April 25, 2026 00:01

Administrivia.

Wheatie Wisdom. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone. No running with scissors. No food fights.

AI stuff posted, requires a link. Please use spoiler, for longer posts.

Wolf Speak. No obnoxious behavior towards fellow QTreeper(s). Freedom of Speech is honored here QTree. Every poster, IS personally responsible for what they post.

America, needs to embrace the following TRUTH…

In No Particular Order, The House AND Senate MUST.

Pass SAVE America Act
Trash Filibuster
Impeach Activist Judges & Fire Activist Magistrates.
Pass, Ban Sanctuary States and Cities
Trash Blue Slips
Confirm Trump Nominations.
Codify Trump Executive Orders.
Ban Sharia Law.

Speaking of embracing…THIS.

If nothing follows KK below, Night Crew, you are on your own.

It’s Saturday. GOT Coffee? GOT Tea? GOT Scroll Wheel? 😊

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>>> Likely a very short post today. Limited availability yesterday & today. <<<

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APMEX https://www.apmex.com Bitcoin https://www.bitcoin.com/

Prices pulled last afternoon. Gold $4,733.50 Silver $77.11. Bitcoin $77,400

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Road To Liberty. (A series)

https://www.whitehouse.gov/america250

The Story of America: John and Abigail Adams

12:32

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Today in History: April 25, Spanish-American War declared

On April 25, 1898, the United States Congress declared war against Spain. The 16-week Spanish-American War resulted in an American victory, after which the United States took possession of the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam.

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Stuff…

Please take a few minutes. Enjoy Hung Cao’s Incredible Journey. Vietnam – Africa – America.

They just thought Pete Hegseth was over the top, now we have a man in charge of the Navy who blew shit up for 30+ years and was really good at it.

A great time to be alive!
Congratulations @HungCao_VA pic.twitter.com/bIEBq9MJGa
— ⚓️ Sailor Jim 🔱 (@JimHendley4NC) April 23, 2026

They just thought Pete Hegseth was over the top, now we have a man in charge of the Navy who blew shit up for 30+ years and was really good at it. A great time to be alive!

Congratulations @HungCao_VA

Hung Cao, the former refugee who is Trump’s new acting navy secretary

Vietnam-born Cao stood twice for federal office in Virginia and has called for upgrading of fleet to face new threats

The acting navy secretary, Hung Cao, who steps into the role after the sudden departure of John Phelan, is a veteran naval officer and former refugee who earned a position with the Trump administration with campaigns for political office in Virginia marked by religious intolerance.

When Cao was first appointed, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, set him to modernizing base infrastructure and quality-of-life issues for sailors and marines, and to raise recruiting standards. Cao has also been a point person in the administration on permitting vaccine refusal and eliminating “DEI” policies in the military.

He has been sharply outspoken about the military’s recruiting practices, saying in a debate with Tim Kaine when he ran against him for Senate in 2024 that the military should be recruiting “alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them, and ask for seconds”.

At his confirmation hearing, Cao described an aircraft carrier as “99,000 tons of American diplomacy” but noted that the availability of ships hovered at about 60%, which he described as “horrid” readiness.

Asked about his views on how to either use the existing fleet or to transition to a new paradigm for naval warfare, Cao said the military was living each day like it was 10 September 2001, and that the country must accelerate shipbuilding while improving technology so that it can defeat hypersonic missiles and other threats.

“We need to rethink naval warfare,” Cao said last June. “We need to be ready for what happens tomorrow.”

Cao ran twice for federal office as a Republican candidate in Virginia, falling to US representative Jennifer Wexton in a House race in Virginia’s northern suburbs in 2022, then to Senator Tim Kaine in 2024.

Cao’s comments in an interview about Monterey being taken over by “witches” and a joke about being “African American” because he lived in Africa as a child became a campaign issue. Cao expressed support for a national abortion ban as a candidate.

Cao, 55, fled Vietnam with his family when he was four. He lived in Niger as a child while his father worked for USAID. Cao enlisted in the navy in 1989 before graduating from the US Naval Academy and earning a commission as a special operations officer.

He served on active duty as a diver and explosive ordnance technician with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, notably leading the team that recovered the body of John F Kennedy Jr off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

Cao was section head for the budget programming division in the office of the chief of naval operations before retiring as a captain in 2021. He has a master’s degree in applied physics from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and completed fellowships at MIT and Harvard.

“I came to this country with nothing, as a refugee,” Cao said in response to a question during his confirmation hearing as undersecretary of the navy. “We grew up in Africa, actually. In 1979, when the shah of Iran was overthrown, the marines brought us into the embassy and stood watch over us in case they had to do an evacuation … I wanted to be like those heroes, so I have dedicated my entire life to serving the military.” (Bold mine.)

Cao’s son graduates this year from the US Naval Academy.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/23/hung-cao-new-navy-secretary

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Chiefio https://chiefio.wordpress.com/

Australia, Fuel History, Present Risks

An interesting review of the Australian Oil Shortages over many decades

The short form is that W.W.II was the worst due to dependence on Asian sources (under British Empire control) and then being cut off by war. Gee, Asian sources cut off in war… rather like now when Australia depends on imported fuel from Asian refineries that in turn depend on Arabian Gulf oil…

During the 1970s Arab Oil Embargo Australia had rationing, but due to domestic “work actions” (strikes) by oil workers. The country was nearly self sufficient in oil and oil products then.

Fast forward to now: All the “lessons learned” have been discarded, all but 2 refineries closed in favor of Asian ones (and one of those two just had a major fire…), and the crude oil supply is disrupted by a war.

“Those who do not remember their history are doomed to repeat it.”

Stockpile Food To Prepare For Worst Food Crisis | China Cuts Fertiliser, Farmers Abandon Paddocks

12:20

Australia’s Fuel Supply Is More Fragile Than Anyone Realises (This Is How Rationing Starts)

9:58

In Conclusion

It didn’t have to be this way. Australia could have kept its oil refineries, continued to develop oil fields and production, and built a nitrogen fertilizer plant. They did not. They chose in stead to save a couple of pennies on the $A for Urea and other nitrogen fertilizers, and similarly for oil products.

Literally “penny wise and pound foolish”.

FWIW, he says “you will not see it today”… yet we are seeing it today. So when the really hard bit hits, expect it to be a lot worse.

We are at the start of a Cascade Failure. Shortly it will be impossible to prevent the cascade.

Today I did a Walmart run (for things I’d not already prepped, like laundry detergent, fresh fruit, condiments, and another round of paper goods)…

Closing thoughts at the link.

https://chiefio.wordpress.com

SLOW GUY here. I continue, to not see food or daily essentials shortages in the USA. Come 1 May, if Strait of Hormuz remains closed, Slow guy will likely bump up stocks. Previously planned, picking up a pig, from the processor next week. Plenty of beef in the freezer. It’s the stuff on supermarket middle aisles, I’ll bulk on again. Stuff has long shelf life. So no big deal there. No spoilage. It’ll get used, Nothing tossed.

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