AUGUST 2024 —The novella continues. Pages from G-pa’s Journal: Entry 1 - ppm

   Ang and I did not reach G-pa’s farm in August of 2024. After what happened to her in Illinois, is it any wonder she lost track of time. We both had become confused, had felt lost in space and in time… from Missouri on. My guess, we reached G-pa’s in mid-October, and moved into the hidden root cellar about Halloween. It was crisp, cold, and stars emerged in the early evening sky.

    What follows are pages from G-pa’s Journal. We discovered the notebooks soon after crawling through the entrance between the fallen dead and the huge boulder. G-pa had printed a title, seemingly after the piece was written: One In A Million—Hard to se

Sal

Dear Sal and Ang,

I’m in the barn, alone. And, after eight years, it is empty. The emptiness makes me think of you and of the space once filled by The Truck. The space is, of course, not empty. More in a second.

   All commo here is down. Power is out. We’re running off the solar generator. Things have unfolded faster than anticipated. The sh*t going on… so few understood, it hasn’t so much hit the fan as it has risen in the rivers, broken the levees, overflowed the banks. And suddenly has us up to our eyeballs swimming in sewage. But back to emptiness.

 In every cubic inch there are 4.4 x 1020 molecules of air. That’s:

440,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules!

Can you see it? Me neither.  440 quintillion. That turns my brain to mush. I even have difficulty visualizing parts per million and that’s 1014 powers less. Just hard to visualize, and if you can’t visualize it how can you understand it? Chaos may purposefully be created—in that state of mind control is easier to implement.

So I’ve an idea. Do this for me… go out and buy 20 reams of copy paper. Make sure they’re traditional reams with 500 sheets/ream (not the downsized 400 sheet variety—although those will work if you buy 25 packages). Now take the wrapper off the first pack and place the ream on the floor. Do the same for all the packets. Depending upon the weight of the paper, the stack will be about 50 inches high.

Okay, you don’t have to physically do this as long as you can imagine a stack of 20 reams of copy paper. Here, I drew one for myself.

1 sheet equals 100 parts per million; 4 1/4 sheets equals 425 ppm

Now, that 50-inch stack holds 10,000 sheets of paper. There, its in front of you so you don’t even need to imagine it, it’s easy to see. And, let’s say were talking about 375 or 425 parts per million (ppm). Well, that’s the equivalent of 3 ¾ or 4 ¼ sheets sitting atop of the stack of 10,000 sheets. One sheet = 100 ppm.

Now were getting someplace. What we really need is only six sheets of paper, the bottom one to represent the bottom 9,994 sheets (or 99.94% of the atmosphere), and the top five to do some figuring. Maybe even less, as what we’re really interested in is the difference between 3 ¾ - 4 ¼ parts per 10,000 (375-425 ppm), or ½ sheet of paper (50 ppm). Good grief, this math is easy enough for a third grader, isn’t it?

Of course, what we’re really talking about is the amount of CO2 (carbon dioxide) in the empty space about us that’s actually filled with air.

Measured in 1975 give or take a few years, the CO2 concentration in Earth’s atmosphere was 375 ppm (or 3 ¾ parts per 10,000); and by 2024 it had risen to 425 ppm (4 ¼ parts per 10,000); a difference of ½ sheet of paper in a stack of 10,000 sheets. Some how it’s okay to ignore the other 9,999 ½ sheets which represent the rest of Earth’s atmosphere.

Again the Of Course--we are talking here about Global Warming and Climate Change created by the excess release of CO2 from manmade sources. This is serious stuff. Governments around the world have enacted laws mandating compliance with processes and procedures to reach a Carbon Net Zero state (Net Zero and similar terms mean stopping the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere, and maintaining it at, or reducing it from ½ sheet to maybe 4/10th of a sheet.)

Worldwide businesses and industries have sprung up to meet those mandates, and bureaucracies at all levels have grown to control those businesses and industries, and to control the behaviors of all people from the vehicles they drive to the stoves they cook on and the light bulbs in their bathrooms. Billions (109), probably trillions (1012) of dollars have been spent (and earned) on implementation and infrastructure because of a belief system based upon perhaps 1/8th of one page atop a stack of 10,000 pages. [Yes, I know, ½ page, but follow along.]

All belief systems have flaws, and Global Warming and Climate Change have become belief systems. The more intellectually, emotionally and financially invested people become in a system, the more rigid the system becomes, the more likely the flaws in become encoded and encased, and the more likely a continuous narrative will propagate the validity of the hoax. A system that openly and honestly questions itself, that promotes checks and balances, that examines itself for flaws and if found eliminate those flaws, can continuously evolve and improve.

The question must always be asked: Are any of the factors or variables upon which the belief system is base, flawed, faulty or forged? When 1012 dollars are involved, the felonious feel the need to protect their funds and their futures whether or not $ x 1012 spent on mitigation produce any results.

We need to go a step further but let me first tell you I am enthralled by the advancements in technology brought on by the mandates of the Climate Change belief system. From solar energy collection to storage to power usage, those who have sought to work within and to perfect those elements of the system should be applauded. Much of it works incredibly well (other parts are complete boondoggles).

Despite my love of technology, we must ask if that half sheet difference in CO2 was caused strictly by human beings burning petroleum products, or other human actions, or was some of it caused by an increase in volcanic activity or other natural causes? For example: There’s an interesting article on the internet about the three I’s--Italy, Iceland, and Indonesia. In April of 2021 each nation had a massive volcanic eruption, and it was noted that in one week the amount of CO2 belched and blasted into the atmosphere by these three mountains was the equivalent of all man-produced CO2 in the proceeding 70 years. That article didn’t mention the other eruptions that year which amounted to about 70 (there have been 46 so far this year). Also, it didn’t note all the submerged oceanic eruptions of which there were more than the land-based ones (after all, the earth’s surface is 70% ocean—but still, why not report those under its surface?) We’ll look at more examples below.

What about other potential variables or factors? Every rocket launched into space blows a 15-mile in diameter hole in the ozone layer which protects the earth from the most harmful radiation of the sun. In 2023 there were 211 successful orbital launches; in the first seven month of this year the number is 135, a rate which will bring us to over 230 = 41,000+/- square miles. Or HAARP, the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Instrument (a 33-acre field of 180 high-powered Ionospheric transmitters in Gakona, Alaska funded by U.S. Air Force and Navy) used to heat the ionosphere thereby creating a pressure vacuum beneath and giving it the ability to change weather patterns; also able to generate ELF radiation via modulated HF heating of the ionosphere thus instigating earthquakes. What about volcanic eruptions caused by earthquakes? Possible? Look up LBJ’s 1964 statement on weather modification, “…he who controls the weather controls the world…”

What of the disbursement of aluminum and other chemical nanoparticles into the atmosphere for a myriad political or Machiavellian reasons? Sounds like a flawed fact, doesn’t it? Did you see the photo, innocently posted last month on social media, of the beautiful rainbow in New Hampshire. The rainbow was a perfect arc over green mountains and valleys, but it was pink. Solid pink. That’s not the typical color spectrum caused by sunlight refracting through water droplets. Pink likely is caused by aluminum oxide in the atmosphere. Who put it there? Why? What effect does it have on global temperatures, or on plant growth? Or, why have numerous astrophysicists reported that earth’s warming is covarying with increased temperatures on Mars? Could it be the sun energy varies as it goes through it’s short, medium and long cycles, and the half sheet difference of CO2 in out atmosphere has nothing to do with climate change? Two thousand scientists of Climate Intelligence have declared that a climate emergency does NOT exist. That the astronomical sums spent on carbon mitigation are misspent—me, maybe the motivation behind the encoding and encasement of the flawed belief system is the ka-ching* taken in by those benefiting from these mis-expenditures. What do you think?

There certainly are additional questions needing answers. Some “environmentalist” and some politicians have declared that CO2 is a toxic substance. Is it? We inhale air (even in this empty barn), withdraw some of the oxygen for our use, then exhale all the other gases including those we produce metabolically, and including the CO2. (Our bodies metabolically produce CO2, but they don’t want to exhale all of it as it is the body’s chief mechanism of vasodilation.) Most plants absorb CO2 and via photosynthesis convert the carbon into themselves and their fruits, vegetables, seeds, etc. Indeed, in hot house (or greenhouse) farming the ambient CO2 of 4 pages/10,000 is boosted to between 6 and 10 pages (600-1000ppm) because plants grow more rapidly and contract less disease via “CO2 fertilization”. The idea of burying 70,000,000 trees to control global CO2 levels is antithetic to its own stated purpose—that is, it is a flaw or falsehood in that belief system. All life on earth dies if CO2 drops into the 1½ sheet range (4¼ is a lot healthier).

Ask also, Has the net-zero CO2 movement (belief system) hijacked Environmentalism? I suggest looking up recent (say last ten years) statements by the founders and/or leaders of environmental organizations they headed 25 to 50 years ago. So much funding (taxpayers’ dollars) has gone to CO2 reduction that other concerns have withered.

False narratives endlessly repeated create inconvenient “truths.” How does one, or a culture, resist indoctrination and break flawed yet accepted illusions? Sal and Ang, you know how attached I am to the earth, how I’ve always been an advocate for the environment. Know now how deeply I feel betrayed by the false elements and fraudulent mandates of the climate change tyrants.

Sal, Ang, I’ll leave it to you and your generation to answer these questions. At this age, the best I can do is to raise questions.

G-pa

AUGUST 2024:  https://books2read.com/u/m2Byqd

Burning History: Preparing the Battlefield; Preparing the Viewer’s Mind

Story creates self-image, and cultural story creates cultural self-image. Behavior is consistent with self-image. If you can control the story, you can control behavior.

 By John M. Del Vecchio

When a typhoon hit the northern part of South Vietnam in late 1970 many of the combat operations in western I Corps were suspended while troops from the 101st Airborne Division aided villagers in the lowlands. Photo by the author.

Let’s jump right in to the anomalies of Episode 5, This Is What We Do (July 67-Dec 67) . Then we’ll look at how this is being used to set up Episode 6, Things Fall Apart (Jan 68-May 69). Errors of omission are immense; interpretation of the limited story told is erroneous.

The reason for leaving a hill or a battlefield after the battle is over, is not “to give” the hill back to the enemy. The declaring that abandonment of the terrain makes the combat losses in vain shows zero understanding of the dynamics of the conflict. NOTE: The NVA also left virtually all these battlefields after the battle was over. It would have been virtually impossible for allied troops, even with ten times their numbers, to maintain a presence on all territory. Again, this is also true of the NVA.

Think of it this way: In a high-crime urban area do police forces continually cover every house and every business establishment, or do they patrol areas in the hopes of deterring crime by their intermittent presence or stopping violence if they can reach it as it occurs? In Vietnam, particularly in the border regions, we patrolled. This, or course, became necessary when LBJ and McNamara rejected Westmoreland’s Op York strategy (see previous blog) and force ARVN and allied troops to interdict only after enemy troops infiltrated into South Vietnam.

We did not have a Maginot Line; we policed the neighborhood. We did not occupy all spaces at all times. The criticism [we’ll see it repeated for Dong Ap Bai, Ripcord and other battles] about leaving a hill after a battle, and claiming the battle thusly being in vain is invalid. Criticizing the strategy that forced these tactics is valid.

In Episode 5 we were told that Le Duan’s strategy of late ’67 and going into ‘68 was to have the NVA instigate a series of border battles to lure Americans away from the cities, thereby leaving the populated area vulnerable to attack. This indeed is the proper set up for what’s coming at Tet ’68. Not said, however, is that this is the repeat of the strategy used in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu. The part of that strategy not explained in Episode 1 is that coupled with pulling French troops to that remote outpost, the communists then instigated hundreds of terrorist incidents in the population centers of the North. General Giap referred to this part of his op plan as a “gnat swarm” technique designed to drive government officials and citizens mad. The Tet Offensive (Jan-Feb 68) and the Mini-Tet Offensive (May 68) both follow this pattern. Khe Sanh was to be the Tet Dien Bien Phu; and Kham Duc the same for mini-Tet.

One major difference that North Vietnamese planners did not fully appreciate was that American mobility was far superior to French mobility. That does not mean that the battles were not fierce. It means the Northern strategy, not adjusted for new realities, was flawed.

Significant resultants of the flawed NVA strategy—overlooked by many historians—are that the attacks caused adjustments in American military strategy, moving it a step closer to what Westmoreland conceived. From mid-68 forward American forces were more heavily concentrated in the northern provinces south of the DMZ and along the Laotian border, in order to more effectively interdict troops and materiel coming from North Vietnam. When Abrams takes over for Westmoreland he continues and expands this strategy. This disposition of forces allowed for greater use of South Vietnamese Regional and Provincial forces to secure lowland population centers, and lead to the most peaceful period in South Vietnam. There are still nasty battle to come, but both better American strategy and the continued development of the ARVN, produce conditions unfavorable to the North and cause the North to question its commitment to continuing the war. The American political atmosphere and Soviet and Chinese pressure keep them going.

Let’s take a quick look at how Burns portrays American vs. communist troops. In battle, in defensive positions or pinned down while patrolling, Americans are seen crouching in foxholes or bunkers or depressions in the ground. They are the bait the command has used to attract an attack in which enemy forces can be destroyed by artillery or air power. The picture is grim. American troops are embittered. Certainly there were times when this was accurate. Being shot at or bombarded with artillery is scary. But note how NVA soldiers are portrayed as they prepare a battlefield to lure Americans to attack their temporary position (as said, they didn’t hold territory either), or while the battle is in progress. They also hunker down, but they’re eager to engage the fight. They are not bait used by their commanders, but are courageous.

First, know that all film from North Vietnamese sources was taken by NVA “armed propaganda teams” not by members of a free press. Secondly, realize that these NVA soldiers were very often scared, that they often felt forced to be where they were, that many were disheartened, and that very many disliked their command--particularly hating the political officers which were attached to all NVA units. [Kind of sounds like troops in any war, huh?] During the war some 20,000 northern troops defected to the south. That is a very significant number and should tell the reader more about NVA morale than Burns projection of happy patriots willingly and eagerly entering the maw. As to insurgents indigenous to South Vietnam (the VC), so disenchanted with the communist side, and so convinced the allied side was winning, some 180,000 defected to the South! American defections to the North are single digit; and ARVN defection to the communist side are minor (although, it was a problem for the ARVN that troops left their units to “go home” where they often served with either local Regional or Popular force units.)

Why, Mr. Burns, have you not shown this? To portray NVA soldiers, Asian boys, as happily and willingly giving their livesfor “the cause,” as if Asians don’t value life in the same way Americans do, is subtly racist.

The first week is complete, the second week is about to start. It feels like we’ve had a semester break (and personally I’d like to get back out climbing). Episode 5 has been the set-up for where we’re going—the Tet Offensive, The Paris Peace Talks. Will we see the realities of what happened on the ground in Vietnam, or will we see Vietnam mostly through the eyes of U.S. and world politicians, and the anti-war movement?

Things do fall apart in 1968, but militarily they fall apart far more for the NVA and VC than they do for the ARVN, Americans and allies.

Please forward and share this essay.  For more on this, and for the need for paradigm shifts in the way we view history and other aspects of our culture, visit: www.peakingat70.com/lets-talk-america/

John M. Del Vecchio is the author of The 13th Valley and other works on Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq and veterans issues. He is currently working on: Peaking At 70: Rediscovering America and Self. www.peakingat70.com.