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Scattershooting 171220

December 20, 2017 by tornado Leave a Comment

Scattershooting while wondering what happened to honor, courage and integrity as virtues to aspire…

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STUPID, COMPLICATED, WOEFULLY INSUFFICIENT NEW TAX BILL:
The new tax bill does a few good things (such as repeal the horrid Obamacare mandate), but in sum total, is a massive waste of time and taxpayer money. Now, for me personally, it’s a wash. However, unlike most of the electorate, I don’t vote selfishly on what’s best for me, but on what’s best for the country — and I didn’t support this Rube Goldberg mess of a bill. It falls far, far, far short of true tax reform! Instead it’s a half-baked (or less) kluge that’s bad for the nation: maintains extreme complexity of tax code and returns, is not a flat tax, doesn’t fit onto a postcard, is full or pork, and worst of all, adds to horrendous looming crisis of our national debt. Yes, absolutely and without reservation, I am letting the (nearly) perfect be the enemy of the good. Damn right I am, especially since this isn’t very good at all. I actually have a backbone, and ideals. Too bad our RINOs and faux-libertarians in Congress don’t. Forget the boring, old, hackneyed, outdated, repetitive, “steals from poor to give to wealthy” liberal company line. Go grow up and come up with something interesting and original for once, leftist parrots. You’re even more out-of-touch than the RINOs are.

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ALABAMA SENATE RACE and ANTIQUATED TWO-PARTY SYSTEM: If I lived in Alabama I would have abstained or written in a third party option for their Senate election to fill a two-year end-of-term. What a wretched choice they had between a creep (and possible criminal) vs. an endorser of infanticide of the unborn and other destructive leftist policy. This (aside from complex tax-code bullcrap noted above) is what the horrendously outdated and Constitutionally unjustifiable two-party system yields — a choice of bad choices. It’s much akin to last November nationwide, when voters largely chose between an imbecilic and immoral faux-conservative buffoon on one side, and a corrupt, cutthroat, immoral neoliberal criminal on the other.

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A RECENT EXPERIENCE with HOME AWAY CUSTOMER SERVICE: In trying to get overdue information to access a vacation rental, I called customer service for HomeAway, a major company (owned by Expedia) dealing in that sort of thing. My interaction is summarized by the survey results I filled out after completing the third call. The survey questions were worded as if there only were one call, but I had to make three. This is but a sympton of a larger problem with outsourcing and hiring. See this screen capture of my response. Has political correctness gone so far that supposedly English-speaking “customer service” outlets feel they must hire people who are essentially incomprehensible?


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CHINESE OPPRESSION/TORTURE of ITS OWN — AND NOTHING BEING DONE ABOUT IT: Communist red China is setting the horrid example for other nations to follow in using the domestic-spying technological surveillance state (increasingly including artificial intelligence, AI) as a tool of Orwellian mass authoritarian oppression: elimination of privacy, overt and passive-aggressive censorship, blackmail, torture, imprisonment without trial, and killing, on massive scales, especially of ethnic/religious minorities and any in the 91.5% Han majority who dare challenge authority. Yes, nearly every nation has done this since to some extent since 1950…regardless, scale matters. And as surveillance cameras and AI become more common worldwide, more shall follow. Meanwhile the U.S. and other nations are passively ignoring and sticking heads in sand, as China terrorizes its own people in this manner. Why? For one, don’t think for a minute the domestic deep state — NSA, CIA and FBI power-that-be — and their counterparts elsewhere in Five Eyes, as well as Russia and especially Islamic nations, aren’t envious of this ability to technologically control and manipulate the people. For two, money talks. As of June, China held $1.15 trillion of U.S. debt, plenty enough to demolish the economy, easily, at the whim of instantly calling in said debt — in effect, unspoken blackmail of one nation over another. And we have sat idly by and let them do so…

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JERUSALEM IS THE RIGHTFUL CAPITAL of JUDEA (ISRAEL)!: Where two sovereign nations agree to put an embassy is nobody else’s business. The U.N. needs to STFU and butt out. The courageous and correct resolution veto sends exactly that message. This veto is absolutely warranted. Every other Council nation is wrong on this. Jerusalem is the rightful capital of the Jewish people, and of Judea/Israel, and has been for thousands of years. I stand by Israel firmly, unequivocally and without apology. This is nonpartisan! Readers of this BLOG know I have been a huge critic of Trump in many ways, but when his administration does do something right, I will support that. Finally obeying the law passed by a bipartisan Congress, and signed in 1992, is simply the right thing to do. Nikki Haley is spot on in her words here, as was Edmund Muskie of the Carter Administration in 1980 under similar circumstances. More details in this link…

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END of BLOG YEAR: This is my last entry for 2017, much to the relief of leftists and freedom-haters (redundant terms, I realize) everywhere. Regardless, I love even my left-wing friends…it just sometimes has to be tough love. For all: Have a joyous and blessed Christmas and new year!

Filed Under: Scattershooting Tagged With: 2017, AI, Alabama, artificial intelligence, call centers, China, communism, Congress, customer service, domestic spying, Israel, Jerusalem, Judea, oppression, opression, Orwell, Roy Moore, taxes, torture

False Equivalencies?

November 22, 2014 by tornado Leave a Comment

A notion handed down from Richard Dawkins to assorted atheistic laypeople goes to the effect of this: the Inquisition and Crusades were mass killings in the name of religion; however Stalin’s (and other atheist dictators’) genocides of millions weren’t done in the name of atheism. Notice the subtle semantic dodge? Because Stalin et al. didn’t specifically state to the world their atheism as the reason for their genocides (most of which were kept secret at the time anyway), it must be a “false equivalency”. My my, how convenient.

Well, if you drill deep enough into any literal comparison, it becomes a “false equivalency”. For example, two slightly different isotopes of sodium are indeed slightly different at that level, and therefore, not truly identical. Nonetheless, they give you the same salty effects in molecular bond with chlorine, offering the same level of taste, electrolytic action and solubility. Of course, even that can be arbitrarily declared a “false equivalency” by someone who doesn’t like the idea. Just because somebody claims it’s a “false equivalency” doesn’t make it so. “False equivalancy” does happen: witness, for example, the ridiculous yet common comparison of homosexuality–a behavior–to skin color, an immutable genetic characteristic and not a behavior. Yet, “false equivalency” more often is a buzz-phrase used as a weapon to stifle discussion.

Self-proclaimed Christians killed many during the Inquisitions and Crusades, true. Self-proclaimed atheists killed many in the Stalin/Pol Pot/Mao regimes. True. Each set of killers was motivated by psychopathically warped version of their personal ideals (whether rooted in faith or lack thereof) which don’t represent the basic tenets of either Christianity or secular humanism/atheism, respectively. Really, those are two sides of the same evil coin. The atheists and Christians I’ve known would not murder millions, given the opportunity–but then again, I don’t make a habit of hanging out with cold-blooded killers.

The oft-repeated regurgitation of Dawkins’ “in the name of” semantic dodge, in the context of Stalin (as if Dawkins is an authority on anything in particular aside from genetic biology…but that’s another story) is popular, is viral, makes a nice catchphrase…and doesn’t stand the salty taste test, nor is it backed up by historical truth. To the contrary, I (no more nor less an authority than Dawkins on religious matters) have decided that the Stalin/Inquisition comparison is is NOT a false equivalency at its fundamental root. Here’s one example why: The League of Belligerent (or Militant) Atheists, about which Stalin’s loyal aide Yemelyan Yaroslavky said, “It is our duty to destroy every religious world-concept… If the destruction of ten million human beings, as happened in the last war, should be necessary for the triumph of one definite class, then that must be done and it will be done.”

That statement alone damns the notion that atheism was an irrelevant sideshow of the Stalin regime–not to mention the exemplifying behavior of the regime within which the “League of Militant Atheists” thrived. This group also participated directly in killing and fatal prison/Gulag exile of religious individuals, including clergy, bishops and monks*. Indeed militant state atheism was a central creed of the USSR, and the LMA was disbanded officially only under great pressure from the Allies in World War 2. Other purges of religious figures and believers followed, however–the death toll numbering in the millions as part of one of the largest genocides in history.

“NO evidence”? There goes that idea. The League of Militant Atheists, and the philosophy with which it was associated far beyond any official membership numbers, makes one hell of an “inconvenient truth” for the field of secular apologetics.

Yet the tiresome “false equivalency/in-name-of” tenet of atheistic catechism will persist for a long time, because it does make a tasty piece of gristle for militant atheists–the modern version, not as a capitalized league, and thankfully not genocidal–to latch on with fangs bared.

Personally, I’d like to see the mutual mistrust and animosity cooled off between atheists and the religious; we all have at least some common goals and interests and should be able to get along much better. If I somehow have contributed, through my unwillingness to let what I see as heretic falsehoods propagate, then please forgive me. I am idealistic in standing by my faith and in attacking an idea (not the person), and also wish no harm on atheists. Only God will deliver the ultimate, perpetually binding judgment of us all.

At the core, we all actually see the same fundamental order of creation, whether through science or the pages of Genesis. [Quite obviously, the writers of Genesis had access to some amazing insights not available to science for another couple thousand years!] Being a scientist who also is faithful, I see science as a great, God-given tool to understand His enchanting, marvelous and infinitely complex universe better and better, and see my role in contributing to science as fulfilling a God-given talent and ability. The more I read and work and play and observe in science, the more I see God’s handiwork.

Meanwhile, I say: God bless all atheists; for they, as for me and everyone else, religious or not, whether one chooses to have faith or not, are made in His image and have become imperfect through sin. Denying God won’t make Him disappear. Good thing I live in a place and time where I’ll not be burned at a stake by an Inquisitor or made to disappear by the Soviet League of Militant Atheists for saying that!

    * For more information, I highly recommend this book: A History of Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Antireligious Policies (History of Soviet and Atheism in Theory and Practice, and the Believer), by Dimitry Pospielovsky. It’s a text, and very expensive, so if you can find the book in a major library (as I did when studying all sorts of material about the USSR during the early ’90s), that’s the best bet.

Filed Under: Not weather Tagged With: atheism, atheists, communism, faith, genocide, Jospeh Stalin, League of Militant Atheists, logic, miltant atheists, reason, religion, science, Soviet genocide, Stalin, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR

“Poverty” in America, Part IV: Real Solutions

January 19, 2012 by tornado Leave a Comment

In Part III, I discussed what doesn’t work well in solving poverty.  That’s not enough.  Complaints without solutions are useless wastes of time.  Non-solutions still aren’t solutions.  So here are some solutions.  Strap in, sit back and ride the educational train.

First, a dose of brutally honest reality:.  As long as freedom of choice exists, “poverty” in America cannot be eradicated completely. “Income inequality” is a popular buzz-phrase of late; but many adherents fail to see a critical point. “Income inequality” will and should go away only when 1) Everyone is of equal skill, talent, experience, training, intellect, mental and physical strength and motivation, or 2) There is no such thing as income; and we’re all either dead or protoplasmic fuel for robots.

It’s not the government’s role to “prevent” income inequality, since it can neither guarantee nor enforce that everyone’s motivation, skill, interests and intellect will more closely match. We are not clones! Therefore we are not equal! About the only useful governmental influence in that regard is education; but in other areas, the more power grabbed by government to influence societal structure, the more corrupt the government and the more bankrupt the society.

Put another way, the governmental vision of income equality is realized when everyone is poor. The USSR was a fine example on a huge scale. Soviet communism illustrated vividly that 1) governmental corruption doesn’t go away (and indeed gets worse with greater central power) when it outwardly advocates a Utopian vision of enforced “equality”, and 2) a lot of highly educated Soviets ended up in servitude to militarily/socially/environmentally destructive and corrupt governmental programs, sent to gulags, or starving on rations in cold apartments. The violence and crime shifted from the people to the government too (Stalin’s purges, among others).   For those afflicted with recency bias, look no further than Venezuela, an ongoing, wretched, colossally miserable, disastrously splendid example of the failures of enforced collectivism.

Alas, human nature is what it is, and inequality is inevitable, as long as we live in a world of imperfect people. The challenge is how to help those in need to help themselves, and to what extent the most efficient and cost-effective ways to do so lie in the relative weight of a) governmental bureaucracy and its intrinsic red tape, or b) in private (including church) charity, which tends to be less well-funded by citizenry in downtrodden economic times, and which occasionally can be pockmarked with scandal and red tape of its own.

Those two arenas can minimize “poverty” in a free, capitalistic democracy, even f they cannot truly eliminate it. Yes, solutions are both public and private in nature.

PUBLIC

There’s no getting around the bloated inefficiencies of red tape and bureaucracy; this is why I’ve argued that government should not play the biggest role in addressing “poverty”. This category is smaller for a reason: it should be. I’ve already discussed the folly of government taxation as a poverty cure–namely, that it doesn’t work! Countless trillions have been collected in taxes over the years by governments at all scales, especially Federal, and despite that, economic suffering still exists all across the land. Why would doing still more of the same failed solution solve the problem? In short, it won’t.

Further, we can look to the U. S. Constitution, which is the beginning, middle and end–the ultimate word–on the function of American government. There is no explicit constitutional mandate to governmental poverty aid.  None!  The only potential exception, and it is interpretive instead of literal, is with the wording “promote the general Welfare” in the Preamble. That might include what we now know as public assistance in some form. However, it’s not literally specified. I have no problem personally interpreting this as license for public aid to the poor at some level, but certainly can respect and understand those who may not interpret “Welfare” literally as “welfare” as we know it.

Personally, I hold the Constitution at its literal, black and white word, and through the flow chart or algorithm that is the Tenth Amendment, posit that all public aid be performed at state and local level.

If we assume (a tenuous position!) that government anti-poverty programs are constitutional (meaning, of the Constitution), how can government (including state or local) play the most efficient and effective role? Do we give a man a fish, or teach him to fish? You can see where I’m going here, I hope.

I know, from first-hand eyewitness experience, that “welfare” and “entitlement” aid, in its various forms and on individual levels, often gets siphoned into drugs, sex, stolen goods, booze, and other wasteful and destructive personal practices that worsen poverty instead of alleviating it. That’s the folly of giving a man the fish.

Here’s teaching the man to fish. Everyone on public assistance, as their particular situational category allows, should be required to do something to earn the handout.

Unemployment programs in most states already require documentation of the effort to search for a job, and a time limit. Student-loan and grant programs require proof of schooling, in most instances. This is good; and I support such requirements–though in many instances they still have loopholes of abuse that can and should be closed. Such stipulations for aid generally set a good example for governmental financial help, specific abuses aside. They act as bridges to permanent, gainful employment if the participant makes the right choices and applies himself. Many other public-aid programs have time-limits, but don’t require any giving back on the part of the recipient.

That needs to change. John Kennedy reminded us, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

Make every public-aid program more of a jobs or “workfare” pursuit that accomplishes a need. This is not a new, nor revolutionary, nor foreign idea, even though civilized, English-speaking countries including Australia use it. In fact, civil-rights activist James C. Evers introduced the term “workfare” in the late 1960s.

Any and every able-bodied person can do such work–i.e., mowing public grass, picking up highway litter, maintenance and construction on Federal, state, county or municipal lands, “habitat” style home renovation/building, etc. It doesn’t necessarily require new bureaucracies, either; for example, highway work could be managed by an existing highway agency or street and sanitation department. It just takes some leaders with a vision to solve a “poverty” problem common in a locality, area or region through creative uses of work-for-benefits.

The infrastructure of this nation keeps falling into an ever more dangerous state of decay; and the time hasn’t been better since the Depression for civilian work to improve it. Even many “disabled” still can perform beneficial functions, such as a guy with amputated legs performing accounting, filing, calling, or some other work that doesn’t require the missing physical capability. [Of course, we must be humane about this; the truly incapacitated, for which work just isn’t possible, can be medically certified for benefits accordingly. ]

Jobs under such programs don’t need to be all manual labor; they can assume many forms to match abilities and skills (or potential skills) with actual local or regional needs. In doing so, there are opportunities not only for training toward employable abilities, but in many cases, acquiring an incomplete or heretofore absent work ethic that will help to maintain employment. Recipients of any form of welfare then would choose to work for it or not; otherwise they are on their own, by their own choosing, and the public record will state such. The payments for “workfare” would be enough to keep one alive and housed according to local minimum costs (including public housing), but not enough to buy luxuries, illegal substances, or gamble away without serious personal consequences.

Such ideas are nothing new; indeed they are strong analogs to the old FDR era Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps. However, since government gets smaller, generally more efficient and more nimble the closer it is to the local people, such programs are better adopted at the local, county and sometimes state scales than nationally. Jobs would be decided locally where the needs are best-known. Employers can look to successful recipients of such aid as legitimate candidates for jobs that require many of the same skills acquired and/or honed through the “workfare” process. Some form of relatively minimalist housing could be provided as well, akin to some of the better-run homeless shelters, but with a measure of privacy for individuals.

PRIVATE

The most direct, fulfilling, effective and personal solution to “poverty” in America is private donation. There are too many charities out there to name that have shown themselves to work and work well; and their main constraint in performing better is lack of more giving from you and me. Those who are relatively unencumbered by large bureaucracies and red tape of their own are the best; as more money goes directly to street-level work.

To the extent that your own income, taxes and spending habits enable, we all can do, and should be doing, personal donations aimed at helping folks to help themselves. If your spending habits are loose, consider tightening them for many reasons, including the ability to: 1) give more to the less fortunate, and 2) to prevent your own future “poverty” by saving against unforeseen circumstances. Thrift is a time-honored value, one far too many people fail to practice in the face of personal materialism in a heavily commercialistic culture. I’m not advocating that you don’t ever buy a new PC or TV, or have some fun…far from it! The concept is simple: just spend less than you make, and set some aside for others less gifted. Ask yourself often: “Do I need this or just want it?” In the long run, you’ll be glad you did!

As for personal charity, I want to make this crystal clear–I am not talking about donation of money straight to individuals in most cases, such as some folks may be tempted to do on the streetcorner with the haggard beggars holding desperately worded cardboard signs. That can (and most often is) squandered on the same habits that caused the state of despair to begin with. All that does is foster dependency and drag the person deeper into the catacombs of his dire circumstance. Sad as it may be to imagine, money given directly to parents to help their kids easily might go instead to the parents’ addictions and problems, instead of helping the kids. In many such cases, you make the problems worse by giving directly to individuals in dire straits. I’ve seen these circumstances, and many more, from living in the inner city for 18 years, having the irreplaceable understanding that comes from direct and first-hand experience with the condition of American “poverty”.

Instead, the aim ultimately is to give folks opportunities and tools to improve their condition. As the old but valid saying goes, teach a man to fish instead of merely giving him a fish. Preferably we do this in an organized and systematic way, using reputable charitable organizations that are known to provide great services. If assorted levels of governments (above) and individuals are doing this, the collective differences can be enormous.

Fortunately, in this day of the Internet, we have access to a lot of information on charities–both real and bogus. Read about them online, but also, talk to people you know who have given to such charities and ask them of their experiences. Many folks are loathe to publicly flaunt their charitable giving (including me), because the reasons for authentic giving do not involve patently selfish motives such as showing off, taking credit, being recognized, or competing with others. Privately, however, folks who you know to be charitable will be glad to direct you to the charities they use for helping the poor, charities they know are reputable and relatively streamlined of inefficiencies in bureaucracy and physical overhead. Ask.

What are some of the best charities? Ultimately this is a personal decision with which you have to become comfortable. Some donors find one or two they trust and use for life. Others scatter their generosity around. Both approaches are fine, as you’re still giving and helping. Ask trusted friends, relatives and/or co-workers who may have similar social, religious and charitable interests.

Of course, there are the well-known areas of giving of time, money and stuff, such as operations that provide food and housing. These can be general-service, such as the local homeless shelter or food bank–or targeted, such as shelters for battered women (many of whom are truly destitute). Such outlets aren’t hard to contact if you try, and present in the overwhelming majority of cities and medium-sized towns in this nation.

Churches are well-known and major suppliers of aid to the unfortunate in this country; and you don’t have to be a member, or even religious, to participate. Churches and faith-based organizations will accept out-of-blue donations as well as regular contributions; and most will honor your request to either keep the donation(s) anonymous and/or not proselytize to you, if you stipulate such from the start. Most churches who are organized enough to do such work gladly will accept materials and money, and will agree to target it toward local services if you specify that. Simply look up the church(es) of your comfort level, call the pastor, ask about their specific local efforts and needs for helping the poor. Many larger churches also provide information regarding their domestic mission work online. Donations of money and materials (that can be valued) are tax-deductible. Donations of time and effort are priceless.

Education is a long-established counterweight to economic distress. The greatest way out of poverty, and the greatest insurance policy against future poverty, is education! Individual initiative to educate oneself is the biggest force against personal poverty. It doesn’t hurt to encourage such an ethic through support for accredited schooling for those who are less well financially. Some of my favorite categories of charities that help the less fortunate in America include schools (public or private) that serve children in poor areas, such as inner cities, depressed rural areas, and of course tribal lands. Monetary donations to many private schools that explicitly serve relatively poor areas, such as mission schools on Indian reservations, inner-city parochial schools, etc., are Section 501(c)(3) nonprofits who will be glad to specify that the donations are used right there, locally, and not funneled up to a huge, inefficient national bureaucracy; and your monetary donation to them is tax-deductible. Most private and public schools in those areas also and gladly accept direct giving of learning materials, whether electronic (computers) or analog (pencils, paper, crayons, kids’ books for libraries, etc.).

Event-driven giving is fine, too. One great target of benevolence could be any of those well-known organizations that aid in the relief of natural or man-made disasters, which render even middle-class folks at least temporarily poor, and those already in “poverty” as downright destitute, at least for the short term. Disasters serve one good purpose in that they are reminders to help those stricken. Be watchful, however, for charity scams–especially e-mails and phone calls posing as legitimate charities right after disasters. Most of those e-mails and calls actually are bogus, performed by weaselly little pencil-necked punks scamming folks from monitor-lit basements worldwide, preying on your generous spirit to lead you to the destructive world of computer viruses, spyware and stolen identities. Instead, seek and check the charities yourself (proactive) instead of falling for pitches (reactive).

Personal mentorship also is a splendid form of private charity.  For those with the motivation, time and inclination, all manner of vectors for this exist, such as through churches’ domestic mission programs, employer-mentorship and job shadowing efforts, and more-longstanding outfits like Big Brothers/Big Sisters.  If interested in volunteering, inquire and search online or, if corporate, your HR office; the information isn’t hard to find.

Even with all these ideas, we must acknowledge the grim reality that “poverty” will not be eradicated totally. Individuals will make bad choices regarding drugs, alcohol, crime and (lack of) education, and/or fall into hard times through wretched situations imposed upon them. Of those, many will refuse to help themselves. On a collective scale, some charities and churches will do things inefficiently, or even get busted due to corruption. Don’t let cynicism over such incidents, the fear of being scammed, or the sad state of humanity as a whole, discourage your own charitable giving…instead, direct it to organizations of solid repute from trusted people.

If you’re at a loss for where to start, contact me privately and I’ll suggest some worthy targets that most folks of any political or religious persuasion can support–or with more information about your own preferences, some charities you may find particularly worthwhile.

Can one of us ameliorate the problem alone? Of course not. As “poverty” is a collective problem, the solution must be additive as well. Still, each one of us can donate something: whether it’s money, time, effort, ideas, or some combination of them. I haven’t done enough and need to do more. I suspect the same is true for most of us. So…let’s do it. If you are religious, pray over the matter, and ask God to help you to find more and better ways to help the less fortunate. Don’t be surprised if you soon find exactly such ideas…then give thanks for them, for they will be customized from above to your specific abilities (even abilities you may not realize yet that you have). Then get to it!

Filed Under: Not weather Tagged With: abuse, beggar, beggars, benevolence, bureaucracy, capitalism, charity, church, churches, commercialism, communism, democracy, destitute, disaster, disaster aid, donation, donations, education, employment, entitlement, entitlements, faith-based, FDR, giving, human nature, income inequality, Indian reservation, inner-city, job, job skills, jobs, materialism, opportunities, opportunity, poor, poverty, public aid, public assistance, public works, red tape, religion, scammers, scams, scandal, school, schools, servant leadership, service, servitude, skills, Soviet, spam, spammers, supplies, taxation, thrift, training, tribal, tribal school, tribal schools, tribe, unemployment, USSR, volunteer, volunteerism, welfare, work, work ethic, workfare

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@SkyPixWeather

- March 25, 2023, 2:38 pm

Aside from, "It's too soon to say," treat the LSR tornado counts as very coarse, likely overestimates. Please let the NWS damage surveyors determine track specifics, damage ratings (which are not "tornado intensity"!), and counts over the next few days. Thanks for reading.
h J R
@SkyPixWeather

- March 25, 2023, 2:36 pm

But even my educated guess from deep experience is still that, just a guess. Dupes will distill the count down in the final Storm Data in a few months, while newfound surveyed tornadoes are added, probably still with a net loss in numbers. So what's the point of all this?
h J R
@SkyPixWeather

- March 25, 2023, 2:34 pm

How can that apply to last night? Again, too soon to say, but from (a lot of!) experience alone, I can identify probable duplicate/multiple reports of a tornado (red) and potential dupes (pink). Long-trackers, like Rolling Fork probably was, can have many reports of 1 tornado. https://t.co/GZ0hgkKsNM
h J R

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