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.
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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.