Thoughts On A Sunday

The last day of Motorcycle week is upon us as the visiting bikers get in some of the last activities of the festival and many make their way home. Some will linger for another day or two, but most will have departed by early evening today.

The large influx of motorcycles gave me the perfect excuse to not travel, giving me plenty of time to work around The Manse in preparation for putting it on the market. Yesterday and today was spent stripping the decks with a pressure washer (mostly to remove dirt, grime, and loose paint, not strip all of the paint off) in preparation for repainting them some time over the next few days. Some of the yard work was also done, though it is nowhere near being finished. (Then again, it never really is, is it?)

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This is something I think more college kids should be doing. For that fact, so should adults from the Blue urban areas.

On a blustery afternoon in April, I filed into a van along with 10 students from Harvard. We had just spent the last two days in Chicopee, Mass., where we had chatted with the police chief and his force, the mayor and his staff, small-business owners, waitresses and firemen about their struggles living in small-town America.

The undergrads were buzzing with their impressions. Chicopee is about 90 miles west of their prestigious university in Cambridge, but when it comes to shared experience, it might as well have been 1,000 light years away.

As they settled in, I looked at them.

“So,” I said, “who do you think most of the people you just got to know voted for president?”

None of the students had an answer. It hadn’t come up in their conversations and they didn’t know I had privately asked each person who they’d voted for.

So, I let a minute pass and told them.

“Nearly every one of them voted for Trump.”

My students looked stunned, at first. But then a recognition crossed their faces.

We were only a few days into a new course I had developed with Harvard’s Institute of Politics, called the Main Street Project, where students are immersed in small-town America. Even though these kids had almost all been raised in the United States, our journey sometimes felt like an anthropology course, as though they were seeing the rest of the country for the first time. And this was their opening lesson.

Too many kids in college these days, particularly attending one of the Ivies, have little exposure to rural America, so-called “flyover country”. The only thing they know about the people living there is what they've been told in their classes or by the media, and just about everything they've been told is wrong. But they won't know that unless they experience small town America first hand.

The Main Street Project is but one small step to correcting the many misconceptions people have about small town America.

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While the idea of renewable energy sounds great and billions have been spent on promoting and building renewables, the actual fraction of power that comes from those sources really hasn't grown all that much.

I could dig deep on why this is so (as I have done in the past), but a lot of it still boils down to the cost of renewable energy being very high, even with government subsidies. The rest deals with dispatchability, meaning they generally cannot supply power on demand, they are highly susceptible to weather conditions, and they take up a lot of land area compared to the more traditional coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear power plants.

Until those other issues are solved, renewables aren't really a viable alternative to the other sources of power.

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There's nothing I can add to this. Nothing at all.

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Yeah, this worked out so well the last time that they decided to try it again.

The Left has called for a boycott of Chick-fil-A because the corporate owners don't support gay marriage.

In case you don't remember, the last time the Left called for a boycott of this restaurant chain, just the opposite occurred – a buycott. Chick-fil-A saw more customers coming through its doors and buying their chicken sandwiches than before the announced boycott. How much do you want to it will have a similar effect this time as well?

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People complain about how bad the air pollution is here in the US. Most of those making that claim weren't alive in the 60's and early 70's when both the air and water were quite polluted. Since then we have cleaned up the air and water to the point were much of the pollution can be measured in parts per billion or parts per trillion, not parts per thousand or parts per million. In fact, a lot of the air pollution to which we are exposed is not generated here but comes from overseas, specifically China. Yet we have people who fervently believe that we must be punished for the pollution caused by other countries, hence their support of things like the old Kyoto Protocols and the Paris Accord, neither of which really did anything other than demand a lot of money from the US.

But do we hear much about the horrendous air pollution in places like China or India? Of course not.

One tends, as a matter of course, to inveigh against pollution in China. The world has never seen a quicker leap into industrialization than what has happened in China over the past four decades. But, we also know that industrialization is the enemy of the pristine purity of nature. And we are well aware of the fact that China sports an authoritarian government, one that keeps its hold on power by poisoning its people.

We keep those facts and beliefs firmly in mind when we examine the state of today’s largest democracy. That would be India. How is democratic India doing with air pollution? We note the said pollution is not the same as the greenhouse gases that our environmentalists hate so much. Those latter include large quantities of carbon dioxide, aka, plant food. Pollution in India is of another order.

Anyway, India is not doing so well on the pollution scoreboard. If you think that toxic masculinity is a problem, wait until you get a whiff of toxic smog.

As the saying goes, Read The Whole Thing.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the roar of motorcycle engines are fading away until next year, the vendors are counting cash stuffing their cash register drawers, and where peace and quite is returning even if it is on a Monday.

Thoughts On A Sunday

Motorcycle Week has returned to central New Hampshire! The roar of motorcycles has ramped up since Friday evening and bikes galore have been on all of the roads. Some people hear the noise of the bike engines. Others hear the ringing of cash registers all over the state.

While in the past most of the focus of Bike Week was here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, it has since spread out to other areas around the state. That has given the mistaken impression that not as many bikers have been coming up for the festivities because the not quite as many people congregate around Weirs Beach, the 'HQ' of Bike Week. But looking at the tourism dollars rolling in and full hotels and campgrounds, it is obvious that just the opposite is true.

At least this year's Bike Week looks to have great weather all week, with only a chance of thundershowers sometime on Thursday.

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Much has been made of the increasing suicide rate in the US, with a 25% increase seen across the nation over the past few years.

There are all kinds of theories as to why this is occurring running the gamut of the decay of the nation's moral fabric, the attacks on religiosity, readily available abortion which cheapens the value placed upon life, the war against men (most suicides are male, with the number rising alarmingly amongst middle aged men), the jungle that is social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.), and one of my favorites, the rapid increase in the use of SSRIs, a class of drug used as an anti-depressant. Considering one of the side effects in children and young adults can be suicide ideation, is it any surprise that all of these factors are contributing to the rising suicide rate?

I doubt there is one factor that we can point to and say “Aha! Here's the problem!”

What's the solution? Frankly, I have no idea. But I do have on suggestion that I think many should consider, that being to “drop out' of social media. Take a break from it all. Don't log in to any of your electronic addictions. Wean yourself off of the electronic fentanyl, or better yet, go cold turkey for a while. Also consider staying away from all of the so-called news websites and apps. You might be surprised just how much better you feel after a week or so away. You'll likely also come to realize just how much time you have been wasting on something that has no socially redeeming values and lets you get back to living life again.

Will this solve the problem? Again, I have no idea. But it doesn't take any time or money to give it a try and you just might find yourself enjoying the real world again.

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How many times over the past few years have we heard about some busybody bureaucrat shutting down a kid's lemonade stand? Call it the height of asininity and government overreach spuured on mby the Left's need to control every aspect of our lives.

But now folks are fighting back against that crap, specifically the men and women of Country Time Lemonade. They've started a legal defense fund to help entrepreneurial kids fight the bureaucrats and run their pop-up lemonade stands, just like we did when we were kids. Call it one more fight against those who seem to think they know how we should live our lives better than we do.

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As if we had any doubt that 'comedian' Bill Maher is a douchebag, he proves it to us yet again by wishing the economy would tank and hurt millions of Americans just so he and his cohorts can get rid of Trump. Of course HE wouldn't be hurt by such a slump because he is, after all, wealthy. But the rest of us would have to suffer just so he can feel better about who's president?

And then there's his whole 'losing democracy' shtick which makes us realize he doesn't understand that America is not a democracy, but a constitutional republic.

Then again, the elite don't need to understand these things because everything is about the 'feelz', not the facts.

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For a change of pace (and a palate cleanser), how about a documentary about Mister Rogers?

Apparently it is quite good and confirms many of the good things I've heard about him over the years.

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Apparently even the people living in Massachusetts hate Massachusetts because they are refusing to have kids there. The Pay State has the lowest fertility rate in the nation, has seen its influence in Congress withering away as its population grows slowly (if at all) and other states with higher fertility and immigration (from other states) grow more rapidly, taking away their House seats in Congress.

While not quite a one-party state like California, it does have way too many Democrats spending the taxpayers' money on useless and stupid things. While it's taxes aren't quite as bad as those in neighboring Connecticut, it's still known by many as 'Taxachusetts' as there is little its legislature won't tax.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the roar of engines is expected to get louder over the next 7 days, cash registers will be ringing up sales from visiting bikers, and where for once I have no issue with Monday's imminent arrival.

Where Did All The Time Go? It's Been 16 Years!!

It's hard to believe that this blog has been around for sixteen years, but it has.

My dear brother made the first post 16 years ago today, our former website – World Domination, Inc – having become too cumbersome to maintain. (Our motto was and still is Subjugating Humanity, One Individual At A Time.) His first post can be found here. Just scroll down to the bottom.

This blog started on Blogger, then moved to Blogmosis (long defunct), then Nexcess, and finally back to Blogger. There have been thousands of posts, some lost (when Blogmosis went under), and the rest here at Blogger. The topics covered are too numerous to list, but most of them dealt with the Left, the Wrong (basically the same thing), the Constitution, and just plain tomfoolery of all stripes.

While life has intruded, making blogging much more difficult, I have managed to post on weekends. (I guess that makes the blog title accurate, eh?)

Some have asked if I will eventually give this up. The honest answer is I don't know. All I can say for sure is that if I do it won't be any time soon. It could be I might move my blogging to another well established blog. I might go back to almost daily blogging here. Only time will tell.

I any case, here's to 16 years on the blogosphere, and hopefully many more to come.

Thoughts On A Sunday

This is going to be a somewhat abbreviated post as I literally just got back from some time out on the lake. I hadn't figured I'd be out so late, but family was visiting from Nevada so BeezleBub and I took them out for a tour of the lake.

Frankly, between going out on the lake or working on a post, I'd choose time on the lake every single time.

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The whole dust up about whether or not Robert Mueller can subpoena the President is telling me that Mueller hasn't got squat after over a year of 'investigation' of any collusion with the Russians. There's been plenty of proof that the Clinton campaign had plenty of contact with the Russians, but has any time been spent looking into that? Not from what I can see.

This has been a fishing expedition/witch hunt from the very beginning, pushed hard by the DNC and the Clinton campaign. Millions have been spent and there isn't a damn thing to show for it. If there were we'd be hearing it from the DOJ and the MSM every minute of every day. But what are we hearing instead? Lots of conjecture and innuendo, but outside of that, crickets.

This is one heck of a nothingburger that the DNC cannot stomach.

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When I read the story about a Benghazi survivor, and Army Ranger, 'shooting down' David Hogg's take on gun control, I found myself agreeing with the man.

I honestly don't remember reports of school shootings of the type we've been experiencing since Columbine during the time I was in school – the 60's and 70's. It's only been since Hogg's generation came into being that we've seen this spate of school shootings.

Says former Army Ranger Kris Paronto, “I remember, it was before your generation started shooting up the schools David, even though we still had guns," Paronto tweeted. "Thank you for confirming..again...that it’s not the gun, it’s person, and in particular you & your peers millennial culture.”

With the wall-to-wall coverage given by the media whenever these types of shootings take place, sensationalizing the event and making a 'celebrity' out of the shooter, is it any wonder that there have been such school shootings? Even while reporting on the tragedy, they glamorize the shooter as if it were all part of some first person shooter game and this guy had the high score.

Just how twisted is that?

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Is that they don't care or that they really don't understand that they are shooting the proverbial goose that lays the golden eggs? Of the two, I'd have to say it's the second because it appears that they could that stupid.

To what do I refer?

The alleged plan by some of the NFL players to strike back against the league's kneeling ban by boycotting games.

I wrote 'alleged' because the report about this plan comes from notoriously unreliable Shaun King. If players actually decided to do something that stupid, I would expect them to be kicked out of the league and replacement players put in their place. Of course I would expect those same ex-players to file a lawsuit against the NFL, thought I doubt they could claim breach of contract because it would have been them breaching their contract with the NFL, not the other way around.

Are NFL players that stupid? On the whole, I'd say probably not. But that doesn't mean that one or two of them have so convinced themselves that they are indispensable that they would do something that stupid.

Only time will tell.

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I think it's time for Bernie Sanders to throw in the towel and retire. After all he can't seem to tell the difference between the people in his home state of Vermont and those in California.

Then again, he also doesn't know how economics works which is why he keeps pushing the free college and free s**t for everyone. He doesn't seem to understand that there is no such thing as free anything. Someone somewhere has to pay for it and that eventually he will run out of those other people's money.

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And that's the abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the warm dry weather will be gone for the next few days, school will be out for the summer soon, and where Motorcycle Week starts next weekend!

Thoughts On A Sunday

The first 'official' weekend of summer is here, and all that goes with it. That includes the insane traffic, most of which started Friday morning. I took Friday off in order to do some work on The Manse in preparation for putting it on the market, and that entailed running some errands during mid/late Friday morning. That there were traffic tie-ups at some of the local intersections was surprising. That many of the vehicles in those traffic tie-ups were from away was not.

Deb and I went to one of our local eateries this morning and found we were going to have to wait to be seated as we had forgotten to take into account the summerfolk were back. When we did get seated we were fortunate enough to be at a table next to some other locals, and we got into a conversation about the heavy presence of folks from away. One of us (I forget who) made mention that it appeared that everyone from Massachusetts was up here for the weekend. It certainly seemed that was a a very large majority of the out of state plates were from there, with a smattering of Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey plates thrown in for good measure.

Summer has returned, even if the calendar say it won't actually be here for another three and a half weeks.

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One of the biggest problems I find in regards to alternative energy is that too many proponents choose to ignore the negatives. Between low energy densities (both wind and solar are actually rather diffuse compared to oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear), lack of dispatchability (immediate generation capacity decides on sources, not demand), their vulnerability to weather conditions, and lack of energy storage. These are all “problems to be solved down the road” that need to be solved now in order to make wind and solar viable at reasonable costs. But neither wind or solar provide power at reasonable costs.

While the energy for wind or solar is free, the costs of collecting and converting that energy is not. Both are horrendously expensive which is why they are subsidized, and even then they cost a lot more than conventional power sources.

Then there are the other hidden costs, particularly when it comes to both economic and environmental costs. One of the bigger issues being devoutly ignored by the renewable energy proponents is the amount of toxic waste generated by their manufacture. And that's just on the making them side. There's also the toxicity of panels when they reach then end of their useful lives.

Solar panels are not easily recyclable, they contain lead (which no one mentions), cadmium (which is far more toxic than lead, which no one mentions), antimony, and a host of other toxic substances than cannot be removed without breaking apart the entire panel and properly processing them to recover the toxic materials. Even that process can generate toxic waste all on its own.

Because solar panels contain those materials, they are not supposed to be landfilled because those materials can leach out and contaminate ground water.

So all of that so-called 'clean energy' isn't so clean after all.

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I find it interesting that the most of the media, specifically the LSM, haven't caught on to the fact that President Trump is playing them like a virtuoso violinist. He's had decades of practice at manipulating the media and he does it so well.

Or if that analogy doesn't work for you, how about this one: He's a stage magician that gets the media to focus on the shiny object in one hand while he uses the other one to 'take care of business'. Think about it.

He (or one of his staffers) posts a tweet about one subject or another. The LSM goes insane over the tweet, focusing all of their effort and attention on his latest Twitter 'outrage'. In the mean time they aren't paying attention to what's going on in the background. It's not that he's hiding anything as everything he's accomplished has been out in the open. It's that he's diverted their attention away from it by giving them something else to pay attention to. When they finally do pay attention, they're surprised. And then the process repeats itself.

Could it be that's how he's gotten the judicial nominees he's wanted appointed? Is that how he's managed to be so effective in regards to foreign policy? (You have to admit he's certainly gotten the attention of a certain leader in a country north of the 38th Parallel.) Is that how he's managed to roll back many of the economically damaging regulations imposed by his predecessor?

Yes.

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Truer words were never on a tee shirt!

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The more we hear about Stormy Daniels' lawyer, the more disreputable we're finding out he is.

Between stiffing his partner for monies earned by their practice, shorting clients on money they were awarded in lawsuits, and now it appearing that he's a tax cheat, why would anyone, including Stormy Daniels, trust this publicity-seeking shyster? He certainly has a less than stellar reputation.

I figure it's only a matter of time before he's busted for something or Stormy wises up, fires the jerk, and finds a more reputable attorney. Or maybe both will happen.

Either way she should put as much distance between her and this Avenatti guy.

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I have to add the same comment Glenn Reynolds added about this piece, that being “It’s very important to list all the things you won’t do for your future husband before you meet him.”

While I can understand why some women don't want to change their names after marriage, one has to wonder what other things some women might not do for/with their husbands after marriage.

I know I've mentioned overheard conversations between young women expressing their totally unrealistic expectations about marriage. More often it sounded like they were talking about a relationship with a monied doormat who would let them have sex with anyone they wanted outside of the marriage, not a man. (Not even a beta male.) That's not a marriage, that's a financial arrangement with a whore. No, strike that. A professional would give value for the money paid to her. These women wouldn't.

How did I make the connection between a women explaining why she wouldn't change her name after marriage to a cuckolding gold digger? I didn't really. It was just that Glenn's comment triggered the memory of the overheard conversations.

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If things go well on Monday I will have the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee in the water and tied up at its slip before the sun sets. I had to delay the launch as the owner of the docks where I berth The Boat informed me that they had not yet finished laying down the new deck after some structural repairs were made. Without that deck there was no way I would be able to make it from the dock to the shore without walking the proverbial tightrope. So launching The Boat was delayed.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer has (unofficially) arrived, as have the summerfolk, and where we're still plugging away at getting our house ready to sell.

Thoughts On A Sunday

The presence of summerfolk was unmistakable this weekend, despite the rains we had on Saturday. Lot's of out of state plates on the various vehicles filling our local roads, lots of boats being towed towards their summer berths, and a lot of folks at the local big box hardware stores pickup up needed items to get their summer places ready for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

Some of the seasonal eateries have been open for the past couple of weekends and will be open all week long starting on the aforementioned Memorial Day weekend.

If the weather forecast for the next 7 days holds, next weekend's weather will be perfect for the unofficial start of summer.

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The First Street Journal has another post on The Success of Socialism, particularly when it comes to dealing with the problems of obesity. This one is number 16 in the series. Links to previous posts can be found at the web page.

It still amazes me that people actually believe that socialism is a good idea when so many examples abound showing it is a very bad thing. Some of those examples go all the way back to 1620 AD. You'd think that after 400 years of experimentation socialism would be perfected, if it were at all possible. But as history has shown us it is not. But that doesn't stop every generation from trying to “polish the turd” that is socialism.

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Speaking of socialism and keeping in mind Thatcher's aphorism - “Socialism works until you run out of other people's money” - a number of blue states have found out that they can no longer ignore their looming fiscal crisis.

With the change in the tax code that has eliminated so-called SALT (State And Local Taxes) deductions from income tax returns, the actual cost of running many of these just-about-broke states is coming to the forefront. States like Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and, of course, California are likely to see either a mass exodus from their states or one heck of a tax revolt now that their heavily taxed residents can no longer reap the benefits of the SALT deductions. For many that means thousands of dollars they can no longer deduct from their returns and more federal income tax they'll have to pay. It also means that more fiscally responsible states' residents will no longer have to subsidize those in heavily taxed states. (Residents in more lightly taxed states subsidized those in heavily taxed states because they didn't have nearly as many state or local tax payments to deduct.)

The days of being able to depend upon 'other people's money' to pay for all of the over the top programs, kickbacks...err tax incentives, and outright feel good but worthless 'help' given to the less fortunate (those less fortunate residents being created by the very states 'helping' them) or fading away. The actual costs of supporting all of that can no longer be ignored or hidden.

Maybe we can hope it will help bring fiscal sanity to the blue states, but I'm not holding my breath.

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Work intruded into today's posting efforts, meaning I spent a few hours this evening on-line in an effort to close out some paperwork for a couple of ongoing projects before I take a little vacation time starting late this week.

I'm not going anywhere for vacation. Rather I'll be home working on The Manse to get it ready to list for sale. There are a number of last tasks to complete before listing it and there isn't enough time on the weekends to accomplish everything, hence taking a few days off.

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I thought I'd seen everything.

I was wrong.

Apparently someone somewhere thinks that paper bags are now racist.

Just when I think SJWs can't get any stupider they prove me wrong.

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And that's the (abbreviated) news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer is almost (unofficially) here, more boats are appearing on the lake every day, and where I still haven't mowed the lawn yet.

Thoughts On A Sunday

It's been a pretty good weekend, weather wise, though a bit cooler than I had thought it would be.

I did manage to retrieve the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout from the local marina, it having been unwrapped and serviced. There's a little clean up to take care of and the stowing of gear before it returns to its summer berth, something I am hoping will take place later this week.

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I find it amusing that some Congresscritters actually think it's a good idea to give 16-year olds the vote. Really? With very few exceptions, they have neither the maturity or the wisdom to carefully weigh the issues when it comes to voting. (Then again, neither to a lot of adults.)

The one thing that I find majorly wrong with this idea is that it gives the “Feelz” party a bigger leg up because, let's face it, teens are far more emotional than rational at that age as compared to their older and more 'sophisticated' college-aged siblings. (No, not really, but that's the argument I would put forward.)

The proponents are selling the idea that they'll take voting more seriously than adults, but I seriously doubt that. Or if they do, it will be because they have been manipulated by the “Feelz” party.

Have you every wondered why so many revolutionary movements try to recruit the young? It's because they are neither smart enough or mature enough to understand when they're being lied to and why. They have been the cannon fodder is too many revolutionary movements because they don't know any better.

It's a damn good reason not to give them the vote.

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I have to wonder, but does that pinko Tom Steyer really think he'll be able to get President Trump impeached, and if so, on what grounds? That he just doesn't like him? The he doesn't like what he's accomplished? Of is it because Trump has consistently played the media and the Progressives (but I repeat myself) like the chumps they are?

I have to wonder how close this comes to sedition? After all, he is advocating the overthrow of a duly elected president, one that won't play to Steyer's rules.

To remind Mr. Steyer of a quote from his messiah, “Elections have consequences.” That he thinks he knows better than we so-called Deplorables shows us just what he thinks of us, which is 'not much'.

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Is the Democrats' much crowed about “Blue Wave” turning into something more of a “Blue Swirl”, much like the water swirling down a toilet bowl? If the latest poll numbers are anywhere near accurate, it looks like that might be the case.

When the Democrats are promising to undo the tax breaks and purposefully slow the economy by restoring crippling,unneeded and unwanted regulation on businesses, why should they expect that they'll be swept back into power?

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What has this world come to?

Now we have to deal with Grilling While Black?

It figures that this stupid incident took place in the Pyrite State (the once 'Golden State' of California.)

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The news has been regularly covering the fissures that have opened and started spewing lava on the Big Island in Hawaii. Mount Kilauea has had a number of lava spewing fissures open in the lowlands at its base and it is causing some major damage.

I hate seeing something like that happening in that tropical paradise. It's something that should be happening in California instead, maybe as a precursor to the coastline between just north of San Diego and San Francisco separating itself from the mainland.

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It turns out that some SUNY students were 'deeply hurt' by a speech given by a fellow student about liberal intolerance on campus.

My initial response: I don't care! Maybe they needed to be 'deeply hurt' in order to find out what it's like to be on the receiving end of ridicule, threats, and actual physical assaults.

This was doubly bad because the student who gave the speech has been reprimanded for her “uncomfortable” speech during an open mic event on campus.

College Liberals, Thy Name Is Hypocrisy!

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It looks like liberals (and the perpetually offended) are running out of things to be offended about and are desperately looking for things to offended about. After all, without something to be offended about they'll have nothing to fill all of those empty hours they'll experience.

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Stuart Schneiderman points us to a warning to liberals by Gerard Alexander that “just because they control the media, the arts and the academy… they seem to believe that they control the American Mind.”

It just ain't so.

How do they explain the fall off in movie and TV viewership, decreases in college admissions, and people staying away in droves from “the arts” when all of them try to ram progressive beliefs down our throats? The rubes (that's us) aren't intimidated by liberal self-importance and self-aggrandizement. Most of us understand that they really don't understand us and don't want to understand us. They just want us to kowtow to their 'greater' wisdom and beliefs, even though many of them are twisted and abhorrent to many of us. The rest is just insane and nonsensical. That's why we ignore them, at least in regards to how we are supposed to live our lives. We do pay attention to the rest, mostly as a means of keeping an eye on them and the next stupid thing they're going to tell us is important fro us to do (but not them, of course).

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer is approaching, the summerfolk have been showing up in increasing numbers each weekend, and where Monday is intruding into our recreation all too soon.

Thoughts On A Sunday

It was another fifty-fifty weekend in regards to weather, but I'm not complaining. The wet weather today gave me a perfect excuse to be a bit lazy, something that was welcome after the very busy day I had yesterday.

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The so-called investigation by Special Counsel Mueller continues to drag on. After all of this time one would think that the investigation would have either found any compelling evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians or nothing at all. What exactly have they found?

Bupkus.

When a federal judge castigates the DOJ and Special Counsel for going well outside their mandate, vigorously prosecuting people only on the periphery of the campaign as a means of forcing them to flip on the President, you know things have turned from an investigation and into a fishing expedition, or worse, a witch hunt.

When the judge finally gets a chance to review the unredacted memo that laid out the duties and scope of the investigation, I have a feeling he's going to quash any further investigative efforts because of one of two reasons: the investigation has gone far outside the scope of the limits set by the memo, or the memo had limits so broad as to be meaningless and unconstitutional. Should the DOJ appeal the decision and it ends up going to the Supreme Court, I have a feeling they will agree with the lower court's decision.

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Another thing to consider in regards to the Mueller probe is that it's so bad that even a former Hillary advisor believes it is corrupt.

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Then there's the folks that keep saying that the Stormy Daniels kerfuffle will lead to Trump's impeachment or resignation. I have to ask those folks one simple question: What laws were broken by the president that could lead to impeachment?

That he may have banged a porn star isn't a crime, or even a misdemeanor. If he did indeed have sex with her, he wasn't in office or even running for president when the alleged affair took place. That she alleges that she was paid hush money isn't a crime either.

If Trump did indeed have an affair with Stormy Daniels, so what? At least she's classier than any of Bill Clinton's extramarital honeys.

Frankly, I suspect most Americans don't really care. I know I don't.

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Is John Kerry delusional? He must be if he thinks he's still Secretary of State, working behind the scenes to keep the horrible flawed Iran deal alive. I guess he feels he isn't subject to the Logan Act and can negotiate foreign policy for the US even though he is no longer a representative of the United States government.

I think it's time for him and the other Deep State operatives to find out that they are not immune to the law. Kerry should be made to make the perp walk as he's hustled into the FBI HQ in handcuffs before being arraigned in front of a federal judge.

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Has Andrew Cuomo lost his mind?

Yes. Yes he has.

What triggered this loss of sanity?

The fact that someone actually had the gall to challenge him in the Democrat primary in New York, in this case actress Cynthia Nixon. This has driven him to do some pretty bizarre things, including some actions that will hurt New Yorkers at a time when everyone else (except those in other Blue States like neighboring Connecticut, New Jersey, Illinois, and California) are reaping the benefits of the economic boom fueled by President Trump's tax reform and business regulation cutbacks.

Yeah, that's a winning strategy.

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And that's the abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer has suddenly arrived, boats are appearing on the lake, and where Monday is once again going to ruin a perfectly good weekend.

Thoughts On A Sunday

It was a half-and-half weekend in regards to weather – sunny on Saturday and raining on Sunday. Overall, I have no real complaints.

One thing I have noticed is that the traffic has been getting heavier every weekend. I figure a lot of folks have come up to start getting their summer cottages and camps ready, particularly now that Ice Out has been declared on Lake Winnipesaukee. I know some folks took advantage of the warmer weather at the end of this past week and took their boats out onto the lake. Mine won't be headed to the lake for another two weeks as there are a few minor things to take care of before it goes to its summer berth.

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I've discovered a new blog by way of Deb, one written by a friend of hers.

Go check out WrantingandWraving. The author (who shall remain nameless to protect his identity) is an educator and has some noteworthy views and opinions, many of which I know many of his colleagues would likely disagree.

So far I haven't come across anything to which I disagree, or at least not greatly. (Mostly a matter of degree and not magnitude.) Then again, he's not s prolific blogger, so posting is sporadic.

Despite the above this one will be one to check for new content every now and then.

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I still think the Trump/Russia thing has pretty much run its course. As more than a few have opined, it has been a big “nothingburger” from the beginning. But that won't stop the True Believers from digging away looking for any tenuous thread they will try to use to unseat the president.

One would think they'd stop digging as every time something new comes up it points towards the DNC, the Hillary campaign, and a number of other Progressive groups and people pulling off some pretty shady (an illegal) shenanigans in their efforts to take down Donald Trump. They are following Alinsky's rule about accusing your opponent of doing things that you are doing. However it doesn't seem to be working this time because so far no evidence pointing to Trump has shown up. Not one iota.

One has to wonder if they're going to try to drag this out until the 2020 elections as their means of unseating Trump. If they do I have to think it will end up being a non-starter because just about everyone, including many Democrat voters, are already sick to death of this witch hunt.

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Yeah, like HE has had anything to do with it.

I find it interesting that after all of the work and gamesmanship President Trump has put in in regards to North Korea, and seeing now that North Korea appears to be ready to negotiate about their nuclear weapons and an official end to the Korean War, former president Obama has claimed the credit for making it all happen. Then again what do you expect for a narcissist with delusions of adequacy?

Unless Obama has been using some illegal back channel, I doubt he's had anything to do with the possible rapprochement between North and South Korea. Seeing his dismal record in regards to foreign policy, there's no chance he had anything to do with it.

Then again, we're dealing with The Won, so take any of his claims with a huge effin' grain of salt.

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Why is it I cannot get this image out of my head? Could it be because it is most likely quite accurate?

Yes, I know I'm making a generalization. But having met more than a few Antifa and some of their sympathizers, and knowing just what they think about firearms, I have no doubt that the linked image is quite accurate in regards to those known to me.

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From the Just When You Thought They Couldn't Get Any Stupider Department comes this gem:

A high school student was suspended for 3 days for singing the national anthem in school.

Really? For 3 days? I have to ask: How long would he be suspended for punching a fellow student or singing the Internationale? I bet not nearly as long as he got for singing our nation anthem.

Since when has that become a disciplinary action? Why did his school forbid him to sing it? Just what the hell is going on in his school district??

Someone there needs to be fired, and I mean really fired because they sure as hell haven't got a friggin' clue about this nation, its people and their love for this nation.

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It appears that so-called “cultural appropriation” only works one way. If we here in America like something from another culture and add it to our own, it is somehow bad and disrespectful of that other culture. (More on the opposite below.) And here it is I thought that was one of the things that made America a great place, taking the best from each of the cultures of the people who came here to be Americans and adding it to our own. Instead it has now become something to be avoided because a bunch of crybullies feel it denigrates those other cultures. They want to make sure we never 'appropriate' anything from any other cultures, ever.

So what they're really saying is that they want this country to become Balkanized into separate cultural enclaves where no one will exchange anything about anything and that our culture will not be allowed to change under any circumstances.

Yeah, like that's going to work. (Even if it did, I would expect ethnic and cultural wars to erupt just like back in many of the places that many immigrants came here to get away from.) Most folks are going to tell those whiners to “Sod off, swampy!” The crybullies do not get to determine what we will or will not appropriate. They are neither smart enough or wise enough to do so. And should they push it, I have a feeling they will experience first hand what it's like for revolutionaries to seek them out, drag them from their 'safe spaces' put them up against a wall or have them climb the gallows and end their miserable existence because “we ain't takin' their s**t no more.”

At the same time these crybullies go on and on ad nauseum about cultural appropriation, people in other countries dressing in Levi's is somehow American cultural imperialism.

What this proves to me is that these people seriously need some mental help. They are not living in the real world, but are stuck in some kind of delusion that makes them believe that they are the arbiters of what is allowed and what is not, what is good speech and what is bad speech, and what is good and what is evil. All this from people who need safe spaces, think speech that disagrees with theirs is violence, and need to be shielded from ideas and beliefs that do not match their own.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather is supposed to get better later this week, boats are making their appearance on the lake, and where preparations to get mine back on the lake continue.

Thoughts On A Sunday

It appears spring has arrived (at least temporarily as I still don't trust Mother Nature), with temps in the 50's here in central New Hampshire. There is no freezing rain, snow, or sleet in the forecast over the next few days, so it's looking promising. A good portion of the ice covering Lake Winnipesaukee has melted or broken up, though a considerable amount of ice can still be seen along the northern side of the lake.

Who knows, I might still be able to launch The Boat during the first weekend of May after all...but I'm not holding my breath.

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Reading and hearing reports on TV about the continuing demonstrations and walkouts by high school students demanding action in regards to gun violence, I see the focus is still on the wrong aspect of the issue. They are focusing on guns, not violence. The 'new' laws and regulations they propose aren't new at all. They already exist, but are being poorly enforced. A complete ban on guns would be unconstitutional (see Heller vs District of Columbia). Both school and law enforcement officials have ignored warnings about people who everyone knows will at some point go on a rampage, whether they use guns, knives, or explosives.

In all of this, people have been focusing on the instruments of violence, not the violence itself. Until they do, the problem will not be solved. Disarming law abiding citizens because of the actions of an infinitesimal portion of the population won't solve the problem. If anything, it will make it worse because then no one will be able to defend themselves against the criminal or the violent mentally ill who will ignore the law.

Treat the cause, not the symptoms. It's no different than treating any disease (violence is a disease). If you only treat the symptoms, the disease itself will continue to do its damage.

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I have long had a problem with the claim that renewable energy sources can meet all of our electrical needs. First, as an engineer I understand the differences between the performance claims and the actual performance of a system or systems, particularly for something like solar or wind energy. (I deal with electronics, optics, and laser systems on a day to day basis, so I am naturally skeptical when claims about some miraculous new system are announced.)

I think the problem with a vast majority of people who are not in any way involved with the power industry is that they have absolutely no understanding of how our electrical grid and generation systems work, how they are managed, and the delicate balance that must be maintained 24/7/365 in order to keep the system from failing. They also have little appreciation for just how much power it takes to run modern technological civilization, covering everything from the food production systems to telecommunications to air transport systems, and so on.

It is this lack of understanding that those who push the meme that “renewables can meet 100% of our electrical needs” exploit. They push the positives – free energy - while totally ignoring the negatives such as the scope of what would be needed to replace all of our conventional means of generating electricity and the actual costs of doing so. Those types of systems take up incredible amounts of land to even come close to generating the power that a coal, natural gas, or nuclear plant presently generate. What effect will all of those arrays of solar panels and wind turbines have on the local environment? How much wildlife habitat will be destroyed in order to put in acres and acres of solar panels? How much avian wildlife will be killed by wind turbine blades and how much of a negative effect will be created by the known effects of infrasound also generated by wind turbines? It seems no one really wants to discuss the environmental downsides, some of which are well known and well documented.

They also purposely ignore just how difficult it will become to keep the aforementioned 'delicate balance' if we switch to renewables so our electrical grid doesn't crash. The concerns are pushed aside with claims that it's only a problem for the skeptics and that somehow when it comes to actually making the switch that the problems will magically fix themselves or worse, won't ever be a problem. The issue is the stability of those renewable sources which are inherently unstable as well as their lack of what is called dispatchability. (This refers to the ability of a grid operator to 'dispatch' generating capacity as the electrical demand rises and falls. Renewables are not considered dispatchable because they cannot be throttled up and down like natural gas plants, and to a limited extent, coal or nuclear plants. The amount of electricity they generate changes with the weather conditions and from minute to minute. Solar is limited to daylight hours and wind turbines to when the wind is blowing. Of the two, only wind might be able to generate power all through a 24 hour period, and even then only every now and then. Renewables aren't consistent. They aren't stable. They aren't capable of providing the power we need that other power technologies can handle readily.

100 percent renewable energy is a pipe-dream.

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I have to wonder what will happen when Special Counsel Mueller's investigation concludes there was no collusion by the Trump team with Russia? I can think of a couple of different scenarios, neither of which is pretty.

One possible scenarios: After the tearing of hair and rending of clothing by Democrats who were so sure that there would be something that could be used to impeach Trump, there would be calls for a follow on investigation of the Mueller investigation to see if there was collusion with the Russians by Robert Mueller.

Another: Most of the people in the US will see it for what it was – a nothingburger – and will hand the Democrats a sound shellacking in the midterm elections for wasting their time and our tax dollars on what was nothing more than a combination witch hunt/fishing expedition.

One definite scenario: An MSM meltdown and violent Antifa demonstrations that will further damage an already heavily damaged Democrat party.

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I think you will have noticed that I have not included any links in my usual TOAS post today. This was intentional, a throwback to some of my earlier days where I provided my opinions on matters that caught my interest or bothered me in some way. Just linking to others' posts and throwing my 3¢ worth in was a lazy way out. It didn't really take a lot of thought and I realized that I wasn't always expressing my full thoughts on a matter.

Looking at Disqus comments I've made on other blog posts or articles made me realize I was doing a far better job there than here, something that proved to me that I've fallen down on the job. (No. I am not going to reveal my Disqus name. That's for me to know and for you to figure out for yourselves.)

I figured I'd try this little experiment and go back to some of my blogging roots if for no other reason as to shake me loose from this lazy habit I've fallen into.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the ice is finally melting away, the boat will soon be out of storage, and where we're not hearing the furnace running every 5 minutes.