Seared duck breast with a brandied cherry sauce, roasted potatoes and glazed carrots with star anise

I have been on a duck binge lately and thought I would head in that direction again for tonight's dinner. But I also thought that it was time to really pull out all the stops and make a meal I could be proud of. A complicated meal.

My initial plan was duck with a cherry sauce, glazed carrots and dauphinoise potatoes. Upon discussing the meal with my spouse the potatoes were ixnayed, too fattening.

I got home at about four o'clock and started working my prep. I was going to make Adam Byatt's glazed carrots with star anise and I tried to do the cute little thing he does paring the end of them and failed. I needed bunch carrots, not commercial carrots. Now I know.

Did the best I could.

I then prepped my yukon gold potatoes. I would make the long Kenji Lopez Alt version. I boiled in baking soda and water for about eighteen minutes and when they had passed the knife test. I drained them in the colander, then sauteed olive oil, garlic, fresh chopped rosemary in a small pan for about three minutes.

I put a sieve over the potatoes and poured in the infused oil and added a little butter and parmesan. 

Salt and pepper for good measure. 

Cayenne and paprika, a bit of parsley. 

I reserved the solids for later.  

I tossed the whole thing and fluffed it all up. 

Then I stuck it on a baking sheet and grabbed the duck fat out of the fridge and gave the sheet pan a healthy dose.

Stuck it in the oven at 400° for twenty minutes, then a turn with the spatula for another thirty minutes.

It was time to start on the duck. 

Once again I was amalgamating two recipes, Ina Garten's and James Beard's. 

I omitted the demi glace and the creme fraiche because I could. No shallots because my wife doesn't like them.

I crosshatched my duck breasts with a sharp paring knife and rendered them in a cold Le Creuset skillet. They had been brining in a heavy salt rub for about twenty four hours in the refrigerator. After about seven minutes they joined the potatoes in the hot oven for about four minutes. Clocked them at 135° and they went on a plate on my dining room table to wait.

Now the sauce. I was going to do a port reduction but Grocery Outlet was out of port and I decided to go with what I had. Why buy more stuff? Red wine would be fine.

I used the same skillet, why not? and added some olive oil and garlic to sauté for about thirty seconds. Hit it with champagne vinegar to loosen up the burned bits, not the sherry vinegar that was called for because I have eight vinegars already in my cupboard and didn't need to add another one. Almost went with the rice vinegar or the red wine vinegar but the champagne worked just fine. 

I then added a half cup of chicken stock and a cup of a bordeaux wine that I opened for the meal, Chateau Fontana. 

I let it reduce at a boil for a few minutes and added my dry cherries which I had been soaking in brandy all afternoon. 

They really plumped up.

I added orange zest, squeezed a half a valencia orange from my tree and a splash of Grand Marnier for good measure.

I cooked and reduced it down for about fifteen minutes.

Boy was it delicious. The rest is going on ice cream.

I started the glazed carrots, added two star anise, butter and sugar and placed my handmade paper cartouche in the pot. 

Cooked it for ten minutes at high heat. 

It glazed okay but it will be better next time and I will omit the anise. 

I expected more from the dish, frankly. 

Honestly think it needs more sugar and butter.

I plated the duck, poured on the sauce and joined my wife for dinner. 

She said they were the best potatoes I have ever made, crisp outside and soft, creamy centers.

It was a satisfying yet complicated undertaking and I am proud that my timing on everything was letter perfect. 

Took a bit over three hours, not counting some prep.

I honestly think you could serve this meal at a fine restaurant and it would set you back about fifty or sixty dollars.

Watch out, here I come.

Denny Hoskins

I have been following the political machine in Missouri for several years now. Sort of like looking at a bad accident on the freeway. It has to be one of the most contentious battlegrounds in the nation in terms of the culture war. Fascinating, in a way.

And it is obvious that the conservatives that run the show there have no use for democracy and the people's voice.

It all started in 2024 when voters approved Amendment 3, which provided for a state constitutional right to reproductive freedom, which was defined to include abortion. The measure won by 51.8%.

This sent the powers that be, including the Governor and Senator Hawley, into a tizzy. The poor people of Missouri were obviously being swayed by dark, venal, out of state interests.

Been a bit of a roller coaster since then.

On December 20, 2024, Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang ruled Missouri's total abortion ban, 18-week ban, 14-week ban, eight-week ban, and "reasons ban," were unconstitutional and unenforceable by the courts. Judge Zhang also struck down other laws, including the 72-hour waiting period, mandatory informed consent requirements, the requirement that physicians be physically present while the patient takes the medication to induce an abortion, and criminal penalties associated with abortion bans.[2]

On February 14, 2025, a Jackson County Circuit Court judge blocked further restrictions that prevented abortion clinics from operating, which included a facility licensing requirement, which restored abortion access in the state. The lawsuit was brought forward by two Planned Parenthood affiliates in Missouri.[3]

On May 27, 2025, the Missouri Supreme Court reinstated the state's abortion ban by overturning the lower court rulings. The court determined that the lower court had applied incorrect legal standards in its decisions and ordered a reevaluation of the case.

The legislature tried something new then. New referendums would require 80% of the people, not merely a majority and they would have to have a majority in every congressional district in the state.

This was a radical reshuffling, Missourians had been using the referendum process for over a century, in fact over 424 times since 1908.

In August 2026, the Republicans came up with Amendment 4, requiring voter approval of citizen-initiated constitutional amendments in each congressional district, rather than statewide; adding language prohibiting ''foreign nationals'' and ''foreign adversaries'', as defined, from spending to support or oppose ballot measures, with penalties for violations; and add language regarding penalties for ballot initiative signature petition fraud, among other changes.

Missouri voters rejected Amendment 4, which would have require voter approval of citizen-initiated constitutional amendments in each congressional district, rather than statewide. At the time of the election, no other state had this supermajority requirement.

The voters blasted this amendment overwhelmingly.

This made the GOP powers that be quite pissed off, which brings us to today.

*

I have been following Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins for the last several years with a mixture of revulsion and curiosity. Sort of like viewing a car wreck.

Hoskins, along with current Governor Mike Kehoe, is doing everything he can to thwart the will of the people. It's not democracy it's mob rule, as Hoskins calls it. He is a true federalist, power should not come from mere people but instead only from their duly elected and gerrymandered representatives.

Republicans control five of the seven districts in Missouri. But evidently, that was not enough for them.

In July 2025, The Missouri Independent reported that the Trump administration had urged Republican Party leadership in the state of Missouri to redistrict the state's legislative boundaries to benefit Republicans. 

In September 2025, Missouri lawmakers passed—and Missouri governor Mike Kehoe signed into law—an act changing the state's congressional districts. The new districts dismantled the strongly democratic leaning 5th congressional district and left it for dead.

The proposed new map intends to give Republicans one additional seat in the 2026 United States House of Representatives elections. 

Before the new map went into effect, Missouri was hit with a lawsuit and a veto referendum. The lawsuit argued the new map was unconstitutional, and violated the part of Missouri's Constitution stating that redistricting had to occur after a United States census. 

The Missouri Supreme Court, mostly Republican appointees, disagreed, ruling 4–3 that the state constitution requires redistricting to happen after a census, but does not otherwise explicitly prohibit it.

The veto referendum, in which voters decide whether to pass or reject a law, was initiated by a group named People Not Politicians Missouri after they gathered over 300,000 signatures. Although the number of signatures submitted was sufficient, Hoskins refused to place the measure on the ballot, stating that it was an unconstitutional measure.

His reasoning was quite specious. 

He said it was the province of legislators to establish districts, not voters and referendums.

On September 3, 2026, the Supreme Court of Missouri ruled that the veto referendum was constitutional, and that it could be held on redistricting, ordering the Secretary of State to use the enacted map from 2022 in the November 2026 elections.

Hoskins refused. 

Then his cohort, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, filed an emergency appeal to the US Supreme Court and filed a motion requesting the state Supreme Court to pause its ruling from taking effect while the appeal plays out.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied this request on September 8, keeping the 2022 maps in effect for the 2026 election.

You would think that that would be enough, the Supreme Court weighing in. But no, the same day they tried one more power play and got a federal judge to side with them against SCOTUS. Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark of the Eastern District of Missouri issued a temporary restraining order in a separate lawsuit prohibiting the state from using anything but the new 2025 maps.

On September 10, the U.S. Supreme Court granted an emergency stay of Judge Clark's order, putting the 2022 map back into place for the 2026 elections.

Hoskins decided to stay and fight, even against the highest court of our land.  On September 10, 2026, the Supreme Court of Missouri found Hoskins in contempt of court for his refusal to implement their ruling regarding the state's congressional maps and 2026 Missouri Proposition A. He subsequently agreed to direct clerks to use the correct legal map.

Now this thing ain't dead, no telling what happens next year bit for the present, their dog will just not hunt.

Interestingly, for me anyway, is that now Hoskins looks like he might be in real hot water. 

You see, the Director of Election Integrity in Missouri, Nicholas La Strada, sued Hoskins on Monday, saying he was ousted from his job after repeatedly reporting conduct he believed was illegal or unethical.

La Strada says senior officials in Hoskins’ office discussed manufacturing a whistleblower complaint about Missouri’s voter-registration system and making it look like it came from an anonymous outsider. The idea was to use an “IP scrambler” and a burner phone to hide where it really came from, then introduce the complaint as evidence in a federal proceeding.

He also alleges serious meddling in a local election in Marshall, Missouri that ulltimately changed the final outcome of a City Council election.

La Strada alleges, Hoskins ordered a retabulation of write-in votes in a city election in Marshall after a complaint about this year’s April election. The election had been certified and a winner named by a single vote. 

After a complaint, Hoskins ordered the votes retabulated, resulting in a different winner, and threatened city officials if they did not comply. La Strada said that exceeded Hoskins’ authority because only a judge can order a recount of votes after certification.

In the other, La Strada said he warned Hoskins in April 2025 that using public funds for an anti-Proposition B mailer appeared to be an election offense.

If what La Strada is saying is correct, I would think Hoskins should be thinking about changing his familiar red coat for prison pin stripes soon.

And if all that is not enough:

 Five Missouri voters from St. Louis City and St. Louis County are suing Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins for $80 million over the handling of a ballot measure that challenged the use of the 2025 state congressional map.

In a lawsuit filed on Friday, the five plaintiffs state they are seeking between $100 and $500 in damages for more than 162,000 Missouri voters who signed a measure to have Missouri’s 2025 congressional map put to a vote. The 2025 congressional map was heavily endorsed by President Donald Trump.

The suit states that more than 162,000 petitioners were certified as Missouri voters out of 300,000 who signed the measure. The lawsuit states that Hoskins’ actions affected multiple voters in the same manner, making it grounds for a class-action lawsuit due to the volume of people affected.

The lawsuit goes on to state that Hoskins considered the measure filed by certified voters as insufficient and refused to place it on the next general ballot. He did not challenge petitions supporting the claim that the measure had enough signatures.

Hoskins wrote a self serving editorial today, which unfortunately sits behind a pay wall. He was merely protecting his innocent constituents from evil bolshevik outside influences. 

Why do politicians think that their constituents are too stupid to think for themselves? I think Hoskins is definitely going down, will it take Kehoe down too?

9/15

Leslie went to a fundraiser for Nepal relief efforts out in Valley Center Sunday. 

She had a great time, there was great music, Nepali food, a petting zoo.

She hung out with a sloth, and not the one she is married to.

 She asked me if I wanted to go but I really haven't felt social or comfortable in large gatherings.

Couple friends came down with covid recently is my excuse but honestly have been enjoying my own solitude.

Anyway I thought this was a beautiful picture of my lovely wife.

*

I was cleaning out my van this afternoon and found this card somebody, somewhere gave me.

I dig. Perhaps I am the poster child.

The heat has been killing me, thought I was getting heat stroke for a moment there yesterday. Taking lots of down time the last couple weeks, not stressing unless I have to.

My plants at home are stressed, even though Leslie is doing her utmost to keep everything alive.

Bougainvillea is stressed, so are the oranges.

Plumbago is real happy and the cactus never complain much either.

One day it is sharp and pointy and the next day it is delivering you pretty bouquets.

Sometimes it just takes waiting for the wind to change or the heat to break.

Things ain't so bad.

I could be undergoing chemo right now.

So happy to get that reprieve.

Always have the birds.

Ass kissing sycophants

This is sort of funny, sick. A judge just blocked the Kennedy Center board from putting Trump's name up on the side again so they say they are closing the place down.

President Trump’s handpicked board of trustees for the Kennedy Center voted Tuesday to immediately close the famed venue for renovations, shortly after a federal court blocked Trump’s latest attempt to put his name on the building.

The board claims that the center is in serious trouble, financially and structurally, pointing to a partial ceiling collapse earlier this month and alleging possible bankruptcy. The board argues that the only way to keep the center running and the building intact is to allow Trump to take over and have his name added to the building’s facade.

Read that last sentence. The only way they can survive is to put his name on the side of the building.

What a load of horseshit.

Oy vey

Like, who hasn't had a Russian oligarch pay for their wedding? 

The nerve of people to think that somebody is paying for influence.

Just a friend...

*

Speaking of friends, Trump wants Zelensky to stop bombing Russian oil facilities, he thinks it is the real reason gas is so expensive here, forget about the Straits of Hormuz.

Once again he has his nose straight up Putin's butt. Slava Ukraine.

*

A lot of people very scared about the new versions of AI causing all sorts of trouble, including AI engineers and the people that own the AI companies. They think we better slow down and make sure things are safe.

Not Trump. AI risk is a hoax.

*

Zeldin and the EPA have finished their demolition of air pollution standards in this country. 

A pox on Zeldin and his cohorts and on their families.

לך לעזאזל

 May they reap the whirlwind.

You don't love me.

Made famous four years later by the Allman Brothers, this 1967 version by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers certainly holds its own. Lead guitar and vocal by one Peter Green.

The song was written by Willie Cobb in 1960 and then Chicago bluesman Junior Wells did a nice remake on his 1965 record Hoodoo Man Blues. A good Jamaican version was recorded by Dawn Penn in 1967. Supersession recorded it too, an outstanding job, with an incredibly psychedelic vocal by Al Kooper. The song is originally derived from the 1955 Bo Diddley cut on Checker, She's fine, she's mine and after listening it you wonder how Cobb gets any writing credit whatsoever?

I still think the Allmans are the gold standard for this particular track.

Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut

I am not sure why I bought these old games from an estate sale last year? Seemed like a good idea at the time, even though the condition of a couple aren't fabulous.

Truth is that I love the old graphics from this period. 

Most of these are Milton Bradley from the twenties.

I was bored today and thought I would photograph the boxes and share them with you.

Probably never get my money back but do think it is the start of a cool collection.

The Mutts return

I got an email from Robin Adler today. Her Mutts of the planet band is playing the Hejira album in Oceanside for the album's fiftieth anniversary. This is a great band with top notch performers. I have seen the performance before and really recommend it.

The address is a little hard to read here (perhaps I am color blind) but I believe that it reads 2664 Vista Pacific Dr. in Oceanside. I have never been to SEAS but you may have.

I am getting knee surgery the day before the concert and will not be able to make it but suggest that you do. These are all first class players, playing what might be Joni's best album, it should be great!

Oh the irony...

“He listed a lot of new proposals, and then just went, ’You know what, fuck it, I’ll give you five grand.” That’s it, really. That was the big take from the convention, the midterm convention. That’s really the solution we have. If you vote Republicans in, the government will hand out to everyone, $5,000. You know, to fight socialism.” 

Bill Maher

Orgone

Immoral failure

Interesting article at the New York Times. The contractor that did the work on the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial is now taking full responsibility for the problems.

The contractor that renovated the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has told the Trump administration that errors in its own work and flaws in the repair plan, not vandalism, caused the pool’s new blue liner to peel and break loose, according to government documents reviewed by The New York Times.

President Trump has repeatedly blamed vandals wielding knives or box cutters for damage to the pool’s “American flag blue” liner, even after the Justice Department dropped charges that it had brought against people accused of vandalizing the national landmark.

But the documents, which have not previously been reported, make clear that the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, found problems in both the design and the execution of the renovation. The documents include Atlantic’s reports to the government as well as daily progress updates from the National Park Service over the past two months.

Atlantic blamed its own errors in a report dated Aug. 14 and then provided more detail on Sept. 2, the documents show. The Justice Department, which had charged several people with vandalizing the pool in early July, began moving to dismiss the cases on July 31.

Because of “human oversight,” workers in some areas did not spray enough of the primer that made the layers of the liner stick together, Atlantic said in the documents. But the bigger problem, the company said, was that the repair plan laid out in the contract called for the layers of liner to include two chemicals that turned out to be incompatible.

The chemical on top reached a temperature hotter than what the compound underneath could withstand, and the heat caused the bottom layer to blister and come loose, the documents show. The contractor said it had not expected that outcome because it was very uncommon to mix the two products in that way.

What I find disgusting, frankly, is that the President continued to call for prosecuting the "usual suspects and Olympic heroes" long after he knew that they were not responsible and that vandalism was not involved. Because it did not fit his favorite bullshit narrative.

This is what happens when you elect a person with no sense of shame or morality and an absolute disregard for taking accountability for his own actions.

Innocent people will sometimes get thrown in jail for a long time.

*

Trump snaps at another female reporter after a question about his $5,000 promise to voters: 'You're the worst'

Jonathan Wilson

 

 This is an excellent 2013 cover of Fazon, one of my favorite songs by the band Sopwith Camel. Bit of a harsh intro, watch your ears and speakers!

More from the EPA

I lived in West Texas from 1964 to the end of 1968. I generally liked being a kid there, life had its ups and downs of course. One thing I don't remember was it smelling particularly bad. I will tell you, it sure stinks now. All of those gas wells are not helping its olfactory pungency level one bit.

Take a drive up to Midland some day and get a whiff of the methane, it is horrible. Houston is now the official smelliest spot in the whole country.

Today I read that the stinky Trump EPA is helping their favorite polluters out once again. 

From ProPublica:

EPA to Loosen Methane Rules, Boosting Pollution From Oil and Gas Wells

The Trump administration is poised to loosen environmental restrictions on oil and gas wells that produce very little energy but release vast amounts of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas.

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to drastically weaken requirements for leak inspections and equipment upgrades at more than 700,000 low-producing “stripper wells,” according to a draft rule being reviewed by the White House and seen by ProPublica. These wells — which tend to be old, poorly maintained and thus prone to leaking — produce just 6% of the country’s oil and natural gas but are responsible for roughly half the sector’s methane pollution, studies show.

The EPA acknowledged similar figures in the draft. But it said that the cost of complying with existing regulations would force the lowest-producing wells to shut down and that this was “unreasonable” — even though it would eliminate just 0.4% of U.S. oil and gas production, according to an industry estimate cited in the proposed rule.

The proposal, which would also weaken methane controls in the wider oil industry, is expected to save companies $42 billion through 2050. An attached memo says the rollback will help to “unleash” American energy, one of President Donald Trump’s favorite slogans.

If your read the article, you will see the standard corrupt practices between this administration and the pollution industry that we have come to expect. This awful regime can not be gone soon enough.

*

Unprotecting American Lands: How Trump Is Dismantling America’s Bipartisan Conservation Legacy

*

Trump moves to ease environmental rules for data centers

*

Trump administration stalled a survey of PFAS in wastewater, former EPA officials say.

*

Inside Trump’s Aggressive Push to Build Data Centers on Public Lands

*

The making of a judicial coup.

*

Today's favorite screenshot.

Asian duck stir fry with snow peas and basil

Still on the stir fry kick, I decided to switch it up just a little bit. 

I bought two duck breasts from Major Market. 

The last two from the endcap, don't bother looking.

I made criss cross cuts on the skin side, dried them with a paper towel, gave them a shake of salt and pepper.

I put a little peanut oil in my cold dutch oven and put them in skin side down to slow render for about seven minutes at medium  heat. 

Came out beautifully. 

I then cut them into thin strips, all with a nice crispy edge. 

I set them aside on the plate.

I had already prepped my vegetables, last time I went broccoli, this time snow peas. 

Carrots, mushrooms, celery, ginger, water chestnuts and garlic completed the board.

That would be enough.

I cooked the vegetables in the duck fat for a few minutes and then added my sauce.

My sauce tonight was a bit different too. 

1/2 cup water, 1/3 of a cup of soy sauce, two tablespoons brown sugar, two thai chiles, sesame oil, rice vinegar, hoison oil and thai chili paste. 

I added some cumin and crushed red pepper too. 

Snuck in a bit of corn starch for thickening as well as white pepper.

Whisked it all up.

I didn't think it was as spicy as the other night but Leslie said it definitely was and asked me if I had a cold?

Guess I am getting immune.

Anyway I poured the sauce in with the veggies after they had cooked for about four minutes and then re added my duck. 

I adjusted the seasoning and we were good to go.

Leslie made rice, we added cashews and fresh basil at the last second. 

There was some time coordination problems and the duck got overcooked a bit but that was entirely on me and it was still delicious.

Cooking the dish in the dutch oven rather than a skillet definitely made for a cleaner kitchen.

I like this thai duck version. 

Will do this one again. 

And tone down the spice level a skoche for my partner.

Definitely needed lots of water!

It's freaking hot

It is so hot that I am unable to work in my shop, not having a working air conditioner.  It has been the most non productive week in memory, I just can not work.

It is just miserable out there. It was 106° at 4:30 driving back into my valley. You get burned when you merely touch your steering wheel.

Of course I have friends in Phoenix that consider 106° child's play, it looks like igloo city I suppose when you are facing 119° to 122°. 

Never understood the allure of that city but that is probably just me and a lot of wealthy people do live there so it certainly must have its charms. They just don't go outside.

I read this morning that August was the hottest month ever recorded globally or in a tie with July of 2023 anyway.

From NPR:

WASHINGTON — Earth cooked to its hottest month on record in August, blowing far past a key climate threshold, due to the dangerous double whammy of human-caused climate change and a supersized El Nino, according to the European climate service Copernicus.

August's sizzle also helped push the globe and the United States to swelter through the hottest Northern Hemisphere summer scientists have measured.

Last month the world averaged 62.53 degrees Fahrenheit (16.96 degrees Celsius), which technically was one-hundredth of a degree Celsius more than the all-time global mark set in July 2023, but because that's also the uncertainty level, it's considered a tie, said Samantha Burgess, strategic climate lead for Copernicus.

"It is now time to stop acting surprised that our warming planet keeps getting warmer. This is occurring exactly as forecast by scientists literally decades ago," Texas A&M University climate scientist Andrew Dessler said in an email. "The interesting question is not whether we will keep breaking heat records (we will), but whether we're going to do anything about it or just stand there while the climate train runs us over."

Well, Andrew, if I had to make a bet, I say we will do nothing and get run over. But I tend to be a pessimist.

I have a buddy on the right that doesn't believe in climate change. His source and the darling of many on the right is this guy John Christy, now retired from Alabama Huntsville. Christy's views run counter to 98% of all climate scientists.

Doesn't believe Greenhouse gases contribute to warming, thinks the thirties were warmer, thinks the problem is that the temperature stations are located on asphalt and that if we do have global warming, it will sure be better than the opposite.

"If it’s just between you and me I’ll just say I prefer the temperature going up than going down… When it goes down we have ice ages that occur and nobody wins in an ice age." John Christy

Christy did something interesting with his data; to prove his point he just created a new graph metric that excluded the really hot days.

Brilliant!

He also appears to have a theological axe to grind.

A devout Baptist, Christy believes that "the use of carbon-based energy" is "needed to lengthen and enhance the quality of human life", which is the "moral imperative." He has argued that efforts to limit greenhouse pollution are "trying to control how others live".

I don't want to control how you live, or think, just don't try to tell me it's not hotter than it has ever been. Of course, he is not the only one indulging in such chicanery, the Heartland Institute is funded by big business to regularly put up a steady load of the same kind of dross.

*

So the other day the Federal Judge said that we had no constitutional right to clean water and I assume air and that it was okay for the government to lie to you. I wrote about it here.

It doesn't look like the government is very effective in cleaning up the lead mess either.

I saw today that three states have now made it illegal for people to test for chemicals in the atmosphere.

As the US’s network for monitoring air pollution deteriorates, a Floodlight investigation has found that the chemical industry is going state-to-state to restrict one of the few options citizens have left for holding polluters accountable: low-cost air sensors.

Over the past two years, the non-profit investigative newsroom determined, lawmakers in Louisiana, Kentucky and Ohio have passed strikingly similar laws barring regulators from acting on air-quality data that communities collect themselves – unless it comes from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved equipment that typically costs tens of thousands of dollars. Similar legislation has repeatedly been introduced in West Virginia.

Yet when lawmakers in West Virginia offered a version of a bill that would have let regulators consider community data if it met manufacturer requirements, industry refused to back it.

The bill “essentially codifies what we are trying to prevent”, wrote Jeff Fritz, an official with the chemical giant Chemours, in an internal email. Bill Bissett of the West Virginia Manufacturers Association wrote that the compromise “neuters” the measure and left it “toothless”. That bill died, along with versions in 2025 and 2026.

Ohio slipped its monitor restriction into a budget bill last year, prompting a lawsuit from a group of plaintiffs including Donna Ballinger.

Ballinger has a low-cost monitor in her front yard in Middletown, Ohio, a few hundred feet from a steel plant that she says frequently sends black, white and gray particles on to her property. Fumes sometimes burn her eyes and throat, she said, and she often holds her nose when walking between her house and car.

“My fear is cancer,” she said.

The lawsuit she helped file alleges that the new rules make her monitor’s readings useless as evidence.

Shelby Co. Health Department questions integrity of community air monitoring report data

Community groups say Louisiana is trying to stop them from monitoring air pollution

https://grist.org/accountability/louisiana-groups-sue-over-air-monitoring-law-camra/

I think it is safe to say that you would have to be an idiot if you expect your government, big business, big chemicals and/or big polluters and the unholy tryst between all of them to keep you safe. Much like forever chemicals, or the EPA on lead pollution the official fallback is that they will be in your yards, water, body and air forever, might as well get used to it. 

Somebody is making way too much money to stop.

Planet Caravan

My audiophile music buddies all got together yesterday for our regular listen to. You send in your list ahead of time and after a little editing Kip finds it on tape, vinyl or Qobuz.

It's a good group, I always get a chance to hear things outside my normal wheelhouse.

Chip brought this tape up from Coronado.

I will readily admit that I was never a big Black Sabbath fan. I remember one weird bong filled day in high school where we were drinking peppermint schnapps or something like that where I sort of dug them.

But they were never my deal, too dark and cartoony.

Chip put this cut on, the one before Iron Man and it got my attention. So different from them, so musical. Soft even. Very lyrical, jazzy guitar.  Reminded me of a time I saw Frampton and he was playing sort of like this.

See, I learned something.

Asian stir fry with chicken

Leslie and I had lunch at Yumi one day last week, we hadn't been out together in a while and it was nice to share a meal. 

We ordered a medium sashimi plate, lamb dumplings and something I had never tried before, the garlic chicken.

It turned out that we were so full that we couldn't even eat the chicken but had it the next night for leftovers and it was wonderful.

But then I got to thinking. "I can do that."

I started looking at garlic chicken recipes, settled on this one but then realized that it could be a lot better, it was a little too one dimensional.

So I decided to incorporate everything into a stir fry and landed on this one.

I often combine recipes, grab what I like and omit what I don't. 

Both of these called for a sauce but they were very similar so I only made one.

The dish was delicious.

Here is what I did:

I bought a tray of skinless boneless chicken thighs and another of skinless boneless breasts. I cut them into smallish bite sizes.

I dredged them in two tablespoons of corn starch, white pepper and a little salt and laid them on a plate.

I then started my sauce. I took a half cup of water, 1/3 cup of soy sauce, a tablespoon of brown sugar, a tablespoon of rice vinegar, one thai chile, whole, a dash of aji mirrin, two teaspoons hot chile sesame oil, red pepper flakes, chile strips, a tablespoon of corn starch, four cloves of garlic and a shake of ground ginger and whisked it all up in a mixing bowl.

The original recipe called for Shaoxing rice wine but I looked in two stores and couldn't find it and went with the rice vinegar instead. The aji mirren is sort of a fake substitute which I added for good measure.

I would have used fresh ginger but we had run out.

I put the bowl aside and prepped my vegetables. I used what was left of the other night's green beans, two carrots, mushrooms, broccoli florets and the last of the celery and cut them all up into uniform pieces. 

That is what stir fry is good for, cleaning out the fridge.

I then took my Le Creuset skillet and started the arduous job of shallow frying. I am so happy that my wife was not home as as much as I tried to contain the grease splatter it was impossible, even with the splatter guard. I tried my best.

We have an electric ceramic cooktop and woks don't work well on them.

It took me a while to brown and cook the four individual batches of chicken but it finally came out great.

I put the protein aside. I have a small kitchen and there were plates and bread boards hanging out everywhere, as you can imagine.

I grabbed a big non stick skillet and after adding avo oil, started browning the vegetables at high heat, for about three or four minutes. I added four more cloves of garlic, just to make sure. I then poured my sauce in, gave everything a good stir and turned it down at which point I added the chicken back in. Cooked it about three more minutes.

I also added cashews at the last minute, a little salt for taste and we were good to go.

Leslie got home just as the rice was ready to fluff, having sat for ten minutes.

We sprinkled sesame furikake on top and were good to go.

She loved it, we are going to add water chestnuts tomorrow and she wants more mushrooms.

I was the lucky guy that got the thai chile and it definitely opened my eyes and my sinuses too!

This dish takes some work and a lot of clean up but is definitely worth the effort.

Give it a try!

Visuals

 

Oh, brother...