So long Cyberfly! R.I.P. Frank Pisciotta

       Sad news for Tahoe locals, Truckee residents in particular.   Renowned flyfishing guide Frank Pisciotta passed away this month after a brief illness.  Frank was one of the elite guides in the Sierra, often called "The Dean of Sierra Guides", a well-deserved moniker.

       Frank was a City boy: born and raised in San Francisco's North Beach, where his family owned a custom upholstery business near Washington Square.  Frank attended Sacred Heart High School where he was active in club sports.  He was a good student and after graduating, he attended  the University of San Francisco, a top Lone Mountain hill near Masonic Blvd.  After 4 years of study, he graduated with a B.A. in economics.   During his time at USF, he was a member of Army R.O.T.C.  He was commissioned a 2nd Lt. after receiving his degree.   Shortly afterward, he was sent to Army O.C.S. for already commissioned reserve officers.  His first assignment was with the 9th Infantry Division HQ in Vietnam, where he spent the next 12 months working on the division staff in intelligence.

        Frank started guiding in the 70's, and named his business "Thy Rod and Staff".   This comes from the Book of Psalms-who knew?   As time went on and his reputation spread far and wide, he started writing articles for various magazines tailored to sport fishermen/and women.  He was a dedicated proponent of sustainable fishing methods and practices, especially around the Tahoe basin.   His favorite waters:  the Truckee River with all its challenges.   It was also the seen of many seminars, dedicated to basic techniques of flyfishing, and advanced methods for veterans who needed local information about Tahoe.

      He attended many sportsmen shows during the off-season, giving lectures to attendees who wanted expert advice of their favorite flies.

more to follow

New York Times Calls Out Putin

       In a blistering editorial, the NY Times called Putin a threat to the world order and called for action against the largest country in the world, run by another megalomaniac who has been appointed dictator for life.  This call out comes on the heels of the near death of Putin's sharpest critic, Aleksei Navalny.  He was the one who became ill on a flight to Moskova from Siberia.   The flight was diverted as the seriousness became obvious when he lapsed into unconsciousness.  The pilot landed at Omsk airport which was met by an ambulance which rushed him to a local hospital.  His condition was grave.  

       On learning that Mr. Navalny was hospitalized, his supporters rushed to the hotel where he had stayed the last night.   They gathered everything in the room that could be associated with his stay.  This would be analyzed later for any sign of contamination.   Meanwhile, Mr. Navalny was then taken to a hospital in Berlin, Germany, to thwart any attempt by the FSB/Kremlin to intervene while he was hospitalized in Russya.   Doctors in Russya stated it appeared he had been drinking or perhaps taken some drugs.   This bogus claim only underscored his precarious position while still in Russya.

        Subsequent testing revealed the presence of the banned nerve agent Novichuk.   As has happened in many other incidents, this agent seems to be the preferred agent when the FSB is operating at home or abroad against critics of the Kremlin.  The list gets longer by the month.  The NY Times called for other countries to take action.  Specifically, the editorial called for the EU to end the Nord Stream pipeline deal with Russya that would supply natural gas to the EU directly from Russya.  The project is about to be completed, and Prime Minister Angela Merkel is coming under pressure to cancel the project despite it being nearly completed.  Sanctions already exist upon Russya for various international actions, eg. invasion of Crimea; assassination attempts in the UK, and the murders of journalists w/i the borders of the federation.

       Meanwhile, the propaganda machine inside Russya is throwing out news of a Covid vaccine that has been developed in some lab inside the country.  The Kremlin maintains it has proven safe.  Ha.  Can you imagine?  Maybe each batch will have a "special" formulation to be reserved for "special" patients.   Would you want a vaccine covered with Russyan fingerprints?  No, of course not.

 

How's the Air at the lake?

      Well, take a breath.  Can you taste it?  Chew it?  See it?  Smell like something you don't like?  If yes to any of these questions, the air is B-A-D.  So, stay indoors.  If not, double mask, don't work outside, don't work out, and definitely, unless you're a lunatic: don't smoke.

       The AQI has been up above 175 off and on for days this week.  This does not indicate healthy air for anybody here abouts.   Yes, tiresome, isn't it?  We are tired of it all: Covid, Fire, Smoke, Trump, Biden, Pence Kamala, etc.  Give us Peace: Now.

        Oh, and the police: Put away your guns, you fools.   And the election is less than 2 months away.  Absentee ballots will be mailed soon.  Hmm.  How's your signature?  Can you read it?   Will the F.B.I. have to examine it for authenticity?   Or will the Republican Party approve it as written?  So many questions.

        Careful out there when hiking: smoke.

Hack Attack-2020

      Oh, well.  It's 2020 and not  much has gone right around the blue planet:  hurricanes, typhoons, floods, a few quakes, a pandemic, continued conflict in the Middle East, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and also Brexit problems.   It's an election year in the USA: then that means that state actors will roll out their sovereign hackers to disrupt any and all political contests to thwart local control.  It is getting tiresome.  Microsoft Corp. spread the word that 3 state actors are responsible for the latest efforts to disrupt:  Russya, Iran, and our Chinese friends from Beijing.  Apparently, these states wish to influence outcomes that would be most beneficial to the state's aims.  In reality, they wish to sow dissension and mistrust of government among the citizenry throughout the USA.   They continue to act in a manner that makes them all unfit for any leadership in the modern world as they persist in using failed methods to raise their influence globally.   Sanctions will only increase, especially with China and Russya.  Perhaps some voters will be duped by fake news put out by the various agents, but like 2016, it will hardly affect the outcome.  Best wishes to Xi and Vlady and the Ayatollah.

1 yuan note

Chinese opera

emperor's soldiers in formation

president for life in Russya

Italian Referendum Vote

      Well, our friends in Italy will have a chance to fix a lingering problem: too much dead wood collecting salaries in Roma.  The Parliament is one of the most bloated political bodies in the world.  Almost 960 sitting members discuss laws and political pursuits.  Finally, the new conservative party passed a law that gives the voters a chance to make a change in amount of legislators.  Each of these slugs draws a salary north of 250,000 euros a year.  Plus a paid staff of at least 5 salaried individuals.  This adds another 300000 euros.   And on and on and on it goes.  So the vote is on a single issue decrease the number of slugs or not.  October 21-22 is the date.   Mail in ballots have been sent out to citizens living abroad through the consulates and embassies around the world.   Doesn't seem to be any problems in Italy.  What;s the problem alleged in the USA?  A "fake" problem created by the scum in the White House?  That's it: they created the fake problem to cast doubt on any mail in balloting around the country.
       In Italy, the results will show that locals have had enough.  Why can't Parliament get anything done: too many opinions not enough leaders.   The American Congress set limits upon the number of representatives.  It has been frozen for decades.  Can you imagine what Washington would look like if congress was allowed to grow with population?  We'd have hundreds more of our own slugs sucking on the meager taxpayer provided funds.  Hmmm.  Maybe we can learn from Italy?  Why not?  They conquered Covid while we are still mired in a pandemic that adds 40000 new cases A DAY.   Why?
No leadership.

Bad Air Blues

   So wild fires continue to plague the Sierra, Tahoma suffers some of the worst air quality in the state.
AQI in Tahoe City:157.  Homewood: 154, Tahoma 142.
    Stay home, don't breathe, it could be hazardous to your health.  Remain calm.  Will Gov. Newsom know what to do?  Don't count on it.  He's trying to figure out what to do about school for all his kids.  Maybe he'll get some parental leave.  I think that's the perfect solution: governor takes leave to educate his children.  But we know, he'll hire an expensive tutor and bill the taxpayer.  Good luck, Gavin.  Where the mask, live longer.
Update-9/11/20
      Looking around, it doesn't take one a long time to realize AQI is poor all over the state of California, especially in the LA Basin, the SF BAy Area, and north near the CAl/Oregon border.  The heavily burdened air, loaded with particulates from burning trees and structures, is locked against the mountainous landscape, waiting to be purged by a seasonal cyclonic storm that historically will dampen the infernos and provide relief to the firefighters on the lines and the displaced who have had to evacuate their homes in the past few weeks.   In several towns in southern Oregon, hundreds of homes have burned to the ground.  Businesses have been reduced to rubble, and civic leaders will now be tasked with the rebuilding of communities.  It won't be easy as all victims have to cope with the Covid pandemic that has plagued the States for over 6 months.

Alexei Navavlny Regains Consciousness in Berlin Hospital

     The hospital -induced coma that kept Mr. Alexei Navalny unconscious since being brought to a Berlin hospital has been terminated.  He is now functioning on his own: breathing without a ventilator, and apparently, no drug drip line in his extremities.   It won't be long before he talks(if not already to German government officials).
     The Kremlin, through bullshit artist Peskov says that Russyan government has not seen the evidence in any form that can confirm or deny the presence of poison(novichuk) in his body.   I guess this stepped response keeps the news cycle spinning a little slower as time drags on until the next poisoning or regional takeover by unmarked/identified military types(see Crimea).
     Old Mad Vlad seems to think this game of Thrones is a game for chumps and he plays by his own rules.    Meanwhile, the ruble is in the toilet, the covid cases are marching upward, and winter is around the corner(they have REAL winters in real Russya) see Napolean ,1812) See Nazi army 1941).   Will he ever learn?   Apparently not.   Maybe Pres. Xi Jing Ping will talk some sense into this dictator, but don't bet on it.   Ruler for life Putin listens to his own drummer, whoever it was.
     Mr. Navalny can't claim martyr status yet, but he's approaching icon of opposition, a serious position in the world's largest country, land of north flowing rivers and Siberia, home of the internal exiles, aka cheap labor. 

Book Review: "The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and Vietnam", Max Boot, author

Artist Rendering of Gen. Edward Lansdale

Book Cover

       Have you ever wondered what happened in Vietnam after the French got their ass kicked in 1954 after 100 years of colonial occupation?  Maybe you thought that the most powerful country on earth would have had a walkover there.   But, no, it didn't happen, as we know.  After 10 years of fighting and 58, 000+ deaths of American troops, sailors, and pilots, the US left the South Vietnamese on their own, and the North Vietnamese Army walked in, almost unopposed in April, 1975 or 45 years ago.
How did this happen? is a question posed by historians, politicians, philosophers, and soldiers and marines who did the bloody fighting all those years.  Thousands of books, articles, research papers, theses, and unit histories have been written and published over the last 52 years.   Max Boot's biography adds to the list.   His biography of a central figure through out the experience answers many of the questions posed about the war.
      Two  years ago, acclaimed writer/journalist Louis Menand wrote an insightful review article in the New Yorker magazine, dated Feb. 25, 2018.  In the lengthy review of Max Boot's opus, Menand managed to identify historical data related to Lansdale's era of international activities in which the future general of the Air Force was working with and for the C.I.A. in the Phlippines Islands and later in South Vietnam.   In both places, Lansdale used his personality and drive to bring the situation as he found it to a good end.  Unlike in Manila, his efforts in South Vietnam were short lived.  Acting mostly on his own,  he was able to ingratiate himself to political leaders, to gain trust and confidence; to engender true mutual respect.  These efforts were largely abandoned by 1963, months before Pres. kennedy was assassinated and Premier Diem was also assassinated.   Lansdale had left South Vietnam by 1956, returning to Washington, D.C. to an obscure roll, working on a wild goose effort against Castro and Communist Cuba.   As the clock ticked forward, the political environment in South Vietnam continued to deteriorate, until the State Dept., the Pentagon, and the Nat. Security Council had had enough.   The US Army generals(veterans of WW II) took over and the die was cast for the future failure.    

New Russyan Vaccine: Will It Cure Novichuk Poisoning?

      Well, Kids, they're at it again.  It has been confirmed by German medical experts and pathologists:
Alexei Navalny, the Russyan opposition leader, was poisoned in Siberia just before he boarded a plane to return to Moskova.  After takeoff, he took seriously ill.  The pilot aborted the flight and requested an emergency landing at the airport in Omsk.   After landing, the plane was met by paramedic ambulance and Mr. Navalny was rushed to the nearby hospital.  His assistant wasted no time informing his staff and his wife of events and circumstances.   Local doctors would not give out any information.  
      His organization immediately requested he be transferred to Berlin, Germany to receive treatment beyond the reach of the FSB agents and their cocktails.   While poison was suspected from the beginning, it was only after German medical staff were able to examine lab results did they confirm their worst suspicions: NOVICHUK.   Mr. Navalny remains in hospital in a coma.  His survival is in doubt.   World leaders have made statements regarding the Russyan government's hand in poisonings in foreign countries.   The Putin regime has fallen on hard times since Russyan thugs took over Crimea from the Ukraine government, an area known as the Donbass region where industry exists side by side with minerals and energy resources.
      What will the next round of restrictions be from the West?  No more trips to Disney World?  No assistance with the Space Station resupply?  Maybe more diplomats will have to go back to the Steppe and face Siberian winters?   You know: the Winters made famous in Stalin's Gulag Archipelago- the island chain of lost Russyans.
     Is there any hope for Russya? No.

King of Novichuk and Friend