Thoughts On A Sunday

The first 'official' weekend of summer is here, and all that goes with it. That includes the insane traffic, most of which started Friday morning. I took Friday off in order to do some work on The Manse in preparation for putting it on the market, and that entailed running some errands during mid/late Friday morning. That there were traffic tie-ups at some of the local intersections was surprising. That many of the vehicles in those traffic tie-ups were from away was not.

Deb and I went to one of our local eateries this morning and found we were going to have to wait to be seated as we had forgotten to take into account the summerfolk were back. When we did get seated we were fortunate enough to be at a table next to some other locals, and we got into a conversation about the heavy presence of folks from away. One of us (I forget who) made mention that it appeared that everyone from Massachusetts was up here for the weekend. It certainly seemed that was a a very large majority of the out of state plates were from there, with a smattering of Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey plates thrown in for good measure.

Summer has returned, even if the calendar say it won't actually be here for another three and a half weeks.

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One of the biggest problems I find in regards to alternative energy is that too many proponents choose to ignore the negatives. Between low energy densities (both wind and solar are actually rather diffuse compared to oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear), lack of dispatchability (immediate generation capacity decides on sources, not demand), their vulnerability to weather conditions, and lack of energy storage. These are all “problems to be solved down the road” that need to be solved now in order to make wind and solar viable at reasonable costs. But neither wind or solar provide power at reasonable costs.

While the energy for wind or solar is free, the costs of collecting and converting that energy is not. Both are horrendously expensive which is why they are subsidized, and even then they cost a lot more than conventional power sources.

Then there are the other hidden costs, particularly when it comes to both economic and environmental costs. One of the bigger issues being devoutly ignored by the renewable energy proponents is the amount of toxic waste generated by their manufacture. And that's just on the making them side. There's also the toxicity of panels when they reach then end of their useful lives.

Solar panels are not easily recyclable, they contain lead (which no one mentions), cadmium (which is far more toxic than lead, which no one mentions), antimony, and a host of other toxic substances than cannot be removed without breaking apart the entire panel and properly processing them to recover the toxic materials. Even that process can generate toxic waste all on its own.

Because solar panels contain those materials, they are not supposed to be landfilled because those materials can leach out and contaminate ground water.

So all of that so-called 'clean energy' isn't so clean after all.

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I find it interesting that the most of the media, specifically the LSM, haven't caught on to the fact that President Trump is playing them like a virtuoso violinist. He's had decades of practice at manipulating the media and he does it so well.

Or if that analogy doesn't work for you, how about this one: He's a stage magician that gets the media to focus on the shiny object in one hand while he uses the other one to 'take care of business'. Think about it.

He (or one of his staffers) posts a tweet about one subject or another. The LSM goes insane over the tweet, focusing all of their effort and attention on his latest Twitter 'outrage'. In the mean time they aren't paying attention to what's going on in the background. It's not that he's hiding anything as everything he's accomplished has been out in the open. It's that he's diverted their attention away from it by giving them something else to pay attention to. When they finally do pay attention, they're surprised. And then the process repeats itself.

Could it be that's how he's gotten the judicial nominees he's wanted appointed? Is that how he's managed to be so effective in regards to foreign policy? (You have to admit he's certainly gotten the attention of a certain leader in a country north of the 38th Parallel.) Is that how he's managed to roll back many of the economically damaging regulations imposed by his predecessor?

Yes.

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Truer words were never on a tee shirt!

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The more we hear about Stormy Daniels' lawyer, the more disreputable we're finding out he is.

Between stiffing his partner for monies earned by their practice, shorting clients on money they were awarded in lawsuits, and now it appearing that he's a tax cheat, why would anyone, including Stormy Daniels, trust this publicity-seeking shyster? He certainly has a less than stellar reputation.

I figure it's only a matter of time before he's busted for something or Stormy wises up, fires the jerk, and finds a more reputable attorney. Or maybe both will happen.

Either way she should put as much distance between her and this Avenatti guy.

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I have to add the same comment Glenn Reynolds added about this piece, that being “It’s very important to list all the things you won’t do for your future husband before you meet him.”

While I can understand why some women don't want to change their names after marriage, one has to wonder what other things some women might not do for/with their husbands after marriage.

I know I've mentioned overheard conversations between young women expressing their totally unrealistic expectations about marriage. More often it sounded like they were talking about a relationship with a monied doormat who would let them have sex with anyone they wanted outside of the marriage, not a man. (Not even a beta male.) That's not a marriage, that's a financial arrangement with a whore. No, strike that. A professional would give value for the money paid to her. These women wouldn't.

How did I make the connection between a women explaining why she wouldn't change her name after marriage to a cuckolding gold digger? I didn't really. It was just that Glenn's comment triggered the memory of the overheard conversations.

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If things go well on Monday I will have the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee in the water and tied up at its slip before the sun sets. I had to delay the launch as the owner of the docks where I berth The Boat informed me that they had not yet finished laying down the new deck after some structural repairs were made. Without that deck there was no way I would be able to make it from the dock to the shore without walking the proverbial tightrope. So launching The Boat was delayed.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer has (unofficially) arrived, as have the summerfolk, and where we're still plugging away at getting our house ready to sell.

Thoughts On A Sunday

The presence of summerfolk was unmistakable this weekend, despite the rains we had on Saturday. Lot's of out of state plates on the various vehicles filling our local roads, lots of boats being towed towards their summer berths, and a lot of folks at the local big box hardware stores pickup up needed items to get their summer places ready for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

Some of the seasonal eateries have been open for the past couple of weekends and will be open all week long starting on the aforementioned Memorial Day weekend.

If the weather forecast for the next 7 days holds, next weekend's weather will be perfect for the unofficial start of summer.

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The First Street Journal has another post on The Success of Socialism, particularly when it comes to dealing with the problems of obesity. This one is number 16 in the series. Links to previous posts can be found at the web page.

It still amazes me that people actually believe that socialism is a good idea when so many examples abound showing it is a very bad thing. Some of those examples go all the way back to 1620 AD. You'd think that after 400 years of experimentation socialism would be perfected, if it were at all possible. But as history has shown us it is not. But that doesn't stop every generation from trying to “polish the turd” that is socialism.

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Speaking of socialism and keeping in mind Thatcher's aphorism - “Socialism works until you run out of other people's money” - a number of blue states have found out that they can no longer ignore their looming fiscal crisis.

With the change in the tax code that has eliminated so-called SALT (State And Local Taxes) deductions from income tax returns, the actual cost of running many of these just-about-broke states is coming to the forefront. States like Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and, of course, California are likely to see either a mass exodus from their states or one heck of a tax revolt now that their heavily taxed residents can no longer reap the benefits of the SALT deductions. For many that means thousands of dollars they can no longer deduct from their returns and more federal income tax they'll have to pay. It also means that more fiscally responsible states' residents will no longer have to subsidize those in heavily taxed states. (Residents in more lightly taxed states subsidized those in heavily taxed states because they didn't have nearly as many state or local tax payments to deduct.)

The days of being able to depend upon 'other people's money' to pay for all of the over the top programs, kickbacks...err tax incentives, and outright feel good but worthless 'help' given to the less fortunate (those less fortunate residents being created by the very states 'helping' them) or fading away. The actual costs of supporting all of that can no longer be ignored or hidden.

Maybe we can hope it will help bring fiscal sanity to the blue states, but I'm not holding my breath.

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Work intruded into today's posting efforts, meaning I spent a few hours this evening on-line in an effort to close out some paperwork for a couple of ongoing projects before I take a little vacation time starting late this week.

I'm not going anywhere for vacation. Rather I'll be home working on The Manse to get it ready to list for sale. There are a number of last tasks to complete before listing it and there isn't enough time on the weekends to accomplish everything, hence taking a few days off.

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I thought I'd seen everything.

I was wrong.

Apparently someone somewhere thinks that paper bags are now racist.

Just when I think SJWs can't get any stupider they prove me wrong.

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And that's the (abbreviated) news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer is almost (unofficially) here, more boats are appearing on the lake every day, and where I still haven't mowed the lawn yet.

Thoughts On A Sunday

It's been a pretty good weekend, weather wise, though a bit cooler than I had thought it would be.

I did manage to retrieve the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout from the local marina, it having been unwrapped and serviced. There's a little clean up to take care of and the stowing of gear before it returns to its summer berth, something I am hoping will take place later this week.

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I find it amusing that some Congresscritters actually think it's a good idea to give 16-year olds the vote. Really? With very few exceptions, they have neither the maturity or the wisdom to carefully weigh the issues when it comes to voting. (Then again, neither to a lot of adults.)

The one thing that I find majorly wrong with this idea is that it gives the “Feelz” party a bigger leg up because, let's face it, teens are far more emotional than rational at that age as compared to their older and more 'sophisticated' college-aged siblings. (No, not really, but that's the argument I would put forward.)

The proponents are selling the idea that they'll take voting more seriously than adults, but I seriously doubt that. Or if they do, it will be because they have been manipulated by the “Feelz” party.

Have you every wondered why so many revolutionary movements try to recruit the young? It's because they are neither smart enough or mature enough to understand when they're being lied to and why. They have been the cannon fodder is too many revolutionary movements because they don't know any better.

It's a damn good reason not to give them the vote.

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I have to wonder, but does that pinko Tom Steyer really think he'll be able to get President Trump impeached, and if so, on what grounds? That he just doesn't like him? The he doesn't like what he's accomplished? Of is it because Trump has consistently played the media and the Progressives (but I repeat myself) like the chumps they are?

I have to wonder how close this comes to sedition? After all, he is advocating the overthrow of a duly elected president, one that won't play to Steyer's rules.

To remind Mr. Steyer of a quote from his messiah, “Elections have consequences.” That he thinks he knows better than we so-called Deplorables shows us just what he thinks of us, which is 'not much'.

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Is the Democrats' much crowed about “Blue Wave” turning into something more of a “Blue Swirl”, much like the water swirling down a toilet bowl? If the latest poll numbers are anywhere near accurate, it looks like that might be the case.

When the Democrats are promising to undo the tax breaks and purposefully slow the economy by restoring crippling,unneeded and unwanted regulation on businesses, why should they expect that they'll be swept back into power?

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What has this world come to?

Now we have to deal with Grilling While Black?

It figures that this stupid incident took place in the Pyrite State (the once 'Golden State' of California.)

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The news has been regularly covering the fissures that have opened and started spewing lava on the Big Island in Hawaii. Mount Kilauea has had a number of lava spewing fissures open in the lowlands at its base and it is causing some major damage.

I hate seeing something like that happening in that tropical paradise. It's something that should be happening in California instead, maybe as a precursor to the coastline between just north of San Diego and San Francisco separating itself from the mainland.

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It turns out that some SUNY students were 'deeply hurt' by a speech given by a fellow student about liberal intolerance on campus.

My initial response: I don't care! Maybe they needed to be 'deeply hurt' in order to find out what it's like to be on the receiving end of ridicule, threats, and actual physical assaults.

This was doubly bad because the student who gave the speech has been reprimanded for her “uncomfortable” speech during an open mic event on campus.

College Liberals, Thy Name Is Hypocrisy!

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It looks like liberals (and the perpetually offended) are running out of things to be offended about and are desperately looking for things to offended about. After all, without something to be offended about they'll have nothing to fill all of those empty hours they'll experience.

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Stuart Schneiderman points us to a warning to liberals by Gerard Alexander that “just because they control the media, the arts and the academy… they seem to believe that they control the American Mind.”

It just ain't so.

How do they explain the fall off in movie and TV viewership, decreases in college admissions, and people staying away in droves from “the arts” when all of them try to ram progressive beliefs down our throats? The rubes (that's us) aren't intimidated by liberal self-importance and self-aggrandizement. Most of us understand that they really don't understand us and don't want to understand us. They just want us to kowtow to their 'greater' wisdom and beliefs, even though many of them are twisted and abhorrent to many of us. The rest is just insane and nonsensical. That's why we ignore them, at least in regards to how we are supposed to live our lives. We do pay attention to the rest, mostly as a means of keeping an eye on them and the next stupid thing they're going to tell us is important fro us to do (but not them, of course).

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer is approaching, the summerfolk have been showing up in increasing numbers each weekend, and where Monday is intruding into our recreation all too soon.

Thoughts On A Sunday

It was another fifty-fifty weekend in regards to weather, but I'm not complaining. The wet weather today gave me a perfect excuse to be a bit lazy, something that was welcome after the very busy day I had yesterday.

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The so-called investigation by Special Counsel Mueller continues to drag on. After all of this time one would think that the investigation would have either found any compelling evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians or nothing at all. What exactly have they found?

Bupkus.

When a federal judge castigates the DOJ and Special Counsel for going well outside their mandate, vigorously prosecuting people only on the periphery of the campaign as a means of forcing them to flip on the President, you know things have turned from an investigation and into a fishing expedition, or worse, a witch hunt.

When the judge finally gets a chance to review the unredacted memo that laid out the duties and scope of the investigation, I have a feeling he's going to quash any further investigative efforts because of one of two reasons: the investigation has gone far outside the scope of the limits set by the memo, or the memo had limits so broad as to be meaningless and unconstitutional. Should the DOJ appeal the decision and it ends up going to the Supreme Court, I have a feeling they will agree with the lower court's decision.

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Another thing to consider in regards to the Mueller probe is that it's so bad that even a former Hillary advisor believes it is corrupt.

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Then there's the folks that keep saying that the Stormy Daniels kerfuffle will lead to Trump's impeachment or resignation. I have to ask those folks one simple question: What laws were broken by the president that could lead to impeachment?

That he may have banged a porn star isn't a crime, or even a misdemeanor. If he did indeed have sex with her, he wasn't in office or even running for president when the alleged affair took place. That she alleges that she was paid hush money isn't a crime either.

If Trump did indeed have an affair with Stormy Daniels, so what? At least she's classier than any of Bill Clinton's extramarital honeys.

Frankly, I suspect most Americans don't really care. I know I don't.

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Is John Kerry delusional? He must be if he thinks he's still Secretary of State, working behind the scenes to keep the horrible flawed Iran deal alive. I guess he feels he isn't subject to the Logan Act and can negotiate foreign policy for the US even though he is no longer a representative of the United States government.

I think it's time for him and the other Deep State operatives to find out that they are not immune to the law. Kerry should be made to make the perp walk as he's hustled into the FBI HQ in handcuffs before being arraigned in front of a federal judge.

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Has Andrew Cuomo lost his mind?

Yes. Yes he has.

What triggered this loss of sanity?

The fact that someone actually had the gall to challenge him in the Democrat primary in New York, in this case actress Cynthia Nixon. This has driven him to do some pretty bizarre things, including some actions that will hurt New Yorkers at a time when everyone else (except those in other Blue States like neighboring Connecticut, New Jersey, Illinois, and California) are reaping the benefits of the economic boom fueled by President Trump's tax reform and business regulation cutbacks.

Yeah, that's a winning strategy.

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And that's the abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer has suddenly arrived, boats are appearing on the lake, and where Monday is once again going to ruin a perfectly good weekend.