Joy Called the Cops on Corey for the Butt Slap

Joy Villa: I Reported Corey Lewandowski To The Police For Slapping My Ass

Politico talked to a friend of Villa’s who saw what happened and corroborated her account. According to Villa, a Trump superfan, she and Lewandowski were at a holiday party in late November at the Trump hotel in D.C. when she went over and asked for a photo with him. He seemed standoffish so she backed off, but then another partygoer nudged her towards him and the photo was duly taken…

Here’s the photo of @CLewandowski_ seconds before he slapped my ass, I told him to stop, and then he did it again. I was shocked and embarrassed by his behavior. https://t.co/61EYvOG4e9 pic.twitter.com/a8NgLnvCEZ

— Joy Villa (@Joy_Villa) December 23, 2017

…at which point Lewandowski smacked her right on the ass. “I said, ‘Watch it.’ Half-joking, I said, ‘I can report you for sexual harassment,” Villa told Politico. To which Lewandowski allegedy replied, “Go ahead, I work in the private sector” — and smacked her ass again.

Villa said the whole incident with Lewandowski was over before she had a chance to collect her thoughts. “Corey laughed in my face and ran away,” she said. “It felt like it was all a big joke to him.”
“It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever experienced,” Villa added. “It was shocking and gross.” Villa said she had been enjoying herself at the party. But after the experience with Lewandowski, she said she felt deflated. “It was like my bubble burst,” she said. “It’s how every woman feels when she is sexually harassed.”

Rule 5 Saturday - Coming Up Daisies, Daisy Lowe

For a belated  Boxing Day Rule 5 gift, I give you Daisy Lowe:

Daisy Rebecca Lowe (born 27 January 1989) is an English fashion model who has modelled for editorial photo shoots, commercial advertising campaigns and at fashion shows. She is the daughter of Pearl Lowe, the singer-songwriter turned textile and fashion designer, and Gavin Rossdale, lead singer for Bush.

Until 2004, Lowe was believed to be the daughter of Pearl Lowe's ex-lover Bronner Handwerger, but a paternity test revealed that her godfather, Bush singer/guitarist Gavin Rossdale, was, in fact, her biological father. Her mother Pearl Lowe wrote about the situation in her book, All That Glitters. Daisy's paternity was not questioned early on, and Pearl listed "Bronner Lowe" on Daisy's birth certificate without informing Lowe that he may not be the father. At age 15, Daisy found out neither Bronner nor her mother shared her O-type blood. She mistakenly thought that one parent must share her blood type and that Bronner could not be her father (based on a common misunderstanding of blood type inheritance). Daisy confronted her mother, who admitted to a one-night stand with Rossdale. Daisy and Pearl's lawyers arranged a paternity test, which Rossdale at first refused. Results confirmed Rossdale was her biological father.

 Ooopsy!

Lowe began modelling at the age of two, and did some photoshoots when she was 12 and 14 years old. At 15, she was approached by a talent scout in Camden Town and, as a result, she signed with Select, a London modelling agency.
. . .
In 2011, Lowe went topless for Esquire and nude for Playboy.  Also in 2011, she was featured in the music video for Miles Kane's "Come Closer".

Linked by William Teach at Pirate's Cove in the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links. Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Monday: Linda Ronstadt" and "FMJRA 2.0: I Can’t Let Go" ready at The Other McCain.

Reason #5869 That Trump Was Elected

WINNING: ISIS has lost 98 percent of its territory — mostly since Trump took office, officials say.

The massive gains come after years of “onerous” rules, when critics say the Obama administration “micromanaged” the war and shunned a more intensive air strategy that could have ended the conflict much sooner.
“The rules of engagement under the Obama administration were onerous. I mean what are we doing having individual target determination being conducted in the White House, which in some cases adds weeks and weeks,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, the former head of U.S. Air Force intelligence. “The limitations that were put on actually resulted in greater civilian casualties.”

And this is an important reminder:

The plans were laid out but never given the green light by Obama because he preferred to blame terrorism on climate change and a lack of jobs. https://t.co/p7irfdNa6w

— Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) December 28, 2017

Or as Gen. George Patton once said, “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” Obama had a good plan years ago, and chose to execute it never. Trump took the same plan and executed it immediately.

The difference is what is known as “winning.”

The generals under Obama formulated a plan to execute, and finish the war on ISIS. Obama didn't execute it because he, deep down, really didn't want to see America victorious. He really didn't want America to be great again.

Linked by William Teach at Pirate's Cove in the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links.

Downhill Into Another Frosty Friday

It's still ridiculously cold here.

Linked by William Teach at Pirate's Cove in the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links. Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Monday: Linda Ronstadt" ready at The Other McCain. Linked by Evi L. Bloggerlady in "Cheers: 2018 is coming!", "When 100,000 Iranian Women Protested Head Scarfs", "Celebrate National Bacon Day", "Camera Obscura: New Years Resolution with bonus Zooey Deschanel and Ella Fitzgerald", "Darkest Hour: A Review",  "Gary Sinise is Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade",  "Polar Bear Plunge and New Years Rule 5" and  "Pentatonix: White Winter Hymnal."

#NotMeToo: Woman Resents Not Being Harassed by Charlie Rose

You just can't make an SJW happy: Black Woman Accuses Charlie Rose of Racism For NOT Sexually Harassing Her

My Experience at Charlie Rose Went Beyond Sexism

As one powerful man after another faces allegations of sexual misconduct, we’re still not talking about the ramifications for black women.

BY REBECCA CARROLL, DEC 4, 2017

In 1997, I joined the production team of Charlie Rose’s popular interview show. I was the only black journalist on staff. At the time, there was little to no recognition of what it meant to be black and female in a workplace dominated by white men. Twenty years later, in this watershed moment of examination and reckoning as one powerful white man after another is disgraced following allegations of sexual misconduct ranging from harassment to assault, we’re still not talking about the ramifications for black women—or the broader connection to structural racism in America.
… And while many of us on staff were subject to Charlie’s unsolicited shoulder massages and physical intimidation, as he towered above us at a height over six feet tall, the women Charlie preferred and preyed upon—at least that I witnessed—were white. It was an environment that all but erased me, while simultaneously exploiting me as a black woman. …
In America, the most desirable woman in the room—the most sacred, coveted, enshrined woman—has always been the white woman. …
To be clear, I’m not suggesting it would have been preferable for Charlie to have preyed upon me, too—but rather, his sexualization of white women was a manifestation of gendered power dynamics in the same way that his not sexualizing me was an expression of racialized power dynamics.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

. . . Like a Fish Needs Hiking Boots

Snakeheads Studied to Learn their “Walk”

Among wild creatures with strange legends attached to their name, the northern snakehead is said by some to be a fish that walks. The truth is this unwanted invasive species does move on land, if not by actually walking – and figuring out how they do it has captured the attention of one researcher.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is helping Noah Bressman, a Ph.D. candidate at Wake Forest University, in his study of northern snakeheads’ mysterious locomotion.

“The department was excited when Noah requested to study overland movement of northern snakeheads,” Fishing and Boating Services Biologist Joseph Love said. “We were happy to support his thesis research by providing him information on snakehead biology and management, obtaining specimens and providing him laboratory space to conduct his research.”

With the ability to remain outside of water for days, the northern snakehead can traverse most terrain. Unlike other fish species, like the mudskipper, which use their fins to propel them forward out of the water, the northern snakehead does things a little differently.

“(Northern snakeheads) make almost the same movements as soldiers,” Bressman said. “Soldiers crawl by moving their leg and opposite arm to move.”

Northern snakeheads do this by moving their back fin and head in opposite directions propelling them forward. Yet, the muscle movements that snakeheads use to traverse terra firma has not been fully understood.

But does studying it allow you to do anything about it? Bueller?

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Monday: Linda Ronstadt" ready at The Other McCain.

Bay Program Giving Bucks to Farmers

EPA Awards Pennsylvania $3.7 Million for Bay Restoration

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced last week that it is providing $3.7 million to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to implement best management practices on agricultural lands in Pennsylvania’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

These practices will reduce the loads of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution going to the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

“The Chesapeake Bay Program is an excellent example of cooperative federalism at work,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. “This funding will help Pennsylvania accelerate its progress in improving local water quality and restoring the Chesapeake Bay.”

“Clean water is a top priority for EPA,” said EPA regional administrator Cosmo Servidio. “This funding will help Pennsylvania continue putting the necessary pollution control measures in place to restore local waters and the Chesapeake Bay.

“In addition, it helps to demonstrate our commitment in working with the agricultural community where we see first-hand the successes and challenges of growing food and having local streams, as well as ensuring available water supplies, to support our farming communities,” Servidio said.

It's not a lot of money, in terms of what's being spent on the Bay cleanup (estimated to be around $25 billion), but one of my criticisms of the Bay Program has been that when it comes to agriculture they've been much quicker with the stick than the carrot. I hope this helps to bring a more positive relationship between the farmers and the regulators. Is this a result of a change in the Trump administration? I'm inclined to think it might be.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

It bottomed out at 14 F around 6 AM here this morning. That's not Minnesota cold (-37), but for Slower Maryland it's pretty cold, and winds at 15 kts NE don't help a bit.



Stick around for the second half.

It's cold all over the county. I got this from Ted this morning:

It shows us in single digits due to wind chill. Miami looks pretty good right now.

Skye still wants a walk. We'll start negotiating soon.

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Monday: Linda Ronstadt" ready at The Other McCain.

Reason #5868 That Trump Was Elected

Cowbell: Consumer Spending Beats Forecasts; Holiday Retail Sales Jump 4.9%, Biggest Rise Since 2011

Consumer spending -- a key proxy for consumer confidence -- beat the projections, which already predicted a rise.

Alas, more money chasing the same number of goods will spark some inflation.

Incomes rose as well, another factor for increased inflation.

U.S. consumer spending rose more than forecast in November and the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge advanced to an eight-month high, signs of economic vitality that should keep the central bank on track to raise interest rates gradually in 2018.
Purchases rose 0.6 percent after a 0.2 percent advance that was less than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed Friday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for a 0.5 percent gain. Incomes rose 0.3 percent, slightly below projections, though the three-month gain was the fastest since early 2017.

The boost in consumer spending continued through the holidays:

U.S. year-end holiday retail sales rose 4.9% compared to the same period last year, a welcome gift to U.S. retailers amid new signs of consumer confidence.
Online retail shopping similarly increased 18.1%, while overall consumer buying during the holiday period set a record for dollars spent, according to the sales report issued by Mastercard SpendingPulse.

Femen, Vatican Repeat Babynapping Ritual

Via Wombat-socho's "In The Mailbox: 12.26.17" Legal Insurrection brings us Topless Feminist Steals Baby Jesus From Vatican Nativity Scene AGAIN

An activist for FEMEN, a misguided Ukranian feminist outfit, the protester was tackled and covered by Vatican police before she could run off with baby Jesus. Reuters reports:

A topless activist from the feminist group Femen tried to snatch the statue of the baby Jesus from the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square on Monday but was stopped by police as she grabbed it.
A Reuters photographer said the woman jumped over guard rails and rushed onto the larger-than-life Nativity scene shouting “God is woman”. She had the same slogan painted on her bare back.

Curious that a Ukrainian woman protesting in the Vatican, surrounded by Italy has her slogan written in English, isn't it? Almost like the Vatican is not the intended target.

A Vatican gendarme stopped her from taking the statue and she was detained. The incident happened about two hours before Pope Francis delivered his Christmas message to some 50,000 people in the square.
The group’s website identified her as Alisa Vinogradova and called her a “sextremist”. It says the goal of the group, which was founded in Ukraine, is “complete victory over patriarchy”.

FEMEN activists consider their breasts the ultimate protest weapon and their goal is simple: complete victory over the patriarchy, according to their website . . .

However, this is not the first year Femen has attempted the baby snatch:

Anyway, FEMEN tried the same stunt back in 2014 with similar results, though better photos. . .

If I was the Vatican cops, I'd have a roomful of baby dolls to bring out one after another if necessary. I'll bet they can have more dolls than Femen can sneak women into the the crowd.

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Monday: Linda Ronstadt" and "FMJRA 2.0: I Can’t Let Go" ready at The Other McCain.

Putin Foe Succumbed to Acute Viagra Poisoning

Well, it could be have been an accident! Russian billionaire whose death while out jogging sparked Putin conspiracy theories died after taking VIAGRA

Whistleblower Alexander Perepilichnyy, 44, was found dead outside his Surrey home in November 2012.

Before his death he had been helping an investment firm to uncover a £150 million Russian money-laundering operation.

Rumours quickly circulated that the billionaire had been targeted and a lawyer named as a "candidate for the killing" by Mr Perepilichnyy's insurers has spoken out to protest his innocence, The Times reports.

Andrei Pavlov said he did not believe Mr Perepilichnyy had been killed adding that traces of the sex performance drug had been found in the dead man's system.

He told The Times: "I find it an incredible pity that the story of the death of Mr Perepilichnyy, despite the fervent plea for tact from his widow, is getting a dirty rinsing by certain individuals.

"Unfortunately, the cause of death was clearly established during the inquest that took place in June 2017: acute heart failure during heavy physical exertion, while having signs of Viagra, alcohol and coffee in his blood after spending the weekend in the company of a Ukrainian model, far from his wife."

A forensic toxicologist reportedly confirmed that "sildenafil" had been found in the businessman's system, but the brand name Viagra was not used at an inquest into his death.

Buzzfeed News reported that Mr Perepilichnyy had spent the days before his death in Paris with Ukranian fashion designer Elmira Medynska, who said her companion had appeared worried.

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Monday: Linda Ronstadt" ready at The Other McCain. Linked by Evi L. Bloggerlady in "Vintage New Years Eve", "Julie Andrews: Auld Lang Syne", "Shakshuka and Cultural Genocide", "Rose Marie RIP", "Will 2018 be an excellent year?", "Wind River: A Review", "Cheers: 2018 is coming!",  "When 100,000 Iranian Women Protested Head Scarfs", "Celebrate National Bacon Day", "Camera Obscura: New Years Resolution with bonus Zooey Deschanel and Ella Fitzgerald", "Darkest Hour: A Review", "Gary Sinise is Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade", "Polar Bear Plunge and New Years Rule 5" and "Pentatonix: White Winter Hymnal."

Bay Oysters Evolve Resistance to Diseases?

Oysters starting to show signs of resistance to Dermo, MSX

. . . on the heels of a major oyster die-off in the Chesapeake Bay attributed in large part to a mysterious new disease called MSX. Since then, the lab has been engaged in a long-running effort in both Maryland and Virginia to track and understand MSX and another disease, Dermo.

Both are single-celled parasites that target oysters, but uncharacteristically can kill their hosts — in a matter of weeks, if infections are high enough. Dermo has been in the Bay since the 1940s, and is believed to have been introduced by the importation of seed oysters from elsewhere. MSX first popped up in Delaware Bay in 1957 and the Lower Bay two years later — how it’s transmitted remains unknown.

Both have repeatedly ravaged Chesapeake oysters over the last five decades, and remain a major concern for the future of the estuary’s keystone shellfish, which is a source of income for watermen, a prolific water filterer and a builder of reef habitat for other fish and aquatic creatures.

Hundreds of oysters collected by Maryland Department of Natural Resources biologists during their annual reef survey are brought to the lab every fall. Once there, tissue samples are taken and processed, with cross-sections of the animal sliced thinner than a human hair, then stained purple, pink and blue-black and studied under a microscope.
. . .
Once a scourge of the Bay, especially its saltier waters, MSX has receded, and though still found infecting some oysters in some places — 11 percent on average in Maryland last year — it’s nothing like it used to be.

Dermo, on the other hand, remains widespread — nearly two-thirds of the oysters collected throughout Maryland’s part of the Bay in the fall of 2016 had it. But Dermo doesn’t appear to be as lethal as in the past, either.

“The trend that we’re really seeing is that the mortality consequences of those disease pressures seem to be fairly consistently less than they were in previous years,” said Chris Dungan, a DNR research scientist who oversees the Oxford lab’s oyster evaluations.

Although there’s no direct evidence, Dungan said he and others think that the decline in dead oysters found in surveys “reflects increasing resistance to those diseases… by the process of natural selection.”

Ryan Carnegie, Dungan’s counterpart at VIMS, said that although it’s largely circumstantial, he also sees evidence that oysters have developed resistance to becoming infected by MSX. And there are indications, he added, that they’ve developed an ability to tolerate Dermo without succumbing to it.

With oysters producing literally millions of eggs each spawning season, there is plenty of opportunity for natural selection to work on the oyster population. Being able to survive the presence of the diseases is a prerequisite to a successful restoration of oyster populations in the Bay. We're not going to be able the cure the diseases, but we might be able to encourage the evolution of disease resistance in the oysters.

Maryland Moves to Clean Baltimore Harbor Scrapyard

Baltimore scrapyard fined $50K for releasing oil, toxic metals into Patapsco River

Maryland environmental regulators have fined a South Baltimore scrapyard $50,000 for allowing toxic metals and oil to wash into the Patapsco River.

The agreement comes nearly two years after officials first found that the company was violating its permits.

As part of a settlement with the Maryland Department of the Environment, the Baltimore Scrap Corp. also agreed to spend at least $750,000 on systems to filter stormwater runoff that washes over its property and into the harbor near Fort McHenry.

It's good to see that the bulk of the money is being spent to remediate the site, rather than to feed our bloated state government.

Baltimore Harbor/Patapsco River is one of three areas of Chesapeake Bay designed a region of special concern for toxic substances, both metals and organics. The other two are the Elizabeth River in the Norfolk, Virginia area, and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. Baltimore has a metals problem in part because of a historic releases from long established metal refining and processing industry.

Your Morning Shoe Ad

Starring Rule 5 winner Cara Delevingne:



Found at Althouse:

A Jimmy Choo shoe ad with a woman walking down the street and men saying "nice shoes, lady"...

... is denounced — because it's "catcalling."

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Monday: Linda Ronstadt" ready at The Other McCain. Linked by Evi L. Bloggerlady in "Vintage New Years Eve", "Julie Andrews: Auld Lang Syne", "Shakshuka and Cultural Genocide", "Rose Marie RIP", "Will 2018 be an excellent year?", "Wind River: A Review", "Cheers: 2018 is coming!",  "When 100,000 Iranian Women Protested Head Scarfs", "Celebrate National Bacon Day", "Camera Obscura: New Years Resolution with bonus Zooey Deschanel and Ella Fitzgerald", "Darkest Hour: A Review", "Gary Sinise is Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade", "Polar Bear Plunge and New Years Rule 5" and "Pentatonix: White Winter Hymnal."

Last Fishing Day of 2017

I got a text from Pete last night that he was going to Buzz's Marina to pull the boat for the year and take it to be worked on, and hinted that we just might do a little fishing while we were there. He still had 530 lbs of commercial quota to fill by the and of the year.

I accepted, of course, and rode down with him, arriving rather late, at 10:30. Winds were light, but it was cold, 31 at the time, reaching 36 by midday. But between my float coat, gloves, long underwear and the heater in the cabin, I was not cold.

Pete had several calls telling him where fish were, and we picked the one with gannets. It was probably a 12 mile run, but when we arrived, you could see birds swirling and diving in bunches, gannets mixed with large gulls, showing that big bait was being pushed up near the surface. My first two fish.

Fishing was nothing short of awesome, and we soon had 87 fish, averaging around 6 lbs and no need to move very far or very often to find them. There were 3 coolers like this one.

We left when Pete estimated his remaining quota was filled, and we were back in the creek with light to spare to tag and load the fish.

That ought to hold me 'til next year.

Rips season starts in January.

UPDATE: Pete called this morning with the report from the check in. 591 lbs, within the allowed "overage" of his quota, for an average of 6.8 lbs per fish in four hours of fishing.

Reason #5867 That Trump Was Elected

The First Black President? Black Unemployment Levels Near All-Time Lows

This racist president is oppressing vulnerable communities of color with steady work.

Here's a story you were very unlikely to see on CNN, MSNBC, in the New York Times or the Washington Post. As much as low unemployment numbers are a non-story for much of the MSM as long as there’s a Republican in the White House, one specific segment of the employment forces is making inroads rarely, if ever, seen before. Unemployment among black Americans has been hovering at or just above seven percent for past couple of months. That's still shamefully worse than the overall unemployment figure, but to put it in context, it’s also very close to the best it’s been since Nixon was in office.

It's nearing the low levels achieved during the tech-fueled Clinton Bubble in 2000, and even the very low rate reached under Nixon.

As far as the general unemployment rate, that is also at a seventeen year low. Again, dating to about the time of the Clinton Bubble.

Thirteen states have announced a record low unemployment rates, the lowest they've been since the BLS began tracking state figures in 1976.The job market 'get much tighter. In October the U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 4.1%--the lowest level since December 2000, when it hit 3.9%. October also marked a ­record-setting 85th straight month of job gains, dating back to 2010. That job creation is reaching into virtually every corner of the country. This year a remarkable 12 states have recorded their lowest unemployment rates since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking state figures in 1976, and California matched its previous low.

By the way, remember when the unemployment rate fell under Bush, but the media would always dispute that figure citing the more "realistic" U-6 number (which includes people who have given up looking for work)?

And then remember how many times I complained the media forgot all about the U-6 number under Obama, only citing the more-generous, better-looking U-3 rate?

Well guess what: The U-6 number is back, baby!

Now, this article was actually published in April -- I didn't notice it then. (Note the unemployment rate is listed as 4.5%; it's now 4.1%.)

But look how fast the media went from ignoring the U-6 under Obama to crowing about it under Trump. It literally only took the media three months to rediscover the U-6.
. . .
One more thing: If you search for "unemployment rate" under "news" on google, you will struggle to find much mention of the US' very low unemployment rate -- almost as if Google is hiding stories about it as #FakeNews which is also #Racist.

The job of the media is to cover the important stories, with a pillow, until they stop moving.

And Yet Another Merry Christmas

Mmmm, chocolate!



Ola Wanserska:

And some NSFW.

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Monday: Linda Ronstadt" ready at The Other McCain.

Have Yourself a Very PC Christmas

Or else. Some people are just not content to leave Christmas to the masses, they have to try and ruin it:

From England: Santa is an overweight binge-drinker at risk of mental health problems, warn doctors 

Christmas is the season to make merry...but not for Father Christmas according to Scrooge doctors.

Children should not leave sherry for Santa Claus this Christmas Eve because he is an overweight binge-drinker at risk of mental health problems, the head of the Royal College of GPs has warned.
. . .
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairwoman of the RCGP, said his poor diet and lifestyle had left Santa at risk of host of debilitating conditions.

It is likely, said Professor Stokes-Lampard, that Santa is suffering from alcoholism, work related stress, gout and sleep deprivation.

But in his drunken stupor, he is moving away from the North Pole, because of, as usual, global warming:  Gov’t Website Claims Santa Will Move To The South Pole To Escape Global Warming

A Canadian government website claims Santa Claus signed an international agreement to relocate his workshop to the South Pole to escape the effects of man-made global warming in the Arctic.

The website for Policy Horizons Canada, a government website, notes that due to “rapidly melting Arctic ice and growing human operations in the North, Santa Claus has signed an agreement with the International community to relocate his village next year to operate in an exclusive zone in the South Pole.”
. . .
“Santa’s relocation agreement marks the first time that the international community agrees on a common legal definition of climate change that includes refugees as corporations, as well as individuals,” reads the Horizons website.

“This deal is expected to lead to the deployment of a global climate change refugee visa system that in the near future could help to more easily relocate individuals and corporations facing the impacts of climate change,” the website continues.

And apparently, Global Warming is on the verge, of maybe, kinda sorta, being a threat to Santa's Reindeer!  Slash CO2 Emissions or the Reindeer Get It

Must be Christmas, time for the traditional MSM stories about climate change melting Santa’s home in the Arctic.

Climate change in Lapland: The impact of global warming in the land of Santa Claus
Environmental changes in the far north are having disastrous effects on the region’s indigenous people and tourism industry
Josh Gabbatiss Science Correspondent Saturday 23 December 2017 16:24 GMT
Lapland occupies a happy space in the popular imagination as a winter wonderland, occupied by reindeer, elves and Father Christmas.
The real life Lapland, however, is increasingly facing up to the grim reality of global warming.
Research has revealed the disproportionate impact of climate change in the Arctic, where temperatures are currently rising at double the rate of the global average.
The far north is bearing the brunt of global warming, and, as much of Lapland’s population relies on its polar climate for their livelihoods, the effects are starting to be felt.

…
Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-lapland-santa-claus-father-christmas-reindeer-global-warming-a8113041.html

But the busy Beavers are threatening to take over! Arctic Restoration — Go Beavers!

Oh those busy, busy beavers — aren’t they great? There’s the little guy in the corner of the photo, he and his pals built that dam that slowed the stream and produced a large shallow beaver pond. The American beaver is a keystone species on the North American continent in that modifies the environment in such a way that the overall ecosystem builds upon the change. The ponds, wetlands, and meadows formed by beaver dams increases bio-diversity and improves overall environmental quality.

This lovely active creature has been accused — in the NY Times Science /Climate section by Kendra “Gloom is My Beat” Pierre-Louis [seriously, that’s her real Twitter handle] — in an article with the anti-Darwinian title of “Beavers Emerge as Agents of Arctic Destruction”.

This is a marvelous piece of CAGW propaganda based on the AGU Poster presented by Ben Jones, Ken Tape and others at the recent 2017 AGU meeting in New Orleans. The poster made a splash in the press, including an article in the blog Earther with the amusing title of “Hordes of Beavers Are Invading Alaska’s Tundra”.

It is true that the beaver are making a comeback in the great northern reaches of North America. It is not, however news, and has been well discussed in the literature since as early as 2009.

President Trump said that people were free to say "Merry Christmas" again after years of public presure to seculariz Christmas, and liberals rushed to prove him right:

President Donald Trump sent out Christmas Eve wishes by praising himself for “leading the charge against the assault” on the phrase “Merry Christmas,” in yet another example of the president claiming to have won a dispute that never really existed.

Trump has repeatedly hammered on the false notion that American citizens were somehow unable to freely say the season’s greeting until he became president. Even a pro-Trump TV ad thanks the president for ending a war on Christmas that didn’t exist in the first place.

I never minded people wishing me a Merry Christmas UNTIL Trump was President.

— Gladstone (@WGladstone) December 25, 2017

Meanwhile, the Christmas lights in Venezuela are dimming, because of socialism. Along with all the other lights, because an oil rich country operating under that system can't afford to keep them on.

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Monday: Linda Ronstadt" ready at The Other McCain.

Merry Christmas to All!

I hope the day treats you well.

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Monday: Linda Ronstadt" ready at The Other McCain.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

Nothing says Christmas better than cigarettes!

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Monday: Linda Ronstadt" ready at The Other McCain.

Terror in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Jihad

Call it a hunch, but I don’t think he’s Amish:

Hours after three shootings resulted in a trooper shot and the suspect killed, police have released additional details about the shooter.
Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico identified the shooter as 51-year-old Ahmed Aminamin El-Mofty at a news conference late Friday night.
Though details about El-Mofty are being unraveled by investigators, Marsico said it “certainly appears that there’s no doubt” he was targeting police officers.
Marsico said El-Mofty initially fired “several shots” at a police car belonging to a Capitol Police officer at 4:10 p.m. in the area of 3rd and Walnut streets. One shot came “very close” to hitting the officer, but the officer was able to escape uninjured.
El-Mofty then fired several shots at a Pennsylvania State Police trooper about 30 minutes after the initial shooting.
“She was struck by one of those shots, but is doing well,” Marsico said, adding the trooper is expected to make a full recovery.
Marsico added the trooper was chased by El-Mofty to the Allison Hill section of the city to the area of 17th and Mulberry Streets, where he opened fire at officers with two handguns.
Officers returned fire, shooting and killing El-Mofty. . . .
El-Mofty also has ties to the Middle East, and traveled there recently, according to Marsico.
Marsico declined to comment on if Friday’s shootings were an act of terrorism, saying the motive was still under investigation.
“Obviously, we don’t want people to run wild in speculation,” he said.

Yeah, just a guy from the Middle East trying to kill cops in Pennsylvania. We wouldn’t want to “run wild in speculation,” right?

And yes, DHS is calling it terrorism:  Homeland Security Official Confirms Friday Attacks on Police in Harrisburg Were Terrorism

Last night, Acting DHS Press Secretary Tyler Houlton posted a statement on Twitter not only confirming Friday's incident was a terror attack, but also identifying that El-Mofty's naturalization as a U.S. citizen came through chain migration.

The Department of Homeland Security can confirm the suspect involved in a terror attack in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and another suspect arrested on terror-related money laundering charges were both beneficiaries of extended family chain migration.
Ahmed Amin El-Mofty was a was a naturalized U.S. citizen who was admitted to the United States from Egypt on a family-based immigrant visa. El-Mofty was killed yesterday in a shootout after allegedly opening fire and targeting police at multiple locations in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The long chain of migration that led to the suspect's admission to the United States was initiated years ago by a distant relative of the suspect. One of the most recent links in that chain was an extended family member admitted into the United States from Egypt on an F24 visa.

Houlton corrects earlier information that El-Mofty had come from Turkey.

El-Mofty's estranged wife, who is also from Egypt, believed he moved overseas after their separation in 2011, she told local media yesterday. Early reports indicated that El-Mofty had recently made a trip to the Middle East.

Neighbors also told media a long stream of men would visit the Camp Hill home, and that immigration authorities had raided the property last year.

When one neighbor was asked whether he could identify El-Mofty coming to the home, he replied, "There's so many guys coming in an out it's impossible to say."

They should have fun going through his phone and social media.

A Good Start

Inside the mass exodus at the EPA

More than 700 workers have left the rapidly shrinking Environmental Protection Agency since President Trump took office — including more than 200 scientists, according to a report.

The exodus by staffers who have quit, retired or taken buyout packages includes 96 environmental protection specialists and nine department directors, according to the report by The New York Times and ProPublica.

A majority of the employees, who include attorneys and program managers, are not being replaced, according to the report.

The departures reflect poor morale at the EPA, which Trump and top congressional Republicans have criticized as bloated and guilty of regulatory overreach.

That discontent is likely to widen following revelations that GOP campaign officials were using the Freedom of Information Act to request copies of emails from agency personnel suspected of opposing Trump and his agenda, the report said.

Let's get those people transferred to the Fairbanks, Alaska office as quickly as possible. Sorry, Fairbanks, but you need to take this one for the team.

The news outlets’ investigation showed that the administration is well on its way to achieving its goal of cutting 3,200 positions from the agency — about 20 percent of its work force — to levels last seen during the Reagan administration.

EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said the agency was running more efficiently.

There's not a government agency in Washington that wouldn't benefit from a 20% staff cut, if the right people were cut.

And just because, via Ace:

Even if this sort of song parody isn't your bag, stick with it until the Five Golden Rings part.

This Year's Santa's Little Helpers

Linked at Pirate's Cove's weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links. Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Monday: Linda Ronstadt" and "FMJRA 2.0: I Can’t Let Go" ready at The Other McCain.

Do you see it?

We left for the beach around 10 to beat a low tide, and the rain, which is just now starting. It was cloudy and dim, but warm, with 60 F temperatures.

 Do you see it?

It's a 1 3/16th inch extinct White Shark tooth, as first observed. That's pretty much a trip maker.

We had 15 teeth, but that was by far the best.

FBI, Prosecutor Misconduct Sabotages Bundy Trial

Mistrial declared in Cliven Bundy standoff case

A federal judge Wednesday declared a mistrial in the prosecution of Nevada cattleman Cliven Bundy, his two sons and a co-defendant, citing the government's "willful'' failure to turn over multiple documents that could help the defense fight conspiracy and assault charges in the 2014 Bunkerville standoff.

"The court does regrettably believe a mistrial in this case is the most suitable and only remedy,'' U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro declared, issuing her ruling from the bench before a packed courtroom.

The judge listed six types of evidence that she said prosecutors deliberately withheld before trial, including information about the presence of an FBI surveillance camera on a hill overlooking the Bundy ranch and documents about U.S. Bureau of Land Management snipers outside the ranch.

The others were maps, an FBI log with entries about snipers on standby, threat assessments that indicated the Bundys weren't violent and that the Bureau of Land Management was trying to provoke a conflict by antagonizing them and nearly 500 pages of internal affairs documents involving lead bureau special agent Dan Love, since fired from the agency.

The material, the judge found, would bolster the defense stance that defendant Ryan Payne put a call out for support because the Bundys feared they were surrounded by snipers and felt isolated in early April 2014 before the standoff with federal rangers and officers on April 12, 2014. The federal officers were carrying out a court-ordered roundup of Bundy cattle for failure to pay grazing fees and fines for two decades.

The information also would help refute the government's indictment that alleged the defendants used deceit to draw supporters by "falsely'' contending snipers were posted around the ranch.

"The failure to turn over such evidence violates due process,'' the judge said.

The temptation of the FBI and prosecutors to cheat and not turn over exculpatory evidence is extremely strong, after all, they know in their hearts that the guy is guilty. It must be resisted, even if it requires loss of jobs and prison time. This kind of conduct is dishearteningly common.

Linked by Evi L. Bloggerlady in "Vintage New Years Eve", "Julie Andrews: Auld Lang Syne", "Shakshuka and Cultural Genocide", "Rose Marie RIP", "Will 2018 be an excellent year?", "Wind River: A Review", "Cheers: 2018 is coming!",  "When 100,000 Iranian Women Protested Head Scarfs", "Celebrate National Bacon Day", "Camera Obscura: New Years Resolution with bonus Zooey Deschanel and Ella Fitzgerald", "Darkest Hour: A Review", "Gary Sinise is Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade",  "Polar Bear Plunge and New Years Rule 5" and  "Pentatonix: White Winter Hymnal."

How Climate Change Became Transgendered

Let Stacy tell you: Elite Consensus: How Transgenderism Became the New ‘Climate Change’

Having “won” the climate-change argument (at least in their own minds), the Anointed have grown bored with it and have moved on to new ideological crusades, including the cause of transgenderism. Let the reader think back five years or so, to the time of the 2012 presidential campaign, and ask: Did anyone in either party signify that transgender rights were at stake in the re-election of President Obama? Of course not. If Obama ever mentioned the word “transgender” in 2012, I overlooked it, and I covered that campaign from start to finish. Nor did Mitt Romney (or any of his rivals for the GOP nomination) argue that Obama’s re-election would be interpreted as a mandate for the imposition of a transgender rights regime in American public life. Yet here we are, in 2017, and transgenderism is making headlines every day, with an especial push to promote this to school children, and the loudest opposition to this agenda is from radical feminists. What happened?
. . .
The emergence of the transgender issue caught many people by surprise, and no sooner had the issue become apparent than opponents of this agenda discovered that they were already facing an elite consensus. Little noticed, activists had been working for years to recruit support in academia and journalism for the transgender agenda, especially including “transition” for young children. The rhetoric of civil rights was deployed in favor of this agenda, so that if you disagreed or disapproved, you were a hateful bigot, analogous to Bull Connor siccing police dogs on unarmed protesters in Birmingham. Conservatives have long since become accustomed to such smear tactics from the Left — as Peter Brimelow remarked, the modern definition of racist is “someone who is winning an argument with a liberal” — but feminists have been shocked to find themselves accused of “hate” for opposing the transgender cult.

Liberals need to feel outraged about something. If they can't find something important like war, they'll pick something trivial like the 0.3% of people who are transexual, or the apparent rise of temperature of less than 1 C over the last 100 years.

I don't really care what adults do with their bodies, but the constant drum beat is catching susceptible kids and teens up. A lot of them are going to regret it when the kerfuffle dies down, as it inevitably will.

Linked above the line in Pirate's Cove's weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links.

Rule 5 Saturday - Jasmine Sanders, The "Golden Barbie"

This week for Rule 5 we have the Golden Barbie, aka Jasmine Sanders:

Model for brands such as Forever21, Smashbox, American Eagle, Seventeen, Glamour, Ralph Lauren and more who is an Instagram sensation with over 2.7 million followers.

She started modeling around 2005 and was signed by companies in New York and Los Angeles.

What a striking combination her eyes and skin color make.

She calls herself Golden Barbie on her social media networks.

She was born in Germany and raised in South Carolina. Her mom is German and it was her mom's agent who helped get her into modeling. She has posted photos to Instagram with her niece and nephews.

One of her tattoos says "Made in Germany."

Her Instagram

Linked at Pirate's Cove's weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links. Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Sunday: Merry Christmas!" and
"FMJRA 2.0: The Man Who Built America" up and running.