War, Politics, and Life by Bruce Maulden
Last paragraph yesterday from a story by Spencer Ackerman at the Guardian about how NSA people do as they please with government technology: Compounding the potential financial conflicts at the NSA, Buzzfeed News reported that the home of chief of its Signals Intelligence Directorate, Teresa Shea, has a signals-intelligence consulting firm operating out of it.…
(Illustration: NASA satellite image of California’s drought, late January-early February 2014, found here). Drizzling sprinkles this early Friday on California’s north coast as the season slowly shifts, a little quiet, too, as yesterday afternoon turned exceptionally gorgeous — bright sunshine and a pleasant breeze, which seemed to feel more warm than it really should, or…
One of the sadly-prolific and ironically-evolving tragedies of these modern times has to be Iraq. The invasion 11 years ago could-be most-easily “the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history,” but for sure, that one single event also marked day one of a fucked-up, immoral, man-made calamity. Flashback dream at right: A frightened child flees Basra,…
Overcast and chilly this early Thursday on California’s north coast — this week is blowing off the doors. And for the whole year, too. Today is special — Dictionary Day, or the birthday of Noah Webster, the guy who made the dictionary the dictionary. The first real, full-blown one was published in 1864. (Illustration found…
Good news on the 10-month-old legal marijuana sales in Colorado front: No mass deaths, and sales are high as a kite. Some interesting figures from research-land Colorado — sales revenue off recreational marijuana continues to toke upward, totals for August about $34.1 million, up nearly $5 million from July. And supposedly for everybody (via the Washington…
Clear with just a wisp of clouds here this early Wednesday on California’s north coast — big thunderous-looking clouds floating just in sight eastward, though, back over the mountains, but the view west, Pacific-Ocean way, looking nice. The NWS has forecast “showers” the next couple of days, ‘scattered‘ right now, ‘isolated‘ tonight, ‘slight chance‘ tomorrow,…
Rain this afternoon finally, and apparently here on California’s north coast we’re expecting maybe a coming week’s worth of soaking. And beyond the beach, oil is making headlines, again — this time for a hefty, jig-saw price dump today: The heavily traded Brent/WTI spread was volatile over the day, first narrowing to under $2 a barrel,…
Overcast with thick skies this early Tuesday on California’s north coast — we’re expecting rain all this week, starting this morning, supposedly, with maybe up to half-an-inch of precipitation. And along with the rain, some fairly-strong winds, too, with all indications a goodly-sized weather system coming upon us. So be it. Bad sense of disaster,…
Clear and chilly this early-morn Monday on California’s north coast — there’s a misty-bit of ground fog, which seems to sparkle and glow when sunshine reaches through it, creating for just seconds, the illusion of a way-colorful buzz to the air. Burns off pretty quick, though, if there’s no real off-shore wind. Despite the fireball,…
A fog-soaked early Friday here on California’s north coast, feels like it’s fog-soaked all over the world. The NWS calls it ‘patchy fog,’ but there’s not a empty/patchy spot anywhere, and we’re also forecast for a chance of ‘drizzle’ sometime today, which is just another word for ‘fog-soaked.’ Language the clue — due to hard-shell…
