Bullet Points:
** Ample of body, with a homely mug and a twisted mind, activist, failed actor, and famous lesbian, Rosie O’Donnell, who fled the United States to live in Ireland, has been critical of President Trump. She says that he has said cruel things about her by stating the obvious.
** The City of Huntington Beach, California (Surf City) is celebrating the War of Northern Aggression! I find it odd because Huntington Beach has no historical claim to a connection to the War Between the States.
Any excuse for a party. HB Civil War Days 2025 – August 30th & 31st – Labor Day Weekend – HB Central Park, 17581 Gothard St, Huntington Beach, CA, US – Duration: 2 days.
Abe Lincoln, who won the election in 1860 by 39% of the popular vote, is not known to have ever surfed. I know – revisionist history – for the sake of validating the party theme. There will be some battle reenactments, but only battles where Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia suffered a loss. There won’t be Union soldiers routed and streaming across crowded city streets, being ridden down by Forrest’s Cavalry (Army of Tennessee) with Morton’s battery of Tennessee Light Artillery firing canister into them as well.
** Howard Stern’s move from underdog – rage against the machine, to become a scold for the machine, is discussed in this piece by The Spectator. He stopped being interesting decades ago if he ever really was.
** Today we salute EdB.
**Tiny homes are becoming increasingly popular as the price of more traditional homes makes them unaffordable for first-time buyers.
**President Trump envisions a Washington, D.C., with a lower crime rate than the one it presently has. He pledged to clean up the streets, and the residents are pushing back. As an outside observer, I can only opine that they want to keep the crime rate and the carjackings going.
** In the doctor’s office with Mike_C.
** When you see an old person eating alone, what do you think?
** If common sense were lard, many people wouldn’t be able to grease a pan.
** RFK Jr. says SNAP costs taxpayers $405M daily, with 10-17% spent on sugary drinks and candy. Let them drink water!
** How is having Medicaid like going to the VA for treatment?
** Who do you call when you have a problem?
Middle Earth
History
Tonopah, NV
The city is trying to capitalize on “history” by creating legends, which is not an un occurrence in the American West or elsewhere. There’s no documented evidence of Wyatt Earp owning or operating a saloon in Tonopah, Nevada. While he was a well-known figure in the American West and involved in various saloons, including the Oriental Saloon in Tombstone, Arizona, his presence in Tonopah is not historically linked to any saloon ownership. Tonopah did have saloons during its boomtown period, but no specific establishment is associated with Wyatt Earp.
Prescott, AZ
In 1867, three years after the founding of the city, D.C. Thorne purchased the lot on which the saloon would later be built. In 1877, Thorne built the saloon and named it The Palace Saloon; it was one of over forty bars that lined Whiskey Row in Prescott. Throughout its history, it has been frequented by notable patrons, including Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp (Marshal of Prescott), Doc Holliday (before they headed south to Tombstone in the 1870s), Steve McQueen, and me (your favorite blogger).
During his time in Prescott before leaving for Tombstone, Wyatt Earp was involved in several gunfights behind the saloon, killing two men. Holliday also killed a man in the saloon during a knife fight. Thorne owned the property until it was destroyed in a fire in 1883, after which it was sold to Robert Brow. Brow rebuilt the saloon, incorporating innovations intended to make the structure less prone to fire, including a stone foundation and an iron roof. When it reopened in 1884, it featured a new hand-carved Brunswick bar, several chandeliers, three gaming tables, and two clubrooms. Along with the Cabinet Saloon next door, the Palace was considered the finest saloon in Arizona.
The saloon was the scene of other violence, including the beating death of a sometime prostitute named Jennie Clark, by her boyfriend Fred Glover. Jennie’s real name was Nellie Coyle, and on a night in late August 1884, she and Glover got into a fight at the saloon. During the scuffle, she was knocked down several times and may have been kicked while on the floor. She died of her injuries that night. Glover was tried and convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to hang. Before his execution, Governor Frederick Tritle commuted the sentence to life in prison, which was further reduced in 1889 by the next governor, Oakes Murphy, and Glover was released from jail the following year.
Every American MLB Player Ever by Birthplace County
Sen. Mike Lee’s Proposal
This nation is in the midst of a cold civil war. That conflict will determine whether the American way of life survives into the 21st century.
The dust-up over Sen. Mike Lee’s proposal to sell off federal lands in the American West is emblematic of new proposals and change. The availability of these lands for every citizen is essential to the American way of life, opening up to each American a kind of freedom that was restricted in the Old World to the aristocracy. At the same time, however, managing these lands requires a massive bureaucratic apparatus. The very same administrative state forms the power center of the enemy regime, and does so much to undermine American liberties.
Where do YOU stand on the matter?
Drone Attack
(Moscow Times) A Ukrainian drone strike forced Russia’s Saratov oil refinery, operated by the state-owned energy giant Rosneft, to halt crude intake on Sunday, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The Saratov facility is the third Rosneft refinery to see operations disrupted by drone strikes in the past week.
The refinery sustained damage during a wave of drone attacks that hit 13 Russian regions and annexed Crimea over the weekend.
The Samara refinery produced about 4 million tons of gasoline and diesel last year and has an annual processing capacity of 5.8 million metric tons.
On Aug. 2, Rosneft’s Ryazan refinery — the largest in its portfolio, with a capacity of 13.8 million tons a year — shut down about half of its units after an accident at two of its three primary crude distillation plants. The facility supplies fuel to the Moscow region.
The same day, the Novokuibyshevsk refinery, the best-equipped in Rosneft’s Samara group, halted production entirely.
Flip/Flop
In an article for Politico’s “California Climate” newsletter, a significant policy shift by California Governor Gavin Newsom regarding the oil industry is detailed. After positioning himself as a strong critic of “Big Oil,” Governor Newsom’s administration is now taking measures to support in-state oil production and prevent refinery closures.
This policy change is a response to the threat of gasoline shortages and price increases, which are significant concerns for Democrats. The article highlights the political risks associated with a rapid transition away from fossil fuels, noting the surprise and disappointment of environmental groups who had considered Newsom an ally.
In response to the planned closure of two refineries, the Newsom administration has proposed measures to maintain refinery operations, including more efficient permitting for drilling. While the governor’s office frames this as part of a “just transition,” environmental justice advocates are expressing their frustration and are preparing to challenge these new policies.
Ukraine’s Fortress Belt in Donetsk Oblast
Kremlin officials are reportedly demanding that Ukraine cede to Russia strategically vital unoccupied territory in Donetsk Oblast and freeze the front line in other areas as part of a ceasefire agreement.
The surrender of the rest of Donetsk Oblast as the prerequisite of a ceasefire with no commitment to a final peace settlement ending the war would force Ukraine to abandon its “fortress belt,” the main fortified defensive line in Donetsk Oblast since 2014, with no guarantee that fighting will not resume.
Putin’s reported proposal reportedly demands that Ukraine concede this critical defensive position, which Russian forces currently have no means of rapidly enveloping or penetrating, apparently in exchange for nothing.
The precise terms of Putin’s position remain unclear as of August 9; however, Trump Administration officials, particularly US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, have offered four different presentations of Putin’s terms.
Ukraine has spent the last 11 years pouring time, money, and effort into reinforcing the fortress belt and establishing significant defense industrial and defensive infrastructure in and around these cities.
Russia’s failure to seize Slovyansk in 2022 and ongoing struggles to envelop the fortress belt underscore the success of Ukraine’s long-term efforts to reinforce the fortress belt cities. Russian forces are still attempting to encircle the fortress belt from the southwest and are engaged in seizing it, a task that would likely take several years to complete.
Identify the Aircraft
1
78 built
2
180 built – There are a few look-alikes. Not a TBF.
3
Obvious hint – 2 graphics to work with
4
Parting Shot
Surly’s Ride…
End
1 is Consolidated P2Y
2 is Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf
3 is
4 is Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star
My wife and I spent 10 days in Prescott in 2002. Whiskey Row was very interesting.
#3 – take a hard look at the photo.
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Consolidated P2Y
2. Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf
3. Martin XB-51
4. Lockheed NC-121K Warning Star
Surly’s Ride: Nice Bolo albeit I’m too old an AI to polish such a vehicle. :(
Nobody says you have to polish your ride. Yes, to the answers above.
It’s AI. It will clean itself.
Ukraine….(sigh) .
I don’t know if Zskyy (the nightclub tranny act) is better than Kamala, the old ho. Maybe a toss-up.
I ain’t saying nothing on Ukraine , just watchin and waiting to see what unfolds next . Hold that for a minute . I will say this , and it may be a repeat , it is amazing seeing the footage available and note that as the seasons change the farmlands , and there is a bunch of it , the fields get planted , harvested, tilled under for the winter rinse and repeat . Even saw grasslands mowed , raked into windrows baled and taken away . Aside from tanks and vehicles tearing the fields up , somebody is getting in there and working those fields , in a f’n war zone . That shit is getting to market and shipped . I know the active war zones are usually concentrated and shift and change , but farming is weather dependent , you have to get in the fields when you can when the weather is right for whatever activity is needing done . I guess you just say a prayer , hop in the tractor , combine, truck and hopper bottom or whatever and just go do it . The landscape looks a lot like the midwest here , fields and treelines . I guess the farmers just turn a blindeye when they are tilling or planting along a treeline and see a bunch of dudes in camos and howitzers and camo netting etc. , shit maybe they wave as they go by like they do in the midwest . Ain’t that something though , really .
The Ukes are tough.
I’d say farmers in general are tough, and tough-minded risk takers. Riding the school bus one day when it went past one of our fields that my dad was working. He had one tractor tire right on the edge of the road ditch. He must have been riding the brake pedal of the other wheel to do it. Not something I would have even dreamed of doing.
Does that include Novorossiyans ?
Have you ever seen anyone more miserable than Rosie O’Donnell? Me neither.
Have a fabulous day and rest of the week. :)
She’s the poster child for all aspiring lesbians.
…and it shows. Oy vey.
1 “Ukraine’s Fortress Belt in Donetsk Oblast”
Ah dunno! I keep switching the U.S. for Russia and Mexico for the Ukraine and how would I feel about…
Weel. Lookeedat.
2. why was it necessary to desroy my first cuppa kawphy with two of the major has-beens of the “entertainment” world:
Rosie O’Donnell, and Howard Stern?
3. Gavin Newsom’s (another loathsome) handlers are still trying to position him for “The Race”; all hair, no cattle. The Liberals/Socialists will gush all over him (no pun intended).
Something from the homos will issue forth, covering Newsom – with their love. He’s a Pelosi relative, which gives him that wink and nod of lefty worthiness for higher office. He won rigged elections in California, and Hillary couldn’t win a rigged election, so there’s that going for him.
We wouldn’t be worried about Federal land if the deficit wasn’t out of control. On the other hand, the deficit wouldn’t be out of control if the taxpayers were not paying for huge amounts of buildings underutilized, or empty. The lack of fiscal responsibility is rampant, and keeping up Federal land is another cost that doesn’t benefit all tax payers. While Yellowstone, and others, are treasures, too many don’t have the resources to visit. Personally, I think selling off such property should be the last thing to do. Cutting the useless jobs of many bureaucrats, eliminating the waste of agencies that repeat the work of other agencies, eliminating the United Nations building, eliminating the perks of politicians, eliminating military waste, and many other money pits are first in line.
I’ll throw my cracker in the soup, for what it’s worth. Some BLM land is leased and used by private parties, who pay for its maintenance. There is land that should remain in the public trust for all time – Yellowstone is the poster child for that, as are most of the National Parks. Then there are National Forests. I live in the middle of a big one on privately owned land. To be fair about it, and I’ve mentioned it on the blog, they are FINALLY logging it, thinning it, and taking care of it (logging+$$) so it won’t burn to the ground and fires are more manageable. That will take some time to do, but they’re doing it where I live. The Coconino and Apache Sitgraves National Forests take up a huge chunk of Northern Arizona. Most of the national forests should remain in public hands. On a case-by-case basis, vast pieces of BLM land could be sold for agricultural, mining or other purposes. It’s used for mining (in some states) and agricultural use now, but if we could apply it to pay down more of the national debt directly, it would be a good thing.
We have a local preserve, which is mostly inaccessible, but preserved an area that if “progress” allowed, would have been decimated by improved drainage, the loss of everything, except pines for harvesting, and eliminated species that are only found in that area. I like it, and the land was basically useless for anything else, unless manipulated for commercial enterprises. It’s cost on taxpayers is minimal, and some access points require a permit that is affordable. That helps with costs, and when it comes to saving taxpayer money, I could save millions by removing unnecessary cosmetic additions to highway projects. Selling some U.S. land is ignoring the log in trying to remove a speck.
There are areas that could be developed in different ways and there are areas that should never be developed. Speaking selfishly, I live (as mentioned) on patent land in the middle of a forest. No stores, gas stations, or civilizaton for an hour’s drive + in any direction. Living there requires a different mindset. I functionally have no “neighbors” though there are people in the same situation as I am. There are a few summer cabins that are rarely if ever visited but they too are not close. The footprint of man is not from people who live as I do, but from campers and visitors who disregard nature and bring their Starlinks so they can watch Netflix videos, etc. leave trash behind and blaze away in all directions in the name of target practice.
There’s a meme I saw the other day. The pic was of a long dirt drive with some buildings in the background. Where you could turn off the main road and get on that drive there was a homemade sign that said eff off, or words to that effect.
In a Utopian world, selling some public land makes sense. Unfortunately, we live in a world of unscrupulous scammers. My vote is no, don’t sell public lands. Others have their opinions but my opinion of the Senator from Utah is about on par with Adam Schiff.
———-
California’s woes. Easy to say they got what the voted for. The size of the California economy cannot be ignored. The ICE actions will end up reshaping the economy. As an example, Huntington Park’s illegal alien population is estimated to be 45%.
List of active Major League Baseball players by country of birth
Rank Country (or possession) %
1 United States 73.7%
2 Dominican Republic 9.8%
3 Venezuela 6.3%
4 Cuba 2.3%
The MLB aggressively recruits from the Dominican Republic. When I say aggressive, they are. They’re able to develop boys from their early teens and evaluate their potential. They’re looking hard at the Japanese and Korean leagues for talent as well. It’s a machine. They have metrics with a scientific basis and decades of experience that suggest who will be successful and who won’t be. To some extent, their evaluation is character based (the same way smart businesses look for people with potential – nobody wants to work with an asshole).
I understand that the recruiting rules are much laxer there. than America.
Yes, and the overhead is reduced significantly. They’re not in the MLB draft, MLB teams don’t have to buy out scholarships and so forth.
Nowadays it seems Junior High sports kids are being taught at Pro-Grade by coaches, and that progresses through college…- a far cry from my ball playing days. Tactics, training, gear…the whole enchilada. Hope they are having fun playing…I played for the love of the game (also a good Costner movie – “clear the machine”). In Babe Ruth had a coach who was so serious he took all the fun out of it for a bunch of us. Played outfield, typically batted 3rd, could hit and throw a country mile, had a decent fastball, could run a ball down. (not braggin on myself…purely perspective…and I was A LOT younger then). But ABSOLUTELY loved it. But it wasn’t my life. Had a chance at Philly open tryouts…never went, was at Penn State NOT PLAYING ball. Yeah, what could have been. So who am I to deny some talented kid from a different country who loves the game a chance at The Show.
Yes it’s changed. An old boss of mine played minor league ball for the White Sox a million years ago. He was injured working in gas fields off season. I mentioned to him that my grandson was routinely hitting 95 mph fast balls while a HS Sophomore (#1 batting order on summer travel team). He said, “When I played I never even saw a 95 mph fast ball.” Such is the state of High School play if you’re competitive in 2025.
Impressive, dang near start into your swing at top of pitch, 60’6” isn’t much at 95mph…let alone the High Schooler was throwing it. Lots of time in the cage to get the timing right, let alone seriously good DNA talent. One of the Cubs pitchers is throwing 103…hope he has good ligaments.
But look at the size and material of a #3 driver these days, couple that to modern golf balls….if you can’t hit 300 yards with that setup might as well hang it up. Equipment evolution affords some advantages. (Having played baseball I could hit a long straight drive at the range if I wasn’t trying to kill it. Putting was less nuanced (had none). Now thinking about it, and passed a driving range earlier today, I need to go and hit a bucket of balls, see how things have gotten worse…or maybe not.)
I’m 80 years old and live in south central Idaho. I spent my 80th birthday at the south rim of the Grand Canyon, also my 70th and 60th during the last week of March. The canyon was perfect weatherwise, but way overcrowded. Having lived in Arizona for 15 years, I spent many a wonderful day in remote parts of the canyon with zero crowds when I was younger and was able to walk without using a cane. I work part time(seasonal) at Shoshone Falls. The Falls, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite and other parks are overused and crowded at the main areas. I can leave my house in Idaho or any of the other locations I lived in Arizona and be in the outback within 30 minutes. Trouble is a significant number of Americans are lazy, fat, sick or any other number of excuses and could care less about getting out of an urban environment. Leave the land alone. Let us who can still enjoy the vastness of the forest, desert, mountains and streams have it forever. If the land is sold off the rich will buy it up and put up no trespassing signs. I do agree that government has way too many bureaucrats and that herd needs to be thinned. They need to also be moved from the cesspool of DC and placed closer to the action. Sorry, you I-95 corridor people might not get that.
I’ve thought long and hard about the wisdom of moving the bureaucrats from their D.C. seats of power to the areas/people upon which/whom their dicta have the most effect:
the problem being they tend to take their cesspools with them. Why destroy/stink up the more beautiful parts of our country?
1. D.C. was originally a bog/swamp.
2. I’ll still be supporting them (what you normally find in a cess) no matter where you put them via taxes.
3. In Jerry Pournelle’s up-dated version of Dante’s Inferno, I believe he has the bureaucrats/clerks filling out endless forms endlessly.
Concerning your post on Sen. Mike Lee’s Proposal, In a beneficial world those words sound true and many could move to new environs unfortunately the rich will buy up all of the lands now being considered for sale by the gov.
That’s always the way of it.
“When you see an old person eating alone…”
.
I’m sure they wouldn’t believe it, but their time’s coming. IF they’re lucky (or not, depending on how you look at it).
.
There’s an elderly lady at the diner I frequent. Always alone.
I went to the register and said I would pay her bill, anonymously.
She went to pay, looked confused for a minute and left.
I went to the register to settle both bills.
Her bill was almost $40!
I asked how that could be.
She takes home food for her husband and grandchild 😁
👍❤️ (yup, unabashedly including the heart)
Over 60% of Alaska is Federal land, and the Feds do their absolute best to see that no one is allowed to live there, mine there, hunt there, or hike there. Where they’ve taken over places that people live, they do their level best to run all those people out while not allowing anyone else to come in. This has rather coloured my perception on the subject.
.
As such, when selling federal lands comes up and people start having the vapours about Yellowstone becoming the new Cabo, I am unmoved. I instead point to the vast tracts that are unmanaged to actively mis-managed, to the land-grabs where national parks were made *specifically because* it was over rich mineral deposits, not for any unique joy of the surface features, and mutter about “resource denial to the enemy”.
.
When I look at the arguments of the opposition, the easily discountable arguments are focused on the few crown jewels among the vast land grab, on “I don’t like change; it might be bad”, or on “but what if The Wrong Sort get their hands on it?”
.
The hard arguments are focused on the impact to things like the cattle industry on currently BLM-managed land (an arrangement that works more or less well, with occasional outbreaks of government harassment and Really Bad Policy), and do we have a plan in place to maintain food security when we fundamentally alter the deal?
.
So in general, I think it’s an idea whose time has long past come, and needs to be done on a very wide scale, but I recognize that just dumping a lot of it on the market in a modern-day Oklahoma Land Rush may be worse than leaving it locked up.
Heimo and Edna Korth are being pushed out, can only bequeath their homestead(s) to the next generation (eldest daughter)….then it’s over for a fifty plus year legacy. Yup, government. (at least Dick Proenneke left under his own accord…at 81)
Define “old person”. This morning the gal at Sam’s checkout asked to see my DL to verify my age for some wine purchases. Made my day.
***
Land Sales- While I think because there is a massive amount of public lands “in trust” with government bureaucrats, selling some (or a lot) off is a double-edged sword. Maybe strategic sales, but who is the arbiter? Won’t work unless there is a Public/Private partnership, otherwise it’ll turn into another cluster. Met with the tax advisor regarding the sale of our homestead…unreal what the government demands (luckily shouldn’t be much – I have receipts for every capital improvement (even told her I was including PropTax, Insurance, and maintenance equipment…which got a laugh). But the matrix (‘Matrix’?) of crap these bureaucrats have come up with to thieve more of OUR hard-earned cash on the sale of a paid-for place sale. Unreal. Letting “the government” solely sell WTP’s lands will be bad, all they care about is money grubbing in all the strangest places and manner.
***
Zkyy needs to be “marginalized”, the guy is a galactic putz with an ego the size of Siberia. We shall see how the Alaskan meet-n-greet goes, could change everything (Trump to Putin: “You’re done!, and I’ll deal with the Short Thespian so you don’t have to.”)
LOL, for bonus points, WHERE is the Connie parked, and from what squadron? And if you’re really sharp, what year was that taken?
NAS Moffett Field, that bird was attached to VAQ-133 our of Key West, and the picture was taken in 1975. The reason I know that is that bird was at Glynco and we sent it to Key West in 1972, while the other EC-121 went to the museum in Pensacola. And we were coming off deployment, passing through Moffett and saw the Connie sitting there in 75… ;-)
And I try to remember where I parked my car….
This, right here, is why I occasionally am the killjoy telling my love not to start a prank war with OldNFO. Because both men have long memories, a devious sense of humour, and proximity to each other’s houses…
.
And I’m danger close!
OLD+NFO
can yahelp a guy out?
I still can’t find your autobiography.
It seems likely you’ve forgotten more events than I have lived ( in 70 years. 2 millenia, 2 centuries, too many commies/liberals)!
Juan