One such group of folks were a bunch of people on their motorcycles racing on the ice covering one of the local ponds. While I've seen the 'track' out on the ice before this is the first time I've actually seen anyone actually using it.
**************
Glenn Reynolds is always mentioning that he's married to a cyborg. Now I can make the claim that my dad's a cyborg, having undergone a similar procedure to that performed on Dr. Helen Smith.If this keeps up we'll be surrounded by them in no time!
**************
Here it is, Super Bowl Sunday, and my enthusiasm for the game is lacking. I haven't even decided whether I am going to watch the game as none of the teams in which I have any interest are playing. (There are teams beside the Patriots that I like, those being the Eagles, 49ers, and the Browns. If any of those teams were playing I would have more interest in watching the game.)**************
One of our local Leftists is at it again, this time blaming poverty in America on Republicans. In this case she writes about how since 1964 poverty has been rising in the US. But she conveniently overlooks the one big event that took place that reversed the downward trend in poverty rates: LBJ's Great Society reforms that instead of helping people out of poverty trapped them into government dependence, all in the name of the mis-titled War on Poverty. Trillions have been spent trying to 'combat' poverty, but after almost 50 years poverty is still with us and the numbers aren't going anywhere...except maybe up.She seems to think that the GOP, or more specifically, Conservatives want to keep people in poverty. But that makes no sense because if Conservatives are the evil wealth-mongering horde she seems to think they are, poverty-stricken Americans will decrease the wealth of the nation, and hence the wealth of the greedy business owners. It goes against all reason. (Then again, no one has ever accused the Left of having any sense of reason. It's always about feelings.)
It is the Left that has managed to keep so many Americans in poverty because they know that is their voter base. Without them, it is likely the Left would lose almost all of their political power. As such, it makes perfect sense for the Left to keep the poverty-stricken poor even while claiming they're trying to 'help' them. It has, after all, been their modus operandi since FDR.
**************
As a follow up to write I just wrote above, there's this little tidbit about LBJ that allegedly shows the mindset of the President and his fellow travelers back in 1964/1965.What's even more interesting is this video linked in the comments showing the reaction of grassroots Chicago residents to President Obama's recent State of the Union address.
My favorite comment made by one resident: “If this is what you call helping us, then just stop helping us!”
Heh.
(H/T Maggie's Farm)
**************
Cap'n Teach points us to a study that shows that liberals drink a lot more alcohol than moderates or conservatives.The study concludes:Could it be as Cap'n Teach reminds us, that liberals are less happy than conservatives? That has certainly been my experience.
In this study, we show that liberal ideology has a statistically significant positive association with the consumption of alcohol in the United States even after controlling for economic, demographic, and geographic differences across states.
**************
It turns out there was no 'there' there.Claims about SuperBowl sex trafficking have been overblown and are nothing more than “dishonest marketing by sleazy non-profits and their political cronies.”
The problem is that there is no substantiation of these claims. The rhetoric turns out to be just that.As Glenn Reynolds writes, “Lying profiteers, posing as saviors.”
No data actually support the notion that increased sex trafficking accompanies the Super Bowl. The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, a network of nongovernmental organizations, published a report in 2011 examining the record on sex trafficking related to World Cup soccer games, the Olympics and the Super Bowl. It found that, “despite massive media attention, law enforcement measures and efforts by prostitution abolitionist groups, there is no empirical evidence that trafficking for prostitution increases around large sporting events.”
Even with this lack of evidence, the myth has taken hold through sheer force of repetition, playing on desires to rescue trafficking victims and appear tough on crime.
Indeed.
**************
Since the election of Bill de Blasio as mayor of New York City, I've been saying he will undo much of the progress that has been made in the city over the past few decades and will return New York to the bad old days of the 70's and 80's, with high crime rates, widespread poverty, and rampant drug use and dealing.If we need any more evidence that this is indeed de Blasio's goal, then this is it.
As Heather MacDonald writes, de Blasio is “rebreaking the windows” that his predecessors worked so hard to fix.
**************
The News Junkie has some interesting takes on New Jersey's Un-Super Bowl.As he asks, Cui bono?
**************
It appears that the gridlock that took place down in Atlanta wasn't caused by the two inches of snow that turned the roads and highways into skating rinks, but by racism.Huh? From the crap MSNBC is spewing it appears they believe even inclement weather is yet another form of racism. It must be because snow is white.
Yeah. Right.
**************
One thing that Obama mentioned again in his SOTU that I should have mentioned, that being the long discredited canard about the wage gap between men and women. As this piece in The Beast tells it, it's purely statistical manipulation of the “Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics” sort.The 23-cent gender pay gap is simply the difference between the average earnings of all men and women working full-time. It does not account for differences in occupations, positions, education, job tenure, or hours worked per week. When all these relevant factors are taken into consideration, the wage gap narrows to about five cents. And no one knows if the five cents is a result of discrimination or some other subtle, hard-to-measure difference between male and female workers. In its fact-checking column on the State of the Union, the Washington Post included the president’s mention of the wage gap in its list of dubious claims. “There is clearly a wage gap, but differences in the life choices of men and women… make it difficult to make simple comparisons.”The fact is that men take on the more physically demanding and more dangerous jobs than women, tend to put in longer hours if they have a family to support or child support to pay, and also tend to cluster in high-paying professions that have a much higher percentage of men than women participating. The Beast article also goes on to show the differences in college majors and the pay scales between those majors. When men and women work in the same jobs the pay gap shrinks to almost nothing, and for certain jobs, women make more than men.
Basically it's much ado about nothing...except for firing up the Democrat base using statistical manipulation and outright falsehoods. In other words, for them it's business as usual.