October 2021 Archives

Time to light a fire on the hearth

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A celebration of this last year and prayers for the one to come.

Blessed Samhain everyone

And tonight's theme song:

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From The Device Orchestra (and be sure to hang around for the outtakes):

Heh - these stories write themselves

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From FOX News:

Jen Psaki tests positive for COVID-19
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Sunday she has tested positive for COVID-19 despite being vaccinated.

"On Wednesday, in coordination with senior leadership at the White House and the medical team, I made the decision not to travel on the foreign trip with the President due to a family emergency, which was members of my household testing positive for COVID-19," Psaki said in a statement.

Works real good... Didn't she get booster shot #372    More likely, a shot of Lactated Ringer's (chances are too high to fsck around with the experimental vax) like Joe's (same thing) televised jabs (first, second, booster (this one at the fake white house)) - note that none of the technicians  will aspirate the syringe before plunging it home. From the site:

Aspiration means to draw breath, or air from a needle. This simple process can make a big impact though. It protects you from hitting a blood vessel or artery and accidentally injecting fluid into one, which can result in a variety of different side effects.

Nausea, coughing spells, dizzyness, increased heart rate, and in some cases, coma or death can occur as a result of not aspirating a needle properly. Aspirating a needle is a quick and easy process that should be performed prior to injecting. You should never skip it. Doing so puts your health at risk.

Sounds like some of the immediate side-effects from this particular vaccine.

MHGA

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Great poll numbers - Breitbart:

Chuck Todd: ‘Shocking’ NBC Poll Shows 71% Believe U.S. Is on Wrong Track — ‘Scary News for the Democrats’
NBC anchor Chuck Todd debuted a new poll on Sunday’s broadcast of “Meet the Press” which showed 71 percent of Americans believe America is on the wrong track.

Todd said, “We have a brand new NBC news poll out this morning still with some scary news for the Democrats. The overarching message, Americans have lost their confidence in President Joe Biden and their optimism for the country. At least they have right now. Just 22% of adults say we are headed in the right direction. A shocking 71% say we’re on the wrong track and that includes a near majority of Democrats who are saying that.”

He continued, “President Biden’s approval rating stands at a dismal 42% versus 54% who disapprove. Believe it or not, just two months ago Mr. Biden was in positive territory, 49 approving. So what’s pulling down the president’s numbers? Look at this set of numbers, just 37% say he has the ability to handle a crisis versus a majority who say he does not. Thirty-seven percent also say he’s competent and effective as president. 50% disagree with that description. What’s more, Republicans, believe it or not, have double-digit leads in dealing with border security, inflation, crime, national security, the economy, and, shockingly, on getting things done. Democrats hold generally smaller double-digit leads on dealing with climate change, the coronavirus, education, and abortion. That’s really it right now.”

You can not piss on our backs and tell us that it is raining.
Do not treat us as if we are stupid — we are not.  Quite the contrary.
You (on the other hand) never leave your comfy little bubble
You spend your days surrounded by Yes Men.

Coming home to roost - Portland

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Tourism is big business.  My store near Mt. Baker lives and dies by it. So do many of the businesses on this island. From the Portland, Oregon FOX News affiliate:

Travel Portland presents telling tourism report to city council
Portland’s reputation isn’t the greatest. That’s the big takeaway from a city council meeting Wednesday morning, when Travel Portland presented a telling tourism report.

In the meeting, Commissioner Mingus Mapps started by bringing up some reputation concerns.

“Here’s the problem,” said Commissioner Mapps. “Around the world, too many people associate Portland with homelessness and homicide.”

“Today, a significant chunk of humanity is afraid of spending time and money in our city,” he continued.

That skepticism surrounding the city is holding back major economic recovery, according to the President and CEO of Travel Portland.

“Continued attacks and breaking glass on buildings throughout the city, but especially downtown, continued to affect this hard to overcome sentiment, “ said Jeff Miller. “Our central city occupancy in September lags every competitive city we tracked.”

A study by Travel Portland shows a major problem affecting the economy right now, a lot of people don’t want to attend conferences in the city.

Conferences are a big money-maker.  Also, a little known fact is that a percentage of what you pay for a hotel room gets taxed and handed to local business associations so that they may promote local attractions to bring in tourists to the area.  Actually a great idea.

There is a conference I visit on the Oregon coast regularly and last couple times, I made it a point to bypass Portland when driving down even though the freeway passes right through downtown. More driving but less hassles.  Spidey senses don't tingle quite as much...

Unintended consequences anyone? 
A good leader will know about these.
A poor leader will be surprised by them.

Congress does not have the vax mandate.  Many labor unions do not.  The US Postal Services does not. The Federal Court system does not. etc. etc. etc.

The Fire Department of New York is saying no. From The New York Post:

26 FDNY firehouse companies out of service over vaccine mandate staff shortage
The FDNY shuttered 26 fire companies citywide on Saturday due to staff shortages caused by the COVID-19 vaccination mandate, according to furious elected officials, who ripped the move as “unconscionable” — and warned it could have catastrophic consequences.

The shutdown came amid a pitched battle between City Hall, which on Monday will start enforcing a mandate that all city workers have at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and jab-resisting firefighters, many reportedly saying they were already sick with the coronavirus and therefore have “natural immunity.”

DeBlasio owns this.  His decision.  His policies. His lack of effective leadership.
Hope that the good citizens of New York remember this next election day...

Call me a creature of habit but...

Working at home today.  Celebrating a quiet Samhain - light a fire on the hearth and give thanks for this past year and to pray for the good year to come.

Nothing much happening out in the "real world" - the usual dumb-fuckery of the "elite" and the WOKE

Back in a few hours...

Running late - solar storm

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There was a large Coronal Mass Ejection a few days ago and we were forecast to have some nice aurora borealis last night.  No such luck - it was running slow and just now is hitting the Earth's magnetosphere.

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So we will have the aurora but in the daytime.  It needs to be at Six before we can get a good display.  This updates every three hours or so.  We what happens when it gets close to dusk tonight - see if there is any activity remaining.

I can not think of a nicer group of people to embarrass.  From the London Daily Mail:

Massive cyber heist rocks high society jeweller Graff: Russian gang demand multi-million ransom or they'll release private details of rich and famous - after leaking files on David Beckham, Oprah and Donald Trump

    • Russian hackers have taken personal details of world leaders, actors and tycoons
    • Victims believed to include Donald Trump, David Beckham and Sir Philip Green
    • Thought to be demanding millions in ransom money to stop further releases of sensitive information
    • Gang named Conti is behind data theft from the exclusive jewellery firm Graff

Hackers have plundered the personal details of world leaders, Hollywood A-listers and billionaire tycoons in a massive 'virtual heist' on exclusive jewellery firm Graff, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The cyber criminals have already leaked 69,000 confidential documents on to the so-called 'dark web', including files relating to Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, David Beckham and Sir Philip Green.

And they are thought to be demanding tens of millions of pounds in ransom money to stop the release of further sensitive information.

And why this could be embarrasing?

...and could prove embarrassing for customers who may, for example, have bought gifts for secret lovers or taken jewellery as bribes.

Hell - go for it.  Release everything.  Let them twist in the wind a little bit. Let the public see that these entitled people are just as able to commit foibles as the most "lowly" of us. They are only elevated because we think them to be elevated.  Money and/or ability in a specific field does not convey wisdom or class.

For more information, see: "New Clothes, Emperor's"

Planetary K-Index needs to be around a six for there to be a good chance of aurora.  It's been pretty quiet out there but hit four now and who knows...  Getting my camera stuff out in case. Gorgeous clear skies and I am looking north over the water so perfect location.

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See what happens...

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy delivered quite a speech to the American Newspaper Publishers Association
Here are two excerpts - the transcript of the speech is hereListen to it here.

The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.

And:

No President should fear public scrutiny of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding; and from that understanding comes support or opposition. And both are necessary. I am not asking your newspapers to support the Administration, but I am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people. For I have complete confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens whenever they are fully informed.

I not only could not stifle controversy among your readers--I welcome it. This Administration intends to be candid about its errors; for as a wise man once said: "An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." We intend to accept full responsibility for our errors; and we expect you to point them out when we miss them.

Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed--and no republic can survive. That is why the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy. And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment-- the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution- -not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply "give the public what it wants"--but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion.

It is no wonder that the deep-state had him murdered.  His administration would have been the sunlight that would have exposed and disinfected their plans.

Go and read the whole thing.

This is how an adult thinks.

This is what an adult sounds like.

Watch and understand:

Latest from you know who:

Hold my beer and watch this - Chicago

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Earlier, I had noted the Portland, OR is catching up to Chicago, IL with shootings per capita.

Looks like Chicago took note and decided to do something about it.  From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Downtown shootings up 220%, biggest spike in city: ‘People are fed up’
Deserted during the pandemic and battered by looting, downtown Chicago is grappling with a rise in violent crime that threatens the reputation of the city and its economic viability.

Murders, shootings, rapes and car thefts are all up sharply in the downtown area, prompting fears among residents and business owners similar to those that have long been a reality in struggling neighborhoods beyond the skyscrapers.

And the people quoted are all looking at social engineering ways of dealing with this instead of increasing the police force and make breaking the law hurt with stiff sentences and jail time. Getting rid of the "free stuff" would help a lot too - make getting a job or job training a requirement of any welfare program. Rebuild the families.

Nobody wants to deal with the elephant in the room that what is happening now is exactly what the Democrats set about to do 40 years ago.  They have suceeded - the cities are chaotic and need to be ruled by an iron hand.  Their iron hand.  Classical Cloward—Piven come to life.

Crystal clear skies - got down to 42° last night. Crisp and cold.

Working at home after today's shift. More in a couple of hours...

Gun violence - St. Louis

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From the London Daily Mail:

'Oh, isn't that wonderful': Mayor of St. Louis doesn't flinch when when her press conference on violent crime in her city is interrupted by gunfire

    • St. Louis mayor Tishaura Jones was speaking to the press about efforts to reduce violent crime when what sounded like gunshots went off
    • Jones did not miss a beat, barely reacting and sarcastically saying 'Oh isn't that wonderful,' before getting back to the topic at hand
    • Jones explained that because she was born and raised in St. Louis, the sound of gunfire was nothing new to her
    • Mayor Jones and Lucas' press conference comes as homicides have gone down in St. Louis City

More at the article - no numbers on total gunshot victims for this year.  It would be interesting to compare.
Look at Portland - she has come so far... Good job Portland!!!

But he is a smart cookie and I respect that. This one, I totally agree with though:

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Portland still has a way to go

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Compared to Chicago - they are working on it though... From Frontpage Magazine:

Eloi and Morlocks in Portlandia
9-year-old Hadar Kedem was playing with her father, brother, and family dog in a Portland city park when the gunmen came and the bullets began flying. 

And the numbers?

Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and the police defunding movement had taken Portland from 388 shootings in 2019 to over 1,000 this year. Murders in Rose City rose by 83% breaking its previous high score set in 1987. As the Black Lives Matter race riots got underway, Portland went from 23 shootings in March 2020 to 104 by July of that same year. By March 2021, there were 93 shootings. Gone were the pleasant days of 2019 when Portlanders might complain about 30 shootings. The summer of 2021 saw around 400 shootings: more than in all of 2019.

And the reaction of the WOKE?

Shoshana Gugenheim Kedem, Hadar’s mother, an “insectional feminist” who “dismantles patriarchy”, and advocated for “Palestinian rights”, denounced her daughter’s “white privilege”.

“We are a white family of privilege,” the leftist hipster artist confessed. “No one in our family wants to see the result of this be more police presence at parks. That’s not the answer.”

What was the answer?

Gugenheim insisted that instead of police, the solution to a dozen men opening fire in the park was dealing with root causes, "services for disadvantaged communities", "education", "gun control", and "a task force of people with equity training to tackle the issue of gun violence".

Unreal.  Chicago has a population of 2,679,080 and Portland has a population of 662,549 - Chicago's is 4.043 times larger.

Year-to-date, Chicago has had 3,906 shootings and Portland is right at 1,000 - this is 3.9 times larger. One in 662 Portlandians will get shot while one in 685 residents of the Windy City will get shot.  Approaching a really desirable record there people... How long will it take for them to realize that unicorn farts do not stop bullets. Police do.

And that's it - working on some stuff

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Checking a couple things from the thrift store - some walkie-talkies (kids toys) and two portable hard drives.  Make sure that they work before putting them up for sale.  With the hard drives, I wipe personal information off it and do a low-level format.  Not BleachBit secure but better than just deleting the files.

Full day tomorrow...

Someone had some fun - Let's Go...

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Ivermectin in the news - Indonesia

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From The Straits Times (published out of Singapore):

Indonesia distributes medicines for free as daily Covid-19 infections soar to 56,757
The Indonesian government on Thursday (July 15) began distributing free medicine and vitamins to self-isolating Covid-19 patients in high-risk areas as the highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus continued to rip through the country, emptying pharmacy shelves.

In a broadcast via YouTube, President Joko Widodo said that, for a start, 300,000 packages would be distributed to those living in the worst-hit islands of Java and Bali, with another similar number elsewhere.

Each package will have seven days worth of therapeutic Covid-19 drugs and vitamins, and will be given to asymptomatic patients as well as those with mild to moderate symptoms including fever and dry cough. The medication for the latter group will require consultation with a doctor and a prescription.

And this little item is waaay down in the article:

Indonesia's food and drug agency has authorised ivermectin for emergency use against Covid-19, Reuters reported, although the World Health Organisation, as well as European and the US regulators did not recommend its use for Covid-19 patients.

Sounds like they are distributing these Indian kits:  

About Ziverdo Kit
Ziverdo kit is a set of three types of medication -zinc acetate 50 mg, Doxycycline 100mg, Ivermectin 12mg.

And here is the data from worldometer:

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Paging Captain Obvious, Captain Obvious to the White Courtesy Telephone please...

The WOKE eat themselves

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Wonderful fun to watch - this latest from Breitbart:

McAuliffe Spokesman ‘Ashamed’ of Racist Tweets, Apologizes Days Before Election
Renzo Olivari, Communications Director for Terry McAuliffe, has apologized for a series of bigoted tweets that were unearthed just days before Virginia’s gubernatorial election.

Social Media users shared screenshots displaying several of Olivari’s alleged tweets, some of which were deleted after being exposed.

In these posts, Olivari uses the N-Word and makes stereotypes about the black community.

Heh...  McAuliffe is already having problems in his race for Governorship.  It will be nice for Virginia to get some adult leadership for a change.

Dissention in the ranks - Pelosi dissed

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This will be fun - the Mad Queen will not take this lightly. From One America News Network:

Pelosi Kicked Out Of Meeting With House Progressive Caucus
Sources from the White House said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was kicked out of a meeting by her own party.

On Thursday, an anonymous Democrat staffer reported Pelosi said she was “leaving anyway” after Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) kicked her out of a Progressive Caucus meeting. Pelosi’s Deputy Chief of Staff Drew Hammill claimed she entered and quickly left the confidential meeting to drop a letter off.

That was her statement delivered by her flack. If she was asked to leave and if this was reported to the press, she will be seething and the consequences will not be pretty.  I love it that the progressives are taking over - they will overextend themselves with the American People and crash and burn - spectacularly I hope.  A pyre big enough to instill caution to the next 100 years of attempted communist thugs.

Problem? Problem solved.

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From America's Newspaper of Record:

Supply Chain Crisis Solved As Each Migrant Coming Into Country Will Be Asked To Help Carry A Shipping Container
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced that the supply chain crisis wreaking havoc on the nation’s economy has been resolved, and praised Biden’s brilliance and ingenuity in proposing the solution: Ask each migrant coming into the country to help carry a shipping container.

“Big, big shiny boats are flocking to the shores of Mexico,” said the cabinet member. “And all the choo-choo trains and beep-beep vroom-vrooms can't handle all the containers! Oh no! So let's just have the thousands and thousands of migrants carry them in! It’s a solution that can only be attributed to Biden’s progressive policies.”

One immigrant praised the opportunity to have a job before even entering the United States illegally. “It’s unbelievable that only a few weeks ago the White House sent my family a personal invitation, map, GPS, and detailed instructions on how to cross the border illegally, and here I am now, using my skills to carry shipping containers and boost the American economy for a modest $450,000 salary. Gracias Señor!”

Border Patrol agents trying to stop the illegal immigrants from bringing the vital shipments into the country were arrested and sent to Guantanamo Bay.

Simple and done...

Slow news day - heading out

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Had fun at work, lunch at home and now heading out to Costco to get bluberries, dog food and a couple other things. Get there before the weekend rush.

Did a read of the internet from one end to the other and nothing jumped out at me.

Sunshine peeking through the clouds - supposed to be nice tomorrow and Sunday.  Staying down here this week - got stuff to take care of.

May have some aurora tomorrow - waiting to see the Planetary K-Index in a couple of hours.

And missed it by —><— that much

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Happy news for those downstream - the river crested just below flood stage last night:

20211029-stilly01.png

More rain is coming in today though - we will see...

And it is rising.  8:15PM and we are at 28,300 cubic feet per second flow rate and a height of 12.66 feet. Probably hit flood stage in the next hour or so.

The rain outside has slowed down a lot - not pouring.  It usually takes a half-day for this to manifest in the river level - a lot of water being dumped into the watershed so looks like we have some flooding due tonight.  I'll be up for another hour or so - see what happens.

Bellying up to the bar - China

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Milk bar that is - from 90 Miles:

20211028-china.jpg

The river gonna rise.  Approaching flood stage. At 7:15PM, the flow rate is at 25,400 cubic feet per minute.

The height is at 12.17 feet - flood stage is at just below 13 feet (the red line at the top):

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The river gauge reads every hour.  At 7:15, it was 19,100.  At 8:15 it is 22,300 cubic feet per second with no sign of slowing down:

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Waves are pounding on the beach too - wind and weather.  Not a fit night for man nor beast.

Got a nice bowl of homemade bean soup in me with some toasted baguette slathered with butter. Life is not too shabby...

The difference a few hours makes

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Ho. Li. Crap.  Going to have to swing by there after work tomorrow with a camera - it is raging:

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Compare with four hours ago:

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From around 5,700 cubic feet per second to 19,100 at present.  3.3 times and no sign of stopping.

Toronto, Canada

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With the recent emphasis on vaccinating children - this is curious:

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From Ann Barnhardt:

As the DeathInjections are forced upon children, the Coviet Union agitprop machine is now aggressively trying to acclimate the public to the lying notion that children have naturally and frequently been having strokes all along

A bit more at the site - what the fuck?  Seriously? Kids do not have strokes.

Hmmmm... Not a bad setup

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I like it - this is from a 1969 fair in Hanover, Germany by way of Jamie Zawinski:

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Split keyboard was actually invented by an American: Louis Crandall, Syracuse, NY  -  1886

Monetizing anything and everything

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The Democrat machine is making big money off the homeless.
Here is just one example from Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog:

NYC’s Homeless Problem Is A Giant Scam!
Tying into my post on homelessness being a profit center for the Democratic Party, here’s a Louis Rossmann video that discusses a homeless shelter in New York City that:

    1. Bills the government $3,500 to $4,000 a month to
    2. House the homeless in a literal shithole (with visible feces in one picture of the place), and
    3. By an amazing coincidence, is run by a non-profit founded by Andrew Cuomo and now run by his sister Maria Cuomo Cole.

Minor point of clarification: "Bills the government $3,500 to $4,000 a month to"
that is $3.5 to $4K PER PERSON per month.

Watch the video - unreal.  Much more at the site...  Our tax dollars at work.

Could have told you that - cities

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Always has been a link. Here, here, here, here and here for starters. From United Press International:

Adults at risk for mental health disorders drawn to city living, study finds
People genetically predisposed to mental health disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and anorexia nervosa prefer to live in urban areas as adults, a study published Wednesday by JAMA Psychiatry found.

Those with higher genetic risk for these disorders were 5% to 10% more likely to "preferentially move" from rural to urban areas as adults, the data showed.

This means that people with more genetic mutations who increase their risk for mental health problems are drawn to urban environments, which is significant, given that city-living long has been associated with increased risk for schizophrenia, the researchers said.

Not healthy.

Facebook

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Yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda META yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda...

Word to the wise - A. Baldwin

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I have not talked about it because the details are still not known.  This caught my eye:

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A bit wet outside - local river

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The Mighty Stillaguamish is approaching flood stage.  Here is a sensor about 30 miles upstream from where I am:

20211028-stilly.png

The little yellow triangles are the running average from 93 years of records.  You can see the spike from the last storm peaking on the 27th.  And here we go again.  Great for the snowpack though - going to be a good year for skiing...

And just how bad IS his dementia

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From Associated Press:

Vatican cancels live TV broadcast of Biden greeting pope
The Vatican on Thursday abruptly canceled the planned live broadcast of U.S. President Joe Biden meeting Pope Francis, the latest restriction to media coverage of the Holy See that sparked complaints from White House- and Vatican-accredited journalists.

The live broadcast of Biden’s Friday visit was trimmed to cover just the arrival of the president’s motorcade in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the revised plan reflected the “normal procedure” established during the coronavirus pandemic for all visiting heads of state or government.

Cancelled was the live coverage of Biden actually greeting Francis in the palace Throne Room, as well as the live footage of the two men sitting down to begin their private talks in Francis’ library, at which time the cameras would have stopped running.

The Vatican said it would provide edited footage of the encounter after the fact to accredited media, as it provides for other visiting heads of state. Bruni didn’t say why the Vatican had originally announced fuller live coverage only to dial it back on the eve of the visit.

Paragraph three - the video was just their meeting and their sitting down to talk.  There were never any plans to televise the talk together. Why the cut?

Get 'em young - grooming, not education

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Don Surber has a story that makes my blood boil:

School takes elementary kids to gay bar
Satire became reality this week.

Todd Starnes reported, "Teachers at Wilton Manor Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale took their students to a gay bar and grill.
"Photographs show the boys and girls inside Rosie’s Bar and Grill – decked out in rainbow colors. The bar advertises itself as a place for LGBT diners and their allies.

"Among the items on the menu – naked sweaty lovin’ hot wings and the Ivana Hooker hamburger.

"Broward County School Board member Sarah Leonardi was invited to chaperone and she posted photos on Twitter."

Words fail...

Still nuttin' happening

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Done with dog walking (just in time) and coffee. Spending today doing laundry and sorting through old clothing - give it to the thrift store tomorrow.

Finishing a quick lunch and getting on with my day...  Quick surf first.

And nuttin' happening

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Very quiet morning for news et. al.

Socked in - cloud ceiling is around 500' and rain is in the forecast.  Good dog walk and coffee sipping weather.

Back in a bit...

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Yikes - Massachusetts UPDATE

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Turns out that they were walloped by a Nor'easter of unusual size.  Used to live there and know the affected areas very well. At the height, they had 497K customers without power.  Now, they are down to a mere 384K

From The Boston Globe:

Some communities are completely without power after Nor’easter lashes region with strong winds and rain
A powerful nor’easter lashed the state with heavy rain and wind gusts topping 90 miles per hour, downing trees and wires, and knocking out power for nearly 500,000 customers in Massachusetts, hitting hardest in the southeastern part of the state. Roads and schools were closed, and some homeowners had rude awakenings, finding massive tree trunks lying on their properties.

Governor Charlie Baker warned at an afternoon news conference that the storm’s impacts were still being felt and said restoration of power would be a “multi-day process.” Officials at the news conference asked people to regard every downed wire as a live wire; to drive carefully and keep an eye out for tree branches, work crews, and flooded roads; to be good neighbors, and to be patient.

Outages?

State officials late Wednesday morning reported more than 497,000 customers without power. The tally had dipped to 387,314 as of 11 p.m.

Martha's Vinyard was hit pretty hard - winds up to 94MPH.  This is where Obama has his 40 acre beachfront house.
We do live on a wild and glorious planet.

Wise words - Science

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From 90 Miles:

20211027-scientists.jpg

And done - dinner, surf and sleep

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Back to the island house.  Time to fix some dinner and catch up on what's been happening.

More in a half hour or so - reheating some leftovers...

A day of driving

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Out for dog walk and coffee and then drive the store van with the pups up to the farm, drop the pups off and switch to the loaner van, drive that into Bellingham, switch that to my own van (with bad brakes) and drive back to the farm, pick up the pups and drive back to the island.  I will then wait for the parts to come in and drive up to Bellingham again to have the work done.

Feel like I am living that old puzzle: A Fox, Chicken and Sack of Grain

Back later today...

Yikes - Massachusetts

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Was checking the Nations's power grid and saw that the state of Massachusetts has 489,335 customers without power.  No word yet - I know there is a bad storm but that is a really big number.  Maybe they didn't maintain their infrastructure?

So true - four examples

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Wonderful news from New York City

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Just say no - from The Epoch Times:

‘We Have a Communist Takeover’: Thousands of NYC Firemen and Police Officers Defy Vaccine Mandates in Largest Protest Yet
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s mandate last week for all city workers to get COVID-19 vaccines gave rise to even more protesters standing up against what they see as a violation of freedom of choice and a communist takeover of the country.

The Epoch Times was there to interview some of the NYPD officers and FDNY participants, and witness the massive march across the Brooklyn Bridge that ended in front of City Hall on Monday afternoon.

Protesters chanted slogans as they marched in support of freedom and against the mandates issued by de Blasio and President Joe Biden.

Active FDNY Captain Jason Wendell of Engine 274 said that there were “thousands and thousands” of them present in the Monday march.

“New York City firefighters and police officers have been exposed for the last 20 months to COVID-19. Most of us have gotten the sickness and gotten over it perfectly well and have natural immunity,” Wendell said, “and the fact that the mayor and politicians are not acknowledging that the vast majority of us are already naturally immune is nothing short of tyrannical.”

We need to stand up to the bullies or else they will win. Enough people stand up to them and they will cave.  Doesn't take strength, just courage.

Wonderful news from Spain

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All those COVID lockdowns and fines? Turns out that the Spanish government exceded their bounds - they were unconcstitutional. From RAIR Foundation:

Spain Must Repay 1 Million Covid Fines, First Lockdown Ruled Unconstitutional
The Spanish government has set up a special task force to reimburse or cancel more than a million fines issued to citizens during the first illegal coronavirus lockdown. The decision comes following the July ruling of the Spanish Constitutional Court, which declared the socialist governments’ oppressive lockdown measures unconstitutional.

On March 14 of 2020, an illegal “state of emergency” was declared by socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez by royal decree. State, regional and local police forces were given the power to fine those who did not comply with the strict lockdown measures. In addition, the country must repay a total of 1,142,127 fines illegally issued between March 14 and June 21.

According to TVE,

The ruling said that the limitations on movement violated citizens´ basic rights and therefore the state of emergency was insufficient to give them constitutional backing. The six magistrates said that a state of exception, which does allow the government to suspend basic rights, would have been necessary.”

The pendulum is swinging back again.  Wonderful news. I know that our Governor Inslee in WA State is claiming his power through an Emergency Powers act with the WA State Department of Labor and Industries.  *Resident Biden's vax mandate is based on an OSHA ruling which has yet to be made but they are enforcing it now. The tyranny of the state is built on a house of cards - a good gust of wind and it all comes tumbling down.

For more on WA State's fustercluck:  Here, here, and here - wonder if this will be reversed...

October 27th 2003, I posted the following:

20211027-bday01.jpg

Since then, it has been a very fun ride - 39,145 posts and 1,866 comments from you, my readers

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Here's to another 18+ years - no signs of slowing down yet.  Done a lot of living in these years - both wonderful and not-so.

The voice of truth

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They make a damn fine burger too - wish they were in the Pacific Northwest

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Sometimes, the gods smile - Rare Earths

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Fscking brilliant.  From Phys Org:

Environmentally hazardous coal waste diminished by citric acid
In one of nature's unexpected bounties, a harmless food-grade solvent has been used to extract highly sought rare-earth metals from coal ash, reducing the amount of ash without damaging the environment and at the same time increasing an important national resource.

Coal ash is the unwanted but widely present residue of coal-fired power. Rare-earth metals are used for a variety of high-tech equipment from smartphones to submarines.

The separation method, which uses carbon dioxide, water and food-grade citric acid, is the subject of a Sandia National Laboratories patent application.

"This technique not only recovers rare-earth metals in an environmentally harmless manner but would actually improve environments by reducing the toxicity of coal waste dotting America," said Guangping Xu, lead Sandia researcher on the project.

"Harmless extraction of rare-earth metals from coal ash not only provides a national source of materials essential for computer chips, smart phones and other high-tech products—including fighter jets and submarines—but also makes the coal ash cleaner and less toxic, enabling its direct reuse as concrete filler or agricultural topsoil," he said.

The method, if widely adopted, could make coal ash, currently an environmental pariah, into a commercially viable product, Xu said.

Very cool...

It was once five, then it was seven.  Now it is twelve.

12 House Democrats fear losing majority – and jump ship
They say you shouldn't read the New York Times because you won't get any good news.

I disagree.

You just have to read between the lines, so to speak.

The GREAT news today is that at least 12 House Democrats will retire because they surmise that their party will lose the majority next year.

"The quickening pace of Democratic retirements in the House may be the clearest indication yet that the party's hopes of maintaining its narrow majority are fading amid President Biden's sagging approval ratings, ongoing legislative struggles and the prospect of redrawn congressional districts that will put some seats out of reach," the Times reports.

Wonderful news - there are even rumors that the Mad Queen, Nancy Pelosi herself might be wanting to "spend more time with family". The pendulum is swinging back and I can not be happier.

An interesting idea - the jab

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UPDATE BELOW

There was a fatal airplane accident earlier this month where a skilled private pilot crashed into several Arizona houses.
What if... From American Thinker:

What happened to the pilot?
I watched the video, horrified, knowing the end of the story, yet fascinated as it unfolded.  The small plane's camera focused out the windshield, as the pilot, Dr. Sugata Das, routinely communicated with the tower.  A 64-year-old cardiologist, Das commuted between San Diego and Yuma, having piloted the flight over a hundred times.  Everything was fine last Monday.  Then, suddenly, the plane spiraled down near the Santee, California high school, out of control.  The video ended before the crash, but we know that the pilot and a UPS truck driver were killed, and the plane destroyed several houses.  Two people pulled from a burning house survived with injuries.

The author details a friend who died unexpectedly from a pulmonary embolism. They continue:

Given my friend's experience, I've worried, frankly, that flying with a vaccinated pilot could be dangerous.  I guess my worry is somewhat mitigated by the fact that there are always two people in the cockpit.  The co-pilot takes over if there's an emergency.

The CDC publishes a handy reference guide to blood clots and air travel.  Studies have been done, as well, of clotting after vaccination, including this study that determined that severe clots could occur with some of the vaccines, and this CDC study of thrombosis and thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) following COVID vaccination.  In both cases, J&J is cited as the causative vaccine here in the U.S.

Curious - we will get to know Dr. Das' vaccination status?  That could well be the cause of the crash.

UPDATE:
Thanks to reader GJ, we find that it was a classic case of pilot confusion - trusting what his perceptions were telling him instead of what the instrument panel was telling him.  He was in a cloud bank and thought he was climbing.

Excellent video from Juan Browne at Blancolirio - solid step-by-step analysis of the accident.

The Winter storm of 2021 - water height

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The mighty Stillaguamish river is monitored where it enters the ocean. One of the readings is height and because the sensor is right at the confluence, it is tidally influenced (their term of art).  You can see the effect of the storm as it pushed the ocean in front of it:

20211026-river.png

The storm hit on the 25th and we are still feeing its effects today (the 26th).  Several feet higher than "normal".

Yikes - parts availability

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My van is a 2012 Ford Econoline so nothing too outré.  Turns out that the parts will not be there until this Friday. Ordered Monday.  Seems a little long to me. Should be pretty bog-standard in fact.

Nothing like throwing a spanner into my week's plans - my loaner vehicle specifically is no smoking, no pets.
Nosmo King? No problem. Pets?  I live in a perpetual cloud of dog hair.  The loaner would be fuzzy inside of 10 minutes.

Plans for the day...

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See if the store van is needed today and tomorrow - will head to the island with the pups if it is not. Van still in the shop waiting on parts.

Out for coffee soon - farm for a few hours regardless. Lots of work to do there and - wonder of wonders - it is not raining now!

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Three California teens developed severe psychiatric symptoms after COVID. Here's what scientists say about the cases
Three California teenagers who developed psychiatric symptoms seemingly overnight are helping researchers at University of California San Francisco better understand how COVID-19 can affect the brain, even in young people.

A study of the three, published Monday in the journal JAMA Neurology, is the first to examine how rogue antibodies can attack the brains of pediatric patients who previously tested positive for COVID.

Though too small a study to offer broad conclusions, the profiles of the three teens shed light on COVID as a potential cause of psychiatric symptoms in young people, and suggest directions for treatment and further study.

A little bit more about the cases and the pathologies:

Three had psychiatric symptoms. Spinal taps revealed anti-neural antibodies in the spinal fluid of two of the teens. But instead of attacking a viral invader as antibodies are supposed to do, they were mistakenly targeting the brain. It appeared that COVID had triggered the teens’ immune system to go haywire.

What if that was the intent of the virus all along but the Chinese (funded by Fauci) did not get this action reliable enough.  The chimera was accidentally released a little bit too soon. And it is not just these three children:

The second teen with anti-neural antibodies was a boy, 15, who had transformed overnight from a stellar student to a youth who had trouble remembering simple facts. He felt suicidal and flipped easily from elation to tears to aggression. He also reported “brain fog,” or slowed thinking, a frequent post-COVID complaint. He tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, which indicated he had had the disease. He had had a fever and mild respiratory symptoms shortly before his cognitive symptoms appeared.

Emphasis mine: "He also reported “brain fog,” or slowed thinking, a frequent post-COVID complaint" so the action is happening a lot more frequently than reported, just not as pronounced.

Fauci is The Modern Prometheus here and not at all in the good sense.

Happy Birthday - Windows XP

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I was working at MSFT when Windows 2000 shipped.  XP came out about a year later.  My biggest gripe was that they moved a lot of stuff around.  Get used to one set of operations and XP changed the way you worked. That being said, XP was Windows Done Right.  Big fan. Simple, speedy, none of the fscking bloat you have in Win10 (even more expected in Win11).  You were not "nudged" to join the BORG.  You booted it up, did your work and that was that.

Seems like I am not the only one who loved it.
Twenty years old today - from Bleeping Computer:

It's Windows XP's 20th birthday and way too many still use it
Today is the 20th anniversary of Windows XP, and although the operating system reached the end of support in 2014, way too many people continue to use the insecure version of Windows.

Windows XP was released on October 25, 2001, and is considered one of the most loved versions of Windows due to its ease of use, fast performance, and stability.

Today, after Microsoft has released Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11, a small but respectable number of people are still using the old operating system.

This continued usage is a testament to its success but also raises concerns regarding ts lack of security.

More at the site including this bit:

How many systems are still running Windows XP?
According to StatCounter, the percentage of Windows users using the XP version of the OS in September 2021 is 0.59%, a significant number when you consider how many Windows systems are deployed worldwide.

I wish MSFT would just open source it like they did with MS-DOS and Windows NT.  Let people develop a FOSS version of XP. I have a couple copies that I use on machines that never see the internet.  Hard to get drivers for modern hardware but for simple stuff, it does the job.

And back - here for a few days

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Turns out that the van had a bit more wrong with it than just brakes.  Caliper and tie rods need to be replaced.
Oh well...  It's only money...

Here for 2-3 more days so making use of it - getting a lot done at the farm. Done with my day so kick back and surf - watch the wind and rain outside.  The aftermath of the storm is still stiring things up.

Still some power outages in CA and WA State but not as bad as before.  Kudos to the people working the lines - not a job I would want but it does pay pretty well... 

Surf for a bit and then a bite to eat.

The local coffee place opens in 15 minutes.  Now is the time to start my day.

Back in a few hours...

Michael Yon - Paradigm Adjustments

Paradigm Adjustments
Keep adjusting your world view until you no longer are surprised. If you are surprised by this, try adjusting your paradigm to something like, "This has nothing to do with health. The Beast is using information war to destroy our military. And more. Defund the Police. Is a hostile takeover. Opening the borders is a hostile takeover. Breaking the economy is a hostile takeover. The Beast is setting conditions for authentic genocide."

If you try my current paradigm for just a week, you be unsurprised at ships off the coast unable to unload, forced jabs with untested chemicals into children's arms. Or, maybe the chemicals actually were heavily tested, say, on Uighurs. Don't laugh. Don't scoff. This readily fits a paradigm that is not another wild conspiracy.

A bit more:

We are under attack. That is my paradigm. Under my paradigm, we will go into civil war, and The Beast will make a naked stab at genocide. The Beast is laying genocide traps everywhere. And those tech giant owners -- if they think they will be running the show, they are fools. The Beast will use them up and finally show them that real power flows out of the barrel of a gun. The Beast will take their companies and their lives.

He closes with:

And I will say this -- 2021 is just a warm up. 2022 will be far more intense.
You are at war. Ready or not.
Watch:

It will be worth your time to read and note the whole thing.  Shit is getting serious - we are in the final stages of a power grab that begain in the 1970's when the communists realized that the hippie movement was not going to give them the power they wanted. They wormed their way into the educational system and into politics and local governance and are ready to take over if we let them.

Do you think that by playing along that you will get a seat at their table?  You do not know your history.  You will be among the first people burried in an unmarked grave, forgotten to history.  A "useful idiot" was Lenin's term.

The Winter Storm of 2021 - aftermath

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The storm kinda fell apart when it made landfall.  This was as forecast.

Lots of cleanup and the linemen are still out restoring power. B.C. has 16,391 customers without power. WA State is doing a lot better with only 48,564, CA has 120,857 and Oregon got off easy with 3,833

Meanwhile, the mid-Eastern seabord is due for a big one there today - details as it happens...

And quiet again

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The other half of the storm will pass sometime tomorrow in the wee smalls - see what happens then. Oregon is down to about 7K customers without power. WA is 126,248 and CA is 146,356 - about 20-30K fewer outages.  Workin' on it. BC is down to 14K.

The forecasts were correct - an amazing and record-breaking storm but it lost a lot of power when it hit mainland.  Thank God.

Biig meeting in Glasgow - the worldwide Climate confab. Everyone is doing their best to appear environmentally friendly. Needless to say, electric vehicles are everywhere.  Land Rover donated 240 vehicles to "the cause".

Slight problem - no place to charge them.  Diesel generators have been brought in. 
From The Spectator:

Shock, horror! COP26 has an electric car problem
If absurdity were a source of renewable energy, the COP26 climate change summit might achieve its aim of saving the planet. Yesterday Mr S brought news that local lawyers are set to join rail engineers, transport operators, catering staff and refuse collectors in timing industrial action to coincide with next week’s eco-jamboree. Now Steerpike learns of a fresh crisis afflicting the UN conference: there’s not enough places to power the luxury electric cars needed to ferry delegates around the city.

Some 240 Jaguar Land Rover vehicles including its I-PACE SUVs will be laid on by the UK government to move the 120 visiting heads of state and their entourages between their hotels and the SEC venue. Unfortunately a lack of charging points means the fleet now has to be re-charged by cooking oil-powered generators. A COP26 spokesperson has confirmed that the substitute generators may have to run on hydrogenated vegetable oil – recycled cooking oil – derived from waste products. 

More at the site.  The more serious a face these people put on, the sillier they become.  The more transparent their grift becomes. Our sun is a variable star - our climate has warmed and it has cooled.  Carbon Dioxide is PLANT FOOD and recorded levels have been up to 9,000 parts per million - up from the 500 ppm we are at today.  There is no cause for concern.

The "science" of climate change is a grift  -  pure and simple.  All about the Benjamins.

Some good news from San Francisco

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Even the far liberals are saying: "ENOUGH!" - from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Why a progressive prosecutor just left D.A. Chesa Boudin's office and joined the recall effort
Sitting on a bench in Golden Gate Park on a recent afternoon, Brooke Jenkins made clear the city’s raging debate over crime and how District Attorney Chesa Boudin responds to it is more complicated than left versus right.

Jenkins, a former homicide prosecutor, just quit. Her last day was Oct. 15. She’s now one of about 50 attorneys — roughly a third of the office — to leave since January 2020, when Boudin took charge.

But Jenkins’ decision to speak out about what she views as chaotic management, high turnover and ideologically driven decisions at the D.A.’s office sets her apart in the normally tight-lipped criminal justice community. And so does her new role: volunteering for the campaign to recall her former boss.

Good - the District Attorney is supposed to help maintain the peace by making sure that criminals get the speedy trial and sentencing that they are entitled to. The D.A. works for the victims.  They are the ones who prosecute criminals, not the ones who let them out of jail with no bail.

Boudin was placed into power by Soros and his minions to cause chaos.  To overwhelm the system so that the Marxists can step in and take over. Classic Cloward-Piven. It is wonderful that people are recognizing this and putting a stop to it.

The article goes in to a lot of detail and is an interesting read.  It really emphasizes the gulf between the "idea" and the actual practices.  The "narrative" and the consequences.  The "idea" may sound noble but nobody is looking at how they are implementing the "idea" and the end result is chaos and more crime. Some adults in the room will go a long way to fix this.

What a difference 3 hours makes

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WA State now has 171,543 customers without power - King County is at 106,741

CA is 168,431, Oregon is doing fine with 30,267 and British Columbia is at around 27K outages. 
The night is still young.

Cliff Mass has an update:

A Record Storm and the Power Outages Begin
This morning, the offshore storm rapidly intensified and achieved record status, with the central pressure dropping to at least 943 hPa (the previous record for our region was 950 hPa).

And there is a very good chance it is even deeper right now.

Here is the latest visible satellite image of the storm (around 10 AM).

Stunningly beautiful creature, with the frontal clouds swirling towards the low center. And you can see very unstable air with lots of convection (e.g., thunderstorms) over the southwest portions (the popcorn-looking clouds). Some of that activity will reach us later today.

Heading out to the farm - see how things are there.  Really glad I had the tree guys over last month.  They worked on some trees that were within reach of the house and opened them up a lot. Breathe easier...

Back to the store and fix dinner (ie: can of soup and some toast) - more later if the power stays up...

Heading over to a fellow artists studio to help her with some photography and then heading North.

California now has 139K customers without power. King County is now up to 42,920. B.C. is now about 10K.

Wind is starting to pick up so Here. We. Go.

More posting after around 5:00 PM if we have power.  I'll be up near Mt. Baker then - see what is happening.

What is it going to take to make the good citizens of Australia to rise up and throw off their chains?

From the London Daily Mail:

What are they hiding? At the start of Covid many scientists believed it likely leaked from Wuhan lab - until a conference call with Patrick Vallance changed their minds. We asked for his emails about the call. This is what we got . . .

    • Government condemned for not releasing details of key email conversations
    • Conversation in question involves leading scientists discussing Covid origins
    • Mail on Sunday FOI obtained 32 emails but nearly every word was blacked out

The Government has been condemned after refusing to release details of key email conversations involving leading scientists over the origins of Covid-19.

This newspaper used Freedom of Information rules to obtain a cache of 32 emails about a secretive teleconference between British and American health officials held early in the pandemic.

But officials blacked out almost every word before releasing the crucial documents.

Before this discussion, several of the world’s most influential experts believed the new virus most likely came from a laboratory – but days later, the scientists began dismissing such scenarios as ‘implausible’ and branding them conspiracy theories.

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Hiding much?  Makes me just that much more curious as to what is really going on. 
Much more at the article.

From Breitbart:

Barack Obama Calls Outcry over Loudoun County Rape Coverup ‘Phony, Trumped-Up Culture War’
Former President Barack Obama campaigned for former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Saturday, urging voters to dismiss controversial issues raised by parents of children in public schools.

Parents in Virginia and around the country are furious over a report of a female student who was allegedly raped by a “gender fluid” boy in a in a public school girls’ bathroom in Loudoun County.

They were even more furious after the Loudoun County school system tried to cover up the assault, and prosecute the victims father for speaking out during a school board meeting. The 14-year-old was arrested in July and charged with two counts of forcible sodomy.

Obama dismissed the recent controversies as “fake outrage,” and “trumped-up culture wars” although he did not specifically refer to the incident. Parents are also deeply upset by efforts to implement critical race theory into the public school curriculum.

“We don’t have time to be wasted on these phony trumped-up culture wars, this fake outrage, the right-wing media’s pedals to juice their ratings,” Obama said.

But a gender-fluid person would never do such a thing.  They are not suffering from mental illness.

I am betting that Obama's involvement will tip Virginia over into the Red.  Good.  They need some adults in the room.  Barkey and his posse have no idea what they are doing - they have these grand philosophical ideas they are trying to implement but they are deaf dumb and blind to the consequences. Time for them to just go away.

So true - back to the beginning

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From My Pensieve:

20211024-constitution.jpg

To add to the mix - chemicals

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Wonder if Sharknado is imminent?  From Canada's The Globe and Mail:

Cargo carrier on fire near Victoria, most crew taken to safety
Officials say the crew of a cargo ship anchored near Victoria that caught fire Saturday morning may need to be fully evacuated.

Sixteen crew members were taken to Ogden Point Pier by the coast guard Saturday evening, though five other crew members still remain onboard.

A Canadian Coast Guard spokesperson said flames broke out on the MV Zim Kingston around 11 a.m. Saturday, and were related to two damaged containers carrying hazardous materials. It is the same vessel that lost an estimated 35-40 cargo containers in rough seas west of Vancouver Island on Thursday.

In an update Saturday evening, the coast guard said that ten containers were on fire, including two carrying carrying over 52,000 kgs of Potassium Amylxanthate, which is a hazardous material used in mining.

It added that a Hazmat team is mobilizing from Vancouver, while a coast guard ship and tugboat stay nearby to monitor the situation overnight.

Mutant Orcas? Just what we need.  Glad I'll be at the farm.

The Winter storm of 2021 - building

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Looking at the various utilities - California overall has 60K customers without power, WA State, 19K, King county (Seattle) has 17K of those.

So far, Oregon is fine with only 1,300 outages.  British Columbia has 4,400.

The bay outside my house is showing low, long, oily, undulating swells and none of the light feathery wind chop I usually see.  Must be some incredible waves out there.  The clouds are socked in - no rain to speak of but it is coming. Feels impending and ominous.

No update from Cliff.  I'll check a bit later before I leave for the farm.

Now if they would just apply it to members of Congress. From CNBC News:

Fed to ban policymakers from owning individual stocks, restrict trading following controversy
Responding to a growing controversy over investing practices, the Federal Reserve announced Thursday a wide-ranging ban on officials owning individual stocks and bonds and limits on other activities as well.

The ban includes top policymakers such as those who sit on the Federal Open Market Committee, along with senior staff. Future investments will have to be confined to diversified assets such as mutual funds.

Fed officials can no longer have holdings in shares of particular companies, nor can they invest in individual bonds, hold agency securities or derivative contracts. The new rules replace existing regulations that, while somewhat restrictive, still allowed officials such as regional presidents to buy and sell stocks.

Good - they should not be able to benefit by knowledge they have ahead of the average citizen.

Same goes for members of Congress - people have made a lot of money buying stocks ahead of passing a new law.

And slow news day

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Nothing happening much.

Calling it an early night and heading over to watch some videos. Got a lot to do tomorrow before heading to the farm.

Happy Mole Day

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6:02PM on 10/23 for those Chemists among us.

From National Day (fun website btw):

National Mole Day – October 23, 2021
October 23 between 6.02 am and 6:02pm is National Mole Day. It’s a basic chemistry algorithm, and not about those funny looking creatures called moles. It commemorates chemistry’s measuring unit called “Avogadro’s Number”. The day is celebrated as a means to bring awareness and create interest in the study of Chemistry. The day is celebrated by schools around the USA by doing mole and chemistry themed activities. In scientific terms, a mole is in relation to the molar mass of a given molecule. A mole is literally a unit of measurement to reflect an amount of a chemical substance.

Carbon has an Atomic Weight of 12.  12 Grams of Carbon is one Mole.  One Mole contains 6.02*1023rd atoms. Handy measurement when dealing with macro quantities of chemicals. Also really good for quantifying the strength of a solution - a 0.5 Molar solution of HCl

The Winter storm of 2021 - an update

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Cliff Mass has an update - TL;DR - landfall Monday in a weakened state.

The Storm's Future is Now Known
The models have converged to a consistent solution, the storm is beginning to "bomb", and I can now provide a forecast with some confidence.

This will be the strongest Northwest storm on record, but its strength will collapse as it approaches the coast of Vancouver Island. More quickly than any storm in my experience.

And there will be strong winds over land, but not from the south, but from the east, as air is pulled westward by the immense, powerful storm offshore.

Strong Easterly winds which is good for the island house - I face due North and Northerly winds cause a lot of spray on the side of the house.  Easterly is a lot better.  Southern is best.

8PM Sunday for landfall.  Should be interesting to say the least. So far, no power outages to speak of.

Who seriously thought that this would work? From Politico:

California’s legal weed industry can’t compete with illicit market
California’s cannabis market is booming nearly five years after voters legalized recreational weed. But there’s a catch: the vast majority of pot sales are still underground.

Rather than make cannabis a Main Street fixture, California’s strict regulations have led most industry operators to close shop, flee the state or sell in the state’s illegal market that approaches $8 billion annually, twice the volume of legal sales.

Local government opposition, high taxes and competition from unlicensed businesses are complicating California’s push to build a thriving legal market. Many of those factors are baked into California law, including rules allowing city leaders to shut out licensed cannabis enterprises. Meanwhile, the state has relaxed penalties against illegal operations in the name of racial justice.

Absolutley - they thought they were going to make a bundle by taxing it so high.  They only priced it out of the marketplace.  An interesting source of illegal sales:

Many of today’s unlicensed businesses legally served customers for decades under the state’s medical marijuana laws that passed in 1996 but went underground after voters approved the recreational pot initiative Proposition 64 passed in 2016.

Yeah - provide a Laissez-faire business environment and prosper or tax it to death and drive it underground.  No happy medium.  Clueless. Did they even bother to ask a medical marijuana provider or did they just listen to some high-priced "consultant" with a dubiously burnished resume.

And California wonders why people are streaming out of the state.

He is such a great guy - has only our interests at heart. From Becker News:

Fauci Under Fire for Cruel Experiments on ‘Sick Puppies’: Dogs’ Heads Locked in Cages with Flesh-Eating Parasites for ‘Science’
The National Instiute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, funded cruel experiments on dogs as young as six weeks old in order to test anti-parasitic treatments, according to a letter signed by 24 lawmakers. The experiments, conducted in Tunisia, deliberately infected dozens of beagles with disease-causing parasites to test an experimental drug. The heinous, ethically dubious experiments were funded by Dr. Fauci’s division at the National Institutes of Health, the non-profit group White Coat Waste Project found in its investigation.

“Our investigators show that Fauci’s NIH division shipped part of a $375,800 grant to a lab in Tunisia to drug beagles and lock their heads in mesh cages filled with hungry sand flies so that the insects could eat them alive,” White Coat Waste told Changing America. “They also locked beagles alone in cages in the desert overnight for nine consecutive nights to use them as bait to attract infectious sand flies.”

“White Coat Waste claims that 44 beagle puppies were used in a Tunisia, North Africa, laboratory, and some of the dogs had their vocal cords removed, allegedly so scientists could work without incessant barking,” Changing America learned. “According to the White Coat Waste Project, the Food and Drug Administration does not require drugs to be tested on dogs, so the group is asking why the need for such testing.”

The Animal Rights people would be up in arms but they are generally liberals and think the world of Fauci because he murdered so may people with AIDS and COVID  You read that right.

And outta here - Saturday? Check!

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Spaced yesterday and did not get to the thrift store.  Kept thinking it was Thursday.

Headed over there today - dog walk and coffee first though - some things never change.

Life in the Soviet of Washington

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Our Governor is an incompetent bumbling fool.  The poor people in Seattle are getting what they voted for good and hard (channeling my inner H.L. Menken) From Seattle station KOMO:

King County bars brace for proof of vaccination mandate to begin
Starting Monday, bars in King County will be checking more than just ID cards to get in the door.

Customers will have to prove they are vaccinated for COVID-19 and businesses are taking steps to limit the problems.

And of course, the double standards:

While Monday's mandate may seem like a burden to some, health officials said the intention is to save lives.

“It’s is an extra step but honestly it makes me feel safer,” Coughlin said.

Then what about all of the news stories about fully vaccinated people catching the Wuhan Flu. These are the idiots who think that masks work and who do not question their government.

Its forces are being felt even now - from Seattle station KOMO:

Vessel lost around 40 shipping containers off Washington coast because of rough seas
The U.S. Coast Guard says about 40 shipping containers are adrift off the coast of Washington after a vessel lost the containers in rough seas.

According to the Coast Guard, the containers are about 43 miles west of the entrance to the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

En route to Canada.

About that stimulus package

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Traditionally, Unions have voted Democrat. Fait accompli. End of story.
These days? Not so much - from the Sacramento, CA NBC affiliate KCRA:

US hasn't seen worker anger like this in decades
Workers are saying enough is enough.

And many of them are either hitting the picket lines or quitting their jobs as a result.

The changing dynamics of the U.S. labor market, which has put employees rather than employers in the driver's seat in a way not seen for decades, is allowing unions to flex their muscles.

Already on strike are 10,000 workers at John Deere, who hit the picket lines early Thursday after rejecting a tentative deal that would have improved wages and benefits. They joined 1,400 strikers at Kellogg who are upset with seven-day work weeks and a two-tier retirement system. Other unions are preparing for walkouts of their own.

The overwhelming majority of strikers and potential strikers are doing so for the first time in their careers. Many say they are driven not just by wages or benefits. They say they are striking, or planning to strike, in a bid to do their jobs the way they believe they should be done, and to gain basic improvements in the quality of their lives, such as time with their families, which they say they deserve.

One of the main issues running through many of these strikes, or looming strikes, is workers' anger.

A lot more at the site.  A lot of it is general malaise (Carter years all over again), a lot of it is the economic downturn and people wanting to negotiate better terms.  Of course, this will be reflected in higher product prices so we will all be right back where we started from.  A good chunk is vaccine mandates. Interesting times...

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Considering what they are probably pumping into JRB's bloodstream these days, I am surprised it took this long for the transformation.   Transformation you ask?  I have the video - one of several:

As they say:  "Change my mind"

Ummmm... About that...  From The Drive:

U.S. Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon Test Fails (Updated)
Details are still limited, but the Pentagon has confirmed that a U.S. military test today of a long-range hypersonic weapon from Alaska has failed. There are reports that the system being tested was the missile design that will be used in the U.S. Army's Dark Eagle and the U.S. Navy's Intermediate-Range Conventional Prompt Strike weapon systems. But it is uncertain that is the case considering where this test took place, and an entirely separate booster stack or even different hypersonic payload may have been used. This all follows an earlier official statement about three successful tests yesterday related to the development of that common Army-Navy weapon.

A bunch more at the site.  So, essentially, the Chinese were able to orbit the earth several times and come close to hitting their target and ours blew up just after launch.  Not a good optic there - especially these days when everyone suspects that our military is dysfunctional.  This would be a great time for China to launch an EMP attack against the Eastern Seabord.  Now if they could just wait until the combined Congress is in session.

From the Gateway Pundit:

YouTube Bans Conservative Bryson Gray’s Hit Song “Let’s Go Brandon;” Takes Aim At Other Accounts That Use The F**k Joe Biden Euphemism
It didn’t take long during his presidency before chants of “F**k Joe Biden,” and subsequently “Let’s Go Brandon,” had begun to sweep the nation. The phrases have become so popular that they have been enshrined in several popular songs and memes that should live on and mock the incompetent Biden, and his memory when he is gone.

Well, unless Big Tech steps in.

And sure enough – right on schedule – YouTube has officially begun cracking down on accounts and creators who post content that includes the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon!”

Even hit #2 on iTunes in the HipHop category and #7 for all music:

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Video at the site.  Some really good comments as well - this one made me raise an eyebrow.  Don't often do that.

All of these "social media" platforms are Deep State controlled. @Jack and Zuck are just pawns. Notice with all their billions they aren't doing big things.

So true.  Jack and Zuck are not building rocket ships, they are not forming other companies, they are not doing philanthropy.  They are just the punchable faces of the brand.  Like Jack Ma was the face of AliBaba until his masters decided he was getting a little too 'uppity' and yanked his leash (he is since rehabilitated)

Latest from Branco

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Talkin' 'bout the weather - the storm

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I can feel it out there.  Big.

Weather.com has this for the island:

High Wind Watch from SUN 8:00 AM PDT until MON 8:00 AM PDT
WHAT...Southeast wind of 40 mph with gusts to 60 mph are possible.
WHERE...San Juan County, Western Whatcom County, Western Skagit County, Admiralty Inlet Area, Western Strait of Juan De Fuca, North Coast and Central Coast.
WHEN...From Sunday morning through Monday morning.
IMPACTS...Damaging winds could blow down trees and power lines. Widespread power outages are possible. Travel could be difficult, especially for high profile vehicles.

So far, no outages in Canada to speak of.

Cliff Mass has this update and podcast:

Update on the Strongest Coastal Cyclone in Northwest History and an Introduction to Pacific Cyclones. All in my New Podcast
My new podcast is out (see below) and in it I describe the hurricane-force storms that can hit Northwest and provide an update on the extraordinary Sunday/Monday event.

And I have to admit something: meteorologists are not exactly sure where the big storm will make landfall.

However, the formation of an unprecedented storm is nearly a sure thing, with the very latest forecasts of sea level pressure for Sunday morning from both the U.S. and European models predicteing the strongest Northwest storm in history with pressures below 945 hPa (see below). Just crazy. Equivalent to a category three hurricane.

Wunnerful...   I am scheduled to go up to the farm Sunday as I have a 9:30AM Monday appointment for the van to have service in Bellingham.  We will see what happens

Curious bit of history - from the NWO Report:

It Turns Out Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Wife Was Heavily Involved in Stopping Election Audits in 2020
Attorney General Merrick Garland is the nation’s top law enforcement official. It is his duty to enforce the laws faithfully and without prejudice. However, the attorney general’s partisan agenda is made even more explicit when examining his family ties.

In 1987, the New York Times reported Merrick Garland’s marriage to Lynn Rosenman, who took the name Lynn Garland. She is the granddaughter of Samuel Rosenman, a judge at the New York Supreme Court who had served as Special Advisor to Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

In the Times’ announcement, it provides the background that Lynn Garland worked for E-Systems, which specializes in electronic and information warfare.

And:

Lynn Garland would go on to work with the Election Verification Network, which describes itself as a network of professionals who consult on elections (she is listed as a member on the EVN website)

And:

Garland is credited as a co-author for a number of election audit documents ranging from 2008 until 2019. Of particular interest is a document she co-authored with the Brennan Center for Justice, which became notorious for fighting against 2020 election audits. The November 27, 2019 document was described as “Verified Voting in consultation with Lynn Garland, Independent Advisor, and with the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.”

These documents were used by the people trying to prevent the 2020 election audits.

The whole government is dirty.  They know that they are going to be voted out in 2022, they are trying to get as much as possible rammed through until then.

Build that wall - DHS

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The Department of Homeland Security is building that wall
From the New York Post:

DHS pays over $455K to build ‘security fencing’ around Biden’s beach home
The southern border with Mexico is seeing the highest levels of illegal border crossings in 35 years, but the Department of Homeland Security has found one access point it can shore up — doling out $455,000 to a Delaware construction company for a fence around President Biden’s “Summer White House.”

In September, the department awarded a contract of $456,548 to Turnstone Holdings LLC for “PURCHASE AND INSTALLATION OF SECURITY FENCING AT 32 FARVIEW, REHOBOTH DELAWARE,” according to USAspending.gov, an online database tracking federal government spending.

The contract started Sept. 21 and is expected to end Dec. 31. Construction of the fence is expected to end by that date.

And of course:

DHS did not immediately respond to The Post’s inquiry about the contract. 

They don't have to - it's not like they work for us or something.  Oh. Wait.

An interesting "adjustment"

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Ann Barnhardt describes the pushback to the vax passport in Italy and offers this very interesting bit of information
Her money shot?

Which brings us to yesterday. The Italian Department of Health casually revised its death count from “Covid-19” down from over 130,000 to 3783
Algorithmic translation here

Wow!  I could see adjusting the numbers by 30% or so - statistical and reporting errors and all that good stuff.

A 3436.43% reduction is outside the bounds of any possible error.
The original number has to have been false. Made up. Fudged.
But but but — it fit the narrative...

Honey - I'm home...

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From Daily Timewaster

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I love art deco industrial artwork - what can I say... Such an optimism for the future.

The Alec Baldwin disaster

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Raconteur Report has the definitive précis of yesterday's shooting:

Karma Is A Cast-Iron Bitch
1) Of course they use real guns on movie sets. Since ever. File under "Duh!"

2) Some propmaster dun fucked up, massively, and should shortly be charged for manslaughter and aggravated battery via gross negligence. There should NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER be live rounds on the main set, let alone anywhere near prop weapons.

3) It's not the actor's job to ensure safety of prop weapons used on set, it's the propmaster and the weapon's handler's job. Weapons are supposed to be double-checked on loading to prevent this sort of cock-up.

4) It's likely that when Baldwin was shooting, he was, almost certainly exactly per rehearsals and blocking, aiming at the camera. Which is where the director of photography and director sit, 90% of the time. And in real life, there's no way to tell you've fired a real bullet rather than a blank after the first shot, until bodies hit the ground. Blood doesn't explode from people's chests, they just crumple. Be glad it was a western, and not a gangster film. He could have taken out a swath of people, instead of just the two he hit.

{We add in amendment, that if, instead, Baldwin was waving the gun around off-camera, and pulling the trigger, or some other form of jackassery, he should be charged and convicted like any other perp. We find that unlikely in the circumstances, but not entirely impossible. See #6, below. We look forward to a definitive explanation as this story develops.}

Six more at the site plus this little nugget:

And just to doubly piss you off a little more, this is one of the reasons that motion picture productions that have fled SoCal to non-union states always have these sorts of fuck-ups. When productions go off the reservation and hire unprofessional non-union fuck-ups for a cut rate, they get what they pay for. In this case, a dead DP, a wounded director, and an actor who will, to a metaphysical certainty, be justifiably be scarred for life. Not to mention metric fucktons of bad publicity for the event.

Baldwin is one of the producers of the film.

Another walkout - General Electric

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From Breitbart:

General Electric Workers Stage Walkout in Protest of Vaccine Mandates
Dozens of General Electric (GE) employees walked out of work in protest of coronavirus vaccine mandates on Thursday morning.

And the reason?

GE is subject to the federal government’s mandate, as President Biden has signed an executive order requiring federal contractors to be vaccinated.

Keep pushing back.  We will not comply - they will.  They work for us, not the other way around...

How times have changed

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As an aside, I looked on Amazon for a "Question Authority" bumper sticker and could not find one.
Time to check out Cafe Press...

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fROM mENTAL-fLOSS:

TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY!
IF YOU ARE WONDERING WHY THERE IS SO MUCH SHOUTING GOING ON IN SOCIAL MEDIA TODAY, IT IS BECAUSE OCTOBER 22 IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY! YOU CAN'T WRITE IN ALL CAPS UNLESS YOU ALSO HAVE AN EXCLAMATION POINT! IT ONLY SEEMS NATURAL!

Maybe the problem is not the clean-air legislation preventing most trucks from working.
Maybe the problem is simpler. From Reuters:

California ports, key to U.S. supply chain, among world's least efficient, ranking shows
Southern California's Los Angeles and Long Beach ports handle the most ocean cargo of any ports in the United States, but are some of the least efficient in the world, according to a ranking by the World Bank and IHS Markit.

In a review of 351 container ports around the globe, Los Angeles was ranked 328, behind Tanzania's Dar es Salaam and Alaska's Dutch Harbor. The adjacent port of Long Beach came in even lower, at 333, behind Turkey's Nemrut Bay and Kenya's Mombasa, the groups said in their inaugural Container Port Performance Index published in May.

Again, they looked at 351 container ports and Los Angeles was near the bottom at 328.  Long Beach was at 333.

The two ranking agencies are here:
IHS Markit

New Global Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) Launched by the World Bank and IHS Markit
East Asian container ports are the most efficient in the world and dominate the Top 50 spots of the new global Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) launched by the World Bank and IHS Markit.

Yokohama in Japan tops the ranking, ahead of King Abdullah Port in Saudi Arabia and Qingdao in China.

Algeciras in Spain is the highest ranked European port, in 10th place overall. Colombo in Sri Lanka is the top-ranked port in South Asia at 17th place, and Mexico's Lazaro Cardenas leads the Americas at 25th.

Canada's Halifax is the only other North American port in the Top 50. Djibouti, in 61st place, is the top-ranked African port.

And The World Bank:

Asian Ports Dominate Global Container Port Performance Index
Asian container ports are the most efficient in the world, dominating the Top 50 spots according to the new global Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) launched by the World Bank and IHS Markit. The report scored ports against different metrics, making the efficiency ranking comparable around the globe by assessing and standardizing for different ship sizes and container moves per call. The CPPI is intended to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement that will benefit stakeholders from shipping lines to national governments to consumers.

More than four-fifths of global merchandise trade by volume are carried by sea, and approximately 35 percent of total volumes and over 60 percent of commercial value is shipped in containers.

Meanwhile, our Secretary of Transportation is doing fsck-all, playing hide the bologna with his husband, "nursing" their two new children and just returning to work after a two-month paid maternity leave. If President Trump were in office, heads would be rolling right now.

Go Harbor Freight

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A bit of a PR announcement from their president but they are doing a really great thing - much needed.
From an email:

$1 Million to Support Skilled Trades in U.S. Public High Schools
Over the past year, we’ve seen widespread agreement on the need to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure and recognition of the shortage of skilled trade workers needed to do the rebuilding.

Skilled trades teachers in public high schools will play a key role in developing the skilled workforce needed to fill the gap. When students learn the trades in high school, they gain a head start on the road to good-paying jobs and fulfilling careers.

Today, I’m happy to announce that the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence is awarding more than $1 million to 18 outstanding public high school skilled trades teachers and their programs. The Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence is our way of honoring these remarkable teachers. We hope it will spark increased support for these critical programs.

This short video explains why this work is so important and celebrates the amazing high school skilled trades teachers dedicated to meeting the challenge.

Please join me in congratulating our winners and please remember to thank the teachers in your community for the work they do in our schools every day.

Sincerely,

Eric Smidt
Founder

Very cool - this foundation has actually been running since 2014 so been around for a while. 73,903 students have benefited from this program.

An interesting bug set to happen - from ZD Net:
(used to be the Ziff / Davis Publishing Company)

Thanks to a nasty GPSD bug, real-life time travel trouble arrives this weekend

"Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?"

Actually, if you use computers for pretty much anything, you do. Oh, you may not know it if you're not a system or network administrator, but security, identification, networks, everything that makes the internet go depends on accurate time-keeping. Some systems rely on Global Positioning Systems (GPS) appliances and the GPSD daemon to tell the exact time, and a nasty bug's been uncovered in GPSD that's going to pop up on October 24, 2021. If left unpatched, it's going to switch your time to some time in March 2002, and your system will crash with a resounding kaboom. Here's how it works.

More at the site. The problem?

Recently it was discovered that a bug in the time rollback (aka "GPS Week Rollover") sanity checking code scheduled for November 2038 will instead trigger this Sunday, and cause 1,024 to be subtracted from the October 24, 2021 week number. In other words, a lot of computers are in for a quick, sharp visit to March 2002.

This will be ugly. Or, as Stephen Williams, who uncovered the bug put it, "I have a feeling that there will be some 'interesting moments' in the early morning when a bunch of the world's stratum 1 NTP servers using GPSD take the long strange trip back to 2002."

And this is just the little brother.  The big 'event' is scheduled to happen on January 19th, 2038 and it's a doozey.

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Gonna be rough out there:

If I didn't have so much else on my plate I would drive out to the coast and shoot some video. Going to be spectacular.
Not as spectacular as this recent weather forecast but still...
Cliff Mass has a good update.

And good riddance to bad trash

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Hope his end was lingering and painful.  Do not often wish this but like begets like.

Heh - Asian tattoos

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A lot of them do not actually mean what people think.  Here is one where it does:

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Great rant from Representative Jim Jordan from Ohio. From Forbes:

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Must be nice - "science"

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From 90 Miles:

Lancet COVID Origins Investigator Wins $1 Million Chinese Prize For Claiming Virus Developed Naturally
Dr. Malik Peiris, who previously served on the Lancet medical journal’s COVID-19 origins investigation committee, received China’s “Nobel Prize” for research affirming the Chinese Communist Party’s false narrative that COVID-19 developed naturally.

Peiris, a Sri Lankan virologist working in Hong Kong, was one of 12 scientists leading the now-defunct Lancet probe into the origins of COVID-19. While the task force is no longer listed on the medical journal’s website, as it was forced to disband due to extensive conflicts of interests with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, archived web pages reveal Peiris’s participation in the effort.

Following Peiris’s stint on the task force, the Chinese Communist Party awarded him with the prize in life sciences in the 2021 Future Science Prize – dubbed China’s “Nobel Prize.” China’s top scientific honor is accompanied by a $1 million prize, which is funded by several Chinese Communist Party-linked companies such as BaiduHillhouse Capital, and Sequoia Capital China.

State-run media outlet Global Times claimed the award was for his “major discoveries of SARS-CoV-1 as the causative agent of the global SARS outbreak in 2003 with impact on combating COVID-19 and emerging infectious diseases.” Peiris shared the award with co-author Kwok-Yung Yuen.

And, of course it is Lancet.  They used to be a good journal but have joined Scientific American as being a partisan front for pseudo-science.  Lancet is where Andy Wakefield published his MMR vaccine / autism paper which has caused so much grief.  It used to be Dr. Wakefield but his work was so egregious that he had his license to practice Medicine stripped.

A clear case of breaking Federal law - from Legal Insurrection:

Kamala Harris Records Cringe Campaign Video for Terry McAuliffe That Will Air at 300 Virginia Churches
CNN reported Saturday that Vice President Kamala Harris had recorded a campaign video on behalf of Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe that was set to air at some 300 black churches ahead of the November 2nd election in the state.

In the video clips, which you can see below (the total speech time was around three minutes), Harris spoke about how she was taught in the Oakland church she says her family went to when she was growing up about how it was “our sacred responsibility to raise our voice and lift up the voices of our community.” She stated that one of the “most significant ways” we can use our voices was through voting.

She then proceeded to urge churchgoers to vote for McAuliffe. “I believe that my friend Terry McAuliffe is the leader Virginia needs at this moment,” she proclaimed before telling people why she believed they should send McAuliffe “back to Richmond.” Towards the end of her remarks, Harris encouraged church attendees to go and vote after church services or to schedule a time to go vote during the early voting period.

Of course, this is highly illegal - from the IRS website:

Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.

Of course, the Democrats have a long history of flouting this law - from this post (10/30/2004): Republican Prayer we get this picture:

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Rules - they are OK for me but not for thee...

There is a difference between the two

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More fun in Windy City

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Ran into this little gem at FOX News:

Chicago police brass request vaccine updates from personnel, may deny benefits to officers choosing to retire
The Chicago Police Department’s top cop has threatened to deny retirement benefits to those who choose to retire from the job rather than comply with the city's COVID-19 vaccination policy, according to local reports.

Chicago Police Superintendent David O. Brown said that those officers who do choose to retire rather than follow City Hall’s orders "may be denied retirement credentials," the Chicago Tribune reported, citing Brown’s Sunday memo.

A spokesperson for the police department would not comment or confirm the report to Fox News and referred further questions to the office of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

That last line is very telling: "and referred further questions to the office of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot"
Sounds like the original diktat came from Beetlejuice's office and Superintendent Brown was just the messenger.

More at the site - things are getting interesting...

Fun times in the Windy City

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From Chicago's CBS affiliate:

Chicago Police Union President Estimates More Than 3,000 Officers Defying City’s Vaccine Reporting Mandate
The back and forth between the mayor and the Chicago police union continues, with the city sending out a flurry of emails and memos as its vaccine mandate enters its first full week in effect.

CBS 2’s Mugo Odigwe obtained the latest threatening memo sent out to officers.

At least two memos have gone out since Friday’s deadline for all city workers to report their vaccination status to the city, but Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said thousands of officers are still refusing to do so.

“The unofficial number we have is about over 3,200; so about of third of the department,” Catanzara said.

Catanzara has said the mandate is illegal, because the city didn’t negotiate terms with the union.

Love to see the unions backing up the workers. Nobody is happy until the Union is happy. How it should be.

I do not like it when unions negotiate unreasonable demands - excessive pay and benefits and/or pensions. The workers should be paid an amount based on the real economy - too many pension funds are in trouble (looking at you Chicago for example) because pensions were over-promised.  Still, protecting the worker is crucial and there, the unions do a great job.

A good question... Apple?

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From Jamie Zawinski:

What does Apple know and when did they know it

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A good question.  A couple trenchant comments too.

Spin spin spin...

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OSHA are the go-to people when it comes to workplace injuries. They regulate safety in the job place.  That is their job. Turns out that they are turning a blind eye to a known toxin - from The Federalist:

OSHA Isn’t Tracking COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects Because It Doesn’t Want To Undermine Biden’s Shot Campaign
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is not requiring companies to report any of their employees’ potentially damaging side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine because the regulatory agency doesn’t want to hamper the Biden administration’s vaccine campaign.

“DOL and OSHA, as well as other federal agencies, are working diligently to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations,” the OSHA website states. “As a result, OSHA will not enforce 29 CFR 1904’s recording requirements to require any employers to record worker side effects from COVID-19 vaccination…”

Under OSHA’s current COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard for Healthcare, businesses are not required to report their workers’ adverse effects to the jab because “OSHA does not wish to have any appearance of discouraging workers from receiving COVID-19 vaccination, and also does not wish to disincentivize employers’ vaccination efforts.”

This provision will not only allow potentially harmful side effects of the COVID-19 shot to go unnoticed and unrecorded but is scheduled to remain in place until at least May 2022.

They should be doing their job and not pandering to this regime.

Something to remember - who is exempt

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From My Pensieve:

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Time for the usual morning routine

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Heading up to Costco and the coop - comestibles and kibble.

Working at home this afternoon.

Gray day - rain in the forecast. California is getting quite the rainfall too.  Big storm forecast in the Gulf of Alaska as well - winter is announcing herself.

Looks like Global Warming has stalled out.  Not a good thing. More people die from cold than do from heat.
From The Seattle Times:

South Pole posts most severe cold season on record, an anomaly in a warming world
Amid a record hot summer in large parts of Northern Hemisphere, beset by devastating fires, floods and hurricanes, Antarctica was mired in a deep, deep freeze. That’s typically the case during the southernmost continent’s winter months, but 2021 was different.

The chill was exceptional, even for the coldest location on the planet.

The average temperature at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station between April and September, a frigid minus-78 degrees (minus-61 Celsius), was the coldest on record, dating back to 1957. This was 4.5 degrees lower than the most recent 30-year average.

We first learned of this record through a tweet from Stefano Di Battista, who has published research on Antarctic temperatures. The legitimacy of Di Battista’s information was confirmed by Richard Cullather, a research scientist at NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office.

The temperature averaged over September was also the coldest on record at South Pole, wrote David Bromwich, a polar researcher at Ohio State University, in an email.

And for the record, this last summer was hot but not anomalous, some records were set but extended heat of this nature has been common through history. Not every year but every thirty for sure.

Fun and games in Olympia, WA

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In Washington State, monday (yesterday) was the deadline to get the clot-shot.
Today?  From The Liberty Daily:

Show Us Your Papers! Washington Legislators Locked Out of Government Buildings for Not Presenting Their Covid Papers
When Washington state representative Jim Walsh went to his office in Olympia on Tuesday, he found himself on the outside looking in. His ID badge, which acts as a keycard for state government buildings, didn’t work.

It wasn’t a mistake or technical glitch. The rules committee for the House made an “interim rule” banning entry to anyone who doesn’t present their Covid-19 injection papers, including elected officials. Walsh, who has opposed Governor Jay Inslee’s vaccine mandates, was furious that the governing body he was elected to work in and represent his constituents was not only failing to counter the Governor, but was taking his mandates even further.

“We are absolutely falling into some sort of Stockholm Syndrome that’s taken hold of the legislature here in Olympia,” he said in a Facebook video. “And rather than being that active check against the Governor’s abuses, we’re following the Governor’s lead. That’s not what we’re supposed to be doing. We’re supposed to be standing up to that and representing you!”

As things start to get interesting.  Going to be a lot of court cases - that is for sure.

A blast from the past - QBasic

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Some people have taken QBasic and run with it.  It now compiles to an executable, can be linked to other code (C, C++ notably) and runs on Windows, Linux and Mac.  Fully QB4.5 compliant with a couple nifty features added in.

Also, it is open source.  Very cool.

Check out QB64.org:

From the 80s to eternity
How BASIC made its way into the 21st century
The BASIC language has been the gateway into programming for countless people. Popular as a beginner programming language in the 80’s and evolving into a powerful professional tool in 90’s, BASIC (and its successor QBasic), helped many people develop a love for programming. These languages provided the foundational learning platform for most of today’s professional developers.

The QB64 project has evolved over the last decade to bring the magic and educational potential of BASIC from its 20th century roots into the modern era. The QB64 project is already in use in both educational and professional contexts and has an active and helpful user community.

Unlike traditional BASIC and QBasic code, QB64 gets compiled automatically into machine code – allowing exceptional performance, easy distribution, and the ability to link with external C and C++ programming libraries. Compatible with most QBasic 4.5 code, QB64 adds a number of extensions, such as OpenGL and other modern features, providing the perfect blend of classic and modern program development.

QB64 is available for all recent Windows, Linux, and macOS versions.

I am optimistic.  Here is yet another example of why - from Quillette:

The Implosion of Boston’s Pride Parade Is a Sign of Things to Come
Boston Pride is one of the oldest gay-rights organizations in the United States, with its first parade having taken place in 1971. Last year would have marked the 50th parade, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic. This year’s events also didn’t materialize, but not entirely because of COVID-19. Rather, Boston Pride celebrated a half-century-plus of existence by collapsing into social panic and cancelling itself. I mean this literally: Boston Pride no longer exists. The organization was dissolved from within in July, when its board of directors released a statement that read, in part:

It is clear to us that our community needs and wants change without the involvement of Boston Pride. We have heard the concerns of the QTBIPOC [Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color] community and others. We care too much to stand in the way. Therefore, Boston Pride is dissolving. There will be no further events or programming planned, and the board is taking steps to close down the organization. We know many people care about Pride in Boston, and we encourage them to continue the work. By making the decision to close down, we hope new leaders will emerge from the community to lead the Pride movement in Boston.

And what are the QTBIPOC community’s “concerns.” Well, it’s a long, surreal, and tragicomic story. And to tell it coherently, I’ll have to start with events that took place more than six years ago.

The left eats their own.  They keep upping their rhetoric — refining it down to a smaller and smaller "list of accepted beliefs" and eventually, they implode. Always will.

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From The Washington Post:

Rachel Levine, openly transgender health official, sworn in as four-star admiral in Public Health Service
A senior Biden health appointee who made history when she became the nation’s highest-ranking openly transgender official has also become its first openly transgender four-star officer.

Rachel Levine, the U.S. assistant secretary for health, was sworn in Tuesday as an admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, a 6,000-person force that responds to health crises on behalf of the federal government, including administering coronavirus vaccines and delivering care after hurricanes. Levine is also the organization’s first-ever female four-star admiral.

The move was hailed by advocacy groups such as the gay rights organization GLAAD, and health care leaders, who called it a breakthrough moment.

Pandering to their base - nothing more.  No leadership.  No intelligence. No accountability.
Aren't we so very very special.

Word to the wise - holidays

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Stop asking if it's all right to celebrate.  You are not their slave:

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Island Hide-away

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And back.  Got a lot done today.  Unpack the car, fix dinner and surf for a bit.  More later.

New coffee place was reallly good - no fresh pastries but great covfefe and it seeems to be where the locals hang out.  Ran into a bunch of fiends.

Quiet morning

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And plan to keep it that way.  My favorite coffee place is closed for three weeks so heading out to a new place now.  Check it out.  This place does not do their own pasteries so just coffee...

Working at the farm for a couple of hours and heading back to the island.  Was planning a second trip up this week but staying on the island - got things that need to be done there.

No posting until later tonight - nothing happening out there.

Lots to do tomorrow so calling it an early evening.

Suck it up hippies - Coal is King

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Looks like that whole alt.energy thing is not working out as expected.
From CNN Business:

Coal-fired power is on the rise in America for the first time since 2014
In a blow to the climate movement, US power companies are ramping up their coal consumption due to surging natural gas prices.

US coal-fired generation is expected to surge by 22% in 2021, the US Energy Information Administration said Monday. That would mark the first annual increase in coal-fired electric power generation since 2014, the EIA said.

Coal was long the main fuel source for the US power grid — even though its environmental footprint is the largest.

In recent years, utilities ditched coal because of concerns about the climate crisis and due to the abundance of very cheap natural gas. US coal consumption fell in 2019 for the sixth straight year, dropping to the lowest level since 1964, as natural gas prices fell to record lows.

Yet this trend has reversed in recent months because natural gas prices have spiked, making coal more competitive.

When will people start building the Thorium / Liquid Salt reactors. Simple, walk-away safe, cheap and the waste products need to be sequestered for a couple hundred years, not 40,000 years as with Uranium. The cure is staring us in the face but the worst thing that an environmentalist can image is cheap reliable energy.  They want to bring us back to the stone ages.  For our own good of course.  They know best what we want and need...

And two more bow out

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Reading the tea leaves - I wrote on 10/12 how five House Democrat Representatives are choosing to not run for office again. If they bow out now, they can pick up a cushy lobbying job in D.C.  If they fail to win re-election, their chances are a lot poorer.

Add two more to the mix - from Politico:

Two longtime House Democrats will retire
Two longtime Democratic congressmen will announce their retirements on Monday, according to sources familiar with their plans, a sign of the party’s diminishing hopes of keeping the House majority after next year’s midterm elections.

Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and David Price (D-N.C.) will not seek reelection, they will announce later Monday.

Doyle, 68, was first elected in 1994 and is a close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The 81-year-old Price, who won his seat in 1996, is a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

Don't let the door hit 'ya where the good Lord split 'ya.
Term limits anyone?

Points North - Bellingham and then Farm

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Heading out - a couple stops in the City of Subdued Excitement and then the drive out to the Farm.

Very happy with my decision to move out there - gave the Ocean a good solid three year try but it does not give me "the fizz" as they say. The mountains are calling me and I must answer.

The pups know what is happening.  I pulled into the driveway, opened the back hatch and loaded in one box of stuff to go up.  They immediately jumped in and have been there for the last 20 minutes telling me that they want to go.  It's a nice day - are we there yet? Are we leaving now? Can I drive?

More later...  I have some dogs that need to visit a farm for a while.

And our Transportation Secretary

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He simply does not live in the real world.  From CNS News:

Buttigieg: Paid Family Leave Is 'Not a Vacation. It's Work...'
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg defended paid family leave on Sunday, saying it's not a vacation – “it's work.”

Buttigieg is just getting back to work after two months of unannounced paternity leave, a time when supply chain bottlenecks worsened at the nation’s ports.

If he was serious, he would have set up an office in his house and had his aides working with him while he was holding his two babies and changing their nappies.  He could have been working - he just didn't think it was serious enough.

Port of Los Angeles - the back-story

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Now the real reason is coming out - from National File:

L.A. Cargo Terminal Operator Makes Massive Chinese Communist Deal; Union Leader Says ‘Foreign-Owned Shipping Companies’ Are Blocking Supply Chain
A union leader exposed the role that “foreign-owned shipping companies” play in the cargo backup at the Port of Los Angeles, which is causing supply chain shortages in the United States. The union leader said that “foreign-owned shipping companies” that own the terminals at the Port of Los Angeles have not been requesting union labor at a high enough rate for quite some time, thus slowing down the process of hauling and transporting goods off ships. The biggest foreign-owned company running the biggest cargo terminal at the Port of Los Angeles is Maersk, which has many Chinese offices and does massive business in China. Just weeks ago, Maersk sold its refrigerated container business for over $1 billion to a Chinese company that counts multiple Chinese Communist government state-owned enterprises as its major shareholders, giving China more control over our food and pharma supply.

In response to the supply chain crisis, U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo recently stated, “the reality is that the only way we get to a place where we work through this transition is if everyone in America and everywhere around the world gets vaccinated.” Clearly, this has led to speculation that the supply chain shortages are being manipulated in order to push the vaccine agenda. The Biden administration has touted a supposed deal it negotiated to help the Port of Los Angeles to operate 24/7 to offload the backed-up cargo. But one union leader said that union workers are already capable of working 24/7. The problem, in his view, is that “foreign-owned shipping companies” are not requesting labor.

The picture starts to get clearer.  They played along until the big push to assume global power and now, they are showing their hand. When this is over and sanity returns, we will remember...

The difference - facial coverings

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We are not amused - Let's go Brandon

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Looks like the Canadian Government has no sense of humor.
Whole story with full-size image of document at The Roadkill Diaries

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And, just so we are clear on this:

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Spoilsports eh?

From advocacy group Liberty Council:

Military, Federal Employees and Civilian Contractors Sue Biden
Liberty Counsel has filed a class action lawsuit along with a motion for a temporary restraining order and injunction against Joseph R. Biden, U.S. Secretary of the Department of Defense Lloyd Austin and U.S. Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on behalf of members from all five branches of the military -- Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard -- federal employees and federal civilian contractors, who have been unlawfully mandated to get the COVID shots or face dishonorable discharge from the military or termination from employment. 

The military plaintiffs include two Navy SEALs, a Navy EOD Officer, a Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer, a Navy Chaplain, two Marine Lt. Colonels, two Marine Lance Corporals, an Air Force Major, an Air Force Technical Sergeant, an Army National Guardsman, an Army Colonel, and a Coast Guard Lieutenant. 

The non-military plaintiffs include a Department of Defense contractor... (etc. etc.)

The plaintiff list is about 25 people long, a highly ranked person from each branch of the service as well as highly placed civilian contractors.  It will be interesting to see who they get as the Judge. The FedGov is trying to ram this through and now, the knives are coming out.  Interesting times...

From their ABOUT page:

ABOUT LIBERTY COUNSEL
Liberty Counsel is a Christian ministry that proclaims, advocates, supports, advances, and defends the good news that God in the person of Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins and offers forgiveness and eternal life to all who accept him as Lord and Savior. Every ministry and project of Liberty Counsel centers around and is based upon this good news, which is also referred to as the gospel.

Founded in 1989 so this is not their first trip around the block. They are fairly active and have won three cases before the Federal Supreme Court.  Again, interesting times...

Not a time to be in Alaska.  From Cliff Mass:

A Superstorm of Tropical Origin Will Develop Off the Northwest Coast on Thursday
I have been watching this storm for a while, and I am now certain enough to tell you about it.

A powerful, unusually deep storm will develop off the Northwest coast on Thursday.

A mid-latitude cyclone that began as a tropical storm (Namtheun), now over the western Pacific.

Below is the 96-hour forecast valid at 5 AM Thursday (PDT) of sea level pressure from the U.S. NOAA/GFS model. The solid lines are isobars (lines of constant sea level pressure).

Amazing...the storm, located due west of our coast, has a central pressure is 952 hPa, which is very, very low for a mid-latitude cyclones at our latitude.

This storm is deeper (lower pressure) than the extreme Columbus Day storm of October 12, 1962--the greatest storm to hit the Northwest in 100 years or more.

Lots more at the site.  Fortunately for us, it will hit further North - Alaska and Northern Vancouver Island and British Columbia.  Still... Something to keep a weather-eye out for.

Flawed science of political pressure.  From Retraction Watch:

Paper linking COVID-19 vaccines to myocarditis is temporarily removed without explanation
A paper claiming that myocarditis cases spiked after teenagers began receiving COVID-19 vaccines has earned a “temporary removal” — without any explanation from the publisher.

The article, “A Report on Myocarditis Adverse Events in the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) in Association with COVID-19 Injectable Biological Products,” was published in Current Problems in Cardiology, an Elsevier journal, on October 1.

It was co-authored by Jessica Rose and Peter McCullough, whose affiliations are listed as the Public Health Policy Initiative at the Institute of Pure and Applied Knowledge — a group that has been critical of vaccines and of the response to COVID-19 and has funded one study that was retracted earlier this year — and Texas A&M’s Baylor Dallas campus. [See update at the end of the post.]

Last month, Baylor Scott & White obtained a restraining order against McCullough — whom Medscape says “has promoted the use of therapies seen as unproven for the treatment of COVID-19 and has questioned the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines” — for continuing to refer to an affiliation with the health care institution despite a separation agreement. “Since the Baylor suit, the Texas A&M College of Medicine, and the Texas Christian University (TCU) and University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) School of Medicine have both removed McCullough from their faculties,” Medscape reported at the time.

An inconvenient bit of research. They say that McCullough "“has promoted the use of therapies seen as unproven for the treatment of COVID-19 and has questioned the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines" but... Current Problems in Cardiology is not chopped liver.  For McCullough to be publihed in a peer-reviewed Journal like that, he has to have his ducks in a row. Not a crank.

Feckless idiot - Mayor Pete

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One term mayor and appointed to Biden's cabinet because he had the correct talking points.
From the London Daily Mail:

Paternity leave is work: Pete Buttigieg defends taking weeks off of national crisis to care for his newborn twins and warns that supply chain disruption will go into next year

    • Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that paid parental leave isn't 'vacation' and that it's another form of 'work'
    • He was defending himself over criticism of taking off during a supply chain crisis to take care of his adopted newborns – Penelope and Joseph
    • Buttigieg announced September 4 that he and husband Chasten adopted two premature newborn twins
    • During his time off, the supply chain bottlenecks in the U.S. intensified as not enough trucks were arriving at ports to take containers off of ships
    • Buttigieg warned people should be prepared for these supply chain disruptions to continued into 2022

Pete Buttigieg rebuked conservative criticism over taking parental leave in the midst of a supply chain crisis after adopting twin newborns, as the Transportation secretary claimed paid leave to take care of family is still 'work.'

He also admitted that the supply chain traffic jams and delays could last into next year.

'As you might imagine, we're bottle-feeding, and doing it at all hours of the day and night,' Buttigieg explained to CNN's State of the Union on Sunday. 'And I'm not going to apologize to Tucker Carlson or anyone else for taking care of my premature newborn infant twins.'

Yawn...  Is that tiresome little man still on the world stage?  His 15 minutes of fame are long gone.
All style and no substance.  All hat and no cattle.

Barkey's Third Term

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Looks more and more like it.  From FOX News:

Biden leans more on Obama with White House under pressure from multiple crises
President Biden appears to be leaning more on his former boss as the White House comes under increased pressure to improve the nation's economy and outlook on the future of the Democratic Party.

Former President Obama will attend the United Nations COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, early next month to highlight the "important progress" made with climate change since the Paris Agreement took effect. Meanwhile, President Biden and his Cabinet participate in the World Leader Summit in Glasgow on Nov. 1 and 2 at the beginning of the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

They are imploding.

The State rewards those who nurture it

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Be useful to The State and The State will reward you.
From The Daily Wire:

‘Trained Marxist’ BLM Co-Founder Appointed As A Los Angeles County Commissioner
A Black Lives Matter co-founder who once admitted that she had been “trained” to be a Marxist organizer has been appointed to the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Patrisse Cullors recently revealed the move in a newsletter to her supporters, titled “The Abolitionist’s Update on Art and Activism.” She said she “came back and hit the ground running” after “some much needed time of rest.” In May, Cullors stepped down as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation following a controversy surrounding her property purchases.

Just like Hunter B.  Become an "artist" - people will then give you huge sums of money to "buy" your "art"

She does not know her history. The State will reward her until The State gains complete control.   Then?   She is among the first to be lined up and shot. Too close to The Power and The State can't stand any possibility of having its Power taken away.  It will liquidate any possible competition. The State and only The State must endure...

And Jay Inslee can kiss my a**

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Sign off after 22 years of service.  From The Daily Wire:

State Trooper Resigns, Slams Dem Gov’s Vaccine Mandate: ‘Jay Inslee Can Kiss My A**’
On Saturday night, a viral video emerged of a Washingon state trooper who apparently refused to get vaccinated as he submitted his resignation over the phone to a radio operator, in the process telling the state’s Democratic governor, Jay Inslee, who in August ordered state workers to show proof of vaccination by October 18 or lose their jobs, “Jay Inslee can kiss my a**.”

The trooper stated, “This is my final sign-off. After 22 years of serving the citizens of the state of Washington, I am being asked to leave because I am dirty. Numerous fatalities, injuries. I’ve worked sick; I’ve played sick; buried lots of friends over these years. (I’d) like to thank you guys; I’d like to thank the citizens of Yakima County as well as my fellow officers within the valley. Without you guys I wouldn’t have been very successful; you kept me safe and got me home to my family every night. Thank you for that.”

“Wish I could say more but this is it, so, state 1034, this is the last time you’ll hear me in a state patrol car,” he concluded. “And Jay Inslee can kiss my ass.”

Video at the site.  The pushback is building.  People are not putting up with the capricious diktats of our so-called leaders. 290+ comments all in favor of the Officer.

An interesting website - WTF 1971

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A lot of things changed that year and the repercussions are still being felt today.

The website is a compilation of graphs and it raises a very good question.

Go and visit - well worth your time... More here: wtf1971

1971 was the year that the United States officially went off the Gold Standard. We debased our currency - one dollar is no longer backed up by $1.00 worth of gold held in the Federal Mint. This action (as well as others) is known as The Nixon Shock

Fading away - feeling downright sleepy

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Otherwise feeling great - just needing more sleep than usual   —  9-10 hours.  7-8 is my 'normal' so this excursion is not worrisome.  Got nuttin' planned for tomorrow so sleeping in as late as I want.  Was planning to head to the farm then but do that Monday.  Need to get some stuff in Bellingham before I go there.

Watch some videos and lights out...

There is hope - System D

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Fascinating article about the real economic powerhouse of this planet.
And no bureaucrats can screw it up.  From Foreign Policy:

The Shadow Superpower
Forget China: the $10 trillion global black market is the world's fastest growing economy -- and its future

With only a mobile phone and a promise of money from his uncle, David Obi did something the Nigerian government has been trying to do for decades: He figured out how to bring electricity to the masses in Africa’s most populous country.

It wasn’t a matter of technology. David is not an inventor or an engineer, and his insights into his country’s electrical problems had nothing to do with fancy photovoltaics or turbines to harness the harmattan or any other alternative sources of energy. Instead, 7,000 miles from home, using a language he could hardly speak, he did what traders have always done: made a deal. He contracted with a Chinese firm near Guangzhou to produce small diesel-powered generators under his uncle’s brand name, Aakoo, and shipped them home to Nigeria, where power is often scarce. David’s deal, struck four years ago, was not massive — but it made a solid profit and put him on a strong footing for success as a transnational merchant. Like almost all the transactions between Nigerian traders and Chinese manufacturers, it was also sub rosa: under the radar, outside of the view or control of government, part of the unheralded alternative economic universe of System D.

You probably have never heard of System D. Neither had I until I started visiting street markets and unlicensed bazaars around the globe.

And System D?

System D is a slang phrase pirated from French-speaking Africa and the Caribbean. The French have a word that they often use to describe particularly effective and motivated people. They call them débrouillards. To say a man is a débrouillard is to tell people how resourceful and ingenious he is. The former French colonies have sculpted this word to their own social and economic reality. They say that inventive, self-starting, entrepreneurial merchants who are doing business on their own, without registering or being regulated by the bureaucracy and, for the most part, without paying taxes, are part of “l’economie de la débrouillardise.” Or, sweetened for street use, “Systeme D.” This essentially translates as the ingenuity economy, the economy of improvisation and self-reliance, the do-it-yourself, or DIY, economy. A number of well-known chefs have also appropriated the term to describe the skill and sheer joy necessary to improvise a gourmet meal using only the mismatched ingredients that happen to be at hand in a kitchen.

Wonderful news - this is where the "gig economy" springs from and if the State is going to "manage" our banking and report transactions over $600 to the Internal Revenue Service (the trigger point is at $10,000 now), I see a lot more of our economy moving over to System D.  It does not seem that we can vote the deep-state out of office but we can certainly starve them to death.

Finally, a System D that I approve of.  Not this systemd  —  here and here for starters...

And they're baaack - wild goose chase

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Coming back to the island from running some errands this afternoon, saw a bunch of Snow Geese settling in a farmer's field for the night.  They overwinter here - spend the summers in the Arctic.

I have tried other years to photograph them but never got anything good. Be especially fun now with my new lens.

Scott really gets it today - Dilbert

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Word...

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And back again - errands were run...

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Resisted temptation at the thrift store.  Went up North to Costco and food coop for some staples.

Got up to a balmy 68°F this afternoon - really feels like a spring day, not an autumn one.  Odd...

Surf and see what is out there

And gone - slow news day

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And stuff to do. Dog walk, coffee, etc...

Read the entire internet from one end to the other and nothing is happening out there.

More spew in a couple of hours.

Up and at 'em - stormy weather

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Really windy last night - still very blustery. A bit warmer at 57°F/ Something going on.

Still have 848 customers without power in the county to the North - high winds and lots of leaves still on the trees.

Breakfast and out the door.

And that is it for me - videos and bed

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Overslept a bit this morning so early bedtime tonight.  No more staying up past my bedtime looking at welding with 7018 rod or obscure machining tricks.

Over 11,000 customers without electricity - Puget Sound Electric

Right where I am going to go Sunday:

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Equipment failure - we will see...

Great look at how social media is trying to "nudge" our collective thinking towards the liberal plantation.
Some great interviews - worth the 20+ minutes to watch - this is happening and we need to be aware of it.

From PragerU:

From the site:

Should Big Tech have the power to control what we see, hear...and even think? Online censorship shouldn’t be a partisan issue. In our latest short documentary, Restricted: How Big Tech Is Taking Away Your Freedom, PragerU reveals this growing threat and shows why online censorship is an issue for everyone.

Good stuff - the more we push back, the sooner this blight goes away.

Glad I did not go - auction

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There was a commercial kitchen auction that ended today - was tempted to go to the preview possibly to bid on stuff but decided against it.  Glad I did.

Here is a vacuum sealer for Sous Vide cooking.  I love Sous Vide cooking and have a small Cabella's vacuum sealer but looking for something a bit better.  These two units from VacMaster sold for over $1,100 each.  Note that they are used.  As is/where is.  Zero warranty.  They were made in 2015.

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Here is the listing at Amazon for the new model (VP220 instead of VP210), brand new in factory box with warranty for $1,099.95.

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Rule #1) in auctions is: Know what you are bidding on.  Rule #2) is: Do your own research first.
Those are the only real rules when buying at auction.

Vaccine mandate - Boeing

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Boeing employees are required to get the clot-shot in the next month.
This sign is supposedly from the Boeing campus:

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A different company but some heartening news and video can be found at Liberty Daily

That shipping delay - the reason

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I hinted at the reason last night and this morning, Sundance at Conservative Treehouse lays it out in full technicolor:

The California Version of The Green New Deal and an October 16, 2020, EPA Settlement With Transportation is What’s Creating The Container Shipping Backlog – Working CA Ports 24/7 Will Not Help, Here’s Why
Hundreds of requests for details on the specifics of the container shipping backlog. So, I spent 3 days calling sources, digging for details and gathering information on the substantive issue at hand. The epicenter of the problem is not what is being outlined by financial media, corporate media and politicians who have a specific interest in distracting from the issues at hand. This has nothing to do with COVID-19.

The issues being discussed today relate to events that happened a long time ago. As a matter of fact, it was so predictable that Amazon, Walmart, UPS, FedEx, Samsung, The Home Depot and Target all had taken actions years ago -long before COVID- because they knew this day would come. It was not accidental that those companies showed up at the White House to discuss the issue, because there’s now a full court press to hide it.

There is one very specific regional issue driving the problem. Read on:

The trucking issue with California LA ports, ie the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and the Port of Long Beach (POLB), is that all semi tractors have to be current with new California emissions standards.  As a consequence, that mean trucks cannot be older than 3 years if they are to pick up or deliver containers at those ports.  This issue wipes out approximately half of the fleet trucks used to move containers in/out of the port.  Operating the port 24/7 will not cure the issue, because all it does is pile up more containers that sit idle as they await a limited number of trucks to pick them up.  THIS is the central issue.

On October 16, 2020, the EPA reached a settlement agreement [DATA HERE] with California Air Resource Board (CARB) to shut down semi tractor rigs that were non-compliant with new California emission standards:

Much much more at the site with complete links to back up Sundance's research. Over 550+ comments essentially saying the same thing:

So, Crazy CA can now be allowed to bottleneck the ENTIRE NATION’S GOODS, with its nutso regs?!?

Good God!! P. Trump wouldn’t put up with that for a minute.
What a shitshow! There NOTHING that these people do that doesn’t screw up something!…NOTHING!

Absolutely. Yet another perfect example of a politician doing something that SOUNDS good as opposed to something that DOES good.

And meanwhile, our Secretary of Transportation is taking a two-month maternity leave of absence to be with his husband as they settle in with their adopted twin babies.

And out the door - dogs, coffee, work

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Busy days today and tomorrow.  Slept in a bit - it was delicious but time to pay the piper.

Gotta run.........

And nothing much on the net

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Nice quiet news day.  Heard something interesting that the California shipping bottleneck is actually due to a brand-new requirement for the trucks to meet some draconian new air pollution standard and that most of the trucks on the road these days can not operate in CA any more.

Only one source for this now - nothing that links to source materials so not posting it.  Still, it sounds like something that Newsom would do.  Brain-dead bubble-dweller that he is.  It SOUNDS good but it does not DO good.  Typical liberal.

Move over to watching some videos and then bedtime.  Thrift store tomorrow and Saturday.

Joe Biden - 10/07/2021

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A melt-down.  These episodes are just beginning.
Whatever medication they were giving him at the outset is not working as well any more.

A simple question - tax refund?

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And back to the island - punked out

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Had things to do in Bellingham so left the farm a little early.  Back to the island for the next couple of days.

Unpack the car, quick surf and heat up some more of the lentil soup for dinner.  That is it for me today.  Wooo hooo!!!

Livin' the dream 😜

And outta here

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Coffee, read for a little bit and then to the farm.

Back to the island this afternoon via Bellingham.  Got to get a few things there.

From the Department of Global Warming

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From MSN/Argus Leader:

Western South Dakota, Black Hills sees 27 inches of snow in a day during first big winter storm
Western South Dakota experienced the state's first major snowfall of the season and saw up to 27 inches of snow in parts of the Black Hills.

A location three miles east/northeast of Deadwood received 27 inches during the 24-hour snow storm, according to the National Weather Service.

Residents of Rapid City reported just over three inches of snow accumulation, according to snowfall reports from the NSW.

I-90 was closed. And meanwhile - from National Public Radio:

U.S. households will pay more to heat their homes this winter, officials say
U.S. households can expect to spend more money to heat their homes this winter compared with last year, federal officials announced.

A report released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration predicts that home heating costs will go up because fuel prices are rising and fuel demand has increased over the previous winter.

Many energy prices dropped considerably last winter due to a sharp drop in demand brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the agency said prices have since rebounded, in part because of the economic recovery, and in some cases have reached multiyear highs.

Gee - if only we had a pipeline to bring cheap gas from Canada to our houses. Last year's drop in energy prices were due to President Trump's energy policies and not a drop in demand.  More people were staying home last year - that would yield an increase in demand (but it would not fit the narrative).

One Year Later - Great Barrington

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It has been one year already - turns out, they were right. Quelle suprise
From the American Institute for Economic Research:

The Great Barrington Declaration One Year On
From October 2-4, 2020, the American Institute for Economic Research hosted a small conference for scientists to discuss the harms of the Covid-19 lockdowns, and maybe hint at a path back to normal life. Organized by Martin Kulldorff, Sunetra Gupta, and Jay Bhattacharya, the conference made a scientific case for shifting away from the heavy-handed lockdowns of the initial Spring 2020 outbreak. On their final day together in Great Barrington, the scientists wrote a short statement of principles, calling it the Great Barrington Declaration. This Declaration, their Declaration, touched a nerve well beyond the scientific community, and well beyond anything they or AIER could have expected. So here we are, a year later. Where do we stand?

The aim that our guests had in offering the Great Barrington Declaration was to spark scientific dialogue that had been missing from the lockdown discussions until that point. It was AIER’s goal to facilitate this dialogue. The Declaration was a success in bringing, for the first time since the pandemic started, an anti-lockdown voice to mainstream policy discussion. The signatories’ stance was generally in line with the pre-pandemic plans that many, if not most mainstream authorities, (the World Health Organization, the epidemiology center at Johns Hopkins University, and the Centers for Disease Control to name just three) held. People tend to forget what the pre-2020 conventional wisdom on pandemics even was.

As successful as we think the Great Barrington Declaration was, it failed in a number of respects as well. We did not, for example, anticipate the vilification the Declaration would receive from any number of people, ranging from the progressive left to self-described libertarians.

If you are taking flak, you are over the target.  An interesting read.  They had it nailed down perfectly and people did not listen.

But of course - placing blame

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Shipping delays?  Any sort of bureaucratic fsckup is either the fault of the State or the fault of the Private Sector.  Since The State is infallible, it must be the Private Sector causing the problems.  From Breitbart:

Joe Biden Blames Private Companies for Port Delays
President Joe Biden warned private companies Wednesday they were not doing enough to help alleviate clogged ship traffic and port delays.

“We need major retailers who ordered the goods and the freight movers who take the goods from the ships to factories and to stores to step up as well,” Biden said during a speech at the White House.

Port delays continue as container ships are forced to wait for weeks to offload their cargo, frustrated by traffic and trucking and worker shortages.

The Private Sector is working as fast as they can - the get paid based on hours and on tonnage.  The more they move, the more money they make.  Having a clueless all-powerful State issuing draconian mandates and stupid "five year plans" is the root cause of the problem. But realize that?  No - that is above Joe's pay grade.  Outside his wheelhouse.

Conflict of interest much?

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Looks like our Attorney General needs to keep a lid on things.
From Forbes:

Panorama Education, Owned By U.S. AG Merrick Garland’s Son-In-Law, Contracted With 23,000 Public Schools & Raised $76M From Investors
Last week, AG Garland sent a memo to the head of the FBI, directing him to work with local law enforcement “to address threats against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff.”

Critics say that Garland made the move in response to parents vocally opposing mask mandates and race-related teaching implemented by local school boards.

Nevertheless, the move by Garland to have the FBI investigate parents at school board meetings quickly put his son-in-law’s nationwide education business in the spotlight.

Garland’s son-in-law is Xan Tanner, co-founder and president of Panorama Education. Panorama Education sells surveys to school districts across the country that focus on the local “social and emotion climate.” These surveys are then used as justification for new curriculum that some parents call critical race theory and find objectionable.

Tanner’s company has a large footprint with contracts in 50+ of the nation’s 100 largest school districts. The company describes its business as supporting “13 million students in 23,000 schools and 1,500 districts across 50 states.”

Unreal.  Much more at the site. Garland is using his position as the highest legal authority in the land to benefit his son-in-law.  If he is personally OK with that than he needs to step down. NOW.

And at the farm for tonight

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Did not stop in Bellingham as planned - drove straight up and will swing past there tomorrow on my way back to the island.  Better timing on things that way. Trees are in their full autumnal glory - beautiful colors on the leaves and crisp cold nights.

Chef Mike will be heating up some of last night's soup - no plans for this evening except surf.

And on the road

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Done here - heading to the farm.  Posting much later tonight if at all.

And then up to the farm for tonight. Fun stuff.

Back down again - Captain Kirk

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Sucessful launch and recovery.  New York Post:

Blue Origin blasts ‘Star Trek’ star William Shatner to space
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin successfully blasted William Shatner — the Canadian actor who famously played Captain Kirk in the original “Star Trek” TV series — to the edge of space Wednesday morning.

The sci-fi actor, 90, is officially the oldest person to have ever traveled to space — even topping the record set by Wally Funk, 82, earlier this year on Blue Origin’s first crewed flight.

“Everybody in the world. Everybody needs to see,” Shatner said through tears to Bezos after returning to the Earth.

Very cool.  Surprised that NASA didn't capitalize on his personna and send him up years ago on the shuttle.

And that is it for this kid

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Couple of videos and to bed.

Short routine tomorrow morning and then to Bellingham (The City of Subdued Excitement) and then the farm.

The dead laptop that will not die

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Hunter Biden in the news yet again.  From the wonderful London Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Joe Biden could become embroiled in the FBI's probe into Hunter's finances, experts say: Emails reveal they SHARED bank accounts, paid each other's bills and the president may have even have funded his son's 2018 drug and prostitution binge

    • Emails from Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop, obtained by DailyMail.com, reveal Joe and Hunter shared bank accounts and paid each other's bills
    • The president have may have inadvertently funded his son's 2018 drug and prostitution binge
    • Emails between Hunter and Eric Schwerin, his business partner at consultancy Rosemont Seneca, show Schwerin was working on Joe's taxes
    • The claim raises serious questions about whether funds from the joint accounts were used for Hunter's May 2018 week-long bender with a prostitute
    • Last December, Hunter admitted in a public statement that he was under federal investigation over his tax affairs
    • A former federal prosecutor tells DailyMail.com that if money was flowing between Hunter and his father, that could make Joe a target of the probe
    • The FBI and IRS probe is reportedly also looking into Hunter's foreign business relationships and the potential for money laundering charges

President Joe Biden could become embroiled in an FBI investigation of Hunter's finances, experts say, as emails reveal the father and son shared accounts and paid each other's bills.

Emails recovered by DailyMail.com from Hunter's abandoned laptop between Hunter and Eric Schwerin, his business partner at consultancy Rosemont Seneca, show Schwerin was working on Joe's taxes, discussing the father and son paying each other's household bills, and even fielding requests for a book deal for the then-vice president, as well as managing the donation of Joe's senate papers to the University of Delaware.

So much more at the site.  A small taste here:

The Senate security committee issued a report last year raising fears that the Chinese government was attempting to influence the White House through a billion-dollar business deal between Hunter's company he co-founded with Schwerin, Rosemont Seneca, and Chinese oil giant CEFC.

And this:

Hunter complained that 'half' of his salary went to paying his father's bills while he was VP, casting doubt on Joe's previous claims that he's never benefited from his son's business dealings.

In a 2019 text to his daughter Naomi, he wrote: 'I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years.

'It's really hard. But don't worry, unlike Pop [Joe], I won't make you give me half your salary.'

And this:

On May 24, 2018, a recently retired senior Secret Service officer, Robert Savage, texted Hunter warning he would 'have to assume you are in danger' and commandeer keys to the room if he didn't come out of his $470-per-night suite at The Jeremy Hotel in Los Angeles where he had been holed up with a Russian hooker to whom he wired $25,000.

The agent added: 'Come on H this is linked to Celtic's account' – the Secret Service code name for Joe Biden. 'DC is calling me every 10. Let me up or come down. I can't help if you don't let me H.'

Very long article complete with photos from Hunter's laptop, emails, links. That the media was able to conceal and/or minimize this  to the average voter speaks volumes of the power that they should not have.  They are not reporting the facts, they are acting as mouthpieces for a very corrupt political party.  This needs to get busted up and some adults need to be brought into the room ASAP.

Thank God our brethren across the pond are doing the job that our local news organizations are failing at so spectacularly.

Looks like some people are seeing the writing on the wall and bailing.
From Politico:

House Budget Chair John Yarmuth announces retirement
House Budget Committee Chair John Yarmuth announced Tuesday he will not seek reelection after 15 years in Congress, opening a key seat in the Democratic stronghold of Louisville.

Yarmuth, the sole Democrat in Kentucky’s delegation, said he will step aside to spend more time with family. He will be 75 years old when his term ends in January 2023. He's the fifth House Democrat to announce his retirement ahead of what is expected to be a brutal midterm election for the party.

Ahhh yes - that old line: "to spend more time with family"  He knows that the Democrats are going to be taken to the woodshed, tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.  Better to quit while ahead and get some nice cushy "K" Street lobbying job than to go down in flames with the rest of them.

Five down so far and the elections are still a bit more than one year away.

And yes, I am using figures of speech to describe objects or actions in ways that aren't literally true.  I find it helps to explain my ideas — helps to make a comparison.  Metaphors be with you.

From Seattle station KOMO:

Boeing tells workers they must get COVID-19 vaccine
The Boeing Co. has told employees they must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or possibly be fired.

According to a published report, the deadline for workers at the aerospace giant is Dec. 8.

“Compliance with these requirements is a condition of employment,” states a Boeing internal presentation from Tuesday viewed by the newspaper. “Employees who are unable to meet these requirements ... may be released from the company.”

They are allowing disability or religious exemptions but will require "frequent testing".
57,000 employees in WA State. The unions?

Jon Holden, president of International Association of Machinists (IAM) District 751, in his message to members in the October issue of the union paper, wrote that “the reality is our members are polarized on this issue.”

“It is our responsibility to defend and advocate for all our members,” Holden added. And though he noted that he and his family are vaccinated, the union must also defend “those who can’t or won’t accept the vaccine.”

Good - there is enough evidence out there that the vaccine is not good for you.
Israel for example - from Newsweek:

Israel, World Leader in Vaccine Booster Shots, Hit by Surge in COVID Cases
Cases of COVID-19 are surging in Israel despite the nation leading the world in vaccine booster shots.

The current wave of infections has surpassed numbers seen in previous outbreaks and bucks the recent downward trend.

More than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases were recorded on September 13, with an average of 8,000 new infections each day as positive test rates continue to climb, according to Health Ministry figures.

"That is a record that did not exist in the previous waves," Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash said via video call to the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee on Tuesday, as reported by The Times of Israel.

Wonder how Boeing will fare with so many people taking early retirement or outright quitting.  Already in tenuous waters with the whole 737MAX failure of management.  It is usually the more intelligent people who understand why the vaccine is not to be taken.  Someone who can sort through the wheat and chaff and make their own decisions.

Got a big post of carrot and lentil soup cooking on the stove - good weather for something warm and hearty. Picked up some rainbow chard today at the local farmstand to toss that in when I serve. Ready in about an hour.

Spitting rain - clouds are covering the sky.

Doing laundry, fixing a computer for someone.  Need to sit down and pay bills but going to defer that for a few more days - after I get back from tomorrow's trip to the farm.

Downright chilly outside

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Cold with wind - the bite of winter is in the air.  Building a fire. I can smell that other neighbors have done this too.  Good weather for it.

Two headlines from Seattle station KOMO:

Last cold weather like this was back in 1946. Global warming much?

From the Washington Examiner:

Pelosi signals big spending package will shrink to $2 trillion
Facing intractable opposition from party centrists, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats will have to “make tighter decisions” on a massive social welfare spending package that is stalled in Congress.

Pelosi, a California Democrat, acknowledged in a press conference Tuesday that the $3.5 trillion package planned by Democrats will have to shrink to about $2 trillion, telling reporters, “The fact is there are fewer dollars to spend, there are choices to be made, and the members have said let's get the results we need, but we will not diminish the transformative nature of what it is.”

Democrats are grappling with a standoff with centrists in their own party who want to slash the price tag to as low as $1.5 trillion. President Joe Biden has pitched a compromise of roughly $2 trillion.

Hell - I have to set limits to spending and live within my means.  So do 99.999% of the other people in the USA.  Congress should have the same responsibilities to their constituents.  They work for us after all.

It didn't really get going until after I was asleep.  Here is a video from Cliff Mass and the Skunk Bay Weather website:

And there goes my day(s)

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About that vaccine - a good video

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Worth your time to watch:

White Coat Summit from dschmall on Vimeo.

A little list - Biden's Cabinet

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The New York Post has a nice list of who's who in the Biden Cabinet along with how they are either corrupt or just plain incompetent:

Scandals from top to bottom in Joe Biden’s cabinet of horrors
Halloween came early this year, courtesy of the Biden administration. While the president is primarily to blame for the choices in Afghanistan, the border and holding an infrastructure bill hostage to the Squad, his team is facing their own crises, many self-created. Here, some of the lowlights of many of the members of Joe Biden’s Cabinet of Horrors.

KAMALA HARRIS
Vice president
Put in charge of the border crisis, Harris quickly clarified that she would concentrate on “root causes,” not the border itself. After a cursory trip to Guatemala and Mexico, Harris has declared victory and moved on even as a record number of illegal immigrants cross into the US. Even more caravans are headed our way after the US waved in thousands of Haitians. Meanwhile, Harris has gone into hiding, barely making public appearances as her favorables have tanked.

ANTONY BLINKEN
Secretary of state
As his appearance before the Senate made clear, he has no answers for the debacle in Afghanistan. Said they had no idea the Taliban would advance so fast. Had no real plan to get Americans out — which led to the deaths of 13 US service members. By his count, there are still at least 100 Americans behind enemy lines, and thousands of green card holders. But since the US abandoned the embassy in Kabul and Bagram Airfield, there’s no way to get them out. Then Blinken managed to anger ally France by announcing a nuclear submarine deal with Australia with little notice.

The article covers the lesser-known members as well - they are just as incompetent:

XAVIER BECERRA
Secretary of health and human services
Politico noted that the guy who should be in charge of the nation’s COVID response doesn’t even attend meetings. “They brief him,” a person close to the pandemic response team told the outlet. “But he’s not a decider on response activities.” Why? Because of his “lack of experience as a public health policymaker and communicator.” Which begs the question of why the former attorney general of California was even chosen for this role. It seems they wanted to put the high-profile Democrat somewhere, and this was the role that was left.

DR. MIGUEL CARDONA
Secretary of education
Has been pushing for critical race theory to be taught in schools and dismissed parents who have legitimate worries about how their children are being divided. Cardona said the debate wasn’t real, and “I think it’s a proxy for being mad that their guy didn’t win.”

A bunch more there - a good read if only to understand how deep the incompetence and the rot is.

And no-rora for last night

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Conditions were good for an auroral display but nothing materialized where I was.  Dagnabit.

Look up tonight

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Possibility of Aurora Borealis in the higher latitudes

Iceland is experiencing some beautiful displays

Plnetary K-Index is high

There is a new documentary put out by National Geographic (sad - used to be an amazing magazine with high journalistic standards.  They have gone the way of Scientific American) about the good Doctor Fauci. 
The elite love it.  Us rabble?  Not so much.

The trailer on YouTube?

20211011-fauci01.jpgLet me blow that up for you a little bit:

20211011-fauci02.jpg

How about Rotten Tomatoes - this is especially interesting as they have one rating for industry insiders and another rating for general public:

20211011-fauci03.jpg

Talk about two extremes.  Fauci is the mouthpiece for public health for the deep state so of course, the elites love the video.  What he actually does in the real world is something quite different and We The People take that to heart when they rate it at 2% approval.

It is very encouraging to remember that there are a hell of a lot more of US than there are of THEM.
Make a loud enough noise and change will be made.

Protests in Italy

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From One America News Network:

Vaccine Mandate Protests Go Global
Police crashed with protesters in Rome after an anti-forced vaccination protest descended into violence. Italy has planned to introduce its “Green Pass” in a week, which prompted thousands of Italians to take to the streets to protest the government on Saturday.

The Green Pass would be among the strictest vaccine requirements in the world. Italians who do not have proof of vaccination, previous infection or a negative test will not be allowed to enter work to make a living.

The crowd of protesters became frenzied when police tried to stop them from marching down the street. Water cannons were fired at citizens and numerous others were arrested.

We The People resonates all over the globe.  We are ALL the people and we say NO.

UPDATE BELOW:

This is unreal.  Vice President Harris gave some students a tour of the US Naval Observatory (the VPs residence) in honor of Space Week.  Things were not what they seemed:

The students? Check this out - from Conservative Treehouse:

Go figure, Kamala Harris Hired Child Actors For Rebranding Effort That Failed
The Washington Examiner dug a little deeper into the background of the Kamala Harris cringe video.  Apparently, team Harris hired child actors to help create the illusion for her rebranding effort.   There are many details in the report that represent just how artificial and fake the Biden administration is.

Bernardino was joined by Derrick Brooks II, another child actor , Emily Kim, likewise a child actor , Zhoriel Tapo, a child actor and aspiring journalist who has interviewed former first lady Michelle Obama , and Sydney Schmooke.

[…] “I am so so so excited this project is out!” wrote Emily Keller, a YouTube executive overseeing progressive civics content partnerships, according to her LinkedIn . She was the Democratic National Committee’s social media director until June.

[…]  Last month, the vice president’s office hired two messaging gurus to help finesse her communications efforts. One of Harris’s new advisers, Lorraine Voles, has a portfolio including “crisis management” and “marketing and rebranding.”  (read more)

It is all smoke and mirrors.  All image and illusion.

Gotta push that narrative...

UPDATE: Gets even better.  One of the child actors in the video had previously appeared with Michelle Obama
From Lafayette, Louisiana station KATC  Mar 22, 2021:

Lafayette student reporter interviews Michelle Obama about new Netflix show
Lafayette student and Scholastic Kid Reporter Zhoriél Tapo received the opportunity to interview former first lady Michelle Obama.

Tapo tells KATC she interviewed Obama as part of a round table discussion with other reporters and bloggers to discuss her new Netflix show "Waffles + Mochi." Tapo had a week to prepare for the interview which was done on March 10.

More:

Tapo is a a sixth-grader at L.J. Alleman Fine Arts Magnet Academy. She was selected as a Scholastic Kid Reporter in 2019.

Must have been nice to be flown from Louisiana for a couple minutes of fame.

Her own show too.  Netflix of course.

Seriously? WTF? The TALIBAN???

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From Newsmax:

Taliban Says US Will Provide Humanitarian Aid to Afghanistan
The U.S. has agreed to provide humanitarian aid to a desperately poor Afghanistan on the brink of an economic disaster, while refusing to give political recognition to the country's new Taliban rulers, the Taliban said Sunday.

The statement came at the end of the first direct talks between the former foes since the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of August.

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. on the weekend meeting.

The Taliban said the talks held in Doha, Qatar, “went well,” with Washington freeing up humanitarian aid to Afghanistan after agreeing not to link such assistance to formal recognition of the Taliban.

The Taliban are not dummies.  They know us very well - better than our elite will want to admit.  We are feckless, flaccid fools. The Taliban are telling us what we want to hear.  The "humanitarian aid" will disappear into the bank accounts of the top dozen or so Taliban elders and then, they will turn around and ask for more.

Curious - Nancy Pelosi in Rome

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Had to cut Mass short - from the National Catholic Register:

Nancy Pelosi Leaves Mass in Rome Due to Security Concerns
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband left Mass at a church in Rome Saturday due to a “security incident,” the church's rector said.

“You probably heard or saw the commotion. Unfortunately, I guess, there was a security incident and sadly Speaker Pelosi and her husband had to leave,” Father Steven Petroff, rector of St. Patrick's Church in Rome, said in a video posted on social media.

“She was going to do our second reading today, but of course her safety is most important,” he said.

Can't be bothered by the riff-raff.  It was an anti-vaccine mandate protest.

Back to the island - productive day

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Got a lot done - much more to do but making progress.
Surf for a bit - heating up some leftover soup for dinner.

Happy Columbus Day

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Spending today working at the farm. Rain in the forecast but prepared for it.

Loading scrap metal into the new trailer and doing some more sorting in the DaveCave.

Bowl of granola first, head out for coffee and then to work.

Channeling my inner Newton Minnow

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He was the guy that called television "a vast wasteland"

Feeling that way about the internet right now - nothing out there.  Not a peep.

Time for bed - busy day tomorrow.

It's the farming life for me!!!

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In beautiful downtown Maple Falls for the night.  Farm is looking good - brought some tools and supplies for my housesitter to work on refinishing the kitchen cabinets. They are in good basic shape, just have 40 years of daily wear and tear.  Figure out something for the counter tops and it will look as good as new.

Chef Mike is taking care of dinner tonight - surf for a bit and see if anything has happened.

And out for 30 hours or so

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Up to the farm, do a bunch of stuff, sleep, do a bunch more stuff, back to the island house.

Later, rinse, repeat - doing this twice/week for a few weeks - got a milestone I want to hit.

A trial run - gun grabbing

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Excellent idea:

20211010-guns.jpg

What newspaper you ask?  New York Times of course.  From the ever-wonderful London Daily Mail:

NYT issues embarrassing correction after reporting 900,000 children have been hospitalized in US with Covid when true figure is 63,000: Science reporter who claimed Wuhan lab leak theory has 'racist roots' made series of errors

    • Apoorva Mandavilli missed the actual figure of children hospitalized for Covid in the US by 837,000
    • That was far from the article's only error. The piece also incorrectly described actions taken by Sweden and Denmark and botched the timing of FDA's meeting
    • The mistake comes after Mandavilli angered Twitter users back in May when she claimed the theory that Covid was leaked from a Wuhan lab has 'racist roots'
    • Her flip-flop on the issue reflected that of the larger mainstream media, which originally dismissed the idea that the virus originated in a lab studying bats

The New York Times issued a correction on Friday after a reporter said 900,000 children have been hospitalized in the US with Covid-19 when the true figure is a tiny fraction of that: 63,000.

The mistake was made by the Times' health and science reporter Apoorva Mandavilli, who took to Twitter back in May to claim the theory that coronavirus was leaked from a Wuhan lab has 'racist roots'.

She also printed a couple other howlers - more at the article. But...  Her writings fit the narrative.  Got to push that narrative.

Much much more at the site including 640+ comments.  The NY Times has serious integrity issues. They used to be a good newspaper but now, they are just the print-media wing of the progressive party. Sad really. The Daily Mail runs rings around them for accurate reporting.  No comparison.

From industry source Airways Magazine:

Southwest Airlines Cancels 1,800+ Weekend Flights
Today, Southwest Airlines (WN) canceled over 1,000 flights, or 27% of its schedule, due to disruptions caused by air traffic control issues and bad weather, according to the airline.

According to the flight-tracking website FlightAware, the Dallas-based airline canceled 808 flights on Saturday. In comparison, American Airlines (AA), which has a big hub in Miami, canceled 63 mainline flights, or 2% of its operation, and Spirit Airlines (NK), based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, canceled 32 flights, or 4% of its schedule.

On social media, the difference between WN’s operation and that of other airlines sparked rumors that staff were calling in sick. So what is going on at WN? Is it more than just an ATC and weather issue?

A bit more - here is where reading between the lines comes into play:

Comments from Southwest Pilot Association
The airline’s recent announcement that it would comply with the Biden administration’s requirement that federal contractors mandate staff COVID vaccinations is contributing to pilots’ distractions, the WN Pilots Association, the pilots’ labor union, said earlier on Saturday.

“All of these challenges have led to an added distraction in the cockpit,” it said. “This week’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate announcement by the Company only exacerbates the situation.”

“Make no mistake about it – due to months of staffing issues and inefficient scheduling practices we have been operating at a higher than normal operational risk,” the union’s safety committee told members in a post on Saturday. It also stated that fatigue reports, which force pilots not to fly, are three times higher than historical norms.

However, the union said it was certain its pilots were not participating in any official or unofficial job actions. “Our Pilots will continue to overcome SWA management’s bad planning, as well as any external operational hurdles,” it claimed.

Yeah. Riiiight...

Looks like the vax mandate is getting pushback from all sides.  This is not a case of public health, this is a case of due process and personal freedom. The masks are just Kabuki, the vaccines have not been tested properly and the whole thing is designed to instill panic so that the people in DC can grab even more power and grow the government outside what our Constitution mandates.

Got nothing this morning - slow Sunday

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Heading out for a short dog walk and a leisurely coffee.

Up to the farm today so the pups will have a lot more exercise up there. Getting one of the outbuildings cleared out so I can move stuff from here back up there. Sorted through and got rid of a lot of crap. Feels wonderful to have lightened my load so much.  Still a lot more to go but progress is being made.

Back around lunchtime - see if anything has happened out there then...

Pushback in Los Angeles

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From LA station KTLA:

There is hope out there. People have had enough of the tyranny.
The County Sherriff has had enough as well - also from KTLA

Sheriff Villanueva won’t enforce L.A. County’s COVID vaccine mandate in his department
The Los Angeles County sheriff says he will not enforce the county’s vaccine mandate in his agency.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who oversees the largest sheriff’s department in the country with roughly 18,000 employees, said Thursday in a Facebook Live event that he does not plan to carry out the county’s mandate, under which Los Angeles County employees had to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 1.

The mandate was issued by executive order in August and allows only for religious and medical exemptions. Villanueva said his employees are willing to be terminated rather than get vaccinated.

“I don’t want to be in a position to lose 5, 10% of my workforce overnight on a vaccine mandate,” the sheriff said.

Due process and personal responsibility more than conformation to authority. 
Our nation was built on due process and the current regime is ignoring that.  Not convenient.

And that is it for a while

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Was feeling under the weather yesterday and today.  Stomach - think I ate something that was a bit off.

Sent out an email and then went back to bed this morning. Still feeling sleepy - no coffee this morning.  Heading out soon to get some and heading back home again. Still planning to head to the farm tomorrow - see how I feel then.

Wise words - coming times

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20211009-positions.jpg

About the new Governor - New York

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And another from the New York Post - being lenient to hardened criminals:

At least 9 Rikers inmates recently freed by Gov. Hochul have been rearrested
At least nine Rikers Island inmates recently given a Get Out of Jail Free card by Gov. Hochul have been arrested again, The Post has learned.

Among those who fumbled the Sept. 17 free pass is a reputed gangbanger from Queens who not only was charged with possessing a loaded gun, but trying to bribe his way out of a return trip to the infamous jail, NYPD and law enforcement sources said.

Stepfane “Stephon” Gilliam, 26, is a member of the Queensbridge Houses crew called Team No Lackin’, and has multiple aliases and 43 prior arrests, including 23 felonies, sources said.

After just two weeks of freedom, Gilliam was pulled over by cops Sept. 29 at 9:45 p.m. at the corner of 31st Avenue and 21st Street in Queens, for alleged speeding and having too much tint on his 2004 BMW’s windows, authorities said. Responding cops found a warrant out for his arrest on a traffic violation, sources said. Cops then searched the BMW and recovered a .32 Colt revolver from the back seat.

More at the site - some people never learn.  The criminals too.

From the New York Post:

Art gallery repping Hunter Biden received $500K federal COVID loan, records show
A federal COVID loan to the art gallery repping Hunter Biden more than doubled after his father took office, records show.

The Georges Berges Gallery initially received a $150,000 COVID “disaster assistance loan” from the Small Business Administration last year, according to public records.

But the loan was recently “revised,” with the SBA approving a further $350,000 to the SoHo gallery this summer, records show.

The approval came on July 26, in the lead-up to Berges’ exclusive marketing of 15 paintings by the president’s scandal-scarred son, public records show.

Most corrupt regime in American history and that is saying a lot.

White privilage

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America is rife with it - everywhere in our culture:

20211009-white.jpg

Looks like winter is going to be "interesting" - from The Epoch Times:

Energy Crisis May Trigger Winter Blackouts Across US: Coal Firm CEO
The energy crisis that has led to shortages and blackouts in Europe and Asia could hit the United States this winter, said the CEO of an energy firm.

“We’ve actually had discussions with power utilities who are concerned that they simply will have to implement blackouts this winter,” Ernie Thrasher, the head of Xcoal Energy & Resources, was quoted by Bloomberg News as saying. “They don’t see where the fuel is coming from to meet demand.”

He added that utilities are switching from natural gas to coal during the fall and winter months to keep up with the demand.

The global demand for power has increased as economies attempt to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, triggering natural gas shortages primarily in Europe and Asia.

Power producers including Duke Energy have warned customers that bills may spike during this winter. Duke’s Piedmont Natural Gas unit stated Tuesday that higher gas prices and low production will raise customer bills by approximately $11 per month in North and South Carolina.

“That whole supply chain is stretched beyond its limits,” Thrasher, whose Pennsylvania-based company works in coal logistics, said. “It’s going to be a challenging winter for us here in the United States.”

And we have it good here regarding Natural Gas prices:

The benchmark U.S. natural gas contract has been rallying, lately hitting seven-year highs, but its $5.62 per million British thermal units price is a far cry from the $30-plus being paid in Europe and Asia, Reuters noted.

However, the U.S. market is worried about the coming cold, particularly in New England and California—where prices for gas to be delivered this winter are far above the nationwide benchmark. In New England, buyers are expecting gas to cost more than $20 per million British thermal units.

Used to be $5.62. Going up to $20 but Europe is paying $30.

Yeah - alt.energy is a fun toy to play with but if you want reliable power, coal or Nuclear is the way to go.
Suck it up hippies - that is the truth and you know it.

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A California Sheriff is being cancelled. From NPR:

California sheriff defends his past membership in the extremist Oath Keepers militia
The sheriff of California's Riverside County, outside Los Angeles, has acknowledged that he once briefly belonged to the extremist Oath Keepers militia in 2014 after emails from the group were leaked online.

In an interview, Sheriff Chad Bianco sought to downplay his past affiliation with the organization, while also insisting that the aims of the Oath Keepers — which has emerged as one of the largest groups in the far-right patriot militia movement — have been misunderstood. In August, 17 Oath Keepers members were indicted in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Sounds downright scary.  Fly off the handle and spray booollets around the supermarket. Right Wing!!!!!!  Oooooo...

But, let's look at the Oath Keepers' Oath - from Area Ocho (a new daily read for me)

Oathkeepers
This California sheriff is taking a lot of heat for being a past member of the “extremist Oath Keepers militia” back in 2014. The Oathkeepers are being unreservedly maligned. They aren’t extremists in my book.

I was a member in the past, because as a veteran and a first responder, I agreed with their ten point promise:

    1. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people.
    2. We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrantless searches of the American people
    3. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to military tribunal.
    4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state.
    5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty.
    6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.
    7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.
    8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control.”
    9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies.
    10. We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.

In other words, they are keeping their oath of enlistment to support and defend the Constitution.

I guess that is extremism.

Like he said.  Everything in these ten points is reinforced in our Constitution.

Compare and contrast with these ten points:

    1. Abolition of private property in land and application of all rents of land to public purpose
    2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax
    3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance
    4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels
    5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly
    6. Centralization of the means of communication and transportation in the hands of the state
    7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan
    8. Equal obligation of all to work.  Establishment of Industrial armies, especially for agriculture
    9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the population over the country
    10. Free education for all children in government schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc. etc.

Be sure to visit this link and see how far the United States has come in following these ten points.
Karl Marx first wrote these out as the Ten Planks of Communism.

Time to get some adults in the room and return to our roots.

A natural progression - wrenches

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Two items of interest

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First - our *Resident speaking on 10/07/2021, Elk Grove Village, Illinois (an excerpt from the transcript published by the White House):

But even after all those efforts, we still had more than a quarter of people in the United States who were eligible for vaccinations but didn’t get the shot.

And we know there is no other way to beat the pandemic than to get the vast majority of Americans vaccinated. It’s as simple as that.

Second - a sampling of headlines.  Click to go to the stories:

One of these two is wrong.  Our *Resident is lying to us.  Not knowingly, he is just reading his TelePrompTer but his handlers are feeding We The People a big line of bullshit and hoping that we will buy it.

Dear White Liberals

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A little cognitive dissonance for your Friday afternoon:

Speaking truth to power.

One size fits all - utopia

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In a utopia, everyone is equal.  In real life?  Not so much. London Daily Mail:

NYC cancels gifted and talented schools program because it 'discriminates against black and Hispanic students' - but parents AND teachers say it will halt smart kids' learning and leave others 'behind'

    • Mayor Bill De Blasio announced on Friday he is ending the gifted and talented program that puts advanced students in separate NYC public schools and classes
    • He, and other critics, say it discriminates against black and Hispanic kids, fewer of whom are in the schools
    • Most of the schools in black and Hispanic areas closed in recent years, per The New York Times in 2019, because too few local kids passed the test to get in
    • Now, the majority of the spots are taken up by white or Asian American kids
    • De Blasio's solution is to put all kids of mixed abilities in the same schools and classes
    • The gifted kids will be given 'accelerated' learning programs - ie, different material
    • Teachers say it adds to their workload and parents say it benefits neither the gifted kids nor the less gifted kids

New York City is ending its gifted and talented schools program for exceptional students and will put all children in the same classes, claiming that the current system discriminates against black and Hispanic kids.

Announcing the decision on Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio - who is in the final months of his term - said: 'The era of judging four-year-olds based on a single test is over'.

Critics of the program said it was racist because most of the gifted schools were filled up with white and Asian American students.

But parents and teachers say ending the program in its current state will create more problems for students: the gifted kids will be bored and slowed down in classrooms of mixed ability, and those who need more attention will be 'left behind,' they say.

Words fail.  Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

A point of clarification

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And out the door for now

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Usual morning routine - working in the thrift store today and tomorrow.

More spew in a couple of hours...

Morning joy - two headlines

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From Breitbart:

Fewer people employed than they were projecting and food costs are higher. 
Doing a fantastic job there Joe (and his handlers)

The local library has wonderful access to Journals - check with them and see if this is available:

Testing four competing theories of health-protective behavior
Four competing theories of health-protective behavior are reviewed: the health belief model, the theory of reasoned action, protection motivation theory, and subjective expected utility theory. In spite of their commonalities, these models are seldom tested against one another. The review points out the similarities and differences among these theories and the data analyses needed to compare them. In addition to describing the content of the models, their conceptualization of key variables, and the combinatorial rules used to make predictions, some general problems in theory development and testing for health behaviors are examined. The article's goal is to help investigators design studies that will clarify the strengths and weaknesses of these models, leading toward a better understanding of health behavior.

This popped up on my screen when someone referenced the concept of Fear Appeal
From Infogalactic:

Fear appeal
Fear appeal is a term used in psychology, sociology and marketing. It generally describes a strategy for motivating people to take a particular action, endorse a particular policy, or buy a particular product, by arousing fear. A well-known example in television advertising was a commercial employing the musical jingle: "Never pick up a stranger, pick up Prestone anti-freeze." This was accompanied by images of shadowy strangers (hitchhikers) who would presumably do one harm if picked up. The commercial's main appeal was not to the positive features of Prestone anti-freeze, but to the fear of what a "strange" brand might do.

A fear appeal is a persuasive message that attempts to arouse fear in order to divert behavior through the threat of impending danger or harm. It presents a risk, presents the vulnerability to the risk, and then may, or may not suggest a form of protective action.

And of course, there are subsets:

Health belief model
The health belief model predicts that perceived susceptibility and severity of a risk motivates individuals to engage in preventive actions, and the type of preventative action depends on the perceived benefits and hindrances of performing the action.

A fear argument based on the health belief model is typically presented in terms of the likelihood and severity of health consequences if the current behavior is not changed. With the health belief model, it is unclear whether self-efficacy is directly considered a cost of performing a suggested action because occasionally, a fear appeal is thought to be less effective if a difficulty of acting is considered a cost of acting.

Game, set and match.  This is what the globalists are using to get us to comply - first with the vax and then they will ratchet it up until we are complying with their every whim.  We will own nothing, we will rent everything, we will work for the state, the state will take care of us and we will be happy. Agenda 2030

If you believe that, I have a bridge for sale in downtown Manhatten that you might be interested in.  I love the last thought though - "because occasionally, a fear appeal is thought to be less effective if a difficulty of acting is considered a cost of acting"  Yes. The cost of acting.  Do you get the jab.  Side effects? Do you die from it? They are selling the jab with fear and they do not realize that there is a push-back to this.  That is why I want to read the paper.  See if there is a way to defuse the fear - see what the author found out.

A simple question - getting the jab

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Swipped from Mostly Cajun

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Looks like Tesla is moving its Corporate Offices from California to Texas.
From TechCrunch:

Elon Musk announces Tesla to move headquarters to Austin
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company would be moving its headquarters from Palo Alto, California to Austin, Texas, a city that has recently seen a flood of tech companies and remote workers. Musk announced the news at the 2021 Tesla, Inc. Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which took place at the Tesla Austin gigafactory, rather than in the Bay Area as it did in previous years.

Musk also said Tesla would be continuing to expand activities in California, increasing its output at its Fremont gigafactory by 50%, although he didn’t elaborate on how he would achieve such a ramp up in production. The factory is currently able to produce about 500,000 Model 3 and Model Ys per year and another 100,000 Model S and Model X per year.

Yeah - they are keeping their factory in California.  They already have the sunk costs of the building and equipment so why not.  The headquarters is a different beast entirely.  The profits that Tesla makes are taxed by the state where the head office is located.  Boeing did this to Seattle in September, 2001 as they were getting screwed by the city of Seattle.

Wonder when/if California will wake up.  The State made a buttload of money in the dot.com revolution.  Now, they are stifling the very businesses that will be the basis for the next revolution.

Not if.  When.

Fun in Seattle - police numbers

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From Seattle station KING:

292 Seattle police officers have not shown proof of COVID-19 vaccine by department deadline
The Seattle Police Department (SPD) said 292 sworn officers have not shown proof of their COVID-19 vaccination status as of Oct. 6, one day after the department's deadline. The numbers show an improvement from 354 officers not showing proof on Oct. 5.

In August, the city of Seattle adopted Gov. Jay Inslee’s mandate that state employees and health care workers be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18 or be fired. There is not a COVID-19 testing option, but employees can apply for religious or medical exemptions.

A bit more:

The 292 officers that have not submitted proof of their vaccination status represent about 27% of SPD's sworn officers. The department said 782 officers have shown vaccination proof.

The department could be facing a significant staffing challenge soon.

No shit Sherlock...  I wonder when the pushback will start in Seattle.  Just say No.  My body, my choice.
It will be interesting to look at the crime deaths v/s the real COVID deaths (the ones without a co-morbidity)

A little correction - Nancy's laptop

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Was to go Associated Press - put the correction at the bottom of the story.
Paragraph #24 - 23 paragraphs of story and one of retraction. Link:

New York mother, son arrested in theft of laptop at Capitol
A New York mother and son have been charged with theft in aiding the disappearance of a laptop belonging to the staff of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the Jan. 6 insurrection after the FBI initially raided a home 4,500 miles away in Alaska, looking for the computer.

The FBI on Friday arrested Maryann Mooney-Rondon, 55, and her son, Rafael Rondon, 23, of Watertown, New York, in connection with the stolen laptop used only for presentations, according to court documents. Both also face other charges related to the riot at the Capitol.

The story was originally that the laptop belonged to Pelosi - her personal unit. APNews' correction at the bottom of the story is as follows:

This story has been updated to correct that the laptop did not belong to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but was a staff laptop stolen from a conference room that was used only for presentations. It was also updated to correct the spelling of the Alaska woman’s last name. She is Marilyn Hueper, not Huepner.

Get your facts straight if you want to maintain your credibility.  But, the other story fit the narrative and we must push the narrative by all means...

And you STILL want socialism?

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Don't read history much do you. Here's a meme to make it clear:

20211007-soc.jpg

There is nothing happening out there today.  Lots of little shit but nothing really catches my eye.

Done with dinner and doing some laundry - time to read the internet yet again.
Try to find something interesting...  Someone throw me a bone here...

And back - nothing out there

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Biden is using a stage set instead of the Oval Office for news events. Odd...

Nothing else really catches my eye.  Got a pot of soup going for dinner.

Nice crisp fall day.

Heading out.  Back in a few...

As Canada tips over the edge

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From the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation:

Federal public servants, RCMP and air and rail travellers must be vaccinated by month's end, Trudeau says
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled his government's mandatory vaccine policy today — a mandate that will require public servants to either get their shots by month's end or be forced into an unpaid leave of absence.

All would-be travellers must also be fully vaccinated by Oct. 30 before boarding planes, trains or marine vessels.

To bolster stalled vaccination rates, the federal government will require all of its employees in the "core public administration" and the RCMP to be fully vaccinated or to apply for a medical or religious exemption by the end of the month.

I love their term: "stalled vaccination rates" - in other words, people are looking at the news, looking at the "incidents" surrounding the vaccination process, putting two and two together and making up their own minds.  This is about totalitarian rule, not public health policy.

From the National File:

UK Government Report: Vast Majority of Delta Variant Deaths Are VACCINATED People, NOT Unvaccinated People
A Public Health England Technical briefing released in September 2021 entitled “SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and variants under investigation in England” has some findings that do not bode well for vaccine supporters. The numbers show vaccinated people contracted and died of the so-called “Delta” variant of Coronavirus at a far greater rate than unvaccinated people between February 1, 2021 and September 12, 2021.

During the time period in question, unvaccinated people reportedly accounted for 257,357 Delta cases out of 593,572 total Delta cases (approximately 43 percent), and 722 out of 2,542 Delta deaths (approximately 28 percent) “within 28 days of positive specimen date.” What does that mean? It means that the vast majority of Delta deaths in England during this period occurred among vaccinated people, NOT unvaccinated people.

Curious - goes right along with my previous post.  The vax is just as bad as the virus.

Again, we have never made an mRNA vaccine for public use ever before.  This is uncharted territory.

From National File:

Fully Vaccinated Carry 251 Times The Normal Viral Load Of COVID-19, May Be Super Spreaders
A new study has revealed that people who are “fully vaccinated” carry a staggering 251 times the normal viral load of COVID-19. Experts are concerned that this may pose a risk to those who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine, and it also seems likely these increased viral loads could result in more so-called “breakthrough” cases of those who have been vaccinated contracting COVID-19.

A study by the Oxford University Clinical Research Group published on August 10th in The Lancet found that fully vaccinated people carry 251 times the viral load of coronavirus as compared to those who have not received one of the controversial vaccines. “Viral loads of breakthrough Delta variant infection cases were 251 times higher than those of cases infected with old strains detected between March-April 2020,” reads the study.

The vaccines seem to allow vaccinated individuals to carry unusually high viral loads without becoming sick, transforming them into super spreaders who experience symptoms later on.

Makes a lot of sense and would explain a lot about the patterns of infection in large cities. It is just the flu - albeit a little worse. Yes, we need to be cautious.  No, we do not need to panic, mask up or lock down.

And that is it for me for this evening

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Zzzzzzzzzz...  

Wonder how many more they have - this is fun.  From Project Veritas:

Whistleblower Goes On Record, Reveals Internal Emails from Chief Scientific Officer & Senior Director of Worldwide Research Discussing COVID Vaccine ... ‘We Want to Avoid Having the Information on the Fetal Cells Floating Out There’

    • Vanessa Gelman, Pfizer Senior Director of Worldwide Research: “From the perspective of corporate affairs, we want to avoid having the information on fetal cells floating out there…The risk of communicating this right now outweighs any potential benefit we could see, particularly with general members of the public who may take this information and use it in ways we may not want out there. We have not received any questions from policy makers or media on this issue in the last few weeks, so we want to avoid raising this if possible.”
    • Gelman: “We have been trying as much as possible to not mention the fetal cell lines…One or more cell lines with an origin that can be traced back to human fetal tissue has been used in laboratory tests associated with the vaccine program.”
    • Philip Dormitzer, Pfizer Chief Scientific Officer: “HEK293T cells, used for the IVE assay, are ultimately derived from an aborted fetus. On the other hand, the Vatican doctrinal committee has confirmed that they consider it acceptable for Pro-Life believers to be immunized. Pfizer’s official statement couches the answer well and is what should be provided in response to an outside inquiry.”
    • Melissa Strickler, Pfizer Insider and Manufacturing Quality Auditor: “They’re being so deceptive in their emails, it’s almost like it is in the final vaccine. It just made me not trust it.”
    • Strickler: I came to Project Veritas because “I have no one else to turn to when my own company won’t be honest with me. What I was told to do was to trust Project Veritas and to go with you guys by lawmakers, by lawyers.”
    • Strickler has created a GiveSendGo campaign for herself where the public can go and directly support her financially in her time of need.

Project Veritas released the fifth video in its COVID vaccine investigative series today featuring a sit-down interview with Pfizer insider, Melissa Strickler. She leaked internal emails that show corporate executives telling staff to be secretive about the use of human fetal tissue in laboratory testing of the COVID vaccine.

Pfizer’s Chief Scientific Officer, Philip Dormitzer, admits aborted fetus tissue is used in the company’s vaccine program, but that employees should just stick with Pfizer’s polished narrative omitting any mention of aborted fetal tissue to avoid any issues with the public. 

This story keeps getting better and better.

Traditional vaccines like Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Polio, Smallpox, Tetanus? Absolutely. 40+ year track record of being safe and effective.
Influenza - a toss-up.  I do not get it.  It is only about 30% effective at best so just practice good sanitation and keep your immune system healthy.
COVID?  No fscking way. Experimental.  Nobody has done mRNA vaccines before.  Maybe in 20 years I might consider it.

From Don Surber:

Amazon leaving Seattle
Bloomberg reported, "Amazon CEO, citing ‘rougher’ patch with Seattle, looks to ’burbs."

This is not white flight. Seattle has become coyote ugly crazy and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wants to leave before he has to gnaw off his leg to get out of the trap.

Shades of Boeing and the Seattle Supersonics.

Bloomberg's story said, "The world’s largest online retailer is by far the biggest private employer in Seattle with more than 50,000 workers. That distinction has proved a headache in recent years, with some residents and government officials blaming the company for exacerbating homelessness and traffic."
Seattle has turned Amazon into its whipping boy, blaming the company for problems the city creates.

Jassy spoke at an event hosted by technology news site GeekWire.

He said, "I’d say the last five years, the city council has become less enamored with business or with Amazon. It’s just been rougher."

The city wanted to burden Amazon heavily with taxes. The company and others fought it back, Then the company backed a slate of city council candidates who lost.

It is time to vamoose.

I am a big believer in cycles and we are getting near the bottom of the current one.
Shades of the Seattle of 50 years ago:

Billboard reading "Will the Last Person Leaving SEATTLE — Turn Out the Lights" appears near Sea-Tac International Airport on April 16, 1971
On April 16, 1971, real-estate agents Bob McDonald and Jim Youngren put the words, "Will the last person leaving SEATTLE -- Turn out the lights" on a billboard at S 167th Street and Pacific Highway S near Sea-Tac International Airport. The two realtors, who work for Henry Broderick, Inc., put up the billboard as a humorous response to pessimism generated by the national aerospace industry's nosedive, known locally as the Boeing Bust.

Seattle is doing this to itself.  They are not listening to their constituents, they are only listening to the more vocal activists who are in a profound minority. There will be a recovery but it is going to be long and painful and things will be getting a lot worse before they get better.

And back to the island house again

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Funny - the farm has returned to being "home" in my mind. The island place is just where I am living for the while... Did a good slug of work today so headed down this afternoon - had a few errands in Bellingham that needed to be done.  Planning on making two trips up there next week - Sunday/Monday and Wednesday/Thursday - keep that schedule going for a while.

Having some chicken breast with orzo pasta and green peas. Odd combination but flavorful and good source of protein. Supermarket baked chix so quick to fix.  Sesame oil and some shoyu for seasoning.

Unpack the car and change into my sweats.  Time for some surfing - the internet up there is not that fast and my Chromebook is fantastic for what it does but I do not have my favorite tools installed on it so it is harder to blog.

Another day in paradise - raining

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Raining and supposed to continue throughout the day.  Brought up my Wellies and rain gear so all set for working on the farm today.  Not my first rodeo.

Nothing happening out there - heading out for coffee and then to the farm.  More posting later this afternoon.

Must-see TV

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Hour long video but really well done.  Hit the little gear icon and set the playback speed to 1.5 - makes it go quicker and still fully intellegible.

This brilliant documentary by Tim Gielen reveals how a small group of super rich criminals have been buying virtually everything on earth, until they own it all. From media, health care, travel, food industry, governments... That allows them to control the whole world. Because of this they are trying to impose the New World Order.

Bill Gates, Klaus Schwab, George Soros, ...

This incredibly eye opening documentary reveals something astonishing: the majority of our world is owned by the very same people. Because of this they can control the entire world and impose their wicked agenda onto all of humanity. This is the time to expose them and to rise up as one to defend our freedom.

Produced by these people: Stop World Control

Great website - lots of information and suggestions.  Funny really that we are only looking at maybe 2,000 people trying to assert their will over all the rest of us.  They have people helping them but these 2,000 are the idea men and if we can expose them, mock them, ridicule them, drive them into the river, tar and feather them, we can get back to living our own lives as free men and women.  99.9% of the social ills we have are as a direct result of their meddling.

It is past time to pull their plug. Ignore them.

And at the farm - with trailer

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The trailer is a honey - just the right size and steel construction not aluminum:

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I had an aluminum one - a 5'x10' and it was wonderful except for the time I was driving down I-5 without any load in it.  It started bucking and flailing around and before I could pull over and stop, it had torn itself away from the Highlander.  Still thanking God that nobody was injured.  It was interesting too in that there was a police car already there dealing with an impared driver.  The officer calmed me down, got the trailer reattached to the Toyota (the one in the picture) and I drove veeery sloooowly to a nearby Lowes and purchased 30 bags of topsoil to add some mass to the trailer. Returned the trailer and the topsoil two days later.

Brought up some soup but going to head out and check out a restaurant I have not eaten in.  I'll have that for lunch tomorrow.

Quiet news morning

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Heading to the farm today so no surfing for me until much later. Be up there for two days - back Thursday. Picking up a trailer today - my ex had a landscaping trailer that I coveted.  Getting one just like it - the right size and nice and sturdy.

Quick surf turns up nothing - the usual shenanigans by the usual morons.

The Pandora Papers - an observation

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Posted about the Pandora Papers yesterday as the story broke...
The five W's are in play - Who What When Where and Why
To make things interesting - look at this page: https://www.icij.org/about/our-supporters/

Our Supporters
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is a nonprofit organization. We give our work away for free.

But cross-border investigative journalism is among the most expensive and riskiest in the world. We rely heavily on charitable foundations and on financial support from the public. Without your help, we cannot exist.

We welcome individual donations in support of our work. You can make a gift online here. Any help, no matter how small, is most welcome.

We are incredibly grateful to our supporters who make this work possible. The following list (current as of June 2021) includes institutional and major individual donors who provided support in 2019-2021:

What follows is a list straight out of the progressive playbook - some of the most liberal moneybags out there including George Soros' own Open Society Foundations.

Now that we know who, I wanna know why and why now?
Cui bono?

Curious - Hunter's 10% stake

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From FOX News:

Psaki won't say whether Hunter Biden has divested from Chinese private equity firm
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday refused to say whether President Biden’s son Hunter had divested his 10% stake in a Chinese equity firm despite the president’s pledge to prohibit family members from engaging in international business dealings.

Chinese business . records reviewed by Fox News indicate Hunter Biden still holds a 10% stake in Chinese private equity firm Bohai Harvest RST Equity Investment Fund Management Co. through Skaneateles LLC. Hunter Biden is the sole beneficial owner of Skaneateles, according to Washington corporate records.

And a bit of timeline:

Psaki said in February that Hunter was in the process of unloading his shares. 

Seven months and change and still showing up as a shareholder?

This comes after then-candidate Joe Biden said in October 2019 that his family would not engage in business dealings with other countries or overseas corporations. 

Well, now we know what a Biden's word is worth.  Zip Zero Nada. Pants on fire.

This is from a Pfizer scientist. Project Veritas drops their fourth in a series of undercover reporting:

Pfizer Scientist: ‘Your Antibodies are Probably Better than the Vaccination’

    • Nick Karl, Pfizer Scientist: “When somebody is naturally immune -- like they got COVID -- they probably have more antibodies against the virus…When you actually get the virus, you’re going to start producing antibodies against multiple pieces of the virus…So, your antibodies are probably better at that point than the [COVID] vaccination.”
    • Chris Croce, Pfizer Senior Associate Scientist: “You’re protected for longer” if you have natural COVID antibodies compared to the COVID vaccine.
    • Croce: “I work for an evil corporation…Our organization is run on COVID money.”
    • Rahul Khandke, Pfizer Scientist: “If you have [COVID] antibodies built up, you should be able to prove that you have those built up.”

Project Veritas released the fourth video in its COVID vaccine investigative series today which exposed three Pfizer officials saying that antibodies lead to equal, if not better, protection against the virus compared to the vaccine.

Nick Karl, a scientist who is directly involved in the production of Pfizer’s COVID vaccine, said that natural immunity is more effective than the very vaccine he works on, and Pfizer produces.

“When somebody is naturally immune -- like they got COVID -- they probably have more antibodies against the virus…When you actually get the virus, you’re going to start producing antibodies against multiple pieces of the virus…So, your antibodies are probably better at that point than the [COVID] vaccination,” Karl said. Notwithstanding, Karl still believes that vaccine mandates are positive for society.

Much more at the site - two more scientists say the same thing.  This is all on video.

Not what Biden / Fauci / the mainstream media are telling us.

And nothing much tonight

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Looks like yesterday was the big news day.  Today? Not much.

Need to clean the kitchen and put stuff away - surf a little bit later. Busy day tomorrow.

Network outage

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Aparently Facebook was down.  Never noticed.  Don't do social media.

And this just in from America's Newspaper of Record:

Hackers Warn That If Demands Aren’t Met They Will Reactivate Facebook
With Facebook down, and the world basking in the warm glow of a post-Facebook utopia, the hackers responsible for the attack are now warning that if their demands are not met, they will reactivate Facebook once again.

"We know the world is celebrating the peace and unity brought about by us deleting Facebook from the internet," said a cryptic message broadcast from an unknown location. "But if you don't comply with our demand for $700 billion dollars by 8 pm tonight, we will restore Facebook and unleash its evils upon the world once again."

"NOOOOOOOO!" screamed everyone in horror at the thought of being doomed to once again scroll through Facebook's clinically addictive interface, depressing newsfeed, and angry arguments with Aunt Guthrie. "Please! PLEASE! Make Facebook stay gone! Don't let it come back!"

"8 pm tonight. $700 billion," responded the hackers with a maniacal laugh. "Don't disappoint us."

According to sources, local woman Aunt Guthrie is still sitting at her desk clicking "refresh" over and over.

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And on with my day - usual routine

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Nothing much to report.  Lots of stuff yesterday, nuttin' today.  So it goes...

Reversing the flow - loading the van today with things to take back up to the farm. Been an interesting three years - had a lot of fun, met some wonderful people but the farm is where my heart is. Still down here through this coming Spring - a lot more work to do.

Dog walk and Coffee first though... Start with the small things.

Fun times in Oz - resignations

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Not just New South Wales' Premier, five more top-level people have pulled the plug.
From Australia's News.com.au

NSW erupts in total political chaos with a flurry of resignations and multiple by-elections looming
New South Wales is in a state of political disarray and chaos, facing multiple costly and distracting by-elections and an uncertain path towards post-Covid freedom.

In the space of three days, NSW has lost its Premier and Deputy Premier, a senior Cabinet Minister, three veteran Coalition members of parliament and will likely need to find a new Treasurer in coming weeks.

The shock resignation on Friday of Premier Gladys Berejiklian, both from the state’s top job and parliament representing the seat of Willoughby, has sparked a domino effect of departures.

Following her today is Deputy Premier John Barilaro, who announced he’s stepping aside from the role as well as quitting as Nationals leader and exiting politics, leaving vacant his regional seat of Monaro.

It will be interesting to see the facts as they come out.
The citizens are (peacefully) protesting against the COVID lockdowns - Gateway Pundit:

WILD VIDEO: Protesters Chanting “Freedom!” Chase Tyrannical Police in Melbourne Penal Colony – Police Beat Grocery Shoppers
Hundreds of protesters chased the Melbourne Police this weekend during the weekend protests.

The protesters were chanting, “Freedom!” as they chased the police and hurled objects at the car.

The city is still in COVID lockdown under the tyrannical leadership.

Two videos at the site and 1,200+ comments.  Looks like people have had enough all over the world.

What worries me is that when we get a real pandemic, nobody will listen to the government any more. They blew their credibility on this one.

I would not last five minutes

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From Reuters:

Australia's NSW state premier resigns over corruption probe amid COVID-19 battle
The premier of Australia's biggest state economy New South Wales (NSW), Gladys Berejiklian, resigned on Friday after a corruption watchdog said it was investigating whether she was involved in conduct that "constituted or involved a breach of public trust".

Berejiklian's shock resignation comes as the state, which has an economy larger than Singapore, Thailand or Malaysia, battles the biggest COVID-19 outbreak in the country and is poised to begin ending months-long lockdowns as Australia sets to reopen international borders in November.

Berejiklian said the issues being investigated were "historical matters" but she felt compelled to resign because of the long time frames likely to be involved in the investigation. She also said the state needed certainty over its leadership amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Love the line: "the issues being investigated were "historical matters" - the more de minimis the reason, the guiltier they are. Never fails. This is right up there with "wanting to spend more time with their family".

Big data dump - from MSN/The Wasshington Post:

Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen revealed as ‘whistleblower’ behind leaked documents that plunged the company into scandal
Former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen has been revealed as the source behind tens of thousands of pages of leaked internal company research, which she says show that the company has been negligent in eliminating violence, misinformation and other harmful content from its services, and that it has misled investors about these efforts.

For Facebook, the document leak — and the public reveal of the source — represents perhaps the most significant crisis in the company’s history, further deteriorating relationships between the company and Washington politicians. The company is the target of a historic federal antitrust case and is fielding document requests as members of Congress investigate its role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Widely referred to as a “Facebook whistleblower” responsible for leaking documents behind a Wall Street Journal series, Haugen spoke publicly about her complaint to federal authorities, disclosing her identity for the first time in an interview airing Sunday night on “60 Minutes.”

“There were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook. And Facebook, over and over again, chose to optimize for its own interests, like making more money,” Haugen said in the interview.

A lot more at the site.  The material had been out for some time - published through the Wall Street Journal over the previous two weeks but today is the first time that she spoke publicly and identified herself. Her apperance tonight on 60 Minutes releases a lot more information:

Facebook is misleading the public on progress against hate speech, violence, misinformation
Her name is Frances Haugen. That is a fact that Facebook has been anxious to know since last month when an anonymous former employee filed complaints with federal law enforcement. The complaints say Facebook's own research shows that it amplifies hate, misinformation and political unrest—but the company hides what it knows. One complaint alleges that Facebook's Instagram harms teenage girls. What makes Haugen's complaints unprecedented is the trove of private Facebook research she took when she quit in May. The documents appeared first, last month, in the Wall Street Journal. But tonight, Frances Haugen is revealing her identity to explain why she became the Facebook whistleblower.

Video and additional source materials at the 60 Minutes link.  Just one taste:

Scott Pelley: To quote from another one of the documents you brought out, "We have evidence from a variety of sources that hate speech, divisive political speech and misinformation on Facebook and the family of apps are affecting societies around the world."

Frances Haugen: When we live in an information environment that is full of angry, hateful, polarizing content it erodes our civic trust, it erodes our faith in each other, it erodes our ability to want to care for each other, the version of Facebook that exists today is tearing our societies apart and causing ethnic violence around the world.

Not surprising at all. The social media corporations are a leviathan - they are beholden to nobody except their shareholders. Unaccountable. Make them responsible for what they publish - simple as that.  Make them accountable.

What if it was engineered in the US of A and purposely released in China to make them the patsy.

A curious case - Conservative Treehouse:

Did The Fourth Branch of Government Release SARS-CoV-2 Then Blame China
So much research has been done, we essentially know the majority of the background details. The SARS-CoV-2 virus commonly known as COVID-19 was made in a lab by scientists. The virus then went from a lab to the global population in late 2019/early 2020. The epicenter of the outbreak appears to be one of the labs working on the virus in Wuhan, China. Those essential big picture items are no longer debated; although the Chinese government does not agree for obvious reasons.

With the ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘how’ essentially agreed, the question of ‘who’ and ‘why’ remains.

The Chinese have blamed the U.S. Intelligence agencies for releasing the virus.  The U.S. Intelligence agencies have said they don’t know who released it or from where. [LINK] The U.S. Intelligence position is weird and obtuse, then again, the Intelligence Community specializes in being weird and obtuse.

The cornerstone of the CTH hypothesis, regarding the ‘who’ and ‘why’ of the COVID-19 virus, is built upon the intelligence communitie’s odd position and one very key circumstantial point that stands out loudly.   The U.S. Pentagon was funding the creation of SARS as a biological weapon in Wuhan, China, under the auspices of national security. “Grants from the Pentagon included $6,491,025 from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) from 2017 to 2020” (link).

Pretty compelling thesis.  Lots of links to corroborating data. This would explain a lot as the Chinese do not have the basic skills to do work like this. We do. We invented the tools. This would also explain all of the funding to Wuhan - we did the pure research and handed it off to them to do the culturing and delivery. None of these people are elected.  None are held accountable. They operate in the dark.

570+ comments worth reading - additional materials and commentary

Looks like some people are holding true to the real history of this Nation.
From Raleigh, NC's  The News&Observer:

NC school board passes strict rules for teaching about race after threat to cut funding
Johnston County teachers could be disciplined or fired if they teach that American historical figures weren’t heroes, undermine the U.S. Constitution in lessons or say that racism is a permanent part of American life.

The Johnston County Board of Commissioners is withholding $7.9 million until the school board passes a policy preventing Critical Race Theory from county classrooms. School leaders deny that Critical Race Theory is being taught. But to get the money, the school board unanimously approved Friday an updated policy on how history and racism will be taught.

“When we all work together we can accomplish good things for kids, and this is one of those moments I truly believe has happened,” school board vice chairwoman Terri Sessoms said at Friday’s specially called virtual meeting.

The revised Code of Ethics policy includes new wording such as “the United States foundational documents shall not be undermined,” and “all people who contributed to American Society will be recognized and presented as reformists, innovators and heroes to our culture.” The policy says failure to comply “will result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.”

Great news - the revisionists can shriek and clutch their pearls and point all they want to but that does not alter the basic fact that our Nation has an exceptional history and we need to honor that and instill it in our children's education.  Yes, the USA has screwed up but other nations have been far far worse. Slavery is still being practiced in the world today - especially in China.  Where is the outrage?  Where are the protests?

What these Marxists want is not education, they want indoctrination.  They want the long march through the institutions.  This needs to fail and it needs to fail with an epic Ka-Boom so it is not tried again for several hundred years.

It boggles the mind that there are less than 1,000 people who are causing all this trouble. The instigators. It is amazing that people blindly follow such idiocy - they are promised free stuff.  They are promossed an easy ride. Fools...

From the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists:

Offshore havens and hidden riches of world leaders and billionaires exposed in unprecedented leak
The Pandora Papers reveal the inner workings of a shadow economy that benefits the wealthy and well-connected at the expense of everyone else
Millions of leaked documents and the biggest journalism partnership in history have uncovered financial secrets of 35 current and former world leaders, more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories, and a global lineup of fugitives, con artists and murderers.

The secret documents expose offshore dealings of the King of Jordan, the presidents of Ukraine, Kenya and Ecuador, the prime minister of the Czech Republic and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The files also detail financial activities of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “unofficial minister of propaganda” and more than 130 billionaires from Russia, the United States, Turkey and other nations.

The leaked records reveal that many of the power players who could help bring an end to the offshore system instead benefit from it – stashing assets in covert companies and trusts while their governments do little to slow a global stream of illicit money that enriches criminals and impoverishes nations.

Among the hidden treasures revealed in the documents:

    • A $22 million chateau in the French Riviera – replete with a cinema and two swimming pools – purchased through offshore companies by the Czech Republic’s populist prime minister, a billionaire who has railed against the corruption of economic and political elites.
    • More than $13 million tucked in a secrecy-shaded trust in the Great Plains of the United States by a scion of one of Guatemala’s most powerful families, a dynasty that controls a soap and lipsticks conglomerate that’s been accused of harming workers and the earth.
    • Three beachfront mansions in Malibu purchased through three offshore companies for $68 million by the King of Jordan in the years after Jordanians filled the streets during Arab Spring to protest joblessness and corruption.

Quite a lot more at the site.  The data was handed to the ICIJ two years ago - they have been sorting through it. I am betting that 80% of it is unusual but not illegal but the other 20% will be very very fun to watch.

The London Daily Mail has their time with this:

The secret offshore wealth of world leaders: Leak of 12 MILLION files reveals Putin 'mistress's' $4.1m Monaco flat , Azerbaijani ruler's $500m London property deals, King of Jordan's $100m empire and Czech PM's $22m French chateau

    • Pandora Papers show Tony and Cherie Blair bought London office via offshore account
    • Files were obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
    • King of Jordan secretly bought £70million worth of property in the US and UK
    • Many transactions show no legal wrongdoing but expose how the UK has failed in its promise to bring in a register of offshore property owners

The secret offshore wealth of more than 300 world leaders, politicians and billionaires has been exposed in one of the biggest ever leaks of financial data.

Dubbed the Pandora Papers, the documents show how 35 current and former world leaders - including associates of Vladimir Putin - used accounts in tax havens to accrue huge amounts of wealth and carry out transactions.

The files consist of 12 million documents from 14 financial services companies in countries including the British Virgin Islands, Panama, Belize, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Switzerland.

They were obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) before being studied by more than 650 reporters from BBC Panorama, the Guardian and other news outlets.

Of course, this makes me wonder...  They had this data for two years.  By the Daily Mail's own admission, it had been shopped around to various media outlets before being released today (October 3rd). Why now?  What just happened that they need a big-ass smoke-screen to cover up and distract?

Now my interest is piqued - time to start digging...

Imagine that...

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From Chris Lynch:

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Walk the dogs - farmer's field today as the park will be overrun with tourists. Weekends do that.

Cuppa joe at my 3rd place - sit and read for a while.  Back home to work on some stuff.  Today and tomorrow are days of rest but got a lot that needs doing.  Might do a big bowl of soup - enough for a couple of dinners. Beef barley?  Hmmmm...

So true - escape

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What are they chanting?

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Looks like the NBC Reporter needs to listen a little more carefully:

Fsck Joe Biden has been a very popular chant at large events recently.

This sort of mis-interpretation is called a Mondegreen:

A mondegreen /ˈmɒndᵻɡriːn/ is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase as a result of near-homophony, in a way that gives it a new meaning.

Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to clearly hear a lyric, substitutes words that sound similar, and make some kind of sense. American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term in her essay "The Death of Lady Mondegreen", published in Harper's Magazine in November 1954. The term was inspired by "...and Lady Mondegreen", a misinterpretation of the line "...and laid him on the green" from the Scottish ballad "The Bonnie Earl O' Moray". "Mondegreen" was included in the 2000 edition of the Random House Webster's College Dictionary. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary added the word in 2008. The phenomenon is not limited to English, with examples cited by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, in the Hebrew song "Háva Nagíla" ("Let's Be Happy"), and in Bollywood movies.

A list of common ones here 

Got to giver her an "A" for effort - keep pushing that narrative.  Keey your masters happy.

The opened Bagram Air Base and are land planes there.
From the London Daily Mail:

Military planes are spotted landing at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan after it was claimed China is 'considering' sending soldiers to ex US airbase to strengthen ties with Taliban

    • There are unconfirmed reports that Chinese military planes have landed at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan
    • New images from Afghanistan show that power has been restored to the base and multiple sources alleged military planes arrived at the former US stronghold
    • It comes after Yun Sun, Director of the China Program at Stimson Research Center, said China would be 'eager' to occupy the airfield and seize any equipment left over by the US
    • The move would be an attempt to strengthen ties with the Taliban and embarrass America

There have been multiple reports of military planes arriving at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, just hours after images emerged showing that power was restored to the base for the first time since US forces evacuated the stronghold in July.

Images circulating on social media appear to show the airbase's floodlights blazing in the distance, amid reports that several military planes have taken off and landed at the base in recent hours.

Several sources suggest that the aircraft are Chinese, given the Taliban are not thought to possess the expertise needed to power the base or maintain and fly several military aircraft.

It comes after Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center think tank, said China would likely be very interested in occupying the airbase following the US pullout.

Of course - we left all of our toys there.  Aircraft, drones, electronics, night-vision and bomb detection equipment.  They are coming in to copy it for themselves.  As well as preventing a future administration from returning. Afghanistan borders China and has mineral wealth. China wants it.

President Trump's plan would have had us out months earlier (May, 2021), with no American Citizens left behind, with no Afghani refugees left behind and with no military hardware left behind.  Tell me again how brilliant Biden's plan was.

The infrastructure that we need.  Don Surber does a wonderful essay on our Nation's Infrastructure.

Go here and read: The $4 trillion infrastructure we need

We have kicked this can down the road for too many years and it's showing.  Time to fix it.

And back to the island - busy day

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Worked at the store for a couple of hours - been selling a lot of tech stuff so having fun times.

Ran up to food coop and the local farm stand - food for this coming week.

Still nothing online that catches my eye. Really slow news day...

Slow news day - working and stuff

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Nothing happening out there. Usual rumbles but nothing catches my eye.

Morning routine shortly.

Aliens? Ho. Li. Crap.

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Big comet.  It was first reported in June of this year.  Now that people know about it, its image was first registered by a deep-sky camera in 2014. From NOIR Lab:

Giant Comet Found in Outer Solar System by Dark Energy Survey
A giant comet has been discovered by two astronomers following a comprehensive search of data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). The comet, which is estimated to be 100–200 kilometers across, or about 10 times the diameter of most comets, is an icy relic flung out of the Solar System by the migrating giant planets in the early history of the Solar System. This comet is quite unlike any other seen before and the huge size estimate is based on how much sunlight it reflects. 

Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein, of the University of Pennsylvania, found the comet — named Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein (with the designation C/2014 UN271) — hidden among data collected by the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile. The analysis of data from the Dark Energy Survey is supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the DECam science archive is curated by the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC) at NSF’s NOIRLab. CTIO and CSDC are Programs of NOIRLab.

And from Science Alert, Sept. 30, 2021

Gigantic Comet Approaching From Outer Solar System May Be The Largest Ever Seen
A comet so huge it was initially mistaken for a dwarf planet is on an inward-bound trajectory from the outer Solar System

There's no reason to worry – C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein), as the comet is called, will approach no closer to the Sun than just outside the orbit of Saturn. But its large size and relative closeness will afford a rare opportunity to study a pristine object from the Oort Cloud, and find new information about the formation of the Solar System.

They are not expecting it to be visible to the naked eye.  Still...

Well crap - R.I.P. Dr. Lonnie Smith

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One of my favorite Jazz musicians - his website has a nice trailer for a forthcoming documentary.
New York Times has an ok obituary:

Lonnie Smith, Soulful Jazz Organist, Is Dead at 79
Lonnie Smith, a master of the Hammond B3 organ and a leading exponent of the infectiously rhythmic genre known as soul jazz, died on Tuesday at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 79.

His manager and partner, Holly Case, said the cause was pulmonary fibrosis.

Mr. Smith, who began billing himself as Dr. Lonnie Smith in the mid-1970s, could draw an audience’s attention with his appearance alone: He had a long white beard and always wore a colorful turban. (The turbans apparently had no specific religious significance, and he did not have an advanced degree in anything and never explained why he had adopted the honorific “Dr.”) His playing was every bit as striking.

He began his career at a time when organists like Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff were blending the sophistication of jazz with the earthy appeal of rhythm and blues. Mr. Smith was very much in that tradition, but his playing could also display an ethereal quality that was all his own. His music later reached new generations of fans when it was widely sampled by hip-hop artists.

Lots of his music on YouTube. Heavenly choir just got a lot better accompaniment.

UPDATE below

China is starting to make moves on Taiwan. From American Military News:

38 Chinese warplanes infiltrate Taiwan’s air defense zone in largest reported breach
On Friday, China sent a new record-setting 38 warplanes towards Taiwan, including 32 fighter jets, four nuclear-capable bombers, an anti-submarine warfare aircraft and an airborne early warning aircraft.

According to the Minister of National Defense for the Republic of China — the formal name for the Taiwanese government — China sent the 38 military aircraft into the southwest section of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in two separate waves.

China has us right where they want us.  Our populace is balkanized and arguing with each other.  Our Military leadership is WOKE and useless and our government is flaccid and corrupt. Perfect time to declare the need for a little bit of Lebensraum.  Not too much, just a little.  China's population numbers may be crashing but they need some more living space.

Remember all the Free Tibet bumper-stickers?  Don't see them any more do you?

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How much longer before we start seeing Free Taiwan on people's cars:

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UPDATE:  Of course they will do this today.  Today is the 72nd National Day of the People's Republic of China
I would be rather surprised if some of our representatives in Congress did not celebrate with a three-baijiu power lunch.

COVID - a timeline

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It started around January of 2020 right?  Wrong.  Here is a very well researched timeline.
Its origin is 1956 but our involvement with COVID's genesis started in 2008.
From The Epoch Times - an excellent job of reporting and synthesis of data:

Infographic: COVID-19 Outbreak & Cover-up
In their quest to prevent another SARS-like outbreak, Chinese and Western scientists pursued new viruses from bat caves in Southern China. Their efforts would lead them to a mine in Mojiang, China, where six miners had fallen ill with COVID-like symptoms.

It was here that Shi Zheng-li of the Wuhan Institute of Virology found the closest known relative to COVID-19. This virus, along with thousands of other virus samples, would be brought back to several labs in Wuhan.

The Chinese labs were partially funded by Western organizations including Dr. Anthony Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Peter Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance.

When the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in Wuhan, efforts to promote a natural origins theory while dispelling any discussion of a potential lab leak were spearheaded by Fauci and involved a number of leading Western scientists.

Fauci, Daszak, Obama, Shi are all complicit and neck-deep in this.  They own it.
The article also goes into the details of the several teleconferences starting January 31, 2020 where the key US players met online to coordinate their stories and to "obscure US involvement in funding and collaborating with Wuhan Institute of Virology"

Excellent fact-finding and presentation.  The people telling us what to do are the very same people who let this collossal screwup happen.  Bad lab practice and they were messing with stuff they had no right to be messing with.

Back to work 'ya bum!

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Doing a dump run today - got the van mostly loaded but need to get off my butt and finish.  Dump closes in two hours.

Turned into a gorgeous day - cool (58°) crisp Fall day. Food coop later.

Eaton Rapids Joe is a daily read for me.
Here, he talks about China's energy problems as a metaphor for the worlds financial status:

Another thought on the Chinese energy crisis
If you have been following the news then you are aware that hundreds of millions of people in China have been under rolling electrical black-outs and brown-outs. The crisis came out of nowhere. One week there was plenty of electricity. Then next week multiple provinces in northeast China had shortages.

I want to offer one way that could have happened.

The upshot:

Physical possession is 99.9% of ownership.

The financial and derivatives "economy" dwarfs the real, nuts-and-bolts economy. Everybody is getting rich laundering each others' bytes.

So true. Only way to go...

Good news from The Hill

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Looks like the communists are having a hard time getting votes.
From the London Daily Mail:

Biden arrives at the Capitol to SAVE his multi-trillion agenda: Desperate Joe asks 'permission to come aboard' for crucial meeting with warring Dems to try and keep his budget from sinking and get progressives on his side

    • President Joe Biden headed to Capitol Hill on Friday to try and kick start his multitrillion economic agenda
    • Warring progressives and centrists in his own party meant a Thursday infrastructure vote had to be shelved
    • After a late night of talks on Thursday, Friday brought fresh disarray for Democrats
    • Frustration is boiling over after Speaker Pelosi cancelled Thursday's planned vote on infrastructure but vowed to hold it on Friday
    • House progressives say they will tank the infrastructure bill unless Senate centrists back a $3.5T package
    • But one of key players, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, left Washington D.C. for a medical appointment in Phoenix
    • Her office said she was available by telephone and was ready to continue negotiations with the White House
    • She and fellow holdout Joe Manchin spent Thursday huddled in talks with White House officials
    • It meant a late night for Biden who stayed up working the phones in search of an eleventh-hour deal

President Joe Biden made a rare trip to Capitol Hill on Friday as part of a frantic effort to save multi-trillion political agenda while his congressional lieutenants insisted a vote on his infrastructure would happen before the weekend.

He joked about his visit to a foreign branch of government, asking Democratic lawmakers for 'permission to come aboard' as he arrived for a make-or-break meeting.

But his arrival was a reminder of the massive stakes in play. Presidents rarely make the trip to Capitol Hill and prefer to summon lawmakers to the White House for talks.

They tried to grab the brass ring and failed by a very narrow margin.
People are waking up and smelling the cappucino.  Good.

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From Los Angeles station KTLA:

Missouri man trying to sell catalytic converter online arrested after ‘large bag of meth’ seen in ad
A Missouri sheriff’s department issued a reminder to people this week after a social media sales ad led to an arrest: keep your drugs out of online photographs.

The sheriff was tipped off to the discovery by an eagle-eyed citizen, who noticed someone trying to sell a catalytic converter online had posted a picture Tuesday night that included a “large bag of meth and syringe” in the background, the Stone County Sheriff’s Office reported.

On Wednesday, detectives went to the man’s home and served a search warrant.

“You can imagine his surprise!!” Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader wrote in a Facebook post. “He still had 48 grams of meth and a pistol that he is forbidden to own! We have now provided him a new place to stay.”

Heh - photo at the site. Talk about not firing on all cylinders...

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