1/05/2020

Thoughts On A Sunday

The weather in central New Hampshire couldn’t seem to make up its mind for the first weekend of 2020 – Is it going to rain or snow? How about both at the same time, or maybe some sleet?

Saturday was rain most of the day with a few attempts to change over to snow...for a minute or two here and there.

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It was certainly raining enough for the inaugural weekend of our little town’s updated transfer station. While there were a considerable number of folks trying out the new amenities, there weren’t nearly as many as we had expected. I figure the inclement weather had an effect on the number of people making use of the facilities.

With the new transfer station we no longer need to drive to the far side of a neighboring town to make use of their transfer station. That would take up to an hour to make the round trip there, wait in line to go through the scales, off load our trash, and then go through the scales again and pay for the amount of trash we dumped. Now it’s about a 15 minute round trip including dropping off the trash and recyclables. One of the best things about it: No scales to go through!

Welcome to small town America.

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You know it’s getting weird when the Democrats are defending the Iranian regime’s terror tactics and the chief architect of those tactics and attacks .

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Another thing getting weird:Greens against solar power. (Paywalled. Sorry.)

The Bureau of Land Management this week released an environmental impact statement indicating its intent to approve the 7,100-acre Gemini solar farm east of Las Vegas. The project could power 130,000 homes and would include four-hour lithium ion batteries to store solar energy for use at night. Gemini is the type of renewable energy project that environmental groups claim will be needed to move from fossil fuels that, unlike solar and wind, can provide power on demand. Nevada also needs large-scale solar to meet its 50% renewable energy goal by 2030. It currently generates 20%.

Yet greens grouse that solar arrays would disturb habitat for Mojave Desert species such as the desert tortoise, kit fox and the Threecorner milkvetch, a rare plant. They also complain that solar projects in California’s desert have been linked to thousands of bird deaths.

Still, greens kvetch that the project will do permanent damage to the desert. “There is no justification for this project that outweighs the importance of the desert tortoise, its habitat and BLM’s obligations to use its full authority to take actions that will contribute to the recovery of this threatened species,” the Defenders of Wildlife declared.

It’s nice to see environmental groups finally realizing that renewable energy isn’t a free lunch. Even wind and solar energy can have baleful impacts on the land.

The only reliable non-CO2 generating power source I can think of that doesn’t have the environmental issues that wind and solar create is nuclear. Both Third and Fourth Generation nuclear reactors are far safer than the existing power plants. (The U.S. Navy has been using Third Generation reactors for years on their submarines and they have a long history of reliable and safe operation.) Some Greens are starting to see the promise of nuclear power as a viable alternative to either renewable or fossil-fueled power generation.

Maybe there’s hope yet.

As a side note, maybe if more of those Bureau of Land Management bureaucrats were already located out West, the outcome of the BLM’s decision would have been different. Trump was right in making the decision to move them away from Washington, DC and closer to the land they actually manage.

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The on-again/off-again New England Patriots ended their playoff hopes with a loss to the Tennessee Titans last night during the evening AFC Wild Card game. Frankly, I didn’t have a lot of hope that the Patriots were SuperBowl bound again. Between a number of first string players out for the season and a large number of rookies, the Patriots weren’t playing to their full potential. That the first half of their season was played against ‘softer’ teams didn’t help them either, particularly in light of the injuries that plagued them during that period.

Another thing working against them was Titans coach Mike Vrabel, a former Patriots player and someone well versed in the Belichick system. Vrabel did well against his former coach, exploiting the weaknesses in the both the Patriots offense and defense.

The Titans play the Baltimore Ravens next week and they’re going to need to use every trick in the book to beat them. Honestly, I think the Titans’ season will end next week with a drubbing by the Ravens. Only time will tell.

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The Second Amendment Sanctuary movement is spreading. The latest addition to this movement is Kentucky, where a number of counties have already declared they will not support either state or federal efforts to stifle their residents Second Amendment rights.

One has to wonder whether the various state legislators and Congresscritters are listening to their constituents or if they’re ignoring them because “they know better” what their constituents need.

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It seems a lot of Democrats are lamenting the long overdue death of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Al Quds force. They have chosen to ignore the fact that he is responsible for the deaths of over 600 U.S. troops and countless thousands of others. The question none of them ask was just what the hell was an enemy of the U.S. and Iraq doing in Baghdad? Did he think he could enter what is in effect a war zone and walk around unscathed? It’s obvious he did.

He was wrong.

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I have to wholeheartedly agree with Derek Hunter: There is something fundamentally wrong with the Democrats.

It’s odd how the political left cheers America’s shortcomings and mourns its victories.

The United States killed the top terrorist on the planet Thursday, and Democrats were…upset. Perhaps “upset” is too vague, they were a combination of angry and scared.

They were angry that President Trump ordered an air strike on Qassem Soleimani, a man responsible for the deaths of more than 600 American soldiers and thousands more wounded. They tried to pretend they were glad he was dead, that he deserved to die, but their quick condemnation of the action that took him out exposed what they were really thinking. Any statement on the death of a terrorist leader containing the word “but” is not a good statement.

--snip--

While all of these people, and all of their fellow travelers in Congress and the media, lament that the killing of a man actively murdering people will only lead to more murder, what do they think leaving him alive would’ve done? Did they think he was getting bored of killing and was about to take up knitting?

It’s obvious they did...or they didn’t really care that he was killing Americans they saw as ‘deplorables’.

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It appears Iran’s mullahs have put out a “hit” on President Trump, willing to pay an $80 million bounty. Trump could reply, putting out a $1 billion bounty on the mullahs. Which one to do think will likely be paid?

Should Trump be assassinated by Iranian-paid assets, how long do you think the mullahs would remain alive? If Congressional Democrats refuse to act on the matter, how long will they remain in office, assuming they aren’t arrested for treason before the next election?

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather is all over the place, the lake is almost entirely ice free, and where more weird weather is on the way this week.