Yesterday I featured Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the Administration's skillful use of sleight of hand to take credit for transportation improvements and gains for which they didn't have any skin in the game. They're good at it. Same goes for this...
The Great American Road Trip was unveiled earlier this year as part and parcel of the further celebration of America's Semiquincentennial by inspiring the people to hit the road and travel America to join in the celebration. Previous administrations and Secretaries have produced similar puff pieces and on paper I would not disagree with this conceptually. Who doesn't like a good road trip and fun celebration?
Filmed beforehand and announced after Mr. Trump made his unilateral decision to go to war the timing was somewhat fraught. Considering the impulsive nature of the president, the lack of planning and poor timing shouldn't come as any surprise. With gasoline and diesel north of $4 and $5 a gallon the notion of a road trip was stunningly inopportune and tone deaf. Working-class middle America was priced out of the road trip market.
So the administration held it back. Planned for release three months ago it was put on ice ostensibly for additional editing to comply with government ethics rules. Which is the second problematic issue; Road Trip was underwritten through the generous support of sponsors. Namely the corporate entities that Duffy's Department is supposed to regulate - including $1 Million Platinum Level sponsors including names like Boeing, Toyota, Royal Caribbean,United Airlines and Shell.
Naturally, considering the Trump administration has its hand out for any opportunity to take money from any any well-heeled contributor that might have business before the federal government; with the exception of Presidential Pardons I'm unwilling to characterize this a bribery. All previous administrations have done this at some level; however, considering the level of Trump's personal level of fiscal self-aggrandizement and the brazenness of the Trump organization's efforts this is nothing less than art form. But I digress.
I'll likely catch some flack because I'm a cultural philistine and not a fan of 1990's-style saccharine reality television programming. Even so, if your viewing tastes match the target audience you might want to give it a look. Its family friendly and the advertising is muted; and because it never rose to the interest of network or cable television you can find it over on YouTube. And it can use the viewership.
I have observed the advancement of a homegrown Wisconsin boy, Sean Duffy, from afar. With some admiration too. What's not to like about a lumberjack from Hayward, WI?
Indeed, Duffy was a professional lumberjack having competed in Hayward's Lumberjack World Championship on several occasions and winning multiple titles in speed climbing. He graduated from St. Mary's College of Minnesota with a marketing degree and from William Mitchell College of Law in 1999. In 2002 governor Scott McCallum appointed Duffy as Ashland County District Attorney where he served until 2010.
In 2010 he defeated state senator Julie Lassa for Wisconsin's 7th Congressional district; formerly held by retiring representative David Obey. Duffy was re-elected four more times before resigning from Congress in 2019 on account of a newborn child's health complications. After leaving Congress Duffy worked for a consulting group and began co-hosting Fox Business's The Bottom Line in 2023.
In November 2024, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Duffy to serve as his Secretary of Transportation. Duffy was confirmed by the Senate on January 28, 2025 and immediately sworn-in.
As cabinet Secretary Duffy isn't generally associated with much of the drama and intrigue that ordinarily follows other cabinet officials. Much of this is a consequence of a department not generally bedeviled by the culture wars, there is institutional inherited momentum in the pipeline (pardon the pun), ribbon cuttings are positive events and any project delays can be chalked-up to government bureaucracy. Because bricks and mortar are basically boring background noise Transportation is likely the quietly safest cabinet post on the planet. Which leads me to this: Scuttlebutt that Secretary Duffy is taking credit for infrastructure grants signed into law by former president Biden.
Say it isn't so.
With a modicum of digging it is quite so.
Seems Duffy is touting BUILD grants (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) as rebranded RAISE grants(Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) created and funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed by President Biden in 2021.
Critics note that the Trump administration has been resurrecting previously-passed legislation with new names while not always acknowledging their origin under the former guy.
Official messaging from Duffy and the Department frequently describe moving or approving grants emphasizing that the Trump administrationis clearing a backlog or getting America building again of previously announced projects. Such messaging frames the work as a fresh accomplishment by the current administration - omitting any reference to funding under Biden.
Representative O'Brien meets with Transportation Secretary Duffy to discuss the I-69 Ohio River Crossing. The ORX bridge involves a mix of federal, state (Kentucky and Indiana) and toll authority funding for the estimated $933 million project. The states are pursuing $632.3 million in major federal grants, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) signed in 2021 was huge; authorizing roughly $1.2 trillion in infrastructure funding much of which continues to be allocated and spent as you read this.
In the year since Trump took office not a single stand-alone infrastructure law has been passed. Major federal infrastructure authorizations all stem from laws passed before Joe Biden left office.
Noteworthy, is the administration has focused on regulation and permitting; pushing changes intended to speed-up infrastructure approvals by means of revising matters such as environmental permitting. Recent rollbacks of long-standing environmental review requirements aim to reduce delays on large projects which supporters suggest accelerates infrastructure work without creating entirely new federal infrastructure spending authorizations.
Nevertheless, the current administration has not passed into law any large scale infrastructure spending of its own. Major funding still originates from earlier bipartisan legislation enacted under former President Biden or other existing statutory authority.
It's not exactly like plagiarizing a term paper as much as it is more like stealing someone else's thunder. Or maybe their lunch from the office break room fridge. And much like never accepting responsibility for anything that goes awry; the administration is quick to message another's work as their own and take credit and recognition for someone else's efforts. All in the name of benefiting from unearned achievements passed-off as their own.
Nothing new under the sun; we've all been to this rodeo before.....
As we come upon the end of August it is worthy of note that Saturn begins rising in the east-southeast signalling the official kickoff of a season of Saturn viewing.
Heretofore, as summer commenced, Saturn was a predawn event. Now it is rising at a time to make late-evening viewing convenient. Saturn is now found in the southeast sky by 10 PM and is visible to the naked eye. If you have a telescope you will have an opportunity to view the planet's rings.
As a consequence of Saturn rising approximately four minutes earlier each night these later-evening viewing hours will only get better and earlier in September leading up to its peak opposition in October.
Trio II was recorded in 1994 but not released until 1999, when Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt appeared on Late Show to perform Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush."
The Glass Harmonica (or Armonica) was played by Dennis James, who remembers the performance in an interview with Rich Bailey in 2002.
Rich Bailey:
I remember when you appeared with her on Letterman and you discussed the Armonica a bit. How was that?
Dennis James:
Well, it was a great surprise. A sort of unspoken message in the air to me before the broadcast was "Do not say anything on the air!”. After all, these things are Linda's appearances. When David L. leaned over his desk and directed a question to me I simply froze - on playback of the dub I can see myself caught and unable to speak. I received a glance from Linda that said to me it was OK and so when he tried again I called back a flip one liner and on things went from there.
This song has an ethereal quality to it - the voices of angels.
The Full Moon appearing this month is named after North America's
largest fish - the sturgeon. Other names
for this Full Moon include Green Corn Moon, Grain Moon, Barley Moon and Fruit
Moon. The Sturgeon Moon has its origins in the great number of sturgeon that were once
found in the lakes and rivers in North America.It’s likely that with the arrival of European settlement the name was
borrowed from native-American usage.
I live close to Sturgeon Bay
- named for the large number of sturgeon found here when settlers
arrived. Nowadays, over-fishing has just about eliminated this species
from the Great Lakes. Sigh. The largest population of sturgeon in the
world can be found in the Lake Winnebago waterway system not too far
away.
August's
full moon is special - as it features a partial lunar eclipse. This occurs when the earth passes between the sun and the moon. If you live in the norther hemisphere the earth's shadow is going to creep-across most (but not all) of the lunar surface beginning tomorrow night and into early Friday morning.
During this event, the moon moves through the earth's umbra, the dark center of its shadow. As the Sturgeon moon rises, later in the evening - 11:12 PM CST - the moon will dim and as the partial eclipse reaches its peak it will appear reddish-orange. It will not technically be a full blood moon as there isn't totality; nevertheless, it should be worth staying-up to check it out. It will last about 5 and a half hours. Because you are not looking at the sun no special safety precautions are needed.
This will be the best lunar eclipse anywhere on earth until New Year's Eve 2028!
Fingers-crossed for good viewing conditions for the next couple of evenings.
Just about the time you thought we had this wrapped-up, last Friday trade talks with Canada collapsed.
This
is fascinating to me inasmuch as just like the decision to go to war
with Iran; this administration leaves each and every last decision on
all matters of trade and war, including right down to each and every
last country, including terms, to the whims of one sole individual.
Mr. Trump.
And
just like Groundhog Day, every day can be a repeat of the prior or
maybe something different; all dependent-upon Trump's mercurial
personality, his feelings of self-aggrandizement in the moment and
generalized impulsiveness. Some days are predictable, most are
tolerable; while the worst ones are like dealing with a whining toddler
tossing toys out of his crib.
Mr.
Trump's obsessive trade war with Canada is based-upon an imbalance of trade with
the United States that is driven entirely by globally-needed oil. They don't
like to talk about; but I'll make it simple enough for a layperson to understand.
An
interesting factoid is that the US merchandise trade deficit with
Canada is essentially an energy story. In 2024 the US ran a $64 billion
goods deficit with Canada, but that deficit disappeared and became a
$34 billion US surplus when energy was excluded. The US also ran a
roughly $24 billion surplus specifically in manufactured goods.
Canadian energy exports, namely crude oil, account for the bilateral
deficit.
In
other words, Canada isn't beating American manufacturers in some
broad-based flood of manufactured goods. Canada supplies the United
States with enormous quantities of energy that the US economy needs,
while the United States sells Canada more manufactured goods than it
buys from Canada.
That
doesn't mean every Trump tariff policy toward Canada is necessarily
motivated by the headline trade deficit; Washington has cited border
security, fentanyl, autos, steel and other issues.
In 2025, the United States ran a $46 billion goods deficit
with Canada, but it also ran an approximately $85 billion net deficit in
energy trade. The implication is that the United States' overall goods
deficit with Canada was not the result of a generalized Canadian
advantage in manufactured goods; again it was overwhelmingly an energy
phenomenon, offset by U.S. surpluses in other categories.
Nevertheless,
if the argument is that America is being economically victimized by a
one-sided Canadian trading relationship, the numbers don't stack-up.
This
time, and perhaps because the world needs North American oil; and
possibly as a consequence of Mr. Trump's ill-advised unilateral war, it
looks like Canada has its sights on our looming midterm elections and is
digging-in for a protracted standoff with Trump. I suspect with hopes
for a change of venue in their on-again, off-again trade talks with the
administration. Other countries around the world are watching too;
following how tit-for-tat retaliation works with Trump's personal
negotiation style. My sense is that Canada is willing to wait this out
as post-election the ground may shift enough giving Democrats the upper
hand in the House and providing some breathing room and space for
normally trade-minded Republicans to find their balls. Perhaps the Senate is in play too? Who knows? Time will tell.
Canada's
retaliatory tariffs won't go into effect until after Labor Day and are
likely to focus on things like appliances, agricultural equipment,
minerals, steel, dairy, pulp and paper. If Mark Carney were to take a
page out of Ontario Premier Doug Ford's playbook, Canada will focus on
taking a shot at Trump's base in both key swing states with significant
trade ties to Canada (Michigan and other Midwest and Great Lakes states come to
mind) along with critical red states such as Texas and Florida. I can
sense Canada's growing outrage and frustration. After-all, Mr. Trump
commenced his second term with demands that Canada become the 51st
state.
Brilliant.
If
Canada's first impression was that Trump is simply a garden variety
asshole; I suppose given everything that has transpired since, he's
gonna always be an asshole.
Remember the guy who claimed that the tiny island nation of Madagascar was picking on us? Yup, Howard Lutnick. Whispered Palace Intrigue would suggest that the recent deal fell apart
when Mr. Lutnick got bent out of shape over his impression that US
Trade Representative Jamison Greer's dealmaking strayed onto Lutnick's
turf; namely automobiles, steel and aluminum. Imagine that; infighting
among administration supplicants and sycophants. In the mean time, the
relationship with our single largest trade partner on the planet suffers
and US consumers pay the price.
I
cannot predict where this ends as I no longer have my crystal ball.
That said, and because we're only a couple of months from the mid-terms,
I'll go out on a limb and predict Canada imposes more pain on American
consumers who are already restless and grumpy about Mr. Trump's sloppy
war and haphazard trade policy. Between now and the election there will
be an abundance of overblown reality television
drama-style nonsense before we learn how this ends.
Meanwhile,
as far as negotiation tactics go, Trump’s tariff threat hurts US
automakers and consumers more than anyone else. If anybody is under the
impression that all Canadian auto and parts production will be
re-shored in the US in the next four months; they are certifiably delusional. That is a MAGA fever dream.
In
closing there is this. Further evidence that import taxes (tariffs)
are ultimately paid by consumers; Mr. Trump is ostensibly and temporarily lifting them
on imported beef. And if you think temporary antics like this are a
substitute for intellectually-solid trade dynamics or that the price of a
Whopper is going to go down I have a bridge to sell you.
Such
is the result of leaving decision-making on trade entirely in the hands
of an impulsive and incurious individual. Just like like a war in the
Middle East that has gone south; you're gonna get sketchy results....
Located at the southwest corner of Third Avenue and Kentucky is one of Sturgeon Bay's more prominent lat 19th-century commercial buildings; the Hay Hardware Building. I paid a call last week for an annual eye exam at Door County Eye Associates and always enjoy the tasteful blend of old architecture and a new professional suite replete with modern technology.
Hardware merchants Charles Tifft and John Hay expanded their business in Ahnapee (Algoma) to Sturgeon Bay in the 1880s. Hay moved to Sturgeon Bay to manage the store. The business grew in popularity with Door County farmers supplying everything from heavy agricultural supplies, nails, paint and fencing. As the business grew, Tifft and Hay built the brick building at what was then the primary business corner of downtown at the intersection of Cedar and St. John Streets. It opened in September of 1889.
During the economic depression of 1894 the two men parted company and John Hay assumed full ownership of the Sturgeon Bay business as Hay Hardware. Around the turn of the century a matching brick addition as built at the rear to house a tin shop for the hardware business. Prior to the opening of the Michigan Street Bridge in 1931 this building was downtown Sturgeon Bay's business anchor. It operated continuously as a hardware store for ninety years before closing in 1979.
Constructed of local stone and cream-colored brick the structure is a classic commercial design featuring an ornate corbelled brick cornice. decorative brick pilasters, six bay facade with limestone sills and lintels. The building retains its original storefront and layout and showcases the original interior structural old-growth white pine timbers tied-together with iron rods and bolts.
When was the last time you saw square nuts that large?
Nowadays, the building persists as a contributor to the Third Avenue Historic District and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
And following my cataract surgery It has become brighter, clearer and more colorful to behold.
The other day I was sitting in my armchair thinking about lessons being learned by the grinding and ever-evolving war between Ukraine and Russia and the more recent war between the U.S. and Iran. Armchair general stuff was swirling-about in my civilian brain. Mostly about the asymmetric nature of the conflicts as it pertains to large, global powers going-up against smaller powers and the cost-asymmetry observed in the use of costly exquisite weapons to defeat numerous unsophisticated and cheap weapons.
Just as armor, gunpowder, artillery, naval power, the machine gun, poison gas, communications, mechanization, aircraft and mutually assured destruction changed the face of warfare; we are witness to another.
Only last month an advanced AH-64 Apache attack chopper was downed by a loitering Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). A $30 million aircraft defeated by an unmanned drone that costs $20,000. The pilots survived and were pulled from the waters the the Strait of Hormuz by an unmanned drone watercraft. Lots of technology packaged in this single incident and a huge disparity in the price of weapon systems.
China currently produces UAVs and similar loitering drones at a scale that is stunning. And if we found ourselves in a shooting war over Taiwan all we got is an ever-dwindling supply of Patriot missiles to shoot them down. At $4 million a copy.
Shooting million-dollar missiles at twenty-thousand-dollar drones is unsustainable.
Say hello to the new face of modern warfare.
Ukraine has embraced drone warfare in earnest; including the deployment of autonomous UAVs capable of delivering a warhead over vast distances; all the while stalling and reversing Russian advances into their territory at a terrifying cost in Russian and North Korean lives.
Assembling a single modern Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor takes about a couple of years. A solid rocket motor requires up to thirty months. Setting-up a new assembly facility for Patriot missiles can presently take three to four years.
Ukraine assembles and delivers small FPV (First Person View) reconnaissance and kamikaze drones in a matter of hours to a couple of days. Supply chain and procurement move an order from workshop to combat deployment in 24 to 48 hours. Larger strategic strike UAVs and maritime drone boats requires only weeks.
Finally, there is the application of artificial intelligence to facilitate modern warfare. AI software processes real-time intelligence feeds to coordinate operations and advise targeting in single minutes and seconds.
Unmanned drones use onboard computer vision to lock-onto and strike targets independently; thereby defeating electronic jamming. AI-enabled hardware permits inexpensive weapons systems to defeat high-value targets like tanks, missiles and ships.
Machine learning can sort thru overwhelming amounts of geospatial and signal intelligence that previously would require thousands of human analysts.
Sadly, modern conflicts have become a test bed for rapid evolution in warfare and tactics as we've known it.
And the U.S. is hesitant to allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot missiles locally, partially to protect U.S. military intellectual property, but more so because it doesn't want Ukraine to do it better.
Shortsighted? Or brilliant strategy? Judging from how the war with Iran is playing-out only time will tell. Watch the Peter Zeihan video short to the end. Better yet read the comments....
If the weather holds the fellas and I plan to deploy a replacement deer stand today to replace the oldest of the factory-built steel tower stands dating-back to the early years. If all goes according to plan I'll post photos and the backstory when I have time.
Meanwhile, there have been some other fellas showing-up on the trail cameras from time to time; those with the velvet antlers.....
Nick Offerman shows how easy it is to provide kids with healthy, farm-fresh snacks like pizza, taquitos, and fish sticks harvested straight off the vine.
Remember kids - if it comes from a plant it is healthy....
Treasury Secretary Scott
Bessent moved to calm the bond markets yesterday after a recent selloff
made mortgages and other consumer loans more expensive.
Bessent's move to
increase repurchases of long-term government notes and bonds
(increasing demand for them) is largely symbolic but could still help
bring those costs down.
Wall
Street is skeptical the relief will stick, given that the Treasury
Department's purchases are quite tiny compared with the roughly $30
trillion market for government debt.
The reason any of this matters is that the bond
market impacts how much it costs everyone — the government, consumers,
and companies — to borrow money. The bond market is getting squeezed
from multiple directions. It sure looks like we’re in for a spell of rising interest rates.
Meanwhile,
Mr. Trump’s unilateral war in the Middle East and de facto closure of
the Strait of Hormuz is feeding inflation all the while destabilizing
global security and the world’s economy. So much winning.
Yet we have gilded statuary, a ballroom, an airborne Qatari palace, reflecting pool and a triumphal arch.
Used to promote the sale of their Fire Chief gasoline brand Texaco introduced this nifty firefighter helmet in the 1960s. It was available exclusively through Texaco filling stations for $3.98 with a fill-up. It became an iconic promotional item that any boy would want to have. My little brother had one.
Naturally, it boasted the technology of the era with a transistor loudspeaker and a handset microphone powered by a 9v battery. Same as your transistor radio.
Next time I see my brother I'll endeavor to remember to ask if he still has his helmet. Even if it's no longer working it might be worth $20+ on eBay. An excellent condition, working model might fetch $75-$100 from a collector. While a pristine model in the original box might command a price north of $400.
Around here most whitetail deer fawns can be born from April through July, with late May thru early June the peak. Consequently, the local class of fawns have grown considerably as you can see in the first photo taken August 9.
They're getting bigger by the week.
A month ago the fawn in the second photo showed-up; a spindly newborn.
This happens when a doe that wasn't bred during the main rut in November comes back into estrus in December. Furthermore, it is not unusual that a fawn born in the spring of 2025 reaches sufficient weight to enter their first estrus later in the season. The bottom line is that a whitetail doe can be bred late as long as her biological timing is receptive to a buck. They're promiscuous animals.
In any event, mama and this little runt have been showing-up regularly on the trail cameras.
In the last run of the trail camera trapline I can tell you that with newborn fawns and turkey poults on the landscape; this year's graduating class is a big one for sure.
Further evidence that if you build wildlife habitat they will come...
Last week Doggo and I ran the trail camera trapline to so what's up in our summer woods. Wouldn't you know it, they've finally and at long last made an appearance.
We've had solitary hens...
We've had solemn long bearded gobbler bachelors processions....
We've had roving gangs of juvenile delinquent jakes...
And now there was this. Whew!
Brood flocks of hens corralling their clutches of poults. As a die-hard turkey hunter it is always encouraging to be witness to a successful graduating class....
Kermesse, or kermis, or kirmess,
is a Dutch
language term derived from 'kerk' (church) and 'mis' (mass) that became
incorporated in French and English. Its origins are originally
associated with the mass said on the
anniversary of the founding of a church (or the parish) and in honor of
the Patron Saint. Such religious celebrations were regularly held in
the Low Countries, in Central
Europe and also in Northern France, and were accompanied by feasting,
dancing, drinking
and sports. The
Dutch-American Village of Little Chute, Wisconsin, has celebrated Kermis
annually since 1981 with a street festival. The Wallonian settlements in
Door and Kewaunee Counties have celebrated Kermis with traditional
Belgian dishes and events for as long as anyone can remember.
Traditionally, Kermis around here stretched over several
calendar weeks as each small settlement - Namur, Brussels, Rosiere,
Little Sturgeon, Forestville, Lincoln, Duvall and Casco celebrated the harvest and the life-giving bounty of food.
The 2026 Belgian Kermiss Festival took place Sunday at the Belgian Heritage Center in Namur. This historic harvest festival dates all the way back to 1858. This event serves as the center's largest annual fundraiser; plus it's a terrific way to get your Booyah fix.
The historic church, school and convent serve as the repository preserving the history and culture of the largest Walloon Belgian settlement in the United States.
Anyway, there were demonstrations featuring old school mechanized farm machinery powered by early gasoline engines. Cool stuff.
But this caught my attention.
Driven by the power takeoff on a modern Deere tractor this is technically a diesel-powered ice cream maker.
Apologies to the late great Tom Clancy. One of my beloved and favorite authors who penned the classic alternate history novel; Red Storm Rising. Get a copy as it has it all; radical Islamists, communists, submarines, nukes, Russians swarming thru the Fulda Gap into eastern Europe and a cold war turned hot. The first time I picked it up I couldn't put it down.
Shortly after COVID and early into my retirement I was invited to join a private Face Book group that discussed, argued-about and otherwise carried-on adult-like exchanges covering current affairs.
Regrettably, it seems to have become dominated by one or two particular individuals who have become the masters of cut-and-paste posts. By that I mean cut and paste social media meme's and other similar material. On rare occasions some of it might be substantive; but most of it is click bait. They seem intelligently clever-enough and capable of producing original content so I don't get the emphasis on cut and paste. But that's none of my business; C'est la vie.
Early-on in my experience on that particular site much of what one individual had to say had to do with Marxists. Everyone had to be on guard and extra vigilant about Marxists. Apparently they lurked everywhere and were out to somehow make mischief, meddle in our governance and otherwise topple American society as we knew it.
I was extra vigilant to be mindful of their potential to live-up to their reputation as No-goodniks. The dogs and I looked for them daily while on our walks. I looked for them in town, at the library and at the grocery. I searched everywhere for these Marxists; even in the woodpile. And in the end never found one. At a minimum you'd think the dogs woulda flushed at least one stinkn' Bolshevik. I came up with nothing. Sigh.
Now it seems I have to be on high alert for Islamists. Apparently, everyone has to be on guard and vigilant over the creeping spread of radical Islam and the looming imposition of Sharia Law. Considering the level of hysteria you'd think if I drove to Green Bay to go to Fleet Farm I would pass a forest of minarets on the trip.
Between you and me the Belgian community I live in is Christian; mostly in the Roman Catholic tradition of the Christian faith. There is one Lutheran church just down the road in neighboring Kolberg; where German immigrants settled.
Yet not a single solitary mosque.
See; the Supremacy Clause guarantees there will never be the imposition of Sharia Law. Or Catholic Canon Law or Judaic Halakha Law for that matter. Perhaps they haven't read the Constitution? But I digress.
Naturally, for my social-media soaked acquaintances there has been the recent rise of Democratic Socialists; who they dismissively refer-to as Communists. Democrats are thusly Commies.
I happen to know a great deal about this subject because I am a child of the Cold War. I don't scare very easily and and certainly Socialists and Communists don't scare me a bit. That's because my formative years included a steady diet of the Red Baiting and Red Scare tactics. So, on top of the clutching of pearls over radical Islam I gotta feeling that between now and the midterms we're gonna hear more and more about communism than normal; most of which will be child's play compared to old school, cold war-style, red-baiting.
For what it's worth, Bernie Sanders and candidate for governor Francesca Hong got nothing on this. And she lost the primary.....
Adult male orioles are incredibly early migrators which would explain why I haven’t spotted one in more than three weeks.
They’ve left the females and fledglings behind for a few weeks to finish growing and fueling up.
Anyway, earlier this week I spotted a couple of females (or fledglings) eyeing-up
an empty feeder. The feeders are empty on account of yellow jackets and
other hornets. Besides, with wild berries ripening and insect
populations peaking visitors to the feeders have slowed.
I asked someone who knows more about this than me and I’m told that here in Northeast
Wisconsin, the local breeding Baltimore Orioles are officially
concluding their season right now, and the birds I am seeing are likely
preparing to leave this week.
I think they're gone!
Best practice is to leave only small amounts of jelly out to avoid spoilage and keep the birdbaths clean and fresh.
I should expect some Canadian oriole stragglers passing but to expect warblers and other Neotropical migrants for a while.
We're leaving the welcome mat out for a while.
Selected photos were taken over the last seven days.
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