Strangest. Election. Ever.

By now, it should be apparent to everyone that Hillz is sick, and has been for quite some time. Even with the media scrambling to soften the scope of her illness, the voters are seeing independent videos of her falling, fainting, coughing, choking, and generally looking like death-warmed-over.

I have no doubt that there is a game afoot; a nefarious plot to install a hand-picked president. A globalist president. Surely the powerful elites have known all along that Hillary is feeble and chronically ill.  Backing her for the presidency is intentional; when her illness disqualifies her, *THEY* will step in and select a candidate of their choosing.

I have a bad feeling about this one.

A Medical Mystery

A Zika case in Utah has epidemiologists scrambling for answers:

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A person who cared for a Zika-infected relative in Utah also got the virus, but exactly how it was transmitted is a medical mystery, health officials announced Monday.

The tropical mosquito that mainly spreads Zika isn't found in the high-altitude area with cold winters where the two lived, Salt Lake County Health Department officials said. They didn't have sexual contact, which is how the virus is typically spread between adults when there's no mosquito bite or mother-to-child transmission.

"The new case in Utah is a surprise, showing that we still have more to learn about Zika," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention medical epidemiologist Dr. Erin Staples said.

The caregiver has fully recovered, but authorities did not give further details. The person cared for an elderly man who contracted the disease overseas where mosquitoes are known to spread Zika and who became the first Zika-infected person to die in the continental U.S.

The caregiver did not travel to an affected area, but it's possible that a mosquito came back with the relative, perhaps in a suitcase, CDC Director Tom Frieden said.

The man who died in late June had an unusually high level of the virus in his blood, more than 100,000 times higher than other samples of infected people. Health workers are testing others who had contact with him, and officials are trapping mosquitoes in Utah to test them.

The new case was discovered after a doctor noticed the caregiver's Zika-like symptoms, which include rash, fever and pink eye, officials said. The relative had cared for the elderly man both at home and in the hospital.

It was unclear exactly how the older man died because of his age and another health condition he suffered, according to the CDC. The agency did not immediately revise its advice to health care workers or caregivers after the new case emerged.

"Based on what we know so far about this case, there is no evidence that there is any risk of Zika virus transmission among the general public in Utah," said Dr. Angela Dunn, deputy state epidemiologist at the Utah Department of Health.

This will be a fascinating case study. In the meantime, should caregivers and medical personnel gown & glove when treating patients infected with Zika? It might be a prudent precaution. since the virus is found in blood, urine, and saliva.

Additionally, I'm wondering if a Utah skeeter could have transmitted the virus from the old man to his relative. Could the virus live long enough in the host non-tropical mosquito for that to happen? Stay tuned!

Worried? Who, me? Pfft!

Intrigue or Cowardice?

What the hell is the beef that the Mormons have with Donald Trump? This is getting ridiculous.  Mia Love is forsaking the GOP convention?

Rep. Mia Love has decided to skip the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, giving up her delegate slot to focus on her re-election bid and to go on a congressional trip to Israel.

She saw no benefit in attending the gathering where Donald Trump is expected to claim the party's presidential nomination.

"I don't see any upsides to it," Love said Friday. "I don't see how this benefits the state."

She's the only member of Utah's 40-person delegation to back out of the convention, though others are considering it, largely over opposition to Trump.

Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox previously said: "I have not been supportive of Mr. Trump, and I'm not really excited to go back to a convention that's centered around him. ... There's a chance I don't go."

Running away isn't helping, it's just cowardly. Or do the Mormons have their own sneaky little plan afoot? Stay tuned, and don't touch that dial.

Where Is The Plane?

Why don't we know this? Ground radar doesn't know where the plane is. Orbiting satellites don't know where the plane is. Search crews can't find any wreckage. Fishermen/people on the ground did not see the plane go down. How can an enormous 777-200ER, with a wingspan of 60.9 meters, vanish into thin air?

The pilots did not radio a mayday. The passengers did not phone their loved ones. This model has two transponders, neither of which are functioning. Even if the plane became suddenly depressurized, rendering passengers and crew unconscious or dead, and subsequently plunged into the sea in a mist of tiny pieces and vaporization, wouldn't there be a fuel slick?

I read this morning a theory that the plane has been hijacked for 'later use'. How can a bad guy hide a 777? It's not as if he can land it at some remote jungle airstrip; it's 63.7 meters long and requires a minimum runway distance of 3,380 meters.

 So. Where is the plane?

Genetics and Anthropology: Subjects For A Snowy Day

Mycenaean art.

Golden hair in unusual places.

Travels in Ethiopia.

Ancestral ghosts.

“Nothing in history makes sense except in light of demography.” 

"What the researcher above captured was a snapshot in time, freezing a moment which was transitory, as the ancient substrate of Southeast Asia was absorbed into the advancing wave of farmers. One could go on in this vein. We know so much more than we did in the past, and not to be hyperbolic, but some of what we know suspect resembles Conan the Barbarian more than the wildest imaginings of prehistorians of the past generation. But that’s one of the great things about scholarship: it can confound pedestrian expectations. And on occasion which captures the ineffable aspects of truth obscured should astound us"

It's interesting that Razib Khan, one of my favorite smart guys, is now blogging at The Unz Review.  I wish him continued success.

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So Who Gets The Money?

13 BILLION won't fit under the mattress. So where does it go?

"JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM) has reached a tentative resolution of all civil mortgage-bond related matters with the Department of Justice under which it will pay a record $13 billion, a person familiar with settlement talks said."