The Northern Lights

History, Nature 6 Minutes

The northern lights, or the aurora borealis, are beautiful dancing waves of light that have captivated people for millennia. But for all its beauty, this spectacular light show is a rather violent event.

Energized particles from the sun slam into Earth’s upper atmosphere at speeds of up to 45 million mph (72 million kph), but our planet’s magnetic field protects us from the onslaught.

As Earth’s magnetic field redirects the particles toward the poles — there are southern lights, too — the dramatic process transforms into a cinematic atmospheric phenomenon that dazzles and fascinates scientists and skywatchers alike.

Though it was Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei who coined the name “aurora borealis” in 1619 — after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek god of the north wind, Boreas — the earliest suspected record of the northern lights is in a 30,000 year old cave painting in France.

Since that time, civilizations around the world have marveled at the celestial phenomenon, ascribing all sorts of origin myths to the dancing lights. One North American Inuit legend suggests that the northern lights are spirits playing ball with a walrus head, while the Vikings thought the phenomenon was light reflecting off the armor of the Valkyrie, the supernatural maidens who brought warriors into the afterlife.

The oldest known auroral citing was written in 2600 B.C. in China: “Fu-Pao, the mother of the Yellow Empire Shuan-Yuan, saw strong lightning moving around the star Su, which belongs to the constellation of Bei-Dou, and the light illuminated the whole area.” Thousands of years later, in 1570 A.D., a drawing of the aurora depicted candles burning above the clouds.

Across the north, where the phenomena is most widely seen, there are legends and beliefs about the Northern Lights that defy reason, but go back generations. In Canada’s Northwest Territory, a tribal elder explained that, as a youngster, he recalled stories told by his grandfather that, if you listen closely, you can hear the Northern Lights. They stepped outside and heard a swishing sound, almost crackling.

Stories were told that one could “whistle” in the Northern Lights and some said you could inhale the Northern Lights and they would kill you. Still others claimed they were the spirits of children who were stillborn. The crackling sound has been claimed to be the spirits trying to communicate with you; alternatively, other legends say it is the Inuits playing a game of kicking a walrus skull around, and the crackling sound is the crunching of the snow.

Inuit Tribe Members

Sharon Shorty, a Yukon story-teller and comedian, of Tlingit, Northern Tuchone and Norwegian background, remembers her childhood walking around Teslin, Yukon with her grandmother, Carrie Jackson.

Sharon Shorty

“I could see all the ribbons in the air and Grandma would tell me, “Shhhh! Don’t look, don’t look! Bad luck, no good!” I asked, “Why can’t I look?” and she said it’s bad luck, that they are spirits. So when we’re looking at them, they are spirits – people who have passed on in a bad or hard way. That could mean a suicide or a murder or something in a bad way. This is what Tlingit people believe, and I think other nations believe that as well.”

Over the Takhini Valley in Yukon

“To me, it looks like people holding hands and it is our ancestors. They died in a bad way, are lonely, and want company. They want to take somebody from earth to be with them and they could come down and take you if you look at them or get their attention. That’s why we say never whistle at them – you’re not supposed to draw their attention because they will find you.”

Early astronomers also mentioned the northern lights in their records. A royal astronomer under Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar II inscribed his report of the phenomenon on a tablet dated to 567 B.C., for example, while a Chinese report from 193 B.C. also notes the aurora, according to NASA.

The science behind the northern lights wasn’t theorized until the turn of the 20th century. Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland proposed that electrons emitted from sunspots produced the atmospheric lights after being guided toward the poles by Earth’s magnetic field. The theory would eventually prove correct, but not until long after Birkeland’s 1917 death.

A lime-green aurora glows above Earth’s city lights in this view from the International Space Station. At the time this photo was taken, the space station was orbiting about 258 miles (415 kilometers) above Russia and the Ukraine. A portion of the space station’s solar array is visible in the top left corner of the image. (Image credit: NASA)

The bright colors of the northern lights are dictated by the chemical composition of Earth’s atmosphere.

“Every type of atom or molecule, whether it’s atomic hydrogen or a molecule like carbon dioxide, absorbs and radiates its own unique set of colors, which is analogous to how every human being has a unique set of fingerprints,” Teets told Space.com. “Some of the dominant colors seen in aurorae are red, a hue produced by the nitrogen molecules, and green, which is produced by oxygen molecules.”

While solar wind is constant, the sun’s emissions go through a roughly 11-year cycle of activity. Sometimes there’s a lull, but other times, there are vast storms that bombard Earth with extreme amounts of energy. This is when the northern lights are at their brightest and most frequent. The last solar maximum, or period of peak activity, occurred in 2014, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), placing the next one in approximately 2025.

Despite plenty of advances in heliophysics and atmospheric science, much about the northern lights remains a mystery. For example, researchers weren’t entirely sure how the energized particles in the solar wind get accelerated to their extraordinary speeds (45 million mph) until June 2021, when a study published in the journal Nature Communications confirmed that a phenomenon called Alfvén waves gave the particles a boost. Alfvén waves are low-frequency yet powerful undulations that occur in plasma due to electromagnetic forces; the electrons that create the northern lights “surf” along these waves in Earth’s atmosphere, accelerating rapidly.

The auroras are best seen during the winter, when nights are long. Hours of patience by photographer Daniele Boffelli resulted in this image that captures both clouds and auroras in the night sky. (Image credit: Daniele Boffelli)

NASA is also on the hunt for clues about how the northern lights work. In 2018, the space agency launched the Parker Solar Probe, which is currently orbiting the sun and will eventually get close enough to “touch” the corona. While there, the spacecraft will collect information that could reveal more about the northern lights.

On Earth, the northern lights’ counterpart in the Southern Hemisphere is the southern lights — they are physically the same and differ only in their location. As such, scientists expect them to occur simultaneously during a solar storm, but sometimes the onset of one lags behind the other.

The Southern Lights over Australia (Auror Australis)

“One of the more challenging aspects of nightside aurorae involves the comparison of the aurora borealis with the aurora australis,” said Steven Petrinec, a physicist at the aerospace company Lockheed Martin who specializes in magnetospheric and heliospheric physics.

“While some auroral emissions occur in both hemispheres at the same magnetic local time, other emissions appear in opposing sectors in the two hemispheres at different times — for example, pre-midnight in the Northern Hemisphere and post-midnight in the Southern Hemisphere,” Petrinec told Space.com.

The hemispheric asymmetry of the aurora is due in part to the sun’s magnetic field interfering with Earth’s magnetic field, but research into the phenomenon is ongoing.

Another aurora-like occurrence on Earth is STEVE (“Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement”). Like the northern and southern lights, STEVE is a glowing atmospheric phenomenon, but it looks slightly different from its undulating auroral counterparts. “These emissions appear as a narrow and distinct arc, are typically purple in color and often include a green picket-fence structure that slowly moves westward,” Petrinec said.

STEVE is also visible from lower latitudes, closer to the equator, than the auroras.

A 2019 study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters discovered that STEVE is the result of two mechanisms: The mauve streaks are caused by the heating of charged particles in the upper atmosphere, while the picket-fence structure results from electrons falling into the atmosphere. The latter process is the same driver of the aurora, making STEVE a special kind of aurora hybrid.

More info: https://www.space.com/15139-northern-lights-auroras-earth-facts-sdcmp.html

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Published by NebraskaFilly

Army veteran (1976-1979), retired with entirely too much time on my hands

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197 thoughts on “The Northern Lights”

  1. Morning All!
    AWESOME post Filly!
    I never knew there were southern lights as well!
    and STEVE? so cool!!!
    thanks for doing the research on this!!

    Liked by 2 people

        1. Morning! Gonna have to mow today – hope my mower starts. I didn’t bring the battery in for the winter but it was unusually warm. Hopefully, I don’t have to have it serviced again. I didn’t mow much last year so it should be good. Cross your fingers! Got more rain forecast for the end of the week so I can’t put it off much longer.

          Liked by 2 people

  3. interesting…the first time in history a drafted SCOTUS opinion is leaked…overturning Roe v Wade

    Liked by 2 people

    1. leaked so the protests and riots can start now and influence the outcome? (the actual opinion is not expected to be release for another 2 months)
      getting a jump on those pre-election riots that are necessary for mail in ballots?

      Liked by 2 people

          1. Levin just said they won’t care if they lose their legal license since “they” will go on the talk-show circuit, write books and make a shit-ton of $$$$!!!! He said he isn’t aware of any current law that would cover this.

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    2. Liked by 3 people

    3. statement by schmucky & piglosi…they are desperate to find any issue that they can use for the midterms–ANY–the left is repulsive to voters right now…

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Dems need to get out the vote…plus this way they can pressure the squishier members of the court to on e again back the left agenda.

        Liked by 2 people

    4. this opinion does NOT strike down abortion at all. it merely states that there is no constitutional right to it; therefore it is NOT a federal issue. anything that is not a federal right, is a state’s issue.
      this opinion moves the discussion to the states. period.

      Liked by 2 people

              8. That’s so funny…..I had a really close friend named Debby for a few years…..she had some heavy-duty drug issues, sadly. Anyway, our friends called us Thelma and Louise. LOL – I still have a note she left for Phil, the last love of my life – we were together during that time – telling him to meet us at the bar, signed “Thelma and Louise.”

                Liked by 1 person

  6. ahhhhh…the timing! the timing!
    what ELSE besides the primaries is happening right about now?
    the release of 2000 MULES!!!
    can’t have people going and watching that…gotta have them focused elsewhere…

    Liked by 2 people

  8. Good morning y’all! Great opener, love space and stuff like that. One of my cats likes watching space documentaries with me. That SC story is something else! Just in time to steal the spotlight from the election fraud and don’t forget the Durham stuff. Court decision tomorrow about the attorney/client privilege that Durham is trying to get tossed. I have to weed eat and mow too when I get home this evening, rain tomorrow I think.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Your cat??!!?? Wow! Jake completely ignores the TV! Mowing is all I can deal with today. I think I need a new battery for my weed eater – doesn’t hold a charge nearly long enough any more. Actually, I have 2 and they both need new batteries!

      Liked by 2 people

            2. And he ALWAYS wants me to watch him eat!!!! Drives me nuts! I think I’ll just move it back out here from my bedroom, where I put it when B/K/M were here. At least then he’ll quit bugging me and dogging my every footstep!

              Liked by 1 person

  9. and just like that the focus and anticipation of 2000 Mules has been relegated to the sidelines…

    think about it…this SCOTUS draft is dated FEBRUARY!
    why hold it…till now?

    Liked by 1 person

  10. As daughn has said: CAUTION!!!!

    Like

  11. Well, I am still banned from commenting at Gateway Pundit – such putz’s there! I despise those asswipes!!!! Especially after the BS with their ad supporting Ukraine – both Kea (I think it was Kea) and I contacted them about it and they removed it, only to bring it back within 2 days!!!! Scumbags are the Hoffs!!!!!

    Liked by 1 person

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  16. EXCERPT: “The document published by Politico that claims to be a draft opinion appears to be authentic, but it is not a binding decision of the court unless at least five justices sign it, and this looks like a transparent and unprecedented betrayal by one of the 45 or so people with access to a draft Supreme Court opinion to prevent this decision from becoming law by scaring off moderate justices and attempting to whip the political left into a frenzy.

    There are five key points to realize about this opinion, how its shocking leak could have happened, and why the Supreme Court will suffer incalculable damage if one of the majority justices switches sides.

    First, what the 67-page opinion says. Key highlights include page 5:
    ——————–
    Second, why the opinion is probably genuine. In an era of word processors, fraudsters can make documents that physically look like the real thing. But this is different.

    First, Supreme Court opinions are dense and complex. There are extremely carefully written, and are full of citations and quotations. Experienced appellate attorneys know what they look like, and this carries all the hallmarks of that.

    Also, each justice has his or her own voice. This reads like an opinion by Sam Alito. So there is every reason to believe he authored this first draft. And given that the Dobbs case was argued on December 1, the timestamp of February 10 on this draft would fit a normal opinion-writing timeframe for something of this scope.

    Third, how this could have happened and why. The only people who definitely have access to this are the nine justices and their 36 law clerks — four assigned to each justice — for a total of 45 people. It is almost certain that it had to have been one of the law clerks, who would take the ultimate credential a young lawyer can achieve and instead put himself on a track to never be licensed to practice law in this nation.

    Fourth, why this might not actually become the actual decision of the Supreme Court. It takes five votes on the nine-member court to make it a majority opinion. When cases are argued, the justices have a weekly closed-door conference on Friday at which they discuss the case, take a preliminary vote, and one justice from the majority is assigned the task of writing the opinion.

    After that opinion is written, it is circulated to the other justices. That is when the negotiating begins, where justices say that they could join if certain changes are made, and others decide to dissent and organize that writing effort. Still, other justices join the majority judgment but write concurring opinions to emphasize some point important to them. At any time during this process, justices can change their vote. And it happens. Often the cases do not grab headlines. But earthshattering decisions like the one upholding Obamacare in 2012, NFIB v. Sebelius, bears the hallmarks of being such a case.

    This then appears to be an effort to intimidate a moderate conservative justice to switch sides, in which case this opinion would become a dissenting opinion, and a liberal justice’s opinion would speak for the majority.

    The threat here appears to be court-packing. In the 1937 Jones & Laughlin Steel case, two Supreme Court justices switched from years of their own precedents to reinterpret the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, fundamentally transforming the power of the federal government over the nation.

    They did this in an unnecessary attempt to stop FDR’s plan to pack the court with six new justices, for a total of 15. It was unnecessary because the plan was already collapsing, but the public intimidation convinced a couple of members of the court to virtually transform the nation. Democrats have explored court packing over the past two years for the first time in eight decades. Doubtless many on the left will claim that now they have to do it.

    Finally, the Supreme Court’s credibility is at stake to see this through. If anyone switches their vote because of this, the court will take more than a generation to regain the trust of the American people.

    To the contrary, the justices should double-down. This is likely a 5-4 decision, because this betrayal looks like an intimidation tactic to get one justice to change his mind. Since the decision is in many ways out, those five should stop the pressure by all signing the latest version of it, and publishing it immediately as a binding decision of the Court. Those with dissents or concurrences can publish them later if they are so inclined. But this shameful debacle and the immediate pressure campaign it is creating should end now, with the court handing down the decision in Dobbs.

    As page 65 of the leaked opinion explains:”

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/05/02/leaked-supreme-court-opinion-overruling-roe-v-wade/

    Liked by 1 person

  17. From the comment thread @ BB:

    Armant • a minute ago

    BREAKING: An article on Twitchy identifies the leaker as Amit Jain (a clerk for Sotomayor):

    Public donor disclosure forms reveal a Amit Jain at:
    3726 Park Ave
    Apt E6
    Weehawken, NJ 07086-8905

    His donations go to an allotment of pro-abortion Dem’s. There’s also another address listed a few years ago as:
    21888 Villa Oaks Ln
    Saratoga, CA 95070
    (parent’s house obviously)

    There’s also a number of donations from the California address in the name of “Rachana Jain” (55 years old according to public data bases) that go to EMILY’S LIST.

    So there’s your rat, folks.”

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. i think it’s more narcissism than rage. it’s the all about me generation.
      I am irresponsible about birth control, I deserve an immediate fix.
      I don’t wanna pay for my college, I deserve an immediate fix.
      I don’t wanna work, I deserve an immediate fix.

      everything should be free and easy because i deserve it.

      Liked by 1 person

  23. You know that guy Tyrus (I did NOT know that he is a teacher!) who is on Gutfeld all the time? Brian Kilmeade is interviewing him on Fox. He is attacking CRT in the schools and has apparently written a book about his childhood – his father was terribly abusive and tried to throw him out of a 2nd floor window when his Dad was beating his Mom and Tyrus grabbed a knife to try to stop the abuse. He is amazingly well-balanced!!!!

    Liked by 1 person

      1. You wouldn’t be if you never watch Gutfeld. He used to be in the WWE. Big bearded black guy. Huh – glad you asked – found out he went to college and got his teaching degree here in NE at Kearney!!!!

        From Wiki: “Murdoch is biracial; his father is black, and his mother is white. He has stated that when he was born, his father was 19 years old and his mother was 15. In 2018, Murdoch disclosed a childhood incident in which his abusive father damaged his eye by hitting him; this incident led his mother to leave his father. While Murdoch’s mother moved back to her parents’ home, Murdoch has stated that he and his brother were not welcome there because their father was black. According to Murdoch, he and his brother lived with a foster family for many years; during this time, Murdoch was “obsessed” with changing his skin color, thinking that this would allow him to be reunited with his family. Murdoch and his brother eventually lived with their mother again, but Murdoch left home at age 15.[10]

        In 1990, Murdoch attended Quartz Hill High School in Los Angeles County, California, and then in 1992, Antelope Valley College.[8][11] By 1995, he was attending the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where he studied to become a teacher.[12] He played college football during his school days.[8] However, Murdoch has stated that his football career ended when surgery to remove a ruptured appendix severed nerves ending in his leg, leaving him with a permanent limp.[10]

        Murdoch has worked as a bodyguard for Snoop Dogg.[13]

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrus_(wrestler)

        Liked by 1 person

  24. EXCERPT: “Pro-abortion groups have introduced a $150 million spending plan ahead of several competitive 2022 midterm races, Politico reported Monday.

    Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and EMILY’s List — all groups that believe women have the “right” to end the lives of their unborn children — are going to spend funds on “paid ads, field programs, messaging research and polling in nine states, all of which feature top congressional and gubernatorial races this fall.”

    “The spending will be spread across offices up and down the ballot, from state legislative races to Senate races, in Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, California, Kansas and Wisconsin. Of the nine states, six are home to competitive Senate races, and all are electing governors in November,” according to the report.

    Politico noted that the group’s plan “coincides with a particularly perilous moment” for so-called “abortion rights.” Much to the protestations of these radical-leftist groups, Republican-led states have bolstered efforts to protect the unborn in anticipation of Roe v. Wade potentially being overturned. The Supreme Court is expected to rule this summer on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case surrounding Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. The case is the most significant challenge in decades to the Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which declared abortion to be protected by the U.S. Constitution.

    In Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) recently signed legislation that essentially bans all abortions unless it is deemed necessary to save the life of the mother. Kentucky legislators were also able to override Democrat Gov. Andry Beshear’s veto of their pro-life legislation, which, in part, bans abortions after 15 weeks. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), too, signed legislation banning abortions after 15 weeks in the Sunshine State, deeming it “the most significant protections for life that have been enacted in this state in a generation.”

    Planned Parenthood, the single largest abortion provider in the U.S., has been melting down over red state pro-life victories, calling them a “connected, coordinated attack.” As Breitbart News previously reported, the group “is doing everything in its power to demonize these pro-life moves, which are wholly designed to protect innocent unborn children.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/05/02/report-fearful-pro-abortion-groups-dump-150m-into-competitive-midterm-races/

    Liked by 1 person

  27. SMDH…..dissent…..oh, if only I could edit BB articles!!!!! And this schmuck is misstating the result, too! No, numbnuts, NOT in “all 50 states.” Each state makes their own laws!

    Entire article @ BB: “MSNBC contributor Neal Katyal said Monday on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” that if the Politico report that the Supreme Court has made a 5-4 decision to overturn abortion is true, then they can throw out any prior decision that is not codified in law.

    Katyal said, “The process is, this case was argued in December, the justices take a tentative vote right after it and then, the senior-most justice of the majority assigns the opinion to whomever she or he wants. Here, it’s unlikely Roberts was in the majority because you would’ve probably signed the draft opinion to himself. So it’s likely Alito or Thomas was one of those two. Alito has now written this opinion. It is circulated to the other justices. There’s going to be a descent that will be prepared. Sometimes it’s possible that the decent can change the minds of those of the majority. But here, you know, so far, we haven’t seen any indications with that from the other four. So I’m afraid to say, and this is, of course, this literally never happened in our history, but right now, it does look like the Supreme Court is poised to overrule Roe v. Wade and bless flat bans. On abortion and 50 states in the federal government.”

    He added, “And if they can do this, for this, what’s next? And they can do it for the most, probably the opinion that most Americans know by name, more than anything, except maybe Brown v. Board of Education, they can do it for gay marriage, or anything else that the court has guaranteed and that is a very scary prospect.”

    Liked by 1 person

  28. Tee-hee! Go, DeSantis!!!!

    EXCERPT @ BB: “Christina Pushaw, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R-FL) spokeswoman, hammered Disney on Monday, saying the politically woke company “owns an island in the Bahamas” where there’s “no same-sex marriage or civil unions under the law” exists and “people are not allowed to change gender.”

    Liked by 1 person

  29. EXCERPT @ BB: “Comedian Trevor Noah took several potshots at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, claiming the governor was in the room — but he was not there.

    Noah attempted several jokes at DeSantis’s expense:

    ‘One of my favorites, Ron DeSantis is here. Yeah, yeah. Oh man, I’m actually surprised that he found the time. He’s been so busy trying to outmaneuver Trump for 2024. I see you, Ron. I see you, player. Yeah. I’ve seen what you’ve been doing, blaming Trump for the lockdowns, distancing yourself from the vaccines that Trump created with his own two hands “Nobody knew how to make vaccines until I made them, beautiful, beautiful vaccines. Nobody know how, not even Fauci.” But Ron is playing it coy, man. He won’t even tell people if he got the booster. Or as they say in Florida, don’t ask, don’t tell. Am I right? I see you, Ron. You see, what I like about Ron DeSantis is if Trump was the original Terminator, DeSantis is the T-1000. You’re smarter than him. You’re slicker than him. You can walk down ramps. Because, you see, Trump said he won the election, but everyone was just able to look at the numbers and see that he was wrong. That’s why Ron DeSantis is one step ahead. First, you ban the math textbooks, then nobody knows how to count the votes. Boom, my man. Ha ha ha. What a room.’

    Christina Pushaw, a spokesperson for the governor, took to social media over the weekend to insist that Noah was wrong:”

    Liked by 1 person

  30. Entire article @ BB: “Roughly 364,000 migrants eluded apprehension by the Border Patrol this fiscal year, which ends in September, according to a source within Customs and Border Protection. Nearly 60,000 got-aways were recorded in April alone.

    The source says the number, recorded daily on an internal basis, includes evidence from technology systems and aerial drones registering migrants crossing the Rio Grande in Texas and other areas between ports of entry in New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The metric is usually not released by CBP. Agents also use traditional techniques to locate and count footprints.

    Agents previously told Breitbart the numbers of got-aways are likely much higher due to reduced field patrols. The surge in border apprehensions mean agents are routinely relegated to administrative duties in migrant processing facilities.

    According to the source, agents are increasingly spending most hours transporting, processing, and providing humanitarian care at border facilities instead of performing more important border security patrols. As a result, the source says, the absence of routine patrols is driving the got-away number.

    The average migrant got-away count, recorded since the fiscal year began in October 2021, is more than 1,700 per day. The source informed Breitbart Texas the situation may worsen as a result of a projected migrant surge upon the expiration of the CDC’s Title 42 emergency COVID-19 order on May 23. A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order barring the action, pending a hearing on the matter scheduled for May 13.

    Border communities are bracing for the impact of Title 42’s end. The emergency authority allows agents to also avoid the lengthy processing required for intaking formal asylum claims.

    Border Patrol agents apprehended just over 201,000 migrants who illegally crossed in April.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. if i want to erect a garage on my own property, I have to obtain a permit, submit specifications for it and have it approved.
      If i don’t do, if i circumvent the law and build it anyway, i am fined and they may force me to discontinue building my structure until approval or even remove the structure.
      there is no consideration for me that i need that garage…no we’ll allow you to build it even tho you circumvented the law–ignorance of the law is no excuse! they’ll say
      but an illegal can break FEDERAL law and they are ALLOWED to stay here–all sorts of bleeding hearts will tell you they need to stay…
      well I need my garage…on my property too…but I have to obey laws.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Bingo! When I originally bought this place and wanted to put up a fence, I had to show them pics of where it would be and follow the City’s strict guidelines – privacy fences aren’t allowed. When I was going to use the back 2 acres for horses, I had to get the signature of all of my neighbors agreeing that they were ok with it. I can’t have chickens or goats since the front part of my property is in the city, while the 2 acres were not. Stupid, stupid, stupid….but I complied!!!! Meanwhile, the guy across the street has horses but he was grandfathered in – if they ever sell the property out of the family, they lose that.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. no illegal should be allowed to remain here…not a damn one!
          i don’t care that they bring their kids–dreamers–I say bullshit. only place/life they’ve ever known–so the kids should get to stay…NOPE
          well guess what? a man embezzles millions of dollars and his kids go to private schools and live the good life–that man gets caught–he goes to prison and that money gets returned–those kids also lose the life they had–tough luck! you can’t steal your way to a better life (unless you’re a politician)
          illegal is illegal.

          Liked by 1 person

            1. Oh, the stories I could tell……goodness! We had other nicknames – I was Fireball because I liked cinnamon schnapps; another gal – IDR her name at the moment – was Peaches because she liked peach schnapps; odd that I can’t recall Deb’s nickname at the moment. It will come to me eventually. She and I were another Mutt & Jeff combo – she was a tall, strapping, kick-ass, ready-to-fight toughie, while I was the tiny ball of spitfire who fought with words. We all celebrated our BD’s together at one of our regular Saturday-night hang-outs, the bar at a Ramada Inn in Manassas. We were also all there the night Princess Di died – the band stopped and we turned up the TVs – the whole bar was watching it. I also recorded her funeral and have her wedding on VHS tape, too.

              Liked by 1 person

            2. BTW, Deb was also a biker chick. Her hubby, Dave, had a Harley; she also drove an old late ’70’s Chevy truck, primer paint, with a REALLY kick-ass engine – she maintained it herself, of course! Man, that rumble was beautiful!!!!

              Liked by 1 person

  33. Shannon Bream knows a LOT about SCOTUS. She thinks Roberts won’t rush the decision now that this has been leaked but she does believe they will expedite it. Mike Lee wants it finalized by the end of this week – sure, right! Like THAT’S going to happen!!!!

    Liked by 1 person

  34. Entire article @ BB: “President Donald Trump announced Monday his plan for a political rally in Casper, Wyoming. The president is expected to rally with Harriet Hageman, a Republican primary challenger to Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY). The rally is scheduled for Saturday, May 28, 2022, at 4:00 PM MDT on Memorial Day weekend. Hageman was chosen by Trump in September 2021 to challenge Cheney despite a crowded field of interested candidates.

    “Unlike RINO Liz Cheney, Harriet is all in for America First. Harriet has my Complete and Total Endorsement in replacing the Democrats’ number one provider of sound bites, Liz Cheney,” Trump wrote at the time. “Make America Great Again!”

    Many of the top challengers to Cheney dropped out to support Hageman, but not State Sen. Anthony Bouchard, whose fundraising has slowed since Trump chose not to endorse him. Cheney has raised more than $10 million for her race, with $6.8 million cash on hand. The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney has become the darling of the media and Democrat elite since she vocally protested the majority of the Republican party supporting Trump. She has also won support from anti-Trump Republicans.

    Sen. Mitt Romney and former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan have hosted fundraisers with Cheney. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has also donated to her campaign.”

    Like

  35. WTF is Schumer yammering about??? “…that a conservative majority of the US Supreme Court is ready to overturn Roe V Wade and uproot decades of precedent affirming a woman’s right to an abortion. If this report is accurate, the Supreme Court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past 50 years, not just on woman, but on all Americans. Under this decision, our children will have less rights than their parents…..”

    No, they get the right to life!!!!

    Liked by 1 person

      1. That stuff that comes in cans – you spray it along a seam and it swells up, sealing it. I have it all over the underside of my patio roof – there are gaps where the wasps were getting in so I used that to seal them up.

        Liked by 1 person

  41. John Roberts statement: “To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed. The work of the Court will not be affected in any way. We at the Court are blessed to have a work force, permanent employees and law clerks alike, intensely loyal to the institution and dedicated to the rule of law. Court employees have an exemplary and important tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process, and upholding the trust of the Court. This is a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here. I have directed the Marshal of the Court to launch an investigation into the source of the leak.”

    Liked by 1 person

              1. The clerk e-mailed it to the wrong person “on accident!” BTW, that drives me fucking CRAZY when they say that! It is NOT “on” accident! It is “by” accident!!!!

                Liked by 1 person

  42. Bummer but not really surprising….

    Liked by 1 person

  43. SMDH….seriously, this woman is truly fucked in the head!!!!!

    EXCERPT from Daily Caller article: “Katy Perry posted her own epic fashion fail on Instagram, revealing a video of herself falling on the “American Idol” stage while dressed in a very elaborate mermaid outfit Monday.

    Perry was the only one of the judges who dressed up for the competition’s annual Disney night, and she went all out with her costume by dressing up as Ariel from “The Little Mermaid,” as seen in the Instagram video. She wore a bright red wig, and her costume was complete with a mermaid tail that she propped onto the table while she sat down.

    Everything seemed fine until Perry leaned back in her chair, lost her balance and tumbled to the floor, with her mermaid tail still visibly upright, and the rest of her body sprawled on the floor. Unable to do much more than squirm in her costume, Perry required the assistance of her fellow judges to get back into her seat. Perry was holding a prop of Ariel’s fork in her hand, and she hit the ground so hard it was bent out of shape.”

    Liked by 1 person

  44. Oh, FFS!!! Enough with Frost already! He is a colossal failure, pure and simple!!!!

    EXCERPT @ DC: “The NCAA has punished Nebraska’s football team after a coaching violation.

    The NCAA announced Monday that the Cornhuskers have been hit with a $10,000 fine and Scott Frost has been slapped with a five day suspension and a one-year show order after former special teams analyst Jonathan Rutledge participated in practices and games, according to ESPN. It’s a level II violation and Frost’s suspension will be served during the “championship segment” of the upcoming season, according to the same report. The team will also have some other very minor and inconsequential punishments.

    What’s most fascinating about this situation is that I’d imagine Nebraska could argue to fire Scott Frost for cause. Why is that important? Well, we all know Frost has been a complete and total disappointment in Lincoln, and the program could likely now dump him without having to continue to pay him. Do I think it will happen? No, but it’s possible.”

    Liked by 1 person

  45. Liked by 1 person

      1. And Islam and Buddhism and….on and on and on, probably. Still, there were other flags flying – don’t know which ones – it wasn’t right to just prevent that flag from being flown.

        Liked by 1 person

  46. calling out the (cough, cough) great and powerful oz…
    FTA
    Yesterday’s bombshell leak about the Supreme Court likely overturning Roe v. Wade brought forward several on social media who wondered how Dr. Oz would react. In the recent past, he has expressed grave concern over the prospects of Roe v. Wade being overturned, saying “I’m really worried about it” before explaining how he saw women with “coat hanger events” in medical school that happened before Roe v. Wade.

    That’s challenging because the Roe v. Wade decision came down when Dr. Oz was 13-years-old.

    Would he stand by his recent statements about needing to preserve the right to murder pre-born babies? Would he address the issue and claim that his feelings have “evolved”? Or, would he just ignore his past statements and move forward as a suddenly gung-ho opponent of abortion?

    He went with door number three:

    “The Court is right. Roe was wrongly decided. Abortion laws should be left up to the American people and their elected representatives. I look forward to supporting pro-life legislation that saves innocent lives in the U.S. Senate.”

    https://thelibertydaily.com/dr-oz-wants-you-to-forget-his-concern-about-roe-v-wade-being-overturned/

    Liked by 1 person

  47. EXCERPT: “But beyond the contents of the leak, let’s focus on the act of leaking.

    Every individual in positions of power, from presidents to senators to Supreme Court justices, must have a secure work environment where he can freely express ideas and opinions.

    The process of decision-making and adjudicating works only when justices comprehend and evaluate the merits and demerits of each and every possible outcome. At times, certain individuals feel the need to put their thoughts to paper and circulate them among colleagues. An individual may have myriad ideas, but unless the ideas are acted upon, they remain thoughts.

    In this case, the document is still a draft. It is important to remember that deliberations on such cases frequently evolve. Justices change their votes as drafts circulate and develop. Most decisions can be subject to multiple drafts. The Court’s holding will not be final until it is published.

    When such documents are leaked, the work atmosphere turns volatile. It leads to paranoia. Quite soon, people just stick to groupthink to avoid trouble. This is another goal behind the leak, which is to leverage public pressure on the justices in order that they fall in line.

    The public must also understand that this is merely the beginning. When the Democrats lose in November, they could use their “activist” wing to wreak havoc. Nothing is outside the realm of possibility — they could merely refuse to accept the election and compel protesters to occupy Washington until there is a “probe” into the results. If they accept the results, they could cause a spectacle each time the GOP attempts to pass laws that they deem inappropriate.

    One could argue that irrespective of the actual ruling, the Supreme Court has already been compromised. If the justices genuinely change their opinions, it will appear that they capitulated before the mob. If they stick with their opinions, the liberals can claim they succumbed to the demands of the right and call it a right-wing takeover.

    Any court and the justices within must be judged only on their rulings. Their journey on how they arrived at their judgment and how they evolved is really beyond the scope of public interest. Justices often document each and every relevant detail relating to their judgment, which is available for public consumption. What is excluded from the document should not be anybody’s concern.

    The Supreme Court plays a crucial role in the U.S. representative democracy. Once the workings and the integrity of the Supreme Court are compromised, so are the democratic values of the nation.”

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/05/decoding_the_leak_from_the_us_supreme_court.html

    Liked by 1 person

  48. Well, hell’s bells…..if it doesn’t warm up and we don’t get a little sun, the grass isn’t going to dry up enough to mow today. Not to mention it’s still only 51 outside….brrrr……meh – I have to go out tomorrow to get bananas anyway and I have to get gas first so…..I’ll do it tomorrow. LOL – ANY excuse!!!!

    Liked by 1 person

  49. Entire article: “April 28 (UPI) — Researchers who come a 40-mile stretch of Texas beach twice a week have been using social media to document some eerie discoveries — dozens of creepy dolls. Jace Tunnell, director of the Mission-Aransas Reserve at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, said his team surveys about 40 miles of Golf Coast beach at the reserve twice a week, and they have frequently been finding dolls of various types that were given a creepy aesthetic by their time in the water.

    “We’re actually doing scientific work, but the dolls are a perk,” Tunnell told McClatchy News. Tunnell said the follower count on the Mission-Aransas Reserve Facebook page has skyrocketed since he started sharing photos of the disturbing dolls. He said about 30 dolls have been found since he started posting the photos.

    “The creepiest are the ones that have lost all their hair,” he said. “The first one we had found was a sex doll, the head of it. I posted a picture of it and I didn’t realize that’s what it was. We got a lot of followers on the page after that.”

    Tunnell said that first doll head, found in January 2021, was purchased by a member of the public for $35, and the money was donated a sea turtle rescue program. He said the dolls are now being kept in a bucket to be sold at the reserve’s annual fundraising auction. “There’s a lot of nightmares out there,” Tunnell said.

    A two-year study conducted by the UT Marine Science Institute found beaches along the Texas Coastal Bend receive 10 times the amount of washed-up trash as Gulf of Mexico beaches in Florida and Mississippi.

    Tunnell said the culprit is a “loop current” stretching from the Yucatan Peninsula to Florida. He said the current creates eddies that washes debris toward the Texas coast.”

    Liked by 1 person

  50. Lunch anyone????

    Entire article: “April 27 (UPI) — A Pennsylvania highway was closed for several hours Wednesday morning when an overturned tractor-trailer spilled its load of 40,000 pounds of chicken nuggets onto the roadway. Police said the truck driver lost control of the vehicle about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday and the vehicle overturned in the southbound lanes of Route 309, near West Rockhill Township in Bucks County.

    The truck, which had been carrying 40,000 pounds of chicken nuggets, spilled its contents into the roadway and shoulder area of the highway. The driver was not injured.

    Police said the highway was closed for several hours Wednesday morning while the chicken nuggets were cleared from the scene. The Sellersville Volunteer Fire Department shared photos from the crash scene on Facebook. “The cause of the incident is under investigation,” the fire department said.”

    Liked by 1 person

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