@on the cusp Hi OtC,

So this looks familiar to you?

GREAT work on the Black-headed Grosbeak! It is an excellent find anywhere in the east half of Texas. San Antonio and Austin are as far east as a 'sure thing' to get them every year. And that is just a light sprinkle of reports. I am 70 miles further west of SAT and do not see one every year here. I suspect there are some county listers in your county that have not seen one there.

Kudos to JtC for noticing its different behavior. That big conical seed-cracking bill is key. Bill shape is key in bird ID, and often what family a bird is in is most quickly determined by bill shape. Cardinal is actually a crested ground grosbeak. Again not the conical bill (triangular in profile). Grosbeaks are about the worst thing a bird bander can be bitten by. It will draw blood.

Congrats on the great find! And for being aware enough to notice it! It only takes one good bird to make your day, or week, month or year if it is good enough!

Great work y'all!

Happy feathers!

edit to fix smiley face, add a period, and a clarumfication... sorry about my vision going...

Nevertheless...

Love you guys! Say what you want to say while you bleeping can!

@QMS I took the test. My score was 13, so I occasionally spot an oddity. I had expected to score somewhat higher. My score seems boring.Maybe I read too much.

Let’s see how you do on the Collum Conspiracy Test (CCT) to obtain your CCT score (CCTS). Read the 30 declarative statements listed below that are in conflict with standard narratives. Keep score on a Post-it by giving yourself:

Zero points if you disagree or have no idea what the statement means.
One point if it troubles you that the statement might be correct.
Two points if your response is “Yup” or “Hell yeah!”
-
9/11 was an inside job.
Kamala Harris was groomed by her mother via MKUltra to become a Manchurian candidate.
Pizzagate is real and tied to Satanic rituals.
The QQQ index has a price-earnings ratio that exceeds 100.
Lindsay Graham is the love child of Nancy Pelosi and Peanut the Squirrel.
One million children a year disappear to consumers who are never identified.
The 2020 election count was rigged.
We never landed on the moon.
Anthropogenic climate change is a hoax and a grift.
The Covid-19 vaccine and crisis-based healthcare policy responses tied to the pandemic killed more people than did the Covid virus.
75% of prescription medicines have no efficacy.
Greater than 75% of those in Congress and the Senate are controlled by blackmail.
Steven Pollock did not fire a single shot in Las Vegas.
The authorities are hiding evidence of alien contact and alien technology.
US tactics and policy during World War II were under the control of Joseph Stalin.
The world is flat.
JFK and RFK were whacked by operatives tied to intelligence.
The DOD—think chem trails and HAARP—is modifying weather for tactical purposes.
The world leaders are shape-shifting reptiles.
The holocaust was fake.
FDR knew the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor and let it happen.
Jeffrey Epstein isn’t dead.
The Covid virus was generated in the lab under the auspices of the US bioweapons program.
Michelle Obama is a biological male (Big Mike).
The Clinton Foundation trafficks children.
Ryan Routh and Thomas Crooks are/were intelligence assets.
There is something seriously wrong with the Sandy Hook shooting narrative.
Directed energy weapons (DEWs) are being tested by starting forest fires.
Fluoridation of water is not about making our teeth stronger.
The mainstream media does not need revenues, which are easily covered by the deep pockets of the Deep State, but desperately needs viewers.
-
If you got a perfect CCTS of either zero or 60, get professional help. You have an unstable personality. A CCTS above 50 suggests you only spotted the explicit sanity checks; you are a loon but not necessarily at risk of harm to yourself or others. A score of 40–49 tags you as a World-class rabbit chaser. A CCTS of 20–39 places you in the Zerohedge bell curve. Below 20 means you are not a die-hard conspiracy theorist but occasionally spot oddities. I hasten to add that, if you think the world is that straightforward, the Joe Rogan–Marc Andreessen podcast and Rogan-Mike Benz mind bender combo platter will adjust your attitude. As promised, I scored 40; exactly which declarations scored me points is my business, although this Year in Review and previous Year in Review offer some insights. Also, my scale is conservative…

FWIW I scored a 28.

@QMS

One million children a year disappear to consumers who are never identified.

Those who consume children, how many are there, how many children does each consume per week?

be well and have a good one

Let’s see how you do on the Collum Conspiracy Test (CCT) to obtain your CCT score (CCTS). Read the 30 declarative statements listed below that are in conflict with standard narratives. Keep score on a Post-it by giving yourself:

Zero points if you disagree or have no idea what the statement means.
One point if it troubles you that the statement might be correct.
Two points if your response is “Yup” or “Hell yeah!”
-
9/11 was an inside job.
Kamala Harris was groomed by her mother via MKUltra to become a Manchurian candidate.
Pizzagate is real and tied to Satanic rituals.
The QQQ index has a price-earnings ratio that exceeds 100.
Lindsay Graham is the love child of Nancy Pelosi and Peanut the Squirrel.
One million children a year disappear to consumers who are never identified.
The 2020 election count was rigged.
We never landed on the moon.
Anthropogenic climate change is a hoax and a grift.
The Covid-19 vaccine and crisis-based healthcare policy responses tied to the pandemic killed more people than did the Covid virus.
75% of prescription medicines have no efficacy.
Greater than 75% of those in Congress and the Senate are controlled by blackmail.
Steven Pollock did not fire a single shot in Las Vegas.
The authorities are hiding evidence of alien contact and alien technology.
US tactics and policy during World War II were under the control of Joseph Stalin.
The world is flat.
JFK and RFK were whacked by operatives tied to intelligence.
The DOD—think chem trails and HAARP—is modifying weather for tactical purposes.
The world leaders are shape-shifting reptiles.
The holocaust was fake.
FDR knew the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor and let it happen.
Jeffrey Epstein isn’t dead.
The Covid virus was generated in the lab under the auspices of the US bioweapons program.
Michelle Obama is a biological male (Big Mike).
The Clinton Foundation trafficks children.
Ryan Routh and Thomas Crooks are/were intelligence assets.
There is something seriously wrong with the Sandy Hook shooting narrative.
Directed energy weapons (DEWs) are being tested by starting forest fires.
Fluoridation of water is not about making our teeth stronger.
The mainstream media does not need revenues, which are easily covered by the deep pockets of the Deep State, but desperately needs viewers.
-
If you got a perfect CCTS of either zero or 60, get professional help. You have an unstable personality. A CCTS above 50 suggests you only spotted the explicit sanity checks; you are a loon but not necessarily at risk of harm to yourself or others. A score of 40–49 tags you as a World-class rabbit chaser. A CCTS of 20–39 places you in the Zerohedge bell curve. Below 20 means you are not a die-hard conspiracy theorist but occasionally spot oddities. I hasten to add that, if you think the world is that straightforward, the Joe Rogan–Marc Andreessen podcast and Rogan-Mike Benz mind bender combo platter will adjust your attitude. As promised, I scored 40; exactly which declarations scored me points is my business, although this Year in Review and previous Year in Review offer some insights. Also, my scale is conservative…

FWIW I scored a 28.

@humphrey

It used to be 700 per household, it was raised to 760. This was for basic necessities lost by hurricane victims in need. Then there was an additional 2500 that was raised to 2660. This was for emergency housing needs. These amounts may be adjusted for number of family members I'm not sure.

There were also eventually much larger amounts distributed to cover home repairs due to storm damage for those home owners who didn't have flood insurance; flood hazard from natural disasters is typically not covered by ordinary home insurance, you have to have an NFIP policy which the feds provide/subsidize through private insurers. Many didn't have these policies. There may be another supplemental federal program of insurance for those who can't afford NFIP themselves, I'm not clear how this works.

Delivering this aid in a timely fashion can be problematic, as some regions are not accustomed to having natural disasters are having them now. Also, the scale of the damage and repeated damages in some regions in short periods of time, like the Helene-Milton interval overwhelms with tens of thousands of victims. My knowledge of this is from reading the web sites and talking with neighbors. The part about home repair money for those without FEMA coverage is hearsay from neighbors. It took some of them a long time to get this money because the application process wasn't simple.

But the point is well taken anyway. The lock weapons manufacturers, their NGOs, and other lobbyists have on government and media is a reflection of the innate corruption of the war for profit sector. Too many resources for too many wars for too many years.

Many people have given up or abandoned their properties on the west coast near the gulf. Typically those that give up are wealthy. I can understand why they do it even though they have insurance. Dealing with the insurers and contractors is major stress. This has been a still ongoing terrible experience for us, even worse than last time.

I've met older people (my age) who just aren't online, aren't digitally oriented, who don't have a clue how to get the money.

Russia Foreign Minister Lavrov: "When USA was hit by a hurricane, President Biden paid the victims ridiculous compensations of $700 per person while sending over $150 billion to Ukraine" pic.twitter.com/ZkYXCylHUl

— COMBATE (@upholdreality) December 28, 2024

@soryang

...on the airfield after a wheels up landing that looked too long on the runway spot, and ran into the overrun barrier and exploded. 28 people reported dead. There may be more casualties.

South Korea plane crash: casualties reported after Jeju Air flight veers off runway at Muan airport

Raphael Rashid
South Korean news agency News1 reports that approximately 28 people are feared dead in the crash, according to fire authorities. Two people have been rescued, with emergency services continuing their search operations.

The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, was carrying 175 passengers and six crew members when it struck a perimeter wall during landing, breaking apart and catching fire. Fire services have issued their highest level-3 emergency response.

The rumors are flying hot and heavy because HQ Intel Div special ops teams were directed at two airports in potential false flag ops. I think one team was reported at one point to still be at large. On the other hand, this could just be an aviation accident of the normal variety.

They appeared at the last of the year candlelight, anti martial law/ anti-coup, Saturday demo in Seoul today in Gwanghwamun plaza.

Lee Nal Chi changed the refrain from "Tiger has come down..." to "Civil war crime (insurrection) has come down." It's a play on words: a homonym, beom 범 can mean tiger 虎 or crime 犯. Mixing old and new, traditional and modern styles in support of the democracy movement.

The insurrection crisis still isn't over as the non-elected officials now running the executive office, along with the "ruling party" the PPP (Yoon's party) continue to fabricate justifications to stonewall the impeachment process. There are analysts that are wary that other attempts to install martial law, and start a war with North Korea as a pretext, may still take place. Yoon's "father in law" Kim Chung-sik, actually a shadowy behind the scenes political influence peddler catering to private interests close to Kim Gon-hee and her mother, is alleged to be involved in the plot concocted by active duty generals close to the former defense minister, and two other "retired" generals who were forced out of the military for disciplinary reasons. Kim Chung-sik was a friend of Kim Gon-hee's real father who asked Kim Chung-sik, to look after his family after he died. Kim has been involved in various alleged fraudulent or otherwise extraordinary real estate dealings based upon influence peddling in one way or another. Kim was alleged to be a Unification Church member and consequently pro-Japan.

Will the new acting president, Choi Sang-mok, fill the vacant seats on the Constitutional Court or not? Choi, the Vice Premier and Minister of Economy and Finance, assumed the acting president role December 27 after the prime minister and first acting president Han Duck-soo, was himself impeached. Han who may have been complicit in the coup beforehand, was impeached essentially for aiding and abetting the insurrection after the fact, by stonewalling the impeachment process. He vetoed legislation to investigate the first lady, and another special investigation of the insurrection itself. He also obstructed the appointment of justices to the Constitutional Court.

Thanks for the odds and ends OTC!