Thoughts On A Sunday

It's NASCAR weekend here in New Hampshire, with 100,000 racing fans ready to fill the stands at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Deb and I got a chance to check out some of the racing team business jets at our local airport. While there were only a few there yesterday there should be 30 or more there today. I wish I could say I'll be watching the race, but the Patriot's game will be taking place the same time as the race and my priority will be the football game.

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Yet another case of a school zero tolerance policy punishing someone defending a helpless student being beaten by a bully has come to light.

In this case the student being beaten was blind, so he couldn't even defend himself. The hero? He was kicked off the football team and suspended from school.

What are we teaching our kids with policies like this? Nothing good: It's better to turn our backs and not get involved rather than put ourselves into harm's way while defend a helpless person being assaulted.

Yeah, that's just what we need.

This silliness has got to stop.

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For yet another bit of scholastic stupidity, a Seattle-area school has decided to ban “tag” because “school officials think it affects the "emotional well-being" of students.”

Earth to Seattle school administrators: It's a friggin' game kids have been playing for generations.

Really? Do they really think children are so fragile that they must be prevented from playing a game that they believe will permanently damage children? Really? I have to wonder whether some of these idiots are really banning it because as children they weren't any good at the game, driving them to become school administrators once they grew up.

It's obvious that none of these geniuses have actually talked to real, bona fide child psychologists because if they had, the kiddie shrinks would have said the administrators are the ones needing psychological help.

I like the next to the last line in the post:

I suppose eventually, they [school administrators] will come to the conclusion that school itself is dangerous to kids and shut themselves down.

That would probably be the best solution. The parents can then send their kids to good private schools that will not tolerate such foolishness or home school them so they get a real education and not end up becoming the neurotic fragile snowflakes these idiots are trying to create.

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I don't find it surprising that Donald Trump is starting to fade in the polls. While still in first place, he is presently in a statistical dead heat with Dr. Ben Carson. Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina are presently tied for third.

I expect a few more of the outliers are going to pull the plug on their campaigns over the next month or so.

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Call this yet another case out of the Rathergate files:

A 'hate crime that wasn't' at the University of Delaware is still being declared a hate crime by students.

The incident happened Tuesday night, when students thought they found several nooses hanging from a tree. Word quickly spread as campus officials swiftly released a statement condemning the foul hate crime. But come morning, police said a short investigation had led them to conclude the “nooses” were really just the remnants of paper lanterns from an event held all the way back in June.

So what kind of hate crime was it? No one seems to know.

I guess it's another “fake but accurate” report from the bastions of SJW group-think.

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Remember all the hoopla about the Ground Zero mega-mosque going to be built next to Ground Zero?

The project is now dead.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s proposal four years ago to create a 15-story Islamic cultural center near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks sparked a national uproar. Developer Sharif El-Gamal of Soho Properties, who was originally on board with the plan, rendered the whole debate moot by opting to build a 667-foot condominium tower for the property instead, Crain’s New York Business reported Friday.

Many people saw the mosque as a poke in the eye of the people of New York City.

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Neo-neocon dares bring forth the question “When exactly did we lose the courage to see things as they are?”

There are too many warning signs we are ignoring, and specifically the Obama Administration is ignoring that will, like Neville Chamberlain did, bring about a greater evil by ignoring that which is right in front of it. What will it take for everyone to wake up to the danger, a mushroom cloud over New York or Washington or Los Angeles?

Probably.

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Christina Hoff Sommers tells us about the ongoing War against Boys.

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Now that John Boehner is stepping down as Speaker of the House and, in addition, leaving Congress, there are a few suggestions David Starr has for his replacement as Speaker.

One of his better suggestions that I can wholeheartedly agree with:

No more "continuing resolutions" no more "omnibus spending bills, no more"one-big-fund-everything" bills.  From here on in, we will pass single bills, one to fund each Federal government activity.  A defense bill, a highway bill, Justice department bill, a FAA bill, a HHS bill, a Homeland Security bill, and so on.

This is the way it was done from George Washington's time down to very recently.  Recently something fell thru the cracks and the necessary appropriation bills were not passed.  When the end of the fiscal year came up, Congress would pass a stop gap to keep the government running. One huge stop gap.  And they are still doing it. 

The problem with omnibus budget bills is that there are usually too many hidden 'gotcha's' that obligate the government to do something the lobbyists have paid for, even if it is detrimental to the well-being of the American people and/or the economy. As David states, the One Big Bill approach is the lazy way out and it makes it difficult to look at anything in detail to find out what's really being budgeted. It's but one reason why we have an $18 trillion plus debt and trillion dollar deficits. There's no accountability with omnibus bills.

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And that's thenews from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the “moon is the color of blood”, the slightly warm weather has returned, and where we shan't hear another thing about NASCAR until next year.

For Our Own Sakes Institutionalize The Fragile Snowflakes

I have started this post many times and every time I get close to finishing it, another example of just how pathetic our society is becoming makes itself known in the news or on the Net.

Reading the endless parade of people who are offended by the littlest things, who require 'protection' from anything that disagrees with their belief du jour, or worse, don't want to be exposed to anything that contradicts their make-believe world view makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs “GROW UP, you pathetic babies! The world is not all kittens and rainbows and unicorns! It's mean. It's nasty. And there are people out there that, no matter how good and nice you believe yourself to be, have no problems with killing you, robbing you, raping you, enslaving you, or worse, saying something that offends only those of you with your “whining fragile snowflake” knob set to 11, just because that's what they want! You're fragile feelings don't mean s**t to them and no amount of sitting in a circle and singing Kumbuya will stop them from doing what they want to you! It's time to grow a pair, you sissies!”

Of course my rant would have many of them curled up in a ball in some corner, whimpering about how mean and nasty I am, that I am “double-plus ungood”, and they need their mommies to make them feel safe. And, of course, I. DON'T. FRIGGIN'. CARE!

Earlier this month I read a piece by Mytheos Holt that stuck a chord with me that stated quite plainly that people who require trigger warnings or other such 'accommodations' to protect them from every day life should be expelled.

While Holt was talking primarily about colleges, I think it could be applied to a lot of the perpetually offended crybabies throughout society demanding all kinds of concessions that everyone else finds ludicrous and, quite frankly, deserving of scorn and ridicule.

As Holt writes about the fragile snowflake community inside our colleges and universities:

In other words, how can you be so cruel as to expect these students to engage with knowledge as it actually exists? They’re just trying to get the degrees they paid for in peace. Leave them alone.

In case you missed it, Holt is being sarcastic, throwing the idiocy of these people back in their faces. College is supposed to prepare you for “life's slings and arrows”, not coddle them and leave them unprepared for the real world outside of academia. If they can't handle reality in college, there's no way they'll survive once they graduate. As anyone can tell them (assuming they'll actually listen), 99.999% of the workplaces will not waste their time or money trying to accommodate the snowflakes and are more likely to fire them for creating a hostile work environment. There are more than a sufficient number of examples over the past few years showing how one toxic snowflake can create chaos within the workplace. Most employers will not put up with that for long. I know of two personally, where a new employee started complaining about fellow employees - many who had been there for years without any problems - reporting them for 'harassment' and other imagined sleights and driving HR crazy. In the end, the new employee was booted before the end of their probationary period because they were the one harassing the others, damaging morale, and negatively affecting productivity. It won't be any different with any other employer.

Holt also shows how coddling the college snowflakes tends to hurt others, either directly or indirectly.

Let’s get back to Myers’ “just let the poor traumatized kids get the degrees they paid for” argument. No, don’t let them get those degrees. The whole point of those degrees is to signify their bearers possess qualities beyond merely the credit rating to take out vast amounts of student loans. The entire reason college degrees are supposed to be valuable is that they signify a capacity to absorb and process specialized knowledge beyond what non-degree-holders have. This is, in fact, the whole purpose of education generally.

This means if some troubled or weak students have allowed their mental illness to preclude them from absorbing such knowledge, the fault lies not with the college, but with them. Such people are as ineducable as an illiterate English major. The solution is not to expel knowledge from the classroom that is disagreeable to these feeble and fragile minds. It is to expel them. Their place is in a psych ward, not a school, and their money (or, more likely, their parents’) is better spent seeking treatment there than spoiling education for everyone else.

Should a college punish the majority of its students just to make allowances for someone who shouldn't even be there to begin with? Of course not. Furthermore, should society be forced to adhere to increasingly restrictive rules and regulations meant to ease the suffering of these overly sensitive people? Absolutely not. If they cannot live in the real world without ending up being emotionally paralyzed or catatonic, then they do not belong out in the real world. They should be cloistered in some institution that will keep them shielded from all of the trigger words and microaggressions they find it so difficult to live with. They are not well people and need treatment for their mental illness. The should not be indulged because it only encourages their delusions and increases their fragility.

Apple Did What?

I have but one thing to say about Apple's decision to not allow walk in sales of their new iPhone 6 in states without a sales tax: WTF?

Their excuse: scalpers.

Because Apple limits the number of unlocked phones, the brokers – sometimes called "sharks" – recruit homeless people and the elderly to wait in line and buy phones on their behalf. The phenomenon lasted for months outside Apple's downtown Portland Apple Store after last year's September launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

While sharks patrol Apple stores all over the country, they are especially visible in Portland. That may be because Oregon doesn't have a sales tax, so sharks operating here can add several percentage points to their profits by getting their phones.

Well, if they really want to solve the problem I have another solution for them. Rather than screwing the residents in the four out of the five states without sales taxes that have Apple stores (Montana has no sales tax, but it also has no Apple store), I suggest they close their stores in the those states. That way they never have to worry about the problem ever again. It's obvious to me that if they do it this time that they'll do it with other products in the future. So why bother having a store location where their most popular products won't be available to those walking in? If they have to order it, why not just go online and do it and don't waste the time or gas to go there? The very reason for a store in New Hampshire no longer exists if their customers can't buy what they want from them.

I think Steve Jobs would be pissed that someone in Apple would pull this stunt. After all, Apple still gets the sale. But with this giving a high hard one to those folks fortunate enough to live in states with no sales tax (like me), I think some of the people in those states might tell Apple to 'piss off'. One acquaintance of mine changed their mind about buying one when they realized they would have to go out of state and pay their sales tax just to be one of the first to get an iPhone 6. Said she “Screw it. If they don't want to sell me a phone I'll oblige them. They lost me, period.”

I know Apple won't care, but it is making them look like buttheads.

Small Town Government - The Budget Process

It's been a busy week for me, hence the dearth of posting.

One of the more interesting events that has taken up my time has been the start of the budget process for our little town.

For the most part folks don't think much about the town and school budgets until the look at them during Town Meeting in February and March. Even then they don't always understand the various budget items, but they do pay attention to the bottom line. Getting to that bottom line starts in late summer when the various departments put together their budget proposals for the coming year.

From there they go to the town administrator who goes through every line item and suggests cuts, increases, or the status quo. From there it goes to the selectmen who go over them again and make further adjustments to budget items.

Sometimes the budget proposals ask for large increases in spending. Others are quite modest. Yet others request no increase, requesting level funding for the new fiscal year. (Those are either the departments with only one or two personnel like our Parks and Recreation Department or the elected officials like myself who only receive a small stipend for our service. We sure as heck aren't doing it for the money.)

If the selectmen, town administrator, budget committee members, and department heads do our jobs, we see small increases in the town budget. Sometimes there are no increases, and even more rarely, budget decreases. (This sometimes happens when debt service on a bond ends or a multiyear appropriation for some service, purchase, or lease expires and is not renewed.)

I can tell you that it's easy to say “Oh, cut this and cut that” but it's not always easy to actually make it happen in such a way that doesn't cause more harm than good. An extreme example: cutting the police department budget to zero would save our town a big chunk of money, but we'd have no police protection. None. That isn't a good thing.

If we know revenues are going to be a problem the budget must be constrained to prevent undue increases in property taxes. After all, if the economy is in the dumps, just as it has been for the past 7 years, some folks will have problems paying their property taxes, particularly if they go up due to the town spending unwisely.

I should take a second to explain that most of the revenue in our towns come from property taxes and fees for various town services. They receive very little money from state government. Then again, we don't have a state income or sales tax, so the state government doesn't have that much of money to give to the towns to begin with. It also means the state cannot use such funds to 'encourage' the towns to do what it wants by withholding funding if they don't. This reliance on property taxes drives most towns to be frugal with the taxpayers' money. Here and there, now and then, the town government goes on a spending spree and, if not stopped by the voters at town meeting, property taxes skyrocket. When this happens it's not unusual to see selectmen being voted out of office for their spendthrift ways the following year.

I mentioned above voters stopping the proposed profligate spending. That's the beauty of our system – the townspeople have the right to vote down the budget and, if they do, a default budget takes effect. That default budget is usually the previous year's budget, minus the one-time expenditures it might contain. (A one-time expenditure might be for replacement of a town vehicle, equipment upgrades for the police or fire departments, new computers for or one of the town departments and the like.)

Another thing the voters can do to control spending: make and vote on a motion at town meeting to change the amount of funding on line items in the budget. They can increase them, decrease them, or even zero them out. This can be both good and bad because while most times it's used to cut spending, it can also be used to increase funding well beyond what the town government has requested. However, they cannot add new line items at town meeting, something that prevents unanticipated 'feel good' expenditures on services, products, or events the town cannot afford.

And so it goes in small town America.

Thoughts On A Sunday

This was a short weekend for yours truly as I only had Saturday off. At 7 this morning I was up and about and readying myself to head into work.

I don't usually work on Sunday's, but a conflict between work and some of my non-work duties made it necessary to ensure I got my requisite 40+ hours in this week. So my boss said he had no problems if I put in some time over the weekend, hence going to work today.

As a result, my weekly TOAS may not be as long as it usually is, but at least I'll get something posted, right?

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We've known for some time that Washington DC has a hard time learning things, but it's particularly true of the District's city government. One would think that after it lost in the Heller vs District of Columbia Supreme Court decision, the city would do as so many other cities and states have and follow the law. But it appears the District still thinks it can get around pesky little inconveniences like the Second Amendment by crafting gun registration requirements so restrictive that they in effect still outlaw gun ownership by District citizens. Too bad for them that the U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled against such moves by the District after a follow-on suit by Dick Heller of Heller vs District of Columbia fame.

Somehow I doubt this battle between the law abiding citizens of the District and their city government is anywhere near over. I expect the government will find yet another way of throwing up yet another round of almost impassable roadblocks to prevent the citizens from being able to defend themselves.

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If this isn't the best smackdown of Common Core mathematics, I don't know what is.

As one commenter wrote:

Math was taught for thousands of years to students in the old way and the method resulted in Einstein, Turing and thousands of mathematicians and physicists who have brought our civilization this far.

What kind of ego and hubris do the developers of Common Core have to think they have discovered a better way?

Indeed.

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Call it The Revenge of Sarah Palin. What is it? Gas at $2 a gallon.

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It's one thing to for the warmists to try to explain what's caused the pause in warming as an anomoly. Now they're trying to say that it never happened and that an so-called pause was just a statistical error.

That might explain why they've been adjusting all temperatures prior to the 1950's downward and all temps after upwards because all temperatures measured since the 1850's or so have been wrong and needed 'adjustments' to fit the narrative. Too bad reality isn't going to follow their lead and temperatures will continue to do what they've done long before these self-deluded idiots came along.

This also begs the question of what happens if temperatures start falling and we enter another Little Ice Age because of a lengthy solar minimum? Or will they ask us ignore what's happening outside our windows and believe that warming has caused a global drop in temperatures?

Of course they will. In fact, they'll insist we do so or risk going to prison.

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And that's the abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it's going to be chilly tonight, warm tomorrow, and where some leaves are starting to change color.

Conservative Student Being Pressure To Leave Yale By The Tolerant Left

As if we need even more evidence of the 'tolerance' shown by the indoctrinated larval Progressives on college campuses, here's a beaut from Yale University, that bastion of free-thinking and tolerance for those who might disagree with certain viewpoints.

A conservative student at Yale University is being harassed for her beliefs; she’s been called a “bigot,” and has been encouraged by some peers to leave campus.

In an interview Sunday with Fox News, Yale sophomore Aryssa Damron said her views have not always been welcomed at the Ivy League institution.

“I’ve received some negative backlash from students,” she said. “I wear a lot of elephants and conservative apparel on campus, and I have been called a bigot from across crowded hallways simply because of what I was wearing. I had someone tell me last year they could not live with me because I was too conservative.”

Asked where the open-mindedness is on her campus, she replied: “I am still looking for it. I’ll let you know if I find it. It’s a very liberal campus. It’s a very liberal city. And as a conservative on Yale we are often minimalized.”

And like many liberal cities, New Haven, Connecticut has a host of problems after decades of Democrat rule. But that's small potatoes compared to the problem on the Yale campus, where those labeling Ms. Damron as a bigot are, ironically, the bigots.

They judge her because of her beliefs, not because of her actions or her character. They have in their minds what she is without even knowing her.

In case these close-minded morons don't know the definition of bigotry, perhaps it would help if they looked up the definition in the dictionary, or better yet, merely look in the mirror. If we presented them with a sanitized version of what they've been doing were presented to them, the story related to them in such a way that they would not see themselves in the storyline by swapping the identity of the victim to someone like themselves on a conservative campus, I'm sure they would claim the people prejudging the poor innocent Progressive are being close-minded and bigoted. If you then revealed the true identities of the people in the story, one of three things would happen: a few of those not truly and deeply brainwashed would realize they are the villains and were exactly what they accused Ms. Damron of being; some would deny that it was possible for them to be bigoted and intolerant and that we conned them with some kind of conservative mind trick, then denounce us and brand us “haters”; or their heads would explode.

Of the three scenarios, I expect the second one to be the most likely outcome of such a presentation. A single incident rarely tears away the veil of deception that has blinded someone to reality. Perhaps a very few, here and there, might stop and think about what happened and come to realize they've been lied to and have become exactly what they detest. But that would be rare indeed.

Don't Mess With The Ghurkas

As I've mentioned more than once, the fiercest fighting men in any military aren't US Navy SEALs, US Marine Corps Recon, US Army Special Forces, Rangers, or Delta Force. They aren't British SAS or SBS commandos, Russian Spetznaz, or German GSG-9 troopers.

They are the Ghurkas, part of the British Army since 1815. They are fearless fighting men. They do not know the meaning of surrender, and being out numbered merely means they have a target rich environment. Two of the more recent examples of their combat prowess showed everyone that no one f**ks with the Ghurkas, even when they're outnumbered, out of ammo, or retired.

In Afghanistan in 2010, Acting Sergeant Dipprasad Pun single-handedly fought off 30 Taliban soldiers. As Pun was keeping guard on the roof of a checkpoint, the attackers came at the complex from all sides with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s.

It took less than an hour for Pun to kill them all. He went through all of his ammo—400 rounds and 17 grenades, as well as a mine that detonated—to defeat each attacker. When he ran out of ammo, a Taliban soldier climbed up to the roof, only to be hit with a machine-gun tripod that Pun threw at him.

Pun's valor was rewarded with a Victoria Cross, the highest British military decoration awarded for bravery.

The Taliban learned the hard way that if they go up against the Ghurkas they're going to die.

Here's another example:

In 2011, 35-year-old retired Gurkha Bishnu Shrestha was riding a train in India when 40 robbers stopped the train and began stealing passengers' belongings. Still carrying his kukri knife, the Gurkha took on the robbers, themselves armed with knives, swords and pistols. Shrestha managed to kill three robbers and injure eight others, which persuaded the other robbers to flee. The retired soldier also saved another passenger from rape.

I think these guys would give the SEALs a run for their money and come away the winners. As the saying goes, “Mess with the Best, Die like the Rest.”

Tonight's GOP Debate

Here are some of my observations from tonight’s GOP debate from the Reagan Library:

First, Anderson Cooper looked as if he were trying to hide the fact there was some kind of unpleasant smell in the Library. Could that smell be Reagan’s conservatism that permeates the memorial to him?

I thought it was pretty neat to see Reagan’s Air Force One, a modified Boeing 707 that was replaced by a 747 after he left office, as the centerpiece of the pavilion where the debate was held.

I have to say I was disappointed at Carly’s non-response to the question about whether she would be comfortable with Donald Trump’s finger on the nuclear button. On the other hand I think she wanted to get to the more important issues that mattered to the American public and not get into the personalities.

The Donald had no problems insulting the other candidates on stage.

Walker had a pretty good comeback to Trump, stating we didn’t need an “Apprentice” in the White House as we already have one there.

Kasich nailed it, stating the backbiting going on during the debate was going to have people turning off their TV’s. I agree.

Trump made one good point – Why are we fighting ISIS in Syria when ISIS is fighting Syria? Why not let them fight it out and then take on the winner? Not that I agree with him, but it was a good point.

Fiorina’s response to Trump’s statement that he can get along with anyone and about Russia’s move into Syria was good – Putin understands and respects strength. We aren’t strong and Putin knows it, so he’s pushing the limits.

Jeb brought forth the issue of our deteriorating relation with Israel, one that Obama has worked hard to destroy, and that one of the things we need to do is reestablish our strong ties with them.

Just about everyone agreed the Iran deal was a bad idea. Most wanted to tear it up and start over again.

Kasich delved into defunding Planned Parenthood but didn’t want to shut down the government to do it. He said it would backfire on the GOP and that the responsibility should be pushed down to the governors.

Fiorina kicked ass on the subjects of Iran and Planned Parenthood, getting loud applause from the audience when she challenged both Obama and Hillary Clinton to watch the awful videos and the coldhearted ‘bargaining’ for fetal organs.

Trump and Christie agree on illegal immigration, though Christie stated he knew Trump’s timetable to deport them was unworkable due to lack of funding and personnel.

The issue of birthright citizenship came up, and Trump hit it right on the head, saying the 14th Amendment addresses the issue. Fiorina says Congress doesn’t want to cure the illegal immigration because it’s a perpetual campaign issue. Rand Paul backed up Trump’s statement, saying the 14th Amendment grants birthright citizenship to the children of legal immigrants even if they aren’t yet citizens, but not illegal immigrants.

Christie ‘bitchslapped’ Trump, and to a point Fiorina, for their “I am more successful than you” back and forth, saying the average American worker didn’t care about it one way or another and that they were more concerned about their jobs or the lack thereof.

Huckabee got into the Fair Tax “makes more sense” than the present income tax system. He also reminded everyone that while too many on the stage were talking about how great they were, Reagan talked about how great the American people were.

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At 10PM I had to step away from the TV because of chores needing to be done before retiring for the evening.

Overall, there wasn’t anyone who stood above the others, though I think Carson, Christie, and Fiorina did better than some of the others.

I Wanna Take A Ride In One

Seeing the interior of SpaceX's Dragon crew vehicle makes one believe we are actually in the 21st Century. As more than one person has noted, the interior looks more like something out of Star Trek rather than NASA. The interior is also bigger than I expected, with a lot more room even though it's supposed to carry up to seven crew.

Thoughts On A Sunday

I spent part of the day yesterday chopping out more sumac from around the grounds of The Manse. It is a never ending battle against that weed, something that spreads quickly and chokes out all other plant life. After filling the bed of the trusty F150, I hauled all that I cut out to our town's brush pile at the recycling center. I figure I've got at least two or three more weekends to get the easily reached sumac cut out and hauled away. The rest will have to wait until the leaves have fallen from the other trees and plants top reach the rest.

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You know our laws about sexual assault have passed the point of absurdity when a 13-year old boy is charged with second-degree sexual assault for kissing a 14-year old girl on a dare.

Seeing that it took place in school, the school administrators decided to report the incident to the police who then stated he will be charged with sexual assault. This is incredibly stupid and a bunch of people need to be fired, particularly the school administrators.

It's of course true that every 14-year-old has the right not to be kissed. I'm not saying the boy's transgression should go unpunished. What I'm saying is this: he should not be charged with assault. He's 13. Thirteen-year-olds do stupid stuff. They screw up. And when the consequences of their actions are as minor as this, it's better to reprimand them in a manner that does not involve the criminal justice system.

It's more than likely that if the charges go forward and the boy is convicted, he will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He will be seen as no different as rapists, pedophiles, and other sexual criminals. His future will be destroyed before it's even begun because meat-head school administrators are incapable of making a judgment call and will most likely hew to the line that it's school policy leaving them no wiggle room, something I always see as a BS claim because administrators do have discretion in these matters, they are just to chickens**t to exercise it.

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Here's yet another example of things that have passed the point of absurdity:

A woman complains because a copies of the latest issue of New Scientist are in the “mens and motors” section of a supermarket's magazine aisle, taking it to social media and calling it 'sexist'.

Is there nothing that isn't offensive to anyone any more? These people need to grow up.

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You know it's getting bad in the Middle East when al Qaeda declares war on ISIS.

I guess al Qaeda thinks ISIS is giving Islamic Extremism a bad name or something.

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Unlike refugee migrations in the past, why are we seeing so few women and children in the Syrian refugee crisis?

Could it be that this migration has little to do with actual refugees and more to do with moving more Muslims into Europe?

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So those of us who are skeptical of AGW have “an intellectual stance that is uncomfortably close to Hitler's”? Really?

Who is it that has been calling for a drastic reduction in the human population to 'save the Earth' by any means necessary? It sure as heck hasn't been the skeptics.

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David Starr relates his latest encounter with a number of computer viruses that brought his desktop to a crawl.

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You know it's getting bad when a sitting member of Congress states that colleges should be able to expel students accused of sexual assault even when the college is only 20 percent sure such students are guilty.

So in a politically charged atmosphere such as we're seeing on college campuses, a murderer has more rights than someone accused to sexual assault, even poorly defined sexual assault?

That's effed up.

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Is a smaller and cheaper fusion reactor on the horizon? I'm all for it...if it works. But no one has been able to reach the break-even point yet. Maybe this one will.

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For the most part it's been quiet around the lake since most of the summerfolk have gone for the year. There's still plenty of summer activities taking place, but it's mostly the locals partaking of them. The water temperature at the lake is still well above 75 degrees, meaning we'll still be swimming for at least another couple of weeks.

If this is global warming, I'm all for it.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where there's much less traffic on the roads and lake, many of the summer businesses have closed, and where we're keeping thoughts of fall as far away as possible.

Don't Confuse Them With Facts

After every incident involving illegal guns or mentally ill persons shooting somebody, the call goes out to 'toughen' gun laws. What they really mean by toughen is to work towards banning gun ownership by law abiding citizens, not understanding that it's not the law abiding citizens committing these crimes.

Disarming the populace will not lessen gun violence, something we've seen proven again and again in this nation. Places like Washington DC are a perfect example, the city having banned gun ownership within the city. Washington DC, our nation's capitol, also became the murder capitol of our nation. Homicides committed with guns skyrocketed, proving that disarming the populace protected no one...except the criminals.

In states with high per capita gun ownership, violent crime rates are low. In fact, in those states, my home state of New Hampshire included, most homicides aren't committed with guns. (We have very few homicides in our state.) But that won't stop the so-called gun grabbers from trying to prevent people from owning them. What do you expect from people who base much of their argument on emotion rather than verifiable crime statistics?

Want an example of how high gun ownership rates affect crime rates? Then take a gander below:

'Nuff said.

9/11 Remembered

I had never seen this report, one that highlights yet another group of heroes on That Awful Day.

We were aware of the first responders, many who gave their lives while trying to save others. We heard the stories of people within the Twin Towers who led people to safety and those who refused to leave their fellow workers alone to face their deaths.

While it's been 14 years since That Awful Day, one that still haunts me, I knew I had to watch this video of the many unheralded heroes who risked themselves to help people flee from lower Manhattan.

A Comparison - Christians And Muslims

From Moonbattery by way of Maggie's Farm.

I thing this explains it all -

Summer's End

This is a post from 5 years ago and it is as true today as it was then.

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Here it is, the closing hours of Labor day, the unofficial end of summer.

It's always a bittersweet time for me, seeing the yearly wonders summer brings coming to an end.

In days the local beach will be closed.

The boating season may well run for another month or so, but it won't be the same. No one will be anchoring to do some swimming. Boats won't be towing waterskiers, wakeboards, or tubes behind them.

Many of the waterfront eateries and amusements will be shutting down during the weekdays and not long from now will be closed until next summer. And not long after that the diehard boaters (like me) will be pulling our boats from the water and getting them ready for winter storage.

Another summer will fade away, to live on only in our memories. It is these that will sustain us through the coming winter, reliving some of the great moments of this wonderful summer.

And as always happens this weekend, Don Henley's Boys Of Summer runs through my mind, with almost every line evoking the very feelings the end of summer entails.


It's been a great summer. It only ended too soon for many of us.

Thoughts On A Sunday

The 'official' end of summer has arrived with Labor Day weekend now half gone. Many of the summer attractions and businesses close after this weekend, with some of the others opening only on weekends from now until Columbus Day weekend to service the last of the weekenders and the leaf peepers which will start arriving some time around the first of October.

A lot of the summerfolk are jamming in as much 'summer' as they can over this weekend, with the heavy traffic being a big indicator that folks are trying to close out summer in a big way.

What's ironic is that we'll be having mid-summer weather for the next week or so, with temps in the upper 80's and lower 90's. The lake water temperature is 78ºF, meaning it's quite comfortable and will be for some time.

Where did the summer go?

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Despite what are considered social norms, sometimes necessity pushes those norms aside. In this case a paucity of men in the city of Dongguan in southern China has generated many instances of polyamory, with some men having multiple girlfriends and in some cases becoming 'kept' men, supported by their girlfriends.

Considering a majority of factory workers in the city are women, the shortage of available men has driven many women to hire boyfriends even is they have to share them with other women.

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Cap'n Teach delves into the question of “Why is Science So Darned Straight?”

The Cap'n posits the following:

Hmm, it kinda sounds like people want to focus on work, and do not really care what one’s sexual orientation is.

Sounds solid to me.

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It's amazing what happens when a Beltway insider actually leaves the cocoon of Washington DC, ventures out into flyover country, and meets the people he and so many others dismiss out of hand.

More of those Inside-The-Beltway closed minded types need a reality check by actually going outside the Beltway and meeting the people who pay their salaries.

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If you want a preview of the outcome of ObamaCare, then one only needs look at what's happening in the UK today.

The Left lambasted and ridiculed Sarah Palin for telling us ObamaCare would by necessity have 'death panels' who would make the decision about when someone would have to die by denying them care. Now the UK is doing just that by telling thousands of cancer patients that they will no longer receive common cancer treatment drugs because the health care system is broke.

This is what happens when government controls the health care system, particularly a system that is unsustainable because, let's face it folks, government is horribly inefficient at doing things it isn't really capable of doing to begin with and shouldn't be running in the first place.

I bet that within the next 5 years ObamaCare will start telling patients with otherwise treatable diseases that they are out of luck because of government cutbacks.

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One has to ask this question considering what we've been seeing in Hungary and Austria: Why have oil-rich Arab countries abandoned Muslim refugees?

This also begs the following questions as well:

Where is the Arab action to rescue fellow Muslims and Arabs from the claws of ISIS?

Where are Arab feminists, especially those who demonstrated against France for banning the hijab?

Where are the mighty Arab armies who waged dozens of wars against Israel? Why aren’t they fighting ISIS and building tent cities in the vast deserts of Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the wealthy Gulf States?

Where are the thousands of Islamic human rights groups operating in the West, the likes of CAIR and ISNA, who are dedicating their energy and millions of dollars to stop discrimination against Muslims and “Islamophobia” in the West?

Where is the wealthy Arab League to coordinate safe cities on Arab land that extends from Morocco to Iraq and from Northern Syria to Sudan?

Perhaps these questions need to be answered before the West goes off half-cocked to try to save the desperate refugees now flooding into Europe. Then and only then should the West get involved.

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David Starr offers his 2¢ worth on the EU refugee crisis. A usual, he gets right to the heart of the matter.

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Obama appears to be so desperate to jam economy-killing climate change legislation down our throats that he's willing to cherry pick a glacier to 'prove' global warming. In this case he visited the Exit Glacier in Alaska, one that has been retreating for decades, while ignoring many of the other Alaskan glaciers that have been growing. After all, it doesn't fit the narrative.

Then again, if the Exit Glacier didn't exist he'd have to invent it as justification for his heavy handed and ideologically ignorant edicts that continue to weaken the America he hates.

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It's bad enough California's legislature has already done considerable damage to the state's economy. Now they want to make it even worse by giving power to the California Air Resources Board to ration gasoline and diesel fuel as a means of reducing air pollution.

To quote Squidward, “Just when I thought they couldn't get any stupider...”

To meet the mandate, the state air resources board will be able to ration gas, place mobility restrictions on state residents, place surcharges on family mini-vans, trucks and SUVs, and even monitor individuals’ fuel consumption records.

“Place mobility restrictions on state residents” means “We can tell you that you can't leave town, can't get on that train/plane/bus, and have to stay home 'for your own good'.” That sounds just like the old Soviet Union which greatly restricted citizens' rights to travel. Let's face it, if this incredibly stupid legislation makes it out of the California Assembly and is signed by Governor Brown, California is doomed. If they think the exodus from the once prosperous Republic of California was bad before, it will become an absolute torrent and the state will collapse. If nothing else it will be a big incentive for residents to call for breaking up the state into smaller states that will not be run by the effin' looney tunes along the coast, one I doubt Congress will oppose.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the summer tourist season is coming to an end, the kids are all back at school, and where I plan to have one last chocolate frappe before one of my favorite ice cream joints closes for the season.

An Interesting Chocolate Bar

Oh, I am in heaven!

Deb came across some candy bars while out shopping yesterday, some very unusual candy bars. The first thing that caught her eye was the name: Hammond's Pigs N' Taters. The are bacon and potato chip flavored chocolate bars.

Mmmm...bacon!

They tasted pretty good! I can now die a happy man.

Feelings Don't Count

From a comment on Twitchy that rings true across the board, be it talking about the myths of minimum wage or the pseudoscience of climate prognostication:

“Science doesn't care what you believe.”

Now if we can only get the Climate Alarmists/Warmists to take a dispassionate look at what science is really telling us about climate and not what they 'believe' is the truth (facts need not apply). There are plenty of other fields where pseudoscience has replaced actual science and the gullible and willfully ignorant have embraced it wholeheartedly because it feels true.