That's what happens when you rely on politically correct bureaucrats

 

Looks like Britain's Meteorological Office has been lying to the public.

Shocking evidence has emerged that points to the U.K. Met Office inventing temperature data from over 100 non-existent weather stations ... citizen journalist Ray Sanders ... has discovered that 103 stations out of 302 sites supplying temperature averages do not exist. “How would any reasonable observer know that the data was not real and simply ‘made up’ by a Government agency,” asks Sanders. He calls for an “open declaration” of likely inaccuracy of existing published data, “to avoid other institutions and researchers using unreliable data and reaching erroneous conclusions”.

. . .

Of the 302 sites quoted, Sanders notes that the Met Office “declined to advise me” exactly how or where the alleged ‘data’ were derived for these 103 non-existent sites.

The practice of ‘inventing’ temperature data from non-existent stations is a controversial issue in the United States where the local weather service NOAA has been charged with fabricating data for more than 30% of its reporting sites. Data are retrieved from surrounding stations and the resulting averages are given an ‘E’ for estimate. “The addition of the ghost station data means NOAA’s monthly and yearly reports are not representative of reality,” says meteorologist Anthony Watts. “If this kind of process were used in a court of law, then the evidence would be thrown out as being polluted,” he added.

There's more at the link.

Let's not forget that British law, as far as climate change considerations are concerned, is heavily based upon what the Met Office tells the politicians in power.  The British Civil Service is like the "deep state" in the USA:  its members and management go on regardless of whatever political party forms the government, and they can (and do) drive government policy in many areas by supplying facts and figures on which the politicians base their proposed laws.  By deliberately lying about weather readings, the Met is deliberately deceiving the politicians who make British law, and hence undermining those laws and rendering them less than accurate or effective.

Let's not forget, bureaucrats like that also make decisions that lead to murdering innocent animals on the grounds that they violate some minor regulation.  I daresay there are British equivalents of Peanut, if one looks hard enough.  Give an unelected bureaucrat unfettered regulatory power, and he'll use it, regardless of whether it's the best or most appropriate solution to a problem or not.  He won't care.  He's not elected, and therefore not answerable to anybody except his fellow bureaucrats - who can be relied upon to cover for him whenever necessary.

Elon Musk is already talking about slashing the Federal bureaucracy in this country.  Might be a good idea to offer his services to the British government as well, to cut their civil servants down to size.

Bureaucrats!  Grrrr!

Peter

Not your average vegetarian dessert...

 

From ReverendAlan on Gab:

Here is a picture of my latest Banana Bread loaf. I subbed ground beef for the banana.

It won't surprise you to learn that he posted it in the Carnivore & Keto diet sub-forum!

Peter

It's time to plan the prosecutions

 

Now that President Trump has been elected the next President of the United States, it's time to acknowledge the reality of the situation.

Trump should have been elected to a second term in 2020.  That he was not is due solely and demonstrably to fraudulent manipulation of the results.  We wrote about it at the time, exhaustively (see, for example, here, here and here), as did many other observers and commentators.  The progressive left denied that for all it was worth, and the progressive news media played along.  For the past four years, any mention of vote manipulation in any form has been preceded by the words "false" or "lies" or "unproven allegations".  Well, this election has just showed us the reality, as these two graphics (widely circulated on the Internet and social media) demonstrate:

Would anyone care to explain where those massive increases in Democratic votes in 2020 came from?  And where did they go to in 2024?  They certainly weren't due to voters staying away from the polls, as can be determined by checking the figures for previous elections.  They simply appeared on the scene, and then vanished as if they'd never existed - which, in reality, is probably true.

There is another possible explanation, of course:

Be that as it may, the figures above strongly imply that the entire Biden administration has been nothing more than a criminally imposed conspiracy against America, right from the start.  To make matters worse, foreign nations who would have had - and demonstrated - rather more respect for President Trump took advantage of President Biden's fecklessness and embarked on adventures that have killed - literally killed - millions of people.  The Ukraine invasion:  the Iranian adventures in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, etc.:  political and criminal upheavals in South America:  the list is almost endless.  Those people did those things because they were not afraid of US intervention, because Trump was not there to intervene.  They didn't think Biden was worth worrying about - and they were proved correct.

How many millions died, or were injured, crippled, or maimed, as a result?  I don't suppose we'll ever know, but I'll guaran-damn-tee that it was well into seven figures.  Those who rigged the 2020 election bear at least some responsibility for that;  possibly a lot more than they'll ever admit.

There's also the immense damage done to our nation by letting in millions of "migrants" and "refugees" who are nothing of the sort.  They're nothing more or less than economic migrants, using any excuse to get to the "land of milk and honey" that they see us as being.  It's damaged our economy, too, by diverting funds desperately needed elsewhere (such as disaster relief) to aiding migrants, and subsidizing them to the tune of thousands of dollars per month.  That needs to stop right away, if not sooner, and will be a good way to begin the process of repatriating them to where they came from.  If they can't survive without taxpayer subsidies, we don't need them and we don't want them.  As for the vast increase in crimes committed by the "migrants" . . . we'll be dealing with that for years to come, and the costs of doing so are directly attributable to the policies of the Biden administration that let them across the border.

I don't expect President Trump to personally take charge of the investigation into who did what, with which, to whom, and how in 2020.  He'll have more than enough on his plate fixing our almost terminally corrupt and inefficient national administration.  However, I hope and trust that he'll appoint someone to head up a Commission of Inquiry, or some such body, to go into each and every situation uncovered in 2020 and since then, and prepare lists of the guilty parties and what charges might be brought against them.  Thereafter, let's put them all on trial, and if found guilty, lock them up and throw away the key.

As for those who will plead the need for "national reconciliation" and urge that the past be forgotten in the interests of unity . . . to hell with them!  The crime is too vast, its consequences too dire and tragic for so many, to be allowed to slide into the dustbin of history.  If it takes a national equivalent of the Nuremberg Trials to resolve it, then let's get to work.

In fact, this might be one way to improve relations with Russia and President Putin.  If we can nail down those responsible for instigating the war in Ukraine and similar actions in the region, perhaps we could ask Mr. Putin to renovate some of the long-disused Gulags in Siberia, and transfer those convicted to them.  I can't think of a more appropriate way for neocon warmongers to spend the rest of their lives!  We can even pay for their incarceration in hard currency, which will doubtless help Russia's sanctions-plagued economy.  What's not to like?

Peter

EDITED TO ADD:  Eugene Volokh suggests that there are several million votes still uncounted, which may change the total votes and margins of victory across the board.  They won't change results already declared, but may affect the graphics shown above.  I guess we'll wait and see what transpires.  Nevertheless, I still want to see a full, in-depth inquiry into the 2020 election results and all the shenanigans that were highlighted at the time.

Too soon?

 

Found on X:

Peter

Are our brightest and best no more than mollycoddled pet monkeys?

 

I was mind-boggled to read about two universities' preparations to "help" their students on Election Day.

Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy — a crucible for our nation’s next generation of elected officials and diplomats that runs a cool $61,200 per year to attend — has opened the “woke” apolitical cocoons to cater to students for whom political discourse is simply too overwhelming.

“In recognition of these stressful times, all McCourt community members are welcome to gather … in the 3rd floor Commons to take a much needed break, joining us for mindfulness activities and snacks throughout the day,” wrote Jaclyn Clevenger, the school’s director of student engagement, in an email to students and obtained by The Free Press.

Inside the suites, which will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, students will be treated to goodies that wouldn’t be out of place at a child’s birthday party, including a Lego station, coloring books and even milk and cookies and hot chocolate — all at a comfortable remove from anything resembling debate.

At the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., pupils are also being given options for seeking refuge — not only on Election Day but all week long.

The students can pop into a campus lobby to enjoy some cupcakes before making their way to the campus rotunda to let their minds wander in a “walkable labyrinth” featuring “calming lighting and music.”

Those who still don’t feel they’ve received adequate succor can then partake in some relaxing arts and crafts activities including beading, canvas-bag decorating and painting. Snacks will be provided, natch.

For students who still haven’t shaken off the Election Day willies by Thursday, the school is offering a “post election processing space” where students can create collages, journal using self-care writing prompts and even nosh on some comfort food courtesy of a baked potato bar.

There's more at the link.

I could understand such activities for elementary school students, missing their Mommies and wanting reassurance against the big bad world out there . . . but university students?  High school graduates?  Preparing to become our next generation of leaders and executives?

Those universities have reduced their student population to a bunch of dependent, childish, self-obsessed, shallow-minded, frightened-of-their-own-shadows little baa lambs.  Or, perhaps more accurately, they've allowed them to attend university in that condition, and done nothing to help them break their conditioning and grow into adults.

I wonder if we could mandate that retired Marine Drill Instructors should head every such program, to instill a little esprit de corps - or Corps with a capital letter - into their charges?  "What is your major marshmallow malfunction, maggot???"

Peter

Stand by for a very precarious two and a half months

 

As I write these words, at about 4.30AM on Wednesday morning, it looks as if President Trump has won a second term in office.  He's won it pretty convincingly, too, with what looks to be better than a five million vote majority in the popular vote, as well as splitting the "blue wall" on which his opponent was depending for victory.  It's amusing that some of the very left-leaning mainstream media are still refusing to call some of the battleground states for him, despite the outstanding number of votes yet to be counted being insufficient to overcome his existing majority.  Despite their reluctance, of course, the result by now is inevitable.

So . . . what can we expect between now and Inauguration Day?  I predict the following:

1. Frenzied attempts by the Biden administration to implement as many of its progressive policies as possible by means of executive orders and hastily-compiled legislation, to make it as difficult as possible for Trump to undo them and/or implement his own policies.
2. Screams of outrage, anguish and rejection from the usual suspects, including a resurgence of Antifa, BLM and other such movements (or their replacements).  If they can make it appear that Trump will take office amid a wave of popular rejection of his election and policies, they'll do so - for their own sake, to make them feel better about themselves, and to demonstrate their contempt for and rejection of an electorate that didn't see things their way.  This may include attempts to assassinate President Trump and/or key members of his future administration.  (Elon Musk, I'm looking at you!)
3. Immediate moves by the "deep state" to shore up their control of the administration, to obfuscate, delay and water down every policy the incoming President tries to implement.  This will include slow-walking personnel appointments through bureaucratic logjams such as slow security clearances, refusal to hand over important documents (including many that will doubtless be "lost" or "mislaid"), and attempts to do what President Obama did and hide much of the evidence of his administration's malfeasance in his Presidential Library, where access to records can be restricted for decades.
4. An avalanche of last-minute migrant "arrivals", trying to get into America before President Trump slams the gate shut.  This may include increased violence on the borders as cartels try to maximize their income while there's still money to be made.

Meanwhile, President Trump will need to move very quickly, right out of the gate, to appoint his transition team and begin the laborious process of preparing to take the reins of power.  I can only hope and trust that he's learned his lessons from 2016, and will no longer appoint political patronage-seekers and RINO's, but will seek out those who will genuinely try to put the country and his policies ahead of themselves.  Sadly, there aren't that many of them to be found.

I hope Elon Musk is already selecting members of his government efficiency commission, or whatever it will be called.  Chopping 50% off the federal bureaucracy, including shutting down its more useless and empire-building departments and agencies, can do this country nothing but good.  (In particular, I hope he can assign all those who instigated, supported, funded, supplied and controlled the neocon wars of the previous administration to go and fight in what's left of them.  They're battlefield casualties we actually need!)

Sadly, we see yet again that we are a nation divided against itself.  We have two Americas, one pragmatic, one ideological;  one practical, one intellectual;  one with roots, one wafting wherever the prevailing wind(s) take it.  That's not going to change anytime soon, and it's going to make it very, very hard for us to come together to tackle the major issues threatening this nation.

"Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand."

That's us, my friends.  Unless we want to be "brought to desolation", we'd better find something or someone around which or whom we're prepared to reunite.  If we don't . . .

Peter

Food for thought - but perhaps not digestion?

 

I've been enjoying two articles at the Telegraph in London, UK over a transatlantic food fight.

First, Simon Parker wrote:  "My British mind boggles at American eating habits".  He discusses what he found on a cycling tour of the USA.

Legend has it that American soldiers stationed in Italy during the Second World War found the coffee so strong they diluted it. Then, when they returned home, the practice stuck. And these days, most American coffee remains so tasteless that cream, sugar and sweetener must be added by the gallon before it can be served in a plastic cup the size of a policeman’s helmet.

Outside a convenience store in Kansas, I got talking to a man eating a “Midwest breakfast”: egg and bacon pizza, accompanied by a 36-ounce soda (containing 120g of sugar) and a pint of “americano”.

. . .

Spend enough time in the USA and you start to notice an unapologetic American trend: bigger is always better. Even if that means diminishing a product’s quality in the process. 

Case in point: The all-you-can-eat restaurant, where piles of stodge drift between tables like UFOs fuelled by MSG. And guess what? Even though you’re doing all the leg- and handwork yourself, you’ll still be expected to leave a tip. Go figure. 

At one such establishment in Nebraska I departed feeling, not just stuffed, but somewhat guilty for mankind. The restaurant’s glutinous patrons (me included) had stacked their plates so high that dozens of wayward wontons and loose prawn crackers had been crunched into the carpet and resembled a fine savoury sand. 

. . .

A community’s main source of sustenance comes from the super-processed aisles of gas stations and dollar stores, where you’re as likely to stumble across a Ming vase as you are a lettuce leaf. 

Most nights I would study the shelves of these brightly lit prefab buildings, searching for products containing the fewest possible E numbers. A good meal would be instant noodles and a can of peas. A bad one might be a microwave burrito and a chocolate bar. And all while, smash-hit TV shows like The Bear portray an American restaurant scene of abundant flavour and freshness.

There's more at the link.

Not to be outdone, Sara Sherwood fired back with "My American mind boggles at British eating habits".

Cheap roadside food in Britain is hardly healthy: budget motorway hotels are uniform in serving fried bread, fried bacon, fried sausage, fried hash browns, fried mushrooms, and fried tomatoes. Sadly, a sideline of the Anglo-American Special Relationship is a kinship in the dedication to ultra-processed, unforgivably bland food.

. . .

If the baguette defines the French, and the hot dog Americans, surely the tinned bean is the ultimate culinary symbol of Britain. They have been named as favoured treats by the current Queen and the late Princess Diana, both of whom presumably had access to a wide range of alternatives. But if you have not been raised on these cloyingly sweet piles of mush, they’re a tough sell.

Although they come from New England, the British collectively consume two million tins of them a day – more than the rest of the world combined. These haricots swim in a tomato sauce laden with 10 per cent of a person’s daily sugar allowance, and 20 per cent of the salt they need. Yet they inspire as much national pride and unqualified praise as the country’s National Health Service. They are served at breakfast, lunch and dinner, and appear on regular rotation in schools for children, on top of jacket potatoes or sponge-like ultra-processed sliced bread (more sugar and salt).

. . .

One thing that makes it difficult to navigate the British dining scene for American visitors is that we may be in pursuit of a different goal. Recently an American cousin with fond memories of atmospheric London pubs in the 70s and 80s, wandered South Kensington, perused local reviews, and settled himself in for what turned out to be an astoundingly disappointing meal. He was served mushy fish and chips, decidedly un-mushy peas (hard as nails, he said), and the beer selection was poor (mainly in cans). “Who eats this stuff?” he asked me afterwards.

Had he asked me beforehand, I would have advised caution when choosing to eat in a pub. Take a recent review of a pub in North London, where the diner noted: “The food wasn’t the best.” Okay, this could be helpful, I thought. What made it bad? “We ordered a pizza and chips with gravy. Unfortunately, they forgot to cut the pizza, and the chips tasted undercooked.”

The mind, as Simon wrote about America, boggles: What would the successful delivery of pizza, chips and gravy look like?

Again, more at the link.

Perhaps I should contribute an article to the series, titled "My colonial-raised mind boggles at both diets"?

Peter

Making terrorism pay a handsome dividend

 

It seems that Houthi terrorists, backed by Iran, are making massive profits out of their blockade of the Bab-el-Mandeb and the sea areas surrounding it.

Intelligence cited by the Seahawk report confirms that the Houthis, in partnership with al-Shabaab and Somali pirates, have revitalised piracy operations along critical Red Sea and Indian Ocean shipping lanes.

“This strategic alliance allows the Houthis to exert control over shipping routes while financing their operations through illicit piracy proceeds and arms smuggling,” states the report.

“The expanding Houthi presence in Somalia signals a strategic escalation that poses immediate and long-term threats to regional stability and security,” warns the Seahawk report. “The alignment of Houthi, al-Shabaab, and Daesh interests underpins a coordinated front that is poised to disrupt maritime commerce, strengthen local militant capabilities and challenge international forces.”

The UN Panel’s investigation, meanwhile, revealed that the Houthis are using various networks of individuals and entities operating from multiple jurisdictions, including Djibouti, Iran, Iraq, Türkiye and Yemen, to finance their activities.

They employ various banks, shell companies, exchange companies, shipping companies and financial facilitators. The panel interviewed the officials of a few exchange and shipping companies and banks, who, requesting anonymity, confirmed the details of these operations.

The Houthi command even established a special committee to augment its military spending.

The panel’s sources conveyed that the Houthis allegedly collect illegal fees from “a few shipping agencies to allow their ships to sail through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden without being attacked”.

Sources further informed the panel that these shipping agencies coordinate with a company affiliated with a top-ranking Houthi leader and that the fees are deposited in various accounts in multiple jurisdictions through the hawala network and through adjustments involving trade-based money-laundering.

While the UN Panel has not been able to independently verify this information, the sources estimate the Houthis’ earnings from these illegal safe-transit fees to be about $180m per month.

There's more at the link.

As always, follow the money.  The Houthi leaders aren't ideologically pure, theologically motivated nationalists at all - they're just grifters, extortionists, chiselers par excellence, as many people have been in that part of the world for untold centuries.  Just as Hamas and Hezbollah leaders have made literally billions of dollars for themselves out of the suffering of their people, so the Houthi leaders are following their example.  Iran, meanwhile, is profiting not only from its cut of all that money, but also from the disruption caused to its opponents by its satellite allies in Yemen, Gaza and Lebanon.

I think we need to ask Elon Musk to find a decently inhospitable planet somewhere, and export the entire extremist population of that region to it, using suitably sized rockets.  Let them try to extort rocks from each other there, and leave the rest of us in peace!

Peter

A heartwarming animal saga

 

On a day when everybody's going to be blathering on about elections and voting and partisanship, I figured we could all do with something completely different.  Well, here it is!  From the Telegraph in London, UK:

Wrapped up against the gusting Scottish wind, a man is strolling slowly along the jagged shoreline with his lolloping puppy. Anyone passing on the road above would notice him bending over the water, pushing apart the thick brown fronds of rock weed – and then being taken aback to see the “pup” sinuously dive beneath the surface and emerge with a crab in its jaws.

“At a distance it’s easy to mistake Molly for a dog,” says Billy Mail. “Otters are so shy and elusive it just doesn’t seem plausible that one would be voluntarily going for a walk with a human in broad daylight.”

Implausible but obviously not impossible, which is why the remarkable relationship between Billy and Molly, the orphaned otter he rescued from certain death in the Shetland Islands, is so heartwarming.

. . .

Such is the emotional heft of the story that it caught the eye of an award-winning National Geographic photographer and cinematographer. The resulting documentary, Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story is set against the backdrop of wide skies, glittering sea and the austere, elemental beauty of the land.

. . .

“I was looking out the window and I saw this otter fishing in the sea,” says Billy. “I wondered how close I could get, so I hurried down to the pontoon while she was underwater, phone in hand, in case she came close enough. Then she popped up right in front of me and started to eat the crab she had caught. Then halfway through she turned and looked me straight in the eye.

“I immediately knew something was very badly wrong because there’s no way a healthy otter would remain so close. And then I saw how emaciated she was.”

Bedraggled and skinny, her bones jutting out, Molly was around nine months old and too young to fend for herself. It was clear she was orphaned – later the couple learned that a female otter had been found dead on the road some time earlier

Billy fed her fish, dropping haddock on the ground, which she seized and dragged away to eat. He made her a bed from coiled rope under an upturned boat, so she had somewhere dry to sleep.

There's more at the link.

I won't spoil the article by reproducing more of it here, but it goes into a lot more detail about how the bond was established between Billy and Molly, and how it's grown to where, today, he watches her raise her young, teaching them to play in the tiny house he built for her.  It's a heartwarming story.

I've embedded the documentary below.  If that doesn't work, or stops working, you can find it here on YouTube.

Much more entertaining than non-stop electioneering!

Peter

German raccoon sausage???

 

I was intrigued to learn that first, Germany is being overrun with raccoons brought over there from America a century ago:  and second, that a local butcher (with official permission) is making a range of consumer meat products out of them.

A butcher in northeast Germany has come up with what he believes is an innovative solution to the country’s growing raccoon problem: turning them into sausages and other meat products.

Michael Reiss, a hunter who set up a butcher’s shop in Kade, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) west of Berlin, in 2022, told CNN Wednesday that he developed the idea after trying to think of a standout product to take to the Green Week international food fair.

He realized that raccoons who are killed as pests are simply thrown in the bin, and decided to ask local officials if they could instead be processed and turned into food.

After receiving the green light, Reiss started making his “raccoon balls,” meatballs made from raccoon meat, which he said turned out to be a hit at the fair and with customers at his shop, which is called Wildererhütte.

Soon Reiss was selling online, and he now makes a total of seven raccoon meat products, including salami.

. . .

After being introduced to Germany for use in fur farms in the 1920s, raccoons were first released into the wild in 1934, according to the Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU).

Since then, the mammals, who are highly adaptable and can live in towns and cities as well as forests and grasslands, have bred swiftly.

There are now an estimated 2 million raccoons in Germany, reported German press agency DPA, citing researchers at the Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt.

The animals, who are originally from North America, typically weigh around 10 kilograms (22 pounds), but large males can reach 20 kilograms (44 pounds).

They now represent a danger to domestic biodiversity, especially the reptiles and amphibians that they eat, according to Germany’s Senckenberg Nature Research Society.

There's more at the link.

Considering that large parts of North America (including our cities) are overrun with trash pandas (a local nickname for raccoons), we might have a new export market here!  I daresay any number of locals equipped with air or rimfire rifles could stack up a bountiful harvest to send to Germany.  Perhaps we could add possums, skunks and sundry other wildlife of similar size?

On second thought . . . skunks . . . perhaps not!  On the other hand, if we exported them to Ukraine, would they be a suitable biological weapon to unleash against Russian invaders?

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 234

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.

Sunday morning music

 

I've never been into so-called "techno" electronic dance music, and I'm unfamiliar with most of the artists and hits in that genre.  Nevertheless, Pixy Misa caught my attention when she posted a "House and Techno Live Set" by Klangphonics to her blog.  I casually pressed "Play" while scrolling down through the rest of her content, and was surprised to be drawn into the music.  It reminds me a lot of earlier Mike Oldfield works such as Tubular Bells, with echoes of his later techno music such as Light + Shade.

I thought I'd give you the chance to see if you liked it too.

There's lots more music from Klangphonics on their YouTube channel.

Peter

No blogging today

 

We have to go down to the Metroplex (DFW), which is a five-hour return trip plus time spent down there.  It won't leave any time for blogging, so please amuse yourselves with the blogs listed in the sidebar.  They write good, too!

Peter

Blood tests on Halloween. Am I a glutton for punishment, or what?

 

I've just returned home after a long-drawn-out blood and urine test routine, in preparation for my kidney procedure on November 13th.  It was a chapter of accidents.  The hospital in DFW sent through the necessary authorization for the tests, but the local clinic couldn't find it.  The hospital re-sent it yesterday, and the clinic still couldn't find it!  I basically stood over the reception people and glared at them until they found it in an unsorted stack of faxed documents from the previous day.  Just basic incompetence, I guess . . . but there's far too much of it around for my liking.

Anyway, after the blood draw and urine sample, I'm back home.  Now to clean up the place for a guest who'll be arriving tomorrow, and trying to get on with other work.  No peace for the wicked!

Peter

Remember this, no matter who you vote for

 

There are very, very few honest politicians out there.  Let this be a reminder.

It's from the musical "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas".  Reminds me of a lot of what we're seeing and hearing on the news and social media at present, from both major parties.  I think, if you ask a lot of those recently affected by hurricanes in Georgia and North Carolina, they'd recognize a lot of that behavior in their local and state politicians - but those in the rest of the country, with a few honorable exceptions, wouldn't be much different, or much better.

"Put not your trust in princes" - or in their democratic/republican equivalent, politicians.

Peter

Electoral shenanigans in action

 

On Monday I wrote:

I continue to expect a deliberate attempt by the progressive left wing of US politics to cheat in this election:  to elect their preferred candidate to the Presidency, and even if they can't achieve that, to elect so many of "their" Congresspeople and Senators that they can block any initiative by the "wrong" President until they can reclaim that office.  I truly hope that the will of the people, as expressed at the polls, will prevail:  but looking at the shenanigans already unveiled during early voting, and the number of fraudulent mail-in ballots already submitted, I'm afraid that's a pipe-dream.

Don't get over-confident in the results of this election, and stand by for a massive nationwide campaign of fraud, disinformation and cheating that will make previous attempts pale into insignificance.

I hope I'm wrong . . . but I fear I'm not.  Only time will tell.

I had a few e-mails after that, accusing me of alarmism, or spreading untrue rumors, or what have you.  I'm afraid they're all wrong.  The evidence is as plain as a pikestaff to those who are willing to see it for what it is.  As witness to that, I'm going to cite two other bloggers who know what they're talking about.

Sarah Hoyt lived through the Communist "Carnation Revolution" in Portugal during the 1970's, and saw the electoral tactics of the Left at first hand.  (I went through part of the backlash of the Carnation Revolution in southern Africa, where Portuguese settlers in Mozambique and Angola fled to South Africa ahead of being dispossessed and abused by their new Communist-terrorist overlords, to whom power was handed willy-nilly after the revolution in Portugal.  When we've spoken about our experiences, our friends tend to sidle away from us, because our language tends to get rather rude and our fuses rather short . . . our memories of that time are not good, to put it mildly!)

Today Sarah sees precisely the same dishonesty, shenanigans and outright fraud being practiced in our own country.

I am in fact QUITE aware that I sound like a loon when I say that fully 25% of total counted votes are fraud. And that those are mostly on the left side. Oh, 25% is my low estimate. It could be that a full 70% of votes for Biden were fraudulent and that instead of being a closely divided nation we are in fact an overwhelmingly anti-left nation held captive by a small minority that rules by fraud. Which would explain a lot of the things we see.

. . .

2020 should have shown you some people weren’t reasonable. Or sane. Or decent. Or socialized to be rational members of the human species. For some people naked power is the only motivator.

. . .

First let’s establish why it’s 99% the left committing fraud. This is known as “because the press exposes only the right.” I.e. by chance or design (likely by design because it was part of doctrine for the USSR for subverting other countries) the press was early on captured by Marxists. They in turn made sure to serve the cause over their profession (this is also always true of Marxists.) Which meant that while the right might be — probably is — as larcenous and idiotic as the left, it could not fraud for the longest time. When it tried to, it got jumped on like a ton of bricks. Meanwhile a blind eye was turned to the left’s fraudulent practices. While people whispered about it, the press did not report it, and no one investigated it. The left was allowed to be prolix in its fraud. The right could not fraud without being denounced.

This is why when fraud is brought up and the left screams “both sides do it” the only fraud they can bring up on the right is some race for dog catcher in Back of Beyond, South Nowhere. It’s not because the others weren’t caught, it’s because that was the only fool who dared, at a very small level. And he got caught.

Meanwhile the left thrives on institutionalized and diversified fraud.

There's much more at the link, including many examples of electoral fraud in the USA and how it's conducted.  Sarah's article is essential reading if you want to understand why I wrote what I did last Monday.  You may disagree with her, but it's hard to disagree with the evidence she provides.

Next, Divemedic points out that Pennsylvania is rife with electoral shenanigans, including people posing as officials who are, in fact, Democratic Party activists.

Police cut off voting at 1345, when it was supposed to go until 1630. Why isn’t the press going nuts over this? Because its Quakertown, PA. The city is 94% White, mostly Trump voters.

. . .

I want to point out that the woman in this video isn’t an election official. She is a Democrat who is posing as one. Look at her badge very closely.

. . .

Similar stories are playing out all over Pennsylvania - in areas containing white, mostly Trump voters, the voters are being turned away from the polls.

. . .

The left, as well as the Federal bureaucracy, cannot and will not let Trump become President. They are terrified of what he will do if he regains power. The cheat, the fix, is in.

Again, more at the link.

EDITED TO ADD:  Apparent electoral fraud seems to be happening in Michigan as well.  From Matthew DePerno on X:

After reviewing the Qualified Voter File (QVF) of votes actually cast as of yesterday, Oct 29, 2024, the database identifies 114,545 Michigan voters who have cast 279,113 ballots from multiple addresses across the state. This results in 164,568 excess ballots as of 10/29/2024. Below is one Voter ID. [Click the image for a larger, more readable view.]

I repeat what I said two days ago:

I continue to expect a deliberate attempt by the progressive left wing of US politics to cheat in this election ... stand by for a massive nationwide campaign of fraud, disinformation and cheating that will make previous attempts pale into insignificance.

That doesn't mean we should not vote.  Rather, we should aim to get so many people out to vote that their honest ballots swamp any attempt to cheat.  As President Trump has often put it, the result of this election needs to be "too big to rig" - no matter who, or which party, is elected.

Peter

A tale of heroism and disaster, and ultimate triumph

 

I'm sure many readers know of the USAAF raid on the Ploesti oil fields in Romania in 1943, codenamed "Operation Tidal Wave".  They were appallingly costly, with well over half the raiding force of B-24 Liberator bombers either shot down, or so badly damaged that they never flew again after the mission.  They were also largely unsuccessful;  the oil fields and refineries were back in production within weeks, and even increased their output.  Nevertheless, the lessons learned on those missions taught the fledgling USAAF a great deal about strategic bombing, and informed its subsequent actions in Europe and the Far East.

The heroism of the crews who flew to Ploesti has long been acknowledged, but I've not seen many accounts of the missions by those who were there.  Warfare History Network has just republished a 2017 article about them on its Web site.  Here are a few excerpts to set the scene.

Hadley’s Harem was one of 177 B-24 Liberators that had set out that morning to bomb the major source of oil for Nazi Germany. The men had been told that the mission was vital; it would help end the war a lot sooner.

Only 93 planes returned to base, and 60 of those were so badly damaged they never flew again. Of the more than 1,700 airmen on the mission, 532 were killed, captured, wounded, or listed as missing in action. Of those fortunate enough to make it back to Benghazi, 449 were wounded, many so severely they were unfit to return to active service. One of the pilots who made it back, Lieutenant John McCormick, said later, “There wasn’t a man among us who will ever be the same after that 14-hour jaunt to Ploesti.”

Colonel John R. “Killer” Kane, who landed his plane in Turkey after the mission to Ploesti, described the operation as “the worst catastrophe in the history of the Army Air Corps.” Kane’s navigator, Lieutenant Norman Whalen, said, “We knew it was a disaster and knew that in those flames shooting up from the refineries we might be burned to death. But we went right in.”

. . .

To reach the refineries, they had to pass through a narrow valley. Enemy guns lined the route, some situated at a higher altitude than the planes, so they were shooting down at the aircraft. The Germans even had a fast-moving flak train ready to speed down the valley below the waves of bombers and shoot at them from below.

The planes that were able to release their bombs early in the raid sent up columns of burning oil, a deadly screen for the planes that followed. Many of the planes not already damaged by flak burst into flames when they flew through the fire. There was no escape for the crews; they were flying too low to bail out.

. . .

Hadley’s Harem dropped instantly, crashing into the sea with what the survivors later described as a paralyzing shock. A few of the men were knocked unconscious. Page said he bounced like a spring. Water poured in through the flak holes and the open nose, jamming the main escape hatch and trapping them inside the sinking plane. “My God,” Page thought, “am I going to die this way?”

He tried to force the escape hatch open, but it was stuck. As the water rose rapidly in the cockpit, Page saw Gib Hadley and co-pilot Lindsay unstrap their seat belts and flail around, trying to find an opening, but there was none. After another moment, Page saw them die.

He pulled himself into the top turret, took a deep breath of the last remaining air, and plunged down into the water, desperate for an escape route. A glimmer of light caught his eye. It was where the tail of the ship had been sheared off by the crash. Page swam to the surface just as the wreckage of Hadley’s Harem sank.

There's much more at the link.

Hadley's Harem was salvaged many years later, and the bodies of the pilots recovered and buried with full military honors.  Part of the aircraft's fuselage is today displayed in a Turkish museum.  Click the image for a larger view.

It's a painful account to read, but it's a record of heroism and determination that deserves to be remembered.  Highly recommended reading.

Peter

Let's hear it for redneck engineering!

 

I was very pleased to read about an impromptu group of helpers who decided to rebuild a storm-ravaged road in North Carolina.

Coal miners from West Virginia – whom locals have lovingly dubbed the “West Virginia Boys” – moved a mountain in just three days to reopen a 2.7-mile stretch of Highway 64 between Bat Cave and Chimney Rock washed away by Helene.

Chimney Rock residents who fled the hurricane one month ago will now be able to return home for the first time within a few days, months earlier than they expected. 

. . .

Logan Campbell, 37, a volunteer from Mississippi, said the miners embodied the American spirit.

“To see this many wonderful men, women, all races, different political views, none of that matters at all in these situations,” he told The Post.

“Weak people don’t show up for s–t like this, and if they do they don’t last long.

“It’s such a heartwarming thing to see amidst all the heartbreak.

“It gives you so much hope for the American we all want to believe in and the America we want our children to experience.”

. . .

Campbell and his friend Dan Lewis, 41, have been sleeping in tents for the past 17 days volunteering for the residents in the hardest hit towns.

“Different road crews came in and said ‘it’s not doable, the people who live between Bat Cave and Chimney Rock will be trapped in all winter,” said Lewis, who traveled to North Carolina from Oklahoma.

“The DOT (North Carolina Department of Transportation) said ‘yeah, we’ll send some engineers down here and assess the situation.’

“Then the West Virginia boys came in and said, ‘We’ll have this road punched in in about three days.’ No s–t,” he recalled.

“The Army Corps of Engineers took a look and said they’d send some surveyors and engineers, the same thing the DOT said pretty much. I told them you might as well not waste your time because the West Virginia guys will have this road built before you finish your paperwork,” Lewis continued.

There's more at the link, including video and photographs.

It's a heartwarming report:  ordinary Americans getting stuck in and doing what needs to be done, regardless of bureaucratic delays, official hesitancy, and general disorganization.  We need more of it!

We see the same spirit around my home town when wildfires get too close.  The nearby towns will send fire engines, sure, but you'll also see a number of individuals - ranchers and farmers - with privately owned tractors, some fitted with dozer blades, and even a couple of fully-fledged privately owned tracked bulldozers.  When I asked one of the drivers how he happened to own a massive bulldozer, he shrugged and said that "Wildfires happen.  Iffen I want to keep my ranch, I gotta have what I need to fight them."  Apparently he bought it for a very low price at a county sale some way off, not in working order:  then he and a few fellow ranchers spent a couple of years figuring out how to restore it to operation.  They all share it during wildfire season.  (Frankly, I think they have a heck of a lot of fun driving it around and through wildfires, making firebreaks.  Boys and their massive toys!)

Anyway, well done to the "West Virginia boys".  Thanks for showing the rest of the country how it's done.

Peter

I guess we could all use some pre-election cheese...

 

From Stephan Pastis.  Click the image to be taken to a larger version at the "Pearls Before Swine" Web page.

Some pre-election liquor might not go amiss, either.  At least it'll help us ignore the bloviating from all sides!

Peter

Gmail users beware: there's a new scam out there

 

I daresay most of my readers use Gmail (as do I).  It seems fraudsters are trying a new scam against us.

Garry Tan, chief executive of prominent tech-oriented venture capital firm Ycombinator, wrote on X late last week that there is a “pretty elaborate” phishing scam that uses an AI-generated voice.

The scammers “[claim] to be Google Support (caller ID matches, but is not verified),” he wrote in an Oct. 10 post that he termed a “public service announcement.”

“They claim to be checking that you are alive and that they should disregard a death certificate filed that claims a family member is recovering your account. It’s a pretty elaborate ploy to get you to allow password recovery.”

IT consultant Sam Mitrovic, in a blog post last month, wrote of a similar scam attempt targeting Gmail accounts and also using an AI-generated voice.

“The scams are getting increasingly sophisticated, more convincing and are deployed at ever larger scale,” Mitrovic wrote in the post. “People are busy and this scam sounded and looked legitimate enough that I would give them an A for their effort. Many people are likely to fall for it.”

. . .

Mitrovic noted that telltale signs of a scam include that one, he received account recovery messages that he did not initiate; two, it was a phone call, as Google does not call users unless they have a Google Business Profile; and three, the email he received had an address “not connected to a Google domain.” Additionally, the email header showed “how the email was spoofed,” and a “reverse number search showed others who received the same scam call,” he said.

There's more at the link, with added details of how the scammers attempted to gain their victims' confidence.

As always, it's up to the customers (us) to be aware of potential pitfalls, and to assume that any unknown or unexpected approach like this is more likely than not to be fraudulent.  I no longer bother answering any incoming telephone call if it isn't from a name in my address book.  If it's genuine, the caller will leave a voice message, and I can call them back.  Even fraudsters try that (how many messages have you had from callers telling you that there's a problem with your "Google business directory account", and offering to fix it for you?).

There are an awful lot of crooks out there, and the Internet has made it fast, cheap and easy for them to try to con us.  Our first and most important line of defense is our own awareness of that reality.

Peter