Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

Happy Sunday! Another wonderful day in the Once And Future Nation Of America. The Sun is shining, squirrels are chirping, and it’s the last day of the NFL season, with my Giants finally making the playoffs. This pinup is by Arthur Sarnoff, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. The First Street Journal notes that you are going to get poorer this year, thanks to the Brandon economy
  2. Pacific Pundit covers Dan Crenshaw whining
  3. Moonbattery discusses the DC police arresting Ashli Babbitt’s mother
  4. Legal Insurrection notes liberals freaking over GOP plans to investigate the FBI and others
  5. GeeeZ... is really not impressed by Hakeem Jeffries
  6. Doug Ross @ Journal discusses the concessions that McCarthy made (why would he even be resistant to these?)
  7. Chicks On The Right covers hair oil now being raaaaacist
  8. Bookworm Room discusses the 50 year seal on J6 material
  9. Blazing Cat Fur notes insanity in the comics
  10. Real Climate Science covers global warming making California too wet
  11. Green Jihad discusses the fallout from killing Keystone XL
  12. The Gateway Pundit notes who the IRS targeted in 2022
  13. The Lid features a study noting who the IRS’ 87K new agents will go after
  14. The OK Corral highlights the stone watch
  15. And last, but, not least,  The Other McCain notes the White House pressured Facebook to censor Tucker Carlson

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page (nope, that’s gone, the newest Apache killed access, and the program hasn’t been upgraded since 2014). While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your Pinups for Vets calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me. I’ve also mostly alphabetized them, makes it easier scrolling the feedreader

Don’t forget to check out all the other great material all the linked blogs have!

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. And do you have a favorite blog you can recommend be added to the feedreader?

Two great sites for getting news links are Liberty Daily and Whatafinger.

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

Who’s Up For Kraken Wuhan Flu?

Scary stuff to get you back into masks and under government control, or just another round of a week’s vacation being somewhat miserable? Eh, rum should fix it

‘Kraken’ COVID symptoms: What to know about the strain sweeping through the U.S. and now in at least 28 other countries

COVID hospitalizations in the U.S. have spiked 16.1% in the past week as a new “escaped” variant of the virus has continued to sweep across the country.

XBB.1.5— dubbed ‘Kraken’ by Canadian biology professor Dr. Ryan Gregory and his following in the Twitterverse—is the most transmissible COVID variant yet, according to the World Health Organization.

A risk assessment is currently being drawn up for the new mutant strain by WHO’s technical advisory group on virus evolution, Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for COVID-19 response at the authority, said on Wednesday.

XBB.1.5 began alarming scientists at the tail end of last year after the number of Kraken cases in the U.S. rose from 1% of all cases at the start of December to 41% just three weeks later.

That’s a lot. Here’s what really interested me in this article

Dr. Allison Arwady, the Chicago Department of Public Health commissioner, said in a press conference on Tuesday that Kraken “basically just a combination of two of the earlier subtypes, two variants” from the Omicron strain.

She added that although XBB.1.5 is a new mutation its symptoms have not hugely changed because it is a descendant of the variant that was discovered in mid-2020.

Arwady explained: “We’re seeing more people actually just have cold-like symptoms”—such as a runny nose, sore throat, cough and congestion—“but are less likely to have those flu-like, really feeling very sick [symptoms such as] the high fevers.”

This is especially the case in people who are fully up to date on vaccines or who have preexisting immunity built up from having a COVID infection in the past.

More widely, the CDC’s COVID symptoms to look out for are fever or chills, difficulty breathing, fatigue, body aches and headaches, loss in taste or smell, nausea, and diarrhea.

Saturday, December 31, I woke up with a stuffy nose, sore throat (mild and annoying), and stuffed up ear, all on the left side. Seemed more like a sinus infection. By about mid-day, I started to feel more and more wonky, really phlegmy, left work early. Stopped to get some food, got home, took my temperature. 99.6. That is very high for me, since I usually run in the high 96’s to mid-97’s. I did go back down to mid=98’s, and was pretty much around that for many days. I had a stuffy nose, but, never so bad that I couldn’t breathe out of one side of my nose. My throat was a little dry, but, did not hurt, nothing that liquids didn’t take care of. But, damn, I was low energy. The only coughing came from buildup from sniffling. No dry coughs like you’d get from COVID. No chest congestion. I couldn’t smell anything, but, that happens with colds, which also means taste is lessened. No body aches, did have head pressure, but, no headache. No nausea or gastrointestinal issues.

It was like having a mild cold with a fever and tired. No chills. Weird. Was it Kraken? All but one of the home tests came back positive. Test day after the positive was clear. A test at clinic on Monday, along with an RSV test (because symptoms were weird) also came back negative. I know two coworkers had the same things, and did not come back with positive tests. Is it evading tests? Or just a cold with a fever? Which didn’t really drop back to my normal till Friday. Still a bit fuzzy in the head, though. Wearing contacts does not help.

Dr. Raj Rajnarayanan, assistant dean of research and associate professor at the New York Institute of Technology campus in Jonesboro, Ark., previously told Fortune that the best form of protection from mutations is to get a booster vaccination.

Speaking following the Omicron spawn BA.2.75, dubbed Centaurus, Rajnarayanan confirmed that escaped mutations such as Centaurus and Kraken are “immune evasive” to some extent—but won’t be able to defy all of the human body’s resistance.

So, get a booster that Kraken will mostly ignore.

Read: Who’s Up For Kraken Wuhan Flu? »

Who’s Up For Geoengineering To Mimic Volcanoes?

What could possibly go wrong?

Inventor in Baja is testing a plan to cool the Earth by mimicking a volcanic eruption

When Luke Iseman was thinking of launching a solar geoengineering startup, he talked to experts in the field. The strongest advice they gave him was not to use the word “geoengineering.”

The term refers to manipulating the Earth’s climate for human benefit, but in recent years it’s been used as shorthand for “solar geoengineering,” a theoretical process of releasing chemicals into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth and mitigate the effects of global warming. It’s controversial because it hasn’t been studied comprehensively, and we don’t know whether the unintended side effects will be better or worse than the impacts of climate change.

Iseman’s startup Make Sunsets, which has raised at least half a million dollars in venture capital, mostly skates around the hot-button word on its website.

“We make reflective, high-altitude, biodegradable clouds that cool the planet. Mimicking natural processes, our ‘shiny clouds’ are going to prevent catastrophic global warming,” reads the site’s About page. On the FAQ page, Make Sunsets calls what it is doing “albedo enhancement,” a scientific term for reflecting sunlight.

There are so many things that could go wrong, starting with a feedback that, causes way too much cooling, dropping the earth back into a Little Ice Age or even a glacial period. It could potentially inhibit enough sunlight making it too the ground level, causing problems with agriculture, reducing needed warmth for the ground.

On the downside, injecting sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere could damage the ozone layer, cause respiratory illness and create acid rain. It would also cost as little as $10 billion per year to run a program that cools the Earth by 1 degree Celsius, UCLA environmental law professor Edward Parson told CNBC in 2022. That’s remarkably cheap compared to other mitigation techniques.

Does the climate cult care? Do they think that the climate crisis (scam) is more dangerous and are willing to take the chance?

“This all sounds crazy. A for-profit company trying to make money by cooling the planet. Crazy, yes, but perhaps a sign of the times?” Pasztor told CNBC. “The climate crisis is getting worse by the day. The world is getting — and will continue to get — warmer. Governments are not taking their responsibilities seriously enough. And we live in a capitalist society where actors make money in many different ways, like it or not. So how surprising is this?”

Read: Who’s Up For Geoengineering To Mimic Volcanoes? »

If All You See…

…is a wonderful low carbon bike which Everyone Else should be forced to ride instead of fossil fueled travel, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is No Tricks Zone, with a post on scientists saying Antarctica hasn’t warmed in 70 years.

Doubleshot below the fold, check out Jo Nova, with a post on Sydney not having reached 90F all summer.

Read More »

Read: If All You See… »

HotCold Take: Eco-Conscious People Should Eat Their Christmas Trees

It’s not really surprising that a “journalist” from the UK Guardian is a wackadoodle eco-nutjob

‘Eco-conscious’ families should eat their Christmas trees, urges reporter

Instead of throwing out your Christmas tree, a journalist writing for The Guardian urged families to consider eating it.

“Instead of sending their pine, fir and spruce trees for recycling or replanting, growing numbers of eco-conscious households are trying to make the most of them by eating various parts before throwing them out,” Miranda Bryant wrote. “Fir trees can be used in ice-cream, to pickle vegetables and even to flavour gin.”

Food experts said a Christmas tree can be used to cook, using the needles like rosemary or basil leaves as a kick of citrus or pine flavor and a source of vitamin C, she wrote. By burning the wood, eco-family households can also make pine ash for use in the garden or kitchen cleaning.

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, 25-30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the United States every year.

“You can pretty much eat the whole thing,” Julia Georgallis, author of How to Eat Your Christmas Tree told The Guardian. “You can use the needles as you would use rosemary or bay leaves, for flavour.”

A five-foot Christmas tree is probably about 12 years old, she said. “I don’t know why in a climate crisis, when trees are our best armoury, we’re cutting down thousands a year to keep hostage in our houses.”

Sigh. And the forests are replanted, allowed to grow.

Read: HotCold Take: Eco-Conscious People Should Eat Their Christmas Trees »

Climahypocrite Of The Day: Billie Eilish Refuses To Give Up Merchandising, Fossil Fueled Flights

I really do not get the fascination with her music: I personally find it dull and depressing. It’s downbeat and unexiting. But, I guess others like to be bored with music. And too be lectured by a youth who’s a climahypocrite and *checks notes* no degree in science, particularly in climate science

Billie Eilish: Climate Anxiety ‘Makes Me Want to Barf All over the Floor’ but I Won’t Stop Selling Merch, Traveling

Pop singer and climate change alarmist Billie Eilish claims that her fear of global warming makes her feel ill — but admits she won’t stop selling merchandise or traveling the world via jet airplanes.

The 21-year-old Eilish recently told Vogue that she constantly suffers “climate anxiety” and feels the world is not doing enough to put off the crisis that, every ten years, leftists predict is only ten years away.

The “Happier Than Ever” singer said she is often left wringing her hands and feeling upset. “It makes me want to barf all over the floor,” Eilish told the magazine. “We all wish that we could just do it ourselves. I wish I could just make changes in my life and save the world alone.”

She’s cool with all the merchandising, even if it ends up in the trash, because everyone else is doing it

Then there is air travel; “I hate it,” Eilish says. But she insists that her other activism to which she exposes her fans makes up for her personal climate sins.

See, because she Spreads Awareness, it’s OK that her carbon footprint is vastly higher than most Americans

Yet, even though she excuses her own outrages against the planet, she insists that everyone else who does not toe the radical environmental line is a “bad person.”

On one hand, Eilish says she understands that beating the climate change drum too hard is counterproductive — “People don’t respond well to that,” she said. But she still looks down on those who refuse to heed the climate change cry.

“I’m still not shoving information down people’s throats,” she told Vogue. “I’m more like, I’m not going to tell you what to do. I’m just going to tell you why I do this… But you’re also a bad person if you don’t do it.”

Fortunately, I don’t listen to her, and don’t think someone who’s 21 has the requisite knowledge to lecture anyone. Now, back to Iron Maiden, Megadeath, and Jimmy Buffett, among others.

Read: Climahypocrite Of The Day: Billie Eilish Refuses To Give Up Merchandising, Fossil Fueled Flights »

Bummer: Chicago Residents Not Thrilled By Illegals In Their Neighborhood

Everything’s all fun and games for the sanctuary city residents until they actually have to put up with their belief in illegal immigration for real

Residents Of Chicago’s Woodlawn Neighborhood Protest Shelter For Migrants

Residents of a Chicago neighborhood protested preparations to establish a migrant shelter inside a closed-down elementary school, allegedly without the locals’ permission.

A group of Woodlawn residents gathered Thursday morning to insist the community provide resources for locals rather than the migrants, the Chicago Tribune reported. The city reportedly plans to convert Wadsworth Elementary School into housing for migrants relocated to the city.

“I’m here because I am a child of Woodlawn … and I’m speaking on behalf of the people that are here and the one’s that’s [sic] not here,” one resident said, according to video footage from the gathering. “We are very disappointed in this decision that Mayor Lightfoot has made to place these migrants in our community without our permission. Mayor Lightfoot would never pull this type of thing in anyone’s neighborhood. She would not drop off a busload of Haitians in Little Village. She would not drop off a busload of black people in Chinatown. She would not drop off a busload of black people up north.”

The resident asked Lightfoot to “please withdraw your decision to put the migrants in our community.” Ald. Jeanette Taylor told the Tribune the locals’ dissent came from concerns about the lack of resources in Woodlawn, rather than an opposition to the migrants themselves.

Hmm, using the resources for their own? What a great idea, but, I’ve been reliably told by illegal alien supporters that this attitude is racist.

The resident said the migrants should be relocated to the city’s Little Village neighborhood because there is allegedly “more room” there. She cited concerns of fentanyl in the community and a lack of resources, and argued migrants should not take what is already a scarcity of assets.

See, it’s cool that the illegals are sent Over There. Just not in their own neighborhood.

Read: Bummer: Chicago Residents Not Thrilled By Illegals In Their Neighborhood »

Your Fault: Less Warming But More Extremes

The climate cult has a new one

A new climate reality: Less warming, but worse impacts on the planet
The most severe climate change scenarios now appear less likely, but extremes are nonetheless poised to overwhelm societies, scientists say

In the not-so-distant past, scientists predicted that global temperatures would surge dramatically throughout this century, assuming that humans would rely heavily on fossil fuels for decades. But they are revising their forecasts as they track both signs of progress and unexpected hazards.

Accelerating solar and wind energy adoption means global warming probably will not reach the extremes once feared, climate scientists say. At the same time, recent heat, storms and ecological disasters prove, they say, that climate change impacts could be more severe than predicted even with less warming.

Researchers are increasingly worried about the degree to which even less-than-extreme increases in global temperatures will intensify heat and storms, irreversibly destabilize natural systems and overwhelm even highly developed societies. Extremes considered virtually impossible not long ago are already occurring.

Sigh. It’s always some sort of doom with these folks, always looking at the worst case.

Scientists pointed to recent signs of societies’ fragility: drought contributing to the Arab Spring uprisings; California narrowly avoiding widespread blackouts amid record-high temperatures; heat waves killing tens of thousands of people each year, including in Europe, the planet’s most developed continent.

You mean drought that has always happened? California and Europe obliterating the reliability of their power grids for their climate cult beliefs (except for the Elites, who had stable power supplies)?

It’s an indication that — even with successful efforts to reduce emissions and limit global warming — these dramatic swings could devastate many stable societies sooner, and more often, than previously expected.

It makes you wonder what’s behind this. Are they seeing some data which shows that warming is truly slowing, like it did multiple times during this Holocene warm period, for the long term? Are they setting the stage so that they can continue to institute their Fascism even after all their policies are enacted, claiming it’s necessary to avoid Extreme Weather?

Read: Your Fault: Less Warming But More Extremes »

If All You See…

…is an area turned into a wasteland from carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is 357 Magnum, with a post on a good guy with a gun stopping a kidnapping.

Read: If All You See… »

Texas Sues Biden Over Immigration Rule That Ignores Public Burden Law

Let’s say you live in a different country, and want to move to the United States and become a citizen. Or just come over on some sort of visa, be it a work visa, school visa, or some other. You have to take care of yourself. You aren’t allowed to be on public assistance programs. But, Brandon wants every person showing up at the border demanding asylum or illegally crossing the border to get public assistance. Rather than being deported

Texas AG sues Biden admin over illegal immigration rule ‘increasing burden’ on taxpayers

illegal alien DemocratTexas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the Biden administration over a newly implemented rule that he says places a burden on American taxpayers as a result of illegal immigration.

Paxton filed the lawsuit on Wednesday, alleging that the Biden administration is ignoring a federal law that bars the admission of “illegal aliens from residing in the country if they are likely to rely on taxpayer-funded programs”

The new rule, adopted in December 2022, “prevents consideration of statutorily required factors when determining whether an alien is likely to become a ‘public charge,'” according to Paxton’s office.

“Aliens often provide documentation of financial support from family as proof that they won’t become a burden on taxpayers. But the Biden rule prohibits a robust and meaningful investigation into the veracity of this documentation. Attorney General Paxton’s lawsuit alleges that the December 2022 rule was adopted in violation of federal law and is arbitrary and capricious,” a press release states.

“The Biden Administration is committed to opening the borders to aliens who lack the ability to take care of themselves. Texans should not have to pay for these costly immigrants, nor should any other American,” said Attorney General Paxton. “I will continue to defend the rule of law and fight to ensure that the massive costs of illegal immigration don’t further burden taxpayers.”

It really is insane that we are going to spend huge amounts of money supporting illegal aliens when we have U.S. citizens in need of a helping hand. How many homeless are there on the streets? People who could use help with drug addictions? Mental health issues? Homeless veterans? Why do we need to take care of all these illegals?

Read: Texas Sues Biden Over Immigration Rule That Ignores Public Burden Law »

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