Posts from — May 2018

1,475:

…in April U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials had told Congress that the agency “was unable to determine with certainty the whereabouts of 1,475 unaccompanied alien children.”

Surge in migrant children at government shelters as Trump admin pushes ‘zero tolerance’:

A total of 30,000 children have been referred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement so far this fiscal year, HHS said.

Hurricane Maria death toll may be more than 4,600 in Puerto Rico:

That is more than 9/11 and more than Katrina, but Drumpf gave his response an A+, and isn’t any better prepared for this year’s season that officially starts tomorrow.

Almost 7 per day: the number of lies that Trump is currently averaging.

Today Trump is fishing for apologies from sundry people for various “insults”. When is he going to apologize for any of his lies and insults? Respect is earned – he hasn’t even applied for the “job”…

The National Hurricane Center stopped issuing advisories on Alberto at 4AM CDT and handed it off to the Weather Prediction Center. Heavy rains from the storm are still a flood risk for the Mid-South and the Midwest.

Roseanne Barr started the day as the star of a highly rated sitcom on ABC and then posted a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, an advisor to former President Obama. She, the rest of the cast, and the show’s crew are now unemployed. ABC, a division of ‘The Mouse’ [Disney], dropped the show as they viewed the Tweet as a violation of network standards. Ms Barr claimed the tweet was a joke.

Position: 31.4N 86.2W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [350°] near 12 mph [19 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 996 mb ↑.

Currently about 50 miles [ 80km] West-Northwest of Dothan, Alabama.

At 10PM CDT all tropical watches and warnings have been canceled and Alberto has been downgraded to a subtropical depression.

Alberto is beginning to interact with the land and losing strength. At 4PM CDT Alberto came ashore near Laguna Beach, Florida about 43 miles [70km] East of me.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

This is a picture from one of the columbariums at the Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place of many of those who served the United States since the middle of the 19^th century.

That is my Father’s marker. He didn’t know those located around his marker, but they all shared service to their country as part of their life.

The country continues to ask for service and people still respond to that call. As you think about the sacrifices represented by Arlington and other cemeteries, ask yourself if you have done what you could to prevent misuse of the willingness of some to serve.

It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Position: 28.5N 85.8W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [315°] near 9 mph [15 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 65 mph [100 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [120 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 115 miles [185 km].
Minimum central pressure: 991 mb.

Currently about 95 miles [ 155km] South-Southwest of Apalachicola, Florida.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Gulf Coast from the Suwannee River, Florida to the Mississippi/Alabama border.

A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for portions of the northern Gulf Coast of the United States from Crystal River, Florida, westward to Navarre, Florida.

Alberto has strengthened and slowed down. The current track looks like it will be closer to me, but still to the East leaving me on the weak side.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

I’m testing a new anti-spam program. I was satisfied with Akismet, but after updating today, they told me that I had to re-register with WordPress.com. I humored them up to the point where I saw a Google “Lazy G” appear. To hell with that.

I’m trying out a new plug-in, so there may be problems as it gets ‘acquainted’ with y’all.

If anyone is in a European country, I envy you and I’m not tracking you or anyone else. I have enough trouble tracking down my phone and my socks to worry about other people. I don’t knowingly use cookies for anything other than snacks, but I assume WordPress uses a session tag of some sort to keep track of things.

If you are commenting, your chosen user name and a web site, if you chose to include one, are the only things displayed. The e-mail addresses which have to be reasonable but not necessarily real, are used to make spoofing of commenters more difficult.

The GDPR took effect today It appears to be a melding of the worst ideas of the former GDR {German Democratic Republic] and the DPRK [Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea] in that it is officious, intrusive, and ‘for your own good’ whether you want it or not. Despite the fact Cinco Bayou is still in Florida, I have been getting e-mail from everyone I have ever done business with telling me about their new privacy policy.

I guess I’ll go batten down hatches for Alberto’s arrival tomorrow morning.

Position: 23.9N 84.6W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [015°] near 13 mph [20 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1001 mb ↓.

Currently about 120 miles [195 km] West-Southwest of the Dry Tortugas.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Dry Tortugas in the Florida Keys; the west coast of the Florida peninsula from Bonita Beach to the Anclote River; and the northern Gulf Coast from the Aucilla River westward to the Mississippi/Alabama border.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect from the Mississippi/Alabama border to the Mouth of the Pearl River.

A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for portions of the northern Gulf Coast of the United States from Crystal River, Florida, westward to the Mississippi/Alabama border.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 19.4N 85.7W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: East [090°] near 5 mph [ 7 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1006 mb.

Currently about 180 miles [ 290 km] South-Southwest of the western tip of Cuba.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from Tulum to Cabo Catoche; the western Cuban province or Pinar del Rio; and for portions of the northern Gulf Coast of the United States from Indian Pass, Florida, westward to Grand Isle, Louisiana, including Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas, and metropolitan New Orleans.

A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for portions of the northern Gulf Coast of the United States from Horseshoe Beach, Florida, westward to the Mouth of the Mississippi River.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Towel Day

You do know where your towel is?

Invest 90L is becoming more organized and is forecast to be a sub-tropical or tropical depression over the weekend.

After spending more than $200 over the course of several months I was finally able to satisfy all of the absurd requirements of obtaining my Florida driver’s license that complies with the requirements of the RealID law. I have located my original “Certificate of Birth Registration” that is so fragile that it is subject to actually breaking if you aren’t careful and my original Social Security card, but the Certificate doesn’t have an impressed seal and the design of the Social Security card has changed, so I had to get new ones – a process that cost over $100 and took 2½ months (much of the expense was for ‘expedited handling’ and ‘next day shipping’).

Republicans don’t raise taxes, unless they call them fees so that they are free to double or triple them. 😈

Drumpf cancelled his summit after the North Koreans took umbrage over the threats from John Bolton and Mike Pence. Apparently the current administration isn’t aware of the diplomatic custom of not threatening to nuke people you are attempting to negotiate with. We are still waiting for Drumpf to actually sign a deal with anybody over anything… [Note: it is highly unlikely that the Trump-Kim ‘challenge coins’ will be delivered, or that there will be refunds for those who ordered them.]

While the Hurricane Season doesn’t officially start until June 1^st, there is a low pressure area off the East coast of the Yucatan that may develop into a tropical system early next week.

NBC reports that Michael Cohen’s business partner takes a plea deal:

Evgeny Freidman, 47, who is known as the Taxi King, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a low-level felony in Albany County Court, in upstate New York, for stealing nearly $5 million in state taxes and has agreed to cooperate in state or federal investigations. The deal, in which he will pay the state $5 million but avoid jail time, was first reported in The New York Times.

For years, Freidman, a Russian immigrant, has managed Cohen’s taxi medallions, which give owners the right to operate New York City yellow cabs. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is probing alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, referred an ongoing investigation of Michael Cohen to federal prosecutors in New York.

These are state charges, so the Presidential pardon doesn’t apply, and Michael Cohen has state and Federal targets on him. If he wants to see his kids grow up, he is going to have to cop a plea.

Meanwhile Drumpf is abusing his power trying to force the Postal Service to double Amazon’s shipping rates because the Washington Post writes negative stories about him; he is obstructing the Mueller investigation by forcing the Justice Department to reveal confidential sources; and he is waffling on the meeting with Kim Jong-un as it doesn’t look like a deal is going to happen.

When the notification appeared that there was an update for Windows 10, there was no warning that after installing this update your stable, reliable in-house network would no longer function as you are accustomed to using it, and make it worthless to you.

The latest update for Windows 10 eliminates the HomeGroup. You have to have the complete name [computer\directory\file name] of any file you are looking for to access it. You can no longer browse your shared directories.

The last reason I had for continuing with the Windows 10 “experiment”, connectivity, is now gone, and I will be removing everything of interest on the disk and installing Ubuntu Mate. I don’t know why they did it, and don’t care. When the support for Windows 7 ends, so does Windows on my machines.

I’m dealing with a number of other issues at the moment and this was one aggravation too many…

So the Israel Defense Force killed 60 Palestinians and wonded almost 3,000 others. When Israel was hauled before the Security Council US UN ambassador Nikki Haley said that there was a double standard for Israel. That is true – every time the Security Council attempts to sanction Israel, the US vetoes the action.

Israel works under a variation of Roger Taney’s opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford: “Palestinians have no rights which the government of Israel is bound to respect…”

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Possibly related to the “For Sale” sign he wears around his neck, it is now being reported that Don Jr. met with a Gulf emissary who offered help with the election. Erik Prince, an Israeli, and a representative of the the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and the UAE – why doesn’t Junior just see if he can get a plea deal, because anything his soon-to-be ex-wife doesn’t get, the courts will.

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There has been a Las Vegas Police witness statement dump about the mass shooting at the country music concert. Buried in it are statements from people who encountered the shooter. He talked about Ruby Ridge, Waco and other alt-reality sore points. Kelly Conway’s “alternate facts” and “unique content” have real world consequences. Some people believe and act on conspiracy “theories”.