Mmmm, Bacon!

Whoever wrote this commercial is a genius.

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Sunday: Gold Medal, Ahoy!" ready for inspection at The Other McCain.

Floron du Jour

Who would have thought they made a law this specific? Florida Man Charged With Picking Magic Mushrooms While Carrying An Alligator

A Florida man was arrested along with three others last Sunday by a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation officer for allegedly picking hallucinogenic mushrooms in the Little Big Econ State Wildlife Management Area in Seminole County, Florida while also carrying a 2-foot-long alligator in his backpack.

30-year-old Rick Myers, of Titusville, Florida, was charged with possessing an American Alligator without a permit, possessing the psychedelic psilocybin mushrooms that are often referred to as "shrooms" or "magic mushrooms," felony violation of probation, and removing natural resources from a Wildlife Management Area.

Another Brevard County man, 22-year-old Gregory Sansota of Titusville, was also arrested along with Tyler Salzman, age 20 of Deltona, Florida. Both of the young men were charged with possessing the psychedelic psilocybin mushrooms and removing natural resources from a Wildlife Management Area. An unidentified juvenile was among those arrested.

A fourth man fled the scene, but was later arrested by a Seminole County Sheriff's deputy.

As they say, go big or go home!

Socialism in Venezuela Reaches It's Ultimate Goal

Shared poverty for all but the party faithful, and forced labor for the state (i.e. slavery) for the masses: Venezuela’s socialist government adopts forced labor law:

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has a plan to “guarantee food supply, social justice, and democracy.” As with most of Maduro’s plans, it will accomplish none of those things. Vice News reports:

“A new decree establishing that any employee in Venezuela can be effectively made to work in the country’s fields as a way to fight the current food crisis is unlawful and effectively amounts to forced labor,” Amnesty International said in a statement released on Thursday.
President Nicolás Maduro signed a decree at the end of last week that gives powers to the labor ministry to order “all workers from the public and private sector with enough physical capabilities and technical know-how” to join a government drive aimed at increasing food production.
They can be required to work in the agricultural sector for a 60-day period that can be extended for another 60 days “if the circumstances require it.”

Naturally, Maduro continues to blame the dire circumstances of his country on an economic war brought against him by the Unites States. He’s been saying that for months and even suggesting on occasion that the U.S. was ready to invade.

They should be so lucky. With the exception of Iraq and Afghanistan, we've always left the countries we've "invaded" better than when we came in. Those two exceptions were the deliberate handiwork of Hillary Clinton and Barack H. Obama.

The reality here is much simpler: socialism has been a disaster for Venezuela. The latest attempt at central economic planning is reminiscent of the Soviet Unions five year plans in the 1920s and 1930s. The difference here is that Venezuela is working on 60-day plans because, with inflation already in the triple-digits, it’s hard to imagine how the country could continue for another five years unless something changes.

And a majority of Democrats consider socialism to be a good thing. I suggest all Bernie Bros take a Venezuelan vacation and work in the cane fields.

IRS Scandal Update: IRS Bigwigs Knew Two Years Ahead

And they still tried to pin it on the grunts in Cincinnati:  FBI Investigation Documents of IRS Scandal Reveal Top Washington IRS Officials Knew About Targeting of “Tea Party” Groups Two Years Before Disclosing it to Congress and Public

Judicial Watch today released 294 pages of new Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) “302” documents revealing that top Washington IRS officials, including Lois Lerner and Holly Paz, knew that the agency was specifically targeting “Tea Party” and other conservative organizations two full years before disclosing it to Congress and the public.  An FBI 302 document contains detailed narratives of FBI agent investigations.  The Obama Justice Department and FBI investigations into the Obama IRS scandal resulted in no criminal charges.

The FBI 302 documents confirm the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) 2013 report that said, “Senior IRS officials knew that agents were targeting conservative groups for special scrutiny as early as 2011.” Lerner did not reveal the targeting until May 2013, in response to a planted question at an American Bar Association conference.  The new documents reveal that then-acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller actually wrote Lerner’s response: “They used names like Tea Party or Patriots and they selected cases simply because the applications had those names in the title. That was wrong, that was absolutely incorrect, insensitive, and inappropriate.”

The FBI documents also reveal that IRS officials stated that the agency was targeting conservative groups because of their ideology and political affiliation in the summer of 2011. According to one senior tax law specialist, “The case seemed to be pulled because of the applicant’s political affiliation and screening is not supposed to occur that way … [Redacted] said he thought the cases were being pulled based upon political affiliations.” And IRS senior official Nancy Marks, appointed by Miller to conduct an internal investigation stated, “Cincinnati was categorizing cases based on name and ideology, not just activity.”
. . .
According to the FBI documents, Paz and others were informed in the late spring and summer of 2011 that Cincinnati agents were using “BOLO” (Be On the Look Out) briefing guides that instructed them to be “looking at cases using the Tea Party term.” The IRS failed to reveal such targeting until the ABA conference in May 2013 . . .

Yes Hillary, we can imagine what it would be like to have an administration use the IRS to attack its opponents.

Thanks to Judicial Watch for their continued good work.

Clinton.com Hacked!

I guess I have time for one more, but I'll try to keep it short:

Clinton campaign also hacked in attacks on Democrats

The computer network used by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign was hacked as part of a broad cyber attack on Democratic political organizations, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The latest attack, which was disclosed to Reuters on Friday, follows reports of two other hacks on the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, and the party’s fundraising committee for candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives.
. . .
The U.S. Department of Justice national security division is investigating whether cyber attacks on Democratic political organizations threatened U.S. security, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The involvement of the Justice Department’s national security division is a sign that the Obama administration has concluded that the hacking was sponsored by a state, people with knowledge of the investigation said.

While I agree that it's likely to have been the Russians (and maybe the Chinese, Iranians, Norks and Israelis too), they seem to be going beyond James Clapper here, who wouldn't conclude that it was the Russians in public. That seems to be part of a media campaign to blame Trump, as if his joking comments three days ago were the cause of hacking  that occurred months if not years ago: FBI warned Clinton campaign last spring of cyberattack Like Ace says:

Though I can't justify being amused at criminal intrusions into the US political system, I will still laugh like f*** about it.

Clinton’s Comments on 60 Minutes About Private Email Server Now Used Against Her in Court

Hillary Clinton‘s comments on her use of a private server during last weekend’s 60 Minutes interview are now being used against her in a FOIA lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group. For the last several weeks, Judicial Watch has been seeking to depose Clinton about her use of a private email server in order to figure out if Freedom of Information Act requirements were violated.

Judicial Watch says new information was gleaned from an interview with CBS’ Scott Pelley including the fact that Clinton admitted that someone recommended she set up the server. The group wants to know who that someone was. They also contend her statement provides further reasoning for why she must be deposed under oath.  Clinton’s lawyers say that issue is irrelevant to the lawsuit.

The last thing Hillary wants to do is testify under oath. There's only one more oath she wants to take, ever.

Hillary marriage 'is a total fake': Secret Service expert claims Clintons have 'business relationship' for benefit of her presidential campaign. So tell me something I don't already know.

Truly the candidate for the little people: Hedge Fund Donations: $123 Million to Hillary Clinton, $19 Thousand to Donald Trump Well, they are relations by marriage. Flash back: Chelsea Clinton's husband Marc and his colleagues from Goldman Sachs shutter $25 million hedge fund after losing nearly ALL their investors' money (good thing he still has his $10 million apartment). Just call her #HedgefundHillary

CNN Wolf Blitzer drinks wine, dances to celebrate Hillary’s nomination Actually, it's a good thing they're not even trying hide their favoritism. The press shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for Hillary Clinton to take any questions It's less awkward all the way around if they aren't put in the position of pretending to be objective.

Click to enlarge

There's a Little Black Spot on the Tongue Today: Something very weird about Hillary’s face at the convention. Biopsy?

Hillary Clinton tries to be all things to all people at Democratic convention. But she can't even fake humanity. From Ace's Thoughts on Generalissima Clinton's Adress

. . . Her criticisms of Trump might carry weight, except for the fact that an authoritarian, grasping con-artist and looter is calling Trump an authoritarian grifter. One cut of Hillary's seems particularly un-self-aware. She recalled Trump's bluster in saying that he understood ISIS better than generals do. With the only approximation of humor in the speech, she deadpanned "No, Donald, you don't."
. . .
Now let's look at Hillary. Since the 90s, she has pushed one Branding Message to her media allies -- her Sisters in Solidarity -- relentlessly. That Branding Message is that she is, quote, "The Smartest Woman in the World."

She has pushed and pushed and pushed this claim out to her courtiers and haigiographers.

If you're lucky enough to be young, you don't know this. But when conservative deride Hillary, sarcastically, as The Smartest Woman in the World, we're doing that because Hillary cajoled her Distaff Praetorian to pump that out to the world for twenty years or so.

So is Hillary Clinton's complaint that Trump lacks humility, or is her complaint really that Trump has no right to his narcissism, unlike herself and her patron Obama, who clearly deserve to think of themselves as smarter than experts in their fields of specialization?

Best Darn Changemaker: Hillary’s Senate Accomplishment: One Bill Enacted into Law, to Name a Federal Building, her one concrete achievement was getting a courthouse renamed for Thurgood Marshall.

Dem anxiety hangs over Clinton. But are they as worried about her losing as I am about her winning?Even Her Supporters Know Hillary Clinton Is The Terminator  ‘It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.’ Which is why AMERICA CAN’T STAND HILLARY. Can I get an "amen," Brother?

Check out Wombat-socho's "In The Mailbox: 07.29.16" for a bunch more: Hillary Clinton’s Acceptance Speech Was Powerful…Like Ambien,  Hang In There, Blake Shelton, And Blow Of Hillary’s Harridans, Hilarious New Trump Video Hits “Tired” Bill Clinton, What If An Anti-American Cult Had A Convention?, Rule 5 “President Clinton 2.0?” Friday, The One Word To Associate With Hillary That Would Doom Her Campaign,  Oh, What An Awful Thing To Tweet. He Should Be Ashamed, Feelgood Video Of The Day – Dimwit Democrat Lights Self On Fire Burning American Flag, If Bernie Sanders Is Jewish, Why Do His Supporters Burn The Israeli Flag?, Hillary’s Speech – Christmas In July

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Sunday: Gold Medal, Ahoy!" and "FMJRA 2.0: The Rio Olympics" ready for inspection at The Other McCain.

Rule 5 Saturday - Emilia Clarke - Mother of Dragons

This week's hot summer Rule 5 Saturday Special is dedicated to Emilia Clarke, who plays the Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

Clarke made her Broadway debut in a production of Breakfast at Tiffany's as Holly Golightly in March 2013. In 2015, she starred as Sarah Connor in Terminator Genisys and in 2016 she starred in the romance film Me Before You. In 2015, she was named Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive.

That might be an overstatement, but close enough. I'll let you be the judge.

Clarke was born in London, and grew up in Berkshire. Her father is a theatre sound engineer. . .  Clarke's interest in acting began at the age of three after seeing the musical Show Boat on which her father was working. . .  She attended Drama Centre London, and graduated in 2009.

Needless to say there's a certain amount of NSFW material from the "Game of Thrones". She also has a smoking hot body double called Rosie Mac, well worthy of her own post.

This week GOODSTUFFs BLOGGING MAGAZINE (252nd Issue) takes another look see at the Culture Marxism Revolution with Farrah Fawcett. and explores the reason behind the substantial increase of Blogger hits from Russia. Linked at Wombat-socho's "Rule 5 Sunday: I Never Would Have Guessed" and "FMJRA 2.0: Secret Treaties".

Bikini Clad Cop Catches Cut Purse

OK, he might not have really been a cut purse, but close enough: Bikini-clad Swedish cop makes arrest while sunbathing

She was off duty and wearing a bikini but that didn’t stop Swedish police officer Mikaela Kellner from catching a suspected thief.

A photo of Kellner pinning the suspect to the ground was trending on social media in Sweden this week.
. . .
Kellner and three friends were sunbathing Wednesday in a Stockholm park, a homeless man selling newspapers approached, she told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

After he left, one friend noticed her phone was missing. Kellner and a fellow police officer gave chase.

Kellner said she didn’t hesitate to make the arrest while wearing a bikini. “If I had been naked I would have intervened as well,” she said.

She's one tough looking lady. I wonder if he enjoyed the arrest?

Enviros Ask Baltimore to Clean up It's $#!* Faster

Environmentalists seek say in Baltimore sewer overhaul

Contending that the latest plan to fix Baltimore’s leaky sewage system has some big holes in it, Blue Water Baltimore wants a say in the new deal struck between the city and state and federal regulators.

The environmental group filed a motion Wednesday in federal court seeking to intervene in the update of a 14-year-old consent decree that would give the city another 14 years to fix chronic sewage overflows and leaks that have long rendered its harbor and streams unfit for swimming or other human contact.

Halle Van der Gaag, Blue Water Baltimore’s executive director, said the terms of the new decree left her no choice, and her board unanimously agreed to file.

“There’s definitely some improvements (over the old one), but there’s just a whole lot of stuff that’s not in there,” Van der Gaag said.

To settle a federal Clean Water Act lawsuit filed in 2002 by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Maryland Department of the Environment, Baltimore city signed a consent decree pledging to end its frequent sewage overflows by January 2016. But despite spending nearly $900 million since then on repairs, the overflows and leaks continue.

City officials asked regulators for – and received -- more time to pursue more and different upgrades.  The additional work, including a major overhaul at the city’s Back River wastewater treatment plant, is expected to cost another $630 million -  which city officials say necessitates more increases in utility customer’s sewer bills.

Yep. 14 years is entirely too long to give a city to stop shitting in the waterways. No politician wants to spend money like that during his term in office. It's just too easy to put off.

So Much at Clinton.com

This may be the last Clinton.com for a while. We'll be out to Pismo for a week or so, and I'm not going to spend my vacation detailing the Democratic candidate's misdeeds and foibles.

It's no fun when you have to explain the joke: Donald Trump: I was being sarcastic with Russia hacking comments Well, duh. The media knew it; they just wanted to blow it into a gaffe if possible. Ann Althouse points out how Trump has jokingly called out to hackers before, with regard to Obama's college records. Jazz at HotAir thinks The media wasn’t prepared to handle sarcasm from a candidate. That's BS. They handle it just fine when it's directed at Republicans. Try this one: Democrats Get Mad At the Russians; In Other News, a Dog Marries a Cat. The only time the get mad at the Russians is when it hurts the Democrats:

The reaction of the Democrats and the suddenly-not-Walter Duranty media was classic. Like a teen confronting her dad who is holding the baggie of weed he found in her nightstand, the DNC cried “OMG, I can’t believe you went through my stuff!” before throwing herself sobbing on her bed at the unfairness of it all.

Who Is Putin’s Real Ally? As Roger writes, “There’s money in them thar reset buttons!” By way of Wombat-socho's "In the Mailbox, 07.28.16", Tailgunner Hillary and the Putin Hack: What Robby Mook did is pure McCarthyism. McCarthyism is only bad when employed against the Democrats, Amirite?  In fact, many think that the apparent Russian fingerprints on the hack is a false flag: U.S. theory on Democratic Party breach: Hackers meant to leave Russia's mark. James Clapper  not ready to tell the truth identify source of Democratic email hack.

DEMOCRATS FALL FOR TRUMP’S RUSSIAN-HACK TROLLING: Sorry, Hillary: Friday’s Headlines Will Be About Trump.

One of Trump’s great skills is his ability to lure people into making complete fools of themselves. Like Larry Tribe, here:Former Obama mentor: Trump’s Russian hack ‘jokes’ could ‘constitute treason.’

But after all the wolf-crying, smears, and nastiness aimed at inoffensive GOP candidates, they deserve Trump.

UPDATE: Trump The DNC:

Donald Trump owned the news media on Day Three of Hillary’s Coronation. He even topped President Obama, who gave a wonderful speech that rallied Democrats behind Her Royal Clintoness. Nevertheless, Trump owned the news cycle.
He did so by holding a press conference. The press conference is now his favorite format. He is sharp, funny, spontaneous, and quick on the uptake. As is usually the case, at the press conference he fielded more hostile questions from the media in one hour than Hillary has in her entire pampered, Ivy League, first lady life.

Leaked DNC Voicemails Reveal Special Favors And Deal Making With Rich Donors In other words, business as usual. Hacked voicemails reveal Democratic rage against Bernie. How could anyone be upset at such a nice old man? All he really wants to do is take all your money away, and give to his friends. DNC staffers waiting for Wikileaks to drop the other shoe. In the meantime, the circular firing squad are loading their 30 bullet magazine clips.

“Hillary has committed serious felony violations of federal law. So naturally, the left is acting as if Trump committed ‘treason:’”

Meanwhile Judicial Watch keeps the pressure on, pushes for Clinton deposition. The Bureaucrat at the Center of Hillary’s Scandals "Patrick Kennedy has been linked to Benghazi and Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Here's how he survived years of GOP and FBI investigations."

In his role as under secretary for management and resources, Kennedy was the senior official overseeing both diplomatic security during the 2012 attacks in Benghazi and the records and IT departments during “emailgate” — the four-year period when Clinton used a private email server for official business.

Instapundit notices Ann Althouse noticing Hillary's resemblance to a famous Munch painting: Is there some reason why Hillary keeps doing this gaping-maw face?











An alien attempting to feign human emotions just might look like that. But it's not all unicorn farts, and Sasquatch dung: Hillary Obstructed Boko Haram's Terror Designation as Her Donors Cashed In and How Hillary Clinton Mainstreamed Al-Qaeda Fundraiser Abdurahman Alamoudi. Just think of what she can do as President.

Local girl makes the Australian news: CANDIDATE LOSES CRUCIAL CRUSTACEAN DEMOGRAPHIC

This image has gone viral on several different platforms, each one claiming the crab is from a different part of the country. One duplicate post on Imgur claims the crab hails from Florida, but in actuality, the first post that can be found has the crab originating from Maryland.

Althouse was on a roll yesterday: Does the girl need Daddy to carry her? She gets by with a little help from her "friends." The Hillary Clinton speech we'd like to hear: Our view

I, along with Chelsea and Bill, have appointed a new board to manage winding down the Clinton Foundation while I'm president. Its many good works will be continued by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. There will be no conflicts of interest, nothing to raise doubts about whether your president is working for you and for you alone.

Good luck with that. The Coming (And Hilarious) Democrat Implosion.  LA Times Tracking Poll Shows Trump's Lead Growing Through All Three Nights of the DNC, So Far,  Why These Union Members and Lifelong Democrats Are Voting Trump,  Voters want change, and nobody in Philly has credibly argued Clinton can deliver and Clinton campaign manager rejects poll numbers as bad as Trump's

Maybe Obama's nonsense speech will have some effect. I don't know.

But so far, as with her career of being a wife to a powerful man,  #ShesHasntDoneAnything. 

5 Reasons Obama's Big Speech Won't Help Hillary. At All. 1. The Speech Was About Obama. 2. Obama Lied About His Record. 3. Obama Lied About Hillary. 4. Obama’s Popularity Isn’t Transferable. 5. Obama Lied About What He’s Done To America.

At Instapundit #MAKEAMERICAEXPENSIVEAGAIN:

When you listen to Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech tonight — seriously, America, why? — expect to hear a lot of compassionate talk aimed at working Americans. Specifically, about the Democratic Party’s plans to raise the national minimum wage to $12/hour, force companies to offer paid parental leave, double-down on ObamaCare, expand Medicaid, and push for greater education subsidies.
Then, ask yourself: Are these policies going to make life less or more expensive for Americans?

As I wrote at the beginning of 2009 after watching DNC operatives with bylines infected with a serious case of what Virginia Postrel dubbed “Depression Lust,” and Tom Brokaw begging Obama for higher gas prices, you and I have a rendezvous with scarcity.

Or as Hillary warned us over a decade ago, “We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.”

But that's OK, she'll still have the Clinton Foundation to buy stuff for her.  Full List of Hillary’s Planned Tax Hikes Now that's depressing.

Chelsea or Ivanka? Whether Ivanka or Chelsea, America’s next first daughter will hold unusual power. This doesn't change my take on the election.

THE SEVEN STAGES OF BERNIE’S SUCKERS: “You poor saps. You went to bed with Bernie, and woke up with Hillary.” With many of Bernie's supporters thinking about Jill Stein, she has suddenly become a target of unfavorable media attention: The Boston Globe: A new low for Jill Stein and Salon: Jill Stein’s Ideas Are Terrible. She Is Not the Savior the Left Is Looking For. Bernie's Brown Shirts are not in a good mood: Dems in Disarray: James O'Keefe Trolls Berniemaniacs By Posing as a Hillarymaniac and JAMES O’KEEFE ASSAULTED – THROWN TO GROUND During Undercover Op at DNC and One of Clinton’s most aggressive surrogates, super PAC maestro David Brock, was chased through the halls of the Wells Fargo Center by two Sanders delegates after Bill Clinton’s Tuesday night speech, according to a Democrat who witnessed the spectacle. “They were yelling ‘you f—g jerk,’” said the Democrat. Heh!

So this will be the end for a week or so; maybe it will all calm down in a week at the Beach, but I doubt it.  I'll try to keep occasional digs in for the duration, but in the meantime, be sure to check out Wombat-socho's more or less daily  "In the Mailbox" updates, Larwyn's Linx, also more or less daily, and all the other fine sources in the side bar.

German Nudists Attacked by Islamists

A paradise for nudists: On the island of Usedom has
nudism (FKK) attracted already at GDR times the tourists.

Nudist bathers in Germany 'threatened by men who swam onto beach and shouted Allahu Akhbar'

Bathers at a nudist beach in northwest Germany say they were insulted and threatened by a group of "Mediterranean-looking men," one of whom reportedly shouted "Allahu Akhbar" at them.

Staff at the Freibad Xantener Südsee said they were forced to call the police after the men refused to stop abusing naked bathers at the resort, which is near the town of Wesel.

A seamless to turn brown, is important for many -
and that of course is only possible if one basks naked

One problem with nude bathing is there's no place for concealed carry; at least for many of us.

Eyewitnesses told the German newspaper Rheinische Post that the group "looked Mediterranean," had beards, and wore their hair long.

They are alleged to have shouted "Islamic remarks" including "Allahu Akhbar," according to another German newspaper, Junge Freiheit.

Germany is on high alert after a spate of lone wolf attacks in the country left 15 people dead and dozens more injured.

Berlin : In high summer weather , 

there could be enduring in recent days

 only in and around water . The locals and their

 guests went there with the whole family to 

" Mother Nature " around the Berlin lakes . 

Even the nudist beach of lido Müggelsee was 

besieged tight.

 I mean, if you don't like nudity, don't go to nude beaches.

It is understood that two of the men swam onto the nudist beach, while the other four arrived on foot.

When staff intervened and told the men to calm down, they left the beach and instead went to the resort's water ski facility, where they continued to abuse guests.

The incident, which took place on Wednesday, was not reported to German police until the following day.

They are investigating and have interviewed several eyewitnesses.

It comes amid heightened tension between refugees and locals in Germany due to a huge influx of asylum seekers from Syria and Afghanistan.

It's one thing to molest a thousand or so women in Cologne. It's another entirely to attack their nude beaches. Germans really like their nude beaches. I expect the Germans to start revolting against the government that is forcing them to accept such large numbers of Islamic refugees which are opposed to the values of Germany.

Beach Report 7/28/16

Skye dragged me off to the beach this afternoon. We drove down because the thermometer showed mid 90s. Thunderstorms were building over the Delmarva, but we were spared (although it's raining as I type this).









Cormorants guarding the entrance of the harbor; making sure no edible fish sneak in.

 Where's Pikachu?

 Not too bad once we got going. A little sweaty.

The Great Blue Heron resented our approach. I haven't seen many at the beach recently.

 Skye executing her classic shaking while standing in water trick, which mostly results in getting me wet.

"OK, I'm cool now, let's get on with it!"

One of the more elaborate sand castles.

Racism and Power

No, not political power, rather electric power. Environmentalist Social Justice Warriors are trying to prevent the siting of new electric power plants in Maryland on the grounds that too many are sited near minority communities: In Maryland, one community is taking a stand against environmental racism

A coalition of environmental groups in Brandywine, Maryland, have filed a federal civil rights complaint against the state for permitting a new gas-fired power plant in a largely African-American community that is already subjected to high levels of pollution. In response, there will be a federal investigation.

“For us, it’s environmental racism. It’s environmental slavery. It’s environmental terrorism,” said Kamita Gray, president of the Brandywine/TB Southern Region Neighborhood Coalition.

“We didn’t think that anybody in their right mind would think that it was okay to add two additional power plants within a 2.9-mile radius, and that’s exactly what was happening.”

I notice they missed Calvert Cliffs Power Plant, the clean nuke located out here in predominantly white Calvert County. Hmm.

The Panda Mattawoman plant  —  the subject of the investigation  —  was permitted to be built within view of a second planned power plant. Both will operate just down the road from a third power plant that is currently up and running, and within 15 miles of a fourth and fifth power plant  — one under construction, one already online.

If each permitted project lives to see its ribbon-cutting, that would put five power plants within a stone’s throw of Brandywine, a community where seven in 10 residents are African-American.

But it take a hell of an arm to throw one from Brandywine to the Chalk Point Plant out on the Patuxent River, which they're counting in the "statistic."

But let's look at that map again, and consider the population distribution of Maryland (right). I see some similarity here. It turns out that the % black population of Maryland correlates pretty strongly with the population density.

Now there are certain to be many factors involved in power plant siting, but proximity to the population served is certainly part of it. On that basis alone we would expect some substantial number of power plants to be located near predominantly black communities. Add availability materials and a work force (wouldn't want to employ too many of them after all), the cost of land, it's no surprise to see power plants located on the outskirts of population center. No racism involved.

Is Bay Improvement in the Air?

The Chesapeake Bay's water quality has improved significantly. We may now know why.

Researchers with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science have found a surprising explanation for the improved water quality in the Chesapeake Bay: cleaner air.

Professor Keith Eshleman (ESH'-el-men) in the center's Frostburg office said in a statement Tuesday that his team found nearly universal improvement in water quality since 1986 across the Upper Potomac River Basin. The area includes parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Eshleman says the improvement is mainly due to reduced levels of atmospheric nitrogen dioxides following implementation of the Clean Air Act in 1990. The law limited emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Eshleman says the reductions lowered the amount of excess nitrogen falling across the region and causing algae blooms in waterways.

That's the hype; now where's the data? From The EPA Chesapeake Bay Program (Click pic to enlarge):

The claim seems pretty dubious. Direct deposition to the tidal waters is small, and even halving it is not a big contributor. More importantly, forest and non-tidal water atmospheric deposition has actually grown slightly. It looks to me like agriculture and waste water and combined sewage overflow have contributed to the majority of the decrease in nitrogen pollution into the Bay.

On the Third Day Clinton.com Rises Again

The War between Wikileaks and the Hillary Clinton heated up yesterday, as Julian Assange admitted he hates Hillary Clinton personally for trying to jail him, and they released a number of voicemails hacked from the DNC and threatened/promised to release more. There doesn't appear to be anything particularly obnoxious in the recordings, but everybody at the DNC has to be wondering just what the hell they said on the phone over the last several years. Dem senator: DNC employees 'should all be fired' A good start as they say. Michael Godwin: DNC disarray is the foreshadowing of a Clinton administration. What an optimist.

Donald Trump created a media firestorm by asking/joking that Russia should release the 30,000 "personal" emails Hillary had deleted  off her super-secret highly secured (it was guarded by SS agents, after all) servers that the she kept the Chappaqua basement, or in her friends bathroom.

If Russia or any other country or person has Hillary Clinton's 33,000 illegally deleted emails, perhaps they should share them with the FBI!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2016

Democrat partisans quickly accused him of "asking for" or encouraging Russia to break into her stuff.

"It is amazing to me that Donald Trump apologizes for Vladimir Putin's Russia at every turn and is now recklessly inviting him to engage in cyber-attacks against our own home country."

Today’s liberal hot take: Let’s charge Trump with a crime for asking Russia to find Hillary’s e-mails Never mind the fact that the servers have been in FBI hands for about a year now, and are not connected to the internet. Conservatives pointed out that the damage, whatever it was, had already been done by Clinton, that  Donald Trump Just Got Hillary Clinton To Admit Her E-mails Are A ‘National Security Issue’, Hillary Clinton Suddenly Admitting Her Deleted Emails Contained All Sorts of Sensitive "National Security" Information, the Dumb Media Play Right Into Trump’s Hands On Russian Hacking and that it was the Democrats who had been known to work with Russia to defeat Republican candidates. Read Aces: Trump's Daily Outrageous Statement and Chesterton's Open Field

1) There was nothing secret in HRC's 30K deleted e-mails.
2) It's a "national security issue" if Russia gets them.

Pick one, Hillary camp.

— jimgeraghty (@jimgeraghty) July 27, 2016

Instapundit recalls that when  a Republican's (Sarah Palin's) emails were hacked the New York Times put them all out for the public, and asked for help combing through them for dirt.

Kucinich: Hillary's Foreign Policy 'Goes Beyond Bad Judgment': Iowahawk sums up Hillary's foreign policy experience:

.@toddlemmon Hillary has foreign policy experience like Typhoid Mary had nursing experience

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 27, 2016

The Clinton mafia gained a new problem as IRS Launches Investigation Of Clinton Foundation

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen referred congressional charges of corrupt Clinton Foundation “pay-to-play” activities to his tax agency’s exempt operations office for investigation, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

The request to investigate the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation on charges of “public corruption” was made in a July 15 letter by 64 House Republicans to the IRS, FBI and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). They charged the foundation is “lawless.”
. . .
The lawmakers charged the Clinton Foundation is a “lawless ‘pay-to-play’ enterprise that has been operating under a cloak of philanthropy for years and should be investigated.” . . . House Republicans singled out Laureate Education and Uranium One as two companies that seemed to have paid lavish sums to the Clintons and later received official government benefits.

But I'm sure nothing will happen before the election, and after the election? Speaking of Lawfare, Clinton campaigns move to force Trump super-PAC ad off TV. Hillary is no fan of the first amendment.

HotAir takes notice of the DNC plan to repay contributors with Federal Jobs:

Now, in truth these boards and commissions are routinely used to reward supporters. Usually, however, that isn’t handled by fundraising staff so as to avoid making it into an explicit quid pro quo. It would be handled as Clinton’s team handled the Fernando appointment, which still wound up embarrassing them. This is as blatant as it gets, and should result in serious probes of the White House’s connection to these pay-for-play fundraising efforts at the DNC. After all, Kaplan had to be sending this data to someone over there to make this scheme work.

Bill Clinton's prime time sonnet to Hillary got people talking. Juanita Broaddrick said Slick Willy raped her twice on the same day. But I doubt he has that kind of stamina anymore. Rachel Maddow found heterosexual talk in it, ‘Shocking and Rude’ The New York Times worries if Hillary Clinton Wins: What to Do With Bill? I'm sure he'll find someone or something to fill the time. After all, how much trouble could he get into? Although the media constantly pesters Ivanka Trump with questions about her father's affairs they won't ask Chelsea Clinton about her father's treatment of women. Johan Goldberg said the speech was a Wasted Opportunity.

The simple fact is that everyone expects husbands to speak well of their wives — even Bill Clinton. That was a box he could have checked in 10 minutes of his speech. Instead, he took the 9,072 minutes of his speech (by my rough estimate) reading Hillary Clinton’s C.V. The biggest problem is that the more he talked the weirder it was that he didn’t address the elephant(s) in the room. This is not a great marriage by any normal person’s definition, unless you measure them almost solely on the metric of political success.
. . .
Oh, and let’s return to the fact that Bill needed to humanize Hillary Clinton. The woman has been in public life for three decades and the highest best use of her former president husband is to spend an entire convention speech trying to convince voters that she’s human.

Insty: Slate: No, Bill Clinton’s Speech About Hillary Didn’t Address the Elephant in the Room.

But, you know, the cheating and the rape accusations and Hillary’s efforts to destroy women who spoke out didn’t really fit his theme for the evening.

Related: Bill Clinton leaves us wondering how he could have been such a louse to Hillary. “Much of America knows how Bill repeatedly cheated on Hillary during the allegedly blissful years he depicted tonight. His cheating isn’t a serious issue in this year’s race, but it provides an unfortunate gloss on his testimony about the marriage. Stated differently, for many Americans, it may have been the 800 pound gorilla in the convention hall. How does one square Bill’s love story with his serial adultery and predatory behavior towards women? It can, perhaps, be done. But only at a psychological level that neither Bill nor Hillary wants us to get anywhere near.”

At the Atlantic, Peter Beinart chided Bill for suggesting that American Muslims should love America and freedom and hate terror.

Whether Clinton meant to or not, he lapsed into Trumpism: the implication that Muslims are a class apart, deserving of special scrutiny and surveillance, guilty of terrorist sympathies until proven innocent.

Bill Clinton at the DNC: Hillary is a ‘change-maker’ who's never heard of Chesterton's Fence:

There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.

Speaking of inimical foreigners trying to influence our elections, the Hungarian born, Nazi collaborating, currency manipulating French felon, George Soros is backing Hillary with $25 million. I guess a woman can be known by the company she keeps as well as a man. Like a vampire, he rises again.

This is my shocked face: Bernie Sanders Leaves the Democratic Party. It was not clear to me he ever really joined. Berners not going quietly into that good night, threatening to try to scuttle Tim Kaines nomination. Haven't you silly kids figured out the fix is in yet? The populists had their night, but it’s Clinton’s party now, so just suck it up and vote for the *itch; it's for the kids! Just not you. Hillary Thought Police and the Bernie kids

So now it's time for Hillary's Thought Police — of Democratic Party operatives, political show ponies, and pro-Hillary pundits and talking heads — to begin the hard work of grinding those kids down.

OK, getting near the end now, but it's getting harder and harder to link them:

Democrats are just sure that Hillary will keep up the gun control push through November but if history is any guide she'll try to triangulate on this issue:

Hillary Clinton has taken both sides on this issue for as long as she’s been in politics. You’ll recall that Clinton was so “concerned” about protecting the rights of gun owners during her first run at the presidency that Barack Obama referred to her as Annie Oakley. But the political winds have changed a bit since then, and so have Clinton’s deeply held beliefs.

No Love Lost: John Podesta snaps at James O’Keefe: ‘Just get lost!’

Pelosi: Clinton struggling with white men because of 'guns,' 'gays' and 'God' Not a problem in her San Francisco district.

Israeli Flag Set on Fire Outside DNC Doesn't matter; the Jews will go for her anyway.

Obama’s Final Revenge: The Accidental Destruction of Hillary Clinton Read it all

Hillary Clinton, Tim Kaine Hold Different Positions on Abortion Funding but he submits:

“The senator is not personally for repeal of the Hyde Amendment,” a spokesman for the Clinton-Kaine campaign said Wednesday. He added: “But as he’s made clear, he is committed to carrying out Secretary Clinton’s agenda.”

The coin has Hillary's face; or it soon will.

Clinton's Image at Lowest Point in Two Decades 57% agree Hillary sucks, but some will vote for her anyway.

Box Office: Dinesh D'Souza's 'Hillary's America' Becomes Top Grossing Doc of 2016.



Doesn't he know stuff like this can get you put in jail?

Be sure to check out Wombat-socho's "In The Mailbox: 07.27.16" for goodies like Ending Gun Violence At The #DNC, Wikileaks Releases Hacked DNC Voicemails During Primetime Of #DemsInPhilly, Leftists Outraged After Trump Says Russia Should “Find” Hillary’s “Missing” E-Mails, Bloomberg For Hillary Vs. Giuliani For Trump Perfectly Summarized, The Ship Is Sinking – Corrupt Clinton Getting Negative Bounce During “Historic” Convention, Now Trails Trump 47-40, Leaked DNC E-Mails Show Payoffs For Donors – Now There’s A Surprise!, I Have A Problem With Peter Beinart’s Problem, Video – Democrats Burn Israeli Flags At National Convention ,
Wasserman Schultz, Moments After Being Booed Off Stage, Madre De Dios, Revenge Of The Kremlin, DNC E-Mail – Cambridge, MD Is “A Shitty Town”, E-Mails Show DNC Shamelessly Cheering Job Losses In North Carolina, and The Democratic Machine Chose Hillary Long Ago, But Why?

Also, check out the links at Maggie's Farm "Thursday morning links" and "Larwyn's Linx: Ha!---Trump Gets Hillary to Admit Her Deleted Emails Were a National Security Issue"

I've Got to Get Skye to Learn This

Venezuela Reaches Its Bus Stop

For socialists, democracy is like a bus line. When you get to the stop you want, you just get off. Venezuela’s socialist government seeks to ban opposition party

The grasping socialist government of Venezuela is doing what grasping socialist governments do when things get desperate: accusing the opposition of crimes. Yahoo News reports Nicolas Maduro’s government is actually moving to have the entire opposition party banned because of alleged voter fraud:

The Venezuelan government asked electoral authorities Tuesday to ban the opposition coalition seeking to oust President Nicolas Maduro in a recall vote, accusing them of massive fraud.
Ratcheting up the tension in a country pushed to the brink of collapse by an economic crisis, Maduro’s camp hit back with a vengeance on the same day the opposition was hoping to get a green light to go ahead with its bid to hold a recall referendum.
“We have just asked for the cancellation of the registration of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), for being involved in the worst vote fraud in the country’s history,” said Jorge Rodriguez, Maduro’s designated aide to monitor the recall process.

The opposition party has been trying to get the government to approve a referendum on removing Maduro, something which is allowed under the country’s constitution. The first step in that process was collecting enough signatures to start the referendum process. Only 200,000 signatures were required for that initial step and, back in May, the opposition party turned in 1.8 million signatures, way more than what was required.

Yahoo News reports the socialists in power are now claiming to have found 11,000 signatures which they claim belong to dead people, children or convicts. The opposition disputes this but even if it’s true what about the other 1,789,000 signatures? Are all of those invalid too? Based on a claim to have invalidated a tiny fraction of the signatures the socialists are attempting to ban the entire opposition party.

Given their busted attempts to railroad Ted Stevens, Rick Perry, Tom Delay and Bob McDonnell out of office and into jail, can anyone doubt that the socialists democrats are willing to try similar stunts in our country?

That Sinking Feeling You Get . . .

When somebody tries to feed you a line of bullshit about rising sea levels: Sea level rise poses threat to military bases in Bay

A new Union of Concerned Scientists study evaluated the risks of climate-induced inundation at a sample of 18 military bases on the East and Gulf of Mexico coasts. Five are in the Bay’s tidal regions.

Well,  here's your first problem. The Union of Concerned Scientists have been a reliable purveyor of propaganda and an unreliable source of science since the '60s when they set out on their crusade to unilaterally disarm the United States nuclear program in the midst of the Cold War.

Naval Station Norfolk, the largest such base in the world, faces not only rising seas but subsiding land. A nearby air and army installation, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, is also slowly sinking.

Between shifts in land and sea, the naval base at Hampton Roads could experience rising waters of as much as two feet by 2050 and 6.9 feet by 2100, the union projects. And in a category 1 hurricane, the weakest, the storm surge could wash over a quarter of the base by 2050, up from roughly a tenth today, according to the study.

UCS used the mid-range and highest sea level rise projections of the 2014 National Climate Assessment and projected the impact of storm surge using a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration computer model.

The report suggests that the Pentagon ought to be preparing its installations to deal with the highest sea level rise projections because risk reduction is a top priority for military assets.

A Navy official said the service is responding. Brian Ballard, Navy Region Mid-Atlantic community plans liaison, said Naval Station Norfolk is raising the height of existing piers and retrofitting them with double decks, to make it easier to access utilities and reduce damage inflicted during “heavy weather.”

The Navy is incorporating climate change impacts in all its installation master plans, Ballard said, and the Defense Department is updating its building codes for new construction and renovation to reflect the risks.

However, the Pentagon’s sea level rise projections are significantly lower than those in the UCS study. The DoD forecasts rising seas ranging between one-quarter inch and one inch by 2050 at Naval Station Norfolk. Ballard declined to comment on the UCS projection that sea level could rise 1.4 feet to 2.0 feet by 2050.

Here's the truth of sea level rise in the Chesapeake Bay region. Right around 3 mm per year (including settling), with evidence for an increase in the rate in the "warming" (post 1950s) era. To get to 1.4 - 2 feet by 2050 would require a nearly catastrophic increase, that no real mechanism exists to provide.

That difference notwithstanding, Naval Station Norfolk does have tidal gates and other protections against storms that UCS did not factor into its study. For the longer term, Ballard said the Navy is not planning to install massive sea walls and gates akin to those used in the Netherlands, but has not ruled out any protective measure. The potential cost of adaptations cannot be estimated today, but whatever the enormous investment, it could be spread over time as infrastructure is repaired and rebuilt, Ballard noted.

And the answer, if it occurs, is relatively simple. Raise the level of the land by adding fill. and raise the buildings. For runways, ordinary repaving probably matches sea level rise.  Look what's occurred with Manhattan Island since it was settled by Europeans. Despite rising sea level, Manhattan has continued to expand. People will protect land that is valuable to them.