Flotsam and Jetsam - Biden Autopens a Book

Not a scintillating day. Capt. Ed at Hat Hair names it Entitlement by a Thousand (Video) Cuts: Biden Inc Announces New Lecture Book. Ace sees Biden Slur and Stumble His Way Through Ad for His Ghostwritten "Memoir". "This drooling imbecile was paid $10 million by the corrupt corporate media for a book that won't make $2 million." Now that Hunter's source of income have dried up. Aidan McLaughlin @aidnmclaughlin, "Incredible to watch this video and remember that Biden and his team fought for him to serve a second term. This is a recorded video, no doubt with multiple takes, and in the finished product he can barely speak." Quote Joe Biden @JoeBiden, "I’ve written a book about my time as President. It’s called PROMISE ME, AMERICA. It’s coming out November 17th and is available for preorder now. " Luvenalis @Luvenalis1, "A tweet Joe didn't write on a book he didn't author about a presidency he didn't attend." Spencer Pratt @spencerpratt, "This guy couldn't even sign his own name. He's not writing books. LMAO Politicians write books to launder money. Nobody wants to read this, but the corrupt NGOs he provided for as President will buy up 100K copies and burn 'em to hold up their end of the bribes."

At CTH, Sundance hosts Acting AG Todd Blanche's Nomination Hearing, DNI Jay Clayton Senate Intelligence Committee Nomination Hearing and President Trump Highlights Importance of Data Centers. Bob Hoge at RedState sees Adam Schiff Tries to Embarrass AG Nominee Todd Blanche, but It Wasn't a Fair Fight. At Twitchy, AG Nominee Todd Blanche Needed No Words to Properly Respond to Insults From America's Dumbest Senator, Mazie Hirono. 

Ace is looking forward to tonight, In a National Address Tomorrow Night, Trump Will Reveal a Far More Extensive Foreign Penetration of the 2020 US Elections Than Ever Known; Plus, RussiaGate Was Faked to Protect the Real Country Intervering in Elections: China, on Behalf of Democrats, "From Paul Sperry:..." At his substack Insty sees Trump Seizing the Day "Will Trump invoke the Guarantee Clause to impose election integrity? A prediction." Maybe! "So if President Trump announces that we have uncovered massive electoral fraud — as he almost certainly will — and that he is dispatching huge numbers of federal election watchers to oversee voting and counting in areas where fraud has occurred, he would be acting directly under a power that the Constitution has vested in him. For a state to have a “republican form of government,” it must have meaningful elections, and elections that are rigged are not meaningful. Stopping them from being rigged would be protecting a republican form of government. Congress has passed other election laws, mostly for reasons of combating race discrimination, but those aren’t strictly applicable to these circumstances."

Matt Vespa on Why Sunny Hostin Melted Down About Lindsey Graham's Sister Becoming a US Senator. It's kind of her thing. PJM's Sarah Anderson hears Nikki Haley's Got Something to Say to the 'Ladies' at 'The View'.

At the WSJ, Putin Was Xi’s Role Model. Now He’s the Junior Partner. "Four years of war and economic isolation have reduced the Russian president to a supplicant in a relationship growing more imbalanced." Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en, "Russian Novosibirsk. The line to buy fuel is huge. The person filming says he's driving about 60 km/hour, so you can imagine how long the line is. There are reports that fuel is only available at some gas stations in the city." Jack Prandelli @jackprandelli, ""Massive new oil partnerships with Iraq." That is how Trump teased what is co ming out of today's meetings with Iraq's prime minister. Behind the phrase: Chevron negotiating to take over oilfield assets previously run by Russia's Lukoil, HKN Energy targeting 140,000 barrels a day at the Hamrin field, and Halliburton managing the Bin Omar and Sinbad fields in the south. The stated reason: diversify away from Hormuz risk and away from Chinese and Russian dominance in Iraqi energy, with new pipeline routes planned through Turkey to the Mediterranean. This is the American energy leverage thesis playing out in crude and infrastructure now, not just gas."

Capt. Ed at Hat Hair says Escalateo: US Steps Up Pace of Attacks As Iran Threatens Gulf Energy Production. From RCE, Peace or No Peace, the Iran Conflict Has Forever Changed the Strait of Hormuz. From the Babylon Bee, Trump To Secure Strait Of Hormuz By Posting Old Man Who Asks You 3 Questions Before You May Pass. ""Great guy, beautiful guy," Trump told reporters. "He's been doing this a long time, from what I've been told. Asking questions. And you better have the right answers. If you don't, you're toast. I met him. He asked me the questions, and I got all of them right. But not Dan Scavino. He got one wrong and was thrown somewhere. We don't know where. We're looking for him.""

Don Surber is Cheering a less-known military victory, "Venezuela earthquake response shows losing USAID was no big deal."

Breitbart Bus Dig calls it A CPI Report for the Record Books "The June inflation report was even better than it looks. Don’t get us wrong. The headline figure was glorious. The consumer price index fell by 0.4 percent for the month, the biggest decline since the big dips in March and April of 2020, when the economy was reeling from the pandemic shutdown. Prior to that, you have to go all the way back to January of 2015, when the CPI fell 0.7 percent."

The Manhattan Contrarian contends "Red Scare"? Actually The Communist Resurgence In The Democratic Party Is Very Real. Quotulatiousness doubts the people saying “Communism no longer comes for your property.” Hat Hair's Dave Strom has hopes Is the Socialist Moment Already Over?

And another thing the Media made and unmade Graham Platner, "Just as Donald Trump is a poor person’s idea of a rich person, Candidate Platner is a rich person’s idea of a poor person." Steve Soukup at Am Great looks at Graham Platner and the Rationalization of Everything. "The politicization of everything creates, in the ruling class, a belief in the infallible righteousness of their mission, which, in turn, legitimizes any tactics necessary to take and hold power." Kurt Schlichter at TownHall thinks James Talarico Has Got a Secret. "I don’t know what that blasphemous little imp’s secret is, but he’s got one. Don’t be fooled by that creepy smile on his creepy face; there’s something wrong with James Talarico. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I don’t ever want to see his browser history, and I’d sooner have somebody from The Lincoln Project babysit my kid." PJM's Stephen Kruiser swears Gavin Newsom Really Doesn't Want to Be President. "Everything that Newsom pats himself on the back for is the kind of thing that I truly believe ends up being a disqualifying knock on him with Ma and Pa Dem in the Midwest. He doesn't know that because California is the biggest ideological bubble in the nation." Hat Hair's Dave Strom thinks it's Hilarious: Ro Khanna's Stunt Not Enough for Pro-Hamas Crowd. Peter Savodnik @petersavodnik, "I agree with @jpodhoretz that antisemitism is a bigger problem on the left than the right, and I agree that that's surprising. Just as important is why..." PJM's Scott Pinsker lauds the The Political Castration of Chuck Schumer — and the Rise of GOP Superman Brandon Gill. "Schumer is so hated, his Maine endorsement would guarantee defeat — not by the hands of Republicans, but his fellow Democrats!"

Ace is furious at Jack Smith Who Shredded the Constitution to Spy on Republican Congressmen, Then Repeatedly Lied About It Under Oath. "Congressional speech, including phone calls and text messages, are protected against subpoenas by the Speech and Debate Clause. There is a bullshit way around this. The DOJ will sometimes seize these messages anyway but they first go to a "Filter Team" to make sure that nothing in the messages is protected by the Speech and Debate Clause. If a message falls into that category, it's not passed on to prosecutors. But Jack Smith said "YOLO" and just read all the messages he wanted to read, without any Filter Team clearing them first. And of course, 90% of those he illegally, unconstitutionally spied on were Republican congressmen."

Town Hall's Matt Vespa is outraged, Wait, That’s How Many Messages the Secret Service Missed Regarding Trump's Would-be Assassin at Butler? Breaking911 @Breaking911, "A new inspector general report released two years after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, says the Secret Service missed more than 100 radio transmissions warning about the suspected gunman. The attack killed firefighter Corey Comperatore as he shielded his family and wounded two others. Investigators say communication failures and security lapses represented missed opportunities to stop the shooting." IIRC, the SS wasn't listening to anything the locals put out.

Capt. Ed, Stopping the Stops Stop: Trump Reverses DHS Order. From Ace, Trump: There's No Way I'm Stopping ICE Traffic Stops Just Because the Left Has Fully Embraced Violence As Its "Political Speech" "The stops are back on (if they were ever off)." Matt Margolis at PJM likes how Jesse Watters Schools Jessica Tarlov on the Houston ICE Shooting. WBAL TV, FBI affidavit alleges drugs found in van involved in Houston ICE shooting. Which explains why they tried to run/run over the agent.

Was it worth it?

Mike Miller at RedState, Welcome to America, Eh? Canadian Woman Allegedly Slaps Minor in Trump Gear, Ends Up in ICE Custody. Deport her to Nicaragua just for fun. Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok, "The husband of Kaitlyn Tracey posted a video CRYING after his Canadian wife was arrested for allegedly assaulting a teen girl wearing Trump-themed attire in NJ. He conveniently leaves out why his wife was arrested… If you’re a foreigner and you come here and assault American citizens, you will be deported!" Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok, "Kaitlyn Tracey's husband has an art poster on his wall featuring small children with the text "1000 Virgins for Satan's Master." What a creep."

Daniel Horowitz @RMConservative, "The end result of social transformation without representation." Quote DR POOL @DRPOOLQ1, "TERRIFYING: It's gotten so bad in Minnesota that police are saying they are SOMALIANS FIRST. He isn't even speaking English."

CIS looks at Sen. Lindsey Graham’s Unique Immigration Legacy. "A journey from amnesty proponent to foe of open borders and ‘birth tourism.’"

Bonchie @bonchieredstate, "Matthew Yglesias apparently has no idea how AI works and where it gets its “views” from." Quote Holden @Holden114 "He cannot be this stupid." Oh, I think he can. But, honestly, I'm shocked Google is that neutral.

VodkaPundit at Insty wants you to SAY IT LOUD AND PROUD: "The West Is a Superior Civilization (And I Don’t Care If That Offends You). “The West has experienced wars, harbored atrocious dictatorships, and served as the birthplace of a great many foolish ideas, including the wokism that ravaged civilization in this century. But what has made this civilization great is its ability to recognize those deviations and try to correct them, or at the very least condemn them." From the College Fix, U. Nebraska internal review finds ‘no evidence’ of DEI — experts say it doesn’t add up. Campus Reform reports Education Department portal reveals $72B in foreign funding to US colleges.

Jenn Pellegrino @JennPellegrino, "I can't believe this is real. The Chancellor of UC San Francisco testified under oath that a "vast majority of pregnancies are in women." Implying some pregnancies occur in men. When asked directly whether a non-biological woman has ever had a baby, he refused to answer. This is the head of one of the top medical schools in the country." Capt. Ed, Gallup: Confidence in Academia Craters. UCSF Chief: Hold My Transgender-Friendly Microbrew. Carlo Carrasco, Trump Administration Trashes Biden-Era LGBTQ Foster Care Rule "Remember a few years ago when the administration of failed US President Joe Biden came up with a foster care rule that sought to require children who identify as LGBTQ be placed with families willing to accept them through gender identity?" Sasha Stone @realsashastone, "Also the temptation to make history will be too great." Quote Chris Gore @ThatChrisGore "Eliot Page will get nominated for Best Supporting Actor for The Odyssey. Page plays Sinon, a proxy for Achilles in Hades and the significance of the role begs for awards recognition. #TheOdyssey". 'Eliot' Page used to be Ellen. 

The Wombat has even more at In The Mailbox: 07.15.26 (Afternoon Edition) and In The Mailbox: 07.15.26 (Evening Edition). The Wombat has FMJRA 2.0: Slowly I Turn up and garnering clicks at The Other McCain.

The Whole Place Shakin' Away

 Nature, 'Megathrust' Earthquake Could Trigger San Andreas Fault, Scientists Warn

A newly identified link between two notorious geologic zones suggests a major earthquake at one site could trigger another huge quake at the other, creating a double-whammy of destruction.

Researchers led by a team from Oregon State University analyzed 137 different sediment cores collected from the Cascadia subduction zone, in the Pacific Northwest, and the northern San Andreas Fault, in California. In those samples, collected on five voyages, they found evidence of synchronized earthquakes at the two sites going back some 3,000 years.

That evidence appeared in the form of turbidites: layered deposits that show up in cores when fast-moving landslides happen underwater, indicated by smaller grains on top and coarser grains underneath. In several cases, the timing of when these turbidites were deposited matched up between Cascadia and San Andreas.

Based on these pairings, and the history of earthquakes in both areas, the researchers suggest that a magnitude 9 (M9) earthquake or 'megathrust' along the Cascadia subduction zone could be enough to seriously unsettle the San Andreas Fault too.

"It's kind of hard to exaggerate what a M9 earthquake would be like in the Pacific Northwest," says paleoseismologist Chris Goldfinger, from Oregon State University. "And so the possibility that a San Andreas earthquake would follow, it's movie territory."

Tubidites? I don't think I've heard that word since Geological Oceanography 101.

Flotsam and Jetsam - Biden Goes To Key Bridge, Compares it to Beau

From Matt Vespa at Town Hall,  Conservative Commentator Highlights What Was Awful About Biden's Francis Scott Key Bridge Visit

Annnnd there it is -- Biden compares himself losing son Beau to the families of the six construction workers who died when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed pic.twitter.com/SRmLgiHMgF

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 5, 2024

Stephen L. Miller@redsteeze, "The Forrest Gump of presidents. Just happens to be magically and historically attached to whatever current thing he happens to be doing at the time." At the Balmer Sun, Truckers, sidelined by Baltimore’s Key Bridge disaster, are ‘port workers as well’ and SBA head visits Baltimore, speaks with business owners affected by Key Bridge collapse. 

Duane Patterson at Hat Hair hears Team Biden: You Bet We're Prepared to Lose. Time to crack up the "most extensive and inclusive election fraud" organization in history! Ed Driscol at Insty, DISPATCHES FROM THE ICE FLOE: Dem Senator Richard Blumenthal Turns Up the Heat On Justice Sotomayor to Retire: ‘Graveyards Are Full of Indispensable People.’ "CTRL-F, Blumenthal’s age on the Mediaite article brings back zero results. Or as Jim Geraghty writes: Really Old Senator Tries to Convince Less Old Justice That She’s Too Old to Stay at Work." Hat Hair's Dave Strom notices Kamala's Venn Diagram of Knowledge and Utterances Doesn't Overlap. To be fair, if politicians refrained from talking about things they know nothing about, the newspapers would be nearly empty. 

WaPoo whines Gaza increasingly threatens Democrats’ Trump-era unity. From Da Wire, Blinken: Israel Risks ‘Becoming Indistinguishable’ From Hamas Terrorists. Insty, THIS IS KIND OF A JOKE. IT’S NOT LIKE THE IRANIANS WEREN’T DOING THEIR BEST BEFORE. Biden officials worry Iran may hit targets inside Israel as revenge for killing general. At Da Caller, ‘Floating Abbey Gate’: Even Biden’s Biggest Cheerleaders Sound Alarm On Gaza Pier Scheme.   At the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 04.05.24, Power Line, Biden adopts the Hamas line, and the American Conservative: Antony Blinken Plays Politics with Ukraine’s NATO Membership.

At Da Caller, Henry Rogers reports Tony Bobulinski Sues Rep. Dan Goldman For Defamation. 'Becca Downs at TownHall, Dan Goldman Hit With Defamation Lawsuit.

At the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 04.05.24,  Power Line  About That Jobs Report [Updated]. Dave Strom, is all About Those Jobs Numbers. Par-time jobs, Govt workers and illegal aliens. 471TO@TOzgokmen "What is going on is very clear now: part-time jobs are provided to 10 million refugees who were admitted through the southern border. Meanwhile, full-time jobs with good wages and benefits are cut. BLS makes a magic mixture of this to claim huge jobs growth. What is happening actually is class warfare. At some point last year, CEOs and WH must have made a decision to open southern border when all these strikes started building up. This is akin to sending all production jobs overseas in 1990s, so they have done it before. This trend will accelerate full-time job loss, as more corporations jump on this train to cut expenses.", From TNP Almost *All* the ‘New Jobs’ in Biden’s Economy Are ‘Crappy’ Part Time Work. Which is good for Democrats, if you stay dependent on the government. Nick Pope at Da Caller, Biden’s Signature Bills Showering Battleground States With Billions Of Taxpayer Dollars, With More To Come. Ace,  Biden, Having Drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Boost Democrats' Chances for the 2022 Midterms, Now Breaks a Promise and Says He's Not Going to Re-Fill It. "Biden lied. He's willing to weaponize the government and deplete critical wartime stocks for short-term political advantage. He's an evil old vulture." 

Matt Palumbo at Bongino is shocked to hear Jean-Pierre Tell a Reporter Illegal Aliens "Strengthen" the Country. PJM Stephen Kruiser fears The Illegals Might Be in Control Before the Election. Are we sure they're not now? VodkaPundit at Insty, TELL ME AGAIN WHY THE REPLACEMENT THEORY IS JUST PARANOIA: End Wokeness@EndWokeness "Foreign-born population growth: Barack Obama: 68,000 per month Donald Trump: 42,000 per month Joe Biden: 172,000 per month." PJM's Grayson Backich, reports an Illegal Alien Deported 7 Times Arrested for Ohio Murder and Chris Queen, Shocking Email Exchange Reveals the Woke Priorities of Athens-Clarke County After Laken Riley's Murder. "“While the community is experiencing deep trauma right now, and emotions are understandably raw, I support the detainer policy as one that is both humane and following the well-documented propensity of immigrants in the U.S. to be less criminally inclined than the native-born population,” he claims, citing some research that he linked but which we cannot access from the copy of the emails that we have (emphasis added)." Leah Barkoukis at TownHall, Adams Invited Abbott to Spend a Night in Shelter for Illegal Immigrants. Here's How the TX Gov Responded. “And what I will suggest to the mayor of New York is there are people dying on his watch,” Abbott said during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “Law enforcement officers are being gunned down by people that have been arrested 20 times, and he needs to take charge and make sure they keep behind bars dangerous criminals who are killing his fellow New Yorkers.” At Fox, Texas Gov Abbott travels to sanctuary city to say he won't stop bussing in illegal immigrants "'Texas is ground zero for the broken border policy imposed by Joe Biden,' Texas Gov Greg Abbott told New York Republicans at a gala on Thursday." At NewsMax, Schumer Expected to Dismiss Mayorkas Impeachment. I would expect no less.

Jeff Carter at Points and Figures sees No Labels Fails. "No Labels also failed to understand the underlying currents in American politics. If there is a commonality behind the early Bernie Sanders supporters, the Ron Paul supporters, and the Tea Party movement it is to get big government and big corporate out of their lives. No Labels was for big  government. Hence, it didn’t have what we call in the startup community, “product-market fit”. At Reason Meet 'Literally Anybody Else,' the Presidential Candidate That 2024 Demands. "The 35-year-old Texan formerly known as Dustin Ebey voted for Gary Johnson in 2016 and says the national debt is America's biggest problem." Stephen Kruiser predicts Election 2024 Will Be an 'Abortion vs. Border' Battle That the GOP Needs to Learn How to Fight. WaEx's Salena Zito thinks Democrats should be jittery about Pennsylvania voter registration trends. At Da Blaze, Stephen A. Smith teaches Hillary Clinton a lesson about talking down to voters: 'How did that work out for her in 2016?' Deplorables!

Stephen Kruiser again, with an Honest Question for Trump-Averse Republicans: How Bad Do Things Have to Get? But, mean Tweets! WaEx's Paul Bedard reports Trump has double-digit Hispanic lead as black and Asian voters also shift right. But wait until the illegals start voting. ET, Trump to Rake in $43 Million at Fundraiser, Dwarfing Biden’s Record $26 Million Haul. "Megadonors will boost the former president’s campaign coffers by a record amount for a single event this weekend in Palm Beach, Florida." Sundance at CTH has Hugh Hewitt Interviews President Trump on Current Events and an amazing coincidence, President Trump Bedminster Golf Course Was Epicenter of Earthquake that Hit Northeast Region "I suppose there is a bucket of metaphors in here somewhere."

Dan Crenshaw @DanCrenshawTX "Holy crap I was just joking about people blaming climate change and then this genius pops up. A Senate candidate no less! Quote Christina Amira Khalil@Christina4NJ "I experienced my first earthquake in NJ. We never get earthquakes. The climate crisis is real. The weirdest experience ever." At the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 04.05.24,  Twitchy: Literally Shaking! Responses From The Epicenter of the NYC earthquake Are Hilarious, 

 At the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 04.05.24 at the Victory Girls: Fani Willis Funny Business Continues, Accused Of Illegally Recording Call.From WaEx, Fani Willis faces more trouble ahead in Georgia election case. NewsMax, Trump Co-defendant Threatens Legal Action Against Fani Willis. "I don't want to put a black woman in Jail. But if Fani Willis does not recuse herself from this case by noon on Monday, I may have no other choice than to pursue all lawful remedies. Make Fulton Great Again." Star News reports Nathan Wade Cut Off Wife’s Medical Bills, Funds for Son’s European Soccer Career Amid Georgia Trump Prosecution Drama: Court Document. At Breitbart, Letitia James Questions Trump’s $175M Bond Deal, Judge Schedules Hearing.

AP whines when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. questions prosecutions for Jan. 6 attack, says he wants to hear 'every side'. NewsMax, RFK Jr. Campaign Disavows Email Calling Jan. 6 Defendants 'Activists.' Althouse, "I am concerned about the possibility that political objectives motivated the vigor of the prosecution of the J6 defendants, their long sentences, and their harsh treatment." "Said RFK Jr., quoted in "RFK Jr. has repeatedly dismissed severity of the Jan. 6 attack: 'What's the worst thing that could happen?'/The independent presidential candidate's campaign distanced itself from its own fundraising email Thursday that called the Jan. 6 rioters 'activists'" (NBC News). He added that if elected president he will "appoint a special counsel — an individual respected by all sides — to investigate whether prosecutorial discretion was abused for political ends in this case." ADDED: Here's how the WaPo columnist Philip Bump writes about it: "RFK Jr. clarifies that his view of Jan. 6 is the conspiratorial one." At the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 04.05.24, The Geller Reports Great-Grandma Convicted of Walking Around The Capitol For 10 Minutes On Jan. 6, Facing Jail. From PM, Elon Musk speaks out on DOJ conviction of 'praying grandma,' Sen Mike Lee calls for her to be pardoned.  

Bob Hoge at RedState reports a Judge Thrashes DOJ for Ignoring House Subpoenas Even as Peter Navarro Sits in Prison for Doing Just That. 

At Twitchy, Gavin Newsom WREKT, Conveniently 'Forgets' Who Caused Most Of the Violence In 2020 (Watch).

Brandon Morse at RedState, The Left Is Working Hard to Censor and Control How You Interact With the Internet but You're in the Way. From NYPo, Fired CBS correspondent Catherine Herridge to break silence at Capitol Hill hearing.

 Christopher F. Rufo @realchrisrufo is "WINNING: The University of Texas is closing down its DEI division, forcing some DEI deans to return to teaching, and eliminating other DEI positions altogether. We will not stop until DEI is abolished and salted over." From the College Fix, Harvard scrubs ‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ film info from website. Campus Reform, Community college's new social justice center focuses on issues like 'white privilege' and 'water', Fresno City College. Hat Hair's John Sexton cites a Harvard Law Professor: Mandatory DEI Statements Make Me Wince. At Reuters, DEI isn't dead, but employers must tread carefully. John Sexton comments "Lawsuits like the one described here are ultimately how corporate DEI is going to die." Also, Woketopia, Massachusetts, Where the Left Eats Its Own, and explains where The Book 'White Rural Rage' Gets the Research Wrong. Breitbart sees Blue State Blues: The Jewish State as Pariah. John Sexton again, Experts Say Squatters Are Rare. Does That Matter? NYT cited at Hat Hair, Some Colleges Will Soon Charge $100,000 a Year. How Did This Happen? "Not mentioned by the NY Times: Vanderbilt has 1 administrator for every 2 students. And last year the school announced a new $17 million DEI initiative." Jazz Shaw at Hat Hair is amused when Liberals Whine About Utah Female Soccer Club's Name "The Utah Royals, a women’s professional soccer club based in Salt Lake City, faced criticism for their jerseys and stadium, which are named after their sponsor — America First Credit Union, from leftists who claim the term “America First” is rooted in “fascism” and “racism.”

Karol Markowicz at NYPo, Believe data, not activists: Transgenderism among kids is mostly a fad. Lincoln Brown at PJM, New Study Sheds Light on What Everyone Has Known Since Time Began. At the NH Journal, Bearded MA ‘Trans’ HS Athlete Injures Multiple Girls; Now Story Part of NH Debate. The Connecticut Centinal reports the Presence Of Trans Athlete On CT High School Girls Track & Field Team Prompts Questions To District About Discrimination. "Girls who identify as "biological girls" and who were born female felt unsafe with the presence of an athlete who was born a male inside the same locker room, especially considering the size differential. The biological girls were forced to huddle in a corner of the locker room so they could change clothes with at least a modicum of privacy, hoping to remain out of view of the student who was born a biological boy." From Twitchy, The Word Wizard, J.K. Rowling, Destroys Biological Absurdity in One Hilarious Tweet

Yep. I'm still amazed all three of our kids chose to gestate inside me, because I thought it was 50/50 they'd come to term inside one of Neil's testicles. By coincidence, my father never gave birth out of his balls, either. Random luck or ancestral curse? I doubt we'll ever know. pic.twitter.com/g0pmCUURJ7

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 5, 2024

Linked at The Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links.  

I Missed That!

The Balmer Sun, Earthquake hits New Jersey, causing tremors in Maryland

A 4.8-magnitude earthquake struck New Jersey Friday morning, rattling parts of Maryland and other surrounding states.

The quake hit at 10:23 a.m. near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Online reports from the public indicated the quake could be felt in nearby New York City, and up and down the East Coast. Citizens reported feeling the quake in Baltimore and Annapolis, as well as the Eastern Shore and Washington, D.C.

Source: U.S.G.S.

On the Richter scale, quakes between 2.5 and 5.4 are often felt, but typically only cause minor damage.

Baltimore City Fire Department spokesman Kevin Cartwright said Friday morning he had not received any reports of damage. Nor did emergency management officials in Harford County further north, said county spokesman Matt Button.

The quake struck little more than a week after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, with President Joe Biden scheduled to arrive later Friday to survey the wreckage and meet with the families of the six victims. A spokesperson at the information center for the bridge said they were unaware of any impact from the quake on the recovery effort.

If it was felt in Baltimore and Annapolis, it's likely to have been perceptible here as well. But I didn't feel anything, and neither did Georgia.  

Virginia Gets a Shakedown

 WTOP, More earthquakes are hitting Virginia. Is a big one coming?

In recent weeks, Virginia has been rattled with more earthquakes than usual, leading some experts to wonder whether a larger quake might be coming.

Six quakes have been detected in the western portion of the state since mid-June, according to the United States Geological Survey, with headquarters in Fairfax County.

At least three of the earthquakes were felt by people.

Typically, only two or three quakes per year are felt by residents across Virginia.

“It’s a little bit of a burst of activity here,” said Martin Chapman, a professor of geophysics at Virginia Tech. “When you see a series of these things in a smaller area, you have to take into account the fact that they may be foreshocks of a bigger earthquake.”
 
For scale, a magnitude 5.3 is considered to be a moderate earthquake, and a magnitude 6.3 is a strong one. All the recent Virginia quakes have been smaller, around the magnitude 2.5 level.

“We take a close look at it and we monitor our instruments a little bit closer to make sure that we’re not missing any more little earthquakes, because if you see a continuous sequence that’s something that you have to pay attention to,” Chapman said.

Although, not every large earthquake comes after “foreshocks.”

The quake in Mineral, Virginia, that shook the D.C. area back in 2011 was a magnitude 5.8 and it came out of the blue.

“We didn’t see any foreshocks for that earthquake,” Chapman said. “You can’t always predict what earthquakes are going to do.”

I remember it well, I was at work in Edgewater. I, and a few other Californican's recognized what it was immediately.  

Cascadia Burps, West Coast Alerts

Jazz Shaw at Hat Hair, Cascadia fault line could be ready to shift. And that would be VERY bad

Oceanographers working off the coast of Oregon have made a potentially alarming discovery. They’ve found a vent in the ocean floor that is pushing out warm water. On the surface, that may not sound all that remarkable or dangerous, but the chemical composition of the water suggests that it’s coming up from a deep vent and it’s located on top of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. We’ve covered this topic here in the past, but if you’re not familiar with the CSZ there are some good documentaries online where you can learn the details. The short version of the story is that the CSZ “slips” on a regular basis every 300 to 400 years. When it does, it causes an earthquake of at least magnitude 8 or 9. And very shortly after that, a tsunami that looks like nothing seen in our lifetimes comes ashore from southern Canada to northern California destroying everything in its path. This leaking vent in the seafloor could be an early indicator that the next slip is on the way.

The Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) is a massive fault line stretching from Vancouver Island to Northern California—and it’s the source of the vast majority of earthquakes and tsunamis in the region. In fact, scientists believe that the fault line will likely be the source of the next Big One, an anticipated megathrust earthquake so powerful it’ll wreak death and destruction the likes of which we’ve never seen before from a geological event.

So, it goes without saying that researchers have a special interest in studying the CSZ—and they may have uncovered something that could clue us in on what’s going on with the incredibly powerful ticking time bomb.

The last CSZ quake happened in January of 1700. The Native Americans still talked of it in their oral traditions and told the first European settlers arriving in the region about it. The death toll was horrific, though there was very little in the way of construction to be destroyed in the region at the time. It’s a given that another one is coming and we’re already in the window of time when it would typically happen.

The question is, what are we supposed to do with this information? We’ve known this is coming for quite a while now and back in 2016 officials were conducting emergency evacuation drills in Oregon to try to prepare for it. But there’s only so much you can do, realistically. Scientists believe that from the time the fault slips and the earthquake hits, it will be as little as 30 minutes before the wave hits. There are three-quarters of a million people in Seattle. There are nearly as many in Portland. You simply can’t evacuate that many people in half an hour, particularly when they’re already scrambling through the wreckage of a category 9 earthquake. 

It's Not the Big One, Elizabeth

But it's big enough. Georgia got a call early this morning from her sister Mary, who lives in McKinleyville, California, who said that they had a big earthquake last night, and that she was still out of power, but otherwise OK. A bit of quick googling got me to the USGS site where you can see that a magnitude 6.4 quake took place off in the ocean off Ferndale this morning at 2:34 AM PST. 6.4 is a pretty good shaker and it appears to have set off a swarm of aftershocks in the area, mostly of magnitude 3-4. The Eureka Times-Standard reports 6.4 magnitude earthquake causes injuries, damage, power outages on Northern California coast near Eureka 

A large earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 jolted the Northern California coastline near Eureka on Tuesday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, a shaker that caused structural damage, power outages and some injuries.

The earthquake occurred around 2:34 a.m. on Tuesday with the epicenter reported to be just offshore of Humboldt County.

At least two people were injured, according to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office. One person suffered a broken hip, and another was injured by items falling off a shelf, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Samantha Karges said.

Besides Eureka, the towns of Ferndale and Fortuna were also near the quake, based on the epicenter reported by the USGS. The popular Humboldt Redwoods State Park is also in the vicinity.

The quake knocked out power to 71,850 customers, according to Pacific Gas & Electric. County officials said the utility sent a memo to them saying that power may be restored by the end of Tuesday, though a PG&E statement said that a damage assessment could take days.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that there was no tsunami warning or threat after the quake.

Residents in the region were reporting scattered gas leaks around the region, and property damage ranging from collapsed structures in rural areas to felled shelves and other home fixtures. It was unknown immediately what damage to infrastructure took place.

Well, It Wasn't Exactly The Big One . . .

. . . but it'll do until The Big One comes along: 7.1 Quake Rocks SoCal, Searles Valley Hit Hard For Second Time In 24 Hours

A 7.1 quake rocked Southern California Friday evening. The quake struck at 8:21 p.m.

KCAL9 anchor Sara Donchey held co-anchor Juan Fernandez’ arm as she steadied herself before ducking under her desk.

He, meanwhile, reported feeling nauseous about the quake that felt like it wasn’t going to stop.

Friday’s 7.1 and Thursday’s 6.4 both had epicenters near the community of Ridgecrest. The Thursday quake was already the biggest to hit Southern California in 20 years.

The 7.1 magnitude quake in the same series downgraded the previous 6.4 magnitude quake to a foreshock, and there is still the possibility of more significant quakes, including an even bigger one.



My brother's wife reported that they had a pretty good roll in Encino, and a short power outage. Southern California was lucky these struck out in relatively lightly populated areas, and were relatively well prepared.

I grew up in LA, from birth to 18, and only experienced a singly noticeable earthquake. I was an infant during the 1952 Kern County earthquake, magnitude 7.3, but as a teenager, I was working in a tropical fish store, and water started sloshing out of the tanks. No appreciable damage, and it barely made the news in those days. I was at school in NorCal for the 1971 Sylmar quake, magnitude 6.5, and our family home suffered a few cracks in the plaster out of that.

What's Shakin' Out West?

A lot, apparently: Tremors shove Washington westward, offer clues into next big earthquake

Thousands of tiny tremors over the past few months have moved parts of Washington and Vancouver Island westward. It’s a near annual event that backs expectations by some scientists that a big earthquake may hit the Seattle area harder than their previous models suggested.

This recent wave of activity began in May and appears to be dying off now, according to University of Washington earth-sciences professor Ken Creager. It’s a process, known as episodic tremor and slip, thought to increase stress on locked faults — areas where tectonic plates cannot move past each other. Earthquakes occur when the pressure on locked zones reaches the breaking point and the plates snap past each other.

Scientists believe an episode of tremors could someday trigger a so-called megaquake on the offshore fault called the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The 700-mile-long fault runs from Vancouver Island to northern California, and can unleash earthquakes of up to magnitude 9.0. It’s one of the biggest of faults in the U.S.

While older models suggest that the locked zone is mostly shallow and offshore, the location of these tremors indicates that in a big earthquake, layers of rock jerking past each other may take place closer to Seattle than previously thought.

“That increases the risk that it could be closer to the population centers, which means stronger shaking in the Puget Sound cities,” Creager said.

Also unknown is the timing of the next big earthquake.The Pacific Northwest last saw a megaquake about 300 years ago. Scientists widely expect the region to experience a similar event every 500 years on average.

“It could happen anytime in the next few hundred years but it could be tomorrow,” said Creager.

Looks to me like the quakes are zeroing in on a place where the fault is locked. A big quake around Port Angeles or Victoria in the reasonably near future seems like a possibility.  But, in the words of Bill Mays, wait, there's more! Series of morning quakes off southern Oregon coast includes a 5.6

Eleven earthquakes ranging from 2.8 to 5.6 magnitudes were reported off Oregon's southern coast Tuesday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quakes, on average, were clustered about 126 miles west of Crescent City, California. No tsunami warnings were announced. Don Blakeman, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center, said the magnitudes haven't yet been serious, adding that quakes of this caliber occur fairly often off the coast.

Though the 5.6, which happened at 7:44 a.m., qualifies as a moderate earthquake, the impacts would be more significant if it had occurred on land rather than 10 kilometers under the sea, Blakeman said. Smaller earthquakes and aftershocks will likely continue in the area through the morning, he said, adding that he doesn't anticipate a larger magnitude will come along and trump the 5.6. Tsunami concerns don't usually come into play until at least a magnitude 7 is recorded, he said.

The earthquakes happened on the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate, which will likely be the source of a massive earthquake in the Portland and Seattle area in the future, but Blakeman said the rumblings Tuesday morning were nothing to worry about.

Hmmm.

New Earthquake Threat Found Near the Home Ground

Earthquake fault runs through Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills' shopping district, California geologists say

New data from state geologists show that an earthquake fault runs below Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills’ shopping district, heightening the known seismic risk in an area famous for Cartier, Gucci, Prada and other luxury brands.

The California Geological Survey’s final map has the Santa Monica fault zone cutting through the so-called Golden Triangle, running between Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards.

The new map is a change from a draft version released last year that showed the fault zone ending on the western edge of Beverly Hills, near the corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards. Based on more information, the state now says the fault zone extends a mile farther northeast, through Beverly Hills’ central district and into the city’s civic center area.

The Santa Monica is one of several faults running through highly populated areas of Southern California to generate interest and concern from seismic experts and government officials. The fault zone cuts through the heart of the Westside, straddling or paralleling Santa Monica Boulevard through Century City and Westwood before veering due west, with segments running into Brentwood, Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades.

It’s capable of producing a magnitude 7 earthquake. Experts believe the most recent major earthquake on the Santa Monica fault occurred 1,000 to 3,000 years ago.

I grew up in the West Side, Culver City for 12 years, and then the next several in Rancho Park, not far from the junction of the 405 with the Santa Monica Freeway. I only recall one earthquake, a mild 5 or so, while I was growing up (although I apparently slept through a larger one as an infant).

A magnitude 7 quake would devastate the area.

The Fake News on Fukushima

I've seen links to this on Drudge, and in Facebook, and even seen a citation to it in a Facebook comment, and its debunking needs wider coverage: Relax, That Scary Fukushima Headline Was Fake News

On February 8, Adam Housley of Fox News reported a story with a terrifying headline: "Radiation at Japan's Fukushima Reactor Is Now at 'Unimaginable' Levels." Let's just pick up the most exciting paragraphs:

The radiation levels at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant are now at "unimaginable" levels.
[Housley] said the radiation levels -- as high as 530 sieverts per hour -- are now the highest they've been since 2011 when a tsunami hit the coastal reactor.
"To put this in very simple terms. Four sieverts can kill a handful of people," he explained.

The degree to which this story is misleading is amazing, but to explain it, we need a little bit of a tutorial
. . .
Let's dispose of the silliest error first: "Four sieverts can kill a handful of people."

Here's what he really means: an exposure to four sieverts total dose will kill about half the people exposed. If you were inside the reactor, after a little over two minutes of exposure the chance you'll die is 50/50.

Showing that the people writing the article had no concept of the idea of radiation intensity versus a fixed quantity that could be divided between a number of people.  You could stop here and know that the rest of the article was idiocy. But wait, there's more:

On with the stupidity:

The radiation levels inside Japan's damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor No. 2 have soared in recent weeks, reaching a maximum of 530 sieverts per hour, a number experts have called "unimaginable."

Now, let's refer back to the image above. Most commercial nuclear reactors have what's called the "primary containment" around the reactor: a sealed steel or reinforced concrete shell around the actual reactor. Outside that is the "secondary containment," another sealed building surrounding the primary containment. The unexpectedly high radiation levels -- and 530 Sieverts is way high, no question -- were detected inside the containment, the area marked by "1."

This is important, because everyone in Japan is in the area marked by "2.", technically called outside the containment. This is a Good Thing. What's even better is that we now know the radiation exposure in area 2 was only about 15 percent of what was originally thought.

What, you mean radioactive waste (and that's all the reactors at Fukushima are at this point) in the containment is highly radioactive? Yeah, we knew that. What's new is the radiation levels finally dropped to the point that they could send a robot in to read them (just barely):

At Fukushima Daini, they got a robot close enough to measure the radiation level close to the "elephant's foot" -- the mass of slag that results when the reactor melts down. This was very high -- the article mentioned 530 Sieverts, but it's unclear what they mean, because Sieverts are a measure of biological damage, not radiation dose. Still, it's way high. (Reading news reports about these things can be very frustrating.)

But what about that "release into the ocean" I keep hearing about:

"The worry is with 300 tons of radioactive water going into the Pacific every day, what is that doing to the Pacific Ocean?" said Housley.

This, at least, is something we can evaluate.

Radioactivity is measured with two units, the Bequerel and the Curie; the Bequerel is ridiculously small, the Curie ridiculously large. (You can find a long detailed explanation in my article "Understanding Radiation" from the time of the Fukushima accident.) A Bequerel is one decay event per second.

TEPCO and the Japanese government carefully measure the radioactivity in the water being released, and report it regularly. Their February 1 report records only one significant radionuclide in the water: tritium, the third hydrogen isotope. The radioactivity level is between 780 and 820 Bq per liter of water.

What does this mean? Well, the U.S. EPA safety standard for tritium in drinking water sets an upper limit of 740 Bq/liter. Basically, you wouldn't want to drink it, right there at the outflow into the Pacific, for any extended length of time -- although it probably wouldn't hurt you.

So, no, we're not all gonna die from the radiation released into the Pacific Ocean (which is a really huge body of water, 714 million cubic kilometres); we can barely measure it. But don't go into the containment at Fukushima.

This is just click bait for antinuclear activists. Fukushima was never a threat to the Pacific Ocean, let alone now.

Washington and Oregon: It's Worse Than We Thought

A Major Earthquake in the Pacific Northwest Looks Even Likelier

A team of researchers led by Chris Goldfinger, a geologist at Oregon State University, has found evidence that at least 43 major earthquakes have occurred in the last 10,000 years. That number is slightly larger than previously estimated, which means that—over the long time period—it significantly alters the likelihood of any one event occurring.

In terms of sheer numbers, previous reports estimated that Washington state would have a major quake every 500 years on average. Goldfinger’s team now shows them to occur about every 430 years. And northern Oregon, which used to receive a quake about every 430 years, instead faces one every 350 years.

This means that there is about a 20 percent chance that northern Oregon—a region that includes Portland and Astoria—will be hit by a magnitude-8.0-or-higher quake in the next 50 years. (Previously, the area was estimated to have about a 12 percent chance of facing such a quake.) Washington state has between a 14 and 17 percent chance of facing a big one, up from an 8 to 14 percent chance.

These numbers still pale in comparison to earthquake risks to the south. For instance, the San Francisco Bay area has a 50 percent chance of experiencing a magnitude-7.0 earthquake in the next 30 years. Los Angeles faces a 93 percent chance. But scientists expect a major rupture in Cascadia would be much more powerful than one of these Californian quakes.

The apparent spacing between the major Cascadia earthquakes declined on average, make the current risk slightly larger. And even though the risk isn't terribly high, the consequences of a Cascadia earthquake is so great that the time to start getting ready was 10 years ago.

Can Cellphones Save California?

In the news this week has been a few articles about a cellphone app that acts like a seismometer, and reports earthquake motions to users and scientists.

Scientists develop new app that uses your cellphone to detect earthquakes

UC Berkeley scientists are hoping to capture that sharing impulse in a massive science experiment: Using cellphones to detect earthquakes as soon as they start. They hope that by turning mobile phones into vast data collection points, they can quickly glean information about the quakes and warn those farther away from the epicenter that shaking is on the way.

On Friday, scientists unveiled an app that will test this idea with anyone around the world who wants to participate. Named MyShake, the free app, available on Google Android phones and at myshake.berkeley.edu, uses smartphone sensors to detect movement caused by an earthquake.

Users who download the app will be sending data to scientists when an earthquake as small as a magnitude 5 hits.

By harvesting information from hundreds of phones closest to the earthquake, scientists will be able to test a computer system that could, in the future, dispatch early warnings that shaking is seconds or minutes away to people farther away from the earthquake’s origin. For instance, if a quake started in San Bernardino, cell phones there could register the quake and quickly help send warnings to smartphone users in Los Angeles.

“This is a citizen science project,” said Richard Allen, director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory at UC Berkeley. “This is an app that provides information, education, motivation — to the people who’ve downloaded it — to get ready for earthquakes. Those same people are contributing to our further understanding of earthquakes, because they’re collecting data that will help us better understand the earthquake process.”

This looks like a really good way to overload and shut down the cell phone network in the event of a major earthquake to me.

I would suggest that this indicates that a dispersed network of connected seismographs should be rather cheap and easy to institute.

Is the Cascadia Subduction Zone Getting Ready to Rumble?

I'm trying to debunk this article in my mind, but I'm not having much luck. Four feet of change in the sea floor height in a few hours is a big change; but could it really have happened without generating a measurable earthquake?

US West Coast Earthquake Warning as Cascadia Subduction Zone Surges

An ocean data buoy is alerting to an "event" in the Cascadia Subduction Zone off the west coast of Oregon. This is where a magnitude 9 earthquake hit in 1700.

According to the data buoy, the water column height (depth) fell sharply within minutes off the coast of Oregon, signaling the land beneath the ocean has suddenly "sunk." Here are the graphs showing what the ocean data buoy recorded:

As of 0231:30, the initial water column height is 2738.80 Meters deep (8985.56 feet). Two minutes and thirty seconds later, that same water column height had dropped to 2738.66 Meters deep (8985.10 feet). Where did the four inches of water disappear to? Answer: The earth sunk; and continued to sink for the next several HOURS. As you can see from the second chart above, from 0230 GMT to 0600 GMT, the ocean continued to sink to 2737.7 meters deep (8981.95 feet). The buoy is too far away from shore to be affected by high/low tide, so where did the four feet of ocean water disappear to?

This means a Tectonic Plate in the Ocean named the "Juan de Fuca Plate" has made a sudden, eastward movement and slipped beneath another Tectonic Plate named the "North American Plate." This type of event is usually followed by a massive upward movement of the North American Plate causing a very severe earthquake.

The last time the Cascadia Subduction Zone had a big break was 1700, when it sent massive tsunamis ashore across the Pacific Northwest, and even over to Japan, where it caused the "orphan tsunami", a tsunami without the normal earthquake to precede it.

Lest you think that four feet of ocean depth is nothing to be concerned about, be reminded that the entire column of water . . . all 8985 feet of it . . . is what dropped four feet.  And it did so over an area several miles wide!

When the tectonic plate snaps back upward, it can launch that entire 8985 foot column of water upward and toward the shore!

As the continental shelf rises toward the shore (the ocean gets more shallow) that 8985 foot column of water starts accumulating upon itself as it moves toward shore, becoming one massive wave, perhaps 45-50 feet tall, that hits the shore for twenty minutes!

They talk about utter devastation back to I-5, which I think is overblown, but the point is, sometime we will find out, because nothing we can do will stop the accumulation and release of seismic energy in this region. The fault breaks big about every 300-500 years based on geological data, and the last one was 1700. You do the math.

We have family who live within sight of the Pacific Ocean, and a Cascadia Subduction Megathrust earthquake is a real threat.

UPDATE: According to the National Weather Service this appears to be a hoax, and the movement above is normal tidal variations.