BMEWS
 
Sarah Palin's image already appears on the newer nickels.

calendar   Monday - August 10, 2020

Gohmert (R-TX) Much Improved

About 9 days ago, Texas Rep Louie Gohmert released the news that he had a ‘rona. And he’d been wearing a mask.

He got on HCQ, with the zinc, with the zithromycin antibiotic, with the B, C, D vitamins. And he got at least one nebulizer treatment, with a steroid (probably budesonide).

And he’s hella better. In just a couple days.

Here he is, talking about it in detail, along with some other things. Like the “Resistance” to HCQ +Zn, because OrangeManBad. And because Big Profit for Big Pharma.

“It’s a legitimate real virus that needs to be taken seriously ... that’s killing people ... I don’t think we can rely very well on the numbers that we’re getting, but no question, it’s legitimate ... “

Gosh, I wish he was my rep. This guy says a lot of the things I say.

Of course, this is yet another of those “merely anecdotal” situations.

I personally believe that a shotgun approach is the key to this damn virus. If each piece can take a nibble out of it, enough pieces might chew up the whole thing.

Know what I’d like to see? An honest trial to test which nebulizer treatment works best. Hydrogen peroxide, budesonide, heparin, or others. All seem to work to some extent. Which one works the best, or the fastest? 





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/10/2020 at 12:40 PM    avatar
pandemic and epidemic diseasesTrackbacks (0) • Permalink

Still Here

No, nothing to blog about today, sorry.

But I’ve been to everybody else’s blog, leaving comments here and there.

Also, I’ve been looking, once again, at soundproofing materials. I don’t think I have a project here, and it would be very small one if I did. I just find the field interesting, how you can make a room or a machine much quieter through acoustic treatments. Sometimes it’s absorptive materials, sometimes it’s mass loading, plus all the research into shaped surfaces that break up reflections, and the multi-density viso-elastic materials. You can even get sound mitigating PAINT. Plus the usual quiet curtains, acoustic carpet pads, and stuffing the walls with fireproof rockwool insulation, and using thicker or decoupled wallboard. You can even get special wallboard with acoustic decoupling built right in. 





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/10/2020 at 10:09 AM    avatar
MiscellaneousTrackbacks (0) • Permalink

calendar   Friday - August 07, 2020

A Dark Ending

My sister in law’s sister in law’s body was discovered this evening. She killed herself by alcoholism. It took at least 20 years. It was well hidden; I didn’t even know she was a drinker until two years ago. I guess she had it under control for a long time, but the last year or so really spiraled downwards, and not by accident.

Everybody was willing to help her, to get her help, to talk, to anything. And she rejected all of it. The worst kind of morning after effects were no epiphany. As far as I know, and I’m an outsider here, she went down the path into darkness knowingly.

It’s very sad, and right now I’m very conflicted.

A lot of the time, life sucks. It’s not just you. It sucks for every one of us. Careers end. Jobs stop. Money issues. Legal problems, sometimes very bad ones. Relationships turn bad. But we persevere. We get knocked down, but we get up again. And sometimes if a hand up is offered, you take it. You don’t resent people for trying. They’re not doing it out of pity or contempt. There is no shame involved. They’re doing it out of love, because that’s what family is. Friendships too. No matter what.

So if you are sinking down, you don’t have to drown alone. Hell, you can even reach out to this blog, and comment by the paragraph. It’s happened before. And we will stand by you.

Goodbye LJ. I wish I’d known you better. I wish I could have helped. I wish I’d known earlier. I wish I’d ... anything.

I probably shouldn’t post this. 





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/07/2020 at 09:56 PM    avatar
Passing on, Death and DisasterTrackbacks (0) • Permalink

Ospreys are up, is Trump in town?

It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s ... A Frog? *

image




It’s kind of overcast today, low clouds. There still isn’t much air traffic around here, so when I heard the sound of something flying up there, I looked. It kind of sounded like a helicopter, and it kind of sounded like a jet. Except it wasn’t moving very fast.

And then I spotted a small dark spot moving through the clouds. It came out again, and yup, it was an Osprey, the unusual dual tailed tilt rotor boxy little aircraft that the Marines usually fly. Even far enough away so that it looked 1/4” long, I could still see the giant propellers spinning around. Pretty cool.

The only time I ever see or hear one of these things is when President Trump is visiting his place over in Bedminster, about 15 miles east of us.

Let’s check ...

BEDMINSTER, NJ — President Donald Trump is coming back to Bedminster for the second time in three weeks.

According to the President’s itinerary, he was set to arrive at Morristown Municipal Airport Thursday evening at around 9 p.m. after a day that was to include three separate stops in Ohio, including one at the Whirlpool Corp. manufacturing plant.

Trump was just in Bedminster the weekend of July 24-26. He was returning to Trump National Golf Club Thursday night, but it was not clear whether his stay would last the entire weekend, or whether it would include any tours of storm damage in the wake of the remnants of Tropical Storm Isaias.

Trump is expected in New Jersey this weekend. Temporary flight restrictions have been announced for Thursday through Sunday for Morristown, where Air Force One lands, and for Bedminster, which usually foreshadow a presidential visit.

Heh, this is more fun than bridge spotting. Easier too; all I have to do is listen.



 *   cultural reference if you’re too young to know this line. Scroll down a bit. 





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/07/2020 at 11:45 AM    avatar
MiscellaneousTrackbacks (0) • Permalink

Makes Me Wonder

Russian Arctic Cleanup: Going Green With The Glowing Green?

Over decades Sovs dumped 18,000 nuclear refuse objects on Arctic Ocean floor

image

Gotta wonder where that Arctic warming is coming from, eh?

Russia has several thousand nuclear objects dumped on its Arctic sea floor. Now, the most dangerous will be removed
The country’s nuclear energy company will over the next 8 years lift two submarines and four reactor compartments from the sea bottom of the Barents and Kara Seas.

These objects are not environmentally safe, a representative of Rosatom made clear as he this week presented a clean-up plan for the north Russian waters.

In the period between the late 1960s to the late 1980s, about 18 thousand radioactive objects were dumped to sea in the remote northern waters. Most of them represent little environmental risk. But some are increasingly seen as a hazard to Arctic ecosystems.

“Rosatom over the next eight years intend to lift from the bottom of Russian Arctic waters the six objects that are most dangerous with regard to radioactive pollution,” the company spokesperson told news agency TASS.
Two entire subs

On the list of objects are the reactors from submarines “K-11”, “K-19” and “K-140”, as well as spent nuclear fuel from the reactor that served icebreaker “Lenin”.

In addition, two entire submarines will be lifted, the “K-27” from the Kara Sea and “K-159” from the Barents Sea. While the former was deliberately dumped by Soviet authorities in 1982, the latter sunk during a towing operation in 2003.

The “K-27” is located on 33 meter depths east of archipelago Novaya Zemlya. It has by experts been described as a possible radioactive “time-bomb”. The “K-159” is located on 200 meter depths off the coast of the Kola Peninsula.

now all they need is for somebody else to pay for the cleanup

The lifting operation of the hazardous nuclear wastes will not only be technically difficult, but also very expensive.

A recent report made for Rosatom and the European Commission evaluated the costs of lifting the six most dangerous objects to €278 million. That includes bringing them safely to a yard for decommissioning and long-term storage.

The operation with the “K-159” is alone estimated to cost €57,5 millions. The lifting the “K-27”, transporting to a shipyard for decommissioning and long-term storage in Saida Bay, will come at a price of €47,7 millions, the report reads.
International cooperation

Hardly, Russia’s increasingly cash-strapped treasury will not have €278 millions for the cleanup.

Previously, a number of countries have granted billions to Post-Soviet Russian efforts to cope with nuclear wastes.

The greatest amount Global Warming has been along the Russian Arctic coast. Golly, do you think there could be a connection?

Oh BTW, it’s been an imperative that the K-159 and K-27 be immediately raised from the seabed ... for more than 6 years now. That’s after years of empty promises. The ships have been there for decades.

[ May 2014, MURMANSK ]– It is of critical importance that two sunken derelict Russian nuclear submarines, one of which was scuttled as radioactive trash and the other of which sank in rough weather on its way to decommissioning, be raised from the floor of the Kara Sea, scholars from Moscow’s Kurchatov Institute said Friday.

The two subs in question – the K-159 and the K-27 – lay on the ocean floor, the first at the entrance to Kola Bay and the second in the shallows surrounding the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, a former nuclear bomb testing range during Soviet times, as well as something of a dumping ground for Cold War legacy nuclear waste.

Both have also been the subject of long-time promises by Russian officials that they will indeed be raised.

According to Alexei Kazennov, a researcher with Moscow’s respected Kurchatov institute, the K-159, which sank in August 2003 under tow to decommissioning at the Nerpa shipyard – in more than 200 meters of water, taking with it 800 kilograms of highly enriched uranium fuel and claiming the lives all nine sailors aboard – is currently emitting one and a half times as much radioactivity as dozens of other radiological hazards dumped at sea over time by the Soviet and Russian navies.

The K-27 submarine, was scuttled in 50 meters of water in Stepovogo Bay of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago in the Kara Sea in 1981 after a serious reactor accident that killed nine. Its reactors contain 90 kilograms of uranium-235.
...
It is worth bearing in mind that the K-159 sunk while under tow across a major ship-trafficking waterway as well as one populated by fisheries.
...
Large-scale dumping of radioactive waste and nuclear fuel was at its height between 1965 and 1972. Some 17,000 tons of solid radioactive waste are estimated to have been purposely sunk in its waters, in addition to the K-27, and the 907 nuclear submarine, which has two reactors on board. Other solid radioactive waste in the region includes biological shielding assemblies from the Lenin nuclear icebreaker, whose location has not yet been determined. Another piece of unaccounted-for nuclear trash under the sea is the port-side reactor of the 421 nuclear submarine.

According to the Kurchatov Institute, the biological shields are the most radioactive of waste items sunk in the Kara Sea, second only to spent nuclear fuel. The activity of a caisson with such a biological screen in 2012 measured 1196.7 terebequerel, or 32.4 kilocurie, which is some 30 percent of the entire activity of radioactive waste submerged in the Kara Sea.

How do you say “We’ll get right on it, someday, maybe” in Russian?





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/07/2020 at 08:39 AM    avatar
EnvironmentRussiaTrackbacks (0) • Permalink

calendar   Thursday - August 06, 2020

Bowling Shut Down

Well, so much for bowling tonight. We ate dinner early for once, almost finishing off the fantastic brined chicken I’d grilled up yesterday, so we were able to leave at the right time for once.

Got up there with hardly any traffic, arrived 10 minutes before practice was scheduled to start. Got the balls out of the trunk and walked across the parking lot, took one step up the front steps, and the place went dark. Total power failure.

Large parts of NJ are still without power from the big terrible storm Tuesday. Out here in the stick we’ve mostly avoided it, but “mostly” is a relative term. Thousands are without power, but not us. Our power was out for 6 minutes during the peak of the storm. But the utility guys are out doing their repairs, testing and rerouting as necessary. So I guess some areas get shut off for a while. Because.

So we sat on the front steps as more people arrived, and we all hung out, chatting and seeing what would happen. Almost nobody was wearing a mask, so I guess we’ll all be dead tomorrow. The alley folks kept coming outside to give us updates, while some of us made calls and checked the news. Most of Warren County was out, from the Pennsylvania border all the way east to Morris County. Some spots were still on. Chuck called his wife, found out that his house had power, and asked her if she could bring over all his extension cords to power the place. He lives 5 miles away ... nobody has that many extension cords. Wise guy! Actually, it was pretty good socialization, everybody has something to say about the storm, and the masks and the rules and our wonderful much loved governor. Plus we all blamed Mary for the outage, as she made meatloaf tonight. The last time she made meatloaf hurricane Sandy hit and their house was without power for a week and a half.

After 45 minutes, 8 o’clock, the boss man came out and said he had no idea if or when the juice would flow again. So we’re all going to post bowl at some point the coming week. If we can. Assuming there’s power then. As we drove home, we saw that parts of Washington had power, about a mile south of the bowling alley. Meh, what can you do? Everybody else probably waited longer and the power came back on. Sorry, we can’t stay there to 11pm when some of us have to be at work before 8.



~~~~ !!! !!! ~~~~


So we came home, ate a little more of that awesome chicken, had a drink and watched a little TV. I’ve got a biga going in the kitchen, as we’re going to auntie’s final pool party Saturday (they’re moving) and she asked us (me) to make a few dozen rolls for the sausage and peppers she’ll be making. I’m the only non-Italian in the bunch, so I’m making some real old school Italian bread dough to make the rolls from. And that means a biga.

A biga is kind of like young sourdough, only made with commercial yeast. Flour, water, and a pinch or yeast, mix it up and let is sit around for 12-16 hours, or fridge it for a day or so. Even commercial yeast will excrete alcohol, acetic acid, and lactic acid, which are the flavors that put the sour in sourdough. It just goes a lot faster, and you get a great breediing up of the good strong commercial yeast. Add the whole thing to a bunch of other flour and water, and it makes flavorful bread pretty quick.

Actually, an Italian biga is almost exactly the same as a Polish poolish, exact the poolish uses a wetter, 100% hydration pre-dough. So a poolish is even faster, but you have to watch it closely and use when it’s just ripe. A biga is only 50-60% hydration, so the thick dough matures slowly. Yeast likes the wet. A biga probably gives you a bit more flavor too, but both are pretty easy ways to make tasty bread with commercial yeast.

Italian bread is the same as French bread, except you add a little olive oil and a touch of sugar. The sugar also kicks the yeast into high gear. Sourdough, poolish, and biga are called preferments, because they are dough that is pre fermented. Which means that the rise time for the whole dough, once you add in the biga, is a good bit faster than the typical 2 1/2 hours. Way faster than sourdough’s 6 - 12 hours.

I’m going to make up a tiny batch of plain dough tomorrow at the same hydration rate, to see how much I need to make a 6” long roll. That’s enough for 2 sausages and some onions and peppers. When I have that dough weight, I can figure out how much dough I’ll need to make 2-3 dozen rolls. I’m making enough biga for a double recipe, but I can spread it out to a triple recipe if necessary. I want a rather soft bread, not a crusty loaf. A smaller crumb would be Ok too. Taste and strength are what I’m looking for. ( Ever try using Wonder bread for a sausage & pepper sammich? It lasts about 3 seconds. )

She’s promised to help, so that should be fun. I think I can make about a dozen rolls per bake. And we’ll make the rolls the night before, so we won’t have to get up before dawn to bake for an afternoon pool party we have to drive 2 hours to get to. Saturday morning is for sleeping late.


~~~~ !!! !!! ~~~~

chicken brine: your typical brine of kosher salt and water, half a cup of salt to 3 quarts water. Slice up a few lemons, smash 5 gloves of garlic, rough chop half an onion, and then add a bunch of dried herbs, a tbl each rosemary, sage, parsley, thyme, allspice, and a big handful of peppercorns. Bring to a boil it in a big pot, let it cool, stick a chicken in it, cover, then 18 hours in the fridge. Rinse, pat dry, and then put the uncovered chicken back in the fridge for 2 hours. Get it out, cook it on the grill using offset heat, 400F for a bit over an hour, flipping it a couple times. Super brown, crispy skin, juicy as all get out, and doesn’t need any seasoning at all. Mmm, mmm, good. Next time I’ll use a bit less salt and toss in a bullion cube instead. Moar chiken flava!!


~~~~ !!! !!! ~~~~

Have a drink! While I am partial to Manhattans, made the old way with rye whiskey and cold red vermouth (not in an ice shaker, maybe add 1 or 2 ice cubes to the glass), sometimes something lighter and sweeter hits the spot. I don’t have a name for it, but a measure of golden rum and a measure of Kahlua over rocks tastes pretty good and it still packs a punch. A touch sweeter than a Black Russian, but made with booze that actually has flavor. 





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/06/2020 at 08:58 PM    avatar
Bowling BloggingBreadClimate-WeatherFamilyFoodTrackbacks (0) • Permalink

Just Buggin

Giant Bugs Literally Coming Out Of The Woodwork

image

I saw a couple of these around the patio yesterday and today. Don’t know if they got blown in by the big storm, knocked out of the trees by all the rain, or if their eggs were in that cheap mulch we laid down in June. Same mulch is now sprouting mushrooms too.

Anyway, the Brown Prionid is pretty much harmless to people. And quite common. They live in rotting wood.

But it is a heck of a big bug, as long and thick as your pinky finger. With big scaly twitchy bug legs, and it runs real fast. eeewwwrrrghh.





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/06/2020 at 11:12 AM    avatar
AnimalsTrackbacks (0) • Permalink

“A Throwback To The Dark Old Days”

Mail Voting = Corruption And Fraud

Most developed countries, especially in Europe, ban mail-in voting to fight vast fraud and vote buying that had threatened the integrity of their elections, according to an exhaustive review of voting rules and histories in over 30 major nations.

In the European Union, 63% have put a ban on mailing in ballots except for citizens living overseas. Another 22% have imposed a ban even for those overseas. And most of those that allow mail-in ballots require some form of photo ID to get one, according to the report from the Crime Prevention Research Center shared with Secrets.

“These countries have learned the hard way about what happens when mail-in ballots aren’t secured. They have also discovered how hard it is to detect vote buying when both those buying and selling the votes have an incentive to hide the exchange,” said author John R. Lott, the center’s president.

While politicians in the United States have been debating the pros and cons of mail-in voting due to concerns of spreading COVID-19 at the polls and new reports of postal service and vote counting issues, Lott, whose center is known for its gun research, built a voting database of the European Union and the larger Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.

Those countries, said Lott, are typically held up by Democrats as a model to follow.

“Liberals and progressives often try to model the U.S. on Western European countries in many ways, but you never hear them arguing that we should adopt their voting rules. There is a reason for that. Banning mail-in voting or requiring people to use photo IDs to obtain a mail-in ballot is quite common in developed countries, especially in Europe,” he said in the report.





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/06/2020 at 11:11 AM    avatar
No Shit, SherlockTrackbacks (0) • Permalink

Back From The Grave

JJJ: Not Dead After All

My old blog buddy John J Jay is still alive. After he suddenly stopped posting last fall, didn’t reply to any emails, and weeks went by, I gave him up for dead. I figured the old coot had gone on one last elk hunt up in the mountains and never came back.

But no, turns out he’s still with us. So I got to read 5 months worth of his short posts. We still agree on just about everything. 





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/06/2020 at 10:55 AM    avatar
Talented Ppl.Trackbacks (0) • Permalink

Yeah, this will work

TDS Lunatic Anti-Gun Zealot NY AG Letitia James Announces Suit To Disband NRA

#BREAKING: I filed a lawsuit to dissolve the National Rifle Association for years of self-dealing and illegal conduct.

The @NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse.

No organization is above the law.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James made a “major national announcement” on Thursday after Deutsche Bank turned over Trump’s financial documents.

Letitia James said her office is seeking an order to dissolve the NRA in its entirety during a press conference.

The investigation into the NRA began in 2019.

Letitia James said the NRA was serving as a personal piggy bank for Wayne LaPierre, the Chief Executive of the NRA.

Wayne LaPierre allegedly “spent more than $3.6 million on luxury black car services and travel consultants in the last two years,” according to Letitia James.

Yeah. Yawn.

I don’t know if there is a connection between the dishonorable act by the Kraut bank and this announcement.





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/06/2020 at 10:52 AM    avatar
Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat LeftistsGuns and Gun ControlTrackbacks (0) • Permalink

calendar   Wednesday - August 05, 2020

Beruit Update

Chemical blamed for Beirut explosion under scrutiny

As Lebanese authorities blame a stock of 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate for the blast that devastated swaths of Beirut, experts have questioned why such an explosive material was stored for so long, so close to the heart of the city of more than 2m people.

The chemical compound is a cheap and effective fertiliser favoured by farmers for their winter crops, but also an explosive product and sought after ingredient for terrorist bombmakers.

Lebanese officials said the ammonium nitrate had been stored in a warehouse at Beirut port, which sits on the northern tip of the capital, in what Prime Minister Hassan Diab described as a “dangerous” warehouse for six years.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commander of the UK’s chemical and biological weapons regiment, said a populated area was a “strange place” to store such a potent material.

Oh please. It was terrorists. Either deliberately or through stupidity, but it was still terrorists.





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/05/2020 at 09:26 AM    avatar
Middle-EastTerroristsTrackbacks (0) • Permalink

calendar   Tuesday - August 04, 2020

And Beruit Blows Up Again. Twice.

Some are saying there was a fireworks warehouse right next to a bunch of grain silos.

But this is Beruit. I’m betting against this being an accident.

Damn thing looks like a little nuke. It was a multi-phase explosion, with at least two events.

Buildings destroyed, cars shattered for miles along the roads. Fires, deaths, injuries. Very bad, whatever the cause was.

A massive explosion shook Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Tuesday wounding a number of people and causing widespread damage.

The cause of the explosion remains unclear. The government has not issued an official count of injuries or casualties. The Lebanese Red Cross tweeted that more than 30 teams were responding to the scene of the blast via ambulances.

The afternoon blast shook several parts of the capital and thick smoke billowed from the city center. Residents reported windows being blown out and ceilings dropping in.

The explosion appeared to be centered around Beirut’s port and caused wide-scale destruction and shattered windows miles away.

Damage at the airport almost 7 miles away. Probably not many unbroken windows in the whole city.

Live feed here:

It’s rather impressive that the explosion was caught on so many phone cameras from so many different angles. I’m out of touch I guess; when something awful happens my first reaction is NOT to grab my phone and start recording. Checking to see if I’m dead, or if all my parts are still attached, and then the people around me, and then looking for an escape route if necessary, is my first reaction. After that, probably going to see if I can help.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2020/08/04/breaking-mysterious-massive-explosions-rock-beirut-n749962





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/04/2020 at 11:54 AM    avatar
Middle-EastTrackbacks (0) • Permalink

TNB At Mansion Parties Across America

This kind of crap is why our NJ governor King Murphy is stepping back on his re-opening plan. The ferals mess up everything for everyone every time.

[ woo hoo, Firefox saved me! The power went off for a while right in the middle of this. But the post was still there when power was restored, so happy me. Life during a hurricane, no? ]

Commercial Party Houses Out Of Control, Killings, Robberies, And Neighborhood Mayhem

Wild pool party shut down by police at New Jersey mansion

A massive rager at a mansion in New Jersey’s richest zip code was shut down by cops over the weekend — and neighbors say wild Vegas-like blowouts have been regularly held there despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Hundreds of carefree revelers — most without masks — were spotted outside the home on Hemlock Drive in Alpine for what promoters called “The Lavish Experience Pool Party” Saturday night, NBC New York reported.

Cops eventually were called to break up the bash, which spilled out onto the street with zero regard for social distancing rules.

One person was seen taken away in an ambulance, while others were passed out drunk on the front lawn, the outlet reported.

A neighbor told The Post that the wild affairs have been a regular occurrence since May, at the height of the coronavirus crisis. She said she’s seen party buses dropping off people for the bashes — which are brazenly advertised on social media.

“A few months ago, new neighbors moved in, renters,” the neighbor said. “They started having parties one weekend after another. They were bringing in full party buses, at least 100 people or more.”

Another neighbor who didn’t want to be named told NBC New York the house is practically doubling as a “nightclub.”

Several lifetimes ago I worked in Closter NJ, the next town over. Plenty of money in Closter, but Alpine is the home of serious green. Quite a number of famous movie stars, sports figures, and music legends live there, along with the cream of the fiscal crop.

They must be beyond furious that this kind of thing is going on in their extremely exclusive area.

House parties have definitely been an issue in NJ lately, and have been used as a COVID excuse by the government more than once.

But it gets worse ... much worse ...



!!! ~~~~ !!! ~~~~ !!!



Gangsters storm NFL star’s house Beverly Hills party and start robbing everybody, 1 dead, 2 wounded

A SHOOTING at a flashy Los Angeles mansion party held for an NFL star has left one person dead and two fighting for their lives, reports say.

A terrified partygoer filming as multiple shots rang out at the plush Beverly Crest pad said “a bunch of gangsters came in and robbed everybody and started shooting”.

The shooting occurred hours after cops were called to a gated community in Mulholland Drive after complaints from neighbours.

Scores of people were attending the party - prompting the police callout at about 6.30pm because of the ban on large gatherings in Los Angeles County during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But officers attending did not have a warrant to enter the property so were unable to break it up. Hours later, gunshots rang out at around 12.47am, sparking panic as revellers ran for the exits.

Three people were rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds, according to CBS. One person died from their injuries and two others are said to be in acritical but stable condition.

A man in his 30s and a woman in her 40s were among the victims.A fourth person suffered a non-firearm-related injury while fleeing, it’s reported.

Yet again, as always, this was a short term rental property in a really high end area, and the attendees were ... 100% non diverse. And ignoring every kind of anti-COVID rule in existence. And in two weeks they’ll all be sick. I’m really tired of this BS.

Plenty of pictures and much more to the story at the link.





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/04/2020 at 10:37 AM    avatar
MiscellaneousRacism and race relationsTrackbacks (0) • Permalink

Just Mailing It In This Rainy Morning

image

I’m such a fan of the PO. Vilmar will understand.

Mail in ballots are flat out wrong, an opportunity rife for corruption. Ballot harvesting - an operative comes around your neighborhood to collect them all - is even worse. Guaranteed corruption.



Simple Solution?


Too afraid to vote in person? Hmmm ... I wonder if ... set up the polling place with one of those counters surrounded by plastic walls. Worker behind the desk all gowned gloved masked. Positive ventilation system blows air outwards. You walk in ... one at a time ... with your ballot envelope ... clerk checks the voter rolls, checks your ID / voter registration, you sign the digital screen with the just wiped wand/pen AFTER you’ve been verified and watched your ballot go into the locked and sealed collection bin. CCTV from 3 angles covers the entire event, cameras run all day, data saved to disk or chip.

Such an arrangement could be built in a couple hours for small expense. When the numbered collection box gets full, several people come in to seal up and evidence sign the old one, count the envelopes several times and sign to that, and put in a new box, identifying themselves on CCTV. GoPro vidcam wearing workers follow the box through the building to the evidence locker, past several locked doors and sign it in with a guard as witness.

The whole Deliver Your Vote process takes under a minute, and the collection box exchange and securing takes only a couple minutes.

No mailing, no lost envelopes, no boxes of votes that magically appear at the last second. This isn’t rocket science.

Of course this will be more difficult in the big cities. But any town or small city under ~~ 50K population should be able to do it. The whole idea is Chain of Evidence, just like the cops do. And CCTV and data chips are so cheap it’s just silly.

Yeah, some people really are not able to get out, and get over to the polling places. Prove it, and you can vote by mail. You “can’t” show up because it’s a minor inconvenience? TFB, then you’re not going to vote.

Naturally the voter rolls would be up to date, matched against the tax records, the credit card company and cell phone address lists, coroner data and the III criminal database etc. As I’ve said a hundred times before, registration closes at least 30 days prior, no exceptions.



!!! ~~~~ !!! ~~~~ !!!



Crivens, it is REALLY pouring out there today. Since long before dawn. Thankfully it’s cooler, and so far not a breath of wind.  But if the big wind shows up later, after 8 -10 hours of ground saturating rainfall, we’re going to lose a lot of trees. Not cool.

The tropical storm winds were reaching the state by 8 a.m. Tuesday and were expected to increase quickly as Isaias was moving through at 33 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

Heavy rain and the potential for flash floods continues to be a significant threat, but that threat has shifted west as the aniticipated track of Isaias shifted west overnight.

The Jersey Shore is expected to be spared the heaviest rainfall though 1 to 2 inches are still possible. The north and western parts of the state, including Hunterdon, Warren and Sussex counties, are still forecast to receive more than 4 inches of rain.
...
The state got a taste of the storm Monday evening as a patch of thunderstorms moved through. A wind gust of 70 mph was recorded at the Robert J. Miller Airpark in Ocean County, and one of 59 mph was recorded at Neshanic Station, according to the weather service’s Mount Holly office.

Neshanic Station is just across the county line here in Somerset County. It’s a sleepy little crossroads semi-rural kind of place, off the beaten track but only a mile or so from a major highway. Situated on the banks of the South Branch of the Raritan River, just a mile or two of where both north and south branches join and flow down to Rutgers, it was a mill town and a produce shipping point back in the long ago day.

There is a rather rare double span lenticular bridge there in perfect condition, with a very old derelict 2 span Pratt through truss RR bridge on one side, and a high plate girder RR bridge, still used daily, a bit downstream on the other side.

There are only about 100 lenticular bridges in the whole country, many are derelict now, and most of them are single span. Binghamton NY has a 3 span one, and Middlesex County CT has a 5 span one. All of these were built 135 years ago by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company.





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/04/2020 at 08:56 AM    avatar
BridgesGovernmentMiscellaneousTrackbacks (0) • Permalink

calendar   Monday - August 03, 2020

Bang, Poof, Dropped

The damaged sections of the bridge that burned in the derailment last week in Tempe AZ have been brought down with explosive cutting charges. The rest of the bridge seems OK at this point, so a similar kind of steel truss sections will be built to replace the damaged ones.

story and video, plus link to a ton of picks from last week’s accident

This isn’t Hollywood, so don’t expect to see much. Controlled cutting demolition is like, poof, clunk, done.

At about 8:15 a.m., a brief spark and a puff of black smoke was visible as the designated portion of the bridge collapsed to the ground underneath. A loud booming sound could be heard as the ground briefly shook.

...

Crews will likely cut the downed bridge into smaller pieces to truck it out of the site on Sunday, said Clint Schelbitzki, general director of public affairs for Union Pacific Railroad.

“Our goal is to get that area cleared so that we can prep for bridge construction,” he said, adding that there is currently no timeline for when that section of the bridge would be reconstructed.

Schelbitzki said the rest of the bridge was structurally safe. However, he noted officials were still assessing it, including whether any components needed to be replaced. He said the standing portion of the bridge would remain the same while the reconstructed portion of the bridge might appear “a little different” when complete.



image

Last week’s fire





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/03/2020 at 09:16 PM    avatar
BridgesTrackbacks (0) • Permalink

A few small changes in punctuation that would yield massive changes

Total Gun Sales Control By “Minor” Textual Changes.

Here is the operative part of Senate Bill S. 4068 in it’s entirety:

Section 922(t)(1)(B) of title 18, United States Code, is amended—

(1) by striking “(i)”;

(2) by striking “; or” and inserting “; and”; and

(3) by striking clause (ii).

Doesn’t look like much, does it? Even clause (ii) itself is only one sentence long, so what’s the problem?

This is the part of the federal law that it would apply to:

(t)
(1)
Beginning on the date that is 30 days after the Attorney General notifies licensees under section 103(d) of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act that the national instant criminal background check system is established, a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer shall not transfer a firearm to any other person who is not licensed under this chapter, unless—
(A)
before the completion of the transfer, the licensee contacts the national instant criminal background check system established under section 103 of that Act;
(B)
(i)
the system provides the licensee with a unique identification number; or
(ii)
3 business days (meaning a day on which State offices are open) have elapsed since the licensee contacted the system, and the system has not notified the licensee that the receipt of a firearm by such other person would violate subsection (g) or (n) of this section; and

(C)
the transferor has verified the identity of the transferee by examining a valid identification document (as defined in section 1028(d) of this title) of the transferee containing a photograph of the transferee.

So all it does is say you always get a unique ID number, and your transfer goes through when your identity has been verified. IOW, you’re a good guy. Sounds like common sense, right?


Guess again.


The problem is, that this measure, brought out by anti-gun zealot Senator Richard Blumenthal, (D-CT) and proven stolen valor liar, would eliminate the all-American concept of assumption of innocence from the NICS background check that is universal when purchasing a firearm from a registered dealer ( or in states that have removed your right to freely trade with other citizens, and now “close the gun show loophole” by forcing such transactions to go through the NICS system ).

What it really means is that the 3 day processing window would cease to exist. The one that says “our wonderful super computer zillion dollar system can instantly tell if you’re a criminal or not, but let’s be super safe and give it 3 days to work just in case”. They would now have FOREVER to return a response. And seeing how obviously weaponized against free citizens huge parts of the federal government have become, you can pretty much assume that this is exactly what will happen.

Hell, in NJ it’s been the law for decades that the state has 30 days to process your firearms permit, yet they routinely take 6 - 8 months. And there’s not a damn thing you can about it.

And now, with the ‘rona and the riots, when gun sales are through the roof, and the NICS system is up 75%, more than 2.5 million new gun owners, shelves empty in every gun shop in the country, police departments defunded or stood down, people living in fear for their lives and livelihoods, NOW this asshat liar pulls this kind of stunt, introducing such a bill June 25?


Under current law, if NICS cannot be completed in three business days, a federally licensed dealer can still transfer a firearm. While the setup of NICS is not ideal, the current setup has several points that make it much fairer than various licensing and waiting period schemes:

It presumes that someone seeking to buy a firearm is law-abiding.
It places the burden to deny a firearms transaction on the government.
It also does not subject someone trying to exercise their rights into an indefinite wait.

Blumenthal’s bill changes that. It removes the three business day limit on a delay. In other words, if there is a delay for whatever reason (NICS is down, confusion), a law-abiding citizen is denied the right to purchase a firearm until the delay gets resolved, and without the time limit, that can be potential for some serious, life-threatening abuse.

Imagine what IRS workers under Lois Lerner did to the Tea Party’s applications for tax-exempt status being applied to firearm purchases run through NICS.
...
But in Blumenthal’s mind, that’s all okay. Because to him, gun ownership isn’t a right – it’s a privilege that should be determined by the government.

Contact your reps ASAP. This one has to go down in flames.





Posted by Drew458   United States  on 08/03/2020 at 12:58 PM    avatar
Guns and Gun ControlTrackbacks (0) • Permalink
Page 2 of 1340 pages  <  1 2 3 4 >  Last »

Statistics

This page has been viewed 8206339 times
Page rendered in 0.4144 seconds
57 queries executed
Debug mode is off
Total Entries: 21430
Total Comments: 90623
Total Trackbacks: 679
Most Recent Entry: 03/26/2024 09:33 am
Most Recent Comment on: 03/28/2024 08:56 am
Total Members: 1509
Total Logged in members: 0
Total guests: 154
Total anonymous users: 0
Most Recent Visitor on: 03/28/2024 12:09 pm
The most visitors ever was 5805 on 07/08/2013 02:29 pm


Ten Most Recent Trackbacks:

Once Again, The One And Only Post
(4 total trackbacks)
Tracked at iHaan.org
The advantage to having a guide with you is thɑt an expert will haѵe very first hand experience dealing and navigating the river with гegional wildlife. Tһomas, there are great…
On: 07/28/23 10:37

The Brownshirts: Partie Deux; These aare the Muscle We've Been Waiting For
(3 total trackbacks)
Tracked at head to the Momarms site
The Brownshirts: Partie Deux; These aare the Muscle We’ve Been Waiting For
On: 03/14/23 11:20

Vietnam Homecoming
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at 广告专题配音 专业从事中文配音跟外文配音制造,北京名传天下配音公司
  专业从事中文配音和外文配音制作,北京名传天下配音公司   北京名传天下专业配音公司成破于2006年12月,是专业从事中 中文配音 文配音跟外文配音的音频制造公司,幻想飞腾配音网领 配音制作 有海内外优良专业配音职员已达500多位,可供给一流的外语配音,长年服务于国内中心级各大媒体、各省市电台电视台,能满意不同客户的各种需要。电话:010-83265555   北京名传天下专业配音公司…
On: 03/20/21 07:00

meaningless marching orders for a thousand travellers ... strife ahead ..
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Casual Blog
[...] RTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPL [...]
On: 07/17/17 04:28

a small explanation
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at yerba mate gourd
Find here top quality how to prepare yerba mate without a gourd that's available in addition at the best price. Get it now!
On: 07/09/17 03:07

The Real Stuff
(2 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Candy Blog
[...] LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE J [...]
On: 06/11/17 06:40

when rape isn't rape but only sexual assault
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Trouser Blog
[...] took another century of Inquisition and repression to completely eradicate the [...]
On: 06/06/17 11:37

french bodyguards forget their guns ... oh dear, oh dear
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Corps Blog
[...] AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND AL [...]
On: 06/06/17 06:57

Cross My Fingers, Hold My Breath
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Corps Blog
[...] LY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSIT [...]
On: 06/06/17 06:57

still here
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Corps Blog
[...] EBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTR [...]
On: 06/06/17 06:57


Referrers

Powered by ExpressionEngine