The Winter of 1886--1887 was extremely harsh. Although it affected other regions in the United States, it is most known for its effects on the Western United States and its cattle industry. This winter marked the end of the Open Range era and led to the entire reorganization of ranching.
The summer of 1886 had been unusually hot and dry, with numerous prairie fires and water sources often dried up. In the fall, signs of a harsh winter ahead began to appear. Birds began flying south earlier than usual, beavers were seen collecting more wood than normal for the winter ahead, and some cattle even took on thicker and shaggier coats.
The first snows fell earlier than usual in November and were reported as some of the worst in memory. Extreme cold temperatures killed humans and animals. In some instances, people got lost close to their houses and froze to death very close to their front doors. The winter weather even reached the West Coast, with snowfall of 3.7 inches in downtown San Francisco setting an all-time record on February 5, 1887.
The loss of livestock was not discovered until spring, when a large number of cattle carcasses were spread across the fields and washed down streams. The few remaining cattle were in poor health, being emaciated and suffering from frostbite. This resulted in the cattle being sold for much lower prices, in some cases leading to bankruptcy. Future president Theodore Roosevelt's cattle ranch in Dakota was wiped out by the severe winter, prompting him to abandon his ranching operations and instead pursue his political career. Temperatures in Western US fell to 50 below zero, killing many livestock and people.
#4
Notice as this years cold has hit the Midwest and Plains, no one is talking about a delayed planting season. Too non-urban to be of concern I'm sure.
#5
Hey Tornado Baits (myself included):
Good time to check out your emergency kit and smoke detectors (that's for everyone). Its still too early to switch out cold weather gear for warm weather gear but close; I get the feeling there will be snow problems for another month.
Something handy to have for this age is the solar charger. Plan for being out of services for 7 days - medicine, food, socks and undies. Especially water. Available are nifty pint and quart size puncture resistant water packets - check emergency boating supplies. About the only place more isolated than the high plains would be a boating accident - its the right stuff so check it out.
Includes flood plainers, fire evac, and you earthquaker Oklahomans.
#7
Well, we are back down to 0F in Alaska. Welcome to spring.
But on a serious note, we keep our emergency stuff in good order. Lose natural gas and electricity during an earthquake in winter and you better have a plan B and C in the pocket.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/08/2014 13:21 Comments ||
Top||
#8
a recurrence of the 1886-87 winter would be more proof of carbon-burning anthropomorphic-global warmening weather
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/08/2014 13:32 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Well due to viruses it looks like there is going to be a shortage of pork and chicken, so along with a beef shortage food prices will take another hit. What next radioactive fish....TAPCO leaks...uhm never mind. "John Ringo call your office."
h/t Gates of Vienna
Like the Wests support of sectarian terrorists across the Middle East, including Al Qaeda, it has found the most despicable elements in Ukrainian society to lead revolution for the sociopolitical reordering of Eastern Europe. As the dust settles and the Wests proxy regime finds itself safely entrenched in Kiev, Ukraine the Western media can now finally recuperate some of its lost legitimacy after months of denying the obvious that armed Neo-Nazis led the so-called Euromaidan uprising.
A BBC Newsnight short titled, Neo-Nazi threat in new Ukraine, reveals xenophobic Jew-hating nationalists, armed and leading the mobs in Kiev, directly contradicting months of Western media narratives portraying the rabble as aspiring for freedom, democracy, and closer ties with the West, with the most absurd example being the I am Ukrainian propaganda reel.
Far from a pro-democracy uprising, the Euromaidan was yet another case of Western engineered regime change leveraging the good intentions of the ill-informed to mask the covert backing of ugly armed extremists, just as it had done all across the similarly engineered Arab Spring in 2011. Or their never-ending war against Israel
#2
Nazi - National Socialist Workers Party.
Far more in common with the leadership in Moscow today than you want to believe thanks to the Great Big Lie of socialist apologist academia in covering for what they really were.
#5
Just sounds like everybody has their propaganda machines turn up a high as they'll go. Where is the truth? I'm afraid we'll never know. That's what makes me want to stay the hell out of it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/08/2014 12:39 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Just sounds like everybody has their propaganda machines turn up a high as they'll go. Where is the truth? I'm afraid we'll never know. That's what makes me want to stay the hell out of it.
The government's new health minister a doctor who helped oversee medical treatment for casualties during the protests told The Associated Press that the similarity of bullet wounds suffered by opposition victims and police indicates the shooters were trying to stoke tensions on both sides and spark even greater violence, with the goal of toppling Yanukovych.
"I think it wasn't just a part of the old regime that (plotted the provocation), but it was also the work of Russian special forces who served and maintained the ideology of the (old) regime," Health Minister Oleh Musiy said.
This much is known: Snipers firing powerful rifles from rooftops and windows shot scores of people in the heart of Kiev. Some victims were opposition protesters, but many were civilian bystanders clearly not involved in the clashes. Among the dead were medics, as well as police officers. A majority of the more than 100 people who died in the violence were shot by snipers; hundreds were also injured by the gunfire and other street fighting.
On Tuesday, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov signaled that investigators may be turning their attention away from Ukrainian responsibility.
"I can say only one thing: the key factor in this uprising, that spilled blood in Kiev and that turned the country upside down and shocked it, was a third force," Avakov was quoted as saying by Interfax. "And this force was not Ukrainian."
The next day, Prosecutor General Oleh Makhntisky said officials have found sniper bullet casings on the National Bank building a few hundred yards up the hill from Maidan, the square that became the center and the symbol of the anti-government protests. He said investigators have confirmed snipers also fired from the Hotel Ukraine, directly on the square, and the House of Chimeras, an official residence next to the presidential administration building.
Deputy Interior Minister Mykola Velichkovych told AP that commanders of sniper units overseen by the Berkut police force and other Interior Ministry subdivisions have denied to investigators that they had given orders to shoot anyone.
Musiy, who spent more than two months organizing medical units on Maidan, said that on Feb. 20 roughly 40 civilians and protesters were brought with fatal bullet wounds to the makeshift hospital set up near the square. But he said medics also treated three police officers whose wounds were identical.
#5
So 1980's! Gee didn't we hear Zero say that to Romney? Hmmm, Zero is batting in the 900's, that is if being wrong is good.
This does sound pretty old school USSR, Putin is running off an old playbook. He should be pretty predictable, if all the cold war officers have not been thrown out of the pentagon by Zero's purge. So now it will get stale, another crisis will arise and we will forget all about the Ukraine. He will go in and restore the country and hold elections. Once the opposition rises he will crush them with all the brutality Russia can muster.
One question, will Putin crush them in a Soviet Georgia style operations or clandestine KGB eliminations???
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/08/2014 12:59 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Putin will do what he must to achieve his ends. He is not greatly influenced by...so called world opinion.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/08/2014 19:46 Comments ||
Top||
"Indeed. It is revealing to compare Charles and David Koch with the owners and managers of the New York Times Company. The Koch brothers employ a growing, highly-paid work force of 60,000 in the United States, around one-third of whom are unionized. Koch Industries enjoys excellent relationships with its unions. The New York Times Company, on the other hand, employs a shrinking, largely ill-paid work force, and is embroiled in a long-running feud with its unions.
Koch Industries and its subsidiaries produce tangible products that enrich the lives of Americansamong other things, Koch transports and refines oil, makes products that are used in construction, and manufactures a wide array of consumer products that are staples in most American homes. The New York Times Company produces nothing but shoddy left-wing journalism that is of questionable benefit to anyone."
#2
I'd like to share my personal experiences with the Kochs:
They are major contributors to an institute my father co-founded. They are largely libertarian in outlook. One of the ironies of the hate liberal campaign was watching the LA Slimes workers object to ownership by the "neo-Nazi" Koch Brothers and enthusiasm for Amazon's Jeff Bezos. The Kochs and Jeff Bezos have identical economic views.
Among the tragedies of the orchestrated hate campaign are the constant death threats against the brothers, their wives, children and even employees. The companies the Kochs own are forced to hide the identities of their employees so they won't receive threatening phone calls in the middle of the night.
Of course threatening children is OK if it furthers a Democrat victory.
Florida Al (ex Frozen Al)
Posted by: Florida Al ||
03/08/2014 12:06 Comments ||
Top||
#3
"Florida Al (ex Frozen Al)"
Congrats, AL!
Posted by: Barbara ||
03/08/2014 16:15 Comments ||
Top||
[DAWN] JUST when clarity and resolve appeared to be creeping into the government's approach to dealing with the TTP threat, confusion and cravenness have made a wretched reappearance. On Thursday, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan offered the stunning pronouncement that a majority of the hard boy elements that constitute the TTP are not against the state of Pakistain and are not enemies of Pakistain. The interior minister's bizarre pronouncement may even have surprised the TTP, given that its explicit agenda is the violent overthrow of the state as presently constituted and the installation of one organised along the lines of the extreme version of Islam to which the TTP subscribes. Perhaps Nisar Ali Khan believes this is the way to win the hearts and minds of the Taliban, though that is hardly reassuring for the many Pak hearts and minds worried about what an elected government may be willing to barter away in the name of the people.
Still, the ever burgeoning catalogue of questionable pronouncements to which the interior minister's latest comments can be added is almost secondary to the very real steps the government is taking to push ahead the dialogue process. The original government-appointed negotiating committee is to be replaced with a new committee, the composition of which is yet to be announced. The purpose? To fast-track dialogue and make it results orientated, apparently. But then, was that not the purpose and brief of the original negotiating committee? When Prime Minister Sharif stood in parliament and announced the formation of the four-member committee for dialogue with the TTP more than a month ago, had he not pledged that the final attempt at talks would be decisive? A new committee clearly suggests that the previous one either failed or was inadequate for the task -- or perhaps both. So what went wrong and how is a new committee supposed to help fix that? The questions are many and lengthy, but answers, as ever, are desperately few.
If anything has become clear amidst all the fog of peace, it is that the press for talks is very much an initiative of the prime minister and his interior minister. Repeatedly, both men have owned their policy and sought to push ahead with it in the face of near universal disapproval. But neither seems willing to explain to parliament, the media or the public exactly what they are doing and how far they are willing to go. The approach seems to be: trust us, we won't let you down. But trust in such matters is always a scarce commodity, doubly so when the interior minister himself suggests the TTP is a friendly entity. The prime minister needs to explain clearly what he is authorising and why when it comes to talks with the TTP.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] WHEN Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan makes statements such as a "majority of Taliban" are pro-Pakistain and pro-peace, who'd be surprised to find the interior minister in the critics' cross-hairs?
However we castigate him and with considerable justification, the bitter truth is that he represents a much wider malaise: a lethal mix of denial, obfuscation and the conspicuous absence of a spine that has marked our handling of the existential threat posed by religious militancy.
Of course I was appalled to hear the interior minister saying in parliament that the majority of the Taliban are not "inimical" to Pakistain and are supportive of the so-called grinding of the peace processor. In fact, when he focused on the details of the Islamabad court attack (and I don't have facts at my disposal to contradict him on who killed the judge), it was clear he was trying to somehow absolve the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) of the blame.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] LAST week, an email popped into my inbox that shattered my peace of mind in our tranquil beach house in Sri Lanka. It bore a link to a gruesome video showing the Pak Taliban shooting 15 Frontier Corps soldiers, blindfolded and with their hands tied, in the back of their heads.
As each bullet hit, there was a spray of blood. After this grisly execution was over, a bearded killer lectured viewers about the righteousness of the whole bloody business. His brief diatribe was peppered with references to the Maker, and assurances that the victims would go to hell.
I wish the many apologists of the Taliban would view this video clip on a big screen, then look the families of the dead soldiers in the eye, and justify their cowardly stance. I wonder how the comrades of the slaughtered FC men feel: in their place, I would be furious at not being allowed to avenge this massacre, as well as so many others.
As we edge towards surrender, we are constantly being placated by assurances that the government has no intention of giving up on any of the core elements of its bargaining position, whatever it is. This is rubbish: simply by elevating the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) to the status of an equal negotiating partner, Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... has given killers a platform from where they can dictate terms.
As the recent air attacks on myrmidon positions in North Wazoo and elsewhere showed, there is merit in negotiating from a position of strength. In the mid-1980s, Beirut was caught up in a vicious civil war, and the kidnapping of foreigners was common. In 1985, four Soviet diplomats were kidnapped by a group calling itself the Islamic Liberation Organisation (ILO). One diplomat's corpse was dumped outside the Soviet Embassy.
The KGB dispatched a team from its anti-terrorist Alfa Directorate, and it soon established the identities of the ILO's leaders. Family members of the leadership were then kidnapped, and a pair of vital organs of one of them sent to the ILO with the message that more body parts would follow unless the Soviet diplomats were released immediately.
All three were soon returned, alive and unhurt, and no Soviet citizens were kidnapped in Beirut again. The KGB never publicly admitted its role in this incident, but the story circulated at the time, and was even reported in some newspapers.
Now I am not for one moment suggesting such drastic measures, but am just making the point that gunnies despise reason and pacifism, and only respect force. To test the waters, they launched the attacks in Hungu and Islamabad after agreeing to a month-long ceasefire.
Although they have denied responsibility for these killings, their protestations of innocence should be taken with a large pinch of salt. Over the years, apart from murdering some 50,000 Paks including over 5,000 security personnel, they have frequently broken truces when it has suited them. And we are expected to believe their denials about the recent attacks?
If they are indeed innocent, then clearly, many myrmidon groups are outside the TTP's control. Many in the government and on the TV chat show circuit are peddling the line that these recent attacks were the work of 'hidden hands' wishing to torpedo the talks.
The US is a prime candidate for the role of spoiler. This, again, is self-serving drivel. That a previously unknown group has claimed credit for the Islamabad killings at a city court should not surprise us. Already, some 60 jihadi groups are operating on Pakistain's dangerous soil. It is hard to imagine suicide-bombers agreeing to take on a mission for money, so the possibility of foreign agencies recruiting such motivated killers can be ruled out.
Time after time, the TTP, and its cheerleaders like Maulana Samiul Haq ...the Godfather of the Taliban, leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as Mullah Sandwich for his habit of having two young boys at a time... , have made it clear that they want nothing short of their version of the Sharia. The government, in its rush to enter negotiations, has been unable to extract a declaration from the TTP that it respects the Constitution, and will conduct negotiations within its ambit.
People like Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... and Nawaz Sharif are blind to the reality and the nature of the threat. Due to its numerous strands, the TTP can talk endlessly while carrying on its murderous campaign through various proxies. After each attack, it will blandly issue a denial, and in its desperation, the government will accept the disavowal at face value.
In a recent TV interview, a well-known Urdu columnist declared that the government should be willing to compensate the TTP for any losses they have suffered. But will the Taliban also compensate the families of the thousands of their victims? This is just one example of the double standards being peddled in the media today.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Nawaz Sharif
Wazoo
