President By The Grace Of God

Germany has a good time laughing their heads off. The below article was part of German News Outlet Tagesschau. Enjoy!

Trump's spokeswoman Sanders finally delivered it- the incontrovertible explanation of how her boss has become the US president. And it has nothing to do with free elections.

By Susann Burwitz, tagesschau.de

There is hardly a politician who has polarized so much since his inauguration as Donald Trump. For more than two years he has been sitting in the White House - planning walls, ranting against Democrats, press and special investigators and tweeting with the world to the bet. And still one or the other ponders the question in mind: How? How and why could this man make it to the top of one of the most powerful nations in the world?

But now the political brooding can finally take a breath of relief and stop the grueling headache, because the answer is simple. No, it had nothing to do with Trump's pedigree. No, not even with the millions in his account. And nothing with the votes of the electorate, who spoke out in late 2016 for Trump as the next Mr. President. Actually, they could have voted for whoever they wished: Clinton or Trump, Democrats or Republicans - all the same.

Trump made it to the White House with God's help - at least his spokeswoman Sarah Sanders is convinced.

Help from the very top level.

Trump's door into the Oval Office opened up from above - from the very top of the top, so to speak. This was revealed by Trump's spokeswoman for the White House, Sarah Sanders, in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network. "I think God wanted him to be president," she said with conviction, all dressed in Christian white, with the pearl necklace around her neck and the spotlight that made her eyes shine like pure diamonds.

Hallelujah - there we have it! God, in his omniscience, has realized what Sanders, as spokesperson for the 45th President of the United States, realized then: Trump is a born leader dedicated to solving the problems "the citizens of the true faith keep from sleeping at night".

Amen to that!

Everyone Talks About The Cold

When ever political scandals are fading for the moment, there is always a reason to talk about the weather. Looking at all major news outlets today, the polar vortex has stolen all the headlines. 

While it really appears to be extremely cold in the midwest, there is no reason to doubt global warming. Global warming is, like the term suggests. a global happening. It has nothing to do with people in Chicago freezing their butts off on any day in January. The deep freeze in the midwest is certainly not a global problem. What's going on locally, is called WEATHER. And weather is different than global warming. Mixing weather with global climate would be comparing apples with oranges. World temps are rising. With rising temps we get a melt-off of ice in polar regions. When ice melts, the level of the seas are rising. Talk to people living along the coast. They have seen rising seas for quite some time. If all the ice covering Antarctica, Greenland, and in mountain glaciers around the world were to melt, sea level would rise about 70 meters (230 feet). The ocean would cover all the coastal cities. And land area would shrink significantly. 
This horror scenario will not happen tomorrow just yet, but we are on the way.

Besides of causing a problem for low-lying areas, it will also bring significant to the ecology. Examplewise I can mention the fisheries along the north-east of the U.S. and Canada. Since conventional fishing for cod, haddock and pollock is heavily restricted, fishermen concentrate on lobster catches. But lobsters have largely disappeared from certain areas due to warming waters.  South of Cape Cod lobsters have been disappearing at an alarming rate.

Story:FAIRHAVEN — Tom Tomkiewicz remembers when there were so many lobster traps in Buzzards Bay it looked as if he could walk across the water on their buoys.

Now, the 42-year-old lobsterman and his dwindling number of colleagues have to set their traps far out to sea, well beyond view of the coast, to catch the few lobsters that remain.

“There’s nothing here,” said Tomkiewicz, one of only 35 Massachusetts lobstermen who still have permits to fish in the state and federal waters that stretch from Nantucket Sound to Long Island Sound. “It’s crazy.”

The Bay of Fundy is still cold and we still catch lobster here, but the average water temperature is rising as well. Maybe it is only a question of time until the lobster has moved even farther north on its search for colder waters.

Sun Was Out Again Today

After snow, then ice and now finally milder weather the sun was out on duty again today. Yesterday’s storm reached up to 114km/h (over 70mph) and consequently there was a huge surf along the beach. Thanks to the ground being solidly frozen, no trees fell over during the storm.

I was out on the beach early with Dixie being a 100% excited to run along this huge empty beach. It was low tide and the beach was easily 200ft wide. Last tide had been high up and it was obvious that the waves had reached into the marshy meadow behind the sand barrier.

                           The outlet of Lake Glensevern                                                    Below: lake water rushing towards the ocean.

Hours later, we went back to the beach. Now it was nearing high tide and the waves crashing ashore were among the highest I have ever seen her on Campobello, some of them reaching 10-12ft. 

On our way back to the parking lot we had to walk on top of the grassy edge, about 4ft. above the sand. The biggest waves were now covering the entire width of the beach and we would have gotten our feet wet if we’d stayed on the sand. Also one can’t be cautious enough when it comes to the power of rushing water. These waves can push a person off its feet and sweep you out at sea.

The show mother nature had put up for us was simply mind-boggling. The power of the towering waves had an electrifying effect on us. Of course, we had to watch out for Dixie, not getting too close to the water. At the end we had to put her on the leash to be safe.

Ice Rink

Living on the coast means that the most stabile weather is gonna last 2 or maybe 3 days.  Winter doesn't mean we are gonna have 3 months of snow, nor do we have 3 months of rain. What we are getting is maybe 3 days of snow, 2 days of rain, 1 day of a deep-freeze and maybe one or the other day of mild spring-like sunny days.

And that is about what we have gone through over the last 4 days in a condensed form. 6" of snow froze to a solid layer of ice when freezing rain started at the end of the day. Next morning it was friggin' cold and one could hardly walk on top of the snow. Yesterday, the cold broke and temps climbed above 0C, going higher overnight and reaching +7C today. On top of that it is raining and the running water is flooding layers of ice, making it almost impossible to step outside without cleats on your feet. Even Dixie is having her problems balancing along. The below picture was taken by a neighbour, showing kids skating on an ice rink. No, it is not a regular ice rink. It is an area which flooded by water, then froze and now it would be just about perfect, if it wouldn't rain. And the kids discovered it and got their skates out.

While the main road across the island is drivable, it is not safe to try the side roads. This morning I almost got stuck down at Herring Cove Beach. Good thing I carried a bucket of sand in the van.