Moon over Red Mountain

 

Plantation Inn

So long Lindsey

 

Senator Lindsey Graham has passed. A cause of death has not been proclaimed, my amateur guess is brown nose asphyxiation. But hey, I'm not a doctor, I only play one on the computer. Hate to talk ill of the dead but here goes.

I actually was a Lindsey Graham fan once, but that was a long time ago. He used to call them from both sides of the plate and not be a political whore. The one time military jag was going to bat for the civil liberties of Guantanamo detainees, to the consternation of his party members. He used to take non partisan and principled stands. But that was a long time ago.

In time, the one time Trump hater went full time MAGA and sold out every conviction that he ever had. I did a search on the blast for his name and was astounded by how many times I wrote about his perfidy. 

If you want to go down the wayback machine of my remembrances, click here.

Here's a few. I could take the high road but I can not, I don't want to be a hypocrite. He sold out his country and his principles in his slavish obeisance to MAGA power. A tragic figure.

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Graham was initially a critic of Trump’s, whom he briefly ran against during the 2016 Republican presidential primary, warning: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.” Graham even voted for a third-party candidate for president in 2016, saying he could not support either Trump or Hillary Clinton.

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“Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. Oh my God, I hate it. From my point of view, he’s been a consequential president,” an emotional Graham said once authorities cleared the rioters and allowed senators to reclaim their chamber. “All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.” Lindsey Graham 1/06/2021

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When the going got tough, Lindsey Graham sold out, was nothing but the worst kind of partisan hack. Just my opinion.

Minimal interference

But the war go on...

Elder of Zion

I thought that this woman's post was pretty funny.

I guess the cat is out of the bag now. We found her.

Sail Away

The hits just keep on coming

 CDC Stopped Monitoring Parasite Now Causing Explosive Diarrhea Across The Country

The country is in the midst of a nationwide outbreak of explosive diarrhea caused by a parasite the CDC stopped surveilling at the federal level in July 2025.

That’s around the same time the Trump administration began haphazardly attacking and defunding federal health and science agencies under the guise of “government efficiency,” with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. separately also pushing out critical federal scientists and researchers. 

In addition to the ongoing cyclospora outbreak, Trump administration cutbacks made under the guise of “government efficiency” also brought back a flesh-eating parasite that favors cattle, accidentally fired scientists managing the bird flu outbreak, accidentally fired the FDA’s medical device reviewers, and pulled research funding to protect pregnant women from domestic violence, among other things.

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Trump Administration Taps Climate Science Critic to Oversee Flagship Report - And guess what, surprise, he has no formal training in climate science.

The Trump administration has appointed a critic of mainstream climate science to oversee the federal government’s flagship report on how climate change affects the United States.

Matthew M. Wielicki is a former geochemist at the University of Alabama with no formal training in climate science.

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He Wanted to Track Microplastics in the Sea. The E.P.A. Fired Him.

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US Food and Drug Administration rejects petition to set Pfas limits in food

Recent FDA testing found 70% of seafood samples contain the chemicals, while independent milk testing found it in 12% of 50 samples, including extremely high levels in Whole Foods and Kirkland Signature brands. The FDA rejected the revised petition, stating it plans to take action on setting standards for Pfas, and there is “insufficient evidence to support [TEJTF’s] request”.

The agency said it plans to set less non-binding “action levels” that do not require contaminated food to be removed from shelves. 

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Trump, Ending Decades of Protection, Opens Wild Habitats to Drilling and Mining

The Trump administration on Friday moved to open the habitats of imperiled animals to farming, drilling, mining, real estate development and other activities in what environmentalists characterized as the most severe erosion of protections for wildlife in half a century.

It did so by recasting a single word, “harm.”

For more than 50 years, the federal government has used a broader definition of harm to animals under the Endangered Species Act, a bedrock environmental law. It included any significant “modification or degradation” of habitat that kills or injures animals by impairing their ability to eat, shelter or breed.

The Supreme Court upheld this interpretation in 1995, ruling against property owners who argued that harm should only mean directly killing or injuring an endangered animal.

But on Friday, the Interior Department and the Commerce Department announced a final rule that rescinded this longstanding interpretation. Under the rule, destroying an endangered species’ nest or habitat would no longer be considered illegal.

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EPA proposes weakening heavy-duty truck pollution rules 

The EPA did not model the resulting effect on air quality or human health, but noted that the modifications would likely reduce the benefits of prior rules changes in 2023.

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Cross on the moon?

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DOGE cuts kill. 

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Proposed White House regulations could kill 5,000 clinical trials, analysis finds The Trump administration is mulling new rules that would give political appointees final say on research grants.

Nearly 5,000 clinical trials, including more than 1,000 cancer treatment tests, face termination under proposed federal regulations, a new analysis by the science advocacy group Stand Up for Science finds. The potential cuts would also affect hundreds of pediatric, veteran health and heart disease trials, according to the report.

Take 5 - String Cheese

Susie Reneau

I bought a bunch of signed silkscreen prints from the estate of a woman named Susie Reneau. Very colorful and whimsical with heartfelt messages.

She has not passed but my understanding is that she is now in a home near San Diego. 

She was a longtime working artist in San Diego. 

I don't have a lot of biographical information but what I do know is quite interesting to me.

She was Sister Corita Kent's apprentice at Immaculate Heart as a student from 1964 to 1968 and in the summer.

She produced a calendar for the Corita Kent foundation and did her own calendar every year. 

She herself was a nun but ended up leaving the order and marrying an ex priest, according to the daughter of a woman she lived with when she got older.

Her work is like Corita's but different.

I am going to try to arrange a meeting to interview her but there are a couple interviews or websites that mention her online like here and here.

I like the work, I have only photographed a fraction of it. 

I understand there is a lot more out there. 

Most of them are original signed in ink.

I think it will appeal to a younger art enthusiast that likes graphic works and saturated color.

I am going to try to photograph everything and put it up on my gallery website.  Will frame some of these up. Hopefully can see enough to make my money back. If you have more information about her, please let me know.

Hope that you enjoy it.

Another beautiful morning in the canyon.

 

I love watching the fog lift off Gavilan Mountain in the morning.

TV Gold

For the baby boomer this is television gold! Nimoy, Shatner and Colonel Klink join Ilya and Napoleon for a romp. I was a huge Man from Uncle freak, love Robert Vaughn. Shatner is surprisingly good here. Beats walking out on an airplane wing.

Cattle egret in breeding plumage

 

Red Rocks

48 years ago tonight I saw the first Grateful Dead show at Red Rocks in Colorado. This show had special significance for me, a middle period dead head. I started out seeing the dead on the east coast in the early seventies and moved to California in 74, taking up where I left off with the wall of sound and eventually Winterland. What Red Rocks was for me was a Gathering of the Tribes that I had not seen before, my east coast friends meeting my west coast buds in the middle somewhere, eying each other somewhat suspiciously at first and then after getting acquainted, sharing a great spliff or two and a joyful party. I knew a lot of people in each camp but it was the first time many of us had left our comfort zone and taken a long trek, a long car ride from San Diego in my case with about five other people. Doug drove from New York with his friend Monte. I drove with Alex Press and his father, forget who else? Shows were great and probably never saw them in such a beautiful venue again, kids crawling up and over all the rocks and a gorgeous sunset to boot. What a great memory!

Tuesday mishmash

Most dangerous predator.

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Shawn sent this cool stop action samurai thing over.

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Ricardo sent this about Hawaii finding their way around Citizens United.

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Pretty San Pedro cactus bloom early this morning in my yard.

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Worst fire smoke I have ever experienced in Fallbrook last night. It was like a barbecue inside the house. Had to use eye drops they were so dry. Camp Pendleton at work. They like to blow things up when it is dry and windy.

Jim sent a picture of the spooky cloud over his home.

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Kind of happy Belgium won after Trump's conniption. "Overturn this."

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Overgrazed.

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The pastor who wants to overturn the voting rights of women.

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Tom Kean got three months of congressional sick leave, after voting against it for others. I kind of like what Boebert said about the guy, "who isn't depressed?"

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As Supreme Court expands Trump's immigration power, experts warn of steeper U.S. population decline.

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GOP get caught commiting election fraud.

Santa Barbara Show

The Blue Heron Gallery will be exhibiting at the Santa Barbara Antique & Vintage Show next Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I will be offering this oil painting by the late David Adrian Green (1925-2016), a beloved Three Rivers artist.

Please come visit if you are in the area.

https://sbantiqueshow.com/

Link Wray

Day at the fair

My buddy Jim is Ratmaster of the 5150 Ratrod Club, which has members in two states and might be the largest club of its kind in America.

Their cars have graced the cover of Motor Trend and you could not find a nicer, more creative bunch of guys.

They design and build the cars themselves or with a little help from their buds.

He invited me to hang with the group at the fair.

It is an annual appearance for them and people love to check out their rides.

We met in a parking lot in Escondido, we would all ride in together. 

I was supposed to ride with Don but somewhere near Lake Hodges his throttle cable broke.

Snap!

Luckily, Debbie was behind us, she picked me up and Don waited for Triple A. 

Second road catastrophe in Del Dios for Lehrman, he may want to stay off that road in the future.

Anyway we all got an easy way in and everybody set up, next to the monster truck. 

Arrived about an hour before opening.

I left my chair in my car as Don said we had plenty but ended up borrowing Jim's most of the day. My left knee is really aching, thing the time for a replacement is coming soon, that is if the rest of my parts don't break first.

Walking was tough but Debbie and I decided to have a walk around.

Ran into Pinks and had to stop, their first sale of the day. 

Good hot dog.

Chased it down with an excellent corn dog soon thereafter.

My job was done there.

We went into the ag buildings and saw a wallaby at the petting zoo, some pretty cows, goats and some incredible chickens.

There were some very cool looking birds.

I ran into this girl at the birds, knew I knew her!

She was our long time favorite waitress at the much missed Le Bistro restaurant, now helping her children with their poultry.

Also ran into our old friend Shiram from Roxy, the falafel guy.

We went back and found friend Ginger and we all explored the garden collection.

Just my luck, they were showing dahlias, mums, roses and glads, all my favorites.

There was a time I was planting 500 glads a year at my place. I miss the color!

Debbie and I continued over to look at the photo exhibit and find the hobby collections area, which has been moved since the last time I looked. Always loved that and the old guys that worked on the model trains which is now gone.

Collections are such a trip, from smurfs and Kiss to staplers and pencil sharpeners.

We checked out the confection contests, honestly the stuff looked good enough to eat.

Watched the monster trucks driving people around but it was a little boring, would rather watch things crashing into each other or getting a little air perhaps.

We decided to bail a little early and it was such a hassle leaving. 

Took forever, traffic nightmare. 

I toyed with the thought of bringing Leslie tomorrow but was dissuaded by the aggravation which will only get worse on the last day.

It was fun, like to thank Deb and Jim and all the 5150 guys for letting me hang out.

Happy fourth of July, everybody!