Woolsey's beating the drum again

Opinion piece at TheHill.com:

According to the Congressional EMP Commission, a single warhead delivered by North Korean satellite could blackout the national electric grid and other life-sustaining critical infrastructures for over a year—killing 9 of 10 Americans by starvation and societal collapse. 

Two North Korean satellites, the KMS-3 and KMS-4, presently orbit over the U.S. on trajectories consistent with surprise EMP attack.

Every time I read about our EMP vulnerability, I can help but think how many "smart people" in the late 1930s into 1941 dismissed the idea of a major carrier based assault on naval forces, more specifically, a Japanese air assault on America's Pacific naval hub at Pearl Harbor.

Market jitters

Rough start on Wall Street this morning.

Via CNBC:

Dow falls triple digits as optimism on Trump agenda diminishes; financials lag

Before anti-Trumpers get giddy over this, consider the impact on public and private pension funds, 401Ks and IRAs as the stock market takes a dive.

Is this just a blip? Or a signal that anti-Trump politics may turn our long (and tired) bull market into a bearish one.

Less democratic Democrats

"After losing Congress, the left consolidated its authority in the White House. After losing the White House, the left shifted its center of authority to Federal judges and unelected government officials. Each defeat led the radicalized Democrats to relocate from more democratic to less democratic institutions." - Daniel Greenfield, writing at Front Page Mag

"Gun-Totin' Left-wingers"

Out in Arizona.

Yes, there's pictures to go along with the story. 

Paging Speaker Ryan...

Sent by a friend regarding last week's ugly health care bill debacle in the House of Representatives:

"Mr. Ryan, you continue with your mantra, that the GOP is now a governing party not an opposition party. These are words that apply to you. You failed to develop a plan that embraced market capitalism and you did not involve the GOP conservatives in the early phases of drafting your plan. You tried to force this plan through, adopted a few changes, but mostly continued with big-government ideas and much of Obamacare's essential elements. The failure to govern is on the GOP leadership. And the failure to uphold the repeal promise with an actual repeal of most of Obamacare is also on the GOP leadership. These troubling circumstances could have been avoided."
~ Mark Levin, 3/24/17 

I personally suspect many in the GOP establishment, perhaps Speaker Ryan himself, is pleased to have thrown a stumbling block in front of President Trump and his agenda.

GOP momentum has been crushed by internal division, by Ryan's exclusionary games within House Republicans.  Stalemate, both within the Republican Party, and with the Democrats, becomes order of the day.

Status quo is here to stay unless President Trump finds the means and will to blast things wide open like he did on the campaign trail last year.

Wind versus Coal

When it comes to power generation, "renewable" still appears to be in the gimmick stage and seems, at best, inefficient when contrasted with tried and true coal.

In the Australian NEM grid, there are 43 wind plants, and around 2400 turbines on poles, and for 14 years they’ve been building them. Despite that, they’re still not delivering enough power to replace a 53 year old tired worn out coal fired plant that can still manage to get all its generators working. 

Cash strapped consumers

People today have been so propagandized with consumerism, many are no longer able to determine the difference between needs and wants.

Spending on frivolity is likely a key reason why so many consumers would have trouble raising cash to deal with a real emergency.

About a third of consumers say they would have trouble coming up with an emergency $2,000, according to a new study released Monday.

Deep state, Trump trends, and crashing firearms pricing...

A regular listener says this week's Don and Doug was one of our better shows.

Don offers perspective on how the so-called deep state has come to lean hard to the left.

Last 45 minutes of the program, we get into the hows and whys behind the rapid drop in some modern retail firearm prices - and what some of the ramifications may be of an apparent gun glut.

The age old question...

How much ammo is enough ammo?

Ol' Remus shares some ciphering:

Is 1,000 rounds for your battle rifle enough for a Mad Max collapse? Let's do some fifth grade arithmetic. Twenty rounds a week is 1,040 rounds a year. Or say a hundred rounds a month, which is 1,200 rounds a year. About the same. Figure three years and it comes to 3,120 to 3,600 rounds. Call it 3,000 rounds. So, 1,000 rounds seems low. If it's too much you end up with a surplus and bragging rights. If it's not enough you end up dead. Or you may end up dead with a surplus. 

Look at it another way, a Mad Max collapse with extra Mad. One firefight a month using 160 rounds each, which is 8 twenty-round magazines, comes to 1,920 rounds per year. Let's be optimistic and assume you can survive thirty six gun battles—thirty five sure, but thirty six? Figuring three years it totals 5,760 rounds. 

If the premises are reasonable, and who knows if they are, a stash of 3,000 to 6,000 rounds would be about right. More than you have? Cheer up, it's a near certainty something other than gunfire will get you anyway.

The "leak" that played well for Trump

Tuesday was a strange night for MSNBC.

The cable news channel likely had a ratings bonanza, reporting it had a copy of a Trump tax return.

But the "leak" seems to have worked in Trump's favor, showing he paid a higher tax rate in '05 than Barack Obama in 2015.

There's also this I saw on Twitter:

President Trump 2005 Tax Rate: 25%n
Bernie Sanders 2014 Tax Rate: 13.5% pic.twitter.com/b2mRepMc0h

— Brittany Pettibone (@BrittPettibone) March 15, 2017

Also likely working in Trump's favor, the "leak" likely threw audience that might nornmally watch CNN into MSNBC's pocket. CNN's the cable news outfit that's seems to be trying hardest to be a deliberate thorn in Trump's side.

It may be a couple days before we know how much of a hit CNN took Tuesday night, it seems Neilsen's fast-turn ratings system has had issues in recent days.

Tread wear

Had trouble scaling a hillside the other day. Next day, same hillside seemed much less challenging in a new pair of hiking shoes. 

In suburbia, I can wear a pair of shoes until the soles are about slick. 

In the mountains, I notice I sometimes have trouble keeping sure footing once soles are only 50 percent gone.

Seriously?

Says here folks in places like NYC are paying up to $90k a year to make sure they have an escape boat waiting if civilization goes into collapse mode.

What are the chances the assets will still be in place - or in the same hands - in a collapse situation?

What means will be available to enforce such contracts.

Lawyers? Courts?

Gimme a break.

LIght posting

I guess you could say I'v been busy further immersing myself in the local economy and community.

Thoroughly enjoying the many things the mountains have to offer.

May even end up building a new business up here.

Bear Box

My first attempt at a "bear box."

You don't put a bear in it. It's where you put the trash can so bears don't make a mess of things.

Lumber's gotten expensive. Took about $75 worth to put this together, plus another fifteen bucks for a "wet wood" saw blade. Screws, another seven or eight bucks, plus another half box I had on hand.

Still, it comes in about $60 less than I've seen pre-assembled similar sized boxes.

And by building it myself, I could take in pieces to where I needed to place it. These things are a bear to move around once put together.

Marches, blood, even death

Ever hear a former U.S. attorney general talk like this?

Loretta Lynch: “It has been people, individuals who have banded together, ordinary people who simply saw what needed to be done and came together and supported those ideals who have made the difference. They’ve marched, they’ve bled and yes, some of them died. This is hard. Every good thing is. We have done this before. We can do this again.”

Is Lynch beseeching lawful portest in a effort to confront government policies and a presidential administration she does not like? Or has she, and the Senate Democrats who published her video, crossed the line into attempting to incite insurrection?

Reports of Trump wiretaps hiding in plain sight?

When President Trump tweet on Saturday the idea that he or Trump Tower were wiretapped by the Obama administration, most media reported he did so "without offering any evidence."

I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

In reality, the idea of Trump or his team being wiretapped or being subject to some other kind of electronic surveillance has received significant coverage in so-called mainstream media. 

In January, the New York Times suggested FISA warrants targeting the Trump team were likely, part of a "sophisticated investigation" targeting the Trump organization.

The Times wasn't alone. 

The UK Guardian, which now says Trump cited no evidence,  previously reported of possible FISA warrants targeting the Trump organization.

The Guardian has learned that the FBI applied for a warrant from the foreign intelligence surveillance (Fisa) court over the summer in order to monitor four members of the Trump team suspected of irregular contacts with Russian officials. The Fisa court turned down the application asking FBI counter-intelligence investigators to narrow its focus. According to one report, the FBI was finally granted a warrant in October, but that has not been confirmed, and it is not clear whether any warrant led to a full investigation.

HeatStreet reported FISA warrants targeting the Trump camp in November.

Two separate sources with links to the counter-intelligence community have confirmed to Heat Street that the FBI sought, and was granted, a FISA court warrant in October, giving counter-intelligence permission to examine the activities of ‘U.S. persons’ in Donald Trump’s campaign with ties to Russia.

National Review, leaning right, has also expressed concern national security assets were used to play political games, specifically raising the issue or FISA warrants.

For Trump to raise the allegation of being "wiretapped" now isn't what's suspicious. It's that he's waite so long to make it an issue. 

Gotta wonder what new information the Trump team has turned up after being in the White House a month and a half to supplement these media reports.

The possibility of the Obama administation wiretapping Trump has been hiding in plain sight ever since Obama, Biden, Clinton and others said intelligence agencies had evidence of Russia "interference."

Val the housemate

A number of messages sent here, if accurate.

Via the UK Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Barack Obama's close confidante Valerie Jarrett has moved into his new DC home, which is now the nerve center for their plan to mastermind the insurgency against President Trump

Certainly appears Mr. Obama isn't retiring in the sense that all other presidents have done before him.

Yet at the same time, having VJ move-in perhaps creates imagery of Obama being a puppet than a stand-alone ex-Prez.

Obama's eight years in the White House have been a disaster for Democrats trying to gain or hold congressional and state house seats as well as governorships. Obama's insistance on sticking around in DC may continue to be a bad omen for Democrats trying to stay in office or trying to win elections for the first time.

Democrats over-reach again. Now things are blowing in their faces

Interesting article from The Young Turks Network, a Democrat progressive outfit.

Seems even TYT folks see Democrats doing more damage to their party than scoring points in the baseless attack on Attorney General Jeff Sessions over meeting with a Russian ambassador.

From TYT Network at Medium.com:

The basic formula for every breaking Trump/Russia story is essentially as follows: 

1. The New York Times or Washington Post releases an article that at first blush appears extremely damning.
2. Anti-Trump pundits and Democrats react reflexively to the news, express shrieking outrage, and proclaim that this finally proves untoward collusion between Trump and Russia — a smoking gun, at last.
3. Aggrieved former Clinton apparatchiks *connect the dots* in a manner eerily reminiscent of right-wing Glenn Beck-esque prognostication circa 2009.
4. Self-proclaimed legal experts rashly opine as to whether the new revelation entails some kind of criminally actionable offense. (Recall the now-laughable certitude that felled National Security Advisor Mike Flynn violated the 200+ year old Logan Act.) This latest version is the certitude that Jeff Sessions committed perjury, when that at the very least is highly questionable.
5. The notion of Russian “collusion” being key to toppling Trump becomes further implanted in the minds of the most energized Democratic activists, as evidenced this time around by a troupe of protesters who showed up to the Department of Justice headquarters brandishing trademarked “Resist” placards, chanting “Lock Him Up,” and (as usual) hyperventilating about Putin. As I’ve written before, Trump/Putin theories are increasingly the top concern that plugged-in “Resistance” types bring up at the highly-charged town hall meetings that have received so much attention of late.
6. Pointing out these glaring flaws in the latest anti-Russia frenzy is immediately construed by cynics as “defending Trump” or “defending Sessions” when it most assuredly is not. At least in my own case, it’s a defense of not getting enraptured by irrational hysterics to further short-term political aims.
7. People who’d spent the past 12 hours frothing at the mouth gradually come to realize that their initial furor was probably overblown, and that a more sober look at the actual facts at hand reveal that the anti-Trump chorus probably got ahead of itself…again.
8. Democrats who sought to capitalize on the uproar end up looking extremely foolish... 

Democrats should worry when their own side begins fretting about overreach doing damage to Democrats

Just as predicted: Overreach is already blowing up in Democrat faces.

Via Politico:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Friday that she's never met with the current Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak...

But a file photo from Pelosi's 2010 meeting with Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev shows Kislyak at the table across from Pelosi — then House speaker — and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). Medvedev had been in the country for a meeting with President Barack Obama a day earlier and stopped in on Capitol Hill to meet with congressional leaders as well.

Here's another. From Circa.com:

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who has demanded the resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions for meeting with the Russian ambassador while a member of Congress, herself met with Vladimir Putin's right-hand man in Washington in 2010 while President Obama was in power. Pelosi hosted then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the U.S. Capitol, at a time when concerns about Russia's human rights continued to persist, especially in the liberal wing of her party.

If we're going to scrutinize Mr. Sessions who met, and perhaps had a discussion, with Russia's ambassador, why not scrutinize everyone who's shared words with Russians.

Democrats have started a witch hunt.

They're about to turn Washington Dc into the panicked political equivelent of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692-93.

Good lookin' fox

We have a fox who frequenting our cabin grounds at night.

These trail cam photos were shot near a small continuously running stream on the edge of our property.

I'm assuming it's only fox, though I acknowledge there might be more. Our trail cam has captured fox images in various locations spread across an area with a length of approximately 150 to 175 yards.

Intriguing comparison...

"When Trump tells the citizens of the United States that people who are in our country illegally and commit crimes must leave, he is the same as the therapist who tells a patient, “If your boyfriend is hitting you, you need to make him leave your apartment.” The breakup might result in sadness and anger, but that is no reason not to act." - Dr. Keith Ablow

How kooky is talk of "shadow government"?

Talk of a shadow government seems far fetched, the stuff conspiracies are made of. But the entrenchment of political establishment in DC is undeniable, and it extends deep into the bureaucracy.

Trump was elected to put some checks on the establishment and the bureaucracy.  In that vein, it seems quite natural that agencies and bureaucracy might use tools at their disposal to fight back.

How good was Trump last night?

Even Van Jones couldn't deny it.

Van Jones: Trump "became President of the United States” when he honored the widow of the Navy SEAL killed in Yemen https://t.co/o71wk0ffdd pic.twitter.com/iZxdtWKz0Q

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) March 1, 2017

Don't get the idea that Jones is falling into the Trump camp.

Jones simply sees how good Trump was, and knew Trump resonated with a whole new bunch of Americans last night, including Democrats.

Trump got out in front of the Democrats again. Outmanuevered the media as well. No use trying to talk the American people out of seeing what they saw last night.

Interesting choice for rebuttle

It's significant that Democrats last night used a former governor to make the party's rebuttle to Trump's address to Congress.

Democrat governorships have dwindled in number. Kentucky now has a Republican governor.

The Democrats' choice last night may also signal a lack of faith in Democrats on Capitol Hill. Or at least some second guessing of the obstructionist games Pelosi and Schumer are playing.

If Kentucky's Steve Beshear wasn't already 72, I'd guess Dems were setting him up for a potential presidential run.

But no,  most likely, they were just recycling old stock, trying to look mainstream American as they take their party deeper into progressive territory.