Seattle Minimum Wage Increase Doesn't Help

The Daily Sheeple reports Seattle's recent minimum wage increase doesn't seem to have helped much:

"According to a group of economists who were hired by the city to figure out what effects the wage hike has had on workers, the average hourly wage for effected workers has bumped up from $9.96 to $11.14, but that would have likely happened anyway since Seattle’s economy was already rapidly improving. They also found that while some workers were earning more, fewer people have jobs, and those who are working have fewer hours.

 And none of this takes into account how much more businesses have to spend on their workers. They still have to raise costs, which are passed on to the consumer, and result in a higher cost of living that would nullify any benefits of a minimum wage hike."

This should come as no surprise.

Triplicate Urges Del Norte County Voter Turnout

The Del Norte County Triplicate wrote one of those stupid Get Out The Vote pieces. Stupid, if only because of one of its last lines: "Exercise your right to be a part of the solution. Your vote counts."

They don't seem to realize voters might well be a big part of the problem rather than a solution. 

Addendum: I just sent a letter to the editor of The Triplicate in regards this. Let's see if they print it.

Liberty's Presidential Election Predictions

I don't make predictions on elections, but don't mind passing them on from those who do. Liberty magazine's Jon Harrison takes his shot at it and it seems fairly well thought out, even looking at electoral votes per state. Whether he's right or not, I won't try and predict.

N.C. Travelogue: Addendum

I forgot to mention something on my recent travelogue: Any other iced tea lovers out there. I'm an iced tea freak on hot summer days. When we left Willits the other day I had no iced tea. I didn't want to go "backwards" down the street, south to Burger King to get some and figured the mini mart at Safeway must surely offer iced tea. They didn't, so we headed  north and stopped at that small grocery on the east side of main street. They didn't have any either, and here I thought everyone was supposed to have iced tea for thirsty travelers.

I figured we could stop at Dave's Chevron in Laytonville. Being a big stopover for travelers, surely they must have some. Nope, although the manager told me they'd be getting a new machine soon, that would include iced tea.

so we headed north and just  a bit up the road the wife suggested stopping at the Long Valley Market and Deli. Just inside the store on the right was the deli and they had iced tea. They also had what looked like some good sandwiches in the deli display rack. We'll be back: The Long Valley Market and Deli in Laytonville.

Party Loyalty

I like the way this writer points out the silliness of party loyalty in regards candidate support. It's an observation I've made myself but could never quite put to words:

"When people get cornered into supporting candidates they mistrust, disagree with, or despise, I blame the victims. For example, watch as Paul Ryan registers that Donald Trump is a racist and then supports him anyway, his face a mask of confusion and pain, on the grounds that he's not Hillary Clinton. Then watch the DNC deep-six Bernie Sanders and mobilize all its resources—including Sanders himself—to elect the oligarchy, arguing only that it's better than Trump the bogeyman.
These people are trapped, by "party loyalty" or some raw calculation of self-interest. But you needn’t be;"

I suppose I should plead guilty to doing the same, except I'm not sure I'm as die hard a defender of Libertarian Party candidates as some are of Republican and Democrats. I'm more than willing to admit my candidate's shortfalls, whereas I know of a self- described Hillary supporter that won't even read anything critical of her.

Recycling Woes? Blame Government

The Times Standard looks at problems in the recycling industry here and elsewhere. Seems to me this is the result of government joining the hysterical environmental movement. Don't think so? Recycling worked fine earlier on before government got involved and required it, thus creating a glut of recycling goods which lowered their value.


Now more and more recycling centers are closing and it's hard to see a way out. The article mentions government officials meeting to try and fix the problem. I can't help but wonder if maybe they should just butt out? They might make the problem they created even worse.

But here's my belated thanks to the Eureka City Council and California state legislature for creating a problem where there shouldn't have been one in the first place.

And that's from someone who enjoyed recycling long before garbage service was forced on us to pay for it.

Minimum Wage Increase Closes Bookstore

The Sacramento Bee tells us of a bookstore in Roseville that ahd to close because of the latest minimum wage increase. Oddly enough, becaause of a profit sharing plan, employees made more moeny before the wage increase.

You can bet we'll be seeing more of this sort of thing.

Northcoast Travelogue:7/26- 7/28

Just got back from another UCSF expedition, this time it only involved a doctor appointment which isn't bad by itself- in and out of there. At first I figured we'd drive down the night before and stay at the Super 8 Hotel in Cloverdale. That would be about 4 hours of easy driving, then the worst part of the trip: Cloverdale on south, the next morning. Only about two hours' drive which I figured be easy to do without even hurrying the next morning. But the wife made things complicated. She'd been doing that Wyndham Rewards thing where you earn points and supposedly a free stay after you acquire so many points. She had two reasons for not wanting to stay in Cloverdale: First; "what if there's an accident?" she said, suggesting a possible traffic tie up that would have us be late. She wanted to drive straight down from Eureka. Funny, because I used to be the one that imagined things to worry about. Second; she didn't want to stay at Super 8 Cloverdale unless we got a free night as they blew us off with that last time. Whatever. That seemed to me akin to biting off one's nose to spite your face. After all, anywhere else we might stay would likely cost the same. She finally suggested the Super 8 in Willits, which we'd never stayed at before (but it's a Wyndham Rewards hotel, too), although I'd tried once years ago. 

We finally tried making a reservation there which only Resulted in an e-mail saying we hadn't finished making our reservation. As with nearly all hotel web sites, the Super 8 Willits didn't work well, either. We ended up calling their 800 number that resulted in an e-mail confirming our reservation. I figured maybe we were ready to go. I stumbled upon this Cloverdale Oaks Inn while looking. Seemed like a nice place but the wife was again worried something might go wrong, so I dropped the idea. Wednesday morning we left early, too early for my tastes. We finally did it her way and got to UCSF just before noon. So much for her imaginations of something going wrong.We got done with the appointment and headed north to Willits. Now I was really wishing we'd gotten a room in Cloverdale- half the distance. We did stop at the 7-11 in Cloverdale to get my Super Gulp iced tea as I always do. Problem was, it was scorching hot there. The car thermometer showing it over 104 degrees.

We raced northward knowing full well it wasn't likely to get any cooler, And it didn't, with the thremomemter going over 105 at one point about half way to Willits.I was thinking this could get ugly.

As we left the 7-11, the wife brings up the Cloverdale Oaks Inn again. I'd actually asked the girl working at the 7-11 if she knew where it was but she'd never heard of it The wife wanted to go check it out and see what it was like. I didn't. I wanted to get to our hotel room and relax, but didn't say anything. We drove through Cloverdale figuring it was a small enough town we should easily be able to find the place. We couldn't so headed to Willits.

We got to the Willits Super 8, getting out of the car to be greeted by what seemed to be a blast furnace. It was scorching hot. I went to the front desk and all seemed well as the friendly guy indeed had our reservation. He quickly pointed us to our room which was unfortunately on the second floor. 

The last time I tried staying at the Willits Super 8 I was pretty much shown the door. We got stuck in Willits late one day because of snow. I went to Super 8 figuring they were the best shot at getting a room quickly. I go into the office and the guy working there- some middle eastern guy- was talking to a couple gals.

They were actually talking to him, having stayed there before, they were giving him strokes telling him how great he was. He was loving it

I stood there for maybe ten minutes,finally had enough and interrupted the guy's joyfest: I broke in: "Excuse me. Do you have any rooms available?". He didn't like that. Their conversation stopped, he turned and glared at me saying he didn't have any rooms but they should have some at the Baechtel Creek Inn behind Taco Bell. He gave me a brochure then turned back to his admirers.

I left, but wasn't about to stay at Baechtel Creek, especially since he told me the same family owned both hotels. We went to the south end of town and got a room at the Best Western which, while a bit over our budget at $120 a night and was pretty nice.

 I make no apologies for interupting their little joyfest. I needed a room and wasn't going to stand there an hour to see if they had one.

The guy working the front desk this time was different. If nothing else, quite friendly. So we took our stuff up to our room.  I have a problem with my hips and legs that makes navigating stairs difficult. The heat didn't help things, but we struggled to our room and turned on the air conditioner.

We could finally relax, except of course the wife asked what we should have for dinner. I really wasn't hungry and certainly didn't want to go looking for a place to eat. All I really wanted was some french fries and suggested we just walk down to Burger King a half a block to the south, That seemed ok with her so off we went, my problem being my legs hurt and the heat added insult to injury. Made for a long walk.

We made it, though, and stuffed our faces while some apparent Bernie Sanders supporters kept going in and out of the bathrooms for some reason. Real scraggly folks. I'm surprised the manager didn't inquire as to their activities, but maybe he knew them and was used to them.

We got done and struggled back to the hotel. Whew\! Too hot for me.

That was it for that day. All we could do at that point was watch TV and wait for the breakfast room to open.

Breakfast room was ok, about the norm for most I've been to. Then we loaded up our stuff and left and here I am at home now.

UFOs

It always irks me when someone asks "Do you believe in UFOs?". Stupid question as someone would have to be a fool to say there's no such thing as Unidentified Flying Objects. A better question would be if one believes extraterrestrial craft have visited earth. Earth Sky News comes to the rescue with a list of what many UFOs really are. No alien spacecraft on the list, unfortunately. I have seen a number of rocket launches and airborne missiles. They can be baffling if you're not used to seeing them.

Marijuana Being Used For Dementia in Sonoma Co.

More examples of marijuana's therapeutic value in today's Santa Rosa Press- Democrat.It seems a number of assisted care facilities in Sonoma County are quietly dispensing medical marijuana to treat alzhemiers and others suffering from dementia: "In appropriate dosage, typically using edibles and tinctures, cannabis can have a “robust therapeutic effect,” said Dr. Phillip Grob, a Santa Rosa geriatric psychiatrist who has recommended marijuana for 50 to 100 patients since 2003.In my book, cannabis is much safer than (antipsychotic) prescription medications,” he said."

Hardin on Class Warfare and Human Rights

Lost Coast Outpost columnist John Hardin wrote a good column yesterday dealing with class warfare in Southern Humboldt. Seems to me the same could be written about Eureka or any of the cities north of Garberville: "I didn’t start the class war in Southern Humboldt. I just answered it. I got really sick of seeing the way the middle class treat the poor and homeless around here, and I got sick of the propaganda campaign in the local media. If the poor and homeless of SoHum were black, you’d call it overt, institutional and brutally violent racism, but it just happens to be aimed at mostly white people. It’s just as ugly as racism, and just as hateful, but it’s something different. It’s a caste system, a community segregated by class." I realize many might consider this advocating attracting all the low class bums to our towns. I tend to see it as simply asking that we respect those bums' human right to exist and walk the streets.

New Crop Circles

You don't hear about crop circles much anymore, but the Daily Sheeple tells us of a new one that showed up recently in a British wheat field. No one knows who did it or why it was done. The owners of the field are just pissed at the damage done to their crops. I saw a TV show years ago featuring some guys that claimed to be responsible for some crop circles. They even showed how they did it. They got in a line, side by side, with a rope between them and walked through the field, turning when needed. Seemed to work. Whether that was how this one was done, who knows?

Democrats Panicking Over Polls?

Just got an e-mail which included the graph above from some Democrat outfit seeming to be in a panic over the latest Poll between Trump and Hillary. They're using the e-mail for fundraising. Too funny. Isn't it a bit early for the panic?

Meet The Ingalls

Any Little House on the Prairie fans out there? Count me as one. In fact, I thought all of Michael Landon's shows were fantastic. For Little House fans, I stumbled onto this slide show of pictures of the real Ingalls, including the kids The picture on the left is of the real Charles and Caroline Ingalls. I'll have to admit Michael Landon is much easier on the eyes. There's also some narrative included of where the Ingalls lived and their circumstances. It put me in Little House heaven (not to be confused with Landon's Highway To Heaven). Addendum: Hmmmm??? I just realized something's missing: No picture of Nellie Olsen, the girl we all love to hate?

New Toilet Paper Holder

I actually don't know how new this is, but I love it. Talk about reinventing the wheel, or making a better mousetrap. It's a toilet paper holder you can set on the floor in front of you, or wherever might be most convenient. Funny, cause the wife and I were just discussing how the toilet paper holders in many hotels and motels are often out of reach while you're sitting on the pot. They're either further than an arm's reach away from the toilet, or off behind you at an angle that makes it difficult to turn and get some paper. She went shopping yesterday and came home with this thing that acts as toilet paper storage in the body, with a thing on top to put a roll on for easy access. I LOVE IT! Haven't had a chance to use it yet but I'm sure you'll all be on the edge of your {toilet] seats wondering how well it works.

Solar Eclipse: August 21

Earth/Sky News reports well have a solar eclipse next month. The first one since 1991. Whether we'll be able to see it from here, I'm not sure, but looks like it will be close. Let's think ahead for eclipse activities. I was thinking we could all hold hands in the street and sing kumbaya, or maybe this would be the perfect time for human sacrifices?

Republicans Claim Delegate Votes Changed

I haven't heard any of this from mainstream media as we did with the Democratic Convention and Sanders, but some Republicans are apparently claiming their votes at the Republican convention were changed to Trump despite their original vote, according to Think Progress. I'll have to admit I can believe this sort of thing going on with Democrats, but not Republicans. As one local Republican told me, "We believe in the system too much".Probably to a fault, I would think.

Koch Brothers Backing Clinton?

It appears the famous Koch brothers have pulled their support from a Republican senatorial candidate after that candidate expressed support for Donald Trump. They're now sending their money to Clinton. This article from The Guardian explains the tangled web of financial support in the race.

Planks and Partisanship

The Libertarian Republic web site points out Republicans don't mind Democrat positions and platforms when they come from a Republican. They point to Ivanka Trump's speech calling for gender wage equality which brought applause from convention delegates: "Ivanka Trump used debunked liberal stats and talking points to make a case for the federal government mandating “wage equality.” She talked about the supposed “gender wage gap” and how her father was going to fix it. Whereas Republicans traditionally oppose government wage controls and are usually quick to point out that the “gender wage gap” is not supported by evidence, last night the GOP sheep bleated and cheered for heavy-handed, top-down, liberal economic policies." One of the fellows at the Libertarian National Facebook page suggested earlier this morning if Trump delivered a Clinton speech he'd likely have gotten a standing ovation. I suspect he's right. That's how partisanship works much of the time. No concern for issues, just the party and its people.

Reason Looks At Trump's Speech

And the writer isn't too positive about it; "The essence of that argument is that America is unsafe and decline, and that as a result it should be cut off from the world, plunged into fear, and managed by a simple-minded strongman whose ego and bluster know no limits. This was the argument that Trump made last night. It is his pitch for the presidency."

Antiwar.com Looks At Trump Speech

Antiwar dot com seems a little more impressed with Trump's speech than I am. They even quote him from the New York Times on civil liberties, something I don't recall him addressing last night. In fact, I figured that was likely the last thing on his mind: “I think right now when it comes to civil liberties, our country has a lot of problems, and I think it’s very hard for us to get involved in other countries when we don’t know what we are doing and we can’t see straight in our own country. We have tremendous problems when you have policemen being shot in the streets, when you have riots, when you have Ferguson. When you have Baltimore. When you have all of the things that are happening in this country – we have other problems, and I think we have to focus on those problems. When the world looks at how bad the United States is, and then we go and talk about civil liberties, I don’t think we’re a very good messenger.” Not bad, especially for him.

The Trump Speech

No, I hadn't actually planned on watching it. After all, what's the point in listening to a carefully scripted speech? Okay, I suppose there is some entertainment value. But I laid down on the couch yesterday evening to watch the Channel 3 News- the local stuff. I quickly fell asleep only to wake up some time later to find Donald Trump yelling at me. I figured what the heck. Probably not much else on and, since a friend in Redding seems a die hard Trump supporter, maybe I could find a few things to change her mind. I wasn't impressed, although I nearly always enjoy a good speaker no matter what side of the aisle they're from. Libertarian though I may be, I didn't mind his anti- immigrant rants. It's probably about time someone brought that up. I did notice one thing: During the entire speech he never mentioned freedom or liberty once. And it wasn't just me. After the speech was over, one of the news folk/commentators that were covering the speech pointed out those used to be key words used by right wing candidates regularly during campaign speeches but they were noticeably absent from Trump's speech. I might consider that Trump left them out deliberately as those on the left find the concepts of liberty, and probably even the word, frightening, but I don't think he's sophisticated enough to think that deeply into it. Besides, when has Trump ever seemed to be concerned about alienating anyone with what he says? I did see the omission as a sign of his mindset, though, which suggests he wouldn't be any more mindful, if at all, about preserving American freedom than Clinton. There's no doubt of that. As I see it, Trump is pretty much like Clinton: He's in it for himself just as she is for herself.

Sidestepping The Law?

A well written and hard- hitting letter to the editor in the Willits News discusses evidence commonly used against many of us by police and prosecutors nowadays: "The American public tend to believe that drug sniffing dogs, DNA evidence, fingerprints, hair sample comparisons and the testimony of a police officer are highly accurate forms of evidence used to establish the guilt of someone accused of a crime. Wrong."

N.C. Journal on Guns In Eureka

Maybe it's just me but I'm somewhat bothered by the tone of Thadeus Greenson's article in the North Coast Journal today. He writes about what is the supposed increase in guns confiscated by police in Eureka. Chief Mills is quoted and it reads to me as if Mills is bothered by the number of guns in town, too.But, maybe it's just me? I've wondered for some time when we'd start hearing complaints of the number of guns in the city and county, with the influx of people moving here from Southern California. As for me, it's one of the things I liked about Humboldt when I moved here up in the '70s: Live and let live and lots of guns. I didn't see a lot of guns, but heard of them through locals I met. I got into the gun thing myself after a bit at one point owning over 40, many of which I sold when I realized it was silly cluttering up my house with guns that I would likely never shoot. Yep, 40 guns, but no harm done. As is the case with most up here who own lots of guns- no harm done. I've always wondered when we'd start hearing cries for more local gun laws from all these SoCal immigrants? Hard to say if that's Greenson's intent with his story or if he just needed something to write about this week. In any case, there's tons of guns up here and not really much violence because of it, despite the spin Greenson tries to put on it and, as the Daily Sheeple points out, the places that suffer the most violence from firearms are the ones with the strictest gun laws. We don't need any new local gun laws, another one of those things where if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it.

The Freddy: Political Ignoramus?

I was laying on my living room couch yesterday watching M.A.S.H. An in- law, who shall remain nameless, but considers himself politically astute pops his head in my front door, looks at the TV and asks what I'm watching- himself probably never having watched M.A.S.H before. I told him I was watching MASH. He gets an incredulous look on his face and asks, "You're not watching the Republican convention?". I reply "No, why would I?" (and thinking about it, I have to wonder why he wasn't?). He goes on to say I could get a look at our next president. I tell him I'm not voting for Trump but voting for Gary Johnson. Mr. politically astute looks puzzled and asks who Gary Johnson is, asking something like "Is he a third?". I say Yes and the guy tucks his tail between his legs and leaves. I really feel he's the norm among most voters: Sees things as us vs. them or Red vs. Blue and can't comprehend anything other than that. Forgive me for not playing that game.

Eureka Voting: Ward or At Large

Thanks for the tip on how to zoom in my browser on the Lost Coast Outpost web site, except it didn't quite work. It did get me to think outside the box and try a different browser, though, and I got the site up fine using Google Chrome. Nice, since I got to read Matt Owen's Matt In The Middle column which I always enjoy. Today Matt looks at both sides of the debate of Ward vs At Large voting, a subject that seems to always be brought up by those from The Left. At least the last two times this being brought up by councilgal Linda Atkins, if memory serves me correct. I've gotten the impression lefties like to push ward voting because they like to divide people into groups but, whatever. I don't see any problem with the way we vote in Eureka now. As I always say, if it works, don't try and fix it.

Lost Coast Outpost Site Problems?

Anyone else having problems viewing the Lost Coast Outpost web site? Since I've been back, whenever I go there all I get is a miniature version of it, so small I can't read what's on it. I e-mailed Hank Sims yesterday and he seemed unaware of any problems with it. Regardless. That's one of my favorite, must visit, sites and it bums me not to be able to read it. Is it just me?

Medical MJ Track and Trace= BS

Not sure why news of a proposal to track and trace medical marijuana in the county pisses me off. After all, it should come as no surprise that politicians and bureaucrats want to get involved in the marijuana industry. I guess I'm annoyed because it seems to be yet another solution in search of a problem. What's the problem this is supposed to solve? They can't just let the marijuana industry do its own thing as it has so successfully so far. Nope. Some in government just have to get their fair share of it. So what will this track and trace accomplish. According to KIEM-TV it will " ... create a brand of Humboldt County medical cannabis, it will inspire local growers to enter the legal medical cannabis business." "The crop will be given a traceable stamp, created by SICPA, which is coded with tons of information like its strain, and where it came from. Each link in the chain before the product were to get to a patient, will scan all of this information to create an effective tracking process. The patient can then use the stamp's QR code with their smart phone in order to verify that their product is legitimate." This seems totally unnecessary to me. I'll admit to not being in the marijuana loop, but I haven't even heard a whisper of complaints regarding people being defrauded by whatever kind of marijuana they thought they were buying. I've never heard any of the pot smokers I know express concerns about what they were getting- again, a solution in search of a problem. And so it goes with Humboldt. I guess that shows we're no different than the rest of the state or country in that regard: Government first. What works later.

Reason Looks At AUMA

Jacob Sullum of Reason magazine takes a look at our upcoming Adult Use of Marijuana Act. The way I read it, AUMA might be worse than the way it is now as it seems to increase penalties in some instances; ""the toughest regulations of any adult-use marijuana proposal submitted to date," There's also information on proponents and opponents of the initiative, including a hard to swallow statement by one opponent: Another anti-AUMA group, Stop Pot 2016, may be actively undermining the prohibitionist case with its outlandish claims. The group's president, Roger Morgan, recently told Reason TV "almost all of the mass murders we've had in recent years" were caused by marijuana.

Newsom's Safety For None Act of 2016

I like the way this article compares Gavin Newsom's so- called "Safety for All Act"- on the ballot this November- with pre World War 2 disarmament efforts in Europe. I've never like Newsom, even before he came up with this ballot initiative. He strikes me as just another politician that wants power at any cost, along the lines of Hillary Clinton. In regards banning or restricting things, I find the silence deafening after that truck attack in France that killed or injured all those people. I haven't heard one cry for more control over motor vehicles as a result of that attack. Maybe had it happened in California we'd be hearing something?

Buddleias

I'd intended to mention this in my recent travelogue, but forgot. That's a buddleia bloom to the left. They're commonly called butterfly bushes because they supposedly attract butterflies. Problem is, until Saturday, I'd never seen a butterfly on one. We stopped at One Log House in Piercy on Saturday. As I was sitting at a picnic bench out front, I noticed a budleia between my bench and the gift shop. What got me to notice it was a large yellow butterfly fluttering around it, and it stuck around. Maybe buddleias do attract butterflies after all? This about.com page tells about butterfly bushes and why many don't recommend planting them. That fits with my own experience as I don't know how many times I've been hired to remove them or cut them way back. They're fairly invasive plants, but most airhead gardeners don't think about the consequences of what they plant. Like the wife years ago: She got a buddleia somewhere, came home and asked me to plant it in the flower bed in front of our front porch. I told her they usually get out of hand quickly so we shouldn't plant it anywhere. She'd have none of that and insisted.As I expected, by the next year it was getting too big and she insisted I remove it, leaving the hard work of digging it out and disposing of it to me. I did that quick enough and lay the whole thing on my front yard. An airhead gardener friend came by and wanted it to plant on his property near Fortuna. I warned him of the consequences but he'd have none of that. But, at least he got rid of it for me. He moved some years ago so now that plant is someone elses problem.

Candidates Emerge in Eureka Council Race

Local political busy- body John Chiv tells us of at least two people throwing their hats in the ring for the next Eureka City Council race. Matt Owen and John Yalcinkaya (aka Liberal John)have announced their intentions, bringing a definite Left vs. Right aspect to the race, or does it? It will be interesting to see what issues come to the forefront here. The only one that comes to mind is the homeless thing and I can't help but think that's become less an issue for most of us since the break up of the Devil's Playground. The homeless are certainly still out there and seem even more visible from my perspective, but what are you going to do about that? It would seem to me a fool's errand to try and remove them from the streets entirely. Who will I vote for? Too early to say, although I'll admit I consider Matt Owen a friend and enjoy his Matt in the Middle column we see on occasion in the Lost Coast Outpost. From the sometimes nasty comments made on LoCo towards Matt's column, I'd be tempted to vote for Matt using those comments as an excuse. But, I won't. I'll wait and see what issues emerge and how the candidates advocate dealing with them. While this may rightfully be seen as a left vs. right race (as they usually are to some extent), I'm not sure we can point to any good or bad things the current city council has done that we can credit to one side or the other.

Northcoast Travelogue 7/16

Yep. As some of you might have guessed, I've been out of town, thus some of the cryptic posts I've made here the last week or so. I've found it's near impossible to post here using the Amazon Fire tablet and it's great to be back on my real computer. Watched part of a TV show last night I found amusing and will look for again. Great Minds with Dan Harmon was fun. Last night he was some gay guy that tried to introduce Harry Truman to gay rights. Fun show and stayed that way. Good explanation on Dan's part, I'll add. I was expecting him to spoil it and bring wedding cakes into the mix but he avoided that so I enjoyed the show. Stayed at at the Super 8 Hotel in Cloverdale last night- my new favorite place. I was surprised to wake up this morning to find I couldn't get cell phone service although I'm sure I had it last time we were there. Maybe it was my phone, though, as I got a NO Service message from Cloverdale all the way to Eureka. Gonna get a new phone, I guess, although I'd decided that before the No Service mess. At least part of the Willits bypass is open now. No signs to warn of it until you get outside Willits to the north, then a detour sign directing you to the right where you're led to the last half mile or so of the bypass. Not real exciting and didn't seem like a freeway at all. Seemed more like a copy of the current 101 of Willits north. Go give it a try.

The California Conservation Corp

https://lostcoastoutpost.com/r Cute article on the conservation Corp in today's Lost Coast Outpost including a piece by a current CCCer on what its like to be a fireighter. Nicely done, but I'm jealous. I remember back when I was around 15 applying to be a firefighter with CCC, or maybe it was .CDF?.I wanted that job so bad I could taste it, only to get a reply from whoever it was saying they'd already hired their crews for the year. Oh,well. Probably just a well as I hadn't considered poison oak was a major problem for me back then.I would have bee miserable on the fire line with poison oak on a hot summer day. I later found some ways to avoid poison oak,but that might not have helped when it burned and the smoke had the bad stuff. So, jealous? Probably not too much anymore and I'm way too old for that sort of thing now.

Stein On Sanders and Clinton

http://www.opednews.com/populum/pagem.php?f=Jill-Stein-Response-to-San-by-Jill-Stein-Jill-Stein-160712-385.html The Green Party's, Jill Stein, looks at Bernie Sanders endorsement of Hillary Clinton.She's right. But, of course, its easy for her to say.

Sanders Is The System

I watched Bernie Sanders endorse Clinton on C Span a short time ago. No surprise there.It was kinda nice just after that, to see mention on MSNBC ofsomeone pointing out this makes Sanders part of the same rigged system he's supposedly opposed to.I understand going along to get along, which is a large part of the reason Sanders did what he did.its still nice to see The Lefts hypocrisy out there for all to see.

The War Party Marches On

tV news today tells us Obama is sending 560 or more troops to Iaq. This time, we are told, it will stabilize that country. I won't blame Obama. There's no doubt hes facing the same presurre for war as all that have come before him. The same nes, I'm guessing, that talked George Bush Jr. Into attacking Iraq in the first place. that pressure must be enormous as all recent presidents seem to have succumbed to it. Makes me wonder if even Gary Johnson can resist that siren song?

The Evil left

Not sure I can argue wit this diatribeabout The Le: https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/07/lew-rockwell/unique-evil-left/

100 Year Anniverry:Kent State

https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/kent-state/ Lewrockwell.on reminds us its the 100 year anniversary of atthe fatal shootings of college students by national guardsmen Kent Stat4e University Not sure I its quite10 years. The artticlesays Mar4 2014.I suppose thats close enough. For a good book that explores the whole incident I'd recommend Kent State, by James Michener. No absolute answers offered, but probably the best account available. My feelings about it haven't changed much over the years. I'm still ofthe min most of the dead got what they deserved,save one who was around 1/4 mile away from the action when shot The rest,though, took dvntage of what they thought were opponents who would do them no harm,tossing rocks, bottles an such figuring why not? What are thy gonna do? Shoot us? I read a recent account from a student who claimed the national guard deliberately aimed and firedv at them. I'm not buying that.Had the Guard wanted to, they could have eaiy killed them all.

A Plug For RRND

Just thought I'd include a plug today for y internet buddy,Tom Knapp's,Rational Review News Digest. It comes five days a week, no charge, although he does throw in a fundraising plea very once in a while. Where the finds all the news stories he include is beyond me.Suffice it to sy ,he's a news unkie,though So sign up free with noobligation. I miss the newsletter. When it doesn't show up,as I'm sure will you.subscription field is in upper right: http://rationalreview.news-digests.com/todays-edition

instructions from Earth/ SkyNews on following Juno ,that Jupiter satellite, live:


Not sure if this will work.it didn't. http://earthsky.org/space/juno-makes-closest-yet-jupiter-flyby-of-july-4-2016

Press Democrat Looks at AUMA

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/5800058-181/north-coast-pot-growers-law?ref=most&artslide=0

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat covers a recent meeting by p
owers that be shout the Adult Use of Marijuana Act,scheduled to be on our ballots this November. As I've wrote here before, most I've spoken to have said AUMA could be a wolf in sheep's clothing. We shall see.



One concern of mine would be that if enough feel that way and vote it down, those on the dark side will claim it as evidence of growing public sentiment against legalized pot. For that reason alone, I might be tempted to vote for it, but who knows?

Press Democrat Looks at AUMa

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/5800058-181/north-coast-pot-growers-law?ref=most&artslide=0

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat covers a recent meeting by p
owers that be shout the Adult Use of Marijuana Act,scheduled to be on our ballots this November. As I've wrote here before, most I've spoken to have said AUMA could be a wolf in sheep's clothing. We shall see.



One concern of mine would be that if enough feel that way and vote it down, those on the dark side will claim it as evidence of growing public sentiment against legalized pot. For that reason alone, I might be tempted to vote for it, but who knows?

Meet Jupiter

this just in, and first I've seen of today's pictures of Jupiter. Not what I'd expected:
http://earthsky.org/space/spectacular-new-images-of-jupiter.

Early4 July Chat

\My intrernret buddy, tom Knapp,beats me to the punch again with His look at independence Day.Pretty even handed, I thought:

hot://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/6566

2.2 Million On The list

http://thehackernews.com/2016/06/world-check-terrorism-database.html

A researcher claims he's found an old terrorist database list.Thatwould be the no fly list and likely those not allowed to buy firearmsmaybe that will give us an idea of who's on it and how it works. I need to see if I'm on it. I wouldn't be surprised.

Any off you otherwise peaceful people find your name on It?

jupiter flyby July4

http://time.com/4391297/juno-jupiter-july-4/?xid=newsletter-brief
Time magazine reminds us a dsp probe will brmsking a close pass to the planet Jupiter in a couple days (July 4).iitry to stay up on this kind vof stuff but this is the first I'd heard of it. Ivwasnt aware the probe had even been launched.


I read many years ago that Jupiters gravity was so strong not even radio waves can escape it.ozi suppose that's irrelevant I since it would be foolhardy to try and land people on it.

I'm excited to see what the probe finds. Let's just hope the Borg or xylons aren't using Jupiter for a hideout.

Cyberwar On Tv

Never atched the show before, b utsome of you may want to catch last nights Charlie Rose show onPBS, if I tuns again.Interesting show.

It stated out talking about cancer and gene therapy for the same.Then they moved on to a discussion of the realities pof computer warfare and cyberwar,focusing on a current movie about stuxnet virus,which was deployed some years ago against Iran by the US and Israel.

No survival tips I could glean from the show. Best I could figure was to just stay offline, but that's not for me. Suffice it to say cyber warfare could change just about every aspect of life as we know. it in this country. I hope were well defended.

threyll very likely show it again as its on my TV as I write this.

Google does Earthquakes Now

Time magazine let's us know what the busy bodies at Google are up to. Now they're adding some eartquke search function to your brower..it kinda reads to me like trying to reinvent the wheel but, since its their dime. Haven't had a
chance to try it yet myself

http://time.com/4388508/google-search-feature-earthquakes/?xid=newsletter-brief