February 2023 Archives

From Teslarati:

SpaceX Falcon rocket aces 100th consecutive rocket landing
SpaceX has successfully launched its first batch of next-generation Starlink V2 satellites, likely kicking off a new era of affordability for the constellation.

Simultaneously, demonstrating just how far SpaceX is ahead of its competitors and the rest of the spacefaring world, the Starlink 6-1 launch culminated in the 100th consecutively successful landing of a Falcon rocket booster. As a result, SpaceX’s landing reliability now rivals the launch reliability of some of the most reliable rockets ever flown. That extraordinary feat bodes well for SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket, which is designed to propulsively land humans on the Earth, Moon, Mars, and beyond.

That is a major milestone.  Brings the cost of Kilogram-to-Orbit waay down.
Not resting on their laurels either - Starship looks to be awesome.

From the London Daily Mail:

Train carrying more than 30,000 gallons of propane fuel derails in Florida - Hazmat crews rush to the scene after six cars overturn

• • A train carrying more than 30,0000 gallons of propane fuel has derailed near a homeless camp in Florida
  • Five cars were carrying sheetrock, while one of the overturned cars was carrying propane
  • There is no indication at this time that any of the fuel is leaking, but hazmat teams are monitoring the situation

As a note, the 30,000 gallons is the capacity of one railroad tank car.  Five cars with sheetrock derailed and one car with propane derailed.  There was a second car with propane and it jumped the track but it stayed upright. Propane is pretty chemically benign so not as bad as the Palestine spill. 

Representative Dan Bishop rains truth down on a clueless government functionary.
These people are not elected and are not held accountable for their actions.  This needs to change now.

It used to be the breadbasket of Africa.  Thriving economy. Exporting food. And then, the socialists gained power.
They kicked out the people who were running things and installed their friends and cronies.
Now - a couple of headlines:

• South Africa has collapsed, here's why - long twitter thread with lots of links
• ‘Stockpile food and water’: South Africa faces ‘civil war’ conditions if power grid collapses
• Loadshedding will continue to be implemented at Stage 3 until 16:00 today. Thereafter, Stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented from 16:00 today until 16:00 tomorrow and Stage 5 loadshedding will then be implemented from 16:00 until 05:00 on Thursday - twitter announcement from their electric utility.  Lots of black and brown-outs.  They can not keep the lights on.
• What “load shedding” in South Africa looks and sounds like: Urban Square, Century City mall, Cape Town, South Africa, 4:07 a.m., February 15, 2023. - twitter with video of this in action
• South Africa is sitting on a 42.6% unemployment rate.. that's almost 50% of our 60 million strong population. God help us - twitter - end game of socialism
• South Africa is experiencing a cholera outbreak. I am not surprised, considering the state of our water infrastructure. If you haven't already.. go out and buy water purification tablets and Life Straw's/Sawyer Mini's - twitter - cholera in the municipal water for their largest city
• Everything They Touch Turns to Dust
• Half of South Africa’s Population Are 100% Dependent on State Welfare
• A Warning: "The collapse of South Africa"
• Meltdown in La La Land… CRT/DEI paradise South Africa on the brink…

This is not unique.  This is what socialism looks like whenever it is implemented.  Period.  Zero exceptions.

The people who advocate for socialism are uneducated fools who are ignorant of their own history.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion writ large. Useful Idiots.

No surprises there.  From the London Daily Mail:

Chicago inmates claim jail guards are pressuring them to illegally vote in the mayoral election

• • Inmates claimed guards at Cook County Jail were pushing them to illegally vote
  • Guards are allegedly getting orders from higher up and 'doing what they're told'
  • It sparked fears of ballot harvesting because jail was an 'ideal environment' for it
  • And raised fears it may propel Lori Lightfoot back in office, despite poor polling

Felons are not alowed to vote.  If the Democrats had anything to run on, they would not have to cheat like this.

Looks like they have some adults in charge there - from Associated Press:

Trans youth care ban headed to Tennessee governor’s desk
Transgender youth in Tennessee would be banned from receiving gender-affirming care under legislation currently headed to the desk of Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who has voiced support for the bill.

House lawmakers voted 77-16 on Thursday, with three Democrats joining their Republican colleagues to pass the bill.

“These children do not need these medical procedures to be able to flourish as adults,” said House Majority Leader William Lamberth. “They need mental health treatment. They need love and support, and many of them need to be able to grow up to become the individuals that they were intended to be.”

And of course, the trained monkeys have this to say:

Civil rights groups have vowed an immediate lawsuit if and when the bill becomes law — setting up the potential for a lengthy legal battle over the coming months.

And it looks like Tennesee voters know that 16 members of their State House need to be voted out of office.

I would love to see an accounting of where this money is going - 10% for The Big Guy indeed...
From Newsmax:

Milley to Congress: Pentagon Needs More Ukraine Money by June
U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers last week that more money will be needed by June to assist Ukraine in its war against Russia, according to multiple sources.

Congress, in its most-recent appropriation for Ukraine in December, gave $45 billion it expected to bolster Ukraine until September or October. The money was part of a $1.66 trillion government funding package.

However, the munitions and money from that appropriation is being used up at a faster rate than had been expected.

In other words, more corrupt pigs are lining up to the trough than was expected.
They want more.  They always want more.

This is not Congress' money to hand out. The government makes very little money itself (oil and gas leases on public lands, etc...) so the money it is giving is actually OUR money - our tax dollars. If we had a child that was maxing out their credit card, we would pull the card until they learned to be responsible with the money. The children in DC need the same lesson.  It is not their money to hand out. They represent us and we worked hard for that money.

Woody was right:

From Task & Purpose:

Coast Guard seizes $20 million in drugs in the Arabian Sea
The U.S. Coast Guard made a major drug bust on Saturday, seizing more than 1,500 kilograms of narcotics from a fishing boat moving through the Arabian Sea. The USCG John Scheuerman was on a routine patrol in the sea when it encountered the vessel.

The fishing ship, sailing with a crew of four, was carrying 1,350 kilograms of hashish, 276 kilograms of methamphetamine and 23 kilograms of amphetamine pills, which the Coast Guard said had a street value of $20 million. It’s unclear how they came to that estimation. A photo shared by the Coast Guard shows service members conducting an inventory of the cargo next to a large pile of bags filled with drugs plus taped bundles of narcotics

They also seized 170 tons of explosive material, and 2,000+ rifles, as well as ammunition, fuel and rocket propellant
Quite the active area.  These people are not our friends.

Bonds are good when the stock market is uncertain - the two markets tend to see-saw back and forth.
The latest "fad" is ESG -  Environmental, Social, and Governance  The latest buzzwords of the WOKE.
Seems that they are not maintaining their fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders.
From SSRN (division of Elsevier) comes this interesting paper:

Green Bonds, Empty Promises

Abstract
We examine the legal terms in the market for green bonds, debt instruments in which proceeds are earmarked, directly or indirectly, for projects with a positive environmental impact. Utilizing a sample of nearly 1000 bonds over the entire history of the market and supplementing this data with interviews with over 50 market participants and policymakers, we find a concerning lack of enforce ability of green promises. Moreover, these promises have been getting weaker over time. Green bonds often make vague commitments, exclude failures to live up to those commitments from default events, and disclaim an obligation to perform in other parts of the document. These shortcomings are known to market participants. Yet, demand for these instruments has been growing. We ask why green bond promises are so weak, while the same investors demand strong promises from the same issuers in other settings.

Bonds are often how large capital projects are funded - bridges, wastewater treatment plants, power systems, etc...
The name Solyndra comes to mind as well as a lot of other green technologies that have failed.
The only true money in green technology is the government subsidies and those are our tax dollars at work.

From the Finish:

Sisu is a Finnish word that cannot be translated metaphrastically into the English language, loosely translated to mean stoic determination, bravery, guts, resilience, perseverance and hardiness, expressing the historic self-identified Finnish national character.

Sisu is about taking action against the odds and displaying courage and resoluteness in the face of adversity. Deciding on a course of action and then sticking to that decision against repeated failures is Sisu. It is similar to equanimity, with the addition of a grim quality of stress management. The pertaining adjective is sisukas, "having the quality of Sisu".

The trailer:

The same director (Jalmari Helander) also did Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale - got that one coming from my local library.  Looks great. Trailer for that one:

She held a Town Hall In East Palestine To Help Residents Prepare For The 'Long Game'
Six minutes of truth - East Palestine need to stand firm. We The People - hold your ground.
I love that the auditorium was packed.

Al Shaprton is a cheap hustler and grifter.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Looks like his brother is cut from the same cloth.
From FOX News:

Al Sharpton’s half-brother pleads guilty to tax fraud, drug conspiracy charges, faces 20 years in prison
Rev. Al Sharpton’s half-brother pleaded guilty to tax evasion, mail fraud, and drug conspiracy charges on Friday.

Kenneth Glasgow, an Alabama pastor, voting rights activist and half-brother to the famous Black pastor and MSNBC host, entered a guilty plea in Montgomery, Alabama federal court Friday, the Associated Press recently reported.

Good riddance - I wish they could do a 2-for-1 deal.

From The New York Post:

New details emerge in shocking suicide of billionaire Thomas H. Lee
New details emerged Friday in the shocking suicide of billionaire financier Thomas H. Lee — including how the onetime “envy of Wall Street” was found in his office bathroom with a single gunshot wound to his head and his Smith & Wesson revolver next to him, police sources told The Post.

The 78-year-old philanthropist and Clinton pal was discovered by a female assistant on the floor of the bathroom in his family office at the Fifth Avenue headquarters of his eponymous financial firm shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday, sources said.

There used to be a wonderful website cataloging all of the suspicious suicides of people in the Clinton circle - dating back to Bill and Hillary's first days in Arkansas.  It is no longer online but the Internet Archive maintains the repository.  Here is just one sample.

From Conservative Brief:

Pete Buttigieg Humiliated By East Palestine Mayor, Made To Wait In Hallway
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was humiliated by the mayor of East Palestine, Ohio when he visited the town that was besieged by a toxic train wreck.

The secretary visited the town the day after former President Donald Trump and he was not given a hero’s welcome.

Mayor Trent Conaway had the secretary sit and wait in a hallway for a half an hour as he spoke to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, The Daily Mail reported.

“I am grateful to Mayor Giuliani for being here to help us. My top priority is to ensure the health and safety of the people of this city and our region,” the East Palestine mayor said.

“I will work with anyone who wants to help East Palestine, and their partisan affiliation is irrelevant to me,” he said.

Thirty minutes was perfect.  Make a point but don't take up too much of the guy's time. Love it...
The article does not say but it would have been even better if the wait was 30.000 minutes - 30 on the dot.

Seriously - is he still around?  Is he still a "thing"   Still relevant?
You think that the people running his twitter account would have a better grasp of the facts.
A perfect example:

Gotta get me some of that sweet sweet cartel money. From The Liberty Daily:

Expert Witness Reveals Installed AZ Governor Katie Hobbs Laundered Cartel Money Through Fake Deeds and Mortgages to Rig Elections . . . Including Her Own
Even as the vast majority of conservatives in the nation have given up on exposing the massive, widespread voter fraud that stole the 2020 presidential elections as well as multiple lower elections in the 2022 cycle, some are still fighting the good fight to bring corruption to light. One such patriot is Jacqueline Breger who presented compelling testimony and evidence to the Arizona Joint Elections Committee Thursday.

According to Breger, installed Democrat Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, who was Secretary of State presiding over the gubernatorial election against Republican Kari Lake, has a long and demonstrable history of corruption that includes using Mexican cartel money to steal multiple state elections.

Much more at the site including testemony and video.
The more people keep digging, the dirtier the deep state is found to be.

These people have no shame...  Let's hope they spend a good 10-20 behind bars.
Dissuade future liberals from trying that shit...

The bill can always be revived after the next election cycle. From The Epoch Times:

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Introduces Resolution to Audit US Aid to Ukraine
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced a resolution to audit all U.S. aid to Ukraine on Friday, the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the smaller country.

“This is something I introduced in the previous Congress,” Greene told Tucker Carlson on Fox News on Thursday, speaking about the resolution. “Every single Republican, including Mike McCaul, voted in favor for it.”

McCaul, the representative from Texas’ 10th Congressional District, is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Greene explained that the resolution would “force Congress to give the American people an audit. And that is exactly what the American people need, an audit of Ukraine. Because we have no idea where all this money’s going.”

Greene accused the Biden administration of putting Ukraine’s needs ahead of the people of East Palestine, Ohio, who are still dealing with the aftermath of the toxic train derailment on Feb. 3.

It has been a free-for-all of money being shoveled over there.  The current Ukraine government was installed by the USA and is being used for money laundering.  Send $10M over there in aid, the Congressmen who did this get $1Million in campaign contributions from unknown anonymous sources - 10% for The Big Guy.  Our tax dollars at work. 

This is not about a war, it's about Putin upsetting their little money pot.

Forgot his 10% to The Big Guy too...

They want to get rid of Board Member Al Gore. From FOX Business:

Apple shareholder moves to boot Al Gore from board of directors
An activist shareholder is seeking to have climate change activist Al Gore removed from his longstanding position on Apple Inc.'s board of directors.

Corporate ethics watchdog National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) filed an exempt solicitation with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday that urged fellow Apple shareholders to vote against Gore as a director nominee at the tech giant's annual meeting, which is slated for March 10, arguing that the former U.S. vice president is not qualified for the role and that "his political activism poses to Apple a reputational risk that is not worth his limited skill set."

Love it — "limited skill set" is being very charitible 😝

Wonderful speech - 100% spot on:

Glad to be leaving - this is yet another reason.  From Seattle station KOMO:

Drivers could soon pay per mile to use public roadways in Washington
Lawmakers in Olympia are considering a pay-per-mile program that would eventually replace Washington state's gas tax.

As part of House Bill 1832, a Road Usage Charge (RUC) program would charge drivers 2.5 cents per mile. According to the legislation, drivers of hybrid or electric cars could voluntarily participate in the program starting in July 2026. In the process, electric car owners would qualify for refunds on licensing fees, which can cost up to $275 a year.

And this little lagniappe:

If approved, the state could only charge drivers for travel on interstates, state highways and other city and county maintained roads. Travel on private roads would not be included.

How gracious of them.  How are they going to meter this? Manditory state-owned GPS in your vehicle?

I love the line about: "eventually replace Washington state's gas tax"  Spewed my tea all over the keyboard.
WA State repealing a tax? You have got to be kidding me...

Cheery news from The Epoch Times:

US Could Default on Debt as Early as Summer, New Study Estimates
The United States will run out of existing funds to pay the nation’s bills within seven months unless Congress raises the debt ceiling, a bipartisan group confirmed on Feb. 22

The “X Date” when the government will have to begin delaying some payments can’t be predicted with certainty, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), but will likely come in summer or early fall of 2023.

“Today’s X Date range reflects, in part, the considerable uncertainty in our nation’s current economic outlook,” said Shai Akabas, the BPC’s director of economic policy.

Time to hold the House's feet to the fire and get a balanced budget instead of a continuing resolution.

Never happen but we can dream can't we - instead, we pass this on to our children.

From CNBC:

Amazon closes deal to buy primary care provider One Medical
Amazon on Wednesday said it had closed its $3.9 billion deal for primary care provider One Medical.

Amazon agreed last July to acquire One Medical to deepen its presence in health care, and “dramatically improve” the experience of getting medical care. Amazon has long had ambitions to expand into health care, buying online pharmacy PillPack in 2018 for $750 million, then launching its own virtual clinic for chronic conditions, and prescription perks for Prime members.

The deal gives Amazon access to One Medical’s more than 200 brick-and-mortar medical offices in 26 markets, and roughly 815,000 members.

The purchase was the first major deal announced since CEO Andy Jassy took the helm from founder Jeff Bezos in July 2021, and Jassy has indicated he sees health care as a major area of expansion. In a statement, he said health care is ripe for disruption, citing long appointment times and the complexities of primary care.

“Customers want and deserve better, and that’s what One Medical has been working and innovating on for more than a decade,” Jassy said in a statement. “Together, we believe we can make the health care experience easier, faster, more personal, and more convenient for everyone.”

Great idea - standardize, automate and stay competative.  Cut costs while keeping the quality up.

Something like this has been needed for a long long time for basic health care.

Looks like one of Hunter's "partners" is going to start talking - from Breitbart:

Biden Family Key Partner Eric Schwerin to Flip in House Oversight Probe
Hunter Biden’s top financial lieutenant Eric Schwerin is expected to “soon” provide documents to the House Oversight Committee’s investigation of the Biden family for nine violations, including money laundering and wire fraud, a spokesperson for the committee told Breitbart News.

Schwerin, who shared bank accounts with President Joe Biden and dubbed the family’s “moneyman,” also maintained guest lists for White House functions and negotiated the settlement with Hunter’s first wife, Kathleen. Emails from Hunter’s laptop show Schwerin was deeply embedded in Hunter’s personal life and the Biden family networks for nearly two decades and is even pictured at campaign events with Joe Biden.

Schwerin was also the president of Rosemont Seneca Partners, a fund created by Hunter Biden and several​ associates that spawned business deals in Russia, Ukraine, China, and Romania. Many of those deals yielded the Biden family business millions over decades while Joe Biden was an elected official.

Joe Biden and his team have claimed at least seven times the president is not involved in the family’s international business deals, but more than 17 instances show that Joe Biden was involved in the business. In one example, Schwerin visited the White House and other official locations 27 times when Joe Biden was vice president.

To mix metaphors, the shit is about to hit the fan so the rats are deserting the sinking ship.

Hopefully, the first of many.  A very nasty family - no redeeming qualities at all.

Pure schadenfreude - the tech business is coming to grips with reality.
Sucks to be you.   Check out this website: layoffs.fyi

From 90 Miles - a daily read:

It's really the little things that count.  From Breitbart:

Donald Trump Delivers Truckloads of Water to East Palestine After Train Derailment
Former President Donald Trump visited East Palestine on Wednesday, where he delivered truckloads of bottled water following a train derailment earlier this month that left the small town in disarray.

“President Trump is meeting with the citizens of East Palestine, and he will never forget them and what they are going through. Contrast that with Biden and the federal government, who have failed them from the beginning,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told Breitbart News.

14,000 bottles - population is about 4,700 so this is about three bottles per person.  This is a staged publicity event but it is good and shows who is more responsive to the needs of We The People.

This fits me very well - stolen from Chris Lynch

From Kelly Blue Book:

J.D. Power: Electric Car Charging Getting Worse
Charging an electric vehicle (EV) away from home is a gamble, and the odds are getting worse.

In August, J.D. Power released its second annual U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Public Charging Study. The results were bad. The survey of more than 11,500 EV drivers found that 20% of the time EV owners attempted to charge their cars in public in the first half of 2022, they found the nearest charger broken.

J.D. Power has now updated the study with data from the second half of the year. The result? Things got worse, with more than 21% of charging attempts ending in failure.

Reasons included software problems, vandalized chargers, and payment processing errors.

More at the site.  These fools think that they can mandate all electric vehicles by 2035.  The infrastructure is not there and it will never be.  Costs too much.  EVs are fun but they are a toy for rich geeks and liberals.  Another prong of the fork that the elites are using to keep us in our 15-minute cities.  Excuuuuuuse me but NO!

Looks like Gov. Newsom is not on top of things as much as he would like.
Not at all...  A little problem with numbers.  From FOX News:

Gavin Newsom predicted massive budget deficit for California. Reality was even worse, analysis finds
California's budget deficit may be billions of dollars larger than the already big number predicted by Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, raising concerns about the Golden State's fiscal future.

Last month, Newsom announced that California faces a projected budget deficit of $22.5 billion for the coming fiscal year. The figure represented a striking downturn from last year, when the state enjoyed a surplus of about $100 billion due to federal COVID relief and surging capital gains.

While the predicted year-to-year drop-off seemed large, it may not have been large enough.

The California Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), a government agency that analyzes the budget for the state legislature, estimates in a report published last week that Newsom's forecast undershot the mark by about $7 billion, thanks to about $10 billion less in tax revenues than expected.

Whoops - he got a whole bunch of money from his cronies in FedGov for corona (it is all a money laundering scam - same as the climate scam) and didn't bother to keep tabs on what CA's real income was.  When you have thousands of corporations as well as several hundred thousand taxpayers fleeing the state every year, your revenue is going to experience some shrinkage and it is not going to be pretty.  Can't touch the social programs otherwise the media will raise such a stink.  Those are your protect class - the bloc of reliable Democrat votes that keep you in power.

What's a petty tyrrant to do...  Tax the rich?  Again?

From The Daily Wire:

January 6 Panel Chairman Issues Warning Over Tucker Carlson Getting Tapes
The chairman of the now-defunct January 6 Committee warned of the “potential security risks” of U.S. Capitol security footage being released to the media.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) issued a statement hours after Axios broke the news that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) gave Fox News host Tucker Carlson access to 41,000 hours of Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6, 2021 — the day a crowd of people entered the U.S. Capitol, disrupting lawmakers who were meeting to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

The panel had nothing.  A big nothingburger.  There was nothing there - they know it, we know it.  We know they know.

Time to get those poor people out of jail and to prosecute the real criminals.

Love it!!!  From Kyle Becker's The Wildfire Newsletter:

Brook Jackson, the clinical trials superviser who blew the whistle on Pfizer over its testing of Covid vaccines, has announced that a court date has been assigned to her case.

It will be held on March 1, 2023 at 2:00 pm at the Jack Brooks Federal Courthouse in Beaumont, Texas. The critical point: "All parties are required to attend in person."

"See you in court, criminals!" she said on Saturday.

She provided a copy of the legal document showing the court date and location. The following legal motions will be under consideration at the court hearing:

1. 1. Pfizer's Motion to Dismiss Realtor's Amended Complaint
   2. ICON PLC's Motion to Dismiss Relator's Amended Complaint
   3. Ventavia Research Group, LLC's Corrected Motion to Dismiss

The case is extraordinary in many regards, but most concerning is that the United States has taken a position against the U.S. citizen seeking accountability against the allegedly offending corporate interests.

Much much more at the site - the USA was basically siding with corporate interests (Pfizer) and blocking any examination into Pfizer's own claims about their jabs.  Discovery is going to be interesting to say the least.  Even if Pfizer is illegally shredding sensitive documents, there is a lot of evidence already made public that they lied about everything.

Time for a big bowl of popcorn...

I am taking this with a major grain of salt - from the Project Veritas website:

Statement from the Project Veritas’ Board of Directors
Today, James O’Keefe decided to remove his belongings from Project Veritas headquarters. The Board and Management made numerous attempts in the last 14 days to have a conversation with James, but he ignored our outreach and decided to instead leak private information to others, either by doing so himself or by proxy.

As today is President’s Day, our office was closed. We had a Board meeting scheduled for tomorrow where James was invited, and there was also a Board meeting on Friday, February 10, where James was invited (but did not attend) to discuss the financial malfeasance that was discovered, which requires us to act in order to remain in compliance with the law.

There were two subjects that the Board wished to come to terms with James on: the company’s long-term sustainability based on staff retention and morale, and the company’s financial health — which has been a serious concern for several months now.

Although PV Leadership has not concluded looking into the full scale of financial issues over the years, a preliminary review at this time indicates that James has spent an excessive amount of donor funds in the last three years on personal luxuries. More is still being uncovered during the ongoing review at this time. Contrary to many reports from today, James was suspended indefinitely pending the resolution of a fulsome investigation and clarity which will need to be provided by a third party investigative audit report.

I do not doubt that James spent some money on toys - I would given the same circumstances.  He created Project Veritas and built it up from zero.  He should have some fun.

The board is feeling corporate pressure from Pfizer because of the PV exposé. A company as large as Pfizer can exert a lot of pressure through many channels.  The BOD is rolling over and sticking its feet in the air instead of fighting back.  The board has fallen victim to Jerry Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy:

Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people:

First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisors in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration.

Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc.

The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization.

Change my mind...

From The Flying McCoys:

From Axios:

McCarthy gives Tucker Carlson access to trove of Jan. 6 riot tape
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given Fox News' Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 41,000 hours of Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 riot, McCarthy sources tell me.

• • Carlson TV producers were on Capitol Hill last week to begin digging through the trove, which includes multiple camera angles from all over Capitol grounds. Excerpts will begin airing in the coming weeks.

Why it matters: Carlson has repeatedly questioned official accounts of 1/6, downplaying the insurrection as "vandalism."

• • Now his shows — "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Fox News, and "Tucker Carlson Today" and "Tucker Carlson Originals" on the streaming service Fox Nation — have a massive trove of raw material.

Carlson told me: "[T]here was never any legitimate reason for this footage to remain secret."

• • "If there was ever a question that's in the public's interest to know, it's what actually happened on January 6. By definition, this video will reveal it. It's impossible for me to understand why any honest person would be bothered by that."

More than 14,000 hours. The Demoncrats running the "inquisition" wanted to keep this video under wraps and hidden away.  We will find out why.

The city of Cincinnati is playing it safe - from their ABC affiliate:

Greater Cincinnati Water Works closes intake valves
Greater Cincinnati Water Works (GCWW) announced today it had carried out its previously announced plan to close the water intake; "Out of an abundance of caution, GCWW shut the water intake at 2 a.m. Sunday. We will continue to monitor river flow and make a decision in the future about when to reopen the intake."

Some of the train cars involved in the East Palestine train derailment on February 3 were carrying industrial chemicals. It is believed low levels of butyl acrylate seeped into the Ohio River through a small creek about 300 miles north of Cincinnati, the GCWW said.

Do these people - Mayor Pete and such - realize how stupid and out of touch they are?
Talk about textbook Dunning–Kruger effect

I'm going to post this as a screen-cap as I am betting that the US Department of Defense will "nuke' this tweet when someone realizes just how bad the optics are:

An interesting bit of history is that before the California Gold Rush, there was quite the gold rush in Georga and other Appalachian states.  There is a major history of mining not only gold but other precious metals and gem stones as well as iron and coal.

In 1863, during the Civil War, there was a major shipment of gold from the Union Army to the US Mint in Philladelphia. It never arrived.  Some people had some good clues as to where it might be.  Because this is still Federal property, the FBI got involved and things went downhill fast.

From The Stamford Advocate (Norwalk, CT):

FBI records deepen mystery of dig for Civil War-era gold
The court-ordered release of a trove of government photos, videos, maps and other documents involving the FBI's secretive search for Civil War-era gold has a treasure hunter more convinced than ever of a coverup — and just as determined to prove it.

Dennis Parada waged a legal battle to force the FBI to turn over records of its excavation in Dents Run, Pennsylvania, where local lore says an 1863 shipment of Union gold disappeared on its way to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. The FBI, which went to Dents Run after sophisticated testing suggested tons of gold might be buried there, has long insisted the dig came up empty.

And...

“The truth will come out,” said Parada, co-founder of the treasure-hunting outfit Finders Keepers. Solving the mystery is not his only goal — he had hoped to earn a finder’s fee from the potential recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold.

I would imagine a substantial finder's fee.  And...

He and his son spent years looking for the fabled gold of Dents Run, eventually guiding the FBI to a remote woodland site 135 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh where they say their instruments identified a large quantity of metal. The FBI brought in a geophysical consulting firm whose sensitive equipment detected a 7- to 9-ton mass suggestive of gold.

Armed with a warrant, a team of FBI agents came in March 2018 to dig up the hillside. An FBI videographer was on hand to document it, at one point interviewing a Philadelphia-based agent on the FBI’s art-crime team who explained why the FBI was in the woods of one of Pennsylvania's most sparsely populated counties.

“We’ve identified through our investigation a site that we believe has U.S. property, which includes a significant sum of base metal which is valuable ... particularly gold, maybe silver,” the agent said on the video, his face blurred by the FBI to protect his privacy.

Yeah - the FBI excluded Parada and his workers and proceeded to spend several days digging up the hillside.  They then said that they "did not find anything"

He suspects the agency conducted a clandestine, overnight dig between the first and second days of the court-authorized excavation, found the gold, and spirited it away. Residents have previously told of hearing a backhoe and jackhammer overnight — when the dig was supposed to have been paused — and seeing a convoy of FBI vehicles, including large armored trucks. The FBI has denied it conducted an overnight dig.

Yeah... Riiiiiight...  That agency needs to have it's budget cut by 70% and their main office relocated to Adak, Alaska.  Don't forget that they recently announced that they were planning a new headquarters building that will be twice as large as the Pentagon — currently the world's largest office building.

From the front page — check out Biden's Basement:

Wondering who is running your government? Inside Biden’s Basement you can:

• • Find thousands of personnel records for Biden Administration staffers.
  • Use our database to search for them by name, former employer, and agency.
  • Discover their links to outside special interest groups with business in front of the government, how many of them are political insiders passing through the revolving door, and which ones have amassed fortunes most of us can only dream of.

From Sundance at Conservative Treehouse:

Strange Stuff – Two Weeks After East Palestine Toxic Chemical Spill, EPA Administrator Tells CNN Site Not Safe for EPA Workers
I missed this a few days ago; however, given the “official” narrative that East Palestine, Ohio, water and air are safe it seems rather contradictory for EPA Administrator Michael Regan to tell CNN’s Erica Hill two weeks later that things might not be safe for EPA officials.

I mean seriously, what the heck is the message here? And the state and federal officials wonder why the residents of the area would have concerns about being told everything is safe. In this soundbite (prompted to the question at 07:39) CNN’s Erica Hill speaks with EPA administrator Michael Regan and asks him if things are safe. The hedge and qualifiers are off the charts alarming. 

Link to the video (queued to the right time): CNN anchor presses EPA chief on water testing after toxic train derailment

They are all hanging out in their Mom's basement waiting for the Next Thing to finish downloading into their brains.

From Becker News:

Just Moments After Trump Announces Trip to East Palestine, FEMA Reverses Decision on Ohio Disaster Aid
Donald Trump on Friday announced his decision to travel to East Palestine, Ohio, the site of an ecological disaster caused by a Norfolk Southern train derailment on February 3.

The announcement was reported by Rogan O’Handley, a close associate of the former president.

“President Trump will be visiting East Palestine, Ohio next week This is what a real President looks like,” O’Handley tweeted.

A source “close to Trump” told Fox News Digital that he plans to visit with members of the community, adding that the 45th president has a strong relationship with the people of Ohio.

Trump’s announcement came soon after the White House said President Joe Biden has no plans to visit the area. In the two weeks since the train derailment and ecological disaster, neither Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg nor President Joe Biden has visited the county.

O’Handley tweets with the handle "DC_Draino" He also notes one probable reason for the Biden regime to be ignoring the disaster:

Just in case you were wondering why Biden and Buttigieg are ignoring the toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio

Columbiana County voted 71.7% for Trump in 2020

Becker News also notes this good bit of news - better late than never:

If I was king, I would eliminate all College and University curricula that had "studies" in their name.
Gender studies, Race studies, Queer studies, etc...  You get the picture.

I am beginning to loathe adding the word "smart" to any technological or manufactured item.
Smart cities, smart appliances, smart meters, etc...

We need to get back to revering what is real and reject what is an artificial construct.
The people forcing this language on us are not elected by us and they certainly do not have our interests at heart...

What used to be a conspiracy theory is now considered a spoiler alert.
These are bearing true more often than I care to think about.
From the Reddit/conspiracy channel:

The air smells like chemicals after rain in the Massachusetts. I'm from Brockton and drove down to Bridgewater and in both places the same chemical smell. Anyone one else experiencing the same thing?

Given that the prevailing winds over the USA are from the West to the East, this would be highly plausible given the volume of toxins released.  A large plume with origins in Palestine spreading out over New England and down to New Jersey.  250+ comments backing this up.  Smells (like chlorine), deposits on vehicles after a rainfall.

Spent many an hour...

From MSN:

The gas bill is $907.13? Sticker shock for Californians as prices soar
Brent Eldridge had heard that prices for natural gas were high this winter, but nothing prepared him for how bad it could be.

When he opened the envelope from Long Beach's utility department, he couldn't believe the total: $907.13, nearly eight times higher than his bill at the same time last year.

"It made me want to puke," said Eldridge, 48, a pastor.

You want "renewable" energy?  It has always been and will always be a lot more expensive that Coal, Gas or Nuclear.  Those government subsidies are coming out of your tax dollars too so the price you are paying is not just the bill, it is a chunk of your income, property and gasoline taxes as well.

If I was king, Nuclear using Molten Salt reactors and Thorium for fuel.  Check it out.  No pressure vessel so zero steam explosions.  They are walk-away safe and the waste products need to be sequestered for 400 years, not 40,000.  Big difference.

Thorium does not go Ka-Boom so the Uranium lobby pushed our government to use it for both weapons and commercial power despite all of its drawbacks.

Pick up some things.  Had a couple days of gorgeous weather so been packing the conex boxes and getting them ready for their journey to North Carolina.  Moving date is getting close...

Back later this afternoon - more posting this evening.

Not really competent to be doing this - from The Washington Times:

Biden refers to Maryland’s first Black governor as ‘boy’ in speech
President Biden on Wednesday used the term “boy” while referring to Wes Moore, Maryland’s first Black governor, in a speech about the economy.

Speaking in Maryland, Mr. Biden gave a shout to the governor, recalling Mr. Moore’s days playing wide receiver on Johns Hopkins University’s football team.

“You got a hell of a new governor in Wes Moore. He’s the real deal and the boy looks like he can still play,” the 80-year-old Mr. Biden said. “He’s got some guns on him.”

Trying to be folksy and winds up being racist.  Class act.

Been taking that horse medication on a regular basis (every two weeks) for the last three years.  Usually get a cold during winter - got the flu back in 2018.

Last three years? Nothing. A day or two of feeling "off" or having a scratchy throat or low-grade cough but none of these gained any foothold.

From day one there was bad news about the jab and the underlying genetic technologies. Big red flags.

An interesting bit of news from America's Newspaper of Record:

'OK, Take Us To A Different Leader,' Say Exasperated Aliens After Trying To Communicate With Joe Biden
An envoy of extraterrestrial beings stifled their frustration and asked to be taken to a different leader after their initial meeting with President Joe Biden left them confused and exasperated, sources say.

"I guess he's not the leader they were expecting," said an insider who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "It was the classic sci-fi movie scenario, with the aliens arriving and telling us, ‘Take us to your leader.' We quickly set up a meeting with President Biden, and things went downhill from there."

"The aliens were already asking why we kept shooting down their peace offering balloons containing Hickory Farms cheese and sausage gift baskets," disclosed another source present at the meeting. "But I guess it really started to get bad when the lead alien put out his hand to greet the President, and Joe bent down and bit the creature's finger."

More at the site - explains a lot about recent events...

From 90 Miles:

Wonderful news - I am looking forward to seeing this happen more and more as people wake up.
From Religion News Service:

Why students at a Kentucky Christian school are praying and singing round the clock
Last Wednesday (Feb. 8), students at Asbury University gathered for their biweekly chapel service in the 1,500-seat Hughes Auditorium.

They sang. They listened to a sermon. They prayed.

Nearly a week later, many of them are still there.

“This has been an extraordinary time for us,” Asbury President Kevin Brown said during a gathering on Monday, more than 120 hours into what participants have referred to as a spiritual revival.

The revival has disrupted life and brought national attention to Asbury, an evangelical Christian school in Wilmore, Kentucky, about a half-hour outside of Lexington. Videos of students singing, weeping and praying have been posted on social media, leading to both criticism and praise from onlookers. News of the revival has also drawn students and other visitors to the campus to take part in the ongoing prayer and worship.

“We’ve been here in Hughes Auditorium for over a hundred hours — praying, crying, worshipping and uniting — because of Love,” wrote Alexandra Presta, editor of The Asbury Collegian, the school’s student newspaper, who has been chronicling the services on campus. “We’ve even expanded into Estes Chapel across the street at Asbury Theological Seminary and beyond. I can proclaim that Love boldly because God is Love.”

The ongoing meetings in the chapel — which have none of the flashing lights, fog machines or other trappings that accompany many modern worship services — have also brought back memories of a similar revival in the 1970s, which is recounted in a video produced by the university. The gatherings also come at a time when many young Americans have lost faith in organized religion — with a recent study finding that 43% of adults under 30 say they never attend service.

Wonderful and very much needed.  Our society has lost its moral backbone; been led astray by forces of evil.  My words may sound a bit black and white but the distinction is that clear and that simple. Evil is walking this land and needs to be rebuked and driven out. Bring people into the light again. Let them experience the joy of a simple life.

We don't have parties where they are sold through a pyramid scam but...
Lifted from The Outlaw Intrepid Reporter - a daily read:

A couple of updates:

From The Liberty Daily:

Comprehensive Thread With Photos, Videos, and News Reports About the Spreading Ecological Catastrophe in Ohio
After a week of radio silence from government and corporate news, the internet is finally abuzz about the train derailment and subsequent horrible events in East Palestine, Ohio. Famed Twitter user KanekoaTheGreat put together a comprehensive thread that breaks down what we know so far.

And from The Conservative Treehouse:

East Palestine Railway Toxins Did Reach the Ohio River – Contamination Plume Traveling Approximately 1 MPH – Various Municipal Water Intakes May Close
I took notes during the Ohio government update on the East Palestine train derailment and toxic chemical spill response. The full press briefing is below. The media present was a mix of uncurious stenographers and some inquisitive journalists.

After about 20 minutes of generally obtuse outlines intended to downplay the seriousness of the crisis, which included a game and fish commissioner saying 3,500 fish were killed by the chemical pollutants – yet never actually saying *what* about the chemicals killed the fish, suddenly the Ohio EPA official admitted something important.

After the Ohio EPA spent several minutes of saying the released chemicals are *CURRENTLY* dissipating to “non traceable levels” at various points in the downstream waterways, suddenly she admits the “initial slack” of chemicals did reach the Ohio River. The “Contamination Plume” is travelling down the Ohio River at approximately 1 mph, providing the various municipal water systems the ability to disconnect from the Ohio River intake as the toxins pass by.

Much more at both sites - lots of dead pets and fish and farm animals.

Mayor Pete has been so incompetent at his job that the majority of people in the USA now know that not only do we have a Secretary of Transportation but they know his name.

They released them - Epstein Documents

In true legal obfuscation, they released everything.  2,024 pages of every shred of legal documentation that was involved in the case; every jot and tittle.  Skimmed through the first 300 pages or so and did not see much.  I'll leave it to other - more persistent - people to find the "good stuff"

There is an OCR'd PDF available for download here - look through it offline.

From the World Health Organization:

Equatorial Guinea confirms first-ever Marburg virus disease outbreak
Equatorial Guinea today confirmed its first-ever outbreak of Marburg virus disease. Preliminary tests carried out following the deaths of at least nine people in the country’s western Kie Ntem Province turned out positive for the viral haemorrhagic fever.

Equatorial Guinean health authorities sent samples to the Institut Pasteur reference laboratory in Senegal with support from World Health Organization (WHO) to determine the cause of the disease after an alert by a district health official on 7 February. Of the eight samples tested at Institut Pasteur, one turned out positive for the virus. So far nine deaths and 16 suspected cases with symptoms including fever, fatigue and blood-stained vomit and diarrhoea have been reported.

Just wonderful - highly contagious.  There is a 20% survival rate with intensive medical care.
There is no vaccine or treatment.
You bleed out from every orifice.
Yes, eyeballs and ears too...

Grousing about too many whites in construction.  Not a peep about the Ohio train disaster.
Delivered this afternoon at the National Association of Counties conference in DC

And then there is this - Nord Stream Pipeline - as more information comes out.
From Dan Bongino:

They are using the UFOs to distract us from the environmental disaster unfolding in Pennsylvania.   Things like railroad safety and their handling of accidents sit firmly in Mayor Pete's wheelhouse - he is our Secretary of Transportation after all.

If this was my job?  Get the PA Governor to declare an emergency and that way, FEMA can move in with all of their hazmat and decontamination equipment.  Get the crash cleaned up over the weekend and then start remediating the local environment. 

The Sec. of Transportation froze.  Nothing is being done except keeping reporters away from the scene and issuing lies as updates. A perfect example of a diversity hire. Another example of a liberal policy that sounds good but that does not actually DO good.

Pitch perfect: I love this channel.

Talk about clueless - from The Post Millenial:

Family of slain Oakland anti-police activist says killers should not be jailed
The family of Oakland, California bakery owner and vocal anti-police activist Jen Angel, who passed away after being the victim of a violent attempted robbery, have declared that if law enforcement finds the suspects, they will push for "all available alternatives to traditional prosecution."

In a statement, Angel's family explained that as a self-described "anarchist" and an avid social justice advocate, she had a strict policy of never calling the police, and "did not believe in state violence, carceral punishment, or incarceration as an effective or just solution to social violence and inequity."

"We know Jen would not want to continue the cycle of harm by bringing state-sanctioned violence to those involved in her death or to other members of Oakland’s rich community," the family wrote.

"If the Oakland Police Department does make an arrest in this case," they continued, "the family is committed to pursuing all available alternatives to traditional prosecution."

Words fail.  The willful stupidity on display here is staggering. 
These are toddlers wobbling about pretending to be grown adults and getting away with it.

Figured as much:

This was shown at the game today - wonderful. No WOKEness here...

From the Beeb:

Turkey earthquake: Why did so many buildings collapse?
The sight of newly constructed apartments collapsing in the earthquakes that hit Turkey has sparked anger. The BBC examined three new buildings, turned to rubble, to find out what they reveal about building safety.

Two major earthquakes - measuring 7.8 and 7.5 on the magnitude scale - flattened buildings of all kinds and killed thousands of people across southern Turkey and northern Syria.

But the fact that even some of the newest apartment blocks crumbled to dust has led to urgent questions about building safety standards.

Modern construction techniques should mean buildings can withstand quakes of this magnitude. And regulations following previous disasters in the country were supposed to ensure these protections were built in.

Given the corruption, there will be a show trial for some contractors.  The more well-connected contractors (or the ones who immediately donated $1M to Erdoğan's re-election campaign) will fade quietly into the background while a few less-connected contractors will be found guilty and punished.  The Turkish officials in charge of building standards will point and say: "See - we found them guilty" and nothing will change.  Wait for 20 years and another earthquake will start the cycle all over again.

They even have Michael Keaton wearing the Bat Suit after 30 years.
Might have to see this one on the big screen...

Corrupt now, corrupt back during Obama's tenure in the US Senate as well.  From National File:

EXCLUSIVE: ‘SOROS’ And Senator Obama Funding Records Discovered For Ukraine BioLab That Sparked BioTerrorism Fears
A notorious Ukraine biolab revealed that it received funding from the “SOROS Foundation” in a company document obtained by NATIONAL FILE. The Mechnikov Anti-Plague Research Institute in Odessa, Ukraine is located at the spot of an old secretive Soviet biological weapons plant. The Institute is now under the banner of the Ukraine Ministry of Health. Then-senator Barack Obama also announced a deal in 2005 to fund the Institute, according to records. The Institute handles deadly microbes and also works on developing vaccines, and it has sparked concern that it could be used to supply bioterrorism in the region.

The “Ukrainian I.I. Mechnikov Anti-Plague Research Institute in Odessa, Ukraine (MINISTRY OF HEALTH)” reported “SOROS Foundation” funding, with “SOROS” in capital letters. The document is marked as having been produced by the Institute, with Institute staff listed as contacts. THE DOCUMENT IS PRESERVED HERE (CLICK TO SEE THE DOCUMENT).

Much more at the site - lots of links through the Internet Archive.
Really well documented - Obama was dirty back in 2005.
Not a surprise...

A lot of veggies and vegans do not eat a balanced diet.  I am about 90% veggie but still crave animal protein.  I have known some die-hard vegans who looked like crap - sallow skin, low energy, constant depression.  This paper explains a lot.  From the National Library of Medicine:

Meat and mental health: a systematic review of meat abstention and depression, anxiety, and related phenomena
Abstract
Objective: To examine the relation between the consumption or avoidance of meat and psychological health and well-being.

Methods: A systematic search of online databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus, Medline, and Cochrane Library) was conducted for primary research examining psychological health in meat-consumers and meat-abstainers. Inclusion criteria were the provision of a clear distinction between meat-consumers and meat-abstainers, and data on factors related to psychological health. Studies examining meat consumption as a continuous or multi-level variable were excluded. Summary data were compiled, and qualitative analyses of methodologic rigor were conducted. The main outcome was the disparity in the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and related conditions in meat-consumers versus meat-abstainers. Secondary outcomes included mood and self-harm behaviors.

Results: Eighteen studies met the inclusion/exclusion criteria; representing 160,257 participants (85,843 females and 73,232 males) with 149,559 meat-consumers and 8584 meat-abstainers (11 to 96 years) from multiple geographic regions. Analysis of methodologic rigor revealed that the studies ranged from low to severe risk of bias with high to very low confidence in results. Eleven of the 18 studies demonstrated that meat-abstention was associated with poorer psychological health, four studies were equivocal, and three showed that meat-abstainers had better outcomes. The most rigorous studies demonstrated that the prevalence or risk of depression and/or anxiety were significantly greater in participants who avoided meat consumption.

Conclusion: Studies examining the relation between the consumption or avoidance of meat and psychological health varied substantially in methodologic rigor, validity of interpretation, and confidence in results. The majority of studies, and especially the higher quality studies, showed that those who avoided meat consumption had significantly higher rates or risk of depression, anxiety, and/or self-harm behaviors. There was mixed evidence for temporal relations, but study designs and a lack of rigor precluded inferences of causal relations. Our study does not support meat avoidance as a strategy to benefit psychological health.

Sample size of 160,257 - can't wiggle out of that one.  Good sample size - no chance of spurious data - low p-value.
Not like the MMR Vaccination paper that "proved" autism - that had a sample size of 12 patients.

Like the restaurant says: There's plenty of room for all God's creatures. Right next to the mashed potatoes.

Our "elites" always love telling us what they are up to.
Case in point with this washed-up Bond villian:

From The Epoch Times:

Gaetz Files ‘Ukraine Fatigue Resolution’ to End All Aid to Ukraine
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a self-described “firebrand” and staunch and unyielding opponent of the Biden administration’s financial, material, and weapons support to Ukraine in its war with Russia, today filed a resolution to end all U.S. aid to Ukraine, while seeking and supporting a peace settlement between the combatant nations.

As the Department of Defense announced on Feb. 3, the United States since 2014 has committed more than $32 billion in “security assistance” to Ukraine,” with $30 billion of that aid pledged since the start of the Biden administration, and $29.3 billion “since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked, full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.”

Titled, “Ukraine Fatigue Resolution,” and co-sponsored by 10 House members, H. RES. cites the amount and levels of U.S. support, including that the nation is the “top contributor of military aid to Ukraine compared to its counterparts;” that the United States has “appropriated more than $110,000,000,000 of military, financial, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine;” and that “on February 3, 2023, the Department of Defense announced $2,000,000,000 in additional security assistance for Ukraine.”

The resolution includes itemization of weapons and material support, valued at $425 million, and $1.75 billion in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative Funds.

Gaetz' comment:  Why should Americans have to pay the costs for freedom elsewhere when our own leaders won’t stand up for our freedom here?

He has a point.  I love the part where it: "includes itemization of weapons and material support" 
That will make the usual money laundering by the usual people a lot harder to keep from the public eye.

Looks like Fauci knew all along - from Just The News:

Fauci paper suggests feds knew COVID vaccines were doomed from the start: 'Decidedly suboptimal'
Anthony Fauci knows why COVID-19 vaccines have been so unreliable at halting infection and transmission beyond a few months. He waited until he stepped down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to publicly explain it.

Elsevier's medical journal Cell Host and Microbe published a "perspective" led by Fauci's office last month that shows NIAID had good reason to believe COVID vaccines would fail even before they were authorized, based on research spanning Fauci's 38-year tenure leading NIAID.

Much much more at the site including this little gem:

SARS-CoV-2 is among viruses that "replicate in the human respiratory mucosa without infecting systemically," along with influenza A, RSV and common colds, and "have not to date been effectively controlled by licensed or experimental vaccines."

The paper is especially hard on flu vaccines, which have a "decidedly suboptimal" track record and the best of which "would be inadequate for licensure for most other vaccine-preventable diseases," they wrote. COVID vaccines are developing the same "deficiencies" as variants evolve around them.

Basically, something shot into the arm is not going to affect something that develops in the lining of the nose and sinuses.  You need something that you snort instead. An inhaler.

As the good Doctor said himself, the best prevention is to catch it once:

From 90 Miles

This is coming on the heels of the Congressional Investigation of the censorship of the New York Post's Hunter Biden laptop story before the 2020 Presidential election.  Literally while it is going on.  Now.

Remember that? The two pipelines supplying vital natural gas to Europe?
From Seymour Hersh:

How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline
The U.S. Navy’s Diving and Salvage Center can be found in a location as obscure as its name—down what was once a country lane in rural Panama City, a now-booming resort city in the southwestern panhandle of Florida, 70 miles south of the Alabama border. The center’s complex is as nondescript as its location—a drab concrete post-World War II structure that has the look of a vocational high school on the west side of Chicago. A coin-operated laundromat and a dance school are across what is now a four-lane road.

The center has been training highly skilled deep-water divers for decades who, once assigned to American military units worldwide, are capable of technical diving to do the good—using C4 explosives to clear harbors and beaches of debris and unexploded ordinance—as well as the bad, like blowing up foreign oil rigs, fouling intake valves for undersea power plants, destroying locks on crucial shipping canals. The Panama City center, which boasts the second largest indoor pool in America, was the perfect place to recruit the best, and most taciturn, graduates of the diving school who successfully did last summer what they had been authorized to do 260 feet under the surface of the Baltic Sea.

Last June, the Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that, three months later, destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, according to a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning.

Much more at the site - some excellent reporting.  Puting two and two together.

Some people out there really want us to be at war with Russia all the while China is looking at this and thinking that this is an opportune time for them.  The level of stupidity our government is showing is stunning.  We need to get rid of the whole lot of them starting at the top.

Was able to watch about 20 minutes before I turned it off. 
I do not get paid enough to sit through this kind of drivel.

He did not talk about Ukraine, he did not talk about LGBT and grooming children, no mention of China, no mention of our reaction to the Chinese balloon.  His speech is a product of some focus groups and committee action - they wrote a MAGA Speech for him.  America wants MAGA.  They had it for four years and We The People want more.

Going to stay awake for Sarah Sanders rebuttal.

UPDATE: And her rebuttal was just more of the same.

Tired - I'll let the pundits chew it over tonight and read the précis tomorrow over my morning oatmeal.

The backstory - Bill Maher:
This is why we can't have nice things. Pournelle's Iron Law writ large:

Nothing happening out there.  *Resident Biden is giving his state of the union speech tonight.

More later...

What a wonderful idea - a short film noir told from the point of view of the shadow.
Watch it full-screen and be prepared to watch it several times.
Gorgeous work, incredible idea, perfect implementation.

From the website:

In the shadow
A fantasy film noir with shadows. (Black & White. French with english subtitles).

A shadow is telling its life story with his "Wearer", a flesh and bone double, who one day it decides to get rid of...

Narrated by Roger Candy.
Music by Roque Banos & Danny Elfman.
Written, edited & directed by Fabrice Mathieu.

This short film is a prequel to a full feature movie script called "Dans l'ombre", written by Fabrice Mathieu. This project is looking for producers.  This prequel is a research and editing work based on footages from more than sixty movies showing the most beautiful shadows in the cinema history, from "Nosferatu" to "Sin City". The story is narrated from the shadows point of view.

Fabrice Mathieu is also responsible for the wonderful mashup Darth by Darthwest from 2020.
There are quite a few videos at their YouTube page

Madonna's face?  Shows what happens when you overdo the adrenochrome.
Not looking forward to seeing what happens in a week or so when it wears off.
As to the musical entertainment?  A noted critic weighs in - from America's Newspaper of Record:

Horrified Satan Distances Self From Grammys
In a rare public statement, The Prince of Darkness has distanced himself from last night's Grammys performance by Sam Smith, which he denounced as "cringy" and "appalling."

"Listen, folks, I enjoy demonic sexual perversion just as much as the next guy, but this is just too much," said the frustrated Father of Lies. "I'm the god of this world! I appear as an angel of light! It's supposed to be sneaky and subtle! Has Hollywood lost its ability to be subtle? What on earth happened to this town?"

"And how am I supposed to corrupt the next generation when no one watches this garbage anymore?" he lamented. "At least I still have TikTok."

Sources close to nonbinary gay performer Sam Smith revealed the singer is "extremely disappointed" by the Devil's reaction. "We worked for weeks on this loving ode to our evil master! WEEKS! And he doesn't even like it? What do we have to do to get our Unholy Father to notice us? WAaaaaaaa!"

Sam Smith then started dancing harder and singing louder while cutting himself with knives in hopes the Evil One would hear him.

Satan then urged the world to "please ignore these weirdos" and focus on the important work of protecting reproductive freedom while fighting for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The Chinese balloon has been in the news a lot. Biden Zzzzz'd his way through the whole news cycle. In an attempt to improve those optics, some people are claiming that President Trump had three Chinese balloons cross over the USA during his administration.

Needless to say, I do not remember this.  President Trump does not remember this.  Members of the Defense Department during President Trump's administration do not remember this.

This presents two possibilities:
#1) - the military knew but did not tell President Trump
#2) - the liberals who are promoting this narrative are lying

Which brings us to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) - from The Epoch Times:

Rep. Greene Calls for Probe on Why Trump Was Unaware of Alleged Chinese Balloons
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Monday called for a congressional investigation into why former President Donald Trump wasn’t apparently told about Chinese spy balloons that allegedly crossed over the United States when he was in office.

“If it’s true the Pentagon purposely did NOT tell President Trump of Chinese Spy Balloons during his administration then we had a serious breach in command during the Trump admin,” Greene wrote on Twitter.

“The POTUS is the Commander in Chief. We must investigate and hold accountable those who broke rank,” she also said. “Defense officials now claim that Chinese Spy Balloons briefly flew over the U.S. during the Trump admin, but if true, WHY is this just now being reported?” the lawmaker asked earlier in the day.

Excellent call - if President Trump was not informed, we need to know who made this decision and get them indicted for treason. If this was just yet another lie from the liberals, that need to be exposed and they need to have their noses publically rubbed in it.

From the New York Post:

Rothschild family to take Paris-listed investment bank private
In a show of confidence that strengthens the Rothschild family’s grip on its Paris-listed investment bank, the financial dynasty said Monday it plans to take Rothschild & Co. private.

This is the family that has bankrolled Europe for centuries. Wealthy is an understatement.

Why are they doing this and why now?

Easy to follow with this graphic.
From Filthie's Thunderbox:

From what used to be an excellent journal - Scientific American
In the first paragraph nonetheless:

Making the Entire U.S. Car Fleet Electric Could Cause Lithium Shortages
The transition to electric vehicles could lead to lithium shortages unless the United States and other countries overhaul their transportation systems and move away from private cars as the primary means of travel.

Emphasis mine - it all comes clear now.  This talk about living in cities.  Living fifteen minutes from your work, your play, your shopping, your friends.

I used to read Scientific American religiously.  Had a subscription for over 20 years.  Dropped it around 2000 when it started having fewer and fewer hard science articles and more and more "woke" opinion pieces - global warming, the need for recycling, etc...  Sadly, the same thing is happening with the British equivalent:  New Scientist.  Both were once great, now? Organs of the propaganda state.

Massive earthquakes this morning - still getting news.

Four major shocks Mag 6 and above - all of them shallow (around 10 miles deep) which causes the worst surface damage. Lots (10+) of aftershocks. Potential for major landslides.

Looks like a lot of the truth will be revealed. From Conservative Brief:

Gaetz, Boebert Say McCarthy Has Agreed to Release All Jan. 6 Footage
Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Lauren Boebert of Colorado have revealed that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has agreed to release all security footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, incident at the U.S. Capitol.

“The American people deserve to know the truth about what happened on January 6th. We have demanded to see all the footage. Transparency is coming,” Gaetz said. “Every time from the JFK files to 9/11, to now January 6th. It’s our own government, our own Department of Justice that seems to stand in the way of transparency.”

He also doubled down on his call to bring more CSPAN cameras to the House floor.

“If we had cameras on the floor, my suspicion is we would have far better attendance during debates that impact the lives of our fellow Americans,” he said.

I love the extra cameras too - so many "debates" are being held in empty halls.
Bring the politicians back to their place of work and remind them that they were hired to represent their constituents.

Sure, it is a deepfake but it's a great one:
Click-through on view - 1:36 worth seeing

Also available on YouTube (for now)

UPDATE:  The above tweet didn't last long. Not just the tweet - the entire account was suspended.
Looks like Elon still has some house-cleaning to do.  Here is the YouTube version for as long as it lasts:

Thailand.  And, given how many conspiracy theories have been being revealed as fact these days...
The Thai do not mess around with their Monarchy. Their Royals are revered.

The setup - from The Liberty Daily:

Thai Princess in a Coma Following Pfizer Jabs Could Prompt Nation to Nullify “Vaccine” Agreement
The bombshell that’s been waiting to happen might finally be here. Admittedly, I sat on this story for a few days to confirm, but now I am confident that there is a legitimate chance Thailand will go after Pfizer after their jabs caused Princess Bajrakitiyabha to go into a coma.

The story has been hard to follow because news has been scant. She collapse in December shortly after getting jabbed. Of course, it was reported that she had a heart condition but no mentions were made about the jabs. The only updates came on January 7 and 8 declaring that she was still in a coma. Since then, nothing has been reported by corporate media.

Here is a bit more of the story - 12 minute video

And the conspiracy theory?  From Clif High:

Overnight in Bangkok
Overnight in Bangkok

Don’t listen to those rumors!

Sitrep:
It seems that the Thai Royal family had a Princess who was a good global citizen. She took 3/three of the Pfizer shots. She went into a coma a while back.

The Thai Royal family was/is very distressed. Investigations were ordered.

Clif goes on to establish:

People known to me for decades are living as ex-pat Americans in Thailand. Two of them are outstanding, though now ‘retired’ into a different life, investigators. One worked for over 30 years as a US Naval officer, the last 15 of which were involved in criminal fraud cases. The other was an investigator for the Washington State Patrol, again, Criminal investigations.

And the theory:

Rumors:
They have revealed to me that several, different, sources, are reporting to them, that ‘something’, a really big ‘something’, is disturbing the Bangkok ‘underworld’. My guys have contact with it through a couple of martial arts dojos. Both are hearing the same rumors, ‘disturbance in the force’ kind of rumors.

The rumor to NOT listen to says that ‘assassins’ are being ‘recruited’ out of very deep holes in the martial arts world.

I would not want to be a Pfizer employee in Asia right now.  I am betting that Thailand is the first of many.

He just can't fsck-off and leave us alone - he has to play the Messiah complex.
BillG is not that bright. He was well born, he has a killer competitive streak but overall? Not smart.

Holodeck in case you were wondering...

Seems that Wind Energy is failing.  From Beege Welborn writing at Hot Air:

Wind winding down?
Sometimes it’s funny how coming across an article will make you smile because of a memory triggered by some aspect of it. That happened yesterday, and again today, when I came across these pieces on the chaos in the wind turbine manufacturing sector.

And the meat of the article - talking about Wind Energy in Europe:

Now the entire industry is hitting headwinds they hadn’t counted on and it could spell disaster.

The European wind industry has warned of continued difficulties in 2023 as high materials costs and slow approvals for new wind power projects drag back profitability, despite rising demand for renewable energy.

And the upshot:

German manufacturer Siemens Gamesa, one of the premier turbine providers in the renewables game, reported an almost billion-dollar loss for the Oct-Dec quarter of last year! So guess what they want?

Global green energy company Siemens Gamesa reported Thursday that it had lost a staggering $967 million during the three-month period from between October to December.

The Germany-based company, which dubs itself as “the global leader in offshore power generation,” noted the wind industry has faced various unfavorable pressures leading to negative growth in recent months and years, in its earnings report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023 released Thursday morning. The company added that governments would need to further assist the industry to ensure future positive growth.

In other words, they have failed in the marketplace and now, they want our tax dollars in the form of government subsidies so that they can continue making money. Governments make very little real money on their own (leasing out Federal lands for resource extraction and such...) so most money that comes from the government started off in our own wallets first before they took it away from us in taxes.

Much more at the site - they are also having problems with warrenty repairs costing too much and with a major decline in new orders.

People need to look to nuclear.  Specifically, liquid salt reactors using Thorium as fuel. Walk-away safe, the waste is a lot easier to deal with (needs 400 years storage instead of 40,000 years) and it has a lot more efficient use of fuel. Thorium is common in the Earths crust - Uranium is rare.  We have about 5,000 years of known reserves.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has no real function anymore. George H.W. Bush promised Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not expand.  That there was no reason for it to exist since the Soviet Union had collapsed.  There was zero need to "counterbalance" the Russian "threat"

Then why this:

From America's Newspaper of Record:

U.S. Shoots Down Spy Balloon As It Was Getting Too Close To Ukraine
The Pentagon officially went ahead with their plan to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon as it was getting too close to Ukraine's borders, sources confirmed Saturday.

"We sent a strong message to China," said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. "So long as the spy balloon stayed over America, we had peace. But the moment that spy balloon got a little too close to Ukraine - boom! We had to take it out."

General Austin proudly reported that the most high-tech missile defense systems in the world had been waiting to blow up the balloon for days. "Trust me, the Chinese are going to regret floating that balloon within thousands of miles of the Ukraine border. They should have kept that balloon where it was safe, floating over the U.S. and spying on American citizens."

Despite the Pentagon's assurances, many Americans have questioned why the military didn't shoot the balloon down over the U.S. "Were we, like, out of bullets?" asked local Carolina man Nate Maldonado, watching the balloon float overhead. According to sources, yes, we are out of bullets - because we sent them all to Ukraine.

The USA?  We don't care about that patriarchal relic.  Our money laundering honey-pot?
Now that is another story entirely - got to keep the benjamin's flowing...

Spot on:

From Life News:

Satanic Temple Opens New Abortion Clinic to Kill Babies in Ritualistic Abortions
The Satanic Temple isn’t just promoting the killing of unborn babies in abortions anymore. It’s actually killing them through a new “religious” abortion practice in New Mexico.

On Wednesday, the satanic group launched a new “religious medical services arm,” TST Health, to begin doing abortions. The Satanic Temple believes aborting unborn babies is a religious “ritual” and compares it to communion or baptism for Christians.

The name of its first “telehealth” abortion practice doubles as a covert death wish to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the decision that overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

The Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic in New Mexico will offer abortion drugs to women ages 17 and up who are up to 11 weeks of pregnancy, according to Fox News. The FDA does not recommend abortion drugs after 10 weeks.

There is evil walking this Earth - growing stronger as people give these demons strength through their remembrance.  The poor saps fail to understand the deal they are undertaking.  It never benefits them - temporarily a little bit but overall? Eternity is a long long time.

Looks like a showdown - as Louis Pasteur said:  "Chance favors only the prepared mind"

It is going to take a long time to recover from the damage that is being done to our children:

From Breitbart:

Hakeem Jeffries: Resolution Condemning Socialism Is ‘Fraudulent,’ Would ‘Undermine’ Democrat Agenda
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) spoke out against a House resolution that would condemn the “horrors of socialism,” arguing that it is a “fraudulent” resolution that would “undermine” House Democrats’ agenda.

Cuban-American Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) introduced the anti-Socialism resolution, a symbolic move that declares the country “founded on the belief in the sanctity of the individual, to which the collectivistic system of socialism in all of its forms is fundamentally and necessarily opposed.”

The text of the resolution notes that “many of the greatest crimes in history” were committed by socialist ideologues like Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Hugo Chavez.

“Whereas socialist ideology necessitates a concentration of power that has time and time again collapsed into Communist regimes, totalitarian rule, and brutal dictatorships,” the resolution states.

However, Jeffries argued the anti-socialism resolution would “undermine” House Democrats’ agenda.

Make's 'ya wonder doesn't it.
They are so open about their lust for power and still, they keep getting reelected.

Given all that is happening in the world today, we need to remember this session at the United Nations
From about six years ago - DJ Shadow and Run the Jewels:

Tip 'o the hat to Knuckledraggin'

Today is also National Tater-Tot Day

A very telling event - from American Wire:

100 Dems refuse to condemn socialism after troubling warning from Republican Cuban-American Rep
This week, House Republicans brought forth a resolution condemning the “horrors of socialism” and declaring that the House “opposes the implementation of socialist policies in the United States of America.”

In response, big-government-loving Democrats predictably cried foul, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries leading the charge.

“They’re bringing to the floor of the House of Representatives today a resolution on socialism, to condemn some dictators that we all condemn,” he said.

“But understand, the goal of this phony, fake, and fraudulent resolution is just to provide cover for extreme MAGA Republicans to try to undermine an agenda that is designed to lift up the health, safety, and well-being of the American people,” he added.

It would be so easy to condemn socialism but it would offend their constituents and it would offend their paymasters. Makes it very clear what we are dealing with.  These people are not representing their constituents - they have not done this for the last thirty years at least. Tar and feathers anyone?

Some more headlines:

• Healthy man dies suddenly in his sleep just days before his 22nd birthday
• Father and son die suddenly within four days of each other as 'shattered' family pay tribute
• American Airlines Pilot Blames FAA Vaccine Mandate For Heart Attack Suffered Just Minutes After Landing Commercial Flight
• Autopsy Analysis of 2 Teen Boys Who Died Days After 2nd Pfizer Covid Shot Finds ‘Global Myocardial Injury’
• Warrington's 'number one handy man' dies suddenly weeks after marrying partner
• Queensland family in shock as ‘fit and healthy’ 21yo son dies suddenly
• Momo Zhou dead at 31: History-making darts star passes away suddenly as tributes pour in
• WWE Legend Dies Suddenly Before SmackDown

And these are just the stories that I noticed while surfing.  How many more?

Some headlines:

• Kit Hesketh-Harvey, renaissance man of opera, film and theatre, dies suddenly
• SPAIN’S UNDER-15 FOOTBALL STAR ESTRELLA MARTIN DIES SUDDENLY
• Young Irish musician dies suddenly with devastated girlfriend by his side
• Heartbreak as teenage girl dies suddenly after collapsing at school in Italy
• Police Officer Dies Suddenly While on Duty 'Serving the Community He So Loved'
• 23-Year-Old College Swimmer Dies Suddenly - No Cause of Death Given
• 18-Year-Old Athlete on Life Support After Suffering from Cardiac Arrest During Basketball Game

Nothing to see here folks - keep moving along.  Keep it quiet.  Nothing to see...

From Knuckledraggin'

Looks like the National Archives were complicit in keeping their discovery secret.
From the London Daily Mail:

What ELSE are they hiding? White House claims of transparency face even more scrutiny as it's revealed National Archives was BLOCKED from releasing statement on classified documents found at Biden's think tank
The National Archives was prevented from notifying the public that classified documents had been found at President Joe Biden's think tank back in November, raising questions over who stopped the information from coming out.

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman James Comer raised the question Tuesday night, claiming the only two entities that could have given the order are the White House and the Department of Justice – putting the onus on either Biden or Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Despite Biden's team claiming they have been 'transparent' regarding the classified document scandal, new details emerged Tuesday that the FBI had searched his former offices after the initial materials were found.

Documents with classified markings were found at Biden's Washington, D.C. think tank in early November, just days before the 2022 midterm elections.

As a reminder, President Trump fully cooperated with the National Archives regarding the documents he took.  They had been declassified.  Remember that the President has that authority - the Vice-President does not and Biden was VP at the time he removed the documents.

The mid-term elections were a few days away at the time they were "discovered" - they kept a lid on it so as not to disadvantage any Democrats.

As a reminder, these were not just a file folder or two - this was a major haul: