Something To Remember Today

I know I do this every year. I do it because it’s important. Not just to me, but to America. We need today. We need a day to thank the 1,185,586 men and women who have given their lives, the ultimate sacrifice, so that you and I may enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy in this country. It IS that important.

My wife and I recently traveled to Texas for our eldest granddaughter’s high school graduation. We drove through El Paso, and peered across the Rio Grande into Mexico. I can only think of the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people that would love to be living on this side of that river. No, we didn’t see any of the illegals on our trip, we mainly got through El Paso as quickly as possible. But I wasn’t lost to the fact that people all over the world, even in the weird and troubled times our country is in right now, they still long to live here. And we all should be grateful to be given that choice by God!

I’ve told many stories over the years of people I’ve known in the military that didn’t come back from God forsaken places like Vietnam, and Afghanistan, and Iraq. Friends, neighbors, high school and college students that left the safe confines of our country and went off to do battle with the forces of evil. And they were unselfish in their sacrifice. That’s why I’m totally in favor of giving the military pretty much anything they want. That’s why I think every single service man and woman should receive free healthcare for life. Not from the VA, but from anywhere they want to go, the highest “Cadillac plan” out there. They’ve earned it.

And I know that most of us are thinking of today as a day to spend at the beach getting sun burned, having cookouts, and eating a dozen hamburgers and hot dogs. It’s a day to relax by the pool, or to go to a ballgame. It’s a day off of work for most of us. And yet, like most other holidays we celebrate in our country, we’ve seemed to have lost the true meaning of why it is you get the day off work. It’s because those 1.2 million people gave up their lives so you and I could live ours. Today is a day to remember them. It’s a day to think about those that we knew that never came home. And it’s a day to think about those that we didn’t know, for they were just as important to the cause as the ones we did.

It’s the “unofficial start of summer”, but in reality, it should be a sad day, and a happy day rolled into one. Sad because who knows what those individuals could have accomplished had they come back home. Sad because without them, we wouldn’t be as free as we are today, and I know that doesn’t necessarily seem like we’re all that free anymore. But it’s also a happy day. Because we can look at the fact that we ARE free to a greater sense of the word than most countries on this blue marble. We should be happy that there are people living among us who freely give of their time, treasure, and talents to put their lives at risk, so that we can enjoy those hot dogs and hamburgers today. For as many people that have given their lives during the course of our country’s existence, even more, 1.3 million continue today to risk their lives for us. And let’s never forget the 18 million Veterans that did indeed come home and are with us today. Let’s not forget they also sacrificed for our country. If you are among that number, I humbly and sincerely want to thank you for all you’ve given me and my family.

Today is not a day for cookouts and beaches. It’s a day to remember those we’ve lost. Let’s promise never to lose that thought. And by chance, if you happen to go to a Memorial Day parade today, or you happen to see a man or woman in uniform, or even if you know a Veteran, thank them for their service somehow. Buy their lunch, shake their hand, let them know that what they gave up for us meant something more to us than just a day in November. They are all special people. They deserve the best, and with that…

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

China Ready To Take Taiwan?

It came out of China just the other day, that they are ready to take Taiwan “back into the fold”. This comes on the heels of a couple of meetings that the Taiwanese leaders had with delegations from the United States. It also comes after China held military exercises in the Straits of Taiwan in which they basically encircled the island with their navy, and flew their jets around the island in a show of force.

So, why now?

Taiwan has been a country for 111 years as of this past January. That is a LONG time to be a country, when China doesn’t think of you that way. One could only imagine that in the event of a part of a country, like Taiwan breaking away from their motherland, and forming their own country, that the motherland, IF they wanted it back, wouldn’t wait over a century to take it back. That goes double when you consider the size of each. It’s like if Rhode Island decided to secede from the United States and we let it go 111 years before doing anything about it.

Why now? It’s really a pretty simple answer. The Chinese are very patient people as a rule. They wait things out. They don’t make brash moves easily. They don’t want to “tiu lien” or lose face. Think back to the Tiananmen Square massacre. The students started that in April of 1989. It ended with the massacre on June 5th. It would seem that the Chinese leadership is about as patient as Janet Reno was with the whole Branch Davidian thing. That lasted 51 days. So, I can’t really think that timing is that important to one of the oldest countries in the world. They will wait until the cows come home until the timing is right.

So, what makes the timing right now? One would have to think that they have discussed and re-discussed what would happen in a number of scenarios. The Chinese do not want to get into a war with the United States for a couple of reasons. Both are nuclear countries, and I really don’t think China wants to use the bomb. Neither does the United States. And while China has a much larger military than the US, there is no comparison which is the better military force. The US is miles ahead when it comes to technology, and preparedness. No, the one thing that stands out is the response that the United States would give if the Chinese were to take back Taiwan. They have watched the last year very carefully. They have looked at everything the US has done with Ukraine…a country that we have no real ties with. And what they saw, over and over again told them it’s time.

They started by watching our botched withdrawal of Afghanistan. They saw the ineptitude of the Biden administration, which totally ignored the Generals in the Pentagon, all of whom wanted to leave troops in country to help minimize the turnover. Biden himself said that the Taliban had promised all sorts of things, like they wouldn’t take back Kabul, they wouldn’t reinstitute rules against women being educated or working. In short, the Taliban said whatever they had to in order to get the US to leave, and Biden bit.

Then the Chinese watched as the US cobbled together a bloc with Europe to help Ukraine. We haven’t lost any people over there, but we have spent over $100 billion in sending them arms. Now, if you listen to the military experts, we aren’t sending them our top of the line gear, but we are sending them a LOT of stuff we could use if we had to send military hardware to Taiwan. And our supply is being depleted. It’s been said that it will take three to five years to get our inventory back up to where it was before Putin invaded Ukraine. Trust me, China took note of that.

And then there is the “special relationship” China thinks it has with Joe Biden and his family. They have made the Bidens very rich indeed. And Joe has been lax at trying to put the hammer down when it comes to China. Look at the balloon fiasco a while back. Biden never called Xi to ask about why they did that. He never once has done anything but give lip service toward keeping China in check. He basically has been on their side. Why not? China has made him wealthier beyond his wildest dreams.

And so, it’s because of Joe Biden’s lack of foreign policy experience, his lack of any intestinal fortitude, and his willingness to bow to his Chinese masters that China feels now is the time, after waiting 111 years to take back Taiwan. It’s sad it’s come to this. We as Americans should be very, very ashamed!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Do All Roads Lead To War?

I’m not a war hawk by any stretch of the imagination. I’m not what you would call a pacifist either. I believe that war does indeed serve a purpose. But it’s not something that should be done rashly or should be first on the list of options. But when the signs are there, you have to at least take a look at them and wonder.

And that’s what I’m wondering now about what’s going on in Ukraine.

Think about what has happened in regards to the Russia/Ukraine war just this week. You’ve got an American president jetting off to Poland to shore up his NATO allies, and then taking a 10 hour train ride into Ukraine to meet with it’s president. You’ve got Vladimir Putin from Russia saying that the US is stoking the flames of war by announcing another half billion dollars in military aid to the Ukrainians. And that Russia will be pulling out of the START nuclear treaty (which has been on hold since the start of the COVID pandemic). You’ve got China deciding whether or not they are going to proceed with giving Russia lethal aid to the war. So far, the Chinese have only decided to lend a financial hand as they watch to see what’s going on. You’ve got Iran making waves by sending drones to the Russians in exchange for military hardware.

It sure looks like someone is preparing for World War III from where I’m sitting.

And I’m not sure what all of this posturing means. I understand where Putin is coming from. He’s an old Soviet-style KGB guy that wants to see the Soviet Republics put back together and reunited with Russia. China is very interested in taking back Taiwan, which split with mainland China back in 1945. We’re talking almost 80 years. For Xi Jinping, talk about the cherry on top of the ice cream if HE could be the one to do it! For Iran, anything that goes against the United States, they’re all for…at least until there is another coup in that country.

I really don’t think NATO or the US wants to get involved with a war with any of those nations, but they are afraid they’re going to be dragged into it. And it probably will take something like a Pearl Harbor invasion to sway the US to jump in militarily. It won’t be a popular decision for whomever has to make it because the US population is tired of fighting decades of wars. In fact, if you look at it, every US President, dating back to JFK, with the exception of Donald Trump has been involved in starting some sort of military action.

And if by chance the US gets dragged into this conflict militarily, what are the chances with China, Russia, NATO, and the US all as nuclear nations, will employ at least some sort of tactical battlefield nukes? I would say pretty good. And what’s in it for the US if we do get involved? Are we protecting some sort of national interest? After all, Ukraine, while currently an ally of ours because of all of the money we’re throwing at them, and the fact we don’t want to see Europe sliding closer to Russia, is not what I would consider to be a long-term ally. They have been a rogue nation for most of their 30 years of independence. Certainly they have had more than their fair share of corruption.

And how well armed would the US be to fight such a war? We’ve given tons of military hardware to the Ukrainians. China has to be sitting back watching, calculating whether or not we could mount any defensive stance against them if they should try and invade Taiwan. The Chinese are a very patient bunch. They could wait a decade before starting an incursion of Taiwan, if the time was right. They aren’t stupid.

Russia on the other hand is willing to throw a generation of men at this war in hopes of reuniting Ukraine with Russia. Putin thinks so little of his people that he doesn’t care if his losses near 250,000 men! He keeps calling up every able bodied male in the country. And he would bleed his country dry of men if he has to. It’s how Russia has always fought wars.

Is there going to be a World War III over Ukraine? At this point, all we can do is hope not. But the indications are there. The players have been defined. It’s now a waiting game!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Remembering What’s Important

We go through life and we are all guilty of putting blinders on. Oh, we don’t mean to, but we just get busy. We have kids to raise, jobs to go to (some of us!) and bills to pay. We get hung up on our everyday world. And we forget a lot of what’s really important. Today is one of those days.

Today is Veterans’ Day.

It’s a day to stop and thank those that have served our country. There are currently 1.3 million Americans that have vowed to defend our Constitution, defend our way of life, and yes, defend you and me by serving in the military. Those are heroes. Those are incredible people. Those are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles who have put their lives on hold for a while, so they can do their part to insure that America remains free, while you and I go about our business and have our blinders on.

It’s hard to imagine what some of those folks have sacrificed for the rest of us. I personally have never served in the military, and it’s a fact I’m not necessarily proud of. But I honor those that have. I’ve known a lot of veterans in my day, and for the most part, they are the most upstanding group of people out there. The community I live in today is just down the road from a rather large Air Force base that trains pilots in F-16’s and F-35’s. It’s common place to hear the roar of the jet engines around town. We all love that sound.

I’m going to keep this short today. Because what’s needed more than ever isn’t something terribly difficult. I’d ask one thing of all of you. Do something special for someone in the military today. Visit a veteran in a nursing home. If you’re at lunch and you see someone in uniform, or maybe you’re at an airport somewhere and you see someone in the military in line at Starbucks, buy them their coffee. It doesn’t have to be huge. It has to be a gesture that says, “I thank you for what you’ve done for our country!”. It’s that simple

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

EXTRA! Putin’s Gamble

Put yourself in Vladimir Putin’s place for a minute. You decided it was so easy to retake Crimea and give your people a very nice area to vacation in along the Black Sea. Warm, almost tropical breezes. So, why not decide to retake the rest of Ukraine and get it back into Mother Russia?

Only this time, Bobo Obama isn’t president. Instead, his VP is running the US (or at least that’s what SHOULD be happening!) and he figures that Obama had a lot more on the ball than Biden ever did. This should be a cakewalk. It turns out, that with an unlimited bank account from the US and other European countries, the Ukrainians are better fighters than Putin ever imagined. He never thought that over 45,000 of his own soldiers would be killed or wounded.

So, Putin throws down a gambit. If he has to, he will use nuclear weapons to take back Ukraine. He recalls some 300,000 reservists, as many of them as possible buy plane tickets to anywhere that doesn’t have “Russia” in its name. So, Putin cancels all travel for men ages 18-65. Now there’s a run for the border situation.

Putin had a gamble to take and he took it. He figured all along that Joe Biden wasn’t strong enough of a leader to do much, if anything, when it came to his taking back Ukraine, and he’s probably right. But there was that little thing that Joe loves to spend other people’s money. And that figure to date is about $54 billion!

I’m not crediting Joe Biden for doing this though. This does not have HIS fingerprints on it, but maybe that of Ron Klain. You also have to credit Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukranian president for his bravery and heroism. And throw in the token approach that Europe has taken, as they have realized they are facing a very cold winter without Russian natural gas.

But what I find interesting is that Putin is ready to drop nukes in order to end this thing. Now, I’m not sure that’s really what’s happening. Putin is a sick man, both physically and mentally. Rumor has it he has cancer and is dying. But he also doesn’t want Russia to be seen as losing to some third-rate former Soviet republic.

As far as Biden is concerned, to keep spending money on something that most Americans aren’t backing, only adds to the inflation rate and the recession economy that we find ourselves in. Biden has no concept of economics, so to him, he just keeps spending like the minimum waged wife that can’t stop shopping on 5th Avenue in New York City. After all, he has spent over 3 trillion in executive orders alone since taking office. And you and I are on the hook for that number.

Putin must realize he’s in a pickle. He can’t lose to Ukraine, but he knows if he drops a big one there, it’s going to probably force an all out nuclear World War III. I doubt he’s willing to take that big of a gamble, but then again, he doesn’t have any respect for Joe Biden’s lack of backbone.

Hopefully cooler heads prevail. I really would like to take a nice cruise next year!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

We Celebrate Today For A Reason

And that reason isn’t a cookout. Nor is it a trip to the beach, or an amusement park. It’s not about going to the lake and celebrating the “first day of Summer”.

Today is to celebrate those that have made us free.

Today is for the people that left their lives, the wives and girlfriends, husbands and boyfriends, kids and kids to be and went off to war. They unselfishly put their country ahead of themselves. And they did so knowing full well of the dangers that they may not come back home. For the people we celebrate today, they didn’t come back home. They may have died in Europe, or southeast Asia, they may have died during a special mission in the Middle East. Maybe it was a Gulf War, or Afghanistan. Maybe they fought the Germans, or the Japanese, or the Taliban. It didn’t matter.

What mattered most to these heroes was the fact that they were preserving freedom for people they never met. The did it for people like you and me. And today is the day we set aside to remember them. And it would have been an abject travesty if today’s blog was about anything besides honoring these brave men and women.

I’ve told the story for years about one of the few and proud that gave their lives that I actually knew. I still to this day, some fifty odd years later think of him today. He was the son of a prominent family in our small town. He joined the Marines to fight in Vietnam, and he never came home. I weep still when I think of him because here was a person with so much of a bright future ahead of them. And just like the rest of his family, he put others first. He did it by joining the service. I admired his courage then, and I honor him every year on this day. He taught me a lot about life without ever knowing it. And he did it not for pay, not for the thanks, but so I could live free in the greatest country in the world…even with all of the garbage going on today.

So, before you light the grill, or put the boat in the water, or fill the backyard swimming pool, please take a few minutes. Gather the family together and explain to them why they don’t have to go to school or to work today. Maybe tell them about someone that you knew that didn’t come back from war. And let them know that their sacrifice, the greatest sacrifice they could give wasn’t in vain. It hasn’t been forgotten. And it is more than twenty seconds of Joe Biden placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It’s about real heroes, millions of them, who have always held out country and our freedom above all else.

God bless them and give them rest on this Memorial Day!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

What Strategic Ambiguity?

Once again, when Joe Biden is meeting with the media, he has stepped in it, making his Communications Department at the White House work overtime. This time, Biden, during his Asian tour, was in Japan, when he was asked if Taiwan were invaded would the US respond militarily? Now, you have to understand the parsing that the reporter was getting at. She was basically saying, would the US go to war with China and help defend Taiwan if China decided to invade? Biden’s answer was a simple on word answer: “Yes”. He did go on to say that the US had made a commitment to supply military weapons to Taiwan and that we would live up to our commitment.

But oh, did the White House go into overdrive again on a Biden gaffe.

The Secretary of Defense, the White House Communications team, and anyone else they could roust out of a sound sleep, hurried to a microphone or a camera and said that the policy the United States has with the “one-China policy” we adopted back when China gained entrance into the UN was still in tact. There has been no change in our policy toward China or toward Taiwan.

See, they had to do that because when the President of the United States answers a question whether the US would respond militarily if China invaded Taiwan, with a “Yes”, that throws shockwaves around the world. The Chinese were exceedingly upset. They felt the US was basically taking the position that if they tried to reunify Taiwan with the mainland China, the US would be there to fight the Chinese on land and in the sea. That’s a major turning point. And once again, Biden gets into trouble with his off the cuff remarks.

This is why Biden is told to stick to the teleprompter, and don’t ad lib. Don’t talk to reporters. Don’t give interviews with major media outlets. Don’t do anything unless we tell you it’s okay to do. Because otherwise, we have to walk-back all of your comments and that just makes everyone including you and us look bad. It makes us look like we really don’t know what we’re doing.

What you’re seeing is a Joe Biden that is answering everything the way he thinks it should be, and then the White House trying to clean up a mess because it’s not the way it really is. You get into a lot of trouble when you answer questions unequivocally and not with “strategic ambiguity”. There’s a major reason why the US wants to be ambiguous when it comes to how it’s going to defend Taiwan and to what lengths it’s going to go to do so. You don’t want to take anything off the table when you’re dealing with a nuclear country like China, or Russia. You need to make them think everything is fair game. That’s not what Joe Biden did. He went too far again, and it showed.

And it makes the point very clearly that Biden is not really running anything. He’s the face of the country, but he’s not in charge of making the decisions. That is being handled differently and by different people. Then they relay that decision to Biden and he’s supposed to just read the teleprompter and not go off script. Sounds to me like Biden isn’t doing anything more than speaking his mind without regards to the weight of the words he’s uttering. That’s what gets him into trouble.

And that’s why he never should have been elected president in the first place!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Is Russia Still A Super Power?

There is a very good argument being made that no…while Russia still has boatloads of nuclear weaponry in it’s arsenal, that they really are proven almost daily that they are not what the experts would call a “super power” when it comes to it’s war machine.

Russia is basically fighting Ukraine. Ukraine has a total fighting force of 11.1 million personnel that are available to fight a war. Russia on the other hand has 34.8 million personnel. Russia spends just shy of $62 billion on it’s military. Ukraine spends $5.4 billion. So, why is it that Russia, according to British intelligence, has lost a third of it’s ground forces in it’s invasion of Ukraine?

Russia has not done well in it’s last two wars that it’s taken part in. They fought for a decade in Afghanistan, learning the hard lesson that countless armies before it (and since) have learned. Afghanistan is not a place to fight a war. Russia (the Soviet Union back then) lost about 15,000 solidiers in that war and left Afghanistan with their tail between their legs.

So far in just about three months, Russia has had 15,000 of it’s troops killed, and another 25,000 wounded or captured. That’s 40,000 Russian troops taken out of action in 90 days!

My thought here is that Russia has gone up against two armies that do not rank well in size or stature in the world, and it looks like they’ve done less than a stellar job in winning each of those wars. Now, of course, there is the nuclear option that makes Russia more of a threat than what we’ve seen with their conventional warfare results. But if you take away the nukes (because frankly, they’d be idiots to start a nuclear war), Russia has not shown itself to be able to do much in the way of military battles.

What do you think would have happened if Russia would have attacked say, a NATO country, and the NATO countries responded in force? If you had the 30 members of NATO fighting Russia, my hunch is there would be no contest at the end of the day. Russia has proven that when it comes to conventional warfare, they are poorly trained, and lacking in advanced military hardware.

Of course, China is sitting back, watching what happens in Ukraine before deciding to invade Taiwan, which it claims is a part of mainland China. There is a huge difference between the two situations however. In Ukraine, I’m sure China or Russia never had a single thought that this war would be going on this long and be this protracted for Putin. And what would happen if China invaded Taiwan after watching this and the US decided to come to Taiwan’s defense? China has a huge army. They are better trained and almost as well equipped as Russia’s. But will they fall by the wayside as Russia is apparently doing?

Now, we add to that the continued reporting that Vladimir Putin has either stomach cancer or blood cancer (depending on which source you listen to), and you can see that it may not be long before someone in the Kremlin decides that Putin may not be the best choice to lead the country. It has happened in that nation before!

So, is Russia still a super power? When it comes to conventional warfare, I’d say no. They aren’t any better than Saddam Hussein’s army was during the first Gulf War. Lots of bluster, very little positive traction.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Putin’s Exit Strategy

If you were to ask any general of any army anywhere in the world, what’s the number one thing you need before you go into battle anywhere, the answer will probably be the same. You need an exit strategy. You need to know how you’re going to get out of what you’re going into.

So, what’s Vladimir Putin’s exit strategy in Ukraine?

Actually, I think he doesn’t know at this point. His original exit strategy was easy to figure out. Jump into Ukraine, like he did Crimea back in the Obama administration, take a few losses, but nothing terrible, and then install your own leader and make them a puppet state like Belarus.

Oops. Something happened. Russia wasn’t actually ready to invade Ukraine. The army wasn’t well trained. They weren’t well equipped. They didn’t have purpose in mind, and they had a very low morale. So, they went into battle with four strikes against them. And the rule of thumb (and I hope I hear from those of you veterans out there if I’m wrong!) is if you are going to invade some country, you need ten times the army they have defending it. That didn’t happen.

And what has happened has been a quagmire for Russia. It’s been estimated that between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian troops have been killed and upwards of another 25,000 have been wounded or captured. There have been slightly over 12,000 Ukrainian citizens killed, and about 1,300 Ukrainian troops killed according to the United Nations. About three million Ukrainians have fled their country seeking refuge elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

So what is Putin’s current exit strategy?

It’s going to be one of two things. First he is either going to turn Ukraine into rubble, as is evidenced by the continued shelling of the vacant cities he’s attacking. Or, second, he plans on staying there until he totally defeats Ukraine because to leave would be to show the world that Russia is no longer a super power, especially if an ill-equipped, but uber-brave group of Ukrainians can defeat the Russian army. Either way, Putin loses in the end.

The longer the war goes, the worse Putin looks, and the more people move over to the side that agree he’s a war criminal that needs to be locked up forever.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Obama’s Revisionism

What is it about Bobo Obama lately? The guy all of a sudden has been popping up in the news left and right. It’s as if he see what a buffoon Joe Biden is making of himself and the presidency, and he wants to step in and “save” the day. He did it last week when he attended that Obamacare event at the White House. And of course that turned out to be anything but a Biden Builder of confidence. I’m sure you’ve seen the video of Joe wandering around looking for someone…anyone…to talk to while all of the audience was crowded around Obama.

Then we get him, a week ago today, talking at the “Disinformation And The Erosion Of Democracy” conference at the University of Chicago. He was doing one of those sit down and talk to some moderator (Jeffery Goldberg, Editor of The Atlantic), and basically said, “I will say that, as someone who grappled with the incursion into Crimea and the eastern portions of Ukraine, I have been encouraged by the European reaction. Because, in 2014, I often had to drag them kicking and screaming to respond in ways that we would’ve wanted to see, from those of us who describe ourselves as Western democracies.”

Huh?

I think Bobo is remembering his time in the White House a little different than what really happened. Let’s go back, shall we? In 2012, wasn’t it Bobo that chastised one Mitt Romney during a presidential debate when Romney said that Russia was our number one threat? Didn’t he say something like “The seventies called and they want their foreign policy back”? And what exactly did Obama “grapple” with when Russia invaded Crimea and the eastern portions of Ukraine? As I recall, he may have put some meaningless sanctions on a few Russian oligarchs, but he never did anything when Russia took over Crimea.

This revisionist history isn’t going unnoticed by folks in the Twitterverse. Oh, there were plenty that called Obama out for his making up (another word for “lying”) stories about how tough it was for him, but he prevailed and succeeded. He didn’t succeed against Russia. In fact, I do remember that he was in a “hot mic” situation with Dmitry Medvedev, when he was president. It was just before Obama’s reelection campaign of 2012. He explained to Medvedev that he had this election coming up, and for Dmitry to let Vladimir know that he could “be much more flexible after the election”. But I guess that one never made the history books did it?

Somehow, and I’m really not sure how, we need to make sure that when these presidents leave office, they leave office. It doesn’t help anybody, especially the guy sitting in the Oval Office who now has to compete with someone that views themselves as “a legend”. In Obama’s case, he’s not.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!