2024·11·30 Joe Biden Didn’t Win (And Neither Did Kamala Harris) Daily Thread

As of desired publication time, 12:02 AM on November 29th, there are 51 days, 11 hours and 58 minutes before our Once and Future President, Donald John Trump, is restored to his rightful office.

Not that I’m counting, mind you.

What is it that feeds our battle, yet starves our victory?

Speaker Johnson
Pinging you on January 6 Tapes

Just a friendly reminder Speaker Johnson. You’re doing some good things–or at least trying in the case of the budget–but this is the most important thing out there still hanging. One initial block released with the promise of more…and?

We have American patriots being held without bail and without trial, and the tapes almost certainly contain exculpatory evidence. (And if they don’t, and we’re all just yelling in an echo chamber over here, we need to know that too. And there’s only one way to know.)

Either we have a weaponized, corrupt government or we have a lot of internet charlatans. Let’s expose whatever it is. (I’m betting it’s the corrupt weaponized government, but if I am wrong, I’d like to see proof.)

Justice Must Be Done.

The prior election must be acknowledged as fraudulent, and steps must be taken to prosecute the fraudsters and restore integrity to the system.

Nothing else matters at this point. Talking about trying again in 2022 or 2024 is hopeless otherwise. Which is not to say one must never talk about this, but rather that one must account for this in ones planning; if fixing the fraud is not part of the plan, you have no plan.

Small Government?

Many times conservatives (real and fake) speak of “small government” being the goal.

This sounds good, and mostly is good, but it misses the essential point. The important thing here isn’t the size, but rather the purpose, of government. We could have a cheap, small tyranny. After all our government spends most of its revenue on payments to individuals and foreign aid, neither of which is part of the tyrannical apparatus trying to keep us locked down and censored. What parts of the government would be necessary for a tyranny? It’d be a lot smaller than what we have now. We could shrink the government and nevertheless find it more tyrannical than it is today.

No, what we want is a limited government, limited not in size, but rather in scope. Limited, that is, in what it’s allowed to do. Under current circumstances, such a government would also be much smaller, but that’s a side effect. If we were in a World War II sort of war, an existential fight against nasty dictatorships on the brink of world conquest, that would be very expensive and would require a gargantuan government, but that would be what the government should be doing. That would be a large, but still limited government, since it’d be working to protect our rights.

World War II would have been the wrong time to squawk about “small government,” but it wasn’t (and never is) a bad time to demand limited government. Today would be a better time to ask for a small government–at least the job it should be doing is small today–but it misses the essential point; we want government to not do certain things. Many of those things we don’t want it doing are expensive but many of them are quite eminently doable by a smaller government than the one we have today. Small, but still exceeding proper limits.

So be careful what you ask for. You might get it and find you asked for the wrong thing.

Political Science In Summation

It’s really just a matter of people who can’t be happy unless they control others…versus those who want to be left alone. The oldest conflict within mankind. Government is necessary, but government attracts the assholes (a highly technical term for the control freaks).

His Truth?

Again we saw an instance of “It might be true for Billy, but it’s not true for Bob” logic this week.

I hear this often, and it’s usually harmless. As when it’s describing differing circumstances, not different facts. “Housing is unaffordable” can be true for one person, but not for another who makes ten times as much.

But sometimes the speaker means it literally. Something like 2+2=4 is asserted to be true for Billy but not for Bob. (And when it’s literal, it’s usually Bob saying it.) And in that sense, it’s nonsense, dangerous nonsense. There is ONE reality, and it exists independent of our desires and our perceptions. It would go on existing if we weren’t here. We exist in it. It does not exist in our heads. It’s not a personal construct, and it isn’t a social construct. If there were no society, reality would continue to be what it is, it wouldn’t vanish…which it would have to do, if it were a social construct.

Now what can change from person to person is the perception of reality. We see that all the time. And people will, of course, act on those perceptions. They will vote for Trump (or try to) if their perception is close to mine, and vote against Trump (and certainly succeed at doing so) if their perception is distant from mine (and therefore, if I do say so, wrong). I have heard people say “perception is reality” and usually, that’s what they’re trying to say–your perception of reality is, as far as you know, an accurate representation of reality, or you’d change it.

But I really wish they’d say it differently. And sometimes, to get back to Billy and Bob, the person who says they have different truths is really saying they have different perceptions of reality–different worldviews. I can’t argue with the latter. But I sure wish they’d say it better. That way I’d know that someone who blabbers about two different truths is delusional and not worth my time, at least not until he passes kindergarten-level metaphysics on his umpteenth attempt.

Lawyer Appeasement Section

OK now for the fine print.

This is the WQTH Daily Thread. You know the drill. There’s no Poltical correctness, but civility is a requirement. There are Important Guidelines, here, with an addendum on 20191110.

We have a new board – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation.

And remember Wheatie’s Rules:

1. No food fights
2. No running with scissors.
3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
4. Zeroth rule of gun safety: Don’t let the government get your guns.
5. Rule one of gun safety: The gun is always loaded.
5a. If you actually want the gun to be loaded, like because you’re checking out a bump in the night, then it’s empty.
6. Rule two of gun safety: Never point the gun at anything you’re not willing to destroy.
7. Rule three: Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire.
8. Rule the fourth: Be sure of your target and what is behind it.

(Hmm a few extras seem to have crept in.)

(Paper) Spot Prices

Kitco “Ask” prices. Last week:

Gold $2,716.90
Silver $31.41
Platinum $973.00
Palladium $1,034.00
Rhodium $4,950.00
FRNSI* 130.430+
Gold:Silver 86.498-

This week, 3PM Mountain Time, markets have closed for the weekend. (This time, apparently, markets closed at 12:45, not 3PM.)

Gold $2,650.10
Silver $30.69
Platinum $954.00
Palladium $1002.00
Rhodium $4,850.00
FRNSI* 127.199-
Gold:Silver 86.351-

Gold took a ninety dollar thumping on Monday, seemed to be going nowhere the rest of the week, but has recovered a little bit on Friday. The same is pretty much true of the other precious metals, though one will note rhodium actually dropped a bit. The gold:silver ratio still sucks (if you’re a silver fan).

*The SteveInCO Federal Reserve Note Suckage Index (FRNSI) is a measure of how much the dollar has inflated. It’s the ratio of the current price of gold, to the number of dollars an ounce of fine gold made up when the dollar was defined as 25.8 grains of 0.900 gold. That worked out to an ounce being $20.67+71/387 of a cent. (Note gold wasn’t worth this much back then, thus much gold was $20.67 71/387ths. It’s a subtle distinction. One ounce of gold wasn’t worth $20.67 back then, it was $20.67.) Once this ratio is computed, 1 is subtracted from it so that the number is zero when the dollar is at its proper value, indicating zero suckage.

Flat Earth Cowards

Just remember that David Weiss, Eric Dubay, Mark Sargent, Nathan Oakley, Dean Odle, and Volker Meyer, all Flat Earth proponents on the internet, are intellectual cowards at best, and knowing fraudsters (politespeak for motherfucking liars) at worst, and I am in this case inclined to believe the worst.

After years of maintaining that the Sun does indeed set in Antarctica during the southern summer, but then claiming people aren’t allowed to go look, they’ve turned down the opportunity to go look. Worse, many of them condemn Jeranism, Whitsit Gets It, and Lisbeth Acosta for going.

Any reasonable person looking at this behavior should see the hallmarks of a fraudster. The fraudster wants you to believe what he says unconditionally. The fraudster wants you to 1) ignore the lack of evidence for his position and 2) the actual evidence against his position. This is a system for protecting lies.

Would someone condemn people for going and looking, if they sincerely thought their position was true?

These people are pushing bullshit and they know they are pushing bullshit. These people are lying turds.

By contrast, eight of the globers who spend time debunking flerfers are going, one is paying for himself, one is getting the free ride offered as part of TFE, the other six are crowd funded. Globers also crowdfunded Lisbeth to go when the anonymous donor who funded a drawing for the flerfers turned out to himself be a flerfer fraud. Globers crowd funding her, not flerfers. All of the globers (and many who are not going, such as Professor Dave Explains) have vowed to remove their anti-flat earth content and post a statement that the earth is flat, if the sun actually sets for those at the Final Experiment.

Who is acting confident in their position…and who is acting like they are afraid this whole thing will make it obvious they are simply worthless shitbag liars?

On The Fringes? The Trans-Neptunian Worlds

There are nine objects that are likely “dwarf planets” (i.e. objects too small to be “real” planets, but which are nevertheless rounded by their own gravity and orbit the Sun directly). It’s difficult to confirm the roundness of many of these as all we can see of them is a fuzzy blob, even with the Hubble Space Telescope.

Here they are:

Name Minor Planet Number	min, max distances, (mean) (in AUs)	Eccentricity (0=circular, 1=parabola)	Inclination to ecliptic (degrees)	Period (years)	Year Discovered	Precovery Date
Ceres 1	2.55- 2.98 (2.77)	0.0785	10.6	4.60	1801	–
Pluto 134340	29.658- 49.305 (39.482)	0.2488	17.16	247.94	1930	1909
Quaoar 50000	41.900- 45-488 (43.694)	0.04106	7.9895	288.83	2002	1954
Sedna 90377	76.19- 937 (506)	0.8496	11.9307	11,390	2003	1990
Orcus 90482	30.281- 48.067 (39.174)	0.22701	20.592	245.19	2004	1951
Haumea 136108	34.647- 51.585 (43.116)	0.19642	28.2137	283.12	2003	1955
Eris 136199	38.271- 97.457 (67.864)	0.43607	44.040	559.07	2005	1954
MakeMake 136472	38.104- 52.786 (45.430)	0.16126	28.9835	306.21	2005	1955
Gonggong 225088	33.781- 101.190 (67.485)	0.49943	30.6273	554.37	2007	1985

Orbital Parameters of the nine likely dwarf planets

A word of explanation: The “precovery” date is the oldest image found of the object, when they go back looking to see if anyone ever accidentally photographed it. This seems like a bit of trivia, but those images can be extremely useful for determining the orbit of the object (not just the semi major axis, inclination and eccentricity but also the longitude of the ascending node, argument of perihelion and time of perihelion–those three orient the orbit (along with the inclination) and put the object at a certain spot in the orbit). This is why astronomers never throw away an astrophotograph; it may be beneficial decades later.

It should be noted that the full list of possible dwarf planets is 28 objects long, based on estimated diameters, though some have no names (just minor planet numbers). For the sheer sake of self-preservation, one should probably hope that 229762 Gǃkúnǁʼhòmdímà does not make the list, as !Kung words are notoriously hard to pronounce. (No, I am not making that up.)

By the opposite token, only Ceres and Pluto are absolutely solidly confirmed to be dwarf planets; it pretty much takes a spacecraft mission to confirm it.

Ceres is an outlier, obviously, because it’s the only object in the table that isn’t a trans-Neptunian object. I’ve covered asteroids already, so from this point forward I am going to ignore the world Ceres. (Never was much into baseball anyway.) Aside from Ceres the other oddball is Sedna, with a huge eccentricity and a huge orbit; it makes all of the others pale in comparison.

What would a well behaved full-blown classical planet look like in that table? It would have a low eccentricity and a low inclination. Quaoar actually behaves more like a planet than any of the others in the table (even including Ceres).

Here is another diagram, showing relative sizes, shapes, colors and brightnesses of these and some other objects. The color is of course an average color. In some cases there’s uncertainty as to size (as with Sedna), in which case a half-arc is shown at the maximum diameter. This one might reward a right-click-and-open-in-new-tab.

So now let’s take a look at these in more detail; I’m going to save Sedna and Pluto for last (and not bother at all with Ceres).

Quaoar

Quaoar (pronounced kwah-wahr, though more strictly speaking it should be “kwa’uwar” with the ‘ representing a glottal stop as you hear in the Hawaiian pronunciation of Hawai’i) is named after a deity of the Tongva people, and for me at least that answers nothing until I go look up “Tongva people.” It turns out they were a tribe in what is now the Los Angeles basin. (They also call themselves the Kizh.) Their language is distantly related to Aztec.

Quaoar was discovered 4 June 2002 by Chadwick A. Trujillo and Michael E. Brown at the Palomar Observatory (they were not using the big 200 incher but one of the smaller (but still big) instruments, the Samuel Oschin telescope. They were running a survey looking for Kuiper belt objects (little did they know…). Once it was determined that Quaoar was not in a resonance with Neptune (making it a qubewano-class TNO), the naming convention dictated it be named after a creation deity; Brown and Trujillo consulted with some present-day Tongvas to be sure it was an appropriate name.

Quaoar is an elongated ellipsoidal shape averaging 1090 km across, making it less than half the size of Pluto (2,376.6 km). (We know it’s not perfectly spherical because its brightness varies over a span of 17.68 hours–which we infer is its day. This could just be brightness differences, like with Iapetus, but we’ve also watched Quaoar cross in front of stars and timing the length of the blackouts leads to different estimates of the diameter.) Quaoar is also a very dark object reflecting only 12% of the light it gets from the Sun (which ain’t much to begin with!) It’s somewhat reddish, like 20000 Varuna and 28978 Ixion (both objects that are on the “long list” of possible dwarf planets).

So if it’s not really round, what’s the deal with it being considered a dwarf planet? Normally any rocky body over 900km or so, or any icy body between 200-400 km across should go round. If it’s slowly rotating it should be a bit oblate (wider at the equator than through the poles). A faster rotation should resemble Haumea’s case (see below). So how can Quaoar not be round? It’s absolutely big enough. It’s possible that Quaoar used to rotate more quickly, froze into shape and then Weymot slowed its rotation down due to tidal effects. (Saturn’s moon Iapetus has a similar situation going on but is not as extreme.)

Here are the discovery images put together as a GIF. It’s easy to spot when there’s an arrow, isn’t it?

And now (drumroll) our best image, from the Hubble space telescope:

And yes, Quaoar has a moon, Weywot, discovered by Brown in February 2007; Weywot is the son of Quaoar in Tongva mythology. Weywot is about 200 km across (though some places in Wikipoo show it as smaller), which makes it too small to be rounded (the smallest rounded object known is Mimas (Saturn’s “Death Star” moon), at 396.4 km; there is at least one non-rounded objects that are larger: Neptune’s moon Proteus). Quaoar also has a ring.

Here are a couple more diagrams, the first being a picture of Quaoar’s orbit (in cyan and blue) compared to Neptune (white) and Pluto (red). The two spheres are not only about the right sizes, comparatively speaking (but not compared to the size of the orbits!), but they are correctly colored (an average color) and even the brightness (albedo) is correct.

And another, an “overhead” view with Quaoar in yellow, Pluto in magenta/pink, Neptune in blue, and a few other TNOs in a drab green.

On the whole, we know next to nothing about this one…and that’s pretty much going to be true of most of the others. They’re just too doggone far away.

Orcus

Orcus is estimated to be anywhere from 870-960 km across, thus about the size of Ceres. It’s fairly bright, neutral in color and largely made of water ice; apparently the ice is mostly crystalline so maybe sometime in the past there was cryovolcanism (i.e., water volcanoes).

Orcus was discovered by Michael Brown, Chad Trujillo and David Rabinowitz on 17 February 2004 (note that two of these astronomers also discovered Quaoar). In this case, Orcus got named after one of the Roman gods of the underworld, because it’s a plutino.

What is a plutino? Plutinos are objects that, like Pluto, are in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune, orbiting twice in the time it takes Neptune to orbit three times. (Note in the chart above it has nearly the same year, and mean orbital distance, as Pluto.) But Orcus tends to be furthest away from the Sun when Pluto is closest, and vice versa.

Here we see a Hubble Space telescope image of Orcus, and its moon Vanth. Vanth is estimated to be 475 km across by some, which is easily large enough to end up in that “Medium Small” 250-500km size bucket with Mimas, Hyperion, Proteus and Nereid, but other estimates put it below that 400 km line yet still in that bucket. Considering it’s likely frozen solid, and how rigid ice is at those temperatures, it’s not expected to be a round moon. (Note that I made a point to talk about any moon in that size bucket, and above, as I went through the 8 big planets.)

Vanth was named after an Etruscan deity, a “psychopomp” who guides the deceased to the underworld.

It is, however, big enough that the center of gravity of the Orcus-Vanth system is actually outside of Orcus, making it a double object. Vanth orbits Orcus in 9.54 days, and appears to rotate in the same amount of time. The rotation of Orcus, on the other hand, has been harder to nail down, so we don’t know if both bodies are tidally locked or just Vanth.

All in all, Orcus is often thought of as an “anti Pluto” since it’s phased the opposite of Pluto and has a (proportionately) large moon like Pluto. It’s even more striking when you see the visual of the orbit (Neptune’s orbit in white, Pluto’s orbit in red, Orcus in cyan and blue–note the color changes when the object crosses the ecliptic, and note the spheres are to scale with each other, the correct colors and albedos, again):

Haumea

Haumea is named after the Hawai’ian goddess of childbirth. It was discovered by Mike Brown at Caltech, but announced by a team headed by Jose Luis Ortiz Moreno at the Sierra Nevada Observatory…not our Sierra Nevadas, but rather the ones in Spain. There’s controversy over who should get the credit for this one. It’s the third largest TNO after Pluto and Eris. Here’s a picture, again from the Hubble Space Telescope:

This one’s a bit odd. Based on watching it fluctuate in brightness, it’s a very elongated triaxial ellipsoid, meaning it has a long axis, a medium axis at right angles to that, and a short axis at right angles to the other two. Here’s an artist’s rendering of Haumea:

But this is actually the shape one would expect of a rapidly rotating object under hydrostatic equilibrium; Haumea rotates in about four hours.

So how long are the axes? Haumea is roughly 2100 by 1680 x 1074 kilometers. Or perhaps 2322 x 1704 x 1026. Depending on whose numbers you believe. Either way, it’s a sizeable object.

Haumea has moons, as you likely noticed…not just one but two of them known so far. Hi’iaka (upper right in the picture) is a medium-small moon about 310 km across, in that same “bucket” as Mimas, but probably not rounded. Namaka (lower left) is roughly 170 km across. They are named after two daughters of Haumea, the patron goddesses of the Big Island of Hawai’i, and the sea, respectively.

(That brings us, by the way, to the end of the list of medium-small moons: Mimas, Hyperion, Miranda, Proteus, Nereid, Vanth, and Hi’iaka… or does it? It turns out ttwo additional objects on the long list of possible dwarf planets, Salacia and Varda, also have moons in this size bucket. And there’s an almost perfectly-matched double body, Lempo (at 272 km) and Hiisi, with the best estimate for Hiisi being 251km (just squeaking by). If there’s one thing about TNOs, it’s that they tend to have comparatively large moons!)

Haumea is as bright as snow, with an albedo of 0.73…meaning that 73 percent of the light that hits it is reflected back. It seems to have crystalline ice on it, which is puzzling, because crystalline ice should only form above 100 K, and Haumea is at 50K, and only amorphous ice should form at that temperature. Furthermore once it forms, cosmic rays plus what’s left of the solar wind out there should degrade it to amorphous ice in about 10 million years. On top of that, old surfaces out there end up covered in tholins (“star tar”), making them appear red. So it seems that Haumea’s surface is new, but we don’t know how that could have happened. (I could spitball it, but that would be worth less than you paid for this article.)

Haumea appears to have a ring, discovered as it passed in front of a star.

Haumea turns out to be the largest member of a family of objects that have similar orbits and it appears they may all be remnants of a larger body that broke apart due to a collision. But it appears to have happened at least a billion years ago based on orbital dynamics considerations, so that won’t explain the white, crystalline ice surface of Haumea.

The New Horizons probe that went to Pluto actually took some pictures of Haumea on three different occasions…from quite a distance however. The 2007 shots were from 49 AUs away, others were in 2017 at 59 AU and in 2023 at 63 AU. Still, being able to compare the “side view” from what we see on Earth has been helpful.

Haumea’s orbit turns out to resemble Makemake’s (see below). As a bonus Quaoar is also shown:

Eris

We talked about Eris a lot last time. With a diameter of 2326 km it’s a smidge smaller than Pluto, but it’s denser (more rocks, less ice) but is considerably more massive than Pluto, 27% more in fact. As pointed out last time, if Pluto is a planet, Eris is too.

Here are Eris and Dysnomia photographed in 2006, and we’re lucky to have this, because at the moment Eris is 96.3 AUs from the Sun.

Here’s the same sort of orbital diagram I’ve showed for the others…but note in this one Neptune’s orbit is quite small.

MakeMake

Makemake (MAH-ke-MAH-ke) is comparable in size to Saturn’s moon Iapetus, or 60% the diameter of Pluto. From what little of it we see, it may actually have geothermal activity, even though it’s one of the coldest bodies in the solar system at 40K. (When you see the words “possibly nitrogen ices” in a wikipoo article, you know the place is colder than Hitlary Klinton’s lap.) It’s named after a creator god in the Rapa Nui mythology of Easter Island. Again, Michael Brown is on the list of discoverers. And again we have a fuzzy image from Hubble Space Telescope.

And yet again, we have a moon, one that hasn’t been named yet.

Makemake is bright enough–brighter than any TNO other than Pluto–that perhaps it should have been discovered much sooner (maybe even by Clyde Tombaugh). There are even claims that Tombaugh in fact should have seen it, but it was buried right in the Milky Way and with all those stars around it, it would have been hard to spot. However, it hasn’t been spotted in any of his photographs, so it’s not that he photographed it and didn’t notice. It turns out the earliest precovery date is 1955 and Tombaugh stopped looking for additional objects in 1943.

Here’s another one of those graphics of the orbits, as usual the ecliptic in white, Pluto in red. Haumea is in green and MakeMake is on the blue line. The closest and farthest approaches to the sun (the perihelia and aphelia are given. The spheres are correctly sized, the correct colors and the correct albedos.

Gonggong

Discovered by Megan Schwamb, Michael Brown and David Rabinowitz on 17 July 2007, again as part of that Palomar Distant Solar System Survey. Megan Schwamb actually was the first to spot it with the blinking technique that Tombaugh used to discover Pluto. Gonggong is a water god in Chinese mythology, usually depicted as having a copper and iron human head on a serpent’s body. Gonggong is often accompanied by Xiangliu, his minister, a nine-headed poisonous snake. Both are associated with flooding catastrophes.

But enough about the Deep State.

Gonggong is 1230 km across (give or take 50 km), about half the width of Pluto, and a fairly dark body. Here is another Hubble Space telescope image:

And yes, there’s a moon, named Xiangliu, of course.

Gonggong is very red, so almost certainly covered in tholins. There is some water ice, so maybe there was some cryovulcanism in the distant past.

It’s a lot like Eris in having a large orbit, as seen in this polar view (view from above) in which both it and Eris are shown:

And the same thing, seen from the side:

Gonggong and Eris seem to have similarly-extreme orbits (but not nearly the same orbit). Right now Gonggong is 88 AUs distant. Based on color and brightness it’s likely made of the same stuff as Quaoar.

Sedna

And now to go back to Sedna. Sedna is just…different from the rest. It’s red, it’s far, far away, and it’s going to get a lot farther away, eventually. It’s also the only one of these nine with no known moon. It’s very roughly 1000 km across. And because it has no moon whose orbit we can measure and time, we have only the vaguest notion of its mass. And now for a smashingly spectacular picture from Hubble Space Telescope:

Although I was flippant when I said that, if you think about it, it’s a huge acheivement to be able to take even this picture. Sedna is presently 83.55 AUs or 12.5 billion kilometers away. Right now Eris and Gonggong are further away, but that won’t remain true forever, since Sedna’s aphelion is 937 AU, not only busting into triple digits for the first time, but nearly reaching four digits.

Sedna is not the furthest though. There is a smaller object with and even more extreme orbit, 541132 Leleakohonua, perihelion 65.16 AU and aphelion…are you sitting down? of 2106 AU, with an orbital period of 35,760 years. However, this object is maybe 110 km across and in no way a dwarf planet. Right now it’s about 78 AUs out, getting closer to perihelion in 2078. (As a bonus the eccentricity actually busts the 0.900 mark at 0.93997.)

Neither of these objects would ever have been found if they didn’t happen to be at the near part of their orbits. Given that objects like this spend a lot less time near the sun than they do further away, there are probably a lot of them out there, simply too far away for us to detect.

Objects like this are so extreme, there’s now a new class of objects, “Sednoids” including these two plus one other (a bit less extreme than Sedna). Some have suggested that they’re really members of the inner Oort Cloud. (I haven’t talked about the Oort cloud…yet.)

There is also speculation that these crazy orbits are caused by encounters with a full planet out there somewhere, perhaps 400AU out. The fact that a lot of aphelions seem to be in very roughly the same place lends credence to this. Here are the three “Sednoid” objects (2015 TG387 is Leleakohonua’s provisional number):

Pluto (Finally)

An Ode to New Horizons

Until the Hubble space telescope, a typical photo of Pluto showed a bunch of white dots on a black background, and an arrow pointing to one of them. Pluto was only distinguishable from stars by its motion, which took days to become obvious.

Then Hubble Space Telescope took a look in 2003, and what it gave us, was used to make this animation, as Pluto did a full rotation in 6.4 days…retrograde, apparently:

Then suddenly in 2015…you could buy a fricking globe of Pluto. I saw one for sale in the observatory store at Griffith Park playing tourist one evening while on a business trip and there was no way it wasn’t coming home with me. That simple metal sphere encapsulated everything about our planetary space program…from a dot on a page to a real world, within my lifetime.

So what happened?

THIS happened:

The New Horizons probe went to Pluto.

We first had to get permission. According to Wikipedia:

In 1992 JPL scientist Robert Staehle called Clyde Tombaugh, requesting permission to visit his planet. “I told him he was welcome to it,” Tombaugh later remembered, “though he’s got to go one long, cold trip.”

Tombaugh passed away in 1997. A small portion of his ashes were on the New Horizons spacecraft. He got to go along for the ride. On the container is inscribed, “Interred herein are remains of American Clyde W. Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto and the Solar System’s ‘third zone’ Adelle and Muron’s boy, Patricia’s husband, Annette and Alden’s father, astronomer, teacher, punster and friend: Clyde W. Tombaugh (1906-1997)”.

Could he have possibly imagined back in 1930 that in a very real sense, he’d get to go there?

By the time New Horizons launched in 2006, mere months before Pluto got “demoted” to dwarf planet, we had known (since 1978) that Pluto had a large moon, Charon, one large enough to qualify Pluto as a double planet. And we had found two others, Nix and Hydra, though they are much smaller. At the time, Pluto + Charon was the only known case of a moon that was so large in comparison to its primary that the barycenter (center of gravity) of the system was outside of the primary. As such both the planet and moon orbit a point out in space. Here is a series of pictures taken by New Horizons quite some time before closest approach.

New Horizons did something that back in the 1970s was deemed nearly impossible, a direct trip to Pluto. Back then Jupiter was just barely reachable by a probe of useful size; we could (and did: Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2) get to Saturn, Uranus and Neptune by first going to Jupiter and getting a gravitational assist (a/k/a slingshot) from it.

But this time we went directly to Pluto. Actually, we did use a gravitational assist from Jupiter, but we didn’t have to. We’d have got there without it, albeit after three more years.

This involved launching the probe directly into a solar escape trajectory. How fast is that? At Earth’s distance from the Sun, it’s a bit over 42 kilometers per second. We had to break free of Earth’s gravity and then still be doing 42 km/sec with respect to the Sun, at which point, it doesn’t matter which direction you’re going, you’re never coming back to the Solar System. Of course in this case the direction did matter, we wanted to go to Pluto in particular. And also, we got 30 km/second of that 42 km/second from Earth’s speed around the sun, by launching in exactly the direction Earth was moving.

And to do this we made the probe as small as possible (the size of a desk) and put it on the biggest effing rocket we had, including special upper stages to push the thing harder once in space. It was the fastest thing we ever launched.

And now for the NASA animations. No audio in the first one (and note Pluto doesn’t look right–the animation was produced before the mission):

The second one is more “loaded” technically showing what the instruments are doing every moment, as well as spacecraft orientation. (It also has a music track.)

As you can see, Pluto’s moons were in orbits that made it look like a big target, but the object is to not hit the bullseye. New Horizons had to spend the entire time on July 14, 2015 looking at Pluto and its moons, without stopping to transmit to Earth (it would have to turn around to do that, pointing the big dish antenna basically towards the Sun and losing absolutely irreplaceable time). Only after collecting 6GB of data and with Pluto, Charon, and the other four moons in the rear view mirror, could the spacecraft contact Earth…and then spend the next eighteen months transmitting all of that data.

You can imagine the people at mission control bit their nails clean off, waiting. But then New Horizons phoned home. It had come through just fine and it had goodies to send us.

So what did we get?

1. This:

2. And this:

3. And this:

4. And this:

5. And this:

6. And this:

7. And this (ice volcanos highlighted in blue:

8. And finally (but not really, I could keep going on) this:

And that’s Pluto, yet more pictures and data were taken of its largest moon Charon:

And the other four moons; it’s probably easiest to just throw a composite image at you:

So needless to say we know a lot more about Pluto than we do about all of the other TNOs I’ve talked about, put together.

NASA does engage in CGI sometimes (in spite of the fact that the Flerfers claim it does–they’re generally completely wrong but not in this case) and they produced this video of what a flyby would look like, based on what New Horizons returned:

Pluto Itself

So…here we go.

Pluto was named after the Roman god of the Underworld, the corresponding Greek god was Hades. It’s 2,376.6 km across, give or take 1.6 km. And 0.2 percent as massive as the Earth or 17.7 percent as massive as the Moon. It orbits the Sun in 248 years, rotates once on its axis in 6.38680 days…but with an axial tilt of 122.53 degrees, it’s considered a retrograde rotation. (These numbers are awfully precise, on account of New Horizons.) At this particular time Pluto’s northern hemisphere is pointed towards the Sun, and New Horizons thus was unable to get the very southernmost part of Pluto, it was in darkness during the entire time of the encounter.

Pluto’s rotation is the same as Charon’s orbital period, which means that not only does Charon always show the same face to Pluto (as is true with every other major moon in the Solar System), but Pluto always shows the same face to Charon. Scientists will invent coordinate systems at the drop of a hat, and the line directly facing Charon is the 0 degree longitude line on any map of Pluto.

Geology and Geography

Oh, that reminds me:

Composite “Mercator” image of Pluto (it’s not really a Mercator projection when the latitude lines are equally spaced). Note that a lot of regions are named after spacecraft (Venera, Voyager, Pioneer, Viking) or astronomers (Lowell gets a Regio too). But also notice that a lot of the names come from fantasy and science fiction, like Balrogs and of all things, Cthulhu–though that one was often called “the whale” too. (Bad news on that last, it got renamed Belton Regio.)

Pluto has mountains and plains, and the first picture plainly shows the “Heart of Pluto” which simply had to be named Tombaugh Regio after Clyde Tombaugh. Tombaugh Regio is a plain, and by the way, is on the side of Pluto that faces away from Charon. The plains are mostly nitrogen ice (brrrr), with some methane and carbon monoxide, all in solid form of course.

The western and more distinct lobe of the “Heart” is Sputnik Planitia, a 1000 km wide basin of frozen ice, but as the second image shows it’s divided into polygonal cells, almost certainly convection cells that carry floating blocks of water ice crust and sublimation pits at the margins. There are signs of glacial flows both into and out of the basin. Furthermore, not one single crater was spotted, which indicates that Sputnik Planitia’s surface is less than ten million years old; in fact the latest work claims 140,000-270,000 years. There are also transverse dunes in Sputnik Planitia, which are formed by wind-blown particles, in this case of frozen methane.

What are the mountains made of? Water ice. When you order something “on the rocks” here, you mean it literally. The color ranges from charcoal black to dark orange and white; Pluto has as much contrast as Iapetus.

The fifth “This” above shows lots of 500 m high mountains from Tartarus Dorsa, the spacing reminds people of scales or tree bark. This doesn’t appear anywhere else we know of, except maybe on the unseen side of Triton…or perhaps in the Atacama desert. These are likely penitentes, icy spires that form in deserts, so named because they resemble large numbers of people at prayer.

Cutting through Tartarus Dorsa and Pluto’s heavily cratered northern terrain (and therefore younger than either) are a set of six canyons radiating from a single point; the longest is Sleipnir Fossa which is at least 580 km long.

And cryovolcanos. We’ve identified two possible cryovolcanos, Wright Mons and Piccard Mons. Piccard Mons is not named after Star Trek’s Jean Luc Picard but rather the French ballooning pioneer (two C’s, see?).

Pluto, in short shows an absolutely stunning variety of geology. Glaciological, surface-atmosphere (the dunes), impact (craters), tectonic, likely cryovolcanic, and mass-wasting (rocks falling down hill), it’s all there. This world turns out to be much more interesting than I expected back then.

Internal Structure

We know Pluto’s size. We know its mass. That means we know its average density; divide the mass by the volume. And we get 1.853 g/cm³. That means it’s a mix of rocks (things we think of as rocks) and ice, and it’s roughly 70/30 rock/ice. So we believe Pluto has a silicate (rock) core, surmounted by a mostly-water ice mantle and crust. It may even have a subsurface ocean like Europa and Enceladus. Though some think it may now be frozen, it’s just barely possible it was inhabited at one point. (This is one place where Wikipedia is a bit frustrating. The text makes it sound like no one believes there’s still liquid water down there, but the diagram indicates otherwise.)

Atmosphere

Pluto has an atmosphere as is quite evident in pictures 3 and 8 above. In fact getting New Horizons out there quickly rather than waiting a few more decades was partially motivated by this; Pluto is fairly close to the Sun right now, and that, we thought, would make the atmosphere more active. As Pluto got further from the Sun, its atmosphere might freeze out.

The atmosphere is made up of nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide, all sublimated from the surface ices, and in equilibrium with them (if any of them “snow” out of the atmosphere, then ices elsewhere on Pluto will sublimate to restore them). The pressure is anywhere from 1 millionth to 1/100,000th that of Earth.

Since New Horizons was launched, however, we’ve determined the atmosphere might actually thicken as it gets colder.

In any case, New Horizons‘s parting shot at Pluto was a backlit shot, used to image the atmosphere. Scientists have learned to take a “backlit shot” opportunity when it presents itself.

Moons

Pluto has five moons. And all of them are regular, orbiting in the plane of Pluto’s equator. Here’s a scale diagram…full scale, distances and diameters shown accurately (you rarely see those in astronomy!).

First up is Charon. Orbiting at 19,595.764 km from Pluto (give or take 7 or 8 meters!) and at 1212 km across, it’s a medium size moon according to the terminology I’ve been using, so now we have nine: Rhea, Iapetus, Dione and Tethys at Saturn, Ariel, Umbriel, Oberon and Titania at Uranus, and now Charon.

Pluto is 2376.6 km across. Compared to it Charon is huge. No, wait, yuge. It’s bigger than Ceres.

Charon was discovered in 1978, and named after the ferryman of the underworld in Greek mythology. (You had to pay him a coin to get ferried across. No word on what people who died in the Trojan war (centuries before coinage) had to do.) But that brings up a question. How do you pronounce “Charon”? The Greeks spell it Χάρων, and that X is like the ch in Bach. But no one in English-speaking countries says that, it’s either “Sharon” or “Karon.” The discoverer, James W. Christy (born 1938), maintains that he named it after both Χάρων and his wife Charlene, who was nichnamed “Char” (pronounced Shar), so he goes with “Sharon.” (I’m just insane enough I’d probably try to pronounce it with the ch in Bach if I ever had the chance to talk to someone about it. Y’all are both doing it wrong!)

Christy saw a bulge on the side of blobs taken of Pluto from the Naval observatory at Flagstaff. It would disappear and reappear regularly, indicating something in orbit about Pluto. In the image below (which is a photographic negative) there’s a bulge at the top on the left hand side, and no bulge on the right hand side. And so here’s an example of what Pluto looked like before HST looked at it.

Needless to say we have better pictures now.

A few years after Charon’s discovery, its orbit was edge on to us here on Earth and we could study the light curve and prove an object was transiting in front of Pluto, then behind it, even if we couldn’t resolve it as a separate fuzzy blob.

Charon is yuge compared to Pluto, and it’s the first case of a moon large enough that the center of gravity of the system is outside of the primary. Back before Pluto got demoted from planet status, many proposed that Pluto and Charon be considered a binary or double planet. And if Alan Stern succeeds in convincing people he was right, it might become one again.

In the following animation, you can see Pluto actually swinging around an imaginary point just outside of itself (and as seen above New Horizons confirmed this). There’s a black dot marking the barycenter, you’ll see it in front of Pluto when the moon is at the bottom of the image (the dot is apparently visible through Pluto in the animation). Note that Charon is closest to the viewer when it is at the top of the image. I was momentarily confused by this.

Which means that when I gave you Charon’s distance from Pluto, that was actually not the appropriate number. Its average distance from the barycenter, and thus the true size of its orbit (semimajor axis) is 17,181.0 km. It’s actually moving at a comparatively sedate 210 meters per second, and the orbit is almost perfectly circular. (The difference between the minimum and maximum distance from Pluto (not the barycenter) is a mere 6.31 kilometers.)

Charon’s density is known, 1.7 g/cm³, making it 55% rock to 45% ice (give or take 5 percent). We’re pretty sure the moon is differentiated (i.e., it has a distinct core) and may have once had a subsurface ocean. Here we have two distinct models of what Charon might look like on the inside:

…and…

And…we have a map.

Informal names given to the various canyons included Nostromo, Serenity, Argo, and so on, named after fictional ships including recent ones like from Alien and Firefly. The northern dark area was originally named Mordor. It appears to be formed from gases that escaped Pluto’s atmosphere and blew over to Charon, carried by the solar wind. The temperature here can get as low as 15K during winter, and some tholins will form. When it gets warmer, a balmy 60K, anything that’s still an ice will boil away, leaving the pole dark.

The Other Moons

The other moons, Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra, all named after creatures and features of the Underworld in Greek mythology, all have nice tidy circular orbits in Pluto’s equatorial plane. So they’re regular moons. All are less than 51 km across. The innermost, Styx, orbits 48,694 km out…considerably further from Charon. But this makes sense. It would have to be far away from the binary object Pluto/Charon or Charon would perturb Styx’s orbit as it swept by Styx on closest approach.

One more “Moon” is Pluto itself. Since it orbits the barycenter at a distance of 2035 kilometers, which puts the barycenter outside of Pluto’s 1188 km radius, Pluto, not Charon, is actually the closest orbiting body of the whole system.

Arrokoth

New Horizons was able to visit one more object beyond Pluto (blue), shown in green.

It’s 486958 Arrokoth (formerly nicknamed Ultima Thule). We didn’t know about it when New Horizons launched, but the pace of discovery of TNOs was so great we figured something would be out there we could visit with some expenditure of propellant, and Arrokoth (discovered in 2014, a bit over a year before the Pluto encounter) was chosen.

As a result, the second best known Kuiper Belt object is none of the ones I’ve mentioned so far, it’s this otherwise insignificant bit of ice and rock.

It appears to be made out of two smaller bodies, planetesimals that never became part of a planet, touching each other. The two small bodies are roughly 21 and 15 km across, for a total of 36 km along the long axis. Arrokoth orbits the Sun in 298 years. So we have our first high resolution picture of a small TNO.

We got enough data to create a geologic map:

It largely consists of a mix, a solid mix of amorphous water ice and rocky material. (It is not, unlike some objects of similar size, simply a clustering of gravel that is barely stuck together.)

It’s getting late. If you want a deeper dive on this, here’s the Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/486958_Arrokoth

Are We Done Yet?

The Kuiper Belt. Surely we are at the outer edges of the Solar System now. Aren’t we?

Nope. And ironically we know a lot about a region we’ve never seen. Next time.

Health Friday 11.29.2024 Open Thread: Thankfulness

The above free vintage image of Thankfulness is courtesy of iStock and Google Images.

Health Friday is a series of posts devoted to Big Pharma, vaccines, general health, and associated topics. However, the discussion is not limited to what is presented today: It is an Open Thread.

There are Important Wolf Moon Notifications, the Rules of our late, good Wheatie, and certain caveats from Yours Truly, of which readers should be aware. They are linked here.

Today’s Health Friday post is devoted to Thankfulness. Beginning with:

Thankfulness for our gracious host, Wolf Moon, who provides The Q Tree as a haven of good cheer, encouragement, support, knowledge, and camaraderie to the online family that are denizens of this particular Tree. We are there for each other, in good times and in difficult times.

Thankfulness for the authors on this board, including our host, for their contributions and their expertise: for the Reminders of the Word of God; for the Physics lessons (Yours Truly’s eyes no longer glaze over at the mere mention of Physics or Astronomy); for the in-depth political / DeepState/ economic Analyses; for the adherence to Truth; for the Sharing of knowledge, of history, of research, of poetry; and so much more, that they bring.

Thankfulness for every commenter on this board, for their bonhomie and constancy.

Continuing with:

Thankfulness that Donald Trump, after surviving two assassination attempts, was re-elected President of the United States.

Thankfulness that there will be a chance that the corruption and deceit rampant in both houses of Congress, and in the White House, can be exposed and cleansed.

Thankfulness that breaches among individuals’ families and friends can be repaired; that our beloved country can be healed of divisiveness; that the United States of America can be restored to her rightful role as a Representative Republic, instead of as a “modern-day application” of the type of “despotic democracy” that helped to undermine, then ruin, ancient Greece.

Thankfulness that the entire truth behind the premeditated disaster of the COVID-19 itself and the COVID-19 “vaccines” can finally be brought to light; that the millions of “vaccinated” persons who are “vaccine”-injured or “vaccine”-disabled can be recognized, and their stories be told; that those who have passed away (either directly or indirectly) from the negative effects of the COVID-19 “vaccines” they took will not have died in vain; and, that Justice will be accomplished regarding those who created this virus, and those who developed these dangerous, deadly “vaccines” for worldwide use.

Thankfulness for this:

Thankfulness, above all, to the Supreme Being who is the Divine Force behind the Founding Fathers of this great land: the Founding Fathers who wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the original Bill of Rights.

Peace, Good Energy, Respect: PAVACA

American Stories: Thanksgiving Edition – Welcome To The Golden Age

We are living long enough to witness something that does not appear to have been done before. Ever. It is time to give thanks for it.

In the history of the world it is likely that there has never been a dominating empire whose government was a representative republic of private citizens. Governments appear to have always been in authority over the people with the support of the elites and powerful – the ruling class. The people were the subjects of the government. That is not true for Americans per our founding documents. America is the beneficiary of the providence of God through the vision of our forefathers who acted against oppression and sought a better way.

Which is why oppressors have attempted to destroy us internally and externally since conception. This has led to the current awakening of the majority of American citizens after decades of deception and corruption. The first response to this awakening led to the events of November 8, 2016. It was a shot over the bow at the oppressors, traitors and seditionists. The war had begun for the soul of America.

Fast forward.

November 5, 2024

We all know what happened after Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016. There is no point in rehashing it or discussing many of the things and people involved behind the scenes and in front of the cameras. There are devils and demons everywhere. Most do not even realize that is who they are. We just seem to forget at times there have been many patriots and heroes working against them. Which has led to positive changes for average citizens even with the DC instigated chaos created against President Trump during the first term.

Over the years a complete disconnect from the desires of the citizens has infected many politicians and their unelected administrative minions. That ends now. Politicians who go with business as usual will be isolated by the executive branch and We the People, then voted out of office or otherwise identified as enemies of the people. Their administrative state cronies are going out the door with them. The reason that will happen over the coming years is because We the People have seen the strings and we cannot unsee them. Citizen journalists have taken over to inform us and transparency reigns. To maintain their credibility these sources of information have to disclose the facts and evidence. They are not dependent on advertisers to cover the massive overheads and compensation of the propagandist talking heads in the fake news industry. As a result they are nimble, close to the people and operate without filters for the most part.

To be sure, MAGA will still need to vet the citizen journalists. Some can be influenced and bought like their fake counterparts. However, We the People know we should do that now and as a result will sort out the posers much more quickly and efficiently. That is a profound change from past practice.

A little alphabet letter birdie hooked many of us and sent us on a journey we will never forget.

WWG1WGA.

We the People have become emboldened by having a popular supposed felon’s back, President-Elect Trump, and staring down the enemy no matter the threats and potential costs. As a result it is time to discuss some major parts of this American reconstruction period we will be seeing now that the bigger war is trending toward a successful, “winning” conclusion.

World Cooperation

Respect oozes out of world leaders for Donald Trump and normal American people. They really don’t want to cross him, they want to make deals and find ways to work together. They know he is a man’s man. Look what is already happening worldwide and the man is still two months away from going back to the White House. They know he is not a politician. He is a pragmatic businessman icon with a true vision of what is best for America, which consequently improves all of their situations if they play their cards right. A rising tide lifts all boats. POTUS-Elect Trump understands win-win and will not go with win-lose unless it is the opponents who are losing and they are enemies of We the People.

Peace is returning. Business expansion and better living conditions are on the way. The world will become more secure, predictable…and happy.

World Economics and Politics

If you move your investments out of the stock market because Trump won you may be certifiably insane. Even his enemies are jumping on for that ride.

Multi-polarity is a real thing. The USMCA and all of his bi-lateral trade agreements with world governments from the first term have already informed you. His acceptance and acknowledgement of BRICS+ is further evidence as is his open acknowledgement and acceptance of a place for crypto. Where you will likely see a slow down in BRICS+ development plans is their move away from the dollar as the basis of the world economy. Vlad and Russia have already indicated their willingness to deal in dollars. President- Elect Trump is going to go after reestablishment of the dollar as the world’s currency with fervor. Investing in America will be cool again.

With multi-polarity we can expect North America to become a more cohesive economic system with greater cooperation from Mehico and Canada. Mehico will act tough and independent at times, but it is all bluster. They know they are toast without us as 25% of their economic production is sold into America. The cartels eventually will be the losers, nothing more than rogue bands of criminals that will be disposed through greater cooperation between agencies and military. Mehico really has no choice. The off the books dark money that funded them through the clowns and other seditionists will be drying up over time with DOGE and Bobby at HHS. Mehico is on notice as are many South and Central America nations who have opened their doors to China’s fentanyl as well as other drug and human trafficking trades.

The NWO and its Barry/Brandon Show overstepped their way into blowing Germany out of being a serious contender for world leadership through their continued support of Islamic immigration (invasion), fascism and Nazis. If Trump pulls back militarily from that country or deemphasizes NATO they will be at bankruptcy. So guess who is going to be buying energy from America and making other concessions? There is no European Union of note without a strong Germany. The Germany and EU that remains will be greatly weakened due to the stupidity and corruption of their leaders, other than the few who have been solidly in Trump’s’ camp for some time like Orban. It should spawn positive change from within the EU over time.

The Muslim Brotherhood is done as are their American promoters, Barry and Cankles, except in their own backyard. No mo money for scum buckets. The Saudis have also strongly assisted with that. Iran is already in retreat mode, cozying up even closer to Vlad, who PDT gets along with well. All of it means stability in world markets. That means there is money to be made for those with investment funds, 401(k)’s and such. With personal income tax rates on a downward trend as a percentage of income, the average working men and women are going to have opportunities to recover from Brandon’s inept criminal appointment as POTUS and improve their financial situations. Say hello to a larger, more well heeled middle class who will become prime, MAGA GOP voters. My advice is to seize on the opportunity.

As far as daily life goes expect lower energy, grocery, and household item prices compared to household incomes. Incomes overall will rise. Employers will be competing hard for sufficient quality staffing with the significant reduction of illegals, stiffer immigration procedures and the element of depop still being felt. That drives up wages and benefits for everybody. There is more money to be made in investments as well as to use with larger purchases with a lowering percentage of cash outflow compared to income, so expect housing and the automotive industry to take off again. We know the drill, we lived it for four years in Trump’s first term. Banks will be lending again because times will be good. That industry will have good profitability and they will lose their fear of bad times as regulators loosen the grips that Brandon’s economic control thugs wielded.

Which makes the propagandist diatribes against efforts to curb illegal immigration even more ridiculous than it is. America is going to need millions more workers in various trades including housing and agriculture. Well vetted worker visas will be a valuable tool to assist. That will make it even easier for our citizen hispanic population to continue their moves toward the GOP. In reality they have far more in common with the MAGA GOP than the Dems.

The difference in big picture this time around is the looming defeat of the old WEF/NWO fraudsters. They are in full retreat worldwide and threats to their existence will accelerate. Many people are hedging their bets, expecting the heavy shoe of these criminals to drop because it has happened before. I call that emotion the Battered Normie Syndrome (BNS). I am and have not been in that camp, I am too contrarian to ever give in to criminals.

In my opinion there may be setbacks, but nothing that MAGA will not overcome. The left has no bench of political candidates except in economically and culturally declining blue crapholes. There is literally nobody who can galvanize existing and create additional support on a national level. The Bob Casey loss in PA was ground shaking for them and reveals cracks in even Gov. Shapiro’s armor, who was their next star. It revealed that a growing majority of the people in the rust belt who were formerly in their camp are over them. These leftists are devoid of solid, potentially productive ideas. They only run against people and stuff using tired fear porn phrases with nothing new to add. Their tired old socialist and communist strategies are falling on more deaf ears now. More people are waking up that have traditionally always pulled a donkey tail. They are realizing as the T-shirts say, “Life is Good”, and rejecting the death advocates. They will find that life is indeed good on the right side of history. MAGA folks blew the criminals off long ago.

Conversely the GOP is deep with MAGA candidates on the federal and state office level with more in development at the local. It is not even close. As a result when the BNS folks start reaping more of the benefits it will be eye opening and stick. Some have already learned to believe nothing the propagandist media tells them. The election this month proved it. Fake polls, politician endorsements (except for Trump) and the views of condescending rich celebrities are not the influence they once were. They heard the pronouncements of the pending Harris/Dem victories and watched as the election results revealed the lies. The blue wall crumbled like a cookie because real people tossed out convention and tradition for practical help and the hope for better. The propagandist TV ratings are tubing, many people are no longer watching them and fewer folks believe what they hear.

Continued pressure on election cheating and using the courts to effect change will increase the margins of victory over time. Who does not know there are still 20+ million fraudulent leftist votes in the federal election system? Watch the totals and percentages gradually dwindle down for the criminals with more judicial screw turning for election security along with the illegals hitting the trails, roads and airways home.

Many such factors lead to my opinion that you bet bullish on America with your personal finances and through living well. Expect America to create a rising tide to lift our international business partners. This is why I posted a few years ago to reduce your debts. You needed to conserve cash for investing. You needed to go conservative in the retirement plan to be in position to be more aggressive with your investment choices today.

We have arrived at our long desired and anticipated destination.

In America there is one fundamental principle of existence in play. It is that our personal views on life itself matter. Desire abundance and life? Choose MAGA GOP. Prefer scarcity and death? Choose Dem/RINO. People’s choices with this principle reflect who they are. Believe them. Our role is to teach others who will listen and consider a better way while making disciples for MAGA. Give no quarter to those who refuse to listen or remain in the Dem/RINO camp politically. Shut them down with truth.

In The Weeds

First, if you are not knowledgeable or want a review of economic indicators, please read the summary link below. It will help.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/020215/top-ten-us-economic-indicators.asp

Now, for the nerds – I ignore the CPI index for understanding inflation. It has been rigged for decades along with many statistics quoted in the lamestream business reports. As government has become more and more politicized (corrupted), so have the statistics. Which is why they always revisit them a few months or years later and restate. These restatements are nearly always negative adjustments from what leftist leaders initially report. Fact.

Instead I focus on the personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE) from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. CPI runs higher than PCE. I focus on PCE because the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) uses it more to make recommendations to the Federal Reserve on inflation pressures, to which the Fed reacts and typically concurs. PCE is not immune to their tinkering, just less so. It gives a better picture of what consumers are actually facing. So if you want to know what to expect and why from the Fed, monitor that index and see how the Fed views it in their communications. Below is a good recent summary from the Cleveland Fed. The index is viewed in the same manner by most Fed banks.

https://www.clevelandfed.org/center-for-inflation-research/consumer-price-data

Now for the fun part, what games will Trump play with Powell and the Fed until he replaces him? We know it will lead to more honest representations of the data and approaches of the Fed, Treasury, Commerce, etc. use. It will all become real again instead of the Kabuki Theater we see now. I will not address what I believe happens to the Federal Reserve System itself long term. I believe it will take a POTUS term beyond our President-Elect for a permanent solution.

Now as to the current view…

One financial analyst’s opinion is below. You will note that he is educated guessing while trying to draw comparisons and utilizing very little understanding or referencing to the absolute meat cleaver Trump is going to take to government spending through DOGE and HHS among other departments in government.

https://www.ft.com/content/49af1a6a-0817-42a1-b9e4-1455fc657ccb

I admire his willingness to guess, albeit dumbly and without the use of tea leaves in my opinion.

To illustrate: Assume your personal family situation is as a working married couple with a large mortgage, car payments and kids in school. You go into work one day and there is a letter for you or the spouse that states one of you is out of a job from a layoff, company closure, whatever. (As a side note, I hope currently unknown large numbers of federally employed administrative azzhats receive said letter in January, but I digress.) Odds are with such a large hit to your family income coming, you will be faced with choices on what expenses to cut; possibly selling a car or house in a worst case. At the same time you find other costs you can reduce or eliminate like Junior’s Ivy League college expenses, and so on. You try to muddle through it the best you can and hope to find a decent job quickly to replace the lost income until better days come.

Now substitute the term “married couple” with “America” from the above. The mortgage and car payments are the national debt service. The kids in school are the social network needs of the citizens. The layoffs and job losses are obvious; thank you China and others via the globalists and other criminals who have no regard for America and the needs of our citizens. This is a result on the imbalance in trade.

I will provide a simple, practical example here for readers who do not know. If we buy more foreign goods than we produce and sell, more dollars are held in foreign hands. The globalists and political idgits claim those dollars return to America in the form of buying our nation’s debt, (Treasuries), real estate, etc. as investments. First off, that is no longer the case. Many nations who formerly invested heavily in our debt have drastically reduced their exposure or have divested due to our exploding deficits from spend crazy politicians. China would be high on that list, the nation we spend more for imported products than any other on earth. Dollars have been going out to them without an equal amount of dollars coming in to keep us in equilibrium. Second, why would anybody think it is a good thing to bring dollars back through the issuance of debt (Treasuries) and selling our land to foreign adversaries? We have to pay interest on all that debt, which compounds the problem. That negatively affects every single American. Yet, the politicians and propagandist media tell all of us daily it is a good thing and we will be fine.

Understand, our government will never borrow its way out of debt despite their continuing best efforts. Don’t get me started on the stupidity of our politicians and administrative state in going all in with Quantitative Easing. It causes my blood pressure to escalate too high.

So if any talking heads act like the deficit of the Balance of Trade is unimportant, turn off your TV or hearing aids. Our national leadership, as do many citizens, violate a principle of life that never changes. Proverbs 22:7 says, “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.” Our nation did this willingly with the rise of globalist influence within our federal government to rebuild nations destroyed by WW II. They saw it as an opportunity to gain huge wealth and power. They used the national treasury and wealth of We the People as their personal piggybanks and still do. Which is why they have tried to ruin and kill the head of the MAGA snake in their minds, President Trump.

He has been the rightful POTUS since 2016 as all MAGA knows. We know what the globalist criminals did and they hate us for it.

With this in mind let’s go back to the married couple example. It gets worse for you and your family. You see and now comprehend that America has more than stubbed its toe by electing the wrong leaders, or worse yet, a bunch of criminals who game the system and take over. You begin to comprehend that with their co-conspirators in the Fed they create even more inflation through printing money to handle globalist desires, proxy wars and scamdemics. You see what is good for them is bad for you and your children.

Your discomfort grows. The propagandists on the evening news tell you that the national debt service and expenses are rising well beyond the nation’s ability to repay by say… 2 TRILLION dollars a year. They say Social Security and Medicare are even threatened. So the Treasury borrows even more funds from foreign mafias with strings attached that clear the way for turmoil and wars worldwide. They tell you the government simply has to pass that stop gap continuing resolution for more money printing or else, GASP!, the federal government will have to shut down except for essential services as there may be a financial apocalypse on the horizon. They begin talking about raising taxes and booting the Trump era tax cuts when they come up for renewal in 2025.

All of this is happening while you as a family simply want to earn enough money to pay the bills, eat healthy and give a future worth living to your kids.

Get the picture now? That was our reality in America until the new sheriff, who is the old sheriff, who is the only righful sheriff; rode back into town. We really were at the edge of the cliff about to fall off as a nation. It is like going from darkness to light. Which is why the Blue Wall fell. Most voters there knew they had no choice, they could not continue to support status quo even if it meant mean tweets again and the propagandists bitching all of the time. They responded in a too big to rig fashion.

The declining establishment and fake news media will continue to beat that same drum even though their masters lost. It will not matter that things are different and better. They are prostitutes and know of no other way to make a living. However, the reality is they lost and they know it. No amount of subterfuge and stalling by RINO’s and such can prevent the inevitable changes that provide a Golden Age for America and its international friends. It is coming down the tracks like a freight train.

President-Elect Trump, JD, Elon, Vivek, Bobby and many others will show you where to invest. Listen to their words and believe their actions. You do not need anybody else to help you do that. Just know that you cannot borrow your way out of debt and cutting expenses will rarely be enough to complete that task as well. Those are actions that a mature to declining nation undertakes, which is who America was before this election. To turn things around America has to return to the growth cycle. President-Elect Trump has already told you how and has already done it before. This time it needs to be institutionalized such that our enemies cannot disrupt it.

Going to growth from decline means selling off non-essential assets, shedding debt, shedding non-essential unproductive payroll, shedding meritless activities, tossing needless regulations, and so on. It takes investment capital (tariffs), an increasing commercial (preferably industrial focused) tax base and global capital investors willing to make new investments (I see you, Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick). It takes innovation and innovative people with outside the box thinking. It takes hard work as well as smart moves in the markets. It takes security agencies to reduce corporate spying and fraud to produce a more level playing field that is administered by law enforcement functions and the judiciary. Most of all it takes a federal government that serves the people and enables its citizens to succeed instead of the reverse, which is unlike what we have experienced in recent years.

A massive paradigm shift for America has occurred. Know it, act on it as applicable in your own lives.

Conclusion

I hope you have heard and seen all of that from the President-Elect and his inner circle. I know I have. I do not concern myself with second guessing his picks for the various cabinet roles. He has his reasons and if the wrong choice is made with any of them We the People will know it quickly and let him know about it. This time around he has a feel for the solid MAGA pulse, the authority to make the decisions and the apparatus to make the changes. No lawfare attempts to undermine him and supporters will succeed, just delay, so be patient. They did not succeed when he was a private citizen, they certainly will not now. The law has also changed in important areas such as with the Chevron Deference overturn. The SCOTUS has a Constitution supporting majority that will likely grow if the MAGA GOP can increase its involvement and Congressional dominance over the coming years.

I also know this approach and method works. We have followed this path for over two decades in Tennessee. We are not perfect, but we are definitely America First worthy. It came from We the People on the local ground level figuring things out, working hard, building alliances and consensus, building momentum that carried into the voting booths and the halls of our legislature and Governor’s office. Over time we gradually rooted the Dem and RINO influence and control out of our system of government. We have sustained via a super majority (75+%) in both House and Senate. We have a state Constitutionally required balanced budget as well as no personal income or estate taxes. The left tried to change them with amendments and were met with crushing defeats by the people because we have a secured election system and the Volunteer spirit in our bones. They no longer try because We the People made them pay for even attempting it – which was our “penalty” phase. Now when federal elections occur we know that at minimum over 60% of the statewide votes will be MAGA GOP. We still have a couple of RINO’s to root out, however, the only pockets of voter resistance are within blue crapholes in a couple of cities.

Our state was in the bottom third of the nation economically before We the People took over. For several years now our state has enjoyed a AAA bond rating from the agencies with a low tax burden on residents while issuing state record business license applications and strong growth in manufacturing. The government has a large rainy day fund and we offer free tuition and no fees to students attending community and technical colleges. These are all signs of a government serving the people as compared to being served.

Other than the long term leftist wacko in Memphis, Steve Cohen, all of our other eight elected officials in the House in DC are GOP to go with all key GOP state leaders. Senators Blackburn and Hagerty continue to perform well and fully support the MAGA movement with POTUS Trump’s endorsement. It should be clear to all of us that We the People simply need to trust the plan and do our parts all around the country as it is being done here and other MAGA states.

I believe in this nation of states, this republic. I believe the majority of Americans will return to a love of the Constitution along with freedom and liberty for all. That’s why I choose to ride with the America First…

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Dear KAG: 20241128 Thanksgiving Open Thread

And yet, again, I am resurrecting the old Thanksgiving thread as cooking takes center stage in the Depat household.

Being full of Chinese take-out and having started Thanksgiving cooking without the matriarch, I’m digging up an old opener. Since Twitter/X is being tempermental, not many current items.

Live coverage from the anti-Thanksgiving rally, now in progress…

pic.twitter.com/U7UYAulh31
— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) November 22, 2022

Anti-Thanksgiving? UnAmerican at best, treason more likely.

Swedish chef making a pumpkin pie – The Muppets https://t.co/M4yGFhJanb via @YouTube
— LaughLoveLive, identifies as Deplorable Patriot (@LaughLoveLive1) November 23, 2022

The Muppet Show. Swedish Chef – Rroasted Turkey (ep.4.08) https://t.co/On0pwUHY0P via @YouTube
— LaughLoveLive, identifies as Deplorable Patriot (@LaughLoveLive1) November 23, 2022

So, what REALLY happened to bring about Thanksgiving here in the former colonies of England, France and Spain?????

The Great Thanksgiving Hoax

This official story is nothing like what really happened. It is a fairy tale, a whitewashed and sanitized collection of half-truths which divert attention away from Thanksgiving’s real meaning.

The official story has the Pilgrims boarding the Mayflower, coming to America, and establishing the Plymouth colony in the winter of 1620–21. This first winter is hard, and half the colonists die. But the survivors are hard working and tenacious, and they learn new farming techniques from the Indians. The harvest of 1621 is bountiful. The pilgrims hold a celebration, and give thanks to God. They are grateful for the wonderful new abundant land He has given them.

The official story then has the Pilgrims living more or less happily ever after, each year repeating the first Thanksgiving. Other early colonies also have hard times at first, but they soon prosper and adopt the annual tradition of giving thanks for this prosperous new land called America.

The problem with this official story is that the harvest of 1621 was not bountiful, nor were the colonists hard-working or tenacious. 1621 was a famine year and many of the colonists were lazy thieves.

In his History of Plymouth Plantation, the governor of the colony, William Bradford, reported that the colonists went hungry for years because they refused to work in the field. They preferred instead to steal food. He says the colony was riddled with “corruption,” and with “confusion and discontent.” The crops were small because “much was stolen both by night and day, before it became scarce eatable.”

In the harvest feasts of 1621 and 1622, “all had their hungry bellies filled,” but only briefly. The prevailing condition during those years was not the abundance the official story claims, it was famine and death. The first “Thanksgiving” was not so much a celebration as it was the last meal of condemned men.

But in subsequent years something changes. The harvest of 1623 was different. Suddenly, “instead of famine now God gave them plenty,” Bradford wrote, “and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God.” Thereafter, he wrote, “any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day.” In fact, in 1624, so much food was produced that the colonists were able to begin exporting corn.

What happened? After the poor harvest of 1622, writes Bradford, “they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop.” They began to question their form of economic organization.

This had required that “all profits & benefits that are got by trade, traffic, trucking, working, fishing, or any other means” were to be placed in the common stock of the colony, and that, “all such persons as are of this colony, are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock.” A person was to put into the common stock all he could, and take only what he needed.

This “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” was an early form of socialism, and it is why the Pilgrims were starving. Bradford writes that “young men that were most able and fit for labor and service” complained about being forced to “spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children.” Also, “the strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes, than he that was weak.” So the young and strong refused to work and the total amount of food produced was never adequate.

To rectify this situation, in 1623 Bradford abolished socialism. He gave each household a parcel of land and told them they could keep what they produced, or trade it away as they saw fit. In other words, he replaced socialism with a free market, and that was the end of the famines.

Socialism only works in religious order settings, and then, it doesn’t really work there, either.

From our friend Gail:

The Christian Ethics Behind the Pilgrims’ Rejection of Communism

One misconception that is still with us is that the Pilgrims adopted socialism out of religious conviction, as if Christian ethics requires a Platonic communist utopia. Galles notes that this is a misconception, but it is beyond the scope of his essay to provide the full historical back drop to that initial fateful economic design.

In fact, as Bradford makes clear, the Pilgrims did not desire to establish Christian communism. The Pilgrims’ original communal property arrangements were foisted upon them by their colonial sponsors. The sponsors did this after they learned that they would not be granted a monopoly of fishing rights in Cape Cod. The sponsors’ original agreement with the Pilgrims was such that the Pilgrims were to work for four days for the sponsoring company and then would have two days to work for themselves. The sponsors later changed their deal and told the Pilgrims that they would have to work all six days of the work week for the sponsors. At the end of seven years, the Pilgrims would be granted title to the property they worked. The Pilgrims were not happy with the change, several of them recognizing that the new arrangement would make them virtual slaves of the sponsors, but they went along with the deal because many had already made large investments toward the move and they were convinced that emigrating to the New World is what God wanted them to do.

Also of interest may be the story of Squanto as told by Dr. Taylor Marshall. Unfortunately, this is only available on YouTube, so I am providing links.

And, of course, Louis Anderson telling of Thanksgiving at his house.

Louie Anderson Thanksgiving https://t.co/7IEUk5Kh2S via @YouTube
— LaughLoveLive, identifies as Deplorable Patriot (@LaughLoveLive1) November 23, 2022

And, true story, we were at some relatives’ house for a September fish fry, and a cousin said, “Do we have everything out?”

In unison, several of us said, “THE CRANBERRIES!”

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As usual, this is the daily thread, the place to put all information that needs to be out there – Q drops, Q drop decodes, riot information, rumors about MAGA rallies starting up again, news flashes, Chy-na flu updates, fashionable mask photos, satire, memes, and of course cute animal videos.

In the meantime, the short and sweet version of “THE RULES” is here borrowed from Tuesday:

Guidelines for posting and discussion on this site were outlined by our host, WolfM00n. Please, review them from time to time.

This site is a celebration of the natural rights endowed to humans by our Creator as well as those enshrined in the Bill of Rights adopted in the founding documents of the United States of America. Within the limits of law, how we exercise these rights is part of the freedom of our discussion.

Fellow tree dweller the late Wheatie gave us some good reminders on the basics of civility in political discourse:

No food fights – IN HONOR OF OUR PAT, SUSPENDED FOR TODAY ONLY
No running with scissors.
If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone. ALSO FOR TODAY ONLY, BYOB – BRING YOUR OWN BOURBON.

Since it is almost the weekend, the reminders are in place to not swing from the chandeliers, wash your hands and face, and be nice to the liberals whether they deserve it or not. Making your bed, OTOH, is optional.

pic.twitter.com/znpz3Ogeye
— Declaration of Memes (@LibertyCappy) November 23, 2022

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SIRACH 50:22-24

22And now bless the God of all, who in every way does great things; who exalts our days from birth, and deals with us according to his mercy. 23May he give us gladness of heart, and grant that peace may be in our days in Israel, as in the days of old. 24May he entrust to us his mercy! And let him deliver us in our days!

PSALMS 138:1-5

1I give thee thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing thy praise; 2I bow down toward thy holy temple and give thanks to thy name for thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness; for thou hast exalted above everything thy name and thy word. 3On the day I called, thou didst answer me, my strength of soul thou didst increase. 4All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, for they have heard the words of thy mouth; 5and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:3-9

3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, 5that in every way you were enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge — 6even as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you — 7so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ; 8who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

LUKE 17:11-19

11On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Sama’ria and Galilee. 12And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13and lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17Then said Jesus, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

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Happy Thanksgiving, y’all. Remember, after the meal, it is perfectly acceptable to look for a place to lie down.

Placeholder Open Thread 11.27.2024: PRRARSV Part 2: Pangolin Addenda Edition

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is vintage-laboratory-work-stockcake.jpg

The above free vintage image of a scientist at work is courtesy of StockCake and Google Images.

As Gail Combs is apparently still in “locked out” mode for publishing posts (via WordPress, or **some other entity**), our host, Wolf Moon, gave the go-ahead for Yours Truly to do a Placeholder Open Thread for today. I am indebted to our host for this opportunity, as further information has surfaced regarding the role of the pangolin-CoV MP789 virus in the lab-creation of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus itself. Since today’s post concerns the COVID-19 virus itself, and the COVID-19 “vaccines”, it is dedicated to the memory of Yours Truly’s COVID-19 “vaccinated” brother Sam, and to her cousin Bill; and to all persons, of whatever age and location, who have passed away from the negative effects of the COVID-19 “vaccines” that they had in their bodies. However, the discussion is not limited to what is presented here: It is an Open Thread. Bear with me: there are a couple of surprising details coming up. There is a General Summary at the end of the post.

There are Important Wolf Moon Notifications, the Rules of our late, good Wheatie, and certain caveats from Yours Truly, of which readers should be aware. They are linked here.

To Begin: What will be called the “Part 1 Presentation” of the role of the PRRARSV genome code of the pangolin-CoV MP789 in the lab-creation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself is here: www.theqtree.com/2024/11/22/health-friday-11-22-2024-open-thread-lets-talk-about-prrarsv-the-backdoor-key/. Yours Truly presented evidence that: One: the pangolin-CoV MP789 virus genome code has “an uncanny similarity” to the PRRARSV genome code that was inserted into the genome code of the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself; Two: that this insertion occurred during the lab-creation process for the genome code of the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself; Three: that this insertion is at or very near the S1-S2 furin cleavage site in the genome code of the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself; Four: that the bat-coronavirus RaTG13 coronavirus also has a role to play in the lab-creation of the genome code of the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself, although the pangolin-CoV MP789 coronavirus genome code has more “areas of similarity” to the SARS-CoV-2 virus genome code; and, Five: that taxpayer-funded Gain-of-Function experiments were {most likely] used to perform all of the above, and most likely, at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

In 2020, the year after the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself was beginning to ravage the world, and when COVID-19 “vaccines” had not yet been granted Emergency Use Authorizations by the FDA in the United States, by the EMA (European Medicines Agency), or by other agencies, a plethora of scientific papers and articles were written and published: papers and articles in which the researchers attempted to pinpoint exactly how the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself came into being. Many of these papers and articles examined the role(s) that various animal coronaviruses may have played in the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself: for examples, by “natural evolution”; or, by “recombination” of coronavirus genomes among animals via cross-infection; or, by a “sudden appearance.” These investigations and their published results pre-date the confirmation within the past 18 months that Gain-of-Function experiments at lab facilities, most notably the Wuhan Institute of Virology, were the foundation of the lab-created disaster called the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself (links to Congressional reports on this situation are in the “Part 1 Presentation” Health Friday post, see above.) One such year 2020 scientific paper is the “Dimonaco, et al.” paper: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7823979/, “Computational Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-Like Coronavirus Diversity in Human, Bat and Pangolin Populations”, Nicholas J. Dimonaco, et al., 30 December 2020. A screenshot of the Abstract of this paper is below:

The Health Friday post cited above discusses Yours Truly’s hypothesis that the pangolin-CoV MP789 coronavirus genome code was chosen, along with the important but actually less-similar bat coronavirus RaTG13 genome code, as the main virus genome that were used to create the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself genome. Today’s post, in Yours Truly’s opinion, presents evidence that “clinches the deal” on the choice of the pangolin-CoV MP789 genome code as the primary one for insertion into the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself genome code — however, the evidence comes from a surprising source.

The trail to this source begins here, an article by Stella Paul: https://brownstone.org/articles/why-are-hospitals-still-using-remdesivir/, 30 May 2023. The Paul article, in turn, was linked from this Vigilant Fox article: https://vigilantfox.news/p/9-shocking-covid-truths-theyll-never, 23 November 2024. This, in turn, led first, to here: www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/know-your-treatment-options-covid-19 (this article has no mention whatsoever of effective alternate treatment options for COVID-19, such as Ivermectin or Hydroxycholoquine); which, then, led to here: www.fda.gov/drugs/emergency-preparedness-drugs/coronavirus-covid-19-drugs. Which, in this last link, led to: mention of a “new” COVID-19 “pre-exposure” treatment drug that can only be used under certain circumstances, such as in persons with already-compromised immune systems; and only can be administered by infusion (IV): PEMGARDA, a monoclonal antibody treatment that also functions as an antiviral.

This is the link to the FDA-issued document for healthcare professionals for PEMGARDA: www.fda.gov/media/177067/download (note: PEMGARDA is also called Pemivibart in this document.) There have been no studies performed for PEMGARDA regarding carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, or impairment of fertility (section 13 Nonclinical Toxicology of the FDA document.) Persons who have been prescribed PEMGARDA need to take the infusion (IV) of the drug every 3 months (page 15 of the FDA document.) Also, PEMGARDA is not to be used as a “substitute” for COVID-19 “vaccination” (page 15 of the FDA document.) More details from the section Limitations of Authorized Use of the FDA document are below:

There is a slew of other warnings (including Black Box warnings), cautions, and restrictions regarding PEMGARDA in the FDA document.

Here is a screenshot of section 12.4 Mechanism of Action of the FDA document on PEMGARDA (aka Pemivibart):

**** And now, for the pangolin-CoV connection: This is found in the FDA document on PEMGARDA, Table 2. Yours Truly is including screenshots of Table 2., below. Please look at the screenshots carefully. There are seven screenshots. This is the list of SARS-CoV-2 variants that PEMGARDA is ** allegedly ** supposed to help “guard against.” The bottom line here is: Virtually every SARS-CoV-2 variant is derived from a pangolin-CoV genome code (most likely that of pangolin-CoV MP789) that was “blended in” along with the bat-CoV RaTG13 genome code in the lab-creation of the original SARS-CoV-virus itself. The giveaway is “Pango lineage” at the top of the variants columns. (Note: due to screenshot size constraints, some of the variant lists are broken up: however, EVERY variant column clearly states Pango lineage at the top left.)

The question that comes to mind is: Why is PEMGARDA being promoted as a “pre-exposure prophylaxis” against a COVID-19 infection in immunocompromised persons; or, for that matter, for any person, COVID-19 “vaccinated” or not? The answer is that the FDA still does not recognize, authorize, or recommend, the use of Ivermectin, Hydroxycholorquine, Zinc, Quercetin, Vitamin D, or other “non-FDA-authorized or approved” drugs or treatments for prophylaxis for COVID-19 infection; or for COVID-19 infection treatment. While there may be need for PEMGARDA to be used for certain patients in narrow circumstances, it is Yours Truly’s opinion that it is vastly less expensive and effective to use Ivermectin, Hydroxycholorquine, Zinc, Quercetin, and Vitamin D in the large majority of situations to prevent infection by COVID-19.

Then, there is the issue of what Yours Truly will call “Universal Immune System Compromise from COVID-19 Vaccination.” It is her firm opinion that any person who has ever taken a COVID-19 “vaccine” has a compromised immune system. This is due to the ingredients and the mechanisms of the COVID-19 “vaccines” themselves; in which the critical IgG3 “fight it off” immune system cells of the “vaccinated” person are damaged and/or destroyed, and the growth of IgG4 “tolerate but never clear” cells is increased. This process increases with each successive COVID-19 “vaccine booster” injection (which would include injections of the “latest version” of said “vaccines.”) Please see: https://jessicar.substack.com/p/igg4-cd4s-and-why-the-lnpmrna-platform, “IgG4, CD4s and why the LNP/mRNA platform should be prohibited”, by Jessica Rose, Ph.D., 14 August 2023.

PEMGARDA (aka Pemivibart) is an expensive drug. For example, below is a screenshot from www.patientpower.info/ regarding the cost per treatment for PEMGARDA. This is the non-insurance covered cost:

Recall that the FDA document on PEMGARDA cited above states that persons who are prescribed to take this drug need to repeat the treatment every 3 months.

General Summary: One: Yours Truly presented the first of the hypothesis regarding the use of the pangolin-CoV MP789 in the lab-creation of the original SARS-CoV-2 virus itself (the original Wuhan Hu1 COVID-19 virus itself) in the Health Friday post of 15 November 2024. Two: there is a large amount of scientific papers and articles published in 2020, with researchers investigating various hypotheses regarding a “combination” of animal coronaviruses in nature that produced the original SARS-CoV-2 virus itself. This research was performed prior to the confirmation that the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself was the product of Gain-of-Function lab-creation, most likely at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, using coronaviruses from various animals, including the bat-CoV RaTG13 and the pangolin-CoV MP789. Four: the pangolin-CoV MP789 virus genome has the “closest overall match similarity” to the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself. Five: there is a new FDA “pre-exposure prophylaxis and antiviral” drug, PEMGARDA, that is administered by infusion (IV) only, and only for certain types of immunocompromised persons. Six: the FDA-issued Fact Sheet for PEMGARDA clearly shows, in Table 2. of the document, that the SARS-CoV-2 variants that PEMGARDA is to “guard against” are virtually all derived from what the document states is “Pango lineage.” Seven: the FDA still does not recognize, authorize, or approve, of the use of Ivermectin, Hydroxycholorquine, and other effective alternatives for COVID-19 infection prevention or treatment.

Peace, Good Energy, Respect: PAVACA

Dear KAG: 20241126 Open Thread

Hola! This is going to be a bit short and sweet. Yours truly has been fighting what she thought was fall leaf mold allergies, but is more likely a chest cold bug. Argh. Since college, when I had a nasty chest cold bug, these have been rough to shake. So, I was MIA a lot of the day. Please, supplement what I missed in the comments.

Cover image: First Frost by Andrew Collett

The Narrative Episode 1 – Backchannels

Badlands News Brief – November 25, 2024

Blackpilling is Unwarranted

IDK, Attorney General is an awfully important member of the Cabinet.

Voters rejected historic election reforms across the US, despite more than $100M push

BREAKING: The @nytimes and @business killed stories at the 11th hour covering new research on DEI pedagogy and its negative psychological impacts.

ICE group praises Trump for Homan, Noem picks to lead immigration team: ‘Fired up’

Jaguar Exec Whines About ‘Vile Hatred And Intolerance’ Over Woke Rebrand

It really wasn’t needed. Not that the brand didn’t have a reputation.

https://twitter.com/ImMeme0/status/1860762714991153419

Tweets…X-Files, uh, posts, whatever

https://twitter.com/bonchieredstate/status/1860892910079619112

https://twitter.com/WallStreetApes/status/1861034403226402995

Senator Josh Hawley says the quiet part out loud, “Members of Congress are TRADING DAILY based on information that the public doesn’t have” ‌ “Congress is a rich man’s club. That’s the problem” ‌ “I would suspect that I probably have the fewest assets of anybody sitting on this dais. I am not a rich man, unlike those to my left. (Senator Rick Scott, net worth $327 million dollars) ‌ “Let’s be honest. Members of Congress get information that is technically not insider information as defined by the securities laws. That is nevertheless extremely beneficial to know, and often we get it earlier than other people.”

https://twitter.com/WallStreetApes/status/1860709449431724308

Another Congress Member Insider Trading for Matt Gaetz to investigate Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin’s Net Worth QUADRUPLED Between 2018-2022 From $12m -> $63m He bought shares of a water meter company just 2 weeks before Tulsa, Oklahoma announced replacing all water meters costing $94 million How did he know?! That’s not all, other congress members made the trade and the water meter replacements are being done nationwide “How is it possible that even though the congressional salary is a $174,000 a year, all these lawmakers are worth millions of dollars? That’s because they often make much more than that in the stock market. I’ll give you a perfect example, Senator Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma. His net worth almost quadrupled between 2018 and 2022. January 4th, early this year, he bought shares of a company called Badger Meter Incorporated, ticker BMI. Now, Badger Meter, as their name suggests, makes water meters. The things that calculate how much water you use. So stick with me. Remember earlier when I said senator Mullen is from Oklahoma? The reason that’s important is because just 2 weeks after Mullin bought shares with the water meter company, I came across an announcement by the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma saying that it has begun the installation of 145,000 automated water meters across the city at a cost of $94,000,000. The exact same product which was made by Badger Meter, the company he bought stock in just 2 weeks earlier. And it’s not just Tulsa doing this, this is going on across the country. That’s because of the new federal mandate by the EPA for every US city to upgrade their inventory of lead service lines by October 24, 2024 later this year. It’s reasonable to assume that when Tulsa and all these other US cities upgrade millions of water meters to meet these new guidelines, a company like Badger Meter would stand to benefit, and in turn, those shares that he bought. I wish I could say that this was an isolated incident, but I see stuff like this happen all the time.”

H/T somebody on Monday:

https://twitter.com/LaughLoveLive1/status/1861090669613207589

https://twitter.com/AmericaPapaBear/status/1860861516506878316

https://twitter.com/LaughLoveLive1/status/1861172459937976496

Before (left) and after (right) of the interior of Notre Dame.

Modernists lost this battle, so instead of a glass spire and partially destroyed vaultings everything was reconstructed as it was. Architects, for example, made sure that the former Medieval assymetrics in the… pic.twitter.com/4FACuLXwTB
— Father V (@father_rmv) November 25, 2024

How I wish I could be there.

https://twitter.com/reBurningBright/status/1861146328299876551

https://twitter.com/MJTruthUltra/status/1861122881264197772

CAN’T WAIT. Return of MELANIA!!!

pic.twitter.com/SzUjUQ4rYJ
— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) November 25, 2024

https://twitter.com/RickyDoggin/status/1861071755399622866

https://twitter.com/matt_vanswol/status/1861137650842775820

https://twitter.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1861189891985678696

Meme Zone

True story.

https://twitter.com/FAFO_TV/status/1860704466418184258

https://twitter.com/Enezator/status/1861077385892016493

https://twitter.com/gracieback2/status/1861109818750320718

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1861101468725457130

https://twitter.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1860929053533806668

https://twitter.com/Yoda4ever/status/1861027216685142102

https://twitter.com/_B___S/status/1860667244671332531

https://twitter.com/Yoda4ever/status/1860770881372594660 https://x.com/_B___S/status/1860667244671332531

Wyoming residents rescue several elk that fell through thin ice.

https://t.co/k15d1piG81
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) November 24, 2024

https://twitter.com/Yoda4ever/status/1860702419040317464

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1860636998735737107

Per the boss’s instruction:

I’d throw in a few Rockefellers and Rothschilds also.

Of course, this does not mean committing felonies, but standing up to the forces that want to tear this nation – and humanity apart. The very people XVII told us will be destroyed by the time this movie comes to an end are currently roaming the halls of power…supposedly. It’s a sickening sight.

Guidelines for posting and discussion on this site were outlined by our host, WolfM00n. Please, review them from time to time.

The discourse on this site is to be CIVIL – no name calling, baiting, or threatening others here is allowed. Those who are so inclined may visit Wolf’s other sanctuary, the U-Tree, to slog it out. There is also a “rescue” thread there for members of the Tree to rendezvous if the main site goes kablooey. A third site has been added for site outages of longer duration.

Fellow tree dweller, the late Wheatie, gave us some good reminders on the basics of civility in political discourse:

No food fights.
No running with scissors.
If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.

And Auntie DePat’s requests:

If you see something has not been posted, do us all a favor, and post it. Please, do not complain that it has not been done yet.

The scroll wheel on your mouse can be your friend. As mature adults, please use it here in the same manner you would in avoiding online porn.

Thank you so much for any and all attention to such details. It is GREATLY appreciated by more than one party here.

__________________________________________________

Revelation 14:14-19

14Then I looked, and lo, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat upon the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” 16So he who sat upon the cloud swung his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. 17And another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has power over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” 19So the angel swung his sickle on the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God;

Matthew 16:24-27

24Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? 27For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done.

Be afraid neither of the world, nor of the future, nor of your weakness. The Lord has allowed you to live in this moment of history so that, by your faith, his name will continue to resound throughout the world.
— Benedict XVI
— Pope Benedict XVI (@P_BenedictXVI) June 26, 2023

“God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want.” – C.S. Lewis
— C. S. Lewis (@CSLewisDaily) January 28, 2023

109

Anonymous ID: hHkrVD7x No.148156632
Nov 5 2017 20:06:36 (EST)

Anonymous ID: pqW40Wgk No.148156518
Nov 5 2017 20:05:48 (EST)

>>148154137

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, by the power of God, cast down to Hell Satan and all his evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

>>148156518
Amen brother.
Q

As always, prayers for the fight against that which seeks to enslave us are welcome. Via con Dios.

Satire

Elon Waiting For Black Friday Half-Off Sale So He Can Buy MSNBC For Just $30

Santa’s Elves Complain Of Declining Wages As Undocumented Elves Flood North Pole

Musk Announces Plan To Buy MSNBC And Turn It Into A News Network

‘The View’ Ratings Soar After Introducing Ejection Seat For When Hosts Make Inaccurate Statements

Dear KMAG: 20241125 Joe Biden Didn’t Win ❀ Open Topic

Joe Biden didn’t win. This is our Real President:

AND our beautiful REALFLOTUS.

This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).

And yes, it’s Monday…again.

But we WILL get through it!

We will always remember Wheatie,

Pray for Trump,

Yet have fun,

and HOLD ON when things get crazy!

We will follow the RULES of civility that Wheatie left for us:

Wheatie’s Rules:

No food fights.
No running with scissors.
If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.

And while we engage in vigorous free speech, we will remember Wheatie’s advice on civility, non-violence, and site unity:

“We’re on the same side here so let’s not engage in friendly fire.”

“Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven that Wolf has created for us.”

If this site gets shut down, please remember various ways to get back in touch with the rest of the gang:

Our backup site, The Q Tree 579486807, https://theqtree579486807.wordpress.com/
Our old alternative site, The U Tree, where civility is not a requirement
Our Gab Group, which is located at https://gab.com/groups/4178
Our various sister sites, listed in the Blogroll in the sidebar

Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.

Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.

We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.

Joe Biden didn’t win.

And we will keep saying Joe Biden didn’t win until we get His Fraudulency out of our White House.

Wolfie’s Wheatie’s Word of the Week:

yashmak

noun

double Muslim veil, originally of Turkish origin, leaving only the eyes uncovered

Shown in a picture

Shown in a Soviet Uzbek film

MUSIC!

YMMV on whether this enjoyable, funny, or cringe. Whatever!

That voice! LOL!

THE STUFF

The Man From D.O.G.E.

Can a man of progress deal with out-of-control progressivism that seeks to destroy the values upon which it was built? Hmmm……

Well, the film still LOOKS good.

Just sayin’!

And remember…….

Until victory, have faith!

And trust the big plan, too!

And as always….

ENJOY THE SHOW

W

Dear MAGA: 20241124 Open Topic

This Rejoice & Praise God Sunday Open Thread, with full respect to those who worship God on the Sabbath, is a place to reaffirm our worship of our Creator, our Father, our King Eternal.

It’s also a place to read, post, and discuss news that is worth knowing and sharing. Please post links to any news stories that you use as sources or quote from.

In the QTree, we’re a friendly and civil lot. We encourage free speech and the open exchange and civil discussion of different ideas. Topics aren’t constrained, and sound logic is highly encouraged, all built on a solid foundation of truth and established facts.

We have a policy of mutual respect, shown by civility. Civility encourages discussions, promotes objectivity and rational thought in discourse, and camaraderie in the participants – characteristics we strive toward in our Q Tree community.

Please show respect and consideration for our fellow QTreepers. Before hitting the “post” button, please proofread your post and make sure your opinion addresses the issue only, and does not confront or denigrate the poster. Keep to the topic – avoid “you” and “your”. Here in The Q Tree, personal attacks, name-calling, ridicule, insults, baiting, and other conduct for which a penalty flag would be thrown are VERBOTEN.

In The Q Tree, we’re compatriots, sitting around the campfire, roasting hot dogs, making s’mores, and discussing, agreeing, and disagreeing about whatever interests us. This board will remain a home for those who seek respectful conversations.

Please also consider the Guidelines for posting and discussion printed here:
https://www.theqtree.com/2019/01/01/dear-maga-open-topic-20190101/

On this day and every day –

God is in Control
. . . and His Grace is Sufficient, so . . .
Keep Looking Up

Hopefully, every Sunday, we can find something here that will build us up a little . . . give us a smile . . . and add some joy or peace, very much needed in all our lives.

“This day is holy to the Lord your God;
do not mourn nor weep.” . . .
“Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet,
and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared;
for this day is holy to our Lord.
Do not sorrow,
for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Living Hope

First Peter 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (CSB).

The apostle Peter opens his letter with words of praise for God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, reminding readers that salvation is a gift of God’s mercy. Then Peter states that believers are given “a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” What exactly does Peter mean when he speaks of “a living hope”?

Peter states that it is the “new birth” that provides our living hope, affirming that salvation is a gift from God. Just as an infant does nothing to be born, we experience rebirth not because of who we are or anything we have done. We are born of God (John 1:13) through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Salvation changes who we are (2 Corinthians 5:17), making us dead to sin and alive to righteousness in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:5). This new birth serves as our reason for hope—the assurance of salvation.

Bible commentators often call Peter the apostle of hope. In this passage, Peter links our new birth—our salvation—with the idea of “a living hope.” The hope Peter speaks of is not the wishful thinking usually associated with the word hope today. We might say, “I hope it doesn’t rain,” or “I hope I pass the test.” But this is not the kind of hope Peter has in mind.

The Greek term for “hope” in the passage means “an eager, confident expectation.” This hope of the believer is not only “living” but “lively.” The CEV translates the phrase as “a hope that lives on.” Unlike the empty, dead hope of this world, this “living hope” is energizing, alive, and active in the soul of the believer. “We live with great expectation,” as the NLT puts it. Our living hope originates from a living, resurrected Savior. Peter’s living hope is Jesus Christ.

The apostle is speaking to Christians who were suffering persecution in Asia Minor. His words were meant to encourage them in their troubles. Their future was secure because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Their hope was in His victory over death and His resurrection life. Whatever the persecuted believers would face in this world could not compare to the blessings of the future resurrection and the life to come in eternity.

Living hope is anchored in the past—Jesus rose from the dead (Matthew 28:6). It continues in the present—Jesus is alive (Colossians 3:1). And it endures throughout the future—Jesus promises eternal, resurrection life (John 3:16; 4:14; 5:24; Romans 6:22; 1 Corinthians 15:23). Living hope also enables us to live without despair as we encounter suffering and trials in this present life: “Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18, CSB).

The object of our living hope is described in 1 Peter 1:4 as “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (CSB). We have an inheritance that will never be touched by death, stained by evil, or faded with time; it is death-proof, sin-proof, and age-proof. This inheritance is also fail-proof because God guards and preserves it in heaven for us. It is wholly secure. Absolutely nothing can undermine the certainty of our future inheritance.

People cannot survive long without hope. Hope keeps us going through painful experiences and fear of what the future may hold. In a fallen world where people face poverty, disease, hunger, injustice, disaster, war, and terrorism, we need a living hope. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:12 that those who don’t have Jesus Christ do not have hope. Believers are blessed with real and substantial hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. By the power of God’s Word and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, this living hope quickens our minds and souls (Hebrews 4:12). It changes our thoughts, words, and actions. Once dead in our sins, we now live with the hope of our own resurrection.

The believer’s living hope is solid and secure: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner, because he has become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 6:19–20, CSB). Jesus Christ is our Savior, our salvation, our Living Hope.
xhttps://www.gotquestions.org/living-hope.html

2024·11·23 Joe Biden Didn’t Win (And Neither Did Kamala Harris) Daily Thread

58 days, 11 hours, 59 minutes until our Once and Future President, the Rightful President of the United States, is restored to his proper office.

Not that I’m counting, mind you.

[Assumes 0001 publication time. Wordpiss will be wordpiss and it’s unlikely to happen at that time.]

What is it that feeds our battle, yet starves our victory?

Speaker Johnson: A Reminder.

And MTG is there to help make it stick.

January 6 tapes. A good start…but then nothing.

Were you just hoping we’d be distracted by the first set and not notice?

Are you THAT kind of “Republican”?

Are you Kevin McCarthy lite?

What are you waiting for?

I have a personal interest in this issue.

And if you aren’t…what the hell is wrong with you?

Lawyer Appeasement Section

OK now for the fine print.

This is the WQTH Daily Thread. You know the drill. There’s no Poltical correctness, but civility is a requirement. There are Important Guidelines, here, with an addendum on 20191110.

We have a new board – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation.

And remember Wheatie’s Rules:

(Hmm a few extras seem to have crept in.)

Spot (i.e., paper) Prices

Last week:

Gold $2,563.30
Silver $30.30
Platinum $947.00
Palladium $974.00
Rhodium $4,950.00
FRNSI* 123.000-
Gold:Silver 84.597+

This week, 3PM Mountain Time, Kitco “ask” prices. Markets have closed for the weekend.

Gold $2,716.90
Silver $31.41
Platinum $973.00
Palladium $1,034.00
Rhodium $4,950.00
FRNSI* 130.430+
Gold:Silver 86.498-

The attention is on gold. It has recovered over $150 of the losses it took right after the election, just since last Friday. Alas, silver has not kept up, and the gold:silver ratio has gone up almost two points. Platinum still struggles to climb out of the gutter, while palladium seems more dynamic. Rhodium did move around a bit, but ended up where it was last Friday.

Reminder: Most Flat Earther Influencers are Liars

Most Flat Earther influencers like Flat Earth Dave and Eric Dubay have said for years that they want to go to Antarctica during southern summer and watch the Sun set…which would prove the globe model isn’t right. The globe model not only predicts the Sun will not set in Antarctica at and around the solstice, it predicts the Sun’s path through the sky will circle the observer over the course of a 24 hour day, going from north to west to south to east of the observer. (At the south pole itself, some of those directions are meaningless since every direction is north; but just move a millimeter from the pole and they mean something.)

They’ve been given the chance to go to Antarctica for free and now all of the sudden refuse to do it; they are even ostracizing the few among their number who have agreed to take the trip, accusing them of having sold out and being shills in advance of them coming back and reporting what they have seen,

That should be enough to tell any reasonable observer that they already know what the travelers to Antarctica will see…and it won’t be good for Flat Earth. Which is why I am not calling them ignorant or deluded; I am calling them liars. They know the Earth is not flat, yet they make a shitload of money claiming it is.

Lying. Sacks. Of. Shit.

However, I don’t call all of them liars. I give some praise to those few who are going; they apparently do actually believe it (which is not good on them)–negating the “liar” aspect–but more importantly they have the intellectual courage to test their beliefs, even in the face of ostracism from the knowing con-men on their side.

Beyond Neptune

Of course everyone knows what’s after Neptune.

Pluto.

But that’s not all of the story by any means.

The Discovery of Pluto

I told the story last time of the discovery of Neptune. But as astronomers observed and tracked Neptune in the last half of the 19th century, it appeared that Neptune didn’t account for all of Uranus’s unexpected motions.

The first thought, of course, is that there’s yet another planet out there. Percival Lowell decided to try to do something about it beyond thinking.

Percival Lowell had founded the Lowell observatory near Flagstaff, AZ in 1894, largely to observe Mars, but in 1906 he started searching for Planet Nine. He kept on looking with the help of William H. Pickering, using calculations by Elizabeth Williams. Nothing was found and Lowell passed away in 1916. (As it turns out his photographic plates did have “hits” on Pluto for March 19 and April 7th, 1915, but they were faint and didn’t get noticed. Planet Nine was expected to be big. There are fourteen other known instances of Pluto showing up, unrecognized, on observatories’ photographic plates from 1909 on; these are called “precovery” photographs.)

Percival Lowell’s widow, Constance, got into a ten year legal battle with the observatory, so the search stopped. But once the legal cloud had cleared, the director, Vesto Melvin Slipher (the first to see redshifts in galaxies) gave 23 year old Clyde Tombaugh the job of resuming the search. Tombaugh’s method consisted of taking photographs of the same area of the night sky a few days apart and putting the photographs (which were on glass plates) in a blink comparator, which would project one plate, then the other, and repeat. Any object that had moved in the meantime would seem to jump back and forth.

On February 18, 1930, Tombaugh spotted something on plates from the 23rd and 29th of January.

As you can see, the photographs were often not exposed to the same brightness, so anyone using a blink comparator would have to deal with the image getting brighter and dimmer, brighter and dimmer…while looking for the one object that was completely not there (not just dimmer) in one photograph or the other. (And it seems as though many things in the left photograph are not visible in the right hand photobraph. So perhaps Tombaugh simply looked for something that showed in the faint photo on the right, but not the brighter one on the left.)

A lower quality photo from the 21st helped confirm that Tombaugh wasn’t just seeing spots in front of his eyes. The observatory took more photos over the next few weeks to really nail the case down. Finally, on March 13, they telegraphed Harvard Observatory with the news.

The new planet orbits the Sun in 247.94 years, in an inclined and eccentric orbit. That period puts it into a 2:3 resonance with Neptune; it orbits twice in the amount of time it takes Neptune to orbit three times.

What to name it? They got thousands of suggestions, including Minerva, Pluto, and Cronus. Minerva had been used for an asteroid already, Cronus was being pushed by someone who was both unpopular and egocentric…so Pluto it was. (Cronus is also the Greek name for the titan who fathered Zeus and other Olympian gods…in other words it’s the Greek counterpart of the Roman Saturn.) Pluto/Hades was the god of the underworld. As a bonus, the first two letters are Percival Lowell’s initials. The name was approved by both the American Astronomical Society and the Royal Astonomical Society and the name became fixed on May 1. No jacking around with the name as had happened with Uranus for decades.

But right off the bat something didn’t add up.

One estimate from 1915 was that Planet Nine would have to be seven times as massive as the Earth. But a very early estimate after Pluto had been found, in 1931, had its mass as low as Earth’s (so, too low by a factor of 7). As more and more estimates were made over the years, Pluto’s estimated mass kept dropping; in 1948 Kuiper estimated it at 0.1 Earth masses, in 1976 it was lowered again to 0.01 Earth masses. But these were guesses based on Pluto’s size, which was estimated from how bright it was. It was never more than a dot of light on a photographic plate or film.

In 1978, we discovered Pluto had a moon, Charon…and with a moon we could determine the mass quite solidly, so the estimate dropped to 0.0015 Earth masses. And the latest number from 2006 is 0.00218 Earth masses. (I actually remember this happening. And now Pluto has five known moons.)

Charon, by the way, is the last of the medium-sized moons. Saturn has four, Uranus has four…and Pluto has one.

And we finally nailed down Pluto’s size, 2377 km in diameter. Our own moon is 3475 km across, and there are other moons larger than it. Mercury is also far larger than Pluto.

This is just way too tiny to be the planet we were looking for.

Furthermore, Voyager 2 in 1989 caused the estimates for Neptune’s mass to be dropped 0.5% and the “remaining discrepancy” in Uranus’s orbit now disappeared; Neptune accounted for it all.

So Pluto’s discovery was ultimately a stroke of luck. We were groping around in a dark room with a blindfold on, looking for a cat that wasn’t there…but we had found the mouse that was.

But now, just about everything about Pluto (and not just its size) made many wonder if it really should be considered a planet. Pluto is in a very un-planetery orbit. The other eight planets had reasonably circular orbits (Mercury being a bit of an outlier) all in nearly the same plane: the ecliptic (which is defined by the plane of Earth’s orbit). Pluto’s orbit is inclined 17 degrees to the ecliptic; no other planet came anywhere close to that. Furthermore, its orbit was very eccentric, not circular (e=.2488). In fact, with a semi-major axis of 39.482, that meant Pluto’s closest approach to the Sun was 29.658 AU.

That’s closer than Neptune. Pluto was actually at that point on September 5, 1989. For the entire twenty year period from 1979-1999 Pluto wasn’t the outermost planet, Neptune was.

[DIGRESSION: There is, by the way, little to no danger of a collision between Neptune and Pluto. If you look at the two orbits in 3D it becomes apparent that Pluto crosses the plane of Neptune’s orbit pretty far away from the actual orbit of Neptune. Here’s an animation of one Plutonian year from an oblique angle. The vertical white lines show how far below or above the plane Pluto is at any given time.

You can watch the animation and note that Neptune is at about 4 o’clock in the diagram at the start of the animation, and that’s where Pluto is furthest from the Sun. At the end of the animation, Neptune is at 10 o’clock; in other words it has orbited 1 1/2 times while Pluto orbited once (that’s a 3:2 resonance). At no point will the two planets come near each other, and since this pattern repeats, they won’t ever unless something causes an orbit to change.]

END OF DIGRESSION and back to the main thread: So Pluto didn’t look like any other planet. Nor did it act like any other planet. But if Pluto were all there was out there, most people would go ahead and consider it a planet.

But as it happens. there’s quite a lot “out there.”

The Centaurs

In 1977, Charles Kowal discovered Chiron, an asteroid, roughly 200 km across…but one with a difference. It was nowhere near the asteroid belt; it was well outside of it. That was a first, and barely a hint of things to come. Chiron is named after a centaur; and we would discover more such bodies. There’s a whole class of them now and that class is called the “centaurs.” It turned out there were “precovery” images of Chiron going clear back to 1895. And it turns out to have a ring!

There is a registry of so-called minor planets. When there is an initial observation, they’re given a “provisional designation.” (The scheme is a bit complicated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_designation_in_astronomy#Minor_planets but the first part is obviously the year of the first observation). Sometimes it gets an unofficial nickname, if it’s particularly interesting. Once we have enough data to establish an orbit, the object is given a number in the order they are discovered–and sometimes it gets a name too. (There are hundreds of thousands of objects that never got past the provisional designation stage.) Minor planets are simply numbered in order: Ceres is formally “1 Ceres”, then there is 2 Pallas, 3 Vesta, 4 Juno, and so on. It used to be just asteroids, but as we will see a lot more different kinds of things are on the list. These objects have the following in common: they orbit the sun directly, but aren’t planets, and aren’t comets.

[WARNING: Have a barf bucket handy for this one: Believe it or not there’s an object nicknamed (but not permanently named) “Biden,” provisional number 2012 VP₁₁₃. And it got that name because Biden was the VP that year. However it’s been 12 years and they weren’t able to verify it so it might not be a real minor planet, in much the same way that Biden today isn’t a real president.]

When Chiron was first discovered, it got the provisional designation “1977 UB.” Once its orbit was established, it was regarded as the 2060th “minor planet” to be discovered, and now it’s formally known as 2060 Chiron. There are now over 44,000 known centaurs. And it’s speculated that Saturn’s way-out-there ninth moon, Phoebe, is a captured centaur. In general centaurs are far too likely to encounter one of the outer planets and so their orbits are not considered stable in the long term.

Buried in Planets?

Fifteen years later, things started to get crazy. We started finding more and more stuff way out there. The first was 15760 Albion (provisional designation 1992 QB₁).

Here is 15760 Albion’s orbit (it’s a very slo-mo gif, so you’re not seeing things, it does move). It is in a roughly 291 year orbit. Shown in red are the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

It actually looks like a planet’s orbit; it’s even spaced about right. Unfortunately, it was only a bit over 100km across, not even remotely big enough to have forced itself into a round shape. Not a planet.

A concerted effort was made to scan the entire ecliptic for very slow moving dots of light, to see if there were other things out there.

And there sure were. Lots of small stuff. But then we started finding big ones too, ones big enough to be rounded, and many, if not most, of these objects have moons!

In 2002, we found 50000 Quaoar (named after a deity worshiped by an Indian tribe that lived in what is now the LA area), orbiting between 41.9 and 45.5 AUs, in 289 years. Its diameter is 1,090 km. OK, that’s sizeable enough to get one’s attention! And it has a moon.

Then we found 90377 Sedna, discovered in 2003, which has a gigantic 506 AU (that is not a typo, yes five hundred and six astronomical units) orbit (that is 76 billion kilometers). That’s the semi-major axis (half way across the long way). This one is a highly eccentric orbit, so it’s not that far away from us at the moment; if it was we’d never be able to see it. Right now Sedna is 83.5 AU away (still twice as far as Pluto), near its nearest approach to the Sun at 76 AU. Its furthest distance is 937 AU! But be prepared to wait a while for it to get there. Its year is 11,400 of ours, and you’ll have to wait about half that long for it to get halfway around its orbit. So far as we know, Sedna does not have a moon. We can see no detail at that ridiculous distance, but it is colored distinctly red (my guess: tholins). And Sedna is very roughly 900 km across, which is again sizeable, not dismissable as a piece of rubble. Sedna does not have a moon that we can see, which as you will see is unusual.

In 2004 we found 90482 Orcus, 900 km or so in diameter, 30.3 to 48.1 AUs out orbiting in 245.1 years (almost exactly the same as Pluto). Also, it has a moon.

OK, this is starting to get ridiculous. But we’re just getting started!

Also in 2004, there is 136108 Haumea, announced a year later and its status not fully settled even then because…well because it’s 2000km across! That’s getting close to Pluto’s size. (As a side note, Haumea is distinctly rugby-ball shaped. We think. Again we don’t see much more than blobs in our images.) And (wait for it), it has two moons.

But the absolute, oh-shit-we-have-a-problem-here discovery was announced the very next year, 2005, based on observations from late 2003 and later. 2003 UB₃₁₃ was more massive than Pluto, though it appears to have a smaller diameter. The new object was “nicknamed” Xena (as in the Warrior Princess), and it took a while to settle on a permanent name. It turns out to have a moon, nicknamed Gabrielle after Xena’s sidekick. “Xena” orbits between 38.3 and 97.5 AUs, in 559 years. This object was actually announced by some YSM outlets as the tenth planet! Well, why not? If Pluto is a planet, this object certainly should be!

Because some people argued that indeed it was a planet, it took a while to get a permanent name and number. Why give it a number and have it turn out to not belong on the minor planet list? So “Xena” had to wait, for we were fully embroiled in discord.

And just for icing on the cake, on the same day that “Xena” was announced, the discovery of what would eventually be called 136472 Makemake was announced…and that was just two days after Haumea was announced. 136472 Makemake orbits between 38.1 and 52.8 AUs in 306 years.

Well. What a mess. Are they planets? We’d better figure this out because we’re getting buried here.

Rounding Up the Trans Neptunian Objects

I’m going to jump ahead here, a tiny bit. I’ll get back to the planet question soon.

I’m going to discuss the classification system we use today for these objects so (non-spoiler spoiler alert) Pluto will here be treated as one of these objects, not as a planet.

These objects all live beyond Neptune. But astronomers like to group things (you saw that with the moons of the gas and ice giants) and these objects, plus the zillions of much smaller ones in similar places that I haven’t mentioned, ultimately got “bucketed” into categories.

The Big Bucket is “trans-Neptunian object” Other than the centaurs, all of the objects I’ve discussed this time are trans-Neptunian objects (generally abbreviated “TNOs”), because they’re minor bodies outside of the orbit of Neptune.

But then we have sub-categories. The “Kuiper Belt” is those objects between 30 and 55 AUs from the Sun (as a reminder, Neptune is at roughly 30 AU). There are thousands of known Kuiper Belt objects, and the best estimate is that there are over a hundred thousand objects here over 100km in diameter. In fact there is far more “stuff” out there than in the asteroid belt. However, asteroid belt objects are typically rocks or metals, while the Kuiper Belt is mostly volatiles–iceballs, with some rocks in them.

The Kuiper Belt in turn has three classes of objects. The “classical” Kuiper Belt objects (cubewanos) are in reasonably circular, “regular” orbits, like Albion. There are a bunch in 2:3 resonance with Neptune (like Pluto), called plutinos, and others in a 1:2 resonance with Neptune, called twotinos. Orcus, Pluto, Haumea, Quaoar and Makemake are all Kuiper Belt objects. Orcus and Pluto are plutinos, the others are cubewanos.

This leaves Sedna and “Xena” unaccounted for. The other major category besides Kuiper Belt Objects is the “Scattered Disk Objects”, irregular-orbiting objects well beyond the Kuiper belt. “Xena” and Sedna fit here.

Here’s a handy-dandy chart. Or a confusing one, depending on your point of view, showing these categories, as well as the centaurs. In red across the top you will note designations like 2|3 and 1|2 for resonances with Neptune. And, oh by the way, Sedna is such an outlier it’s off the right hand edge of the diagram.

Gerard Peter Kuiper

Gerard Peter Kuiper, 1905-1973 (photo from 1964), was a Dutch-American astronomer. Americans trying to pronounce his name butcher it as “KAI-per,” rhyming with “piper.” The original Dutch pronunciation is indescribable to us except with the international phonetic alphabet: ˈɣɛrɪt ˈpitər ˈkœypər. He was the doctoral adviser for Carl Sagan, discovered Miranda (smallest moon of Uranus) and Nereid (third largest moon of Neptune), carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mars, and Titan’s atmosphere. He speculated that a large disk of of ices had condensed into smaller bodies, but would long since have been disrupted by Pluto (which was thought at the time to be massive). Well, he was half right; because Pluto is puny the objects are still there and the belt containing them is now named the Kuiper belt in his honor.

Discord

OK, back to “Are these planets?” The year is 2006. New Horizons launched on its mission to Pluto on 19 January of that year, and now it was time to evaluate the matter of whether it was on its way to a planet or not.

There was no formal definition of a planet. We knew them when we saw them. Except now we didn’t. Or rather everyone knew, but not the same as other people.

Alan Stern was (and still is) a principal investigator of the New Horizons probe (i.e., he is in charge of one of the instruments on that probe). Stern’s resume in the space program is as long as my arm. Time magazine even named him one of the 100 most influential people in 2007.

Stern was, and still is, an adamant defender of Pluto as a planet…and yes, he knows that means all these other objects, plus more to be discovered in the future, would be planets too.

His proposal: Divide planets into three subcategories. First, the classical planets, Mercury through Neptune, eight total. Then dwarf planets; that would include all of these big TNOs including Pluto, and Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt. The third category, though, is the “satellite planet.” These are the round moons orbiting other objects: our Moon, the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter, the seven round moons of Saturn, the five round moons of Uranus, Triton orbiting Neptune, and Charon orbiting Pluto.

These would all be planets, because they are massive enough for their gravity to have forced them into round shapes. (And this is one reason I’ve made a big deal about round versus not round.)

Including the moons seems a bit odd. But Stern’s position is very straightforward. He cares about the intrinsic properties of the object (it’s size and shape) first and its extrinsic circumstances, i.e. what orbit it’s in, second. If the object is round, it’s a planet, whether it dominates its orbit, or even if it orbits something else. Once it’s settled as a planet, then you decide whether it’s also a satellite, or big enough to “own” its orbit, and put it in the appropriate sub-buckets.

The IAU Makes Sausage

When the International Astronomical Union met in August of 2006 this matter was on the agenda and…well, we know the story. Alan Stern lost.

There is an aphorism that, like sausages, those that love law should not watch it being made. And that’s apparently true here as well.

The first proposal was: “A planet is a celestial body that (a) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (b) is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet.”

In addition to the then-nine objects recognized as planets, this would have added Ceres, “Xena,” and Charon, the moon of Pluto. So we would immediately have twelve planets. In addition to this there were twelve candidate objects (including three asteroid-belt objects) that would likely fit once we knew more about them (including many of the ones I’ve talked about). Indeed there were claims (by Mike Brown who discovered Sedna and “Xena”) that we could have fifty three additional planets added almost immediately to this list of 12, and likely many more, perhaps 200, once we looked for more objects.

You may wonder why Charon would make the list, even though it’s fairly small as such things go. Why Charon and not Ganymede? That is because Charon and Pluto are close enough in size that the center of gravity of the Pluto-Charon system is actually outside of Pluto, unlike with every other moon in the solar system. That caused many to regard Pluto/Charon as a double planet…which of course would make Charon a planet.

Anything not spherical would be “bucketed” into Small Solar System Bodies (SSSBs). In addition, the “pluton” class (named for Pluto) would be used for things with highly eccentric or inclined objects. So this proposal drew one fairly clean line, if it’s round (and it’s not a star) it’s a planet, otherwise it’s an SSSB.

Although the relevant committee endorsed this, most of the IAU didn’t like this proposal; it was too ambiguous distinguishing between classical and dwarf planets. It failed a straw poll, 18-50 of a subgroup of the IAU.

So the second try, proposed by Gonzalo Tancredi and Julio Angel Fernandez:

(1) A planet is a celestial body that (a) is by far the largest object in its local population[1], (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape [2], and (c) does not produce energy by any nuclear fusion mechanism [3].

(2) According to point (1), the eight classical planets discovered before 1900, which move in nearly circular orbits close to the ecliptic plane, are the only planets of the Solar System. All the other objects in orbit around the Sun are smaller than Mercury. We recognize that there are objects that fulfill the criteria (b) and (c) but not criterion (a). Those objects are defined as “dwarf” planets. Ceres, as well as Pluto and several other large Trans-Neptunian objects, belongs to this category. In contrast to the planets, these objects typically have highly inclined orbits and/or large eccentricities.

(3) All the other natural objects orbiting the Sun that do not fulfill any of the previous criteria shall be referred to collectively as “Small Solar System Bodies“.[4]

Definitions and clarifications

The local population is the collection of objects that cross or closely approach the orbit of the body in consideration.

This generally applies to objects with sizes above several hundred kilometers, depending on the material strength.

This criterion allows the distinction between gas giant planets and brown dwarfs or stars.

This class currently includes most of the Solar System asteroids, Near-Earth objects (NEOs), Mars-, Jupiter- and Neptune-Trojan asteroids, most Centaurs, most Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), and comets.^[32]

This would have demoted Pluto to a “dwarf planet” which, despite the name including the word “planet,” was not a subcategory of planet; a difference between this and Stern’s proposal.

This went to open session, and the main point of contention was between the “static” and “dynamic” physics positions. The static position was similar to Stern’s; the emphasis would be on the intrinsic shape of the planet. “Dynamics” is a reference to the orbital properties.

There was one more draft, then the Plenary Session of the IAU met, and debated some more. And this is the result:

The IAU…resolves that planets and other bodies, except satellites, in the Solar System be defined into three distinct categories in the following way:

(1) A planet [1] is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

(2) A “dwarf planet” is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape [2], (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.

(3) All other objects [3], except satellites, orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as “Small Solar System Bodies“.

Footnotes:

[1] The eight planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
[2] An IAU process will be established to assign borderline objects into either dwarf planet and other categories.

[3] These currently include most of the Solar System asteroids, most Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), comets, and other small bodies.

And just to be clear, a “dwarf planet” was not, despite the name, a category of planet; they passed an additional resolution to make it clear.

[I have seen clips of the actual vote, hands raised in the auditorium. I can’t find one now, or I’d include it.]

So the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

The dwarf planets (a subgroup of the Small Solar System Bodies), most likely includes: Ceres, Pluto, Quaoar, Sedna, Orcus, Haumea, “Xena”, Makemake…and one other, Gonggong. This is a fuzzy line and there are others already known that arguably belong on this list.

The Aftermath

And so that was it for Planet Pluto. To put the nail in it, within days Pluto was given a minor planet number just like any asteroid or Kuiper Belt object: 134340 Pluto. It’s now marked as a “Small Solar System Body.”

The reaction was intense. The public of course hated this and still does.

But it’s not just the public. Many planetary scientists (not just Alan Stern) also disagree.

This issue will be revisited some day. Personally I like Stern’s suggestion better than what we got. Or perhaps the best suggestion is to just drop the word “planet” entirely since it seems to have emotional ties. Should every round object that’s not a star be a “world”?

This is NOT the first time we’ve reassessed the concept of a planet, by the way. The other times that I know of are:

Any permanent wandering object in the sky was a planet; that included the Sun and the Moon, originally. Once it turned out the Moon orbited the Earth, and everything else orbited the Sun, that made the Sun “special” and the Moon a mere satellite of a planet, Earth.
With the discovery of moons around other planets (the Galilean moons of Jupiter in 1610, but also the satellites of Saturn and Uranus), we started seeing the term “Planetary Satellites” (which Stern re-used) used for them; that term continued to be in use well into the 1700s if not later. It’s now often used for the big seven moons (the Moon, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan and Triton); the ones I’ve been calling “large moons.”
The asteroids were considered planets at first: Ceres, then we had Vesta, Juno and Pallas. They were all small and in the same general location, though so they quickly got reclassified as “minor planets” or even “asteroids.”

If you relish irony, after that flurry of discoveries in the mid 00s, only one more solid dwarf planet candidate has been discovered, and that in 2007: 225088 Gonggong, which varies from 33.8 to 101.2 AUs from the Sun, orbiting in 554 years, with a diameter of about 1230 km (give or take 50 km). It has one known moon.

…And Back to “Xena”

As for “Xena”, that same meeting settled its status, and the permanent name 136199 Eris was chosen. Eris’s moon was named Dysnomia. Eris is round. Dysnomia might be.

Eris was a Greek goddess, the personification of strife and discord. Dysnomia means “lawlessness” which (interestingly) might be a reference to Lucy Lawless, who played Xena.

What perfect names for the objects that triggered such a furor!

(Next time, we’ll look at the TNOs themselves, most especially Pluto [it’s by far the best known] in more detail.)

Health Friday 11.22.2024 Open Thread: Let’s Talk About PRRARSV, the “Backdoor Key”

The above free vintage image of a lock being picked is courtesy of Google Images.

Health Friday is a series related to Big Pharma, vaccines, general health, and associated topics. Since today’s offering is related to the COVID-19 disaster — the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus itself; and, to the COVID-19 “vaccines” — it is dedicated to the memory of Yours Truly’s “vaccinated” late brother Sam, and her late cousin Bill; and to all persons of any age who have died as a result of either an infection from the COVID-19 virus itself, or to the negative effects (direct or indirect) of the COVID-19 “vaccines” that they took. However, the discussion is not limited to what is presented today: It is an Open Thread.

There are Important Wolf Moon Notifications, the Rules of our late, good Wheatie, and certain caveats from Yours Truly, of which readers should be aware. They are linked here.

Today’s post includes several “puzzle pieces.” Each one is integral to the whole. Please bear with me. There is a General Summary at the end of the post.

To Begin: A post from our host, Wolf Moon: www.theqtree.com/2023/05/01/pfizer-and-moderna-vaccines-both-contain-the-prrarsv-key-to-the-cell-nucleus/. This post is one of several on the topic of the “PRRARSV Backdoor Key” that is present in both the Pfizer-BioNTech and in the Moderna modRNA COVID-19 “vaccines.” One of the papers cited in the post is “the Mehedi paper”, found here: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1073789. “Nuclear translocation of spike mRNA is a novel feature of SARS-CoV-2”, Masfique Mehedi, et al., 26 January 2023. This paper proves that the PRRARSV code in the SARS-CoV-2 virus genome is only there, and not in either the SARS-CoV virus genome or the MERS-CoV virus genome. There are links to other important papers in the Wolf Moon post. Yours Truly is grateful to our host for doing serious investigation into this subject.

There has been speculation that the PRRARSV code may be related to snake venom. This also has been discussed by our good host in other of his posts on the subject. While Yours Truly believes that some type of snake venom that contains all or some of the PRRARSV code may be in play, she has an additional hypothesis on the PRRARSV code presence in the modRNA COVID-19 “vaccines” — and in the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself.

And, Now: May I present — the Pangolin (PAN-go-lin.)

Pangolins are shy, nocturnal mammals that are covered with scales; they are also called “scaly anteaters.” They resemble anteaters in body shape and length; however, Pangolins are covered with hard, keratin-like scales from the head to the tip of the tail. During the day, they remain in their burrows; at night, they emerge to hunt for and eat ants and termites. Their living habitat ranges from areas in Africa to India to southern Asia. As their meat, scales, and other body parts, are consumed as exotic foods, or are used in folk and traditional medicine in certain areas of the world, the Pangolin is listed as an endangered species. It is illegal to hunt or trap Pangolins, or to keep them as pets. However, because of their meat, scales, and other body parts, Pangolins are among the most-trafficked animals in the world (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangolin.)

The above image of a Pangolin is courtesy of the International Fund for Animal Welfare and Goggle Images.

Pangolins, like other animals, have coronaviruses. And here is where the story gets interesting. One such Pangolin coronavirus is “pangolin-CoV MP789.” It appears that the RBD (Receptor Binding Domain) is this virus has an “uncanny” similarity to the RBD of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In fact, it is been posited that the RBD of the SARS-CoV-2 virus resulted from a “recombination” of those of the bat-CoV RaTG13 virus and the pangolin-CoV MP789 virus. Below is Figure 1 of the “Morales-Espinosa, et al. paper” on this subject:

The “Morales-Espinosa, et al. paper” is found here: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7450963/, “The receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is the result of an ancestral recombination between the bat-CoV RatG13 and the pangolin-CoV MP789”, Rosario Morales-Espinosa, et al., 27 August 2020.

There is a plethora of scientific papers, articles, and scientific/medical blog posts related to the “probable” or “hypothetical” or “uncanny” similarity between Pangolin-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. Yours Truly will provide a sampling, below. Most of these papers, articles, and blog posts were written between 2020 and late 2022.

One: A scientific article by researchers in the CCP: www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(20)30360-2.pdf, “Probable Pangolin Origin of SARS-CoV-2 Associated with COVID-19 outbreak”, Tao Zhang, et al., 6 April 2020. A screenshot of part of the Conclusion of this article is below:

Two: Another 2020 paper, this one with an important mention in the Results section regarding the very high similarity of the S proteins in the pangolin-CoV genome and the SARS-CoV-2 genome: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1008421, “Are pangolins the intermediate host of the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)?”, by Ping Liu, et al., 14 May 2020. A screenshot of the section of the Results is below:

Three: Another scientific paper from 2020: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.0707.184374. “Single source of pangolin CoVs with a near identical spike RBD to SARS-CoV-2”, Chan, Y.A., and Zhan, S.H., 31 October 2020. A screenshot from this paper is below:

Four: A scientific blog post: https://blog.3ds.com/brands/biovia/decoding-the-sars-cov-2-genome-origin/, “Decoding the SARS-CoV-2 Genomes—Origin”, by Niranjani Iyer, 6 April 2020. A screenshot from the post is below:

Recall that it is only recently that the “the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from nature”, “the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from the ‘wet markets’ in Wuhan” claims have been proven incorrect. While there are still scientific papers and articles being published to “prove” the “came from nature” claims, what these papers and articles do not seem to explore, in Yours Truly’s opinion, are the Gain-of-Function experiments with various coronaviruses (including the pangolin-CoVs) that took place at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the process of lab-creating the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself. These Gain-of-Function experiments used elements found in nature (bat coronaviruses, civet coronaviruses, pangolin coronaviruses, rabbit coronaviruses, monkey coronaviruses, etc.) to “build” the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself. Here, for example, is a 2022 scientific article regarding the claims that the virus came from nature: www.science.org/content/article/evidence-suggests-pandemic-came-nature-not-lab-panel-says, “Evidence suggests pandemic came from nature, not a lab, panel says”, 10 October 2022, by Jon Cohen.

Which leads into the discussion of the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s experiments with pangolin coronaviruses.

In May 2024, the NIH finally admitted that the agency funded Gain-of-Function research at the WIV: https://nypost.com/2024/05/16/us-news/nih-director-admits-taxpayers-funded-gain-of-function-research-in-wuhan-four-years-after-covid-pandemic-began/, by Josh Christenson.

Here is the June 2023 report from the ODNI (Office of the Director of National Intelligence) regarding the Wuhan Institute of Virology and its activities: www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Report-on-Potential-Links-Between-the-Wuhan-Institute-of-Virology-and-the-Origins-of-COVID-19-20230623.pdf. Two screenshots from the Report are below:

It is obvious that the Wuhan Institute of Virology conducted coronavirus experiments with bats, civets, monkeys, and pangolins, in the process of creating the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Which leads to the next discussion, regarding PRRARSV and the furin cleavage site in the SARS-CoV-2 virus genome. Bear with Yours Truly here: this is an important piece of the puzzle.

PRRARSV is located at the S1-S2 furin cleavage site on the SARS-CoV-2 virus genome, from a scientific paper in September 2020: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2020.118056, “Structural features of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 spike protein: Targets for vaccination”. by Ariane Sternberg and Cord Naujokat, 15 September 2020. A screenshot from section 2 of this paper is below:

The redoubtable Walter M Chesnut expands on this, and how PRRARSV assists in the translocation of the modRNA spike protein in the SARS-CoV-2 virus into every cell in the human body: https://wmcresearch.substack.com/p/prrarsv-the-furin-cleavage-site-a. “PRRARSV—The Furin Cleavage Site: A Nuclear Localization Signal that Translocates the Spike and its mRNA to the Nucleus Inducing H3.3 histone Deposition and Rapid Aging”, 10 April 2023. Below is the National Cancer Institute definition of a histone (www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/histone):

In other words, the PRRARSV present in the SARS-CoV-2 virus enters the cell, assists the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to enter the nucleus of the cell, and interferes with the H3.3 histone in the DNA of the cell.

But wait, there’s more about histone3.3! it interacts with the human body at the mitochondrial level: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc/2014.06.050, “Post-translational modification and mitochondrial relocalization of histone H3 during apoptosis induced by staurosporine”, Hasan Koc, et al., 18 July 2014. Staurosporine is a “protein kinase inhibitor”: www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/staurosporine. Please refer back to the blog post by Mr. Chesnut — it appears that PRRARSV has a role in aging the human body at the mitochondrial level. See also: www.theqtree.com/2023/10/28/the-covid-19-virus-and-the-modrna-covid-19-vaccines-induce-accelerated-aging/.

There are four “inserts” that were introduced into the SARs-CoV-2 virus genome during the process that lab-created the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These four “inserts” were first isolated and described in the “Pradhan paper” from 2020. This paper was Retracted and suppressed almost as soon as it appeared. However, it can be found here: https://medicalveritas/org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Pradhan-et-al-Coronavirus-HIV-paper.pdf. A screenshot of Table 1. from the paper is below. The “PRRAR” code is “Insert 4”:

In addition, Figure 2. of this paper has the SARS-CoV-2 virus genome spelled out, with the position of each of the four “inserts.”

This leads to further proof that the PRRARSV code is indeed part of the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself. For example: https://jessicar.substack.com/p/it-turns-out-that-the-prrarsv-motif, “It turns out that the “PRRRARSV” motif is more than a furin-cleavage site”, 1 October 2022. Dr. Rose performed her own analysis of the PRRARSV code in the SARS-CoV-2 virus genome. She proves that the PRRARSV code is indeed the fourth “insert” into the virus genome. A screenshot of her analysis is below:

What does this all mean? It means the following:

General Summary:

One: The Pangolin, a shy, nocturnal mammal that is covered in keratin-like scales and eats ants and termites, also is prone to having a coronavirus, called pangolin-CoV. This virus has a genome code that is “quite similar” in some ways to the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself genome code. One of these “similarities” is a genome code called “RRSV” or “PRRAR”, depending on the research paper on the topic.

Two: There are four “unique inserts” in the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself genome. The fourth “insert” is the PRRARSV code. The PRRARSV code interferes with the important H3.3 histone in the DNA of every cell in the body of the person who is infected by SARS-CoV-2 (the COVID-19 virus) or who is infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself.

Three: The PRRARSV code was possibly derived from experiments with a type of snake venom; unless otherwise proven, it certainly was derived from experiments with the pangolin-CoV genome code.

Four: The experiments with the PRRARSV code were conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the process of the lab-creation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself.

Five: Since the COVID-19 “vaccines” use the Wuhan Hu1 SARS-CoV-2 virus itself as the basis for these injectables, the PRRARSV code is therefore present in these “vaccines.” This means that all persons who have ever taken a COVID-19 “vaccine” have been exposed to the PRRARSV code. To date, nobody knows exactly how long the ingredients and mechanisms of the COVID-19 “vaccines” remain at work in the “vaccinated” person’s body. In fact, the COVID-19 “vaccines” are designed to trick the “vaccinated” person’s body into thinking it has a COVID-19 virus infection, forcing the “vaccinated” person’s body to make large amounts of antibodies to fight off the “fake COVID-19 infection”: www.brandeis.edu/magazine/2020/fall/inquiry/vaccine.html, “On the cusp of a COVID-19 Vaccine”, by Lawrence Goodman. A screenshot from the article is below, quoting Dr. Drew Weissman of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine:

Six: Un-vaccinated” persons who contract a COVID-19 virus itself infection, and are therefore exposed to the PRRARSV code, can still mitigate and/or defeat the effects of the damage done by the virus itself if the person has a healthy immune system. On the other hand, COVID-19 “vaccinated” persons, in addition to being exposed to the PRRARSV code present in the “vaccines”, are also exposed to the other ingredients in the “vaccines”, such as N1-Methylpseudourdine. N1-Methylpseudouridine replaces the natural Uridine in the “vaccinated” person’s body, and also evades the natural immune system components and mechanisms in the COVID-19 “vaccinated” person’s body. COVID-19 “vaccinated” persons therefore have their natural immune systems damaged or destroyed, making it difficult or even impossible to mitigate and/or defeat the damage done by the “vaccines.”

Yours Truly will posit, based on the research and writing that she has been engaged in about the COVID-19 virus itself, and the COVID-19 “vaccines”, since March 2020: that any un-“vaccinated” person, of any age, who has had a COVID-19 virus itself infection; or, any person, of any age, who has had a COVID-19 “vaccine” put into their body — has been injured by the negative effects of the virus itself, or by the negative effects of the “vaccines.” In addition, COVID-19 virus itself infected persons, and COVID-19 “vaccinated” persons, have died from the effects of the infection or the “vaccine.” One will also say that the COVID-19 “vaccines” have added ingredients and mechanisms that make these injectables more dangerous and deadly than the COVID-19 virus itself. Finally, the outcomes of infection by the COVID-19 virus itself, and the negative outcomes from taking the COVID-19 “vaccines”, were, and are, planned and intentional.

It is now, in Yours Truly’s opinion, imperative that all persons make it their business to have and to maintain their natural immune system in the best possible condition.

It is now time to bring to account all of the multiple agencies, scientists, and other entities involvement (including the United States military) in the development of the lab-created SARS-CoV-2 virus itself: of the COVID-19 “vaccines”; and in the processes that resulted in the granting of Emergency Use Authorization and/or Full Approval of these “vaccines” without proper protocol adherence to rigorous testing and clinical trials for the said “vaccines.” It is now time to stop all further use of any COVID-19 “vaccine” until the above accountability is fully undertaken and finished, It is now time for all government agencies, medical organizations, and medical practitioners to recognize that Ivermectin and Hydroxycholoquine are inexpensive and vastly effective treatments for COVID-19 infection and for COVID-19 infection prophylaxis. It is now time to stop the use of Paxlovid and Remdesivir as “officially approved” treatment for COVID-19 infection, as both of these drugs have significant negative side effects, including a high “rebound COVID infection” rate for Paxlovid, and kidney damage and/or death for Remdesivir; and to substitute the use of Ivermectin or Hydroxycholoquine.

Peace, Good Energy, Respect: PAVACA

What is it that feeds our battle, yet starves our victory?

Speaker JohnsonPinging you on January 6 Tapes

Justice Must Be Done.

Small Government?

Political Science In Summation

His Truth?

Lawyer Appeasement Section

(Paper) Spot Prices

Flat Earth Cowards

On The Fringes? The Trans-Neptunian Worlds

Quaoar

Orcus

Haumea

Eris

MakeMake

Gonggong

Sedna

Pluto (Finally)

An Ode to New Horizons

Pluto Itself

Geology and Geography

Internal Structure

Atmosphere

Moons

The Other Moons

Arrokoth

Are We Done Yet?

SIRACH 50:22-24

PSALMS 138:1-5

1 CORINTHIANS 1:3-9

LUKE 17:11-19

Badlands News Brief – November 25, 2024

Tweets…X-Files, uh, posts, whatever

Meme Zone

Revelation 14:14-19

Matthew 16:24-27

Satire

Joe Biden didn’t win. This is our Real President:

AND our beautiful REALFLOTUS.

And yes, it’s Monday…again.

But we WILL get through it!

We will always remember Wheatie,

Pray for Trump,

Yet have fun,

and HOLD ON when things get crazy!

We will follow the RULES of civility that Wheatie left for us:

And while we engage in vigorous free speech, we will remember Wheatie’s advice on civility, non-violence, and site unity:

Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.

Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.

We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.

Joe Biden didn’t win.

Wolfie’s Wheatie’s Word of the Week:

yashmak

noun

Shown in a picture

Shown in a Soviet Uzbek film

MUSIC!

YMMV on whether this enjoyable, funny, or cringe. Whatever!

That voice! LOL!

THE STUFF

The Man From D.O.G.E.

Can a man of progress deal with out-of-control progressivism that seeks to destroy the values upon which it was built? Hmmm……

Well, the film still LOOKS good.

Just sayin’!

Until victory, have faith!

And trust the big plan, too!

And as always….

ENJOY THE SHOW

W

On this day and every day –

God is in Control. . . and His Grace is Sufficient, so . . .Keep Looking Up

Hopefully, every Sunday, we can find something here that will build us up a little . . . give us a smile . . . and add some joy or peace, very much needed in all our lives.

“This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep.” . . . “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Living Hope

What is it that feeds our battle, yet starves our victory?

Speaker Johnson: A Reminder.

Lawyer Appeasement Section

Spot (i.e., paper) Prices

Reminder: Most Flat Earther Influencers are Liars

Beyond Neptune

Speaker Johnson
Pinging you on January 6 Tapes

God is in Control
. . . and His Grace is Sufficient, so . . .
Keep Looking Up

“This day is holy to the Lord your God;
do not mourn nor weep.” . . .
“Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet,
and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared;
for this day is holy to our Lord.
Do not sorrow,
for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”