The Morning Report — 8/14/23

Good morning, kids. The Maui wildfires remains the top story as the scale of the disaster in terms of human life and of course to a lesser extent property is horrific. In my post last week referring to the fact that many ultra wealthy, primarily well-known lefties being in the line of fire did not necessarily make me lose much sleep, a commenter pointed out that many ordinary folk also make their home on the island. No doubt they probably comprise the vast majority of the victims, and I truly do feel for them.

And in that vein, this particular angle to the story yet again illustrates both our vulnerability to nefarious actors (that has yet to be determined though in this case) and more importantly the incompetence of government in providing a certain level of protection that the citizenry are taxed to high heaven to provide, is kind of infuriating.

A spokesman for Hawaii’s emergency management agency says that none of the 80 warning sirens placed around the island were activated at any time during the wildfire that has caused massive damage and taken at least 93 lives. The historic city of Lahaina has been all but destroyed, as has much of the western part of the island.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green says it isn’t known whether infrastructure damage prevented the sirens from going off. But the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency’s spokesman, Adam Weintraub, confirmed on Saturday that the sirens alone would not have been a sign to evacuate, but for residents to seek more information.

He said other alert systems were activated, including emergency alerts that were sent to cellphones and to radio and TV stations, but there were power outages in Lahaina on Tuesday, and many residents said they never got any warnings.

“The emergency sirens are tested once a month, but they weren’t sounded for some unknown reason to announce these fires,” Robin Ritchie, a long-time Lahaina resident said. “That makes me feel very angry because the lack of warning has definitely caused death.” Ritchie says that two of her friends were saved from the approaching fire only when the smoke alarms in their homes went off. . .

. . . There was a report from a company that monitors power grid activity that a “large fault” was detected on a power line 20 minutes before the wildfire started. It may very well have been a coincidence since residents were reporting power outages all throughout Tuesday. . .

. . . Considering that Maui had a top-of-the-line warning system, the state was ill-prepared for the disaster."

"Top-of-the-line." As in "TOP men." Faults and power outages minutes before the fires started? That definitely doesn't sound kosher, does it? Or if it wasn't the prelude to a mass act of terrorism perhaps it was some freak anomaly that happened almost at the same time by pure coincidence. Either way, the fact that something as basic as warning sirens not going off is completely inexcusable. Ultimately, we'll see who or what is to blame for this disaster turning into a human catastrophe. Of course, if it is shown that government's incompetence and/or lack of preparedness in, if not preventing at least mitigating the loss of life is at the heart of this, what real consequences will those officials and politicians charged with preventing this face? History teaches us that you don't have to be Jeanne Dixon to prognosticate the future.

Last full day in NYC for me. Thoughts on that coming up a bit later.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• "Starving you silly to 'save the planet.'"
  Beware the U.N.'s 'Agenda 2030'
  
• Daniel Greenfield: "The anti-war movement now answers to the Chinese Communist Party."
  How the IRS Allowed China Nonprofits to Buy Code Pink

BIDEN CRIME FAMILY REVELATIONS
• "Typically, when prosecutors begin pressing to interview the person at center of an investigation, it signals that the probe is reaching its final stages." (Will it be a "no reasonable prosecutor" deal? - jjs)
  Prosecutors In Criminal Investigation Into Joe Biden Push To Interview So-Called Quote-Unquote "president"
  
• Roger Kimball: "It threatens to undermine that essential if often hard-to-define societal lubricant: trust."
  Introducing Contempt of Public
  
• David Harsanyi: "Whatever the case, if the new inquiry into the Bidens were either impartial or serious, Weiss would not be the special counsel."
  Garland’s Special Counsel Gambit Confirms Hunter Investigation Was Always Shady
  
• "Really unlawful and wrong things."
  Top Oversight Dem Raskin Concedes Hunter Biden May Be In Trouble (as in the fall guy for the Big Guy - jjs)

  SHAMPEACHMENT 1.0, 2016 CLINTON/OBAMA COUP, CONGRESSIONAL PERSECUTION, SPYGATE, DEEP STATE, MUELLER DECEPTION

• "If Willis brings charges against Trump, it would be Trump’s fourth indictment in the past five months. Trump is facing two federal charges from Special Counsel Jack Smith based on his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and his handling of White House documents. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg also brought over 30 counts of falsifying business records against Trump."
  Report: Fulton County DA to Present Trump Case Before Grand Jury Next Week
  
• Clarice Feldman: "The lawfare waged against former President Trump and the Department of Justice’s pussyfooting around the Biden bribery took this week’s center stage."
  The Weaponization of Justice
  
• “The decision should be made by voters.”
  Alan Dershowitz Op-Ed: No, the 14th Amendment Can’t Disqualify Trump
  
• “This is the persecution of the person that is leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary and leading Biden by a lot. So if you can’t beat him, you persecute him or you prosecute him. We can’t let this happen in America,” Trump added.
  Left-Wing Judge On Trump’s Claim Political Prosecution Is Election Interference: ‘So Be It’
  
• "The American people may finally get to hear why the 2020 election was improperly certified."
  Jack’s Schizophrenic Indictment

  CIVIL WAR 2.0: J-6 FBI FALSE FLAG "RIOT" & AFTERMATH, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION

• Thad McCotter: "The Left's 'democracy' means the unchecked power of a tyranny of the majority." (and they're really not even the majority either - jjs)
  The Regressive Left’s Counter-Revolution
  
• "The show’s over, Democrats. We’re onto you." (meh, we've been onto them forever - jjs)
  'Unthinkable:' J6 Committee Accused of DESTROYING Key Intelligence Documents About Capitol Riot
  
• "It really should bother everyone on the left side of the political spectrum that their party is in a headlong rush to emulate some of the worst ideologies of the past century."
  Comparing the Tactics of the Dems to the Nazis is No Longer Seen as Unreasonable

  FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH

• "Two viral videos show vigilante justice, which wouldn’t be necessary without the left’s anti-police, pro-crime rhetoric."
  The Montgomery Brawl Isn’t What Race-Baiting Media Want It To Be
  
• Charlene Carter sued the airline after she was fired following more than 20 years on the job. Carter posted several social media posts criticizing the union boss who attended a pro-abortion “Women’s March” in 2017.
  Judge Orders 3 Southwest Lawyers Take Religious Liberty Training After Trampling On First Amendment

  THE ECONOMY, STUPID

• ". . . it’s ordinary Americans who suffer most from inflation and the dollar’s loss of value."
  Economic Expert: ‘Transitory’ Inflation Enters 31st Month, and It’s Not Going Away
  
• "The big gulf between boasts and reality."
  The Bidenomics Fiasco
  
• "The Potomac nobles party while America's blue-collar workforce withers."
  The Economy's 'Red Death' Will Come for DC, Too

  RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS, JUNK SCIENCE, LYSENKOISM

• "The agency overestimates the reliability of wind and solar and there is not enough reliable power plant capacity on the grid to keep the lights on."
  U.S. Energy Industry Warns Biden EPA’s Proposed Carbon Emissions Rules are ‘Unworkable’
  
• "The technocrats love nothing more than killing two (or three) birds with one stone. In this case, said birds are: getting rid of gas-powered cars, inventing for themselves a brand-new revenue generation scheme, and instituting even more tracking power to make sure the peasants behave themselves."
  Techno-Hell: Utah and Oregon Now Require GPS Trackers on EVs in Lieu of Registration Fee, Tax Drivers by the Mile
  
• "He’s so determined to do it that he’s spending billions of your money on a project that will give the government even more control over the food supply."
  Biden Wants to Suck from the Sky an Essential Ingredient for Food
  
• Richard Fernandez: "This ought to do it."
  Blocking the Sun to 'Save the Planet'
  
• "The only problem is that it violates a basic law of nature."
  California Has Another Planet-Saving Idea
  
• "Two more luminaries are sacrificed on the altar of global warming."
  Scientific Censorship Reaches New Heights
  
• "Fire extinguishers optional."
  Bad News on E.V.s
  
• "Planet Earth has experienced ice ages followed by warming, numerous times, all occurring before humans existed or had any significant influence on the world around them."
  Of Course the Climate Has Always Been Changing
  
• "Turns out there’s less plastic in the oceans than claimed. Far less."
  Don’t expect the greens’ 1,600% mistake on ocean plastic to get them to change course

  AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY

• “Greg Abbott is already responsible for a child dying in his razor wire buoy stunt. Now another child has died in his stunt to abduct and ship migrants out of state. He has blood on his hands. He shouldn’t be sued, he should be prosecuted.”
  Democrat Hoax: No, a Migrant Child Did Not Die in Greg Abbott’s Rio Grande ‘Razor Wire Buoys’

  CRIME & PUNISHMENT, NON-DOSTOYEVSKY

• ". . . by all means, give the new liberal crime hawks a round of applause for their stated intentions. But don’t let them off the hook if their actions don’t ultimately mirror their rhetoric."
  Urban progressives blast the unsafe cities that THEY created
  
• How’s that Justice Reform Working Out? Spending $300 million for security “did not derail the people from stealing. In fact, the regional manager told us that people will have stuff in their carts walking straight through the door–straight through the door!”
  DC: Rampant Shoplifting May Lead To Grocery Store Closures, Areas Becoming Food Deserts
  
• “This is what police do when dealing with autistic children. My daughter told me the police officer looked like her nana, who is a lesbian. The officer took it the wrong way and said it was a homophobic comment [it wasn’t]. The officer then entered my home. My daughter was having panic attacks from being touched by them and they still continued to manhandle her.”
  British Police Force Backs Down after Arresting Autistic Girl for Saying Officer Looked Like a Lesbian
  
• "Closing Los Angeles’s much-maligned correctional facility—without a replacement—will do more harm than good for the mentally ill."
  Men’s Central Madness

  AMERICA AND THE WORLD IMPRISONED: CHINESE CORONAVIRUS FICTIONS AND FACTS

• "I suspect the truth is this: there was too much money on the table for the pharmaceutical-industrial complex to lose. Ivermectin costs pennies. How can Pfizer fat cats line their pockets and throw some cheddar back at Democrats who helped them rake it in on a cheap drug like ivermectin?"
  This Steams My Clams: Ivermectin Is Suddenly OK for Chinese COVID?

  SECOND AMENDMENT

• "There’s nothing in the law about the police seizing any weapons. It’s extremely doubtful that any seizures will come to pass. Pritzker isn’t stupid enough to start a civil war in Illinois by attempting to confiscate weapons — even if they’re technically illegal."
  Illinois Supreme Court Finds Assault Weapons Ban Legal
  
• "Stricter gun regulation favored by Democrats would only address 38 of the 1,768 people killed or injured in shootings with more than four victims, a comprehensive analysis of mass shootings from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2023 shows. The remaining 1,730 casualties are from suspects that do not conform to the dominant narrative of premeditated, often ideologically charged, shooters deliberately targeting innocent bystanders."
  Media, Politicians Chronically Mislead On Total Number Of 'Mass Shootings,' Data Analysis Shows

  EDUCATION, AND WHAT PASSES FOR IT

• "Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis appointed six conservative members to the New College of Florida Board of Trustees to reform the school’s education system and programs. Since then, the board has voted to abolish the college’s DEI office and diversity statements."
  New College of Florida Trustees Vote to Abolish Gender Studies Program
  
• "School starts soon, and this year, parents of K–12 children are likely to be greeted by new, well orchestrated assaults on parental rights provoked by the left's strategy to promote child-drugging and mutilation."
  The Mounting Urgency to Affirm Parental Rights
  
• "Cold and uncaring."
  US Navy Parents Say Kids Suffer Discrimination, Poor Teaching at Military-Run School

  ABORTION

• "A former football coach is preventing votes on military nominees until the DOD withdraws abortion funding."
  Tuberville Is Still Taking a Stand for Babies
  
• "How the pro-life movement remains politically viable."
  The Pro-Life Dilemma and the Politics of Prudence

  OFFICIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY/LEFTIST-ENDORSED ANTI-SEMITISM, ANTI-CHRISTIANITY

• "It’s not ‘white supremacy’ among Catholics the FBI is really worried about, it’s traditional Catholic morality."
  The FBI Targeted Traditional Catholics Because They Will Never Accept the Left’s Pagan Morality
  
• "And his betrayal of Israel."
  Obama’s Calculated Tolerance of Black Anti-Semitism

  DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY

• Bush has been a leading proponent for reparations in Washington, D.C. In May, the congresswoman introduced a $14 trillion resolution arguing why the federal government should provide reparations to descendants of slaves in America. The resolution was called “The Reparations Now Resolution.”
  Filthy Sub-literate Racialist Shit-Whore Cori Bush Made $15,000 Teaching Reparations Course

  POLITICS

• “F BIDEN,” Malika Obama wrote on Twitter along with a photo of himself, smiling while wearing the red hat with the same message printed in white letters.
  Obama’s Brother Malik: ‘Yes I Am’ All in Backing Trump in 2024
  
• "Biden stands pat with double-digit lead over potential Democrat challengers, but could 3rd-party challenge loom?"
  Even After Three Indictments, Trump Support Rises: I&I/TIPP Poll
  
• "Middle-class Americans just want their country back."
  Why Is Trump Popular? It’s More Than Class Struggle.
  
• While DeSantis was flipping pork chops at the fair, a tradition for GOP candidates, a group of Trump supporters began chanting, “We love Trump.” The governor’s fans responded, “USA, USA!” according to the Des Moines Register.
  DeSantis Slams 'Sham' Special Counsel in Hunter Biden Investigation as Trump Arrives in Iowa
  
• Miranda Devine: "The genial former private equity chief executive is living proof that 'conservative common sense policies work,' in a state that he sees as a microcosm of America."
  Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s recipe for success as rookie pol starts to turns state around in just 18 months
  
• " A truly nasty 'fact check' from Politifact targets the imbecilic veep."
  Lefty Long Knives Come Out for Kamala
  
• "As of publication, Suarez has not met the polling requirement."
  Presidential Candidate Francis Suarez Tells Himself To Drop Out?
  
• “I may run for Senate, I’m considering that,” she said. “It’s something I may have to do because we can’t have people who don’t care about Arizonans representing us in Washington, D.C. Got a lot of options on the table. I’m taking a look at all of them, and I’ll be making some decisions here in the coming months.”
  Kari Lake Taunts Woke Reporters at Iowa State Fair: Try Milking a Bull to 'See How That Goes'
  * * * * *

• "I make love to men daily."
  NY Post Reveals Contents Of Salacious Obama Letter To Ex-Girlfriend

  THE UKRAINIAN "FRONT"

• Zelensky – who leads the most corrupt nation in Europe, also the place the Biden family coincidentally chose to conduct business – announced the move via his official Telegram page, arguing that military enlistment “should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery during war is treason.”
  Zelensky Fires Military Officials, Alleging Corruption, Bribery, & Treason

  FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL

• "Israeli Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser (res.), an expert on Iran’s weapons program, told the foreign newspaper that Iran has shortened their 'breakout time to a nuclear arsenal by illegally acquiring equipment and knowledge from various European countries.'”
  Iran Close To Starting Nuclear Weapon Testing
  
• "The statement that the Harris-Biden [junta] is making by paying ransom is that they are willing to prostrate before terrorists and hostile nations."
  Biden's Iranian Hostage Deal
  
• "A Chinese victory in Taiwan is not inevitable, and some out-of-the-box thinking might create a path to peace."
  Can There Be a Peace Plan for Taiwan?
  
• "Three years ago a journalist ‘disappeared’ in China, but the dangerous policing of journalists isn’t just happening overseas."
  ‘I Miss The Sun’: China’s Jailing of Journalists is a Warning to All Who Speak Truth to Power
  
• Indeed, though she was elected as a eurosceptic social conservative promising a naval blockade to end an illegal boat migrants crisis, she has governed as a Ukraine war hawk who literally holds hands with Joe Biden at summits and insists that “Europe and Italy need immigration.”
  EU ‘Disciplined’ Populists Like Meloni into Falling in Line Boasts Ex-Chief
  
• "Why aren't Iran, Yemen and Syria treated exactly like Russia?"
  Should Countries that Repress Women Be Barred from the Paris Olympics?

  BIDEN AFGHANISTAN BUG-OUT DISASTER AFTERMATH

• "The Marines first saw a flash of light, then felt the concussion of a blast in their chests. Everyone remained frozen while their brains attempted to process the sensory overload."
  Two Years Later, We Know the Deadly Fall of Kabul Didn’t Have to Happen This Way

  DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY AFFAIRS

• "Amphibious assault ship is stuck pier-side as it struggles to get underway after a dismal maintenance period."
  USS Boxer Unable to Get Underway after Two-Year $200 Million Overhaul, Symptom of Military Readiness Problems (the rebellion or Senator Ma'am? - jjs)
  
• "Keeping quantum tech development in the U.S. is a good thing."
  Too Little Too Late?: Biden Junta Bans Investment in Chinese Quantum Computing

  DOMESTIC AFFAIRS, THE COURTS, WASTE/FRAUD/ABUSE

• Prayers for the victims.
  PHOTOS: Maui Death Toll Reaches 89, Making It the Deadliest U.S. Wildfire in Over 100 Years
  
• "There was a report from a company that monitors power grid activity that a 'large fault' was detected on a power line 20 minutes before the wildfire started. It may very well have been a coincidence since residents were reporting power outages all throughout Tuesday."
  Why Didn't Maui's Emergency Sirens Warn of Deadly Wildfires?
  
• "The already revised death toll could rise 'significantly' Hawaii Governor Josh Green warned as forensic work continues to identify the victims."
  Maui Wildfire Death Toll Reaches 93: Authorities Warn Total Scale of Losses Not Yet Known
  
• “Praise the Lord… upon this rock I will build my church!!! come and follow me,” user Jeffrey Domdoma commented on Facebook.
  Video Shows Historic Church Survived Maui Wildfires Unscathed
  
• "The death toll for the blaze that devastated the historic town of Lahaina rose to at least 93 victims — a grim number that could spike dramatically as hundreds of people are still feared to be missing while searches continue with the help of cadaver dogs."
  Only Fraction of Dead Maui Wildfire Victims Identified as Remains ‘Fall Apart’

  HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE

• Instead of ‘woke’ corporate media outlets pushing gender identity conversations and warning about the end of the Earth because the hamburger that you eat and the car you drive are allegedly heating the planet (what about El Nino? or the billionaires that fly around in private jets and sail on diesel-powered mega-yachts?) — perhaps America’s mental health crisis is a more urgent topic. 
  Twin Crises Rattle America: Suicides And Drug Overdoses Hit Record Highs

  ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY

• Robert Zimmerman: "The orbit required the rocket to travel almost due east, which means the first stage and all four boosters crashed over China’s eastern heavily populated provinces, as shown on the map to the right. All use toxic hypergolic fuels. No word if the stages landed on any cities, as China’s communist government does without any qualms."
  China’s Long March 3B launches radar satellite
  
• "Since Perseverance was about 200 feet away to the northeast, the horizon line in the background is the southwest rim of Jezero crater, about ten miles away, with the intervening hills about five miles closer."
  Perseverance videotapes Ingenuity’s 54th flight, a short hop up and down

  FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY

• "Available studies are fraught with errors."
  Gender Dysphoria in Kids: It’s Time for Some Serious Research
  
• "As regards transgenderism and Matt Walsh's What is a Woman?, the Ayn Rand Institute is making excuses for leftists and latching onto the worst interpretations of conservatives."
  We Need Ayn Rand, Not the Ayn Rand Institute
  
• "Only when we look back on how this dangerous ideology began and see the sinister intentions behind it all do we realize the true horrors of this modern phenomenon."
  Sexologist John Money's botched experiments on twin boys and how it led to modern gender ideology
  
• "Where are the real men defending real women against trans 'women?'"
  When Chivalry Died

  CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE

• "The most popular and talked about song in the country exudes an authentic human experience, and will have a lasting impact."
  Rich Men North of Richmond: A Stirring Ballad for the Real Forgotten Man
  
• "Without question many of the managers at Best Buy and even at McKinsey have good intentions, strongly desiring to help disadvantaged minorities improve themselves. And without question those managers are also unwittingly paving the road to hell as fast as they can do it. Favor one race over another is nothing more than blatant discrimination, just another form of segregation. It violates every civil rights act passed since the 1960s, and will certainly result in lawsuits by injured white employees at Best Buy."
  Best Buy Joins the Bigotry Crowd
  
• Christian Toto: "'Club Random' host, Marianne Williamson tee off on university indoctrination."
  Bill Maher: College is ‘Bullshit,’ a ‘Scam’
  
• "The living generation with the best mental health across time is the Silent Generation — or the most communal, religious, family-oriented, and patriotic generation."
  Generational Divides Show the Dangers of Discarding What Makes Us Great
  
• "Utopian revolutions continue to devour their own."
  J.K. Rowling Erased, Richard Dawkins Ostracized for Opposing Trans Dogma
  
• "I don’t travel enough to know if this is reflected in other airlines. But I do recognize the insidious actions of companies trying to fill the heads of their customers with an agenda. So as the summer ends and we find ourselves approaching Labor Day, plan your family vacation well.  Make sure the airline, cruise ship, or theme park is committed to travel and entertainment, not social engineering."
  Virgin Atlantic Airways Ruined My Family's Trip With Intrusive Grooming

  HITHER & YON

• "Wild and brilliant, William Friedkin was an exemplar of the New Hollywood."
  The Renegade

NOTE: The opinions expressed in the links may or may not reflect my own. I include them because of their relevance to the discussion of a particular issue.

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posted by J.J. Sefton at 05:09 AM

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