Thoughts On A Sunday

There’s plenty of activity around Lake Winnipesaukee as we see the boat yards and marinas shifting into full summertime mode as they continue to prep boats for launching, and summerfolk opening their cottages and vacation homes and getting them squared away for the upcoming summer. I saw quite a few folks ‘from away’ at our dump...er...solid waste center dropping off the detritus of post-winter cleanup. (Property owners in our town, even if from away, have access to our dump since they are taxpayers.)

With the warmer weather forecast for the upcoming week, I expect we’ll see even more such activities leading up to Memorial Day weekend. We have certainly seen some of the seasonal businesses open on weekends, one of them being one of our local ice cream/take-out food joints, a sure sign of the upcoming summer.

The only question is how much the stumbling economy is going to affect the summer considering inflation, gas prices, and some supply chain issues. Some folks are predicting summer gas prices might exceed $5 for regular and prices much higher than that on the lake at the gas docks, both of which will put a damper on an otherwise busy season.

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I have to wonder about the reports of a hepatitis outbreak infecting children. After looking at a number news sources about the outbreak, I didn’t really find any that didn’t try for some kind of sensationalism. So I stopped by WebMD to see what they had to say about it.

The worldwide outbreak of acute hepatitis in children totals nearly 200 cases in 16 countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified more than 20 severe cases in the United States, specifically in Alabama, Delaware, Illinois, New York, and North Carolina. In Wisconsin, one infant died of the disease. Of the worldwide cases, 17 have required a liver transplant.

While severe hepatitis with acute liver failure is rare in healthy children and the odds are greatly in your child’s favor should they get hepatitis, your best defense right now against the current, rare cases is information.

The cause is presently unknown other than it is not the usual strains of Hep A, B, C, or E. That there are less than 200 cases worldwide – at least as of May 3rd – so it doesn’t count as a major outbreak. Some have made the claim that it is a side effect of the Covid vaccines, but many of the children affected weren’t vaccinated against Covid.

My question is “Where did this start and how did it appear in so many places at roughly the same time?” I have no idea how much contact tracing has occurred to this point, but it is something that should be addressed if this at present small outbreak explodes.

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Seen in the comments at Instapundit:

Leftist/Elitist/Journalist/Influencer: “Abortion is a right. It is in the Constitution.”

Normie Person: “The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is in the Constitution.”

Leftist/Elitist/Journalist/Influencer: “That’s different. A gun may kill an innocent person!”

Normie Person: “An abortion WILL kill an innocent person.”

Leftist/Elitist/Journalist/Influencer: FASCIST! RACIST!

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Yeah, I can agree with this:

Ex-spies and diplomats say the Biden administration needs to 'shut-up' after NYT report about US intelligence helping Ukraine kill Russian generals.

"Shut up about it," John Sipher, a former CIA officer who served in Russia, said in a tweet on the Times report.

Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia, in a tweet responding to Sipher said, "Exactly. No one should be talking to press about such things."

Striking a similar tone, former US diplomat Aaron David Miller tweeted that the "whole shift in tone" following Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's visit to Ukraine is "worrisome."

"Weakening Russia; winning; and now stories @NYT about killing Russian generals. Why can't we just shut up?" Miller said.

Some may ask why the NYT even published such a report. All one has to remember that the NYT is not a friend of America. It seems to work to dismantle America, kowtowing to America’s enemies and working to destroy its friends. Then again, it is not much more than one part of the propaganda operation for the Progressive DNC-MSM.

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It seems this must be repeated again and again until it sinks in: Organic farming cannot meet the food needs of the world.

By now everyone should know that the Biden Administration is a ship of fools. When you choose officials in order to fulfill diversity quotas, it’s what happens.

Among the idiots running the administration is one Samantha Power. She is the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development.

Now, what does this serious nitwit have to say about the pending worldwide famine, caused by the absence of nitrogen based fertilizer? Why she has declared that this absence will facilitate the transition to more organic fertilizers.

Anyone who knows anything knows that this is a formula for mass starvation.

As I have written elsewhere, it has been shown again and again that organic farming doesn’t scale well. It works fine for your backyard vegetable garden or small truck farm. It doesn’t work so well for large scale farm operations.

The farm where my son has worked since he was 13 tried going organic on just under a quarter of their fields. After 3 years they abandoned organic farming because they couldn’t make it pay. It took more labor, more organic fertilizer (compost) and more water, but provided lower yields, a losing proposition.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer-like weather is on its way, my boat will be ready to launch this week, and where the upcoming Monday is already harshing my mellow.