Thoughts On A Sunday

Here it is, the weekend before Thanksgiving, and things are busy, at least for me. While I am taking off this entire week from work, it doesn't mean I won't be working. It just means I'll be whittling away at my “To Do” list, taking care of things at The Gulch in preparation for the upcoming winter. That includes rearranging the contents in the garage to make winter tools – snow shovels (both manual and electric), the ice melt buckets, and the roof rake – more accessible while putting away the 'warm weather' tools which means putting them in one of the back corners of the garage, as well as the 'boat' stuff which has gone up into the attic.

I am also emptying out my storage unit, one that has held some of the stuff from The Manse since the move to The Gulch 7 years ago. I had to dispose of a lot of stuff in the garage's attic in order to make room for the things in the storage unit. I expect to have most of it moved here to The Gulch over this coming week and finishing up a week or so before Christmas. (In case you are wondering, the ex and I got rid of a lot of stuff before we sold The Manse. A lot of stuff.) The ex has been doing her due diligence regarding the storage unit, having already moved a lot of her things out over the past month or so. It never ceases to amaze me just how much stuff we can accumulate over the years.

When it comes to Thanksgiving itself, the WP Mom, my dear brother, and I will be heading down to the younger WP Sister's home to celebrate the day. A good portion of the WP clan will be there. One of my nieces, however, will be unable to attend as she is overseas working. She does plan to come back to home for Christmas, but for the most part she will be working overseas for the next two years.

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Why doesn't this surprise me in the least? It isn't like we haven't seen it before.

This certainly looks like astroturfing to me.

I guess if you can't find any actual anti-semitic MAGA Americans you have to find or hire people to portray them, even if they aren't actually Americans.

It's almost like the woke-Right is just an astroturfed foreign op to fracture MAGA from within.

Ya think?

And then there's this: The number of people on the ‘American online right’ exposed to be foreigners is staggering.

It's all astroturfing.

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You know “they” are out to get Trump when even some media are willing to outright lie. It went so far that the venerable BBC doctored a video to make it seem Trump said things he did not say. Trump has not taken this lying down and has filed a lawsuit against the BBC for doing so.

...Donald Trump is preparing to sue the storied news and entertainment company for between $1 billion and $5 billion. That “B” for “bankrupt.” “I have an obligation to do it,” Trump said Friday. Why? Primarily because the BBC meddled in the 2024 presidential election. How? In a Panorama program called “Trump: A Second Chance?” they tampered with footage from the January 6, 2021, Trump rally in order to make it seem as though Trump was urging his supporters to storm the Capitol. He wasn’t. The BBC then aired the doctored footage in October 2024, just a week before the election.

Trump said that he wants monetary damages. He wants to stop the BBC from doing to others what it did to him. He also said that he wants the BBC to explain in court why they created and aired the doctored video.

If anyone believes it's only the BBC pulling stunts like that they'd be wrong. We see selective editing that takes things said out of context as a means of trying to make it seem Trump meant something other than what he actually said.

Personally, I hope Trump bankrupts the BBC.

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Oh NO!! We're all doomed! DOOMED, I SAY!

Well, not really. But to hear it from the Climate Change Faithful we were supposed to be experiencing increasing numbers of hurricanes along with many more severe hurricanes because of Glowball Warmening. But is seems Mother Nature didn't get the memo since we've been seeing just the opposite – fewer named storms with 2025 reaching a 10-year low with only 13 names storms in 2025.

With the 2025 hurricane season wrapping up this was one of the lowest hurricane numbers in recent years. With only 13 names storms this is down from 19 last year and 23 the year before and is a 10 YEAR LOW for tropical Storm activity!

And the "experts" spent literally months telling us that this was going to a historically high year for Storm activity - NOPE it was a 10 year low, with two years of declining activity.

Check out the linked post to see the previous nine years records.

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Seeing how businesses and residents are fleeing California for greener pastures, is it any wonder the Pyrite State's college students are doing likewise?

In 2022, California experienced a net loss of nearly 24,000 students who chose to attend college in other states, according to data from the Public Policy Institute of California. That number has nearly quadrupled since 2002 and now represents 15% of the state’s college-bound high school graduates.

Most of these students are not going to more prestigious institutions.

Instead they're enrolling in schools with lower admission standards and weaker academic outcomes, often at a higher cost. Public universities in Arizona and Oregon are among the top destinations.

--snip--

Despite generous state funding, families are increasingly looking elsewhere, often sacrificing quality or affordability to escape a system burdened by overcrowding, ideological activism, and bureaucracy.

You know it's getting bad when families don't want their college-bound children to go through the indoctrination California forces on college students.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee where we're getting ready for Thanksgiving, some of the ponds actually have a skim of ice on them, and some of the ski resorts have already opened for business.

Oh Canada!

I keep hearing and seeing news and opinions about Wexit – the exit of Canada's western provinces – because of Ottawa's increasing interference with their economies and increasing levies being imposed upon them. They increasingly see themselves as Ottawa's “ATM” as all they get for the taxes and fees levied are increasing restrictions on their economic activities. To get a better fell for why Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Yukon feel they can do better without Canada and go independent, or alternately, join the United States, particularly since their economies are so closely tied with that of the United States to begin with, check this out:


He makes good points about the ties between the western provinces and the US. Whether those strengthen because the provinces withdraw from Canada or join the US will be up to the residents of those provinces. In either case, Ottawa can be see to carry the blame for the possible dissolution of Canada, a once great nation.

Friday Funny -Things You Can Say About Your Dinner...

I'll Tell You The Story - Binky's Attic Of Old Friends

Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s been a very busy day for yours truly, said day including a trip out the NH Seacoast to celebrate the birthdays of my grand-nephew and grand-niece. One of the WP Sisters also came up to The Gulch from the People’s Republic of Taxachusetts Saturday evening with her boyfriend, staying overnight and going to the Seacoast as well. It meant a lot of changes and a not unexpected upheaval of my Sunday routine. For one thing I didn’t even start writing this until well past 8pm. I usually start Saturday night or early Sunday morning and peck away at it throughout the day. But that wasn’t happening today.

This also meant that I haven’t been able to finish up in getting the Official Weekend Pundit Linux Desktop computer squared away. There are still a couple of steps I need to complete before I have it restored to full function. They aren’t difficult, but they are time-consuming, and I haven’t had the time to do so.

Oh, and one more thing that threw a wrench into the weekend works: The trusty (but no longer rusty) RAM 1500 is still in the body shop and unlikely to be ready before this coming Tuesday.

As such, this will be a greatly abbreviated TOAS post, something I am loath to do.

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Oh, this next thing is going to work out well…NOT.

Fannie Mae is removing minimum credit score requirements.

I have to ask if this is just another version of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) that had banks giving mortgages to people who in no way could afford to make mortgage payments. Interest Only mortgages were popular where the homeowner would only be paying interest on the mortgage for a set period of time. But once they also had to start paying on the loan principle they could no longer afford their payments. Some of the thinking by folks who took such loans was along the lines of “If we get into trouble, we can just sell the house.” The problem was that so many people got into trouble that a lot of homes went on the market at the same time and there were a lot more sellers than buyers. There was also the so-called NINJA (No Income, No Job or Assets) mortgages issued, again because of the ‘incentives’ under the CRA. Is the removal of the minimum credit score requirements going to lead to a repeat of that debacle?

Under the existing system at least one person on the loan had to have a 620+ credit score with no exceptions.

That’s now gone and home-buyers will be evaluated “using a holistic, risk-based assessment.” What? Can anyone tell me what that means? The below is what “they” say will be used:

• Credit history and payment patterns
• Income stability
• Savings and assets
• Property factors
• Overall borrower + loan profile

There’s a lot more in the article that explains the changes by Fannie Mae, but it isn’t giving me a good feeling, particularly in light of the continuing increase in the cost of housing.

Will this end up creating a repeat of what we experienced starting in 2007 and lasting through 2011?

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And this was the (abbreviated) news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we saw some snow on the ground this morning, the winds have been gusting enough to make it interesting driving on the roads and highways, and more wind is on the way.

Sick To Death Of "Epstein Epstein Epstein"

It seems the whole Epstein debacle keeps popping in and out of the media spotlight. I know I can’t speak for anyone else, but quite frankly I am sick to death of the whole thing. So much of it revolves around the Democrats’ insistence that Trump was one of his clients, citing ‘proof’ of e-mails, ones they won’t show unredacted, which also have problems with timelines as some Democrats have claimed Trump was taking advantage of underage girls while at the same time he was with friends and family while also under the eyes of the media. Somehow, he was in two places at the same time.

There have been other claims of all kinds of alleged misdeeds Trump committed, none of them substantiated and others having been proved to be total fabrications by either the Clinton or Biden campaigns, yet some Democrats keep trying to use them as ‘proof’ even though they were debunked years ago.

Every time I hear some news ‘report’ mentioning Epstein, Epstein’s list, Epstein’s island on one of the network news broadcasts, I cringe because I know they will bleat about Trump and Epstein again…repeatedly. I guess the media is taking a page from Joseph Goebbels book, telling the Big Lie over and over again until people believe it and will act like it’s the truth, holding on to that belief like a new religion. The truth won’t matter, even with positive proof that their belief is based upon a Big Lie. They will believe it’s true.

Frankly, I wish all of the documentation on Epstein was either released to the public or destroyed because I am sick to death of the whole thing.

Friday Funny - Porch Pirates Get Theirs

50 Years Ago Today

It is hard to believe that it’s been 50 years since the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a storm on Lake Superior. While it wasn’t big news “back in the day”, Gordon Lightfoot immortalized the sinking and the loss of 29 men in his song “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, telling the story of the ship and the men who manned it.



When Gordon Lightfoot passed away in 2023, “the Mariners' Church in Detroit (the "Maritime Sailors' Cathedral" mentioned in "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald") honored Lightfoot the day after his death by ringing its bell a total of 30 times, 29 for each of the crewmen lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald and the final time for Lightfoot himself.”

There have been a small number of covers of the song, but only one has stood out, at least to me, that being the one performed by Home Free. It was released early this year in commemoration of the 50 years since the Edmund Fitzgerald was lost with all hands.

Thoughts On A Sunday

The Weekend Pundit Computer Follies continue, with efforts to restore both the laptop and desktop having been partially successful. I did manage to backup all the files off of the desktop by booting Linux from a USB key and copying the files onto one of my external 2TB hard disks. That was one of my major concerns, but everything was intact. Restoring the laptop, on the other hand, has been problematic as it did not want to boot from the USB key. I didn’t have this issue when I did so a few months ago in order to backup all the files that resided there. I keep getting an error I have not yet been able to translate. I haven’t given up, I’m just taking a step back to see if I have another approach I can use. I may try booting to a different distribution of Linux to see if it may be a problem with the disk image I’m using to do all of this.

One thing I did complete today was dropping off the trusty RAM 1500 at the body shop this afternoon. It will be waiting for them first thing in the morning.

And one more thing I finished – cleaning out the front gutters on The Gulch…again. I took care of it early yesterday and with all the wind and rain overnight they had collected a lot more leaves. I will also be doing likewise for a neighbor.

It seems the remaining leaves decided to come off the trees all at the same time which has made it an ongoing chore to keep the gutters open over the past couple of days. With the rain we have coming overnight and on Tuesday, I must keep the gutters clean. Thank goodness it is only one set of gutters on the front of The Gulch and the neighbor’s house I must attend to, so it only takes about 10 minutes or so to take care of each of them.

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This doesn’t exactly surprise me. My only question about the move is why did Ford what so long to do so?

Report: Ford Might Kill the F-150 Lightning Electric Pickup Truck.

Seeing as the F-150 Lightning did so poorly in towing comparisons I can see why Ford might be willing to kill the Lightning. My old 2004 F-150 with the V6 and four-speed automatic outperformed the Lightning when towing, and cost a small fraction of the cost of a Lightning, even taking into account inflation. Some folks may have bought it for the same reason folks who bought the Tesla Cyber Truck and the Rivian, and it had nothing to do with their suitability for use as an actual work truck. It’s been virtue signaling across the board.

With that in mind, I will not lament its passing should Ford kill off the Lightning.

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I don’t know about you, but I am finding it more difficult to shift back to Standard Time than I have in the past. Being that I live on the eastern edge of the Eastern Time Zone might have something to do with it, so that sunset is around 4pm now and will be closer to 3:30pm by the winter solstice. (Actually, the sun will dip down behind the surrounding hills by 2:30pm.)

I am still waking up at 4:30am EST, a good hour earlier than necessary. It’s taking me a lot longer to adjust to the time change. Frankly, we here in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts would be better served if we stayed on Daylight Savings Time year-round, or alternately, moved from the Eastern Time Zone to the Atlantic Time Zone and stayed on Standard Time. Being at the extreme eastern edge of the Eastern Time Zone makes the shift back and forth a real pain. I know it’s likely the folks on the extreme western edge of the Eastern Time Zone would rather stay on Standard Time year-round. I think that is true of the four time zones in the Continental US, but probably more so in the Eastern Time Zone since it seems to me it is wider than the Central, Mountain, and Pacific Time Zones.

I know most folks would prefer to have more daylight later in the day despite it being darker for longer in the morning. Some make the argument that dark mornings will put school children at risk, but the same argument could be made for them being at risk at the end of the afternoon as well.

I think the twice-yearly switch between Standard and Daylight Savings Time has outlived its usefulness, at least on the eastern and western edges of the time zones. It also makes no sense that Standard Time is in effect for four months and Daylight Savings Time for eight months.

Let’s save time and annoyance by staying on one time or other.

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This is something I’ve known for a long time, “this” being that socialism/communism doesn’t work. It never has and never will, particularly if it’s human beings trying it. We have hundreds of years of history showing again and again that it doesn’t work. One of the first trials here in the US was the Mayflower Compact of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts back in the 1620’s. The colony almost died out because the “From each according to their ability. To each according to their needs” didn’t work because everyone wanted to draw from the common larder but no one wanted to work to fill it. Once the Plymouth colony abandoned their experiment in socialism it started to thrive. But it seems we can’t learn the lessons from the endless failures and now it looks like New York City is going to learn that lesson the hard way.

In January 1996, Democratic President Bill Clinton declared during his State of the Union address that “the era of big government is over.” And following America’s decisive victory in the Cold War, it seemed it might be so. Socialism began as a hypothesis – that central planning would improve the human condition. The ensuing decades-long experiment, stretching across all corners of the world, resulted in the opposite: Where communism spread, liberty’s flame was extinguished, ushering in unprecedented human suffering for billions.

By every empirical measure, the socialist hypothesis has been falsified. And yet, socialism is catching fresh wind in its sails – not in Moscow, Havana, or Hanoi, but in New York City, capitalism’s capital.

This week, New York voters elected self-declared and unapologetic socialist Zohran Mamdani, a man endorsing proposals like widespread rent control, fare-free public transit, and government-run grocery stores. In November 2025, the Democratic mayor-elect declared during his victory speech, “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve and no concern too small for it to care about.”

The incoming mayor’s policies have been tried and tested many times, and robust evidence shows they don’t work, putting their continued advance in the same category as flat Earth theory, Moon-landing denial, and chemtrail conspiracies.

While the linked article posits that socialism and its even more malignant cousin, communism, was more of a modern phenomenon, but as I mentioned above. It’s been tried again and again under different names in many places and it never worked.

If Mamdani gets his way I think we’ll see New York City starting to resemble the Moscow of the Bad Old Days of the Soviet Union and not a Socialist Utopia.

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I think we can place the following under the “Well, That’s Obvious You Moron” heading.

The More Violence You Find Acceptable the More Violence You Will Get

I think we can safely replace the word “violence” in the above with “crime” and it will be equally valid. We’ve seen that amply demonstrated in US cities that have been ignoring crimes and taking on bail reform of the kind that means little or no bail for criminal miscreants who then go out and commit more crimes. Then they wonder why crime is skyrocketing, not making the connection between their actions and the dramatic rise in crime. This in turn leads to businesses and citizens deciding it is no longer viable to remain in the crime-ridden areas and leave.

In the case of the article linked above, they are looking at violence as being politically motivated and the worries that people have about the increasing violence, particularly politically motivated violence. Their concerns are no less valid.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the winds and rain have done a good job of stripping many of the remaining leaves from the trees, those same leaves are clogging gutters and causing some roads to be as slippery as if they were covered in ice and snow.

Computers And Trucks

It’s a busy weekend for yours truly between trying to resurrect two of the Weekend Pundit computers and prepping the trusty RAM 1500 for its visit to the local body shop.

One computer, the Official Weekend Pundit laptop seems to be working after I reloaded the OS – Ubuntu Linux – and seeing if I lost anything. Fortunately, I have a full backup of the laptop data files which I will check on Sunday. The other computer, the Official Weekend Pundit Desktop, also needs the OS reloaded. I need to download the latest image and create a bootable USB key so I can do that. It gives me the option to run Linux from the USB key or to load the OS. I plan to run it from the USB key first and see if I can access the files on the hard drive. If I can, I will backup the files before reloading the OD, in this case Linux Mint.

I have no idea why two Linux machines could not boot after installing an upgrade and restarting. This happened about 6 months apart and I haven’t seen an answer on the Linux forums I’ve pinged.

I’ve used Linux for years and never had any issues with it until recently, something surprising. Hopefully, I can get the desktop squared away by the end of the weekend.

As mentioned above, the trusty RAM 1500 is headed to the body shop first thing Monday morning to have both front fenders replaced as the rust has gotten to them (though only in two places on each fender). One of the ‘preps’ I did was perform the twice yearly repaint of the RAM’s bed with a half-can of Rustoleum, something I do to deal with the scratches on the truck bed from all of the stuff that goes into and out of it during the year. The scratches generally aren’t deep or down to the metal. Rather they are surface scratches that expose the primer layer. If there’s rust showing the wire wheel gets installed on my drill to get rid of the rust, then primer is sprayed and once that dries, a coat of Rustoleum. I haven’t had to deal with any deep scratches/rust streaks over the past year and a half, and that suits me fine.

The trusty RAM 1500 will be in the body shop until Friday, and the week after that it will be going to the mechanics shop for an oil and lube job, tire rotation, and undercoating. Then the it will be ready for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday and the travel it will entail.