9/15/2019

Thoughts On A Sunday

It was another quiet weekend here in central New Hampshire, with summerfolk scarce and our usual hangouts back in our hands again. While the weather on Saturday was cool and rainy, today more than made up for it with warm temps and sunny skies. I even made it out on to Lake Winnipesaukee for an hour or so before getting back to The Gulch in time to watch the New England Patriots shut out the Miami Dolphins 43-0 down in Miami.

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From the Just When I Thought They Couldn’t Get Any Stupider Department:

California’s Legislature embraces far-ranging measures that will disrupt the gig economy, depress housing markets, and destroy school discipline.

Leave it to the Kalifonia Kooks to make the once Golden State even more of the Pyrite State, further weakening its economy, it’s housing market, and destroying what’s left of its educational system. What’s worse they see it as a victory for Progressivism, for taking yet another step towards their Great Socialist Paradise. Too bad their ‘paradise’ looks more like hell.

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Who was it that made the drone strikes against Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities which affect the 5% of world’s oil supply? Houthi rebels claimed responsibility, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lays the blame at the feet of the Iranians.

Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while Rouhani and Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy. Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply. There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.

I wouldn’t put it past the Iranians to allow their proxies to take responsibility for the drone strikes they committed. It’s called “plausible deniability”.

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Will Chicago be the biggest US city to declare bankruptcy? I believe the answer is yes.

Considering it has been following in Detroit’s footsteps politically and financially, is it really any surprise that is heading for the same fate as Detroit, that fate being bankruptcy? I think the only reason Chicago has managed to survive to this point is because the state of Illinois has been bailing it out. But that revenue stream is drying up as Illinois struggles with financial problems of its own. Since the city government is so in the pocket of the unions, its hands are tied. It can’t cut back services without pissing off the unions. It can’t really raise taxes any higher than they are because they have already passed the point of diminishing returns. The high tax burden is driving residents and businesses out of Chicago, something that further stresses the city’s finances.

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It was a very busy week for me last week, between a trip back to Washington DC for my employer, numerous duties performed for my town, and family matters to deal with.

The trip to Washington DC was my third in six months, all to determine what was causing an enigmatic problem at a customer’s site. It looks like the third time was the charm as it seems we may have found a two-fold cause, something that can be corrected with a software fix (we hope).

Town stuff took half a day to deal with, something that required me to take some time away from work get to. I wish I could say that the town stuff came to a proper conclusion, but it hasn’t yet. It looks like it will take some more time to deal with.

Family matters are family matters, not usually exposed to the public. Fortunately it is nothing earth shattering or nefarious, just family stuff.

And so it goes.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’re still enjoying the end of the summer tourist season, preparing for the arrival of the leaf peepers, and making preparations for the end of the boating season in a few weeks.