#That said Fellow Californians:

[maeamian]

Hey friends, countrymen, lovers, etc. this post is just for the Americans out there, but if any of you all need help figuring out what steps you need to take to vote or where to find a voter guide for your region (Ballotopedia is a solid starting point if you want to see what's on your ballot) I'd be happy to help out, just shoot me a message, I can promise I'll find an answer for you in the first case and I'll do my best in the later.

[spacefinch]

MSB rambles: locations

As anyone who’s watched the Magic School Bus series knows, the show is mostly set in Walkerville, a made-up town. However, they never specify where it is, except for “in the USA.” They don’t specify what state, or even what region of the country it’s in. But here are my observations.

In “Gets Eaten,” Ms. Frizzle drives the class to the beach, while the bus is in normal bus mode. The beach looks like a California beach to me (based on my experience going to beaches there), and a sea otter makes a brief appearance. In the US, sea otters are only found along the west coast.

In a few episodes (Getting Energized, Rocks and Rolls, etc…), it’s shown that there are mountains/foothills just outside Walkerville, and that there’s snow on top for at least part of the year.

We know it snows during the winter in town as well. (Source: MSB Holiday Special)

There is a swamp with alligators and blue jays within driving distance of town, as shown in “Butterfly and the Bog Beast.” The whole vibe of the swamp feels very southern to me. (Note: “driving distance” might not necessarily mean said swamp is near town. Could just be that anywhere is driving distance on the Magic School Bus.)

In “Gets Swamped” we see that there is a more marshy swamp in town. The main vegetation is reeds and small shrubs, and the animal life consists of species such as snapping turtles, muskrats, wood ducks, harriers (marsh hawks), bullfrogs, red-winged blackbirds, and dragonflies. This suggests a more northern location for Walkerville.

In “Goes to Mussel Beach,” the mussels are described as “Mytilus californianus” aka the California Mussel, a species only found along the west coast. Again, we have no idea how far away the beach is from town, but it’s a different beach than the one in “Gets Eaten.”

In “Kicks Up a Storm” the outside temperature gets to a high of 99 degrees Fahrenheit— which, judging by the kids’ reactions, is too hot for them. As a Californian, I can sympathize with this.

In “All Dried Up,” the bus (in plane mode) must fly over a mountain range to get to what looks like the Sonoran Desert. Which mountain range they fly over is not specified.

In the book “The Truth About Bats,” it is stated that in order to see bats in Yosemite National Park, the class must fly to California— thus implying that Walkerville is not located in my home state.

In “Goes to Seed,” there is a Ruby-throated hummingbird (at least that’s what I think it is) in the garden at Phoebe’s old school. The Ruby-throated hummingbird lives mainly in the eastern half of the US.

In “In a Beehive,” Tim mentions a “big frost” approaching. Again, this suggests Walkerville is somewhere Up North. (We don’t get a “big frost” where I live— just a few smaller frosts.)

In “In the City,” we see that some of Walkerville’s urban wildlife includes peregrine falcons, red foxes, opossums, raccoons, and nighthawks. It is also implied that bears live in the woods outside of town.

In the book “The Wild Whale Watch,” the New England coast is a short drive from school, which directly contradicts my observations about coastal locations in the show.

The woodpecker in “Meets the Rot Squad” is a red-bellied woodpecker, a species found in the eastern US.

In the book “Rocky Road Trip,” Carlos says that he collected some of the rocks in his collection near “the Saddle River.” I looked it up, and in the real world, Saddle River runs through New York and New Jersey. (But for all we know, the Saddle River in the book could be made up just like Walkerville.)

In “Ups and Downs,” we see that Walkerville is located near a good-sized lake— large and deep enough for a submarine to dive in, and with plenty of underwater vegetation.

In terms of continuity, there is no continuity when it comes to where the heck Walkerville is. This sometimes frustrates my overanalytical brain. So, I leave it to you, fellow Magic School Bus fans, to answer the question:

Map for reference!

[edensliterarydiaries]

The Secret History by Donna Tartt. The dangerous pursuit of climbing the social ladder.

The Secret History (SH) is an account of a murder in Hampden College, New England, through the eyes of outsider Richard Papen. A academic life that is similar to Tartt’s own, this novel artistically blends the rational with romantic ideals. However, after reading this stunning narrative, I have to address the title, so many say, it ‘truly deserves’: A Modern Classic. SH can plausibly be classified as a psychological crime novel that is derivative of other writings before it. From Crime and Punishment to Sigmund Freud’s essays, Tartt transforms the ideals of college life and academic study into one of morose horror. The knowledge of characters is greatly outweighed by the clear obsession with academia. From a first person account, we never get to know Papen’s fellow classmates, or the teacher Julian Morrow, on any other level beyond physical appearance. Instead, we become familiar with their love of Greek stories and rituals (only to kill a local man in the process, oops 😬😯).

SH is ‘devoid of character but has plenty of personality… there is nothing good beneath the heavy surface of academia’. -J.Wary, Michigan Daily

The influences of psychology in SH are evident in the difficulty these characters face outside the walls of academia. Papen, seeing hope for a better life in attending Hampden, only comes to observe that his ‘existence was tainted’ in the process and after. Yes, the death of his friend Bunny may have been the catalyst for such a perspective to be drawn. But, can the fact that Morrow insisted that his students have him as their only teacher be the cause for such an outlook too? (You had it coming as soon as you switched your tutor to Morrow as well Papen, we all saw it coming!)

We can see that his ‘morbid longing for the picturesque’ (NY Times) is a parallel to how private colleges are perceived by the common folk. As a ‘idyllic’ as it was on the brochure As the outsider, Papen’s, opportunity to escape the dull reality of Californian life is only met by the Dickensian tradition of financial and societal desperation; a long way from the better life he once dreamed of when coming to Hampden.

The opportunity to entrench yourself in the worlds created by classic literature is something our original five Greek students do persistently. With lots of money behind them, it is easy to get captivated by the romantic fantasy without feeling the consequence. The richest of the five, Henry, states that ‘Death is the mother of beauty… and what is beauty (without) Terror?’. The ideas behind Henry’s speech links back to the passage read by Camilla in the first class together.

In a ‘harsh and low and lovely’ voice, she reads about the ‘dark red and violent-driven rain of bitter savoured blood (that makes the character) glad’.

The repetition of ‘and’ both lengthens the sentence and makes Camilla’s speech creepily seductive. Yet, finishing the passage with a character that is ‘glad’ could be Tartt alluding to the murder later on in the novel. In the mean time, the excitement and vigour stemming from both Henry and Camilla’s imagery is plausibly seen as escapism away from the ‘monkish bare’ windows and ‘whitewashed walls’ of Hampden.

As a former student of the said ‘elite’ school life, time between those tall walls can be reminiscent of prison. Pursuing the idea rehabilitation was in the form of etiquette (often indirectly) and hazing Saturday matches and army training. All of which spat you out into the world with your school plastered on your psyche.

To be a Modern Classic, SH had to focus individuals personal morals and ethical behaviours both in their daily lives and in unusual situations (such as a murder). As a first person account, Tartt avoids this. She only lets us know Papen’s opinion on their physical appearance and any actions they commit. This alone, speeds up the pace of the novel. As Tartt does not stop to give us any background information of these students, especially Henry and Bunny, whose interaction is quite intriguing to Papen.

In contrast to the world of Greek literature, Papen’s description of his fellow students is reminiscent of the contents of a photo album. We see the images of people and know about what they did in life. But, we don’t know them beyond their physical appearance, what they like and dislike for instance.

The replacement of character development with the obsession with Dionysian madness, distances Papen (us as readers), from the original five Greek students. Under the spell of Dionysus’ words, it is plausibly easy for the students to be captivated by the colourful imagery displayed in such books. Especially in the black and white surroundings of Hampden, the classical world created connotes a Baroque undertone that is both captivating and sinister; the latter is more prominent to us than the former.

Can we plausibly see that Tartt is suggesting that literature was a way to escape the daily grind of academic life?

In the end though, it is difficult to see how SH can be a Modern Classic. Yes, Greek literature and elite university settings are visuals that are associated with the adjective ‘classic’. But, the limited character development does make Papen’s account of the events ,leading up to the murder, dry; no conflicting emotions or true feelings about certain events (beyond Papen) revealed in any way. Furthermore, being publishing in the early 90s, SH was released into a world that was in love with murder mysteries and psychological thrillers both in the book and on screen.

It is a product of its time, not a Modern Classic. The latter is used on a piece of work that is going to last and resonate with everyone over centuries. To state it’s a modern Classic would be to compare it against the works of authors from the early to mid 20th century.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928), for instance, uses letter writing and indirect and direct dialogues to convey Constance’s character development to us. Through letter writing and talking to specific ‘trusted friends’, we know how difficult her life was becoming with Clifford (the plausible predecessor of Richard Papen!). The main point to take away is that the character development aided the progression of the narrative. It did not lead the reader to express doubts or question anyone’s motives and inner beliefs and it certainly did not leave us to speculate what lead up to certain events.

Anyway, coming back to SH, I can say that it is a psychological crime novel. Tartt does suggest to us that there is more that meets the eye when it comes to elite colleges and the academic world. She also draws a dark shadow over feelings of temptation and ambition, especially in the case of outsiders like Papen.

I would definitely recommend this book for anyone seeking something to read under the bed covers this autumn. If you grow to love it and form opinions about it (like I have) and fancy something more- then watch some crime movies from the 90s! (A good place to start would be The Good Shepherd (2006) and The Skulls 3 (2004).

Hoped you enjoyed this post as much as I did writing it!

See you in the next one!

Yours sincerely,

Eden xxx

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

At the risk of yelling at clouds, here's one thing you need to know when you become an exchange student that no one will tell you.

You need to listen to your host parents. And I'm not saying that in the "kids these days have no respect" kinda way. Yeah, every year, regardless of your location, there will be a few students who don't respect or listen to their host parents. They're not popular with anyone, and might exclude their home country from being considered for exchanges with their host country in the future. Some organizations offer second chances. Some put you on the next flight home. You'll be warned about that bit. They're not exaggerating.

The second reason, and the one I learned before I ever knew I'd do an exchange of my own, is because There's A Reason They're Telling You That. And, yes, that sounds condescending as all get-out, so here's the story of how I learned that through observation.

Now, just as a preface: this is not an exceptional exchange student story. There's gonna be several people in every exchange program, long or short, who have a story like this. Some more spectacular than others. One fellow student in my year had no one to learn from before her. Her backpack got yeeted off Preikestolen and she spent 6 weeks without personal documents or bank cards. My baby guest sister, the most respectful and meek girl you've ever seen, accidentally committed sacrilege on several levels during Sunday Mass at a Catholic church.

It was the perfect May in Western Europe. Temperatures were in the low to mid twenties, clouds were fluffy, and a local high school my brother went to had organized a two week exchange with a high school in California. The Euros had come back and readjusted, so they imported the baby Muricans and prepared a nicely culture heavy itinerary for the 17-18-yos.

The Californians realized within 6 hours that they could legally get wine and beer. Bars, cafés, supermarkets,... Some had it for breakfast. So, logically, they wanted as much space as possible in their luggage and day packs for souvenirs and... Well, they could get a 12 pack each on their lunch break without anyone batting an eye. As long as the teachers didn't notice you were tipsy, all was well.

They did not understand why their host parents (and local student counterparts) were baffled and alarmed at them going absolutely nuts for it. Ours came home on the verge of alcohol poisoning on the fourth day. I have not heard my mother so angry before or since. She wasn't speaking English, but the gist of it didn't need much translation. It wasn't until I went to university that I saw someone vomit that much. It is still the only time I've seen someone cut back from mindless binge drinking to "nah, three's enough for me, bro" in under 12 hours.

These were not unintelligent kids. They followed their itinerary, they had sourced and packed everything on their supply lists, they checked the weather forecast (even if they didn't understand the commentary) and dressed as well as they could for the weather. Which, as I said before, was perfect T-shirt and shorts weather for the entire two weeks.

The second day we had our adopted West Coast Drought Bunny with us, my parents scraped together their English vocabulary to advise the teens pack a rain coat for their city trip of the day. Not an umbrella, a rain coat. They did the parental thing and repeated themselves several times. My brother demonstrated he had packed his lightweight, wind proof, foldable rain coat and his American counterpart just smiled and assured them he'd be okay.

He came back soaked, having broken one overpriced pocket umbrella sold at tourist traps, switched to one of those thin plastic rain ponchos and ripped that too. He'd also made the genius decision to wear heavy denim jeans and canvas sneakers instead of quick dry cargo shorts and sandals. He had had two hours of sitting in his wet clothes on the bus to consider why he was in this predicament. You can guess what happened next.

Next day, lather, rinse, repeat. Minus the umbrella and jeans, at least. He still was starting to get a full-body rash from being in wet clothes so much.

Fourth day, pre-beer incident, my parents wised up enough to make this optimist with his undying faith in the sunny forecast symbol get out and show his raincoat, and then pack it in front of them, before they would take them to the bus.

This stylish, very expensive, brand name, survival grade rain coat did not have a hood. It was water proof, it fit well, but it assumed weather was a thing that moved straight down at all times, so it is always more versatile to just use a hat or umbrella.

That is not true in spring, or even summer, in Western Europe. Every weather deity has seen the BS that area of the planet has pulled, historically, and is not done punishing them for it. Rain can and does come out of nowhere, most likely with wind, at any angle it damn well pleases, and doesn't leave until it's ruined at least one outfit via the neck or shoulder seam. Maybe it lasts 10 minutes, could be all day. You want a garment that covers your head and core like the least flattering 19th century condom imaginable. Something that won't tear when slip and fall while you run for cover.

He got sent out with my dad's backup coat (approximately 20 years out fashion, five sizes too big and smelling as all emergency clothing does) and came home relatively dry. Progress.

The following afternoon, after a very, very quiet brunch, my mother calmly announced she was taking the boys into town, and our exchange student was going to buy a proper rain coat, because she raised a sensible child who would happily translate for his mother and the store employees, and our guest student had been deemed responsible enough act in his own best interests before he came over. She did not want to call this boy's parents to say he ended up in the ER. Certainly not for pneumonia.

Side fact: if something is commonplace in your host country, there's probably a decent version of it that's affordable in a nearby store. The Californian rain jacket had cost a sum that made my parents question his parents' good judgement. The tiny little "reverts into a silly little pillow you can strap around your waist" thing that actually kept him dry for the next week cost about 90% less.

He didn't complain about it, and my parents didn't report that night of drinking to any teacher. The kids were in 12th grade. My parents knew, from personal experience, that all teens will eventually do unspeakably stupid stuff, and getting tyrannical about it only makes them scared to call home when they really fuck up. They did, however, call all the other parents in class to tell them to check their students' rain coats, and that stores X, Y and Z had a deal on in case they were unpleasantly surprised.

Mysteriously, the teachers reported less "whining" during the second week. Less negative feedback from bus drivers about sopping wet seats. Less blue lips and fingers, because 21°C is way colder when you're soaked than when you're dry. Less vacation pictures with wet hair, too.

So listen to your host parents. About stuff that seems obvious, like maybe not starting your morning with a heavy ale, and about stuff that makes zero sense, like packing a rain coat on the sunniest day imaginable.

[talktomeinclexa]

Days of Crisis

By: TalktomeinClexa

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Natural disasters, Minor character death

Status: WIP

Summary: Sheriff Lexa Woods’s life is turned upside down when a hurricane hits her small Californian town, bringing in its midst a beautiful geologist as smart as she’s brave. But when said geologist returns a few months later to study Polis’s geographical situation and assess the risks in case more natural disasters occur, neither can deny the attraction anymore. Will they manage to open up before a series of catastrophes puts their lives at risk?

***

Chapter 1: Meeting in a Hurricane

“A hurricane is coming. Please remain inside and barricade your windows. I repeat; a hurricane is coming. Please—”

The car slowly driving around the main streets of Polis, CA, swerved to avoid a flying tile. Sheriff Lexa Woods swore under her breath before bringing the megaphone’s mic back to her mouth as if nothing had happened.

“Please remain inside. Do not go out. Barricade your windows and stay safe.”

Lexa let go of her mic and squinted through her windshield. She had hoped until the last minute hurricane Becca would deviate and miss her town, but no such luck. The storm hit with frightening accuracy, bringing squalls and a rain so heavy that her wipers couldn’t keep up and she could barely see where she was heading.

Worry grew in the pit of her stomach as the wind intensified and debris flew around. Her children were at school, and she wished she could be with them, making sure they were safe. But she had a job to do, stubborn people to warn. Besides, she reminded herself, Aden and Madi were as safe in school as they would be at home if not more. Their teachers would know to keep them away from the windows.

On the plus side, most of her fellow Polisians remained diligently inside, and she had to order surprisingly few people to seek shelter. Harassing Mayor Queen to sound the storm alarm had paid off. It was almost worth the passive-aggressive comments she would receive for days to come for telling Her Majesty how to rule her city.

A few broken branches landed near her car, making her curse. Hopefully, her deputies were safe and back at the station. There wasn’t much more they could do until the hurricane abated. Getting themselves hurt out of sheer stubbornness would serve no one.

Exhausted, Lexa turned around and headed back for the city hall, repeating her message on the megaphone.

She was crossing Forest Street and Main when something unusual caught her attention and made her hit the brakes.

In the center of a mostly empty parking lot, an obnoxious armored vehicle occupied two spots. Bigger than a Ford truck, with spikes dug into the ground — the owner would have to pay for the repair — and a turret. It looked like one of those trucks Lexa had seen on video, the kinds driven by adrenaline junkies hoping to go viral on the Internet.

Fuming, she turned on her megaphone. “Please exit your vehicle and seek shelter immediately. I repeat; please exit your vehicle and seek shelter in the nearest building.”

Lexa assumed she had been mistaken when she received no answer. She would have resumed her journey if a tuft of fair hair visible through the turret window hadn’t suddenly betrayed a presence.

“Oh, that does it.”

Keep reading

[lorifragolina]

My 2023 in Fanfics

Thanks to @medusapelagia who always gives me a chance to enter in tag games :) I already said that I can acceed more easily to tumblr this year so I think I'll more active.

I have a little fics and many months without any post, but I'll try to put down my favourites. I started posting in April.

4. April - Although I participated to @mungroveweek, and I love the works I wrote, I'll choose the Munver short The miseducation of Jason Carver - 3552 - complete. Because who doesn't want to use a little smut?

5. May - I started a Harringrove series of little one shot ficlets about our sweet Californian lovers and I absolutely love it, I have a lot of ideas but no time to put them down... Harringrove series Harringrove droplets - 3 works so far - WIP

6. June - nothing. A lot of work for upcoming events

7. Juy - another smut for @eddiemunsonbingo, I love it because I wrote it at the beach in a single afternoon! Mungrove Jailbird - 1415 - complete

8. August - the entire series Sweet Pie I wrote for @mungrovebingos, I tried to put all the prompt together in a series. It slowly converted in a Metalsandwich. Sweet Pie - 8 parts - complete. BTW my favourite is the Prologue.

9. September - It's difficult to choose between the few ficlets I posted (I like ficlets, but my mind pushes me to infinite word count XD) but I'll choosethe Steddie The last campaing - 999 - complete

10. October -I have just one fic posted in October but it happens to be one of my favs, althogh I think I can revise it and make it better. For @kinktober, prompt Lingerie, Harringrove The glimpse - 2621 - complete.

11. November - I like all the fics I post in November! But finally I choose a sweet little Harringrove A little Sweat - 1347 - complete.

12. December - for December is realy difficult as I participated to a few exchanges and I like all the fics I exchanged with my fellow authors! I'll choose two fics, one from my first real Big Bang published, for @st-rarepairbang, a Bommy (Billy/Tommy) Hot fot teacher - 13453 - Complete; And the fic I wrote for Steddie One-shot Exchange Pretty Big Boy (Pretty woman AU) - 10497 - complete.

I have other two Big Bang ready to go in 2024 and a few project, but I wish I could concentrate more on not-event works! I as usual leave here a few non pressure tag, feel free to complete the list if you see this post! @artaxlivs, @eriquin, @dragonflylady77, @jad3w1ngs, @ihni

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

--

--

[THREAD]

The most perfect (and almost unbelievable) metaphor for affirmative action: The lives of Allan Bakke (a white guy who challenged racial quotas at UC Davis) and Patrick Chavis (a black guy admitted to UC Davis under affirmative action the year Bakke was rejected). 

After Bakke won his SCOTUS case in 1978 (which ended the use of *overt* racial quotas in university admissions), he finally was accepted at UC Davis medical school. He graduated and eventually began practicing medicine. He kept a low profile, and didn't give interviews. 

Years later, the NY Times, still stinging from Bakke's victory, published a long and glowing account of a “thriving” black UC Davis medical school graduate named Patrick Chavis, noting how he had benefited from the school's old affirmative action quota system. 

Dr. Chavis' story was also featured on TV programs, and senator Ted Kennedy called him a “perfect example” of affirmative action. It was even suggested that Dr. Chavis had achieved more than Dr. Bakke, who graduated a few years after Chavis at UC-Davis. 

State Senator Tom (“Mr. Jane Fonda”) Hayden asked his fellow Californians: “Who made the most of his medical school education? From whom did California taxpayers benefit more?"

Here's Dr. Chavis. He seems nice, doesn't he?

But Dr. Chavis wasn't nice — he was a terrible and spectacularly incompetent doctor, and perhaps, if this is possible, an even worse human being. If the fawning reporter for the Times had done his job and just asked around a little, he would have gotten an earful. 

At the very least, the reporter might have at least been bothered to go down to the court house and dig up records that showed that Dr. Chavis had been sued for malpractice twenty-one times, and had paid settlements on some of those suits. 

But when the NYT has a thesis as important as this one, it usually doesn't want to be hobbled by contradicting evidence or cognitive dissonance. 

Highlights from Dr. Chavis' storied medical career included botched operations at his clinic which killed patients and left others in permanent pain, and — this is rather striking — hiding a patient in his home for two days after she nearly bled to death at his clinic. 

Dr. Chavis' incompetence and disregard for human life finally caught up with him in 1997 when a patient bled to death after he performed a “fly-by-night liposuction” on her and then “disappeared.”

Patients later said they were afraid to report him because of his celebrity. 

With an obviously dead patient and a conspicuously missing doctor on their hands, the California Medical Board California finally acted. Later, that same year, they revoked Dr. Chavis' license. 

In their decision, it cited the doctor's "inability to perform some of the most basic duties required of a physician" and his "poor impulse control and insensitivity to patients' pain."

Special weight was given to that last item. 

A tape recording surfaced of Dr. Chavis chanting "liar, liar, pants on fire” at his patients while they screamed in agony — an extremely idiosyncratic way, to say the least, of soothing them and expressing disbelief at their claims of excruciating pain. 

All told, the California Medical Board brought 90 counts of misconduct and “gross negligence” — probably fair to say a bludgeoning of the Hippocratic Oath — against “the perfect example” of affirmative action. 

If you're finding any of this a little hard to believe, well, I can't say I blame you — it *does*strain credulity.

But wait, it actually gets weirder — PREDICTABLY weirder.

Because, you know, racism. 

That's right, the truly lousy doctor and even lousier human being, now-just-plain-Mr. Patrick Chavis, reached into his back pocket and pulled out the race card, blaming his bad fortune on a particularly virulent strain of structural oppression — “white envy.” 

That sounds interesting. Maybe something the NY Times might want to investigate?

You'd think so, but no — this time the suspiciously silent Times didn't feel it necessary to send a reporter to Cali to capture the thoughts and feelings of its former cover boy. 

So whatever happened to Allan Bakke? Dr. Bakke is retired, finishing his career the way he started it, quietly and with integrity — as an anaesthesiologist at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic. 

Postscript: Patrick Chavis was murdered by carjackers on the streets of Hawthorne, California in 2002, at the age of fifty. He had gone out for an ice cream cone. 

Bakke decision legacy: Very little changed in the UC system. It continues to quietly practice (and quietly celebrate) institutional racism against whites and (especially) Asians.

Just ask the Korean kid who got a 1530 SAT and didn't get in, and the Hispanic with a 960, who did. 

An excellent article (which mentions the above example of the rejected Korean-American applicant) about the persistence of racial preferences in admissions at universities in the UC system .

[beardedmrbean]

Environmental rules designed to protect imperiled fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta have ignited anger among a group of bipartisan lawmakers, who say too much of California's stormwater is being washed out to sea instead of being pumped to reservoirs and aqueducts.

In a series of strongly worded letters, nearly a dozen legislators — many from drought-starved agriculture regions of the Central Valley —have implored state and federal officials to relax environmental pumping restrictions that are limiting the amount of water captured from the delta.

"When Mother Nature blesses us with rain, we need to save the water, instead of dumping it into the ocean," Assemblymember Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield) wrote in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Since the beginning of January, a series of atmospheric rivers has disgorged trillions of gallons of much-needed moisture across drought-stricken California, but only a small fraction of that water has so far made it into storage. In the delta — the heart of the state's vast water system — nearly 95% of incoming water has flowed into the Pacific Ocean, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

The calls by lawmakers have reignited a long-simmering debate over where — and to whom — the state's precious water supplies should go.

"With so much excess water in the system, there is no reason that exports south of the Delta cannot be increased," read another letter that State Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) and Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains (D-Bakersfield) addressed to Newsom.

But experts say it's not that simple.

While the delta provides drinking water for about 27 million Californians and supports the state's massive agricultural industry, it is also a delicate ecosystem that is home to threatened and endangered species — many of which have been suffering amid warming waters, increasing salinity, dangerously low flows and other ecological stressors. The tiny delta smelt are dangerously close to extinction.

State and federal water managers said they have been complying with environmental regulations designed to protect those species, including a so-called "first flush" protocol that mandates two weeks of reduced pumping at the onset of the first big winter storms.

The flush provides the fish with enough time and water to move away from the powerful pumps, which have been known to chew them up.

"There are reasons that there are restrictions on pumping, and each of them is founded in some way, shape or form on trying to conserve habitat for listed species," said Jeffrey Mount, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.

Mount said it would be a mistake to ignore the environmental benefits of the water. The smelt are akin to a "canary in the coal mine" for the entire health of the delta, he said, and the first flush is biologically very important for the dynamics of the estuary.

"If we take actions which are helpful to smelt, we’ll help an array of other native fishes and the native ecosystem," he said.

The first flush protocol stems from biological opinions issued by the Trump administration in 2019 and from incidental take permits issued by the Newsom administration in 2020. Some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, however, are calling for the rules to be revised.

From Jan. 3-16, pumping rates in the delta were reduced to nearly half of their capacity in accordance with the protocol, resulting in a loss of about 84,000 acre-feet of exports from the area, according to estimates from the Public Policy Institute. That's enough water to irrigate 25,000 acres of farmland for a year or supply 150,000 homes.

[usafphantom2]

Colonel Mervin Leroy Evenson was a part of the YF-12/ SR-71 test flight at Edwards AFB, CA, in the mid to late ’60s. He was chief of the flight test division of the SR 71. He also flew the YF 12 on a missile launching flight.

He flew the SR-71, YF-12, U-2, B-1A, B-1 B, F-94,F-4D, F 102, and F-104. Plus, a few more.

He started his Air Force career flying the Lockheed F-94 all weather night fighter during the Korean War. When the war was over, he continued flying the night fighter on United Nations patrols over North Korea. He enjoyed talking about the X-15. He was a safety pilot in the F-104 and helped talk the X-15 down to landing similar to the U-2 because they could not see the runway. The reason why he enjoyed talking about the X 15 is that it was one of the only programs that were not classified, so that he could talk about it.

He also tested the F-4D, the first laser-guided smart bomb, at Edwards Air Force Base, Californian, in 1968.

The F4-D were used to knock out Sam sites in SEA during 1969-70, mainly along Ho Chi Minh Trail and Hanoi.

After retiring from the US Air Force in 1976, he tested the B-1A. As Rockwell International’s Chief Test Pilot, he flew the first flight of the B-1B aircraft and was the first pilot to fly more than 1,000 hours in that aircraft.

Evenson wanted to become a test pilot even before he joined the Air Force. He said watching movies of World War II and the early flight testing escapades excited him. He began to pursue the dream of becoming a test pilot patiently, and his efforts paid off in 1959 when he graduated from flight test school.

Today, Evenson is said to have more flight time at Mach 3 than any other test pilot in the world. A Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Evenson’s decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Royal Vietnam Gallantry Cross, Vietnam, Korean Service Medals, and 11 Air Medals. He logged 600 hours piloting the U-2. He also flew the F-102 Supersonic Jet Interceptor, the F-4E, RF-4, and F-104, bringing his total flight time to 8,000 hours.

Mervin passed away in 2010. He is part of the unsung heroes of the very early part of the SR 71 program. I know that he was there for a test flight because he had the same patch that my father, Butch Sheffield, had. It was only given out during a test flight in 1965. His son David shared with me most of this information.

Thank you, David. Written by Linda Sheffield Miller.

@Habubrats71 via X

[dertaglichedan]

There’s a story going around Capitol Hill that Democrats insist you just have to hear. It’s about how Speaker Kevin McCarthy is “a pussy.”

On June 21, the day Republicans voted to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Democrats stood on the House floor and shouted “Shame!” at their GOP colleagues. As the spectacle was taking place, one of the leaders of the demonstration, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), was standing in the well of the House near the speaker’s podium and delivered some harsh words to his fellow Californian.

“This is pathetic,” Swalwell allegedly told McCarthy, who was presiding over the House at the time. “You’re weak. You’re a weak man.”

(You can actually see—and slightly hear—Swalwell staring at McCarthy and calling him “weak” at 3:49 in the tweet below.)

The exchange was conveyed to The Daily Beast by two separate lawmakers. When reached by phone, Swalwell said he would not discuss the story with the press, but he also did not deny the account. McCarthy’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

As the story goes, McCarthy was visibly upset with Swalwell. “He had a vein popping out of his forehead,” one member told The Daily Beast, in a likely flourish of storytelling. Another Democratic member who witnessed the exchange said McCarthy stared down Swalwell for about 10 seconds before walking away.

But the next day is when things got interesting. On June 22, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Capitol Hill for a joint address to Congress. Just before Modi took the Speaker’s podium, Swalwell was on the House floor, making his way to a bathroom just outside the chamber on the Republican side.

That’s when McCarthy saw him.

“McCarthy said, ‘If you ever say something like that to me again, I’m gonna kick the shit out of you,’” a member claimed to The Daily Beast.

Another member who witnessed the exchange provided even more context: “They were in each other’s faces. Basically nose-to-nose. And Swalwell said something like, ‘Are we really gonna do this?’”

After some back-and-forth, with chests puffed out, McCarthy issued a challenge to Swalwell: “Call me a pussy again, and I’ll kick your ass,” the Speaker allegedly said.

While both members told nearly identical versions of this story, they both delivered Swalwell’s response in exactly the same way.

“You. Are. A. Pussy,” Swalwell told McCarthy.

[textales]

"The Unabomber."

“It was a town, a town without milk.” I made this statement while presenting my milky-white lower leg as if it were a prize-winning cheese curd from some county fair. The saying makes no sense to most people now, but in the mid-1990s it was part of the hugely successful “Got Milk?” campaign by the California Milk Processor’s Board.  

“My legs are the color of chicken before it’s cooked.”

“Eeew, take your milk and your chicken somewhere else,” shrieked Joe. We were just waking up and nobody had coffee yet. It was day two of our great adventure - I had convinced several friends to come to my family’s cabin in the teeny town of Lincoln, Montana for a snowmobiling junket over President’s Day weekend in 1996. This was our unofficial fraternity, all five of us working in the radio business in San Francisco.  Even though we were in our 20s and 30s, we were behaving a bit like rowdy, drunken college kids on winter break.

The town of Lincoln had maybe five bars and we hit every one at least twice. A favorite was the Seven-Up Ranch, a bar-restaurant that had a few motel rooms and also rented-out cross-country skis and snowmobiles. We took a liking to the bartender who’d recently moved from Chicago.  He and his wife were urban ex-pats who, like us I suppose, didn’t quite fit-in here in the middle of nowhere.  The husband was okay with living hundreds of miles from the nearest Starbucks, but the wife made no bones about wanting to move back to the civilization of Chicago.

As Joe and I poked around the pool table, a couple families came through the saloon doors. They were wearing brand-new snow suits. Curious, I glanced outside to see two shiny, brand-spanking new black Chevy Suburbans, each pulling trailers with shiny, brand-spanking new snowmobiles.  As a kid I was always envious of those rich folk who could afford new Polaris and Arctic Cats and Ski Dos. We were regular folk, and our sleds – although well maintained – were always at least a dozen years old.

Impressed with the shiny new sleds and suits, I was of course curious who these people were and how they ended up here. Perhaps they, too, were fellow urban dwellers from real cities, here to explore the winter splendor of Big Sky Country. Maybe they were just like us, but with deeper pockets? My curiosity was killing me.

I asked where they were from – and I got odd answers. One guy I assumed to be the leader told me he and his family were from Bozeman.

“Oh really? My brother graduated from Bozeman High in 1974 – he would have about your age. Did you know Mike McKiernan?” He didn’t answer, turning quickly to the bartender to order.

Unsatisfied with the non-answer, I redirected my interrogation to a woman from their posse while Joe and Val finished the pool game.

“We’re from Helena,” said the mid-30s woman who probably assumed her prompt and curt answer would shut me up.

“Who was your gym teacher?” I ask this question because my cousin was a gym teacher at one of the two high schools in Helena, so there is a 50/50 chance the answer will be Shirley Chesterfield.

Without responding, the woman led her entire tribe to the dining room in an effort, I suppose, to escape me and my line of questioning.

“Well hell.” I felt slighted since most Montanans are friendly and I had failed in my attempts to connect. Oh well, their loss. These people were more like those “pesky Californians” my father complains about. The type of people who sell their starter homes in LA and move to Montana and pay cash for everything, pushing up property taxes and pissing-off the locals.

“Sure, I’ll have another Miller Lite. Thank you.”

It all made sense six weeks later when we were back in California. Val called me from LA to tell me the Unabomber had been captured at his cabin just a few miles from where we had been terrorizing the countryside with our snowmobiles. 

The not-so-friendly crowd in brand-new snowsuits, Suburbans and sleds turned out to be FBI agents. NO WONDER they were so dodgy and didn’t know my brother or my cousin!  I felt vindicated.

Lincoln, Montana was at the epicenter of what at the time was the most expensive investigation in FBI history.  Agents arrested Ted Kaczynski at his cabin, about ten miles down the road from my parents’ place, on April 3, 1996.  Found was bomb-making stuff, lots of hand-written journal pages with damning evidence describing his crimes, and one live bomb.

The town of Lincoln, with a population of 1,000 on a good day, was suddenly a media sensation. Reporters and producers from every network and dozens of media outlets booked every flight and rented every hotel room. Rental cars were sold out, as were RVs.

Hindsight is “20/20” and I realize now how I could have arranged to rent my parents cabin for a pretty penny. A friend living in Denver was a freelance cameraman for ABC News and the network would have easily paid thousands to put-up him and a producer and Barbara Walters for a couple weeks.  They could have admired Red’s art carvings while enjoying a “Uniburger” from the bar down the road.

I’m pretty sure the bartender at the Seven Up Ranch ended up in a couple radio interviews, since Val, Kira and Carolyn were producers for morning shows in LA and San Francisco. That bartender got to return to civilization, even if only virtually, for his fifteen minutes of fame.

And decades later, I was at KGO radio in San Francisco when the Program Director was introducing some of the talk show hosts to the sales staff.  A small world was made smaller when I got to meet Candace DeLong,  an FBI criminal profiler who helped find Kaczynski and at the time hosted a show on our station. She remembered the town, but did not remember the “Uniburger” from the bar down the road.

My mother remembers seeing the Unabomber. “Oh yeah, I remember that guy. I think I saw him at the post office.” I wish she were still around so I could verify, but a nerdy weirdo mountain man really wasn't all that odd in that little town.  A town without milk.

[metamelonisle]

CR characters that interest/captivate me deeply

Brunch Trio

Croissant

Hero

Sandwich

Time Balance Department

Timekeeper (TK is real and cen is my online friend)

String Gummy (ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)

Baguette (old man lesbian)

Coffee Candy (things just happen to her. its hilarious)

Maple Leaf (URETHRA!!)

Dark Fondue (every time i think about df i just start laughing. good)

Sea-Related Cookies

Captain Caviar (i love you but you would have died in East Blue)

Soda (im Californian it's kind of in my blood to love American surf culture)

Sorbet Shark (YES!!! YES!! FUCK YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Peppermint (little German child with the lollipop!!!)

Captain Ice (she reminds me of aokiji but without the horrific war trauma)

Pond Dino (YEAH!!! YEAH!! FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Squid Ink (ohh i love you you are so cute ohhhhhhh)

Black Pearl (pretty. oh my godd)

Space-Related Cookies

Milky Way (little baby made of milk and love. like mine craft. she even drives a train)

Stardust (OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)

Moonlight (pretty dream lady. ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)

Space Candybot (and my friend's OC about it's creator/pilot. it is CRITICAL to mention this because i am so unbelievably unwell about said character. poppy you are canon. to me :>)

Space Doughnut (funny fellow)

Other

Peach Cookie (she reminds me of teen goku so bad its hilarious)

Plum Cookie (he reminds me of teen kuririn so bad its hilarious)

Ananas Dragon (WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO)

Dino-Sour (i love you funny dinosaur butch)

Sour Belt (i love you funny dinosaur femme)

Dozer (he's just so silly. he also died. but not in my heart)

Dr. Wasabi (i love mad scientists sue me. she can do my hrt shots i trust her)

that one fucking beefcake made of magma who lost their child and believe them to be dead and it haunts them eternally unaware they are still alive and also trans now

Habenero (Peperoncino's trans son)

probably some others

[ivankahasbeentreatedsounfairly]

I can think of some compelling reasons that leading independent newspapers should not be in the business of endorsing candidates for president.

Unfortunately, the acts of self-sabotage by The Washington Postand The Los Angeles Times do not reflect any of them. And so one more bulwark against autocracy erodes.

The owners of both papers took as long as possible to reveal what they had already concluded: For the first time in years — since 2004 for The Los Angeles Times and 1988 for The Post — each would refrain from endorsing a presidential candidate. This inspired Donald Trump’s campaign to whoop that even Vice President Kamala Harris’s “fellow Californians know she’s not up for the job.” The Times’s editorial editor, Mariel Garza, resigned and said the decision made the organization look “craven and hypocritical.” Others followed.

The Post’s endorsement of Ms. Harris had reportedly already been drafted, only to be shelved on the orders of its owner, Amazon’s founder, Mr. Bezos. But it fell to the paper’s publisher, William Lewis, to announce the decision, saying, “We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.” Its editorial editor, David Shipley, in the face of his mutinous editorial board, said he owned the outcome, which he called a way of creating “independent space” for voters to make up their own minds.

I’m not worried that Post and Los Angeles Times readers will have trouble deciding how to vote. I’m worried they’ll have trouble deciding whom to trust.

Both papers are owned by billionaires — Patrick Soon-Shiong at The Times and Mr. Bezos at The Post — and it is this grim similarity that raises alarms, especially in the case of The Post, whose “Democracy dies in darkness” motto now moans like an epitaph. Rightly or wrongly, readers will reasonably conclude The Post backed off an endorsement of Ms. Harris to protect the owner’s business interests. Those interests are vast, spread across commerce, the military and, increasingly, the frothing frontiers of artificial intelligence. How now can readers trust The Post’s often excellent news coverage of those topics, which are core to its mission? It did not help the paper’s credibility when, on the day the nonendorsement was announced, Mr. Trump was spotted greeting executives of Mr. Bezos’ Blue Origin space company in Austin, Texas.

The Post’s gutsy former editor Marty Baron was unsparing: “This is cowardice, with democracy as its casualty,” he posted on X. “@realdonaldtrump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner @jeffbezos (and others). Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”

Forswearing the ritual of presidential endorsements might be defensible, even admirable, if the decision had unfolded differently and about three years earlier. Newspaper endorsements are seldom influential and are frequently confusing. They are traditionally the prerogative of the publisher or owner and are concocted by an editorial board that typically exists in an independent, parallel universe from the newsroom. Few outside the industry know this, and most readers naturally take endorsements as an expression of partisan support from the whole institution, not merely an antiseptically isolated outpost. (The New York Times stopped making endorsements in local races but continues to do so for the presidential contest.)

Democracies need citizens to trust in their institutions, the press chief among them. When you ask people why they have been losing trust in the media, they frequently refer to the bias and agendas they see in the coverage, and it’s easy to see how endorsements make this problem worse. In our age of media saturation, there is no shortage of commentary about candidates — adversarial, analytical, scholarly and scrappy, including from the varsity columnists at these news outlets — so voters will hardly be marooned if faceless editorial boards don’t also weigh in. When I was the editor at Time magazine, we did not have an independent editorial board; our readers got enough peppery punditry from our opinion writers. It’s possible that fewer institutional endorsements would be a valuable step toward restoring trust in the fairness and public purpose of our leading news organizations.

That’s not what we are watching here. Neither paper has developed a sudden allergy to endorsements; The Post backed the Maryland Democratic Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks weeks ago, as The Los Angeles Times did for the California Democrat Adam Schiff. And the arguments against endorsing have been circulating for years. Announcing a sudden change in policy so close to the election suggests cowardice more than conviction, however much airbrushing the apologists do.

I have immense respect and sympathy for journalists at news organizations, which are increasingly embattled just when we need them most. The business model is dissolving, social media platforms are piranhas, the competition for attention is relentless, and the stakes could not be higher. Billionaires like Mr. Bezos have pumped millions of dollars into newsrooms so that reporters can do the essential work of telling us what’s happening. This is no time to abandon them. They deserve better than this, and so do the rest of us.

By Nancy Gibbs

Ms. Gibbs runs Harvard University’s media and public policy center and is a former editor in chief of Time magazine.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/27/opinion/washington-post-la-times-endorsements.html

[bllsbailey]

On 'The View,' Kamala Harris Is a 'Moderate,' She Isn't a 'Leftist' - and the Cow Jumped Over the Moon

Welp, look at that. More presidential campaign idiocy from the delusional geniuses of ABC's "The View."

Along with the lapdog media, the ladies of ABC's laughable cartoon were in euphoric spin-mode on Tuesday as they waxed idiotic (lied themselves silly) about Kamala Harris becoming the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee after mentally-vacant Joe Biden — the dead man walking — finally bowed (was forced) out. 

As has been the case with the left-wing media, "The View" ladies yet again asked "us" (their equally delusional  viewers) to suspend disbelief and buy into the preposterous notion that Harris is a "moderate." 

Sara Haines kicked off the festivities. We're talking pay-per-view-quality comedic entertainment.

One thing I also really love is, right now, the big attack for her, in addition to the dirty things, are ‘She's too liberal. She's too liberal.’ That is a very rich comment on her right now, because what Trump did was name JD Vance and – as you said – he's further right. He is Project 2025. He is the Heritage Foundation. He is the MAGA agenda. He had a chance to do something else and we said here the convention was really just a doubling down on extreme agenda. 

Can't make it up, don't have to. Haines continued:

Vice President Harris is really – and this is my — I don't have input here, but what I'm seeing — only looking at moderate beloved Democrats. And what that says to me is, for the person saying, "You're too extreme," she's the only one that's actually checking in with the American public.  Forty-three percent of this country identifies as independents. They are more moderate than the minority extremes would like you to think. By minority I mean partisan extremes. But the country is in the middle. She's saying, ‘I see you as voters.’ So, it’s not just political strategy. I feel like she's thinking about people like me when she's picking her vice presidential candidate.

Setting aside Haines's complete mischaracterization of JD Vance, for a bit, the co-host's portrayal of far-left-wing Harris was the stuff of fairy tales — delusional fairy tales, that is. 

Fellow genius co-host Sunny Hostin tossed her incisive genius thoughts (serial lying) into the ring. 

Well, to be clear, she's pretty moderate also. She's pretty moderate also ...  but former prosecutors aren’t leftist.

Did I mention that Hostin is aggressively racist and antisemitic? 

Finally, pretend token Republican co-host Alyssa Farrah Griffin put the icing on the absurd cake.

And for what it's worth, I think moderate, probably on the left-wing side. I don't think any Republicans see her as moderate. But I do think it’s a very wise idea to find a moderate vice president to open it to the biggest voting bloc.

"Moderate, probably on the left-wing side." I'm going to stop you right there, Ms. Haines. This is a No Oxymoronic Statements Zone. Please.

Let's Visit the Reality of 'Moderate,' Non-'Leftist' Kamala Harris

Most recently, Vance — Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate — said it best.

There's some bad news ... Vice President Kamala Harris ...  doesn't like me. Kamala Harris said something to the effect that I have no loyalty to this country. Well, I don't know, Kamala; I did serve in the United States Marine Corps and build a business. What the hell have you done other than collect a check? What has she done other than collect a check from her political offices, and we have to give her credit, my friends, she did serve as border czar during the biggest disaster — open border that we've ever had in this country. Let's get President Trump back there, close down that border, and bring some common sense and security to this country.

Every word of it, true — and then some.

WATCH: JD Vance Unleashes on VP Harris, As Trump-Vance Rally Starts in Michigan

Even Californians ��� Harris's home state — have weighed in on the San Francisco native's political views over the last 24 hours, including former Acting Director of National Intelligence under President Donald Trump, Richard Grenell.

Dear Pennsylvania…take it from this Californian, don’t let Kamala Harris anywhere near your energy sources. She’s a radical environmentalist even for California. Even Obama eventually read the science and agreed to fracking. As Attorney General, Kamala worked overtime to make sure liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals were not built throughout the entire state of California.

I could go on and on — trust me. 

HOT TAKES: California Weighs In on a Potential Kamala Harris Presidency

The absurd notion that Kamala Harris is a "moderate" is the stuff of fools. 

Wait. The imbeciles of "The View." Never mind.

[dramatisperscnae]

@1rstflight is gonna make kyle melt jfc

it isn't hard for hal to find kyle with his guard down at home, most of the time. he's trusting and his mind tends to be quite one-track when he is at work—which is often, considering how little time on earth either of them gets. hal himself gets by on odd jobs and occasionally drops by ferris if carol feels like humoring an old friend. which isn't the point of this, of course, thinking about their earthly woes, and while usually he would love to just watch kyle work, this afternoon he wants to test something out. namely, a few words he's learned recently and tried his damn best to master pronouncing. irish isn't an easy language, exactly, but hal has never let a challenge go uncontested. approaching his fellow lantern from behind, nosing gently against his ear, he can't help the slight quirk of his lips as he speaks. "conas atá tú, mo mhuirnín?" the pronunciation is clearly practiced, even if there's a lilt of his usual californian accent right there, easy to hear. one hand comes to kyle's chest in half a hug, gaze turning from the younger man to the work in front of him. "i'm assuming this commission hasn't been fighting you back too bad."

Thanks to his time working at Feast Magazine, it's not too hard for Kyle to find work when he's on Earth. The reputation and the name he made there has stood him in pretty good stead - hell, he still gets commissions from them now that he's only too happy to work on - but given how much of his time the Corps is taking going back to freelancing really has been the best decision he could have made.

Today he's working on a series of postcards for a planetarium. It's kind of perfect, really; instead of having to fight for inspiration Kyle's running into the opposite problem of having far too much. He's got the first four done already, set aside for the watercolors to dry, and is now staring thoughtfully at the final card. He's done the solar system, the Milky Way, the Earth and its moon, and even a comet over a starlit ocean; now he just needs one more to finish out the set. Maybe the Orion nebula, or the constellation itself along with Taurus and Canis Major and the Pleiades…no, that's a little too ambitious for a postcard, but maybe he'll turn that into a poster and put the nebula on the card, and-

Something brushes against his ear, so softly but still making him jump before a familiar voice is almost purring into it. Kyle's eyes widen, his heart skipping a beat or two before speeding up as his breath catches in his chest. Since when does Hal know Irish?! Kyle hasn't heard that language from anyone since his mother died…a few words have slipped out from him, he knows, but Hal's never really said much about it outside of the moment, and now this…?

He leans back against the older man, absolutely certain Hal can feel how quickly his heart is beating with that hand on his chest and raises his own to rest atop and keep it there. "Tá mé go maith, mo ghrá geal," he replies with a soft smile. "And not really, no. It's actually been kind of fun; I just have to figure out if I want to do just the constellation Orion on this last card, or go for the nebula."

[newstfionline]

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Canada reimposes visa requirements for Mexicans as asylum claims surge (BBC) In 2016, Canada removed visa requirements for Mexican nationals seeking asylum within its borders. On Thursday, Canada’s government reinstated that requirement, saying that an influx of people seeking asylum has pushed the country to a “breaking point.” According to the data, the number of Mexican nationals looking for asylum in Canada rose from 260 to 23,995 between 2016 and 2023—a 9,000% increase over just seven years. Many of those asylum seekers have headed to Quebec, with the province recording 60,000 new asylum seekers in the first 11 months of 2023. “The number of asylum seekers welcomed by Quebec is far too high and our services are overwhelmed,” said Christine Fréchette, the provincial immigration minister. Quebec has asked Ottawa for $1 billion CAD ($736 million USD) to help with the influx, while Mexico has expressed dissatisfaction with the country’s new policy.

Powerful storm in California and Nevada shuts interstate and dumps snow on mountains (AP) A powerful blizzard raged overnight into Saturday in the Sierra Nevada as the biggest storm of the season shut down a long stretch of Interstate-80 in California and gusty winds and heavy rain hit lower elevations, leaving tens of thousands of customers without power. Up to 10 feet (3 meters) of snow is expected in some areas. The National Weather Service in Reno said late Friday it expects the heaviest snow to arrive after midnight, continuing with blizzard conditions and blowing snow through Saturday that could reduce visibility to one-quarter mile or less. “High to extreme avalanche danger” is expected in the backcountry through Sunday evening throughout the central Sierra, including the greater Lake Tahoe area, the weather service said.

Rich Americans are ditching California and ‘taking their tax dollars with them’ (Yahoo Finance) The Golden State has lost its shine for its wealthiest residents. In 2023, California’s population dipped below 39 million, the lowest count since 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Data shows the state lost 75,423 residents last year. Analysis of the approximately 750,000 people who have bid farewell to California over the last three years has revealed that thousands more high-earning, well-educated workers have left the Golden State than have moved in. This is a problem—as Joel Kotkin, a fellow at Chapman University, told the Los Angeles Times—because: “People who are leaving are taking their tax dollars with them.” California has the highest state income tax in the country. For a decade, the top income tax rate sat at 13.3%, but as of Jan. 1, the top rate was increased to an astronomical 14.4% for those earning more than $1 million. Ultra-wealthy Californians, the top 1%, typically pay between 40-50% of the state’s personal income tax revenue. And some have clearly had enough of propping up the state’s finances.

The U.S. national debt is rising by $1 trillion about every 100 days (CNBC) The debt load of the U.S. is growing at a quicker clip in recent months, increasing about $1 trillion nearly every 100 days. The nation’s debt permanently crossed over to $34 trillion on Jan. 4, after briefly crossing the mark on Dec. 29, according to data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. It reached $33 trillion on Sept. 15, 2023, and $32 trillion on June 15, 2023, hitting this accelerated pace. Before that, the $1 trillion move higher from $31 trillion took about eight months.

War or amour? A French take. (Les Echos/France) We're making less and less love. A recent Ifop survey shows that the rate of sexual activity in France has fallen to a level not seen since 1970. Only 43% of those surveyed have sex every week, compared to 58% in 2009. The situation is even clearer for young people: more than a quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds have not had sexual intercourse in a year, five times more than in 2006. While love is on the wane, war is on the upswing. We see it close at hand, at the gates of Europe and around the Mediterranean. Every day we hear tales of barbarity that we thought were reserved for historical fiction. We're talking about it in France, where the army is preparing for the prospect of high-intensity conflict, and the state is officially organizing itself for a "war economy." The International Committee of the Red Cross tells us that more than half of millennials believe they will experience a third world war.

As Sweden joins NATO, it bids farewell to more than two centuries of neutrality (AP) Sweden’s last war ended in 1814, and when the rifles and cannons it aimed at Norway fell silent, the once-warring power would not take up arms again. For the next two centuries, Sweden embraced a policy of neutrality, refusing to take sides in wars or join any military alliance. It was a stance that kept peace at home and contributed to the country becoming a prosperous welfare state and humanitarian superpower. This remarkably long era of nonalignment is coming to a close as Sweden joins NATO. Sweden, like neighbor Finland, had long ruled out seeking NATO membership. That changed practically overnight when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The invasion “had a shock effect on Swedish political life,” said Henrik Ekengren Oscarsson, a political scientist at the University of Goteborg. He analyzed polling data showing that support for NATO membership surged from 35% in 2021 to 64% after the invasion.

Surprisingly Weak Ukrainian Defenses Help Russian Advance (NYT) Russian forces continue to make small but rapid gains outside of the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, attributable in part to dwindling Ukrainian ammunition and declining Western aid. But there’s another reason the Kremlin’s troops are advancing in the area: poor Ukrainian defenses. Sparse, rudimentary trench lines populate the area west of Avdiivka that Ukraine is trying to defend, according to a Times review of imagery by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite company. These trench lines lack many of the additional fortifications that could help slow Russian tanks and help defend major roads and important terrain. U.S. officials said privately that it was concerning that Ukraine did not shore up its defensive lines early or well enough, and that it may now face the consequences as Russian units advance slowly but steadily beyond Avdiivka.

In a Land of Lavish Weddings, This Prenuptial Party Takes the Cake (NYT) When a member of one of India’s wealthiest families gets married, big-name guests and showstopping pomp and circumstance are nothing unusual. But it’s not every day that the invitees include royalty, business titans, Bollywood luminaries and Rihanna, for three days of a pre-wedding spectacular, months ahead of the actual ceremony. The lavish festivities that got underway on Friday for Anant Ambani, whose father heads Reliance Industries, have seized public attention. Mr. Ambani, 28, the younger son of Mukesh Ambani, will welcome the guests at a sprawling venue in the western Indian state of Gujarat, along with his fiancée, Radhika Merchant. The couple started the festivities earlier this week with a community feast: hosting thousands of people from neighboring villages and serving them Gujarati delicacies. But for the main event starting Friday night, more than 1,000 guests are expected. Notable invitees include Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Bob Iger of Walt Disney; present and former prime ministers of Canada, Sweden and Qatar; the king and queen of Bhutan; and Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit. Among the luxurious touches planned are chartered flights for the guests and people available to iron their clothes or help apply their makeup.

As besieged Gaza grows desperate, donors drop aid from the sky (Washington Post) From above, northern Gaza might be the skeletal remains of a forgotten ancient city, the broken pieces of its bombed-out buildings scattered like handfuls of chipped teeth. But the area, which for weeks bore the brunt of the fighting in Israel’s military campaign against Hamas, is far from abandoned. Its people are facing starvation, aid workers say, and clamoring for relief. Jordanian air force pilots dropped 33 tons of medical supplies, food and other necessities on Gaza on Thursday—vital support for those it reaches, but nowhere near enough to meet the widespread need in the besieged enclave of more than 2 million people. Neither are the truckloads of aid that are entering the strip at a declining pace—and that carry dangers of their own. More than 100 people were killed in Gaza City on Thursday and 700 wounded, health officials there said, after a crowd converged on a humanitarian aid convoy. Palestinian officials and witnesses blamed Israeli gunfire; Israeli officials blamed a stampede.       “I think the airdrop is a last-resort, extraordinarily expensive way of providing assistance,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the principal U.N. agency for Palestinian affairs, told reporters Thursday in East Jerusalem. “I don’t think that the airdropping of food in the Gaza Strip should be the answer today. The real answer is: Open the crossings and bring convoys and medical assistance into the Gaza Strip.” “The amount of aid that’s reaching [Gaza] is not enough, whether by air or by truck,” a spokesman for the Jordanian Armed Forces said. “So any possible method that allows us to bring in aid, we resort to, to fulfill the humanitarian need.”

Can US strikes on Yemen’s Houthis be justified as ‘self-defence’? (Al Jazeera) Israel has used it as justification for the slaughter of more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza—with thousands more lost under the rubble and presumed dead—in under five months. And, now, the United States has used it to justify its air strikes on Houthi fighters in Yemen. The right of a sovereign state to act in self-defence, under international law, has been thrust into the spotlight in recent months as four concurrent conflicts and humanitarian crises—in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen—threaten all-out war in the Middle East. This week, however US Senator for Virginia Tim Kaine cast doubt on American claims that US-led air strikes on Houthi targets, done in retaliation for Red Sea attacks on commercial vessels the group claims are linked to Israel, constitute “self-defence”. “A narrow mission to defend US shipping, both military and commercial—that is Article 2 self-defence,” said Kaine, referring to the US Constitution. “Article 2 self-defence means you can defend US personnel, you can defend US military assets, you probably can defend US commercial ships. But the defence of other nations’ commercial ships in no way—and it’s not even close—that’s not self-defence.” US Senator for Connecticut Chris Murphy also appeared to reject Biden’s “self-defence” justification when he said: “This looks to me like war in every bit of the constitutional sense.

South Africa’s hardest job (Reuters) Dan Marokane is about to tackle the hardest job in South Africa: getting the lights back on. As CEO of state power utility Eskom, he takes on an organisation hampered by alleged coal theft and sabotage, which faces financial and technical crises. He will be working with a government shareholder that has a conflicted vision for the country’s future energy mix and is struggling to move forward on a major overhaul of its electricity supply industry. As South Africa heads for national elections in May, turning Eskom around and solving a persistent power crunch could rescue Africa’s most industrialised economy from a cycle of decline. Failure would mean the country is stuck with the status quo of crippling blackouts that currently cut off electricity for everything from homes and businesses to traffic lights and hospitals for up to 10 hours every day.

The Rise of the Do-Nothing Vacation (WSJ) The pendulum is swinging away from jam-packed trips and Instagram-worthy adventures and toward vacations with little to write home about beyond a pretty sunset and a cold drink. More vacationers say they want a true break to rest and recharge during their time off. Their do-nothing vacations have no schedule. These aren’t beach trips that involve surfing or kayaking, or foodie tours requiring hours of research—and decision fatigue. “Rest and relaxation” jumped ahead of having “a fun time” and spending “time with immediate family” as the main motivator for leisure travel, according to a February survey of 1,000 U.S. travelers.