All posts by Hutchins AAron

Born in Deutschland 1965, hometown was Bütthart, parents were not U.S. government employees. However, when father was tricked into joining the U.S. Air Force Civil Service, in 1969, with the promise that we could remain in Germany, we were promptly shipped off to Iran. Due to one of my Iranian educators being disappeared, along with her husband, by the U.S. ally Shah of Iran's Israeli & U.S. created Savak (for the then official terrorist act of promoting the idea that women can vote), and due to my U.S. citizen mother being placed on Savak's Terrorist Arrest List (for supporting the idea that women should vote, at that time the U.S. ally Shah of Iran did not allow women to vote, now they can) we left Iran for the United States in 1973, literally in the middle of the night. At the U.S. Embassy airbase the CIA operated Gooney Bird (C-47) was so packed with other U.S. citizens fleeing our ally Iran (because the Shah gave the OK to arrest any U.S. citizen for such terrorist acts as promoting the concept of voting) that we were turned away by the Loadmaster and had to take a chance on a civilian flight out of Tehran's airport. My father told me he and my mother had three culture shocks; first when they arrived in Germany as civilians, then after being shipped off to Iran as U.S. government employees, then again returning to the United States as unemployed civilians (because so much had changed in the U.S. while they were gone, their only news source was the U.S. Armed Forces Radio & Television Service which heavily censored information about the home front). Since I graduated high school in 1982 I've worked for U.S. government contractors and state & local government agencies (in California), convenience store manager in California, retail/property management in Georgia, California and Idaho. Spent the 1990s in the TV news business producing number one rated local news programs in California, Arizona and Idaho. 14+ years with California and Idaho Army National Guard and the U.S. Air Force. Obtained a BA degree in International Studies from Idaho State University at the age of 42. Unemployed since 2015, so don't tell me the economy has recovered.
Idaho

2016 Chubbuck Days mass baptism by Fire….Truck!

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13 August 2016 /19:35 UTC-07 Tango 01 (24 Mordad 1395/10 Dhu I-Qa’da 1437/12 Bing-Shen 4714)

Some long time attendees of the annual Chubbuck Days at Cotant Park were wondering where the Chubbuck Fire Department was, after all it’s tradition for the Fire Department to cool down the crowd with some artificial rain.  Just like the cavalry, the Fire Department showed up at the last minute, to the excitement of all the children present (click the pics to make bigger, photos by AAron B. Hutchins):

CHUBBUCK DAYS COTANT PARK 2016:  CAR SHOW & HELICOPTER FORCED LANDING

Idaho

Car show & Helicopter forced landing: Chubbuck Days Cotant Park 2016

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13 August 2016 /18:55 UTC-07 Tango 01 (24 Mordad 1395/10 Dhu I-Qa’da 1437/12 Bing-Shen 4714)

The highlight at Cotant Park was when the helicopter ride force landed, twice, and looking very much like it would crash into neighboring Chase Park playground, due to passenger overloading.  However, the main attraction had arrived and most people were thus busy getting baptized by the Chubbuck Fire Department, so they missed the ‘copter excitement.   (I try not to include repeat offenders, I mean cars that were in previous Chubbuck Days), Clicks the pics to make bigger, photos by AAron B. Hutchins:

2015 CHUBBUCK DAYS CAR SHOW

2014 CHUBBUCK DAYS CAR SHOW

The job I had in 2013 caused me to miss Chubbuck Days.

6TH ANNUAL CAR SHOW, 2012 CHUBBUCK DAYS (PART 1)

6TH ANNUAL CAR SHOW, 2012 CHUBBUCK DAYS (PART 2)

11 AUGUST 2012: BUSIEST CHUBBUCK DAYS EVER!

I was out-o-town for 2011 Chubbuck Days.

2010 (when I started taking pics of the cars) CHUBBUCK DAYS CAR SHOW IN IDAHO

Idaho

Saudi Arabia kills $5-million for Pocatello! Death blow for Idaho State University?

12 August 2016 (15:03 UTC-07 Tango 01) 22 Mordad 1395/08 Dhu I-Qa’da 1437/10 Bing-Shen 4714

I warned back in February that Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) were going to cancel their funding for their students attending cash strapped Idaho State University (ISU).  Back then it was due to falling oil prices, but then Arab students began reporting increased cases of harassment and discrimination by Idahoans (a couple months ago at least 50 Arab ‘students’ reported their residences being burglarized).  By June Kuwait and KSA suspended scholarships for their 1-thousand 2-hundred students at ISU. 

The 1,200 Kuwaiti & Saudi students made up about 90% of the foeriegn students at ISU, going by this ISU generated graph

At the beginning of August administrators at the Pocatello based university revealed that the loss of the Arab students will cause ISU to lose $5-million USD for the 2016-17 school year!  Coupled with ongoing ‘domestic’ student exodus ISU will start the new school year with less than 9-thousand 5-hundred students.

The local news media are being careful not to bring religion into their reporting of this issue, but I guarantee you the average ‘christian’ Idahoan says it’s totally about the foreign students being ‘muslims’ from the biggest sponsor of terrorism (U.S. ALLY SAUDI ARABIA, NOT IRAN, IS THE MAIN SPONSOR OF “ISLAMIC EXTREMIST TERRORISM”!).

But this exodus of students (both foreign and domestic) is being downplayed, maybe even covered up by the failing University.  A July article in the Idaho State Journal revelaed that the actual crash in enrollment is about 56%!  Not the 38% reported by administrators.  Apparently administrators were doubling up on students known as ‘dual enrollment’ (one student that on paper is enrolled twice).

The National Association of Foreign Student Advisers (NAFSA: Association of International Educators) economic analysis shows the struggling Gem State made $110-million in tuition/fees and living expenses from foreign college students during the 2013-14 school year!  NAFSA says 882 jobs were created as well.

A few months ago ISU announced that for Idahoans who want to attend they can now get a four year “tuition lock”, but this week a local TV news program stated that when they spoke to ISU students the overwheming response was that the cost of education needs to drop, not be ‘locked in’.

RECORD NUMBER OF FOREIGNERS ATTEND IDAHO STATE! IT CAN’T STOP THE ENROLLMENT BLOODLETTING!

International

Food Crisis Canada: Alberta farms destroyed by massive hail storms!

11 August 2016 (02:12 UTC-07 Tango 01) 21 Mordad 1395/07 Dhu I-Qa’da 1437/09 Bing-Shen 4714

“And the storms just keep on coming, Mother Nature is your best friend or your worst enemy.”-Nikki Booth, Agriculture Financial Services Corporation

Lack of rain or massive hail storms, some that also hit parts of the United States, wiped out many of Canada’s Alberta farms!  As of 01 August 2016, 7-thousand and three insurance claims have been filed, only about half are currently being examined by insurance adjusters.  As many as 3-hundred farms were hit by crop destroying weather right before harvest.

It’s expected that insurance payouts for hail or rain damage will exceed the 2012 record payout of $450-million CAD, however that still doesn’t beat the insurance payouts for crops killed by drought.  In 2015 almost $1-billion CAD was paid for drought damage!

In neighboring Saskatchewan hail damage insurance claims are up by 60%!  The province of Manitoba also reporting “significantly higher than average” insurance claims.

JULY 2016 U.S. FOOD CRISIS