Another Real Threat

I am so fucking tired of being lied to & cheated every instant of my existence in this world of shit, pain & lying cheats you fucking imbeciles have made for yourselves. What is wrong w/ all of you? Why are you all such cheating liars?

That's Yankee Dabbler, by the way. Fuck them to the theological place of eternal damnation for all eternity.

Dog Bites Man!

Is this sort of thing even "news" anymore? No one can possibly be surprised, 'though some may be disgusted & revolted. Xians, apparently, think it's how things should be. Father knows best!

Shannon Butler / WFTV:
Former ‘gay cure’ ministry leader Alan Chambers charged in underage sex sting
Bob Smietana / RNS:   Alan Chambers, former Exodus International leader, charged with soliciting minor
Quispe López / Advocate:   Former leader of ‘ex-gay’ Christian ministry arrested for soliciting sex from a minor

Can't even "cure" himself, if he does realize he's doing something more awful than the "sins" he thinks "the gays" are committing.

At least Gary Puckett tried to keep it in his pants.

Truly A Paper Tiger

By gucciminh.

The term was frequently used in Chinese Internet discourse regarding the trade war begun by United States President Donald Trump. Internet users referred to Trump as a "paper tiger", frequently observing that the United States economy depends heavily on Chinese companies for a host of necessities, electronics, and raw components.

They have him pegged.

A "quick one" from Krugman.

When the leaders of the world’s two most powerful nations met in Beijing, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping spoke about the lessons of history:

Can China and the United States transcend the so-called ‘Thucydides Trap’ and forge a new paradigm for major-power relations?”

Donald Trump, on the other hand, spoke about fast food

Just as many Chinese now love basketball and blue jeans, Chinese restaurants in America today outnumber the five largest fast food chains in the United States, all combined. That’s a pretty big statement.

I’m old enough to remember when we were a serious country.

So am I. I believe the exact phrase is "Serious as cancer".

"Basketball and blue jeans" is yet another demonstration of how shallow he is. How do already overpaid sportsball weasels getting Chinese endorsement money help any other Americans but billionaire team owners? "Blue" jeans, what is he, his grandfather? Aren't "blue jeans" made in Vietnam or Central America? The Chinese restaurant bit is obvious bullshit & means less than nothing. Mencken's "The White House will be adorned by a downright moron" is completely correct, innit?

If the "gift link" doesn't work, digby excerpted much of it.

70 Yrs. Ago Today In Railroading History

Image by O. Winston Link. ©East Bumfuck Historical Society Collection. Used w/o permission.

A.T.S.F. Locomotive 2342 & Caboose 1353 pass the bean elevators at East Bumfuck, 19 May 1956.

More Fearmongering

The proverbial chickens may be coming home to roost atop what remains of The White House.Hah! Good luck getting Congress to address anything.

Had little prior interest, but now I can't wait for the World Cup! Hey, is that blood?

Some Quality Kvetching

From 2016. He's certainly fixed all the problems on his list, hasn't he?

As a general rule, there’s value in trying to understand why those we disagree with think as they do. But there’s no reason to allow such sentiments to obscure or confuse what we are living through. The GOP has been trending this way for a long time. In 2012, Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein wrote:

“The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.”

Mann and Ornstein correctly identified what had been the longtime drift of the GOP by that time, and felt it necessary to say so, especially in the face of a media environment that remained wedded to a “both sides” frame that muddied that reality. Led by Trump, especially in his second term, the GOP has reached the end point of that long arc, leavened by a depth of fraud, ignorance and spite that has made even veterans of that earlier era of GOP politics blanch.

End of a party, end of the Empire ...

When will these shitheels die so I can start pissing on their graves?

[Jonathan’s Quality Kvetching Newsletter, via Hackwhackers. Part of Mann/Ornstein.]

Plague Watch

No Vaccines or Treatments

The doctor's words:

We've seen cases unrelated to each other in Kampala, the most populous city in Uganda. hundreds of kilometers away, all of which makes me realize, well, this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better, and two, we still don't have a full handle on what exactly we're grappling with yet.

Looks as if these United Snakes have the welcome mat on the porch, the door unlocked & the porch lights off. Let the punishment fit the crime. When the "NO FACE DIAPERS!" MAGA/MAHA morons start dropping, call it Trumpbola.

Monday Modeling Monotony

What I "Model" (Give Or Take 70 Yrs.)

Not actually modeling it, used as an inspiration & jumping-off point.

Did entirely too much research; I'd need more reefers & stock cars for authentic operations. Fortunately, it's a switching layout, not an operating layout.

For most of its existence, the line sourced outstanding levels of traffic carrying produce and other agricultural products from the valley. For example, an Interstate Commerce Commission report from 1956 states that the seasonal perishable train (The PVX), bound to Chicago, "averaged 69 cars," longer than the usual length of the GFX trains from California's Central Valley (although the PVX was seasonal and the GFX was year round). One week in the spring of 1954 had seen 191 carloads of lettuce, the majority percentage shipping to Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. The three weeks prior to approx. April 8, 1954 saw 708 carloads of lettuce shipped. In the summer of 1959, cantaloupe shipments reached 2333 cars in the growing season. In 1970, a derailed train primarily hauling lettuce had 77 cars, with at least one of the cars appearing in the picture being a newer and longer SFRC car as opposed to a 40 ft SFRD car. And the railway agent of the Blythe yard once recalled "as many as 135 cars" at one unspecified time. But as of 1977 the train length might be 35 cars "on a good day." Off-season reefer traffic cars were dropped off to Rice or Cadiz to be picked up by other trains, while the PVX trains ran directly to the transcon line between Los Angeles and Chicago. White ice was produced in Blythe and had been shipped to Winslow, Arizona in the summer of 1949 for the reefer trains stopping there.

Grain and livestock traffic was heavy too. The Blythe-Ripley included the Union Feed Yards south of Blythe, which at one time was the largest feed yard in the country. There was a nearly four-mile spur originating from the curve near the valley's northern edge that served Riverview Farms to the east from 1954 to 1982. (Myrick, Pg. 240) Information referring to this spur is extremely scarce. You can see big pictures of those feed yards in the Palo Verde Historical Museum.

Will not be attempting any of the now reduced to slabs of concrete facilities as they were in the 1950s, but the geography fits my unwillingness to make terrain features, & I was insprired by the schadenfreude of the burg of Ripley, named after a former A.T. & S.F. president, & washed away w/ the rail line by a flood in the winter of 1922. (Maybe the schadenfreude isn't justified; money was probably made on insurance.)

You needn't arse yourselves w/ any of this; it's for this reporter's reference, & he's numb already. Hollywood's one-time provider of artificial snow was U.S. Gypsum in Midland, now a ghost town. It was burned to the sand. Dunno who "Jane" is but it's a great museum."Jane" is the guy's GPS, it turns out. What? Not a bad traveling set-up, either, if you like to leave the house.

Also, which led to geoglyphs 15 miles north of Blythe. Pardon the New Age or whatever music.Those would be fun to copy, but I'd need more space than could be spared. The longest glyph would be almost two linear ft. in HO.

Railfanning nothin', planefanning, w/ a good long look at the geography. Be quite a wasteland w/o irrigation.I'll need a shitpile of little green things to scatter about. Inspiration: W/ his name so bandied about, I think I'll call the Army facility Camp Patton instead of Camp Swampy. I s'pect the only swampy areas here would be where irrigation pipes had broken.

Looks just like it though, dunnit?

"Camp Patton" will be beneath the lovely currently cardboard backdrop at the left.

Still a Sisyphean mountain of work. Once I've painted track, sanded, painted & installed roadbed, gotten two or three bridges & lost that chunk of wood, I have to ensure adequate electricity flows though the tracks, sure to be a total effing pain involving redoing the track I'll have just finally laid, then slap together seven structure kits, most of which have been sitting here for several yrs. (Hey, I beat inflation & tariffs.)

& blow more moolah on oil loading platforms, high tension transmission poles & another electrical substation. Then scenery, signage & details. And at some point exchange couplers, purchase & add coupler boxes & buy & replace trucks on several cars. Estimated completion date is approx. the 12th of Never. Gah.

Local Naval Railroading History

I remember going past Seal Beach NWS on the Five & seeing many large spherical mines in the open, probably this Mark 6. Did the Navy have nukes there? Ask & the Navy says they "neither confirm or deny". Is that a "Yes"?

Untitled

Can't be bothered.

DAMN!

All four got out, I hope relatively unscathed."Gunfighter Skies Air Show" Grow up already!

KTFT:

4 crew members safely ejected following Idaho jet crash, AP reports  —  The Associated Press has reported that all four crew members involved in the jet collision ejected safely.  —  MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE, Idaho — Four crew members were able to safely eject from their aircraft …
Anthony Blair / New York Post:   Idaho air show horror after 2 jets crash in front of frightened spectators

Carter Schroppe / Washington Examiner:   Two F-18s collide at Idaho air show; all four crewmembers safe after ejecting

New York Times:   Two Military Jets Collide in Midair at Idaho Air Show

Jennifer Van Laar / RedState:   Breaking: Navy Fighter Jets Collide During Air Show at Mountain Home AFB

WWL-TV:   Jets collide during Idaho air show, prompt Air Force base lockdown and investigation

Fox News:   Two Navy jets crash midair as crew successfully ejects during Idaho military base air show

Justmindy / twitchy.com:   Miracle Ejection: Two Navy Fighter Jets Collide and Explode Over Idaho Airshow

Joseph Chalfant / Townhall:   Two Navy Aircraft Suffer Mid-Air Collision at Idaho Air Show

CBS News:   Fighter jets crash in midair during air show at Idaho Air Force base

Cassandra MacDonald / The Gateway Pundit:   SHOCKING VIDEO: Two Navy Jets Crash into Each Other Mid-Air at the Gunfighter Skies Air Show in Idaho, Four Parachutes Seen Floating to the Ground

Nicholas Slayton / Task & Purpose:   Air crews safely eject after two Navy jets collide during air show

Heather Mongilio / USNI News:   Naval Aviators Safe After EA-18G Growlers Crash at Idaho Air Show

Thomas Stevenson / The Post Millennial:   BREAKING: Two US Navy fighter jets collide during air show in Idaho

Addy Bink / KTLA:   Crews eject after ‘midair collision’ at Idaho Air Force base air show

Note how the fake news liars refer to them as "fighter jets", like the metal eight-yr. olds they are. Childish, & redundant (Pretty sure there are no more prop-driven fighter aircraft.) if true, however, "Growlers" aren't actual fighters, but electronic warfare platforms.

Use of the passive voice: "Two Navy Aircraft Suffer Mid-Air Collision at Idaho Air Show". Suffering, it can't be explained. It just happens, man. Wasn't a "miracle" either. It's called applied science. Ninnies.

No Rest For The Weary

The Cross, The Flag & The Star

Sunday is not a day of rest for me, as I continue to hate all earthling scum 24 hrs. a day, seven days a wk., 52 wks. a yr.

Farm Report: They Asked For It, They Got It! Good & Hard, Too!

Sorry, you can't afford any.

Nathan Bomey / Axios:
Farmers growing desperate amid rising energy and fertilizer prices  —  Farmers across the Midwest are entering planting season under mounting financial pressure, as the Iran conflict drives up diesel and fertilizer prices — deepening an agricultural downturn that some say is the worst since the crisis of the 1980s.
Alexander Willis / Raw Story:   Trump policies spark warnings of impending disaster: ‘Going to be fewer farmers’

Jesus Mesa / Newsweek:   Donald Trump Deals New Blow to US Farmers on China Trip

Sophie Hurwitz / Mother Jones:   Farmers Are Collateral Damage in Trump's Iran War

Do you like to eat? Ha ha ha! Too bad. Start saving now so you can afford Soylent Green!

Piling on, later. How dense are these sucker-ass chumps?

Brad Brooks / Reuters:

Trump says Iran war is worth the economic pain.  These rural voters agree.  —  Perched behind the cash register at Stubs liquor store, Amy Van Duyn gazed out the window at a red-and-green gasoline price sign, which she said seemed to tick up daily.  —  The price was $4.34 per gallon …

Alexander Willis / Raw Story:   Three-time Trump voter rips president as ‘naive’ as Iran war decimates GOP stronghold

Drought won't help either. Two words: Dust Bowl.

Psychedelic Saturday

And a (B-)side dish of those white person blues.

CONSUME! CONFORM!

Via Red State Blues's weekly round-up (Helluva wk., & every item's worth clicking.) from The Propaganda Professor,
an image I like

Must admit, probably generated by a robot (Note dials on telebision set.) unless the Professor is a talented
(& fast-working artist) & it's not bad beside the dials & that black thing atop the moneybag.
Wonder what they told the robot to do, & if they showed it pictures. Oops! Missed a few at first glance.
Always count the fingers: The busty blonde is short one. Also too, the sugar cubes aren't all cubes (or white)
the salt shaker needs holes in the lid, the box should read "STAYS CRISP!",
the flag's not well rendered & the brain support looks hinky.

& an opening paragraph w/ which I couldn't agree more, to wit:

Confession time: I like my breakfast cereal soggy. There, I’ve said it. Yep, I like it to soak up the milk like the most absorbent of sponges, becoming so saturated that you can’t tell where the cereal ends and the milk begins. Apparently eating cereal without sound effects is a sacrilege, because the cereal makers have long been advocates for cereal apartheid, actively striving to develop and market a product that “stays crunchy longer” by adjusting moisture content, adding sugar or glaze coatings (yum), and altering density and shape. So those little neon-colored, sugar-bombed nuggets are more likely to get lodged between your teeth. Aren’t you thrilled? Do most cereal aficionados really prefer their morning bowl this way? I don’t know. But if they do, I strongly suspect that it’s only because someone on Madison or whatever Avenue decided they should, and began hyping that particular attribute.

Before I became a breatharian I enjoyed Cap'n Crunch® Original (Because there weren't 10 freaking varieties then.) fully soaked. The Professor goes deeper, & it's further evidence you're all sheep. I agree w/ that too.

Pearls Clutched & Panties In A Twist

Not that this web-log is in any way opposed to grilling.

Fake news thinks it's "owned the libs" again. "Foreign Communist", "Transnational Invaders" (That's a new one to me.) & "socialist". You tell 'em!

Jamie Paige / New York Post:
LA mayoral hopeful Nithya Raman proposes backyard BBQ ban
Jennifer Oliver O'Connell / RedState:   LA Mayoral Hopeful Blames Your Carne Asada—Not Homeless Fires—for Wildfire Risk

Grateful Calvin / twitchy.com:   From Our Singed, Smoked Hands! Nithya Raman Wants to Ban Backyard BBQs in Los Angeles

Natalie Sandoval / The Daily Caller:   Spencer Pratt's Opponents Propose Dentists For Meth Heads, Ban On Backyard BBQs

John Nolte / Breitbart:   Left-Wing Tech Organization Pays Full Salaries of 80 MSM Journalists

Ed Morrissey / HotAir:   LA Mayoral Race Focuses On the Big Problem Facing Angelenos: Grilling!

Dmitri Bolt / Townhall:   Nithya Raman Wants to Ban What? See Her Latest Proposed Fire Prevention Policy

Ace of Spades HQ:   Foreign Communist Candidate for LA Mayor Nithya Raman Wants to Ban Backyard BBQs Because the Transnational Invaders Instinctively Make Endless War on American Normies

Britta Miller / Washington Examiner:   Spencer Pratt roasts Nithya Raman in barbecue video

Brodigan / Louder With Crowder:   Spencer Pratt drops the PERFECT response to his socialist opponent's attempt to ban you from BBQing in your backyard

All very funny. It certainly wasn't "homeless fires" that started the Eaton fire, it was SoCalEd's high-tension power lines. The Palisades fire was set by a deliberate arsonist, & smoldered for a wk. because the L.A. City Fire Dep't. didn't fully extinguish it. Homeless people are forced to use fire, but their fires are usually in concrete-lined river bottoms & burn little but brush.

Note to Brodigan / Louder With Crowder: BBQ-ing doesn't stay in "your backyard".

And a note to Nolte of Breitbart: Who finances your little operation? Billionaire Nazis?

Dunno who this Spencer Pratt is (A prat w/ a surname for a first name?) but he would seem to be the darling of the droolers. Vote accordingly.

More Morbidity

It's Back!!

Huh. Fifty yrs. since the first reporting.

The first symptoms are usually fever, sore throat, muscle pain, and headaches. These are usually followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, hepatic and renal dysfunction, at which point some people begin to bleed both internally and externally. The disease causes a mortality rate of anywhere between 25 and 90%, averaging out at approximately 50%. The viral species involved and timing of treatment play a critical role in its prognosis. Death is often due to shock from fluid loss, and typically occurs between 6 and 16 days after the first symptoms appear.

The viruses have caused intermittent outbreaks in Sub-Saharan Africa since 1976 when the disease was first reported.

I hope you-know-who's cutbacks in American aid are responsible for this & help it make its way to these shores.

Another Entry For The "He Seems Nice" Sweepstakes

Almost exclusive to these United Snakes. One sick shithole nation you've made for yourselves. Proud to be an American? Eff you all, chumps!

Exercise In Composition

Dirt On The Loose

Don't believe the hype: It's Big Sky Country, not The Land Of 10,000 Lakes. Is the top soil loose from drought?Either way, it's dirt.

Friday Freak Out

From about 60 yrs. ago. TTG was on Highland just south of Sunset. Let's boogie ..."All-frantic, non-stoppadelic!"

'Tain't Even Facism, It's Feudalism!

Are you a peasant or a serf?
Source.

The Lord Doesn’t Think About Anybody

Trump’s instinct is feudalism. The rest of us need to start thinking about each other.

I suppose, but you don't want to know how little I care about the rest of you. And why should I? I didn't vote for this.

What he described in that gaggle, a hierarchy in which the financial suffering of ordinary Americans doesn’t even register as a variable worth considering, is not an aberration. It is the operating system. And it is older than Trump by several centuries. The medieval term for it was feudalism. The people at the bottom were called serfs. The countries that existed to serve the lord’s interests were called vassal states. Trump, who once openly threatened to reduce Canada to exactly that status, appears to have built his entire worldview around a system he would have felt entirely at home in, provided, of course, that he was the one holding the title.

Alleged gift link. Meaning good luck getting around the paywall w/o giving them your e-mail two or three times or "getting the app". More irksomeness & enshittificaton. Why should I care when everything is absolute crap?

An Angry American's Thursday Threat Matrix

Raw Footage, Direct From The Stovetop Of Doom!!

In which a righteously angry American threatens your pathetic asses w/ death at his hands. I've wasted 72.5 x 365 days in your horrible world & every day has been a slap in the face & an insult to my intelligence by & from you slack-jawed, brain-dead fuckwads. My disgust overwhelms me.

Just stop existing so I can stop hating you all! Why is that so much to ask?

Thirsty Thursday

From Ten Bears. All sources point to "Does not look good at all".Looks to be A.I.-generated, except with some embellished actual footage. Nonetheless, start saving now; even higher prices for protein and carbohydrates ar on the way.

Other watery nature studies. This established plate tectonics, & was drawn by hand by humanoids.

Izzat Main St. running down the middle? Fifth Ave.? Wilshire?

Equal time: Same city-block looking topography in the Eastern Pacific & south of Oz as the smaller ocean.

Zealandia's fairly obvious here, from the October 1969 issue of National Geographic.

Also raises the question of whether the New Zealand plate should be a continent.Why hadn't I heard about this before? Must've missed the paper.

And what about this Antarctic deception? Not real at all.

Antarctica w/o ice. It's better described as an archipelago, but accepted as a continent.

And where it's about to lose the ice sheet. Oops!