Brazile Spills the Beans

Hiroshima for the DNC: @DonnaBrazile Devastates Democrat Corruption

Democrats don’t just deceive, cheat and swindle the voters and taxpayers, they also deceive, cheat and swindle each other:

My predecessor [as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee], Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, had not been the most active chair in fundraising at a time when President Barack Obama’s neglect had left the party in significant debt. As Hillary’s campaign gained momentum, she resolved the party’s debt and put it on a starvation diet. It had become dependent on her campaign for survival, for which she expected to wield control of its operations.
Debbie was not a good manager. She hadn’t been very interested in controlling the party — she let Clinton’s headquarters in Brooklyn do as it desired so she didn’t have to inform the party officers how bad the situation was. . . .
The Saturday morning after the convention in July, I called Gary Gensler, the chief financial officer of Hillary’s campaign. He wasted no words. He told me the Democratic Party was broke and $2 million in debt. . . .
Officials from Hillary’s campaign had taken a look at the DNC’s books. Obama left the party $24 million in debt — $15 million in bank debt and more than $8 million owed to vendors after the 2012 campaign — and had been paying that off very slowly. Obama’s campaign was not scheduled to pay it off until 2016. Hillary for America (the campaign) and the Hillary Victory Fund (its joint fundraising vehicle with the DNC) had taken care of 80 percent of the remaining debt in 2016, about $10 million, and had placed the party on an allowance. . . .

There’s a lot more where that came from. This is devastating beyond words. Everybody’s talking about how Brazile has confirmed the suspicion of Bernie Sanders that the Democrat primary process was basically rigged for Hillary, but the larger revelations are even worse:

1. Democrats have been squandering their donors’ money in much the same way they routinely squander taxpayers’ money;
2. The triumph of Obama’s two-term presidency, which should have yielded a fund-raising windfall for the DNC, instead left the party more than $20 million in debt; and
3. The DNC’s indebtedness was exploited by the Clinton campaign to defraud Democrat primary voters.

It was this perception of a rigged nomination process that made Trump’s “Crooked Hillary” charge resonate with working-class voters in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan. And so the corruption of the Democrat Party — profligate spending, irresponsible management and insider favoritism at DNC headquarters — was a major cause of their devastating defeat last year.

I have a hard time working myself into high dudgeon over Hillary cheating the Democrat party and then losing.

I don't think anyone is shocked by finding out that Hillary is a corruptocrat, willing to use anyone's money for her own ends. The shock is a high Democratic official coming out with it, clearly signalling the ending of Clintons hold on the Democrat party.

Linked by Evi L. Bloggerlady in "Invanka's Big in Japan."

State Cuts Back on Oyster Restoration

State slashes oyster restoration acreage goal

The state of Maryland has decided to reduce the large-scale oyster restoration project goal in the Little Choptank River after boaters ran aground at another sanctuary and some of the man-made reefs there had to be rebuilt.

Well, you should put them far enough below mean low tide that it's not likely to happen.

The sanctuaries are among five planned to be built as part of a federal-state agreement to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The project, which grows and plants oysters on man-made beds in protected waterways, has been touted by environmentalists and generally opposed by watermen. Numerous agencies have agreed to a longterm goal of growing oysters on at least 50 percent of restorable oyster habitat.

The habitat goal for the Little Choptank River sanctuary has been cut by 118 acres — about one-fourth of the original target.

This means there will be roughly 19.5 million fewer oysters at this site alone — enough to filter up to 1.03 billion liters of water per day.

But then, when they're spat, you can fit a million oysters in 20 gallon tank. Ask me how how I know. But that doesn't' mean there are 19.5 million less adult oysters. And you can only filter water so many times before you run out of food.

Oysters’ capacity to filter water can vary widely depending on temperature, salinity and other factors, according to Matthew Gray, an assistant professor specializing in oyster feeding habits at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

That's quite a specialization. I wonder what he dreams about at night?

A construction error in Harris Creek — Maryland’s first large-scale oyster restoration site — caused damage to multiple boats, as vessels grounded or scraped against stone-based reefs that did not meet five feet of navigational clearance, officials said.

That's one way to get the barnacle off your hull. Not the right way.

Skeptical of oyster restoration from the start, watermen have complained of trotlines getting stuck in new stone river bottoms and boats being damaged by oyster reef “high spots” in Harris Creek. A trotline is a long, heavy fishing line with short, baited lines suspended from it. They are often used to catch blue crabs in Maryland.

Watermen depend on their boats to earn a living. No boat means no fishing. No fishing means no income.

And they should be more careful, being on the water almost every day, and know their home waters.

Remember the Fritz oyster restoration plan. No fishing on "wild" oysters for 10 years. If oysters haven't recovered, they're not going to. Go ahead and plant other species that will succeed.

You Can Go, But Leave Kate

Prince William warns that there are too many people in the world

Reason #5765 That Trump Was Elected

Maryland high school has posters saying "It's OK to be White", and they're treating it like a hate crime: Md. high school won’t ‘fall victim’ to ‘okay to be white’ flyers

Flyers stating “It’s OK to be white” were found at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring on Wednesday morning.

In a letter sent to parents, the school’s Principal Renay Johnson writes that “Montgomery Blair is a very smart, diverse and inclusive community and we will not fall victim to attempts to divide us.”

The fliers were found on 10 exterior doors to the building by staff before students arrived, the letter states.

“We are taking this seriously and are investigating this incident,” Johnson writes.

Security footage released by the school system shows a person in a hooded sweatshirt posting one of the fliers. And police have been contacted, a school spokesman said.

The fliers seemed to be prompted by the 4chan message forum, according to school officials, that promotes racial and political tensions.

So it's not OK? What do I do? about it?

Fish Pic Friday - Flatties

Darcizzle with a little Summer Flounder

The subject of this Friday's pics are flatfish:

A flatfish is a member of the order Pleuronectiformes of ray-finned demersal fishes, also called the Heterosomata, sometimes classified as a suborder of Perciformes. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the head, one or the other migrating through or around the head during development. Some species face their left sides upward, some face their right sides upward, and others face either side upward.

Dr. Julie Ball

Not the best fighters, they are among the best eating fish.

Many important food fish are in this order, including the flounders, soles, turbot, plaice, and halibut. Some flatfish can camouflage themselves on the ocean floor.

Obviously, there are a lot of different flatfish, but only a few are fished recreationally in the North America. Prime among these are the Summer Flounder of the Atlantic coast, the Winter Flounder of Atlantic coast. and the Halibut of both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Cindy Nguyen

The Summer Flounder was once common enough in Chesapeake Bay that it was commonly targeted by recreational anglers; now it is rare enough, and the limits are strict enough that they are mostly incidental catches while fishing for other species (they love small baits jigged or trolled near the bottom). It's not entirely clear why, the population in the Atlantic is reasonably healthy although there is considerable dispute over what the fishing quotas should be.

I used to catch quite a few of them before the 9/11 attacks caused my favorite hole to be closed.

Winter Flounder, a more northern species, favorite targets in more northern states, are reputed to live in the Bay, but I have never heard of anyone catching one.

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links. Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Sunday: Whatever Happened To…" up and running.

Sturgeon on Sonar!

I started with a flasher but Imaging sonar has gotten pretty good lately:

The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office recently did some work mapping critical habitat for endangered Atlantic sturgeon in Virginia. While surveying a 5 km stretch of the James River, using side-scan sonar, they captured this image, which includes 13 sturgeon. Sturgeon are visible as the light “contact” streaks; dark shadows of those fish appear in the lighter area along the righthand side of the image. 

I guess a B- is good enough for sturgeon.

While under way, the team observed multiple sturgeon breaches, part of a possible fall spawning run. NCBO’s efforts related to habitat support a larger NOAA effort on sturgeon. For example, NCBO’s sonar work and habitat analysis in the Nanticoke River and Marshyhope Creek (Maryland) were used by the Office of Protected Resources as they developed Final Rule designating critical habitat for Atlantic sturgeon.

I've seen big Striped Bass on Pete's side scan sonar. I've tried on my own, and never had the right opportunity.

Reason #5764 That Trump Was Elected

EPA to reform its science advisory boards

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt announced Tuesday he planned to curtail the practice of distributing research grants to scientists appointed to the agency’s scientific advisory boards to improve their “independence and transparency and objectivity.”

“If we have individuals who are on those boards receiving money from the agency, sometimes, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, that calls into question the independence of the recommendations that come our way,” Pruitt said, speaking at a Heritage Foundation event. “Next week, I will issue a directive that addresses that, to ensure the independence and transparency and objectivity with respect to the scientific advice that we are getting at the agency.”

“Reforming EPA’s advisory boards will strengthen public trust in the EPA and the science the agency uses to justify its policies,” Thea McDonald, communications director for the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, told Western Wire.

“Chairman Lamar Smith has long advocated for a more balanced and transparent membership on the advisory boards, especially after conflicts of interest and a lack of transparency became prevalent during the Obama administration,” McDonald said. “In fact, the committee and the full House this year passed a bill by committee Vice Chairman Frank Lucas, the EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act, to accomplish these goals.”

“It’s terrific that EPA chief Scott Pruitt is taking this long overdue step to eliminate the Obama EPA practice of stacking scientific advisory boards in order for them to rubberstamp EPA overregulation as science-based,” Steve Milloy, lawyer and author of “Scare Pollution: Why and How to Fix the EPA,” told Western Wire.

“For too long EPA paid outside scientists to publish agency friendly ‘science’ and then had the very same scientists review and approve their own research under the guise of independent peer review,” Milloy said.

Milloy, who served on the Trump EPA transition team, praised the work of the Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for calling attention to this EPA practice, which Milloy called “corrupt” in a March 2012 op-ed.

For this, a  Forbes Editor said the  EPA Administrator Is Scarier Than Radical Islamic Terrorists

I wish them well, but I doubt this will work. Without to promise of EPA funds why would anyone want to waste their time on these advisory boards?

The Wisdom of the Hollywood Crowd

The Hollywood/Harvey Weinstein scandal is the gift that keeps on giving: CBS “Looking Into” Jeremy Piven Sexual Assault Allegations By ‘Entourage’ Actress, HBO Also Responds

As claims against Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey remain fresh, Jeremy Piven, star of the new CBS drama series Wisdom of the Crowd, today found himself in the spotlight of sexual harassment allegations. On Monday, reality TV personality/actress Ariane Bellamar made specific accusations on social media that Piven groped her on the set of Entourage and at the Playboy Mansion several years ago.

“We are aware of the media reports and are looking into the matter,” a CBS spokesperson said in a statement to Deadline on Tuesday.

I've watched the show. It won't be missed.

The network offered no additional details of what form or function any investigation was taking. Wisdom of the Crowd, from CBS TV Studios, is still be in production on its original 13-episode order.

CBS is currently mulling the fate of the modestly rated series. We have learned that the network had ordered three backup scripts while deciding on a possible episodic pickup beyond the initial 13.

CBS’ statement by the net follows a trio of tweets by Bellamar on October 30 about the Emmy-winning actor and his alleged unwelcomed interactions with her:

Hey @jeremypiven! ‘Member when you cornered me in your trailer on the #Entourage set? ‘Member grabbing my boobies on the 🛋 without asking??

— Ariane Bellamar (@ArianeBellamar) October 30, 2017

I guess you can blame a guy for trying after all. For his part, Jeremy denies the allegations.

Ariane has been involved in previous abuse allegations with  Entropic CEO Patrick Henry: Beverly Hills Nannies star displays injuries after 'technology tycoon she met on MillionaireMatch.com beat her while on date at Sundance Festival'.

Ariane Bellamar, known as one of the high-maintenance moms on now-cancelled reality show Beverly Hills Nannies, told Radar Online that Patrick Henry, the 51-year-old CEO of Entropic Communications, beat her up in a drunken fight following the festival in Park City, Utah.

The new images appear to show Bellamar with heavy bruising to her arms, legs and buttocks, and cuts to her left hand and lower back.

Unlucky in love?

Ann Althouse speculates the the Hollywood sex scandal would never have broken open if Hillary! had been elected, that the desire to keep Bill's back story out of the limelight would have won over the desire to implicate DJT in sexual harrassment: Hyper-politicizing sexual harassment. Analysis, probably true.

Linked by Evi L. Bloggerlady in "Invanka's Big in Japan" and "Angharad Rees." Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Sunday: Whatever Happened To…" up and running.

James Gets a B-

Health of the James River graded a B– : The condition of the James River increases ten points since tracking began a decade ago

The James River Association has measured an improvement in the overall health of the James River, retaining the 2015 grade of a B -, but increasing by three points.

Grades are based on four categories including river health, fish and wildlife populations, habitat, pollution reduction, and restoration and protection actions. Within those categories are a combined 19 indicators, 14 of which showed improvement since the previous report, while three remained the same and two declined. For example, the report shows incredible progress in regard to wastewater pollution controls, which have achieved 118 percent of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s 2025 goal.

Each of the indicators are given a score, which is then turned into a percentage to determine the grade. 2017 saw a one percent increase since the previous assessment to 62 percent, which is a rise of three points overall. Notably, this year’s grade is an increase of ten points since the report was first published in 2007.

“Increasing ten points in ten years shows that our collective commitment and investments in water quality are really paying off,” says Bill Street, chief executive officer for the James River Association. “Improvements can be seen not only in the health of the river, but also in the benefits that the river provides to the surrounding communities in terms of drinking water, quality of life and economic opportunities.”

Areas of concern include a significant decline in underwater grasses after two decades of steady expansion and struggling populations of the American shad, despite decades of re-stocking efforts.

I'm not a great believer in the letter grade system for judging progress, but it sounds like the James has made some.

Femen Piles On Polansky

Hoping to get some mileage from the ongoing Hollywood controversy, the bare-chested babes of Femen have decided to pay attention to that fugitive from the US convicted of sodomizing a 13 year old actress: Women activists stage topless protest at Roman Polanski event as new rape allegations reported

Around 80 protesters outside the Cinémathèque Française, which is showcasing Polanski’s films next month, banged on windows and carried placards with slogans such as, ‘If rape is an art, give Polanski all the (French movie award) Cesars’.

A few members of the Femen group exposed their breasts and shouted ‘no honours for rapists’ in the presence of Polanski before security pushed them outside.

 These are political tits. They don't count.

Polanski, who had entered the building through a back entrance, was set to present his new movie ‘Based on a True Story’ at the event.

Earlier this month, Swiss prosecutors said former German actress and model Renate Langer had told authorities that Polanski raped her at his mountain chalet in 1972 when she was 15 years old. Langer is one of four women who have publicly accused Polanski, 84, of sexually assaulting them when they were teenagers.

In the past, I have said that I am for whatever FEMEN is against, just to keep their protests going, but supporting Polanski might be a bit too far.

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Sunday: Whatever Happened To…" up and running.

DNC: Straight White Cis Males Need Not Apply

New Jobs At The DNC! (Cisgender, Straight, White Males Need Not Apply)

Remember back during the summer when Clinton insider Mark Penn advised the Democratic Party to get out of the business of identity politics if they want to win back power in Washington? Somebody clearly missed that memo at the DNC. The Daily Wire has a bit of a scoop this week with a copy of an internal announcement from the DNC’s Data Services Manager, Madeleine Leader announcing some new job openings on the committee’s data management team.

That probably sounds about as interesting as watching paint dry since both parties hire plenty of worker bees for such positions all the time. But it’s the “personal note” from Ms. Leader at the bottom of the memo which is generating the most interest. She wants party insiders to send this announcement around to interested parties so they can submit their resumes, but only to the right sort of people.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns and feel free to forward on to your contacts. I personally would prefer that you not forward to cisgender straight white males, since they’re already in the majority.

By way of Wombat-socho's "In The Mailbox: 10.31.17", Powerline has the goods. Click to enlarge:

To be fair, straight white males aren't known for voting the DNC ticket either.

Darn Lutherans are Acting Up Again

Lutheran yelling "God is Great" mows down Manhattans. Just kidding, it's a Muslim again: ‘This Was an Act of Terror,’ NYC Mayor Says; 8 People Killed in Attack

Details are still sketchy, and early reports of such incidents are often wrong, but it is now being reported that a man used a rental truck to run over pedestrians and bicyclists in New York City. The driver was reportedly shot and wounded by NYPD and taken into custody. Six people are reported dead. Fox News says they have been told by law-enforcement officials that this is being treated as a terrorist attack.

UPDATE 5:15 p.m. ET: New York Daily News:
At least six people were killed Tuesday afternoon when a speeding Home Depot truck plowed along a Lower Manhattan bike path, running down helpless riders from behind, sources said.
Eyewitnesses told police the driver yelled “Allahu Akbar!” — Arabic for “God is great!” — after leaving the mangled bodies scattered behind his rental truck.
The Middle Eastern man was arrested after police shot him in the rear end. Sources said he was waving a pair of guns when cops reached the scene.
The truck jumped the curb near Houston St. at 3:04 p.m. and began bearing down on the unsuspecting bicyclists, sources told the Daily News. Video showed crumpled two-wheelers and four bodies left in the vehicle’s deadly wake.

And Uber driver, Uzbekistan native: A look at NYC attack suspect

The man who police say transformed a New York City bike path into a terror scene was an Uzbekistan native who made 1,400 trips as an Uber driver and formed two commercial truck businesses.

A family friend called Sayfullo Saipov hard-working and neighbors said he would play with the children in a Florida apartment complex. President Trump derided the suspect as "sick and deranged."
. . .
Here's what is known so far:

Officials who were not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity identified Saipov as the attacker and said he is 29 and originally from Uzbekistan.

He came to the U.S. legally in 2010, the officials said, and it is believed that he lived first in Ohio after his arrival.

An acquaintance, Dilnoza Abdusamatova, said Saipov briefly stayed with his family in a Cincinnati suburb upon immigrating.

"He always used to work," Abdusamatova told The Cincinnati Enquirer. "He wouldn't go to parties or anything. He only used to come home and rest and leave and go back to work."

Terror suspect in NYC truck attack had pledged allegiance to ISIS.

SO IS THIS AN APPLE OR A BANANA? Actual CNN Chyron today: “WITNESSES: SUSPECT WAS YELLING ‘GOD IS GREAT’ IN ARABIC.”

And even that isn’t correct, as Robert Spencer writes: “‘Allahu akbar’ doesn’t mean what media says it means.”

Reason #5763 That Trump Was Elected

Fewest Jobless Claims Since 1973 Show Firm U.S. Job Market

Filings for unemployment benefits plunged last week to the lowest level since 1973 as workers affected by hurricanes Harvey and Irma continued to return to their jobs, Labor Department figures showed Thursday.

The larger-than-projected decrease in claims probably reflected difficulty adjusting for the Columbus Day holiday. At the same time, the report showed further declines in claims in hurricane- affected states. The storms initially led to a spike in applications in Texas and the southeastern U.S. in late August and early September.

The latest period also encompasses the reporting week that the Labor Department surveys for its October employment figures. Claims are at the lowest level in more than four decades, indicating employers have little desire to cut staffing levels amid a shortage of qualified workers.

Get people back to work and they won't care about Twitter.

Some Halloween Visitors

Some digital visitors:

Elle Johnson

Maitland Ward

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Sunday: Whatever Happened To…" up and running.

They Weren't Thick But They Were There

 After a false start or two, Trevor and I headed out around 4 PM to do some fishing. It was better than recent times, but not hot. Trevor got this 21 inch fish . . .

while I got this 27 inch, and another 21 inch.

We stayed a little past sunset.

Happy Halloween!

Some treats. Now go "Trick or Treating."

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Sunday: Whatever Happened To…" up and running.

Reason #5762That Trump Was Elected

Time: Trump's Cabinet 'Wrecking Crew' Is 'Dismantling Government As We Know It'. And they say that like it's a bad thing.

The most recent cover of Time Magazine — or I should say what's left of it, given its parent company's recent decision "reducing ... circulation and frequency" of the formerly iconic publication — calls President Donald Trump's cabinet "The Wrecking Crew" on a mission of "dismantling government as we know it."

Refining their appeal to a more selective audience or something.

Separate reports singled out EPA Director Scott Pruitt, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and HUD Secretary Ben Carson for scrutiny.

The cover's word selection is obviously out of line, as none of the three is proposing to "dismantle" — meaning to "take (something) apart" (and not put it back together) — the agencies under their charge. The headlined addition of "as we know it" doesn't change that. But it does feed leftist paranoia, which is apparently the point.

Of course, none of Time's four articles pointed out that "government as we know it" has gone from spending just over $2 trillion per year to just shy of $4 trillion in the past 20 years. After taking inflation into account, that's a 41 percent increase in real terms. Today's "government as we know it" doesn't accomplish 41 percent more than it did 20 years ago — unless getting in the way of progress is considered an accomplishment. . . 

A Little Hair of the Dog

Woman who breastfed a puppy and ‘fertilised’ one of her eggs with a dog cell wins art prize

A woman who breastfed a puppy and even fertilised one of her eggs with a dog cell has won a prestigious art prize. Maja Smrekar conducted her bizarre projects while living in seclusion with her dogs as part of her ‘K-9_topology’ art experiment.

The Slovenian artist underwent systematic breast pumping in order to trick her body into producing breast milk before breastfeeding a puppy during the piece.

She also took a fat cell from another dog and used it to ‘fertilise’ one of her eggs using a method similar to IVF.

She used a fat cell form the dog, so no dog sperm was used and there was absolutely no way the egg could have become an embryo, which would have been impossible even if a sexual cell from a dog was used.

 That's just not the way any of this works.

Despite the slightly unnerving nature of her art, the critics love it, and have awarded her with the ‘Golden Nica’ at Prix Ars Electronica in Austria.

The jury released a statement saying: ‘The artwork K-9_topology at first sight may engender feelings of shock and possibly even dismissal – the complexity and explicitness of this project is difficult to explain without dangerous simplifications.

‘When considering the awarded artwork, the jury understood that it is important to follow the entire process, as this is an extensive artistic investigation developed through three years in four consecutive projects.’

Smrekar created a video which shows her breastfeeding dogs, sleeping naked next to them and performing the fertilization (it’s a bit NSFW).

The link also doesn't work, so there's that. Anyway, I refuse to be shocked by this.

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Sunday: Whatever Happened To…" up and running.

Conflicting Signs on the Bay

Two articles from the Bay news feed, with different messages. 

The good news first: Group Says Efforts to Clean up Chesapeake Bay Are Working

A nonprofit advocacy group says efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay are paying off.
The Baltimore Sun reported Thursday that fewer water samples are showing the presence of so-called "dead zones" in the bay that can't support aquatic life.

Scientists recently reported that 13 percent of the bay's waters on average showed dangerously low levels of oxygen. In 1985, the average was nearly 19 percent.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation credits the decline in dead zones to federal regulations that limit the amount of pollution that can flow into the bay.

Beth McGee, the foundation's director of science and agricultural policy, cautioned in a statement that "more needs to be done to achieve a bay that is healthy for all living creatures."

We've seen conflicting news on the "dead zone" this year. First it was predicted to be up, then it was down, then it was up again, and now it's down. Make up your mind!

But from a concrete point of view: Oyster season catch dropped in 2015 and ’16

The public oyster harvest season began Monday, Oct. 2 with Chesapeake Bay watermen no doubt hoping for a better haul this fall and winter than last. For Maryland watermen, though, there isn’t a lot of room for optimism.

Despite mild weather last winter, Maryland’s 2016-2017 harvest from public oyster bars was off nearly 42 percent from the year before, a steep drop from the modest decline seen the previous two years. Last season, 1,086 licensed watermen harvested 224,609 bushels of bivalves, down from a 384,000-bushel catch in 20152016, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

Chris Judy, DNR’s shellfish division manager, attributed the harvest decline last season to lower “spat sets” of juvenile oysters since 2012, the last year in which there was good recruitment or reproduction. Spat sets since then have been poor to middling.

Disease made a dent as well last season, at least in some areas. Intensity of Dermo, one of two parasitic diseases afflicting oysters, rose last year above the long-term average for the first time in 9 years and was the highest since the last major outbreak during a drought in 2002. The survey found elevated intensities from Pocomoke Sound north to the Wye and Miles rivers. Dermo-related mortalities also increased in some areas.

MSX, the other parasitic oyster disease, increased in prevalence on bars where it had been found previously, reaching a level 20-fold higher than what it was three years ago.

I think I'd rather have a 19% "dead zone" and a healthy oyster population.

The Bay Journal Wants It's Money Back

EPA may have shifted its priorities, but ours remain the same

As a news organization, it’s always uncomfortable to be in the news, as opposed to just reporting it. But political appointees in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have put us in the headlines.

As you have read in related articles, the EPA told us without warning in late August that it plans to revoke a six-year award to partially fund the Bay Journal, beginning in 2018.

Providing a political appointee with the power to revoke grants is uncommon and, as near as we can determine, unprecedented. Typically, if a grant is revoked, it is because of poor performance. The EPA specifically told us that was not the reason, but rather because of a “shift in priorities,” without saying what that shift was.

The decision’s potential impact goes well beyond the Bay Journal, as there is no point in the EPA, or any agency, asking people to go through the cumbersome process of applying for multi-year funding awards if a political appointee can reverse them on a whim. We will be appealing this decision.

As this process begins, it has been gratifying to see the outpouring of support for our work. We’ve seen an important uptick in donations, protest letters to lawmakers and EPA officials and other helpful offers of assistance — things I’ll be talking more about in the future.

The grant cancellation has also raised questions about the future of the 27-year-old Bay Journal. First, let me say that we believe the EPA’s action has no merit. But the case may well take months to play out, creating a prolonged period of financial uncertainty for us. Though EPA funding provides only 40 percent of the Bay Journal’s funding, it is the largest single chunk of our budget. If the cut is upheld, filling that gap will be a challenge.

As for a grant being revoked for "shifting priorities" being illegal, I was once in a NOAA grant that had it's money cut (but not eliminated) because they wanted to spend more money on satellites. We were pissed, but we didn't think it was illegal.

As much as I quote the Bay Journal, it's always bugged me the EPA and NOAA (who both fund) the Bay Journal, have funded what is basically a nominally private propaganda arm which can be relied on to take their side in public controversies. 

Reason #5761 That Trump Was Elected

GOP Tax Framework Could Raise GDP By 5%, Wages By 7%

President Donald Trump's tax reform framework could raise GDP by as much as 5 percent and wages by as much as 7 percent, according to a new study from Boston University economists.

"We find that, depending on the year considered, the new Republican tax plan raises GDP by between 3 and 5 percent and real wages by between 4 and 7 percent," the economists explain. "This translates into roughly $3,500 annually more annual real take-home pay for the average American household."

Economists believe this growth can happen due to the plan's aim to reduce the marginal effective corporate tax rate from 34.6 percent to 18.6 percent, which they believe will grow the capital stock by 12 to 20 percent.

A lower tax rate on higher wages and more business. I like that idea.

Yes Virginia, There is a Rape Culture

And it's in Hollywood: Annabella Sciorra "was still living in fear of [Harvey Weinstein], and slept with a baseball bat by her bed. Weinstein, she told me, had violently raped her..."

"... in the early nineteen-nineties, and, over the next several years, sexually harassed her repeatedly," writes Ronan Farrow, in a new New Yorker article, "Weighing the Costs of Speaking Out About Harvey Weinstein/Annabella Sciorra, Daryl Hannah, and other women explain their struggles with going public."

Farrow had attempted to get Sciorra to speak to him for the first article, and here we see her description of how she reacted to Farrow's earlier encouragement to tell her story:

“I was so scared. I was looking out the window of my living room, and I faced the water of the East River,” she said, recalling our initial conversation. “I really wanted to tell you. I was like, ‘This is the moment you’ve been waiting for your whole life. . . .’ ” she said. “I really, really panicked,” she added. “I was shaking. And I just wanted to get off the phone.... Even now, as I tell you, and have had all these women around saying it’s O.K.,” Sciorra told me, “I'm petrified again.”

Farrow says there are still "many others" too afraid to talk to him.

Daryl Hannah, also interviewed in this article, explains the reluctance to speak:

Hannah said that she had decided to speak publicly about her experiences for the first time, more than a decade after they occurred, because “I feel a moral obligation to support the women who have suffered much more egregious transgressions.” She, like many women who have come forward, still had doubts about the trade-offs she would have to make for speaking openly. “It’s one of those things your body has to adjust to. You get dragged into the gutter of nastiness and pettiness and shame and all of these things, and it sometimes seems healthier and wiser to just move on with your life and not allow yourself to be re-victimized.”

This is the #MeToo that inherently can't be talked about: I decided to do nothing because I didn't want to be dragged into the gutter of nastiness and pettiness, and it seemed healthier and wiser to just move on.

Alaskan crab fishermen have to watch out for ice, huge waves and dangerous equipment. Hollywood starlets need to be wary of the likes of Harvey Weinstein and James Toback. I let you decide which is more dangerous.

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Sunday: Whatever Happened To…"  up and running.

Reason #5760 That Trump Was Elected

Cowbell: First Read of 3rd Quarter GDP at 3.0%, Beating 2.5% Expectation

Unexpectedly, in other words, but on the upside.

And bear in mind: The economy was hit by multiple storms. I don't mean metaphorical storms like the #SalonHot25's daily Twitter Conniptions. I mean the three big hurricanes.

The U.S. economy unexpectedly maintained a brisk pace of growth in the third quarter.
An increase in inventory investment and a smaller trade deficit offset a hurricane-related slowdown in consumer spending and a decline in construction.
Gross domestic product increased at a 3.0 percent annual rate in the July-September period after expanding at a 3.1 percent pace in the second quarter

You wanted cowbell? I give you cowbell.

The American public will forgive a lot of Congressional inaction if the economy is doing good. Nobody wants to read about those assholes anyway.

How to Piss Off a Liberal

If you really must. Post a picture of yourself holding a gun on Instagram: NCIS Star Maria Bello Getting Backlash Over Instagram Gun Pic

There’s another Hollywood controversy brewing, and it has nothing to do with Harvey Weinstein. No, this time, the focus is on an actress. Maria Bello, who stars in the television show NCIS, is facing a backlash over what some perceive to be naughty photos on her Instagram account.

Of course, by “naughty” I don’t mean racy or anything like that. No, these pics are enough to incite a liberal to a head explosion in .34 seconds.

On the far right, as they say.

Bello faced some negative comments almost immediately, however.

While a number of fans responded with excitement for what Jack Sloane might be up to, other Instagram users criticized the actress for smiling while holding a gun in the wake of this month’s Las Vegas shooting.

 She's supposed to suspend her hobbies?

“That’s a shameful pic,” one individual wrote. “Always been a fan, but glamorizing assault weapons after Vegas is clumsy at best, callous at worst. One less fan. Good luck with ‘NCIS.’”

“There is nothing sexy about anyone holding a gun,” wrote another fan.

Yet another commenter chimed in with, “Weird timing for posting this.”

Yes, weird timing indeed. Heaven forbid anyone continues to live their lives more than three weeks after a tragedy, especially if you’re talking about firearms. Especially when the picture in question has absolutely nothing to do with Las Vegas.

 Yeah, there are never any firearms on NCIS.

Yet that’s what the anti-gun zealots routinely do. They continually tone police the pro-gun crowd, claiming we’re being callous by continuing to do the things we enjoy and to talk about them, but they have no compunction about standing on the bodies of the dead to use them as an ersatz soapbox. Now, you tell me something. Which is worse?

Maria Bello is an actor. She’s shooting at a range, and demonstrating good finger discipline, I might add. She’s doing nothing wrong. She indicates she’s training for her role, which is something all fans of the show should get behind. Apparently, she wants to do it right. I only wish more actors tried to get it right when performing their parts.

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Sunday: Whatever Happened To…" up and running.

Reason #5759 That Trump Was Elected

The IRS Scandal, which Trump just ended. Let's go to the Tax Prof, who has provided consistent coverage of this abuse of power by the Obama administration:   The IRS Scandal, Day 1632: Department Of Justice Settles Tea Party Targeting Cases For Millions And An Apology

The Trump administration on Thursday said it has agreed to pay between $1 million and $10 million to settle lawsuits against the Internal Revenue Service for targeting tea-party groups in the Obama era, saying in court documents that the IRS “admits that its treatment...was wrong.”

The Justice Department entered into proposed settlements with groups that alleged in 2013 they had been subject to discriminatory treatment in applying for tax-exempt status. The move largely puts an end to a saga that had engulfed the IRS for years.

In a settlement filed in federal court in Washington, which still must be approved by a judge, the Justice Department said the IRS “expresses its sincere apology” and was “fully committed” to not subjecting groups for additional review “solely on the name or policy positions of such entity.”

Of course, Lois Lerner remains guilty as hell but free as a bird, with a $100,000+ "payout" for "good work" from the Obama administration for suppressing conservative get out the vote efforts in 2012. In a perfect world, she would have been sentenced to thousands of hours of "community service", stuffing envelopes, or some other grunt work for the many conservative  entities she maligned and discriminated against.

Probably not coincidentally, President Trump names replacement for IRS boss Koskinen

The White House has named a Treasury official to succeed John Koskinen at the helm of the IRS next month, while allowing the controversial commissioner to finish out his five-year term.

David Kautter will serve as acting IRS commissioner beginning Nov. 13, the last day of Koskinen’s term, the White House said.

“Assistant Secretary Kautter has had an illustrious 40-year career in tax policy, and I am confident that the IRS and the American people will benefit from his experience and insight,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement, noting the Senate would still have to confirm a permanent commissioner.

The announcement came as the Trump Justice Department settled lawsuits with Tea Party and other conservative groups targeted for extra scrutiny by officials in the Obama IRS.

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

Rule 5 Saturday - Caroline Kelly

This post-GOODSTUFF Rule 5 post dedicated to Allen Reinertsen,, aka GOODSTUFF. The subject is Caroline Kelly:

Sports Illustrated swimsuit model who's also worked with brands like Calvin Klein, Victoria's Secret, and Sephora. She's also been featured in Town & Country magazine.

She started modeling when she was 16, around the same time she started posting to Instagram.

She has more than 60,000 followers on her Instagram account and has been represented by Elite Model Management.

She grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Her Twitter.

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup." Some NSFW material. Linked by Wombat-socho in "Rule 5 Sunday: No, Not That Asia" and "FMJRA 2.0: Deep Dark Depression, Excessive Misery."

Reason #5758 That Trump Was Elected

From Joe For America via Wombat-socho's "In The Mailbox: 10.26.17": Trump Opens Up 76,000,000 Acres to Off-Shore Drilling, Largest in History!

On Tuesday morning, the Trump administration took another historic step toward ensuring America’s energy independence for the future by opening up over 76 million acres of federal water to potential drilling, The Washington Times reported.

By opening up these waters to be leased out for drilling, the Trump administration broke a record. This is the largest lease sale in American history, and is sure to make oil companies positively giddy.

“In today’s low-price energy environment, providing the offshore industry access to the maximum amount of opportunities possible is part of our strategy to spur local and regional economic dynamism and job creation and a pillar of President Trump’s plan to make the United States energy dominant,” Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke explained.

The territory that is being opened for drilling is roughly the size of New Mexico, and includes areas in the Gulf Coast, near Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

“(T)he economic terms proposed for this sale include a range of incentives to encourage diligent development and ensure a fair return to taxpayers,” Zinke added.

The Washington Examiner reported that some estimates claim that up to 48 billion barrels of oil and 141 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are in the Gulf of Mexico, just waiting to be tapped.

If we can access those resources, it would ensure that we would no longer need to be reliant on the Middle East for oil, and we could secure America’s energy dominance for decades.

The Hill noted that back in April, Trump set the stage for this by signing an executive order that rolled back President Barack Obama’s limits on offshore drilling.

And Stephen Green at Instaundit:  LOOKS LIKE AMERICAN FRACKERS (and offshore drillers) JUST GOT ANOTHER MARKET-SHARE BOOST: Oil Rises as Saudi Prince Backs Longer OPEC Production Cuts.

Sexual Harassment In the News

‘Unwanted Sexual Advances’: Harassment Bonfire Torches NBC’s Mark Halperin

The number of his alleged victims is at least seven now:

The morning after five women accused veteran journalist Mark Halperin of sexual harassment while he was in a powerful position at ABC News, two more women came forward with their own allegations.
Those initial five accusers recounted sexual misconduct ranging in nature “from propositioning employees for sex to kissing and grabbing one’s breasts against her will,” CNN reported. “Three of the women who spoke to CNN described Halperin as, without consent, pressing an erection against their bodies while he was clothed.”
Halperin denied some of the allegations listed in Wednesday evening’s story, but added, “I now understand from these accounts that my behavior was inappropriate and caused others pain.”
And then another set of accusers emerged the following day.
“#MeToo,” conservative author and reporter Emily Miller wrote Wednesday night on Twitter, directly responding to the CNN report. . . .
Without specifically describing her encounter with the pundit, Miller elaborated: “I did not report Halperin to ABC because I thought I was the only one, and I blamed myself, and I was embarrassed and I was scared of him.” . . .
Another journalist, who currently appears as a commentator across multiple networks, joined the chorus on Thursday, telling The Daily Beast that the accusations against Halperin rang familiar to her own experience. She said he made unwanted advances at her while they worked together at ABC News more than a decade ago. . . .
According to numerous sources at NBC, MSNBC, ABC, and Bloomberg—who previously spoke to The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely—the private allegations of Halperin’s sexual misconduct were an open secret, particularly in New York City and D.C. political media, for many years.

But you wouldn't expect hypocrisy from a media giant would you?

When people say some new Trump tape could have material that is WORSE than the @accesshollywood video, what exactly could be WORSE?!?

— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) October 9, 2016

/sarc off

Feminist Prof Finds Coeds Insufficiently Angry

 Prof frets that female students don't feel oppressed enough. And she has a plan to fix that:

A University of Connecticut professor is calling for a “more expansive inclusion of feminism” by colleges to help female students recognize the oppression they face.

Cristina Mogro-Wilson, who teaches social work at UConn, surveyed 118 students pursuing a Masters in Social Work (MSW) degree and found that the overwhelming majority of respondents—94 percent of whom were women—do not believe that “discrimination and subordination” are “salient issues in women’s lives.”

While the respondents were less likely to believe that discrimination was a major issue in their lives than were MSW students surveyed for a 2013 national sample, many of them still agreed with other feminist topics of concern, such as the need for “liberal gender roles” and “equality, equal opportunities, and respect.”

The findings are problematic, Mogro-Wilson contends, because without a sense of their own oppression, students may be disinclined to “embrace the notion of change through unification,” such as in the form of protesting.

Worrying about the potential of a “post-feminist standpoint among younger women…who no longer see discrimination against women as being a salient issue,” Mogro-Wilson calls for incorporating more intersectionality into the social work curriculum.

Intersectionality, for those who aren't familiar with the lingo, is newspeak for looking at all the things that might piss you off in order to get more pissed off.

“Intersectionality provides a useful framework to examine gender-based oppression,” she says, adding that discrimination “cannot be fully understood without also considering other coexisting social identities, like race, culture, sexuality, and class.”

She also deems it “essential that students learn to nuance their understandings around oppression, so that when considering foundational social work issues, like poverty, mental health status, and oppression, that to the extent possible all areas of social identity are explored in combination.”
. . .
To that end, she contends that social work programs must make a concerted effort to help female students realize not only how they face oppression personally, but how other women face oppression as well.

And in the immortal words of Billy Mays: "But wait! There's more!"

Testing a New Phone/Camera

My old semi-smart cellphone was starting to die, and it was old enough to replace it, so I bought a cheap smart phone to replace it. I took it down to the beach to try out the camera today. These photos are unedited, as taken off the camera.

Georgia outscored me on teeth 4-2 today, despite holding the rope.

I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the photos. Certainly good enough for fishing, although I would miss the big zoom on my Lumix.