Month: July 2023

On 1/18/23 there was an interesting article in American Thinker entitled “IPCC Climate Models Grossly Exaggerate ‘Global Warming,’ which begins:

“Several recently published studies have provided methodological objections to alarmist IPCC global climate models that predict catastrophic global warming will result from anthropogenic CO2 atmospheric concentrations from burning hydrocarbon fuels. These studies indicate that a more accurate reading of the earth’s surface temperatures suggests global climate warming over the next few decades will be moderate. The studies further indicate that more precise surface temperature readings would seriously dampen the hysterical mass media demand for radical public policies requiring radical decarbonization to achieve Net Zero Emissions (NZE) as quickly as possible.

Okay I thought, another anti-global warming article … Ho-hum! However, while reading through this piece, what caught my attention was that three different scientists with different backgrounds, from two different countries were saying basically the same thing.

First, in November 2022, meteorologist Roy Spencer, Ph.D., a Principal Research Scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, published a ground-breaking study demonstrating that 36 climate models used to guide national policy may have exaggerated “global warming” over the last 50 years by as much as 50 percent

Spencer’s research shows that increased urbanization, not increased CO2, is responsible for exaggerating the temperature measurements recorded in the NOAA homogenized surface temperature dataset. In other words, Spencer’s point is that observed increases in temperature result from the greater heat urbanization generates, not from increased CO2 concentrations generated in the atmosphere by burning hydrocarbon fuels.

Second, August 2022, meteorologist Anthony Watts found that 96 percent of the temperature stations in the United States used to measure global warming and climate change did not “meet what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) considers to be ‘acceptable,’ uncorrupted placement.”

To reach this conclusion, Watts “compiled satellite and in-person visits to NOAA weather stations” that provide “official” temperature data. His visits revealed that these stations are corrupted by localized effects of urbanization—producing heat-bias because of their close proximity to asphalt, machinery, and other heat-producing, heat-trapping, or heat-accentuating objects.”

There’s more … In August 2022, Nicola Scafetta, at the Department of Earth Sciences, Environment and Georesources, University of Naples, Italy stressed that if the UAH (UAH satellite developed at the University of Alabama, Huntsville) MSU (Microwave Sounding Unit radiation measurement) record is accurate, “surface warming from 1980 to 2021 may have been around 0.40°C (or less), that is up to about 30 percent less than what is reported by the surface-based temperature models.” Scafetta concluded that correcting IPCC over-estimating global surface temperatures suggests “the projected global climate warming over the next few decades could be moderate and probably not particularly alarming.”

So here we have three different scientists basically saying that the surface temperature measurements upon which global warming is based are exaggerated, and very possibly due to urbanization.

7/11/23

californiacontrarian

I find it interesting that a solution to two of our nation’s biggest problems cannot be cross-linked in such a way that both of these issues can benefit. In fact when one comes right down to it, isn’t that what politicians are supposed to do … intercede to fix problems for the good of the citizens of this country? Where are they? … an issue for another day!

Two of our major problems are “student loan debt,”and “crumbling infrastructure.” 

First, how many more reports of trains derailing and bridges collapsing do we need to hear about before we realize that neither politicians nor their plans are building anything, and certainly not “building back better!”

Second, despite the fact that the President, Joe Biden, keeps prostituting himself with different ways to forgive student loans, in order to secure votes. Be that as it may, I do have a small soft spot for those that owe money on these loans. As a consequence of these loans, typically the lives of these individual debtors are being put on hold. Many cannot afford to have children, and many may never be able to afford a house. I am cognizant of the arguments against loan forgiveness. I do agree that it is not fair that the rest of us should essentially pay for these ne’er-do-wells. However, should we as a nation punish stupidity? … and realistically, those that borrowed money to study things which will never provide enough income to pay off those loans are stupid!

So why doesn’t the government come up with a way that these loans can be worked off? … and here I emphasize WORKED OFF.

Why not provide access to construction jobs for those bewildered indebted individuals? THe money earned by these individuals by would be immediately divided in half. Half would immediately go to paying off the student loan, and the other half would be used for living expenses. The details of this plan can certainly be worked out, but at this point the concept is more important. 

Come on, you politicians, do your job!

7/10/23

One of my Sunday habits is to write about someone who is praiseworthy and deserves our respect. Sgt. Jonathan Allen is such an individual. He is a law-enforcement officer in Colorado. We are all aware of law-enforcement officers fighting bad guys, and in today’s world the public magnifying glass is constantly on the police every time something questionable occurs. What we do not see in the newspapers is when any law-enforcement individual goes out of his/her way to be kind and gentle, and thus this Jonathan Allen story hit home to me.

From Epoch Times:

He has worked for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office for 24 years, spending the first 20 years as a K9 handler. On June 15 at 10:55 a.m., Sgt. Allen and his partner were called on to investigate an unaccompanied child.

“Our agency received a call from a citizen named Robert, who was out mowing his lawn,” Sgt. Allen told The Epoch Times. “He saw this little girl walking by in his neighborhood, and she was lost. She was tired, thirsty, hungry, and barefoot, and said she was looking for her aunt’s house.”

The little girl claimed her dad and his girlfriend had been “sleeping since yesterday,” Sgt. Allen said. A neighbor brought the child a coloring book while Sgt. Allen began scouring the police database for reported missing children. Then he offered her a snack.

“I said, ‘Have you had breakfast?’ and she goes, ‘No, but it’s lunchtime.’ I said, ‘Sweetie, you’re right,’” Sgt. Allen said. After checking whether the child had any allergies, Sgt. Allen gave her a mandarin orange from his own lunchbox, claiming she was “really excited.” She ate all of it. However, she was still hungry, and then said, “Why don’t you have any donuts?”

Sgt. Allen said. “Just like Santa Claus has reindeer, she thought all cops have donuts. It was just one of those hilarious funny moments. … I said, ‘No, we don’t always eat donuts. … We have to stay in good shape to catch bad guys!’”

Sgt. Allen and his partner were shortly able to trace the little girl’s address and took her and her 4-year-old sister, who was also outdoors but had not wandered so far, to the care of relatives.

“Total time she was out was probably about an hour and a half,” Sgt. Allen said. “Just a wonderful, adorable kid. I hope for the best for her all through life, and I’m glad that I was able to help her get back home.”

Basically, I guess one might say that Jonathan Allen is merely a good cop doing his job. However, because all we ever hear these days is how unthoughtful, uncaring, and rigid our policemen are, I was happy to read about this caring Jefferson County, Colorado law-enforcement officer.

Thank you, Jonathan Allen, for all you do.

7/9/23

The latest young individual reported to have died suddenly is professional basketball player Óscar Cabrera Adames, who died last week during a stress test at a health center in the Dominican Republic. 

From a Defender headline on 6/26/23:

“28-Year-Old Pro Basketball Player Dies of Heart Attack — Less Than 2 Years After Telling Fans Pfizer Shots Led Him to Develop Vaccine-Induced Myocarditis”

Again from the Defender:

“Professional basketball player Óscar Cabrera Adames died last week at a health center in the Dominican Republic after an apparent heart attack, Fox News reported.

Sports commentator Héctor Gómez first broke the news on Instagram that the 28-year-old Dominican player, who plays in the Spanish professional league, had been undergoing a stress test when he died.

Cabrera Adames previously was hospitalized after collapsing on the court during a December 2021 game. At the time, he blamed his collapse on COVID-19 vaccine-induced myocarditis, posting on social media:

“I got a damn Myocarditis from taking a f—ing vaccine. (I got 2 doses of Pfizer) And I knew it! Many people warned me.”

Cabrera Adames wrote that he was required to get the vaccine in order to continue playing professionally.”

There is nothing in this Defender article to suggest that Cabrera Adames

had a defibrillator placed after his 2021 episode.

This sad story is eerily similar to that of Damar Hamlin, who collapsed during an NFL Football game. Hamlin is 25 years old, and his heart stopped beating (ventricular fibrillation) after he made a routine tackle during an NFL game on 1/2/23. There has been no substantiated report of the different tests that Hamlin underwent or the results of said tests. The party line is that he had “commodio cortis,” which in reality, is impossible to prove or disprove. And there has been no report that Hamlin had a defibrillator placed.

Without question Hamlin has had stress tests, and will continue no have further stress tests performed. We should all cross our fingers and pray that what happened to Cabrera Adames does not happen to Damar Hamlin.

7/8/23

californiacontrarian

This was written and posted on my blog back in 2021. It is a reminder of how authoritarian (and eventually proven wrong) California’s astute governor was and still is!

Daniel … Who? 

Another of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s tyrannical lockdown orders was struck down in court last week after a year-long legal battle.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Newsom’s 2020 order, stopping all in-person learning in both public and private schools in 32 counties, was deemed unconstitutional.

Recall that about one month ago a similar ruling came down against Governor Newsom, concerning his closing of churches, while leaving Costco an similar stores open for business. That Newsom fiasco cost the state millions in taxpayers dollars. How much will this latest court victory siding with freedom cost the state?

From Freedom Wire:

“California’s forced closure of their private schools implicates a right that has long been considered fundamental under the applicable caselaw — the right of parents to control their children’s education and to choose their children’s educational forum,” The judge said Friday.

“Because California’s ban on in-person schooling abridges a fundamental liberty of these five Plaintiffs that is protected by the Due Process Clause, that prohibition can be upheld only if it withstands strict scrutiny,” the judge continued.

The Center for American Liberty filed the lawsuit against Newsom in July 2020 representing 20 plaintiffs who challenged Newsom’s order. The plaintiffs argued that Newsom overstepped his authority by unconstitutionally denying parents to have control over their children’s education.”

FYI: This judge was appointed in 2019 by President Trump.

FYI: This appointment of this judge to the ninth circuit was opposed by      

         both of California’s US Senators at that time, Dianne Feinstein and 

         Kamala Harris.

FYI: The judge’s name is Daniel … (what is his last name?) … oh yeah,    

        Daniel Collins

7/8/23

californiacontrarian

Although the following is longer than usual, I think that the time invested in reading it will be well worth it.

I have now read about the following Danish study on two different sites, and so I have to believe that what I am going to discuss is indeed true. Initially, I found this story to be so incredible, that I assumed that it was some sort of “fake news,” but it seems that it is not fake, but true!.

While what I am going to spell out is from a Danish study, and one has to wonder if anything at all similar occurred in the U.S.

Most of the following is taken from Epoch News, but, to repeat, this is the second time I have seen this info:

A recent Danish study showed enormous variation in the adverse events associated with different batches of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or BNT162b2 per its scientific codename. 

In an impressive and easy to understand graph, the batches used in Denmark essentially break down into three groups. As is apparent from the color coded graphic display, these three different group batches are dramatically different as they are each graphically displayed versus side effects. (For ease of understanding these groups are blue, green, and yellow.)

The graphed line that represents the green batch is the batch that was used the most in Denmark. The green batch of vaccine represented about 60+% of the total number of doses, and the total number of individuals who received the green batch was huge.

The point on that graphed green line furthest to the right represents somewhat over 800,000 doses that were administered. These 800,000 doses are associated with around 2,000 suspected adverse events, which gives a reporting rate of one suspected adverse event per approximately 400 doses. As a noted German scientist, Gerald Dyker, put it when speaking about adverse effects, “That’s not a small amount if we compare to what we know otherwise from influenza vaccines.” 

There are then the “blue batches” clustered around the blue line on the graphic display. These blue batches are associated with an extraordinarily high level of adverse events. As Dyker notes, no more than 80,000 doses of any of the blue batches were administered in Denmark—suggesting that these especially bad batches may perhaps have been quietly pulled from the market by public health authorities.

Nonetheless, these batches had as many as 8,000 suspected adverse events associated with them. Eight thousand out of 80,000 doses would give a reporting rate of one suspected adverse event for every ten doses—and Dyker notes that some of the blue batches are indeed associated with a reporting rate of as high as one suspected adverse event for every six doses!

On Dyker’s calculation, the blue batches represent less than 5 percent of the total number of doses included in the Danish study. Nonetheless, they are associated with nearly 50 percent of the 579 deaths recorded in the sample.

Finally, we have the “yellow batches” clustered around the yellow line on the graph. Each yellow dot on the graph represents from 100,00 – 500,000 vaccine doses. The yellow batches represent around 30 percent of the total, and are associated with literally zero suspected adverse events.

As Dyker puts it, “malicious” observers might note that “this is how placebos would look.”

And malicious observers might be right. For professors Dyker and Matysik compared the batch numbers contained in the Danish study with publicly available information on the batches approved for release, and they made the startling discovery that almost none of the harmless yellow batches, unlike the very-bad blue batches, and not-so-bad green batches, appear to have been subject to any quality-control testing at all.

In short, to paraphrase the German scientists’ findings on the variability of the Pfizer-BioNTech batches, it would appear that the good was bad, the bad was very bad, and the very good was saline solution.

To me the findings in this Danish study are not only amazing but frightening! Being the inquisitive contrarian that I am, I have to wonder if any similar study of batch variations was done in the U.S. … and if not, why not?

7/7/23

californiacontrarian

President Biden’s White House is a very secure place. By necessity the White House is a very secure place. There is a list of who comes and goes. Not just anybody can enter the White House, and certainly, not just anybody has access to the inner rooms of the White House.

On 7/5/23 buried on page two of my local “newspaper” was a story initially from the Washington Post entitled “Suspected Cocaine Found in White House.” 

And yes, at this point it appears that the white powder found in the White House is no longer “suspected” cocaine … it was cocaine.

Compare what the Washington Post reported and the following from the UK’s Daily Mail:

“White House cocaine was found in a ‘dime-sized baggie’ inside a ‘cubby’ used by staff and guests to store cell phones: New details emerge in drug mystery as Secret Service continues investigation.

It’s still not clear how cocaine made its way into the White House, but new reporting indicates it was found in a dime-sized bag in a storage facility regularly used by staff and guests.

U.S. Secret Service declined to comment on the ongoing investigation to DailyMail.com on Wednesday, but doubled-down that the white powder substance was found in a ‘work area within the West Wing’ of the White House.

It appears the federal law enforcement agency is still on the hunt for who brought the cocaine into the White House.”

So at this point we know the ‘what.’ It was cocaine.

Where exactly was this cocaine found? … sounds like it was in the inner bowels of the White House!

“Who” brought it there? … I have my suspicions!

There are a few issues here.

First: How is it that the UK’s Daily Mail has more info than the newspaper that is based in the same city as the White House? Does anyone else think that the Washington Post is trying to slow roll this story?

Second: As I noted above, there can only be a limited number of individuals with access to the inner rooms of the White House. In other words because this cocaine didn’t just walk in by itself, it shouldn’t take long to figure out who brought it into the White House. Certainly the Secret Service can test the dime-sized bag for fingerprints!

Third: A spokesperson for the Secret Service said that the white powder, which since has been found to be cocaine, was found during routine rounds in the building.

Will the person who found the cocaine and thus caused the big hubbub with the White House being evacuated etc. remain unidentified, or if identified, will he/she disappear or commit suicide?

Hmmm!

7/6/23

californiacontrarian

Right from the beginning, let me be clear. Kids are under the auspices of their parents … not under the auspices of the government, whether that be state or federal governments.

From N.J News:

On Thursday, 6/29/23, New Jersey State Attorney General Matthew Platkin filed civil rights complaints challenging parental notification policies that three New Jersey school boards adopted this week regarding transgender and nonbinary students, his office announced.

The move comes after the Middletown Township, Marlboro Township and Manalapan-Englishtown Regional Boards of Education on Tuesday, 6/27/23, adopted or amended school policies requiring staff to notify parents when gender-nonconforming students wish to change their names, be called by new pronouns, or request other accommodations.

Who is this Matthew Platkin? 

A little background from Wikipedia:

He is 36 years old, and was born and raised in New Jersey. He then attended Stanford undergrad as well as Stanford Law.

On February 3, 2022, Governor Phil Murphy announced that he was appointing Platkin to serve as Acting Attorney General. Platkin assumed office on February 14, 2022, succeeding Andrew Bruck as Acting Attorney General. He assumed the position in full on September 29, 2022, after the confirmation of his appointment by the New Jersey State Senate.

Platkin served as Chief Counsel to Governor Murphy from January 2018 to October 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he drafted executive orders and workforce policies for state government employees.[4] He took a leave during January 2020 to serve as Senator Cory Booker‘s special counsel during the first impeachment of Donald Trump.

So let’s get this straight, Matthew Platkin appears to be a very young, inexperienced Democrat who was appointed, not elected, to his Attorney General position. Serving as a special counsel to Cory Booker during Trump’s first impeachment only serves to document that he might be what friends of mine call “a liberal whack-job.”

Platkin’s complaint seems reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984 in which good was evil and evil was good! 

Don’t you just wonder how long this AG in New Jersey has been in hibernation? Is he not cognizant of what happened recently in Virginia when the governor decided to go head to head with the parents of school children.

From my perspective, go for it, Matthew Platkin!

7/5/23

www.californiacontrarian.com

Democratic presidential candidate, RFK Jr., has been and still is, anti-covid vaccine for a variety of reasons. Suffice it to say, although not an anti-vaxer, per se, he is suspicious that “something” is going on, because of what he is seeing with children these days. He points out that when he was growing up, he did not know anybody with autism, and these days there are a multitude of children with autism … “something” is going on. He points out that four of his seven children have asthma, and likewise, a large percentage of black children also have asthma … “something” is going on.

Yesterday I read something that reminded me of what RFK Jr. has been saying, namely that “something” is going on.

From the Epoch Health section of The Epoch Times:

“Food items consumed by babies continue to have the presence of high levels of heavy metals, thus posing a risk to their development, a new study has found.

Nonprofit Consumer Reports (CR) tested 14 products eaten by babies, ranging from fruits and vegetables, meals, snacks, bars, and puffs, according to the June 27 report. This was a follow-up of CR’s 2018 study that tested 50 foods. Long-term intake of heavy metals can affect the development of children, including causing lower IQ, behavioral issues, and autism. Heavy metals include elements like lead, cadmium, and arsenic. At least three samples of each product were tested by CR. The items selected for testing were ones for which there were “concerning levels” of heavy metals in Consumer Reports’ previous test.

The study found that the overall risk of heavy metal contamination “hasn’t changed much in the last five years,” even as levels of arsenic, lead, and cadmium in baby foods appeared to be getting lower.”

Still from Epoch Health:

“Other studies have also shown that many baby foods have heavy metal contamination. An August 2022 report (pdf) by Healthy Babies Bright Futures (HBBF) that tested 288 foods found that 94 percent of the tested food samples contained “detectable amounts” of toxic heavy metals.

“We found no evidence to suggest that homemade baby food has lower heavy metal levels than store-bought brands. Heavy metal levels varied widely by food type, not by who made the food,” it said.”

Now, let’s be clear, I am not saying that the apparent increase in autism or the increase in childhood asthma is due to what young children are eating, but rather that “something” is going on.

7/3/23

californiacontrarian

Today as is my usual Sunday fare, I praise a true hero. However, today …two heroes, Boyd Jordan and Travis Brady of Panama City, Florida.

From Good News Network:

“It started last Friday of last week when Travis Brady and his friends left the Panama City marina on the opening day of red snapper season with storm clouds coming fast behind them. Loathe to miss the chance for a big catch, they nevertheless decided to call it a day early when the water became smattered with 5-6 foot waves.”

(For those of you who have never lived in gulf coast Florida red snapper is the crème de la crème of local fish, especially when it is eaten fresh.)

On the way back to the marina, they saw a houseboat—a floating general store that served watermen near a sandbar, had broken free from its moorings. As Brady and his friends approached they saw another boat had already arrived, and its owner was attempting to rescue three people trapped in the houseboat.

That rescuer, later identified as Boyd Jordan, jumped in the water, smashed the window, and helped all three people out after the houseboat capsized.

“He is the true hero of this story,” Brady told WJHG. “Without hesitation, he was just in the water helping those people.”

That’s when Brady and his friends arrived dodging debris and waves to throw a life jacket to Jordan with a line attached to it; the houseboat’s occupants were already wearing life jackets.

Hauling Jordan aboard their already overcrowded fishing boat, they then guided the stranded individuals to the sandbar where they were able to walk ashore. Brady then took Jordan to his own boat before it crashed into the seawall.

Boyd Jordan heroically saved the lives of the three in the collapsed houseboat, and  Travis Brady then proceeded to save the life of Boyd Jordan … a double set of heroes from Panama City!

7/2/23