Day: February 13, 2017

Closing Thought–13Feb17

Climate Change!

Today I would like to talk about climate change…..there is a wealth of articles written, research published and opinions ad nauseum……I am going to look at it from my small little slice of this globe…..

I have fruit trees….citrus, plum, peach, fig and olive…..most of these plants need “X” amount of cool to cold weather to make the fruit set for the harvest…..in the past I have harvested really large amounts……especially the plum and the peach….but in the last 5 years crops have been dismal…..with the exception of the citrus…they have loved the warmed temps…..everything else is suffering from these warmer temps…..it sucks!

I personally do not care what is causing it just that it is keeping me from my fresh fruit…..my consumption is way down…that makes for irritated chuq…LOL

Just yesterday we set a new record for that day in February….76 degrees….that sucks when it is still winter!  So that damn woodchuck was full of sh*t as far as my region goes.

Got that off my chest….my day is over and relaxation is the rule for the rest of the day….see you tomorrow and thanx for the visits and the comments they are much appreciated.  Peace out

“The Great Wall”

Not even is this a review of some cinematic magic!

Nope this is about that much chanted…much promised…big beautiful wall along our Southern border.  First let me say there is nothing beautiful about a wall.

The promise now is that the wall will be a combination of virtual and physical….let’s start with the virtual thing.

Back in 2008 I wrote about the virtual wall that Boeing had constructed…it was a worthless waste of money…..but rad it for yourself…..

I know, I know everyone is screaming about those darn pesky illegal immigrants, especially at election, they are a convenient scapegoat for pandering to the people.  But any way, someone somewhere in the bowels of the INS came up with the idea of a virtual border fence, where cameras, radar and other such devices would be used to detect those entering the US illegally.

Source: Immigration: Virtual Border Fence – In Saner Thought

Now estimates from DHS have come out on the cost of said wall…..

A barrier along the border with Mexico could be ready in 2020, but it won’t be cheap, according to a leaked Department of Homeland Security report seen by Reuters. The internal report estimates that the cost will be $21.6 billion, around double to $10 billion to $12 billion figure President Trump cited during his campaign. The plan commissioned by new DHS Secretary John Kelly calls for construction of walls and fences in three phases over more than three years to have the barrier ready by the end of 2020, starting with 26 miles of wall in Texas and California. This would be followed by 151 miles of barrier in Arizona and Texas, then 1,080 miles to seal off remaining sections of the border, which already has 654 miles of barriers.

The leaked plan does not reveal what the wall would look like, or what is going to be done in mountainous areas where construction would be unfeasible. Large parts of the border, especially in Texas, are in privately owned land and the cost of acquiring it, through eminent domain or other methods, is one reason for the soaring cost estimate. “People’s individual property will be condemned by the federal government for construction of the wall,” researcher Denise Gilman tells the Arizona Republic. “That’s what happened in the past. And that’s what would have to happen.” Trump tweeted early Saturday that he hasn’t gotten involved in wall design or negotiations yet. When he does, the “price will come WAY DOWN,” he promised.

Sorry people but that money could be better spent…there are so many other progrmas that will now be gutted to pay for this abortion….society will suffer.

Black History Month–Malcolm X

Too many look upon Malcolm X as a “black nationalist”….and a member of the Nation of Islam…..someone who hated whites and worked against them until his death in 1965…….

Sorry but that is not completely accurate……after his visit to Mecca he embraced orthodox Islam and cooled his more radical views on race however he remained a proponent of “black power” until his death…..

Malcolm X was the passionate and controversial black activist who was assassinated in New York City in 1965.

Born in Nebraska and raised in a foster home, Malcolm Little had a troubled youth that included burglary and drug dealing. At age 20 he was sent to prison for a 10-year term. While in prison, he adopted the Black Muslim faith and upon his release in 1952 became a minister of the Nation of Islam. As Malcolm X, he was a charismatic advocate of black separatism who rejected Martin Luther King, Jr.’s policies of non-violence.

At first a follower of Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X broke with the Nation of Islam in 1964. That same year he made a pilgrimage to Mecca and shortly afterwards he embraced orthodox Islam and took the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. He recanted some of his earlier more strident viewpoints on race, though he remained a staunch advocate of “black power.”

Malcolm X was shot to death by a group of men while giving a speech in New York City in 1965; some of the men had connections to the Nation of Islam, though a formal tie between that group and the assassination was never proven.

If you would like more info on Malcolm X then I suggest that this site will be the best and most informative……

Source: Malcolm X |

Another leader of the people that needs more exposure than he gets….most know only of his early years and do not go past the rhetoric….time for that to change!

He was an activist that needs to be studied and appreciated.

Always About The Body Count

I remember back during my days of “blood and mud”, the Vietnam War, the big deal of the day was the body count of the bad guys from the day’s action….they were reported and used to justify so many other things that the brass wanted to do….

The concept of body count has lost some of its allure these days….instead of a high body count the government downplays as much of the deaths as possible….to the point of actually lying to the American people…..

The Pentagon’s transparency in its fight against overseas extremists is being questioned after a Military Times investigation revealed perhaps thousands of secret airstrikes in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria were never publicly disclosed. The US Air Force has an open-source database tapped by Congress, analysts, and others to figure out how costly war is, both on the financial and human fronts. But, per the Times investigation, nearly 460 Afghanistan airstrikes were carried out in 2016 by US combat aircraft, strikes that weren’t included in the database. Another major discrepancy, among others: A public Pentagon report on Iraq and Syria strikes has apparently left out 6,000 or so strikes since 2014. US Central Command, which supervises engagement in those three countries, isn’t sure yet how long these omissions have occurred and couldn’t give the Times a full accounting of all airstrikes.

These findings have critics worrying the military either hasn’t been forthcoming or has been sloppy on other data as well, including how many service members have been lost; what the fight against ISIS, the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and related offshoots is costing US taxpayers; and what our real progress against these groups is. But one US military official tells the Times that while some of the tracking omissions are “really weird,” it’s “unequivocally” not an attempt at subterfuge. “That is just the way it has been tracked in the past,” the official says. And another Army official at the senior level notes some close-to-ground maneuvers shouldn’t really be classified as airstrikes. Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, says, security reasons aside, “facts regarding the number of airstrikes and their civilian toll should always be disclosed promptly and faithfully.”

This is the technique now…..under report the deaths in that way they can keep any anti-war movement to a minimum…and it has been working….

Will There Be Freedom Of The Press?

Praise the internet gods!  My connectivity has returned……(for now)…….

In the past year there has been an uproar about “fake news”….both sides claim the other is the fake and no one but them can know what is true and what is false.  Of course when this type of debate rages there will always be one side or the other that claims something about the freedom of press, which usually includes that old thing about free speech.

I wrote a post earlier about “free speech” and what it means……

Source: That Thing Called “Free Speech” – In Saner Thought

The 1st amendment and the 2nd are about the only ones that most Americans know by heart (that may be a bit of a stretch)…..but just in case….

The right, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, to gather, publish, and distribute information and ideas without government restriction; this right encompasses freedom from prior restraints on publication and freedom from Censorship.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads, in part, “Congress shall make no law… abridging the Freedom of Speech, or of the press.” The courts have long struggled to determine whether the Framers of the Constitution intended to differentiate press freedom from speech freedom. Most have concluded that freedom of the press derives from freedom of speech. Although some cases and some legal scholars, including Justice Potter Stewart, of the U.S. Supreme Court, have advocated special press protections distinct from those accorded to speech, most justices believe that the Freedom of the Press Clause has no significance independent of the Freedom of Speech Clause.

Okay I got you caught up a bit……

The reason I brought up the quick lesson was because of something that is happening….looks like the FBI will have an easy time spying on journalists…..

Secret FBI rules allow agents to obtain journalists’ phone records with approval from two internal officials — far less oversight than under normal judicial procedures.

The classified rules, obtained by The Intercept and dating from 2013, govern the FBI’s use of national security letters, which allow the bureau to obtain information about journalists’ calls without going to a judge or informing the news organization being targeted. They have previously been released only in heavily redacted form.

Media advocates said the documents show that the FBI imposes few constraints on itself when it bypasses the requirement to go to court and obtain subpoenas or search warrants before accessing journalists’ information.

Source: Secret Rules Make It Pretty Easy for the FBI to Spy on Journalists

This does NOTHING to protect the concept of a “Free Press”….and Obama help this process before he left office……

Source: The Birth Of The “Ministry Of Truth” – In Saner Thought

Do you feel much safer now?