Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach August 1, 2021 – 9:12 am

Patriotic Pinup

Happy Sunday! Another gorgeous day in the Once and Future Nation of America. The sun is shining, the mockingbirds have decided they really like my neighbors trees (damn, they are loud), and the fish tank is still doing well after having some serious problems. This pinup is supposedly by dhani putri, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. The Gateway Pundit notes Australia using their military to enforce COVID lockdowns
  2. The Last Refuge covers conservatives mad at Gov Kristi Noem about vaccine mandates
  3. The Last Tradition wonders why Simone Biles is even still at the Olympics
  4. The Lid highlights Cuban refugees turned away from the U.S.
  5. The Other McCain explains the failure in the US justice system as those released are re-arrested
  6. The People’s Cube notes the Lego 1/6 plot thickening
  7. The Right Scoop discusses Panic Theater
  8. Weasel Zippers features Sarah Palin teasing a Senate run in 2022. Good grief
  9. Powerline covers the beheading of a woman in Minnesota
  10. Pacific Pundit notes Jerry Nadler ignoring Pelosi’s mask mandate
  11. Moonbattery has the Australian view of Biden’s mental decline
  12. Jihad Watch notes al-Qaeda calling for truck attacks on America
  13. Dissecting Leftism offers some current COVID reality numbers
  14. Chicks On the Right notes what Pelosi said a year ago on vaccine mandates
  15. And last, but not least, Bunkerville covers the illegal alien invasion

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page (nope, that’s gone, the newest Apache killed access, and the program hasn’t been upgraded since 2014). While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your “Pinups for Vets” calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me.

Don’t forget to check out all the other great material all the linked blogs have!

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. And do you have a favorite blog you can recommend be added to the feedreader?

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

Posted in Patriotic Pinup | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Bacon Could Become Scarce In California As Pig Rule Takes Effect

By William Teach August 1, 2021 – 8:16 am

Hey, the majority of Californians can’t complain. They voted for this. They’ve voted Democrats in control of the legislature since 1970. The  Assembly is 60D-19R, Senate is 30D-9R. That’s a supermajority. Republicans have controlled the assembly for about one year. Even if it’s squishy Dems supposedly voting in squishy Dems, the squishies vote with the hardcore leftists. And you get

Bacon may disappear in California as pig rules take effect

Thanks to a reworked menu and long hours, Jeannie Kim managed to keep her San Francisco restaurant alive during the coronavirus pandemic.

That makes it all the more frustrating that she fears her breakfast-focused diner could be ruined within months by new rules that could make one of her top menu items — bacon — hard to get in California.

“Our number one seller is bacon, eggs and hash browns,” said Kim, who for 15 years has run SAMS American Eatery on the city’s busy Market Street. “It could be devastating for us.”

At the beginning of next year, California will begin enforcing an animal welfare proposition approved overwhelmingly by voters in 2018 that requires more space for breeding pigs, egg-laying chickens and veal calves. National veal and egg producers are optimistic they can meet the new standards, but only 4% of hog operations now comply with the new rules. Unless the courts intervene or the state temporarily allows non-compliant meat to be sold in the state, California will lose almost all of its pork supply, much of which comes from Iowa, and pork producers will face higher costs to regain a key market.

That vote was 62.66% in favor, 37.34 against. Rather close to the numbers that vote in the presidential elections, always for the Democrat.

With little time left to build new facilities, inseminate sows and process the offspring by January, it’s hard to see how the pork industry can adequately supply California, which consumes roughly 15% of all pork produced in the country.

The National Pork Producers Council has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture for federal aid to help pay for retrofitting hog facilities around the nation to fill the gap. Hog farmers said they haven’t complied because of the cost and because California hasn’t yet issued formal regulations on how the new standards will be administered and enforced.

Barry Goodwin, an economist at North Carolina State University, estimated the extra costs at 15% more per animal for a farm with 1,000 breeding pigs.

Strangely, one lawsuit was dismissed, which had used the Interstate Commerce Act, because all pork products come in to California from other states, not California. The California law would require producers in states not named California to comply with California law. One of the provisions states “Prohibits certain commercial sales of specified meat and egg products derived from animals confined in noncomplying manner.” Another would apply up to $1,000 fines. Yet another provides for inspections by California inspectors. Will California send them to North Carolina, Iowa, and Minnesota, the top three producers of pigs? Would the states and companies allow that?

If half the pork supply was suddenly lost in California, bacon prices would jump 60%, meaning a $6 package would rise to about $9.60, according to a study by the Hatamiya Group, a consulting firm hired by opponents of the state proposition.

But, it won’t jump by 60%, it would go to zero in most cases, as producers would simply avoid selling pork products in California. No bacon, sausage, barbecue, pork dumplings, or anything else that would be affected. That’s simply the easiest thing to do, is it not? Some products will be sold, and the prices will certainly jump way more than 60%. Is that realistic? Because that’s what the law says. Even if they want to sell it, the law says they can’t.

The California rules also create a challenge for slaughterhouses, which now may send different cuts of a single hog to locations around the nation and to other countries. Processors will need to design new systems to track California-compliant hogs and separate those premium cuts from standard pork that can serve the rest of the country.

At least initially, analysts predict that even as California pork prices soar, customers elsewhere in the country will see little difference. Eventually, California’s new rules could become a national standard because processors can’t afford to ignore the market in such a large state.

Can’t they ignore it? The law says they must if the producers can’t comply. Do they want to do things that increase the prices all across the country and even world? Or sell what they can at a massively increased price in California and the same elsewhere? Let California suffer, and see if the citizens reverse their course.

Read: Bacon Could Become Scarce In California As Pig Rule Takes Effect »

Posted in Democrats, Food and Drink, Liberal World | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

That Whole ‘Climate Change’ Is Messing With The Winter Jet Stream? Never Mind

By William Teach July 31, 2021 – 3:00 pm

No worries, the Cult of Climastrology will come up with some other Reason

Arctic climate change may not be making winter jet stream weird after all

An influential, highly publicized theory — that a warming Arctic is causing more intense winter outbreaks of cold and snow in midlatitudes — is hitting resistance from an ongoing sequence of studies, including the most comprehensive polar modeling to date.

In science, this is called a hypothesis, because it was never proven, nor put through the rigors of the Scientific Model

The idea, first put forth in a 2012 paper by Jennifer Francis, now at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, and Stephen Vavrus, at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, is that two well-established trends — Arctic amplification (intensified global warming at higher latitudes) and depleted sea ice — can force the polar jet stream to dip farther south, thus causing more intense bouts of winter weather than might have otherwise occurred.

Over the past decade, this hypothesis sparked widespread public interest and scientific debate, as various high-profile cold waves and snow onslaughts hit North America and Eurasia, including a deadly, prolonged cold wave in Texas last February.

The idea was to blame cold, snow, and ice on Other People driving fossil fueled vehicles and refusing to give up their money, choice, and freedom to government

But the cooling has been far from ubiquitous and the Arctic-midlatitude link has been difficult to detect in simulations by global computer models. Instead, the models point more strongly toward the gradual, longer-term trend of milder midlatitude winters that one would expect in a human-warmed climate. (A separate line of research is addressing extremes during the summer, such as the unprecedented heat wave that struck the Pacific Northwest in June; see below.)

And those models, when you read through the soft-peddling

In this study and others, Screen and Blackport suggest that the connection between Arctic sea ice loss and extreme midlatitude events is real, but not necessarily causal. Instead, they argue, a third factor — most likely large-scale changes in atmospheric circulation that may not be permanent — is probably driving both the sea ice loss and the extreme winter events.

It either does or doesn’t. “Suggest” means they have no clue, so, until they can scientifically prove it, it doesn’t. And that still would prove anthropogenic causation

At the same time, Francis maintains that global models can’t fully replicate the Arctic-midlatitude connection simply by adding or removing sea ice, especially if the results lump together conditions across a whole winter or the entire midlatitudes.

So, their models stink even worse that we thought.

The appeal of a counterintuitive idea

The appeal is blaming cold and snow and ice on citizens to gain control over them. And the Warmists never think this will negatively affect themselves.

Read: That Whole ‘Climate Change’ Is Messing With The Winter Jet Stream? Never Mind »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 16 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach July 31, 2021 – 1:00 pm

…is a tree that looks like it’s dying from too much carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The First Street Journal, with a post on the LA school system planning to assault every student every week.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 14 Comments | Trackback URL

Sleepy Joe Pushing More And More Mandates

By William Teach July 31, 2021 – 10:30 am

Remember when Dementia Joe said he would eradicate COVID?

Where’s his mask? It’s also great that the guy in the back left is failing to cover his nose.

(Breitbart) President Joe Biden confirmed Friday that Americans should expect more coronavirus-related restrictions, as the Delta variant of the virus continues to spread.

Biden spoke about more restrictions on Americans after CBS reporter Weijia Jiang asked him if he expected more restrictions as the virus spreads across the country.

“In all probability,” he replied as he left the White House for a weekend trip to Camp David.

Biden also signaled optimism that more Americans were getting vaccinated, citing “almost a million” people getting their shots on Thursday.

“So I am hopeful that people are beginning to realize how essential it is to move,” he said.

The White House continues to fail to explain to Americans why fully vaccinated people in some areas have to wear masks, leaving future restrictions entirely up to public health officials.

Democrats do not want this to end. What are they basing this all on? It’s that Provincetown study

(Yahoo News) Though effectiveness varies by vaccine brand, most are quite potent against infection and exceptionally so at preventing the kind of infection that causes serious illness. Of the 833 people in the Provincetown cluster as of Wednesday, only seven had been hospitalized. And zero had died.

Yes, that is certainly saying that the vaccines work. They were positioned as reducing the chance of getting COVID, and reducing the effects of COVID if someone did get it. It’s working as advertised. Masks won’t stop it. Not unless you have a full grade medical one meant to stop viruses. The vast majority do not. And, if people want to not get the vaccine, that’s on them.

Biden’s new vaccine requirement meets pushback from unions who helped elect him

A commitment to American labor helped fuel President Joe Biden’s bid for the White House as he promised to be “the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen.” It was an embrace that many of the major federations, associations, teamsters and brotherhoods in the nation requited by endorsing his candidacy.

But the support for Biden’s leadership that united more than 50 union groups during the campaign threatened to splinter publicly this week, over mixed reception of his plan to require federal workers get the COVID-19 vaccine or face regular testing and other restrictions. (snip)

“It is not the role of the federal government to mandate vaccinations for the employees we represent,” the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) said in a statement the day before Biden made his announcement, adding that they encourage members to “voluntarily get vaccinated.” (snip)

“Make no mistake, we support being vaccinated as the most effective path and means to eliminate the COVID-19 virus, but not at the cost of our Constitutional rights that we protect and hold as self-evident,” Larry Cosme, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) said. ​​ (snip)

“We have a lot of questions about how this policy will be implemented and how employee rights and privacy will be protected,” National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) National President Tony Reardon said in a statement to ABC News. “This approach appears to establish a process for employees to voluntarily disclose their vaccination status.” (snip)

The largest union representing federal employees, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said they expected any new policies to be “properly negotiated with our bargaining units prior to implementation.”

Well, that’s weird, so many are talking about Constitutional rights and privacy. Separately, why are there so many unions for Government? And what does AFGE expect to get out of this for agreeing to allow a vaccine mandate? And what are the penalties for failing to be vaccinated? Does Joe think he can fire them with a snap of his tapioca covered fingers? And, aren’t most of these people Democratic Party voters?Why are they having hesitancy?

Read: Sleepy Joe Pushing More And More Mandates »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus, Democrats, Joe Biden | 12 Comments | Trackback URL

Chimps Seen Attacking Gorillas For First Time, It Must Be ‘Climate Change’ Or Something

By William Teach July 31, 2021 – 7:13 am

In all my years living in my townhome I’ve never had a spider build a web between the bushes at my stairs to the front porch. It must be ‘climate change’! (It’s also annoying as hell, get home some nights at 820 and have to jump across the other bushes to get on the porch) (via The Daley Gator)

For the First Time Ever, Scientists Witness Chimps Killing Gorillas
The surprising observation could yield new insights into early human evolution.

New research details two fatal encounters in which wild chimpanzees attacked and killed gorillas. It’s a rare example of one great ape species attacking another—and scientists are worried that climate change might have something to do with it.

Chimps and gorillas can be violent and territorial, but their squabbles—which can be fatal at times—happen almost exclusively within their own species. As for lethal conflicts involving two different great ape species (at least those not involving humans), that’s virtually unheard of. Hence the importance of new research published in Scientific Reports, in which scientists document two fatal clashes involving chimps and gorillas at Loango National Park in Gabon.

The reason for these seemingly unprovoked attacks is unknown, but the fatal encounters may be linked to diminished access to food. As the scientists speculate, increased food competition in Loango National Park and possibly elsewhere might be the result of climate change, though more research is needed to be sure. If this turns out to be the case, however, it’s yet another example of the natural world being turned upside down by human-instigated climate change.

“May be”, as in, “they don’t know.” This is science for climate cultists, simply jumping to conclusions with zero evidence and putting it under the banner of their cult. They have been watching these small groups since 2014, and now

“Our observations provide the first evidence that the presence of chimpanzees can have a lethal impact on gorillas,” Tobias Deschner, a primatologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and a co-author of the study, explained in a release from the institute. “We now want to investigate the factors triggering these surprisingly aggressive interactions,” said Deschner, who leads the Loango Chimpanzee Project alongside Pika.

So, they don’t know. And, really, the people doing the observation aren’t really going full on climate cultists in immediately linking the fights to ‘climate change’: that would be Gizmodo. The researchers note that chimps can be very aggressive, violent, and killers. But, of course

As the Max Planck Institute release points out, fruits in the tropical forests of Gabon are not as abundant as they used to be, and human-caused climate change might have something to do with that. In turn, this could be causing the observed conflict between the two great ape species. More research will be needed, especially sightings of repeat conflicts between chimps and gorillas (both at Loango and elsewhere) and investigations showing the effects of deforestation, climate change, and other factors that could be changing the way these apes use their forest space and interact with one another. As Mayhew explained, these types of pressures can push ape populations closer together, resulting in more frequent encounters and increased competition over food.

Could it have anything to do with mankind encroaching on the areas these chimps and gorillas live in, taking over their lands, along with taking the fruits? Nah, this is all your fault.

Read: Chimps Seen Attacking Gorillas For First Time, It Must Be ‘Climate Change’ Or Something »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

What Are Biden’s Accomplishments So Far?

By William Teach July 31, 2021 – 6:56 am

Thank goodness there are no more mean tweets!

Biden’s ‘Accomplishments’ So Far: A Troubling Tale In 8 Charts

Biden Brain SlugMonths after President Joe Biden supposedly “rescued” the country from the COVID-19 pandemic and promised that he’d bring the country together, how is the nation doing? Well, there are several indicators on the rise. Unfortunately, they are all indicators of trouble.

The news Thursday that the GDP gained 6.5% in the second quarter (the first full quarter since Biden signed his American Rescue Plan) is good. But it is well below economists’ forecasts. The Blue Chip Consensus forecast was above 9%, and other surveys pegged Q2 growth at 8.5%. It was also just barely above the gain in Q1 — which was before any of Biden’s policies had taken effect.

Still, other things are on the rise under Biden, too, many of them well above expectations.

The misery index is up, for example, so is inflation, pessimism, and financial stress. Illegal border crossings are up and murders are way up. Oh, and cases of COVID-19 — the disease Biden said he would slay — are increasing again.

Naturally, while taking credit for the good GDP number, the Biden administration is trying to pin the blame for all these other things on President Donald Trump. But how convincing can that be, when Biden ostentatiously broke with just about every one of Trump’s policies and did so in ways that had an immediate effect?

How about inflation?

Even liberal economists were warning that Biden’s spending spree — coming after two historically large stimulus bills under Trump and long after the COVID recession had ended — would set off an inflation spiral. And what do you know? Energy costs, food costs, and the costs of most everything else are climbing at a rapid clip, despite promises from Biden that the current spike is transitory.

The combination of high unemployment and soaring prices back in the 1960s gave rise to the Misery Index, which is derived simply by adding the inflation rate to the unemployment rate. As we reported recently, the Misery Index has climbed every month since Biden took office.

The misery index has gone from just under 8 to just under 12 since January. Then you have the Stress Index, which is whether people feel more stressed, less stressed, or the same over the last three months. It’s gone from 57 to 62.

For pessimism, when thinking about the next 12 months, it’s gone from 36% in April to 55% in July. Real wages have dropped from $11.41 in January to $11.22 in June.

Biden can hardly blame Trump for the sharp rise in violent crime, either, although he and his fellow Democrats keep insisting that it’s all because of insufficiently strict gun control laws. The real cause, of course, has been the demonization of the police by Democrats (up to and including Biden), and the often successful attempts to cut police department funding while hamstringing officers. The result has been a huge increase in murder and assaults in the nation’s major cities.

Both are up quite a bit from last year.

Border apprehensions are way up, thanks to basically inviting illegals/migrants to show up. Of course, most are just being released. And COVID is going back up up up.

We have no doubt that Biden was very much hoping one day to tell the public how he killed COVID and saved the economy (just as he once bragged that “Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive” while he and President Barack Obama where in the White House).

The way things are going right now, Biden might one day have to admit that “the economy is dead, but COVID is alive.”

Americans supposedly voted more for this guy than Trump. Are you enjoying this? Is this what you wanted? If you voted Biden, own the failure.

Read: What Are Biden’s Accomplishments So Far? »

Posted in Joe Biden | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

Quick Review: 50″ Class U6G Series Quantum 4K ULED Android TV

By William Teach July 30, 2021 – 7:31 pm

Back on the 11th I finally got around to getting a new TV, been thinking of it for a few years. Love my old Vizio, a 42″ with true 240htz, which meant it had the “soap opera effect“, but, that was fine, because it was great for sports, nature shows, cooking shows, things like Survivor and The Amazing Race. Damned near impossible to find a true 240 these days, not without spending a lot of money. Same with true 120htz. I had a workaround setting for the Bluray connection for movies, though. Didn’t realize that I’d had it so long, since Christmas 2014. Still worked fantastic, just wanted something a bit bigger, the couch is pretty far back

Did not quite want a 55″, as there would be no space for the stereo, cable box, and Bluray (there’s actually two up there, an old one, was my first, a Sony, that is slow to load, but still works perfectly). It’s a 50″ Class U6G Series Quantum 4K ULED Android TV, model 50UG6. At the time, it was $499 then $20 off. Best Buy literally changed the price to $569 then a $40 discount Monday the 12th. Used some nice birthday money I’ve been sitting on.

Interestingly, it is actually one of the highest rated 50″ TVs offered by BB, even ones that are a lot more expensive with fewer options. And slightly higher rated than the previous gen, which I would have bought last year, if it was ever available. You can read the specs, but, for me, what was important started with 4K, which most TVs have these days. Good ratings. And 4 HDMI. You can spend a lot more and the TV will have 2 HDMI. I guess that works for some. Me, I need one for cable box, one for Bluray (I don’t have the 2nd hooked up, going to move it to spare bedroom with the Vizio), and one for Firestick. The fourth is the the ARC, and have the soundbar connected. The only thing it’s missing is composite audio out, which most TVs do not have these days. I have the stereo connected via the headphone jack with a special adapter, for those few times really want the sound through the Bose speakers.

While it is a 60hz, it does upscale to 240. Not quite the same, but, good enough. It has Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, as well as HDR 10 and HDR 10+. It can automatically adjust the viewing mode based on content. I was a little skeptical, but, has worked well. I’ve actually seen it shift when I’ve gone from watching something like Eureka (finished that whole show) to a movie.

It is an Android TV, so, has all the apps, and can easily download more, has plenty of space. I mostly still use my Firestick, already have the apps I need, but, will switch to the TV app mode for 4k content. I’ve watched a few movies, and started watching Britannica, which is shot in 4k (most Amazon stuff is done in 4k, too bad already watched The Expanse. Great show). Looks slightly better. You’re supposed to sit a lot closer with 1080p and 4k TVs to really see the difference, I like to be back.

It was extremely easy to set up (did have to clean the heck out of that shelf and got rid of a lot of unused cables.) My only issue is that my Harmony 650 remote does not recognize it, had to set most of the buttons manually. If you’re looking for an excellent in that price range, well worth it. The top selling 50″ is a Samsung, with fewer features and only 2 HDMI. A Sony for $1299 (then $200 discount) has same rating. Most of the Hisense in the U6 and U8 trims of all sizes get high ratings, too.

Read: Quick Review: 50″ Class U6G Series Quantum 4K ULED Android TV »

Posted in Television, Web/Tech | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach July 30, 2021 – 1:00 pm

…is an area drying out and flooding due to carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is American Greatness, with a post on COVID-positive illegals staying at a Texas hotel and infecting Americans.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Brazil Sees Extremely Rare Snow, And This Is All Your Fault

By William Teach July 30, 2021 – 1:00 pm

All you had to do was turn your air conditioning up to 80, but, no, you wanted to be selfish

From the article

Temperatures dropped across Brazil on Thursday – with rare snowfall overnight in some places – as a polar air mass advanced toward the center-south of the global agricultural powerhouse, threatening coffee, sugarcane and orange crops with frost.

Cars, streets and highways were blanketed in ice while people took the opportunity to take pictures and play in the snow, building snowmen.

“I am 62 years old and had never seen the snow, you know? To see nature’s beauty is something indescribable,” said truck driver Iodor Goncalves Marques in Cambara do Sul, a municipality of Rio Grande do Sul state, speaking to TV Globo network.

More than 40 cities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul had icy conditions and at least 33 municipalities had snow, reported the meteorology company Somar Meteorologia.

Unusually cold weather in Brazil has already sent international prices for coffee and sugar higher and Friday was forecast to be the coldest day of the year, according to Marco Antonio dos Santos, a partner at weather consultancy firm Rural Clima.

The temperatures could be the lowest in 65 years. So, you know what’s coming next, right?

Read More »

Read: Brazil Sees Extremely Rare Snow, And This Is All Your Fault »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL
Pirate's Cove