Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Vaccine Mandates for College? Just Say No

From NYT (cited at Hot Hair), Aaron Carrol, Vaccine mandates are coming. Good.

Some colleges and universities have also required students, professors and other staff members to be vaccinated before returning to campus. The schools want to return to full classrooms, busy dining halls and a vibrant campus life. They want students to be able to go to football games, events and even parties without fear of outbreaks. The only way to do that is to achieve significant levels of immunity. The only way to do that quickly and safely is through vaccination. More than 500 colleges and universities in the United States have mandated Covid vaccination so far. My school, Indiana University, where I am the chief health officer, is one of them. Schools like ours believe that the only way to get to the level of safety we need to reopen without outbreaks or worse is to get nearly everyone immunized. Some private companies have done the same. Many of our health care systems in Indiana have mandated vaccination.

But  For college-aged, vaccination risks likely outweigh COVID risks, says UCI medical ethics chief

For college-aged students, the potential for adverse reactions to the COVID vaccination appear to outweigh the risks of the virus itself for that age group, said Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, a professor of psychiatry and director of the Medical Ethics Program at the University of California, Irvine.

Asked by The College Fix whether potential side effects of the COVID-19 vaccination outweigh risks of possibly contracting the virus for college-aged students, he said “the answer is likely yes.”

“[A]t the very least, based on current evidence, it’s entirely plausible to assume the answer is yes: that risks of Covid vaccination outweigh potential benefits of the vaccine for college age students,” Kheriaty said via email on Wednesday.

“We don’t know with certainty what percentage of college-age students have side-effects, or serious adverse effects, from the vaccine because the current systems (e.g., VAERS) used to track adverse events are not sufficient to answer that scientific question,” Kheriaty said.

VAERS stands for Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, and it relies on self-reporting and may contain unverified reports that show an association but not causation, Kheriaty said.

He said that while there may be a few fraudulent reports to VAERS, someone would have to be pretty motivated to spend the 30-plus minutes required to file just one of the reports into the “cumbersome system,” Kheriaty said.

“Much more likely, however, adverse events are under-reported in VAERS — there are several studies suggesting that this is the case,” he said. “Even if adverse effects are not underreported, the reported rates of myocarditis in people under 30 — especially in young men — suggest that the risks of vaccination outweigh the risks of Covid in this population.”

I think that for college age  people, the risk calculus for the various WuFlu vaccines is equivocal enough that it's likely a wash. If you choose to get vaccinated, fine, the risks of vaccine side effects are real, but small, and if you choose not to get vaccinated, that's a reasonable decision too, the risks of WuFlu are also small in that age bracket.. For younger people, high school and below, there is probably not a good reason to get vaccinated; the risk from the vaccines likely outweighs the risk of the virus itself. We have no business mandating vaccines in young people that are more dangerous than the disease. 

And one more from Cutie Pavlich at Town Hall, Rand Paul Blows Up Another Fauci Claim, This Time on the Delta Variant

Americans are terrible at estimating and evaluating personal risk. I blame the media.

Beach Report 5/30/21

The temperature was right around 90 F under clear, windless skies when we got to the beach.
Not the the most lovely fossil, but one of the rarer one, a whale bulla, or ear bone. I guess we're going to find that whale one piece at a time. 
An unusually colored (most of our teeth are black or gray) Sand Tiger Shark tooth. Good enough for the kitchen shelf.
"Are you sure you want to go up here, boss?"
OK, explain this. It appears to be a piece of brass fitting of some sort, stuck in a rock. I guess the rock must have stuck together with the brass inside, but I thought that kind of rock was old. Hmmm. 
Another piece of whale, I guess. It was pretty slimy when Georgia picked it up, but it cleaned up easily.
Skye spent most of the walk in the water, cooling.
I guess I should stoop down and pick it up.


Election 2020: NSA Attempts Damage Control

We're still talking about how a Whistleblower Comes Forward to Tell Fox News Host What the NSA Is Allegedly Doing To Him (Matt Vespa, Town Hall). Mediaite is skeptical,  Tucker Carlson Claims the NSA is Monitoring His Communications ‘In an Attempt to Take This Show Off the Air’ and finds people who agree. AllahPundit at Hot Hair is also a doubter, Will Fox's news division investigate Tucker's claim that the NSA is preparing to leak his private communications? This will unrefurbish his conservative credentials. Virginia Kruta at Da Caller notes  the Psaki Refuses To Answer Question On Tucker Carlson’s Spying Claim: The NSA ‘Focuses On Foreign Threats’. That's the theory, anyway. Even NCIS doesn't think that's true. And we know from Russiagate that countless counter examples exist. NT, BREAKING: Tucker responds to NSA who is spying on him 

"We made a very straightforward claim: NSA has read my private emails without my permission... Tonight's statement from the NSA does not deny that instead it comes with this non-sequitur: Tucker Carlson has never been an intel target."

Also at Da Caller, NSA Responds To Tucker Carlson, Claims He ‘Has Never Been An Intelligence Target’

Carlson responded to the NSA’s statement on his show Tuesday night. He said he was “glad to know” that he wasn’t an “intelligence target” but still asked if the Biden administration had read his personal emails. The Fox News host said he spoke to NSA officials directly and they “refused to explain why they couldn’t answer that simple question.”

Sundance at CTH, NSA Responds to Tucker Carlson Claim of Surveillance, The Generic and Very Political Non-Denial Should Alarm Everyone

Techno Fog noted something most of us would also note {SEE HERE} the NSA statement is an obtuse non-denial. However, there’s a lot more in that statement that should alarm everyone. I don’t know if I can cover it all here; this is actually serendipitous for a larger framework article I have been working on. But here’s some top-line initial reactions.

First, notice the time of the tweet message. Exactly 8:00pm to coincide with the beginning of Tucker Carlson’s broadcast. That’s typical political operative snark, which wouldn’t be too surprising if it were not the fact this is from the actual National Security Agency.

Many people in/around the intelligence apparatus have noted and confirmed to me that most of the modern human resources, within the working analytical part of the intelligence apparatus, are immature, solitary and emotionally stunted individuals. Accepting things as they directly appear, this subtle snark is actual confirmation.

Second, “Tucker Carlson has never been an intelligence target of the agency“, is akin to the NSA previously saying none of the 17 Republican candidates in the 2016 presidential race were “officially” targets of metadata surveillance; the surveillance just happened because, well, it was rogue contractors from our partner agency (FBI) using the facilitation of the NSA database for their opposition research. Oh, well, if that’s all it was… and not official NSA conduct… then, well, okay, move along. Or something.

And could this be related? Top Pentagon Cyber Official Probed Over Disclosure Concerns

Katie Arrington, chief information security officer for the Pentagon’s acquisition and sustainment office, was informed May 11 that “her security clearance for access to classified information is being suspended” as “a result of a reported Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified Information and subsequent removal of access by the National Security Agency,” according to a memo made available to Bloomberg News.
. . .
Arrington is a former two-term Republican state representative from South Carolina who ran an unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 2018 that emphasized her private-sector cyber experience. She was brought into the Pentagon in 2019 under the category of “Highly Qualified Expert” and later competed for and attained the nonpartisan Senior Executive Service status, Zaid said.

As I noted yesterday, Insty notes Matt Margolis at PJ Media: Did Maricopa County Officials Just Accidentally Admit Voting Machines Can Be Compromised? It sure seems that way. At Da Caller, Maricopa County Scrapping Voting Machines Used In GOP Audit and ET, Arizona’s Maricopa County Will Replace All Voting Machines After Audit. But we were assured the machines were tamper proof! It must be the GOP cooties.

And speaking of funny business with elections, via In The Mailbox: 06.29.21, the Weasel Zippers are amused  NYC Mayoral Candidate Raises Concerns After 100,000 Votes “Suddenly Appear”. Thomas Lifson at Am Think thinks the NY mayor’s race is in ‘chaos’ as 135,000 extra votes show up. AllahPundit want to Stop the steal: NYC mayoral frontrunner hints at election chicanery as lead slips during ranked-choice voting count. But the mystery was solved when it was discovered that BOE botched NYC mayoral primary results by including ‘test’ run (NYPo) and NYT notes (cited at Hot Hair) that NYC mayor's race in chaos after elections board counts 135,000 test ballots. Oops! These things happen. But of course, they never happen to Republicans! NYPo Ed Board calls New York’s Board of Elections a travesty. Insty catches some Democrat hypocrisy on the issue in PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS . . .

At Da Wire, Another Unarmed Trump-Supporting Grandma Charged In Jan 6 Capitol Breach. 'Shipwreckedcrew' at Red State explains The Emerging Reality Is the Biden Justice Department Will Charge Everyone It Can Identify for Capitol Protests

That means that anyone who attended the January 6 protest and went inside the Capitol, but has not yet been charged, will wake up every morning until the statute of limitations expires and wonder, “Will today be the day the Democrat Justice Department arrests me because I protested the election of Joe Biden?”

The argument could be made that, having opted to go down this path early on, the Democrat Justice Department needs to continue to identify and bring charges simply as a matter of even-handedness. Suspects whose identity has been harder to come by should not benefit by avoiding prosecution compared to individuals who the FBI was able to identify in the days and weeks that followed January 6.

While that might be true, the heavy-handed policy of “no exceptions” which is being followed only ensures that the damage to the country created by political divisions which exist will only get worse. It is a statement by the Biden Administration that it intends to criminalize to the greatest extent allowed by law the sentiment following the 2020 election that the outcome was not legitimate.

More significantly, it is a legitimate basis upon which the segment of the population who politically oppose the Biden Administration can reasonably claim the Administration is employing the criminal justice system to delegitimize that political opposition by declaring it to be based in criminality.

In today's Morning Report at Ace's JJ Sefton noted another violent protest just occurred in Washington DC, and nobody cared, because it was left wing: 

First up, one wonders whether or not Titty Caca Ocasio-Cortez had such severe flashbacks from January 6th that they caused Malig-Nancy Pelosi to soil her 18-Million-Year Girdle:
A group calling themselves "Sunrise Movement" created what some people might deem an insurrection. Fortunately, none were wearing MAGA hats so no unarmed protestors were shot by mystery guards. Dozens were supposedly arrested . . .

. . . New York's uber-progressive Rep. Jamaal Bowman just couldn't pass up a chance to do some race-baiting, and graciously dropped an "F" bomb to let us know he means it:

"They occupy our streets. They mass incarcerate us, but they leave us food insecure, in transportation deserts, and our buildings and schools falling apart. Fuck that!" Bowman said at the event while speaking about the history of discrimination against black people. "We've got to go big, and take it to another level. And this is our moment. This is the moment" . . .

. . . Sunrise Movement is allegedly funded by Comrade George Soros. They blocked all 10 entrances to the White House and bellowed their demands. No reports of tear gas, pepper spray, firearms, or batons being used on the potential green panther insurrectionists.
Meanwhile, dozens of decent, G-d-fearing people who showed up to the Capitol to lawfully protest the certification of a stolen national election are languishing in jails and having their lives destroyed by what amounts to an American Gestapo of the DoJ/FBI as punishment for daring to object to the overthrow of the former United States of America.

Tyler O'Neil at PJ Media, GOP Calls Democrats' Bluff on the Capitol Riot Good luck with that. 

Last Thursday, Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), David Joyce (R-Ohio), Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), and Van Taylor (R-Texas) introduced legislation to investigate the involvement of antifa in the nationwide riots of 2020.

“Last year, organized cells of criminals hijacked overwhelmingly peaceful protests and used the legitimate grievances of others as cover to commit horrific acts of violence,” Mace said in a statement. “They caused billions of dollars in property damage and attacked law enforcement officers and innocent bystanders in cities across the country.”

“These riots often caused the most harm to the marginalized communities the criminals claimed to represent,” Mace added. “Antifa bands represent the same threat to our nation posed by other terrorist groups. We must do all we can to understand and neutralize this dangerous movement before more are harmed.”

Sundance, President Trump Spokesperson Liz Harrington Responds to Bill Barr Recent Statements 


From atop Da Hill, Pence faces fierce resistance from GOP's pro-Trump base “He’s never going to run for president and be successful" and I'm OK with that. Pence is a nice enough guy, but he's not presidential material.

More properly Russiagate, but fitting in with the election theme of two levels of justice, from Ace, Kevin Clinesmith, the Corrupt FBI Lawyer Who Forged Documents to Frame an Innocent Man, May Get His Law License Back on July 19
A Ruling Class judge first gave this corrupt government official, who forged a document in order to frame a man, then entered that forgery into evidence in a FISA hearing, no jail time at all. The judge's excuse? Well, this criminal lost his job. And might lose his law license. Isn't that punishment enough?
"[He] lost his job, and his government service is what has given his life much of its meaning," Boasberg said Friday. "He was also earning $150,000 a year and who knows where the earnings go now. He may be disbarred or suspended from the practice of law, you may never be able to work in the national security field again. These are substantial penalties."
I think the average street criminal would be surprised to learn that losing your job due to a crime, and maybe losing your Ruling Class Credential of a law license, is punishment enough.

And now -- about that losing his law license part. He lost it for just one year. The suspension is dated retroactively to August 2020.

And now he'll petition to have it reinstated.

The Government Clique really looks out for its own, doesn't it?

But, keep those Grandmas in jail, they're threats! 

The Wednesday Wetness


The Wombat has  Rule 5 Sunday: Agent Carter ready and waiting.

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

California Nearly Out of Juice

 Da Signal, Blackouts Loom in California as Electricity Prices Are ‘Absolutely Exploding’

Two inexorable energy trends are underway in California: soaring electricity prices and ever-worsening reliability—and both trends bode ill for the state’s low- and middle-income consumers.

Last week, the state’s grid operator, the California Independent System Operator, issued a “flex alert” that asked the state’s consumers to reduce their power use “to reduce stress on the grid and avoid power outages.”

The California Independent System Operator’s warning of impending electricity shortages heralds another blackout-riddled summer at the same time California’s electricity prices are skyrocketing.

In 2020, California’s electricity prices jumped by 7.5%, making it the biggest price increase of any state in the country last year and nearly seven times the increase that was seen in the United States as a whole.

According to data from the Energy Information Administration, the all-sector price of electricity in California last year jumped to 18.15 cents per kilowatt-hour, which means that Californians are now paying about 70% more for their electricity than the U.S. average all-sector rate of 10.66 cents per kWh. Even more worrisome: California’s electricity rates are expected to soar over the next decade. (More on that in a moment.)

The surging cost of electricity will increase the energy burden being borne by low- and middle-income Californians. High energy costs have a particularly regressive effect in California, which has the highest poverty rate—and some of the highest electricity prices—in the country. In 2020, California’s all-sector electricity prices were the third-highest in the continental U.S., behind only Rhode Island (18.55 cents per kWh) and Connecticut (19.19 cents per kWh.)

And related, which deserves a chuckle, paywalled at ET,  With Its Power Grid Under Pressure, California Asks Residents to Avoid Charging Electric Vehicles

Amid a West Coast heat wave that includes triple-digit temperatures, California’s power grid operators have called on residents to not use as much electricity so as to put less strain on the state’s beleaguered grid.

They voted poorly. 

Election 2020: NSA Gets Back to Spying on Americans

Like they ever really quit. But this one could come back to bite them, hard. 'Shipwreckedcrew' at Red State: REPORT: Whistleblower Told Tucker Carlson Biden Admin's IC is Illegally Monitoring His Electronic Communications

In what may be an early example of the saying “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,” Tucker Carlson reported on his show Monday night that he has received notice — AND EVIDENCE — that internal communications among the staff of his show are being monitored by the Intelligence Community of the Biden Administration. This would be the first reported instance that I’m aware of regarding a Biden Administration official leaking information to a news media outlet calling attention to allegedly illegal/objectionable conduct taking place inside the Administration.

These kinds of leaks were endemic during the Trump Administration, as liberal Trump-hating officials in the government bureaucracy regularly leaked information to media outlets hostile to Trump such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN. Now we have a Biden Administration Official engaged in the same conduct — but this time the operations being “leaked” are targeted at a media outlet hostile to Biden.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Democrat presidents have sicced American intelligence agencies on the media. Barack Obama infamously tapped the landlines and cellphones of the Associated Press, Fox News reporter James Rosen, New York Times reporter James Risen, and, allegedly, Sharyl Attkisson, who was with CBS News at the time. Most notoriously, Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden, green-lit spying on the Trump campaign over vacuous, political, and knowingly false claims about his ties with Russia.

Someone dares to use the "D" word in Georgia. Sundance, Report: Potential Election Decertification in Georgia, Pending Fulton County Ballot Audit, if it really turn out they counted 30k more ballots than were actually cast. But even sundance is skeptical.

Jack Phillips at ET, Over 500 Election Fraud Cases Are Pending in Texas Courts: Attorney General, but it's only a Red State, so who cares? 

 At Da Wire, 2.1 Million Ballot Count In Arizona Election Audit Completed and  Arizona GOP Strips Election-Related Powers From Democrat Secretary Of State, Shifts To Republican AG. If you're gonna play politics, people will play politics against you, too. WaPoo informs us that the voting machines in Maricopa County have cooties now that they've been touched by the wrong hands. Arizona’s Maricopa County will replace voting equipment, fearful that GOP-backed election review has compromised security. I guess they aren't that secure, huh? Rico at Theo's LOST? ...............from Rico

The same database-altering software* found on MI & PA Dominion voting systems is likely also on machines in AZ & GA.

- If election integrity has been lost, America has been lost.

*Dominion. SQL is a "back door" allowing invisible editing and/or data manipulation without being logged, registered, or controlled.

cite: Gateway Pundit 26 JUN 2021

Karen Townsend at Hot Hair, Al Gore on CNN: Republicans are putting out "artificial insanity" on 2020 election. From the man who never really accepted his loss in 2000. 

Breitbart reports on a Lawsuit: Silicon Valley Billionaire Recruited Election Officials to Accept Grants from Zuckerberg. The very best election Facebook could buy, and quite likely illegally in many jurisdictions. 

Margot Cleveland at Da Fed details how How The Voting Rights Act Lets Biden’s DOJ Insist Georgia’s Photo ID Requirement Is Racist. Human beings maybe equal under the eyes of the law, but unequal in their attainments. 

Julie Kelly at Am Great asks Did Cops Attack and Provoke Peaceful Protesters on January 6?, and makes a pretty good case for it, which explains why the authorities are so reluctant to release all the footage they possess. At Red State 'shipwreckedcrew'  About the Indiana Grandmother Forced to "Confess" to Her Wrong-Think at Sentencing for Her January 6 Actions. As a former federal prosecutor, he thinks she was just doing what was necessary to get the best deal. 

This kind of “I’m so sorry, I’ve learned my lesson, and I promise to never do anything to land myself back in front of you, Judge, so help me God” is standard procedure for a criminal defendant and her lawyer. There was nothing shocking about Anna Morgan Lloyd making comments like that as part of the effort to achieve exactly what she achieved — a sentence with no jail time.

David Catron at Am Spec doesn't trust Joe, Manchin Previews His Filibuster Flip-Flop "His pledge to preserve this crucial Senate rule is just as worthless as his promise not to vote for S 1 ." That's fair, don't trust anyone in politics. 

From the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 06.28.21, Behind The Black has Today’s blacklisted American: Rudy Giuliani loses law license for daring to represent Donald Trump. The title says it all, but read it anyway.

And as Trump’s lawyer, it was Giuliani’s job to make Trump’s case, in all appropriate forums, which is exactly what Giuliani was doing.

In New York, however, that is no longer allowed. The First Amendment no longer exists. Nor does freedom of speech. If you are a lawyer and dare question any opinions of any Democrat, or have the nerve to take on any Republican as a client and work to defend them, the Democrats in New York who control the legislature and courts at almost all levels will team up to take your law license away and work to destroy you.

Moreover, the Democratic Party machine will act to destroy you without a hearing. Giuliani never got one before these judges, something that is unheard of in such cases and is also a violation of the Constitution, this time the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, which state that all accused parties will have the right to due process and the right to make their case before a judge or jury.

Not in New York. That state now has star chamber law, whereby secret gatherings of partisan Democrats decide your fate behind closed doors, and you have no right to dispute their conclusions, to their face.

Also, at the Geller Report, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer Throws Hissy Fit, Says Media Helps ‘Despicable’ Trump ‘Win So Many People Over’

Earth to Chucky: With the exception of Fox News, every other major news outlet on the planet was right there with you and the Democrat Party every step of the way with your TDS-riddled efforts to remove Trump from the White House from the moment he was inaugurated. 24×7. 365 days a year. Four insidious years. Remember? We do.

Sundance, REPORT: Politically Corrupt Manhattan DA Will Not Charge President Trump

Apparently, if confirmed, the guiding hands that pull the puppet strings within the justice department have weighed the benefit of starting a full-scale civil war and determined it is not in their best interests, at least at the moment, and possibly not until they can get COVID lockdown 2.0 triggered, to anger 100 million very focused American patriots.

Tuesday Tune - Sultans

 Simona Sansovani:

I've been working on that solo a long time. She makes it look so easy.



The Wombat has  Rule 5 Sunday: Agent Carter  ready and waiting.

Monday, June 28, 2021

Oregon, My Oregon!

Fox, Oregon lawmakers pass bill to make illegal immigrants eligible for Medicaid, Dem gov expected to sign into law 

Oregon’s State Senate on Saturday passed a bill that would make illegal immigrants in the state eligible for Medicaid-funded medical services -- sending the legislation to Democratic Gov. Kate Brown for signature.

The bill, HB 335, expands eligibility to adults who would otherwise qualify for Medicaid-funded state medical assistance program but are excluded due to their immigration status. It passed 17-11 in the Senate, after having passed the House 37-21 earlier this week.

The development was first reported by The Lund Report, an Oregon-based outlet. The outlet had previously cited estimates that there are more than 110,000 illegal immigrants in the state and that the program would cost $100 million in the next two years.

Lawmakers in favor of the bill had estimated that the bill "would expand Medicaid coverage to include approximately 100,000 Oregonians who would otherwise be eligible except for their status as undocumented immigrants."

Oh well, it's not my money, right? Oh, wait. Medicaid funding:

The Medicaid program is jointly funded by the federal government and states. The federal government pays states for a specified percentage of program expenditures, called the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP). States must ensure they can fund their share of Medicaid expenditures for the care and services available under their state plan.

As near as I can find, the FMAP for Oregon is 64.47%.

Commercial Shrimp Fishing In Virginia

 Daily Press, Commercial shrimp fishing could be coming to Virginia Beach

Virginia could open a small commercial shrimp fishery off Virginia Beach, after a four-year experiment showed it is ecologically sustainable and commercially viable.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission plans to hold a public hearing July 27 to consider proposed regulations to allow trawling for shrimp. Unlike the shrimpers operating to the south, Virginia fishermen would be allowed to tow only small nets, to reduce the chance of trapping too many other species.

“This will be a small-boat, small-gear fishery,” Pat Geer, VMRC’s Fisheries Management Division chief told the commission in a recent briefing.

While shrimp have been seen in Virginia waters for years, fishermen began reporting large numbers of them in 2017.

Warmer ocean temperatures and changes in currents that resulted have pushed larval shrimp north from North Carolina — and in recent years, North Carolina shrimpers have been working along the state line.

The eight fishermen who harvested shrimp last year caught 418,616 pounds of shrimp, VMRC data shows.

400,000 lbs seems like a lot of shrimp, but Virginia's annual crab harvest is about 20-30 million metric tons, or about 40 - 60 billion lbs. Somebody is eating most of my share of the crab.

Shrimp have been here as long as I've been here, but not in great numbers.

Good News!

Salma Hayek intends to keep posting selfies. Elle, Salma Hayek Has No Plans To Stop Posting Bikini Photos: 'I Have No Shame On It'. With some fine examples at the link.

Salma Hayek has been steadily sharing bikini and one-piece selfies on her Instagram. They're all from one trip, the 54-year-old actress told Entertainment Tonight, and she has absolutely no plans to stop posting them or regrets sharing so many pictures.

"I had to lose a lot of weight and exercise to get into the bikini towards the end of last year," she said, telling the outlet that she took many photos once she got down to the size she wanted while on her trip. "I'm glad I took a lot of pictures, I have no shame on it, because it was the first week of the vacation." She said that sharing the shots generally has been "liberating."

 

"I saved my pictures; I'm not in the same condition today, and I'm spreading the love out like every two weeks," she admitted. "I'm going to put up another one. I’m almost running out of them, but I don't know if you have that feeling, like, 2021!"

Yes, she's aware some people may be over it, by the way. She's not: "People are sick of it, but I'm going to let them take a break," she joked. "They're going to think I'm wearing a bikini every day. No, they're all from the same location." Hayek has 17.3 million Instagram followers, for context. Her last bikini shot, posted on January 19, got over 2 million likes.

Don't stop on my account.

Beach Report 6/28/21

It was 90 F at home, and flirting with 80 at the beach with a strong SE breeze. Georgia had baby sitting duty, so Skye and I were on our own.
There were many fewer people than on the weekend, but there were still a few to give me competition for shark's teeth. And Skye got some pets
By far the best of 22 teeth (and some miscellaneous other stuff), a 1 5/16ths inch lower Snaggletooth, which easily displaced previous the best so far this year for a prime spot on the kitchen window sill.

Election 2020: Rudy, Rudy, Rudy!

Who would have thought there would be so much material on a Monday morning?

Let's start with Da Caller, which posts ‘It Was All Bulls–t’: Bill Barr Details His Thoughts On Trump’s Election Claims. Rebecca Downs at Town Hall, Excerpt Published in The Atlantic Provides Insight into Barr's Take on Election Fraud Claims: 'All Bulls**t'. 'Bonchie' at Red State, Bill Barr Leaves No Doubt After Profanity-Laced Exit From Trump Orbit 

This is obviously not going to sit well with a lot of Republicans nor is this going to give them confidence that Barr did everything he could to root out FBI and DOJ corruption while serving in his position as attorney general. After all, the much-ballyhooed Durham investigation continues to go absolutely nowhere while people that allegedly committed crimes spend their time on CNN blasting out political partisanship (i.e. Andrew McCabe).

Sundance at CTH, Predictably Bondo Barr Covers The Rot

There is a specific irony of Bill Barr using Wayne County, Michigan, as “no evidence” of ballot fraud while simultaneously admitting no other area other than Wayne county has voting precincts that do not count ballots. Only in Wayne county do the 662 precincts deliver ballots to a central counting facility. The Wayne County process itself is designed specifically to make ballot fraud easier…. The former AG says move along, move along, nothing to see here… “that’s what they do.”

The timing of this article release to coincide with the DOJ challenging election reforms in Georgia, combined with the Arizona audit finishing up their initial hand recount and verification of ballots, does not seem coincidental.

Mediaite is upset that Trump Attacks ‘RINO’ Bill Barr Over ‘Bullsh*t’ Election Fraud Claims: ‘A Disappointment in Every Sense of the Word’. Leah Barkoukis at Town Hall, Trump Responds to Barr's Take on Election Fraud Allegations in Brutal Statement

My own feelings about Barr are complex. I believe he volunteered for the AG position because he saw how deeply politicized the DOJ had become. I believe he tried to reform it, but failed; the rot is too deep for one man to clean up in a few months. Regarding the possibility of election fraud; he presumably told his "underlings," who remained "deep staters to look into it. They probably scoffed and told him it was all on the up and up. And then took jobs with the CNC or CNN.

Regarding how Biden’s DOJ Sues Georgia Over Voting Law (Wa Free Bee). Mike La Chance at LI posits DOJ Lawsuit Against Georgia Over Voting Law May Backfire

George Washington University Law Professor and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley sat down with “Fox & Friends” Saturday to analyze the DOJ lawsuit.

“I’m highly skeptical and I think they may ultimately regret this move. It could indeed clarify this issue in a way the Biden administration does not want,” Turley said.

Turley raised questions over the merit of the lawsuit citing similarities between Georgia and other states such as Delaware. “But, this is a very dubious case in my view. Because the Georgia law has great overlap with other states like Delaware” he said.

Turley also mentioned the popularity of requiring identification when going to the polls to vote, a key component of the Georgia voting law. “Voter identification as an example is extremely popular with voters And you now see a lot of democratic members beginning to say really, ‘we are not questioning that anymore.’” he added.

Scott Powell at Am Think thinks (no, not yet) Election Integrity is The Firewall That Keeps America Free. Human Events declares ‘VICTORY’ as Judge Allows Part of Fulton County Election Lawsuit to Proceed. Matt Margolis at PJ Media, The Maricopa County Audit Completed Paper Ballot Examination. Here's What Happens Next "If you’re expecting to hear the finding any time soon, you’ll have to be patient. According to Ken Bennett, the Arizona Senate liaison, we can expect to learn the findings of the audit as early as the end of July or as late as Labor Day." According to Gateway Pundit, BREAKING UPDATE: HISTORY MADE AS FINAL ARIZONA BALLOT INSPECTIONS COMPLETED – Huge Preliminary Report Expected Monday When True Number of Ballot Totals Announced. OK, it Monday. Let's here it. 

On the political prosecution of Rudy Guiliani, Thomas Farnnan at TNP analyses The Persecution Of Rudy Giuliani. Better know legal scholars are also concerned. Jonathon Turley on Da Hill calls it  Politics by other means? Giuliani suspension should worry all lawyers

The 33-page opinion is damning and embarrassing; in all likelihood, it will result in Giuliani’s eventual disbarment. It also is deeply concerning in its heavy reliance on Giuliani’s statements out of court. While lawyers have been disciplined for out-of-court statements in some cases, this suspension seems primarily a judgment on Giuliani’s public advocacy. The court states that when he uses “his large megaphone, the harm is magnified. ... One only has to look at the ongoing present public discord over the 2020 election, which erupted into violence, insurrection and death on January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol, to understand the extent of the damage that can be done when the public is misled by false information about the elections. The AGC [Attorney Grievance Committee] contends that respondent's misconduct directly inflamed tensions that bubbled over into the events of January 6, 2021 in this nation's Capitol.”

Such rhetoric leaves the impression that the investigators and the court itself were eager to impose judgment on Giuliani for the Capitol riot and other unrest through a bar action. In an actual case for incitement, such a causal connection would be rejected by any court as a violation of free speech. Many lawyers can be accused of fanning unrest or even violence, in cities ranging from Washington, D.C., to Portland, Ore., through their declarations on subjects ranging from police shootings to election fraud.

Likewise, Democratic members of Congress, attorneys representing Democratic campaigns and lawyers serving as legal analysts on television have challenged presidential elections regularly and unsuccessfully, including challenges made at the certification of the votes before Congress. Many refused to recognize the legitimacy of Trump's presidency following the 2016 election and made elaborately argued but ultimately false claims alleging, among other things, collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. This included lawyers who were accused of lying to the public, the media and even Congress in major controversies. Yet there was no cry to disbar the lawyers and members of Congress behind those claims or challenges.

At Breitbart, Alan Dershowitz weighs in Giuliani Law License Suspension: Equal Justice for All ‘Mortally Wounded’

Dershowitz warned of the “danger” of allowing Giuliani to be disbarred “without a hearing.” He argued that equal justice for all is now “mortally wounded.”

“I taught legal ethics for, I don’t know, 35 years at Harvard Law school. I think of myself as a leading expert on legal ethics. I’ve never ever seen a case where a lawyer was essentially disbarred … without a hearing,” Dershowitz outlined. “I mean, the most basic concept of due process is you don’t deprive somebody of his living, of his freedom, of his ability to work without a hearing. And then the criteria under which they suspended his law license is so vague. It says in the course of representing a client, a lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement of fact or law to a third person. In other words, if he goes on your show, or he goes on my podcast, or he goes on Fox or anywhere else, and he makes a statement which turns out to be false, and he had reason to believe it was false, he could be disbarred. Do you know how many lawyers we’d have left if we applied that standard across the board? … We have case after case after case where prosecutors, defense attorneys, lawyers of every kind, have made statements … which turn out to be untrue, and they’re never disbarred. And certainly not without a hearing. And so, this is a first. … The atmosphere is such today that if you defended President Trump in any way, they’re out to get you. And they’re certainly out to get Rudy Giuliani.”

“The idea of holding lawyers to this standard of truth-telling when they’re on television is a whole new ballgame. It will chill free speech. It will chill advocacy,” he added.

Host John Catsimatidis asked if the words “equal justice for all” are dead.

“I think they are mortally wounded,” Dershowitz replied. “I don’t think we’re seeing equal justice for all. I think we’re seeing selective justice. … When a prosecutor runs for office, like the attorney general of New York ran for office on the promise that she will get Donald Trump, is that equal justice? Or is that show me the man, and I’ll find you the crime?”

We have now entered an era when the winners of elections take the losers to trial and jail if possible, and destroy their careers. It is truly a dark era for justice. Comparisons to banana republics are not out of line. The Western Journal rerecounts how the FBI Ruins Innocent Man's Life After Leftist Neighbors Rat on Him for Being a Trump Supporter. Eric Utter at Am Think, Grandma charged with ‘parading’ at the Capitol told to denounce her whiteness. At Am Great Max Morton explains How I Got Classified as an Anti-Government Domestic Extremist. Probably me, too. 

So, let’s unpack this “anti-government domestic extremist” business. An integral part of the National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism is an intelligence community assessment published in March. Having spent some time in the intelligence community, I was puzzled as to how agencies with the mission of foreign intelligence collection—and which are statutorily and explicitly restricted from conducting domestic intelligence operations—are now writing Intelligence Community Assessments on U.S. citizens residing on U.S. soil. Notwithstanding the troubling legal aspects, the assessment also lacked evidence to back up its broad assertions that America’s greatest threat comes from domestic extremists.

The strategy document claims to focus on unlawful violence from domestic extremists that pose a threat to public safety. The reality is there isn’t that much politically motivated domestic extremist violence happening in United States. Sure, there are countless FBI-manufactured plots and Homeland Security fever dreams of internet chatter to scare the public. But if one excludes Black Lives Matter and Antifa, actual political violence incidents, in a country of 330 million people, is a statistical anomaly. The extremely rare occurrences—the report mentions six over a 26-year period (including a Black Lives Matter activist misidentified as an anti-government extremist—does not make a domestic terrorism pandemic.

Since our national security warriors need a domestic enemy, they have decided to focus on noncriminal (or, at best, pre-criminal) thoughts and intentions of that enemy. In other words, the national security apparatus plans to decide who will commit violence in the future, and then act against those individuals or groups to “disrupt” their plans.

Julie Kelly at Am Great notes how that "domestic extremist" Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls for Release of January 6 Surveillance Footage

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) sent a letter to top government officials seeking answers about the January 6 investigation and conditions in a D.C. jail specifically used to house Capitol defendants. Greene requests the release of at least 14,000 hours of surveillance footage captured by USCP security system on January 6 as well as the identity of the officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed female veteran Trump supporter. “It is abundantly clear that there is a two-track justice system in the United States,” Greene wrote. Her letter can be found below . . .

Nick Arama at Red State  Reports Emails Show Biden Team Pressured Facebook to Censor the Trump Campaign. And, of course, they did. A giant in-kind campaign contribution. At TNP  Raheem Ksaam an Natalie Winters catch some hypocrisy from Pamela Karlan, The Ex-Zuckerberg Apparatchik Now Leading Biden’s Anti-Audit Push – Once Said Corporate-Backed Elections ‘Undermine Democracy’. It's always different when the other side does it. 

The Monday Morning Stimulus

Starting with the lovely Gabrielle Adrian:


The Wombat has  Rule 5 Sunday: Agent Carter ready and waiting.

Sunday, June 27, 2021

Beach Report 6/27/21

A bunch of people looking hard for sharks teeth. Including the lady with the dog.
A dead stingray in the wash. I think it's an Atlantic Stingray
The Atlantic Stingray is found in the western Atlantic Ocean from Chesapeake Bay southward to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, to as far as Campeche, Mexico. ... The Atlantic stingray is capable of tolerating varying salinities and can enter freshwater; it has been reported from the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain, and the St. Johns River in Florida.
A pretty good crowd at Matoaka today. About 80 F, and the humidity is sneaking up, but between a few clouds, and a nice SW breeze, it wasn't too hot. 
The best of a large number of shark's teeth, a pretty complete Cow Shark tooth, and the fresh barb off the Stingray.
If stepped on, the Atlantic stingray can inflict a painful, though rarely life-threatening wound.


One of the finest drip sand castles I've ever seen. I surely don't have that much patience. 

Oregon, My Oregon

This one has been marinating in my tabs for a while. Vodka Pundit (Stephen Green) at PJ Media: Oregon Learning Lockdown: Lawmakers Say 'You Don't Need No Education'

Oregon students shouldn’t have to prove they can write or do math to get a diploma, lawmakers decide

After useless lockdowns robbed Oregon students of a year-and-a-half worth of education, what’s a smart group of lawmakers to do?

Treat next year’s students as though they can’t learn, either… and the year after that, and the year after that, etc.
A bill to prohibit Oregon schools from requiring students to show they can read, write and do math at a basic high school level is headed to Gov. Kate Brown after lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday.
There had been requirements in place that students actually gain a few, basic skills before being given a diploma indicating they had gained a few, basic skills — but only since 2009.

Those requirements were suspended last year, an inevitable result of the self-defeating lockdowns.

And they’ll stay suspended, at the very least through the Class of ’24, when Governor Kate Brown signs SB744.

How much education do you need to throw Molotov cocktails at the Federal Courthouse in Portland anyway? 

Election 2020: DOJ to Sue GA over Voting Laws More Generous than in NY, DE

We're still talking about Merrick Garland's DOJ plan to sue Georgia over its new voting laws. As Teach at Pirate's Cove notes DOJ To Sue Georgia Over Voting Law That’s Less Restrictive Than Delaware

For instance, Georgia will formally have 17 days of early voting, while Delaware will have just 10, starting in 2022. Georgia has no-excuse mail in voting; Delaware doesn’t. Delaware does require a voter to prove their identification. Most states, including Delaware, do not allow people to randomly wander around and give people in line food and drink, because there is no electioneering with a certain distance, and it is almost considered a bribe.
Carr called the lawsuit a “campaign flier,” telling host Tucker Carlson the DOJ “is playing politics.”

“They are not upholding the rule of law and this blatantly political lawsuit is legally, factually, and constitutionally wrong. Anybody who looks at our law can see it improve security and access, improves transparency in Georgia’s law,” he said.
Well, yeah. But, Democrats do not want to actually read the Georgia law. They just want to trot out their hater talking points.

'Bonchie' at Red State, The DOJ's Lawsuit Against the Georgia Election Law Is Mind-Meltingly Moronic and Merrick Garland Good and Fully Jumps the Shark With Admission on DOJ Targeting Red StatesAttorney General Merrick Garland credits the news media for compiling threats to voting rights “in a way that I have to say, frankly, I had not seen before.”

Wait, the DOJ is using reports, most of which were false, from partisan mainstream “news” outlets to decide on which red states to target with lawsuits? That seems a little out of bounds. It also seems completely antithetical to the mission of the DOJ. Shouldn’t they be pursuing lawsuits based on gathered evidence and demonstrated illegality, not what a talking head on CNN says?

Heck, even general claims by the media that Georgia’s law was “voter suppression” are clearly opinion and not actually based in fact. The DOJ apparently bought them hook, line, and sinker, though, as their lawsuit makes wild claims about black people being denied equal ballot access — when that’s clearly not true in regards to Georgia’s reform law or their system in general.

 Nick Arama at Red State, GOP Nails the Weaponizing of the DOJ Against Georgia Election Law

So, here’s a question for Garland. If this is all on the up and up and you’re really just (wrongly) concerned about ‘restrictions’ in the law, why aren’t you concerned about the New York law which is more restrictive in parts? Why are you trying to undo the law that was legally passed, trying to undo the will of the people?

It’s more than a little troubling that the DOJ is being used to seemingly pursue a partisan agenda.

Still giving thanks that McConnel blocked Garland from the Supreme Court.  News Max, Trump: Georgia Residents Should Sue State Over 'Rigged' Election.

Trump, in his statement said: "Biden’s Department of Justice just announced that they are suing the Great State of Georgia over its Election Integrity Act. Actually, it should be the other way around! The PEOPLE of Georgia should SUE the State, and their elected officials, for running a CORRUPT AND RIGGED 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION — and for trying to suppress the VOTE of the AMERICAN PEOPLE in Georgia. If we don’t address these issues from the 2020 Election head on, and we allow the Radical Left Democrats to continue to politicize the DOJ and Law Enforcement, we will lose our Country. SAVE AMERICA!"

NYT whines (at Hot Hair)  "It’s important to hear those denouncements publicly" regarding CPO Fanone's campaign to shame GOP Congresscritters over Jan. 6. Meanwhile, at The Pipeline, Jack Dunphy wants to know Who Killed Ashli Babbitt? "The government knows. Why don't we?"

Roger Simon  behind the the paywall at ET, cited by Insty, Lead Georgia Election Critic Condemns New York Supreme Court on Giuliani.

At first Favorito simply said, “The New York Supreme Court made false assumptions about Georgia on it and used them improperly against Giuliani.”

Then he added: “The State Farm Arena video they showed, I’m sorry, showed clear violations of Georgia law committed by election officials.”

Favorito went silent. I thought that was it—he might even want to pull back—-but the opposite was true. He wanted to say something stronger, with more evidence, and later sent me the following two paragraphs via email:

“The New York Supreme Court falsely concluded that the Georgia hand count audit ‘confirmed the results of the election with a zero percent risk limit.’ The truth documented by expert witness testimony at our May 21st hearing is that the hand count audit had a 21% error rate. That expert witness testimony and recently released public ballot images confirm the correctness of Giuliani’s argument that the vote count was inaccurate.”

“The New York Supreme Court also falsely disagreed that the State Farm Arena video ‘can be viewed as evidence of illegal conduct during the vote tabulation process.’ We identified four violations of Georgia election transparency law in the video. In addition, the video clearly shows potentially illegal duplicate ballot scanning. Furthermore, the hand count audit results indicate thousands of duplicate ballots were scanned into the results further confirming Giuliani’s argument that the vote count was inaccurate.”

[All bolds are Favorito’s. The italics are direct quotes from the New York State Supreme Court.]

David Lurie at Yahoo! Rudy's problematic public punishment doesn't fit his crimes

At issue are limits the First Amendment places regulating lawyers' speech outside the context of court proceedings, including bald-faced lies like those Giuliani has repeatedly told to the American people in the months following the election, as well as whether the mechanism of lawyer discipline is an effective way to address such wholesale lying to the nation. Politically, the problem here is that the abrupt suspension of his license to practice in New York State, even before a hearing where he could present his defense, helps support his phony claims about a supposed “deep state,” “Democrat” conspiracy against him and his client, Trump. Contrary to the wise counsel of W.S. Gilbert and Dee Dee Ramone, the punishment here does not appear to fit the crime... 

Dan Chaitin at WaEx, Maricopa County 2020 election auditors complete paper examination, and the world has not ended, nor is the Republic dead (yet). 

The Republican-led Arizona Senate's audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County reached a significant milestone on Friday, but it will probably be weeks before the findings are released to the public.

"Audit Update: Paper examination and counting are finished today. Thank you to all the amazing Arizona volunteers who made this audit possible!" said a missive from the "Maricopa Arizona Audit" Twitter account.