Moon Halo

 I went outside last night to see if there was an aurora. No aurora, but I found this:

22° halo

Aurora!

 Barely visible to the naked eye, but easily visible to the camera over our house.

Pete's wife Charlotte took this picture from the beach:

Sunday Sunrise

Space.com, Strongest solar flare of 2025 erupts from sun, sparking radio blackouts across Europe, Asia and the Middle East

The sun roared to life early Tuesday (May 14), unleashing a powerful X-class solar flare from a newly emerging sunspot region AR4087. The eruption peaked at 4:25 a.m. EDT (0825 GMT), triggering strong R3-level radio blackouts across Europe, Asia and the Middle East — the sunlit side of Earth at the time — as sunspot region 2087 crackles with activity.

Solar flares of this magnitude are uncommon, according to the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). Solar flares are ranked by strength in five classes: A, B, C, M and X, with each step representing a tenfold increase in energy. The recent X flare clocked in at X2.7, placing it at the lower end of the most powerful solar flare class.

The eruption sent a blast of X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation hurling toward Earth at the speed of light, rapidly ionizing the upper atmosphere. This sudden change disrupted high-frequency radio signals, leading to communication dropouts for some radio operators across affected regions.

There may have been an associated coronal mass ejection (CME) — massive plumes of solar plasma and magnetic field accompanying the X-flare, though it is yet to be confirmed. CMEs can spark geomagnetic storms and vibrant auroras if they collide with Earth's magnetic field. But with AR4087 still near the sun's edge, our planet is out of the line of fire. For now. That may change soon as AR4087 is rotating toward Earth and has already fired off multiple solar flares.

It would be great to see some auroras again!

Linked at the Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links. The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Country Girl in Carhartts up on time and under budget.

Flotsam and Jetsam - Sunday's Stew

At Althouse, James Carville watched a few minutes of the Biden/Trump debate, then turned it off, "ate two pot gummies and started listening to some Hank Williams." "He said he realized at that moment that Mr. Biden would have to drop out.

Here!

Matt Margolis at PJM and thinks Kamala Harris Just Made Her Most Desperate Move Yet "Kamala announced on Saturday that she would be releasing a detailed report of her medical history in an effort to pressure Donald Trump to do the same." AP crows Doctor deems Harris in ‘excellent health.’ Her team aims to contrast with Trump’s scant medical info. Jazz Shaw at Hat Hair, Kamala? Don't Worry. She's 'In Excellent Health', so I guess we don't need to worry about Tim Walz filling her ruby slipper. But on the other hand, as Kylee Griswold at Da Fed notes Kamala Harris Is Too Stupid To Be President. 

Kyle Becker@kylenabecker, "NEW: @MTracey investigated Univision's "town hall" and found half of the audience was flown in at the network's expense, while the other half was brought in by a rent-an-audience company called FansOnQ. It turns out, some "undecided" voters admitted to being Kamala Harris supporters. "I already knew I was going to go for Kamala before the event, and now that just kind of solidified it... part of the reason I wanted to go was just fully support her," one respondent said. Everything about the Harris campaign is *FAKE.* Worse than that, the U.S. and international media are helping her to fake it. This is Mexican collusion to commit election interference." Beege Welborn at Hat Hair adds "Holy schamoly moly. At this point, it will be easier to find the authentic stuff. Well...if there is any." Twitchy, Man at Univision Town Hall Has Concerns About How Kamala Harris Was 'Elected' The Telegraph, Why Kamala Harris won’t appear on Fox News. "Without watching the vice president face scrutiny on screen, voters must find other ways to decide whether to back her on Nov 5." Matt Margolis at PJM, finds a New Poll Suggests Kamala Totally Committed Political Suicide "Kamala has had plenty of opportunities to come up with an explanation for what makes her different from Joe Biden, yet she's choked every time." 

Bob Hoge at RedState hears The Thrill Is Gone: Barack Obama's Scolding of Black Men Torched by Prominent African Americans. Nick Gillespie, Kamala Harris Could Lose Big Among African-American and Working-Class Voters. "Republican pollster Patrick Ruffini and Democratic strategist Ruy Teixiera agree that their parties have switched places when it comes to wooing non-college-educated voters." At NewsMax, NY Times Admits Harris Losing Black Support. 1776@TheWakeninq, “Black woman destroys all the arguments from CNN: Why are our black men being lectured to? Why are our black men being belittled? Nina Turner went off on Obama. • You could see it in some of their eyes; they didn’t expect what she said.” WokeSpy, Harris Tries To Quash Alcoholism Rumors By Drinking Before Going On TV. At NotTheBee, You know that "Man Enough" ad for Kamala? Yeah, all the men were actors (one is a bisexual Nigerian immigrant). RVM, UFC’s Dana White Knocks Kamala Out With ‘Another 57 Seconds Of Brilliance’: danawhite@danawhite "I don’t like to post a lot of political content, but this clip should scare EVERYONE. She is the sitting VP and running for President of the United States. She is incapable of putting a sentence together without a teleprompter and even she appears to know she is in way over her head. This election is very important and this along with the many other clips of her attempting to answer questions should SCARE THE SHIT OUT OF YOU!!!"

The Accent Switch Kamala Doll

Bro Im howling 🤣🤣🤣

pic.twitter.com/1XQKOJCjqE

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 12, 2024

At Althouse, "She makes me happy. ... She'll probably lose, but she makes me happy. I like seeing her. It's the joy you have when your best friend, who doesn't have their homework, gets called on...."

"It is the face — your friend confides in you: They did nothing. They go, bro... I didn't open the book. 'Cause this was me in school. Like I didn't open a book. And then they'd call me, and they'd be like: Mr. Dillon, what do you think? And I'd go: I'm trying to create an opportunity economy. Like, I'd say shit kind of like her. She still won't study. Like, she's running for president. She's still won't really even — which is what I like about it! If she was like really trying, I'd find it disturbing. The fact that she's kind of half-assing it on the biggest stage — there is no bigger stage.... She's kind of half-assing it on the largest stage. And... I wanna hang out with her. I wanna have drinks with her . . . Says Tim Dillon, in the new episode of his podcast (audio and transcript at Podscribe)."

From the College Fix, ASU under fire after Harris campaign accesses data to text 70,000 students. I Meme Therefore I Am@ImMeme0, "NEW: San Francisco lawyer Harmeet Dhillon shares that Harris began her political career by breaking the law. According to Dhillon, Harris won her district attorney race by violating campaign finance laws and benefiting from corrupt patronage. In 2003, during her campaign for district attorney, Kamala Harris, along with other candidates, agreed to a campaign finance cap of $211,000 under a matching funds program. However, when she fell behind in the race, she significantly increased her campaign spending. An ethics complaint filed against her revealed that her expenditures exceeded $600,000. Despite violating campaign finance laws, Harris reportedly avoided repercussions because the San Francisco Ethics Commission, whose members were allegedly tied to her former lover Willie Brown, chose to overlook the violation." At Insty, QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED. Roger Simon, Is Emhoff Disrupting the Democrat’s ‘Year of the Woman’? "What did Kamala know and when?"

Insty, OLD AND BUSTED: “Can I get me a hunting license here?” —John Kerry, October 2004. The New Hotness? Mark Hemingway @Heminator "The really good hunters are able to stalk and strangle pheasants." Quote Brittany@bccover, "Something’s missing from this pheasant hunt in this video…. Something key." But they did break out the guns later, as Nick Arama reports Tim Walz Kicks Off His Manly Man Tour at Football Game and Pheasant Hunt—but It Doesn't Go Well. At Am Think, Eric Utter sees Harris-Walz yard signs and bumper stickers and wonders Are we safe? At Insty, ELMER FUDD HAD BETTER GUN-HANDLING SKILLS:

From ET, Weekly Jobless Claims Surge to 14-Month High as Hurricane Helene Fallout Begins and Please Stop Saying That Inflation Is Cooling. "If five years ago, we experienced inflation on this level, there would have been shock and alarm in the air. People would have been screaming about how the one-month rate had tripled and the year-over-year rate doubled. There would have been a frenzy of concern." Jordan Boyd at Da Fed, As Inflation Rears Its Ugly Head Again, Election-Meddling Media Go To Bat For Biden-Harris. NewsWeek, Kamala Harris Should Tell the Truth About Her Record on Trade, "Harris said she opposed the USMCA because it was worse than its predecessor, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and that the results of the USMCA have proven her right. The truth is quite the opposite. The facts are these: As a senator, she voted against the new agreement, and thus in favor of keeping NAFTA in place, because she thought the climate restrictions in the new agreement were not strong enough. Her objection had nothing to do with protecting workers. She was playing to radical environmentalists in an election season with an eye toward her political career."

OTP cites the new NYT Poll: Trump Leads In Arizona, Harris Ahead In Pennsylvania. At Hat Hair Dave Strom says Yes, The Democrats Really ARE Panicking. But Scott Pinsker at PJM cautions No, Donald Trump Is NOT Winning the Election Right Now. "The truth is, nobody really knows who’s “winning” right now. (And besides, “winning” an election before Election Day is kind of like “winning” the Super Bowl on the preceding Saturday: It doesn’t really mean anything.) There are simply too many moving parts. Because of deaths, immigration (illegal and otherwise), COVID-related rule-changes, state-to-state migration, and more, there isn’t anyone alive who can legitimately tell you who’s ahead and who’s behind. But that won’t stop ‘em from trying." Pop Times, Top House Democrats Suggest They Won’t Certify Election If Trump Wins. OTP hears Trump Jokes Obama Will Vote For Him After Lack Of Harris Enthusiasm. Althouse cites Bill Ackerman's 33 things "our most aggressive adversaries would likely implement if they wanted to destroy America from within, and had the ability to take control of our leadership." and they pretty much sound like the Democrat vision. And, "But the threat of a second Trump presidency means that having my birth certificate reflect present reality has turned into a matter of grave importance." ""Quite frankly, whatever is on that document may in the not so distant future determine whether one can live one’s life in peace." Writes Jennifer Finney Boylan, in "Why I Changed My Birth Certificate 25 Years After I Transitioned" (NYT). Boylan is 66 and "transitioned nearly 25 years ago."" Maggie Clarke at RedState, WATCH: Dennis Quaid Made a Perfect Speech Supporting Trump at Coachella Rally- 'Time to Pick a Side'.

Hat Hair cites Anxious, Yawn: Thoroughly Modern Milley Has Thoughts to Share on Trump. Beege Welborn adds This POS was one of Trump's major eff-up appointments and one he did out of a fit of "told you so." Mattis advised him that Milley was not the right guy to pick (was a snek)... ...and Trump was very proud of blowing Mattis off. I think the president will listen and consider wise counsel this time around." Breitbart reports New Head of NATO Hails Good Working Relationship With Donald Trump. At Fox News, 'We believe in Donald Trump': More than a dozen Medal of Honor recipients endorse former president, "The Medal of Honor recipients served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam." Beege Welborn, About the Biden-HARRIS Military: Boffo New Trump Ad Dropped During Aurora Rally. 

OMG HAHAHA 😂🤣💀

Trump just played this epic clip of our old military vs our new woke military: pic.twitter.com/RlLdutL2jc

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) October 9, 2024

Sundance at CTH is pleased President Trump Proposes Tax Credit for Home Generators and Donald Trump Was the President of Deflation – Yes, Actually Lower Prices. ET, Trump Vows to End Double Taxation for Overseas Americans, "Former President Donald Trump has pledged to end double taxation for U.S. expatriates, while urging them to vote in the upcoming election." 

Jack Poso@JackPosobiec, "Watch this NYT school marm try to put JD Vance into a struggle session over 2020 He drops as master class on her." TNR whines The Sinister Way Elon Musk Is Using X to Help Trump Win "A new report reveals the depths Elon Musk is going to in order to help Donald Trump."

Jazz Shaw sees Early Voting is Down Almost Across the Board. But Why? Rusty Weiss at RedState, reports a Group Launches Spanish-Language Ads Reminding Non-Citizens 'Are Not Allowed to Vote' in Federal Elections. Natalia Mittelstadt at JTN cites Chip Roy: Nearly 3 million non-citizens have Texas driver's licenses that SOS allows as voter ID, "according to [Texas Department of Public Safety] - 2,824,613 non-citizens have DL’s, CDL’s, or ID." At WokeSpy, Thing That Never Happens Happening in Maine: Illegals Voting Libs of TikTok@libsoftiktok, NEW: @TheMaineWire uncovered records showing 18 non-citizens billing Medicaid for hundreds of thousands of dollars. When cross-referenced with voting records, 6 were registered Democrats and voted in our elections as recently as 2022. This was from just 1 small sample. Now just imagine how many more non-citizens in Maine are voting in our elections. But the Democrats will say this never happens..."

NewsMax reports Trump Campaign Seeks Increased Security Amid Iran Threat. At Da Wire, Trump Campaign Requests Military Assets To Protect Against Iranian Threats, "The campaign is reportedly worried about missile and drone attacks." Then Dave Strom reports Biden Approves Military Aircraft Support for Trump Force One. Good. At Althouse, Does this NYT illustration intentionally evoke the classical image of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian? "I wouldn't think, in the aftermath of 2 assassination attempts on Donald Trump, that the NYT would want us to make the association, but here is the image:" I wouldn't have caught that. From the Center Square, Voters blame alleged shooters, rhetoric for attempts on Trump's life. 

Stacy McCain considers the question What Counts as ‘Misinformation’? (Hint: It Depends on Who Does the Counting) "Google is running a Democratic Party propaganda operation, deliberately suppressing access to any information source that might contradict the preferred political narrative. Some stories — the ones most damaging to Democrats — are literally impossible to find using Google, and the only way anyone knows about these stories is because they go directly to the source (e.g., the UK Daily Mail, Gateway Pundit, etc.) or because they see it via social media. What does Google’s search-result suppression do? It divides the country into two groups — those who only know what Google wants them to know, and those who, for whatever reason, actively seek out alternative media sources." At Althouse "When it’s made clear that certain kinds of speech are not only not going to be punished, but that prominent individuals who were deplatformed for it are now reinstated, it sends an extremely clear signal to everyone that this speech is now explicitly welcome on the platform." Said Paul E. Smaldino, a professor of cognitive and information sciences, quoted in "Twitter Barred Them. What Happened When Elon Musk Brought Them Back?" (NYT)." Damn that Free Speech! At ET, Brazil’s Supreme Court Orders X to Be Reinstated in Brazil. At Reason, If You See the Trump Biopic Before Election Day, Thank Citizens United, "At its core, the oft-denigrated decision revolved around whether the government can censor information leading up to an election."

This just in:

Lindsey thinks someone owns the sky. pic.twitter.com/QysDLWXUXD

— Adam B. Coleman, Le Based Black (@wrong_speak) October 11, 2024

73% of Boomer males: "No matter what psychological challenges I face, I will not let them define me."

72% of Gen Z females: "Mental illness is an important part of my identity." pic.twitter.com/Dh6YqUtO7h

— i/o (@eyeslasho) October 12, 2024

The Wombat has FMJRA 2.0: The God-Emperor Works A Shift At McD’s on time and under budget at the Other McCain.

Aurora!

I thought I had missed it due to a meeting earlier this evening, but it's back"

So You Wanna See a Pearl Necklace?

At WUWT, Uncovering the Mystery of Auroral Beads

A special type of aurora, draped east-west across the night sky like a glowing pearl necklace, is helping scientists better understand the science of auroras and their powerful drivers out in space.

Known as auroral beads, these lights often show up just before large auroral displays, which are caused by electrical storms in space called substorms. Until now, scientists weren’t sure if auroral beads are somehow connected to other auroral displays as a phenomenon in space that precedes substorms, or if they are caused by disturbances closer to Earth’s atmosphere.

But powerful new computer models, combined with observations from NASA’s Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms – THEMIS – mission, have provided the first direct evidence of the events in space that lead to the appearance of these beads and demonstrated the important role they play in our local space environment.

Read more: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/aurora-m…

Sometime around the previous solar minimum there were several days when we could see auroras here in MD. Quite cool.  Never saw anything quite like that though.

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Kim Klacik up on time and under budget at The Other McCain.

Possible Aurora Viewing Tonight

Northern Lights Display Continues for US Thursday

For those who missed the first northern lights display of 2014 in the United States early Thursday morning, another opportunity is on the way tonight.

A strong, Earth-facing coronal mass ejection, or CME, occurred Tuesday which set the stage for a bright display across the northern half of the U.S., according to Expert Meteorologist Mark Paquette.

The more directly a flare faces the Earth, the better the chances are for a strong aurora to be visible...

It looks we're right on the edge of the zone that they may be seen in.  Having seen them a few times at the last "solar max", I'd really like to see them again, and maybe try to get a photo.

Walking in the Air

Haven't had one of these for a while.



Use HD if possible.