September 2020 Archives

Late lunch

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Lisa is fixing a lunch - we lost track of time... Grocery delivery after and then up North for Thai food.

From the New York Daily News:

Alarming uptick in NYC’s COVID rate prompts de Blasio to launch mask crackdown
Clusters of coronavirus in Brooklyn and Queens have raised the city’s infection rate to an alarming new level, Mayor de Blasio said Tuesday, adding that the city will respond with strict mask enforcement and other steps in COVID hot spots.

Outbreaks in predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods and other parts of Brooklyn and Queens pushed the city’s overall infection rate to 3.25%, after months in which the rate had been around 1%.

Two things come to mind, First - there is no word as to how many of these are false positives.  There have been recorded cases of up to 90% of COVID diagnoses being false. Second - the critical number is not being mentioned at all.  How many people are dying from supposed COVID infections.  The mortality is dropping and the CDC stated that in all but less than 10% of COVID deaths, there was an average of 2.6 other co-morbidities contributing to the death.  Heart attack and COVID is counted as a COVID fatality.  Same thing for Cancer and COVID. In some cases, a shooting homicide and COVID have been counted.

Which leads to this draconian bit of rule-making:

Steps announced Tuesday include fines of up to $1,000 for people who refuse to wear masks in these neighborhoods: Gravesend/Homecrest, Midwood, Kew Gardens, Edgemere/Far Rockaway, Borough Park, Bensonhurst/Mapleton, Gerritsen Beach/Homecrest/Sheepshead Bay and Flatlands/Midwood.

Masks do nothing except force the citizenry to submit and comply. The guy is in over his head.  Gotham needs another Guilani to bring it back from the dead.

Minimal posting today too

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Lisa is coming over shortly - working on some stuff here, the usual Wednesday grocery deliveries and generally hanging out and getting to know each other.

Minimal posting...

Now this will light a few fires

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From John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence, Washington, D.C.

Just go and read - here is a thumbnail. The letter is in a picture format so copying the actual text is not possible:

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Hillary for Prison / 2021

Adding Obama and that communist John Brennan would do this Nation a great bit of good too.

Very fine fact check

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A bit of reality intrudes the narrative:

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A bit about Biden

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Good news. alt.energy is a financial rat-hole. It is not sustainable, it is not renewable, it is not cost effective without our taxpayer dollars being used to prop up the shaky numbers (federal subsidies). From the Tacoma News-Tribune:

‘No more wind.’ WA state utility questions efficacy of wind farms for power generation
A road trip through the amazing landscapes of Eastern Washington is like being in a classroom with wheels and a windshield. Even if you never venture off the interstate, you’ll learn a lot just through observation about geography, geology, modern agriculture — and energy policy.

A recent — recent, as in the last two decades — addition to those landscapes is the wind farm, each with dozens of three-bladed turbines distributed across ridge tops and slowly churning away as they generate electricity.

Those turbines aren’t just the recent past of the Northwest’s electricity generating future, they’re supposed to be a big part of its future. Renewables, a category that also can include solar and more exotic forms like geothermal or tidal, will, so the theory goes, help “de-carbonize” the region’s generating portfolio of coal and natural gas, leading eventually to an “all-green” electric grid.

Achieving that goal will require a whole lot more solar and a whole lot more wind, which makes it all the more interesting that one utility is breaking with energy orthodoxy by saying, “No more wind.”

Nice to see some people finally seeing "the light" - a bit more:

“We are continuing to sound the alarm regarding the unacceptably high risk of power grid blackouts in the Pacific Northwest being precipitated by overly aggressive clean energy policies and deepening dependence on wind power to replace retiring coal plants,” the commissioners say in a news release. “Benton PUD is calling on Governor Inslee and our state legislators to learn from California’s experience and to believe what utilities in Washington State are telling them. Rolling blackouts jeopardize the health, safety and well-being of all citizens and cannot be accepted in a region that, thanks to hydropower, is the envy of the nation when it comes to clean and low-cost electricity ...

“While development of wind farms may be politically fashionable and appeal to many in the general public as a harmonization of nature with electricity production, the science and economics indicate powering modern civilization with intermittent generation resources like wind and solar power comes at a high financial and environmental cost.”

Wonderful - some administrators with brains and a backbone. They see through the sham that is being pushed - the narrative. Public Utility Districts (PUD) are owned by the customers and are beholden to them, not some far-off group of "investors"

Nothing so far

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Picking up Lisa in about an hour and we are heading south to run a few errands. The Business Costco (very different than their normal retail stores), Trader Joe's and she is introducing me to Sprouts Farmer's Market. Hanging out with her is a lot of fun - we get along really well.

Two memes for this morning

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From Woodsterman:

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The Halloween costume idea is brilliant.

From Cliff Mass:

Smoke is Coming Back to the Pacific Northwest
I am really sorry to be the messenger for ill news, which none of the media has picked up on yet.

But smoke is coming back to the Northwest later tomorrow and will be with us for several days.

California smoke.

Our skies will become hazy, the sun will take on that infernal reddish glow, and visibility will decline.

The only good thing is that most of smoke will stay aloft, but limited amounts will get to the surface in "favored areas."

Much more at the site.  Some of the Napa Valley wine country is on fire.

Bad management and a government that would rather blow money on trains to nowhere than maintain basic infrastructure. Texas has more acres of forest (and hotter weather this summer) but those are carefully managed and they have not had any wildfire problems.

The workers paradise of Venezuela

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They are sitting on the worlds largest known petrolium deposit but their system is so broken that they can not touch it.  They can not refine the crude if they manage to pump it out of the ground. Their refineries are broken. From Reuters:

Tankers carrying Iranian fuel begin entering Venezuelan waters
The first of a group of three tankers carrying Iranian fuel for gasoline-starved Venezuela entered the waters of the South American nation on Monday, according to Refinitiv Eikon data, in the most recent sign of the countries’ expanding trade.

The two OPEC members have increased cooperation this year by exchanging crude, fuel, food, equipment for refineries and other industrial goods. Many details about the transactions are not available.

Of course Iran is sending their oil to Venezuela.  Iran's primary business is terrorism and political upheval.  They are eyeing the market here. Not good.  These are purely evil people.

Venezuela used to be the shining star of South America - they used to export food.  They used to be the richest nation in South America.  Now, they are the poorest and have to beg for food from other socialist shitholes.  The cause of this downfall? 30 years of socialist leadership. Works every single time. Show me a socialist paradise. Just one.

Voter fraud - the Biden Campaign

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Expect nothing less - first the Illhan Omar mess in Minneapolis and now this - from National File:

Biden’s Texas Political Director Accused of Illegal Ballot Harvesting At Texas Supreme Court
The Joe Biden campaign’s Texas Political Director has been formally accused of helping to run an illegal ballot harvesting operation, according to two separate affidavits filed Monday at the Texas Supreme Court.

A bit more:

The affidavits were filed as part of the class-action lawsuit against Harris County and the state of Texas, filed by citizens, called Steven Hotze, M.D. et al. Journalist Patrick Howley of NATIONAL FILE has exclusively obtained this testimony and much more evidence will be coming out in the case. Dallas Jones was named the Biden campaign’s Texas Political Director in early September.

From one of the affidavits:

“I have in my possession video-taped interviews of witnesses attesting to the aforementioned people having groups of people completing thousands of absentee and mail-in ballots, including completing ballots for deceased individuals; illegally going into nursing homes, with the complicity of the nursing home staff, and filling out and forging the signatures of nursing home residents; signing up homeless individuals to vote using the ballot harvester’s address then completing the ballot and forging the homeless individual’s signature."

Much more at the site including more affidavits, links to the court filing.  This is big and it is real. Biden is dirty. Very very dirty.  They have nothing to offer us normals so they have to cheat to hold onto their power. Time for them to get a good shellacking and get on with their lives - out of the political arena.

A fun day

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Lisa is back at her place.  Fun day working on stuff around the house.

Now this will be fun - Trump's Taxes

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Someone leaked his returns to the New York Times.

LONG-CONCEALED RECORDS SHOW TRUMP’S CHRONIC LOSSES AND YEARS OF TAX AVOIDANCE
The Times obtained Donald Trump’s tax information extending over more than two decades, revealing struggling properties, vast write-offs, an audit battle and hundreds of millions in debt coming due.

Donald J. Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency. In his first year in the White House, he paid another $750.

He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years — largely because he reported losing much more money than he made.

As the president wages a re-election campaign that polls say he is in danger of losing, his finances are under stress, beset by losses and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt coming due that he has personally guaranteed. Also hanging over him is a decade-long audit battle with the Internal Revenue Service over the legitimacy of a $72.9 million tax refund that he claimed, and received, after declaring huge losses. An adverse ruling could cost him more than $100 million.

Nothing damning - paying no Federal taxes is unfortunate but totally legal.  When you are this rich, you can afford really good tax lawyers. Of course, Trump paid the Payroll taxes as well as State and Local taxes. Paying no Federal taxes is common. From CNBC, December 16, 2019These 91 companies paid no federal taxes in 2018, From Fact Check, April 24, 2012GE Pays No Taxes  Again, unfortunate but totally legal.

I do love this comment at the very end of paragraph seven:

Nor do they reveal any previously unreported connections to Russia.

Of course not.  Trump does not want to get in bed with Russia.  Hillary does.  Her deal with Rosatom allowing the sale of 20% of the US reserves of Uranium to Russia while she was Secretary of State was a major give-away from the Obama administration to Russia.  What did the United States get in return? Nothing. Bill Clinton got to deliver a speech in Moscow a few months later and was paid a half a million US Dollars for the privilage. Not only are the Clinton's selling our collective crown jewels, they are selling them for cheap.

I have this thought running around my brain...  President Trump is such a master-class troller.  I am thinking that HE leaked these returns.  After all, he has nothing to hide.  What better way to sow confusion than by doing this just a few weeks before the election. The Dems will be wasting valuable time sifting through? nothing...

And to work

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We are working on the house today.  Took yesterday off and worked on her new van.

Time for breakfast first.

Minimal posting.

Life is really good.

A good rant - the left

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Very true observation - goes a long way to explain their actions.
From Cold Fury:

Who’s laughing now?
Trump and his supporters have all the fun.

Mike's link goes to an article about President Trump's Pennsylvania rally and how much fun people had there. He then goes on to talk about the happiness and joy of the liberals:

Leftists are dour, miserable wretches. They hate their country. They hate their countrymen. They hate freedom. They hate guns. They hate cops. They hate having to live under a Constitution that, however badly it’s been weakened, is yet functional enough to provide some small protection against their ability to rule over We The Inferior absolutely.

They hate prosperity. They hate the internal combustion engine. They hate air conditioning, and the coal-fired power plants that provide reliable electric power to run it. They hate the Big Agriculture complex that feeds an entire planet. They hate music that has anything resembling a coherent, pleasant melody. They hate individuality, noncomformity, and independent thought. They hate Big Macs, or any food that actually tastes good. They hate heterosexuals. They hate normal, happy, traditional families. They hate freedom of speech, and of religion.

The list goes on and on, but perhaps even more than all of that, they hate that so many of us remain perfectly free to reject them, to denounce them, to mock them, and to refuse to join them in their lifelong immersion in pure, abject frustration and despair, like all Good People should.

Correct on all counts - each and every one. They are miserable in their lives and only seek to drag the rest of us down to their level. Mike offers these wise words:

Hey, laughter ain’t just the best medicine; it’s the best revenge, too.

So true - laughing all the way to the ballot box.

Voter fraud - Illhan Omar

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The only way she could get elected.  From Project Veritas - talk about a bombshell:

Ilhan Omar Connected Cash-For-Ballots Voter Fraud Scheme Corrupts Elections: 'These Here Are All Absentee Ballots...Look...My Car Is Full..." 'Money Is The King Of Everything'

    • Ballot Harvester Liban Mohamed: “Money is Everything. Money is the King in this World. If You Got No Money, You Should Not Be Here, Period. You Know What I am Saying? Money is Everything and a Campaign is Managed By Money.”
    • Mohamed: “Numbers Do Not Lie. Numbers Do Not Lie. You Can See My Car is Full. All These Here Are Absentee Ballots. Can’t You See? Look at All These, My Car is Full.”
    • Paid Voter: “When We Sign The Voting Document and They Fill It Out Is When They Give Us The Money,”… “The Minute We Signed The Thing [Ballot] For The Election. That’s When We Get paid.”
    • Ballot Harvesting Triangle: River Plaza Apartments, Horn Towers seniors Community and 980 Hennepin Polling Site All Subject to Fraud
    • Minneapolis Somali Community Insider: “It’s an Open Secret” … “She [Ilhan Omar] Will Do Anything That She Can Do To Get Elected and She [Omar] Has Hundreds of People on The Streets Doing That.”
    • Seniors at Horn Towers Ballots Compromised; Harvester: We “Request” Ballots For The Seniors and Then Take Them Away.

Project Veritas investigators revealed a ballot harvesting scheme here involving clan and political allies and associates of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D.-Minn.) in the first of a series of reports.

“Numbers don’t lie. Numbers don’t lie. You can see my car is full. All these here are absentees’ ballots. Can’t you see? Look at all these, my car is full. All these are for Jamal Osman... We got 300 today for Jamal Osman only,” said Liban Mohamed in a series of Snapchat videos posted July 1 and July 2 on his own Snapchat profile.

Mohamed said he was collecting the ballots to help his brother win the city’s Aug. 11 special election for a vacant Ward 6 city council race—which was held the same day as the primary for Omar’s MN-05 congressional seat. Ward 6 is the heart of the city’s Somali community and the Omar’s political base.

James O’Keefe, the founder and CEO of Project Veritas, said: “Ballot harvesting is real and it has become a big business. Our investigation into this ballot harvesting ring demonstrates clearly how these unscrupulous operators exploit the elderly and immigrant communities—and have turned the sacred ballot box into a commodities trading desk.”

Much much more at the site - names. video, transcriptions, story.  This violates both state and federal law.
The Democrats have nothing to run on so they have to cheat.  Simple as that.

Hmmm...

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A great story about her - from a student of hers. From First Things:

WHAT I LEARNED FROM AMY CONEY BARRETT
Over the past week, scores of articles have been published on various aspects of Amy Coney Barrett’s character—her fitness as a judicial nominee, her acumen as a scholar, and her unapologetic commitment to the Catholic faith. But long before I had reason to consider any of these qualities, I thought of Judge Barrett simply as an answer to my prayers.

I arrived at Notre Dame in 2013. Like any new law student, my head swirled with hopes, thoughts, dreams, and fears. But unlike many other students, I also needed to singlehandedly ensure that I had access to the tools and technologies necessary for me to succeed as a completely blind person.

Unfortunately, things got off to a bumpy start. The assistive technology purchased by the university, which would have allowed me to compete on equal footing with my sighted peers, did not arrive on time. And, in keeping with Murphy’s law, my personal laptop immediately broke, leaving me overnight with no reliable way to access my texts, take notes, or otherwise keep pace in class. I needed help, and I needed it fast.

For that help, I turned to then-professor Barrett. Although I had known her for only two weeks, I felt confident that this poised, articulate woman would not dismiss my concerns and would counsel me on how to get the university to procure the needed assistive technology as quickly as possible.

But she did not merely help me to readjust the burden on my own shoulders; she took it from me and carried it herself. I will never forget the moment when she looked at me from across her desk and said, coolly and matter-of-factly, “Laura, this is not your problem anymore. It’s mine.”

To many, this might seem like an insignificant gesture. After all, how hard could it be for a law professor to send a few follow-up emails and make a few phone calls? But as a person with a disability, as someone who is accustomed to the oftentimes solo and always thankless task of self-advocacy, I was caught off guard. Her unsolicited words were balm to my soul. The rarity of the offer was enough to impress me, but the sincerity and conviction with which she spoke indicated that she would not let me down. She proved, as I knew she would, to be a woman of her word.

More at the site - an amazing story - looking forward to Justice Comey's tenure on the bench.  Laura closed with this:

I went on to succeed that semester and, by God’s grace, to become the first blind woman to clerk on the Supreme Court. The warmth and compassion that Judge Barrett has shown me on so many occasions flow from the same wellspring of faith for which she is now so excoriated. The ease with which she donates her time and energy to serving others comes from years of loving the Lord with her entire heart, mind, and strength, and loving her neighbor as herself. And for a young, disabled woman like me struggling to find my footing and place in this world, that faith has made all the difference. 

This is freedom and equality; not the nattering of the "woke" crowd.  This is class and grace and wisdom - something sorely lacking these days.  Tip of the hat to Don Surber for the link.

Bear

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Lisa took this yesterday while we were driving to look at her new van:

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My two best friends.

Senator Blumenthal needs to go - now.

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Go home and take care of your family. He is a perfect example of a liberal who has been corrupted by the communist's attempted take-over of America. He is a member of the elite, private schools but he is uneducated in the realities of life. He served as the Attorney General of Connecticut and proceeded to represent big business, not his constituency.
His entry at Infogalactic.

He tweeted and  radio hose Tammy Bruce took him to the woodshed - I do not have the links to the original tweets but here is a screen cap:

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Speaking truth to power - Senator Blumenthal has tried/done all of these things. An odious little man.

And I'll close with this

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From Instapundit:

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The picture at the top is ACB's family - some nice looking kids.

A bit of history - promises

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From Kaching - Vanderleun's tumblr page:

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Candidate Biden - the bionic man?

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Putting two and two together - a two-fer.

From Vanderleun:

“Demented? There’s an App For That” — Joe Biden’s Bone Phone?
I’m not sure I agree with this. It reeks of techno-conspiracy. At the same time, I’m going to be watching Biden’s hands and pockets more carefully. And I will be especially on the lookout during the debate for the absence of middle-shots when Biden’s answering.  I’ll also note, as will most of America, Biden’s wearing or not-wearing of the Sharia mask. — GV

From Thread by @COsweda on Thread Reader

She’s correct that Biden has an earpiece, but it’s MUCH MORE than that.

The proof is his slack, confused, frightened face before he begins getting the answers through his earpiece.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Biden always REACHES INTO HIS POCKET before he answers certain questions.

Into the pocket.

What’s he doing?

He’s activating a fully implanted, invisible receiver that uses BONE CONDUCTION to get messages.

My guess is the switch also reduces ambient noise so that he can concentrate on the spoken instruction.
Remember when Biden totally disappeared?

He was having something like THIS implanted.

The remarkable Esteem® Hearing Implant is designed to provide qualified candidates with a unique combination of real-world benefits. The Esteem is: An INVISIBLE Solution — You don’t just hear better. You look and feel better. There are no external components. And nothing is in your ear canal.” ***

Second: Atomic Fungus read this and riffs on it here:

Technologically possible, but we will never know if it's true. The thing is, when you install a cochlear implant, it wrecks any natural function that the cochlea had. If this is true, some surgeon out there violated his Hippocratic oath for, presumably, a lot of money. (Or maybe just to avoid having his predilection for little boys become public knowledge or pick your scandal.)

In someone who has gone deaf, it doesn't really matter. Rush Limbaugh, for example, has a cochlear implant because he went entirely deaf and there was no chance of restoring his hearing any other way; and as a radio celebrity he needs to be able to hear himself talk. (One side effect of going deaf is that your speech slowly becomes mangled until you slur more than you say.)

But in someone who has two fully functioning ears, and who is merely being propped up in order to run for a political office for which he is unfit to carry out the requisite duties?

As cynical as I have become in my middle age, I am still slightly aghast that they'd do this kind of thing. Only slightly: there is a few moments of "Holy shit, that's evil" and then I realize, Yes, but these are the DEMOCRATS we're talking about.

Performing unecessary surgery on a confused, helpless old man and rendering him half-deaf, solely so they can prop him up in hopes of winning an election?

So I looked at the linked material in depth and it looks like this is just a subcutaneous hearing aid: it doesn't replace the cochlea, so it looks like it doesn't render you deaf in that ear after all. Even so, it's not necessary (as far as I know Biden's got good hearing) and was only implanted so he could be given instructions by someone off-scene. Unethical verging on evil.

It goes further than that, though. "Campaign activities" for the Biden campaign have been "curtailed" as early as 9:30 AM in recent days. Everyone knows it's because Biden is having a "bad day"--which is to say, a day when he's too confused to make sense--but the consistency of it looks like his handlers may be trying to slew his circadian rhythm around so that "sundown" for him is midnight instead of the middle of the evening. The idea being that he'll be "on" when it's debate time and that much less likely to go haywire.

"Sundowning" is something that happens with dementia patients. They seem more-or-less normal during the day, but once they hit the evening their mentation falls apart, or gets lots worse. Since the debates are typically held in the later evening, Biden's circadian rhythm needs to be adjusted (if possible) so that he "sundowns" some time after they're over, rather than before.

When I think about what Biden's life must be like right now--well, if it were a nursing home doing all this to him, its management would be hauled away in handcuffs.

Heh - I bet that the frequencies used for these devices are fairly common knowledge and I can only imagine what would happen if someone brought in a small jammer to the debates.

Our interesting (and very cool) sun

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Been a lot cooler than usual.  Looks like the Modern Warm Period is ending its 100 year run. But... Something interesting is happening.

Cooler? Fewer sunspots.  Sunspots are a good proxy for solar output. The more sunspots, the hotter the sun and the warmer our Earth.  This affects the Martian Ice Caps too so it is not just this planet. Last year, we had a record year of low sunspot numbers with 281 days without sunspots (or 77% of the year). To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go all the way back to 1913 (311 days).  This year, we are currently at 190 days - 71% - so it is not likely that we will beat this record (96 days left in the year so we would need to have 91 of them be sunspot-free to tie) but this is still a very low number.

What we are starting to see is an increased Planetary K-Index  This is a measurement of radio flux from the sun and is independent of sunspot activity.  The K-Index impacts the earth directly as it is a measurement of the flux that gives us the Northern (or Southern) lights. Usually, it has been 0 - 1 - sometimes 2.  Now, it has been hitting 4.  The scale is logarithmic so 3 is ten times 2, 4 is ten times 3, etc...  This is causing some beautiful aurora borealis in the arctic.  It needs to be up to 6 and above to get reliable aurora in these latitudes. From right now:

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Some interesting times.  Got a load of firewood laid in last spring so it is nice and cured.  Had a small fire yesterday and it was delicious. Warmed the house up with just a few logs. Thinking that I am going to need every stick this year. Had some left over last year.  We will see...

A close call - 36 years ago

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From Chris Lynch:

The Man Who Saved the World
On this day 36-years ago Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov may have single-handedly saved the world from global thermonuclear war.

The link goes to an amazing tale of heroism and courage.

Notorious ACB

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Looks like we get our wish - from FOX News:

Trump announces Amy Coney Barrett as nominee for Supreme Court seat
President Trump on Saturday announced he has chosen Amy Coney Barrett as his pick to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- a move that could significantly shift the nation's highest court to the right if she's confirmed by the Senate.

“Today it is my honor to nominate one of our nation's most brilliant and gifted legal minds to the Supreme Court," Trump said in the Rose Garden alongside Barrett. "She is a woman of unparalleled achievement, towering intellect, sterling credentials and unyielding loyalty to the Constitution -- Judge Amy Coney Barrett.”

She is good. Squeaky clean and smart as a room full of owls. She is 48 years old so looking at 30 solid years on the bench. It will be fun to see what the liberals will try to do to her.

And then, there is this from America's Newspaper of Record - the Babylon Bee:

Amy Coney Barrett Holds Press Conference In Handmaid's Tale Costume Just To Mess With Liberals
Shortlisted for Trump's Supreme Court appointment, Judge Amy Coney Barrett held a press conference today where she wore a Handmaid's Tale costume just to freak the Left out.

Barrett walked out in the red cloak and white bonnet, causing most of the reporters gathered to pass out instantly.

"If selected to serve on the Supreme Court, I look forward to forcing women to have babies and ushering in a Catholic theocracy," she said, holding back laughter. "In fact, the first decision I want to hand down is that women who don't have at least seven babies will be executed."

"All hail the Pope! All hail the Pope! All hail the Pope!"

"When you're getting accused of being a theocratic fascist, sometimes you just have to play along," she said afterward as she took off her red robe, revealing her normal black robe underneath. "It's fun to watch them freak out a bit."

She then jumped in her minivan and drove off to drop five of her kids off at soccer practice before going to hear a case as part of her extremely successful career.

Heh - sometimes satire is closer to the truth than the truth itself.

Truth in a couple of tweets:

SHOT: Brent Baker with a video clip of some odious little man:

CHASER: Johnathan Turley - a reply in three parts:

It is worth remembering that Mr. Turley holds the Shapiro Chair of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and is a criminal defense attorney and legal analyst. His blog can be found here: Jonathan Turley

He ain't no dummy when it comes to the law. Or, to common sense.
Unlike some entertainers...

Running into an old friend

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We drove around the city of Anacortes for a while before our scheduled appointment for the van and I drove along the waterfront.  It is very much a working waterfront with large shipyards and I saw this:

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Lisa took the photo (she is also into photography).  Readers may know that I majored in Marine Biology and Physical Oceanography at Boston University many eons ago.  I dropped out when I discovered that there was no money in it - everyone else ALSO wanted to be Jacques Cousteau. Fortunately, the whole personal computer thing was starting to erupt so went over to that and did OK.

Was never on this ship (did visit one of her sister ships - the Thomas Thompson at UW several times) but spent a few months down at WHOI for a class and absolutely loved it.  These are my roots and part of why I love living at the ocean's edge these days.

Her homepage at WHOI: Atlantis She is in Anacortes through December for overhaul and repair.

A four car "family"

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The van was really sweet - a 2000 Chevy Astro Van for $4,200 - only 130K miles which was the primary selling point. Very clean, a couple of small details to fix but 98% solid and a good driver. I used to drive an Astro starting in 1998 and loved it so was already familiar. This was Lisa's purchase - her negotiation, her money, her decision. I was along for the ride as the "Car Guy" - a lot of fun. Bear approves.

She is coming back over in an hour or so - fix some dinner and hang out. Life is good 😊

The second tranche of rainfall

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Made its way into the mighty Stillaguamish River at Arlington.  Notice that the scale on the left has changed from yesterday:

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4000 was the scale maximum yesterday, they bumped it up to 7000 for today. Cubic feet per second. A lot of water. Some nice weather moving in over the next couple of days.

Up and at 'em - a "new" car

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We are up early to look at a van.  L's current van is old and tired - looks like a nice one for sale about an hour away so making a day trip of it.

A good start - Veteran deaths - Wuhan Flu

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From Just The News:

Two Massachusetts doctors charged with criminal neglect for 76 coronavirus deaths at veterans' home
The Massachusetts Attorney General has indicted two doctors on charges of criminal neglect in connection to the deaths of at least 76 veterans' home residents who died of the novel coronavirus.

Bennett Walsh, 50, and David Clinton, 71, were indicted by a state grand jury on Thursday in connection to their work at the Holyoke Soldiers' home in Massachusetts. Each man was indicted on five counts, specifically for charges including "wantonly or recklessly" permitting or causing bodily harm and mistreatment of an older or disabled individual.

A good start but the charges need to be Federal and more of the "doctors" need to be brought to justice.  This treatment is unconcionable.

The California wildfires - management

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Great essay from Blake Clarkson writing at The Spectator:

How environmentalists destroyed California’s forests
I believe it was John Fremont who once exclaimed in astonishment that one could ride a horse at full gallop in the Forests of the Sierras in California. Well, one can do that again now — not among the towering conifers, but over the ashes.

Right now I’m seeing the mountains I grew up in — where I went to school, where I hung out, camped, backpacked, boated, cheated death and generally formed the foundation of my character — burning down. It makes me sad and angry.

This didn’t have to happen. Once upon a time, forests in California were logged, grazed, and competently managed. It wasn’t always perfect, but generally it worked.

Fires, which are a natural part of that ecosystem, were generally small — not just benign but beneficial. Land management focused on keeping the forest healthy for all involved, whether they were loggers, ranchers, fishermen, hunters, homeowners, or backpackers.

But then things started to change. Groups such as the Sierra Club and National Resources Defense Council began to drive a myopic agenda of protecting environmental interests at all costs. Logging was shut down. Grazing was banned. Controlled burning and undergrowth clearance were challenged and subjected to draconian regulations. Fires were put out as quickly as possible.

So the trees grew closer and closer together. Undergrowth, unchecked by grazing, cutting, or burning, grew thick and tall enough to reach the branches of mature trees.

The forests became thick and overgrown, but man, they sure looked nice and green from a scenic overlook.

Sawmills shut down and the cattle business went elsewhere. Thriving towns dried up and nearly went under. We started importing lumber and beef from Brazil and other places with objectively horrible environmental track records. And the vegetation kept growing.

About 10 years ago, we started hitting a critical point. Forests that once had less than a hundred healthy trees per acre suddenly had over a thousand. Manzanita, dry grass, and other plants began to cover the forest floor so densely you couldn’t walk through it without cutting a trail. All of this vegetation is fighting over a water table that is stressed on an average year, let alone a drought year, and not a lot of the trees are healthy enough to be resilient. Bark beetles and other pests came in, and you began to see entire mountainsides covered in dead and dying trees. We couldn’t have created better conditions for devastating fires if we’d tried.

More at the site - a good analysis of the unintended consequences of doing something that "sounds good" instead of doing something that "does good". It is supremely ironic that the environmentalists would fail to see the complex interconnected web of interrelations that happens in an ecosystem. They focused on one thing and one thing only to the detriment of the whole state.

We had this shoved into our collective faces in 1988 with the Yellowstone Fires - we should have learned from that.

The essay concludes with the following paragraph and the following editorial mention:

I live in Kansas now, where people are generally saner. But my heart still calls those mountains home. And they were killed by the Sierra Club and its allies. God may forgive you, but it’s gonna take me a while.

This article was published under a pseudonym as the author didn’t want to risk his job.

No shit Sherlock. California is a beautiful state but it's leadership is severely wanting - they have been living off the teat instead of working and representing their constituents.

We have rain

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The mighty Stilliguamish River - a flow gauge near Arlington:

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It takes a day or so for the rainfall to travel to the rivers so the current (met. humor) deluge will show up in a day or so. Second tranche.

Still no lightning. Dagnabit - they promised us lightning...

Kimberly Klacik - Baltimore, Maryland

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I have written about her before (here, here, here and here)  - she brings me hope. She is running and her campaign is brutal. Her latest tweet is master-class trolling:

Talk about punching back twice as hard. Her opponent is a partisan hack who has done nothing for the people of Baltimore.

Apple - tree

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Talking about children of idiots/crazy people - the apple does not fall far from the tree.
Exhibit one:

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Those eyes...

From Portland, OR station KPTV:

CDC test finds Oregon's youngest reported COVID-19 victim didn't have the virus
State health leaders listed him as the youngest Oregonian to die from COVID-19, but it turns out 26-year-old Matthew Irvin of Yamhill County didn’t have the virus when he died in July.

Family members of Irvin told FOX 12 they’ve been fighting for answers since their son died in his home.

New testing conducted by the CDC confirmed Irvin did not have the coronavirus when he died, according to his parents.

The family said back in July, Irvin became very sick and went to the hospital, where he was told he might have COVID-19. A test was administered to find out and he was sent home.

They are doing it to gather power, to keep us submissive and for money. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Summed up in one image:

20200921-submission.jpg

I know I have posted it before but

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This line still cracks me up - Bob Hope was a National Treasure:

If you are not guilty, why would you do this - from The Federalist:

‘Trump Was Right’: Explosive New FBI Texts Detail Internal Furor Over Handling Of ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents tasked by fired former Director James Comey to take down Donald Trump during and after the 2016 election were so concerned about the agency’s potentially illegal behavior that they purchased liability insurance to protect themselves less than two weeks before Trump was inaugurated president, previously hidden FBI text messages show. The explosive new communications and internal FBI notes were disclosed in federal court filings today from Sidney Powell, the attorney who heads Michael Flynn’s legal defense team.

“[W]e all went and purchased professional liability insurance,” one agent texted on Jan. 10, 2017, the same day CNN leaked details that then-President-elect Trump had been briefed by Comey about the bogus Christopher Steele dossier. That briefing of Trump was used as a pretext to legitimize the debunked dossier, which was funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign and compiled by a foreign intelligence officer who was working for a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

“Holy crap,” an agent responded. “All the analysts too?”

“Yep,” the first agent said. “All the folks at the Agency as well.”

“[C]an I ask who are the most likely litigators?” an agent responded. “[A]s far as potentially suing y’all[?]”

“[H]aha, who knows….I think [t]he concern when we got it was that there was a big leak at DOJ and the NYT among others was going to do a piece,” the first agent said.

While the names of the agents responsible for the texts are redacted, the legal filing from Powell, quoting communications from the Department of Justice (DOJ), states that the latest document production included handwritten notes and texts from Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe, Lisa Page, and FBI analysts who worked on the FBI’s investigation of Flynn.

Much more at the site - links to source documents. They knew they were doing something illegal but their hatred for the Orange Man was so intense that it blinded them. Time to pay the piper.

And that is it for me

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Slow news day - watch some video and then to sleep.

Lisa is coming over tomorrow - looking forward to it.

Don't mess with Texas

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Really fun joint campaign advertisement - from the Dan Crenshaw for Congress campaign:

Should be fun. The left hates Trump for being an unabashedly Alpha Male. They are going to spit white-hot tacks when they see Crenshaw and gang.

I would bet that if Absentee Ballots from Military addresses were looked at, they would be uniformly voting to re-elect President Trump. From FOX 11 News:

Mail found in ditch in Greenville
A U.S. Postal Service investigation is underway after mail was found along the road in the Fox Valley.

The Outagamie County Sheriff's Office says three trays were found in a ditch around 8 a.m. Tuesday. The trays were near the intersection of highways 96 and CB, near the Appleton International Airport.

The mail was immediately turned over to the postal service.

On Wednesday, a USPS spokesman said the mail included absentee ballots

And the DOJ is taking this seriously - from The United States Department of Justice, Middle District of Pennsylvania

Revised Statement Of U.S. Attorney Freed On Inquiry Into Reports Of Potential Issues With Mail-In Ballots
HARRISBURG - On Monday, September 21, 2020, at the request of Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, the Office of the United States Attorney along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Scranton Resident Office, began an inquiry into reports of potential issues with a small number of mail-in ballots at the Luzerne County Board of Elections.

Since Monday, FBI personnel working together with the Pennsylvania State Police have conducted numerous interviews and recovered and reviewed certain physical evidence. Election officials in Luzerne County have been cooperative. At this point we can confirm that a small number of military ballots were discarded.

Only a few but this was probably a test run. The Main Event is forty days away.

Always classy - booo

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From ABC News:

Trump booed while visiting Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's casket at Supreme Court
President Donald Trump was loudly booed by members of the public on Thursday while visiting the casket of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has been lying in repose outside the Supreme Court.

Trump, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, stood behind the court's massive columns at the top of the court steps as people from the bottom of the steps loudly booed him and chanted, "Vote him out!"

Members of the public have been waiting for hours to file past the flag-draped casket, which will on Friday be moved to the Capitol building where Ginsburg will lie in state.

No sense of common decency. They are profoundly mentally ill and are nothing more than meat-puppets of their social media and the progressive narrative.

Cute

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Yesterday, Lisa was very cautious and asked me if I had ever heard of the "Deep State".

I think that she is a keeper.  We had a lot of fun over that. She is at her house tonight - getting together tomorrow.

A really sweet woman - turning into a very dear friend.

A perfect opportunity in Texas - bilboards

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The Texas Democrats missed out - the Texas Republicans nailed it. From Peter Grant:

Election rivalry, Texas style
I had to laugh at political rivalry in Limestone, Texas (south of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex).

It all started when local Democrats rented a billboard to display this poster.

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Unfortunately, they ignored the vacant billboard below it.  Local Republicans didn't.  $1,200 in billboard rental later:

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Heh... Some embarrased faces at the local office I bet.

The City Council has overridden a Mayor's Veto.  That is a power grab and they need to be shut down. What laws currently on the books give them that much power. My bet is that they do not legally have this authority, they are just taking it in a soviet power grab and the mayor is too timid to object.

From CBS News:


Seattle City Council overrides mayor's veto of partial reallocation of police funding
Seattle will reduce the police department's budget and reallocate some money to community programs after the City Council voted Tuesday evening to override Mayor Jenny Durkan's vetoes of adjustments to this year's budget.

The council's proposals approved last month were supported by demonstrators who have marched in the city for months following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis but were strongly opposed by the mayor and former police Chief Carmen Best.

"Divestment from a broken policing model is not only the right thing to do … I believe it is the needed course of action," Council President M. Lorena González said. "We cannot look away from this and we can no longer accept the status quo if we truly believe that Black lives matter."

And here is a perfect sample of the wisdom and maturity of the council - from FOX News:

Seattle hires former pimp as 'street czar' for $150,000 after CHOP fiasco
Seattle is paying an ex-pimp $150,000 a year to act as the city's "street czar" and offer "alternatives to policing" after protests morphed into the no-police-allowed Capitol Hill Occupied Protest.

Activist Andre Taylor is open about his past as a pimp (he appeared in the documentary "American Pimp") and is working with the city of Seattle through his nonprofit, Not This Time. Taylor says he started Not This Time after his brother Che Taylor was killed by Seattle police in 2016.

Words fail. And of course this communist's brother was named Che.
Yes, that Che. Go and read to find out the ream man behind the "legend"

And a new day

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Working with Lisa is a lot of fun.  Couple of quick posts before we start back up.

The autumn rains

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Gonna get wet - from Cliff Mass (note: this was written Tuesday evening - tomorrow=today):

Heavy Rain and the Beginning of Autumn
Autumn began at 6:30 AM this morning and the atmosphere is clearly watching the calendar.

Tomorrow will bring the first of a series of wet weather systems, each associated with a potent atmospheric river, that will bring as much as TEN inches of precipitation to the northern Cascades and Olympics.

As a result, wildfire season in Washington State will be coming to an abrupt close.

Precipitation will be heaviest during two periods, one tomorrow and the other on Saturday, when atmospheric rivers--narrow currents of large water vapor values--will make landfall on our coast.

And we are then going to be hit by an atmospheric river. Not our usual Pineapple Express but a river none the less:

Even more impressive is the atmospheric river on Saturday morning.....wow...this is serious!  Fascinating how moisture is concentrated into such narrow "atmospheric rivers".  I will explain why in a future blog.

20200923-river.jpg

Ho. Li. Crap. Staring down the barrel of a deluge.  The house is snug, good roof and got some nice raingear. Got firewood laid in for this winter and lots of food in storage. Life is good.

A corrupt family - Biden

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Son Hunter is quite the millstone around his fathers neck. Will the media notice? Probably not.
From The Daily Wire:

Hunter Biden Received Millions From Wife Of Ex-Moscow Mayor, Paid Suspects Allegedly Tied To Trafficking, Had Contacts With Chinese Military, Senate Report Alleges
A bombshell report from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) and the Committee on Finance makes a series of damning new allegations against Hunter Biden, the son of Democrat presidential nominee.

The investigation launched after Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) publicly raised conflict-of-interest concerns about the sale of a U.S. company to a Chinese firm with ties to Hunter Biden a month before Congress was notified about a whistleblower complaint that was the catalyst for Democrats’ impeachment of President Donald Trump. The Senate’s investigation relied on records from the U.S. government, Democrat lobbying groups, and interviews of numerous current and former officials.

More at the site - they list payment by payment. Corrupt as hell. The Dems could be running Pigasus and they would still not think anything was amiss. ABT - anybody but Trump.

A fun day

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Lisa is coming over in a couple of hours to work with me laying the flooring in the living room. Slowly getting the house in order.  It will be a lot of fun working with her - been really nice so far.

The rain that was forecast is here and with it, a good bit of wind. The gale warning is still in effect.  T-storms tomorrow.

Quick surf and some last minute picking up.

The Autumn People

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Gerard posts this wonderful meditation from Ray Bradbury at American Digest:

20200922-autumn.jpg

“For some, autumn comes early, stays late through life… For these beings, fall is the ever normal season, the only weather, there be no choice beyond. Where do they come from? The dust. Where do they go? The grave. Does blood stir in their veins? No: the night wind. What ticks in their head? The worm. What speaks from their mouth? The toad. What sees from their eyes? The snake. What hears with their ear? The abyss between the stars. They sift the human storm for souls, eat flesh of reason, fill tombs with sinners. They frenzy forth. In gusts they beetle-scurry, creep, thread, filter, motion, make all moons sullen, and surely cloud all clear-run waters. The spider-web hears them, trembles - breaks. Such are the autumn people. Beware of them.”
— Ray Bradbury

Bradbury is an American Treasure. This was from: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Quick break for dinner and then...

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Lisa took the day off and headed to Bellingham - turned out to be a classic gorgeous Fall day so perfect timing.

Nuking some pasta leftovers for dinner - stopped at the farmer's market and got some salad fixings.

Got rain in the forecast for tomorrow - t-storms Thursday so looking forward to that.
Update on the gale warning here: National Weather Service twitter account.
Forecast for 0.5 to 1" on the island with up to 1.5" in the highlands. Possible river flooding in a day or two.

And back to work

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No rest for the weary 😁

I would expect nothing less - China

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From the New York Post:

China, WHO could have helped prevent COVID-19 pandemic: congressional report
The coronavirus pandemic might have been prevented if not for Chinese cover-ups in the early days of the outbreak and the World Health Organization “parroting” Beijing propaganda, according to a damning audit from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The 96-page report — obtained by The Post ahead of its planned Monday release — says the Chinese Communist Party destroyed evidence and buried troubling data, while nationalizing the supply chains and limiting exports of US companies 3M and General Motors, keeping key goods in the country.

“It is beyond doubt that the CCP actively engaged in a cover-up designed to obfuscate data, hide relevant public health information, and suppress doctors and journalists who attempted to warn the world,” reads the report, authored by Republican members of the Democrat-held committee.

Had China been more transparent and proactive when the first signs of the burgeoning health crisis emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, the outbreak could have been largely contained — potentially saving hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide, the pols wrote.

The report will be interesting - see which media outlets discuss it.

Unverified but...

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From American Thinker:

FORMER BIDEN CAMPAIGN STAFFER: Joe Biden is in the early stages of dementia and is on medication for it.
"This is the big one, and the one I have the least direct experience with, but it’s been an open secret for some time. Anyone who has had a relative with Alzheimer’s or dementia can tell you, there are good days and bad days. On the good days, when Joe is at his most lucid, his campaign manager Jen will send him out for photo ops or TV interviews… make hay while the sun is shining, you know? On the bad days, Jen just tells the press pool “No Joe today,” and they’re all like, “Okay, cool!” Most of the time, he’s just a little foggy and gets really agitated. But one of my co-workers told me that back in May, there was a day where he thought he was running against Gary Hart in the ’84 primary again. Joe went under wraps for several days after that.

He’s been more lucid recently because his physician, Dr. O’Connor, put him on Namenda. Jen apparently was worried about someone finding it out, because she insisted that he prescribe it under a series of phony names, and then have the interns pick it up. I bet there are a lot of pharmacists in Philly wondering why there are so many young people on Namenda.

The dementia medication has had, um… unfortunate side effects.

There’s no dancing around this… the medication has made Joe incontinent. Though his “good days” have increased dramatically, he can barely get through a press event without running to the bathroom. That’s why he didn’t take questions after announcing Harris as his running mate. They weren’t afraid of the questions, the press loves him… they were afraid he was going to piss his pants on-camera. Lately, Jen’s been having closed-door meetings to discuss which brand of incontinence pads would be best to purchase. Seriously, a group of paid staffers sat around and discussed which brands were the least visible, the least likely to leak, and wouldn’t audibly “crinkle.”

That’s around the time I left the campaign. I can’t be a party to this sick game anymore. I never really liked Joe Biden, but he deserves better than to be thrust into the public eye when he should be in memory care. His wife should put a stop to this, but she’s way too excited about being “First Lady” to care about her ailing husband."

As I said, unverified but it certainly fits the narrative. If the liberals can use narrative, conservatives can too. From Yahoo Answers:

What drugs does Joe Biden take that makes him slur and talk incoherently?

Eleven answers so far - here is one:

My guess would be cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine, used to treat dementia.

Memantine is the generic name for Namenda

We are looking at elder abuse. Dr. Jill really really wants to be FLOTUS - even if only for a month or two.

Let's take a cruise

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Just the thing - from Ozzy Man Reviews:

Tip 'o the hat to Vanderleun at American Digest

To work - dump run, coffee, storage unit

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Lisa is coming over tomorrow to work with me putting down the flooring in the living room so getting ready for that today. Picked up some really nice hand-scraped hickory engineered flooring and it has been sitting here acclimating for the last three months. Nice and dimensionally stable. It will be a lot of fun to see how we work together - cooking together was a joy. A voyage of discovery.

Turning into a nice day - got some precip moving in for a few days tomorrow with t-storms for Thursday. And then, there is this bundle of joy:

Gale Warning from WED 6:00 AM PDT until WED 6:00 PM PDT
...GALE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM TO 6 PM PDT WEDNESDAY...
WHAT...Southeast winds 25 to 35 kt.
WHERE...East Entrance U. S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca, Northern Inland Waters Including The San Juan Islands and Admiralty Inlet.
WHEN...From 6 AM to 6 PM PDT Wednesday.
IMPACTS...Strong winds will cause hazardous seas which could capsize or damage vessels and reduce visibility.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Gale Warning means winds of 34 to 47 knots are imminent or occurring. Operating a vessel in gale conditions requires experience and properly equipped vessels. It is highly recommended that mariners without the proper experience seek safe harbor prior to the onset of gale conditions.

The fun never stops around here. Now? To work...

Words of wisdom

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20200922-everest.jpg

Happy Hobbit Day

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Wishing everyone a wonderful Hobbit Day - from the entry at Infogalactic:

Hobbit Day
Hobbit Day is the birthday of the hobbits Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, two fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's popular set of books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In the books both Bilbo and Frodo were said to be born on September 22nd, but of different years. Bilbo was born in the year of 2890 and Frodo in the year of 2968 in the Third Age (1290 and 1368 respectively in Shire-Reckoning.)

My only complaint with the Infogalactic entry is this: "two fictional characters" fictional??? Seriously???

Wonderful news - human trafficking

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From the United States Marshals Service:

35 Missing Children Recovered & Permanent Unit Established in Northern Ohio
Cleveland, OH – United States Marshal Pete Elliott, Police Chief Calvin Williams, Sheriff David Schilling, East Cleveland Police Chief Scott Gardner, and Newburgh Heights Police Chief John Majoy announce the recovery of 35 children during of Operation Safety Net.

The U.S. Marshals Service has been working with its state and local partners over the past month to locate and recover missing juveniles from the Cuyahoga County area. 35 missing and endangered children, between the ages of 13 and 18, were recovered during the operation. A little more than 20% were tied to human trafficking cases and those cases were referred to the Human Trafficking Task Force in Cuyahoga County. Of the 40 missing cases referred to the Marshals Task Force only 5 cases remain open. Members of the task force and its local partners will continue to work over the next several weeks to bring these 5 remaining children and other children to safety.

Chief John Majoy of Newburg Heights stated “We are proud to assist in Operation Safety Net and I commend the United States Marshals Service for their hard work and dedication toward locating these children. Many times, they do not know they are a victim and this operation offers hope, freedom and safety they would not otherwise have. This is a fine example of local, state and federal partners all working together for a notable cause. Together we can all make a difference.”

More at the site - coming on the heels of these other recoveries:

And let us not forget this little list - from here

The writing on the wall - Mittens

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Mitt Romney is a RINO - Republican in Name Only Looks like he actually may be waking up. From Newsmax:

Sen. Romney Backs Vote on Trump's Supreme Court Nominee
Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said Tuesday he supports voting to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat on the Supreme Court, all but ensuring President Donald Trump has the backing needed to push the nomination over Democrats' objections that it's too close to the November election.

Romney issued a statement saying he would support moving forward.

"If the nominee reaches the Senate floor, I intend to vote based upon their qualifications,” Romney said.

Doing my happy dance.

Seven minutes of history

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UPDATE:  C-SPAN had a better video - swapped it out.

President Trump addressed the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly this morning:

From FOX News C-SPAN - quite the speech.
Our United States is a lot different than the United States of the Bitter Little Marxists.
Wonder what the difference is for them?
Maybe here or here - from this article, written in 1996: DSM-IV 301.95 Progressive Personality Disorder

A little bit of history - RBG

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From The New York Times Magazine from July 7th, 2009:

The Place of Women on the Court
In late February, three weeks after she had an operation for a recurrence of cancer, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg went to Barack Obama’s first address to Congress. Given the circumstances, it wasn’t an event anyone expected her to attend. She went, she said, because she wanted the country to see that there was a woman on the Supreme Court.

Now another woman, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, is about to begin the confirmation hearings that stand between her and a seat near Ginsburg on the high bench. After 16 years on the court — the last three, since the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, as the only woman working alongside eight men — Ginsburg has a unique perspective on what’s at stake in Sotomayor’s nomination. I sat down with the 76-year-old justice last week to talk about women on the bench and their effect on the dynamics and decisions of the court.

And the line in question - you can read the whole interview to see that I am not taking it out of context. Also, although I disagree with Justice Ginsberg on some of her decisions, she was intellegent and an excellent Justice.

Q: Are you talking about the distances women have to travel because in parts of the country, abortion is essentially unavailable, because there are so few doctors and clinics that do the procedure? And also, the lack of Medicaid for abortions for poor women?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Yes, the ruling about that surprised me. [Harris v. McRae — in 1980 the court upheld the Hyde Amendment, which forbids the use of Medicaid for abortions.] Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion.

Emphasis mine. Eugenics? Margaret Sanger founded Planned Parenthood and she was very much a eugenicist. Here, herehere, here and here for starters.

Our quiet sun - a full month

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From Spaceweather:

A MONTH WITHOUT SUNSPOTS
The sun has been without sunspots for 31 straight days--a full month. This interval has pushed the current Solar Minimum into historic territory. Since 2016, there have been 825 spotless days. To find a lull in the solar cycle with more spotless days, you have to go back to the years around 1913 when the sun racked up 1023 spotless days. We are now experiencing a century-class Solar Minimum.

Sunspots are an excellent proxy for solar activity and solar output. Fewer sunspots? A cooler sun. Global warming? More like another cooling period like the Maunder Minimum.

Camping - so true

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You are camping in their yard - never forget that.

20200921-bears.jpg

This had me laughing - Supreme Court

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Group dinners during times of COVID

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Now this is depressing - plastics

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From National Public Radio:

Waste Land
Last year, Planet Money ran a show about why it doesn't make sense economically and, heartbreakingly, even environmentally to recycle plastic. But if recycling most plastic is not working now — and if it didn't work 30 years ago when the numbers and arrows first popped up — did it ever work? And why did it take us so long to learn the truth? In this episode, NPR reporter Laura Sullivan, with the support of PBS's Frontline, sets out to find out who is responsible.

And what she finds is a paper trail — crinkled-up documents (that apparently did not get recycled) long forgotten in old boxes. And the trail leads, well, to a guy on a beach in Florida.

24 minute audio show - the plastics manufacturers lied to us saying that recycling would be guaranteed, safe and cheap. None of the above.

Now this will be fun - a little list

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From the London Daily Mail:

Names of EVERY passenger to have flown on Jeffrey Epstein's aircraft 'to be revealed "sparking panic among the pedophile's wealthy friends"'
Jeffrey Epstein's flight logs on his aircraft, including his 'Lolita Express' jet, have been subpoenaed, sparking fear among the rich and famous who partied with the pedophile.

The Attorney General in the US Virgin Islands, where the billionaire had a home and is said to have carried out many of his horrific crimes, has demanded to see the logs which document the passengers on his aircraft.

And of course, this will be leaked in 3... 2... 1...

Don't play with the big dogs if you don't want to get bit. There are always unintended consequences to every action.

Well that explains a lot - RBG

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20200920-arkancide.jpg

And to work

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Lisa is coming over here for dinner tonight so making sure the house looks really good for her. We met less than ten days ago but have really hit it off.

Just go home and take care of your district. From Breitbart:

Pelosi on Using Impeachment to Stop SCOTUS Nomination: ‘We Have Arrows in Our Quiver’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said on Sunday’s broadcast of ABC’s “This Week,” that Democratic lawmakers have “arrows in our quiver,” when asked if impeachment was a possibility to stop a lame-duck Supreme Court nomination should President Donald Trump lose the White House in November and the vacancy following the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has not been filled.

She is seriously well past her sell-by date.

They did not act - Iran sanctions

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So we acted for them From The Washington Free Beacon:

All International Sanctions on Iran Reimplemented, Killing Nuclear Deal
All international sanctions on Iran that were lifted as part of the Obama administration’s landmark nuclear deal with the country have come back into effect as of Saturday evening, removing the last remaining vestiges of the agreement that were still in place.

The renewal of these sanctions comes after months of last-ditch diplomatic efforts by the Trump administration to ensure a United Nations ban on Iran’s purchase of advanced weapons was not lifted. This effort was unsuccessful after it failed to garner backing from traditional European allies on the U.N.’s Security Council. Following that bid, the United States exercised its right under the original 2015 accord to reimpose a litany of sanctions on Tehran that have been waived since the accord was signed and endorsed by the U.N. With the reimposition of these sanctions, the nuclear deal that President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018 is effectively voided.

Members of the U.N. Security Council were powerless to stop the United States from triggering what is known as "snapback"—a mechanism written into the original agreement that permits any member nation to reimpose international sanctions. The move is likely to further enflame ongoing tensions with Iran and also complicate America’s relationship with some its closest allies, including France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Each of these countries stood in the way of U.S. efforts to extend the Iran arms ban as they sought to keep the nuclear accord on life support.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed European powers on the Security Council for forcing the United States to invoke snapback.

The United Nations proved once again that it is ineffectual so we let a part of the Obama Iran Deal take effect. The snapback was always there - it was part of Obama's deal. We are implementing under the rules of the deal.

Heh - TelePrompTer

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So true - Joe Biden

20200919-prompter.jpg

What his handlers are doing to him constitutes elder abuse.

Some history about the TelePrompTer Corporation can be found at Infogalactic.

New Years Eve

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I totally agree with this:

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Senator Schumer in 2016

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Wonder how long this will stay up - Schumer's twitter acount:

And a screen cap - just to make sure:

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Yep - that is all that we are asking - just #DoYourJob. Represent your constituents.

Hillary then (2016), Hillary now:

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From Hillary Clinton's twitter account:

And here is a screen-cap because you know she will not let this stay up:

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Constitutional responsibility indeed - here is Hillary today - from MSNBC's twitter account:

Quite the Volte-Face. Again, remember Hillary's words from 2016:

The Republicans in the Senate and on the campaign trail who are calling for Justice Scalia's seat to remain vacant dishonor our Constitution. The Senate has a constitutional responsibility here than it cannot abdicate for partisan political reasons.

She needs a dose of her own medicine.

A look to the left - moral compass

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If John F. Kennedy were running for President, I would vote for him in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, the radical actors of the 1960's have taken over the Democrat party and are using it to implement a socialist worker's paradise. A Utopia if you will. This despite the plain and simple fact that this has never ever worked before. Even the first colonies in America tried a socialist form of government and it did not work. Here, here, here, here, here, here, here (video), here, here but I could go on. Alright, one more here. Documented. They tried it. It did not work. It never works. Ever.

An interesting look at the moral compass of the people trying to do this now.
From Dennis Prager at The Daily Wire:

The Left’s Moral Compass Isn’t Broken …
All of my life, I have said that the Left’s moral compass is broken.

And all of my life, I was wrong.

Why I was wrong explains both the Left and the moral crisis we are in better than almost any other explanation.

I was wrong because in order to have a broken moral compass, you need to have a moral compass to begin with. But the Left doesn’t have one.

This is not meant as an attack. It is a description of reality. The Left regularly acknowledges that it doesn’t think in terms of good and evil. Most of us are so used to thinking in those terms — what we call “Judeo-Christian” — that it is very difficult for us to divide the world in any other way.

But since Karl Marx, the Left (not liberalism; the two are different) has always divided the world, and, therefore, human actions, in ways other than good and evil. The Left, in Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous words, has always operated “beyond good and evil.”

Marx was an idiot who was wrong about so many things. He had great hair and his ideas sound fantastic to a low-information citizen who does not see the illogic and falsehoods.

6:44 of pure joy - crank the volume and rock out:

A good man - Senator Lindsey Graham

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There were worries that he was on the never-Trump side and, as chairman of the  Senate Judiciary Committee, he would move to block a replacement Justice appointment until after the elections. Today, he sided with our President - from Breitbart:

Lindsey Graham Says He Backs Trump in ‘Any Effort to Move Forward’ on RBG Vacancy
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that he is supporting President Donald Trump “in any effort to move forward” concerning the vacancy left by the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Graham would preside over confirmation hearings for the president’s choice to fill Ginsburg’s seat.

Graham, who posted his comments to Twitter on Saturday afternoon, said that his decision to back President Trump was driven by two factors — former Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-NV) judicial confirmation rule changes and the Democrats’ ultimately unsuccessful attempt to derail Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanugh’s nomination to the high court.

“The two biggest changes regarding the Senate and judicial confirmations that have occurred in the last decade have come from Democrats,” Graham wrote. “In light of these two events, I will support President @realDonaldTrump in any effort to move forward regarding the recent vacancy created by the passing of Justice Ginsburg.”

Good - justice will prevail.

Yikes - good catch

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From the New York Times:

Ricin Is Said to Have Been Sent to White House
Letters sent in recent days to the White House and to federal agencies in Texas contained the lethal substance ricin, and investigators are trying to determine if other envelopes with the toxin were sent through the postal system, a law enforcement official briefed on the matter said on Saturday.

Investigators believe that the letters were sent from Canada, and have identified a woman as a suspect, the official said.

The letter to the White House, which was addressed to President Trump, was intercepted, as were the letters to the federal offices in Texas. It was not immediately clear on Saturday which federal offices were targeted.

An uncomon choice but very lethal with no antidote and relativley easy to extract.

A tale of two tweets

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Harry Reid and the Supreme Court nomination. What is good for the goose...

From President Trump:

And, from Ryan Saavedra - a video of Mitch McConnell from 2013

Heh - a straight up and down vote will bring in President Trump's selection. The Senate vetting process is going to be quite a bit of street theater.

My wish is for Amy Coney Barrett - solid Constitutionalist, already a Justice on the 7th Circuit Court, former law clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia and a former Notre Dame Law School professor. Let's see the left try to trump up a sexual harassment charge for her.

From Mental Floss:

14 Facts About International Talk Like A Pirate Day
Ahoy, me hearties! As many of you know, September 19 is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, an annual phenomenon that’s taken the world by storm, having been observed by every continent, the International Space Station, and even the Oval Office since it first made headlines back in 2002. So let’s hoist the Jolly Roger, break out the rum, and take a look back at the holiday’s timber-shivering history.

Some fun stuff for a fun holliday. Celebrated for 18 years now.

Clean air this morning

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A great improvement. Had quite the downpour last night - raining buckets for about 45 minutes. Woke up able to see the mountains so visibility of well over 30 miles.

From Cliff Mass:

Finally.... Smoke Relief for the Northwest
As the models have been signaling for days, air quality over western Oregon and Washington has improved dramatically over the past 24 h, with much of the region enjoying relatively clean air.  Clean air is surging over the Cascades and should soon displace the smoky air over the NW side of WA and northern Idaho.

Good news - now, all we need is a nice Indian Summer to cap 2020 and I will be happy.

Good riddance - Seattle trash

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From Law Enforcement Today:

Seattle murder suspect arrested and released more than 34 times found dead in tank full of bleach
Who is running Seattle anyway? Murder suspect Travis Berge had racked up over 100 police contacts, dozens of civil infractions, and 47 criminal cases, one an attempted rape, in the five years he lived in Seattle.

On September 18, he was found dead at the bottom of a 10-foot deep tank filled with 50 gallons of a 12% bleach solution. Why wasn’t he in jail long ago?

And it is not that people are not aware of the problem:

Based on a report from Scott P. Lindsay, one could be forgiven for confusing the Seattle courts with a fancy travel bureau and hotel for repeat offenders.

Lindsay’s report is appropriately titled “System Failure”. In it, Lindsay examines the records of 100 repeat offenders who have cycled through Seattle’s criminal justice system.

All of them are or have been homeless, and all have known drug problems. Like Berge, many are addicted to methamphetamines. Mental health flags were found in court records for 38 of the offenders in the study.

The majority of the offenders were white (66%) and male (78%).

The 100 offenders selected for the study were collectively responsible for 3,562 criminal cases in Washington state, or an average of 36 per individual. One offender was responsible for 112 cases.

As long as Seattle maintains a policy of toleration for its criminals, its criminals will continue to offend. Something that the Democrat masters do not seem to grasp. Giving the homeless free stuff is creating a massive Pigeon Problem - if you feed them, more will flock to your city.

A COVID fatality - at 2 months. A newborn

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Of course, there were some underlying conditions - from The Detroit News:

Michigan infant with COVID died from serious birth defect
The immediate cause of death for a 2-month-old the state's top medical doctor said died because of COVID-19 was a birth defect called gastroschisis, a condition in which a baby is born with intestines located outside the body, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner.

Necrotizing enterocolitis and COVID-19 also were listed as other conditions on Hudson King's death certificate, according to a medical examiner report obtained by The Detroit News.

Hudson was announced, but not named by the state, as Michigan's youngest victim of COVID-19 Wednesday, but no details were given as to the infant's gender, hometown or any underlying conditions.

"I was so saddened to hear this week of a 2-month-old baby in Michigan who died because of COVID-19," Chief Medical Executive Joneigh Khaldun announced at the press conference.

The M.E. is politicizing this - following the narrative that COVID is fatal to a wide swath of the population and that we need to shut down the economy to combat it. This guy is causing needless panic and fear and really needs to be held accountable for his words.

Being born with gastroschisis is survivable these days but Hudson's intestines had already started to rot - the necrotizing enterocolitis. From Infogalactic: "and is the second most common cause of morbidity in premature infants"

It is also worthy to note the following: "There is an increased incidence [...of gastroschisis...] when the mother has a history of cigarette smoking, use of recreational drugs, alcohol consumption, low body mass index, or increased frequency of genitourinary infection."

A very tragic event but not due to the Wuhan Flu. Hudson's mom is not taking this well:

Hudson's mother, Brooke Granquist, declined to comment when reached by The News on Friday. But in a Facebook post that has since been removed, Granquist expressed her anger over the state attributing her child's death to COVID-19.

“I am angry. I am so ANGRY. If you heard the state of Michigan report on COVID this morning, you may have heard a 2 month old baby died of COVID. I need everyone to know that Hudson did NOT die of COVID," she wrote.

"According to the autopsy (which has been told to me via phone but not yet by mail), Hudson suffered a bowel perforation and an infection because of it... this is directly related to his gastroschisis. I am so angry. I am angry at the government for skewing numbers and making my baby a statistic to try and benefit their agenda while my family is suffering."

Glad that she is standing up to the deep state. This needs to get to a wider audience.

Goings on at Facebook

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Now this is a bit unnerving - but not unexpected. From Buzzfeed:

“I Have Blood on My Hands”: A Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation
Facebook ignored or was slow to act on evidence that fake accounts on its platform have been undermining elections and political affairs around the world, according to an explosive memo sent by a recently fired Facebook employee and obtained by BuzzFeed News.

The 6,600-word memo, written by former Facebook data scientist Sophie Zhang, is filled with concrete examples of heads of government and political parties in Azerbaijan and Honduras using fake accounts or misrepresenting themselves to sway public opinion. In countries including India, Ukraine, Spain, Brazil, Bolivia, and Ecuador, she found evidence of coordinated campaigns of varying sizes to boost or hinder political candidates or outcomes, though she did not always conclude who was behind them.

“In the three years I’ve spent at Facebook, I’ve found multiple blatant attempts by foreign national governments to abuse our platform on vast scales to mislead their own citizenry, and caused international news on multiple occasions,” wrote Zhang, who declined to talk to BuzzFeed News. Her LinkedIn profile said she “worked as the data scientist for the Facebook Site Integrity fake engagement team” and dealt with “bots influencing elections and the like.”

A lot more at the site - they need to be broken up. Too big and too powerful.

Couple that with the Andrew Sullivan post earlier and you can see the problem we are facing.

Computer modeling

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A useful tool but it is too often been used to push a narrative. The model that Dr. Michael Mann used for the "hockey stick" graph of global warming is a perfect example. You can feed it completely random numbers and it will churn out more hockey sticks - the model was debunked shortly after publication but the paper still stands and people still quote from it because it promotes the narrative.

This is a perfect truth - from Watts Up With That:

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Latinos for Biden

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No one there so CBS had to steal the image of Latinos for Trump and use it falsly - from 90 Miles:

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A stopped clock - Andrew Sullivan

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He may be a loony liberal but he certainly hit it out of the park today - from his website: The Weekly Dish:

We Are All Algorithms Now
I’ve never felt this way about an election before. For my entire adult life, campaigns could be exhilarating, tedious, crowded with incident or laden with foreboding, but you always felt that, at some point, there would be a resolution. The votes would be counted; the exit polls parsed; a decision made; and both sides would respect it.

And this kinda jumped out at me:

Remind yourself that hefty chunks of our society still insist that Covid19 is a hoax, perpetrated for the sake of social control. Re-read Richard Hofstadter. Remember how vast numbers of white liberals drastically shifted their view of America — almost overnight — from a flawed but vibrant multiracial democracy to a version of apartheid South Africa because of a single video of a brutal arrest and murder. This week, I watched videos of people literally burning Harry Potter books, like latter-day Nazis, in the cause of transgender liberation. It’s safe to say, I think, that many of these people have lost their minds — just by staying online. And they not only think they’re perfectly sane; they think they’re heroes.

And online is increasingly where people live. My average screen time this past week was close to ten hours a day. Yes, a lot of that is work-related. But the idea that I have any real conscious life outside this virtual portal is delusional. And if you live in such a madhouse all the time, you will become mad. You don’t go down a rabbit-hole; your mind increasingly is the rabbit hole — rewired that way by algorithmic practice. And you cannot get out, unless you fight the algorithms to a draw, or manage to exert superhuman discipline and end social media use altogether.

But the thing about algorithms and artificial intelligence is that they don’t rest, they have no human flaws, they exploit every weakness we have, and have already taken over. This is not a future dystopia in which some kind of AI robot takes power and kills us all. It is a dystopia already here — burrowed into our minds, literally disabling the basic mental tools required for democracy to work at all.

If you watch video after video of excessive police force against suspects, for example, and your viewing habits are then reinforced by algorithms so you see no countervailing examples, your view about the prevalence of such excessive force will change, regardless of objective reality. A new study shows how this happens.

That certainly describes the cognative Gestalt manifesting these days. Stopped clock? Here.

Interesting - an opinion from The Vatican

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From CNS News:

Catholic Cardinal: 'It's Better to Vote for a Good Protestant Than a Bad Catholic'
When asked about the group "Catholics for Biden" and whether a Catholic can vote for someone who is pro-abortion and anti-family, Cardinal Gerhard Muller, the former doctrinal chief at the Vatican, said Catholics must have "the right understanding of life" and human rights and that it is "better to vote for a good Protestant than a bad Catholic."

A bit more - his reasoning:

“I think as we are citizens in a pluralistic state with religious freedom. And, I don’t support a candidate in Germany because he is Catholic but because he has the right understanding of life and the basics for human rights."

"And it’s better to vote for a good Protestant than for a bad Catholic," said Muller. "We must judge according to what they are doing and not only [according] to their words. That is biblical criteria. Look to the fruits.”

Solid logic - looks like a landslide for President Trump.

Shit gonna hit the fan - RBG

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Saw from various sources that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away today.

November 3rd just got a lot more "interesting"

Gateway Pundit has a sampling of the left's reaction to her passing. Always classy.

A wonderful afternoon

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Had a wonderful walk with Lisa and my dog Bear along the shoreline. We have been having a wonderful time together and hard to believe that we have only known each other for one week.

See what happens.

The hidden cost of COVID

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Governor Inslee owns this - he needs to be voted out of office this November. From The Seattle Times:

As we near 6 months in Washington’s stay-home order, mental health experts warn that things may get worse
You think it’s been bad so far, right?

You’ve been self-isolating, working in your pajamas and ordering everything online. Every trip to the grocery store is a white-knuckle adventure through a claustrophobic hellscape, recently under “Blade Runner” skies, and it’s hard to carry on normal, everyday conversations with … anybody.

You think it can’t get any worse as we approach and pass 200,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. Well, we’re here with some bad news: just wait. We’re about to hit rock bottom.

Sept. 23 will mark exactly six months since Gov. Jay Inslee first issued the stay-home order to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, economic woes, the stress of social justice protests against police brutality, divisive national politics, and now devastating wildfires that have killed dozens and fouled our air have piled up, deepening the strain on every one of us.

The stress is tremendous.

“Nobody is immune from this,” said Kira Mauseth, one of Washington state’s top behavioral health officials. “Nobody.”

Throw in the start of the new school year, the coming election, the usual onset of seasonal affective disorder and what surely will be an unusually stressful holiday season, and we have a unique set of circumstances swirling together just as we are about to hit a communal low emotionally, says Mauseth, a practicing clinical psychologist and Seattle University instructor who is co-lead of the state Department of Health’s (DOH) Behavioral Health Strike Team.

That’s because, as the six-month mark of the stay-home order approaches, we’ve already begun the transition from the “honeymoon” phase of our emotional response to the pandemic and are rapidly moving toward “disillusionment.” This is the fight-or-flight stage and, emotionally speaking, we’re constantly scanning the horizon for danger. Next up, a potential second wave of the virus when cold weather returns.

For Washingtonians, the timing couldn’t be worse. The state says as many as 3 million state residents will experience “clinically significant” behavioral health symptoms.

None of this was ever needed. It is all about controling the population and getting the Orange Man out of the White House. Countries like Sweden did nothing and the infection rates are droping now that everyone has immunity. It is a bad flu - nothing more, nothing less.

So true - The Democrat Zone

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From James Woods:

Twenty eight days

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Our sun is in a quiet period - been 28 days without a sunspot. From Spaceweather:

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Out the door for an hour or so

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Heading out for coffee.  Meeting up with Lisa at 2:30 to hang out.

A nice quiet day.

Slow Joe Biden and COVID-19

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From CNS News:

Biden: ‘Imagine If He Had Said Something’ About Virus in State of the Union (He Did)
Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden suggested on Thursday night that President Trump had said nothing about the emerging coronavirus outbreak during his State of the Union address early this year.

During a CNN town hall in Pennsylvania, Biden contrasted Trump’s response to the crisis to his own, implying that he had been way out ahead of the president.

“He knew about it, he knew the detail of it, he knew it in clear terms,” he said of Trump.

And, of course, CNS News offers this direct quote from our President:

“Protecting Americans’ health also means fighting infectious diseases,” he said. “We are coordinating with the Chinese government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China. My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat.”

Video at the site. They think that they can lie and get away with it. Low information voters...

Under the radar - President Trump

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The stories about peace in the middle east may finally be gaining some traction but this is flying completely under the radar. From the South Florida Sun-Sentinal:

The Trump administration is committed to a safe, democratic Latin America
I recently traveled to Panama and Colombia to meet with presidents Cortizo and Duque and to announce the launch of several of President Donald J. Trump’s initiatives to enhance security, prosperity, and democracy in the Western Hemisphere.

The U.S.-Colombia Growth Initiative will unleash billions of dollars of American private sector investment in Colombia over the next three years. These investments will focus on projects that empower rural Colombians and expand economic opportunities for farmers, such as roads, land titling, and farming infrastructure. By making investments in Colombia’s legitimate agricultural economy, we can begin to move rural Colombians away from coca cultivation.

We expanded our agreement with Panama under the América Crece — Growth in the Americas — program to include infrastructure investment as well as energy projects. Beyond Panama, América Crece will help address the region’s shortfall of over $150 billion in annual private sector infrastructure and energy investment. Almost a dozen of our neighboring countries have already signed framework deals, and we have unleashed over $1 billion in regional investment through the U.S Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

A rising tide floats all boats. This will bring peace and stability to the world. Present an alternative to cocaine as a cash crop and get the farmers educated and the crime cartels will lose traction.

Two screencaps from My Penseive:

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Good - Omar and Tlaib are not working for our interests. Time to ignore the narrative and vote them out.

Black Lives Matter - an interesting look

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From a comment made at Eaton Rapids Joe's blog:

I read the demands of BLM and I shake my head. Not because they are ludicrous or that there aren't real injustices perpetrated by society over time to blacks. I shake my head because BLM has an opportunity to make change happen. BLM is going to squander this opportunity with violence and silly demands that have no way of being fulfilled and no acknowledgment that things have to change in that community, along with societal change. Another year will pass and nothing meaningful will have come from all this chaos.

So true - they are wasting a golden opportunity. Bitter Little Marxists indeed.

Color Revolution

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An interesting video from Glen Beck.  I do not normally listen to him as he is a bit hyperbolic but he does good research and the facts he presents are undeniable. The video is 48 minutes long but you can use YouTube's Playback Speed option (under the little gear icon) to speed it up. It is perfectly intelligible at 1.75X

For all YouTube videos, the K key will pause and resume and the J and L keys will fast back 10 seconds or fast forward 10. He has commercial breaks and usually two taps of the L key will get you past them.

From Glen Beck:

Old Joe Biden

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This clip is from 1987:

An Executive Order - 1776 Commission

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President Trump is like the Energizer Bunny. He is unstopable. From the Miami Herald:

What is the 1776 Commission? Trump announces plan to promote ‘patriotic education’
President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will be establishing a commission to promote “patriotic education” in the United States.

He announced the plan, called The 1776 Commission, during a speech at the White House History Conference.

“It will encourage educators to teach our children about the miracle of American history and make plans to honor the 250th anniversary of our founding,” Trump said during the speech held on Constitution Day, which marks the anniversary of the adoption of the United States Constitution.

Good - America has always been great. It just suffers from an artificial image problem created by a few nihilists who want to tear it down. Defeat their narrative and teach the truth. We are suffering now from their long march through the institutions.

The party of the little guy

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An interesting look at some numbers - from CNS News:

26 of 27 Richest Congressional Districts Represented by Democrats
Twenty-six of the 27 richest congressional districts in the United States, according to 2019 median household income data released today by the Census Bureau, are currently represented by Democrats.

In fact, every one of the nation’s seventeen richest congressional districts, when measured by median household income as of 2019, are currently represented by Democrats.

The eighteenth richest congressional district—New York’s 2nd District—is the richest one currently represented by a Republican. Located on Long Island, it has a median household income of $108,725 and is represented by Republican Rep. Peter King.

The nation’s richest congressional district, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, is California’s 18th District, which sits south of San Francisco and includes part of Silicon Valley.

Not surprised. The mega-rich can ride out any storm and the Dems hand out free shit to the institutionally poor. It is us guys in the middle that get crunched. The actual numbers at the site.

The latest COVID numbers

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From My Penseive:

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Dealing with China - Sweden gets it

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From the South China Morning Post:

H&M cuts ties with Chinese supplier over Xinjiang forced labour accusations
Swedish clothing giant H&M said on Tuesday it was ending its relationship with a Chinese yarn producer over accusations of “forced labour” involving ethnic and religious minorities from China’s Xinjiang province.

The fashion retailer specified that it did not work with any garment factories in the region and that it would no longer source cotton from Xinjiang, which is China’s largest cotton growing area.

A bit more and some other good news:

Rights groups say over a million Uygurs languish in political re-education camps, which Beijing describes as vocational training centres where education is given to lift the population out of poverty and to chisel away at Islamic radicalism.

China says criticism of its handling of Xinjiang is politically motivated, and based on lies about what happens in the vast facilities it has built.

On Monday US customs said it would bar a raft of Chinese products including cotton, garments and hair products, from Xinjiang over fears they were made using forced labour.

China on Tuesday slammed the US move as “bullying” and dismissed accusations of forced labour as “a complete fabrication”.

Nice to see that the US Customs is doing the same thing. As for this being "a complete fabrication" - the communist Chinese government doth protest too much. We know. They know that we know. They just want to save face.

An inconvenient email - Nashville, TN

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Looks like their mayor got some 'splainin' to do - from the Nashville FOX News affiliate:

COVID-19 emails from Nashville mayor's office show disturbing revelation
The coronavirus cases on lower Broadway may have been so low that the mayor’s office and the Metro Health Department decided to keep it secret.

Emails between the mayor’s senior advisor and the health department reveal only a partial picture. But what they reveal is disturbing.

The discussion involves the low number of coronavirus cases emerging from bars and restaurants and how to handle that.

And most disturbingly, how to keep it from the public.

They wanted to keep them closed but the actual numbers were showing that there was no danger. Solution? Hide the numbers.

And yes, the mayor is a Democrat.

Got a good point - crosses

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From David Hines' twitter account:

California

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From America's Newspaper of Record - the Babylon Bee:

D'oh! Last Guy Left In California Gets Stuck Paying The $140 Billion Tax Bill
With high taxes, low electricity, and everything on fire, people continue to leave California. One man, Warren Stanley, was determined to stay, though. “I just enjoy the climate,” he explained. But he got a surprise this morning when he received a tax bill in the mail for $140 billion.

“As the last person remaining in California,” stated the letter from California Governor Gavin Newsom (who now works remotely from income tax-free Florida), “you’re going to have to pay all the taxes. Thanks for choosing our great state!”

“Aw, man,” Stanley whined. “I knew I hadn’t seen my neighbors in a while, but I didn’t think I was the last.” Stanley says he doesn’t think he’ll be able to pay the tax bill, as most of his income goes to paying his rent. If he doesn’t pay it, though, he’ll be arrested for tax evasion -- though it will take a while for the police to get him since they all live out of state.

Stanley is currently working on negotiating some sort of payment plan. His main question was whether, if he paid his taxes, the state would be able to keep the electricity on continuously, but the answer he got was “probably not.”

Fact checking? True on all counts.

Totalitarianism and manipulation - the flu

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Good question - from My Penseive:

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Standards

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So true - from Woodsterman:

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A braying ninny - John Kerry

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Perfect 44 second summation of his intellect:

He's got great hair and is propped up by his wife's money (the Heinz food fortune) but, at heart, he is a dummy.

Constitution day - a celebration

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He does not hold his punches - from Breitbart:

AG William Barr: Coronavirus Lockdowns ‘Greatest Intrusion on Civil Liberties’ Since Slavery
Attorney General William Barr said Wednesday evening “other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint,” coronavirus lockdowns were the “greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history.”

Barr’s comments came during a Constitution Day celebration at Hillsdale College, commemorating the date in 1789 when the Constitution was signed by the Framers in Philadelphia.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Barr has expressed alarm at the restrictions imposed by state authorities on First Amendment rights, particularly the freedom of religion.

Disagree? Feel free to change my mind.

Happy Constitution Day

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From the website:

Constitution Day
On September 17, 1787, the Founding Fathers signed the most influential document in American history, the U.S. Constitution.

Every year, the National Constitution Center hosts the best Constitution Day celebration in the country. We are the place to turn to help you commemorate this historic day while meeting your federal education requirements, at the Center and online!

A wonderful document and the very foundation of what makes America such an amazing beacon of love, hope and prosperity. Anyone who says differently is more than welcome to vote with their feet and move to Venezuela or Cuba or any other socialist paradise. Anyone? anyone? Thought so...

Riding out the fire

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Ho. Li. Crap. Quite the story from Oregon - from Portland station KGW:

Detroit Dam operator rides out massive Oregon wildfires inside dam, keeping it safe
Forty five miles east of Salem along Highway 22, the Detroit Dam, in the Cascade Mountains, holds back some of the North Santiam River. It forms Detroit Lake and controls the amount of water flowing into the river and the valley below.

The dam is run by plant operators who carefully adjust the computers and machines that run turbines in the massive structure and control the water output.

Mike Pomeroy is one of those operators. On the afternoon of Labor Day, he reported to the dam’s control room, called the powerhouse. It's housed in a smaller building near the base of the dam. All alone, Pomeroy was about to begin one of the longest shifts of his life.

Over the first several hours, it seemed like a routine shift. Pomeroy drove back and forth the three miles from the Detroit Dam to the Big Cliff Dam downstream, checking on gauges and making adjustments.

He knew there was a fire in the area.

He locked himself in the dam monitoring the various functions for several days until the fire had burned out. Quite the story to tell the grandkids. Talk about having a pair of brass ones.

A tale of two stories - Minneapolis

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From National Public Radio, dated June 26, 2020:

Minneapolis Council Moves To Defund Police, Establish 'Holistic' Public Safety Force
The Minneapolis City Council on Friday unanimously approved a proposal to eliminate the city's police department, marking the first step toward establishing a new "holistic" approach to public safety.

The move follows more than a month of national outrage and protests against police brutality in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died after an officer pressed his knee into his neck for more than eight minutes.

From Minnesota Public Radio, dated September 15, 2020:

With violent crime on the rise in Mpls., City Council asks: Where are the police?
The meeting was slated as a Minneapolis City Council study session on police reform.

But for much of the two-hour meeting, council members told police Chief Medaria Arradondo that their constituents are seeing and hearing street racing which sometimes results in crashes, brazen daylight carjackings, robberies, assaults and shootings. And they asked Arradondo what the department is doing about it.

"Residents are asking, ‘Where are the police’?” said Jamal Osman, newly elected council member of Ward 6. He said he's already been inundated with complaints from residents that calls for police aren’t being answered.

And some numbers:

The number of reported violent crimes, like assaults, robberies and homicides are up compared to 2019, according to MPD crime data. More people have been killed in the city in the first nine months of 2020 than were slain in all of last year. Property crimes, like burglaries and auto thefts, are also up. Incidents of arson have increased 55 percent over the total at this point in 2019.

Heh - you broke it, you bought it. Invite thugs into your neighborhood, dial back police activity and then you are surprised at the result? Talk about being a special kind 'o stupid.

That is only three months - imagine what Minneapolis will be like in two more months - after the election.

We can all be gods

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Great philosophical musing from Eaton Rapids Joe this morning - short so here it is in full:

Marxist Jesus
Marxists will sometimes argue that Jesus was against private property. After all, the flipped the money-changer's tables in the Temple yard.

The most famous Christian prayer is the Our Father, also known as The Lord's Prayer.

His disciples asked him, "Teach us how to pray."

One line in the Our Father reads "..and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us..."

A literal reading of that translation is that we sin when we trespass or "infringe upon another's property". In fact, the prayer suggests that is the ONLY way we sin.

My body is my "property".

My reputation is my "property".

My land, my tools, my food are all my "property".

If you infringe on them then you harmed me and committed a sin.

The next line seems to anticipate Marxists. It reads "...and lead us not into temptation..." or in some translations "...and save us from temptation..."

Envy is the engine that drives Marxism. To engage in envy is to wallow in temptation. Marxists marinate their followers in envy.

The next line is "...but deliver us from evil..." The juxtaposition implies the two items "temptation" and "evil" are connected.

Earlier I wrote that the Bible seems to anticipate Marxism. Rather, it recognizes unchanging, human frailties. In the Garden of Eden, Satan promised Eve what God have if she ate from the Tree of Knowledge. He relentlessly stoked her envy and she weakened and then sinned.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Marxism is just the latest incarnation of Satan's empty promises that we can all be gods.

I am reminded of that wonderful scene between Loki and Bruce Banner - Puny god indeed.

Maintaining communication - Pelosi

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I didn't realize that it was this bad.  From the New York Post:

‘Forget him’: Pelosi defends not speaking to Trump for almost a year
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended how she has handled her relationship with President Trump — after it was pointed out that the two leaders haven’t spoken in almost a year amid mounting crises.

Speaking to MSNBC’s Craig Melvin on Monday, Pelosi (D-Calif.) faced pushback after repeatedly saying “Forget him” while answering a question about countering the commander-in-chief’s rhetoric and narrative.

Melvin noted to the nation’s highest elected Democrat that, “with all due respect, you just said, ‘Forget him.'”

“Yeah, forget him,” she responded.

The MSNBC host then asked if she and the president had “just stopped talking? Is that where we are?”

“You haven’t talked to him about the wildfires, I get the impression you probably haven’t talked to him about the coronavirus relief bill.”

Pelosi and Trump have not spoken since the House speaker got up and walked out of a heated White House meeting in October 2019.

How is she even able to do her job without talking to President Trump? Oh. Wait. She is not able to do her job. She lives in her little bubble and talks only to those people who agree with her. She is the queen of garbage. Her district is a shithole.

Not a surprise there. The bitter little marxists are not a 501(c)(3) and have not applied for that status. To do so would mean a large measure of transparency into their finances and they do not want that exposure. If you go to their donations page, you will see that the money is actually going to Act Blue - a Democrat run organization that acts as a funding agency for fringe groups. Now this from The Federalist:

Chinese Organization With Communist Party Ties Funds Black Lives Matter Ventures
The Black Futures Lab, a venture of Black Lives Matter founder Alicia Garza, is sponsored by the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA), an organization that works with China’s communist government to push its agenda in the United States, according to an investigation by the Heritage Foundation’s Mike Gonzalez.

Gonzalez discovered that the Black Futures Lab donation page explicitly states they are “a fiscally sponsored project of the Chinese Progressive Association,” explaining where donations to Black Futures Lab are funneled.

Gonzalez explains the history of the CPA in the United States, documenting the activities the group sponsors on behalf of the Chinese government, including one instance in which the People’s Republic of China flag was flown over Boston’s City Hall to honor the takeover of China by the Chinese Communist Party. The CPA is routinely praised for its work in the U.S. by China’s official mouthpiece, China Daily.

“It is clear, then, that CPA works with China’s communist government, pushes its agenda here in the United States, and is regularly praised by China’s state-owned mouthpieces,” Gonzalez writes. “It is clear, too, from, this perspective, why the CPA would sponsor a new enterprise by Garza: They espouse the same desire for world communism.”

All the same people behind the scenes. Not surprised at all.

Good news from Cliff Mass

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Waking up to some good news for a change - from Seattle meteorologist Cliff Mass:

The End is in Sight
We can finally see forward to the end of this terrible smoke event over western Washington and Oregon.

But first let me show you something that will impress. Below is a composite MODIS weather satellite image for yesterday, a picture that shows West Coast smoke extended over the entire continent. In New York or DC this morning, people will view a hazy sky and a weakened sun from the West Coast fires; in fact, the smoke extended well into the Atlantic.

More at the site - a few more days of this and then some relief. Some relief by Saturday and an end to the smoke around the 22nd (Tuesday).

A news item and an editorial. First, from the Pasadena Star-News:

With mammoth Bobcat fire looming, firefighters draw battle lines along Mt. Wilson’s steep slopes
Fire crews stood poised atop Mount Wilson on Tuesday, Sept. 15, strategizing in the shadow of billions of dollars worth of communications infrastructure and history-shaping telescopes. With the Bobcat fire’s various smoky layers dancing as close as 500 feet away, snaking upward toward the complex from various wooded routes, the team’s mission was simple: Protect the familiar towers of the Mount Wilson Observatory.

Already, a fiery tendril from the forest blaze crested a steep ridge around midday and wound toward an observation pathway facing east from the mountaintop. Black smoke poured out from the burning trees and flames climbed dozens of feet into the air. The wildfire sounded more like a waterfall, a din of cracking and popping.

That small, pesky fire, however, was the least of their concerns. It was just a finger off the mammoth blaze ascending from the base of the mountain.

And this from the LA-ist:

What We'll Lose If The Mt. Wilson Observatory Burns
You may not have realized it, but sitting atop one of the highest points in the San Gabriel mountains, looming 5,700 feet over L.A., is arguably one of the world's most important spots for scientific discovery: the Mount Wilson Observatory.

The 114-year-old site is covered in equipment that not only helped mankind discover the universe and cement Southern California as an astronomy hub, but still connects normal people to wonders beyond our own world.

Yes, the site is old and yes, there is a lot of light pollution but there is still a lot of really good science being done at the observatory. The place is at the bedrock of our understanding of the universe.

And here we go again - Hurricane Sally

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Can't get a break - from One America News Network:

Hurricane Sally Makes Landfall On Ala. Coast
Hurricane Sally made landfall on the Gulf Shores of Alabama after re-strengthening to a Category Two hurricane.

Meteorologists confirmed the storm picked up force Tuesday night into Wednesday morning and warned its effects will be felt along the gulf coast. Winds of up to 105 miles-per-hour were measured during the night.

Hurricane Laura was just two weeks ago. A bad season. Not the worst by far but still, not good.

And that's it for tonight

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Some YouTube and bed. Raining and the sound is making me drowsy - as much as I missed the summer, listening to the rain is really nice.

Awww - got an email

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L sent this to me.  The previous owner of the house grew roses and she likes them:

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Hard to believe that we have known each other for only four days.

Heh - first Sandmann, now Dershowitz

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From Law & Crime:

Alan Dershowitz Files $300 Million Lawsuit Against CNN for Portraying Him as an ‘Intellectual Who Had Lost His Mind’
Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against CNN, claiming the cable news network, together with their hosts and panelists, intentionally created a false narrative about what the famed criminal defense attorney argued while defending the president during impeachment proceedings earlier this year.

Dershowitz’s allegations stem from news coverage of his argument about the kind of quid pro quos a sitting president may engage in while office—provided that the exchange is done with the intent of winning re-election in the public interest and not in violation of some law. While his theory was widely panned by attorneys and legal experts across the media, Dershowitz claimed that CNN intentionally omitted portions of his argument to make it appear as though he was arguing “the exact opposite of what he said.”

And the gist of the suit:

In his lawsuit, Dershowitz claims that CNN only aired him saying the latter sentence to promulgate “a one-sided and false narrative that Professor Dershowitz believes and argued that as long as the President believes his reelection is in the public interest, that he could do anything at all – including illegal acts – and be immune from impeachment.”

“The very notion of that was preposterous and foolish on its face, and that was the point: to falsely paint Professor Dershowitz as a constitutional scholar and intellectual who had lost his mind,” the lawsuit said. “With that branding, Professor Dershowitz’s sound and meritorious arguments would then be drowned under a sea of repeated lies.”

CNN is losing a lot of money these days. First, it had to pay (as well as the Washington Post) an undisclosed sum to Covington High School student Nicholas Sandmann. And now this - there is no way they can argue their way out of this. It was direct manipulation of the video to change the slant of Dershowitz' words. Must follow the narrative.

China lost face when the Wuhan Flu escaped the lab. They do not want to have the nation of China associated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus despite a long-standing tradition of naming diseases after the places they were first identified. Think Spanish Flu, German Measles, Legionnaire’s Disease, Ebola, Zika Fever, Lassa Fever, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Lyme Disease, West Nile Virus, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, etc...
I could go on but you get the general idea.

Now this - from Zero Hedge:

Twitter Suspends Account Of Chinese Scientist Who Published Paper Alleging Covid Was Created In Wuhan Lab
On Sunday afternoon we asked how long before the twitter account of the "rogue" Chinese virologist, Dr. Li-Meng Yan, who yesterday "shocked" the world of establishment scientists and other China sycophants, by publishing a "smoking gun" scientific paper demonstrating that the Covid-19 virus was manmade, is "silenced."

We now have the answer: less than two days. A cursory check of Dr Yan's twitter page reveals that the account has been suspended as of this moment.

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The suspension took place shortly after Dr Yan had accumulated roughly 60,000 followers in less than 48 hours. The snapshot below was taken earlier in the day precisely in anticipation of this suspension.

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It was not immediately clear what justification Twitter had to suspend the scientist who, to the best of our knowledge, had just 4 tweets as of Tuesday morning none of which violated any stated Twitter policies, with the only relevant tweet being a link to her scientific paper co-written with three other Chinese scientists titled "Unusual Features of the SARS-CoV-2 Genome Suggesting Sophisticated Laboratory Modification Rather Than Natural Evolution and Delineation of Its Probable Synthetic Route" which laid out why the Wuhan Institute of Virology had created the covid-19 virus.

While we appreciate that Twitter may have experienced pressure from either China, or the established scientist community, to silence Dr Yan for proposing a theory that flies in the face of everything that has been accepted as undisputed gospel - after all Twitter did just that to us - we are confident that by suspending her account, Jack Dorsey has only added more fuel to the fire of speculations that the covid virus was indeed manmade (not to mention countless other tangential conspiracy theories).

If Yan was wrong, why not just let other scientists respond in the open to the all too valid arguments presented in Dr. Yan's paper? Isn't that what "science" is all about? Why just shut her up?

The Streisand Effect in full play. The paper can be found here: Unusual Features of SARS-CoV-2 Genome Sugesting...

Well dagnabit - farmer's market

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Went to the farmer's market and it had been called due to the smoke. Had some business at the library and the bank (all at the same location) so not a wasted trip. Picked up the latest edition of my ham radio magazine at my mailbox. Having some left-over Indian food from yesterday's lunch for dinner. L is going to join me doing the grocery deliveries tomorrow afternoon and we will pick up my PA loudspeakers and then head up to Mt. Vernon for Thai food.

Had some nice sunshine this morning - L and I sat outside for coffee, I brought Bear along. Got cloudy again and now the sun is completley hidden. Visibility is just about one mile with more in the forecast.

Quick surf before dinner.

From the last headline:

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets into Israel on Tuesday, wounding two people in an attack that was apparently timed to coincide with the signing of normalization agreements between Israel and two Arab countries at the White House.

The Palestinians are opposed to the agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, viewing them as a betrayal of their cause by the Arab countries, which agreed to recognize Israel without securing territorial concessions.

Heh - the "palestinians" just got marginalized back to the stone age. They were used to being a key player in the strife between Israel and the Arab world. That strife just evaporated and with it, their entire raison d'être.

Guy enjoys Portland's revolving door legal system until the fifth time - from the Post Millenial:

Rioter arrested 4 times in 4 weeks by Portland authorities now federally charged
A Washington state man who has been arrested four times and quickly bailed out within a month at violent Portland Antifa riots, was arrested by federal authorities this week.

Following a Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation, 26-year-old Kristopher Michael Donnelly, of Kelso, Wash., was arrested and federally charged with felony civil disorder. The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon accuses him of assaulting a Portland Police officer. When Donnelly was arrested four times in August and booked into the local jail, he was either quickly bailed out or released by the county.

Good - people like that need to learn that this behavior is not rewarded. Looks like he is dealing with adults this time.

Facebook - the background story

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Sums it up in one meme:

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Good - a judge with some stones

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From National Review:

Judge Sets Bail at $1 Million Each for Lancaster Rioters
Rioting in Lancaster, Pa. in the wake of the police shooting of a knife-wielding man has led to the arrest of 12 adults and one minor, nine of whom are being held at Lancaster County Jail on $1 million bail each.

The arrests happened during a riot around 3 a.m. Monday that saw demonstrators marching from the scene of the shooting to the police station while throwing glass bottles, rocks, bricks, gallon jugs filled with liquid and plastic road barricades at police, authorities said. A county vehicle was also damaged.

Good. This kind of acting out is not tolerated in two-year-olds and it should not be tolerated in adults. Drive that point home enough hard enough and the behavior will go away - simple as that.

America is on fire

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Interesting observation from retired newspaperman Don Surber:

9-in-10 wildfires are set by humans
Dear Facebook,

Before you flag this as fake news, my source is the National Weather Service.

NWS reported that 87% of the wildfires were caused by humans this year -- 7,072 in California alone. Not all were arson, of course, because humans are pretty careless. But enough are arson to cause concern in light of Democrats setting cities aflame this summer. The last thing we want is the Antifa arm of the Democrat Party expanding into rural areas.

Don cites a bunch of news articles to back this up including this one from the London Daily Mail:

The Daily Mail reported, "Stark data showed that 36,383 of the 41,599 fires that have ripped through the nation in the first nine months of the year were started by humans, burning a total of 2,510,743 acres.

"California has been hardest-hit by human-caused fires, with a total of 7,072 as of September 10.

"Texas was second with 4,170, followed by North Carolina with 1,889, Florida with 1,779 and Arizona with 1,552.

"Despite the prevalence of human-caused fires, authorities in Oregon have waded in on rumors that wildfires in the state have been deliberately started by extremist political groups."

Prompting this note in the comments section:

J MelcherSeptember 15, 2020 at 2:57 PM
Why is the UK Daily Mail cited for US weather/wildfire data, instead of CNN, or NPR?

Oh, right ...

So true.

And back home again

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Met up with L for coffee and we had a nice two hour chat talking about everything. Get along very well - feels very easy.

Back home to do the last of the paperwork and declutter the house a bit - having her over for dinner on the weekend.

Now this might be interesting - Wuhan Flu

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From the University of Pittsburgh:

Pitt Scientists Discover Tiny Antibody Component That is Highly Effective in Preventing and Treating SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Animal Models
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists have isolated the smallest biological molecule to date that completely and specifically neutralizes the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is the cause of COVID-19. This antibody component, which is 10 times smaller than a full-sized antibody, has been used to construct a drug—known as Ab8—for potential use as a therapeutic and prophylactic against SARS-CoV-2.

The researchers report today in the journal Cell that Ab8 is highly effective in preventing and treating SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice and hamsters. Its tiny size not only increases its potential for diffusion in tissues to better neutralize the virus, but also makes it possible to administer the drug by alternative routes, including inhalation. Importantly, it does not bind to human cells—a good sign that it won’t have negative side-effects in people.

Very cool - all of these crash research programs will have wonderful spin-off's for other diseases.

From FOX News:

Kamala Harris accidentally touts plans under a 'Harris administration' during virtual roundtable
Kamala Harris, Joe Biden's running mate in the 2020 election, raised eyebrows on Monday evening after she accidentally touted economic plans under a "Harris administration."

Speaking during a virtual roundtable with small business owners in Arizona, Harris vowed that they will have an ally in the White House with the campaign's "Build Back Better" initiative.

However, the California senator appeared to briefly suggest that she was at the top of the Democratic ticket.

"A Harris administration, together with Joe Biden as the president of the United States," she said. She quickly clarified, "The Biden-Harris administration will provide access to $100 billion in low-interest loans and investments from minority business owners."

Emphasis mine - no big surprise there but you think that she would be a little more discreet until November 4th.

Oh. Wait. I forgot. Voting day for Democrats is November 5th.  If you are an evil fascist Republican, you need to get your vote in by November 3rd. If you are an intellegent and caring Democrat, you have two more days to vote so your final day to get your vote in is November 5th. Drop your ballot in the mail at the last possible moment on the 5th so we can see a huge landslide.

Heh - cancel culture

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From My Penseive:

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The man behind the curtain

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Wonderful rant from Victor Davis Hanson at American Greatness:

Biden, ‘The Great and Powerful’
Media bias is not new.

In addition to the Russian collusion hoax and the phone-call impeachment farce, who can forget the marquee media toadies of JournoList and the release of John Podesta’s email trove?

Or the moderator Donna Brazile’s primary debate questions, leaked through CNN, or Candy Crowley’s hijacking of a debate as moderator-turned-real-time-hack “fact-checker”?

Nothing then is new to the media’s fusion and collusion with the “progressive party.”

Yet never in American history have mainstream journalists not merely promoted a candidate but actively fused with his political candidacy to the point of warping, fabricating, and Trotskyizing the news and indeed history itself.

The trope of a vast charade to create an illusionary powerful figure out of nothing is an old one in fiction, Hollywood and television. We remember “The Great and Powerful” Wizard of Oz fakery, a formidable screen image created backstage by gears and levers operated by a tiny man “behind the curtain.” Similar is the famous scene in an episode of the old Star Trek series, depicting a near comatose on-air John Gill used as a televised prop by his puppeteers, in a utopian federation project gone haywire.

But reality has outdone art with the Biden campaign. The concoction is holistic, from the mundane construction of a fantasy, on-the-go candidate to the supposed middle-of-the road old Joe Biden from Scranton radiating an aura of kindness and moderation in times of plague, panic, and protest.

Great analogy - where is Toto when we need him.

Now this is interesting - Slow Joe

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From The Washington Free Beacon:

FBI Raids Home of Netflix Star and Biden Surrogate Over Underage Sex Allegation
A man featured in a campaign video with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is under federal  investigation for soliciting sex with minors, according to USA Today.

Federal agents raided the Illinois home of Jerry Harris, who gained notoriety due to his role in the Netflix documentary Cheer, Monday afternoon as part of a probe into messages sent to minors asking for explicit photos and to meet for sex. The solicitations were flagged for authorities by the 21-year-old's employer.

Just three months ago the Biden campaign used Harris, who has over a million followers on Instagram, as part of Biden's push to sway young voters and "win back the internet," Time magazine reported. The Instagram live video of Harris and Biden was viewed nearly 300,000 times.

After publication of this article, the Instagram video was removed from the social media platform. The Free Beacon captures a screenshot of the image before it was deleted.

Hope and change - part deux. Who do you want in office, a leader or an internet influencer?

Must see video - 28 seconds long

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Tip 'o the hat to Powerline for the link and this commentary:

THE DUMBEST THING YOU’LL SEE TODAY
I generally avoid writing about events or people merely because they are dumb. We are so awash in stupidity that doing so would be more than a full-time job, and you and I both have better things to do with our time.

However: sometimes stupidity is entertaining, as in the video below. I don’t know what the event was, except that, per Mike Nayna’s tweet, it is a group of academics trying to “cure racism.” The other reason why the video is worthwhile is that, as Kurt Schlichter points out, there is one sane person in the picture, reacting silently but appropriately to the madness in front of him. My advice is, don’t let this kid go to college. His common sense could be ruined.

Be sure to visit Mike's twitter page for this to see the additional commentary.

Tired tonight

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So heading over to YouTube and then to bed.  Started raining this afternoon so feeling downright sleepy. The beginning of winter always does that to me. A time to turn inward.

Need to hustle my buns on the outside projects though - have a drainage problem here and want to put in some French Drains before the rains return in force.

Great quote from 1965 - prescient

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Found at Grouchy Old Cripple:

Newsman (sic) have a very short attention span. It is a prerequisite in the business. That is why the news accounts of almost everything makes sense to all ages up to the age of twelve. If one wishes to enjoy newspapers, it is wise to halt all intellectual development right up to that age. The schools are doing their level best to achieve this goal. For the first time in history it is possible to earn doctorates in obscure professional techniques without upsetting the standard of a twelve-year-old basic intellect.
––Travis McGee from A Deadly Shade of Gold published in 1965.

One state at a time - Pennsylvania

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Great news - from Pittsburgh station WTAE:

Judge: Pennsylvania's pandemic restrictions unconstitutional
A  federal judge in Pittsburgh says Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and State Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine had good intentions to protect people from the coronavirus but their orders went too far. The judge ruled in a court order that Wolf's closing of "non-life-sustaining" businesses and restrictions on gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic were unconstitutional.

"You  can't tell 13 million Pennsylvanians that they have to stay home. That's not America. It never was.  That order was horrible," Thomas W. King, III, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told Pittsburgh's Action News 4.

Judge William Stickman IV ruled that the state-posed limits on gatherings violated the First Amendment and the stay-at-home and business-closing orders violated the Fourteenth Amendment.

And some great news:

Stickman, an appointee of President Donald Trump, wrote in his ruling that the Wolf administration's pandemic policies have been overreaching, arbitrary and violated citizens' constitutional rights.

Stickman ruled in favor of individual and business plaintiffs, and he dismissed the county governments from the case. Individuals who won the favorable ruling include U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa.; state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler; and various businesses including hair salons and the Starlight Drive-In.

"This ruling stands for the proposition that  even in a pandemic, the citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania do not forfeit their constitutionally protected rights,\" Thomas E. Breth, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told Pittsburgh's Action News 4.

Elections have consequences - President Trump has been appointing some excellent judges.

Now if only Washington State would do the same. A lot of people are getting very tired of this. I have a facial diaper that reads: "My governor is an idiot" and I get a lot of positive comments when I go anywhere.

Heh - coffee

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From My Penseive:

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A delightful day

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We get along wonderfully - very similar energy.  We left a bit early in the day so had lunch instead of dinner. Spent seven hours together running errands and driving around and talking.

Interesting to see what happens. Kind of scary that we are so similar in likes and dislikes.

Heading out soon

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Lisa and I are heading North to run a few errands. Having dinner out so minimal posting today.

Woke up to less than a mile visibility. The sun is trying to burn through but no avail. Cliff Mass offers no words of encouragment with this morning's post:

Much More Pessimistic Air Quality Outlook and Model Problems
Things are looking far more pessimistic this morning, with considerably less improvement in western WA and OR air quality than expected yesterday.

And these problems are highlighting issues with our modeling systems and ability to observe/simulation smoke in the lower atmosphere. Paradoxically, such problems are what modelers like me live for, providing opportunities to learn and improve our systems.

Air quality has not improved overnight, as shown by the summary at 4 AM this morning from the excellent Washington State Dept of Ecology WASMOKE site. Hazardous air over Puget Sound, the Willamette Valley, and parts of Eastern WA.

We did have rain in the forecast for later this week but that is no longer the case. It IS 2020 after all...

The wildfire situation - two stories

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California's governor is stumping for OMG climate change

But, to our North - from Bruce White Bear

The California wildfires are a tragedy and I feel sorry for those involved but the root cause is not climate change. The root cause is the failure of the Californian government to maintain its infrastructure and to perform basic forest management practices. I have said before that we learned a serious lesson thirty two years ago when the Yellowstone fires of 1988 burned 36% of the park. 1,200 square miles of land.

Two morning memes

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Caught my eye:

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Verily, for I have no fucks to give

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For my field is bare:

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Now this could be interesting - Tom Hanks

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From Jenna Jameson's twitter account:

Be sure to visit her account and scroll down - some people have posted things that could be germane. Ghislane Maxwell germane. Robert Mueller germane.

Shit meet fan?

Great news for skiers - La Niña

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From Meteorologist Scott Sistek at Seattle station KOMO:

A sight for sore (and dry) eyes: Forecasters officially declare La Niña is here!
As our long, late summer dry stretch now encroaches into the second week of September, there is some good news for those who prefer a rainy day around here: La Niña is officially here!

NOAA forecasters declared a La Niña Advisory Thursday indicating that water temperatures in the central Pacific Ocean have now met the three-month threshold of being at least a half-degree cooler than normal (-0.9 degrees C in the latest report.)

Celebration?

La Niña winters are good news for not only rain fans, but skiers, snowboarders and water managers. Typically as we get into late fall and into the winter, we'll see a frequent pattern where the jet stream carries cooler air from Alaska and B.C. down into our region while providing plenty of moisture. That keeps snow levels down and mountain snowfall plentiful usually leading to an above-average snowpack.

Where I used to live (and still have my store) depends on sking at Mt. Baker for a lot of our business revenue. This year was a total bust as the skiing was poor and then the Wuhan Flu shut down a lot of the park visitation/camping/hiking (the other major driver). Hope things start lurching toward normalcy.

 

And breaking for dinner

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Salad and some rice and bok choy with sesame oil and oyster sauce. No protein except for the nuts and seeds on the salad but simple and tasty.

I present: Saxsquatch

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Lots of material on YouTube - here is "In the air tonight"

And the website: Saxsquatch

Some history - antifa

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Here is a history lesson in one image and a teachable moment in two more:

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These are not just punks with bricks - they are well funded and organized. Here are two photographs taken at at a training camp in Syria about five years ago:

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XRVision is a Singapore company who specializes in facial recognition and identification so I am betting that the federales know who these people are and are waiting to arrest them.

Hard at work - President Trump

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Not being reported by most media of course. From FOX News:

Trump signs executive order to lower drug prices in fight against Big Pharma
President Trump signed an executive order Sunday to lower the cost of prescription drugs, he revealed on Twitter.

Trump announced that the aim of the order is to reduce prices to give America “the same low price Big Pharma gives to other countries.”

From his twitter account - the announcement:

President Obama could have done this just as easily with his pen and his phone. Didn't though...

Ten deceptions of the liberals

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Great article by Judith Acosta at American Thinker:

Ten Great Deceptions Designed to Destroy the Republic
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…I was a Madison Avenue copywriter. I was thrilled, until I realized I was a liar for hire.

Judith goes on a bit and delivers ten truths - here are three of them:

In the last ten years or so it has become increasingly evident that you are are either believing what the left (or the diet pill manufacturer) is saying or you are paying attention to reality.

There are at least 10 major lies that are now so ubiquitous that most people never question them:

Lie #1 – Truth is Relative
In the leftist handbook, truth is a function of feeling. This may be the greatest deception ever perpetrated on humanity since Pilate asked, “What is truth?” Yet, for so many of the academically indoctrinated, this is the fulcrum of their philosophical worldview and the secret source of their smugness.

And:

Lie #3 – Utopia is Possible
Perfection is possible if we just…make solar powered air planes, dump Trump, make everyone wear masks forever. The list goes on and on and is a direct result of the Madison Avenue spin machine. Whatever ails you, we’ve got PRODUCT X. And if you’re a millennial, now you can have it all on someone else’ dime. Just ask Bernie. But whatever you do, don’t look at the facts, especially in Venezuela.

And:

Lie #10 – If It’s On Television, It’s True
They wouldn’t lie, would they? Wish it were so. Marketing, and corporate-subsidized news networks, are all about spin. Truth is never paramount. I mean, what good would it do to spend millions of dollars coaxing the public to buy a product that’s “kinda okay?” It has to be subliminally attached to a need that drives us to make purchases that are irrational. Lying is breathing in marketing.

Speaking truth to power.

Life is good

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L and I are heading up north for a daytrip tomorrow. It is still early but this is turning into something really nice.

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Socked in this morning

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Woke up around 7:00AM as usual. Really socked in - Some of the boats in the bay are hard to see - visibility about 200 yards. More of same in the forecast for the next couple of days.

Doing some paperwork this morning, some stuff for the arts group (upcoming board meeting) and laundry. Heading out for coffee in a little bit - quick surf first.

And nothing catches my eye

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Time for YouTube...

Wonderful time tonight

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We really hit it off - Lisa is a dear. So much in common. Spending Monday together - she needs to run some errands so I will be driving and showing her some of my favorite places as well as what she needs to accomplish.

Dinner was good too - these people

Surf for a bit, some videos and then to bed... Got the space heater kicked on - downright cold. 56°F outside. Fall is coming (if not already here).

And back to work.

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Hot date at 4:30 so busy here.

Smoke update - Cliff Mass

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Cliff has an update to the wildfire conditions and weather forecasts on his blog:

Smoke Has Caused Temperature Forecasts to Go Crazy Plus An Update
Have you taken a look at the temperature forecasts on your favorite smartphone app or online service?

Most are predicting temperatures that are crazy warm by as much as 15-20F!
Yet, the National Weather Service forecasts are reasonable. Why?

Before I explain, let's review what is going on right now.

The latest satellite image shows an area of deeper smoke has moved northward over western Washington. Smoke has also moved into eastern Washington. Only the north Cascades is in the clear.

At low levels, marine air and low cloud have pushed into portions of western Washington. With more smoke aloft, solar radiation will decline over western Washington today, providing an infernal murk that is a bit depressing.

Much more at the site. Cliff shows a screen-cap from the PM2.5 Air Quality Index - a really good resource. Here is a link to their website. You can zoom and move all around the USA. Great tool.

New Hope - Pennsylvania

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Not the town (although it is gorgeous - been there), the state in general. From a screencap of FOX News - data from the PA Secretary of State:

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They are getting squeezed out of the spotlight and do not like it. They have been playing the perpetually aggrieved and anti-Israel card since their founding in 1960's by the Russian KGB with Yasser Arafat as titular head. Arafat spent nine years in Moscow being trained at Patrice Lumumba University

From Jewish News Syndicate:

Palestinian Authority recalls Bahrain envoy following deal with Israel
The Palestinian Authority recalled its envoy to Manama after Bahrain and Israel announced a U.S.-brokered peace deal on Friday, undoing a decades-long policy not to establish ties with the Jewish state until a Palestinian state is created.

Bahrain followed the United Arab Emirates, which agreed last month to normalize ties with Israel.

“The UAE and Bahrain are contributing to Trump’s presidential campaign at the expense of the inalienable rights of the people of Palestine. The normalization race is not the answer to the achievement of Palestinian freedom and independence,” tweeted Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Saeb Erekat. “It’s an affirmation to the Palestinian leadership and people, in Palestine and around the world, of their approval of normalizing Israel’s annexation of occupied Jerusalem and the reality of apartheid it has created in Palestine.”

They could have had lasting peace 20 years ago if they gave up their support of terrorism. Their people would be so much better off - culturally, economically, all ways.

Fifteen Minutes? From Andy

Interesting - Dad did a great job

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Dynasty? From the New York Post:

Andrew Giuliani considering run for NYC mayor in 2021
Mayor Giuliani? Yes it could happen again.

While the 76-year-old former occupant of Gracie Mansion won’t be returning to his old job, his 34-year-old son Andrew is taking a hard look at running for mayor in 2021.

“I am certainly thinking about it. It’s something that a bunch of people that I trust have approached me with,” the younger Giuliani told The Post. “It’s been terrible to see over the last few years how the city has spiraled. I am afraid if the right candidate doesn’t win in 2021, four more years of de Blasio’s policies will remind us of the 80s.”

That would be a good thing. de Blasio is in way over his head. He spouts the right platitudes and is politically connected but he has no leadership abilities at all. Time for someone who can actually do the job needed. Someone with a backbone.

And back - lunch break

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Cleaning up the car - pulling out dog hair and general clutter.

The smoke is actually more cloud than smoke - the smoke particles are serving as nucleation sites so it is really foggy. Salmon-colored fog but fog non the less. Put on a jacket when I left the house this morning. Definitly cool in the air.

And the dump is open

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Opens at 9:30 so heading out. Clean house and car later today - coffee run later but a quick one.

Smoke is burning off a little bit - rain forecast for Wednesday and Thursday

Back in a bit.

Cripes - thought they learned their lesson 32 years ago with the Yellowstone fires of 1988. From The Mercury News:

California fires: State, feds agree to thin millions of acres of forests
The two dozen major fires burning across Northern California were sparked by more than 12,000 lightning strikes, a freak weather occurrence that turned what had been a relatively mild fire season into a devastating catastrophe.

Yet what’s driving these enormous fires is not sparks, but millions of acres of fuel: bone-dry trees and brush that haven’t burned in many years.

Before the Gold Rush in 1849, large parts of California burned every few decades. Lightning fires burned for months, and native tribes burned the land, clearing out dead vegetation. But for much of the past century, as the state’s population has built homes, towns and parks in rural areas, firefighters have extinguished the flames to save property and lives, allowing forests and other landscapes to become unnaturally dense.

As a result, fires now burn hotter and with more intensity.

“We have put out fires for 100 years. Now we are paying the price,” said Scott Stephens, a professor of fire science at UC Berkeley. “It will take a while to make these forests healthy again. But it’s absolutely possible.”

Duhhhh... The policy of putting out all fires was recognized as being counter productive when Yellowstone National Park went up in one big fireball thirty two years ago. It is taking California this long to realize the error of their ways?

Good news - the George Floyd case

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The county prosecutors are partisan hacks looking to crucify the police officers trying to detain Mr. Floyd on the day of his death. Floyd died of a heart attack and had a several-times lethal dose of fentanyl in his system. He died of this, not a knee to the back. From The Western Journal:

Judge Expels Prosecutor in George Floyd Case After Complaint from Chauvin's Attorney
Four prosecutors have been disqualified from working on the cases of the former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s death.

Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill banned Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and three of his staff members from the cases for meeting privately with the medical examiner to discuss Floyd’s autopsy results, according to the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune.

“Those four are to be kept out of this case, period,” Cahill said.

The complaints?

Nelson claimed county prosecutors participated in an “inappropriate, pretrial publicity campaign, including the leaking of specific, detailed information regarding a potential plea agreement to the media.”

Yeah - they were showboating. Pure virtue signalling. Like catnip to the rioters.

The wildfires

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Two headlines - both from The Gateway Pundit:

The allowed rioting is bringing all of the other nut-cases out of the woodwork.
Anarchy is not a good thing in a civilized society. It is something to be discouraged - strongly.

Super foggy this morning

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Visibility is down to less than one mile. No apprecialble smell so it is not down to ground level (thank God).

Quick shower and then clean house for a bit. Vacuum out the car in a while. Dump run this morning on the way to coffee.

Want to do a thorough cleaning of my car tomorrow - driving Lisa to the farm for dinner and don't want to have dog hair all over. Needs work. Dump run tomorrow too.

Time for some videos and an early bedtime.

The wrong outfit

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Heh:

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A bit of a political gaffe - Wuhan Flu

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From FOX News:

LA County schools won't reopen until 'after the election," health director says
Los Angeles County Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer was recorded saying the country's largest county would not reopen its schools until "after the election."

“We don’t realistically anticipate that we would be moving to either tier 2 or to reopening K-12 schools at least until after the election, in early November,” Ferrer said in a conference call with school administrators and medical staff, a recording of which was played on KFI's "John and Ken Show."

Her comments led the California radio show hosts, who obtained the recording, to speculate about why she chose to use the General Election instead of some other day like Halloween, as a target date, and whether the county health department and schools were trying to manipulate public opinion in favor of the Democrats.

Naaaa - this is not a political decision. Not at all.

Spending money

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Wisely or foolishly - from Forbes:

Had They Bet On Nuclear, Not Renewables, Germany & California Would Already Have 100% Clean Power
Had California and Germany invested $680 billion into new nuclear power plants instead of renewables like solar and wind farms, the two would already be generating 100% or more of their electricity from clean (low-emissions) energy sources, according to a new analysis by Environmental Progress.

The analysis comes the day before California plays host to a “Global Climate Action Summit,” which makes no mention of nuclear, despite it being the largest source of clean energy in the U.S. and Europe.

Here are the two main findings from EP's analysis:

    • Had Germany spent $580 billion on nuclear instead of renewables, and the fossil plant upgrades and grid expansions they require, it would have had enough energy to both replace all fossil fuels and biomass in its electricity sector and replace all of the petroleum it uses for cars and light trucks.
    • Had California spent an estimated $100 billion on nuclear instead of on wind and solar, it would have had enough energy to replace all fossil fuels in its in-state electricity mix.

True. Sad. Foolish people chasing a narrative instead of the facts. Much more at the site.

An understandable confusion

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From My Penseive:

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Commercial sports - get woke, go broke

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From Hot Air:

Super Bust: New Gallup Poll Shows Sports Industry As Popular As … Big Pharma And The Feds
Is this outcome from Gallup’s latest longitudinal poll fair? After all, big pharma and the feds might be having a better season than the sports industry. Nonetheless, those are the only three industries that find themselves in negative territory, with sports taking the biggest dive:

The biggest slide, however, has been for the sports industry, with its positive score falling 15 points — from 45% to 30%.

The sports industry now has a negative image, on balance, among Americans as a whole, with 30% viewing it positively and 40% negatively, for a -10 net-positive score. This contrasts with the +20 net positive image it enjoyed in 2019, when 45% viewed it positively and 25% negatively. …

While it’s not clear how much the various challenges and controversies swirling around the industry are each responsible for its slide in popularity, it is notable that sports has lost more support from Republicans and independents than from Democrats. In fact, Democrats’ view of the sports industry has not changed significantly in the past year, while Republicans’ has slipped from a +11 net-positive score in 2019 to a net -35 today, and independents’ from +26 to -10.

The sports industry’s image has also deteriorated more among women than men, and among older adults than those younger than 35. Sports has also lost more support from non-White than White Americans, but given the extraordinarily high ratings from non-White adults a year ago, this group continues to view the sports industry positively on balance today. That is not the case with White adults, who now view the sports industry more negatively than positively, and by a 22-point margin.

Not a follower of commercial sports so this does not impact me. Still, that was a huge industry until they started pandering to the extreme minority of activists.

Once more into the breech

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Was sitting in the coffee shop reading and started talking with a really interesting lady - artist, loves food. I am taking her to the farm supper tomorrow evening - hot date! Life continues to amaze and delight.

Nothing much else to report - went shopping. Harbor Freight had some nice coupon sales so nabbed these, picked up some necessities at Walmart, the wholesale grocery story, the tortilla place and the coop. Farmer's market was nice - got some of the last of the strawberries and blueberries.

Never got to the dump - tomorrow for sure...

Quick surf and fix dinner.

And it's coffee time - quiet day

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Puttered around here, did a load of laundry. Time for some go-juice and to sit and read for a while.

Farmer's market later this afternoon - planning a run to Harbor Freight, Costco and Walmart for some household stuff. Might even get around to that dump run - the van is full.

Very smoky - cannot see Whidbey Island about five miles away across the water. Not much odor though - still pretty high up. Farm supper tomorrow evening so looking forward to that. Good people, good food.

FEMA just announced some new training materials that look really good: Organizations Preparing for Emergency Needs (OPEN)  This will dovetail right into the CERT programs as well as the local ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) and various preparedness groups around here. Skills can get rusty if you do not keep training. I love doing the amateur radio drills - lots of fun and when something happens, I know that I am ready to deal with it. Not IF, WHEN

Stopping the fraud - vote by mail

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Good news from The Texas Tribune:

Federal appeals court rejects Texas Democrats' effort to expand voting by mail
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Texas can keep its strict eligibility rules for voting by mail.

Siding with the state’s Republican leadership, the appellate judges rejected the Texas Democratic Party's effort to expand eligibility for voting by mail to all registered voters based on their argument that the state's age restrictions for such voting violate the 26th Amendment's protections against voting rules that discriminate based on age.

Nice to see some pushback to this insanity. They have nothing so they have to cheat. The Democrat way.

Bahrain is the second nation to agree to full diplomatic relations with Israel. From President Trump's twitter account:

Meanwhile, the media? Nothing but crickets...

Another Police Chief steps down - Dallas

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From Law Enforcement Today:

Dallas Police Chief resigns after department criticized for stopping violent anarchists in the city
Dallas, Texas City Manager TC Broadnax announced the resignation of Police Chief U Renee Hall, the first black woman Police Chief in Dallas on September 8th.  Her resignation will take effect on November 10th.  In a press release, the city wrote:

The City Council was bowing to the wishes of the Bitter Little Marxists and letting them loot and riot all the while criticizing the Police for trying to do their job and keeping the peace.

The city is going to be in a world of hurt after the elections when these children do not get the Christmas Present they were promised.

Something we need to remember

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Words of truth:

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Influencing the election

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Not what the liberals would want you to believe though. From The Washington Free Beacon:

Iran Behind Hack Attacks, Online Disinformation Campaigns to Boost Biden
Iran is behind an ongoing series of hack attacks and online disinformation campaigns meant to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election and boost Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

The Islamic Republic is betting on Biden's campaign, according to regional experts and U.S. officials tracking the country's efforts to sway the presidential contest. Tehran has engaged in cyber espionage operations targeting President Donald Trump's campaign since late 2019, cyber experts say. It also has joined adversarial regimes such as Russia and China in waging online disinformation campaigns on social media as part of a larger effort to polarize voters and sow discord across America.

That old refrain that we know so well.  The left has nothing to offer so they have to cheat.

Today - Patriot Day

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From The Whitehouse:

Proclamation on Patriot Day, 2020
In 2001, our Nation, united under God, made an unbreakable promise never to forget the nearly 3,000 innocent Americans who were senselessly killed on September 11. On this sacred day — Patriot Day — we solemnly honor that commitment. As the bells toll, we call by name those who perished in the terrorist attacks in New York, New York; Arlington, Virginia; and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. In cities and towns across our great country, we stand in solidarity to remember the victims and mourn their stolen hopes and dreams.

On a day that began as ordinary as any other, terrorists carrying out a sadistic plan murdered thousands of our fellow compatriots. With shock and disbelief, we watched our first responders, encumbered by heavy equipment and hindered by debris and smoke, rush with conviction and courage into the void to rescue those in despair. With pride and sorrow, we felt the tremendous bravery of those aboard Flight 93, who summoned the courage to charge the terrorists in a counterattack that saved countless American lives. As the day closed, America steadied its resolve to hold accountable those who had attacked us and to ensure it would never happen again.

Some good words remembering a horrible day. I will living in Seattle and was waiting for the bus to take me downtown to work. At work, we stumbled through our day watching the news on the internet. The actions of that day provided the final push to open my eyes and see the world as a conservative instead of a liberal. I had been living in a liberal cocoon for all of my life but these actions proved to me that the ideas and assumptions in my head were fundamentally wrong. Started this blog two years later - in part as a way to articulate my thoughts. It has been an interesting and enlightening journey.

Dropping the gauntlet - New York City

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A strong dose of coffee from the Wall Street Journal:

Business Leaders Urge Mayor de Blasio to Stop New York City’s Decline
More than 160 business leaders, including executives at Citigroup Inc., Mastercard Inc. and Nasdaq Inc., have signed a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio warning of New York City’s deteriorating condition in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and growing anxiety over public safety, cleanliness and other quality-of-life issues.

In a letter sent Thursday, the leaders said the pandemic has devastated the city’s economy, causing high levels of unemployment. They urged the Democratic mayor to restore essential services that have been cut from the budget that he and the New York City Council recently approved.

The budget reduced or eliminated services like garbage pickups and graffiti removal, as well as shifted nearly $1 billion in funding away from the New York Police Department. The city still faces a $9 billion deficit over the next two years and may have to lay off 22,000 government workers in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the city has seen a surge in violent crimes and thefts over the summer as officials loosened restrictions to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

For the four-week period that ended Sunday, the city recorded 55 homicides, up 49% from 37 in the same period last year, according to NYPD data. The city also had 222 shooting incidents during those four weeks, more than double the 90 shootings a year earlier.

“We need to send a strong, consistent message that our employees, customers, clients and visitors will be coming back to a safe and healthy work environment,” the business leaders’ letter said. “People will be slow to return unless their concerns about security and the livability of our communities are addressed quickly and with respect and fairness for our city’s diverse populations.”

I love it.  Show some leadership, turn the city around, kick out the bums or we are outta here.

The New York Post also writes about the letter:

NYC CEOs plead with de Blasio to crack down on crime, quality-of-life issues
The heads of over 160 major corporations, from Macy’s to MasterCard, are pleading with Mayor Bill de Blasio to finally crack down on crime and address quality-of-life concerns so New Yorkers can return to work after the coronavirus shut down the city.

Some bits:

Shootings have skyrocketed in the last few months with a 50 percent increase over Labor Day weekend alone compared to last year, while arrests for gunplay are down by about 13 percent.

Garbage is overflowing on city streets as budget cuts reduced the number of weekly pickups, and homeless encampments have proliferated around the five boroughs.

Less than 10 percent of the city’s office workers had returned to their desks by last month.

 And this:

The effort was organized by the Partnership for New York City, a business group whose members employ over 1.5 million New Yorkers.

That is a lot of jobs. A big chunk of the tax base too. I do hope he listens or that the voters get their collective heads out of their butts and elect someone good this time around.

Satire? You decide

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From America's Newspaper of Record - the Babylon Bee:

U-Haul Introduces Armored War Rigs For Californians Trying To Flee State's Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland

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To help meet the demand of millions of people desperately trying to escape the dark, ravaged wasteland of California, U-Haul is introducing a new product in its moving van line-up: the War Rig. These weaponized, armored moving vehicles will ensure you and your belongings stay safe during the long and perilous journey out of the state.

"We knew it was time to introduce some more serious vehicles to our fleet," said local U-Haul franchise owner Glax Destroyer, who manages 12 locations in Southern California. "We brought in the War Rig to supplement our completely depleted fleet of moving vans. With everyone leaving in droves, we don't have much left. We're pretty much salvaging old trucks from the junkyard and then adding armor plating and mounted weapons."

Sources confirm that each War Rig will comfortably seat a traditionally-sized California family of one person. They boast a fuel economy of 6 miles per gallon of guzzoline, which the U-Haul location will provide.

"I live! I die! I live again!" cried one patriarch as he led his family through the desert and toward Arizona in one of the new U-Haul War Rigs. "Witness me!"

Mr. Destroyer encourages customers to come early to secure their rigs before his power goes out and everything bursts into flames.

Somewhere, the ghost of Marvin Heemeyer is smiling.

Tacos were yummy

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Flank steak came out perfect.  Did not sear it as I did not feel like starting up the grill but I have enough left over for a couple more meals - maybe I'll do it then.

Surf for a little bit - feeling very mellow from this afternoon's massage. A beer sounds really good right now.

Things to come? From this map: PM2.5 Air Quality Index (a great resource)

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Salmon-colored sunset tonight but gonna get worse tomorrow. Got the air filter running.
I feel sorry for the poor people in Portland tonight - got to be miserable.

Really cute idea

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Some history - 87 years ago

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From The History Place:

The Gestapo is Born
Although the Gestapo is generally associated with SS Leader Heinrich Himmler, it was actually founded by Hermann Göring in April 1933.

Upon becoming Chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler had appointed Göring as Minister of the Interior for the State of Prussia, Germany's biggest and most important state, which controlled two thirds of the country, including the capital, Berlin, and the big industrial centers. As Minister of the Interior, Göring thereby had control of the police.

The first thing he did was to prohibit regular uniformed police from interfering with Nazi Brownshirts out in the streets. This meant that innocent German citizens had no one to turn to as they were being beaten up by rowdy young storm troopers drunk with their newfound power and quite often drunk on beer. These young Nazi toughs took full advantage of police leniency to loot shops at will and terrorize Jews or anyone else unfortunate enough to be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We are at this point right now. Next up?

Next, Göring purged the Berlin police department of politically unreliable cops and had 50,000 storm troopers sworn in as special police auxiliaries (Hilfspolizei). Now the storm troopers had actual power of arrest and they relished its use. Jails were soon overflowing with people taken into "protective custody" resulting in the need for large outside prison camps, the birth of the concentration camp system.

Having compromised the uniformed divisions, Göring next turned his attention to the plain-clothes police. On April 26, 1933, a decree was issued creating the Secret Police Office (Geheime Polizei Amt) which quickly became known as the GPA. But this abbreviation was far too similar to the GPU abbreviation used by the Soviet Political Police in Russia. Thus, the name was changed to Secret State Police (Geheime Staats Polizei). The actual term 'Gestapo' was supposedly created by a Berlin postal official who wanted a name that would fit on a regulation-sized postal rubber stamp. Gestapo was derived from seven letters within the full name Geheime Staats Polizei. Unknowingly, the postal official had invented one of the most notorious names in history.

Vote like your life depends on it - it does.

An excellent website - been around since 1996: The History Place

Underestimating the opposition

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Karl's kiddies at Pantifa have been making ominous noises - I would love to see this happen.
Shut them down in 3... 2... 1...

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Joy in the offing - smoke

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Got a link to this website in an email from the State Department of Emergency Management:

Smoke Alert!
There is a super-massive body of smoke moving over Southwestern Washington.  This smoke from Oregon and California is expected to impact Western Washington, the Columbia Basin, and even Spokane as it moves overhead.  Not much smoke has mixed down to the surface yet, but smoke forecasts show Unhealthy or worse levels starting tonight on the Peninsula and then through the I-5 Corridor. The Columbia River Gorge region is expected to be Unhealthy or worse tomorrow morning.  Smoke continues to be a problem in Central Washington and in the north Cascades as well because of our own fires.  Look for a more detailed forecast this afternoon.

20200910-GOES0900.jpgImage from the GOES Weather Satellite at 9AM this morning.

Cliff Mass has some more information:

Major Air Quality Threat For Puget Sound Sound and Western Washington
There is the potential for a major degradation of air quality over Puget Sound, a threat serious enough that vulnerable folks should be prepared.

Specifically, it is looking increasingly likely that some of the dense smoke produced by the fires in western Oregon will move northward and northeastward into western Washington, producing a profound degradation of air quality.

Potentially as bad or worse than we experienced in 2017 and 2018.

Much more at the site - the forecasts for late Saturday and Sunday look very very bad. My little island is smack in the center of the worst of it. Moving the dust filter from the garage into the bedroom and adding another filter.

Back home - feeling like a cooked noodle

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My massage person was able to get me in for 90 minutes this afternoon. Needless to say, I did manage to get coffee and pick up the library book but everything else on my agenda for today has been deferred to tomorrow or the weekend or whenever.

Tacos for dinner, a couple of beers and then an early bedtime - sleep in tomorrow.
She really worked me over this time 🙂

And out the door for a bit

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Going to call and schedule a massage. Dump run.

Forecast is for it to be pretty hot so just planning to putter around the house. Got some overdue paperwork to take care of. Bathroom needs cleaning too. Maybe even surprize myself and do a load or two of laundry. Got some flank steak in the sous-vide cooker - tacos tonight for dinner. Yummy.

Coffee first... Got the latest Clive Cussler book waiting for me at the library (right next to the coffee place).

Do-nothing Joe

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Not that I was expecting anything different. From the New York Post:

Joe Biden hasn’t answered questions from an Instagram ‘ask me anything’
It appears that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is still not taking questions.

On Tuesday, the 77-year-old former vice president told his Instagram followers in a story, “I’m answering your questions. Ask me anything” above a submission box where users could ask questions.

As of Thursday morning, Biden has not yet answered any questions, and the story has expired.

He has, however, posted nine pictures, videos and other graphics to his profile since uploading the story telling his followers he would be answering questions.

Heh. America would benefit by four years of this.

Hmmmm - seizures on the streets of Portland?

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From Mr. Andy Ngô writing about the Portland riots:

From one of the comments to the tweet:

If it was a true seizure, he would have peed himself during all of that. Another quick test is to pick up his arm over his face and drop it. If it misses the face, it is fake. (Old paramedic trick I learned from my mentor.)

The arm trick is a good one. Was noticing the lack of pee in the video. Taken first aid training and had a friend back in Seattle many years ago whose girlfriend was epileptic.

Good discussion here: Pseudoseizures—the Right Approach

From The Oregonian:

Nearly 2 in 3 Portland voters view Mayor Ted Wheeler unfavorably, even more favor new police oversight system, poll shows
A new poll shows a majority of Portland voters support a November ballot measure to create a new community-driven police oversight system, believe there is a systemic problem in the city’s policing system and have an “unfavorable” impression of Mayor Ted Wheeler and the police union that represents the majority of city officers.

Two months ahead of the Nov. 3 election, Wheeler drew an unfavorable rating of 63%, with 26% rating him favorably.

The survey of 435 voters deemed by pollsters likely to vote this fall found that 59% of them feel Portland is heading in the wrong direction.

Fairly small sample size - Portland has a population of 664,000 (2019 numbers) so 435 is only 0.065% - you would want at least 5% to be assured of accuracy. The article is about the police oversight system but that line about Wheeler having the 63% unfavorable rating has got to sting. He is in way over his head. No leadership.

Well crap - RIP Diana Rigg

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From the Beeb:

Dame Diana Rigg: Avengers, Bond and Game of Thrones actress dies at 82
Actress Dame Diana Rigg, famous for roles including Emma Peel in TV series The Avengers and Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones, has died at the age of 82.

Her daughter, actress Rachael Stirling, said she died of cancer, after being diagnosed in March.

"She spent her last months joyfully reflecting on her extraordinary life, full of love, laughter and a deep pride in her profession," she added.

Quite the actress and a wonderful person.

Had the major hots for her growing up - Mrs. Emma Peel on The Avengers.

Heh - education

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Rapidly losing relevance - "palestine"

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They should have moved away from terrorism and pressed for peace years ago. Now, they are just a marginalized bitter failed plot of the KGB. From Israel National News:

Arab League rejects PA demand to condemn Israel-UAE deal
The Arab League on Wednesday failed to pass a resolution proposed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) which would have condemned the normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Times of Israel reports.

“After a three-hour debate, some Arab countries refused to include [a] statement condemning [the UAE] for abandoning Arab decisions. Additionally, they struck out a clause which discussed the trilateral agreement” between the UAE, the US, and Israel, the PA representative to the Arab League, Muhannad al-Aklouk, was quoted as having told the Ma’an news agency.

Senior Arab League official Hussam Zaki said, “Discussion around this point was serious and comprehensive. But it did not lead to agreement over the resolution proposed by the Palestinians.”

Zaki said the PA representatives had insisted they would either accept a condemnation of the agreement or no statement on the issue at all.

“A number of amendments were proposed, and then counter-amendments…and we were at a point in which Palestinian demands had not been realized, and the Palestinians preferred it not to pass rather than have it pass in a manner which they believed to be inadequate,” Zaki said.

Heh - they have always been having these non-negotiable demands and have never gotten anything for them. Israel has bent over backwards giving them the Gaza strip and all sorts of concessions. They have not given anything back.

Now, it is Door. Ass. Bang.  /  So sad. Too bad.  /  Turn out the lights when you leave.

Nice to see the rest of the Arab world recognizing Israel as a good friend and business partner.

And of course - the wildfires

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From Law Enforcement Today:

Series of wildfires on the West Coast may be “coordinated and planned” attack
A series of wildfires in Washington, Oregon, and California are now being considered arson – and sources tell Law Enforcement Today that they may be part of a “coordinated attack”. Law enforcement throughout the west coast is reportedly being put on alert to look out for “opportunists” and those who may have more sinister motives.

A number of arsonists are already in jail, and there a few on the run, we’re told.

Federal law enforcement sources also tell Law Enforcement Today. that some of the people who started the fires may be connected in some way.

The article cites about five arrests for arson in Washington and Oregon. And then, there is this fire - from US Senate candidate Paul J. Romero, Jr.

Not a peep in the media of course. Doesn't fit the narrative. These are peaceful protests.

Portland, OR hits bottom, keeps digging

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This is unreal - their government is pandering to the rioters. From CNN:

Portland passes broadest facial recognition ban in the US
The city of Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday banned the use of facial-recognition technology by city departments — including local police — as well as public-facing businesses such as stores, restaurants and hotels.

Portland joins a growing number of places in the United States, such as San Francisco, Oakland, and Boston, that have outlawed city use of the surveillance technology, which is meant to identify a person from an image of their face. But its decision to prevent both local government and businesses from employing the technology appears to be the most sweeping ban yet by an individual city.

So... They are not only banning its use by the police department, they are also banning private citizens from using this technology. This is the one tool that allows the police to come back later and identify the perpetrators. A bit more:

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler expressed these worries, along with the concern that facial-recognition technology could be used to surveil protestors. Protests have been ongoing in the city since the death of George Floyd in late May.

"Technology exists to make our lives easier, not for public and private entities to use as a weapon against the very citizens they serve and accommodate," he said.

Wheeler is an idiot. The technology exists to keep the citizens safe from violence. Use it. They have had 90 days of riots in the city. Family owned businesses have been destroyed. People are leaving. Time to grow a pair and put an end to this. They could have shut the riots down in under one week if they wanted to.

M. A. G. A. - the song

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RickyRebel did a great parody of the Village People's Y. M. C. A. hit song. It went viral.

Here he is talking about this, reading some of the tweets and death threats from liberals. Got a smart head on his shoulders.

One of the comments summed it up perfectly: This guy is still more manly than the lefty soy boys

And nothing much

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Thai food was fantastic as usual. Nice to have such a good restaurant only 15 minutes away. Mt. Vernon is a delightful little town except for its preponderance of Biden stickers on the cars.

Quick surf of the internet didn't turn up anything to speak of - going to watch some YouTube and turn in a bit early.  Doing a dump run tomorrow and maybe get a massage if they have an opening.

The casters for the welding table came in today so got them installed. Much nicer to be able to wheel them around the shop. They weigh about 90 pounds each so lifting them to move is a bit of a chore. Even more if I have work on the top.

The smoke is still quite evident - a nice 'layering' effect for the mountains. Mt. Baker is just peeking out on the right:

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And the lies continue

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Adam Schiff needs to be voted out of office - he is a disgrace.

Fun and games with our power grid - China

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Another reason to decouple from China - from Real Clear Energy:

End China’s Infection of the US Power Grid
China and “probably one or two other” countries can shut down the U.S. power grid through a cyberattack. This disturbing revelation was made by Admiral Michael Rogers, former head of the National Security Agency, to Congress – in November 2014.

China has also become the world’s leading supplier of transformers – the “spine” of electricity grids -- according to a 2014 U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) report. This also presents significant challenges to U.S. grid security.

For economic and security reasons, the United States should no longer purchase transformers and other electric grid equipment manufactured in China. It is important to end relationships that U.S. utilities have directly with Chinese businesses and multi-national companies manufacturing transformers in China.

These actions are envisioned under a May 1 Executive Order President Trump issued on protecting the bulk-power grid. Chinese power equipment provided to the U.S. can be embedded with software and hardware to remotely commit mischief from Beijing, enhancing its ability to commit cyberattacks.

Good. It is amazing that stuff like this does not get covered by the media. Trump identified a real issue and then corrected it but nobody notices. People are too focused on the manufactured racial issues and not on the real stuff.

Black culture - Malcom X

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Great quote - very very relevant in today's "culture"

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The full essay is here - well worth reading: The white liberal is the worst enemy to America, and the worst enemy to the black man Very smart man. He was a Republican and a Conservative.

Fake news - a meme

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Fake news in the news:

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Out the door in a little bit

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Planning a dump run either today or tomorrow - sorting through more crap. Less smoke today - can still smell it but the sun is back to its normal color. Very quiet - no wind. The ocean is still. Cat is curled up in his chair by the window napping in the sunlight. Bear is lying down near my chair. Domestic bliss.

Out for coffee and the mailbox - the correct casters for the welding tables should be in today. Nice to get that project finished - got a couple welding jobs in the pipeline so these will be a great help.

We had a bit of police activity on the island last Saturday. They arrested the third perp yesterday afternoon. Good police work.

Back in a couple hours - got grocery deliveries this afternoon. Thai food sounds like the plan for dinner.

An interesting link - pot and autism

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From Disrn:

Massive study finds 50% increase in autism among children whose mothers used marijuana while pregnant
A recent analysis of more than 500,000 Canadian mothers and their children revealed a 50% increase in the risk of autism in kids whose mothers had used marijuana while pregnant, according to a report published Monday in Nature Medicine.

Daniel Corsi, the study's lead author and adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa, and his colleagues parsed data from all Ontario births occurring from 2007 to 2012.

The 503,065 children analyzed — 3,148 of whom had mothers that had used cannabis while pregnant — were followed for an average of seven years. Exactly 7,125 were diagnosed with varying levels of autism.

Researchers found that the rate of autism diagnoses among children with in utero cannabis exposure was 2.2%. Of those whose mothers did not use the drug during pregnancy, only 1.4% were diagnosed with autism.

Really good sample size so there should be no question. Pot is not benign - it is a powerful drug. Tip of the hat to Peter Grant for the link.

Trump Derangement Syndrome - Bob Woodward

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Of course, from the New York Times:

Trump admitted to Bob Woodward that he intentionally played down the threat of the coronavirus
President Trump acknowledged to the journalist Bob Woodward that he had knowingly played down the coronavirus earlier this year even though he was aware it was “deadly” and vastly more serious than the seasonal flu.

“This is deadly stuff,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Woodward on Feb. 7 in one of a series of interviews he conducted with the president for his upcoming book, “Rage.” The Washington Post and CNN were given advance copies of the book and published details on Wednesday.

“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump said. “And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu.”

That was a vastly different story than Mr. Trump was telling the public.

Fake News on display. Trump Derangement Syndrome is a real thing.

Trump Derangement Syndrome is a term applied by some writers to critics of US President Donald Trump, accusing them of responding negatively to nearly anything Trump does. Justin Raimondo accused the president's persistent critics of using hyperbole and buzzwords such as "Hitler" and "normalize". Fareed Zakaria likened saying something slightly positive on Trump to "endorsing Trump as pope" to those he describes as having Trump Derangement Syndrome. The term has been used by some journalists to call for reflection, and used by other commentators to describe habitual criticism of Trump.

I still think that liberalism - as it is practiced today - is a mental illness.

The power behind the glove

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George Soros is too deeply embedded in our politics. Case in point:

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Tip 'o the fedora to Knuckledraggin My Life Away

The truth in New York State

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From The New York Post:

‘The gov killed Nana’ banner flies over NYC, LI beaches to troll Gov. Andrew Cuomo
New York beachgoers were greeted with what appears to be a grim anti-Cuomo banner in the sky Saturday.

“THE GOV KILLED NANA,” read the banner carried on a propeller plane that flew across New York City and Long Island beaches, according to accounts on social media.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been widely criticized for his handling of the state-regulated nursing homes, where at least 6,447 New Yorkers died during the health crisis.

One Rockaway beachgoer told The Post the plane flew by around 4 p.m. as observers stopped to take pictures and applauded the message.

“The people were going crazy,” the beachgoer said. “[Cuomo] is nothing but a liar, condescending and miserable person. His carelessness caused the death of a lot of people unnecessarily.”

Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for the governor, said the stunt could only come from “conspiracy nuts.”

Well... He DID

Incompetent and in over his head. “conspiracy nuts” indeed.

Good news in Western Oregon

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Looks like they have someone good running this November - Alek Skarlatos:

So true - Biden supporter

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The city of Mt. Vernon is about 12 miles to the North and is a very liberal outpost in a fairly conservative county. I love this sticker:

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If I am running several errands, I will pull the mask down under my chin while I am driving. I see drivers in Mt. Vernon driving with the masks fully deployed all the time. Insane.

Fed Up - Rochester Police Department

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Good for them. They are not getting the support from the city nor the respect from the citizens. From The New York Post:

Rochester PD’s ‘entire command staff’ retires amid Daniel Prude protests
The Rochester Police Department’s “entire command staff” announced their retirement on Tuesday, the mayor there said, amid raging protests over the death of Daniel Prude, the black man who was killed while being subdued by city cops while he suffered an apparent breakdown.

Unnnhhh... From all accounts, Prude was dosed to the gills with angel dust and was deep into an irrational dissociative state - in layman's terms: screaming bonkers. He was subdued, a spit mask was placed over his head and he later aspirated his own vomit and choked to death.

Chief La’Ron Singletary, a 20-year veteran of the force, and Deputy Chief Joseph Morabito, who served the department for 34 years, released statements moments before a scheduled briefing with Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren and the City Council about last night’s demonstrations.

During the meeting, Warren told council members that “the entire Rochester Police Department’s command staff has announced their retirement,” adding that Deputy Chief Mark Simmons was also stepping down.

The narrative was that the police killed Prude. The facts are that Prude was responsible for his own death. I wish the Chief and his associates a wonderful and peaceful retirement. This is just the tip of the iceberg and their replacements are going to have an interesting next couple of years.

The Atlantic magazine did a total hit piece on President Trump - a complete fabrication which has been called as such by the 15 or so people who were actually in the room with him when the event allegedly took place.  Now this - from  Matt Margolis writing at PJ Media:

Atlantic Editor Admits Key Detail of Anti-Trump Hit Piece May Be Untrue
Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, admitted that a key detail of his article about Trump could be wrong during an interview with CNN on Sunday.

“When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed the rain for the last-minute decision, saying ‘the helicopter couldn’t fly’ and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true,” Goldberg wrote in his piece published last week. According to Goldberg, President Trump was overheard saying he wanted to cancel the trip to the cemetery because “it’s filled with losers.”

At least fifteen Trump administration officials who were with Trump on that trip have now disputed the Atlantic report, including former national security adviser John Bolton.

FOIA documents have also definitively proved that Trump’s visit to the cemetery was canceled due to weather. When Goldberg was asked about evidence that the cancelation was due to inclement weather, he admitted that it was likely true.

“I’m sure all of those things are true,” he told CNN.

Matt closes with this additional quote from the fabulist Goldberg:

Despite this, Goldberg still defended his article, claiming that “the public’s interest in meeting this information outweigh the ambiguities or the difficulties of anonymous sourcing.” Goldberg also said he would continue to publish similar stories.

In other words, more fake news is coming.

This is my surprised face. He is an operative for the Democratic Party - he is not a journalist. That high-pitched whine you hear are Huntley and Brinkley spinning in their graves.

Heh - QOTD

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Life in Chicago

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A shithole city - from the Chicago ABC affiliate:

Chicago violence: 51 shot, 10 fatally in Labor Day weekend shootings
Weekend violence continued to claim victims across Chicago over the long holiday weekend.

Fifty-one people were shot, 10 fatally, across Chicago over the weekend from 6 p.m. Friday until 11:59 p.m. Monday, including an 8-year-old girl who was fatally shot Monday while riding in a SUV on the South Side, according to Chicago police.

Black on black violence doesn't get any media attention. Black people murdered more black men, women and children in one weekend than the entire last year of white police officers. Black Lives Matter? How about cleaning up your own house and THEN start bullying the rest of us.

Year to date for Chicago?

Shot & Killed: 495
Shot & Wounded: 2414
Total Shot: 2909
Total Homicides: 541

Chicago is a Democrat-run shithole city.
Change my mind.

Another cold dinner

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Had some more shrimp as well as a large salad for dinner. Did not feel like cooking and was already at Costco and Walmart shopping today so didn't feel like driving back up for Thai food.

Still really smoky - a lot less by the ocean than inland but still have a salmon-colored sunset. Forecast is for more of same for a while. Fires all over - one story from the Everett Herald:

Winds kick up Northwest wildfires; Washington town destroyed
Wildfires fanned by high winds burned hundreds of thousands of acres in the Northwest, mostly destroying a small town in eastern Washington and causing evacuations, power outages and highway closures in Oregon.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Tuesday more than 330,000 acres burned in Washington in a 24-hour period — more than what burns in most entire fire seasons.

“It’s an unprecedented and heart-breaking event,” Inslee said at a news conference, blaming heat, high winds and low humidity for the explosive growth of fires. “The list of fires is long.”

'Tis the season... Hope that this will spur some better forest management. California is especially hard hit - the environmentalists policies are at fault here. The greenies own these fires. And the blackouts.

The Wuhan Flu - Africa

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It seems that there are not very many cases of the Wuhan Flu in Africa. Hmmm. From NOQ Report:

Dr. Simone Gold has a simple explanation for Africa’s mild coronavirus toll
When the COVID-19 pandemic started spreading across the world, many scientists were most concerned about developing countries like India and Brazil as well as the entire continent of Africa. Projections indicated these areas would be hit hardest because of high population density in poor areas preventing social distancing. Their predictions came true for India and Brazil, but Africa has remained conspicuously lightly affected by the disease.

Every bit of speculation reported from scientists in a recent NY Post article was tempered with notes of speculation. They had some ideas, but none of them made complete sense and often contradicted other factors. In short, nobody seems to know why Africa has apparently dodged the coronavirus bullet for the most part. Nobody, that is, other than Dr. Simone Gold. Her answer was simple, but it’s easy to see why politically motivated scientists would have missed the possible reason altogether.

Makes a lot of sense to me.

A fantastic endorsement - Catholic Church

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They usually stay away from politics but not this time around - from CNS News:

Catholic Bishop Agrees: Repent From Supporting Democrat Party or 'Face the Fires of Hell'
Catholic Bishop Joseph Strickland, who heads the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, endorsed a video message by Rev. James Altman, who said that Catholics cannot be Democrats and that such "pretenders" must "repent" of their support for the party and its platform or they will "face the fires of Hell."

"As the Bishop of Tyler I endorse Fr Altman’s statement in this video," said Bishop Strickland in a Sept. 5 tweet. "My shame is that it has taken me so long. Thank you Fr Altman for your COURAGE. If you love Jesus & His Church & this nation...pleases HEED THIS MESSAGE."

And his reasoning:

In the 10-minute message posted on YouTube, Fr. Altman, pastor of St. James the Less Catholic Church in LaCrosse, Wisc., explains that the church is not a political power but is a "moral power," in the words of emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. And because "politics fundamentally should be a moral enterprise," the church "has something to say about politics."

Therefore, when politics and politicians act in immoral ways, we have a duty to speak up about it, says Fr. Altman.

"Here's a memo to clueless, baptized Catholics out there: You cannot be Catholic and a Democrat," says Fr. Altman. "Their party platform is absolutely against everything the Catholic Church teaches."

So true. I love that they are not afraid to call a spade a spade. Now, if only the other faiths would show similar backbone.

Fun times in Seattle - chickens, roost...

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Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. From The Seattle Times:

As legal claims over protests and police pile up, Seattle faces liability risks
As a summer dominated by street demonstrations against racism and police brutality winds down, more than 40 legal claims have piled up against Seattle for its handling of the protests.

But money is tight at City Hall as the COVID-19 pandemic has demanded emergency spending and sapped revenues. Insurance coverage that Seattle may need to settle claims was recently slashed, and two insurers threatened to drop their policies entirely, apparently because of concerns over law enforcement and public safety.

The city isn’t in dire straits yet, but its problems are multiplying.

Claims have been filed by protesters injured by police, businesses damaged during demonstrations, residents exposed to tear gas and relatives of people killed amid the tumult.

Actions have consequences. The City Council let the riots happen. Now, the city will have to pay the price. Of course, the taxpayers will ultimately be the ones to pay. 

Quiet news day

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Nothing much on the interwebs.  Heading out in 20 minutes or so - coffee and the usual.

I love her - zero fucks given and not afraid to stand up to the bullies. She is running for Congress.
Her latest advertisement has the usual suspects up in arms:

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Nancy Pelosi's protest and Marjorie's reply:

Illhan Omar (one of the people pictured) - protest and reply:

She is not afraid to play smash-mouth politics. Let us hope that the people in her jurisdiction do the right thing. We need people like her.

Weather

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Two videos - the first one is yesterday's dust storm in Eastern Washington, the seccond one is an early snowfall in Yellowstone National Park.

From Live Storms Media:

And Yellowstone - also Live Storms Media:

Unseasonably early for snow there - global cooling anyone? Quiet sun?

Woke up to a salmon-colored sunrise - smoke and ash from the wildfires.

Cleaning up the Democrat machine

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Fascinating bit of history - the Battle of Athens, Tennessee. Go and read - from THE ABBEVILLE BLOG:

The Battle of Athens, Tennessee
On August 1, 1946, a group of Southern World War Two veterans in Athens, Tennessee, fought and won the only successful armed insurrection in the United States since the War of Independence. These brave men embodied that irrepressible Southern spirit, that martial valor and moral sublimity that suffused the souls of Dixie and her children for generations upon generations, stretching backwards in time through the annals of Indo-European civilization — that constitution which we fervently hope has not drained from our blood forevermore. The Battle of Athens stands, then, as a monumental event in the history of Southern, and thus Western, civilization, the fulfillment of an ancestral promise; so, too, does the Battle of Athens represent a call echoing through the ages to fall on modern ears that must not remain deaf — a call to actualize the destiny that our forefathers spilt so much blood, both their own and their enemies’, to leave to us.

Athens is the seat of McMinn County, which, at the time, was the nerve center for Sheriff Paul Cantrell, a major lieutenant of a corrupt Democratic machine which stretched from Tennessee to the District of Columbia. Though we will eschew labeling Cantrell or his machine politics “evil,” as this was simply the way things were done in many American polities, it is worth noting that before and especially during the Second World War, Cantrell presided over corruption and graft on an industrial scale. As Chris DeRose details, the Sheriff drew salaries of nearly sixty thousand dollars per year over his first six years that were worth well over one million dollars in today’s purchasing power. He was also appointed superintendent of the county workhouse for an additional salary of over two thousand dollars; DeRose notes that “McMinn County did not have a workhouse, making its superintending easy.” This at a time when the median Tennessee home was worth less than two thousand dollars and the starting salary for enlisted men was fifty dollars per month. Despite strict rationing, McMinn machine men never wanted for cars, tires, or fuel. Illegal casinos, speakeasies, and whorehouses payed thousands of dollars per month in protection money. Dozens of county employees were listed on the payrolls for the sole purpose of providing cover for a vast money laundering operation.

A great story well told. History is important as human nature frequently repeats. We would do well to learn from this story. Leopards do not change their spots. Neither do Democrats.

The who?

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A flea with pretensions of grandeur. An artificial "nation" of displaced Jordanians. From Breitbart:

Palestinians Threaten to Cut Ties After 3 Countries Announce Jerusalem Embassies
The Palestinian Authority warned on Sunday that it would cut ties with any country that opened its embassy in Jerusalem, after Serbia, Kosovo, and Malawi announced their intentions to open diplomatic missions in the Israeli capital.

“Palestine will sever its relations with any country that will move or open its embassy to Jerusalem,” senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said in a tweet.

Their window of reconciliation is closing rapidly. Their time to make peace with Israel is now. They need to think of their citizens - life for them would be so much better allied to the economic dynamo that is Israel. Give up the terror and embrace love.

Nancy Pelosi and the hair salon

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Pelosi's defense was that she had been set up. Our President's son offers this observation:

That story at The Atlantic

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The Atlantic used to have decent writing but they are now the plaything of Steve Job's widow and follow the leftist marxist narrative. On September 3rd, they published this article:

Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’
When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true.

Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.

Needless to say, this story is a complete fabrication. It was raining cats and dogs and driving through Paris (the Cemetery was on the opposite side of where the Presidential party was staying) would have been a security nightmare - that option was never even considered. As for President Trump's comments? This today at Breitbart:

Exclusive: Zach Fuentes, Top Aide to John Kelly, Denies Atlantic Story About Trump
Former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Zach Fuentes denied to Breitbart News The Atlantic’s account of President Donald Trump’s comments about troops in Europe.

Fuentes unequivocally denied The Atlantic’s report last week, a huge blow to the establishment media narrative. Fuentes personally briefed President Trump on the weather situation that led to the trip being canceled. He is also a close personal confidante of former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

“You can put me on record denying that I spoke with The Atlantic,” Fuentes told Breitbart News on Monday. “I don’t know who the sources are. I did not hear POTUS call anyone losers when I told him about the weather. Honestly, do you think General Kelly would have stood by and let ANYONE call fallen Marines losers?”

He specifically also stated that he believes The Atlantic’s sources “are unlikely first hand accounts.”

Amazing but The Atlantic has doubled down and published this OpEd today:

Everyone Knows It’s True
Donald Trump generates a lot of noise. He talks. He tweets. He is echoed and amplified by a vast claque, on TV and online, made up of Americans and foreigners, humans and bots.

Never has he shouted louder than in the days since my colleague Jeffrey Goldberg reported the president’s disparaging comments about those who have fallen, been maimed, or taken prisoner in war.

Spin spin spin you sad little monkeys. Hammer those typewriters and get the narrative out. They just segued from the specific: "Trump said this" and are now pushing the fallback argumentum ad hominem (more fun reading here): "Trump is a poopy-head" and "Orange Man Bad" Their central premise - that President Trump said that the graves were filled with losers and suckers - was slander from the beginning. A fabulation. A lie.

They have nothing and know it. They are lying and cheating to try to hold on to their power.

58 days until the day of reckoning. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Everyone else? Stock up - the following weeks will probably be quite rocky.

So true - the internet

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California - wildfires

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From the New York City ABC affiliate:

California wildfires: Pyrotechnic device at gender reveal party blamed for Southern California blaze
A smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used during a gender reveal party sparked a raging wildfire that's charred more than 7,000 acres in Southern California, officials said Sunday.

The El Dorado Fire burning in San Bernardino County was caused by "a smoke generating pyrotechnic device" used during the party in El Dorado Ranch Park, according to the Cal Fire San Bernardino Unit.

"Cal Fire reminds the public that with the dry conditions and critical fire weather, it doesn't take much to start a wildfire," the agency said in a press release. "Those responsible for starting fires due to negligence or illegal activity can be held financially and criminally responsible."

Not saying they should not have had a party but... Sheesh - setting off a firework during a time of fire danger is just stupid.

California of course

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Renewable? From Kambree Kawahine Koa:

Some interesting weather

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Major shift in the weather happening now. From Cliff Mass:

Multiple Fires Ignited, Major Dust Storm Develops, Tens of Thousands Out of Power, and I-90/US 2 Closed By Winds in Eastern Washington
This is rapidly becoming a major event. Strong winds, gusting to 50-70 mph, has caused a dust storm that has closed major roads in eastern Washington (e.g., I-90 and US-2).

Much more at the site. Tens of thousands without power. This is going to get stronger.

Locally, the winds are 10-20mph and out of the north which is very unusual - generally it comes out of the south.

I resemble that remark

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Reading the riot act

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Christian Walker is the son of football legend Herschel Walker - he has a few words to say about Black Lives Matter

A very epic three minutes, thirty eight seconds.

Comparing apples and...

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From My Pensieve:

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A very good point.

Got nothing this morning

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Nothing catches my eye so far.  Heading out for the usual in about 45 minutes or so.  Dropping off a thumb drive for the arts group and running a few errands.

Gorgeous day - a little bit foggy this morning but now clear and warming up nicely. Having some problems with wildfires - 'tis the season and looking forward to hot dry weather for the next week or so.

Cat and Bear are both napping - Cat on a chair by the window in the sun and Bear at my feet. Blessed with two wonderful critters.

Talking

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Heh - so true:

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My Give A Damn's Busted

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Someone sent this in an email to Gerard at American Digest:

I never cared.
I never cared if you were “gay” or whatever acronym you chose to call yourself until you started shoving it down my throat.

I never cared what color you were, if you were a good human until you started blaming me for your problems.

I never cared about your political affiliation until you started to condemn me for mine.

I never cared where you were from in this great Republic until you began condemning people based on where they were born and the history that makes them who they are.

I have never cared if you were well off or poor because I’ve been both. Until you started calling me names for working hard and bettering myself.

I’ve never cared if your beliefs are different than mine. Until you said my beliefs are wrong.

I’ve never cared if you don’t like guns until you tried to take my guns away.

Now. I care.

I’ve given all the tolerance I have to give.

This is no longer my problem. It’s your problem.

You can still fix it It’s not too late.

But it will be soon.

I’m a very patient person at times. But I’m out of patience.

There are literally Millions of people just like me that are sick of your Anti-American crap!

We have had enough!

America is the greatest country on earth and if you don’t like America then you can leave. We are done caring about your misguided feelings.

You shouldn’t have the right to enjoy American freedoms if you are trying to take that right away from other Americans.

Please pass on if you CARE!

So true - they are doing this to themselves and the Democrat party owns it all. We are living inside their heads 24/7 rent free and it pisses them off. Drives them into stupidity. Off the cliff.

Title? This cute song from Jo Dee Messina

Some sick people out there - MAP

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Justifying their mental illness as a simple sexual orientation. From The Post Millenial:

Pedophiles are proudly posting their faces online
In a world where everything is becoming politically correct, pedophiles on social media have seized a new opportunity to rebrand themselves as MAPS (“minor-attracted-people”). The MAP community and movement are growing in size and picking up steam particularly on social media apps like Twitter, where the problem is becoming increasingly worse. They’ve constructed their own flag and often describe their attraction to children as a sexual orientation, rather than the scientifically recognized mental illness that pedophilia is.

The goal is the MAP community is to normalize pedophilia and convince those who are “woke” enough to begin to accept them and view them as a marginalized class. Their intent is to follow the blue-print of LGBT acceptance, with some even insisting that pedophiles should be included within the acronym.

With the insidious growth of MAPs online, more and more of these individuals are feeling brave enough to post their faces and attitudes toward those who hate them. Traditionally, MAPS have always hidden behind cartoon profile pictures, as anonymity was the only shield they had against (rightfully) major backlash. That’s changing though, and we can now see these individuals willing to show their true selves.

Much more at the site. This is unfortunately all too common. From a source comes this little list:

    • Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was charged with rape for allegedly paying a 15-year old girl for sex. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.
    • Democratic donor and billionaire, Jeffrey Epstein, ran an underage child sex brothel and was convicted of soliciting underage girls for prostitution.
    • Democratic New York Congressman, Anthony Weiner, plead guilty to transferring obscene material to a minor as part of a plea agreement for sexted and sending Twitter DMs to underage girls as young as 15.
    • Democratic donor, activist, and Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is being criminally prosecuted and civilly sued for years of sexual abuse (that was well known “secret” in Hollywood) including underage sexual activities with aspiring female actresses.
    • Democratic activist and #metoo proponent, Asia Argento, settled a lawsuit for sexual harassment stemming from sexual activities with an underage actor.
    • Democratic Mayor of Racine, Wisconsin, Gary Becker, was convicted of attempted child seduction, child pornography, and other child sex crimes.
    • Democratic Seattle Mayor Ed Murray resigned after multiple accusations of child sexual abuse were levied against him including by family members.
    • Democratic activist and aid to NYC Mayor De Blasio, Jacob Schwartz was arrested on possession of 3,000+ child pornographic images.
    • Democratic activist and actor, Russell Simmons, was sued based on an allegation of sexual assault where he coerced an underage model for sex.
    • Democratic Governor of Oregon, Neil Goldschmidt, after being caught by a newspaper, publicly admitted to having a past sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl after the statute of limitations on the rape charges had expired.
    • Democratic Illinois Congressman, Mel Reynolds resigned from Congress after he was convicted of statutory rape of a 16-year-old campaign volunteer.
    • Democratic New York Congressman, Fred Richmond, was arrested in Washington D.C. for soliciting sex from a 16-year-old boy.
    • Democratic activist, donor, and director, Roman Polanski, fled the country after pleading guilty to statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl. Democrats and Hollywood actors still defend him to this day, including, Whoopi Goldberg, Martin Scorcese, Woody Allen, David Lynch, Wim Wenders, Pedro Almodovar, Tilda Swinton and Monica Bellucci.
    • Democratic State Senator from Alaska, George Jacko, was found guilty of sexual harassment of an underage legislative page.
    • Democratic State Representative candidate for Colorado, Andrew Myers, was convicted for possession of child pornography and enticing children.
    • Democratic Illinois Congressman, Gus Savage was investigated by the Democrat-controlled House Committee on Ethics for attempting to rape an underage female Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire. The Committee concluded that while the events did occur his apology was sufficient and took no further action.
    • Democratic activist, donor, and spokesperson for Subway, Jared Fogle, was convicted of distribution and receipt of child pornography and traveling to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.
    • Democratic State Department official, Carl Carey, under Hillary Clinton’s state department, was arrested on ten counts of child porn possession.
    • Democratic Maine Assistant Attorney General, James Cameron, was sentenced to just over 15 years in federal prison for seven counts of child porn possession, receipt and transmission.
    • Democratic State Department official, Daniel Rosen, under Hillary Clinton’s state department, was arrested and charged with allegedly soliciting sex from a minor over the internet.
    • Democratic State Department official, James Cafferty, pleaded guilty to one count of transportation of child pornography.
    • Democratic radio host, Bernie Ward, plead guilty to one count of sending child pornography over the Internet.Democratic deputy attorney general from California, Raymond Liddy, was arrested for possession of child pornography.
    • Democratic Illinois State Representative, Keith Farnham, has resigned and was charged with possession of child pornography and has been accused of bragging at an online site about sexually molesting a 6-year-old girl.
    • Democratic spokesperson for the Arkansas Democratic Party, Harold Moody, Jr, was charged with distribution and possession of child pornography.
    • Democratic Radnor Township Board of Commissioners member, Philip Ahr, resigned from his position after being charged with possession of child pornography and abusing children between 2 and 6 years-old.
    • Democratic activist and BLM organizer, Charles Wade, was arrested and charged with human trafficking and underage prostitution.
    • Democratic Texas attorney and activist, Mark Benavides, was charged with having sex with a minor, inducing a child under 18 to have sex and compelling prostitution of at least nine legal clients and possession of child pornography. He was found guilty on six counts of sex trafficking.
    • Democratic Virginia Delegate, Joe Morrissey, was indicted on charges connected to his relationship with a 17-year-old girl and was charged with supervisory indecent liberties with a minor, electronic solicitation of a minor, possession of child pornography and distribution of child pornography.
    • Democratic Massachusetts Congressman, Gerry Studds, was censured by the House of Representatives after he admitted to an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old page.
    • Democratic Former Mayor of Stillwater, New York, Rick Nelson was plead guilty to five counts of possession of child pornography of children less than 16 years of age.
    • Democratic Former Mayor of Clayton, New York, Dale Kenyon, was indicted for sexual acts against a teenager.
    • Democratic Former Mayor of Hubbard, Ohio, Richard Keenan, was given a life sentence in jail for raping a 4-year-old girl.
    • Democratic Former Mayor of Winston, Oregeon, Kenneth Barrett, was arrested for setting up a meeting to have sex with a 14-year-old girl who turned out to be a police officer.
    • Democratic Former Mayor of Randolph, Nebraska, Dwayne L. Schutt, was arrested and charged with four counts of felony third-degree sexual assault of a child and one count of intentional child abuse.
    • Democratic Former Mayor of Dawson, Georgia, Christopher Wright, was indicted on the charges of aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, rape, child molestation and statutory rape of an 11-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl.
    • Democratic Former Mayor of Stockton, California, Anthony Silva, was charged with providing alcohol to young adults during a game of strip poker that included a 16-year-old boy at a camp for underprivileged children run by the mayor.
    • Democratic Former Mayor of Millbrook, New York, Donald Briggs, was arrested and charged with inappropriate sexual contact with a person younger than 17.
    • Democratic party leader for Victoria County, Texas, Stephen Jabbour, plead guilty to possession and receiving over half a million child pornographic images.
    • Democratic activist and fundraiser, Terrence Bean, was arrested on charges of sodomy and sex abuse in a case involving a 15-year-old boy and when the alleged victim declined to testify, and the judge dismissed the case.
    • Democratic Party Chairman for Davidson County, Tennessee, Rodney Mullin, resigned amid child pornography allegations.
    • Democratic activist, Andrew Douglas Reed, pleaded guilty to a multiple counts of 2nd-degree sexual exploitation of a minor for producing child pornography.
    • Democratic official from Terre Haute, Indiana, David Roberts was sentenced to federal prison for producing and possessing child pornography including placing hidden cameras in the bedrooms and bathrooms at a home he shared with two minor female victims.

This is about half of the whole list - there are some Republicans in there but the list is about 80% Democrat. I remember the Seattle case well and a quick spot-check on some other names authenticated the charges.

Peter Strzok in the news

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From The Washington Examiner:

Strzok suggests Steele dossier contained 'bulls---' and 'disinformation'
Fired FBI special agent Peter Strzok tried to distance himself from British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s dossier, critiquing some of the former MI6 agent’s anti-Trump election reporting while criticizing those he saw as using its weaknesses to undermine the Trump-Russia investigation.

Strzok, who was a key member in the FBI’s investigation into both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s improper private email server and Crossfire Hurricane’s Trump-Russia inquiry, made the comments during an interview with Anne Applebaum of the Atlantic.

“The Steele report was a problem for the investigation because it sent people off on a series of wild-goose chases,” Strzok said, adding, “the report was very typical of information that the FBI often receives. It comes from several sources, including some suspect sources. Some of it is bullshit, and some of it is rumor, and some of it is disinformation.”

Some of it is bullshit?¿?¿
ALL of it is a total fabrication bought and paid for by the Clinton Foundation. The whole collusion scam is just a big fat nothingburger. The Mueller investigation was a useless waste of our dollars trying to prove a lie.

Voting fraud

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From The Washington Times:

Legal group finds thousands of double voters in battleground states
A legal foundation has filed two court briefs that assert that double voting by the thousands happened in 2016-2018 in Georgia and North Carolina, as the nation prepares for its first large-scale, mail-in balloting to elect a president.

Anti-universal mail ballot activists say the two states are a tip-off for what will happen in the Nov. 3 election.

Liberal journalists demand that the Trump administration, which opposes mass-mailed ballots in most states, provide evidence of fraud. The counterargument is that it is difficult to cite such examples when only a handful of states before 2020 adopted remote voting.

The article cites some examples - here are two:

Clark County, Nevada’s largest, decided to switch to mail-in ballots just two months before its June primary. The result: nearly 225,000 of 1.3 million mailed ballots (17.3%) were sent back by the Postal Service as undeliverable. Only 305,000 mail-in ballots (23.5%) were accepted and counted, according to numbers provided to PILF.

In this year’s primary seasons alone, election boards across the country have rejected 534,000 ballots, compared with 318,716 in the 2016 election.

They have nothing to offer so they have to cheat. SImple as that.

And dinnertime

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The fixtures for the tables are a bit chintzy but didn't cost that much. The holes are very accurately placed so making square welds will be a piece of cake now. No more fussing with framing squares and measurement. Can't wait to build my shop this spring and get a Certiflat table - make things so much easier...

Cat loves shrimp so defrosted a couple for him. Got some fresh tomatoes for the salad - love this time of year. Local nursery is getting their fall veggie starts next week. Get some growing here.

Back to work - UPDATE

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Those welding tables will not put themselves together.

Thawing out some shrimp for dinner - cold salad with a shrimp cocktail. The day has turned really nice - temps in the low 80's.

UPDATE: Whoops.
I mis-read the listing for the welding table and the feet have an M-10 thread and not an M-8. I went ahead and installed the existing leveling feet and ordered eight M-10 casters. Also got an RMA printed out and will ship the old ones back on Tuesday. D'OH!

A bit of local excitement

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Was at the Community Center yesterday afternoon and all hell broke loose. Police sirens from three different directions. Even a few fire department vehicles (different sounding sirens). I was heading home later that afternoon and a car came speeding past doing about 80MPH in a 35 zone. About 45 seconds later, two police cars followed but they did not turn in the same direction - they headed down the road leaving the island. A few minutes, they came zooming back.

This morning, I see this story in the Stanwood Camano News:

Everett homicide suspect arrested in Stanwood
After a short pursuit from Camano Island into Stanwood, a suspect in an Everett homicde was taken into custody late Saturday, according to Stanwood and Everett police departments.

The suspect fled on foot after the pursuit that ended near the Camano Gateway Bridge, according to reports. He was later apprehended on Highway 532 near 92nd Avenue, police said.

The arrest was part of the investigation into an Aug. 31 shooting death of James R. Scannell, 56, who was inside a vehicle at Langus Riverfront Park, 411 Smith Island Rd, according to a news release from Everett Police. Witnesses told detectives that immediately after the shooting, two men ran from the victim’s vehicle and left the parking lot in a red Ford Escape, police said.

And the arrest:

On Saturday, police arrested two of the suspects, including the 29 year-old man that detectives believe shot the victim. He was arrested by deputies with the Island County Sheriff’s Office and the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, along with assistance from the Washington State Patrol, after a pursuit from Camano Island to Stanwood on Highway 532.

Heh - only one road connecting the island to the mainland. Not a good place to hide. Also very defensible if the shit starts to hit the fan come November 4th. I love this place.

How to cancel "Cancel Culture"

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Now this would be fun to see:

20200906-york.jpg

Routing around damage - Portland

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A wonderful solution to a bonehead problem - from Portland station KOIN:

Deputized troopers may snarl MultCo’s protest prosecution plans
More and more questions have accumulated following the announcement that Oregon State Police troopers had been deputized by U.S. Marshals.

The move, which was made in response to the growing unrest in Portland, means a deputized OSP trooper can arrest someone for a federal crime and turn the case over to a federal prosecutor instead of a state prosecutor.

Doing so would essentially override Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Shmidt’s policy of limited prosecution for certain charges related to the ongoing protests. Last month, Schmidt’s office announced charges such as Interfering with a Police Officer or Criminal Trespass would not be prosecuted and people arrested for those crimes would be quickly released.

I love it. The "woke" DA establishes a catch and release policy for the riot kiddies. The Police find a way around this - one involving adults.

Title of the post? Built in to the TCP/IP internet networking protocols and the routers. From here:

The path taken by an IP packet can change from minute to minute. The routers are another example of a distributed, collaborative system. The old joke is that the backhoe is the IP packet's natural predator in the wild, as construction will sometimes slice through an important data cable, suddenly breaking a link in use. The routers "route around" such damage automatically.

Portland's District Attorney is WOKE damaged and the Portland police are routing around him.

And it's coffee time

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Stopping at the storage locker first. Hang out and read for a little while. Put the welding tables (I got two of them) together this afternoon plus working on some other stuff.

Sun is peeking through but still foggy over the ocean.

So true - Critical Race Theory

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From Not The Bee - a true-story spinoff of America's Newspaper of Record, the Babylon Bee

BEHOLD: Critical Race Theory in one image

20200906-race.jpg

Ugly person promoting ugly divisive thoughts. That facial expression just says: "Gib me dat for free"
Her sense of entitlement is palpable but she has done nothing to deserve it.

Brings to mind this line: Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

So true

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Venn diagram from Busted Nuckles:

20200906-money.jpg

Fifth time's the charm

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Needs to go away for a long long time - from The Post Millenial:

Rioter arrested 4 times in 4 weeks by Portland authorities now federally charged
A Washington state man who has been arrested four times and quickly bailed out within a month at violent Portland Antifa riots, was arrested by federal authorities this week.

Following a Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation, 26-year-old Kristopher Michael Donnelly, of Kelso, Wash., was arrested and federally charged with felony civil disorder. The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon accuses him of assaulting a Portland Police officer. When Donnelly was arrested four times in August and booked into the local jail, he was either quickly bailed out or released by the county.

And this cheery note:

If convicted in federal court, Donnelly faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.

Should be ten but I'll take what I can get. The more we do this, the fewer people will riot - plain and simple.

Nothing much this morning

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Was thinking of going up to the farm for another load but staying down here and doing the welding tables and a couple of other projects.

Cool and foggy but supposed to burn off for the afternoon.

Puttering around here and then out for coffee in an hour or so.

Countering Bitter Little Marxists

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In Beverly Hills - pure brilliance:

From here:

On AUG 22, 2020, a violent #BlackLivesMatter mob swarmed the Trump Unity Bridge in Beverly Hills. The Trump Unity Bridge responded to #BLM with a DANCE OFF to their unifying theme song MAGA / YMCA! 

BLM = darkness, chaos
MAGA = love, light, joy
It is that simple.

Your'e fired - Obama

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This video was made for the 2012 RNC but never aired:

Stop, drop and roll

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Heh - some moron in Portland was going to throw a Molotov Cocktail at the Police and hit a fellow traveler instead:

Could not happen to a nicer person. Good way to thin the herd.

Things that make you go Hmmmm...

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From Rose McGowan's twitter:

She always struck me as an entitled Hollywood leftist with Trump Derangement Syndrome but this is interesting.
C _ _ is probably the CAA - Creative Artist's Agency, a major Hollywood behind-the-scenes power-player.

Heh - not voting for Biden

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James Woods had the best comment on his twitter:

I mean, just look at the expression on the poor guy's face... Hillary Will. Simply. Not. Shut. Up.

From Dan Bongino:

And, of course, from FOX News:

San Francisco mayor calls Trump a 'terrorist' says it's time to ‘move on' from Pelosi salon controversy
The mayor of San Francisco on Friday called Trump a “terrorist” as she defended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over her controversial salon visit, saying it was time to “move on.”

"We have a terrorist, we have a dictator who is running this country and Nancy Pelosi is at the forefront fighting against this person everyday, you know, and I'm not trying to excuse what happened," Mayor London Breed told ABC7 News.

These people are blind in their insane hatred. Almost feel sorry for them.

The Wuhan Flu in the news

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From USA Today:

South Dakota dismisses 'elite class of so-called experts,' carries on with state fair after Sturgis rally fueled COVID-19 surge
South Dakota is one of the nation's hot spots for COVID-19 infections. That didn't stop another large-scale event from kicking off Thursday.

The rural South Dakota State Fair, which reported an attendance of 205,000 people last year, is set to run through Labor Day with more hand-washing stations, social distancing reminders and an encouragement — but not a requirement — for attendees to wear masks. It comes on the heels of the state's two largest events: The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and the The Sioux Empire Fair.

In the weeks following those events, South Dakota has emerged as a virus hotbed, according to data analysis. State and national health experts say the rise in cases is likely fueled by a combination of factors, including school reopenings, small gatherings and major events.

Further on down the page, they go on to cite the numbers. Sturgis attendence? 460,000. Deaths? 1, Cases? 118 residents with "about 300" nationally. Even if it is a full 300 verifiable not false-positive cases, that is still 0.06%. That is a rounding error. Statistical noise. Next crisis?

Out the door

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Working for the local community center for the day - back in the afternoon.

Dialing back the social justice warriors

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Wonderful news - this document from The White House (published yesterday):

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT - OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

FROM: Russell Vought - Director

SUBJECT: Training in the Federal Government
It has come to the President's attention that Executive Branch agencies have spent millions of taxpayer dollars to date "training" government workers to believe divisive, anti-American propaganda.

For example, according to press reports, employees across the Executive Branch have been required to attend trainings where they are told that "virtually all White people contribute to racism" or where they are required to say that they "benefit from racism." According to press reports, in some cases these training have further claimed that there is racism embedded in the belief that America is the land of opportunity or the belief that the most qualified person should receive a job.

These types of "trainings" not only run counter to the fundamental beliefs for which our Nation has stood since its inception, but they also engender division and resentment within the Federal workforce. We can be proud that as an employer, the Federal government has employees of all races, ethnicities, and religions. We can be proud that Americans from all over the country seek to join our workforce and dedicate themselves to public service. We can be proud of our continued efforts to welcome all individuals who seek to serve their fellow Americans as Federal employees. However, we cannot accept our employees receiving training that seeks to undercut our core values as Americans and drive division within our workforce.

The President has directed me to ensure that Federal agencies cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions. Accordingly, to that end, the Office of Management and Budget will shortly issue more detailed guidance on implementing the President's directive. In the meantime, all agencies are directed to begin to identify all contracts or other agency spending related to any training on "critical race theory," "white privilege," or any other training or propaganda effort that teaches or suggests either (1) that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country or (2) that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil. In addition, all agencies should begin to identify all available avenues within the law to cancel any such contracts and/or to divert Federal dollars away from these unAmerican propaganda training sessions.

The President, and his Administration, are fully committed to the fair and equal treatment of all individuals in the United States. The President has a proven track record of standing for those whose voice has long been ignored and who have failed to benefit from all our country has to offer, and he intends to continue to support all Americans, regardless of race, religion, or creed. The divisive, false, and demeaning propaganda of the critical race theory movement is contrary to all we stand for as Americans and should have no place in the Federal government.

Puts a big smile on my face. Round up all the Social Justice Warriors and drive them into the river. Mock them. Bring back the Pillory. Tar and Feathers. Make this kind of divisiveness and stupidity hurt so much so they will never attempt it again.

And that's it for tonight

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Early morning tomorrow - working for the local community center for an event.

Time for some YouTube and then bed.

Picked up the laser pointer while returning from the art show - battery is charging and see how Cat likes it tomorrow. He is certainly quite active - got to get something to tire him out. He likes when I use a mouse on a string. The laser will give him (and me) a lot more distance for him to chase.

Two stories - law enforcement

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From Law Enforcement Today

First:
Black Lives Matter leader in Des Moines arrested for 9 felony counts of assaulting officers
One of the Black Lives Matter organizers based out of Des Moines is now facing nine felony charges after police say he was shining lasers directly into officers’ eyes on the evening of August 31st while protests were raging nearby the University of Iowa.

And of course, the moke has a string of priors. Already in trouble with the law.  You can get a laser for about $30 that is powerful enough to cause immediate and permanent eye damage. I have a couple of them and treat them with the utmost respect. They are absolutely not toys.

Second:
The case against the Minneapolis cops in the death of George Floyd is quickly falling apart
Minneapolis attorneys representing former police officer Derek Chauvin have filed for a dismissal of all charges on two grounds.

The first cites a report over whether George Floyd intentionally ingested a lethal dose of fentanyl shortly before his arrest.

The second is that a Minneapolis Department police training manual demonstrates a technique similar to the one Chauvin used on Floyd to subdue violent and resisting suspects. The technique involves placing a knee on the suspect’s neck.

Floyd had close to four times a lethal dose. His death was from cardiac arrest. The Officer was following standardized proceedures. Floyd refused to cooperate and fought with the three officers.

We are living in a song

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From Wierd Dave at Ace of Spades:

20200904-pianoman.jpg

Billy Joel - Piano Man (live)

A two-fer

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A little problem - COVID-19

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A perfect example of the sloppiness behind the promotion of the Wuhan Flu as a political tool.
From Cleveland, OH station WKYC:

Tennessee woman who passed away 6 months ago gets letter saying she is COVID-19 positive
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Shelby County man questions what is going on at the Shelby County Health Department.

His mother died six months ago, but the health department just sent her a letter saying she is COVID-19 positive.

Troy Whittington said he was surprised when he opened the letter this week from the Shelby County Health Department. He knew what was in that letter was false.

"I'm just having a hard time understanding how they can say someone has COVID-19 when they are not even alive," said Whittington.

Not only that, she will be voting a straight Democrat ticket in November.

The Police are hands-off - Seattle

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But not so much the Washington State Patrol - from Katie Daviscourt

The "protest"

The State Patrol:

Got to love it. They towed the cars too - some hefty impound fees and they are not getting let out on their own recognizance. Amazing restraint by the State Patrol - I would have punched a few of these people in the face.

Leadership in a Washington city - Everett

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Looks like some city councils have a good head on their shoulders. From the Everett Herald:

In reversal, Everett council approves $6M grant to hire cops
After some initial hesitancy, the Everett City Council approved a $6 million grant that could go toward funding up to 16 more police officers, but would also tie up resources down the line for the financially strapped city.

Council members voted 6-1 Wednesday evening in favor of allowing Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin to accept the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant, just six days before the offer was to expire.

A week earlier, council members declined to bring the matter to a vote, with some citing concerns over the looming $18 million deficit in the coming year’s budget. In the end, it was the grant’s flexibility — as well as extended conversations with Police Chief Dan Templeman and other city leaders — that won over the majority of council members. After learning more about how the grant could be used, council members Brenda Stonecipher and Scott Murphy requested the council take up the matter again.

Now is not the time to cut the police force. November is going to be a shit-show when the Democrats do not get their own way. Now is a good time to start building up three weeks (minimum) of food and water reserves.

Something to remember - choirboys

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The so-called "martyrs" are not choirboys. George Floyd and company were all career criminals who were resisting arrest and fighting with the police. Jacob Blake is just one in a string of many - from 90 Miles from Tyranny:

20200904-blake.jpg

Peace in Israel [CHECK]
Peace in ...

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From Hot Air:

Trump Administration Brokers Serb-Kosovo Deal — With Normalized Israel Relations
Score another foreign-policy win for the Trump administration, and this one’s a surprising two-fer. More than twenty years after the Balkan Wars concluded, Serbia and Kosovo have settled their differences enough to establish economic ties, although full diplomatic recognition of Kosovo’s independence still appears out of reach. As part of the deal, Kosovo also became the next Muslim-majority nation to recognize Israel:

From today's press conference:

Serbia and Kosovo announced Friday that they have normalized economic ties as part of U.S.-brokered discussions that also include Belgrade moving its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem and Pristina recognizing Israel.

After two days of meetings with Trump administration officials, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti agreed to cooperate on a range of economic fronts to attract investment and create jobs. The White House announcement provided President Donald Trump with a diplomatic win ahead of the November presidential election and furthers his administration’s push to improve Israel’s international standing.

“Truly, it is historic,” Trump said, standing alongside the two leaders in the Oval Office. “I look forward to going to both countries in the not too distant future.”

Serbia’s decision to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a nod to both Israel and the United States. The Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in late 2017 and moved the U.S. embassy there in May 2018.

Of course, the mainstream media is not covering this. Doesn't fit the narrative. Must follow the narrative.

Hydroxychloroquine in one chart

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The stuff works, has been around for a long time and is cheap. Big Pharma hate this. The people promoting the Wuhan Flu shutdown hate this.
Looking at who hates this should give you an idea of who needs to be removed from power.
Here is a chart that shows the results of eary use by nation:

20200904-hcq.jpg

From American Thinker:

Charts compare COVID deaths in countries that used hydroxychloroquine early and those that didn't
Monday, the Family Foundation of Virginia reported that the State health commissioner, Dr. Norman Oliver, intends to use his emergency powers to force every Virginian to receive a COVID-19 vaccine when one becomes available. 

Virginia's Gov. Northam (survivor of his infamous blackface scandal) has taken no official policy position so far.  However, the Democrat-controlled Legislature has killed at least three Republican bills that would have offered a way for someone with a sincere religious objection to be exempt from any COVID-19 vaccine mandate.  The most recent casualty, H.B. 5082, "would've ensured that Virginia didn't mandate a COVID-19 vaccine if it is derived from human fetal tissue, changes the RNA or DNA of a person, or was not first tested on laboratory animals before being tested on humans."  These actions triggered a "March against Mandatesin Richmond on September 2 by Virginia Freedom Keepers.

But wait — there's more politics brewing.  Yesterday's Richmond Times-Dispatch published a letter from a former FDA medical officer.  He agrees that using convalescent blood plasma from patients who developed antibodies works, and he cited its many successes dating back to the 1918 flu pandemic.  However, he claims that the number of people tested this time was "far out of proportion to the number needed for safety analyses."   He also objects that authorities in the FDA and Donald Trump made overly optimistic claims that it could result in a 35% reduction in mortality and said this type of politics undermines the FDA's credibility. 

Meanwhile, the left's successful war against hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) rages on.  The subject was brought up repeatedly by highly respected Yale epidemiology professor Dr. Harvey Risch, this time when interviewed by Mark Levin on Fox News a couple of Sundays ago.  Dr. Risch is adamant that HCQ can significantly reduce mortality if administered early to prevent the potentially deadly inflammation reaction that is especially common in older patients and those with comorbidities.  Thousands could have been saved.  PragerU posted similar claims by several frontline doctors here.  The left's cancel culture got some of these same doctors fired. 

It has been my personal quest to find some hard proof that compares countries that have widely used HCQ early in the pandemic with those who did not.  Some key data finally emerged from a site devoted to climate change in a 23 August article by Leo Goldstein titled "Hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 Treatment, Actual Usage in the USA."  The needed comparisons were found in one of the author's references, titled Early treatment with hydroxychloroquine: a country-based analysis.

Much more at the site - nice to see the data in one place. This is really serious and shows the deep state in its true colors.

And back home for a while

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Farmer's market was a lot of fun. Well attended and lots of booths - some regulars and some new. Picked up some of the late-season strawberries and will be having those for desert tonight and tomorrow. Yum. Whipping cream with a teaspoon of single-malt - adds a nice depth and complexity to the flavor.

Didn't see any yard sales that had anything - stopped at two of them and the few tools I was interested in were beat to shite.

The art opening is in an hour - getting dinner started and will eat after I get back. Doing a corn and bean salad. Maybe a sandwich too. Hot out and somewhat humid - muggy.

Quick surf and see what is out there.  I'll put the welding table together tomorrow.

Another glorious day in paradise

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Nothing much on the internet. Been playing with the critters and puttering around the house. Vaccuum it later this afternoon.

Heading out in a little bit for coffee and hanging out. The usual stuff. Might do a bit of yard sailing. Farmer's market this afternoon and then an art opening at 5PM. Need to make some more nectar for the hummingbird feeders - do that every five days or so. Hungry little buggers.

Processing the tri-tip I picked up at Costco yesterday.  I unwrapped it, cut it into portions, salted it and then wrapped it in a paper towel and put it in the fridge on a rack for 24 hours. This draws a lot of the surface moisture out - helps to intensify the flavor. Today, I will dust the excess salt off, grind some pepper, vacuum seal it in a sous-vide bag and freeze them. To cook? Get the portion out of the freezer and put it into the water bath at 135°F for four hours. Sear the surface over a ripping hot charcoal fire. Perfection.

Also assembling a welding table I got a few days ago. My only gripe is that it did not come with casters. Problem solved. When I build my shop next spring, I will pony up for a nice Certiflat table but, since I am working out of the garage in my house, this one will work just fine. Since the garage is a bit small, everything I use is on wheels or casters. Makes the space a lot more efficient.

Coffee time...

Destination F***ed

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Heh - fun video from Ozzy Man Reviews:

But of course - San Francisco Mayor

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I would expect nothing else from this moron. From Townhall:

San Francisco Mayor Blames Trump For Pelosi's Salon Mistake
San Francisco Mayor London Breed attempted to redirect fire at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi toward the president after security footage showed Pelosi getting her hair done with no mask inside a salon.

Her comments:

"So look, Nancy Pelosi has done so much for this city and even this country and in the midst of this pandemic and all the stuff that’s happening amidst this election, she is in Washington, D.C., fighting against a tyrant every single day," Breed said on Wednesday during a radio interview.

Pelosi doing for San Francisco?

Some numbers - pandemics

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Truth.

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Heh - BLM

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BLM?  Try Bitter Little Marxists

Works for me...

Wonderful news

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From Andy Ngo's twitter:

This comment is probably 100% the truth:

Suicide by cop. His superiors probably put him up to it so he couldn't snitch. He obviously had no problem talking to Vice. Think he would've told the Feds in custody.

Andy has been doing an incredible job of reporting the violence and rioting in Seattle and Portland. He deserves a Pulitzer. If he does not get one, the Pulitzer committee needs to be disbanded.

A six minute education from J.P. Sears:

They were more than happy to take our money but they have done nothing for us. They are a political group and not a scientific or medical one.
From ABC News:

US cuts remaining dues payment to WHO after Trump pullout
The Trump administration said Wednesday it won't pay more than $60 million in dues it owes to the World Health Organization and will use the money instead to pay down other contributions to the United Nations. The announcement came just a day after the White House announced the U.S. would not participate in a WHO-run project to develop and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine.

The decision to withhold roughly $62 million in outstanding 2020 dues to the WHO is part of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his allegations that the agency has been improperly influenced by China.

Good. I am sure that China will be more than happy to bail them out. They are already in bed with them so why not.

Lord of the Flies

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Chilling novel & movie. A foretelling of what is happening with the unsupervised kiddies in our cities right now.
From Stilton Jarlsberg:

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The Democrats own this. Do not listen to their excuses - they own this.

The comments at Stilton's Place are good - one person was comparing Biden to Napoleon and another person chimed in with this:

I beg to differ. Napoleon was a blood thirsty tyrant and warmonger, but he was a brilliant strategic and tactical battlefield commander. He also brought class mobility and a modern legal code to the French.

Biden is a mediocrity who has been wrong in almost every situation and with every policy he has espoused for almost 50 years whilst suckling on the public teat. He may be the official candidate, but certainly won't be the president. Neither will Kamala. They are both cardboard cutouts who would be controlled by the deep state operatives beholden to the globalists who are very, very close to controlling the entire world and all citizens therein. If the dem/commies win in November the Orwellian 1984 scenario would be our new normal.

True on all counts.

Heh - some legal challenges for Google

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From the New York Times:

Justice Dept. Plans to File Antitrust Charges Against Google in Coming Weeks
The Justice Department plans to bring an antitrust case against Google as soon as this month, after Attorney General William P. Barr overruled career lawyers who said they needed more time to build a strong case against one of the world’s wealthiest, most formidable technology companies, according to five people briefed on internal department conversations.

And a bit more - a very political case given their manipulation of search results:

A coalition of 50 states and territories support antitrust action against Google, a reflection of the broad bipartisan support that a Justice Department case might have. But state attorneys general conducting their own investigations into the company are split on how to move forward, with Democrats perceived by Republicans as slow-walking the work so that cases can be brought under a potential Biden administration, and Democrats accusing Republicans of rushing it out under Mr. Trump. That disagreement could limit the number of states that join a Justice Department lawsuit and imperil the bipartisan nature of the investigation.

This will be fun to watch from the sidelines. AT&T was broken up into the Baby Bells with little or no service interruption. Same thing should be able to happen to Google.

Back home

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Thai food was delicious. Hit the spot.

Surf for a bit and then watch some YouTube videos. Got the farmer's market tomorrow as well as an art opening of a friend. Now that I am president of this organization, it is good to attend these.

And out the door

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Coffee was good, hung out and talked with some people I know. Did some more emails and paperwork.

Heading north to Costco. Thai food sounds like a good idea so will get dinner while I am out.

Glorious cloudless sky - temp is 74°F - perfect.

The Kenosha "protests"

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From the Kenosha, Wisconsin Police Department

Interesting: Of the people processed during this week, 102 listed addresses from outside of Kenosha

Rent-a-thug - these people are being trucked in to foment. Across state lines?

Now that will leave a mark - Bill Barr

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From an interview with Wolf Blitzer:

An interesting point

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Heading out in a while

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Nothing much this morning - slept in (delicious) and heading out for coffee in 15 minutes or so. Nice weather today - warming up.

Head up to Costco later - dog and cat food, gas, some beef (I like tri-tip a lot). Doing a couple of emails to follow up on last night's meeting.

Looking at it from a different perspective

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Governor Cuomo made some comment about President Trump needing an army if he visited New York City. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany flips this around to its logical conclusion.  From CNS News:

McEnany: Cuomo Described in ‘Vivid Detail How He’s Lost Control of His State’
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany responded to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s claim that President Donald Trump can’t walk down the street in New York City without an army, saying that the governor is admitting he’s lost control of his state and pointed to the rise in crime in the city compared to last year.

“It’s not often you hear a governor describe in vivid detail how he’s lost control of his state, but there you have Governor Cuomo saying, You can't come to New York without an army. Well, I guess that is the case when you have more than 1,000 shootings before Labor Day, when there’s a 277% increase in shootings in a one-month period over the year prior,” McEnany said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Thursday.

She is 100% correct. New York has a serious shortage of leadership on both the city and the state level. They own this, this is not President Trump's fault.

And that is it for today

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Meeting was good. Nice and short but covered everything and voted on an important item.

Sleep in tomorrow - got nothing planed Thursday - Friday and Saturday are booked but should be fun events. Planning a trip to the farm Sunday/Monday. Another load 'o crap.

Watch some video and enjoy a beer or two.

Journalism - a great mini-rant

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Just go here and read - perfect comparison at Eaton Rapids Joe

Perfect - get them by the Benjamins

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Liberals are going to scream. I love it. From the New York Post:

Trump orders review to defund NYC, other ‘anarchist’ cities
President Trump is ordering the federal government to begin the process of defunding New York City and three other cities where officials allowed “lawless” protests and cut police budgets amid rising violent crime, The Post can exclusively reveal.

Trump on Wednesday signed a five-page memo ordering all federal agencies to send reports to the White House Office of Management and Budget that detail funds that can be redirected.

New York City, Washington, DC, Seattle and Portland are initial targets as Trump makes “law and order” a centerpiece of his reelection campaign after months of unrest and violence following the May killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police.

“My Administration will not allow Federal tax dollars to fund cities that allow themselves to deteriorate into lawless zones,” Trump says in the memo, which twice mentions New York Mayor Bill de Blasio by name.

Well Done Mr. President. More:

“To ensure that Federal funds are neither unduly wasted nor spent in a manner that directly violates our Government’s promise to protect life, liberty, and property, it is imperative that the Federal Government review the use of Federal funds by jurisdictions that permit anarchy, violence, and destruction in America’s cities.”

Federal agencies must detail “all Federal funds provided to Seattle, Portland, New York City, Washington, D.C.” Also, within 14 days Attorney General Bill Barr must develop a list of “anarchist jurisdictions” that “permitted violence and the destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures” to restore order.

More:

The amounts of money impacted by Trump’s order could be massive. New York City, for example, gets about $7 billion a year in federal aid.

New York is named because of a crime wave as officials cut police funds. The city had a 177 percent spike in shootings in July compared to last year. The City Council approved a budget in July that cuts $1 billion from the NYPD’s $6 billion annual budget and eliminates $537 million in capital spending.

More at the site. What you are seeing is leadership. Plain and simple. Leadership.

Word

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Kicking the can down the road - Chicago

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Mismanagement at every level - from the Wall Street Journal:

Chapter 9 Is the Best Bad Option for Chicago’s Pensions
Chicago’s pension problems are nothing new. Analysts and observers have known for years that the Windy City’s annual pension contributions were unsustainable. In 2016, the contribution for 2022 was projected to reach nearly $2 billion, 4.3 times what it was for 2014. Despite this gargantuan contribution, the pension plans’ funded ratio was projected to plummet—from a poor 31% in 2015 to an alarmingly low 26% in 2021. I urged Chicago at the time to increase its annual contributions by enough to prevent the funded ratio from dropping below 31%. Doing so would still have left Chicago’s pensions in worse shape than those of any major city in the U.S., but at least the hole wouldn’t get deeper. Chicago’s leaders did not embrace my recommendation.

Quite sobering. They are robbing their children. The butchers bill will come due and the current crop of leaders do not want to address this. No vision. No leadership. No management skills.

China and Taiwan

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We are getting friendlier with Taiwan - this is a good thing. China is not happy.
From the South China Morning Post:

China tells US to stop building relationship with Taiwan after economic dialogue announcement
Beijing on Tuesday asked the US to stop upgrading its unofficial diplomatic relations with Taiwan, after Washington’s announcement of a new economic dialogue with Taiwan.

“We called on the US to ... stop official interaction with Taiwan in all forms,” said Hua Chunying, spokeswoman of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.

Hua described the US Taiwan Relations Act, which allows for de facto diplomatic relations, as “illegal” and “invalid”, adding that it violates the one-China principle.

On Monday, US assistant secretary of state David Stilwell said that the United States and Taiwan would establish a new economic dialogue focused on semiconductors, health care, energy and other technology sectors.

I like Taiwan - got the chance to visit there once and really enjoyed myself. My favorite tool store (Grizzly) imports machine tools from China and from Taiwan (also India) and the quality of the Taiwanese and Indian tools is significantly better than the best from China. Fit and finish, precision, quality of materials. All around better.

Good that we are establishing better ties with them - they are a bastion of freedom in a section of the world that needs it. China not happy? Boo hoo. So sad, too bad.

Politicians - our elite

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First it was Nancy Pelosi getting her hair cut. Now, the mayor of Philadelphia - from Legal Insurrection:

Philly Mayor Scorched After He Dines Indoors in Maryland While He Keeps Ban in His City
Philadelphia chefs and local residents took to social media to chew out Mayor Jim Kenney after someone caught him dining indoors in Maryland.

The chefs are ticked off because indoor dining is not allowed in Philadelphia. Many businesses have closed because of the regulations and orders.

Kenney ate at the Chesapeake Inn, which has indoor and outdoor seating. His friend Gianmarco Martuscelli owns the restaurant.

It looks like Kenney is not wearing or mask and sitting pretty close to the person at the same table.

Photos and comments at the site. Ok for me but not for thee.  Rules are for the little people.

Nancy Pelosi - playing the victim card

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Asshat. From The Right Scoop:

Nancy Pelosi blames salon owner for “setting her up”
The despicable Nancy Pelosi is now blaming the hair salon owner for her violation of the San Francisco ban, saying they set her up and that she ‘takes responsibility for falling for a setup’

A unifying trait for liberals - they never assume responsibility for their actions.

From FOX News:

Fox News' Chris Wallace to moderate first Trump-Biden presidential debate
“Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace has been selected to moderate the first presidential debate between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced Wednesday.

Wallace will moderate the first debate, which is scheduled to take place Tuesday, Sept. 29 in Cleveland.

Chris Wallace has been trying to interview Biden for a long time - from Legal Insurrection:

Why Won’t Biden Accept an Interview With Fox’s Chris Wallace?
Where is presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden? I know we have a coronavirus outbreak, but you can do remote interviews.

On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace said he reached out to Biden’s campaign and received a no.

Wallace sat down with President Donald Trump last week. He wanted to know if Biden “could handle the barrage of questioning that Wallace posed to” him.

Good question:

“In our interview last week with President Trump, he questioned whether his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, could handle a similar encounter,” Wallace said. “This week, we asked the Biden campaign for an interview and they said the former vice president was not available.”

He added, “We’ll keep asking every week.”

Good question indeed. This will be fun to see but someone needs to draw the line at elder abuse. Biden is nothing more than a meat puppet at this point and his handlers serial abusers are radical leftists.

Nothing out there

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Quiet morning on the internet

Heading out for an early coffee and run a few errands. Grocery deliveries this afternoon.

Cool and overcast day - was raining early morning. More of same in the forecast.

Three memes

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Quiet but busy morning - writing and taking care of other stuff. These caught my eye:

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That's it for the evening

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Long day tomorrow - some writing, the grocery deliveries and then the meeting. First time as President of the group.

Time to kick back with some videos and a cold beer or three.

Some clouds in the sky but a nice warm day and a beautiful sunset. Days are definitely getting shorter - sunset is at 7:49 and it was at 8:45 on August 1st - one month ago. Lost more than an hour of daylight - 14:58 day length then, 13:17 now. Not ready for this - spring was so wet and cold.

Found this on the internet - cute and very true:

20200901-garrison.jpg

Know your place serfs.

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Flaunting the rules are OK for me but not for thee - from the New York Post:

Nancy Pelosi gets hair done at SF salon in spite of COVID-19 rules
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got her hair done at a San Francisco salon on Monday — in spite of local coronavirus rules barring indoor personal-care services, Fox News reported.

Security footage obtained by the outlet shows the California Democrat strolling through eSalon in the city’s Pacific Heights neighborhood at around 3:10 p.m. on Monday.

She can be seen wearing a black smock with her wet locks slicked back — but no mask on her face.

Hair salons and barber shops in San Francisco have been shuttered since March, and officials on Monday gave the OK to reopen, but for outdoor service only.

Salon owner Erica Kious called the congresswoman’s visit “a slap in the face.”

The Salon owner did not know that Pelosi was coming in. Salons will rent out chairs to other hairdressers. The person who did Pelosi's hair was a renter and did this without telling anyone. Let's hope that he lost his seat - not a good thing to do.

A wonderfully well-written letter

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Heh - from the Trump/Pence Campaign to The Commission on Presidential Debates:

Dear Members of the Commission:
By now you are surely aware of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s assertion, unprompted, that Joe Biden should withdraw from all debates with President Trump this fall. She said, “I don’t think that there should be any debates.” This was especially alarming because as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Pelosi became the highest-ranking Democrat official to urge Biden to cancel debates, adding her voice to other prominent Democrats advising the same.

The public discussion of cancelling the debate schedule should not be allowed to continue unchecked. To be clear again, President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are fully committed to the three presidential debates agreed upon and the single vice presidential debate. We are concerned that arguments to eliminate debates have escalated and we now believe that re-stated written confirmation from the Biden campaign is needed to ensure that he will attend three debates in person. 

Written assurance of Joe Biden’s attendance at debates is important because we have seen this act before. There have been numerous instances of Biden saying one thing about a given topic in public, only to have his campaign come behind him and clean up his statements after the fact. While he may verbally give vague assertions of his intentions, there is no way of knowing what his handlers truly have planned for him. Presidential debates are too vital to the dissemination of information to voters to leave their very existence subject to the whims of political consultants pulling Joe Biden’s strings.

The closing paragraph and signature line is perfect:

We can’t believe we have to say this, but the people should hear from the candidates for president side-by-side before votes are cast. With Joe Biden’s hastily-planned private plane excursion to Pennsylvania this week, it is clear that he is reacting to sliding poll numbers by leaving his basement, at least for one day. If Joe Biden’s handlers are now issuing day passes for the candidate, it stands to reason that they could let him out to stand on stage with President Trump before a sizeable portion of voters begin to cast their ballots.

Sincerely,
Rudolph W. Giuliani
Former Mayor, New York

CC: Fmr. Vice President Joe Biden
Basement
Wilmington, DE

His handlers issuing day passes.
Fmr. Vice President Joe Biden, Basement, Wilmington, DE.
Pure comedy gold... Mayor Giuliani must have had a fun time writing this.

Out for a bit (again)

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Farmer's market this afternoon so heading out for that.

Got the paperwork done for tomorrows meeting - people lined up. Should be a good one. Send it out to the membership after dinner.

So true

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20200901-peace.jpg

Antifa - best and brightest

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They arrested a really hardened social justice warrior - from Green Bay, Wisconsin station WBAY:

Neenah man arrested at Green Bay protest has ties to Antifa
A Neenah man had a flamethrower, smoke grenades and fireworks during a demonstration in Green Bay Saturday night, according to police and prosecutors.

Matthew Banta, 23, is charged with obstructing an officer and two counts of felony bail jumping.

The criminal complaint says Banta “is known to be a violent Antifa member who incites violence in otherwise relatively peaceful protests.” Police say he’s known as “Commander Red.”

Green Bay police say they were called for “a whole bunch of white people with sticks, baseball bats and helmets headed... towards the police” on Walnut St. near Webster Ave.

“I don’t know who comes to a protest with a baseball bat for anything other than criminal or illegal activity,” said Green Bay Police Chief Andrew Smith.

A responding officer says he saw four individuals walking towards a protest with baseball bats. One man was wearing a metal helmet with goggles and military-style gear with multiple pouches, and was carrying an Antifa flag. When the officer pulled his squad car in front of the group, they ran away. The officer caught Banta, who was carrying the flag, and says Banta “dropped into the fetal position and began crying.”

Emphasis mine. If this is the typical Antifa warrior, America will be fine.

And they got him - his own sister

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Great news from World Net Daily:

Sister turned in '100% Antifa' suspect in Portland killing of Trump supporter
The 48-year-old suspect in the fatal shooting of a Trump supporter in Portland, Oregon, Saturday night was turned in to police by his sister.

Michael Forest Reinoehl, who calls himself "100% Antifa," is accused of shooting 39-year-old Portland resident Aaron Danielson in the chest after most of the cars in a caravan organized by the group Patriot Prayer had left the city. Danielson, described as a supporter of the Vancouver, Washington-based group, died in the street outside a parking garage.

And, quoting the sister:

"We reached out to police and confirmed that we recognized Michael in the screenshots" posted online, she said, asking that her name not be published because of the threats.

The sister said, according to the paper, Reinoehl has been estranged from the family for at least three years. He has a son and daughter and is split from their mother.

"I have friends, family and loved ones on both sides of the conflict," Reinoehl's sister told the Oregonian. "Violence begets violence and hatred begets hatred. This is not the solution. My heart goes out to the victim. It always has, before I even knew my brother was involved."

Good - I hope he spends the rest of his life in prison. Give him some time to think about his stupid choices in life. Seems to be a real winner.

Out the door for an hour or three

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Did a bunch of emails and writing this morning for tomorrow's meeting. A lot on my plate.

Heading out to take a break - some go-juice, a pastry and retreat into a book for an hour. Then? Back to work.

Peaceful protests in Portland

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From The Oregonian:

March to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s home declared riot Monday as burning debris thrown into building
More than 200 people on Monday night marched to the Pearl District condominium tower where Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler lives to demand his resignation.

The demonstration quickly turned destructive as some in the crowd lit a fire in the street, then placed a picnic table from a nearby business on top of the fire to feed the blaze. People shattered windows and broke into a ground-floor dental office took items including a chair, also added to the fire, and office supplies.

Shortly after 11 p.m., a bundle of newspapers was set ablaze and thrown into a ground-floor storefront in the residential building.

A bit more:

The 16-story building contains 114 residences — but the fire didn’t appear to spread and was quickly extinguished. Police used crowd-control munitions and released smoke into the air as they pushed the crowd west.

They ultimately arrested nearly 20 people. Police later said arson investigators were looking for the person who started the fire.

And those 20 are probably back on the streets already. Catch and release. Wheeler needs to stand up to these bullies - there is no appeasing them. They will only stop when it hurts - 90 days in jail for minor offences.

They are "pained" about everything

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They came late to the table but now want the whole banquet for themselves. From Legal Insurrection:

Palestinians “Pained” as US, Israeli Delegations Arrive in UAE Following Landmark Peace Deal
The Palestinians are “deeply pained” to witness the flight carrying the first official Israeli delegation to the United Arab Emirates following the last month’s historic peace agreement brokered by President Donald Trump, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said. “It pains us to see an Israeli plane land in the United Arab Emirates,” he complained, as the first-ever commercial flight from Israel to the UAE landed at the Abu Dhabi airport on Monday.

If they stopped fomenting hatred, they might be treated as regular people. The whole Palestinian deal was initiated by Yasser Arafat (Egyptian) who was groomed and funded by the KGB (Yasser spent nine years studying in Moscow). The Russians wanted to destabilize Israel as they thought there might be large deposits of oil there. Unfortunately, the fabrication took root and is being perpetuated by the current "leaders". Funded by Iran these days. The Soviets spent all of their money.

Can't keep their stories straight

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Fun to watch from a distance - from American Thinker:

Joe and Kamala are already campaigning at cross purposes
Two weeks past the Democratic convention, and already the odd couple that emerged from it, Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, are not exactly a well unified, carefully coordinated team.

Already they are campaigning at cross-purposes.

A couple days ago, Joe Biden woke up and smelled the coffee, officially declaring his opposition to the leftist riots engulfing America's blue cities. This followed the absolute radio silence of the Democrats about the matter at their convention.

And Kamala?

Like most leftists, she was cheering the riots. They'll never, never, never, never stop (diabolical cackle).

So the message from the pair of them was that the riots are bad and need to stop, but they're never going to stop (cue witch's cackle). Anything Joe says to stop them is going to go ignored, because Kamala is in the saddle.

You'd think a professional presidential campaign would be unified enough to get its messaging straight. But the messaging is not straight — it's contradictory, crossed wires, Kamala apparently not getting the memo.

Yep - the Democrat Party is in the very best of hands. Much more at the site - video and tweets. Like I said, fun to watch from a distance.

Waking up - Dr. Fauci

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Good - from The Hill:

Trump knocks Fauci: 'I inherited him'
President Trump on Monday questioned the value of Anthony Fauci to the White House coronavirus task force, saying in an interview with Fox News that he "inherited" the government's top infectious disease expert.

"I disagree with a lot of what he said," Trump told Laura Ingraham when asked if he would put Fauci "front and center" in the pandemic response if he could do it again.

"I get along with him, but every once in a while, he'll come up with one that I say, 'Where did that come from?'" Trump continued. "I inherited him. He was here. He was part of this huge piece of machine."

More at the site - they list a few of the things that Fauci suggested that proved to be wrong. There is so much dead wood in the government - it is amazing that it is able to function at all.

Coding error - COVID

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An example from My Penseive:

20200901-covid.jpg

Smart people in Oregon

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From Portland station KATU:

Sheriffs say they won't help governor's plan to stop Portland protest violence
The sheriffs of Clackamas and Washington County say they will not send staff to help with protests in Portland after Oregon Governor Kate Brown unveiled a plan to address the violence at protests.

The plan called on several local law enforcement agencies to help, including the sheriff's offices of Washington and Clackamas counties.

Clackamas Co. Sheriff Craig Roberts said the governor didn’t approach his office before rolling out the plan, intended to address the violence and arson while also protecting free speech.

“Increasing law enforcement resources in Portland will not solve the nightly violence and now, murder,” the sheriff said. “The only way to make Portland safe again, is to support a policy that holds offenders accountable for their destruction and violence.”

Exactly - Portland is doing catch and release on offenders. The city is not prosecuting them. Minimal bail and back on the streets again. Until they address this, there is no reason why other law enforcement agents need to risk life and limb.

I love too that Gov. Brown did not talk with them first before releasing her great plan. Clueless. No leadership or administrative skills.

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