Just got off the phone a Pastor in the midst of the flooding in TN/NC. He is in one of the most devastated locations. He verified a few things about the situation: – Almost all help is being done by private citizens, mainly churches. – Private helicopters are flying in the vast… pic.twitter.com/jCAfZT4Klx
Let’s begin with this terrible report of a man who used his own helicopter to rescue stranded people above Asheville, N.C., and who was told if he continued, he would be placed under arrest.
The responsible officials are Dustin Waycaster – Fire Chief, and Chris Melton – Asst. Fire Chief. Congratulations men, you’ve made the hall of shame. It would take an entire article to examine the moral implications of preventing the rescue of men and women in danger, but we’ll leave it at that and cover it later. Suffice it to say that it sounds like you were discomfited by someone showing you up and “interfering with your operation.” Although it’s likely a manifest lie to say that anyone was really interfering with anything.
OKEECHOBEE, Fla. (CBS12) — Before Hurricane Helene made landfall, several cities and municipalities declared local states of emergency to ensure funds would be available for storm-related repairs.
One city’s local state of temporary emergency order has stirred controversy from gun advocates. On Monday, the Okeechobee Police Department admitted to enacting the wrong declaration last week, which mistakenly included a gun ban.
Firearms Policy Coalition, a non-profit gun rights organization headquartered in California, recently posted the notice on X, criticizing the police department for adopting the order, which banned the sale of guns and ammunition and prohibited public firearm possession by anyone other than law enforcement or military members.
UPDATE: We just spoke with someone in the @RonDeSantis administration. Not only was this local declaration illegal and unconstitutional, we were told that as soon as the Governor’s office was aware they directed the Police Chief to rescind the order. pic.twitter.com/w3yVcqQvw1
“This is something that was mistakenly enacted. Once we learned that the emergency order was not the order that we intended to declare, we immediately terminated it,” Det. Jarret Romanello, Public Information Officer for the Okeechobee City Police Department, told CBS12 News on Monday.
No one believes this was a “mistake,” Jarret. We all believe that you’re a professional liar.
Then there is more on authorities threatening arrest for folks trying to help.
We have medical teams trying to access Burnsville (elevation 2,700ft) and Black Mountain. Authorities are threatening arrest. I’m gonna keep this short & simple; something is very wrong here.
— Kelly DNP Functional/Integrative Medicine (@kacdnp91) October 2, 2024
She’s right, of course. Something is very wrong here.
Next up, the hall of shame isn’t limited to the authorities. I wonder who the “activist” groups are who are perpetrating these crimes?
Tennessee Hurricane Helene Truck Tire Slashing Update From Trucker
This many incidents has to be coordinated
– TA Travel Center Denmark, Tennessee: 50 Trucks tires slashed
– Loves in Dixon, Tennessee: 16 Trucks with tires slashed
– Loves in Holiday, Tennessee: 5 Tires slashed… pic.twitter.com/IIa2mwUY8n
This list of hall of shame members is quite likely to grow in the coming weeks and months.
UPDATE #1:
This is certainly sad. Notice that the cop who enforces what he knows to be an unjust law says “I get it.” But he enforces it anyway, as they will do. The police chief is ultimately to blame for first allowing crack heads into Asheville where the lady had to be worried about it, and second to issue standing orders to prevent this lady from retrieving her property. He (Mike Lamb) deserves to be in the hall of shame.
I’ve been wondering when we’d see some footage of what police interactions are looking like in #asheville North Carolina #helene#ncwx
Well, here we go. City of Asheville Police Department hounds resident about getting their things from their home, “you guys have already gotten… pic.twitter.com/6PV9EqiMqy
— Frank Fighting For Freedom 🇺🇸 (@thinktankfranks) October 3, 2024
UPDATE #2:
And perhaps the most egregious actions from the worst of all villains, Pete Buttigieg.
🚨NEW – Federal Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has shut down aid flights into Western North Carolina.
A NOTAM has been issued by the FAA that won’t allow anyone not approved by the state to fly aid missions. They said they would give permission but they’re not being…
This is disturbing, but expected behavior from the federal bureaucracy. They don’t understand the implications of their decisions, but then they wouldn’t care even if they did. What governors and local authorities (read LE) won’t do is enforce against FEMA. Notice that the local Sheriff is enforcing rules that harm people. Notice that no LE is entering the FEMA dumps to enforce the right to dump. Notice that only the people whose lives will suffer care about this.
MUST WATCH & MUST SHARE ! If you don’t fear the government yet , you will after watching this 👇 Apply logic to your question WHY ! So they can make life of disaster victims as miserable as possible ; where people give up , leave their homes never to return…. #AbandonedAmericapic.twitter.com/GtdzuTTBqz
What? You didn’t really expect FEMA to live up to their word, did you? We’ve sent all of your dollars overseas or housed illegal immigrants with it here. You don’t rate.
This is a good set of tests and an interesting channel. I guess one takeaway might be to stick with SureFire and Streamlight (although I have never seen either company field lights that claimed 5000 lumens). I wonder who needs a 5000 lumen flashlight anyway.
Then this is also a good video, but frankly I can’t locate a Maglite 623 with these specifications. I’m guessing it’s a modified version.
Equipped with only 19 pounds of gear, 89-year-old Bing Olbum set off on what he intended to be a five–day hiking trip.
Instead, Olbum found himself stranded for nearly 10 days in over 4 million acres of Salmon-Challis National Forest. It’s home to some of the most rugged places in the country beyond Alaska, according to a local search and rescue coordinator.
Some of the peaks and saddles Olbum passed through reached over 8,000 feet as he cleared more than 20 miles while traversing the alpine forest.
“The odds of anybody surviving that period of time out in the wilderness area is very unlikely,” said Custer County Search and Rescue Coordinator Lincoln Zollinger.
On August 1, Olbum ventured from the Hunter Creek Trailhead in east-central Idaho on a backpacking trip. He was expected to arrive at his exit point in the McDonald Creek Area five days later, according to the Custer County Sheriff’s Office.
Olbum was reported as a missing person days later on August 6, the sheriff’s office said.
The Custer County Search and Rescue team began searching for him by land and air. Ground teams scanned the forest for traces of Olbum, lasering in on possible trails on which he could be found.
The next morning, the Idaho National Guard and a private pilot lent their helicopters to help with the search, and the Idaho National Laboratory manned drones to sweep through the forested mountains for signs of Olbum.
Despite the extensive effort, the Custer County Search and Rescue team “had zero traces of him for the five days” they had been looking, Zollinger said.
Local residents of Custer County and the surrounding area made up the ground search teams.
Locals left their jobs and commitments to help with the search for Olbum, as the Custer County Search and Rescue team is entirely made up of volunteers, according to Zollinger.
“We’re still a really small community,” Zollinger said, adding that he and others have spent their whole lives here. “They say, ‘stay off the mountain,’ well we’re going anyways.”
And it was these community members who finally brought Olbum home.
“We were getting ready to discontinue our search and turn it back over to the family to let them look for (him),” Zollinger said, adding that the chances of survivability were low after being out there for so long.
Olbum’s daughter, Jennifer Olbum, posted his photo and trail map on Facebook Thursday asking for information and help from hikers familiar with the area.
“For two days search and rescue have been unable to locate him which tells me he is hurt or worse and unable to lay out a tarp for the choppers to see,” she wrote.
Two days later, on the final evening of the search, a group of local rescuers discovered Olbum’s camp, according to the sheriff’s office.
After searching for Olbum in the surrounding areas, local residents on horseback found him safe in the early morning hours of August 11.
According to Zollinger, Olbum was found virtually unscathed and was only mildly dehydrated and sore from the sheer distance he covered on foot.
That morning, the Custer County Sheriff’s Office praised Olbum, saying his “will to survive has resulted in an unbelievably good ending to this incident” in a post on Facebook.
Olbum had lightly packed for his backpacking trip. His only food for the excursion was beef jerky, salted nuts and iodine tablets to purify water, according to Zollinger. He also packed a one-man tent, a blanket and a pad to sleep on.
He did not have any tracking devices on him and only had a compass and a paper map for navigation.
I don’t recommend hiking the bush in Idaho without a large bore handgun, which based on his light loadout, I’m willing to bet he didn’t have.
I also don’t recommend going into the deep bush with an ultralight loadout. Freeze dried food would have been very light.
Finally, hiking in the bush without a tracking device is bold. Probably too bold for me. I don’t recommend it.
Outdoor gear is in the midst of a sea change. A common family of chemicals used for waterproofing, stain resistance, and durability — PFAS — is being banned in textiles in California and in apparel in New York starting in 2025. As a result, outdoor gear companies are working hard to remove these chemicals from their products. With PFAS being utilized in DWR treatments on wind jackets, waterproof treatment on down, tent fabrics, rain jackets, and much more, this will require a major shift for the industry. But what is PFAS, and why is it being banned?
[ … ]
PFAS, short for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, was originally developed by Dupont in 1938, and a version of it quickly found its way into any number of household goods under a familiar name: Teflon. Its waterproof and stain-resistant properties made it extremely popular. Today there are nearly 15,000 chemicals in the PFAS family, including PFOS (Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid) and PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic Acid), which are found in everything from rain jackets to food packaging to shampoo.
What makes these chemicals unique is the carbon and fluorine bonds in their atomic structure. Because carbon and fluorine bonds are very strong, they do not break down easily. For that reason, they are known as “forever chemicals.” They build up in the environment, and they build in the human body. Based on an analysis of survey data from the National Center for Health Statistics for the years 2011 to 2012, it is estimated that 97 percent of Americans have PFAS in their bloodstream.
It doesn’t matter that only two states intend to ban these chemicals. The rest will soon follow, and even if they don’t, the outdoor gear manufacturers will change their products in fear of lawsuits.
If you purchase – or intend to purchase – rain gear, hunting apparel, or outdoor gear of any sort that is rated for water or rain resistance, this will affect you.
There are currently parkas on the shelves that you may want to purchase if you are so inclined to stay ahead of this ban.
Shortly after 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, officers responded to the location for a report of an attempted home invasion robbery. Police spoke to the homeowner, who said three men tried to break down his door but were unsuccessful and fled the scene.
The SPD says the suspects tried a second time at around 12:25 a.m. the next morning.
Authorities say four men returned to the house to try breaking the door down with a sledgehammer.
The homeowner told police he was sleeping and woke up to loud banging at the door. He armed himself with a rifle, and when the suspects tried getting inside, he shot at them.
Most of the time home invasions are conducted by more than one person. The only thing missing here is the common protocol of the criminals to shout “Police, Police …” Including those who are actually police.
Let me explain what’s happening here before you watch this.
When hiking in the Teton’s in May of this year (on a professional trip to Idaho Falls, ID) with still a very heavy snow pack, I fell into a tree well. When I began the hiking the Jenny Lake trail, the snow was inches deep. During the trip it turned into feet deep, and I had no snow shoes and no trekking poles. Anyway, it was extremely difficult to get out of the tree well and it took quite some time.
I was “post holing” in snow, and it had never occurred to me what happens when you go waist deep into snow. You don’t remove your leg. You have to dig your leg out. The snow is like cement. Here the snowboarder is head-down into a tree well and well within the snow. He probably cannot expand his lungs very much in order to breath. He certainly cannot extricate himself from the problem.
The skier is in a mad rush literally to save the man’s life. Despite what he says, he cannot breath – not while encased in the snow pack.
As to applicability, whether you snow board or ski or not, the lesson [re]learned is just this: don’t ever leave your colleagues. Ever. If you’re with someone, they are acting very stupidly and irresponsibly to leave you, regardless of the fact that they may want to forge ahead and make time or whatever the reason. He needs to find new friends.
And it just seems like we’re being inundated with this, especially the invasive kind.
Asian longhorned ticks (ALTs) have been spreading across the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. since at least 2017, according to the Center for Disease Prevention (CDC), and the pests’ numbers are now on the rise in Ohio—a recent study from the Ohio State University reveals. According to the study’s authors, 9,287 invasive ticks were removed from a farm in eastern Ohio in the summer of 2021 after three cattle were reported dead from tick bites by the landowner.
During the study—lead-authored by Ohio State Assistant Professor of Veterinary Preventive Medicine Risa Pesapane—scientists continued to monitor the invasive tick population after most of the pests were killed off with pesticides. They found that the Asian longhorn ticks returned to the pasture and continued to spread in June 2022, despite the tick control efforts undertaken in 2021.
“You cannot spray your way out of an Asian longhorned tick infestation,” Pesapane said in a Nov. 3 news release. “They are going to spread to pretty much every part of Ohio and they are going to be a long-term management problem. There is no getting rid of them.”
Pesapane said that the cattle killed during the 2021 ALT infestation in eastern Ohio sustained thousands of tick bites. “One of those was a healthy male bull, about 5 years old,” she said in the press release. “Enormous. To have been taken down by exsanguination by ticks, you can imagine that was tens of thousands of ticks on one animal.” The term “exsanguination” refers to the action of draining a person, animal, or organ of the blood needed to sustain life.
[ … ]
According to Pesapane, the invasive tick’s rapid spread lies in its ability to reproduce asexually, without mating. “There are no other ticks in North America that do that. So they can just march on, with exponential growth, without any limitation of having to find a mate …
Great. Does anything good come out of Asia?
If it isn’t ticks, it’s chiggers. This one is especially dangerous to humans.
Wildlife researchers at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro found a novel pathogen for the first time in North Carolina that is carried by chiggers.
“That is a disease that has never been described in North America or in the Americas altogether,” Dr. Gideon Wasserberg, an infectious disease expert who works in the UNCG Department of Biology, said.
Symptoms include:
a dark scab at the site of the bite
confusion
fever
chills
headache
body aches
rash
larger lymph nodes
In some extreme cases, it can lead to organ failure.
Just great.
I’m happy that the suffering from summer is over and we’re facing some cold weather now, but summer will be back with a vengeance, so stay diligent.
9 months ago
