Thoughts On A Sunday - End Of Year Edition

Here it is, the last TOAS of 2018, and it is time to take stock of the past 12 months.

While the Number One story (for me) was the sale of The Manse and the subsequent move to The Gulch until The New Manse is built, there were plenty of other events and stories that were more important in the greater scheme of things.

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One of the most annoying things I (and many others) have dealt with all year is the media’s constant barrage of the Orange Man Bad meme. It seemed to me that every news broadcast begins with three or four stories slamming President Trump for offenses real or imagined (mostly imagined). It got old after the second day. I have learned to not tune into the any newscasts for the first 5 minutes or so as they are usually reserved to bashing Trump.

This phenomenon is one I expect to continue during Trump’s entire time in office. After all most of the MSM have been a major part of the propaganda wing of the Democrat National Committee for years.

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One of the biggest non-stories of the year has to be Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations and unsubstantiated testimony against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. She couldn’t remember where or when the party took place thirty years prior where the alleged assault took place. Friends of Kavanaugh couldn’t remember any such party where the alleged assault took place. Two other men claimed it was they who were the ones who ‘felt up’ the young Christine Blasey at a party when they were all teens. (The assault that was alleged would have been considered fourth degree assault, a misdemeanor in the state of Maryland where the alleged assault took place. The statute of limitations for misdemeanors is one year and is not something that is extraditeable.)

Blasey Ford’s testimony was further debunked by an expert in reading body language that reached the conclusion that she had been coached, using facial expressions, poses, and changes in the pitch of her voice to portray herself as an “innocent young girl”. The expert caught on to expressions that indicated that she was ‘reading from a script’ and not actually addressing the memories about the assault.

It was the biggest ‘non-event’ to take place on national television.

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The new Congresscritter representing the Bronx, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes (D), is the gift that keeps on giving. The freshmen representative has overblown expectations of the power she’ll be wielding, either not caring or not understanding that she’ll have little if any power during her first term. Of the two, the latter is the more likely as she has shown a particular lack of knowledge about how things actually work, a bad case of biblical illiteracy, and a troubling lack of understanding about economics considering her economics degree from Boston University. The fact that the only job she could seem to find after graduating from BU was as a bartender is an indicator that something doesn’t add up about Ms. Occasional Cortex.

She even plays the “I grew up a poor Latina in New York” game even though she and her family were and are quite well off.

I have a feeling she’s burning bridges she can ill afford to burn in her quest to turn the US into a failed socialist state.

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The “We’re All Gonna DIE!!” warmists are trying hard to ignore the 2018 weather record that shows there have been no violent tornadoes in the US. Zip. Zero. Nada. Not one. After all, that news doesn’t fit in with their narrative that hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, and all other kinds of weather events would become more numerous and stronger, causing far more damage than we’ve ever seen.

The only other news that is upsetting the warmists is Judith Curry’s study that shows that a lot of the supposed sea-level rise has less to do with actual rising sea-level and more to do with sinking land.

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Voter fraud was front and center this past November as a number of races were decided by ‘found’ ballot boxes, questionable absentee ballots, and ballot harvesting that singlehandedly changed the outcome of a number of congressional races all by themselves.

The one thing all of these ‘found’ ballots had in common? They always favored the Democrats. Every. Single. Time.

Statistically that’s impossible, particularly when it occurs in election after election. Yet the Democrats keep telling us that we’re just sore losers and that we should ignore any improprieties because SHUT UP!

We seriously need to do away with things like ballot harvesting, something that lends itself to voting fraud. Ballots need to be counted where they are cast, not boxed up and carted off to a central location for counting because it lends itself to voting fraud because it too often leads to ‘found’ ballot boxes. Absentee balloting needs better security because too many voters have been disfranchised when they show up at the polls and find out that they had already “voted” by absentee ballot, meaning someone else voted in their place and stole their vote.

Unless these issues are addressed, faith in our election system will erode to the point where no one will trust the system and elections will be meaningless.

But then, that’s what the Left wants, right?

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One has to wonder if the Mueller investigations will ever end. Two years plus and what does the investigation have?

Nothing.

What was supposed to be an investigation into possible collusion by the Trump campaign with the Russians has turned into a never-ending witch hunt that has only managed to trap some former Trump staffers with ‘process crimes’, basically made up crimes that were created just to get someone Mueller wanted to use as leverage against Trump.

This has to be the least productive and most expensive open-ended investigation in US history. Unless Mueller comes up with something that directly ties with the original purpose of the investigation it should be shut down.

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And that’s what I have for a look at ‘The Year That Was’ from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it looks like winter weather has finally returned, the shopping malls are back to normal, and where we’re hoping that 2019 will be even better than 2018.

Tall Men, Short Women

From the “Just when I thought they couldn’t get any stupider” Department comes this latest bit of scholastic insanity.

It appears that Mizzou still hasn’t learned its lesson when it comes to being “woke” and is working hard to further destroy its already diminished enrollment. It’s latest means of self-destruction?

Claims by one of their officials that “tall men asking short women out could constitute sexual misconduct.”

Say what?

Unless the biological differences between men and women have drastically changed recently, most men in general are taller than women. They’re also bulkier and stronger. So what are men at Mizzou supposed to do if they want to ask a woman out? Only ask out women that are of a similar size to the man asking? Yeah, that’ll work.

For years, we have been told that one must receive “affirmative consent” before anything of a dating or sexual nature takes place. Critics of such policies, such as this reporter, have often wondered what would happen if the mere ask is unwanted, does that also constitute sexual harassment or assault?

Now we appear to have our answer: Yes.

When a Mizzou official was questioned regarding a case where a black male Ph.D. candidate at the school asked out a white female fitness trainer, she bizarrely suggested that the fact that the male student was larger than the female student gave him “power over her” and violated school policy. (Emphasis mine.)

This is taking this crap too far. The reasoning is bizarre at best, sexist at worst, and completely disconnected from reality. Then again these woke college administrators don’t live in the real world.

It’s long past time for this nonsense to be removed from college campuses, if need be removed with prejudice. Administrators like this one need to be fired and banned from ever working in a college environment ever again. They’ve already caused far too much damage to our youth and it has to be stopped before the damage is irreversible.

Merry Christmas

A very Merry Christmas from the WP clan!

Thoughts On A Sunday

Christmas rapidly approaches and fortunately all of my Christmas shopping has been completed. I am still spending time getting settled in at The Gulch, with unpacking some boxes, repacking others, storing some away in the attic at The Gulch and others at my storage rental is taking time. A few dump runs have also been necessary as the WP Mom has decided it was time to shed herself of some of the detritus that has collected in her garage and attic.

It’s slowly coming together.

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We’ve been hearing about ‘5G’ wireless service for some time now. It’s going to be faster than the present 4G service presently available, using radio frequencies that are up in the millimeter wave bands. The hype has been increasing even though real 5G service isn’t likely to be available any time soon. It’s being tested in a number of cities but is not yet being deployed in any great numbers. There aren’t even any cell phones available that are capable of using 5G and even the larger cell phone manufacturers won’t have 5G phones ready to market until sometime in 2020.

However, that hasn’t stopped one wireless provider from claiming that 5G service is now available even though it’s really more like 4G with some added functionality.

On top of that one of our local activists has decided that 5G technology will be the death of us all and is working to ban deployment because it will cook us all from the inside out and give all of us cancer. While the concerns are not unfounded, the risk being portrayed is orders of magnitude above that of reality. Of the only studies I’ve been able to find, one from the National Cancer Institute stated “A limited number of studies have shown some evidence of statistical association of cell phone use and brain tumor risks… but most studies have found no association.” The National Toxicology Program of the National Institutes of Health has found that male rats exposed to cell phone radiation saw a small increase in tumors. The study stated “The rats were exposed to nine hours of radiation daily, in 10-minutes-on, 10-minutes-off intervals, over their whole bodies for two years. The researchers found increased incidences of rare brain and heart tumors starting at about the federally allowable level of cellphone radiation for brain exposure, with greater incidences at about two and four times those levels.” What about female rats? How does this directly tie into use by human beings? There isn’t a direct correlation that the NIH cited.

All of the other ‘studies’ I could find were rehashes of other claims made by some of the ‘usual suspects’. No official studies were cited. Most of ‘studies’ cited were actually quotes from those expressing opinions about the possibility of adverse biological effects of millimeter wave RF. But no references to actual studies have been found.

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Want to know why Obamacare doesn’t work? Moonbattery lists a couple of reasons why. And here’s a video that delves deeper.

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From the “Just when I thought they couldn’t get any stupider” Department comes this:

In the latest bit of PC fascism, the SJW snowflakes want to ban gingerbread men because “Sexism!” Will yet another tradition enjoyed by millions fall victim to their vicious dislike of everything?

The one thing I’ve noticed about SJWs is that they are seriously unhappy people. It appears the only joy they experience (and then only briefly) is when they make other people as unhappy as they are. How sick and twisted is that?

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Is giving catnip to cats unethical?

The debate on the matter can be found here.

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Skip Murphy offers us this equational Christmas Greeting.

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It looks like George Soros has taken a page from the Democrats’ 2012 election strategy, inundating Trump with endless lawsuits. This was the same tactic Alaskan Democrats used to try to bankrupt Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, filing lawsuit after lawsuit over trivial and nonsensical ‘ethics’ violations that were, in the end, unfounded. (At the time Alaska did not provide the governor with legal representation and she had to pay her legal costs out of pocket.)

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The New England Patriots are playing the Buffalo Bills in Foxboro today. If the Patriots win today they clinch a playoff slot.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where of our snow was washed away this past Friday, more snow is expected early Christmas Day, and where our Christmas shopping is all finished!

Thoughts On A Sunday

The sale of The Manse is complete and I am now fully ensconced at The Gulch.

I have to admit to feeling bittersweet about the sale: sad to be leaving it behind after thirteen and a half years considering all of the memories made while living there, yet glad to have the sale completed and moving on to a new environment.

There is still a lot of work I need to do in order to get settled into The Gulch, mostly getting our belongings properly stored away yet readily reachable. I figure it’s going to take a couple of weeks to get things squared away.

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Will the plans by the watermelon environmentalists to force everyone to change over to renewable energy sources come to a screeching halt for the simple reason that there are not enough materials available to make all of the solar panels and wind turbines that would be needed?

I’d say that’s a pretty fair bet. Better that we build more nukes, particularly thorium reactors. The amount of materials needed to build zero-carbon nukes is infinitesimal compared to those needed to put up those damnable solar panels and wind turbines. They are also far more environmentally friendly.

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You know New York State’s government has gone full thug when it’s AG-elect “vows to go one step further than her predecessors, going full on thug and threatening to get him any way she can, even to go as far as attempting to change NY laws to do so.”

When the state’s top law enforcement official is going to go so far as to change state law as a means to ‘get’ a sitting president, it’s time for the US Attorney General to start an official corruption and/or conspiracy investigation.

These politicians have to learn that the law applies to them as well and that even though they hold power, it is not the power to pervert the laws of their state and to flout federal law as a means of destroying their political enemies. It’s time to send some of these people “who walk the halls of power with impunity” to be reminded that we are a nation of laws and that they are as much under their power as well.

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Just when I thought they couldn’t get any stupider.

The latest lunacy?

Banning yoga on the American University campus because of complaints that it is cultural appropriation.

These cultural Balkanists must be stopped. They either don’t know or don’t care that all cultures ‘appropriate’ portions of other cultures and have since there have actually been cultures. It’s how they evolve and grow. Without that appropriation, cultures can stagnate and die. Then again, maybe that’s what these Balkanists want.

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Apparently antifa has no problem with hypocrisy, particularly when it comes to assaulting two United States Marines. As they attacked them, calling them “Nazis” and “white supremacists”, they also threw racial slurs at them, calling them “wetbacks” and “spics”.

So which is it? Are the two Latino US Marines Nazis and white supremacists, or are they wetbacks and spics?

These antifa a**holes need to get their narratives straight. They also need to get their a**es kicked when they pick on a bunch of folks who aren’t intimidated by their mob bravado.

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A lot of people like organic foods. Too bad they’re far worse for the environment than traditional farming because organic farming requires more land, more water, more labor, and more fuel to grow the same amount of food.

So tell me again how organic farming is better than traditional farming?

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather has been warmer than normal, there’s only an inch or two of snow predicted to fall between now and next weekend, and where the stores are still crowded with Christmas shoppers.

Thoughts On A Sunday - Moving Monday Edition

Sorry for the delay, but as I explained yesterday I am in the midst of moving from The Manse to The Gulch. Deb and I have sold The Manse as it is far too big for us and staying there made no sense financially.

We had hoped to find a smaller place that was move in ready and a lot less expensive than The Manse, but after months of looking at homes that were the right size but way over market price or priced right but needing a lot of work, I realized the only way to find the right fit was to build. In the meantime a new residence was needed and the WP Mom offered her place until a new home was built.

I had hoped to have everything moved out by yesterday, but some things took longer than expected and moving is still not completed. But it’s almost done.

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Listening to the LSM, they are licking their chops at the prospect of President Trump’s impeachment. They rate the chance of it happening as 100% and they expect him to be convicted. But there is still little but innuendo, illegally obtained surveillance warrants, conviction over so-called ‘process’ crimes that have nothing to do with the actual investigation about Russian collusion during the 2016 election. But they see it all as a ‘smoking gun’ that will sink Trump.

Where were these LSM motherf**kers during the Obama Administration? He pulled far more illegal and unconstitutional stunts during his 8 years in office, was divisive, racist, uncompromising, willfully ignorant, and arrogant, yet we heard nothing from the MSM. Then again, the MSM has devolved into the propaganda wing of the DNC and facts, evidence, and truth mean nothing if it doesn’t push forth the Progressive narrative.

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The InstaProf has published yet another paper that delves into the machinations of the above mentioned DNC and their minions. Titled “Crime Follies: Overcriminalization, Independent Prosecutors, and the Rule of Law”, it is well worth downloading and reading.

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You the Progressives have gone too damn far when they start trying to destroy our Christmas holiday classics.

This week the principal of LaGuardia, the performing-arts high school in Manhattan, decreed that all Nazi paraphernalia be removed from the set and production of “The Sound of Music” — an anti-Nazi show (duh) set in Austria just as it’s being taken over by the Nazis.
--snip--

Another case in point: ABC’s 1973 classic “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” was recently attacked because its only black character, Franklin, was seated alone on one side of the dinner table while his white friends sat on the other side.

Meanwhile, the Huffington Post noted that the 1964 TV show “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was “seriously problematic” because many viewers said they were disturbed by its themes of sexism and bullying.

Then there’s the song “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” In 1944, the songwriter Frank Loesser began performing a skit in song form at the parties he attended in Hollywood with his then-wife, Lynn. He was “the wolf,” she the “mouse,” and they were together at his home when she decided to take her leave.

It’s getting to the point of being terminally ridiculous.

Almost anyone can be offended by something in just about anything if one looks hard enough. Then again, Progressives are offended by everything all the time, particularly if it doesn’t fit in with the Progressive narrative. They profess to not want to offend anyone, but in the process they offend everyone, even themselves. It gets to the point that no one wants to deal with them in any way, shape, or form because they are major buzzkills about damn near everything.

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I have been saying this for years.

It appears the warmists have been purposely ignoring factors that likely have a far greater effect on the climate than CO2, specifically water vapor and the Urban Heat Island effect.

The warmists need CO2 to be the culprit because it is something that is quantifiable even if it only a minor factor affecting climate. Water vapor is almost impossible to control, mitigate, or tax. The Urban Heat Island effect is something that would require more research to quantify, can likely be mitigated without spending trillions and destroying national economies, and something that doesn’t lend itself to being exploited by the warmists or being taxed to death.

It’s time to call a spade a spade and slam ‘em up side the head with reality.

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And that’s the delayed and slightly abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the below normal temperatures have made it seem more like January, the Christmas shopping frenzy has not abated since Black Friday, and Christmas is fast approaching.

Thoughts On A Sunday

My usual TOAS post has been delayed one day as the work to make the move from The Manse to The Gulch has taken longer than expected. We still aren't done. I just arrived back at The Gulch after a lengthy day making trips between The Manse, The Gulch, and my rental storage unit. I'll be getting back to it first thing in the morning. I'll have the Moving Edition of TOAS Monday evening.

Thoughts On A Sunday

This is the last Thoughts On A Sunday to be authored from the present Manse as the time to move arrives next weekend. I will be moving to temporary quarters at The Gulch, the WP Mother’s home hidden away in the hills of our little town.

Deb and I will be having the closing on The Manse with the new owners a week from this coming Friday. We wanted to get everything emptied out well ahead of time, allowing us to clean The Manse and leave it in pristine shape for the new owners.

Plans for the new Manse are in the works, its location “somewhere in the hills near Lake Winnipesaukee”. Hopefully construction will begin this next summer and The New Manse will be occupied by this time next year.

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It was with sadness I learned of the passing of former President George H.W. Bush. I had the opportunity to meet him during his 1998 presidential campaign during one of his visits to New Hampshire. He was gracious then and from what I’ve seen of him since then, he was gracious right to the end. That he was also willing to make fun of himself, particularly as a foil to Dana Carvey’s impressions of him, showed his sense of humor.

He will be missed.

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Hmm, it seems that the PC disease is after new targets. The latest victims of PC?

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Baby It’s Cold Outside.

It’s getting to the point that everything is un-PC, and therefore must be banned.

It’s yet another move by those who are perpetually offended on the behalf of people who aren’t offended and could not care less.

My theory, which mirrors others, is that things are so good that the perpetually offended have to take minor things, blow them all out of proportion in order to make them seem to be more important than they really are, and then express over the top outrage about these same minor things. Otherwise they have no raison d’être. One would think they could take up something more constructive and productive like crochet or macramé.

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You’ve got to love all those tolerant Democrats in government.

The latest example of that tolerance took place on the floor of the Illinois House where a Democrat representative wished death upon one of her Republican colleagues and his family.

Is it just me, or has this kind of ‘rhetoric’ become far more prevalent over the past 10 years, particularly by the Democrats?

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Are Americans less religious than they have been in the past? Or have they actually replaced one religion for another, in this case the ‘new’ religion of Leftism?

Unfortunately the answer appears to be ‘yes’. This new religion is one of envy, greed, perpetual offense, and lax or non-existent morals. So much of the new leftist religion has its adherents acting like spoiled children.

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There have been warnings about possible EMP attacks against the US which are still being devoutly ignored, much to our peril.

Hardening our electrical grid against EMP isn’t difficult, but more a time consuming task that could pay big dividends. Such hardening also helps protect against CME like the Carrington Event, a solar flare that took place back in back in 1859. Were such a flare take place today, the electrical systems around the world would be affected, if not damaged or detstroyed.

As I build the new Manse, I plan to incorporate as much EMP protection as I can into its electrical system, computer network, and amateur radio shack. It doesn’t require thousands and thousands of dollars or large amounts of equipment.

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Here’s a question to which I agree with the answer.

Is Western Civilization superior? Why, yes! Yes it is.

Here’s one reason why:

The beauty of Western Civilization is that it isn’t limited by either blood or soil, but transcends anything and everything… aside from a dedication to tyranny and delusion.

Plenty of other civilizations/cultures also have their tyrannies and delusions.

Western Civilization created so much that we all take for granted, and has had aspects of it incorporated into so many other cultures. Yes, it’s cultural appropriation. But that’s how civilizations can improve themselves. Western Civilization has also borrowed from so many other cultures, trying to incorporate the best of those other cultures into its own.

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David Starr, NH State Senator-elect and fellow New Hampshire blogger, relates his experiences at orientation day for newly elected New Hampshire legislators down at the state capitol.

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How do you define irony?

Segregation was ended decades ago by both legislation and court decisions, all in the name of civil rights and the God given equality of men. Six decades later the descendants of the very people who fought to end segregation, to end the Jim Crow era, are working fervently to reinstitute segregation on college campuses.

So much for diversity bringing us all together. Instead, it heralds the Balkanization of American culture.

Yeah, that will work out well.

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You know our educational system no longer works when government employees don’t know that places like New Mexico and Alaska are actually states and part of the US.

Then again, if government employees are ignorant it makes it that much easier to have them ‘enforce’ laws and regulations that either don’t exist or are illegal/unconstitutional.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where winter weather has returned (again), the house is looking increasingly empty, and where Christmas and New Year’s will arrive all too soon.

Thoughts On A Sunday

This January-like November we’ve been experiencing in New England has finally receded, with temps today being close to normal (lower 40’s) and rain helping to melt away some of the snow we’ve received. On Thanksgiving Day we had temperatures in the single digits and low teens, with wind-chill factors well below zero all day. I had to keep checking he calendar to conform that we were indeed still in November, not mid-January.

Our Thanksgiving gathering at the youngest WP Sister’s place went off without a hitch. Though it wasn’t the largest gathering we’ve had by any means, we still had a good portion of the WP clan in attendance.

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OK, folks, I think we have to agree that Hollywood has run out of ideas and has been resurrecting old movies and TV series. The next TV series to be raised from the dead?

Northern Exposure.

While I liked the show, goodness knows it was a quirky show with a lot of appeal, I’m not sure how well it will do. Should the project go forward, I can see where the first episode would garner a lot of viewers. Most of those viewers are likely to be fans of the original (like me), but if the resurrected version does not retain the quirkiness and, dare I say ‘fun’ of the original, it won’t survive.

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Oh, this is embarrassing!

One group of special operations undercover police officers in one Detroit precinct acting as dope dealers were targeted for arrest by another group of special operation undercover police officers from another precinct acting as buyers.

Don’t these special operations groups talk with each other?

As amusing as this sounds, this kind of mistake could have ended up with cop-on-cop shootings. Somebody needs to be fired.

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Coyote Blog has a suggestion when it comes to government involvement with health care: Have the government focus on the one thing it does best and keep it away from the rest. What is that “one thing”?

…the one thing the government is really, really good at is being an insurer of last resort -- they have the deep pockets and the fiat money power to do this better than anyone else -- that is why they are the insurer of last resort of bank deposits and for flood insurance (I am not saying that there are not moral hazards in these or unintended consequences, but the insurance works). So there is the clear opportunity -- what people need most is catastrophic insurance even when the private market won't provide it and the government does really well is provide catastrophic insurance as a last resort.

Keep it away from everything else. As Coyote states, the government is awful at things like cost control and service effectiveness. Goodness knows there are enough examples to prove these two points, including things like Medicaid and Medicare.

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The Perpetually Offended Social Justice Warrior Snowflakes have cost yet another college administrator his job. His offense?

Asking questions that needed to be asked about those accusing then SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault that had the snowflakes swooning onto their fainting couches.

While the administrator himself was not fired, he was suspended by the college and he later tendered his resignation.

I have one message for these snowflakes: Grow up!

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This is something anyone with even a smattering of economic smarts has known right from the beginning: Green energy is a disastrous flop.

“Green” energy is expensive, even with government subsidies, is not dispatchable (not readily available when needed), and tends to displace inexpensive and reliable energy sources because they take priority.

Green energy is a loser and the sooner people realize it the sooner we can get back to sane, fact-based energy policies.

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I’m with Skip Murphy on this one: Stop Premature Christmas Decorating!

It seems Christmas decorations go up in stores earlier every year. I have seen them while Halloween decorations are still up!

As a kid I remember that Christmas decorations in stores didn’t go up until after Thanksgiving. There was no ‘Black Friday’. No endless TV commercials hawking unidentifiable presents. Our Christmas decorations didn’t go up into about a week before Christmas and came down on New Year’s Day.

I figure it’s only a matter of time before the Christmas decorations start going up even as the flashes and booms of Fourth of July fireworks are fading away.

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Are we an ungrateful nation?

Unfortunately, the answer is mostly “yes”.

According to Pew Research from 2015, when it comes to standard of living, "The U.S. stands head and shoulders above the rest of the world. More than half (56 percent) of Americans were high income by the global standard ... and 2 percent were poor."

Fantastic products are cheaper than ever. Human Progress investigated the amount of time Americans must spend to earn enough money to buy key products and found that since 1979, the amount of time spent to earn a refrigerator had dropped 52 percent, 95 percent for microwaves, 65 percent for gas ranges and 61 percent for dishwashers. Between the mid-1960s and 2007, Americans were able to work less and leisure more: They worked nearly eight hours fewer per week, according to The Heritage Foundation. The wage gap is almost entirely a myth: Women who work the same jobs as men for the same number of hours, and have the same work history and same education as men make the same as men. The chief obstacles to income mobility in the United States are related to personal decision-making, not racial discrimination: As the Brookings Institution points out, of the people who finish high school, get a full-time job and wait until age 21 to get married and have children, nearly 75 percent join the middle class, and just 2 percent remain in poverty.

What of freedom? In America, people of all religions practice freely, so long as the government isn't attempting to cram social justice down on them. People are free to speak, so long as government actors aren't utilizing the heckler's veto. We are free to use the press, free to associate and free to protest.

All of this is the result of the greatest governmental philosophy ever committed to paper: God-given individual rights protected by limited government. We haven't always lived up to that philosophy -- in some areas, we've progressed mightily, and in others, we've regressed. But the overall success of the United States should be ringing proof that at the very least, we should be grateful and proud to live here.

I know I am. I have managed to spend time in 40-some countries over the past 40+ years, and not as a tourist. A few have been wonderful places. More than a few of the others have been nightmares best forgotten. And the rest lie somewhere in between those extremes. Yet none of them measured up to the US. None of them.

Of course I realize that it is my bias speaking, but it is a well-earned bias and one to which I am unapologetic.

We take so much for granted, have so much, and yet some of us are unhappy and ungrateful. For some, the answer seems to be to unmake America and turn it into a Third World s**thole as some kind of atonement for our success. They believe we are guilty of some kind of sin and must flail ourselves in punishment, and if we don’t do it voluntarily they’ll force us to even if it means tearing America apart to do so. What a bunch of ungrateful morons.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where warmer weather has returned for a few days, where the snow is melting as a result, and where the stress of upcoming Christmas is ramping up.

Thoughts On A Sunday

Though it’s still mid-November we’ve been experiencing weather that is more fitting for January, with daytime temps at or just below freezing and nighttime temps in the teens and single digits. We also had 4 inches of snow on Friday, just enough to remind folks that winter is just around the corner and that it’s best to make sure our vehicles are ready for adverse road conditions.

I have been using the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove to heat The Manse. It’s good thing we had almost a cord of dry firewood still stacked in the garage. It’s meant I haven’t had to use the furnace (and burn expensive propane) to keep the rather sparsely furnished Manse warm. (I am still in the process of packing up our various belongings and moving them into storage, so most of the rooms are empty.) Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend I expect to get most of the rest of our belongings put away.

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As the trend of our younger generation becoming more enamored of socialism despite knowing nothing of its history, I have spoken to many of them about what they find so appealing. Almost every one of them responded with some or all of the following:

“It’s so appealing in its equality.”

“No one will be more equal than anyone else.”

“Poverty will go away.”

“Racism and sexism won’t exist anymore.”

Of course they know nothing of the history of socialism and its unbroken chain of failures, the bloody trail it has left behind, and how it has left economies and financial systems in ruins that leads to the populace living in abject poverty.

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I think it’s long past due time for the UK to make a break with the EU. Delaying Brexit is causing more harm than good and with some of the British politicians working hard to kill of Brexit, the UK is being torn apart.

Frankly, I have long been of the opinion that the UK would be better off joining an Anglosphere organization, maintaining their independence, and ending their increasing dominance by unelected officials and bureaucrats in Brussels. It’s time to tell the EU to piss off.

******************

You know the Democrat gun-grabbers have gone over the edge when one of them threatens supporters of the Second Amendment with nuclear weapons if they won’t willingly give up their guns.

Class act, that one. It also gives us a damn good reason to keep our weapons because politicians like that are a danger to everyone.

******************

Uh-oh.

It looks like the scientific Powers That Be are about ready to dethrone the physical representation of the kilogram, redefining it.

When the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) convenes next week in Versailles, France, representatives of the 60 member nations are expected to vote to redefine the International System of Units (SI) so that four of its base units—the kilogram, ampere, kelvin, and mole—are defined indirectly, in terms of physical constants that will be fixed by fiat. They’ll join the other three base units—the second, meter, and candela (a measure of a light’s perceived brightness)—that are already defined that way. The rewrite eliminates the last physical artifact used to define a unit, Le Grand K.

In the past the meter was redefined in terms of the speed of light, making the old meter ‘stick’ nothing more than a relic. And so it will be with the platinum-iridium sphere that is presently is the physical representation of the kilogram.

******************

Earlier I wrote about the incredible ignorance of our younger generations when it comes to the actual outcomes from the socialist systems. If they need a real world example of just how bad it gets, all we need to do is point them to Venezuela, and particularly their oil output which is in freefall. That Venezuela has some of the largest oil reserves in the world makes this news even more ironic. It was the wealthiest nation in South America, then Hugo Chavez was elected and imposed his vision of a Socialist Venezuela, carried on by his successor Nicolas Maduro. Now Venezuela is the poorest nation in South America and it’s poverty is purely self-inflicted. Famine is wide-spread. Healthcare is non-existent as are badly needed medications. Electricity is in short supply. Foreign capital investment is only a dream. The only wealthy in Venezuela are the leaders who have enriched themselves by impoverishing the people they lead.

Such is the promise of socialism.

******************

Here’s something that doesn’t surprise me in the least.

A study from tech developer Asurion has found that cellphone etiquette has shifted to the point where cellphone use is ubiquitous and intrusive.

Americans will often use their mobile phones in places such as public bathrooms and are not shy about the personal topics they discuss.

In fact, one of the advantages of the phone booth was the relative privacy. That’s not the case in a public bathroom, but that has still become the new phone booth, according to the survey – nearly half (45%) of people have talked, texted or checked their phones while in a public restroom. One in 10 people surveyed said they use their phones in public restrooms at least once a week; additionally, one in 7 said the person they were talking with knew they were in a public restroom and didn’t care.

I can attest to that, having witnessed more than a few restroom cellphone conversations that should have taken place more private.

Then there’s the other end of this experience where people will pay attention to their smart phones rather than the people with them. We all see it all the time, with people bowed over their smart phones, typing, swiping, or tapping the phone displays as they surf the web, text, watch cat videos, and so on. No one exists outside their area of focus.

How many of you have walked into the break room at work or a coffee shop filled with people and no one is looking up, talking to the people beside them? I’ll bet that most of you would answer “I have!” It’s an all too common occurrence these days. It is also rude, something that present day cellphone etiquette fails to address.

******************

And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where winter has arrived early, my boat is safely stored away for the winter (whew!), and even colder weather is forecast for Thanksgiving Day.

Thoughts On A Sunday

It was a happy event for the WP clan on Saturday with the nuptials of one of the WP nephews. My dear brother’s middle son tied the knot in a farm wedding setting in the little town of Greenfield, NH. It is one of the few times we’ve been able to get most of the family together at one place at the same time.

As the saying goes, “A good time was had by all.”

*****************

I did make a post on Election Day and promised a follow up, but never did get to it. I ended up getting back from the polls a lot later than I had expected and all I was thinking of going to bed.

I do have to say that some of the results were disappointing, especially in regards to one of our Congressional districts. The GOP candidate did do pretty well considering he had a fraction of the money to spend that his Democrat opponent had available, losing by 3 percentage points.

*****************

You know things are getting bad when the SJW snowflakes start slamming a long time greeting – “Long time no see” – as being racist because it’s “not inclusive”. For the life of me I cannot figure out how such a greeting is “not inclusive”.

I have a feeling that they will whittle away all greetings until “F**k you, all you a**holes!” will be the only politically correct and inclusive greeting allowed if these idiots get their way.

*****************

If this doesn’t sound like election fraud and a cover up, I don’t know what does.

*****************

One thing I have to admire about President Trump is that he refuses to yield in regards to things that have been weakening the US. He’s been undoing a lot of the damage that has been done by the previous administration and by the Deep State. That he has been unyielding and even impolite to those wishing to turn us into a tyrannical socialist hellhole.

*****************

In my opinion, the president’s order limiting asylum requests to those made by people who did not cross the border illegally makes sense. Asylum seekers can apply for asylum at the border crossings. If they cross illegally they should be automatically denied asylum, period. If they’re willing to break our laws to get here, how many other laws will they be willing to break in order to stay here? We have to remember that we are a nation of laws. If we start ignoring the law, we won’t be a nation for long. Unfortunately a lot of our fellow Americans would be pleased if America ceased to exist and became an anarchist dystopia. On the other hand I would have no problem making sure they become some of the first victims of that anarchy they want so badly.

*****************

How can you tell when someone really has no grasp on how an economy works, and more specifically, how businesses live or die based upon the economic choices they make? When they believe silly s**t like this:

Tell me again why it should be legal for an employer to pay a wage that doesn’t cover living expenses? Freedom to exploit is freedom to kill, and it does.

This tells me this person has no grasp of reality when it comes to running a business and is pushing what is rhetoric as truth.

*****************

I don’t know about you, but I wear sunglasses to protect my eyes from UV and to be able to see better on sunny days. But apparently one of the more over-the-edge third wave feminists think men wear sunglasses only because “[t]hey’re used to hide ogling eyes and sinister looks.”

Really? There’s no other possible reason someone, or more specifically, men would wear sunglasses?

So here we have yet another deluded close-minded SJW deciding that something that is seen as normal and has been seen that way ever since sunglasses have existed is now a sexist tool?

This is wrong on so many levels.

*****************

I have always wondered why it is that the only time boxes of ballots are ‘found’ is when Democrats are trailing in vote counts? We never see that when Republicans are trailing.

As such, we really need to dig deep into the problems we’re seeing in Broward and Palm Beach Counties considering how often they have ‘found’ ballot boxes or delayed vote counts or ignored state law and court orders.

*****************

And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where temps have been running below normal, snow is coming later this week, and where Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away.

Election Day 2018

It is Election Day in the US and I have been spending the day at our town’s polling place, performing my duties as an election official. (In case you’re wondering, I am writing this during my break, or in this case, a late lunch.)

From the moment the polls opened at 7AM the voter turnout has been heavy, particularly for a mid-term election. Other than some momentary lulls, the voter traffic has been steady. For the most part voter attitudes have been upbeat, unlike the elections in 2016 where voters showed mostly grim determination to vote and get past the election.

More to follow later.

Thoughts On A Sunday

This past rainy Thursday BeezleBub and I removed the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout from the water, ending our boating season for the year. We loaded it onto the trailer and hauled it back to The Manse. It will be here for a few more days as I offload and store all of the gear and perform some pre-storage cleaning before we haul it down to the local boat shop for winterization and storage.

This year’s boating season was spectacular, running from late May until early November. We made it out onto the lake at least a couple or three times a week, something we haven’t been able to do for some time. I guess we were making up for the boating time we lost over some of the previous years when we weren’t able to make it out nearly as often as we would have liked to.

******************

As if we need any more evidence of what the Left thinks of suburban Deplorables, here’s a perfect example from Vox blogger David Roberts.

I guess only hip urbanites truly understand the issues and the rest of us should go to hell because we don’t. Of course I do have to ask Mr. Roberts just how many other countries his visited or lived in? (Sorry, but places like Acapulco, Cabo San Lucas, and other Spring Break destinations don’t count.)

******************

Why is it the Democrat Party leadership is starting to sound like a bad gangster movie?

******************

You know Democrats are getting desperate when they have to make it seem that the booming economy is bad news for Americans.

Tweeted Rep. Eric Stallwell:

The economy is NOT the stock market, the unemployment rate, or GDP. It’s YOU. Are you doing better, saving more, and looking at your kids and dreaming bigger? This @MarketWatch story shows for 3 out of 4 of us, the economy is not working. Let’s make it work for ALL.

He also adds the #TrumpSlump tag as if the expending economy is supposed to immediately fix everyone’s economic woes at the same time. However someone else response to Stillwall’s efforts to make good economic news sound awful. Indychick replied:

Financial health is about responsibility. Saving more has nothing to do with with anything other than personal responsibility and choices. Same for looking at your kids and dreaming bigger.

But yes. In general, I'm doing a LOT better. Thanks for asking.

As are so many others I know, including me and my family.

******************

How does one get 300% less of something? That’s something I think Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) needs to explain to us…if he can.

******************

My question is whether it’s irony or satire?

Obama has complained about a condition that he himself help create, that being “politics where people are yelling and making lewd gestures.” While he was president he talked about bringing people together, but more often than not he also made statements, veiled accusations, or gave speeches that did just the opposite of what he claimed he was trying to do. He was one of the most divisive presidents since Woodrow Wilson.

Here we are, a couple of years after he left office, and we are reaping what he has sown. The divisiveness, increasing violent language rhetoric, and even physical attacks are fruits of his labors while in office, yet he seems ‘surprised’ that it’s occurring.

******************

David Starr reminds us that it is important to get out and vote on Tuesday, giving us a good example why.

I remember dragging youngest son to a school board meeting at which the vote was to pass a serious (big bucks) bond issue to construct a new building for the school youngest son had just graduated from. That bond issue passed by ONE vote. On the way home I told youngest son that I never wanted to hear him bitch that his vote would not count. It was his vote that got us a new school building.

One vote does make a difference.

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US Senate candidate Martha McSally has the right of it: Her Democrat opponent Kyrsten Sinema is in the Liberal Witness Protection Program.

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The pollsters were wrong in 2016. Are they also wrong for the midterms in 2018?

Three days before the election in 2016 every major pollster in the nation predicted Hillary Clinton would be the next President of the United States.

--snip--

They were all so wrong.

Now three days before the elections of 2018 pollsters are again predicting that Democrats will win crushing victories and return the control of Congress to the Democrats.

Now three days before the elections of 2018 the media believes it is finally the beginning of the end for President Trump.

--snip--

Three days before the election of 2018 my intuition tells me election night will be a bit of surprise. The GOP should expands seats in the Senate. The GOP may even possibly hold the House in what would be a historical accomplishment not seen in 32 years.

Here’s to hoping that he’s right.

******************

Speaking of Election Day, I will be spending all day at our town’s polling place, fulfilling my duties as an elected official. (One of my duties is as an election official.) I will be manning the polls from open to close and will be involved in ballot counts and write-in vote validation, something that means it is likely I’ll be home sometime around 10PM.

Both our town clerk and our state’s Secretary of State are expecting a very heavy voter turnout, probably one of the biggest turnouts for a midterm election in decades.

******************

And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the sun has returned (for today), most of the leaves have been blown from the trees due to yesterday’s heavy rains and winds, and where the excitement of the upcoming elections can be felt almost everywhere.

Mood Of The Voters?

I have been reading the various reports, opinion pieces and letters to the editor in our local paper, as well as the comment sections on various blogs, political and news websites and trying to gauge the mood of the voters in regards to the upcoming elections on Tuesday. Some have been upbeat, some neutral, and some quite pessimistic and, dare I say, apocryphal.

Before I continue, I will admit to some bias as I am, after all, a conservative. I have also been brought up with manners and taught to be civil, even to people who may not be polite or civil in return. I do try my best to keep a balanced view but I do realize I have my biases and they aren’t always easy to keep in check.

There are two different themes I’m seeing amongst the voters: one looking at what has happened over the past two years and seeing mostly positives, though there are some things that still trouble them; the others are emotional, with anger and fear being the most prominent feelings, seeing their political opponents as evil racists/sexists/fascists that need to be stopped by whatever means necessary. This second group cannot or will not see that things have gotten better. Some make libelous/slanderous accusations and are willing to believe the most outrageous rumors and unsubstantiated ‘reports’.

Reading their letters and comments, they seem to be able to believe only the worst about their political opposites. It’s pure emotion with little or no rationale or logic to their screeds. How does one debate with someone who will not listen to anything their opponents have to say? Their minds are made up. As such they will vote for those who are locked onto the same mindset. They also appear to believe that a majority of Americans agree with them so they expect the so-called Blue Wave will return their candidates to power by overwhelming numbers. So that begs the question: What will they do if the Blue Wave doesn’t materialize and the GOP maintains control of Congress? How will they explain away the fact that a majority of Americans didn’t agree with them? Will their mindset allow them to accept the election outcome?

Only time will tell.

Thoughts On A Sunday

We experienced our first accumulating snowfall yesterday. While we did not receive a measurable amount of snow here at The Manse, it was just enough to turn the fields, yards, and roadsides white. The changeover to rain later in the day made the snow melt away, but ‘the damage was done’. Our first snowfall is now on the books.

At least we won’t have worry about snow for Halloween, at least according the weather forecast. (We have had more than a couple of Halloweens that required the kids’ costumes to fit over a snowsuit!)

******************

Wirecutter over at Knuckledraggin’ My Life Away brings up a couple of points to ponder in regards to accused serial hoax bomber Cesar Sayoc.

First, Sayoc has been labeled as a registered Republican. However a screen capture from Instagram lists Sayoc as a registered Democrat.

Second, official Florida voter registration shows Sayoc registered as a Republican in 2016. However, Sayoc is a convicted felon. How can he be registered to vote? Unless felons have their right to vote restored by the state, a lengthy process, they cannot vote. Sayoc had a felony conviction in 2014 for grand theft and drug dealing in 2015. At this point no one has been able to confirm one way or the other that his voting rights have been restored.

Just who is this guy?

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This is something that has been evident to anyone paying the least bit of attention :

California ranks as the poorest state in the US and has the worst income inequality.

It seems that everything California and its various cities have done over the past few decades has been an effort to achieve those results. Diving deep into the socialist goodie bag and pushing nonsensical feel good legislation, boosting/adding taxes, and creating a plethora of regulations on every aspect of people’s lives, is it any wonder California has degenerated into a place where there will be only the very wealthy and the very poor?

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Chicks on the Right covers the #WalkAway march that happened today.

Apparently the number of registered Democrats dissatisfied and/or disgusted with their party and the direction it has taken is growing.

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Only those of us of a certain age remember what it was like before there was streaming TV. Heck, there are those of us around that remember TV long before cable TV was around.

There were three, maybe 4 TV channels you could receive (ABC, CBS, NBC, and maybe PBS). There were no remote controls (except for the kids who needed to get up to change the channel, move the rabbit ear antenna to get a good picture, or turn the volume up or down). Ther was more:

Now that streaming and pausing live television are second nature to most of us, it might be really simple to forget what life was like before technology revolutionized how we consume our entertainment. Anyone who was raised in the Netflix era of programming has no idea of the hardships the rest of us faced growing up. (And don't even get me started on life before remote controls...)

Recently some good people took to Twitter to reminisce about the days when you had to catch your favorite show at the time that it aired (or somehow figure out how to set your VCR to record) in order to watch it at all. There was no DVR, there was no streaming, and there absolutely was no pausing — which, as we will see, often caused a boatload of problems.

Yep, there was a time when you had approximately 90 seconds in which to get things done in order to not miss a moment…

Yup. Those were the Bad Old Days indeed.

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Is this the energy version of paying farmers to not grow crops?

In this case, some wind farm operators in the UK were paid £4.8 million in one day to shut down some of their wind turbines because electrical supply exceeded demand.

Of course the money paid to those wind farm operators came from the ratepayers.

I’m sorry, but electricity ratepayers should not be on the hook for utilities paying producers to not generate electricity. If they aren’t generating electricity to meet demand then they shouldn’t be paid, period.

I’ve always thought that things like wind and solar are nothing more than a means of picking the public’s pocket for the benefit of the renewable energy supplier’s bottom line. It’s basically subsidy mining.

******************

Later this week the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout, aka The Boat, will be taken out of the water. While this is by no means the latest I’ve removed the boat from the Lake, I doubt we’ll be seeing warm enough weather to make a trip out onto the lake worthwhile.

My last jaunt on the lake was about a week and a half ago when we had temps in the 80’s. But looking at this coming week’s forecast it looks like it’s time to tow the trailer down to the boat ramp and get the boat loaded onto it, and get it hauled over to the Boat Shoppe to be winterized and stored away for the winter.

I certainly can’t complain about this year’s boating season as we were out on the lake a lot this year. All in all, it was a good boating season!

******************

And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee where winter weather made a brief visit, the leaves are falling off the trees in increasing numbers, and the woodstoves are being fired up to ward off the evening chill.

Thoughts On A Sunday

Cooler than normal temps have arrived here in central New Hampshire and rather than burning expensive propane I fired up the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove for the first time in almost two years.

I did have to open a couple of windows while the woodstove came up to temperature as I had touched up the paint on it prior to putting The Manse up for sale back in early September. The new paint tends to throw off some fumes the first time high temps are applied and those fumes usually trip the smoke detectors unless I open a couple of windows until those fumes disperse.

Once the windows were closed the temp in The Manse rose up to 68°F and dialed back the air into the stove to keep it from getting too warm.

The feline contingent has been enjoying the return of “The Warm Box”, making themselves comfortable in front of the woodstove and basking in its warmth. Two of the ‘cat towers’ now reside in front of the woodstove, providing 5 spots for the cats to curl up in front of the fire. That means I will have to deal with at most only one of my furry, four-footed executive assistants while trying to use the laptop.

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The Left talks constantly about ending “White Privilege” while at the same time using Liberal Privilege to excuse behavior that would destroy other people’s lives or reputations, or in more extreme cases, tried and imprisoned. Writes Sarah Hoyt:

For instance, take the Kavanaugh hearings when all the liberals were assuring us that we didn’t need to presume innocence until guilt was proven. Did you notice that not only didn’t any of them revise their opinion of the sexual scandals of Bill Clinton – against whom guilt was overwhelmingly proven – but they were also adamant that the same principles they were trying to apply to Kavanaugh didn’t apply to Keith Ellison?

This makes absolutely no sense. If you “believe all women” (and btw, that too is privilege. Where is the “believe all men?”) why not believe Ellison’s battered girlfriend, who has the hospital visit to prove it, or Juanita Broderick before you believe Christine Ford?

--snip--

Liberal privilege ranges from quite literal private law — anyone see a Republican who left a girl to die in his car go on to become the Lion of Senate? — To an easing of the way, a magic carpet ride to the top for good little boys and girls who express the right (left) position.

Being liberal means never having to say you’re sorry.

It all comes down to this simple viewpoint – The laws apply to you because you aren’t one of us. We don’t have to answer to your laws because we’re your betters. Now get back to work, you deplorable serf!

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I have wanted to ask a number of people this question.

I have to wonder what the answer to that question will be?

******************

I have been seeing a TV ad running that has been slamming Donald Trump in the run up to the midterm elections next month, saying that very few people are actually benefitting from Trump’s policies. My problem with it: It shows multitudes of people who apparently aren’t benefitting from the economic upswing. With very few exceptions, all of them are white.

I have a question for the folks who paid for the ad buy: Just where the heck are all of these people?

I can think of only one place where folks like that shown in the ad would be: California.

Sorry, but California is not Trump’s fault. The Democrats own 100% of that crap sandwich.

******************

Along the line of the above, there’s this from Twitchy:

These used to be blue states, and now they’re seeing YUGE jobs increases under Trump.

‘Nuff said.

******************

After having read a number of op-ed pieces from various sources (NYT, NY Mag, TNR, WaPo, Fox News, Vox, and RCP, to name just a few), it appears that some folks on one side are living in some kind of a dream world where Democrats have the midterm elections sown up, and both the House and Senate, as well as some governorships will be in the hands of the Left after November 6th.

Are these folks off their meds?

My take from the polls and what I’ve been seeing elsewhere is telling me that at worst it’s going to be a toss-up, with little shift in the makeup of the House and Senate. At best we’ll see the GOP take a larger majority in both the House and Senate.

******************

I’ve seen (and commented) upon a theory that Alzheimer’s is an infection. More than one epidemiologist has stated that the disease appears to act like an infection.

Ruth Itzhaki, a molecular neurobiologist has taken it one step further, putting forth her theory that Alzheimer’s is caused by the Herpes Simplex 1 virus.

If it turns out that is indeed the case then there may be both treatments and vaccines that will prevent Alzheimer’s.

As the Instaprof writes from time to time, Faster please!

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the foliage is in full color, my boating season is ending this coming week, and where I’m glad I have a decent sized woodpile.

Wait...WHAT?!!

For years now we’ve been hearing how CO₂ is an evil gas generated by the Evil Humans that will, in the end, Kill-Us-All when it causes the Earth’s surface to become an inferno. The AGW faithful have never waivered from their beliefs, working to silence unbelievers who dare question the One True Faith.

However, it is quite possible that their faith is about to be shaken.

The warming over the past 100+ years may have a cause that has little to do with CO₂: air pollution.

In a recent article in the Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science International, Transdyne Corporation geoscientist J. Marvin Herndon makes the startling claim that climate scientists, including the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), have been chasing the wrong culprit for global warming and climate change.

--snip--

Inspired by Gottschalk’s data, Herndon considered “the broader activities of WW2,” especially those capable of “altering Earth’s delicate energy balance by particulate aerosols.” Herndon then “generalized [these] to post-WW2 global warming.” The geoscientist used relative-values of pollution-causing proxies to demonstrate “the reasonableness of the proposition that increases in aerosolized particulates over time is principally responsible for the concomitant global warming increases.”

These proxies for global particulate pollution – increasing global coal and crude oil production, as well as aviation fuel consumption – rise in strikingly parallel fashion to the rise in global temperature as shown in the accompanying figure.

What if Herndon is right? What if it has been air pollution driving the climate change we’ve been seeing and not CO₂?

I expect some heads will explode. Others will see their finances take a downward turn, specifically those who have “bet the farm” on things like carbon taxes and mandated changes to non-carbon based energy sources. If it hasn’t been CO₂ all this time, all of the mandates, sanctions, and snake oil cures being foisted upon an unwilling public will have no value.

While Anthony Watts, founder of Watts Up With That, doesn’t agree with the hypothesis, he decided to post it if for no other reason than to spur some discussion. If nothing else make sure to read the comments as they can be as informative as the post itself.

Thoughts On A Sunday

Fall-like weather has finally arrived, with cold (almost freezing) temps at night and daytime temps in the 50’s. There was even some snowfall in the White Mountains and the notches on Saturday!

That hasn’t stopped the preparations for moving out of The Manse as the closing date is in less than 2 weeks. Nothing was moved into rental storage yesterday because it was raining pretty heavily in the morning and the last thing I needed was soggy possessions. But a trip or two every day over the next week and a half should have just about everything moved out by the end of next weekend.

I have forgotten how much I hate moving.

******************

Things are definitely out of control in Portland, Oregon.

It is run by a mayor who doesn’t believe in the law, bends over backwards to promote/protect Progressive causes and antifa violence, and appears to care very little for things like freedom of speech (unless it’s Progressive speech).

He comes across as a personable guy, but his actions tell me he has no problem with his city descending into anarchy.

This isn’t going to end well.

******************

It appears Glenn Reynolds and his wife, Dr. Helen Smith, had a chance to discuss the problems of being ‘connected’ to things like smart phones 24/7. I haven’t been calling this kind of dependence “being addicted to electronic fentanyl” for nothing.

I can almost always tell when someone has been disconnected and is ‘jonesing’ for a fix. It’s sad. Really sad.

And people wonder why I still use a flip phone!

******************

It’s déjà vu all over again!

Like it will turn out any better than the last time these idiots did this.

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Do you need any more proof that Christine Blasey Ford was nothing more than a failed Hail Mary play by Senate Democrats on the Senate Judicial Committee? If so, all you need to do is look at how quickly they dropped her and are trying hard to pretend she doesn’t exist.

It’s not all that surprising considering she is no longer of any use to the Democrats.

******************

Juliette Ochieng shows us how and why hysterical females are deadly. Writes Juliette:

Will they outdo themselves if (when) the midterm election is successful for the Republican Party?

I look forward to finding out — from a distance. Those creatures are dangerous.

Indeed.

******************

Cap’n Teach delves into the LA Times piece that tells us that America needs its own version of Día de Muertos,” or “Day of the Dead”.

But I thought that ‘cultural appropriation’ was extremely PC? How can a newspaper in the heart of Progressive California put forth such an idea?

******************

While this post about good economic times is specific to New Hampshire, it applies to every state.

This year, New Hampshire entered historical territory for jobs and labor force participation. More GraniteStaters are participating in the labor force, and more of them are employed than at any point in the state’s history.

New Hampshire has been on a program of business tax cuts and a hands-off approach to hourly wages for years. Republicans who put their trust in employers and employees have been rewarded with a productive and responsive marketplace and a surplus in tax revenue on top of that.

The Democrat Party answer to this economic bonanza is to mess with it the first chance they get. They have promised to raise taxes on job creators and to use the power of government to meddle with the cost of labor.

The net effect everywhere else this has been tried is the opposite of what New Hampshire is experiencing. Fewer full-time jobs, fewer part-time jobs, decreased labor force, higher unemployment, reduced personal income. Higher welfare burdens for unemployment benefits, Medicaid, and food stamps. A significant strain on dwindling resources which means more and higher taxes.

If you want those things then by all means, vote for Democrats.

The problem is that some people will vote for the Democrats because they want those things to happen, all in the name of some twisted version of “fairness”. Some carry the “If everyone can’t have ‘X’, then no one should have ‘X’” mentality or believe that wealth follows the zero-sum fallacy, so feel that anyone doing well should be punished, including some of those who now have jobs and are making a good living during these good economic times.

How twisted is that?

******************

And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the leaves have changed into their autumn finery, the boating season is rapidly coming to a close, and where we need that extra cover on the bed at night.

Thoughts On A Sunday

The Columbus Day Weekend has seen a wave of leaf peepers heading up to the White Mountains and North Country of New Hampshire. Despite the cloudy weather the traffic has been heavy. The warm temps certainly have helped keep the tourists flowing into the state and the cash registers at the various inns, hotels, B&Bs, restaurants, factory outlets and various tourists traps ringing. The foliage is in full color up north and at least a full week from reaching peak here in the Lakes Region.

This has always been one of my favorite times of the year.

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Hearing “the lamentation of the vimmen” after Kavanaugh’s confirmation has been both annoying and pleasing at the same time. One would think that the end of the world is nigh, listening to the braying from the women who think that they will die now that Judge Kavanaugh is now addressed as Justice Kavanaugh.

They ascribe to him future actions that his judicial record says he would not take, such as overturning Roe v. Wade. Not that the Supreme Court can capriciously revisit and overturn a previous Court decision on whim. A case would have to be brought before the Court that challenges the standing decision, assuming the Court would certify such a case to begin with. Unless some new compelling evidence were brought forth that would change the perception of the Justices and overrides the stare decisis, it is unlikely the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade.

Or maybe they’re upset that the now 5-4 conservative bent of the Court will actually adhere to the Constitution and base their decisions upon the limits and rights codified by it. Heaven forbid that the Justices won’t legislate from the bench or base their decisions upon ‘feelz’.

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Now this is a dream presidential ticket! Not that I’d vote for them, but it would certainly make for an interesting campaign season.

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Do you need any further proof that California is becoming a Third World nation? Between streets filled with human feces and used drug syringes, the Pyrite State has seen typhus make a return to the streets of LA, reaching epidemic levels.

What’s next, bubonic plague?

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I have believed this for quite some time.

It’s well past time to break up Facebook, and perhaps Twitter, as it seems they are still being disingenuous, blocking or censoring posts made by anyone “not one of them”.

The latest example – Facebook blocking a post by Mike Williamson which included the phrase “that depends on what the meaning of is, is.”

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We constantly hear about how anthropogenic climate change will make all kinds of weather worst, particularly things like hurricanes and tornados. But records are showing that, at least in the US, the number of tornados is the lowest it’s ever been in the 65 years records have been kept.

We’ve also seen the number of hurricanes making landfall in the US fall off as well, just the opposite of what the warmists have been predicting.

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As a follow-up, here’s a twofer.

Apparently the warmists are worried that the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court will impede ‘climate action’ because of his judicial record of adhering to the rule of law.

Apparently they believe that the only way they can put forth their agenda is through judicial activism rather than legislation. What that tells me is that they know they have a weak case and figured that the only way they can get their way is by having a judge shove changes down the throats of the American people rather than going through the process of working with Congress to get legislation passed. It could be that they know the chances of getting laws passed that would severely damage the American economy and greatly limit the freedoms of Americans run somewhere between slim and none, hence their hopes for getting judges to do their dirty work for them.

What’s ironic about the whole thing is that the Democrats the warmists were counting on to kibosh Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court instead a ensured his confirmation with their over-the-top efforts to destroy his reputation based upon unsubstantiated claims of a sexual assault that took place 36 years ago.

Who ever said that karma was a bitch was absolutely right, particularly in this case.

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To show just how low some people will go in regards to political differences, the wife of Senator Cory Gardner received a text that included a video showing a horrific beheading after he voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. To add to that, someone also posted the address and phone numbers of Gardner’s family members.

Class act, Democrats. Class act.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the sun has been hiding, the temps have been warm, and the leaf peepers are everywhere.

Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s been a quiet weekend here at The Manse with the most exciting activity being the removal of the air conditioners from the windows. It may seem a little late in the season to be removing the air conditioners, at least here in northern New England, but it has been a warmer than average September so A/C was used until just this past week. And in typical New Hampshire contrariness, some mornings required use of heat to take the chill off as nighttime temps were in the 40’s and afternoon temps were in the high 80’s with high humidity.

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The farce that was the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has been dominating the news, with the Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein having thrown a last minute monkey wrench into the hearings, revealing Dr. Ford’s accusations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh that she’d been sitting on since the beginning of summer.

Was Dr. Ford assaulted some time back in the early 80’s? No one really knows. Claims that a polygraph test proves the veracity of her rather vague recollections of the assault have a couple of major problems – she was asked only two questions by the examiner and, being a psychologist, she knows how to ‘beat the test’.

Then there’s this:


Dr. Ford’s words say one thing, but her body language says just the opposite. I am no expert when it comes to body language but I noticed something that many others also commented upon in regards to her testimony, that being her “odd baby talk”, trying to garner sympathy from those at the hearing.

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Another thing that I found disturbing about the whole Ford testimony was how Senator Dianne Feinstein is blaming Brett Kavanaugh for the mess she herself created.

Talk about a complete mental disconnect! Then again it is right out of Alinsky’s playbook, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

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For more information and commentary on the Kavanaugh hearing and Dr. Ford’s testimony, the News Junkie over at Maggie’s farm has compiled a list of links that points a number of analyses and commentary.

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Some folks have no clue when it comes to election laws. It appears that some of them reside at Cards Against Humanity. In their arrogance (and willful ignorance) they are trying to bribe voters to vote Democrat.

The creators of the popular card game Cards Against Humanity have launched a targeted campaign to elect Democrats in six swing districts. An election lawyer suggested they might want to lawyer up, because it's illegal under federal law to bribe someone to vote a certain way.

If they were truly smart they would take a lesson from Chicago politics and find ways to register the dead and have them vote for the Democrats of their choice. But no, they went stupid and tried to openly buy votes instead.

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Think things have been crazy enough in regards to the Kavanaugh hearings and the now increasingly Salem Witch Trial-like #MeToo movement? You aren’t even close.

The latest victim? An eighth-grader in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Eighth grader Keith Bailey was not only suspended but literally hauled off by the police in handcuffs from his Colorado Springs middle school as a result of phony #MeToo allegations made for the same reason as with Kavanaugh — he was deemed to be politically incorrect.

It started when Keith changed his Snapchat avatar to a black Bitmoji character. A female friend proclaimed that was racist and ordered him to change it back. When he laughed off her demand, she spread the word around school that Keith is a racist. Other boys threatened to beat him up.

--snip--

As with Kavanaugh, the allegations have no credibility. For example, two of the girls were friends from a church youth group who continued to be friendly with him after the assaults were alleged to have occurred. But in the #MeToo era, accusations are as good as proof.

Salem Witch Trials indeed.

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“Truth. It’s the new hate speech.”

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer has morphed into fall, the leaves are just now starting to change, and hordes of leaf peeper are descending upon northern New England.

Thoughts On A Sunday

Fall has arrived, and with it, fall-like temperatures.

Those temps helped Deb when she participated in a Tough Mudder competition at the local ski resort Saturday morning, keeping her cool during some of the more strenuous portions of the course. This was her first Tough Mudder and she certainly enjoyed it.

If you had told her two years ago that she would compete in something like the Tough Mudder, she would have looked at you as if you were insane.

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While this video shows a speech made by comedian/actor Rowan Atkinson about 6 years ago, it is still timely as it covers a very important freedom that is increasingly under attack, both here and in the UK, that being the freedom of speech.

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Watching the news on the usual suspects (ABC, CBS, NBC, MSLSD, CNN, etc), one would think that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is only days away from being indicted/convicted/sentenced for a sexual assault that is increasingly appearing to be only in the mind of his accuser. That this alleged assault took place over 36 years ago in a place she cannot name on a date she cannot remember and her ‘witnesses’ keep telling everyone they have no idea what she’s talking about hasn’t fazed the Democrats, hoping this would torpedo Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

That the alleged victim is trying to dictate the terms under which she will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee does not bode well…for her. She wanted Kavanaugh to testify first, but that is bass-ackwards as the accused usually testifies after their accuser has given their testimony.

It doesn’t help that Senator Maizy Hirono (D-HI) seems perfectly fine with the idea of “accusation equals guilt” and has the attitude that men should shut up and that women always should be believed when it comes to sexual assault. So much for the legal concept “Innocent until proven guilty.” Then again a lot of Democrats seem comfortable with the old “J’Accuse” form of legal system.

As the old saying goes “Be careful what you wish for. You might get it.” Think the Reign of Terror as the best outcome for these folks if they get their way. They are already reaping the ‘benefits’ of past actions that have backfired on them, like former Senator Harry Reid’s elimination of the filibuster in the Senate. That has certainly come back to bite them.

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A sure indicator that the dual standard legal system exists: Brett Kavanaugh is accused of an assault that took place 36 years ago and the Democrats believe it without question even though there is no evidence whatsoever. But Keith Ellison is accused of beating a woman (and not for the first time), the accuser has the evidence and medical records to prove she was beaten by Ellison, and Democrats do not believe her.

Welcome to the world of selective justice.

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When your brakes are making noise, you really should have them serviced.

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People keep asking why natural gas is so expensive here in New England and the answer is quite simple – lack of pipeline capacity. While it is a problem that is simple to solve – build more pipelines - many of those same people who complain about natural gas prices (particularly during winter) are the very same people who work against the construction of new gas pipelines into New England. They honestly do not (or cannot) make the connection between pipeline capacity and natural gas prices.

When the demand for natural gas is highest - generally late December, January, and February – the existing pipeline cannot handle the demand. Natural gas has to be imported from Yemen and we pay a premium for that gas. It’s ironic that the US has the largest natural gas reserves in the world and New England has to import it from the Middle East.

It doesn’t help that the Holier-Than-Thou Governor Cuomo of New York has already stated that no new pipelines will be built in or across his state because he endorses renewable energy even though it costs are much higher than traditional electrical sources and is actively working to kill off traditional generation technologies. That means that unless the pipeline comes in from Canada we won’t be seeing cheap domestic natural gas any time soon.

Another “doesn’t help” problem is those against bringing cheap hydroelectric power in from Quebec. It’s a huge renewable source of electricity, but people don’t like the idea of powerlines coming down from Canada even if they will be buried and won’t despoil northern New Hampshire’s pristine views. Like those who complain about high natural gas prices, the folks most against the hydropower lines are the same folks who complain about high electricity prices. They also can’t seem to connect the dots when it comes to limiting supply affecting electricity prices.

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The New England Patriots are playing the Detroit Lions in Detroit. It’s Bill Belichick against former Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. It will be an interesting game.

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Could it be that the hate that consumes the Left is because there are no real battles to fight anymore, so they have to make s**t up to be angry about? Shelby Steele seems to think that’s the case.

Today’s left lacks worthy menaces to fight. It is driven to find a replacement for racism, some sweeping historical wrongdoing that morally empowers those who oppose it. (Climate change?) Failing this, only hatred is left.

Hatred is a transformative power. It can make the innocuous into the menacing. So it has become a weapon of choice. The left has used hate to transform President Trump into a symbol of the new racism, not a flawed president but a systemic evil. And he must be opposed as one opposes racism, with a scorched-earth absolutism.

This is the reason why things that no one (but them) find some things so offensive now, they have to be angry and hateful on behalf of people who really don’t care. It would be sad if it wasn’t also so destructive.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where fall boating is in swing, the leaves have not yet begun to change, and preparations for winter have begun.