By Nathan Barton

I get so very sick and disgusted at the way cities and states beg Congress for more and more “aid” (read “stolen money”) for various things: especially transportation.  As with education and medical care and care for the ‘indigent,” all federal money does is mean MORE waste and MORE corruption, and in reality, the more money Congress “gives” the less useful it is, and the more problems develop.  Nevertheless, with the new Congress, all the beggars in their $1200 suits are there, hands out.

Stupid parents or stupid school teacher? A substitute school teacher has taken the parents of a student to task for the contents of the lunch prepared by them, since she could not stomach what passes for school food these days, courtesy of the Fuehrer’s consort and her war on children (at least those in government-run, tax-funded schools).  However, the parent attacked by the sub is a physician, and he used it as an opportunity to school the sub, embarrassing her for her condescending and just plain wrong letter.  Of course, this sort of condescension is common in many professions: they assume that since THEY are the specialists in some subject, that anyone whom they deal with not in their profession are stupid and unable to understand.  Too often that includes engineers and medical personnel, as well as bureaucrats.  This does not help people: and some of us are just more ticked off than we can express politely.

Another discussion of the advantages of thorium for energy (power production) has been posted, which contains a great deal of useful information, including the way in which a liquid thorium reaction cannot just produce incredibly cheap power but ALSO destroy waste from other nuclear plants and facilities, instead of trying to bury it for millennia. The major problems with thorium for power (and space flight) are political in nature, as they are with dirigibles (zeppelins) for passenger and cargo use: the military applications are much more limited than that of uranium and plutonium (or large fixed-wing aircraft).

In the Philippines, a hunt for terror suspect leaves 27 police dead after a clash with rebels.  Like a blast from the past (going back 120 years!), the Moro Rebellion in the Philippines appears to again be gaining strength.  At least 30 people were killed in heavy fighting between police and Muslim rebels (Moros) in the Philippines on Sunday, supposedly threatening a year-old peace agreement and shattering a ceasefire that held for three years.  The Moro rebels were supposed to surrender their weapons and disband after the government had set up a new autonomous government in the south and granted the Muslim minority wider economic and political power (at the expense of non-Muslims living in the area). But Sunday’s clashes, which lasted nearly 12 hours near Mamasapano town, Maguindanao, are likely to be a major setback in the implementation of the deal as the Philippine Congress deliberates a new law on Muslim autonomy.  Actually, the Moros have been trying to convert the Philippines to Islam since before the Spanish discovered and annexed the island group, almost 300 years before the US beat Spain and took control instead of helping them become independent or admitting the Filipinos to the Union.  So nothing changes, although after Pershing crushed the Moro Rebellion at the beginning of the 20th Century, they remained relatively weak and unthreatening for more than half a century.

Will they really?  And CAN they learn? WHO adopted reforms to repair the organization’s reputation after bungling Ebola, seeking to overhaul its structure after botching the response to the biggest-ever Ebola outbreak, a sluggish performance that experts say cost thousands of lives (and scared millions of people unnecessarily). On Sunday, several dozen of WHO’s member countries approved a resolution aimed at strengthening the U.N. health agency’s ability to respond to emergencies, though many of the details have yet to be worked out and it’s unclear what concrete changes will result. The Ebola fad has become a farce, except to the thousands in Africa who died from it.  But the panic produced new laws and regulations and protocols that will make future response even LESS likely to accomplish anything good.

The New Horizons NASA probe begins its photography of Pluto, 200 million kilometers away from the ice former planet after a 5-billion kilometer trip of nine years.  The historic mission to Pluto is being billed as the last great encounter in planetary exploration of our Solar System and will be the first opportunity of its kind for scientists to study what was once considered the furthest planet in the Solar System up close.  Tombaugh, in Valhalla, is almost certainly not amused but no doubt interested.  Of course, when the probe was launched, Pluto was still a planet, but government knows best.

Hopefully, the glaciers will form quickly, locking New York City and its troublemakers into a perpetual ice-cone that will free the rest of us from their meddling. The New York Times reports that New York is bracing for blizzard described by the cop-hating mayor, Bill de Blasio, as likely to be one of the biggest to ever strike New York City. He urged people to stay indoors to avoid powerful winds, low visibility and “treacherous” road conditions, AND the resumption of cops giving out tickets and attacking and beating up people for jaywalking, spitting on sidewalks, and wearing low-rider jeans. The National Weather Service, which issued a blizzard warning for the greater New York City area, forecast gusts of wind up to 50 miles per hour and snow accumulation of ‘at least one to two feet,’ but Mr. de Blasio said the storm could bring up to three feet of snow.  We can only hope.  The REST of the Northeast, or at least New England, most of Upstate New York, Pennsylvania, and down into Maryland, will also be hard hit, reported other news sources: the NYT has no concern with primitive, backward, rural parts of the world.

Mama’s Note: Always laugh at these “end of the world” storm predictions for New England and all the panic to stock up at the last minute. That kind of storm is pretty normal for the lower half of Wyoming and much of Colorado. We stock up in the spring, and pretty much stay ready for bad weather.

It is the weekend: Boko Harem again attacks cities and kills people in Nigeria.  As usual. This time it is the “key city” of Maiduguri, according to the BBC News. Fighters from the Islamist militant group Boko Haram have launched an attack on the key city of Maiduguri in north-eastern Nigeria. Fierce fighting was reported on the outskirts. The military is carrying out air strikes, and a curfew is in place. Maiduguri is home to tens of thousands of people who have fled Boko Haram attacks and was visited on Saturday by President Goodluck Jonathan.” I am sure the unwelcome attention drew Boko Harem to attack  them.

Mama’s Note: “Goodluck Jonathan?” That’s a name? Sounds more like what the family might have told him as he left the farm, rather than a name they gave him at birth. Too bad he’s no more effective at protecting the people than any other politician. That would take a lot more than luck and a funny name.