Thoughts On A Sunday

It's been quite a change in weather over the past 48 hours, with Saturday seeing temps in the upper 70's while today's temps were in the upper 50's. A little rain has rolled in after a mostly sunny day, so there are no complaints to be made about this weekend's weather.

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The more I hear people opine that if we don't “do something” about climate change that we're all going to be doomed, the more I come to the conclusion that AGW faithful are not really interested whether or not human-caused climate change is real. For them it is their new religion.

They don't want to be confused with the facts or shown data that places doubt upon their firmly held beliefs. Even when confronted by the hard evidence that the sacred climate models upon which they base the faith are shown to be wildly inaccurate, meaning the projections don't even come close to matching the observed data (even the data conveniently 'adjusted' with no justification or methodology provided by NOAA).

They will go out and protest the so-called “climate-deniers”, make lots of noise about how we're all gonna die if we don't impoverish ourselves, and then go home feeling better about themselves for having “done something” about the issue. Of course they haven't really done anything to alleviate what they see as the problem. On top of that, most of them will make very few if any changes to their lifestyles to lessen their carbon footprint, except maybe for buying some LED light bulbs or some carbon credits. They won't reconsider taking their vacation in Cabo San Lucas or Key West, both of which would require them to catch a flight from where ever they live, giving them a huge carbon footprint. After all, they protested against climate change, so they've done their part.

Yeah. Right.

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Speaking of the AGW faithful, why is it that they leave so much trash behind for someone else to pick up rather than doing it themselves? It would certainly reduce the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere because cleanup crews using gas and diesel powered vehicles wouldn't be needed to pick up after these hypocrites.

Then again, we've seen the difference between rallies held by Left and those held by the Right, and for the most part there's very little to clean up after the latter. For the former, it's up to “someone else” to clean up their messes as that's what they've been taught. It's always up to “someone else” to clean up this, fix that, or to make the sacrifices they deem necessary to maintain the status quo.

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Sometimes Reality slaps some of the deluded Left in the face in a fashion they cannot ignore.

The latest example is the lesbian couple from London who found out that being lesbians in a Muslim country is a very dangerous thing.

I didn’t plan to preach a sermon when I started writing this post, but the escape of this naïve couple from the trap set for them by [one of the couple's] father is a latter-day parable, a warning to those in the West who think they can advance “human rights” by destroying Western civilization. Your rhetoric about “human rights” is utterly worthless in those parts of the world where the brutal regime of Islamic sharia law is enforced. If you want to preserve your life and liberty, you may need to reconsider your politics, because modern liberals are never going to summon the courage necessary to stand up to the Islamic menace.

Heh.

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Is Fox News slated to become the next MSNBC or CNN?

If what I've been reading is even half true, yes it will.

With Rupert Murdoch having turned the reins over to his liberal son, James, the purge of conservatives has already begun. First, Bill O'Reilly. Next they've set their sights on Sean Hannity, using the false and misleading reports of his supposed sexual harassment of a woman, something the woman in question has strongly denied ever took place.

Not that I have been a regular viewer of Fax News, but to lose one of the last conservative news outlets to the likes of James Murdoch and his very liberal wife, Kathryn, a former Director of Strategy & Communications for the Clinton Climate Initiative, is disturbing.

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Hey, Colorado did something that was actually smart! And to top it off, even the more liberal politicians (formerly from California) agreed I was a smart thing.

What was this miracle thing that the state pulled off?

Abolishing free speech zones on college campuses.

But taking a closer look, did they really pull it off?

One part of the legislation, Senate Bill 62, still allows public universities to impose “reasonable time, manner, and place” speech policies. Like that isn't going to be twisted and abused by the college policy makers and the usual PC crowd in the institutions of higher indoctrination.

I'm not holding my breath on this one.

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Is there another American Civil War in the offing?

According Faith Goldy, that war is already been here and it will be one fought by the Millenials.


Faith states it all started back in the 60's, the movement by the Cultural Marxists, but it's coming to a head now.

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By way of the Jeff Reynolds come this little tidbit of advice when it comes to arguing with Liberals, that being the Eight False Pretenses Liberals Use to Frame an Argument.

Keep them in mind and you will be able to demolish any argument they put forward, and make them look deluded while you're doing it.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where more boats are making an appearance on the lake, summer businesses are gearing up for their openings, and where we're looking forward to even more great weather.

Measles Outbreak In Minnesota - Anti-vaxxers Stike Again

It looks like the anti-vaxx chickens have come home to roost, with 32 children now suffering from measles in Minnesota. (The linked post states 28, but that number now stands at 32. I expect we'll see more.)

While a majority of the affected children are those of Somali immigrants, it isn't limited to just them, nor is it limited to just the US as over 1500 cases have been reported in the EU.

As I have written before, though measles itself can be a killer, it is the aftereffect of measles that tends to kill those affected, that being a reset of the patient's immune system. Most or all of the acquired immunity of the patient can be wiped away, leaving them vulnerable to the infections and diseases to which the once had immunity. That has been a bigger killer of measles patients than the measles itself.

To think that we have the means to prevent this and other diseases through immunizations, but parents have been sold on the idea that the vaccines are far more dangerous than the diseases they prevent. A bunch of pseudoscience and falsified studies made links to vaccines and autism, something that years of clinical studies have disproven again and again. What's worse is that this junk science has been sold to immigrants who are in no position to be able to tell fact from fiction, hence a higher percentage of infections by otherwise preventable diseases.

Jenny McCarthy and her fellow anti-vax idiots should be flogged in a public square for all the harm they've caused.

The Lame Stream Media Is Peddling Fake News...Again

It seems the 'fake news' onslaught from the Left has tried to collect another conservative scalp. However it seems that reality kicked in and showed the sexual harassment accusations against Sean Hannity made by the Lame Stream Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of the DNC, were totally bogus.

The plot is thickening in the Debbie Schlussel-Sean Hannity sexual harassment incident. Schlussel was interviewed this morning by Lawnewz and said she was never "sexually harassed" by Hannity, that he invited her back to his hotel, not his hotel room, but that she thought Hannity "weird" and "creepy."

--snip--

Note that anti-conservative media leaped to the conclusion that Schlussel was sexually harassed by Hannity despite her never using that term in her interview.

This incident says a lot more about those wanting to smear Hannity using spurious charges of sexual harassment than it says about Hannity himself.

I expect the 'usual suspects' will start bleating about how Debbie Schlussel is wrong and that she was sexually harassed, she just doesn't know it. This will be explained by them as one of two possible scenarios: 1) She was threatened by Hannity et al to keep her yap shut;or 2) she's too stupid or too 'indoctrinated' by conservative thought to understand that she's a helpless female victim of the patriarchy.

It still all boils down to this – The LSM ain't got nothing and the crap they make up is so blatantly false that only the other members of the LSM, their masters, and the Progressive lamebrains who slurp up every bit of dreck that flows from the LSM actually believe it.

Is it any wonder the LSM is losing readers and viewers at an increasing rate?

Thoughts On A Sunday

The warm weather has returned after a few dreary and wet days here in central New Hampshire. I wish I could say I made the best of it, getting started on the spring yard cleanup. But as I am still recovering from a knee injury I suffered just prior to Christmas, my mobility is somewhat limited. That certainly has limited my ability to do much in the way of yard work, particularly considering the wet ground and steep slopes upon which The Manse sits.

Looks like I’m going to have to hire some folks to help me out this spring.

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One of the latest SJW ‘causes’ – cultural appropriation – has gone from the merely ridiculous to the extremely ridiculous. Case in point, the Tiny House movement has been labeled as ‘poverty appropriation’ by the SJW idiots.

Yes, believe it or not, some of them actually believe that bulls**t. They want to enforce cultural balkanization as if it were some kind of sacred duty, not understanding that that kind of stasis is death for any culture, or worse, not caring. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s both. Then again most of these willfully ignorant morons seem to wish for the destruction of everything that has allowed them to become willfully ignorant morons.

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As if the SJW madness hasn’t infected colleges here in the US, the same virus has also made its presence known in the UK. The latest example comes from Cambridge University where students who do not make eye contact could be considered racist.

So what they’re saying is that someone who is somewhere on the autism spectrum is automatically guilty of racism? That someone who is deeply introverted and uncomfortable among people in general can be considered racist? What about blind people?

I have only one comment: WTF?!!

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I was going to opine about the so-called March for Science, but David Starr beat me to it.

I wonder how many of the marchers had a minimum of scientific education. I strongly feel that all high school students should take chemistry, physics, and biology. In the 21th century when so many policies and issues have science (or claim to have science) at their base, all citizens ought to have some science at the high school level in order to understand the arguments pro and con.

Too many haven’t had that education. What’s worse is that some that have had it still don’t understand that in regards to climate science that climate models aren’t science, but they base all of their closely held beliefs on the defective climate models that do not track reality. What’s worse is that many of the same climate scientists they believe wholeheartedly have no problems with ‘adjusting’ climate data to meet AGW theory rather than adjusting the theory to match the climate data. On top of that they will not release the reason why past data needs to be adjusted or the algorithm they used to adjust the data. In other words, they told the faithful “Trust us!”

But science isn’t based on trust. It’s based upon verifiable data, experiments, and the ability for others to reproduce the results. But too much science is based more politics and funding and not actual science.

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Speaking of (climate) science, it turns out the global warming hiatus is real, at least according to science.

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I think this explains it a lot better than I can.

Heh.

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This is just so cool!


I. Want. One!

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where boating season fast approaches, the yard work needs doing, and where the Boston Bruins are out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Thoughts On A Sunday

It is Easter Sunday and we've been blessed with excellent weather – warm, breezy, and sunshine with temps in the upper 70's.

One of the WP Sisters made the trip up from the People's Republic of Massachusetts for the weekend, allowing a mini-WP Clan gathering.

All in all, it's been a good weekend.

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Why doesn't this surprise me in the least?

Twenty-one arrested as hundreds of Trump supporters and counter protesters clash at Berkeley rally.

As one tweet stated, “The utterly predictable consequence of 'punching Nazis' as a strategy.” This is particularly true when the so-called “Nazi punchers” are themselves the Nazis despite their claim to be antifascist. It seems most of the antifascists seen running away in the distance are dressed in black.

Kind of ironic, eh?

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This is what can only be termed Nuclear Grade Stupidity.

Do these people actually believe that the very teachers, diplomats, 'culture', and aid they're demanding to be sent will turn ISIS or the Taliban away from their jihad? It is far more likely the teachers will be killed or sold into slavery, the diplomats will be gruesomely executed (seen on HD video), the 'culture' will be destroyed as “un-Islamic” and the aid will be taken by the jihadis and used for their purposes, that being buying more weapons.

The one thing that I find that is true about many of the people who believe that all that's needed to fix things in ISIS or Taliban held areas are those teachers, diplomats, 'culture' and aid have never been out of the US and their only exposure to other cultures is a visit to one of their local ethnic food restaurants.

Then again, for them it's all about feelz and not real life. They believe that everyone else, including those working so hard to destroy Western Civilization, believe exactly the same things they do. Too bad for the rest of us that it just isn't true.

(H/T Pirate's Cove)

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I've seen this before and I expect I'll see it again and again.

Some Times It's You.

I recall once having lunch with a female colleague who was complaining vociferously for the millionth time about not advancing fast enough in the corporation. Her boss was a misogynist, he was always giving the best projects to the men in her department – who only had engineering degrees while she held both an engineering degree and a law degree – both from the University of Michigan!

She had embraced the sisterhood of the traveling victims society long before it was so lucrative. Apparently mistaking me for a member of her sisterhood she seethed on and on about all the unfair exclusionary behavior her boss and male colleagues practiced, including never inviting her to join them for lunch. This was not a problem I encountered in my own department; not to boast, but I was a pretty popular lunch companion and in fact had passed up an invite to our Friday staff lunch in order to honor my prior commitment to Ms. Wendy of the Unwavering Whine.

So perhaps her complaint about never being invited to join the boys reminded me that I was missing the beer, pizza, jokes and good natured camaraderie that comprised Friday lunches back in the day. Whatever the reason, her complaint drew a rather direct (and, I acknowledge, probably insensitive) response: I heard myself saying to her  “maybe it’s nothing as pernicious as misogyny, maybe they just don’t like you.”  I can still see the stunned look on her face; she was a beautiful woman and quite smart but totally tone deaf to anyone other than herself. As a result she was quite lacking in the social graces.  I suspect nobody had ever spoken to her so bluntly in her entire life.

I once had a co-worker much like that. All she did was complain about how things were done differently where she had worked previously, that we were doing it (whatever 'it' was) wrong, that her co-workers weren't friendly, that it seemed all we wanted to do was work (while at work, something we were being paid handsomely to do), and that no one wanted to hang out with her outside of work. Like the aforementioned Ms. Wendy of the Unwavering Whine, the problem wasn't our employer or our co-workers, it was her. She was one of those toxic personalities that set everyone else on edge, was a total buzzkill in social settings, and did nothing but complain.

Her supervisor eventually suggested that she seek employment elsewhere and sent her on her way...just like voters this past November sent Hillary on her way.

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North Korea suffered a failed launch of yet another one of their ballistic missiles.

The Norks keep telling us they'll rain nuclear fire on the US, but one has to wonder it's merely bluster of if they believe their own propaganda.

Assuming they were able to launch a few nukes towards the US, do they think we wouldn't retaliate ten-fold or a hundred-fold and reduce North Korea to a radioactive wasteland? We wouldn't even need to launch missiles from the US mainland. A single US SSBN sitting somewhere in the Pacific Ocean could do that.

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It is said in the Bible that the 'Wages of Sin are Death.” But what are the wages of someone whose minimum wage job are raised to $15/hour? That's easy:

ZERO.

Not long after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a law that will raise New York's minimum wage to $15 and 12 weeks of paid family leave, all of the food workers at one of the SUNY community colleges were laid off and were being replaced by food dispensing machines as a cost savings measure.

Call it yet another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences coming into play to bite the Progressive Policymakers in the ass.

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#Calexit is still a topic in California, with the Progressive coastal elite pushing for secession from the US.

However, before that happens it is likely some parts of the Golden State are working to separate themselves from California because they are sick and tired of being unrepresented in Sacramento and bullied by the ultra-Left Progressives in coastal California.

Efforts have been underway since before World War II to break off more than a dozen rural counties and combine them with a chunk of southern Oregon to form Jefferson, the nation’s 51st state.

The impetus is the same that drives backers of secession: the notion of a far-off government (in this case, Sacramento) ignoring local sentiments and a sense of being outnumbered and outvoted by a population whose social and political views are at odds with the prevailing (in this instance, conservative) culture. The proposed flag — a pair of Xs, or double cross — captures the animating sentiment.

“We really don’t have fair representation,” said Terry Rapoza, 67, a leader of the Jefferson movement in Shasta County...

He cited recent passage of a 10-year, $52-billion road repair and transportation bill; the hike in gas taxes, he said, will have much less impact in urban California than in rural stretches, where people might drive 20 miles to the grocery store, or a dozen miles to pick up their mail.

The rural areas of California, including much of the state's interior, have been marginalized by the Democrat's grip on the state Assembly and Senate for decades. Initiatives to remove dams in northern California may have sounded great to the tree-huggers in San Francisco, but caused havoc to people who needed the water in the northern parts of the state. Irrigation and process water was no longer available. Instead, it flowed into the ocean unimpeded. Taxes and fees that the coastal denizens shrug off cause hardship for those living inland. Laws that have little impact on urban areas generate even greater hardships in the rural area, but for no good reason other than some dimwitted Progressive thought it might make them feel better for having “Done Something” even though there was no 'something' that needed doing.

Better to break up California first, then let the coastal elite have their way with their remaining enclaves. Somehow I doubt we'll miss them all that much.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the warm weather has returned, boats are being shorn of their winter covers, and where Monday has once again returned all too soon.

The Dish Network - Hearst Feud Is a Symptom Of A Bigger Problem

While many of you out there may not know of the issue between satellite provider Dish Network and Hearst television, the ongoing feud between the two should stand as an object lesson.

Back on March 3rd, Hearst blacked out Dish from carrying its local TV stations in 26 cities across the US. That certainly affected us here in New Hampshire as well in Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts as the local ABC affiliate stations, all owned by Hearst, were removed from Dish.

The issue?

Huge increases in the retransmission fee rate that Hearst demanded from Dish.

What are these retransmission fees? They are what local over-the-air TV broadcasters charge cable TV and satellite systems to carry their signals. These same signals are free to anyone who can use an outdoor antenna to receive them, signals transmitted over the publicly owned airwaves.

It used to be that TV broadcasters loved being retransmitted by cable TV and satellite providers because it increased the coverage area of their stations without them having to spend a penny to build additional transmitters. a definite upside for them. A second upside for them was that they could charge higher advertising fees because now they had more viewers and ad rates are usually dependent upon viewership. So, without having to invest their own money they saw their viewership greatly increased which in turn made them more money.

Then Congress effed it all up.

By allowing the over-the-air TV stations to start charging retransmission fees, they opened the door to abuse by those TV stations. This put them in the same boat as the 'regular' cable content providers like USA, A&E, ESPN, and so on.

Dish has not been the only system operator who has been negatively affected by these fees. DirecTV had the same problem with Hearst back in January, but DirecTV knuckled under to Hearst after a few days. The cable MSOs aren't immune to this as they have felt the wrath of other TV stations, cable content providers, and their parent corporations who have pulled the same stunt.

Whether the broadcasters and other content providers understand that they're reaching a tipping point where cable/satellite subscribers will finally have enough and 'cut the cord' is unknown. I do know that more people have been doing just that as they are tired of paying increasing amounts for TV, and particularly for channels they never watch. That streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, SlingTV, and a host of others are becoming more popular isn't surprising to anyone who has been paying attention.

I know the missus and I are pretty close to pulling the plug on our satellite subscription as we find ourselves using it less often than we have, yet paying more for it every year. We use Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu for more of our TV viewing and for a fraction of the cost of our satellite bill.

I figure we'll reach our tipping point soon.

White People are EVIL! Yeah. Right.

It seems the “white people are evil” meme on college campuses has reached the point of being ridiculous.

Every race or ethnic group has, at one point or another in their history, committed the very acts that whites are being accused of having committed ages ago. In fact, some races/groups commit many of those same evil acts today, yet do not get condemned for them.

Slavery still exists and is practiced in Africa and Asia. (Do you think it isn't? Then how do you explain the present day sale of black slaves in Libya?)

Genocide is still committed in Africa and Asia.

Writes Fred Reed:

If you are a white student in college, you doubtless hear daily that white people are evil, the principal cause of everything wrong with the world. Whiteness is bad, white people are bad. We are to blame for everything.

If you believe this, you are being gamed. What you are being told is nonsense. If you have the intelligence and self-respect to think for yourself, ask:

“What have other races and ethnic groups accomplished in the world compared to what we white people have?”

This question will be shocking to you because you have been carefully programmed not to think such things. But ask. I think you will find that the groups who complain the most have accomplished the least.

Sounds racist as hell, doesn't it? But is it? Is it a response to the institutional racism being force fed to college kids all across this nation, where they are being taught to hate white people even if they themselves are white? The latest PC bulls**t to come out of the colleges and related SJW groups is the notion of “white privilege”. What the hell is that? Hint – it's just another way of being racist against white people without worrying about being called a racist. In other words, it's hypocritical.

If think that white people are evil and have stolen everything that they have from all of the other races groups, then how do you explain this:

Euclidean geometry. Parabolic geometry. Hyperbolic geometry. Projective geometry. Differential geometry. Calculus: Limits, continuity, differentiation, integration. Physical chemistry. Organic chemistry. Biochemistry. Classical mechanics. The indeterminacy principle. The wave equation. The Parthenon. The Anabasis. Air conditioning. Number theory. Romanesque architecture. Gothic architecture. Information theory. Entropy. Enthalpy. Every symphony ever written. Pierre Auguste Renoir. The twelve-tone scale. The mathematics behind it, twelfth root of two and all that. S-p hybrid bonding orbitals. The Bohr-Sommerfeld atom. The purine-pyrimidine structure of the DNA ladder. Single-sideband radio. All other radio. Dentistry. The internal-combustion engine. Turbojets. Turbofans. Doppler beam-sharpening. Penicillin. Airplanes. Surgery. The mammogram. The Pill. The condom. Polio vaccine. The integrated circuit. The computer. Football. Computational fluid dynamics. Tensors. The Constitution. Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Aeschylus, Homer, Hesiod. Glass. Rubber. Nylon. Skyscrapers. The piano. The harpsichord. Elvis. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. (OK, that’s nerve gas, and maybe we didn’t really need it.) Silicone. The automobile. Really weird stuff, like clathrates, Buckyballs, and rotaxanes. The Bible. Bug spray. Diffie-Hellman, public-key cryptography, and RSA. Et cetera at great length.

What do all of these things have in common? Do I really need to tell you?

Thoughts On A Sunday

Warm spring weather has returned, with temps in the 60's today and expected for tomorrow, and temps in the 70's expected for Tuesday and Wednesday. That has meant I've let the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove go out for now as it would easily reach the 80's inside The Manse should I keep it gong, even at its lowest burn rate.

None of this has prodded me to put up the Official Weekend Pundit Snowblower yet as I know Mother Nature can be a bitch and throw yet another snowstorm our way. I think I'll wait until the end of this month before I do so. However I did make arrangements for a slip for the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout (aka The Boat). I expect to get it into the water by mid-May at the latest.

One other milestone this weekend – We fired up the Official Weekend Pundit Grill for the first time since late fall, grilling some nice marinate sirloin tips!

And how was your weekend?

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If the Congressional Democrats didn't have double standards, they'd have no standards at all.

First, they bitch at Donald Trump because he didn't consult with them first before taking out some of Syria's chemical weapon delivery systems. Not that he needed to. We certainly saw enough of that with The Won, with him notifying them well after the fact.

Second, they bitch at Mitch McConnell because he used the “Reid Option”, aka 'the nuclear option', to get around a Democrat filibuster in the Senate over Neil Gorsuch's confirmation. They seemed to be fine with it when it wasn't aimed at them, but now that the table has turned they're appalled and apoplectic.

As they're learning, “Elections have consequences” means that it cuts both ways.

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I think this charts says it all. No further explanation is needed or required.

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I find it interesting that many anti-Trump folks point to his failures to keep his campaign promises. I also find it interesting that these same folks have totally ignored those he's already kept and those he's still working to complete.

Yeah, the repeal of ObamaCare didn't come off as everyone who was against it had hoped. That doesn't mean the effort is dead, the anti-Trumpers and ObamaCare panderers beliefs to the contrary.

There are other things in the works, such as severely paring back the unauthorized and, in some case, illegal regulations and 'administrative' laws that have been an increasingly heavy burden on businesses, large and small. These regulations and laws protect no one (except the rent-seekers), cost businesses billions to implement, assuming they can even do so.

The unelected bureaucrats have somehow come to believe that they decide what the laws are or should be, not Congress, not the courts (not even the Supreme Court), and not the President. They seem to have forgotten that they work for the President, are bound by the laws passed by Congress, and cannot ignore court rulings that seek to limit their overreach.

That Trump has made moves to eliminate these rules and administrative laws, even if it means firing slews of self-important bureaucrats and eliminating departments and agencies that serve no useful purpose other than wasting billions of taxpayer dollars and hampering the lives of the American people with draconian rules and regulations, should surprise no one who has been paying attention. It is a long overdue action that needs doing, and quickly.

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I don't know how I missed this, but it seems there may be an issue with voter fraud here in New Hampshire that might affect the outcome of November's election, specifically for the office of US Senator.

NH1 was told about 6,000 who registered to vote and voted same-day using out of state driver’s licenses. Then, they claim that is legal under state law. I would like to know which state law lets a non-resident vote in NH because I have yet to find one. You can use an out of state driver’s license in the extremely rare case you are in transition from one state to another – but temporary non-citizens must still follow their home state’s laws. There are 49 other states with various laws regarding their citizens voting in another state. It is illegal in all the states I have checked, and in a Federal Election, it is illegal and unconstitutional as well.

Considering the Senate race between then-GOP incumbent Kelly Ayotte and former NH Governor, Democrat Maggie Hassan was decide by less the 500 votes, with many of those 6000 'new' out-of-state voters located in college towns, one has to wonder if the race would have gone in Ayotte's favor if it weren't for those college voters. I also have to wonder how many, if any of those out-of-state college students also voted in their home states via absentee ballot?

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Businesses are finding out the hard way that buckling to the demands of the perpetually offended SJWs almost always backfires, The latest two cases – Target and Starbucks.

Starbucks shot itself in the foot when it stated it set aside 10,000 jobs exclusively for refugees. The result – its stock price plummeted and it saw a falloff in sales. What about jobs for Americans? These jobs aren't the so-called 'jobs Americans don't want to do'.

Target also ran afoul of its customer base, costing it a fortune in lost sales. The trigger? The retailer stated in blog post about its policy change in regards to allowing bathroom access for its transgendered customers and employees, capitulating to SJW hysteria.

What does any of this mean? It's simple really – the SJWs and their 'supporters' are a very small minority and being cowed by their demands has a price, that being losing customers. They should learn the lesson that it is their customers who are important to their survival, not self-important crybullies who are offended by everything.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the warm weather has returned, the snows are rapidly melting away, and we're counting the days until we can remove the shrink wrap from out boats.

Thoughts On A Sunday

While we didn't quite as much snow as some had predicted, the 8 inches that did fall was a pain to move. It was a very heavy snow compared to that seen over a week ago, making it a longer task to clean off the driveway. What usually takes a little over an hour took over two and there were still a few things left undone. (I ran out of gas. No, not the snowblower, but me.)

Ice melt and sand didn't get laid down until this morning.

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This guy should just vomit and get it over with. Then when he explains why he vomited he should be beaten like the asshole he is. And then beaten again because he's such an asshole.

And to think he's teaching your kids at Drexel University. If your kids are going there you should seriously consider either having them transfer elsewhere, demand some of the tuition money you paid be refunded, or work to have this asshole fired.

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I like Rob Schneider's take on the Democrats' problem and who is to blame.

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Here's more on the SJW-motivated non-kerfuffle about why Mike Pence and other men won't have dinner alone with a woman who is not his wife or significant other.

From one comment to the Atlantic article linked in the above:

1. Greatly expand definition of sexual harassment.
2. Make any accusation of sexual harassment career-ending.
3. Proclaim that women should always be believed when they accuse a man.
4. Complain that men won’t have 1-on-1 meetings with women.

The so-called gender feminists have created the conditions listed above and they wonder why men won't put themselves into a position that leaves them vulnerable to extortion, or worse, loss of their careers. The gender feminists call it sexism. Men call it prudent means to survive a hostile business environment.

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Ed Driscoll drills down into the debacle that was 60 Minutes Scott Pelley's interview with with Mike Cernovich. To say that Pelley had his head handed to him by Cernovich would be an understatement.

Scott Pelley: You wrote in August a story about Hillary Clinton’s medical condition the headlines said, “Hillary Clinton has Parkinson’s disease. Position confirms.” That’s quite a headline.

Mike Cernovich: Yeah, Dr. Ted Noel had se-sent a story to me anonymously, that I checked out, analyzing her medical condition. And –

Scott Pelley: It isn’t true.

Mike Cernovich: How do you know?

Scott Pelley: Well, she doesn’t seem to have any signs of Parkinson’s disease.

Mike Cernovich: She had a seizure and froze up walking into her motorcade that day caught by a citizen journalist.

Scott Pelley: Did you, well, she had pneumonia. I mean –

Mike Cernovich: How do you know?

Scott Pelley: Well, because that’s what was reported.

Mike Cernovich: By whom? Who told you that?

Scott Pelley: Well, the campaign told us that.

Mike Cernovich: Why would you trust a campaign?

Indeed. Why would any journalist trust the campaign of anyone running for office? The answer to that is simple – because those same journalists were campaign supporters with bylines. At that point they were no longer journalists but apparatchiks. What makes this even worse is that the so-called journalists actually believe that that's what they are supposed to do.

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Take the Snowflake Test.

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First, Venezuela fell under the sway of socialism and it went from being the richest nation is South America to the poorest. Another country, Brazil, also fell under the sway of socialism and also saw its fortunes decline and almost collapse. But at least Brazilians realized what was going on and worked to change it.

Here's what happened:


Maybe it's time for both the Venezuelans and our country's millenials to wake up to the fact that socialism doesn't friggin' work, ever.

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One has to wonder whether there will be a Second Civil War in the US, seeing as Democrats is some states believe that foreign laws should somehow hold sway here in the US over our own laws.

I'm sorry, but if people want to be judged based upon the laws from the country or culture they came from, the perhaps they should return to those places so they can be granted their wish.

If you break US laws while here in the US then you should be judged based upon US laws. That is part and parcel of any legal system. If you let the laws of another nation or culture to override US law, then US law becomes meaningless and the legal system breaks down. That can lead to war, particularly if those who believe in law and order and the sanctity of US law and the US Constitution decide they've had enough and decide to do something about it.

That will get ugly real quick and those who believe foreign laws should reign supreme will find themselves on the losing side and, quite possibly, dangling from the end of a rope for treason.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the snow that fell on Saturday is melting away rapidly, the local ski area is closing for the season, and where thoughts of boating season have returned.

A Purely Defensive (And Understandable) Move

I find it interesting, but unsurprising, that the Left has lost its friggin' mind over the revelation that Mike Pence prefers not to dine alone with women who are not his wife.

Reading some of the tweets and comments about his choice, one has to wonder if those who lambaste him and call him sexist truly understand the reason why he does this. I certain do. Just about any man alive today understands.

While Pence has both religious and moral reasons for doing so, many other men understand the risk entailed by doing so. Considering the hostile environment created by the various feminist groups, SJW's, and the perpetually offended Left, it's no wonder no sane man would want to put himself into a position that has a high risk of destroying his reputation, or worse, his career. Call it a necessary defensive move in a situation created by the very same people who are now slamming Pence for publicly stating his preferences and the reason behind them.

These morons need to get a clue.