February 10, 2023
Prod the Bear - what did you expect.
Ukraine Braces for Grisly Russian Offensive in the East
foreignpolicy.com
Tim adds:
Don't poke the bear if you don't want to get mauled. That seems to be a concept completely alien to so many in today's world. The fact is Russia was largely pushed into this. The West is determined to have regime change there. But Putin isn't Saddam Hussein and Russia isn't Iraq. He's not going down without a huge fight, maybe a nuclear one.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
01:05 PM
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ntarctica Hasn’t Warmed In 70 Years Despite CO2 Rise, Stumping Scientists
climatechangedispatch.com
And yet the Gang Green keeps using West Antarctic Ice Shelf (WAIS) collapses as "proof" the continent is heating.
It's not, so how do they explain it?
They have none. I do. The fact is the WAIS is a big chunk of ice floating on top of a shallow sea. It is under pressure from ice from the center of the continent, particularly from East Antarctica, which is a huge, thick, heavy dome of ice. That pressure drives the western shelf out until it reaches a critical mass and breaks off. It is helped in no small part by heavy volcanism under the ice sheet, warming the water beneath the ice.
It's perfectly logical but has nothing to do with carbon-dioxide-driven warming of air, or even sea water. Anractica is surrounded by the circumpolar current, which is a wide, deep, cold current circling the continent. Warm water cannot pass it. The southern ocean is very cold and is not warming appreciably. Any warming seen is from undersea volcanic activity, not increased planetary air temperatures.
The antarctic disproves Cliamte Change alarmism. That's why they only discuss it when there is an ice shelf collapse or one of the rare warm days on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
01:00 PM
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Perhaps the weirdest comment made by Resident Joe Biden in his SOTU Vaudeville act was that McDonalds workers had to sign non-compete clauses. He didn't just leave it at that, but went on to say "burger flippers" had to sign such clauses.
That was a bald-faced lie by Biden. Even the notoriously liberal Factcheck.org admitted this was a lie. See also here.
Biden is not a stranger to telling big Filet-o-fish tales, but this one was a true whopper.
Biden has always played fast and loose with the truth, but here he shows his complete ignorance of the common man and the working life. He's never held a real job, except a very brief stint as a lifeguard (or perhaps not even that.)
To me this is akin to George Bush being amazed at scanner checkouts when he was President (Sr., not Jr.) It bespeaks a man who knows nothing about the real world and how it operates.
Does he really believe McDonalds could possibly find workers with such a clause in force? Basically fast food restaurants take anyone with a pulse.
Yet here he boldly proclaimed this. He embarassed the United States before the whole world. Certainly they were laughing at him in Britain.
Of course, they remember Biden plagiarizing speeches by their very own Neil Kinnock.
They know this man is a buffoon. And so does the rest of the world.
America is a laughing stock.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
12:46 PM
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California continues her long, horrible slide into the Third World.
LA City Council Votes To Convert Natural Gas Plant To Unproven Hydrogen
climatechangedispatch.com
I don't know but I rather doubt hydrogen is compatible with gas appliances as it burns hotter than natural gas. You have to have hardware built specifically for hydrogen. So what do the morons think they will accomplish?
Actually, I'm right
Granted, they could convert the plant to burn hydrogen to make electricity, but that would be far more expensive as hydrogen must be made from water.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
12:29 PM
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Some transgender activists, on the other hand, say parents aren’t entitled to know if their child wants to change their name and pronouns at school, arguing that knowledge must be earned by parents. Parents who don’t immediately affirm their child’s new gender identity are engaged in a form of abuse, they say.
Maine Mom Demands Investigation after School Counselor Secretly Gives Daughter a ‘Chest Binder’ | National Review
nationalreview.com
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:57 AM
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The foundations for these beasts are enormous. They use monopiles, also called coffer dams, perhaps 34 ft in diameter. Sheet piling is driven edge to edge, the interior is then dredged out and filled with concrete, extending perhaps 100 ft or more beneath the ocean floor.
Coffer dams are only suitable for sandy loose soils. Entirely unsuitable for a rocky bottom or hard shelves.
Acoustic surveys are used to map the ocean floor for siting a wind farm. These acoustic signals overlap with low frequency whale communications.
Whale calves are curious and adventuresome. They will venture over to observe a fishing trawler or big freighter cruising along the U.S. East Coast. This is typical whale behavior since the days of the Titanic.
The calves will stray from the pod for bit but moms will call them back if they wander too far.
The low frequency acoustic surveys for wind farms are the new variable in the behavior of whale calves.
With the flood of new low frequencies, the calves cannot hear mom’s calling. The calves get confused and wander off, flounder into the shallows, get beached, tide goes out and the calves die.
This exactly what has been observed off the coast of New Jersey.
If Lord forbid, the full wind farm went into actual operation, the low vibrations of the rotating blades would scatter the whales from their migratory path and feeding grounds. The endangered Right Whale, numbering approx. 350 in the wild, would go extinct.
The prominent wind farm constructor is Orsted, 50 % owned by the Danish govt. Orsted funds bogus papers touting the economics and benefits of wind farms. Orsted schmoozes with politicians and "green energy” idiots.
By my lights, we should sue Orsted and the Danish govt. for the environmental damage they are already visiting upon the U.S.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:49 AM
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On Facebook I'm arguing with a rather angry dope who believes nothing but what the media tells him about the Russia/Ukraine conflict.
Jeff Charles says:
People fighting for freedom from a tyrannical psychopath creates the only chance for happiness later. This shows just how much putin sucks. The US Russia and Britain are legally obligated ti defend ukraine. They should have kept their 1900 nukes
I disagree: more...
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:37 AM
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You know,
the Catastrophic Climate Change Cult likes to claim to have "science"
on their side, and I've spent over thirty years pointing out the flaws
in their data, their analysis, and their complete lack of support for
the conclusions they've drawn, let alone their recommended "remedies".
I tend to forget that they don't even have logic on their side. All too
often, their arguments use the most basic of all logical fallacies,
"Begging the Question", wherein they assume their conclusion to be
true, and use that conclusion to make the argument allowing them to
reach that conclusion...ag
But every one of their arguments seems to fall prey to that particular fallacy. Logic is your friend, but not that of the Catastrophic Climate Cult.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:03 AM
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February 09, 2023
The Democratic Party is starting to build their case for a financial reset of our currency. They are making the argument that the investment gains of the savers of society were the artifact of Fed policy which drove asset bubbles. Therefore the gains were not earned. Therefore the Fed can change the rules again erasing our unearned gains. Basically the DEMs are arguing savers were fools to sacrifice and save, forgoing pleasures and believe in a system that the Fed can change, and take it all away at any time.
The Fed created their own CBDC and will go live assuming a successful 12 week beta test with all the commercial banks. Initially it will only be used for large commercial transactions like mortgages. But with more servers it is assumed they will expand usage and eventually replace the $US at which point an exchange rate will be set. This is where serious concerns arise. Never in history has this process been good for the savers of the society. Especially when governments have massive debt with crippling interest costs.
So the political battle will
be between the savers of society (who will see their savings plummet in
purchasing power) and the non-savers. Who has the greater numbers? The
DEMs/
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:09 AM
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"The great
secret of the political success of our race lies in its conservatism,
in its ability to reform and not destroy in order to create anew. We
have adapted our forms of government to the changing necessities of the
times, by clinging to the past until sure of the future, by holding
fast the good and rejecting only the bad, and by sturdy contempt for
inconsistencies
—Henry Cabot Lodge, "Oration on the Fourth of July," 1879.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:07 AM
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"The great
secret of the political success of our race lies in its conservatism,
in its ability to reform and not destroy in order to create anew. We
have adapted our forms of government to the changing necessities of the
times, by clinging to the past until sure of the future, by holding
fast the good and rejecting only the bad, and by sturdy contempt for
inconsistencies
—Henry Cabot Lodge, "Oration on the Fourth of July," 1879.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:06 AM
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There is a power-struggle going on at Project Veritas and James O'Keefe has been suspended by the board of directors.
Read all about it here.
Why do I get the feeling the board wants to "soften" to avoid trouble with the powers that be and they want to get rid of the aggressive O'Keefe?
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:30 AM
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"Don't tell your mom or dad!"
Democrats love secrecy in an a process of distancing children from their parents
‘State-sanctioned grooming’: Connecticut Dems want to prevent teachers’ sexuality, gender discussions with students from being obtained via FOIA
Isn't that what perverts who sexually abuse kids say?
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:18 AM
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The hubris and hypocrisy of elites like Gates, John Kerry and others who push the failed AGW narrative is astounding.
Watch: Bill Gates Says It's OK For Him To Use Private Jets Because He's "The Solution" To Climate Change
zerohedge.com
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
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February 08, 2023
Joe Biden complained about the cost of insulin in his State of the Bunion speech last night. His solution? Use government power to control the price artificially. That always works so well! It either causes shortages or leads to price increases elsewhere.
In this case it will lead to an overall increase in price. That will be paid by those of us not on Medicare who need it.
So what IS the solution?
First, there is no insulin produced or sold in the U.S. that is not synthetic.
When Banting and Best first isolated it they realized they could harvest it from animals and give it to humans. This was the insulin given to diabetics for most of the 20th century. In 1978 Eli Lilly invented a process using e-coli to make an artificial human insulin - Humulin. Animal insulin was first isolated in 1921.
What Eli Lilly did was invent a process. It was human insulin, but made in a very specific way. AS a result the Food and Drug Administration didn't know how to license a generic. It was a matter of making a generic out of a patented process.
Of course Eli Lilly fought tooth and nail to keep the process proprietary.
But more importantly they were joined by an unlikely ally - animal rights activists.
Insulin required the sacrifice of animals up to that point.
So the two conspired to end animal insulin on the U.S. market. Now there is no animal insulin made in the U.S. and little overseas.
There are some people who are allergic to the Humulin made by Eli Lilly and they have to use animal insulin. They can buy it mail-order but the price is prohibitive. It's cheaper to buy the Humulin.
And so, thanks to a compliant FDA and the outrage of animal rights nuts, the public is denied cheap insulin.
The answer is obvious; they should restart an animal insulin market in America to provide a "generic" and also declare the Lilly patent over, allowing it to fall into the public domain.
I use insulin. I get it from Walmart at $26 bucks a vial (and use about four vials a month.) It's not the best insulin for my needs; I need short acting as well as long acting. I use 70/30 which is a mixture of long and short acting, but it's not targeted enough. But what can I do? It's what I can afford.
I know many people hate Walmart, and I do too in many ways, but that company saved my life; I couldn't afford any other. I tried to get what I needed from a local pharmacy and it was $600 bucks a vial!
It IS way too expensive, especially for so old a medicine.
Banting and Best sold their patent for insulin for one dollar. They wanted it on the market quickly and saving lives. Eli Lilly bought it and now rings vast sums of cash from that particular cow. It is obscene.
But government forcing them to give it away is obscene too, and won't work. Companies aren't in the business of not making money. They will find a way to profit from a government mandate.
The only way to prevent that is to make it a public process, or use animal insulin. (Lilly may still hold the patent on that too.)
In short, this whole crisis is ultimately a creation of the government in the first place. We are past the 100 year mark on Eli Lilly's ownership of this very necessary substance. And we are approaching the fifty year mark. Patents and copyrights are not perpetual. Patents generally last 20 years. The Humulin patent has now lasted 45 years. I think that is enough for it to fall into the public domain.
But the heroes in Congress and the President want this patent to continue because it means more money from the drug companies and to said companies. Joe Biden might have huffed and puffed about the evil drug corporations but he has taken plenty of money from them over the years and plans to keep doing so. It is better to impose limited price controls which can be removed at governmental whim than to take the cash cow away.
I would add Donald Trump took real action to reduce the price of insulin during his tenure of office but Joe Biden killed his efforts as soon as he was ensconced in the White House. Under Trump we saw Medicare patients getting insulin for $35 bucks. Biden scrapped that policy and now announces basically the same plan as though he's doing some great thing for America.
The pharmaceuticals industry gave Joe Biden $5.9 million for his campaign against Donald Trump, who received nothing. Biden has always been cozy with Big Pharma.
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He then referenced his 30-plus years in the U.S. Army: "I had never seen anyone—not even the greenest, pimple-faced 19-year-old Army private—panic like our nation’s elder statesmen did on January 6 and in the months that followed.”
"Do I blame a bunch of geriatrics for acting like a bunch of geriatrics? Of course not. But do I judge them for it? You’re damned right I do. Most of all, I resent that we are ruled by a bunch of geriatrics that ruthlessly and selfishly maintain their hold on power and refuse to develop the next generation of leaders,” he added.
‘A** On The Line’: Donald Trump’s Defense Secretary Comes Forward, Exposes Nancy Pelosi’s Jan. 6 ‘Secret’
conservativebrief.com
Tim adds:
The laughable thing is there was little actual violence at that "insurrection" but just a few months prior Antifa/BLM tried to storm the White House and they weren't at all concerned about that. Nor about any of the violence that occurred over the previous four years. But let a few people go inside the Capitol and sit at Nancy Pelosi's desk and it becomes the storming of the Bastille!
The hypocrisy is astounding.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
12:39 PM
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Joe Biden sounded like a cranky old man in a retirement center in his SOTU. As Ben Shapiro observed:
"If you missed the State of the Union last night, just head on over to your local old age home and listen to a slightly-deranged geriatric yell at you about airline fees for an hour or so. "
Unfortunately his cranky old coot style didn't extend to his lawn, which he is happy to allow a bunch of neighborhood kids to trample underfoot. He invites them to cut through his yard via the southern border every day, and lifts nary a finger to stop it.
If he's going to be a crotchety old coot I wish he'd at least yell at them from traipsing on his lawn.
Hat tip: Sherrie Mathieson.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
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This courtesy of Lindy Sisk:
From The Economist:
"China’s vice-foreign minister, Xie Feng, submitted a formal complaint to the American embassy in Beijing over the Chinese balloon that America shot down over the Atlantic on Saturday."
Talk about elephant balls!
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11:56 AM
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"Make no mistake. If you try anything to raise the cost of FRISIZHNJIBS I will veto it." -Joe Biden. And the Democrats stood up and cheered.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:15 AM
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Former national security advisor in the Trump administration Lt. Col Tony Schafer said, " if you ever had tik tok and deleted you should toss that phone in the trash. Cause once the app has been loaded on your phone all your information is flowing back the Chinese. "
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
11:04 AM
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