I'm sorry if you are sick of reading this. I'm sick to my stomach at having to post it. Reagan Conservatives, like me, are pro-"law and order" in the best sense of the term. We want everyone to live peacefully in a way that allows them to achieve "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- the American  D ream . We cannot attain law and order when the police are behaving like unaccountable thugs. No one -- no one -- condones the pai d agitators that are sowing violence across our cities. Millions of words have been written on that an d I, of course, agree. But, I'm sick of reading excuses for the appalling conduct of the police the last week an d throughout our nation the last two deca des. I poste d on this subject Friday . Things have only gotten worse since, as illustrate by the video below. This video is from Minneapolis. It will turn your stomach. Apparently, they believe they are in Afghanistan and unaccountable to U.S. or international law....

This is an extraordinarily powerful video. Please watch. And, here is another. Again, please watch

Via Twitter This is on the Arkansas River which flows though the city. Photography by the great Travis Heying.

Based on a Facebook posting from a mutual friend,  Meteorologist Les Lemon has passed away. He had been unwell for several years. On May 20, I wrote the piece below on the anniversary of the Ruskin Heights Tornado (RHT). It went on to state: Les documented the "Lemon Method" for diagnosing the supercell thunderstorms most likely to create the worst tornadoes and large hail. He, along with Don Burgess, was at the other end of the phone when I was discovering and reporting on one of the first known (June '73) "low precipitation supercells" and Les and Don incorporated that knowledge into their future research. More on his research career, here . But, Les's biggest achievement was getting the "NEXRAD Doppler Radar Network" off the ground. America's, then-poor radar network was literally  falling apart. While the contract for new, Doppler (wind measuring) radars had been let, the procurement process was falling apart just like the rad...

UPDATE: 10:23A PDT. There is now a significant tornado risk (brown) per NWS SPC. Brown = significant tornado risk. ______________________________________ Hatching = 75 mph or higher. Red = enhance risk Yellow = significant risk. 

Carly's tweet is getting quite a bit of pushback on Twitter, even though it is right on the money.  She is absolutely right. Think back to this incident. The white policeman, Sean Groubert, shot an unarmed black man, LeVar Jones, for exactly following his instructions. What is not visible is that the policeman later  committed perjury in his sworn statement.  He said that Jones charged him, so he shot. Obviously, that was not the case. Not even close. But, suppose, there was no dash cam? Mr. Jones, who was not only shot, likely would have at least been prosecuted. Even if cleared, he would have spent tens of thousands in attorney fees. Justice? As critical as I have been of epidemiology, medicine and politicians the last three months, they have not performed anywhere near as catastrophically as law enforcement. Law enforcement officials swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Let's see, were they acting in accordance with their oaths when the...

Too Bad the Unity Has Come in Such a Horrifying Fashion: I'm so old, I remember when the police took oaths to uphold the constitution and the law. I'll Take My Law Enforcement Without Political Correctness, Please Below, I wrote about politically correct masks. I don't need politically correct, "social distancing," speed limits, either.

I want my medical advice to be free of politics  and political correctness.  I don't care whether Dr. Fauci wants to "make it a symbol" or not. I don't care whether he thinks it shows "respect" or not. More and more, I question Dr. Fauci's priorities . A physician prescribing or recommending a mask or other medical advice should be based  solely  on whether it will prove a patient with a health benefit or whether it will provide a public health benefit to others. "Gestures," "respect." and "symbols" have nothing to do with it. San Francisco's absurd new order mandating masks whenever anyone is within 30 feet -- even outdoors  -- is nothing but authoritarianism. In  The Home of the Brave and the Land of the Fre e,  this should not stand.

The article is here . Please read it if you are on or near a coast. Hurricane season begins soon.

Wall Street Journal Wednesday Let's see: The U.S. has 15% unemployment -- Great Depression levels. Unemployment may rise further.  The CDC is completely dysfunctional.  Worldwide, the computer models being used to forecast disease, "not ready for prime time." It will take big dollars and scientific dedication to fix them.  The FBI, and likely DOJ, are utterly corrupt. They have to be fixed.  We must  cut federal spending and raise taxes, temporarily, to repay all of the stimulus. The last thing we need to do, especially since "the science is settled," is to spend more money on global warming. The spending on wind and solar is a complete disaster; it is worse than wasted because the two destabilize the electricity grid.  After spending trillions, we should have learned we cannot control the weather. It is time to devote this precious money to much better uses. 

Like a King Cobra waiting in the bushes, a rain-wrapped tornado can strike without people realizing the danger. Never go outside to look for a tornado.  Today is the one-year anniversary of the Lawrence-Linwood  (Kansas) Tornado which Kathleen and I chased from its inception. We saw the funnel cloud when the tornado first formed. However, the rain (background, lower left) quickly wrapped around the funnel/tornado and it became invisible. Here is what it looked like when the tornado was just southeast of Lawrence. It was just a mass of rain. Far too dangerous a chase environment for my blood. However, there are those who chase in these situations and I want to use this video to illustrate the extreme danger to the public of rain-wrapped tornadoes. You can't see them.  Even though the tornado was right in front of them, some of the passengers evidently didn't recognize it. That's why going outside to see or watch a tornado during a tornado warning is a bad ...

Unfortunately, the tweet is accurate .  No, I don't think they are trying to "take the place of God." They are trying to crowd God out of our society. And, they are trying to do it in the most arrogant and obnoxious way possible.  And, as usual, the bishops are useless . “Since learning of the concerns of Howard County officials, we have shared our guidelines for the distribution of Communion and express our own serious concerns about their recent guidance preventing Catholic churches in Howard County from distributing Communion.” "Serious concerns"?! You are kidding, right? The Holy Eucharist is central to the Catholic Faith. Yes, this is clearly unconstitutional and will not stand. But, politicians will keep trying as long as they pay no price for trying to cut off religious freedom. In addition to filing for an emergency court ruling, the bishop(s) should be organizing peaceful mass demonstrations of people of all faiths. They should be organiz...

No kidding.  Come on, Governor Kelly In March, when we thought coronavirus was much more communicable than flu and 26 times more likely to be fatal, "Stay Home. Stay Safe. Save Lives." was a sensible slogan. Yesterday, when this image was captured, it had morphed into politically correct B.S. and, in my opinion, a cowardly thing to promote. It is long past time to be hiding in the basement. There is now no reason to "stay home." Kansas is very low risk . Out of a population of 2.9+ million, we've had fewer than 10,000 cases. Deaths have been a small fraction of what was originally forecasted. It is summer. Cases are decreasing rapidly (below). Now, Kansans need jobs, recreation, and a restoration of collegiality among friends, neighbors and families. This is not a D vs R issue. By far, the most effective Kansas Governor of my lifetime was Democrat Robert Docking. Kansas has a chance to get out ahead of other states by  opening up quickly. Let...

Many times, I have quoted Dr. Glenn Reynolds' brilliant summation,   I'll believe global warming is a crisis when the people telling me its a crisis start acting like its a crisis.  That brief sentence damns the actions and hypocrisy of Al Gore and his fellow travelers. Today, an associate of Reynolds published,  I'll believe masks are necessary when the people telling me masks are necessary start acting like masks are necessary.  I was asked, via Twitter, why I have put so much effort into this topic? Simple: Masks can be medical necessities  in a way a MAGA hat or AIDS ribbon could never be. As such, they should be above politics. 

In the orange-tinted area, there is: Significant risk of a tornado.  Giant hail; larger than three inches in diameter. Damaging thunderstorm wind gusts of 70 mph or higher.  Please prepare accordingly. 

Staggering Statistics Pertaining to the COVID-19 Tragedy in Our Nation For every death in the USA due to COVID-19, 385 jobs have been lost. Many forever; as there are many businesses that have gone bankrupt or may not otherwise be able to reopen .  For every case  of COVID-19, 24 jobs have been lost. In most age groups, the recovery rate after contracting COVID-19 is 99%. More on this, below.  After 48 hours of utter, utter nonsense regarding COVID-19's transmissibility outdoors, the genuine situation with regard to wearing masks at all times (including outdoors) emerges. It is a token of one's 'caring.'  Put another way, wearing a mask = MAGA hat or AIDS Ribbon . It is merely a symbol of one's beliefs and has nothing to do with science or disease presentation. As Luke puts it below: Clown show? You bet! The mainstream media continues this hypocrisy in examples like this afternoon where the MSNBC reporter (outdoors) complains people are no...

The Kansas Department of Health tweeted this earlier this morning: This seems like gross  overkill to me. Yes, there are videos of people close together in pools. But, they were (in the two videos I have seen) in sunshine with warm weather -- conditions my board-certified immunologist has gone on record as saying are poor conditions for transmission of the virus. Plus, KDHE is asking everyone  who went to the Lake of Ozarks to quarantine in summer , which seems completely unreasonable to me. So, I replied to KDHE with the following request: I'll let you know.

As I wrote yesterday, wearing a mask outdoors in an unconstrained area is pure theatre . Others are calling it "virtue signaling." I believe outdoor mask wearing is scientific nonsense and is terrible for our social cohesion. Hours after posting, yesterday, the item at the above link, this encounter surfaced from yesterday in New York City's Central Park. Please watch and then I'll comment. Forget the terrible fact this NYC resident behaves like a bigot. Her wearing the mask is pure theatre: She approaches him (no one worried about a disease gets closer to someone who may be a carrier) then removes it to speak on the phone even though it is easy to speak on the phone while wearing the mask. In fact, removing the mask seems to make things more difficult (dialing the phone and controlling the illegally unleashed dog). No reasonable person who is genuinely worried about catching the disease would remove the mask or walk toward another, passive, person. He is not t...

The purpose of this post is to counteract some of the silliness illustrated by the mainstream media today.  If you are on a moving bicycle, you have zero chance of giving someone else COVID-19 and you have zero chance of contracting it that way. I'd worry more about a cyclist getting enough oxygen or the mask slipping and distracting the driver while in traffic or at another critical time. I'd make a similar comment after viewing the photos of former Vice President Biden's wreath laying with his wife, Jill, at a Delaware military memorial today. I intentionally chose the photo above as it is the closest he came to others -- the people who were driving his SUV. Unless the news coverage is somehow defective (I checked several news media web sites, including the Wall Street Journal ), Mr. and Mrs. Biden were not around others at any point in the ceremony. Per the Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Guardian,  and others, the masks were intended to draw a "contr...