Missive #650

The first book in Bernard Cornwell’s epic Sharpe series, which completely transports the reader to an unforgettable time and place in history.

This was the first Sharpe’s book published but is the eighth in chronological order, the order in which I am reading them.At Talavera in July of 1809, Captain Richard Sharpe, bold, professional, and ruthless, prepares to lead his men against the armies of Napoleon into what will be the bloodiest battle of the war. Sharpe has earned his captaincy, but there are others, such as the foppish Lieutenant Gibbons and his uncle, Colonel Henry Simmerson, who have bought their commissions despite their incompetence.

After their cowardly loss of the regiment’s colors, their resentment toward the upstart Sharpe turns to treachery, and Sharpe must battle his way through sword fights and bloody warfare to redeem the honor of his regiment by capturing the most valued prize in the French Army—a golden Imperial Eagle, the standard touched by the hand of Napoleon himself. — Book promo @ goodreads.com

I have updated my Virtual Walk Maps again. These last four weeks included one of the weeks with the most and one with the least milage that I have done in a long time. Maybe get back to doing my usual weeks as the weather warms up.

Speaking of warming up. During my morning walk yesterday I met a resident that said we were going to have a cold weekend. The low would be down to 8°F like the low of 6 some sixteen years ago. I told him That I also remembered that low because it froze and broke my water manifold. When I got back to Desperado I checked the forecast at Weather Underground, The Weather Channel and AccuWeather. Only AccuWeather had one low forecast below freezing and that was at 29. He must have been looking at a forecast for some location in the eastern part of the country where they have been getting very cold weather.

There is a lot to read in this posting between the Introduction and the Conclusion. It is recommended.

INTRODUCTION

When the question arose in 2024 as to whether Biden or Trump should be recommended for election, we believed that Trump was the better choice over Harris, as the former did not belong to the deep state. That was our assessment. We believed this was the only way to prevent World War III. Many of my colleagues felt the same way. President Putin’s statement in September 2024 that he would prefer Harris because she was more predictable could become a prophecy in the future, even though Sergei Lavrov dismissed Putin’s statement as a joke—but every joke has a grain of truth.

Today, we know that Donald Trump is completely unpredictable and as dangerous as nitroglycerin. In Diplomacy on the Deathbed – From Peace President to Warmonger, published in June 2025, I was already extremely concerned when Trump briefly bombed Iran, only to back down after twelve days when he realized that Iran was not only capable of defending itself, but could also reduce Tel Aviv to rubble.…

CONCLUSION

Now that Trump has dismantled the “rules-based order” that Americans have been invoking for decades, the Collective West finds itself in a state of agony, i.e., the parties involved are no longer even attempting to base their actions on any explainable basis, let alone a legally justified one. The fact that Europeans are toying with the idea of betraying Greenland and thus NATO ally Denmark—as the Allies did with Czechoslovakia in Munich in 1938—is merely a logical consequence of this; Rutte and his cronies certainly possess the necessary character traits. Furthermore, I consider it naive to believe that Trump will not attack Iran, even though the realities of such an undertaking will lead to a catastrophic outcome. Finally, we cannot rule out the possibility that Trump’s ranting is a diversionary tactic to distract from the imminent collapse of the financial markets and the US dollar. When – not if – this happens, all the cards will be reshuffled and redistributed. — Delusions Of Grandeur And Betrayal by Peter Hansele