Fish Pic Friday - Smells Like Tuna!

Luiza

A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a sub-grouping of the mackerel family (Scombridae). Thunnini comprises fifteen species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max. length: 50 cm (1.6 ft), weight: 1.8 kg (4 lb)) up to the Atlantic bluefin tuna (max. length: 4.6 m (15 ft), weight: 684 kg (1,508 lb)). The bluefin averages 2 m (6.6 ft), and is believed to live for up to 50 years.

Darcizzle

Tuna and mackerel sharks are the only species of fish that can maintain a body temperature higher than that of the surrounding water. An active and agile predator, the tuna has a sleek, streamlined body, and is among the fastest-swimming pelagic fish – the yellowfin tuna, for example, is capable of speeds of up to 75 km/h (47 mph). Found in warm seas, it is extensively fished commercially, and is popular as a game fish. As a result of overfishing, stocks of some tuna species, such as the southern bluefin tuna, are close to extinction.

Brooke

The tuna is a sleek and streamlined fish, adapted for speed. It has two closely spaced dorsal fins on its back; The first is "depressible" – it can be laid down, flush, in a groove that runs along its back. Seven to ten yellow finlets run from the dorsal fins to the tail, which is lunate – curved like a crescent moon – and tapered to pointy tips. The caudal peduncle, to which the tail is attached, is quite thin, with three stabilizing horizontal keels on each side. The tuna's dorsal side is generally a metallic dark blue, while the ventral side, or underside, is silvery or whitish, for camouflage.

Dr. Ball (right)

Thunnus are widely but sparsely distributed throughout the oceans of the world, generally in tropical and temperate waters at latitudes ranging between about 45° north and south of the equator. All tunas are able to maintain the temperature of certain parts of their body above the temperature of ambient seawater. For example, bluefin can maintain a core body temperature of 25–33 °C (77–91 °F), in water as cold as 6 °C (43 °F). However, unlike "typical" endothermic creatures such as mammals and birds, tuna do not maintain temperature within a relatively narrow range.

I've eaten it, but not caught it.

Wombat-socho links with "Rule 5 Sunday: Pussycat No More".

Maryland Rolls Out New Nutrient Trading Regs

From Maryland DNR: Maryland proposes regulations for faster, better Chesapeake Bay restoration

 The Maryland Department of the Environment has proposed regulations to establish the Maryland Water Quality Trading Program and accelerate the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay while bringing economic benefits to Maryland. The regulations are proposed under Maryland environmental law to ensure enforcement and accountability under the federal Clean Water Act.

The proposed regulations are designed to provide greater flexibility and reduce costs in achieving Maryland’s goals under its blueprint to meet federal pollution limits for the Bay. The voluntary program would establish a marketplace for private sector participation in meeting Bay cleanup goals.

Nutrient and sediment credit trading offer attractive alternatives to more costly traditional approaches for improving water quality and have the potential to achieve results more quickly and at a lower cost, accelerating efforts to restore and improve water quality. The trading program that would be established by the proposed regulations expands opportunities for all sources by giving them access to a water quality marketplace and flexibility in meeting and maintaining their pollution limits by acquiring credits generated from load reductions in local watersheds in Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
. . .
The Maryland Water Quality Trading Program will allow agricultural sources that have reduced their pollution beyond the required “baseline” to produce credits that can be purchased by counties or municipalities to meet Bay cleanup requirements to reduce polluted stormwater runoff. The cost of reducing nitrogen could be as low as $200 per pound in the agriculture sector, compared to an estimated $3,800 per pound for urban retrofits to reduce stormwater runoff.

So really, this allows the relatively clean agriculture industry to sell their cleanliness to the dirty cities like Baltimore instead of cleaning up their own shit. I approve of the idea in principle, but we are constantly being bombarded with "news" about how dirty agriculture is, and how hard the cities are trying to get their shit together, when the truth is approximately the direct opposite.

Praise was not exactly universal:

 Officials with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for bay restoration, said the regulations are an important step but have some flaws they believe should be fixed.

For example, credits can be traded within three regions: the Potomac River watershed, the Patuxent River watershed and a third area that includes the rest of the Western Shore, Eastern Shore and the Susquehanna River.

Doug Myers, a senior scientist at the bay foundation, said that third region is just too big, creating the possibility that polluters in one area could buy a lot of credits from areas across the bay — and still allowing localized pollution.

An excellent point. The urban pollution is concentrated in three areas, Washington D.C., Baltimore, and the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area. The agriculture is located a fair way outside these areas. If trading allows continued nutrient input in the urban centers, the waterways nearby will continue to be sewers.

Punk Rock Jihadi Jones Killed by Drone

British IS recruiter Sally-Anne Jones 'killed by drone'

British IS recruiter Sally-Anne Jones was reportedly killed in a US drone strike in Syria, in June.

Jones, from Chatham in Kent, joined so-called Islamic State after converting to Islam and travelling to Syria in 2013.

Her death was first reported by The Sun.

The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner said Jones had been a useful propaganda agent for IS on social media and her death would be "significant".

Whitehall officials have declined to comment publicly. However, they have not denied the story, and US sources are confident she was killed in an unmanned drone strike in June, our correspondent added.

She was reportedly killed close to the border between Syria and Iraq by a US Air Force strike.

Good riddance!

Prime Minister Theresa May said she was "aware of the reports" around Jones's death, but was "not in a position to comment further".

Jones, 48 - who had no previous military training - had been married to the jihadist Junaid Hussain, who was killed in 2015 in a drone strike.

Previously a punk musician, she had been used to recruit western girls to the group and posted threatening messages to Christians in the UK.

The virgin in Virgin Airlines?

As if we needed more proof that punk rock was bad for your health.

Jones, who was born in Greenwich, London, also encouraged individuals to carry out attacks in Britain, offering guidance on how to construct home-made bombs.

She used her Twitter account to provide practical advice on how to travel to Syria and shared pictures of herself posing with weapons.

More sadly:

 News of Jones's death has not previously been made public amid fears that her 12-year-old son, Jojo, may also have been killed in the June strike, according to The Sun.

BBC correspondent Richard Lister said it was assumed the boy had been killed.

Maj Gen Chip Chapman, former MoD head of counter terror, said under UN Charters the boy would be too young to be classed as a soldier and would not have been targeted, "even if he got up to really bad things".

"We don't know for sure whether he was with her or not," he added.

When asked whether Jojo had been killed, Mrs May declined to comment.

 Wombat-socho links with "Rule 5 Sunday: Pussycat No More".

Reason #5741 That Trump Was Elected

Trump’s Delicious Tax Cut: The GOP proposal is simpler and fairer than the status quo.

President Donald J. Trump last week promised Americans “a giant, beautiful, massive — the biggest ever in our country — tax cut.” As delicious as that sounds, Trump’s tax overhaul may be tastiest for what it makes tiny, appealing, and compact: the 1040 tax return.

If Washington Republicans manage not to botch tax reform — as they wrecked Obamacare repeal — simplification should be among the new system’s most attractive elements, along with its consolidation of seven tax rates to three: 12, 25, and 35 percent. Letting Americans keep more of their money should energize an economy finally awakening from the slumber of the Bush-Obama years.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) proposes a simple postcard for filing typical tax returns. Rather than the current 1040 form’s 79 lines, Ryan’s postcard contains 14. With nearly every deduction and exemption discarded — beside the home-mortgage and charitable write-offs — there simply would be fewer lines to fill.

Well, the Republicans haven't missed a chance to miss a chance since Trump was elected.

Top Republican predicts Christmas Eve vote on tax revamp

A top House Republican on Wednesday predicted Congress would vote to pass a tax bill on Dec. 24, saying the effort to overhaul the tax code would go down to the wire.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), the House GOP chief deputy whip, said he expected both the House and Senate to finish work on a tax revamp bill on Christmas Eve.

What could go wrong, or to state it another way, when have the Republicans actually delivered a bill on time?

Your Wednesday Morning Underwear Ad

Wombat-socho links with "Rule 5 Sunday: Pussycat No More".

A Bad Year For the Bay

Anoxia-wise. Chesapeake Bay dead zones increased in 2017

Researchers say the total amount of oxygen-deprived dead zones in Chesapeake Bay this summer was the worst since 2014.

In June, federal scientists predicted a bigger-than-average oxygen-deprived zone. It turns out they were correct.

Researchers with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science who study bay hypoxia said Monday that the total amount of dead zones this summer increased by 10 percent over last year. The increase came despite a drop in the overall duration and maximum extent of dead zones compared with 2016.

The institute has used a real-time, three-dimensional forecast model since 2014 to gauge various hypoxia metrics in the bay. Researchers estimated there were 919 cubic kilometers of hypoxia during 2017. That’s larger than the 833 cubic kilometers in 2016, 757 cubic kilometers in 2015 and 918 cubic kilometers in 2014.

Which, curiously, is greater than the whole volume of Chesapeake Bay according to Wikipedia...

Bay Volume = Surface area (11,601 sq km) X Average depth (6.4 m = 0.0064 km) = 74.2 km3. So what's wrong here? A cubic kilometer is a lot of water.

Earlier reports this year, admitted partial, indicating the Bay was beating predictions, are now shown to be incorrect.

As when the Bay has a good year, I urge caution before over interpreting the results. Bay hypoxia is almost 100% driven by river flow and river flow timing. There are still plenty of nutrients left to feed the algae that lead to the hypoxia, and it's likely to be a long time before nutrient inputs drop enough to change that.

When Your Freedom of Speech is Their "Genocide"

Freedom of Speech Is Genocide and Other Lessons From the 21st-Century University

Edith Macias became infamous a couple of weeks ago when a viral video showed the University of California-Riverside (UCR) student stealing a “Make America Great Again” cap from another student. An ethnic studies major, Macias demanded that the hat’s owner be punished. At one point during the video, when the hat’s owner Matthew Vitale cited his First Amendment free speech rights, Macias said: “Your f–king freedom of speech is genocide, homeboy.” After a UCR employee took the hat from her, Macias said: “We’re in a country where literally people of color are getting genocide, they’re getting killed.”

Unless these people are tossed in jail once in while, they will continue to commit crimes.

NEW SURVEY: Majority of college students self-censor, support disinvitations, don’t know hate speech is protected by First Amendment

A new report from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education finds a majority of students on college campuses self-censor in class, support disinviting some guest speakers with whom they disagree, and don’t know that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment. The study also finds that Republican and Democratic students have different opinions on campus protests, disinvitations, and hate speech protections.
In the most comprehensive survey on students’ attitudes about free speech to date, FIRE measured student responses to questions about self expression, reactions to expression of other students, guest speakers, and hate speech. Some key findings include:
46 percent of students recognize that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment, and 48 percent of students think the First Amendment should not protect hate speech.

• Most students (56 percent) support disinviting some guest speakers. Democratic students are 19 percentage points more likely than their Republican peers to agree that there are times a speaker should be disinvited.
• 58 percent of college students think it’s important to be part of a campus community where they are not exposed to intolerant or offensive ideas.
• Very few students report that they would participate in actions that would prevent a guest speaker event from taking place (2 percent). Even fewer said they would use violence to disrupt an event (1 percent).
• In open-ended questions, almost half of students (45 percent) identify speech with a racist component as hate speech, and 13 percent of students associate hate speech with violence.
• In class, 30 percent of students have self-censored because they thought their words would be offensive to others. A majority of students (54 percent) report self-censoring in the classroom at some point since the beginning of college.

Reason #5740 That Trump Was Elected

Federal Government Jobs Down 13,000 Under Trump

The number of people working for the federal government has declined by 13,000 in 2017, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

At the same time, overall government employment in the United States increased by 7,000 as the number of people working at the state government level and the local government level both increased.

Chase 'em out from under one rock, and they go hide under another.

Soft Core Actress Reveals Weinstein Excuse, "For the Children"

The Harvey Weinstein scandal continues to plague Hollywood and New York, with new reports that Harvey, in between exposing himself and masturbating into the flora in front of startlet, reportedly raped at least three of them. How Clintonian. Hollyweird has had a tough time coming to grips with it all, with some star saying they knew nothing (Meryl Streep), and some saying they'd heard but weren't really convinced (George Clooney). But the best (or perhaps most ludicrous) excuse for not saying anything comes from Rule 5 subject Alyssa Milano (NSFW link):

Alyssa Milano releases statement on why she said NOTHING about Weinstein

MY COMMENT ON THE HARVEY WEINSTEIN SCANDAL https://t.co/4vZqq4GrC0

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 9, 2017

From PatriotsNotPartisan.com:

Even with these strong feelings – not just about Weinstein but about workplace sexism in general – this statement is complicated for me for personal reasons. Harvey has a wife, who I have had the privilege of working with for the last 5 years on Project Runway All Stars. Georgina Chapman is my friend. She is one of the most special humans I have ever met. Harvey and Georgina also have two very young children who my children have known their entire lives. It is because of my love for Georgina, xxx and xxx that I haven’t publicly commented on this until now. Please don’t confuse my silence for anything other than respect for a dear friend and her beautiful children.

So basically Alyssa remained silent about the sexual harassment of possibly hundreds of women to protect Weinstein’s children.

Ann Althouse is doing journeyman's work here, with repeated posts of the scandal. Apparently, there is at least one liberal feminist woman who cares whether a major Democrat donor is harassing and raping Hollywood wannabes.

Wombat-socho links with "Rule 5 Sunday: Pussycat No More".

Beach Report 10/10/17

Another very un-Fall like day here, with temperatures near 80, muggy, and mostly clear skies. The tide was almost dead low when we got there this morning, leaving a lot of exposed beach, and we could walk a lot farther up than usual.

 If only we could train Skye to sniff out fossils instead of more recent, and smellier trash.

 Georgia scored early with this fish spine. I always call them catfish, but I'm not really sure. This might be the longest I've seen here as they break much more easily than teeth.

Probably just a shed. I didn't nudge it to find out.

Georgia scored the biggest tooth of the day bu far with this Mako. She claims to have found it in a footprint. It joined the good specimens on the kitchen window sill after a measure off. All in all, we got 27 teeth, so a pretty good day. Georgia did better by far, despite the handicap of holding the leash.

Some possible weather in the distance?

Reasons #5738 - #5739 That Trump Was Elected

Trump unveils new strict 70-point immigration enforcement plan

Determined to finally solve illegal immigration, the White House submitted a 70-point enforcement plan to Congress Sunday proposing the stiffest reforms ever offered by an administration — including a massive rewrite of the law in order to eliminate loopholes illegal immigrants have exploited to gain a foothold in the U.S.

The plans, seen by The Washington Times, include President Trump’s calls for a border wall, more deportation agents, a crackdown on sanctuary cities and stricter limits to chain migration — all issues the White House says need to be part of any bill Congress passes to legalize illegal immigrant “Dreamers” currently protected by the Obama-era deportation amnesty known as DACA.

But the plans break serious new ground on the legal front, giving federal agents more leeway to deny illegal immigrants at the border, to arrest and hold them when they’re spotted in the interior, and to deport them more speedily. The goal, the White House said, is to ensure major changes to border security, interior enforcement and the legal immigration system.

“Anything that is done addressing the status of DACA recipients needs to include these three reforms and solve these three problems,” a senior White House official told The Times. “If you don’t solve these problems then you’re not going to have a secure border, you’re not going to have a lawful immigration system and you’re not going to be able to protect American workers.”

I'm willing to support DACA for support for real border control. However, Democrats, revealing their desire to import a better electorate, called the plan "dead on arrival."

ICE Says The Gloves Are Off As California Becomes A Sanctuary State

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday threatened more immigration raids in California's neighborhoods and worksites one day after Gov. Jerry Brown signed into lawnew restrictions on how local police work with federal immigration authorities.

The legislation, known as SB54, made California the largest US jurisdiction to punch back against the Trump administration’s anti-sanctuary measures. Last week, ICE acknowledged it had intentionally targeted sanctuary cities in its most recent raids.

Tom Homan, ICE acting director, said SB54 makes California a sanctuary state for undocumented immigrants, including those who have committed crimes, and nearly eliminates all cooperation with local police and its agents.

"ICE will have no choice but to conduct at-large arrests in local neighborhoods and at worksites, which will inevitably result in additional collateral arrests," Homan said in a statement. "Instead of focusing on arrests at jails and prisons where transfers are safer for ICE officers and the community."

Undocumented immigrants who have committed no crimes but are detained by ICE during an operation are considered collateral arrests. Homan also said ICE will likely have to hold people arrested in California in detention centers outside the state, far from family and support they may have in the Golden State.

You asked for it, California. No, you begged for it.

It Looks Like Key West Is Back in Business

Fantasy Fest is on!



Sort of a muggy Burning Man for aging sybarites. With the possibility of hurricanes.

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links. Wombat-socho links with "Rule 5 Sunday: Pussycat No More".

Reason #5737 That Trump Was Elected

 Robert Högfeldt,  Columbus

Trump proclaims Columbus Day, without Obama's apology

President Donald Trump is proclaiming Monday as Columbus Day — without any of his predecessor's qualms.

The president's proclamation Friday directs the U.S. to celebrate his discovery of the Americas, noting "the permanent arrival of Europeans ... was a transformative event that undeniably and fundamentally changed the course of human history and set the stage for the development of our great Nation."

Trump's proclamation only praises Columbus, Spain and the explorer's native Italy.

It contrasts with President Barack Obama's document almost exactly a year earlier. Obama's proclamation acknowledged Columbus' spirit of exploration. But he said the nation should "also acknowledge the pain and suffering reflected in the stories of Native Americans who had long resided on this land prior to the arrival of European newcomers."

Obama's never ending apology tour was one of the important reasons for Trump's victory.

Who Said That?

BRUTAL: Kurt Schlichter just humiliates Patricia Arquette in back-and-forth about gun control

As Twitchy readers know, Patricia Arquette was being her normal, usual, annoying self yesterday and desperately trying to remain relevant.

Hey, it’s what Hollywood hasbeens do.

And the Las Vegas shooting gave her yet another excuse to attack Republicans and make ridiculous and dramatic claims based on absolutely ZERO facts:

You may have the right to have a gun but you don't have the right to shoot it at people because you are simply angry.

— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) October 4, 2017

Ya’ don’t say? Where did any Republican say people do have the right to shoot at people when they’re angry?

In fact, the last known case was a Bernie Bro who tried to decapitate the leadership of the Republican Party at a softball practice.

Quick, what is the name of the person who has publicly argued that you have a right to shoot people simply because you're angry.

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) October 4, 2017

I never mistook her for an intellectual, but once upon a time, she was at least kind of cute (NSFW links).

Wombat-socho links with "Rule 5 Sunday: Pussycat No More".

Sunday Beach Report 10/8/17

It's a warm (81!) muggy, and cloudy day here as we await the rains, first from a cold front, and then from the remains of Hurricane Nate. We actually interrupted Skye's couch nap so we could get a start before lunch.

It's getting late in the year for butterflies, but this somewhat worse for wear Common Buckeye was hanging out in the dunes.

 The GBH's were out.













A small "Mako" (really a White Shark) tooth, as I found it, partially covered by sand.

 Here it is free of the sand, and safely in hand.

Not impressed.

#14, 15, 16 and 18 of 21. Georgia found 6 as well for a total of 27. The Cow Shark tooth was the prize of the day.











I just had to add this, from a couple of days ago, a Red-Spotted Purple.

Reason #5736 That Trump Was Elected

Deportations of Illegal Immigrants Living in the U.S. Increasing: Enforcement experts say media claim that fewer people have been removed under Trump is misleading

The Washington Post reported last week that the number of illegal immigrants being deported has gone down this year — a shocking claim, considering that President Donald Trump’s signature issue during the campaign was illegal immigration, and that he’d insisted that the 11 million people living and working illegally in the U.S. wouldn’t be allowed to stay.

Has the Trump administration really deported fewer people than President Barack Obama? Only technically.

In fiscal year 2016, 240,255 illegal immigrants were deported. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) records show that by comparison, 211,068 illegal immigrants had been deported this fiscal year as of September 9.

But many "deportations" under Obama were people who were arrested at or near the border. In fact, the Los Angeles Times reported that almost two-thirds of all deportations in 2013 were people who'd been arrested near the border, and that under Obama, the chance that an illegal immigrant who'd settled in the U.S. would be deported was almost nonexistent. All that's changed.

The number of people trying to cross illegally into the U.S. from Mexico has been cut in half, from 506,669 to 281,390, when comparing the first 11 months of the last fiscal year to the first 11 months of this one (October-August), and ICE is focusing more on deporting illegal immigrants who are burrowed into American communities.

"ICE has rededicated itself to its core mission," says Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge for New York and New Jersey and now a fellow with the Center for Immigration Studies. The agency, he told LifeZette, is actually deporting more people who are living in the U.S.

The evidence is in the numbers. There is a 31 percent increase in orders of removal (judges' orders that someone be deported), and ICE arrests are up 43 percent.

And this is just a start.

"They're ramping up their efforts after years of neglect," says Arthur.

The Trump administration had requested, in its budget for fiscal year 2018, funding for an additional 850 ICE agents. The House of Representatives has passed an appropriations bill giving ICE an almost 10 percent budget increase, including funding for 1,000 additional ICE agents and 606 support staff. The bill also includes funding for more detention centers.

The Obama administration inflated it's deportation numbers by counting "catch and release" illegals at the border. Now with illegal immigration declining due to the "Trump Effect", liberals have been quick to distort the difference to claim that somehow Trump has been weaker on immigration than he promised.

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and linkfest.

The Pantyhose Traitor

Accused NSA leaker told feds she smuggled docs in pantyhose

Alleged leaker Reality Winner told feds that she stuffed a classified document into her pantyhose in a haphazard way that was not like “Edward Snowden or anything.”

The National Security Agency contractor, who allegedly leaked a classified report on Russian hacking of the 2016 election, described the clumsy stunt in an interview with federal authorities who executed a search warrant at her home, according to a transcript obtained by Politico on Wednesday.

It might be her parents fault for giving her than name.

“Folded it in half and put it in my pantyhose,” the contractor said in June when asked how she smuggled the document out of a high-security facility.

She then said she mailed it somewhere. The recipient is redacted from the report, but it was published by The Intercept.

When the investigators asked if she had contacted the recipient beforehand, Winner admitted the operation was not highly organized.

Maybe she's going to claim stupidity as a mitigating factor. This is somewhat reminiscent of Sandy Burger stealing documents from the National Archives by stuffing them in his socks. Is that where she got the inspiration.

“I wasn’t trying to be Edward Snowden or anything,” she said, according to the transcripts.

The former contractor also complained about Fox News being played constantly at her office.

“I’ve filed formal complaints about them having Fox News on in the workplace,” she said.

“Just at least, for God’s sake, put Al Jazeera on, or a slideshow of people’s pets. I’ve tried everything to get that changed.”

They should play Fox on a screen all day, every day in her cell during her well deserved incarceration.

But it raises a question of how a seemingly stupid, and disloyal person was hired by NSA and achieve a position of handling any sensitive material.

Wombat-socho links with "Rule 5 Sunday: Pussycat No More".

Too Much Cucumber

My Doctor says I need to eat more fish. pic.twitter.com/MKkCbFopsd

— Dan Osborne (@LaziestofDans) October 6, 2017

Will This Shut Up the Anti-Vax Crowd?

Study: Genetics explain most cases of autism

Heredity contributes to about 83 percent of the risk of autism in children with the disorder, a new study suggests.

The estimate, from a re-analysis of a previous study, adds a new wrinkle to the ongoing debate over how much autism is inherited from parents. Essentially, the findings suggest that rare genetic traits combine in parents and explain about eight in 10 cases of the neurodevelopmental disorder in children.

However, study author Sven Sandin cautioned that "our results do not give any information about specific genes or other direct causes. It only informs us that genes are important."

Sandin, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, noted that the findings also don't reflect anything about the reported increases in autism rates in recent years. The higher rates must have something to do with increased awareness or environmental factors, "and our study cannot shed any light on this," he said.

I have my own theory on the cause and/or prevalence of autism. The human brain has undergone relatively rapid expansion since we diverged from our great ape ancestor that also gave rise to the Chimpanzee some 5 million years ago. Evolution isn't exactly a flawless process, as witness our own appendixes and wisdom teeth. Growing a larger brain required a lot of changes, and sometimes the different genes that needed to be changed clashed, and produced problems with the developing brains, leading to autism or other brain dysfunctions.

I'll offer the possibility of a more controversial factor as well. Many human groups evolved in relative isolation of each other, allowing local adaptions that we call races or even ethnicities, They're not exactly real, but their not exactly fantasy either. They represent means of clusters of population traits, and may not be reflected in individuals from that group. Anywho, certain brain adaptions were selected from in such regional groups, and in some cases, the adaptions of different groups were only partially compatible between far flung groups.

With humans moving around more and breeding across racial groups, such incompatible combinations would be struck more often. Who among us knows where our ancestors were 14,000 years ago, a blink of an eye in evolutionary time?

In the long run, evolution would sort it out, by selecting against the incompatible combinations, and strengthening the species, but in the short term, the result is more heartache from autistic children.

Reason #5735 That Trump Was Elected

How Donald Trump Has Disrupted the Media

One of traditional journalism’s basic tenets was the need to maintain a distanced objectivity (or, at the very least, the appearance of it). Dan Rather’s 1974 confrontation with President Richard Nixon made a lasting impression precisely because it was a stark departure from the norm. But the Pew study found that, in the age of Trump, journalists increasingly consider themselves at liberty to directly refute the president or representatives of his administration. This happened in 10 percent of the stories studied.

The facade of objectivity has been known to be fake for a long time, since Nixon I would say, but in the recent past, they don't even make a decent attempt to put a fresh coat of paint on it, and it's become increasingly shabby, and upper levels are starting to crumble.

And, something about Trump has made the news media strikingly self-referential. Pew identified nine major types of sources relied on for coverage of Trump’s first 100 days. (The Pew researchers did not cite how often anonymous sources were used, which might have been an interesting bit of data.) The most commonly cited source, understandably, was the president or someone from his administration. But the next most commonly used source—employed 35 percent of the time —was not members of Congress, or experts, or everyday citizens, but “another news organization or journalist.”

So, basically, if one journolist says something clever (or at least thought to be clever) and negative about Trump (and in this era of snark, when is that not true), other  journolists pick it up and and recirculate it, this time as a fact.

“One of the things that was interesting to see was that, while the topic of the news media was not a huge percentage of overall coverage, journalists were both the second most common source type as well as the second most common ‘trigger’ of the stories,” says Amy Mitchell, director of the Pew Research Center.*

That might go some way in explaining the elite media feedback loop.

It's become a smug circle jerk, and each day's headline about Trump is the climax.

Pop Goes the Liberal Media Bubble

The conversations that journalists in New York and D.C. and L.A. trigger among themselves have very little to do with the conversations between most people, in most places, at most times. The conversations are self-referential, self-sustaining, self-validating, and selfishly concern one topic: the president of the United States. That may be why his critics in the press are so fixated on his Tweets. Twitter is his way of talking back. It's how he pops the liberal media bubble.

Rule 5 Saturday - Shanina Shaik Loves Burning Man

This week's Rule 5 woman of the week is Shanina Shaik:

Shanina Shaik (born 11 February 1991) is an Australian model.

Shanina's mother, though raised in Australia is of Lithuanian heritage, while her father though raised in Saudi Arabia is of Pakistani heritage. Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, she started modeling when she was 8 years modelling for Myer and appearing in a TV commercial for Hyundai, but stopped when she started high school and got accepted into an accelerated program, graduating a year before her classmates. At the age of fifteen, encouraged by others, she entered the Girlfriend Model Competition. While agents were interested in her, she was too young to move to Sydney, so she went on to participate on the Australian reality show Make Me A Supermodel, finishing as the runner-up.

She likes the Burning Man Festival: Who needs clothes! Shanina Shaik goes TOPLESS with shirtless fiance DJ Ruckus as they enjoy debaucherous Burning Man festival

She's made no secret of her love for the annual Burning Man gathering.

And Shanina Shaik shared a sizzling topless shot with her fiance, Gregory 'DJ Ruckus' Andrews, from the Nevada-based event on Monday.

The 26-year-old left little to the imagination in a mesh singlet with her breasts displayed as her equally-shirtless partner posed right next to her.

Some NSFW material.

GOODSTUFF continues hors de combat. Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and linkfest. Wombat-socho was on time and with budget with "Rule 5 Sunday: Autumn Girls" and "FMJRA 2.0: Birthday Weekend".

5 Ways to Pretend to be a Scientist Without All the Hard Work

The EPA Chesapeake Bay program offers Five ways to be a citizen scientist

Record birds . . .
Find underwater grasses . . .
Identify benthic organisms . . .
Monitor water quality . . .
Spot dolphins . . .

Not that there is anything wrong with any of the activities above. I do quite a bit  of these (not working too hard on the benthic organisms though, but the idea that this makes you "citizen scientists" is mildly nauseating after spending years of hard work becoming the real thing.

This Week in Perversion

It's already been a strong week, what with another Polanski rape victim coming forward, and Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinberg being accused of multiple cases of sexual harassment of young actresses under his purview. But wait, there's more!

My, what a big chin you have!

Stacy McCain catches a ‘High-Risk Sex Offender’ Using Transgender Identity to Pursue Teens?

Another setback for the Transgender Victimhood Narrative:

Riley Byerly is a transwoman who authors the website ‘My Transgender Life: Sharing My Life One Moment At A Time’.
He also goes by the name Riley Lilian Grace Byerly. He is 27. His legal name is Brynner Phoenix Rennecke. . . .
Before his arrest at the age of 15, this transwoman had raped or sexually assaulted at least five children. From ages 18 to 26 he was confined under civil commitment in the state hospital in Jamestown, North Dakota as a sexual offender at high risk to re-offend. He was released last year.
Upon his release, he immediately began pursuing more child victims. He keeps a Flickr account here where he posts stolen facebook photos of his desired victims: Young boys and boyish looking young transgender females (FTM).

You can read the whole thing. Rennecke/“Byerly” was arrested last weekon a charge of unlawful presence of a sexual offender near schools.

And where do his preferred  FTM targets come from? Munchausen Moms: @LizFraserRM, Feminism and Gender Dysphoria

What is causing the epidemic of sexual confusion among young people? Because I’ve been researching radical feminism for more than three years, I am deeply familiar with the feminist opposition to the transgender cult, and have frequently cited blogs like 4th Wave Now, which are critical of this phenomenon. The problem of “social contagion”as a factor in encouraging transgender identification, and so-called “rapid onset gender dysphoria,” are issues where radical feminists have led the way in describing and analyzing the sources of this growing trend of confusion among young people. However, it is apparent that feminism itself is part of the problem, because the movement’s attack “traditional gender norms” inevitably tends to destabilize identity. Indeed, anyone who has carefully studied the theory promoted by Professor Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble — the social construction of the gender binary within the heterosexual matrix — must expect confusion to result from feminism’s “success.” Because feminism is an anti-male ideology, and because schools are now controlled by women, it is common for teachers to punish boys for masculine behavior. Yet the same traits that schools punish in boys — e.g., aggression and competitiveness — are encouraged in girls in the name of feminist “empowerment.”
. . .
These “Munchausen moms” are clearly a factor in children now being labeled transgender in kindergarten or earlier, and the media celebrates this trend. Vanessa Ford announced that her 4-year-old son was her “daughter” (named “Ellie”) and got herself feartured in a Katie Couric interview. With both the news media and public schools encouraging this trend, we can expect that other narcissistic mothers will turn their children into freaks for the sake of attention.

Transgender Social Contagion Reminds School Counselor of Salem in 1692

We have previously discussed the “social contagion” by which so-called “rapid onset” transgenderism appears to be spreading among young people. And it is obvious that the education system is part of the problem. The feminist blog 4th Wave Now, which has become a clearinghouse for women concerned about this issue, recently got this comment:

When traveling for business recently, I sat next to a school counselor on the plane, and as we chatted about this and that, I gently raised this topic. She said something very interesting. She said that at her school, it has been nothing less than something straight out of the pages of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” — and eerily so. Much like the mass hysteria in the 1600s of Salem girls overcome with fits and trances as they thought themselves possessed and plagued by “witchcraft,” so the sudden-onset trans phenomenon has swept through her high school. She said that you can see the patterns ripple across friend groups, and teens who never experienced “symptoms” before, are suddenly at 15 and 16, making trans declarations and then reconstructing stories of their lives that assert that the “wrong body” trouble was present in them all along, lurking but unrecognized. She expressed deep concern about finding some way to mitigate or dampen what she called this “emotional contagion” because the only option the school is given is affirmation without question. And all the books the parents are reading are saying “affirm or die,” so if you raise a peep about any other kind of possibility of exploring alternatives to medical transition, you are threatened with the potential liability of having caused a suicide. She actually welled up in tears at one point as she spoke about her sense of helplessness at watching this spin out of control. Is this a return to the dynamics of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Salem witch trials? Or, has this kind of suggestibility been with us all along and teens are especially susceptible? The outbreak of fits related to “witchcraft” was a case of what some have called “social terror as communal contagion.” How might the forces of suggestibility be at work now? And is there any way to diffuse them? What kind of “Crucible” are we now going through and what will be the lasting impacts on these teens’ lives as they grow up? What play would Arthur Miller be composing today about the teen trans trend?

Exactly! If you know anything about psychology, you know that suggestibility varies greatly between individuals. Some people are easily persuaded by any clever pitch, and others are not. However, young people are quite generally vulnerable to suggestion, and the idea of transgenderism as a panacea for certain adolescent social problems is being pitched constantly online in blogs and YouTube videos that serve to glamorize this cult.

Turning your kid trans has become a cottage industry, protected by power of SJWs and political correctness.

But Was it "Rape" Rape?

Probably. But I guess we won't be certain until "rape" rape Whoopie Goldberg rules. Fourth woman comes forward to accuse director Roman Polanski of rape

A fourth woman has come forward to accuse beleaguered director Roman Polanski of sexual assault.

Renate Langer, 61, a German former actress, told Swiss police that the "Chinatown" filmmaker raped her at his mountain chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland, when she was 15 years old, according to the Associated Press. The model had traveled there because the director indicated he was interested in casting her in a movie, she said. (She would later appear in his film “Che?”)

In an interview with the New York Times published Wednesday, Langer said she's bringing the claim against the 84-year-old "Rosemary's Baby" director now because she believes the statute of limitations, which Switzerland has eliminated in child sex abuse cases, would allow her complaint to be investigated. She said she waited to report the incident, which allegedly took place in February 1972, largely out of concern for her parents, who died recently.

"My mother would have had a heart attack," Langer told the newspaper. "I felt ashamed and embarrassed and lost and solo."

Tanslated from German Wikipedia: Renate Langer (born May 20, 1956 in Munich ) is a former German actress and a photo model .

During her school term, Renate Langer was discovered as a photomodel at the Willi-Graf-Gymnasium in Munich, where she earned her middle maturity. A first small feature film role had she under the name Renee Langer in Roman Polańskis comedy What? , then she was often seen in teenage films, including as a temporary partner of Thomas Ohrner in A fat dog . She took private acting, language and singing lessons, turned numerous commercials and worked in synchronization.

In the 1980s she was portrayed in magazines such as Playboy , High Society , Superstar , Pleasure and Sexy . A small supporting role in Robert van Ackerens The Venusfalle was her last film management ever. In addition, she had small roles in TV series like Das Traumschiff , Kir Royal , Schwarzwaldklinik and SOKO 5113 .

In September 2017, Langer presented Roman Polański to the Swiss police. He had raped her in 1972, when she had applied for a film role in Gstaad . Later, he apologized for her and a small role in his film What? offered to them. 

The United States is still trying to extradite him for his first rape:

In March 1977, film director Roman Polanski was arrested and charged in Los Angeles with five offenses against Samantha Gailey, a 13-year-old girl – rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, lewd and lascivious act upon a child under 14, and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor. At his arraignment Polanski pleaded not guilty to all charges, but later accepted a plea bargain whose terms included dismissal of the five initial charges in exchange for a guilty plea to the lesser charge of engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse.

Polanski underwent a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation, and a report was submitted to the court recommending probation. However, upon learning that he was likely to face imprisonment and deportation, Polanski fled to France in February 1978, hours before he was to be formally sentenced. Since then Polanski has mostly lived in France and has avoided visiting countries likely to extradite him to the United States.

Wombat-socho was on time and with budget with "Rule 5 Sunday: Autumn Girls".

Democrat Mega-Supporter Accused of Sexual Harassment

Weinstein and wife, Georgina Chapman

Harvey Weinstein Is a Democrat and a Pervert, But I Repeat Myself

How much money has film producer Harvey Weinstein donated to Democrats over the past 25 years? Thousands upon thousands, and you can add it up yourself. But now Democrats are being urged to shun Weinstein’s money because, well, he keeps acting like a Democrat:

An investigation by The New York Times found previously undisclosed allegations against Mr. Weinstein stretching over nearly three decades, documented through interviews with current and former employees and film industry workers, as well as legal records, emails and internal documents from the businesses he has run, Miramax and the Weinstein Company. . . .

Weinstein victim Rose McGowan

During that time, after being confronted with allegations including sexual harassment and unwanted physical contact, Mr. Weinstein has reached at least eight settlements with women, according to two company officials speaking on the condition of anonymity. Among the recipients, The Times found, were a young assistant in New York in 1990, an actress in 1997, an assistant in London in 1998, an Italian model in 2015 and Ms. O’Connor shortly after, according to records and those familiar with the agreements.  . .

Weinstein victim Ashley Judd

You can read the whole thing. Among the women Weinstein reportedly harassed were actresses Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan. And I say “reportedly,” because Weinstein is threatening to sue the New York Times for libel. Here’s an interesting headline:

Former Obama Adviser Anita Dunn Helped Harvey Weinstein Strategize Before New York Times Story

Democrats help Democrats, you see. In his response to the allegations, Weinstein says: “I came of age in the 60’s and 70’s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different. That was the culture then.” Ann Althouse calls this the “Roman Polanski excuse.”

It will be interesting to see if Weinstein  escapes professional and personal ruin because of his democratic relationships.

WHENEVER YOU SEE A BUNCH OF HOLLYWOOD TYPES TALKING FEMINISM ON AN AWARDS SHOW, remember that they knew about Harvey Weinstein and didn’t say anything, because they valued their careers more than their alleged principles.

If it weren't four double standards, they'd have no standards at all.

UPDATE" via Ace:

Wombat-socho was on time and with budget with "Rule 5 Sunday: Autumn Girls" and "FMJRA 2.0: Birthday Weekend".

Reason #5732 - #5734 That Trump Was Elected

Stocks close at record highs to begin the fourth quarter; Dow jumps 152 points

U.S. equities closed at record highs on Monday as Wall Street kicked off the fourth quarter on a high note.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 152.51 points to close at 22,557.60, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most to the gains.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent to 2,529.12, led by gains in health care and financials. Health care was one of the best-performing sectors, rising 0.9 percent, as biotech stocks posted their best day since Aug. 31. Financials rose 0.89 percent and have gained nearly 2 percent in the past month.
. . .
"The economy is doing well despite the storms," Bittles said. Also, "a lot of folks don't think there will be tax reform but the market thinks there will be. If that happens, it will be a big boost to the economy."

Last week, Republicans unveiled a proposal that would lower the corporate tax rate to 20 percent. The current U.S. corporate tax rate sits at 35 percent.

Tax-reform expectations have been a key catalyst for stocks since President Donald Trump's election, along with hopes of deregulation.

 Holiday spending expected to increase 6 percent this year

Overall holiday spending across the US is expected to rise 6 percent this year, to an average of $1,189 per person — but wealthier shoppers are expected to really cut loose, a national survey has found.

Those earning $100,000 to $149,999 are expected to jack up their holiday spending by 15 percent, to $1,609 per person, the survey, from PwC, found.

But the publication presents the rich spending more for Christmas as a bad thing, of course.

American optimism about the economy hits an all-time high in new CNBC survey

The third-quarter CNBC All-America Economic Survey found 43 percent of the public believes the economy is excellent or good, a record high in the 10-year history of the survey. Thirty-six percent believes the economy will get better, down a couple of points from last quarter, but just 23 percent say it will get worse, down 6 points.

The four-quarter average for every major economic metric in the poll --- the outlook for the economy, housing, wages and the stock market --- is at a record 10-year high. Those four quarters cover the time span since President Donald Trump's election.