8/31/2020
Effective Riot Control
As seen elsewhere, an idea that would be quite effective in quelling riots...and it's biodegradable, so it's green!
8/30/2020
Thoughts On A Sunday
It’s the closing weekend of the annual Motorcycle Week in Laconia. The number of attendees is down, maybe by two-thirds, but that’s understandable, between Covid-19 and the bike rally at Sturgis, SD having ended only two weeks ago. Laconia normally takes place in June, usually ending on Father’s Day weekend, but the organizers decided to delay it until this past week. They didn’t want to cancel it outright, but they knew it would be a shadow of its usual self.
It didn’t help that it rained yesterday, something that tends to keep the visiting bikers off the road. Fortunately the rain stopped by early afternoon and the bikes appeared soon after that.
All in all, it was a a low-key Motorcycle Week. Somehow I think next year’s rally will more than make up for it.
Pro sports keeps ignoring the lesson of “Get woke, go broke”, with the latest example being baseball games canceled because the ball players decided they weren’t going to play because of the shooting of felon Jacob Blake by police. That Blake was in violation of a restraining order that ordered him to stay away from the victim of an violent sexual assault Blake had allegedly committed and other outstanding warrants plays no part in this.
What these players and the sports organizations are choosing to ignore is that they are losing fans in increasing numbers, and if the fans go away, so do their pro sports careers.
Are Trump voters lying to pollsters about who they’ll be voting for in November? Are they also lying to co-workers, friends, and family members? If the study conducted by CloudResearch about responses to polls is anywhere near accurate, the answer is a qualified “yes”.
It looks like Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler is getting desperate as he’s had to resort to publishing a letter to President Trump as a means to bolster his re-election campaign by laying the blame for the rioting, looting and arson taking place in Portland on Trump and the federal officers who were protecting federal property. The truth is the rioting, looting, and arson were taking place well before the feds showed up. Wheeler is applying Alinsky’s Rules to the dire situation he’s found himself in, specifically “Accuse your opponents of acts you yourself are committing.”
Wheeler’s own words condemn him, he having stated he’s allowed Portland to burn because “it had nothing to lose.”
Who the heck wants a mayor that will allow his city to be destroyed because he’s too weak or too scared to actually do something to stop it?
I was running an errand for the WP Mom – seeking a birthday card for her great grandson (my grand nephew) – and experienced the same thing she did, that being a dearth of birthday cards. More accurately, a dearth of birthday cards for boys of almost all ages. There were plenty of birthday cards for girls from 1 year old through their teen years.
There were some generic kid’s birthday cards, but there were very few of them, and none that were appropriate for a 5-year old boy. Most of those generic cards seemed a little too ‘frilly’ for me, meaning they were really aimed at young girls. (Is that just my White Heterosexual Male Privilege/Patriarchy speaking? No. How do I know? It was simple: I asked one of the young store associates with whom I am acquainted whether it was just my perception. She agreed with my observation and said she’d never really noticed it until I mentioned it.)
It’s one thing if there had been row after row of empty slots where those cards would normally be located, meaning they were sold out. But those rows and rows of empty slots don’t exist. Those cards weren’t sold out. They were never there.
Is it because there isn’t much of a market for birthday cards for young boys? Or is it because we have reached the point in our society where cards have become far more female-focused and greeting card companies are abandoning a portion of their market?
Antifa, BLM, and their hangers on have gone past rioting, looting, and arson in Portland.
They are now actively killing people...and cheering their murder.
I expect this will become more prevalent now that they’ve passed that psychological threshold. Then again, mobs like killing. They always have.
I am laying a good portion of the blame on Portland mayor Ted Wheeler and his indifference to the destruction of his city.
Believe it or not, there is someone out there who has authored a tome that defends the looting that has been taking place in those cities ‘protesting’ the death of George Lloyd. The author of the book defends looting “as a way to undermine the “white supremacy” behind the idea of property and that the value of small businesses is a “right-wing myth.””
The author, Vicky Osterwell, makes the argument that “looting is a powerful tool to bring about real, lasting change in society. The rioters who smash windows and take items from stores, she says, are engaging in a powerful tactic that questions the justice of ‘law and order,’ and the distribution of property and wealth in an unequal society.”
There’s one problem with looting, that being that most of those small businesses looted won’t be back, ever. There will be fewer places to loot going forward. Areas of the city will become retail deserts because why would anyone open a business knowing their goods would be stolen all in the name of “distribution of property and wealth in an unequal society”?
Apparently Ms. Osterwell has never read any Adam Smith, but instead has been delving too deeply into long discredited Marxist economics, where no one owns anything and everything is ‘free’. Of course it never really works out that way...ever. She has consumed the Marxist economic Kool-aid and chooses to ignore how things actually work as well as ignoring a good portion of human nature. But then Marxists usually do.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the roar of motorcycles is dwindling away, the sun has reappeared, and where the last week of summer is starting.
It didn’t help that it rained yesterday, something that tends to keep the visiting bikers off the road. Fortunately the rain stopped by early afternoon and the bikes appeared soon after that.
All in all, it was a a low-key Motorcycle Week. Somehow I think next year’s rally will more than make up for it.
********************
Pro sports keeps ignoring the lesson of “Get woke, go broke”, with the latest example being baseball games canceled because the ball players decided they weren’t going to play because of the shooting of felon Jacob Blake by police. That Blake was in violation of a restraining order that ordered him to stay away from the victim of an violent sexual assault Blake had allegedly committed and other outstanding warrants plays no part in this.
What these players and the sports organizations are choosing to ignore is that they are losing fans in increasing numbers, and if the fans go away, so do their pro sports careers.
Fans don’t care nearly as much as they did. They’ve learned to live without sports, especially in their current diminished condition. They’ve learned that they’re taken for granted. And more and more they’ve determined that they won’t pay another dime to attend games or to watch them on TV.Fans have found better things to do than patronize spoiled multimillionaire athletes, are focusing on local sports or on more family oriented activities that don’t involve professional sports. Long-term die-hard fans are tuning out, myself included. I have no plans to watch any NFL games which means that neither the New England Patriots or the Philadelphia Eagles can count on me attending games or watching them on TV. There are plenty of other fans of these teams and all the others feeling the same way.
--snip--
MLB, like the NBA and NFL, has allowed its fan base — its financial blood flow — to erode.
Fans can’t help but apply Thursday’s walkout to their own realities: “Would I be allowed to simply stand up and walk out of work in protest of anything and not face suspension or termination?” And they conclude that they could not, or would not — even at a small fraction of big-league pay.
********************
Are Trump voters lying to pollsters about who they’ll be voting for in November? Are they also lying to co-workers, friends, and family members? If the study conducted by CloudResearch about responses to polls is anywhere near accurate, the answer is a qualified “yes”.
11.7% of Republicans say they would not report their true opinions about their preferred presidential candidate on telephone polls.We have also have to be careful if we voice our opinions to our family and friends. TDS is widespread.
In contrast, just 5.4% of Democrats say they’d be reluctant to share their true voting intentions — roughly half the number of Republicans reluctant to tell the truth on phone polls.
10.5% of Independents fell into the “shy voter” category, just a percentage point lower than how Republicans react to phone polls.
********************
It looks like Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler is getting desperate as he’s had to resort to publishing a letter to President Trump as a means to bolster his re-election campaign by laying the blame for the rioting, looting and arson taking place in Portland on Trump and the federal officers who were protecting federal property. The truth is the rioting, looting, and arson were taking place well before the feds showed up. Wheeler is applying Alinsky’s Rules to the dire situation he’s found himself in, specifically “Accuse your opponents of acts you yourself are committing.”
Wheeler’s own words condemn him, he having stated he’s allowed Portland to burn because “it had nothing to lose.”
Who the heck wants a mayor that will allow his city to be destroyed because he’s too weak or too scared to actually do something to stop it?
********************
I was running an errand for the WP Mom – seeking a birthday card for her great grandson (my grand nephew) – and experienced the same thing she did, that being a dearth of birthday cards. More accurately, a dearth of birthday cards for boys of almost all ages. There were plenty of birthday cards for girls from 1 year old through their teen years.
There were some generic kid’s birthday cards, but there were very few of them, and none that were appropriate for a 5-year old boy. Most of those generic cards seemed a little too ‘frilly’ for me, meaning they were really aimed at young girls. (Is that just my White Heterosexual Male Privilege/Patriarchy speaking? No. How do I know? It was simple: I asked one of the young store associates with whom I am acquainted whether it was just my perception. She agreed with my observation and said she’d never really noticed it until I mentioned it.)
It’s one thing if there had been row after row of empty slots where those cards would normally be located, meaning they were sold out. But those rows and rows of empty slots don’t exist. Those cards weren’t sold out. They were never there.
Is it because there isn’t much of a market for birthday cards for young boys? Or is it because we have reached the point in our society where cards have become far more female-focused and greeting card companies are abandoning a portion of their market?
********************
Antifa, BLM, and their hangers on have gone past rioting, looting, and arson in Portland.
They are now actively killing people...and cheering their murder.
“As cars drive through the intersection, a man can be seen pulling a gun and shooting. The man who is hit stumbles and falls and is then illuminated by headlights. . . . At the moment of the murder, a voice can be heard to celebrate the death of a ‘Trumper.'”Writes Andy Ngo, “On the 95th night of riots and violent protests in Portland, a conservative rally attendee was fatally shot. On confirming the deceased wasn’t one of theirs, antifa and BLM cheered & danced in the street outside the Justice Center.”
I expect this will become more prevalent now that they’ve passed that psychological threshold. Then again, mobs like killing. They always have.
I am laying a good portion of the blame on Portland mayor Ted Wheeler and his indifference to the destruction of his city.
********************
Believe it or not, there is someone out there who has authored a tome that defends the looting that has been taking place in those cities ‘protesting’ the death of George Lloyd. The author of the book defends looting “as a way to undermine the “white supremacy” behind the idea of property and that the value of small businesses is a “right-wing myth.””
The author, Vicky Osterwell, makes the argument that “looting is a powerful tool to bring about real, lasting change in society. The rioters who smash windows and take items from stores, she says, are engaging in a powerful tactic that questions the justice of ‘law and order,’ and the distribution of property and wealth in an unequal society.”
There’s one problem with looting, that being that most of those small businesses looted won’t be back, ever. There will be fewer places to loot going forward. Areas of the city will become retail deserts because why would anyone open a business knowing their goods would be stolen all in the name of “distribution of property and wealth in an unequal society”?
Apparently Ms. Osterwell has never read any Adam Smith, but instead has been delving too deeply into long discredited Marxist economics, where no one owns anything and everything is ‘free’. Of course it never really works out that way...ever. She has consumed the Marxist economic Kool-aid and chooses to ignore how things actually work as well as ignoring a good portion of human nature. But then Marxists usually do.
********************
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the roar of motorcycles is dwindling away, the sun has reappeared, and where the last week of summer is starting.
8/29/2020
Buddies Like That
I was perusing the web and came across this over at The Feral Irishman.
We all need buddies like that.
We all need buddies like that.
8/28/2020
California Aiming To Tax (Confiscate) Wealth And Take A Piece Of Your Income Even If You Leave
From the “Just When I Thought They Couldn’t Get Any Stupider” Department comes this from California.
California Proposes Creating ‘Tax Prisoners’ - You Can Move Away, But You’s Still Be Taxed For 10 Years.
Do the looters infesting California’s Assembly really believe they’ll be able to get away with doing something like that? Isn’t that akin to indentured servitude, something outlawed by the 13th Amendment back in 1865? Is it akin to Directive 10-289 as described by Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged? Do The Powers That Be understand that novel was meant to be a warning and not a “How To” manual?
I figure it will only be a matter of time until the Assembly lowers that limit until it hits everyone regardless of their income or ‘wealth’. If they do, they will see the exodus already taking place turn into a flood of people, businesses and wealth fleeing the state now being run by pirates, thieves, and con artists. Everyone will pick up and leave...unless the Pyrite State enacts their own version of Directive 10-289 and enslaves the citizenry.
Frankly, I wouldn’t it past them to do just that “for the good of California”. It’s Schlicter’s People’s Republic coming into being.
California Proposes Creating ‘Tax Prisoners’ - You Can Move Away, But You’s Still Be Taxed For 10 Years.
You probably already have heard of the California proposal. It would be a 4 percent tax on the net worth of those with more than $30 million and would hit about 34,000 people.So they would tax assets, assets bought with money that had already been heavily taxed by California? This would be a second tax on money that has already been taxed. The reasoning behind this insane idea?
Whew! That won’t hit me, you’re saying.
But one feature of the bill is outlandish and, if it set a precedent for other taxes, it could impair the freedom and mobility of citizens. You see heretofore we have a choice on where to live and pay our taxes. But the California proposal is special: moving a way won’t help. California would tax you even if fled for fairer taxes elsewhere.
It would impose the tax for ten years after the former resident sets up in another state.
[State Assemblyman] Bonta argued that the state deserves part of the wealth accumulated in the state.WTF? The state “deserves part of the wealth”? The state didn’t make that wealth. The state already taxed that wealth. Now they want more. It’s called ‘theft’. And on top of that, they want to keep stealing that wealth for 10 years after a resident has packed up and left.
Do the looters infesting California’s Assembly really believe they’ll be able to get away with doing something like that? Isn’t that akin to indentured servitude, something outlawed by the 13th Amendment back in 1865? Is it akin to Directive 10-289 as described by Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged? Do The Powers That Be understand that novel was meant to be a warning and not a “How To” manual?
I figure it will only be a matter of time until the Assembly lowers that limit until it hits everyone regardless of their income or ‘wealth’. If they do, they will see the exodus already taking place turn into a flood of people, businesses and wealth fleeing the state now being run by pirates, thieves, and con artists. Everyone will pick up and leave...unless the Pyrite State enacts their own version of Directive 10-289 and enslaves the citizenry.
Frankly, I wouldn’t it past them to do just that “for the good of California”. It’s Schlicter’s People’s Republic coming into being.
8/27/2020
Quote Of The Day
Posting has been a little sparse as LifeTM has intruded. Between my regular job and some of my town duties, I haven't had as much free time as I usually do. In order to break the streak of little posting, I offer this quote of the day from one of the commenters over at DayByDay.
Quoth JS Stryker:
Quoth JS Stryker:
“If socialism is the answer then someone asked a really stupid question…”Indeed.
8/23/2020
Thoughts On A Sunday
It’s the opening weekend of the delayed Motorcycle Week up here in central New Hampshire, with a Covid-19 diminished crowd of around 150,000 bikers expected to visit over the next 8 days. We usually see between 300,000 and 350,000 bikers over the typical Motorcycle Week.
A usual number of vendors will be smaller, with beer tents not being allowed this year. Fortunately, the restrictions on restaurant seating expired this past week meaning the local restaurants can operate at full capacity.
It will be interesting to see how many bikers will make the trip this year. We’ll have a better feel for that come Thursday when the majority of the bikers will start arriving.
They know if they don’t cheat they can’t win.
It seems the Dartmouth College Democrats have been conspiring to get ineligible out-of-state voters to cast fraudulent absentee ballots in New Hampshire.
If they aren’t already registered to vote in New Hampshire, then they cannot register to vote while out of state. Under NH law they can’t use their dorm address to register to vote because they are not ‘domiciles’, something required in order to be eligible to vote. (Dorms, like hotels and motels, are considered transient housing and as such cannot be used to establish residency.) They are also required to have a valid NH ID, be it a drivers license or state issued non-drivers ID. But that hasn’t stopped the DCDs.
I don’t need to add anything to this:
(H/T Powerline)
I had thought to make this announcement in a separate post (and I might still do so), but I wanted to let my dozen or so regular readers know that I will be adding a new contributor to Weekend Pundit.
This has been in the works for a few weeks and came about after a series of e-mails discussing some of my posts, with them becoming more or a Point-Counterpoint discussion over a period of months. It came to me that perhaps this was something that should be shared by means other than copy-and-paste into a post. As I was pondering this, I received an e-mail asking if it would be a good idea to open the blog to another contributor.
That cinched it for me.
The new member of the team, Jodi, is a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, meaning our viewpoints will likely be on opposite ends of the political spectrum. (In the spirit of full disclosure, she is also one of the WP Nieces I have mentioned now and then.) She will be taking on my well-earned reputation as a curmudgeonly conservative. It will be my viewpoints, developed over decades of observation, experiences, and travel to an unnumbered amount of foreign lands, against hers, come by way of her upbringing and educational indoctrination.
I expect some good back-and-forth. I am also hoping to reactivate comments (probably using Disqus) as I have a feeling more than one or two of you will want to respond to our scribblings. When comments are restored I will have only one rule, shamelessly stolen from our friends over at GraniteGrok: Act like a troll and you will be banned.
And that’s the abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the roar of motorcycles can be heard everywhere, thunderstorms are forecast for today and tomorrow, and it’s time for me to get back to work even though it’s Sunday.
A usual number of vendors will be smaller, with beer tents not being allowed this year. Fortunately, the restrictions on restaurant seating expired this past week meaning the local restaurants can operate at full capacity.
It will be interesting to see how many bikers will make the trip this year. We’ll have a better feel for that come Thursday when the majority of the bikers will start arriving.
********************
They know if they don’t cheat they can’t win.
It seems the Dartmouth College Democrats have been conspiring to get ineligible out-of-state voters to cast fraudulent absentee ballots in New Hampshire.
If they aren’t already registered to vote in New Hampshire, then they cannot register to vote while out of state. Under NH law they can’t use their dorm address to register to vote because they are not ‘domiciles’, something required in order to be eligible to vote. (Dorms, like hotels and motels, are considered transient housing and as such cannot be used to establish residency.) They are also required to have a valid NH ID, be it a drivers license or state issued non-drivers ID. But that hasn’t stopped the DCDs.
This is ballot box stuffing; vote fraud, clear as day.If it lets the Democrats cheat, to ‘stuff the ballot box’, then of course they’re all for it. After all, the ends justify the means, right?
These ‘students’ are at home and should vote in the town and state where they are now. Not where they could be in theory under other circumstances. A place where, even on campus, they do not live. They will never file taxes from their dorm address or be asked to serve on a jury. Heck, they can’t even license a dog in New Hampshire, but we should let them vote in our elections?
********************
I don’t need to add anything to this:
(H/T Powerline)
********************
I had thought to make this announcement in a separate post (and I might still do so), but I wanted to let my dozen or so regular readers know that I will be adding a new contributor to Weekend Pundit.
This has been in the works for a few weeks and came about after a series of e-mails discussing some of my posts, with them becoming more or a Point-Counterpoint discussion over a period of months. It came to me that perhaps this was something that should be shared by means other than copy-and-paste into a post. As I was pondering this, I received an e-mail asking if it would be a good idea to open the blog to another contributor.
That cinched it for me.
The new member of the team, Jodi, is a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, meaning our viewpoints will likely be on opposite ends of the political spectrum. (In the spirit of full disclosure, she is also one of the WP Nieces I have mentioned now and then.) She will be taking on my well-earned reputation as a curmudgeonly conservative. It will be my viewpoints, developed over decades of observation, experiences, and travel to an unnumbered amount of foreign lands, against hers, come by way of her upbringing and educational indoctrination.
I expect some good back-and-forth. I am also hoping to reactivate comments (probably using Disqus) as I have a feeling more than one or two of you will want to respond to our scribblings. When comments are restored I will have only one rule, shamelessly stolen from our friends over at GraniteGrok: Act like a troll and you will be banned.
********************
And that’s the abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the roar of motorcycles can be heard everywhere, thunderstorms are forecast for today and tomorrow, and it’s time for me to get back to work even though it’s Sunday.
8/22/2020
DNC Plan B
I figured the DNC would have to resort to this. It’s the only way Joe will make it through the campaign.
(H/T Powerline)
(H/T Powerline)
8/21/2020
A Paradox
One has to wonder how folks can believe two diametrically opposed ideas at the same time. The picture below illustrates one such bit of cognitive dissonance, by way of Facebook.
8/20/2020
Quote Of The Day
"You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant." - Harlan Ellison
8/19/2020
God Was Busy
I saw this in the comments to a post about an Iowa State University English professor who demanded her students support the same causes she did or they would be kicked out of her class.
I have seen variations of this so I am slightly editing it (mostly format and a few grammatical errors) But the gist of it is the same.
I have seen variations of this so I am slightly editing it (mostly format and a few grammatical errors) But the gist of it is the same.
There's an old joke about the community-college professor who is militantly atheist. In one class, on a completely different topic, he announces that God doesn't exist, and he can prove it!Heh.TM
The professor shakes his fist in the air and thunders, "God, if you exist at all, I DARE you to strike me down! Strike me down in the next minute! I dare you!"
This annoys several students who are not atheists, among them a recently discharged US Marine, sitting ramrod-straight in the front row. After watching the professor get increasingly smug, he has had enough. He rises from his chair and floors the professor with one punch to the jaw.
The astonished professor exclaims: "What was THAT for?!?"
The Marine quietly responds: "God was busy, so He sent me instead."
8/18/2020
Is California Going To Go Dark?
As I mentioned in an earlier post, California’s electrical grid has problems.
They’re about to get worse…and it’s the fault of the politicians, not the utilities.
We’ve seen that kind of failure before, with one of the larger blackouts taking place some years ago, starting in the upper mid-West (Illinois) and spreading across the northern tier to the Northeast, specifically New Jersey, New York, and portions of Connecticut, western Massachusetts, and southern Vermont. That was caused when one generating plant dropped offline when there was a switching yard failure. It took place during a heatwave and the grid was stressed trying to meet the demand.
California’s situation is worse, with an inadequate generation capacity that will shrink even more as more powerplants are decommissioned, both natural gas plants and the last operating nuclear power station are slated to be removed from the grid in the next few years. There’s no new dispatchable capacity to replace the plants coming offline. The Pyrite State already imports over 30% of its electricity and that percentage is growing. That has led to the situation where California has been using 100% of its generating capacity with no operating or spinning reserve available to service any increase in demand or a generator dropping offline. If there is a surge or drop in generation capacity it could cause a cascade failure, not just in California but in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
Why is California in this situation?
That’s the way the watermelon environmentalists in state government wanted it and did everything they could to make it happen. They’ve succeeded.
They’re about to get worse…and it’s the fault of the politicians, not the utilities.
In response to rolling blackouts over the weekend, California ISO President Steve Berber warned that California must maintain its current electricity reserves or risk ‘collapse of the entire system of California and perhaps the entire West.’As anyone in the electrical utility field knows, and as many engineers know, you can’t use 100% of your generating capacity with no reserves because if something happens – a downed powerline, equipment failure in a switching yard/substation, a generator fault – the electrical grid will start shutting down in what’s called a cascade failure. That’s when one section of the grid after another shuts down to protect generators, transformers, and switches because there isn’t enough generating capacity to take up the load.
Berber:
“You are trading the loss of 3000 megawatts for the collapse of the entire system of California and perhaps the entire West. […] When you’re at the very edge and you have a contingency and you have no operating reserves, you risk entire system collapse.”
We’ve seen that kind of failure before, with one of the larger blackouts taking place some years ago, starting in the upper mid-West (Illinois) and spreading across the northern tier to the Northeast, specifically New Jersey, New York, and portions of Connecticut, western Massachusetts, and southern Vermont. That was caused when one generating plant dropped offline when there was a switching yard failure. It took place during a heatwave and the grid was stressed trying to meet the demand.
California’s situation is worse, with an inadequate generation capacity that will shrink even more as more powerplants are decommissioned, both natural gas plants and the last operating nuclear power station are slated to be removed from the grid in the next few years. There’s no new dispatchable capacity to replace the plants coming offline. The Pyrite State already imports over 30% of its electricity and that percentage is growing. That has led to the situation where California has been using 100% of its generating capacity with no operating or spinning reserve available to service any increase in demand or a generator dropping offline. If there is a surge or drop in generation capacity it could cause a cascade failure, not just in California but in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
Why is California in this situation?
That’s the way the watermelon environmentalists in state government wanted it and did everything they could to make it happen. They’ve succeeded.
8/16/2020
Thoughts On A Sunday
This weekend’s weather has certainly been entirely different from what we saw last weekend and most of this past week. It was cooler and cloudier which was nice because it meant there was no need to turn on the A/C and we could leave the windows open.
For a summer that started out so cool and wet, it has changed into one of the warmer and more humid summers we’ve seen in a while. But even with this and the ongoing Covid-19 precautions, this part of New Hampshire has been seeing the usual summer crowds. However, the makeup of the crowds has changed, with a much larger proportion of them being folks from in-state. It’s been ‘staycations’ rather than ‘vacations’.
A number of summer attractions haven’t been operating this summer, one of the biggest being an outdoor concert venue that sees between 30 and 40 concert events per season. The same is true of some of the summer theater venues.
It has certainly made for a different summer this year.
Kamala Harris is now a target, or at least she should be if the Left Wing media were honest and approached her candidacy with the same zeal they had when they went after Sarah Palin.
However, we all know they won’t. Instead, they will carry water for her, protect her, and do everything they can to sanitize the more nefarious portions of her past.
I came across this video in the comments section of a post linking to Steven Hayward’s piece about Our Collapsing Cities.
The video shows block after block of boarded up stores along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. The driver lists the stores he sees, running the gamut from Rolex, Ferragamo, Saks Fifth Avenue, Puma, Nike, Ted Baker, Aldo’s, Adidas, AT&T, Oakley, Barnes & Noble, and a whole host of other retailers. Fifth Avenue and the cross-streets are deserted. Some retailers aren’t returning. Others haven’t made up their minds. Somehow I doubt Fifth Avenue will ever be the same since looters decided to collect ‘reparations’ on their terms.
New Yorkers can thank Comrade DeBlasio for the situation at Fifth Avenue and elsewhere in the city.
It looks like California Democrats are now showing their true colors, proposing a new “wealth tax” in order to fill a budget deficit of their own making.
This is not taxation. It is blatant theft, all in the name of “the greater good.” What they are proposing will take away assets owned by those they are taxing, assets the people worked for, assets people earned. In effect, California Democrats are telling anyone who makes it in the business world that they should “stop thinking about it as your money because it’s our money.”
The looters (for that’s what they are) are estimating it will raise $7.5 billion, but if past performance of other wealth taxes imposed elsewhere is any indicator, they won’t take in anywhere near that much. Their reasoning for such a tax is the usual “These greedy capitalists became wealthy on the backs of the poor and downtrodden” trope.
Yeah, I’m sure that proviso will survive the expected court challenges. [/sarc]
Every time I think California’s One-Party GovernmentTM can’t get any stupider, they prove me wrong. When they do, the people of California suffer.
Democrats keep telling us vote-by-mail is the only way to enable voting during this era of Covid-19. Any complaints about how easy it is to commit vote fraud have been downplayed or even openly mocked as being paranoid.
Tell that to the city of Paterson, New Jersey.
This is the system the DNC wants to use for the election in November, leaving the election open to massive fraud, fraud that can be used to ensure election wins across the nation.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the latest heat wave has broken, the summer attractions that are open are doing a lot of business, and where people are trying to get their kids ready to go back to school...of some form.
For a summer that started out so cool and wet, it has changed into one of the warmer and more humid summers we’ve seen in a while. But even with this and the ongoing Covid-19 precautions, this part of New Hampshire has been seeing the usual summer crowds. However, the makeup of the crowds has changed, with a much larger proportion of them being folks from in-state. It’s been ‘staycations’ rather than ‘vacations’.
A number of summer attractions haven’t been operating this summer, one of the biggest being an outdoor concert venue that sees between 30 and 40 concert events per season. The same is true of some of the summer theater venues.
It has certainly made for a different summer this year.
********************
Kamala Harris is now a target, or at least she should be if the Left Wing media were honest and approached her candidacy with the same zeal they had when they went after Sarah Palin.
However, we all know they won’t. Instead, they will carry water for her, protect her, and do everything they can to sanitize the more nefarious portions of her past.
********************
I came across this video in the comments section of a post linking to Steven Hayward’s piece about Our Collapsing Cities.
The video shows block after block of boarded up stores along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. The driver lists the stores he sees, running the gamut from Rolex, Ferragamo, Saks Fifth Avenue, Puma, Nike, Ted Baker, Aldo’s, Adidas, AT&T, Oakley, Barnes & Noble, and a whole host of other retailers. Fifth Avenue and the cross-streets are deserted. Some retailers aren’t returning. Others haven’t made up their minds. Somehow I doubt Fifth Avenue will ever be the same since looters decided to collect ‘reparations’ on their terms.
New Yorkers can thank Comrade DeBlasio for the situation at Fifth Avenue and elsewhere in the city.
********************
It looks like California Democrats are now showing their true colors, proposing a new “wealth tax” in order to fill a budget deficit of their own making.
This is not taxation. It is blatant theft, all in the name of “the greater good.” What they are proposing will take away assets owned by those they are taxing, assets the people worked for, assets people earned. In effect, California Democrats are telling anyone who makes it in the business world that they should “stop thinking about it as your money because it’s our money.”
The looters (for that’s what they are) are estimating it will raise $7.5 billion, but if past performance of other wealth taxes imposed elsewhere is any indicator, they won’t take in anywhere near that much. Their reasoning for such a tax is the usual “These greedy capitalists became wealthy on the backs of the poor and downtrodden” trope.
How much should the most successful among us be taxed? The idiotic notions that the rich got that way because of racism or because they “stood on the backs of the poor” are liberal political rhetoric and not serious debate points about the issue of wealth or taxes. And if the state is going to raise taxes on anyone, they are beholden to the people to find ways to cut government expenditures by an equal or greater amount.They will also drive those paying those taxes out of California. Of course the Democrats have an answer to that problem: “California won’t have a problem with rich people fleeing the state. If they do, their wealth will still be taxed for 10 years after they go.”
California Democrats are not going to cut any of their pet programs to narrow the deficit, so they’re going to get cash from the most convenient source; the rich and successful.
Yeah, I’m sure that proviso will survive the expected court challenges. [/sarc]
Every time I think California’s One-Party GovernmentTM can’t get any stupider, they prove me wrong. When they do, the people of California suffer.
********************
Democrats keep telling us vote-by-mail is the only way to enable voting during this era of Covid-19. Any complaints about how easy it is to commit vote fraud have been downplayed or even openly mocked as being paranoid.
Tell that to the city of Paterson, New Jersey.
Facing allegations of vote fraud, Councilman-elect Alex Mendez has decided to accept a judge’s proposal that would negate his victory in the May election and set up a new contest for Paterson’s 3rd Ward City Council seat.Both candidates have agreed to a special election – a repeat election – as the way to address the fraud vote perpetrated this past May. It’s a do-over because the vote-by-mail process was misused and fraudulent ballots were accepted, making the outcome impossible to determine.
After a bitter battle in the spring election, Mendez and former Councilman William McKoy will engage in a rematch that could shape the city’s political landscape for the next two years. Mendez had loomed as Mayor Andre Sayegh’s main opponent in the 2022 mayoral race after he beat McKoy by 240 votes in the spring.
But six days before Mendez was scheduled to take office as a councilman on July 1, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office announced he was being charged with election fraud crimes, accusations that are pending. A judge subsequently ruled that the 3rd Ward council seat should stay vacant until the resolution of McKoy’s civil lawsuit claiming there was widespread wrongdoing in the election.
This is the system the DNC wants to use for the election in November, leaving the election open to massive fraud, fraud that can be used to ensure election wins across the nation.
********************
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the latest heat wave has broken, the summer attractions that are open are doing a lot of business, and where people are trying to get their kids ready to go back to school...of some form.
8/15/2020
The Law Of Unintended Consequences Hits California...Again
It’s déjà vu all over again.
Last year California utility PG&E started a policy of cutting of power to areas where high winds are blowing as a means of preventing power lines from sparking devastating new brush fires. This was driven by the devastation wrought by fires caused by years of neglect by California’s government by restricting or outright banning of brush cutting and controlled burns to reduce the fire hazard.
PG&E was wrongfully blamed as the cause of those widespread fires that destroyed entire towns, hundreds of square miles of forest, and killed incalculable numbers of wildlife and snuffed the lives of many people. While PG&E’s powerlines sparked those fires, it was the state of California’s aforementioned ban on brush cutting and controlled burns that fueled those fires. Decades of brush and undergrowth dried to tinder piled up, requiring only something to ignite it into a conflagration.
Fast-forward to today and the brush-fire season has returned to California. But this time PG&E hasn’t cut power because of fire dangers but because of an extended heat wave driving demand so high that power cuts were required in order to prevent transmission line overloads. There was also generation capacity insufficiency, something self-inflicted by California’s watermelon environmentalist government shutting down power stations, particularly nuclear power stations, and replacing them with ‘green’ power systems (wind and solar) that came nowhere near to meeting demand.
It is yet another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences coming into play.
Last year California utility PG&E started a policy of cutting of power to areas where high winds are blowing as a means of preventing power lines from sparking devastating new brush fires. This was driven by the devastation wrought by fires caused by years of neglect by California’s government by restricting or outright banning of brush cutting and controlled burns to reduce the fire hazard.
PG&E was wrongfully blamed as the cause of those widespread fires that destroyed entire towns, hundreds of square miles of forest, and killed incalculable numbers of wildlife and snuffed the lives of many people. While PG&E’s powerlines sparked those fires, it was the state of California’s aforementioned ban on brush cutting and controlled burns that fueled those fires. Decades of brush and undergrowth dried to tinder piled up, requiring only something to ignite it into a conflagration.
Fast-forward to today and the brush-fire season has returned to California. But this time PG&E hasn’t cut power because of fire dangers but because of an extended heat wave driving demand so high that power cuts were required in order to prevent transmission line overloads. There was also generation capacity insufficiency, something self-inflicted by California’s watermelon environmentalist government shutting down power stations, particularly nuclear power stations, and replacing them with ‘green’ power systems (wind and solar) that came nowhere near to meeting demand.
It is yet another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences coming into play.
8/14/2020
75 Years Ago Today
Looking around at various websites and newspapers, I was surprised and dismayed to find that only one newspaper even mentioned one of the biggest days in history - VJ Day.
Unless I was blind or not paying attention, even Instapundit missed it!
Below is a screenshot I took from our local Laconia Daily Sun:
VJ Day was the culmination of the hard work and sacrifices made by the Greatest Generation to defeat two intractable enemies,
Note:The Laconia Citizen no longer exists, having closed its doors a couple of years ago.
Unless I was blind or not paying attention, even Instapundit missed it!
Below is a screenshot I took from our local Laconia Daily Sun:
VJ Day was the culmination of the hard work and sacrifices made by the Greatest Generation to defeat two intractable enemies,
Note:The Laconia Citizen no longer exists, having closed its doors a couple of years ago.
8/13/2020
8/11/2020
Can A Cold Protect Us From Covid-19?
From the Washington Post (Yes, that Washington Post) comes this about how the common cold may have played a part in many people being immune to or resistant to Covid-19.
It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out. Could it be that all we need to do to protect ourselves is to catch a cold?
When researcher Monica Gandhi began digging deeper into outbreaks of the novel coronavirus, she was struck by the extraordinarily high number of infected people who had no symptoms.Even now we’re seeing a lot of people in my home state that test positive for Covid-19 showing minor or no symptoms. There have been no recent hospitalizations and very few deaths.
A Boston homeless shelter had 147 infected residents, but 88 percent had no symptoms even though they shared their living space. A Tyson Foods poultry plant in Springdale, Ark., had 481 infections, and 95 percent were asymptomatic. Prisons in Arkansas, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia counted 3,277 infected people, but 96 percent were asymptomatic.
During its seven-month global rampage, the coronavirus has claimed more than 700,000 lives. But Gandhi began to think the bigger mystery might be why it has left so many more practically unscathed.
It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out. Could it be that all we need to do to protect ourselves is to catch a cold?
8/10/2020
8/09/2020
Thoughts On A Sunday
It’s been a pretty good weekend here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. We’re seeing a lot of vacationers, though their makeup consists more of folks on ‘staycation’ rather than people from away (primarily Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York).
All of the vacation rentals have been fully booked right up through Labor Day weekend, something that is unusual as summer ‘visits’ fall off starting after the second full week of August as families get ready to send their kids back to school. Weekend visits continue at a reduced rate until the end of September and then fall off to almost nothing. But looking at the bookings of rental properties, that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen that way this year. Bookings are solid until Columbus Day weekend. Is it part of the aftermath of Covid-19?
Checking the TV ratings for MBL, NBA, and NHL games, it appears people are staying away from the televised games in droves. The ratings could hardly get any lower.
It looks like people have other things to do rather than watching sports run by organizations that have caved to a very vocal but very small minority of non-fans and gone ‘woke’.
Serves ‘em right.
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a crew-member on a private jet? Have you ever wondered what goes on during flights on those private jets and the differences between the various types of passengers? You might be surprised at the wide range of passengers, their wants and needs as well as how bad (or good) they behave, this piece from Bloomberg will give you some insight.
The one thing that surprised me? Celebrities tend to be least troublesome and kindest to the crews. Their personal assistants, on the other hand, tend to be a big pain in the a**.
The worst passengers? High-rollers going to/coming from Vegas followed closely by some of the young high-tech giants with more money than sense.
Alas, it is one experience I doubt I will experience in my lifetime unless I hit Powerball or Megamillions.
As I have reminded more than a few people, stop thinking of Trump as a politician but as a master magician, getting people to pay attention to the “shiny object” in his hand rather than what his hidden hand is doing. He is a good example of a master manipulator.
He latest bit of manipulation? Signing a series of Executive Orders regarding Covid-19 relief the Democrats had been delaying because they couldn’t come to an agreement with the GOP members of Congress and the President, the biggest stumbling block being the amount of money the government doesn’t have to be spent on further relief. The GOP was pushing to spend less than half of what the Democrats were proposing, but Pelosi and Schumer were having none of it. The Democrats were also pushing measures that had nothing to do with Covid relief as a condition of voting for relief, something GOP was against. They were looking for a so-called “clean bill” that included none of the conditions being pushed by the Democrats.
How is this a manipulation?
Trump has forced Congressional Democrats into a position where they will have to oppose Covid-19 relief.
Considering how much damage Mayor Bill DeBlasio has done to New York City with his Progressive/Communist policies, is it any wonder New Yorkers are voting with their feet and leaving the Big Apple in droves? One particular neighborhood seeing lifelong residents fleeing the increasing violence and decay of the city they love is the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where hot and humid weather is on its way, people will be crowding the beaches, and where air-conditioned offices are going to be a good place to be for the next 3 days.
All of the vacation rentals have been fully booked right up through Labor Day weekend, something that is unusual as summer ‘visits’ fall off starting after the second full week of August as families get ready to send their kids back to school. Weekend visits continue at a reduced rate until the end of September and then fall off to almost nothing. But looking at the bookings of rental properties, that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen that way this year. Bookings are solid until Columbus Day weekend. Is it part of the aftermath of Covid-19?
********************
Checking the TV ratings for MBL, NBA, and NHL games, it appears people are staying away from the televised games in droves. The ratings could hardly get any lower.
It looks like people have other things to do rather than watching sports run by organizations that have caved to a very vocal but very small minority of non-fans and gone ‘woke’.
Serves ‘em right.
********************
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a crew-member on a private jet? Have you ever wondered what goes on during flights on those private jets and the differences between the various types of passengers? You might be surprised at the wide range of passengers, their wants and needs as well as how bad (or good) they behave, this piece from Bloomberg will give you some insight.
The one thing that surprised me? Celebrities tend to be least troublesome and kindest to the crews. Their personal assistants, on the other hand, tend to be a big pain in the a**.
The worst passengers? High-rollers going to/coming from Vegas followed closely by some of the young high-tech giants with more money than sense.
Alas, it is one experience I doubt I will experience in my lifetime unless I hit Powerball or Megamillions.
********************
As I have reminded more than a few people, stop thinking of Trump as a politician but as a master magician, getting people to pay attention to the “shiny object” in his hand rather than what his hidden hand is doing. He is a good example of a master manipulator.
He latest bit of manipulation? Signing a series of Executive Orders regarding Covid-19 relief the Democrats had been delaying because they couldn’t come to an agreement with the GOP members of Congress and the President, the biggest stumbling block being the amount of money the government doesn’t have to be spent on further relief. The GOP was pushing to spend less than half of what the Democrats were proposing, but Pelosi and Schumer were having none of it. The Democrats were also pushing measures that had nothing to do with Covid relief as a condition of voting for relief, something GOP was against. They were looking for a so-called “clean bill” that included none of the conditions being pushed by the Democrats.
How is this a manipulation?
Trump has forced Congressional Democrats into a position where they will have to oppose Covid-19 relief.
“We have repeatedly stated our willingness to immediately sign legislation providing expanded unemployment benefits, protecting Americans from eviction, and providing additional relief payments to families,” Trump said. “Democrats have refused these offers.”Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And that’s why Trump one-upped them and has forced them to take an opposite position from the one they say they support.
Before signing the relief bills, the president noted that the Democratic package included many items completely unrelated to economic relief during the coronavirus pandemic.
“So the Democrat bill includes stimulus checks for illegal aliens, they require the mass release of illegal aliens from detention, they also compel the mass release of inmates, including serious felons,” Trump said. “What does this have to do with stimulus, the economy? What does this have to do with the coronavirus?”
********************
Considering how much damage Mayor Bill DeBlasio has done to New York City with his Progressive/Communist policies, is it any wonder New Yorkers are voting with their feet and leaving the Big Apple in droves? One particular neighborhood seeing lifelong residents fleeing the increasing violence and decay of the city they love is the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Due to increasingly squalid conditions on the Upper West Side, including two new homeless shelters packed with junkies and registered sex offenders, longtime dwellers are departing the Big Apple with no plans to ever return.When even long-time residents are pulling up stakes and leaving for greener pastures, you know it’s getting bad. That the problems being seen in New York were caused on purpose by the Mayor, aided and abetted by the Governor, you know you are dealing with people who are working hard to destroy anything and anyone who stands in their way.
One of the Escape from New Yorkers is Elizabeth Carr, one of the area’s most vocal leaders in combatting mounting crime in the well-heeled hood.
“In the best of times, NYC is a hard place to live,” said Carr. “Now you have all this other stuff. It’s a question for families. … to have to see a guy masturbating on the corner or explain to my kids while I’m buying diapers at Duane Reade why this guy wearing no shoes is collapsed on the floor and they’re doing CPR on him.”
She said she started planning to move before the COVID crisis and recent neighborhood developments, but officially put down stakes Sunday in North Carolina with her finance husband and three kids under 7.
“We reached our New York expiration date,” the former nonprofit exec, who’d lived on the UWS since 2007, told The Post from her new home 600 miles away. “Things weren’t heading in the right direction. What we’re seeing now isn’t at all surprising.”
********************
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where hot and humid weather is on its way, people will be crowding the beaches, and where air-conditioned offices are going to be a good place to be for the next 3 days.
8/08/2020
I've Had Enough Of Covid-19. Have You?
I don’t know about you, but I am getting sick of the whole debate over Covid-19 and the disinformation, misinformation, pandering, and over-the-top emotional response to the various actions taken and the inaction shown in dealing with it.
We’ve seen response running the gamut from “Shut everything down and lock everyone away!” to “It’s all a hoax and it isn’t anywhere near as bad as everyone says it is so we don’t need to do anything” and everywhere in between.
Do we need to shut everything down again? No, I do not think so, particularly in light of evidence showing that in most cases it had little effect on the spread of the virus, particularly in non-urban areas. It was a one-size-fits-all solution to a problem that was anything but a one-size-fits-all problem. Now that we know that, why would anyone consider doing that again?
Do we stop taking precautions? No, of course not. But how far do we need to go? We certainly don’t need to wear BL-4 biohazard suits like those used in hot labs like Fort Detrick, Maryland. Washing our hands frequently is certainly an easy precaution to take. Masks are easy to use (though there are those who question their effectiveness) and are basically inexpensive. Cleaning frequently used surfaces is easy. None of those efforts are onerous or take much time to perform.
One thing I wish would stop is the misinformation/disinformation taking place, some through ignorance and some from malice. None of it helps us, though there are likely some who benefit from it. Fraudulent study results help no one. (One such study stating hydrochloroquine was ineffective published in The Lancet was later withdrawn when it was found the supposed researcher was not a scientist or researcher of any kind but a science/science fiction writer. The research institute that ‘conducted’ the study didn’t exist. It was a con job.) Others put forth treatments or “cures” that were either ineffective or downright dangerous, if not lethal.
At one point there was a story circulating that 5G was responsible for spreading Covid-19. The explanation was bogus, a bunch of pseudo-scientific gobbledygook cobbled together make it sound legitimate, but it was enough to convince some people and they helped spread the story.
Covid-19 has also driven some people insane. This insanity was not due to being infected with the disease itself, but by the fact of its very existence. It has pushed some people over the edge.
We have seen people overreact when they think someone isn’t taking Covid-19 seriously enough in their judgment. This overreaction has run from people in a public park being maced by an outraged Karen, other Karens reporting an assault to the police because someone was not wearing a mask, and in one case in Manhattan Beach, California, a Karen accosting two men eating their lunch, splashing one of them with her cup of hot coffee when he refused to wear his mask. (Did I mention he was eating his lunch?) At least in this last case she was arrested for assault and battery, as was her boyfriend. Ironically, the man who was assaulted was wearing a body camera as he was regularly accosted because he had the audacity to wear a MAGA hat. (Remember, this took place in California.) His body cam caught the whole incident. When the police arrived (called by the Karen), the man showed the footage to the responding officers which led to the arrest of the woman and her boyfriend.
I have no doubt there are plenty of other stories similar to those above where people are overreacting to perceived dangers. I have been on the receiving end of this, the incident taking place a few weeks ago when I was traveling through the Weirs Channel in the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout. As I was making my way from Paugus Bay end to the main lake, a fellow in a boat traveling in the opposite direction started yelling at me for not wearing a mask. It must be understood that New Hampshire had no mandatory mask edict (and still doesn’t), at closest approach I was probably 25 feet from the other fellow, and both he and I were alone on our respective boats. Why would I need to wear a mask when I’m in the middle of a 72 square mile lake in my boat by myself? Or was the guy just being a Ken (male Karen) and being a jerk while doing it?
With Motorcycle Week fast approaching here in New Hampshire, I have to wonder if any of the poor deluded Karens and Kens will be out in force?
Of course they will.
We’ve seen response running the gamut from “Shut everything down and lock everyone away!” to “It’s all a hoax and it isn’t anywhere near as bad as everyone says it is so we don’t need to do anything” and everywhere in between.
Do we need to shut everything down again? No, I do not think so, particularly in light of evidence showing that in most cases it had little effect on the spread of the virus, particularly in non-urban areas. It was a one-size-fits-all solution to a problem that was anything but a one-size-fits-all problem. Now that we know that, why would anyone consider doing that again?
Do we stop taking precautions? No, of course not. But how far do we need to go? We certainly don’t need to wear BL-4 biohazard suits like those used in hot labs like Fort Detrick, Maryland. Washing our hands frequently is certainly an easy precaution to take. Masks are easy to use (though there are those who question their effectiveness) and are basically inexpensive. Cleaning frequently used surfaces is easy. None of those efforts are onerous or take much time to perform.
One thing I wish would stop is the misinformation/disinformation taking place, some through ignorance and some from malice. None of it helps us, though there are likely some who benefit from it. Fraudulent study results help no one. (One such study stating hydrochloroquine was ineffective published in The Lancet was later withdrawn when it was found the supposed researcher was not a scientist or researcher of any kind but a science/science fiction writer. The research institute that ‘conducted’ the study didn’t exist. It was a con job.) Others put forth treatments or “cures” that were either ineffective or downright dangerous, if not lethal.
At one point there was a story circulating that 5G was responsible for spreading Covid-19. The explanation was bogus, a bunch of pseudo-scientific gobbledygook cobbled together make it sound legitimate, but it was enough to convince some people and they helped spread the story.
Covid-19 has also driven some people insane. This insanity was not due to being infected with the disease itself, but by the fact of its very existence. It has pushed some people over the edge.
We have seen people overreact when they think someone isn’t taking Covid-19 seriously enough in their judgment. This overreaction has run from people in a public park being maced by an outraged Karen, other Karens reporting an assault to the police because someone was not wearing a mask, and in one case in Manhattan Beach, California, a Karen accosting two men eating their lunch, splashing one of them with her cup of hot coffee when he refused to wear his mask. (Did I mention he was eating his lunch?) At least in this last case she was arrested for assault and battery, as was her boyfriend. Ironically, the man who was assaulted was wearing a body camera as he was regularly accosted because he had the audacity to wear a MAGA hat. (Remember, this took place in California.) His body cam caught the whole incident. When the police arrived (called by the Karen), the man showed the footage to the responding officers which led to the arrest of the woman and her boyfriend.
I have no doubt there are plenty of other stories similar to those above where people are overreacting to perceived dangers. I have been on the receiving end of this, the incident taking place a few weeks ago when I was traveling through the Weirs Channel in the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout. As I was making my way from Paugus Bay end to the main lake, a fellow in a boat traveling in the opposite direction started yelling at me for not wearing a mask. It must be understood that New Hampshire had no mandatory mask edict (and still doesn’t), at closest approach I was probably 25 feet from the other fellow, and both he and I were alone on our respective boats. Why would I need to wear a mask when I’m in the middle of a 72 square mile lake in my boat by myself? Or was the guy just being a Ken (male Karen) and being a jerk while doing it?
With Motorcycle Week fast approaching here in New Hampshire, I have to wonder if any of the poor deluded Karens and Kens will be out in force?
Of course they will.
8/07/2020
8/03/2020
8/02/2020
Thoughts On A Sunday
Our town has seen a small number of new cases of coronavirus. According to the info made available, the new cases involve younger people with minimal or no symptoms. That seems to be the case with most of the people with positive Covid-19 test results. Do these new cases mean we need to shut down again? No, particularly in light of what we know now that we didn’t know back in March.
Do we need to take more extensive measures or will more diligent use of masks and hand-washing be enough? I lean towards the second and not the first. Use of masks and hand-washing seems to be the best way to deal with Covid-19, as well as isolating those most vulnerable to it such as those with underlying medical conditions - diabetes, COPD, heart disease, cancer, autoimmune diseases – or vitamin D deficiencies as well as those who are immunosuppressed. Going so far as to isolate everyone, something we now know doesn’t work all that well, is not the answer.
Hopefully our state leaders will not make that mistake...again.
I have been viewing a number of YouTube videos dealing with the breakdown of relationships between men and women, the unrealistic expectations and the changes in educational and economic circumstances for men and women.
There is a lot of anger out there.
Men, and particularly younger men, are giving up on relationships with women, tired of being treated as “not good enough” because they aren’t as educated or making as much money as many women these days.
Women, particularly those in the 30’s and 40’s, are wondering “Where are all the good men?” and “How come I can’t meet anyone who wants a long term relationship/marriage/children?”
I spent quite a bit of time watching videos from both sides of the issue, read and posted comments, primarily of the “Is this chasm between men and women something that is across the board or is it more prevalent in some areas rather than others?” type of comments.
I did get a few responses, with only a couple being angry and expletive-laden. But a few did respond, with those responses pointing to this issue being more prevalent in urban areas. When I thought about it, it made some kind of sense to me.
One of the most telling videos was posted by a woman who had worked as a matchmaker, telling why she closed her business: Women have unreal and impossible standards for the men they want to date. Could this be one reason why those aforementioned women in their 30’s and 40’s are still single?
There isn’t any one reason, but it wouldn’t surprise me if all of them are related to changes in our society that started back in the late 1960’s.
James Lindsay offers some reasons why the ‘woke’ won’t debate those who disagree with them.
That’s why I will not waste my time trying to convince the more fanatic ‘woke’. I have better things to do with my time.
Who will be the Democrat Party’s nominee for President? I and others have serious doubts that it will be Biden. As Don Bongino posted on Twitter:
An example of appropriate and inappropriate masking:
Heh.TM
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’re getting ready for some heavy rain courtesy of Tropical Storm Isaias, getting some boating in before Isaias arrives, and once again grateful that we actually have to go into work on Monday.
Do we need to take more extensive measures or will more diligent use of masks and hand-washing be enough? I lean towards the second and not the first. Use of masks and hand-washing seems to be the best way to deal with Covid-19, as well as isolating those most vulnerable to it such as those with underlying medical conditions - diabetes, COPD, heart disease, cancer, autoimmune diseases – or vitamin D deficiencies as well as those who are immunosuppressed. Going so far as to isolate everyone, something we now know doesn’t work all that well, is not the answer.
Hopefully our state leaders will not make that mistake...again.
********************
I have been viewing a number of YouTube videos dealing with the breakdown of relationships between men and women, the unrealistic expectations and the changes in educational and economic circumstances for men and women.
There is a lot of anger out there.
Men, and particularly younger men, are giving up on relationships with women, tired of being treated as “not good enough” because they aren’t as educated or making as much money as many women these days.
Women, particularly those in the 30’s and 40’s, are wondering “Where are all the good men?” and “How come I can’t meet anyone who wants a long term relationship/marriage/children?”
I spent quite a bit of time watching videos from both sides of the issue, read and posted comments, primarily of the “Is this chasm between men and women something that is across the board or is it more prevalent in some areas rather than others?” type of comments.
I did get a few responses, with only a couple being angry and expletive-laden. But a few did respond, with those responses pointing to this issue being more prevalent in urban areas. When I thought about it, it made some kind of sense to me.
One of the most telling videos was posted by a woman who had worked as a matchmaker, telling why she closed her business: Women have unreal and impossible standards for the men they want to date. Could this be one reason why those aforementioned women in their 30’s and 40’s are still single?
There isn’t any one reason, but it wouldn’t surprise me if all of them are related to changes in our society that started back in the late 1960’s.
********************
James Lindsay offers some reasons why the ‘woke’ won’t debate those who disagree with them.
Debate and conversation, especially when they rely upon reason, rationality, science, evidence, epistemic adequacy, and other Enlightenment-based tools of persuasion are the very thing they think produced injustice in the world in the first place. Those are not their methods and they reject them. Their methods are, instead, storytelling and counter-storytelling, appealing to emotions and subjectively interpreted lived experience, and problematizing arguments morally, on their moral terms.I’ve run across this on a few occasions, coming up against someone so convinced their vision was right despite hundreds of years of evidence to the contrary. Nothing swayed their ‘faith’, nothing could convince them their vision was in any way in error even though their ‘vision’ was abhorrent to most folks.
To pick an example, you don’t have to have read any of this material as a 20-something college student to understand that there is a group of people who don’t care if the professor speaking on campus is a subject matter expert who might have some sound ideas. What the woke students care about is shouting down a bad person for reinforcing structural harm. You literally don’t have to argue, you just have to have a loud voice and a few accusations to level. And that’s exactly what they do.
That’s why I will not waste my time trying to convince the more fanatic ‘woke’. I have better things to do with my time.
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Who will be the Democrat Party’s nominee for President? I and others have serious doubts that it will be Biden. As Don Bongino posted on Twitter:
I’m hearing from people close to the situation that Biden’s cognitive decline is rapidly worsening and is becoming increasingly difficult to mask. The Democrats are going to have to make a decision soon.I think the media has been trying very hard to ignore Biden’s condition, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to not notice and for the DNC and the media (but I repeat myself) to keep from the public.
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An example of appropriate and inappropriate masking:
Heh.TM
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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’re getting ready for some heavy rain courtesy of Tropical Storm Isaias, getting some boating in before Isaias arrives, and once again grateful that we actually have to go into work on Monday.
8/01/2020
Do The Woke Really Care About Those They Say They're 'Helping'?
Some of you know of my disappointment over major league sports like the MLB, NBA, and NFL caving in to a small but vocal minority and going ‘woke’. As they will be finding out as so many other businesses have found out, going ‘woke’ is likely to make them go ‘broke’. They stop attending to the business that they’re supposed to be dealing with and instead cater to a small minority of people, many who are neither fans or patrons, all while pissing off the people upon whom they depend.
One example that comes to immediately to mind is Gillette, who caved to the ‘woke’ and ran a series of ads that both denigrated and insulted their main customer base – men – and tried to pull in portions of the LBGTQ demographic. The result - over $9 billion in sales disappeared. (Yes, that’s billion with a ‘b’.) Their sales have not recovered.
That major league sports have caved to many of the same ‘woke’ has already caused an increasing number of long time fans to say “We’re done” and choose to no longer support their teams. (I am one of those. Both the NBA and NFL are dead to me. MLB is pretty close and I’ve lost all interest in NASCAR.)
One egregious example of just how ‘woke’ the NFL has become is the drive to change the names of sports teams that white people think should be offensive to non-whites. The example that stands out is the drive to change the name of the Washington Redskins to something that isn’t offensive. But have any of those pushing for the change or considering the change bothered to ask the people on whose behalf the ‘woke’ are being offended by the name whether or not they are actually offended by the name?
Nope.
Maybe they should, but they won’t because the ‘woke’ know better than the people they say should be offended. Here’s the take from one Native American about the whole ‘controversy’:
Or how about this one:
Or this one:
To the ‘woke’ it appears the opinions and desires of those they say they support don’t matter. We must ask the question: Why is that?
One example that comes to immediately to mind is Gillette, who caved to the ‘woke’ and ran a series of ads that both denigrated and insulted their main customer base – men – and tried to pull in portions of the LBGTQ demographic. The result - over $9 billion in sales disappeared. (Yes, that’s billion with a ‘b’.) Their sales have not recovered.
That major league sports have caved to many of the same ‘woke’ has already caused an increasing number of long time fans to say “We’re done” and choose to no longer support their teams. (I am one of those. Both the NBA and NFL are dead to me. MLB is pretty close and I’ve lost all interest in NASCAR.)
One egregious example of just how ‘woke’ the NFL has become is the drive to change the names of sports teams that white people think should be offensive to non-whites. The example that stands out is the drive to change the name of the Washington Redskins to something that isn’t offensive. But have any of those pushing for the change or considering the change bothered to ask the people on whose behalf the ‘woke’ are being offended by the name whether or not they are actually offended by the name?
Nope.
Maybe they should, but they won’t because the ‘woke’ know better than the people they say should be offended. Here’s the take from one Native American about the whole ‘controversy’:
Or how about this one:
Or this one:
To the ‘woke’ it appears the opinions and desires of those they say they support don’t matter. We must ask the question: Why is that?
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