Thoughts On A Sunday

Winter is trying very hard to re-establish itself here in central New Hampshire. While we’ve had above freezing temps during the daytime, there has been some snow during a few of the evenings even though it didn’t amount to more than a couple of inches at best.

Seeing the storm that graced us with 3 feet of snow a week before Christmas, we were hoping that would be the pattern this winter would follow. Alas, it appears that storm was a outlier and not a harbinger of the winter to come. Goodness knows we could use a foot or so of snow right about now to help the ski areas and to get the snowmobile trails opened from border to border.

We could also use some well below freezing temps to get the lake frozen over shore to shore, something needed for some of the upcoming winter festivities like the annual Meredith Rotary Lake Winnipesaukee Ice Fishing Derby and the Winter Carnival on Alton Bay, just to name two.

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Some words of wisdom from the Instaprof:

“15 years ago, the Internet was an escape from real life. Now real life is an escape from the Internet.”

Truer words have not been spoken any time in recent history.

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I have seen some of the reports about the preparations being made in the state capitols for the “massive armed protests” the FBI has claimed are being planned in all 50 states. The MSM is making it sound like there will large scale armed rebellion and there will be blood flowing down the streets.

Wouldn’t it be a kick in the head to the FBI and the DNC-MSM if there were no incidents in any of the state capitols, that the very large protests were in no way insurrectionist, no way violent.

If the American people really want to freak out the new Socialist government and their organs, the protesters in all 50 state capitols should stand silently, unmoving, staring at the gathered law enforcement forces. No motion. No actions. No sound. Eerily silent.

Then when the protest is over, everyone silently turns and walks away, making sure to leave the protest grounds cleaner than when they arrived.

Do it Every. Single. Time.

Show them the Silent Majority is large, is watching them, is questioning everything they do, and if necessary, will act.

These protests would by no means unarmed. Everyone attending will decide for themselves whether or not to be armed. But be silent. Make The Powers That Be get the willies looking out over a city square or park and seeing hundreds, if not thousands of silent people staring at them. Make them nervous. Make sure they know they are being watched by people who do not share their morally bankrupt, corrupt, and willfully ignorant political ideology.

==*==

What are Nancy Pelosi’s real motives behind her second attempt at impeachment? Could it be that she wants to wear the crown, or perhaps be the power behind the crown? (There is something to be said for being a kingmaker rather than being on the throne itself.)

So why is someone supposedly so worried about the safety of our nation holding back the articles of impeachment instead of sending them to the Senate? The answer’s simple: politics.

It is the same answer to the earlier question of why the House wasn’t passing additional Covid-19 relief. Sen. Bernie Sanders “admitted that fellow Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, were responsible for delaying urgently needed coronavirus relief by walking away from the White House’s offer of a $1.8 trillion coronavirus package.” Her hatred for Trump and everyone who supported him is so great she had no problem withholding much needed relief funds–and blaming the President for the delay.

So is it any surprise she’s playing fast and loose now?

Two days ago, she flexed her legislative power by refusing to forward the articles to the Senate even when senior Democrats urged her to do so. Her response? She’ll turn them over “when I’m ready.” Wow, that crown must look awfully good along side her designer masks. Perhaps it is also a little tight. What else explains her belief that she is the one in control of the country?

And why is her own party letting her get away with it?

As we get closer to Biden moving into the Oval Office, she seems to be digging in even firmer in an attempt to maintain control of Capitol Hill. Yesterday, she said it was “urgent” Trump be impeached but she continued to refuse to forward the articles to the Senate–or to say when she would do so. Her excuse? She claimed her priority is “ensuring the security of the Capitol and lawmakers before President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s inauguration on Wednesday.”

Wow, now she’s not only the wanna-be queen (or dictator), but a superhero as well who is going to hold back the ravening mobs of Trump supporters and protect her pal Joe.

Read the whole thing.

==*==

From the “If It Weren’t For Double Standards They’d Have No Standards At All” Department comes this reminder about what occurred about 4 years ago on the morning of Donald Trump’s inauguration.

As the FBI continues to arrest dozens of people allegedly involved in the Capitol Building riot earlier this month ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, it was just four years ago when similar rioting took place throughout Washington, D.C., as newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump began his term.

Only then, instead of right-wing protesters, it was a riot dominated by supporters of anarchist groups like Antifa and left-wing organizations including Black Lives Matter.

Video footage that was taken the morning of Trump’s inaugural shows black-clad mobs occupying streets, smashing storefront windows, attacking police officers, overturning trash cans, and generally causing mayhem in protest of what they perceived as a stolen election.

Reports at the time noted that more than 214 people were indicted on felony rioting charges.

“On the morning of January 20, protests over Donald Trump’s inauguration turned violent when black-clad ‘anti-fascist’ protesters smashed storefronts and bus stops, hammered out the windows of a limousine, and eventually launched rocks at a phalanx of police,” CNN reported Feb. 22, 2017.

--snip--

But in the end, not a single rioter who was arrested during Trump’s inauguration was actually tried or convicted; the U.S. government dropped all charges against the more than 214 people arrested that day, the Associated Press reported.

Does anyone think that should riots like that take place on the day of Biden’s inauguration that any of those arrested will see the charges against them being dropped? I certainly have my doubts.

==*==

I have to apologize for the heavy quoting in this week’s TOAS as I got in rather late last night from a family dinner at one of our favorite eateries. We try to do this as often as is practical, even during this whole Covid-19 kerfuffle. (Yes, all of the appropriate precautions were taken before, during, and after our dinner, just in case you’re wondering, Karen.)

I also have to get some ‘work’ work done before tomorrow morning, so time has been wanting today.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where winter can’t seem to make up its mind, this weekend has been too short to get everything I’d hope to get done completed, and where once again Monday has returned all too soon. (I don’t have MLK Day off!)

Respect

This is something more of our people need to remember:

The opposite must also remembered for today’s world: Treat the CEO with the same respect as the janitor.

Or more simply, treat them with the same respect, period.

Double Standards in Social Media (As If We Didn't Know)

As anyone who has been paying attention over the past four years, we know that social media has displayed their double standards when it comes to postings from conservatives versus nominal ‘liberals’. The recent deplatforming of many conservative voices by Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon Web Services is one of the more egregious examples.

While those who believe there should be restrictions on speech (the First Amendment be damned), at least when it applies to speech by people who “aren’t us”, they are particularly blind to egregiously hateful and eliminationist speech from those whom the ‘censor squad’ consider politically acceptable.

When those on the Left can push the idea of assassinating a sitting president, push the idea of destroying Israel and all Jews, expressing the wish anyone supporting Trump should die of Covid-19, or using social media to plan and coordinate riots can do so with impunity while those on the opposite side of the political spectrum question election integrity out point out bad behavior by political opponents can see their words silenced by the censors.

Did any of the people posting such hateful or destructive messages see their accounts suspended or deactivated?

No. Why?

Could it be because the ‘censors’ agree with those posting the aforementioned “egregiously hateful and eliminationist speech”?

Ike's Farewell Address - A Warning Not Heeded

By way of the comments over at Chris Muir’s Day By Day strip comes this from commenter ‘Interventor’:

The portion of Ike’s [President Dwight D. Eisenhower] Farewell Speech warning of the necessity for a military/industrial complex. But, carefully watched over, is often cited. The portion warning of the growth of the technocrats is rarely quoted.

The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.

It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system-ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.

Is that not where we are now?

We have a technical elite who aren’t elected and who believe they are not answerable to the public, telling us who we can and cannot read, listen to, watch, or correspond with. They define what is and is not acceptable speech, regardless of the First Amendment. They have also been trying to tell us how we should live (and I expect that may change to how they will force us to live whether we want to or not). It will reach the point where they do not answer to government, but government will answer to them, assuming we haven’t already reached that point, appearances notwithstanding.

Unless things change, will we soon be living in the world of John Brunner’s The Shockwave Rider where the only free people were the hackers who could rewrite their identities as needed and delete their old ones at will. Or worse, we’ll be living in a real-life version of The Hunger Games.

Thoughts On A Sunday

I will admit to ignoring the kerfuffle taking place in The Swamp because, quite frankly, I don’t care. To listen to the MSM tell it Trump practically had tanks rolling down The Mall. As such, I realized it was unlikely we would hear the truth any time soon, so I have been faithfully ignoring all of the sensationalized news coming out of Washington. (It’s what the media does, regardless of their biases.)

I figured it was better to wait a while to find out what happened after all of the hysteria, speculation, and rumor-mongering faded away and the facts revealed themselves. In the meantime, I am paying more of my attention to what’s going on in the rest of the country, and specifically, New Hampshire, my home state.

==*==

Now that Trump’s term of office is coming to an end, the tech oligarchies are showing their true colors and wiping out free speech, wiping out the accounts of people with whom they disagree, redefining free speech they disagree with as ‘hate speech’, thereby ‘violating’ their terms of service. (In other words, if you post speech they do not agree with they will do away with it, with no appeal possible.) One thing I have to point out is that speech that is truly hateful, eliminationist (“Trump supporters should put up against a wall and shot,” and “They should be sent to prison and if they don’t reform, executed.”), or obvious prevarication is perfectly acceptable to the social media censors because it’s aimed at non-Progressives. (If they didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all.)

Two of those tech oligarchies have gone so far to ban social media apps that don’t censor. Both Apple and Google have banned Parler from their app stores unless they impose the same draconian censorious terms of service as Facebook, Twitter, and the other Progressive social media providers. At least those and others are available via a web browser and do not require an app to use. An app is a convenience but not a requirement to use those alternative social media platforms.

It is time for these social media giants lose their Section 230 protections because they are no longer providers, but publishers. But I doubt that will happen because it gives the Progressives in Congress control over a wide swath of the American people’s speech...unless those social media giants start censoring governmental Progressives. Then and only then will Congress act to remove those protections because only then will they see them as “dangerous to free speech”.

==*==

I have performed a few WiFi upgrades here at The Gulch, restaging an unused 802.11ac wireless router and setting it up as a second WiFi network. I have been moving everything from 2.4GHz to 5GHz because the former is so crowded. Looking at the available 2.4GHz WiFi access points (AP) I can see from The Gulch, I counted 47 different APs. The spectrum plot showed every single channel being used, with a lot of overlap from edge to edge. Looking at the 5GHz WiFi APs in the area I saw three (one of which was mine), so it made sense for me to shift everything at The Gulch over to 5GHz.

5GHz has a number of advantages and a few disadvantages in relation to 2.4GHz. A few of the advantages:

More bandwidth – up to 80MHz/channel on 5GHz versus 20MHz/channel on 2.4GHz – which means higher data rates. This comes in handy when one’s connection to the ‘Net is high speed. (The Gulch enjoys a 250Mbs download/20Mbs upload connection.)

More channels to choose from.

Shorter range which means more 5GHz APs can be located in the same area with lower incidences of interference between the access points.

One of the disadvantages is also on the list as an advantage: Shorter range. Sometimes users need longer range and 2.4GHZ has a longer range than 5GHz, all other things being equal. There can be a trade-off between range and data speed, so it is something that needs to be kept in mind.

But wait! There’s more!

One of the biggest upgrades to WiFi in two decades is being rolled out that will increase users’ options. One of those options is the addition of the 6GHZ band which adds more usable bandwidth for WiFi, in this case over 1200MHz of bandwidth. (The 6GHZ band takes in the upper 200MHz of the 5GHz band which has not been used for WiFi until now.) The two present WiFi bands offer about 400MHz of spectrum total. The new 6GHz band will allow channels of up to 160MHz in bandwidth while the present bands are limited to 20MHz, 40MHz, or 80MHz in bandwidth. This means data rates of up to 9.6Gbs are possible.

It is unlikely such data speeds will be reached during actual usage as the conditions to achieve the theoretical maximum assumes no other users on the frequency and an unobstructed line of sight between the wireless access point and the device, just to name two. But is anyone really going to complain about not reaching the theoretical maximum data speed? Unlikely.

It must be understood that one of the big limiting factors for the effective data speed is going to be the connection speed to the ‘Net. It won’t matter if you have a wireless router and device capable of 9.6Gbs if your connection to the ‘Net is 100Mbs. However, connections to other devices on the same network will be considerably faster.

Devices that can use this new band – wireless routers/access points, laptops, phones, TVs, etc – are expected to become available during the first few months of this year.

==*==

We are already seeing the effects of the creation of the New Soviet Union here in America.

A self-important and thoroughly indoctrinated Progressive 18-year old doxxed her own mother, aunt, and uncle for attending the Trump-inspired rally in Washington DC.

It appears she feels no guilt in turning in her family. She was upset that her mom, once a Democrat, became a Trump supporter. What would one expect from an ignorant, inexperienced, and fully indoctrinated Young Pioneer?

One has to wonder if her creed is “The State is Mother. The State is Father.” It would certainly explain a few things about the little snitch.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we see Washington going to hell, people are starting to realize it is time for the government to be afraid of the people and not the other way around, and where we’re hoping for more snow.

In Case You Needed Reminding - This Is Socialism

"Crisis" In The Capitol

I borrowed the title for this post from ABC News, though I used scare quotes around the word 'Crisis'.

Why?

Because I have to wonder whether the 'storming' of the Capitol Building was a false flag operation. Out of all the people who gathered to protest outside the Capitol Building and the surrounding area, 99.999%+ of the protesters had absolutely no idea what was transpiring when supposed Trump supporters broke into the building. All it would take is about a half dozen to a dozen outside instigators to motivate on otherwise peaceful protesters to follow them. Then once the action started they would slip away. (The Bolsheviks, Soviets, and the Nazis were famous for pulling stunts like that in order to put a bad spin on their opponents in order to discredit them.)

Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s been a snowy start for the first weekend of 2021. Not that we got a lot of snow – just under 3 inches – which started Friday night and ended late Saturday, but it was enough snow to cover the roads, roofs, and ground to make it look like winter should. I did have to hovel a little bit, but nothing like I had to after the last storm. If I spent more than 5 minutes clearing the driveway and the front steps I’d be surprised.

The only negative thing about this weekend was that on Monday I have to return to work after a long overdue two week vacation. Getting back into the work mindset is going to take a few days.

I wasn’t the only one from work that took the last two weeks of the year for vacation. A lot of us had taken little, if any vacation time during 2020. Why would we? Where would we go? Most of us were working from home for a good portion of 2020, so what would be the difference if we were working or not? As it is, most of us left vacation time on the books, something we rarely do. I wonder how many other people were in the same position as we?

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Seen over at Powerline:

Does anyone else feel troubled by the fact that name of next this year is literally 2020 won?

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I have seen more than a few comments and memes about politicians issuing lockdowns orders and then violating those same lockdown orders with impunity. They are definitive examples of the “Do as I say, not as I do,” and “Laws are for little people” mindset so many of our ‘betters’ have. We have certainly seen that with the governors of California and New York as well as Mayor Bill DeBlasio in New York City, just to name a few.

What a bunch of jerks.

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Along the same lines is the constant harping about people wearing or not wearing masks. I know I’ve had more than enough of it.

While ‘experts’, many of whom have no expertise when it comes to epidemiology, medicine, or the efficacy of PPE, keep telling us the only way to prevent the spread of Covid-19 is to wash our hands, wear a mask, and sequester ourselves away from everyone else. In most cases, two of the three don’t work very well, if at all.

Have you ever read the label on the side of a box of disposable masks of the type that 99% people are wearing? Here’s what the one in my home says:

These masks help protect against certain particulate contaminants but do not eliminate exposure to the risk of disease or infections.

These masks can reduce exposure to bacterial particulates but are not known to be effective against viruses.

These masks should be disposed of after each use.

Other manufacturers have similar language in their disclaimers. With the exception of N95 masks, none of them will protect against viruses. As has been seen here and there, masks are more of a psychological PPE and don’t do a very good job of protecting healthy against viruses. People also do not dispose of their masks anywhere near often enough, sometimes wearing the same the same mask all day, if not for more than one day. After 20-30 minutes of use the efficacy of the masks starts to fall off until it is almost zero.

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If all of California’s draconian Covid-19 precautions work, then how does Governor “French Laundry” Newsom explain his state’s record number of Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths plaguing it today?

Ambulances waited hours for openings to offload coronavirus patients. Overflow patients were moved to hospital hallways and gift shops, even a cafeteria. Refrigerated trucks were on standby, ready to store the dead.

For months, California did many of the right things to avoid a catastrophic surge from the pandemic. But by the time Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Dec. 15 that 5,000 body bags were being distributed, it was clear that the nation’s most populous state had entered a new phase of the COVID-19 crisis.

Now infections have been racing out of control for weeks, and California has routinely set new records for infections and deaths. It remains at or near the top of the list of states with the most new cases per capita.

Experts say a variety of factors combined to wipe out the past efforts, which for much of the year held the virus to manageable levels. Cramped housing, travel and Thanksgiving gatherings contributed to the spread, along with the public’s fatigue amid regulations that closed many schools and businesses and encouraged — or required — an isolated lifestyle.

Perhaps all those liberals in California are just not wearing their masks, right? Right! California is basically looking like Italy in March/April.

It has been shown again and again that lockdowns do not work. Better to take extra precautions for the vulnerable population and to isolate the sick. That isn’t what’s been done. It’s been just the opposite and what’s happened is the economy of many states has been damaged, countless small businesses have been destroyed, the mental health of otherwise healthy people has deteriorated, yet the bug has spread like wildfire. The lessons of previous pandemics was forgotten or ignored, either through the arrogance that “We know better than our predecessors because we’re smarter” (we aren’t), or it is human nature kicking us in the nuts by reminding us the same lessons have to be learned again and again. Perhaps it is a bit of both.

In either case, our leaders, experts, and ‘betters’ keep pushing the same responses to Covid-19, even though experience has shown us the more draconian responses don’t work, or worse, some of our experts have been lying to us. (Dr. Fauci, anyone?)

==*==

One other thing to look into relative to the whole Covid-19 debacle that puts it all into perspective: The 1918 Spanish Flu.

As compared to the Spanish Flu, the death toll from Covid-19 is minuscule, particularly on a worldwide per capita basis. But to hear some people tell it, people are dropping dead in the streets and carts are rolling down the streets of our towns and cities as the drivers call out “Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!” (Hyperbole? Yes. But some folks I’ve read on the various forums are claiming it’s almost that bad, but provide no corroborating links to prove their claims.

The world population today is around 7.79 billion. In 1918 it was around 1.9 billion.

To date, Covid-19 has killed around 1.83 million worldwide, or about 0.02% of the world population. The Spanish Flu killed between 17 and 100 million worldwide (estimates differ), or between 0.9% and 5.2% of the world population. Covid-19 has not been nearly as deadly as the Spanish Flu. It’s not even close.

Let’s try to keep it all in perspective, shall we?

==*==

And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where winter weather has returned, the new year has begun...sort of, and where Monday is returning all too soon.

Congressional Democrats Have Defective Memories

To hear the Democrats tell it, challenging Electoral College certification is unprecedented and un-American. However, they have chosen to ‘forget’ they have been challenging Electoral College certification for years. It’s amazing just how selective their memories can be when it suits them.

Perhaps they are exercising Alinsky’s rule about “Accusing your opponent of acts that you yourself have been committing.”

Democrats are outraged that Republicans are planning on objecting to the certification of electoral votes. It’s “conspiracy and fantasy,” says Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“The effort by the sitting President of the United States to overturn the results is patently undemocratic,” the New York Democrat said. “The effort by others to amplify and burnish his ludicrous claims of fraud is equally revolting.”

“This is America. We have elections. We have results. We make arguments based on the fact and reason—not conspiracy and fantasy,” he added.

There’s only one problem with Chucky’s “argument based on fact and reason.” Democrats have been challenging the electoral vote certification for 2 decades.

The last three times a Republican has been elected president — Trump in 2016 and George W. Bush in both 2000 and 2004 — Democrats in the House have brought objections to the electoral votes in states the GOP nominee won. In early 2005 specifically, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., along with Rep. Stephanie Tubbs, D-Ohio, objected to Bush’s 2004 electoral votes in Ohio.

Hmm, seems Chuck forgot about those Democrat challenges. He can’t claim he knew nothing about it because he was in office at the time, after all.

Or maybe he did forget.

He seems to have chosen to forget that he single-handedly caused the failure of Indymac Bank by mouthing off on TV that they were on the verge of failure, even though they were not. (They were having some difficulties but weren’t anywhere near failure...until Chuck released confidential information to the public.) It caused a $3 billion+ run on the bank and the bank then failed. Of course back then Senator Schumer claimed that he did not cause the failure of the bank, even though he did cause it. If anyone else had revealed that confidential information they would have been arrested, charged, and tried for that action. But Chuck got a pass because he’s a senator, and specifically, a Democrat senator. That it caused between $4 billion and $8 billion in losses for the bank and depositors didn’t seem to bother Chuck at all.

To quote the CNBC report, “Why would a New York Senator attack a Pasadena bank, acting as some sort of amateur, self-appointed, long-distance bank examiner?” Because he could.

And so it is that he’s also forgotten the Democrats’ challenges to Electoral College certifications.

I have to wonder what color the sky is on the planet Chuck Schumer is from?

What about the rest of the Democrat faithful? Do they also have the same kind of memory issue regarding challenges of Electoral College certification? It appears they do, reading what they’ve said about it all.

Then there’s New Hampshire’s own Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) who says a constitutional mechanism being used by Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Representative Mo Brook “borders on sedition or treason”. Really?

Yet, over a perfectly good and legal mechanism, due to someone willing to stand politically to your Chosen Ones (Dementia Joe and the Powers that will be actually wielded by Commie Kamala), you want Republicans in front of a firing squad...

--snip--

Yeah, just another lying politician where Power is the only thing that matters. And you’ll whatever you have to gain and keep it. Happy New Year. Aren’t you the angry one. Along with Senator Chris Murphy, that unhinged Democrat from CT – why, it’s almost like talking points being passed around freely – and undermining our Republic in a more insidious way. But then again, Power.

BTW, dear, did you say the same thing when then Democrat US Senator Barbara Boxer did the same thing in 2004?

To answer the question: No, she did not. That kind of thing only goes one way.

For My First Post Of 2021

A bit of important advice for the New Year:

The first rule of 2021: No one talks about 2020.