It is time for my Midterm prediction. Liberals, progressives, and news media may want to unpack the Prozac - Trump Trumps or gets Trumped?

Trump Trumps or gets Trumped?

It is time to put aside all fear, stop worrying about being wrong, and make my picks for the Midterm Election results.  I note with amusement my liberal friends and the Main Street Media have adopted the position that in projecting the results never commit to anything specific.  Thus, they hold to the belief that “it could go either way” and assume we are fools enough to think they actually picked a winner.

If I had their dismal record in picking winners and losers I guess I would be gun shy as well but I do not nor am I afraid to go on the record.  What good is writing about politics and not picking winners?  No one expects predictions to be right and those wrong will just deny it by saying their words were simply misunderstood.

My belief is neither party will be the winner, nor will the news media, for the only winner will be that dastardly Trump again.  Only a fool like Trump would have the gall to hijack the Midterm election and make it a referendum on himself.

For once again standing alone while the rest of the world goes the other way, Trump will Trump in my opinion.

 

While the margin in the House may be close, the Republicans will maintain the majority of seats and control the House.

In the Senate the fruits of Trump’s efforts will also pay off as I expect the final count will reflect an increase in GOP seats from 51 to 54 or 55.

Why do I think that way?

First, the Democrats, pollsters, and news media continue to use faulty methodology for polling as they do not understand how to account for the 43% of the population who are registered as Independents.  They are underrepresented in most all polls, do not like Trump's demeanor or attitude, do like Trumps delivery on campaign promises, and really like his Drain the Swamp attack.  These people know better than to trust any politician, political party, or member of the news media.  Results dictate how they will vote, not promises, personalities nor power.  At a minimum they can make a 4-5% difference in the actual vote.

Second, they fail to understand the bond Trump has made directly to the people.  Since day one of his political career he has rejected the notion that politics is good, effective, honest or sincere.  Trump always speaks directly to people, either in the audience or at the other end of the television broadcast.  As long as he maintains this direct connection, of which Twitter and pop up news conferences are tools, he can ignore the constant media efforts to direct the national agenda and try to influence public opinion in a liberal direction.

My predictions are most likely going to raise the fear and dread in the news media.  They might shock the Democrats as well but long ago they lost their emotional connection to the people.  Stress levels will be way up and sales of the anti-depressive drug Prozac should spike when the realization settles in that Trump’s victory is not at all about the Midterm, he has just laid the groundwork for the 2020 general election.

If the Russia Collusion investigation fades away with no convictions of Trump insiders, which there will not be, the Prozac intake may increase.  Add to that Trump being positioned to greatly increase his agenda and you can count on a new health care system, (note neither party has offered an alternative to Obamacare), and trade deals with China and other nations will make Trump unbeatable in 2020.

For all those who spent the last two years trashing the President and trying to make life miserable for him, you may need a lot more than Prozac to get through the next six years.  Should that happen the promised Blue Wave may become the Red Sea.  If I am right I hope you learn the lesson that when anyone tries to tell the people who or what they need, you have become expendable to the public.  It is time to hit the Delete button and move on.

   

Wacky and Weird Weather highlights of 2018 in Words and Photos and it is still July!!!

The Weirdest Weather Events of 2018 So Far

By Jon Erdman

June 28 2018 01:45 PM EDT

weather.com

We've already seen our share of winter storms, severe weather, cold outbreaks, flooding and droughts so far in 2018. But there are some weather events every year that are downright strange, and this year is no exception.

The events we consider strange are weather phenomena happening repeatedly in one place, in a place where you wouldn't think they would occur or during an unusual time of year. Some are phenomena you may not find in a Weather 101 textbook.

Here are some of weirdest weather events we've seen so far in 2018, in chronological order.

Freezing Rain in Florida

Just after New Year's Day, Winter Storm Grayson blanketed Tallahassee, Florida, with its first measurable snow since 1989, and the first January such occurrence, there, in records dating to 1885. That's eye-catching enough.  What was even more bizarre was seeing an ice accumulation map involving the Sunshine State. Up to a quarter inch of ice accumulation was measured in Lake City, and light icing on elevated surfaces was reported as far south as Levy County.

February 80s in New England

The heat in New England Feb. 20-21 was the "most extraordinary heat event to ever affect the Northeastern quadrant of the U.S. during the month of February, since official records began in the late 1800s," according to Weather Underground weather historian Christopher Burt. All-time state February heat records were tied or broken in eight states, including 77 degrees at Wells, Maine, 80 degrees at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, 83 degrees at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and 80 degrees at Cincinnati's Lunken Airport. 

The Four-easters

Perhaps as payback for the summerlike February heat wave, four nor'easters – Winter Storms Riley, Quinn, Skylar and Toby – in three weeks brought misery to millions along the Eastern Seaboard in March 2018. Incredibly, a fifth low-pressure center was a bit too far offshore near the end of March to join the fearsome foursome from earlier in the month.

A Horseshoe Cloud

While the nor'easter parade was hammering the East Coast, a bizarre cloud was captured in video over Nevada in early March. As meteorologist Jonathan Belles explained, this rare horseshoe vortex is fleeting, lasting only minutes, when a relatively flat cloud moves over a column of rising air, which also gives the cloud some spin.

A State Record Hailstone

Alabama's notorious history of severe weather, particularly tornadoes, is well documented.  On March 19, however, it was a hailstone that captured meteorologists' attention. One softball-size hailstone near Cullman, Alabama, was found to set a new state record, more than 5 inches in diameter. 

Orange Snow

Just after spring officially arrived in late March, a plume of dust tapped by southerly winds from north Africa, lead to the sight of orange snow over parts of eastern Europe. While not unheard of, this particular orange snow event observed in parts of Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania and Moldova featured higher concentrations of dust than usual, according to the BBC. 

New U.S. Rainfall Record?

Less than eight months after Hurricane Harvey smashed a rainfall record for any U.S. tropical cyclone, a deluge in Hawaii appeared to have set another U.S. rain record. A location on the island of Kauai measured 49.69 inches of rain in just 24 hours from April 14-15. If that is verified, it would top the U.S. 24-hour rain record of 43 inches in Alvin, Texas, during Tropical Storm Claudette in July 1979.

Apriluary, Then a Record Warm May

The coldest April in 21 years for the Lower 48 states was followed by the hottest May, in NOAA records dating to 1895. Climate scientist Dr. Brian Brettschneider wrote this was the largest area of Earth to undergo a record cold-to-warm shift in consecutive months in the last 100 years.  Minneapolis-St. Paul went from its heaviest April snowstorm of record in mid-April to a Memorial Day high of 100 degrees in just six weeks.

New England Long-Track Tornado in May

A 36-mile long EF1 tornado May 4 in western and central New Hampshire was one of the longest on record in New England. As strange as an early-May tornado of any kind is in New Hampshire –  its typical peak tornado month is July – perhaps the most amazing aspect to this was how the tornado was discovered. The National Weather Service office in Gray, Maine, gathered public storm reports, then surveyed relatively remote parts of New Hampshire 10 days after the tornado to piece together its path.

Subtropical Cyclone Off Chile

The northeastern Pacific basin's hurricane season starts in mid-May. In early May 2018, however, a bizarre subtropical cyclone formed in the southeast Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Chile. This appeared to have been a first-of-its-kind storm to form over this typically colder stretch of the southeast Pacific Ocean, according to long-term records.   

Wildfire Spawns a Severe Thunderstorm

Lightning from thunderstorms can often trigger wildfires. On May 11, however, heat generated from the Mallard Fire southeast of Amarillo, Texas, generated not just a photogenic pyrocumulus cloud, but also triggered a severe thunderstorm that ended up dumping quarter-size hail in Wheeler County, Texas, just over 60 miles away.

Back-to-Back Middle East Tropical Cyclones in Unusual Locations 

In less than a week in May, a pair of tropical cyclones took unusual tracks in the Middle East. First, Tropical Cyclone Sagar tracked almost the entire length of the Gulf of Aden before landfalling in far western Somalia on May 19, the country's strongest and westernmost in records since the mid-1960s.  Six days later, Tropical Cyclone Mekunu moved ashore near Salalah, Oman, the first Category 3 landfall in southwest Oman in modern records, dumping over 24 inches of rain in four days in the city. 

Alberto is Pure Michigan

After a Memorial Day landfall in the Florida Panhandle, deep moist air and the lack of strong shearing winds kept what was once Subropical Storm Alberto's remnant circulation intact well inland, to the degree that NOAA's Weather Prediction Center didn't issue its final advisory until Alberto was just southwest of Alpena, Michigan, on May 31.  The only other tropical cyclone to have tracked within 75 miles of Alpena since the mid-20th century, according to NOAA, was Connie, as a tropical storm in August 1955.  As The Weather Channel senior meteorologist Stu Ostro pointed out, this was also a highly unusual track for May.

Two Wyoming EF3 Tornadoes in Less Than a Week

In the first six days of June, a pair of EF3 tornadoes tore through areas near Gillette and Laramie, Wyoming, the first F/EF3 or stronger tornadoes in the state since 1987. Wyoming's low population density typically minimizes the chance of a tornado hitting structures or even trees to allow the National Weather Service to rate a tornado. The June 6 tornado north of Laramie scoured grass from the ground, allowing the NWS to rate it EF3. 

Snow After Summer Arrives

Imagine shoveling snow five days after the summer solstice. This happened on June 26, when a storm off the coast of Newfoundland had just enough cold air to blanket parts of the island with snow, prompting plows to be called out. It was one of the latest-in-season snowfalls on record in Gander. Kids had to to trudge through snow during their last week of school before summer vacation.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been an incurable weather geek since a tornado narrowly missed his childhood home in Wisconsin at age 7. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

The Kentucky Derby Run for the Roses is just six months away - are you ready?

.

So I am sitting here freezing in Maryland thanks to a vicious cold front and all I can think about is the Run for the Roses, the Kentucky Derby, now just six months away.

Well maybe not really, but I did want to get off the earliest article I ever prepared on the Derby so here it is.  Thanks to USA Sports we now have an early look at the Derby favorites though none of them could make the actual starting gate come the first Saturday in May.

By: Luke Kerr-Dineen | November 9, 2017 2:19 pm  

The 2018 Kentucky Derby is still a solid six months away, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get excited about it. Bovada released its first slate of odds today, and I must say: there’s some pretty good names in the mix.

2018 Kentucky Derby Odds

Bolt Doro 7/1

Good Magic 10/1

Hollywood Star 12/1

Mendelssohn 20/1

Montauk 20/1

Free Drop Billy 28/1

Solomini 28/1

Firenze Fire 33/1

St Patrick’s Day 33/1

The Tabulator 33/1

Engage 40/1

Sporting Chance 40/1

Avery Island 50/1

Runaway Ghost 50/1

Lone Sailor 60/1

Bravazo 66/1

Dak Attack 66/1

Enticed 66/1

Nero 66/1

Promises Fulfilled 66/1

Airtouch 85/1

Argosy Fleet 85/1

Flameaway 85/1

Mourinho 85/1

Run Away 85/1

Saxon Warrior 85/1

It’s worth noting that many of these horses won’t make it to the race. Between injuries, poor form and other issues, many of the trainers will simply opt out.

Nevertheless, as you can see, Bolt D’Oro stands as the early favorite after a solid showing at the Breeders’ Cup. I’m also quite enjoying the fact that there’s a horse named “Mourinho” — the former Chelsea and current Manchester United manager — due to run.

.