Monday, October 5, 2026

Web Log for 10.4.26

Still ganking...

Amazon 

Got giftcards? Lyn Lomasi has been doing a lot for children, a sick husband, and other Internet writers for twenty years. Now she has a disability, herself. Here's her Wish List of assistive technology, many items under $50.


Books 

Alan Dershowitz gets censored! How do you know Dershowitz? I remember him best as the lawyer John Holt offered to send us during Virginia's school choice battle. His services weren't needed; the movement had a martyr instead, but I've literally been a fan of Dershowitz since high school. 


Christian 

Long, but good food for thought.


Funny 

I doubt that this is true, but it ought to be...


Health 

I'm not sure how much of this is news. Our late lamented Adayahi noticed side effects of statins when he tried a statin-type pill in, what was it, 2007? By 2008 the members of this web site were aware of many of the dangers the Midwestern Doctor lists here. But recent research has quantified some known hazards and added some formerly unconfirmed ones.


This one is extremely disturbing. It charges that claims that the unvaccinated were more likely to die "from COVID" than the vaccinated because some hospital staff arranged it so. 


History 

Some of what some Nephews missed by not going to school in Virginia. 


Music 

Roky Erickson.


Church bell ringers, .


Robin Trower.


Judy Freed.


The Tokens.


Monty Python cartoon illustrating one of the more pleasant things a forced smile brings to observers' minds:


Patrick Watson.


The McCoys. Warning: dancing girl's role as a character with very low social status is visualized by her dancing without a bra.


The Fifth Dimension.




Cathy Maguire.


"Hair," the musical.


Crosby, Stills, Nash and/or Young.






Jack Bruce.


Beatles, together and independently.



Traffic.


John Sebastian.


Procol Harum.


Bonzo Dog Band.


Jamie O'Neal.


Bob Dylan.


Tom Petty.




R.E.M.


Muse.


Creme Soda.


Aqua Velvets.


Peter Frampton...now there's a vintage rocker whose records haven't been worn out recently.


War (the band).


Bill Evans.


Blind Faith.


Ludovico Einaudi.


Yeahman.


Matthew Halsall.


The Incredible String Band.


Robert Gromotka.


Olexandr Ignatov.



Snowy White.


Aaron Gold.




Strawberry Alarm Clock.


Boogie Belgique.


Chequerboard.



Johannes Bornlof.


Florian Christl.


Philosophy 

Rajani Radhakrishnan raises some interesting questions. We all know "you can't take it with you" when we leave this life, but if we could take one thing, what would it be? Most of us would probably name a person--does that person know? Would you take an emotion, a mental attitude? As an activist, would you be glad to lay down righteous indignation forever, or would you drag it into the next world? 

I've never tried to approach life through an emotional filter, and don't want to start. But on Substack, where the Monthly Fluffball isn't paywalled (yet), I see a high level of interest in "fluff" content. I know I feel a real need to balance activism with the fun and friendly "fluff" content, myself, and suspect other activists do too. We live longer and do more good when we keep our blood pressure down. 

(You may have noticed the amount of feel-good content in Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions...if anybody knew how to be very very active, be seen as extremely effective, and still live to age 80, Gloria Steinem did.)


Politics 


Lens credits the "team" of Senator Jacky Rosen. 


Lens says the man is Walton Goggins, but does not idntify the author of the words.
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Book Review: Poisoned Prose

Title: Poisoned Prose

Author: Amy Boyles

Quote: "Mitch wanted an endorsement."

Mitch is the author of a novel called Slasher of Sacrifice.  It contains an actual incantation that was once used to summon malicious spirits. The novel sounds hilariously, outrageously bad, but can a book be bad enough to send its readers into comas?

This is a sequel to Witch's Block and will appeal to everyone who laughed over the first novel in the trilogy. (Actually, it's grown beyond a trilogy. What I have is the initial trilogy.) Reading this series won't send readers into comas but it may send some of them to bookstores to buy every volume.
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Butterfly of the Week: Heraclides Epenetus

This week's Giant Swallowtail is as little known as last week's species is well known. Heraclides (formerly Papilio) epenetus lives in Ecuador and seems good at avoiding humans.

Possibly because of its retiring habits, this species was not named after the usual war hero, but after a saint. Epenetus of Carthage is somewhat obscure in Western Europe and the United States; he is remembered mostly by the Eastern Orthodox church. The name is mentioned in the Epistle to the Romans. According to various non-Biblical writers, Epenetus was one of the seventy disciples Jesus sent out as advance publicity, who are generally thought to be Jewish, and/or he came from Ephesus and was the first Asian convert, or maybe he managed to be both. He spent his mature years in Carthage and was elected bishop there.

The butterfly named after him is one of the "giant" swallowtails, with a wingspread of about four inches, sometimes more. Its only known host plants are citrus trees. Nevertheless, its life history is undocumented. 


Photo by Josh Vandermeulen, Ecuador, February.


Photo by Jonathanaguirre, Ecuador, May. A female? It seems interested in leaves...

According to https://www.loja-zamora.eu/es/fiche-papillon/001-Papilionidae/001-Papilioninae/005-Papilionini/001-Heraclides/022-epenetus/_ , male and female can look pretty much alike, but the male may have a brown, yellow, and orange color scheme while the female is more charcoal gray, white, and red. Both sexes have on the upper wing surface, and to a lesser extent on the under wing surface, a row of pale-colored spots outlining the difference between inner wing and wing tip. These spots may or may not be conspicuous, and the inner wing surface may or may not be much darker than the tips. 

Caterpillars are said to be gregarious and eat citrus tree leaves, but are not common enough to have been described as a pest species. Their preferred species may be wild trees; caterpillars who live in the treetops in forests are easy for humans to under-look. While biig tropical caterpillars have enormous appetites and eat enormous quantities of leaves, tropical plants grow fast and may even benefit from an occasional leaf stripping.




 
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Sunday, October 4, 2026

How Safe Is Decaffeinated Coffee, Again?

From GMO/Toxin Free USA:


"




New Testing Finds Industrial Solvent-Related Chemicals in Starbucks Decaf Coffee as Consumer Lawsuit Challenges Lack of Disclosure

GMO/Toxin Free USA releases Grounds for Concern: Hidden Chemicals in Decaf Coffee white paper documenting methylene chloride, benzene and toluene in multiple lots of Starbucks Decaf House Blend








WASHINGTON, D.C., September 29, 2026 — GMO/Toxin Free USA today released a new white paper, Grounds for Concern: Hidden Chemicals in Decaf Coffee, detailing independent laboratory testing that detected methylene chloride, benzene and toluene in multiple lots of Starbucks Medium Roast Decaf House Blend.

The findings come as Starbucks Corporation faces an active consumer class action lawsuit in a Washington state federal court alleging, among other claims, that the company failed to disclose volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and industrial solvents detected in certain decaffeinated coffee products including benzene, methylene chloride, and toluene.

GMO/Toxin Free USA’s independent testing found substantially higher concentrations in two Starbucks lots tested in April 2026 than in a January 2025 lot. Methylene chloride increased from 22 ppb (parts per billion) to 84-89 ppb, benzene from 28 ppb to 159-170 ppb, and toluene from 87 ppb to 375-400 ppb. Testing was conducted through an independent ISO/IEC 17025-accredited analytical laboratory using GC/MS methodology.

The detected methylene chloride concentrations remain below FDA’s current 10 ppm limit for decaffeinated roasted coffee. The white paper identified no coffee-specific federal residue limits for benzene or toluene. Importantly, detection alone does not establish where the chemicals originated or the health risk associated with the concentrations measured.

Still, the chemicals raise significant transparency questions. Benzene is classified as a known human carcinogen, while methylene chloride and toluene have established toxicological concerns. Consumers are generally not told which decaffeination process was used or provided product-specific residual-solvent testing results.

“This is fundamentally a consumer right-to-know issue,” said Diana Reeves, Executive Director of GMO/Toxin Free USA. “If industrial solvent-related chemicals are detectable in a product millions of people regard as an everyday food, and particularly one people may choose for health reasons, consumers deserve transparency. The coffee industry has the analytical tools and alternative processing technologies to do better.”

The pending class action lawsuit similarly focuses on disclosure rather than alleging that Starbucks exceeded FDA’s methylene chloride limit. Plaintiffs seek relief under federal and state consumer-protection claims and allege consumers would have paid less, or chosen differently, had the presence of VOCs been disclosed.

GMO/Toxin Free USA is calling on coffee companies to publish decaffeination methods, routinely test finished products for residual solvents and VOCs, disclose testing results, and transition toward processes that minimize avoidable chemical residues.

Read Grounds for Concern: Hidden Chemicals in Decaf Coffee white paper.

Read the First Amended Class Action Complaint against Starbucks.

"
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Morgan Griffith on Fraud

From US Representative H. Morgan Griffith (R-VA-9):

"

Republicans are on the front lines to root out waste, fraud and abuse of the federal government by large criminal conspiracies.

Accordingly, I am taking additional steps to continue the Republicans’ War on Fraud.

Earlier this year, I helped lead investigations into Medicaid fraud. Together with Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Congressman Brett Guthrie, and the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman, Congressman John Joyce, we probed ongoing fraud in numerous State Medicaid programs.

Our Committee investigations extended to fraud-ridden States such as California, Minnesota and New York.

As a result of our investigative work, which shows nationwide trends in Medicare and Medicaid fraud costing American taxpayers billions of dollars every year, we produced a comprehensive staff report to shed a light on our findings.

The report makes several recommendations.

One is to strengthen federal program integrity guidelines.

Minimum qualifications, screening risk standards for providers of equipment and services, and more frequent screenings as well as background checks for providers are fraud-preventative actions that federal authorities can push.

Another recommendation is to improve States’ capacity to prevent fraud before it occurs.

It is clear that some States make patients more vulnerable to fraud due to weak oversight measures. If this lack of oversight action is maintained at its current trajectory, this problem will continue to persist and grow, allowing fraudsters access to valuable health care dollars and thus robbing resources from patients that need them.

For example, some States like Virginia exercise provider screening and investigative audits. These program integrity tools and practices must be fully applied in more States.

That is why our report also encourages the employment of innovative tools to improve fraud detection capabilities.

Artificial intelligence technologies can complement the above oversight actions to help States better track unusual and fraudulent activity.

As a solution to the highlighted problems, the Committee recently unveiled a package of policies that help combat fraudulent activities, protect public health programs and serve vital health care resources to patients. 

As part of this policy package, I introduced H.R. 10621 – the Medicaid Fraud Fighting and Taxpayer Protection Act.

My bill targets Medicaid fraud by incentivizing States to take steps, such as implementing program integrity tools, that investigate fraud and protect federal health care programs. 

The incentive provided by my bill allows States to receive an increased portion of the federal dollars saved when they identify fraud. This saved money can then be used to support numerous State programs like those in Virginia. 

Ongoing fraudulent activities recently impacted Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in Virginia.

In Lynchburg, officials notified residents that more than $60,000 in SNAP benefits were stolen from Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards in the month of August! It is believed that fraudsters stole private EBT card information and used the money loaded onto the cards to make purchases.

Cardinal News reported that this crime represented a 21-fold increase in food aid fraud.

Even worse, no system was in place to provide the Lynchburg SNAP theft victims with reimbursement of their stolen benefits.

Thus, the victims found themselves squeezed into a desperate situation. 

Already faced with challenging health and financial conditions, SNAP recipients who lose access to all or a portion of their benefits will struggle to get by.

That is why I am promoting a measure that cracks down on fraud impacting SNAP benefits and supports victims of SNAP theft.

I am co-sponsor of H.R. 3887 – the SNAP Anti-Theft and Victim Compensation Act.

This anti-fraud bill creates new civil penalties for any person who knowingly accesses, uses or transfers SNAP benefits. 

Additionally, the bill provides that States can use SNAP benefits to reimburse households whose benefits are stolen due to no fault of their own. 

These are some policies that can complement the ongoing work of federal efforts that are saving taxpayers billions and bringing bad guys to justice.

Whether you are a recipient of Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP or some other federal public health program, the benefits belong to you, not some criminal actor which are often part of international criminal conspiracies.

I am proud to continue my efforts that target fraud, protect valuable resources for patients and provide leadership for our War on Fraud.

If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office.  You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at https://morgangriffith.house.gov/. Also on my website is the latest material from my office, including information on votes recently taken on the floor of the House of Representatives.

" 

[that nice signature graphic Google doesn't like: Morgan Griffith]
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