Science is Great, Until it Disagrees with Your Policies

Obama Admin Fired Top Scientist to Advance Climate Change Plans

A new congressional investigation has determined that the Obama administration fired a top scientist and intimidated staff at the Department of Energy in order to further its climate change agenda, according to a new report that alleges the administration ordered top officials to obstruct Congress in order to forward this agenda.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R., Texas), chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, released a wide-ranging reporton Tuesday that shows how senior Obama administration officials retaliated against a leading scientist and plotted ways to block a congressional inquiry surrounding key research into the impact of radiation.

A top DoE scientist who liaised with Congress on the matter was fired by the Obama administration for being too forthright with lawmakers, according to the report, which provides an in-depth look at the White House’s efforts to ensure senior staffers toe the administration’s line.

The report also provides evidence that the Obama administration worked to kill legislation in order to ensure that it could receive full funding for its own hotly contested climate change agenda.

The report additionally discovered efforts by the Obama administration to censor the information given to Congress, interfering with the body’s ability to perform critical oversight work.

From the report:

In late 2015, Dr. Metting and her attorneys contacted the Committee providing an account of events that transpired after the October 16, 2014, briefing, including her removal from federal service by the DOE. According to Dr. Metting’s counsel, DOE Management removed Dr. Metting from her position for allegedly providing too much information in response to questions posed by Congressional staff during the October 16 briefing. Upon learning this disturbing information, the Committee began an investigation into the alleged misconduct of senior DOE officials, focusing on whether DOE Management instructed technical staff to withhold information from Congress. The Committee also became aware in early 2015 (based on the DOE fiscal year 2016 budget request), that the DOE proposed to shutter the LDRRP in order to increase funding for other programs within the Biological and Environmental Research budget line, including bioenergy research and climate modeling in furtherance of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan.

Apparently, Dr. Metting thought that her own LDRRP (Low Dose Radiation Research Program) specialty was important enough to be maintained during the era of global warming concern. The DOE seemed especially concerned the LDRPP was working on fixing and substituting the "linear, no threshold" theory of radiation effects, which would argue for relaxing regulations on low dose radiation.

So much for the vaunted independence of the science and the federal workplace. Donald Trump, through Rick Perry, should put Dr. Metting back in charge of LDRRP, and double it's budget, at the expense of climate "research" and modelling. And if anybody publicly complains, fire 'em for disagreeing with the policy.

Let's Throw Some Red Meat Out for the Crowd

Chrissy Tiegen fries a steak

Eating more red meat does NOT hurt your heart: New study insists larger portions of beef and pork can actually be GOOD for blood pressure

Red meat has been condemned as a cancer-causing, blood pressure-raising no-no.

Indeed, nutritional guidelines in both the UK and the US advise eating no more than 70g of beef, pork, or steak per day.

Government scolds, all of them.

But a new review of clinical trials from Purdue University has found quite the opposite. According to the study, eating more than the recommended daily amount of red meat does not affect short-term heart disease risk factors, such as blood pressure and blood cholesterol.

I thought the science was settled!

In fact, they found unprocessed red meat to be a good source of nutrients for patients.

'During the last 20 years, there have been recommendations to eat less red meat as part of a healthier diet, but our research supports that red meat can be incorporated into a healthier diet,' said Wayne Campbell, professor of nutrition science.

'Red meat is a nutrient-rich food, not only as a source for protein but also bio-available iron.'

Obama Locks Out Arctic, Atlantic Oil Discoveries

He hopes: Obama withdraws parts of Atlantic, Arctic from oil exploration

President Obama declared wide swaths of the Arctic Ocean and 31 Atlantic canyons off limits to oil and gas drilling on Tuesday, part of an 11th-hour conservation action to protect underwater habitats.

Obama's decision comes as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced similar measures Tuesday, as the two leaders called for an Arctic economy "free from the future risks of offshore oil and gas activity."

He should have added "free from job opportunity and economic development" too, but that wouldn't have sounded nearly as sexy.

For Obama, the executive action burnishes an environmental legacy that includes protecting more ocean areas from development than any other president in history. "This withdrawal prevents consideration of this area for any future mineral leasing for purposes of exploration, development, or production," Obama said in a presidential memorandum, a directive similar in effect to an executive order.

But unlike other executive orders, it's unclear whether Obama's action could tie the hands of President-elect Donald Trump. Obama is relying on a provision of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which says: "The president of the United States may, from time to time, withdraw from disposition any of the unleased lands of the outer continental shelf."

Obama said the withdrawal was "for a time period without specific expiration." While the White House did not use the word "permanent" to describe the action, many environmental groups did.

Liberal believe in the "liberal ratchet"; any gain made by their side is cast in stone, while any move contrary to their desires of the moment are deemed repealable by a simple presidential order.

But there's precedent for presidents reversing similar actions. In 1998, President Bill Clinton used the same law to renew a moratorium on offshore drilling until 2012. But in 2008, President George W. Bush reversed course, ending the moratorium four years early.

Republicans called the action "an abuse of power," and said it would lead to more reliance on foreign oil.

"The extremes to which this president will go to appease special interests never ceases to amaze," said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources. "It is nothing more than ideological chest-thumping from the president for the far left."

But Obama said in a statement that the drilling ban would have little short-term impact. While there are oil and gas reserves in the upper Arctic, most of them are cost prohibitive to extract unless oil prices triple.

Even then, Obama said, "it would take decades to fully develop the production infrastructure necessary for any large-scale oil and gas leasing production in the region — at a time when we need to continue to move decisively away from fossil fuels."

That, however, is largely true, except for the "moving away from fossil fuels". Oil is a commodity, and while prices are low (thanks to fracking and the war on fracking by the Saudis and Russia), the incentive to drill in the Arctic and the outer shelf is low. It's only when oil is scarce, or our foreign supplies are cut off for geopolitical reasons that we will attempt to access them. However, the threat of having them available also serves to make such events less likely. Even as is, when we need them, they'll still be available. But we might need a Republican president and congress to be able to access them.

President Trump should roll ex-President Obama executive orders in reverse order of date, by the newest first. The closer to the last day they are issued, the less well thought out, and the more provocative they are likely to be.

Winter is Coming!

Well, actually, it's here, as the Winter Solstice occurred at 5:44 EST. Best known as the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the start of "astronomical winter" (as opposed to meteorological winter), the solstice marks the moment the north pole of the earth points directly away from the sun.

The start of winter finds us cold (31.1 F now), but on a warming trend. The next few days, maybe even to the end of the year are projected to be above freezing.

We clicked on an offer for a free month of HBO through Amazon Prime, and started a watching "Game of Thrones". That should keep up busy, trying to see them all before it runs out.

Midnite Christmas Music- "Please Come Home for Christmas"

Yep, seen her before too, and I never get tired of her:

The Good and Bad of Phrag

Jekyll or Hyde? The Many Faces of Phragmites

It’s easy to dislike Phragmites. The invasive brown reed can grow over 15 feet tall and tends to crowd out anything in its shadow. But in the story of global change, Phragmites is a gray character, like Mad Men’s Don Draper, or the enigmatic Professor Snape. Beneath the surface, Phragmites australis—a European reed sweeping over East Coast wetlands—can empower wetlands to grow higher soils and possibly survive rising seas. Biogeochemist Pat Megonigal of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) prefers an analogy from classic literature: Jekyll and Hyde.

“The Jekyll part is that Phragmites helps marshes maintain elevation and keep pace with sea level rise,” he said. “The Hyde part is that they are poor habitat for native plants and animals.”

The latest discovery in Megonigal’s lab could tip things in favor of Hyde. Phragmites’ deep-growing roots were once thought an advantage that helps wetlands build soil. But those same roots could be disturbing ancient soils deep underground—triggering them to release planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2).

Soils are the third largest carbon pool on Earth. However, they release carbon dioxide when the carbon they hold decomposes. Surface soil carbon decomposes all the time as microbes feast on newly-deposited plant material. But carbon in deeper, older soils was supposed to be locked away, because deep soils were thought to contain tougher material microbes couldn’t decompose well.

Blanca Bernal with a sediment core

“When you get into the deep stuff, that stuff is considered to be sequestered. Nobody can eat that,” said Blanca Bernal, former SERC postdoc and lead author of the new study in Global Change Biology. Except, she added, that’s turning out to not be true. “Several studies have shown that it’s actually not that recalcitrant. It’s just a matter of recreating the right conditions down in the soil for the microbes to start consuming that old carbon pool.”

For the first time, ecologists caught Phragmites in the act of releasing carbon from ancient soils.

They launched the study on the Global Change Research Wetland, a 170-acre experimental wetland in Maryland run by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. First, researchers grew Phragmites and native wetland plants in white PVC pipes partially submerged in a tidal creek. At the end of the growing season, they sealed the pipes and sampled the CO2 inside. Their goal: Uncover how much CO2 came from the plant, from microbes in the surface soil (40 centimeters or less) and microbes in the deep soil (40 to 80 centimeters).

In total, soil with Phragmites emitted just slightly more microbe-made CO2than soil with a native sedge, Schoenoplectus americanus. But location made all the difference.

Almost all the microbe CO2 from the soils with native plants—87 percent—came from the surface. Meanwhile, Phragmites triggered microbes in its soils to emit 80 percent of their CO2 from deeper soils, where CO2 was supposed to be safely buried. Phragmites released five times more deep-soil carbon than the native plant or pipes with no plants at all.

No great surprise, since the release of CO2 requires oxygen to oxidize the organic matter, and very little oxygen penetrates to any depth in wetland soils without being used up.

Most plants don’t have roots deeper than 30 centimeters, or one foot, underground, says Tom Mozdzer, a Bryn Mawr assistant professor of biology who also worked on the study. That’s a problem with plants like Phragmites that can go far deeper.

“We’ve been underestimating the potential influence of Phragmites, because we haven’t looked at what’s happening below that typical rooting depth,” Mozdzer said. The figures in the new study might still have underestimated how much carbon Phragmites can release, the scientists noted, because the Phragmites plants in this study weren’t fully mature.

What makes Phragmites so powerful? Having roots that stretch deeper underground helps, but that alone wouldn’t be enough to release deep carbon. Their roots also pipe oxygen below ground, which can stimulate microbes to decompose more. Phragmites roots also transport other compounds microbes find easier to digest, spurring them to release even more CO2.

There you go!

But Phragmites has power to save wetlands as well. Its roots, while releasing deep-soil carbon, can also build wetlands up when facing sea-level rise. This puzzle is forcing conservations to decide whether it’s better to preserve native plants Phragmites crowds out, or ensure a wetland’s survival, period.“What are we managing for?” Mozdzer asks.

“Is it ecosystem services, or plant community?”

“At least for now, the Phrag-invaded areas are gaining elevation faster than the native areas,” said Megonigal. “So that suggests that on balance, they’re more Jekyll than Hyde.”

Another complication is that Phragmites in Chesapeake Bay area has two populations, the smaller, original native morph, and the  Eurasian immigrant, which is larger, more vigorous, and which his largely pushed the native variety out of it's original range, as well as claiming expanded range of it's own. So, should that function exist?

Socialismo Advances in Venezuela

Three dead in Venezuela cash unrest

A weekend of looting and clashes left at least three people dead in Venezuela, authorities said, as anger roiled over a chaotic currency reform that left many without cash.

A man, a woman and an adolescent boy were shot dead when violence erupted on Saturday in the town of La Paragua, in the southern state of Bolivar, the attorney general's office confirmed on Monday.

The opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), which accuses President Nicolas Maduro of driving oil-rich Venezuela to the brink of economic collapse, contested the death toll. It said five people had died in the state.

Unrest broke out Friday after Maduro ordered the 100-bolivar bill removed from circulation before the 500-bolivar bills intended to replace it had arrived.

Desperate Venezuelans looted delivery trucks, burned banks and clashed with police in towns across the country as the move left them with no cash to buy food.

Because when socialists plan economies, they think of everything.

The new 500-bolivar note, the first in the new series, had originally been due to go into circulation last Thursday.

Maduro said the planes bringing it to Venezuela from abroad were delayed in a US-backed conspiracy.

The leftist firebrand called the alleged plot US President Barack Obama's "death throes."

But it's not too early to start blaming President-elect Trump

Hey, President Donald Trump: Do you know where your bombs are falling? https://t.co/cqPjGBSuDY pic.twitter.com/ef88Yui1WK

— Salon (@Salon) December 15, 2016

More Christmas Wrapping

Patty J. Donahue:

Preparing for Their Time in the Wilderness . . .

Obama, First Lady Hike Through Botanical Garden

President Barack Obama began the second day of his annual Hawaiian holiday vacation with a mid-morning hike at the Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden.

The park is at the base of the Koolau mountain range on the east side of the island of Oahu and is comprised of 400 lush acres. The name Hoomaluhia translates to "a peaceful refuge" in native Hawaiian. The garden was established in 1982 and designed and built by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Get lots of practice at being ex-President, because it's going to last a long time.

Another Vote for the "Fargo" Solution

Another great thinker comes up with a plan to reform government by moving it's permanent bureaucracy out of Washington D.C.:

A Modest Proposal

. . . And yes, it is absolutely reasonable to expect that every single one of the government employees regards Trump and his people as illegitimate interlopers, and those employees will do everything in their power to hinder and obstruct any agenda of reform.

So, what to do about it?  The obvious first answer is, fire these people and hire new ones who will do your bidding.  Unfortunately, that is likely to be a poor answer.  The so-called "civil service" protections for career federal employees go back to the 1880s.  Do they violate the constitutional provision that vests all executive authority in the President?  I would say they do, but you could litigate that issue for the entire next four years without getting any definitive result and without getting rid of a single person.  You might even lose outright.

So here's the modest proposal: If the government cannot fire these people, then it can assign them to other tasks in other places.  By fortuitous coincidence, the recent several years have seen downsizing in two sectors known for having very large buildings, many of them located in remote and out-of-the-way areas.  Those two sectors are manufacturing and retail.  Places like rural Ohio, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Arkansas, and upstate New York -- not to mention northern Maine, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and even Alaska -- are littered with abandoned K-Marts, JC Penney's and Sears stores, as well as abandoned factories of all sorts.  These buildings can be leased for a song.  Hundreds of federal employees can be assigned to each such location.

Send each such employee a memo:  "Starting Monday morning at 9 AM, your job will be located at the former Sears Hometown store, 2308 11th Avenue West, Williston, North Dakota.  If you report for work, you will await such assignments as may be given to you at that location.  If you do not show up, your pay will be continued until your unused vacation and sick leave are exhausted, and then your pay will stop."

Inside the former Sears or K-Mart, there can be row upon row of hundreds of desks and chairs.  But I highly recommend that these employees not be provided with any computer or cell phone at taxpayer expense.  Why waste the money?  They can communicate with headquarters in Washington by U.S. mail.  It's not like they are doing anything productive.

Something tells me that the incoming Trump team will stop short of adopting my proposal.  But they should adopt it.  For the next four years, essentially every federal employee in Washington is going to be conducting an unrelenting guerilla campaign to undermine everything the administration wants to do.  If the administration only pushes back a little, it will be steamrolled by the permanent government Blob.  Time to act decisively!  If anyone can do that, it is Trump.

Why allow them to use up their sick leave? I didn't get to.  Anyway, read the whole thing.

B List Plot the Day's Coup

Freda Payne

Celebrities beg electors to be ‘heroes’ and vote against Trump

Celebrities are teaming up to beg Republicans in the Electoral College to vote against President-elect Donald Trump, pledging their “respect” for potential “heroes.”

A slew of other has-been and B- or C-list celebs have piled on, calling for 37 “conscientious Republican electors” to swing the Dec. 19 Electoral College vote away from Trump. The Republican is expected to win 306 votes — more than the 270 necessary to win — based on the results from last month’s general election.

Loretta Swit

The electoral college is scheduled to vote for President today, presumably to vote in the victor of the national vote for electors of Donald Trump. These has been actors would presumably have us relinquish the candidate preferred by the majority of the states voting  in the electoral college for someone more of their liking. Very democratic, you know.

Christine Lahti

The video, released on YouTube by Unite for America, not only features Sheen and Schiff, but also Debra Messing, James Cromwell, BD Wong, Noah Wyle, Freda Payne, Bob Odenkirk, J. Smith Cameron, Michael Urie, Moby, Mike Farrell, Loretta Swit, Christine Lahti, Steven Pasquale, Dominic Fumusa and Emily Tyra.

Martin Sheen's best known production is, of course, Charlie Sheen. Debra Messing we've seen previously. Those my age might remember Loretta Swit from M.A.S.H or Cagney and Lacey. Christine Lahti was nominated for an Oscar as a Best Supporting Actress in some film I never saw back in 1984, but occasionally plays Steve McGarrett's mommy on the new Five-0. Emily Tyra seems to be best known for nude scenes in "Flesh and Bone" (NSFW).

Emily Tyra

“Republican members of the Electoral College, this message is for you,” begins a preachy Martin Sheen. “As you know, our Founding Fathers built the Electoral College to safeguard the American people from the dangers of a demagogue and to ensure that the presidency only goes to someone who is to an ’eminent degree and down with the requisite qualifications.'”

I kind of thought the requirements of the Presidency were that one must be 35 years of age, a resident "within the United States" for 14 years, and a "natural born Citizen," a term not defined in the Constitution. Nothing there about satisfying this self-appointed handful of washed up thespians.

Gift Wrapped For Your Viewing Pleasure

Elle Johnson.

Thanks Barack! Science in the Age of Obama

Frustrated scientists turn to online sites for research money

Stymied by futile attempts to fund research into the lead poisoning of eagles, a UC Santa Cruz scientist has resorted to asking for contributions online.

“It’s a little frustrating to not get traction,” said Myra Finkelstein, a wildlife toxicologist. “I do science that can directly be used to help animals.”

Finkelstein is hardly alone. Researchers facing a severe shortage of government and foundation funding are increasingly using “crowdfunding” as a way to get their projects off the ground.

Is it fair to blame Obama for the troubles of young scientists trying to get started in science? Well, he has been in charge for most of 8 years now, and the amount of discretionary spending in the budget as a % of GDP during his leadership has been steadily eaten away by the growing entitlement spending, for which Obama has been a leading proponent.

It works like this: An idea or research project is posted online, usually with a catchy video telling a story. Dozens of people then donate money to fund the project. Each project has a deadline for fundraising. So if scientists don’t meet their goals, they don’t get any of the donated money.

The all-or-nothing technique helps create excitement around the process. The donated money also doesn’t go into a black hole — it either funds the project or gets refunded to the donor.

Crowdfunding has been used to raise money for everything from films to wearable technology to paying medical bills. Entrepreneurs commonly use it to fund business ideas. But as funding for science dwindles as government agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation cut back on research dollars, more scientists are turning to alternative techniques.

Back in the "good old days" before Vannevar Bush, it was fairly common for scientists, particularly biologists, to either be well heeled dilettantes or their hangers on. Charles Darwin succeeded largely due to his wealthy upbringing, and connected friends (although he did get a  a Treasury grant of £1,000 to sponsor this multi-volume Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, a sum equivalent to about £82,000 in 2014), while his friend and competitor Alfred Wallace made do without. Hence, we call it Darwinism and not Wallaceism.

Finkelstein hopes to investigate lead poisoning in bald and golden eagles. Although she has a decades-long track record of tackling lead poisoning of birds around the world, she’s been turned down by a slew of government and private funding sources.

Dead eagles, Finkelstein said, have shown up across the country, most with detectable lead levels and many with lethal levels of lead in their system, presumably from eating the carcasses of prey shot by hunters with lead bullets.

Her proposed research would determine how often a representative sample of the eagles were exposed to lead — and to what degree. She knows the research would be important for future conservation efforts, but she admits that wildlife toxicology work is notoriously difficult to fund.

Indeed a problem, but eagle deaths must not be that important, since the government give permits to to wind power generators to kill a fairly significant fraction of them.  But some eagle deaths are more important than others.

“Many funders would rather fund action,” Finkelstein said. “Actionable science” refers to things like cleaning up an oil spill using science versus learning more about why the spill is harmful to the environment.

Cleaning up an oil spill is not science, it's engineering (and pretty lousy engineering at that). Science would be figuring out the best, and/or cheapest  way to clean up an oil spill, or evaluating the effectiveness of a clean up after the fact.

Morning Christmas Music - Mary Did You Know"

Kathy Mattea is pretty good . . .



But Pentatonix nails it:

Autism linked to vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy, maybe.

The important role vitamin D plays in early life is back in the spotlight after Australian researchers noticed a link between a deficiency during pregnancy and autism.

The study found pregnant women with low vitamin D levels at 20 weeks’ gestation were more likely to have a child with autistic traits by the age of six.

The finding has led to calls for the widespread use of vitamin D supplements during pregnancy, just as taking folate has reduced the incidence of spina bifida in the community.

“This study provides further evidence that low vitamin D is associated with neurodevelopmental disorders,” said Professor John McGrath from the University of Queensland’s Brain Institute, who led the research alongside Dr Henning Tiemeier from the Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands.

McGrath said supplements might reduce the incidence of autism, a lifelong developmental condition that affects, among other things, how an individual relates to their environment and other people.

“We would not recommend more sun exposure, because of the increased risk of skin cancer in countries like Australia,” he said. “Instead, it’s feasible that a safe, inexpensive, and publicly accessible vitamin D supplement in at-risk groups may reduce the prevalence of this risk factor.”

Vitamin D usually comes from exposure to the sun, but it can also be found in some foods and supplements.

Insty wonders (as do I) how much of the current "epidemic" of autism is a result of nagging people to avoid the sun. There is a reason for seeking the sun.

I heartily recommend young mothers-to-be get more sun. At the beach. In a bikini.

Ongoing Obamacare Schadenfreude

Will it morph into Trumpcare Schadenfreude? Priebus: Repeal and then replace coming first

How To Repeal Obamacare: Repeal Obamacare. They campaigned on repealing it, they won, they should do it. Republicans plan on repealing ObamaCare “within weeks” of Trump inauguration. I don't have any confidence in that, but the time to do it is early, as soon as you can line up a reasonable path forward.

According to Senate rules, reconciliation bills cannot be filibustered, which is why Republicans only need 51 votes to succeed. They do, however, require a presidential signature, so they will have to time the bill in order to avoid Barack Obama’s veto pen (and phone). Donald Trump will take the oath of office less than three weeks after the start of the session, so it’s not going to happen until then — and might take a bit longer, since the budget resolution itself will still get debate and editing along the way. The 2017 fiscal year has only been set through the end of April thanks to the use of continuing resolutions, so there still may be a few contentious issues left to hammer out. And be sure to real all of Klein’s lengthy report, which touches on some of the differences between Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell about what can and cannot go into a reconciliation package.

Trump won’t take a ‘wrecking ball’ to ObamaCare The coverage for preexisting conditions, kids up to 27 etc are too popular. Unfortunately the means to pay for them (the mandate and things like medical device tax) aren't. But is Trump taking aim at Obama’s Medicaid expansion with CMS pick?

Verma has worked with VP-elect Mike Pence to produce a compromise on Medicaid expansion in Indiana, and then did the same in Kentucky and other states run by Republican governors. Verma helped them avoid some of the pitfalls of the expansion when they came under heavy political pressure to join the expansion. Thanks to her work, some governors were able to salvage HSAs and work requirements as part of their packages — although conservatives still howled when these states joined the expansion.

This pick addresses one of the stickier questions for Republicans after repeal: what next? Democrats have already begun to focus their attacks on repeal by accusing the GOP and Trump of leaving low-income Americans out in the cold by rolling back the Medicaid expansion as part of the repeal. Verma has worked on this issue for years, and should be able to work out a transition plan quickly to reduce the impact of repeal on these recipients, and therefore the political liabilities of ObamaCare repeal.

Trying it's best to find something wrong with it, the Washington Post thinks the New push to replace Obamacare reignites old GOP tensions. It's tough when you win, because then you actually have to make choices.

“I’d like to do it tomorrow, but reality is another matter sometimes,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which will help lead the “repeal and replace” efforts. “We have to live with the real world. And the real world right now is that the Democrats won’t help with anything.”

Obstructionists! But wait, in a bold bid for relevance,  Senate Dems: Say, we may want to help replace ObamaCare too. Pelosi: Republicans won’t repeal Obamacare now that people have found out what’s in it. I do wonder what color the sky is in her world. US taxpayers’ bill for ObamaCare premium hikes: $10 billion extra in 2017.

Did Obamacare Really Insure 20 Million?  Will Obamacare Repeal Really Leave 30 Million without Insurance? No and no. G.O.P. Plans to Replace Health Care Law With ‘Universal Access’

House Republicans, responding to criticism that repealing the Affordable Care Act would leave millions without health insurance, said on Thursday that their goal in replacing President Obama’s health law was to guarantee “universal access” to health care and coverage, not necessarily to ensure that everyone actually has insurance.
. . .
“Our goal here is to make sure that everybody can buy coverage or find coverage if they choose to,” a House leadership aide told journalists on the condition of anonymity at a health care briefing organized by Republican leaders.

NY Times Wonders If It’s OK To Lie To Get Faith Based Insurance, Because Ocare Is Really Expensive And Failing. Would a New Yorker deny gay marriage, the right of boys to go in girls bathrooms, and abstaining from premarital sex to cheat the hillbillies in flyover country to get cheap healthcare? Wait, she's thinking about it.

Death Panels: Obamacare IPAB Repeal Can’t Wait Three Years

For some reason, Republicans want to delay Obamacare repeal for three years. The Manhattan Project detonated the world’s first nuclear bomb in less time, but the U.S. healthcare industry supposedly needs 36 months to go back to how things were six years ago.
. . .
For example, the law’s rationing mechanism — officially called “Independent Payment Advisory Board” or, colloquially, the Obamacare “death panels” — is still in place and threatens to cause major damage to the health care system.

IPAB is designed to take authority from elected officials and place it in the hands of unelected bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services. Its purpose is to shield the rationing decisions from public accountability.

For example, the law makes it illegal for the president to fire any of the panel’s members. And Obamacare actually tries to prohibit any future Congress from repealing IPAB, something that is brazenly unconstitutional but has yet to be adjudicated in court.
. . .
To summarize, Obamacare has set in motion a board of unelected bureaucrats tasked with establishing price controls on autopilot. Are we supposed to just watch the train wreck, while Republicans debate the finer points of health care policy for three years?

Ice Ice Baby

It's 30 F outside and raining. You know what that means, don't you?

Only about an eighth of an inch so far, but it still falling. It's supposed warm up more, but until then it's too slick to walk safely outside.

Rule 5 Saturday - All In the Family - Daniella Sarahyba

 A very basic Rule 5 post, Daniella Sarahyba:

Sarahyba was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and her mother, Mara Lúcia Sarahyba, was also a model in Brazil.  When she was 3 days old, she appeared with her mother on the cover of Brazilian parenting magazine Pais & Filhos.  Sarahyba began entering modeling contests at age 12. From her mother side, Sarahyba is of Middle Eastern ancestry.

Sarahyba appeared in every edition of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue from 2005 to 2010 and is currently contracted under H&M, Spiegel and Benetton. In addition to working with world class photographers on her Sports Illustrated shoots, she was the subject of several Joanne Gair body painting projects in these editions.

In the 243rd Issue of GOODSTUFFs BLOGGING MAGAZINE, he explores how Anastasiya Kvitko, and udder Instagram chicks defies social media experts with boobery. Pirate's Cove links in the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday" and links. Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Sunday: The Week Before Christmas" and "FMRJA 2.0: Love Removal Machine" ready for your viewing pleasure at The Other McCain.

Sex Shop Girls Beat Off Robber with Dildos

Sex Toys Used to Help Chase Off Armed Robber at San Bernardino Sex Shop

Two feisty employees of a San Bernardino sex shop fought off an armed robber, yelling at him and throwing sex toys to chase him out of the store with no money.

The attempted robbery, caught on surveillance video, happened Wednesday around 9:45 p.m. just before closing at Lotions & Lace.

A man walked in with his face covered pointing what appeared to be a gun.

Store employee "Amy" said she wasn't scared. She was convinced the gun was a fake and she was having none of it.

"With the gun, he walked in. I just thought he was trying to be funny, to scare us," she said. "But then I saw the gun and it was like, really? I don't have time for this."

San Bernardino girls . . .



Pirate's Cove links in the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday" and links.

$50 M Settlement In Chesapeake Bay Area Mercury Spill

Actually, it wasn't so much a spill, as long term releases back before anyone understood the serious nature of the  problem: DuPont to pay $50M over mercury-contaminated Virginia rivers

Chemical giant DuPont will pay more than $50 million but admit no fault under a proposed environmental settlement after releasing toxic mercury for decades that made its way into Shenandoah Valley waterways, state and federal officials announced Thursday.

The deal would resolve alleged violations of civil environmental statutes, including the Clean Water Act, related to the pollution from a company factory in Waynesboro. It would amount to the largest environmental damage settlement in Virginia history and the eighth largest in the nation, officials said. The money would go to projects including wildlife habitat restoration, water quality enhancement and improvements to recreational areas.

"In bringing this settlement to a close, we are finally righting a wrong that has impacted the South River and the South Fork of the Shenandoah River for so many decades," Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe said at a news conference announcing the settlement.

Wilmington, Delaware-based Dupont Co. used mercury in its process of making synthetic fiber at the plant between 1929 and 1950, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality. Strict storage and disposal regulations weren't in place at the time, and some of the mercury seeped into the South River and flowed downstream to the South Fork of the Shenandoah River.

DuPont discovered the mercury — which accumulates in fish and is especially dangerous to pregnant or breastfeeding women and young children — in the facility's soil in 1976, officials say.

The pollution impacted over 100 miles of river and thousands of acres of floodplain and riparian habitat, affecting fish, mussels, migratory birds and amphibians, the Department of Justice said in a statement. The pollution also has limited some recreational fishing in Waynesboro, a city of about 20,000 in the Shenandoah Valley.

The terms of the settlement are outlined in a proposed consent decree that was filed in federal court in Harrisonburg on Thursday. It is subject to a 45-day public comment period and must be approved by the court.

When the City of Reading, PA lost 5 tons of mercury into the Schuylkill River over many years of using them as bearings in the trickling filters of their sewage treatment plants, the EPA made the city fund a study of the problem, and replace the mercury with another system.