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?

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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?”

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.

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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.

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.”

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.

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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.