Thoughts On A Sunday

We had a lot of rain Friday and into yesterday morning, getting almost two inches of rain, something we’ve desperately needed. Hopefully it’s made a dent in the drought we’ve been experiencing since this past May and will help arrest or even reverse the falling water level of the lake. If nothing else it means I won’t have to pull the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout out of the water early. That gives me two more weeks to enjoy the waning days of the boating season.

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I keep reading about how “all” the polls are showing Biden ahead by a widening margin. Could this be why the Biden campaign has been having problems drawing people to their rallies and other events, being so far ahead that no one feels they need to show up anymore?

Yeah. Right.

It doesn’t seem there’s much enthusiasm by voters for the Biden ticket. Is that the sign of a candidate that’s a shoe-in for the White House?

I see lots of comments on various posts being made by Biden trolls, touting the polls as an indication that Biden has this election in the bag. These same polls had Hillary as all but President-elect right up to the day of the election. The actual election results showed those polls were more wishful thinking than a indicator of Hillary’s inevitable win.

One would think people would take any of the polls with a huge grain of salt, particularly after their less than stellar performance back in 2016.

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Just when I thought the Hollywood elite couldn’t go any lower, they prove me wrong.

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The Leftist thugs are showing their thuggery, this time by beating a young woman who was carrying a Trump 2020 flag during a march in DC.

This is the kind of event we can count in increasing the closer we get to the election, as we can see from this attack by antifa during a free speech demonstration in San Francisco.

As the Associated Press reported:

A free speech demonstration staged by conservative activists quickly fell apart in downtown San Francisco on Saturday after several hundred counterprotesters surged the area, outnumbering and attacking those gathered, including knocking one in the mouth.

A photographer working for The Associated Press witnessed a Trump supporter being taken away in an ambulance and an injured San Francisco police officer on the ground by San Francisco’s United Nations Plaza.

Team Save America organized the rally to protest Twitter, which it said squelches conservative speech. Members of the group wore red “Make America Great Again” Trump campaign hats and carried pro-police “Thin Blue Line” flags and U.S. flags.

Violence used to silence speech is becoming the norm, something that should concern everyone. Once it becomes an accepted practice, it will happen more often and it will escalate up to and including murder. It would be the end of this nation. But then, that’s what many of the people supporting the use of violence to silence speech are working towards. Or at least that’s what history shows us will happen.

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Is a Second American Civil War a possibility? Experienced war correspondent Michael Yon has headed to Portland to dig deeper as he’s seen this kind of unrest devolve into civil war before.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’re seeing relief from this past summer’s drought, the local farm stands are busier than ever, and where our boating season is winding down.

It's Getting Bad

I can tell we’re getting closer to the general election in a little over two weeks: We’re being flooded with TV ads and mail flyers urging us vote for this candidate or that candidate. Campaign signs that have been lining our roads since September have started multiplying. Some even list multiple candidates, usually for seats in the state legislature, as we tend to have more than a single representative for each House district. (The New Hampshire House has 400 seats and the state Senate has 24 seats for a total of 424 seats, making it one of the largest legislatures in the world behind only the UK Parliament with a total of 1447 seats and Congress with a total of 535 seats.)

TV ads are close to reaching saturation, with ads for Presidential, Gubernatorial, and Congressional candidates displacing ads for the local Tractor Supply Company store, John Deere dealership, new and used car dealers, and New Hampshire-based furniture stores. It makes me spend more time doing anything but watching TV. The ads at this point are annoying rather than informative, as most people have already made up their minds. The ads and flyers won’t change their minds. But we’ll still be swamped with both.

The number of campaign robocalls has also exploded, with the WP Mom receiving a couple of dozen calls a day. (She still has a landline, so it isn’t surprising. I have received a few on my cell phone, but it’s been sporadic. The robocalls I usually get are for extending the warranty on the trusty Ram 1500 or scammers trying to take my money.)

The other thing I have been avoiding like the proverbial plague has been the TV news, or at least the first 10 minutes or so because it is all politics all the time, particularly if it’s one of the network newscasts. They make we want to throw hard objects at the TV screen, something that would upset the WP Mom to no end. (That happens almost all the time, but more so during election season.

Election Day can’t come soon enough for me.

Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s been a weird weekend weatherwise, with a warm (70ºF) and sunny Saturday morning and afternoon that devolved into heavy showers, high winds and thunderstorms in the evening. Today was sunny and in the upper 50’s, but Monday is forecast to be rainy most of the day. Still, it’s been a decent weekend which has certainly helped see more weekenders up here than we’ve seen since Labor Day.

A lot of summerfolk are hear to pull their boats out of the water and get them cleaned and winterized for storage. The boatyards in our town are quite busy, with their lots full of boats waiting for winterization. I called the boatyard that takes care of the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout and inquired about prepping and storing it for the winter. The owner, a good friend, asked if I’d be able to wait a couple of weeks before dropping it off because he’s booked solid until the end of the month. Even with a lot of summerfolk having pulled their boats from the water early because of the low water level of the lake, there are still a lot of boats that need to be removed and prepared. I don’t mind waiting to drop of my boat because I can still pull it from the water a couple of weeks beforehand. I think a lot of the folks living here at the lake are going to do likewise since they can keep using their boats as long as the weather holds out.

And so our boating season is slowly fading away.

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Today’s Thoughts On A Sunday post is going to be a bit abbreviated as I have to go into work shortly. There’s lab work needing to be done and I’m on a short deadline, so spending the balance of the morning and this afternoon at work is necessary if I am to meet that deadline.

Do I like the fact that I need to do this? No. But it is necessary and I don’t like leaving jobs undone. Call it the Puritan Work Ethic that is part and parcel of being a New England Yankee.

So off to work I go.

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It looks like the second debate between Trump and Biden scheduled for October 15th in Miami has been canceled.

If memory serves, the Biden campaign wanted to have a virtual debate, with the two candidates in separate venues, citing the possibility of Covid-19 exposure. This despite health professionals saying there should be no issue as long as social distancing is maintained. The Trump campaign balked, saying there was no reason not to have the two candidates face each other on the same stage.

I can certainly think of one reason why the Biden people would want it to be a virtual debate: They could be off-camera using a teleprompter to feed Joe the answers, something they couldn’t do if the two candidates were on the same stage.

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Election fraud? There’s no election fraud here! Move along! Move along! There’s nothing to see here!

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Seen elsewhere on the ‘Net: The first rule of 2021 is no one talks about 2020.

There’s just one problem...

(H/T Powerline)

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Speaking of 2020 (Yes, I’m breaking the rule...but it isn’t 2021 yet), we have been seeing an upsurge in Covid-19 cases here in New Hampshire. While I can’t speak to other communities, ours has seen 4 new cases over the past two weeks. However, after contacting the state health officials it appears three of the four cases were asymptomatic and the fourth case was only mildly symptomatic. All cases were detected via regular testing, so this isn’t the same scenario as we were seeing this past spring.

The upsurge started when schools reopened, a not unexpected event. (While there is correlation, that doesn’t automatically mean it’s because our schools have reopened. Remember, correlation does not imply causality.) We didn’t see a lot of cases during the summer even with the large number of visitors we experienced during the tourist season.

Our cases per capita are minuscule compared to our neighboring state to the south. Massachusetts has a bit less than 6 times the population of New Hampshire, but has had 15 times the number of Covid-19 cases and 21 times the number of deaths. In fact, the number of Covid-19 deaths in the People’s Republic of Maskachusetts exceeds the total number of Covid-19 cases in New Hampshire.

There are advantages to living in a primarily rural state.

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And that’s the (abbreviated) news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where cooler weather is visiting for the next few days, a little more rain is on its way, and where some of us will be working on Columbus Day.

Is Hollywood Dead?

Is the Hollywood Era coming to an end?

Movie theater attendance has been on a downward trend for some time. Between increasingly bad movies, too damn many ‘woke’ “message movies”, too many poor remakes of classics, and too few movies with an original story, it’s no wonder fewer people have been going to the movies. Add on the shutdown due to Covid-19 and that downward trend turned into a fall off the edge of a cliff. This may have been the death knell for Hollywood.

Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins expressed concern about the future of cinema in the aftermath of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In an interview with Reuters, Jenkins stated that the shuttering of theaters "will not be a reversible process." She continued, "We could lose movie theater-going forever." She then expressed that she was wary of streaming as an option for big-budget action films, "It could be the kind of thing that happened to the music industry, where you could crumble the entire industry by making it something that can't be profitable." Jenkins added, "I don't think any of us want to live in a world where the only option is to take your kids to watch a movie in your own living room, and not have a place to go for a date."

--snip--

Studios are holding back other tentpole films for several months, with cascading consequences for theaters. The next James Bond film, No Time to Die, moved its release date from Thanksgiving weekend to April 2021, prompting Cineworld, parent company of Regal Cinemas, to announce this week it will temporarily shutter all of its locations in the United States and in the United Kingdom on Oct. 8, citing continued closings of theaters in New York and other large markets, and little guidance from the states on when they may resume.

The last time I went to the movies was last year to see the Downton Abbey movie with Deb, the both of us being fans of the TV series. Since then there’s been little that has created even a smidge of desire to make the 2-1/2 mile trip to our local movie theater. Hollywood has not created anything I’ve wanted to see in some time. I’ve seen plenty of TV and movie offerings from independent and foreign producers that were better than anything coming out of Hollywood. (Thanks Amazon Prime, Netflix, and BritBox!)

I have seen great short films on YouTube that, if made into a full-length feature, would rival the offerings from Hollywood.

It’s possible that Hollywood as it exists now will go the way of Vaudeville. Maybe that’s reason enough for it to go away so it can be replaced with something that works better and produces a better product.

Natural Occurance Or Biological Warfare?

I am not one for conspiracy theories, but this is something I’ve been thinking about since it was announced that the President, First Lady, and a number of White House staff and Republican leaders tested positive for Covid-19: Was it a natural infection or were they purposely infected by a party or parties unknown?

…as numerous Republicans in key positions also tested positive, the nature of the speculation began to change. The issue shifted from whether or not the president wore a mask to why so many important Republicans simultaneously got the virus.

--snip--

Lin Wood, a high-profile lawyer representing Nick Sandmann and Kyle Rittenhouse, tweeted, "Many leaders in administration of @realDonaldTrump are quarantined by what almost appears to almost be targeted strike of Covid-19." He later tweeted, "There are no coincidences. Zero. None. Hard stop." Deanna Lorraine, who ran for Congress against Nancy Pelosi, also picked up the theme of a "targeted strike" in her tweet, "Does anyone else find it odd that no prominent Democrats have had the virus but the list of Republicans goes on and on?" And Omar Navarro, a Republican politician in California, developed the theme: "1.RBG dies. 2. Trump announces he will nominate new justice before election. 3. Pelosi makes "Arrow in our quivers" comment to stop him.' Week later Trump, his top aide, his campaign manager, two Senators all come down with COVID 5. Schumer immediately requests to delay nomination." He added, "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

Where did the infection occur? Attention turned to the Cleveland Clinic, where the presidential debate between President Trump and Joe Biden was held on September 29. On Friday, the city of Cleveland reported that 11 cases of COVID had been linked to the planning and set-up of the September 29 presidential debate. Some commenters on social media speculated that the Republican debate area had been saturated with the virus in a biological attack…

Is it just coincidence (most likely), or did someone try to cripple the President’s reelection bid by intentionally infecting him and others with Covid-19, or worse, try to take him out altogether? It wouldn’t take much, just a small spray bottle filled with a fluid that carried and supported the Covid-19 virus. Just a few sprays on door handles, water glasses, utensils, papers, or spraying a fine mist in the air prior to the ‘targets’ entering a room.

Not As Smart As We Used To Be

(H/T Powerline)

Math Is Racist - Again

From the “Just When I Thought They Couldn’t Get Any Stupider...Again” Department:

First, a math-education professor from the University of Illinois declares “Math is racist” back in 2017.

Others have made similar declarations since then.

The latest “Math is racist” declaration comes from the Mathematical Association of America.
The statement from the MAA states:

"It is time for all members of our profession to acknowledge that mathematics is created by humans and therefore inherently carries human biases. Until this occurs, our community and our students cannot reach full potential."

So is the MAA stating that 2+2=5?

The statement went on to disparage the “biases” that mathematics supposedly “inherently carries."

"It is time for all members of our profession to acknowledge that mathematics is created by humans and therefore inherently carries human biases. Until this occurs, our community and our students cannot reach full potential," wrote the group. "Reaching this potential in mathematics relies upon the academy and higher education engaging in critical, challenging, sometimes uncomfortable conversations about the detrimental effects of race and racism on our community. The time is now to move mathematics and education forward in pursuit of justice."

Okay, so how does math become racist? Does race affect arithmetic, change the value of variables without anyone noticing, or change the value of universal constants? Does it also mean physics is racist? After all, physics is math, right? What about engineering? It’s also math. Is engineering racist because of it?

I find it curious that everything is being declared racist one thing at a time. Everything. If everything is racist, then nothing is racist.

It’s virtue signaling, plain and simple.

Did they figure that if they didn’t denounce something they would in turn be denounced, so decided to show how “woke” they are?

This crap is getting ridiculous.

Thoughts On A Sunday

I spent yesterday out and about parts of the lake and the surrounding towns, being a tour guide for two new New Hampshire residents. They escaped moved from San Francisco to Portsmouth and are still settling in.

Deb met them when she took a trip across the country with one of her girlfriends via Amtrak and was in San Francisco. She met them on a ferry, struck up a conversation, and a friendship was born.

They showed her around San Francisco and told her they were working to get out of the city and move to New Hampshire. (They had been doing their research, had even visited New Hampshire and decided Portsmouth was where they wanted to be. They also subscribed to Yankee Magazine to get more of a feel for New England.

So Deb invited them to come on up to the Lakes Region for a weekend so we could show ‘em around. We took them out onto the lake, visited one of the local farms and their farm stand to pick up some of the local farm fare (some honey, maple syrup, an apple pie, and some coconut/nut/fruit squares fresh from the farm stand’s bakery). We then took them to one of our favorite eateries last night – The Common Man in the town of Ashland – a restaurant they really enjoyed. Today Deb was showing them more of the Lakes Region, including some apple picking, a visit to The Old Country Store in Moultonborough, and the Gunstock Mountain Resort for a trip to the top of the mountain for scenic view of lake and the surrounding mountains, something spectacular this time of year now that the fall foliage is appearing.

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Can anyone explain to me in logical and rational terms devoid of ‘feelz’ how the reopening of Boston University’s campus is driven by “white supremacy”?

Students and faculty at Boston University wrote a letter calling for the dismantling “of white supremacy culture” at the school, with a focus on campus reopening plans.

--snip--

Within the declaration, the authors argue that many of BU’s practices and policies to allow for the campus to continue operations this fall significantly harm minority groups. Multiple groups on campus took part in writing the letter, including unionized faculty, the Black Student Union, Anti-Racist White Affinity Group Facilitators, Ph.D. Student Coalition, Student Curricula Committee, and others.

“By supporting and even encouraging a dense campus and the return of tens of thousands of inter-state and international students, BU also is increasing the health risk not only to its own campus community but also to the Greater Boston area,” the letter reads. “Pre-existing economic disparities – the result of systemic racism and discrimination – mean that COVID-19 has a disproportionate impact on Black and Latinx communities.”

Their ‘reasoning’ tries to sound logical, but to me it is emotion-driven, period. They are trying to push every emotional button they can in order to bolster their cause, whatever the heck it is this week.

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OMG!! Look at all of these white supremacists, supporters of President Trump, gathered outside Walter Reed Hospital! They’re everywhere!!

The media keeps telling us that President Donald Trump’s supporters are no-good racist white supremacists. So I decided to get down to Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Md., where the president is recovering from coronavirus, to find some.

Shocking! Shocking!!

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Want to find out how antifa works and their ultimate aims, then this article in Reason may give you some insight.

Erin Smith was at a GOP election watch party at Twitter headquarters in San Francisco on November 8, 2016. For the one-time deputy vice chair of communications for the city Republication Party, it should have been a time of jubilation.

--snip--

A trans woman, conservative, and former tugboat captain who says she's "a weird activist/analyst-type person right now," Smith soon became galvanized to find out more about a group that dressed as revolutionaries and took their fight to the streets. What was animating them? Trump animus? The romance of revolution? The boredom and frustration of COVID sequestration? An unfocused desire to fuck shit up?

It takes a special moral blindness to see setting fires, breaking windows, and threatening journalists as the road to justice. I've seen this moral blindness rise along with the violence in Portland. Young activists have told me frankly that they don't give a shit if someone working in the basement of the police station burns to death because, hey, she chose to work there. I've seen activists cheer the murder of a member of the conservative group Patriot Prayer. You cannot employ the violence of your perceived enemies and expect your revolution to end in peace.

It is evident from reading Erin Smith’s observations that most folks haven’t a clue about antifa’s real goals. Those same folks would be horrified to find out.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where fall has indeed arrived, we’re enjoying a brief respite before the leaf-peepers arrive in large numbers, and where returning to work on Monday will allow me to get some rest.

Democrat Reaction To Trump Covid-19 Diagnosis

There were a number of topics I could have covered today, but the only one seem to be talking about is the President and First Lady’s positive test results showing they have Covid-19. It was “Breaking News” on just about every TV news outlet this morning and again late this afternoon when it was announced the President was going to Walter Reed Hospital “as a precaution”.

One thing that didn’t make the news is the reaction of many Democrats to the news of the Trumps diagnoses: They were hoping, even praying he would die.

What. A. Bunch. Of. Dirtbags.

As Stephen Green reminds us, “If they’ll publicly call for the death of a president, imagine what they must privately think of you.”

At least one Democrat has shown she has class, that Democrat being Tulsi Gabbard.

When she was running for the Democrat nomination I had some hopes for her. But she was too moderate for the Progressives in the Democrat Party and they apparently didn’t like that. I figure with her tweet wishing the President and First Lady a swift recovery (linked above), she’s now all but dead to them.

And people wonder why more lifelong Democrats have been joining the #WalkAway campaign.

The Wisdom Of Carlin

"Political correctness is Fascism pretending to be manners." - George Carlin