Author: Doug Santo

Geologist | Author | Photographer
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Biden thinks he knows best for you…

Joe Biden Boasts Plan to Take Millions of Vehicles off Highways by Putting People on Trains

My response: Fuck you. You senile old jerk.

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Heartbreaking story from beginning to end for all parties concerned. My best wishes for both families.

Brian Laundrie found: FBI confirms remains

This is probably the best outcome that could be wished for.

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Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) – “…The FBI is starting to resemble old KGB with secret warrantless surveillance, wiretapping, and intimidation of citizens…”

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Biden Administration claims they don’t need congress to enact climate plans. Sure.

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Greens and Democrats block major U.S. mining effort. Bad decision, bad judgement, ideology overrides business and national interests.

US plan would block Minnesota copper-nickel mine

“…The U.S. Forest Service on Wednesday proposed a 20-year ban on mining in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters region, a step that would block Antofagasta Plc’s Twin Metals copper and nickel mine project.

The announcement reversed a decision by former President Donald Trump and set off a review of how mining could affect the popular outdoor recreational area. It freezes issuance of new mining leases or permits in the region for two years.

The proposed underground mine would become a major U.S. supplier of copper for electric vehicles (EVs), which use twice as much of the red metal as those with internal combustion engines…”

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Thomas Massie questions Garland about FBI involvement in inciting January 6 capitol riots. Evaluate Garland’s response for yourself. Do you trust him?

Louie Gohmert about FBI involvement inside the capitol building:

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War on parents based on school boards letter

AG Merrick Garland Admits Federal War On Parents Sprang From School Boards Letter, Not Evidence

Related:

“…Americans value freedom…”

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Garland faces criticism in House hearing…

Republicans grill Biden’s AG Merrick Garland as he defends FBI school board memo, insists parents are entitled to protest and denies calling them domestic terrorists

    • Garland is testifying before the Democrat-led committee on Thursday morning
    • Jim Jordan accused Garland of giving GOP lawmakers ‘the finger’ in response to inquiries over his memo directing the FBI to crack down on public schools
    • Another Republican lawmaker confronted him on his son-in-law’s company, Panorama Education, which has been accused of utilizing critical race theory
    • Two representatives demanded that Garland appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden and whether he’s profited off Joe Biden’s presidency
    • Rep. Ken Buck compared the prices of Hunter Biden’s artwork to the values of classic paintings by Claude Monet and Edgar Degas
    • The Judiciary committee is chaired by New York Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler
    • Nadler’s opening statement appears to take a veiled shot at his GOP colleagues 
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Biden knew about AG Garland’s letter calling concerned parents terrorists before it was sent

White House Knew About Letter That Compared Parents to Domestic Terrorists

“…National School Board Association collaborated with Biden administration, emails show

The country’s largest school board association collaborated with the Biden White House before sending a controversial letter calling on the FBI to investigate parents as potential domestic terrorists, according to previously unreported emails.

The emails, obtained by Parents Defending Education through public records requests and reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, reveal that the National School Board Association’s president and CEO sent the letter to Biden on Sept. 29 without approval from the organization’s board. The letter said that the acts of some parents at school board meetings across the country could be considered “a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”

The emails also show that the White House asked the association for examples of threats against school board members days before Attorney General Merrick Garland created a task force of officials from the FBI and the Justice Department to determine how to prosecute alleged crimes at school board meetings.

The letter makes clear that the White House was aware of the letter before it was released, while raising questions about whether the White House colluded with the association on the letter to prompt federal action. The letter has sparked allegations that the Biden administration is trying to stifle dissent among parents who oppose mask mandates and the teaching of critical race theory at America’s schools. School board meetings have become battlegrounds for factions of parents torn on those issues. Parents in some districts have organized recall efforts to remove school board members who support mandates or radical curricula…”

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Biden gets a welcome, of sorts, on his return to Scranton.

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A sequence of important posts on Fauci lying to the senate and the American people on funding gain-of-function research

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The U.S. Navy needs a serious course correction. They seem more focused on woke pronouns than war fighting (or fire fighting)

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A cardiologist from a Victorian hospital (Australia) admits they are seeing 30 to 40 cases of myocarditis & pericarditis every day from the mandated Pfizer vaccine

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Global Warming, rebranded as “Climate Change,” is a secular religion of the left.

Antarctica Chills with Coldest Winter on Record

Leslie Eastman:

“…Grand Solar Minimum projected for 2025 as global warming advocates dismiss the record temperatures as a mere data point.

The South Pole recorded its coldest winter on record.

Between April and September, a research station sitting on a high plateau in Antarctica, registered an average temperature of minus 78 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 61 degrees Celsius). That’s the coldest temperature recorded since record keeping began in 1957, and about 4.5 F (2.5 C) lower than the most recent 30-year average, according to The Washington Post.

The previous record for the coldest winter was minus 77 F (minus 60.6 C) in 1976, Stefano Di Battista, a journalist wrote on Twitter. The Post learned of this record through Battista, but then confirmed the information with Richard Cullather, a research scientist at NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office.

Scientists credit a strong polar vortex for the deep freeze.

The stratospheric polar vortex is a seasonal phenomenon. In the Southern Hemisphere, it forms in the fall, persists through the winter and weakens before reversing course in spring.

The strength of the vortex has connections to weather at the ground, said Krzysztof Wargan, a research scientist with NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office. He said a strong vortex is associated with low surface temperatures.

Whether the vortex is strong or weak depends on a cycle known as Southern Annular Mode (SAM). Right now, the mode is in its positive phase and the vortex is intense.

“Basically, the winds in the polar stratosphere have been stronger than normal, which is associated with shifting the jet stream toward the pole,” wrote Amy Butler, an atmospheric scientist at NOAA in a message. “This keeps the cold air locked up over much of Antarctica.”

As a reminder, the press featured the melting of Antarctica’s “Doomsday Glacier” as proof of global warming just as the record cold season began. This gem was published in April.

The fate of Thwaites – nicknamed the doomsday glacier – and the massive west Antarctic ice sheet it supports are the biggest unknown factors in future global sea level rise.

Over the past few years, teams of scientists have been crisscrossing the remote and inaccessible region on Antarctica’s western edge to try to understand how fast the ice is melting and what the consequences for the rest of the world might be.

“What happens in west Antarctica is of great societal importance,” said Dr Robert Larter, a scientist with the British Antarctic Survey and principal investigator with the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, the most ambitious research project ever carried out in Antarctica. “This is the biggest uncertainty in future sea level rise.”

More serious scientists should, just perhaps, consider the level of solar activity when assessing causation for the record cold…”

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Jon Gabriel has an interesting take on our current situation…

Democrats and the Politics of Scarcity

One chilly night, the president lowered the White House thermostat, put on a cardigan, and gave the American people a stern talking-to. We enjoyed too much abundance for too long and it was time to pay for our profligacy.

“The oil and natural gas that we rely on for 75 percent of our energy are simply running out,” Jimmy Carter said in 1977. “We could use up all the proven reserves of oil in the entire world by the end of the next decade.” The only way to prevent catastrophe was “strict conservation” and a willingness to “make sacrifices.”

Carter relentlessly preached his new austerity gospel to American citizens. We must repent of our excess and deny ourselves the pleasures of a functional economy. Every head bowed, every eye closed, it’s altar-call time.

I’m sure that each of you will find something you don’t like about the specifics of our proposal. It will demand that we make sacrifices and changes in every life. To some degree, the sacrifices will be painful–but so is any meaningful sacrifice. It will lead to some higher costs and to some greater inconvenience for everyone. But the sacrifices can be gradual, realistic, and they are necessary.

America has had a puritanical streak since our founding but it remains an outlier. The former Sunday school teacher promised pain, inconvenience, and higher costs. The next time he faced the voters, they tossed him out on his tin ear.

Bizarrely, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party are offering a classic ’70s rerun. Instead of talking up the country, they’re again talking down to America.

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain agreed that “most of the economic problems we’re facing (inflation, supply chains, etc.) are high-class problems.”

A senior White House official warned it might be emptier under this year’s Christmas tree because “there will be things that people can’t get.” Press Secretary Jen Psaki concurred: “We are not the Postal Service, UPS, or FedEx. We cannot guarantee” people will get their presents.

Interrupting his third month of paternity leave, DOT head Pete Buttigieg promised supply-chain issues will continue into next year and that’s a good thing. “Demand is up because income is up, because the president has successfully guided this economy out of the teeth of a terrifying recession.” Later that day, the DC Metro shut down 60 percent of its rail cars. (Hopefully, the Secretary of Transportation got back to his postpartum self-care.)

Dutifully backing the administration’s play, the mainstream media keeps promoting the bright side of empty shelves:

“Don’t rant about short-staffed stores and supply chain woes. Try to lower expectations.” — Washington Post

“America is running out of everything because Americans are buying so much stuff.” — Business Insider

“You can either shop early, expect to pay more, or just embrace scarcity.” — Bloomberg

I admire monastics choosing lives of ascetic struggle but doubt voters will reward politicians who mandate we join them. Heading to a cave to find God is one thing; eating lab-grown meat to boost Joe Biden’s polls isn’t the path to enlightenment. Even the most austere Americans prefer a politics of abundance to a politics of scarcity.

Excuse me, but I need to finish Christmas shopping for my kids. Looking for a deal on a hoop-and-stick and maybe a plump orange they can share…”

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Petty, vindictive, and now abandoned, the mayor of America’s Democrat warzone, Chicago, will pay the price for bad judgement and bad policies.

Illinois sheriffs to Chicago Mayor: You’re on your own

“…Chicago is potentially facing yet another crisis in the coming days, but this one has nothing to do with gang bangers or pandemics, at least not directly. Like many other big-city Democratic mayors, Lori Lightfoot issued a mandate that all Chicago PD police officers would have to be vaccinated by a specific deadline or face the prospect of being placed on leave without pay or dismissal. Given the number of cops that have refused to provide proof of vaccination so far, that could mean up to a thousand officers being taken off the line at a time when they are already severely understaffed and the city is still battling an ongoing crime wave and carjacking epidemic.

Normally, when the city encounters a shortage of police officers, the Sheriff’s Departments from the counties in that area send some of their own deputies to help out under a program called the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS). But this particular “emergency” is something different, and most of the Sheriff’s offices are saying that they won’t be sending anyone. That may sound a bit cold-hearted at first glance, but their reasoning is actually pretty sound. (Police Tribune)

Multiple sheriffs in jurisdictions near Chicago said they will not respond to fill the potential gap in police manpower created by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Lightfoot has vowed to fire the Chicago police officers who fail to comply with the mandate she ordered, which could result in the loss of thousands of officers.

Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain and DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick said they have historically had no problem sending deputies to help the Chicago Police Department (CPD) in cases where officers were in emergency distress or under duress, but that the situation Lightfoot has created does not fit those parameters, the Daily Herald reported.

Normally the ILEAS is invoked during times of crisis. That could be caused by a significant number of officers being out sick or a sudden emergency condition where most of the available cops are called to a specific location to handle a problem. In those cases, when there is “no opportunity for planning,” Sheriff’s Deputies are routinely dispatched to cover some shifts for the missing cops. But as one Sheriff told reporters, this is a very different situation. If this is a crisis it was one of Lightfoot’s own making and she should have planned ahead if she knew she might be firing a large number of cops.

Another Sheriff described the situation as “a preplanned police shortage,” and said that the lack of planning and foresight on the part of the Mayor’s office “astounded” him.

We can’t pretend that there isn’t some political tension involved in this standoff. Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain sent out a memo this week, placing the blame for the pending shortfall on the “slanted agenda” of the Mayor’s office. He also expressed his distrust of the Cook County State’s Attorney, who has been far too eager when prosecuting any officers who find themselves in a use-of-force situation.

“I believe the polarization between the community and police is only reinforced by current Chicago politics,” the sheriff wrote. “I will not send my personnel to Chicago, unless an officer is under direct duress, because I cannot support this slanted agenda. I also will not allow my deputies to be subjected to use force in the city and be under the prosecutorial jurisdiction of the Cook County State’s Attorney.”

Didn’t Lori Lightfoot have enough on her plate already when it comes to crime in her city and law enforcement staffing? Some basic tact and respectful negotiations might have resulted in a satisfactory resolution in terms of the Chicago PD and the vaccination question…”

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Virginia looks tight and may favor the Republican.

Another poll of Virginia shows race between Youngkin and McAuliffe tied

“…The smart money is on a Youngkin victory at this point, right? Today’s Monmouth survey is the second straight poll to have the race even (Trafalgar was the other), and in the span of three weeks McAuliffe’s lead in the RCP average has been cut by more than half. Today it’s down to 1.8 points. He led by five points on October 1.

Virginians are making up their minds in the final weeks before the vote. Youngkin’s Trump-friendly-but-not-too-friendly strategy appears to be convincing a meaningful number to roll the dice on a Republican for the first time in 12 years.

You don’t even need to know what the polls say to know that he’s closing on McAuliffe, in fact. The Democrat’s behavior lately reeks from the stench of flop sweat. As a Twitter pal said this morning, for weeks McAuliffe has projected a sense of irritation that he’s being made to work for a victory in a state Biden carried by 10 points. Recently, however, he seems more desperate than annoyed. Whatever he’s seeing in his own numbers clearly has him believing that he might lose.

He might. From Monmouth:

Youngkin (46%) and McAuliffe (46%) hold identical levels of support among all registered voters. This marks a shift from prior Monmouth polls where the Democrat held a 5-point lead (48% to 43% in September and 47% to 42% in August). A range of probabilistic likely electorate models* shows a potential outcome – if the election was held today – of anywhere from a 3-point lead for McAuliffe (48% to 45%) to a 3-point lead for Youngkin (48% to 45%). This is the first time the Republican has held a lead in Monmouth polls this cycle.…

The biggest swing in support from Monmouth’s last poll comes from independent voters, registering a 48% to 39% lead for Youngkin now compared with a 37% to 46% deficit in September. Youngkin has also cut into McAuliffe’s advantage with women voters. The Democrat currently has a narrow edge among women (47% to 43%), down from a sizable 14-point lead last month (52% to 38%).

Biden’s approval in this poll stands at 43/52. In a state he won by 10 points…”

Doug Santo