Thoughts On A Sunday

Looking at yesterday’s weather one might have thought we were back in mid-April with overnight temps at or below freezing, snow in the mountains, and heavy rain and winds until early afternoon. It wasn’t all that warm around here with high temps in the low 50’s late in the afternoon.

The wet weather did allow me to test out the new tires I bought for the trusty RAM 1500 on Friday. The old tires had definitely outlived their usefulness with the wear bars just barely starting to show. My only complaint about the old tires is that they didn’t wear nearly as well previous tires I’ve had on the pickup. They had been a compromise as the tires I wanted to put on the trusty RAM weren’t available at the time. I got around 30,000 miles out of those before they were worn out. The previous set to those lasted me about 50,000 miles.

One of the first thing I noticed with the new tires is that they were quieter than the old ones and the ride was much better. I also noticed it felt like there was better traction in the rain than I had been experiencing. (Not surprising considering how little tread was left on the tires.)

Things are still gearing up for summer around here, with some of the road construction on one of the main highways going on around the clock. With Laconia Motorcycle Week coming up starting June 13th, they wanted to get all of that work done prior to the 300,000+ bikers arriving. (Truth be told, the bikers will start arriving on the Wednesday before the start, meaning we’ll be hearing the roar of motorcycles starting on June 10th.)

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I promise that this was pure happenstance.

It seems that yesterday’s post about how vehicle touchscreens are awful has now been backed up by a YouTube video that I found just this morning. (The first 2:50 covers that issue.)



So far it’s only a few carmakers making the change back to more traditional controls, but I have no doubt others will follow.

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The Left is continuing to “harsh our mellow” when it comes to celebrating America’s 250th birthday, threatening celebrities who want to participate in celebrations.

What do you expect from people who have no problems coming right out and stating they hate the country of their birth, the country that hasn’t silenced their hatred by means the Left would have no problems using against those who “Are Not One Of Them”.

One of their excuses for doing so?

The ‘bad’ economy.

Writes Cynical Publius:

Anyone who claims the lack of joy about the 250th is a function of a rough economy was not alive in 1976.

The country rocked in its 200th celebration and the economy was a FREAKING MESS.

There is this Gen Z misconception that the '70s and early '80s were some sort of economic golden age of readily available, well-paying jobs, low cost housing and an all around sense of prosperity.

WRONG.

Google "Stagflation." Google "gas lines." Google "mortgage interest rates in the 1980s."

Our economy today is a golden age by comparison, without exaggeration.

Yet somehow in 1976 we could gleefully celebrate our nation's birthday without Democrats turning it into a Howard Zinn-inspired anti-history hatefest.

I remember the “bad old days” of the 1970’s and particularly during the Bicentennial. The economy was in the dumper. There were jokes about the “last people leaving Massachusetts turning out the lights” because the economic problems were particularly harsh there. Yet nobody had any problems with celebrating America’s 200th birthday.

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For anyone who’s been paying attention, the following won’t really be a surprise.

Minimum Wage Wipes Out Jobs in California

What did the people running California think would happen when the minimum wage was boosted way above a reasonable level?

Not everything Democrats do is ineffectual. Consider minimum wage hikes — via Yahoo Finance:

Carl’s Jr. is staring down the potential loss of dozens of California locations after a franchisee and its affiliates filed for bankruptcy protection — blaming the state’s staggering minimum wage. …

Friendly Franchisees Corporation CEO and Founder Harshad Dharod said the state’s $20 minimum wage in the fast-food sector contributes to the chain’s financial distress ahead of bankruptcy filing under subsidiary Sun Gir, according to Restaurant Dive.

Fast food franchises cannot stay solvent while paying teenagers $20/hour to flip hamburgers. No one expects them to. The objective of ever higher minimum wage is to saw off the bottom rung of the ladder, resulting in more government dependence and thereby more votes for Democrats.

Carl’s Jr. isn’t the only fast food franchise that has been hit hard by the $20/hour minimum wage. We saw when Pizza Hut laid off delivery drivers because of the new minimum wage. How many others like McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and others have installed ordering kiosks to replace workers because they’re cheaper?

And let’s not forget the minimum wage hike for hospitality workers, with L.A. raising the minimum wage for them to $30/hour and San Diego raising theirs to $19/hour. You can’t tell me there won’t be a fallout in the hospitality industry like that seen in the fast food industry.

Like so many others have already found out, the real minimum wage is $0/hour when businesses start shedding workers because of the now much higher wages. Everyone will feel these wage increases as they will drive up costs.

It will be interesting to see how this is going to work out for Californians.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’re waiting for summer weather and temperatures to return, the heavy rains we did receive over the end of last week and into Saturday helped reduce the rainfall deficit, and where Monday is returning again to interfere with the weekend.

New Isn't Always Better

I have mentioned more than once my dislike of modern automotive design, specifically when it comes to things like the multifunction touchscreen displays in almost every new vehicle over the past few years. Functions that used to be controlled by switches, buttons, knobs, and sliders have migrated over to the LCD touchscreens that take up a portion of the dash, mostly in the center. Some have gone so far as to replace the gauges – the speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge, temperature gauge, oil pressure gauge, battery voltage, odometer, trip meter, and so on.

Is it that I am an “old faht” that doesn’t like all the new doodads and gizmos that has me writing this? Considering that I am a techie and have been one since the 1970’s, it isn’t that at all. It all comes down to the fact that some user interfaces, in this case for motor vehicles, really don’t lend themselves to LCDs and touchscreens. The newer technology, while really cool and cool looking, has one major downside to them:

The driver has to take their eyes off the road in order to use them.

It appears the UI/UX (User Interface/User Experience) designers, also know as “Buttons And Stuff Engineers”, have forgotten that distracted driving is a Bad Thing^TM. Any time a driver has to take their eyes off the road means they aren’t paying attention to their driving which in turn can lead to accidents. If they have to take their eyes off the road to handle functions that used to be controlled by physical controls, the aforementioned switches, buttons, knobs, and sliders, they are driving distracted. Drivers could control many functions without having to take their eyes off the road because muscle memory let them do so without having to look at them. The fan speed control, temperature setting, and vent controls were always in the same place. The same for headlights, windshield wipers, radio volume, radio station selection, and so on. But with the new LCD touchscreens muscle memory doesn’t work.

That could be why automakers are reversing course, at least partially, bringing back those switches, buttons, knobs, and sliders that control common functions used every day by motorists, even if it is the onboard vehicle control modules that still drive those functions. They have come to understand why their customers detest using touchscreens for these functions.

This begs the question “Why did automakers switch over to using touchscreens?” The answer is simple.

Costs. Touchscreens are cheap.

They can control numerous functions from a single interface depending upon the programming and the design of the systems in the vehicle. A single data connection to a vehicles control module(s) can control all of the usual functions. There’s no need for separate wires or cables for each of those switches, buttons, knobs, and sliders. And while those touchscreen interfaces are cheap, replacing them is not. You know the dealerships and repair shops will charge a fortune for a replacement. All told, the cost of that touchscreen interface including its associated electronics is probably less than $100. But they’ll hit you for up ten times that much plus labor if it ever needs to be replaced.

And there’s also this: If the touchscreen fails your vehicle just became very dumb. You won’t be able to use any of the functions it controls. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

Now about the crappy engines the automakers have been putting in their new vehicles...

Friday Funny - Baby Weight Or...

Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s a rainy day today, something that doesn’t really bother me since we certainly need the rain and the fact that it’s a four day weekend for me. A lot of the weekend chores were taken care of yesterday, so other than going to church this morning, there was nothing that I needed to do. While I usually make my Sunday morning trip to Walmart for pre-church shopping, I postponed it because of the holiday weekend and the resulting heavier traffic as there was nothing I was lacking that couldn’t wait an extra day or two. Most of that shopping is for things I need for the coming week.

While out and about yesterday running errands, I did notice that the parking lots at our local Walmart, supermarket, and a couple of my favorite restaurants were full, a sure sign that the summerfolk are here. What did surprise me was that our town docks weren’t busy at all, at least when I happened to swing by there on my way to where the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout is berthed. There was no line of trucks with boat trailers waiting to launch boats. Talking to the enforcement officer on duty there it seems there was a bit of a rush in the morning that tapered off before lunch and that it had been “onesie-twosie” since then. That’s not to say it didn’t pick up again later in the afternoon, but right then there was no one at the boat ramp launching their boat. However, there were quite a few boats out on the lake throughout the day.

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It looks to me (and many many others) that Spencer Pratt has a pretty good chance to become the next mayor of Los Angeles. If nothing else, campaign ads created by others not connected to his campaign have been slamming present mayor Karen Bass. Ads from his campaign have also been highly critical of her actions prior to and during the fires that burned so much of LA and her inaction afterwards.

If nothing else, it’s going to be very interesting in Los Angeles over the next few months, politically speaking.

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You have got to be kidding me. Someone, please tell me this is satire!

“White milk is undoubtedly White supremacy.”

WTF? Umm, unless I’ve missed something, isn’t most mammalian milk white in color? Talk about being totally disconnected from reality.

She says that RFK Jr. wanting regular milk in schools is ‘racist’.

This is the Democrat Party.

This is what happens when you close most of the mental institutions and the inmates are allowed to wander amongst the general population. The things I’ve heard from some Democrat politicians and party members have both amazed and terrified me, often at the same time.

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Seeing what’s been going on the the UK recently, one that is more and more resembling Orwell’s dystopia in 1964, the following makes perfect sense.

British Flock to Trump’s Free Speech Portal

Even under moonbat rule, Britons may still have free speech — thanks to the USA.

GB News reports on Freedom.gov, a free speech portal designed by the Trump Administration to allow people in repressive countries to share officially disfavored information.

Censorship has become increasingly prevalent in Europe under left-wing domination — an alarming development that the Trump Administration has taken a leading role in combatting (sic).

For now, only the landing page is live, but apparently it is already getting plenty of hits from the UK.

The UK has become increasingly authoritarian, going so far as arresting people for “offensive online comments.” The definition of offensive seems to be “Anything that disagrees with the Leftist elite in Great Britain.” We have seen the British government trying to go after people here in the US for offensive online posts on social media. The US government has informed the Brits that their laws against “offensive” speech does not apply here in the US after they’ve tried to enforce it against both Americans and British subjects here in the US.

I have to wonder if things really start getting bad in the UK that we’ll see an influx of British refugees fleeing an increasingly totalitarian state?

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Why doesn’t this surprise me in the least?

Apparently Hakeem Jeffries has a definition of what is and is not acceptable anti-Semitism within the Democrat Party.

Just when I think I couldn’t detest this a**hat any more than I already do, he proves me wrong.

As if we need yet another example of the anti-Semtism inherent in the Democrat Party all we have to do is look to Texas Democratic congressional candidate Maureen Galindo. She has openly called for “prison camps for ‘American Zionists’ and ‘castration processing centers’ for her ideological enemies.”

Hmm. Where have we heard that idea before?

Oh, heck, I’m finding more and more of the ‘usual suspect’ Democrats are becoming increasingly unhinged, and if at all possible, increasingly racist in the “soft racism of lowered expectations” type of racism, pretending that minorities can’t possible get ahead without their helping hands because they’re too intellectually challenged to do it by themselves.

Unfortunately we are seeing more and more of this from the Democrats every day.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it’s been raining all day, Memorial Day approaches, and where Monday isn’t a bother...this week.

The Start Of Summer

It’s Memorial Day Weekend which marks the unofficial start of summer. While there will be the Memorial Day ceremonies and remembrances on Monday, the crowds of summerfolk started arriving in force before noon yesterday to celebrate the start of summer.

The WP Mom and I had to run a few errands early yesterday afternoon including stops at Walmart and one of our local supermarkets for some last minute shopping. The traffic was heavy and the parking lots were full. We saw a lot more out-of-state plates than we have since last summer, with most of them being from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York.

A lot of this goes in line with the boatyards and marinas being busy since the beginning of the month getting boats ready for pick-up by the owners or launching them for owners. That was certainly true for my go-to boatyard as I had to stop by yesterday to make arrangements to store the Official Weekend Pundit Boat Trailer for the summer now that the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout is back in the water. (This used to get stored next to the garage at The Manse, but I haven’t been living there since 2018 and there’s no room here at The Gulch.) The boat slips that I could see while out and about were occupied, for the most part. I expect the rest will occupied before the end of the weekend.

All of the seasonal restaurants are now open on more than just the weekends, as they have been since late April, and the few that I passed while out running errands were busy, but not “Saturday or Sunday” busy as we’ll be seeing from now until Labor Day weekend. Some of the attractions will be open just on the weekends for the next couple of weeks until schools let out for the summer.

Another sign of the holiday weekend?

Road construction ceased after Thursday (with one or two exceptions) and won’t restart until Tuesday after the “madding crowds” have departed. (I have no doubt this is true in other states as well.)

When the work restarts around here in the Lakes Region some of it will be going on around the clock, with prep work taking place during daylight hours and paving being performed overnight. One of the reasons for this around-the-clock work is that Motorcycle Week starts on June 13th – which is three weeks from today - and they want to get as much road repair and construction done before then. The 300,000+ bikers expected to attend will start arriving a few days before that, hence the push to get this round of work done. Once the rumble of motorcycles fades away after that week, the road crews will be back at it.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I will not be venturing out onto the lake until late Monday or Tuesday as it is quite often too crazy and dangerous to venture out onto Lake Winnipesaukee during weekends unless it’s first thing in the morning or early evening. There are too many Cap’n Boneheads out on the lake and it can be exhausting to be out there dealing with them. It’s better that I watch their antics from shore.

Friday Funny - Relatable Marriage Jokes

Thoughts On A Sunday

The weather has been great this weekend up here at the lake - sunny and in the mid-70’s on Saturday and sunny and in the lower to mid-80’s today. It was perfect weather today for working on the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout.

Speaking of which, the boat made the move from the boatyard to BeezleBub’s place late yesterday afternoon. It needs a little bit of cleaning up before I start loading the gear – anchors, mooring lines, a paddle, boat hook, transom light, PFDs, cushions, fire extinguisher, and so on – so I can launch the boat sometime during this week. It will definitely be in the water before the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

The garage work still continues as I slowly dig through everything residing there to figure out what goes into the attic, what goes back onto the shelves, and what goes to the dump...er…solid waste center. I’m hoping that more than half the stuff presently residing on the shelves can go to the dump. (So far that appears to be the case, but I won’t know for sure until the job is done.)

I have been seeing the summer businesses getting ready, with many of the seasonal restaurants and ice cream stands having been open the past couple of weekends and the summer attractions cleaning up and getting everything ready for Memorial Day weekend. Friends of mine were up this way yesterday and we had lunch at one of my favorite local restaurants because I knew that starting next weekend it would be jam packed with summerfolk until after Labor Day.

And so begins another summer tourist season in New Hampshire.

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Oh yeah, this is going to make the folks in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine happy.

Vast, Untapped Source of Lithium Found in The US Could Last 300 Years.

There could be nearly 330 years' worth of lithium hiding beneath the Appalachian Mountains, which stretch like a stony spine across the eastern United States.

New research from the US Geological Survey suggests that the Appalachians may contain around 2.3 million metric tons (2.5 million US tons) of recoverable lithium oxide locked away in pegmatites, the grainy, granite-like rocks that form as water-rich magma cools and crystallizes deep within the Earth.

"This research shows that the Appalachians contain enough lithium to help meet the nation's growing needs – a major contribution to US mineral security, at a time when global lithium demand is rising rapidly," says Ned Mamula, Director of the US Geological Survey (USGS).

I know there are large deposits of lithium in neighboring Maine, having heard that news a couple of years ago. But that there are deposits in New Hampshire and Vermont is a surprise.

I have no doubt there will be opposition against mining the lithium that resides under the mountains and China won’t have to fund any of the protests. Since I must assume that any such mining will be ‘hard rock’ mining meaning tunnels and shafts rather than strip mining, I can see where folks will be concerned about affects on ground water and aquifers as well as what will be done with the tailings. The mountains in all three states run through pristine forests, all of which contain hiking trails, campgrounds, streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, and a wide range of wildlife.

Things are going to get interesting around here.

Since lithium is used in batteries there is a huge demand for it and at the moment we get a lot of it from foreign sources. Being able to source lithium from domestic sources is very attractive for obvious reasons.

However, we must keep in mind that there are other high-capacity battery chemistries under development by DARPA that could make the lithium-ion batteries obsolete, with one of the more promising chemistries being graphene-silicon that doesn’t use lithium or cobalt or manganese as part of its chemistry. That means it is also cheaper to make because the materials used are available everywhere. It also has much higher energy density and lower internal resistance than lithium-ion batteries and won’t have the propensity of igniting itself like lithium-ion batteries.

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Being one of those engineering types, I have always been skeptical about so-called “green energy”, knowing that even while the energy – solar and wind – is free, collecting it and putting it into a usable form - electricity – was not. It also isn’t cheap, something so many of the green energy proponents keep choosing to ignore. And in many cases it also isn’t environmentally friendly between the mining of materials needed for solar panels and destruction of large tracts of land to hold these “green energy” systems.

However, it seems the luster of “green energy” has waned as the reality of that energy becomes apparent, with the biggest in-your-face factor being that it isn’t capable of meeting the growing demand and doing so cheaply. Instead, the focus has turned elsewhere with nuclear topping the list. The nuclear comeback is something that will leave green fantasies behind.

After years of efforts by radical greens to strangle America’s oil, gas, and coal industries — while forcing the nation to accept costly, land-devouring wind and solar — the U.S. is once again emerging as a global energy superpower.

And this time, it’s not just fossil fuels: In fact, nuclear power is taking center stage.

Tennessee is poised to become the world’s leading hub for nuclear innovation, thanks to Trump administration policies and state leaders willing to back real energy solutions over climate virtue-signaling. Public and private investments are now flowing into advanced reactors, uranium enrichment, and next-generation nuclear technologies.

--snip--

Together with a resurgence in oil, natural gas, and coal production, these developments will unleash American energy, manufacturing, innovation, and job creation while lowering electricity prices and reducing blackout risks for families and businesses alike. They also send a clear warning to America’s blue states: If you cling to anti-energy ideology, you will be left behind.

This cannot be said enough when it comes to nuclear power: Too many people against nuclear power today seem stuck in the 1970’s because modern Gen III and Gen IV nuclear reactors “are not you grandfather’s nuclear reactors”. This is particularly true of small modular reactors (SMRs) which can have electrical power outputs of a dozen megawatts to up to 300 megawatts output power. The days of big Gen II 1000+ MWe reactors are gone if for no other reason is that they cost a lot of money to build, take a very long time to build (mostly due to lawsuits and regulatory changes partway through construction which also adds to the cost), and they can be very difficult to site as they can have requirements for conditions that are difficult to meet. But SMRs are different.

One of the biggest differences is right in their name: They are modular. Depending upon the generating capacity they can be built in a factory in a single piece and fit in a shipping container or in less than a dozen pieces that will be fit together on the construction site. They use advanced nuclear technology which makes them safer, easier, faster, and less expensive to build. Some designs can actually use ‘depleted’ nuclear fuel from old Gen I and Gen II nuclear power plants which has the advantage of being able to use fuel that is considered waste and reduce that waste from something that needs to be stored away for 25,000+ years to requiring to be stored only a couple of hundred years or so.

SMRs can be clustered together to provide the equivalent power to the old fashioned Gen II plants or spread out to create a distributed generation and transmission grid.

I could go on and on about SMRs but there’s plenty of information about SMRs on the Internet.

One thing I can say bodes well for a nuclear power renaissance is that my state’s governor, Kelly Ayotte, has been a big proponent of more nuclear power in our state.

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If we need any more proof that green energy and the over the top push to “Save The Planet” is failing, all we have to do is look at the EV market and see who’s either dialing back their production of electric vehicles or is throwing in the towel altogether.

The latest automaker to take a huge hit in the EV market?

Honda.

In this case Honda took its first ever loss in its history and is pulling back on EVs.

Such was the cultural vibe that giant corporations all collectively jumped off a cliff together hoping to invent a new technology fast enough to be able to land.

In the case of Honda, after 70 years of endless profits, they burnt at least $9 billion dollars, and have given up the idea of trying to get EVs to make up one fifth of their sales by 2030. The demand just isn’t there. They also thought they could shift their whole fleet to electric or fuel cells by 2030. That’s gone too.

There are just too many problems with EVs to make them popular enough to replace Internal Combustion Engine vehicles. Two of the biggest problems – the stability of Lithium-Ion batteries (and cost of replacing them) and the lack of electricity generation capacity to meet the projected demand if EVs had truly been popular and didn’t depend on government subsidies in order to drive demand.

Will EVs ever go away? Probably not. But they won’t be nearly as numerous as ICE vehicles unless the battery safety issues, and the battery replacement and repair costs are addressed. We would also need to see the electrical grid capacity expanded and charging stations to become as ubiquitous as gas pumps. Until then I think EVs will be a niche market, Tesla notwithstanding.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’re seeing actual summer temperatures, more boats are being seen on the lake daily, and where Memorial Day weekend is only a week away.

This Certainly Explains It

It seems that Google is using their Chrome browser to install an AI program on your computer whether or not you want it to…assuming you even know it’s there.

By way of Clownfish TV comes this story.

“It’s not just Microsoft is stuffing everything full of AI, whether or not its users want it. It is now Google as well with Chrome. Apparently, they’re stuffing AI into Google Chrome. They did not ask people. And according to Futurism, fury is erupting after Google Chrome sneakily installs a 4 gigabyte AI model on users’ PC.”

First, I must explain that Chrome is the default browser on our work computers, in my case a laptop issued by our IT department. While we can run others if we so desire, most of us use the default Chrome browser.

This might explain why at times my work laptop runs so slow.

Recently I checked Task Manager to find out how many processes were running under Chrome when I was using it. I had a single browser window open and four tabs within that window. I generally leave that window open all day as I do use it very often to get datasheets for electronic and optical components and the environmental information we are required to check to make sure our products meet US and International environmental regulations. I found that Chrome is running many processes even with only one browser window open, which certainly indicates why my laptop runs so slow at times. What did I find when I checked it?

Chrome was running 113 processes. One. Hundred. And. Thirteen.

It was also using a little over 4GB of RAM and between 10% and 40% of the CPU cycles. It has an Intel Core i7 CPU (16 cores) running at 2.2GHz. It also has 32GB of RAM. So this laptop is no slouch when it comes to performance.

Even seeing the info above I have to warn that the data seen does not automatically mean it is the AI program eating up all that RAM and CPU cycles. I need to run more tests to see if this happens all the time or only when I visit some websites. However, I do have to say I don’t see this when I use either Firefox or Brave as a browser. (A note – Brave uses Google’s Chromium as a base, but its code does not have any code that allows the download of the AI program.)

And hits keep on coming…

Friday Funny - Save You Thousands Of Dollars

Thoughts On A Sunday

Okay, here it is, the first post written on the Official Weekend Pundit Desktop since I’ve restored it’s function. It’s nice to be back to writing using my own computer rather than ‘borrowing’ my work computer to blog. Frankly, it’s more comfortable using my own computer because it is set up better than my work laptop.

It is Mother’s Day and I and the WP Sisters took the WP Mother out for lunch at one of our favorite eateries here in town to celebrate our Mom.

I am also one week closer to getting the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout out of storage so it can be prepped for launching.

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I agree wholeheartedly with this, and it’s something that needs to be repeated across the nation.

A BIGGER PAYCHECK THAN HE COULD HAVE GOTTEN IN SOME SERVICE INDUSTRY, TOO

Seeing how BeezleBub worked a hard job farming from the time he was 13, how it showed him that hard work is something that needs to be done, is something that helped make him the man he is today. He now owns his own side business and between that and his regular job he has earned enough to buy his own home.

He’s not the only one who has learned that lesson.

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One of the WP sisters showed me this campaign ad from Mike Minogue, a Republican running for governor in Massachusetts.



Frankly, I think it is a great ad.

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Is this really a surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention over the past four decades or so?

DOJ Concludes UCLA Med School Racially Discriminated In Admissions Process

An investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) has found that certain admissions practices at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) constituted racial discrimination. The DOJ announced the findings of the year-long investigation via a press release on Wednesday.

Among the specific ways the medical school discriminated, the DOJ said that leadership adhered to the “dubious contention that patients receive the best care when treated by a doctor of the same race, rather than by the most qualified.”

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon accused the school of focusing on “racial politics” rather than training excellent doctors.

“UCLA’s admissions process has been focused on racial demographics at the expense of merit and excellence — allowing racial politics to distract the school from the vital work of training great doctors,” stated Dhillon.

“Racism in admissions is both illegal and anti-American, and this Department will not allow it to continue.”

It seems yet another California institution has to learn the lesson the hard way that you do not fight racism by being racist. I have to wonder how long it will be before the Left comes to understand that truth. Or will they hold on their ideological belief that the only way to make up for past discrimination is to discriminate against those whose ancestors may (or may not) have discriminated against them?

And the madness continues.

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I had to read this three times before I could comprehend it.

Houston Chronicle Publishes Non-alarmist Climate Op-ed

How did this get published? Someone must have slipped up.

Robert Bradley managed to get a climate op-ed published in the Chronicle after more than decade of being an unperson as far as the Houston Chronicle was concerned, his op-eds banned. From the time Trump was elected to his first term Bradley was banned because he refused to toe the “We’re=All-Gonna-DIE-Because-Of-Climate-Change” line. Actual science, data, and evidence were not welcome.

But things have changed.

My Houston Chronicle op-ed came out in the Print edition last Sunday. This breaks a decade-plus-long drought when the Progressive Left Chronicle ignored my submissions. A new editor with a more inclusive editorial policy (thank you Trump Nation), Evan Mintz, reached out to me after seeing my MasterResource posts critical of the paper’s bias and my documentation of the conflicted business editorialist Chris Tomlison. In any case, I was published online and in print.

There may be some hope for the MSM yet.

As the saying goes, Read The Whole Thing.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather is being weird, more boats are being seen on the lake every day, and where yet again Monday is harshing our weekend!