This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Ex-PH2

  • Thursday Are For Cooking….

    Leftovers

    It’s casseroles this time. The holidays are coming up and you will have leftovers galore, including ham and chicken and turkey and that can be either sliced or diced or just plain nibbled on.

    The first, because I love bacon, is bacon mac and cheese. You will need the following:

    2 cups of cooked short pasta. Penne is good for this. Those ridges hold lots of sauce.

    1 garlic clove, minced (smashed flat with a spoon)

    2 tablespoons of butter

    ¼ teaspoon of black pepper

    2 cups of milk

    3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

    ½ cup (or more) or crisp, crumbled, crunchy bacon – I have found LOTS of bacon is good for this, as it is mixed in with the pasta as well as sprinkled on top.

    Cook the pasta according to the package directions until it is al dente. Put it in a 2 qt baking pan (line with foil for easy clean-up).

    To make the roux base for the cheese sauce, over a low flame melt the butter in a saucepan, sauté the garlic in it until softened, add flour and pepper, stirring all the while, until the roux is smooth. Then slowly add the milk and stir until it thickens, then add 2 cups of shredded cheese and keep stirring until the cheese is all melted and blended in.

    Add half of the bacon and stir into the cheese sauce. Then shut off the heat.

    Pour the cheese sauce with bacon over the pasta and give it a mix with your spoon.

    Cover with foil and bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

    Uncover the casserole, sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheese and bacon on the top of the casserole, and bake at 350F for another 5 to 10 minutes. Serve with side dishes, of course.

    This next recipe, Shepherd’s Pie comes from Spend With Pennies. Since I love shepherd’s pie, I’m including it here. It’s an easy recipe and it originally comes from Ireland. Filling, tasty and quick to fix.  https://www.spendwithpennies.com/shepherds-pie-recipe/

    1 pound ground lamb or beef

    1 medium onion diced

    2 cloves garlic minced

    10 oz frozen peas and carrots defrosted

    10.5 oz can corn drained

    10 oz can tomato soup or mushroom soup

    1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

    ½ teaspoon salt

    ¼ teaspoon basil

    1/8 teaspoon black pepper

    3 cups prepared mashed potatoes (boxed instant stuff is okay)

    1 cup cheddar cheese shredded (optional)

    Heat the oven to 400F.

    Cook lamb or beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until no pink remains. Drain any fat and let it cool.

    Stir in soup, Worcestershire sauce, salt, basil and pepper. Spread into the bottom of a 2 qt casserole dish. Sprinkle with peas, carrots and corn.

    Spoon mashed potatoes over the filling, and top with cheese if you want that included. .

    Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until bubbly. This will give you 4 to 6 servings, with side dishes. You can also substitute diced tomatoes canned in sauce for the tomato soup.

    And finally, since no one ever thinks of dessert as a casserole candidate, this one is easy to prepare. You will need:

    1 clean plate covered with foil for easy clean-up

    1 square chocolate cake cut into three layers

    Chocolate mousse or chocolate pudding (box mix is okay)

    Swiss Miss dark chocolate instant cocoa

    Whipped cream

    Mini chocolate chips

    Ice cream – chocolate, vanilla or mint chocolate chip

    This is how you put this mess together:
    Put one layer of chocolate cake in the baking pan

    Spread chocolate mousse or pudding over it in a ½ inch layer

    Sprinkle lightly with the Swiss Miss dark chocolate cocoa

    Add a layer of whipped cream

    Sprinkle whipped cream with mini chocolate chips

    Repeat the above for the next layer.

    Top with the last layer of chocolate cake

    Refrigerate until after dinner, add a layer of whipped cream to the top and sprinkle with more Swiss Miss dark chocolate, then serve with chocolate, vanilla or mint chocolate chip ice cream and a hot beverage.

    That was easy, wasn’t it?

    Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and enjoy the gifts we sometimes take for granted.

  • Make A Hole! Make A Hole!

    Oh, gee whiz! Whoosie Whatsis Obviously-Confused  is now going after her rivals, and she hasn’t even been sworn in just yet. She’s dead set on taking down Hakeem Jeffries because he doesn’t lean far enough to the left to suit Her Highnessness! The horror!

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/12/18/ocasio-cortezs-team-may-target-less-left-leaning-hakeem-jeffries-in-2020-primary/]

    Some of that comes from Breitbart and some from Politico, from an unidentified source who spoke to Occasional-Cortex’s  “people”. (She has people? Who knew?)

    Kid’s on a roll here. I think it would be a good idea to let her get a full head of steam, just to see how much she can annoy people who have been in Congress for a substantial time, and watch her crash into whatever wall she aims at. The more seasoned Democrats will likely watch her tumble and then get back to business. But – dare I say it? – she’s got BERNIE BEHIND HER!!!

    I think there is far more to come here and we need to keep a weather eye on this chica, just to make sure that her headlong barreling rush to grab this-and-that is not forgotten.

    What is that proverb? Something about ‘pride goeth before a crash and burn?’ Something like that?

    And now comes the news that Bernie is the preferred choice of Democratic Progressives. And he’s only 77 right now, so he can still stick his oar into the political pond.

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/bernie-sanders-top-choice-of-progressives-in-2020

    It’s good to know that they have finally changed their preferred political nominative so that they don’t align themselves with regular Democrats. That would be embarrassing – to be lumped in with that political hoi-polloi, wouldn’t it? Aren’t regular Democrats just underlings to the Democratic Progressives? Has anyone discussed this with DiFi or Nancy or Chuck?

    Hey, what if we teamed up Her Highnessness Princess Googly-eyes with The Beto? Wouldn’t that bring in Da Votes? Or would they be at each other’s throats? Who would come out on top?

    Stock up on popcorn. And buckle your seatbelts. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride. (Thanks, Bette D!).

  • I Object to PERVs

    Vegetable have feelings, too!

    I vehemently object to the existence of PERVs, people eating raw vegetables. This abomination and utter cruelty in the form of peeling, slicing, dicing, shredding and in some cases, puréeing raw vegetables without their knowledge or consent must stop! Their smugness when they declare their vegetariansim and genuflect to carrots and cucumbers in the produce aisles is an affront to all that is good and tasty and makes a nice salade verte with Roquefort cheese crumbles.

    Chomping on a helpless radish, tail and all, after dipping it in salt or ranch dressing, is an obscenity, never mind what happens to celery! Think of the poor celery stalk, unable to release itself from its roots, forced to wait until the Kitchen Aid slicer/dicer thingy has a go at it, and all for the sake of a pathetically selfish dish called Waldorf salad. Pity the poor raisins and nuts stuck in that mess with celery, grapes and diced apples, too, awash in mayonnaise, unable to even take a faint breath! These raw fruits and vegetables are condemned to wait for the final solution – mastication at the dinner table by uncaring, self-involved PERVs.

    The horror!

    A little sympathy is due the humble potato, too. Forced to await its doom in a bag with other potatoes, all sizes and all colors, with no sympathy or understanding for those root shoots starting to grow through the airholes in the bags! Skinned, quartered and dumped into boiling salted water, only to be turned into mashed potatoes, and drowned in thick, creamy gravy that accompanies a beef or pork roast, the humble potato awaits it fate at the hands of PERVs. But not to worry: potatoes are frequently thrust into a hot oven, removed, sliced open and squeezed while cheese, chives, and bacon crumbles are dumped on them! They are also subjected to being sliced, diced, shredded, and turned into long sticks, plunged into a vat of boiling fat from which they can only escape when the fry basket is pulled. Then the fried potatoes must endure being inspected for doneness, and if done to a turn and as crisp as an October morning, turfed out onto a cold plate to accompany a double cheeseburger with everything, extra pickles, onions, and ketchup on the side. And this grisly, greasy abomination is all for the sake of filling the stomachs of PERVs!

    Did no one ever think to ask the potato “What would you like to do today”? A little sympathy is in order, isn’t it?

    Be aware that the humble tomato, ripped untimely from its leafy vine, sent directly to a cold shower on a conveyor belt, with no choice in its destination, faces an even more uncertain fate. The tomato, being the flexible vegetable that it is, may be stewed and canned, cooked down into pasta sauce with basil, garlic, olive oil and salt, sliced into layers to fill the void in a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich with even more mayonnaise, or simply sliced or diced for a green salad with cucumbers, baby zucchini, green onions, radishes, and bell peppers, all of which are likewise given no choice in the matter of dressing, whether it is a stylish ranch dressing or a lemon juice and olive oil dressing, and must await their fate on a salad plate.

    Even the humble rutabaga may fear the stew pot, after it is peeled, chopped and plunged into the gravy of the stew. The PERVs show no mercy in this regard.

    And this is all for the sake of filling the fancies and stomachs of PERVs.

    May PERVs rot from the root!

  • It Ain’t Just About Guns, You Know

    Gadsden flag

    Early in November this year, the Anne Arundel county police went to a private home at 5AM to serve a gun seizure order on a 61-year-old man, under Maryland’s newly-minted “red flag law”. https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/for_the_record/ac-cn-red-flag-folo-1106-story.html

    “The Anne Arundel County police chief defended Maryland’s new “red flag” protective law Monday, just hours after a 61-year-old man was shot and killed while officers were trying to serve a court order requiring him to surrender his guns.

    Chief Timothy Altomare said the fatal shooting in Ferndale was a sign that the law, which went into effect Oct. 1, is needed. There have been 19 protective orders sought in the county since then, tying Harford County for the most in Maryland, according to a report on the first month. Statewide, about half of the 114 orders sought have been granted.

    “If you look at this morning’s outcome, it’s tough for us to say ‘Well, what did we prevent?’ ” he said. “Because we don’t know what we prevented or could’ve prevented. What would’ve happened if we didn’t go there at 5 a.m.?”

    Altomare said the two investigating officers, who he did not identify Monday, “did the best they could with the situation they had.” One of them fatally shot Gary J. Willis at his Linwood Avenue home. – Article.

    According to the article, Mr. Willis did put the gun down on the floor.  If so then, why was it necessary to shoot him, and why did those cops go there at 5AM and wake him up? Per the article, Linwood became agitated and picked up the gun and a struggle ensued. So why was it necessary for either cop to pull out a gun and shoot him, instead of calling for back up and putting him on the floor?  Is Anne Arundel County turning into Chicago?

    And who called the cops on him, anyway? Was it family or a disgruntled neighbor? Apparently, it was a family member, but why aren’t these people responsible enough to get him to counseling if he’s agitated about something?

    Regarding this incident in Marylnad, which is now a “red flag law” state, there are many questions left unanswered. I’m hoping they will be answered, because this is bizarre, from my point of view.

    As you may or may not know, red flag laws allow someone to make a call to the police and say you’re some kind of threat, even if you are not.  If this by itself does not smack of Stalin’s era, then what is it? Someone likened it to “Minority Report”, a “gag me with a spoon” movie with that midget actor TCruise. (N.B: if Scientology has so much influence, why isn’t he more famous and more taller?)

    There are states that already have those laws in place. I think in Florida, there is also the Baker Act. Here’s the list:

    Such orders are known as “Extreme Risk Protection Orders” (ERPO) in Oregon, Washington, Maryland, and Vermont; as “Risk Protection Orders” in Florida; as “Gun Violence Restraining Orders” in California; as “risk warrants” in Connecticut; and as “Proceedings for the Seizure and Retention of a Firearm” in Indiana. After the Parkland school shooting, more states enacted such laws: Florida, Vermont, Maryland, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Illinois.

    In Illinois, jumping through all those hoops to comply with state legislation has been tested several times now. As you may recall, the Mayor of Deerfield, IL, was slapped by the court for violating the “unlawful search and seizure”, “due process” and all those other cautionary measures, in addition to violating the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution. That sparked the Sanctuary County movement which is ongoing and becoming wider spread in the state of Illinois. (Hey, how about some Sanctuary States?)

    I’d like to point out the obvious here. In the Florida Parkland school shooting, there were calls reporting the shooter and the police did absolutely nothing. He didn’t have a “collection”, which is something that is kept in order and looked after. He just had a big pile of guns. He did make threats because he didn’t fit in at school and was bullied. The school did nothing about it. The people he lived with did nothing about him. And, finally, the police did nothing about his threats, even with the backup of the Baker Act, so there was  nothing that stopped him from his rampage.

    We must remember, too, that nothing stops cops from being jackasses either, which has a lot to do with what happened to Mr. Linwood.  The Chicago cop who shot LaQuan MacDonald shot him in the back 16 times, instead of in the leg to disable him. The Chicago cop who beat up a female bartender half his size because she wouldn’t serve him any more liquor is another example. When the police do these things, they make the rest of us doubt their sanity.

    And remember: we were subjected to Piglet and His Friend Pooh in Parkland, making their grandstanding appearances during their attention-whoring day or two.

    So when someone goes in to a panic attack over “red flag laws”, my response would be that he file a public complaint that a law like that does not comply with the US Constitution, does not allow due process or follow that part about ‘unreasonable search and seizure’. You have to sometimes stand up for your rights if you want to keep them.

    That it is Nazism and Stalinist KGB/NKVD stuff at its worst, that it specifically follows those practices that led to concentration camps and gulags – those are all true, but has any of that come to pass? Use whatever legalities you can come up with, but keep it calm and assertive. Go through the courts and get that crap overturned.  At my age, if I’m not allowed to have a gun on me when I’m on the trails with a camera, in the odd but possible event that I may or might run into a rabid coyote (they never get their shots), I want to know why.

    You can file a complaint pro per or get the help of law students, and all of them need a shake-up now and then to rattle their complacency. They also need the real-world experience of dealing with something that they may not agree with, but which is still legally and constitutionally valid and/or invalid, and they are required to do some real legal work in some states. Good practice for them.

    Seriously, if someone really wants to be Gestapo, shouldn’t they at least wear the armbands and the insignia so we know who they are?

    Unless we take the old bullshit by the horns, the bullshit can and will bury us deep. We must always pay attention to our AO.

    The Bad Guys are out there in the darkness…. And they want Your Guns. (Snerrkkkk!)

    Well, they DO!

  • There Are No Coincidences

    For a long time after the end of the war in Vietnam, the Communist Vietnamese government had a law in place that any US citizen who entered Vietnam would immediately be arrested.

    In 1999, things changed when the British government returned ownership of the Crown Colony of Hong Kong to the mainland Chinese government. There was speculation that the city would become another Communist wasteland. Instead, the Chinese government had been watching how things worked in Hong Kong and in the business world outside of China and took the track of business. Instead of interfering with a successful economic model, they embraced it and began a new way of doing things. Construction of new buildings in Beijing and the irruption of the capitalist business model made many, many people prosperous. And China wanted money coming in. China’s plentiful coal resources spurred the construction of new coal-fired power generating stations, and began to provide power to provinces that had not had a reliable source before. China is now contracting to build coal-fired power plants in other countries.

    With Vietnam being heavily influenced by the Chinese government, the capitalist business model was adopted and tourism grew. Americans can visit there, but do not speak out against the government unless you want to spend time in a re-education camp.

    Ho Chi Minh started the French-Indochina war over the French presence in Indochina before World War II. He wanted money and the French colonials out of Indochina, period. His war with France began in 1946 just as Kim Il-Sung, the godlike grandfather of ND:tBF, started his own war in Korea in his attempt to unite the north and south of that peninsula. Grandpa Kim wanted power more than money.

    Both Uncle Ho and Grandpa Kim got help from the Chinese in their quest. There were Chinese weapons and troops in both Korea and Indochina. When the French capitulated, Ho demanded a ransom for the 10,000 French POWs, but returned only 3,900 to the French. Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel, and Laos and Cambodia became independent states.. MacArthur, in Korea, stubbornly refused to end his trek into the north, demanded a nuclear weapon drop on the north, and was refused and recalled to the US by Pres. Truman. Saigon became the capital of South Vietnam, and Hanoi the capital of North Vietnam, and the Korean peninsula was permanently divided.

    In the 1960s, the US sent advisers to South Vietnam. South Korea was still recovering from its own war, with a US base at the DMZ that marked the boundary between the north and south. Occasionally, people would slip through the cracks, into the South or across the Nork-Chinese border into China. Pres. Johnson decided that the US should get more heavily involved in Vietnam and sent in more troops to start a shooting war in 1965.

    In 1987, two years before the USSR was dissolved and the war in the Balkans got underway, Donald Trump began to make trips to the Soviet Union for the purpose of making real estate deals. In 2013, the Miss Universe pageant was held in Moscow while Trump was there, negotiating a real estate deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. That deal fell through and he returned to the USA. Robert Mueller was Director of the FBI from 2001 to 2013.

    In 1989, after 10 years of futile warfare in Afghanistan, Gorbachev declared the Soviet Union bankrupt, dismissed the Politburo and sent everybody home. Shortly afterwards, the Berlin Wall was pulled down and the Balkan Wars began.

    During this time, with Trump engaging in his business deals and going wherever he felt like going, the CIA paid the Chinese through a third party to make it appear that the Russians were interfering in the US elections. The third party go-between for this was a woman whose presence was so lowkey as to be almost nonexistent. She went by several names, including the Dragon Lady and Mah Jongg. She appears in a few photos, but very, very few. Her appearance is not completely Chinese, but seems to be something else. There has been speculation that she is part Chinese and part “other” such as Yakut or Vietnamese.

    She was known for her ability to pick up languages quickly with the correct accent, especially important when speaking various Chinese dialects such as Mandarin or Yue or Hakka. If your accent is incorrect, no one will understand what you say. This made her a valuable asset for mischief.

    She also seems to have been an expert code hacker. In 2016, hackers stole $100 million from the central bank of Bangladesh after obtaining payment-transfer codes and moving the money overseas in what information security experts say appears to be one of the largest bank heists in history. Anyone who can use these codes can also make transitions quickly and instantly once they are confirmed. But the bank reportedly managed to block a further transfer of $870 million initiated by the hacker group.

    The destination for this large sum of stolen  money was never identified. The speculation was that the Dragon Lady sent it to North Korea, but attempts to trace it failed. Any account that received that money in the beginning was gone, period, with funds immediately transferred to other accounts to hide them. However, Mah Jongg did leave a mark behind, almost as a tease: $1.00 was left in the Bangladesh account.

    Only part of the blackmail money that Obama sent to Iran was delivered there. Some of it was diverted to North Korea, and from there to China for the purpose of enhancing the deceit that Russia was involved in meddling in the affairs of other countries, especially the US elections. Remember that recent whine from the Ayatollahs that they were running out of money?

    The discovery of Maria Butina’s inept and silly efforts to meddle in things, after she came to the USA in 2016, was also a distraction meant to enhance the notion that Russia was interfering in US politics. She was what Stalin used to call a “useful idiot” – the perfect plant to distract attention from what was really going on.

    In addition, the Chinese persuaded Fatty Kim da T’ird and his Nork bombmakers to create a distraction with his 25 kiloton test in September 2016, near the time of US election debates. He’s had plenty of assistance from China in return for distracting outsiders like the US government from their activities. The second test, the half-megaton underground test in September 2017, was a secondary distraction meant to draw attention away from the Chinese and put it on the Russians even though Trump was long since sworn in.

    All those missile tests going on in Norkiland, and the posturing and threats by Fatty Kim da T’ird, were distractions right up until the ballots were counted and recounted with more Trump votes being found, and the electoral college had cast its votes. The activities from North Korea abruptly ceased when Trump, in November 2017, got the two Koreas to work together, made business deals with Xi JinPing in China, visited Vietnam, and has watched while every ridiculous effort possible has been dragged into existence to try to unseat him, including the Circus of Trolls called Supreme Court justice hearings.

    The effort is still going on. And China is now negotiating for contracts to build coal-fired power plants in countries outside their borders, while now openly demanding that the USA give them more cash.

    Coincidence? I don’t think so.

  • Thursdays Are For Cooking….

    Baby red potatoes

    Since cold weather is closing in on us like there is no tomorrow (and there might not be a tomorrow!), I thought a hearty casserole which is quick and easy to fix would be the best thing possible.

    This is from a Campbell’s Cookbook that I bought at a bookstore when they were real bookstores instead of the equivalent of warehouses with shelves. It will make up to five servings, to adjust the quantity accordingly.

    Ingredients:

    1 can cream of celery soup

    1 can cream of potato soup

    1 cup of milk – 2% is fine

    1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed

    1/4 teaspoon black pepper

    4 cups of cooked vegetables (I use the frozen mixed veggies and thaw them in warm taer. One 8-ounce bag is 2 cups.)

    2 cups of leftover cooked chicken or turkey

    4 cups of boxed dressing (1 box will cover a half recipe.)

    1 1/2 cups of water

    4 tablespoons of butter

    Proceed:

    Stir the soups, milk, thyme, pepper, veggies and chicken or turkey together in a baking dish  or a bowl. I line the baking dish with foil for easier cleanup and use a bowl to mix the ingredients and pour them into the baking dish.  The recipe calls for a 13x9x2 shallow baker.

    Prepare the boxed dressing according to the package directions. That should take about three minutes to fix. Spoon the dressing over the casserole mixture.

    Bake at 400F for about 25 minutes, but check on it. When you can smell the thyme floating through the air, it’s ready. It is quick to fix, easy, uses up leftovers and needs only the usual side dishes (like cornbread) to go with it. Lots of butter on the cornbread, too.

    I usually skip the cream of celery soup and add chopped celery to it instead. I also use about a 1/2 teaspoon of thyme, because it just adds flavor.  You can also toss in some chopped green onions, including the chopped tails, to add more flavor. And yes, you can use chicken leftover from one of those chicken cookin’ places.  Good way to get rid of leftovers.

    If this doesn’t fill your tummy and make you happy, nothing will. Pumpkin pie with real whipped cream is for dessert.

    Happy harvesting!

     

     

     

     

  • One Big Fustercluck

    Submitted by Skippy

    https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2018/12/07/air-force-failed-four-times-to-prevent-last-years-texas-church-shooting-dod-ig-now-reviewing-other-services/

    From the article:

    The Air Force could have prevented a former airman from buying a weapon and committing a mass shooting last year had investigators followed proper protocol, according to a Pentagon investigation of the incident released this week.

    The investigation casts doubt on the capabilities of Air Force Office of Special Investigations agents and the training of ordinary security forces airmen, according to the Defense Department Inspector General report, released Dec. 6.

    The findings, and a follow-up review across the DoD, could have implications across all the armed forces investigative arms.

    “We are currently conducting a follow-up review to assess the progress throughout the DoD in ensuring that all fingerprints required to be submitted to the FBI are in fact submitted,” DoD IG officials said. “This review will also assess whether DoD law enforcement agencies submit DNA to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, as well as criminal history data, mental health information, and sex offender information, as required.”

    On Nov. 5, 2017, former airman Devin Kelley shot and killed 26 people and wounded 22 others at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas. After being shot by citizen responders, Kelley fled from the church in his vehicle and later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

    Kelley was able to purchase a firearm from a federally licensed dealer even though he had a disqualifying conviction. – Article.

    The remainder of the story, which outlines the cascade of failures to follow up every time this investigation went further, is at the link.

  • The Sky Is Not Falling

    Daydreams are nice, aren’t they? But they don’t pay the bills or put food on the table, or make sure that your home is clean and free of unwanted other species.

    There’s a huge push from many sides to transfer everyone to what is commonly referred to as “green energy” resources. This includes solar and wind energies as resources, with a large portion of it being politically motivated with no thought to the consequences.

    In Australia, because they’ve shut down coal-fired plants and have only wind and solar facilities for generating electricity, with gas-fired plants as backup, electricity charges for residents are apparently spectacular and in some cases, enough to make it unaffordable, period. Angela Merkel has been harping on wind energy during her reign as the EU’s head, with disastrous results including the deaths of thousands of ordinary citizens from cold exposure in the winter, when those people could not pay their utility bills. Some had resorted to trying to stay warm by candlelight. It is a disgraceful thing to do to put your personal daydreams ahead of the welfare of people who voted you in, and Merkel is losing her job because of her insistence on using “green power” instead of reliable gas and/or coal. Germany is now, in fact, building new coal-fired power plants because Angela screwed up so badly. France has nuclear-powered plants, so all those protests have been partly over Macron’s plan to raise fuel taxes and partly over his reducing taxes on wealthy people.

    China only gave a crap about coal-fired pollution when the air in Beijing got so smog-ridden, it made both Los Angeles and New York City in the 1960s look like pikers by comparison. Coal-fired plants in the USA have scrubbers to remove particulates from their exhausts, and gas-fired plants are replacing coal in some areas because natural gas is cheaper than coal.

    In the daydream world of the greenbeans, solar and wind energy are freebies. There are no consequences involved. In the real world, however, you have $500 million in government subsidies given to companies like Solyndra who start the business and then go belly-up, leaving behind the detritus of their scam in the form of empty facilities and unemployed people whose livelihoods disappeared while they were watching.

    There’s also the cost to the environment, in the matter of solar farms like the Ivanpah solar facility in the Mojave Desert, which has a record of incinerating migrating birds because the mirrors that focus sunlight toward the three towers embrace the routes of migrating birds.

    “As many as 28,000 birds are killed each year — that’s one every two minutes — by the Ivanpah solar plant in the Mojave Desert, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service . Ivanpah focuses more than 300,000 mirrors on three 459-foot towers, generating heat of up to 800 degrees — enough to fry birds that happen to fly by. “ – from the article That’s just that solar furnace in particular. There are other solar facilities that endanger wildlife as well.

    But this isn’t just about birds, in case you’re wondering. These winged migrants are part of the control species that eat pests like bugs that destroy crops. It’s the food on your plate that’s at stake, not some abstract concept. Birds and bats are natural pest control. Migrating birds feed on the local pests while they are on their way north or south.

    https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/windmills-and-solar-plans-kill-far-birds-than-oil-spills/

    “Estimates for bird deaths by wind turbine run from 100,000 a year (the National Research Council) to 300,000 (American Bird Conservancy). Bloomberg News puts the toll at 573,000 birds in 2012. At the high end of the estimates, that’s well more than 1,000 birds chopped to death each day.” – Article

    These numbers are not remotely matched by the deaths of 161 birds in a 2015 oil spill off the coast of California, or the 2,303 that died during the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The worst portion of this is that the majority of birds killed by wind turbines are raptors, which includes hawks, vultures and eagles. These are apex avian predators that prey on pests both large and small, and dispose of carcasses as well.

    Yes, cats, feral or domestic, allowed to run around outdoors, are also responsible for preying on birds. And so are squirrels. They will rob nests and eat the young when they think the coast is clear. My cat is, therefore, an indoor kitty.

    The cost of so-called green energy is considerably higher than it should be. You, the customer who decides to use that, have to pay for the construction, equipment and delivery, which you chose to use. And it is not cheap, either, especially when a company that made big promises goes belly up and unemployment lines lengthen.

    So you can understand my curiosity when an offer to switch “green” and “sustainable” energy (meaning wind and solar) arrived, and I read through the offer as outlined, finding that the per KwH charge is $0.095/KwH, never mind the delivery charges and taxes. This is a 50% rise in my usual charge, which is $0.065/KwH, plus delivery and taxes. I did the simple math, based on my current month’s usage compared to last year, because the furnace is running now, which runs up the bill. Whereas my normal winter usage runs around $52.00/month, this 50% hike in the KwH rate will boost my charges to well over $80.00/month, just to have a furnace running, plus a couple of appliances, and a few lights in my little house. The offering also says that rates are variable and may rise as needed. And this source of this power is to come from wind and solar energy farms in my area. Since there are no such things within 250 miles of where I live, it means that wherever it originates, the possibility of breakdowns and outages increases with distance, never mind storm damage to the “farm” itself.

    The offering for this marvel of modernity comes from some group located in Washington, DC.

    It would be far more constructive to start building more nuclear power plants in this country.