a textbook, “Revolt against Modernity.” I believe it’s vitally important that we in the West understand Islamic history and Islamic beliefs.
Islam is divided into several sects, most notably Sunnis and Shiites. In 1501, the Safavid rulers of the Persian Empire declared Twelver Shiite Islam the official state religion, distinguishing Persia from its Sunni neighbors. After Persia was renamed Iran in 1935, Twelver Shiism remained the official faith.
Twelver Shiism is the largest branch of Shia Islam, and is defined by its belief in twelve divinely ordained Imams (rightful successors to Muhammad). The last Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, supposedly went into occultation (a miraculously hidden state) in the 9th century. Twelvers claim the Mahdi will one day reappear to establish global justice.
Many of Iran’s clerics fervently believe that, before the Mahdi can be revealed, an apocalyptic battle must be fought between faithful Muslims and the forces of evil. As a result, some Iranian leaders—and possibly the Ayatollah himself—are motivated to trigger a nuclear war to fulfill the ancient prophecies and force the appearance of the hidden Mahdi.
Iran officially denies having a nuclear weapons program. In October 2003, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, issued a fatwa stating that nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islam. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, claims Iran has enough highly enriched uranium to build nine nuclear warheads. Shiite Islam invented a religious/judicial doctrine called Taqiyya, which necessitates deceiving your enemies until you have the upper hand.
The recent attacks by Israel and the United States against Iran’s nuclear facilities have dealt a serious setback to the clerics’ nuclear ambitions—but don’t be misled. Iran’s Twelver Shiite clerics will never abandon their fanatical dream of launching a final war and revealing the long-hidden Mahdi.
Fact No. 3: A nuclear-armed Iran threatens not only Israel, but all of Western civilization.
Iran has shown that its missiles are capable of penetrating Israel’s Iron Dome defense systems. Imagine if those missiles carried nuclear warheads! Even more troubling, Iran is aggressively developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) through its space launch vehicle (SLV) program.
The director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, told Congress that Iran could use its SLV program to work “toward an ICBM capability.” Whenever Iran tests a satellite launch vehicle, it’s flexing its ability to threaten Europe and North America.
The Iranian clerics have made their goal clear: “Death to Israel! Death to America!” But we in the West do not seek the death of Iran. We only want the Iranian people to be free from theocratic oppression.
The people of Iran have repeatedly risen up against the Islamist regime—the 1999 Student Protests, the 2019 “Bloody November” protests, the 2022 women’s rights protests, and many others. Each time the people rose up, the government brutally extinguished their cries for freedom.
I trust and hope that another uprising comes soon, and that the people of Iran achieve their liberation. And I also hope that the leaders of the United States, Europe, and Israel do everything in their power to speed the arrival of that day.
I found that very interesting and very informative and things make a lot more sense now. It seems I knew all this information from other sources, but I never put it all together like that before.
I don’t think I’ve shown this one to you guys yet. Took this one at about 2 in the afternoon I believe. Here was the day. Sunny to start the day, then pour down rain, then sunny, then big time thunderstorm to close down the flightline, then this picture…the thunderstorm is fading away behind me. I guess you can’t really tell from this picture, but the sky was the bluest blue and the clouds were the whitest white. God was really showing off that day.
Not the first time I’ve seen this, but I’m just using this as a reminder for me to get mine installed. It’s my 4th of July weekend project.
Yup … been there.
I got a short, interesting email from a long time reader, but (I think) a first time commenter. It’s kind of nice when you start a poll, people reply AND comment on other things that they care about. I LOVE hearing about what you guys care about even when it’s something that you might think goes against my grain. For instance, several of you have said something similar to, “I love reading you stuff, even when I don’t agree with you.”
Well, I really don’t expect you to agree with me all the time. That would be kind of insane, wouldn’t it? Like I told one reader, I would expect that you would laugh at the stuff that you thought was funny, ignore the stuff that you didn’t, and hope that there was more of the first than the second. If it gets to the point where the ratio is backwards, well then I guess there are other places to get your laugh on. Once a year I ask for donations and if it ever gets to the point where the bills aren’t paid, then I’ll have my answer.
ANYWAY, so I’ve gotten off track … man, I must be getting old…our reader, we’ll call him Jim, asked or stated, really, that he has been a faithful reader for many years and he would like to see a better grade of humor or at least a few jokes in each issue that a guy could tell his friends and not get a weird look back. Now, he made me think for a minute and I think I know what he’s talking about. You’re sitting around at the the diner with your buddies drinking coffee in the morning and you want to make them laugh, but everyone’s already heard all of your jokes, right? So how about a joke or two each issue – fit for morning coffee and the guys – that your buddies haven’t already heard a dozen times.
So, we need some ground rules, right?
- It’s gotta be easy enough to remember to bring to the diner.
- It’s gotta be clean enough (but not too clean) because Mrs. Olsen could be sitting at the next table and …well…you know how SHE is.
- It’s gotta be funny!
- It’s gotta be something that the guys haven’t heard before.
Can anybody think of anything else? If not, then that’s our new tasking and our new category and we’re going to call it:
or
or
I think I like Jokes over coffee best, but we’ll see…so, to start us out, let me see what I have in the files…it’s pretty slim pickin’s right now… Okay, so I got two of them from Joe from NJ, so here’s the first one:
Beverly, 90 years young, had played golf every single day since her retirement 25 years ago. But one evening, she returned home looking unusually downcast.
Gus paused for a moment, then scratched his head. “…I don’t remember.”
Okay and here’s the second one:
Beatrice’s nephew was 4 when she was pregnant with her first kid. She allowed him to place his hand on her belly and feel the baby kick.
His little face scrunched and said, “How does the baby get out of there?”
She wanted to keep it simple so she said, “The doctor will help.”
His eyes widened in amazement as he exclaimed, “You’ve got a doctor in there, too?”
Okay, so looking for some feedback here folks. On the idea, on the logos, which one do you like best, and most of all, send me some jokes!
7 Baffling Design Choices Found in the Wild (June 29, 2025)
Yeah, some of them are WAY wild!
Used to LOVE that game!!!!!
Me, too. And apparently so are everyone else on this page. LOL! LOL!
While in a pub in England, a condom machine in the men’s room had this on the ad: “Manufactured to strict British standards.”
Underneath, someone had scratched, “So was the Titanic.”
And that brings us to the end of this episode, but not before we give an update to…
So, we’ve gotten some more inputs on our generations poll, but it’s becoming OVERWHELMING that we’re all boomers around here. LOL! Here’s the current results.
This, of course, is the bottom of my spreadsheet that shows a whooping 76.9% boomer rate. Granted, we still only have 26 people out of potential thousands who could have replied, but really, I guess that’s about a good enough sample. I’ll continue to take updates and remind you of the poll and see where it leads us, but for the time being, that’s pretty cool.
In the meantime, may God Bless you with love and happiness until we meet again.
