6/30/2023
6/25/2023
Thoughts On A Sunday
It’s been a 50-50 weekend with yesterday being rainy and today, well at least do far, being sunny. It’s been quite humid with dew points being in the upper 60’s yesterday and today, and expected to be in the mid to upper 60’s the rest of the week. It’s meant we’ve been running the A/C to dry things out which means it’s been on a low setting, just enough to drop the humidity while the inside temps are still in the upper 70’s.
It’s summer, so warm humid days are to be expected. However, it’s been so humid that we’ve been seeing a lot of rain. The upside to this is that no one is talking about drought anymore. The downside has been that neither BeezleBub or I have been able to get out on the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout as every time we planned to do so those plans were canceled by rain.
In other words, a not atypical summer in New Hampshire.
It seems the LGBTQ+ community has to deal with yet another twisted individual who is certainly not helping their cause. One of our former state reps in New Hampshire – Stacie Laughton – is being charged with distributing child pornography.
Anyone familiar with Stacie Laughton, once known as Barry Laughton, is likely not surprised that she is once again in legal trouble. That it has risen to this level is something I never thought would happen. But then that she has gone down this far doesn’t really surprise me at all as it’s been a downhill ride for Laughton since the time I met him/her/whatever back in the mid-2000’s.
What a scumbag.
Bird Dog over at Maggie’s Farm asks an important question:
Does anybody believe any news from Ukraine and Russia?
One has to remember the first victim of war is the truth.
Bird Dog also asks this related question:
It seems like one country on this planet has decided the Green Nude Eel is a Bad ThingTM.
Sweden has decided to scrap its green energy targets.
Smart move. Now if only other nations realized this...one of those nations being the US. (Actually, people in the US already understand this. It’s only the government, the watermelon environmentalists, and the True Believers who buy into the Green Nude Eel.)
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it’s muggy, the skies are still blue (at the moment), and where we hope to get some boating time out on the lake this week!
It’s summer, so warm humid days are to be expected. However, it’s been so humid that we’ve been seeing a lot of rain. The upside to this is that no one is talking about drought anymore. The downside has been that neither BeezleBub or I have been able to get out on the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout as every time we planned to do so those plans were canceled by rain.
In other words, a not atypical summer in New Hampshire.
==+++==
It seems the LGBTQ+ community has to deal with yet another twisted individual who is certainly not helping their cause. One of our former state reps in New Hampshire – Stacie Laughton – is being charged with distributing child pornography.
Anyone familiar with Stacie Laughton, once known as Barry Laughton, is likely not surprised that she is once again in legal trouble. That it has risen to this level is something I never thought would happen. But then that she has gone down this far doesn’t really surprise me at all as it’s been a downhill ride for Laughton since the time I met him/her/whatever back in the mid-2000’s.
What a scumbag.
==+++==
Bird Dog over at Maggie’s Farm asks an important question:
Does anybody believe any news from Ukraine and Russia?
One has to remember the first victim of war is the truth.
Bird Dog also asks this related question:
Oh, also, where's the UN? Worrying about the weather, I guess. Mission creep - they do nothing.Heh.TM
==+++==
It seems like one country on this planet has decided the Green Nude Eel is a Bad ThingTM.
Sweden has decided to scrap its green energy targets.
In a statement announcing the new policy in the Swedish Parliament, Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson warned that the Scandinavian nation needs “a stable energy system.”Sweden understands the weaknesses and pitfalls of wind and solar and wants nothing to do with them.
Svantesson asserted that wind and solar power are too “unstable” to meet the nation’s energy requirements.
Smart move. Now if only other nations realized this...one of those nations being the US. (Actually, people in the US already understand this. It’s only the government, the watermelon environmentalists, and the True Believers who buy into the Green Nude Eel.)
==+++==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it’s muggy, the skies are still blue (at the moment), and where we hope to get some boating time out on the lake this week!
6/24/2023
Grand Theft...Real Estate?
While we don’t see all that much in the way of crime up this way, a property owner in our town nearly became a victim of a fraud scheme. By chance the property owner became aware of the scheme prior to the scammer being able to pull of their scam.
The target of the scam, a neighbor near my old domicile – The Manse – had come up to check on a house he owned and noticed there was a For Sale sign on an adjacent lot he also owned. He called the Realtor’s number on the sign and asked why their sign was on his property.
He was informed someone identifying as the property owner listed the property for immediate sale as they were having financial difficulties and needed to sell the property to raise funds. When he told the Realtor that he was the owner of the property and had no intention of selling it, he was told it was a good thing he had called when he did because there had already been offers on the property and a closing was imminent.
The supposed ‘owner’ – the scammer – called the Realtor from out of state and made all the arrangements for the sale and transfer of payment. The scammer had done their homework and knew a lot about the property in question as well as the next door property (with the house), and a lot about the actual property owner. (I have no doubt that if the the sale of the land had gone through without a hitch the scammer would have tried to sell the house next.)
It was only by chance the property owner found out about the impending theft of his property and was able to stop it.
The question begs “How many others have fallen victim to this kind of scam and didn’t find out until they found someone building a house on their property, or worse, occupying a home they owned?” I doubt my former neighbor is the only one who’s been a target of this kind of fraud here in New Hampshire and surrounding states.
The target of the scam, a neighbor near my old domicile – The Manse – had come up to check on a house he owned and noticed there was a For Sale sign on an adjacent lot he also owned. He called the Realtor’s number on the sign and asked why their sign was on his property.
He was informed someone identifying as the property owner listed the property for immediate sale as they were having financial difficulties and needed to sell the property to raise funds. When he told the Realtor that he was the owner of the property and had no intention of selling it, he was told it was a good thing he had called when he did because there had already been offers on the property and a closing was imminent.
The supposed ‘owner’ – the scammer – called the Realtor from out of state and made all the arrangements for the sale and transfer of payment. The scammer had done their homework and knew a lot about the property in question as well as the next door property (with the house), and a lot about the actual property owner. (I have no doubt that if the the sale of the land had gone through without a hitch the scammer would have tried to sell the house next.)
It was only by chance the property owner found out about the impending theft of his property and was able to stop it.
The question begs “How many others have fallen victim to this kind of scam and didn’t find out until they found someone building a house on their property, or worse, occupying a home they owned?” I doubt my former neighbor is the only one who’s been a target of this kind of fraud here in New Hampshire and surrounding states.
6/23/2023
6/18/2023
Thoughts On A Sunday
Note: This is an abbreviated TOAS post as there was a family medical emergency that took precedence over blogging.
The rumble of motorcycles is slowly fading away as the last of the bikers depart central New Hampshire as the 100th Laconia Motorcycle Week winds to a close. While the weather wasn’t fully cooperative – showers and thunderstorms on and off all week – there was enough sunshine to provide the visiting bikers with good weather to enjoy their time here. I haven’t heard any estimates about how many bikers actually made it up this way, but some were expecting to see 500,000 bikers since it was the 100th annual rally.
The couple renting the AirBnB behind The Gulch departed yesterday, heading back to northern New Jersey. At least they trailered their motorcycles which meant they didn’t have to ride back home through the pouring rain.
By way of Skip at GraniteGrok comes this, something I missed last week. He pretty much nailed this particular topic, “this” being Target (and other retailers) ignoring simple economics and common sense by pissing off their customer base at the behest of a very small percentage of the population, then that small percentage complaining about the inevitable backlash and the retailer deciding staying in business is more important than LGBTQWERTY ‘Pride’.
Some corporations went stupid and kowtowed to that small percentage of their customer base and saw their sales and valuation plummet. Gillette was one of the first and it still hasn’t recovered from its going stupid. Target is just the latest victim. We’ve certainly seen Disney imploding on a lot of fronts, having gone ‘woke’ across the board and seeing their customer base abandoning them. What did Disney think would happen?
The shakeout is going to be interesting.
Illegal gun sales are now illegal?
Who knew, right?
The Watermelon Environmentalists keep pushing the EV narrative as if they will fix all of our climate problems even though they know the narrative is a lie. Even the Chinese, who make more EVs than anyone else on the planet, are finding they aren’t the success they thought they would be, but not for the reason you might think.
And that’s the abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the rumble of thousands of motorcycles is fading away, millions of biker dollars are filling the coffers of businesses, and Monday is coming around...again.
==+++==
The rumble of motorcycles is slowly fading away as the last of the bikers depart central New Hampshire as the 100th Laconia Motorcycle Week winds to a close. While the weather wasn’t fully cooperative – showers and thunderstorms on and off all week – there was enough sunshine to provide the visiting bikers with good weather to enjoy their time here. I haven’t heard any estimates about how many bikers actually made it up this way, but some were expecting to see 500,000 bikers since it was the 100th annual rally.
The couple renting the AirBnB behind The Gulch departed yesterday, heading back to northern New Jersey. At least they trailered their motorcycles which meant they didn’t have to ride back home through the pouring rain.
==+++==
By way of Skip at GraniteGrok comes this, something I missed last week. He pretty much nailed this particular topic, “this” being Target (and other retailers) ignoring simple economics and common sense by pissing off their customer base at the behest of a very small percentage of the population, then that small percentage complaining about the inevitable backlash and the retailer deciding staying in business is more important than LGBTQWERTY ‘Pride’.
I’m sorry – am I missing something here? If the consumers that are paying for items no longer wish to purchase them, shouldn’t a store react in its own self-interest AND in protecting the interests of its stockholders? And why SHOULDN’T Target now allow itself to be “Bud Lighted” for a limited sexualized ideology?It seems the petitioning groups have no problem with destroying businesses who won’t voluntarily fall on their economic swords in support of a cause that incorporates a small percentage of the population, a part of that small percentage aiming at grooming children to become their sexual playthings. It seems they assume they can bully companies into working against their best interests and those of their stockholders and force them to commit economic suicide.
--snip--
Seriously – you want them to “go down with their [economic] ship” simply to make you feel good about yourself? Are you that selfish? Through thick and thin, eh? Sounds like [clothes designer Erik] Carnell is looking to run a grift by using the old “all or nothing” logic to influence the tactic of guilt (“completely distance yourself….convenient”).
The Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, GLSEN, Family Equality, National LGBTQ Task Force, and approximately 200 other LGBT-allied groups signed a joint statement on Monday laying out a list of demands for Target.Hmmm, is a demand list from groups that represent a tiny fraction of Target’s consumer base going to be valued over the billions of market capitalization already lost by conservative consumers voting with their dollars? WHO has the ability to do more damage to Target?
Some corporations went stupid and kowtowed to that small percentage of their customer base and saw their sales and valuation plummet. Gillette was one of the first and it still hasn’t recovered from its going stupid. Target is just the latest victim. We’ve certainly seen Disney imploding on a lot of fronts, having gone ‘woke’ across the board and seeing their customer base abandoning them. What did Disney think would happen?
The shakeout is going to be interesting.
==+++==
Illegal gun sales are now illegal?
Who knew, right?
==+++==
The Watermelon Environmentalists keep pushing the EV narrative as if they will fix all of our climate problems even though they know the narrative is a lie. Even the Chinese, who make more EVs than anyone else on the planet, are finding they aren’t the success they thought they would be, but not for the reason you might think.
The CCP was apparently determined to claim that they are making more EV’s than Tesla. But in order to get the EV subsidies, companies are producing vast numbers of cars no one wants to buy. It seems these cars are registered, falsely listed as “sold” and driven 30 miles to a graveyard to presumably rot, or spontaneously combust, whichever comes first. After thirteen years of one particular subsidy, supposedly only worth 3-6% of the best selling car, the government has paid out nearly $15 billion, which seems like it would buy quite a few fields of Neta V EVs.EVs aren’t all that popular here either, at least not as compared to ICE vehicles. It doesn’t help that they are also a lot more expensive than equivalent ICE vehicles, are generally heavier than ICE vehicles, don’t have the range of ICE vehicles, take a lot longer to ‘refuel’ than ICE vehicles, and one of the biggest issues, are far less ‘green’ than ICE vehicles. Of course since none of those points fit the narrative, they are devoutly ignored, minimized, or lied about.
--snip--
Who knows what the real price of an EV is in China?
The long running subsidy ended in January, causing a decline in sales, which was supposedly only 1.4% down, but was somehow so bad (whatever the real number was) that several cities leapt to offer their own subsidies of about US$1,452 per car, and now the government has decided to extend the “EV Tax incentives”.
Not surprisingly, given the waste, inefficiency, and purposeless grind, something bad is happening in the Chinese economy — all car sales (petrol and EV’s) are down nearly 20%.
==+++==
And that’s the abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the rumble of thousands of motorcycles is fading away, millions of biker dollars are filling the coffers of businesses, and Monday is coming around...again.
6/17/2023
This Is How You Get More Vigilantism
Is it just me (and Tyler Durden) who think that Blue city politicians who think “the solution to the crime wave is to help criminals commit more crimes.”
Nobody will have seen anything. No one will have heard anything. No one will know anything. It is likely video surveillance cameras will have malfunctioned. No forensic evidence will be found as the alleged street justice scene will be spotless.
And so it will start.
In order to fund their addictions, the addicts have to steal stuff. Retailers have become a primary target, and a new bill that has been going through the California legislature would actually “ban retail staff from stopping thieves stealing from their stores”…When the people decide the politicians they elected aren’t working in their best interests, or worse, are working against the them, the people are likely to be driven to take matters into their own hands. For instance, will street justice become the de facto justice system in these cities? Considering many of these same cities have a shortage of law enforcement officers caused by those same city governments defunding their police departments and so-called ‘blue flight’ as demoralized and denigrated police officers quit those police departments and either relocated to departments elsewhere or left law enforcement entirely, would the purposely crippled justice system be able to stop citizens from taking the law into their own hands? Somehow, I doubt it, particularly if 3’S’ justice – Shoot, Shovel, and Shut Up – is employed.
Lawmakers in California are hoping to push through controversial legislation that would ban retail staff from stopping thieves stealing from their stores.Seriously?
Senate Bill 553, which was submitted by State Senator Dave Cortese, has been passed by the State Senate and will now progress to policy committees in the State Assembly. Cortese hopes the proposed law will prevent workplace violence and protect staff from being forced by their employers to step-in during robberies. But some store bosses are furious about the plans, with the California Retailers Association mocking the move as an open invitation for thieves “to come in and steal.”
It is already ridiculously easy to shoplift in California, and the politicians want to make it even easier?
Are they insane?
The theory is that there will be fewer violent confrontations if the crooks are just allowed to do whatever they want.
Of course the overworked and overwhelmed police rarely get there in time either.
And the few thieves that are caught are let go with just a slap on the wrist as long as they keep their shoplifting under a certain dollar amount.
California is getting dangerously close to legalizing shoplifting, and I am sure that is what many of the politicians would like to see.
But if you use the wrong pronoun or make an “offensive” statement on social media, that could get you into really big trouble.
Nobody will have seen anything. No one will have heard anything. No one will know anything. It is likely video surveillance cameras will have malfunctioned. No forensic evidence will be found as the alleged street justice scene will be spotless.
And so it will start.
6/16/2023
Friday (Not So) Funny - Opinions...Everybody's Got One
Our self-proclaimed 'betters' need to take this to heart...but they won't.
6/11/2023
Thoughts On A Sunday
It is the beginning of the 100th Annual Laconia Motorcycle Week and there is no doubt it’s going to be a big one. I don’t recall seeing the number of motorcycles that are already here this early in Rally Week. It isn’t really all that surprising considering all of the Covid restrictions are gone and that many will be coming to celebrate the 100th Motorcycle Week. This is the longest running motorcycle rally in the nation so it’s not a surprise there will be so many attending this year. During a ‘normal’ Bike Week we see between 300,000 and 400,000 bikers visiting. I have no problem believing we could see 500,000 bikers this year.
The only downside is the noise, something no one can do anything about. Personally, I have no problem with the roar of the thousands upon thousands of motorcycles. It may sound corny, but along with the roar of those bikes we also also see lots of dollar signs. The hotels, motels, inns, B&B's, AirBnB’s, and campgrounds are full. (The AirBnB behind The Gulch is one of them.) The restaurants are certainly busy and the vendors selling various Bike Week wares have been seeing a lot of business...and it’s only Sunday. If things follow the usual pattern, most of the bikers will be arriving starting Thursday. (I will be working from home both Thursday and Friday so I won’t have to deal with the heavy traffic. It’s a sacrifice I am willing to make.)
“Be careful what you wish for...because you just might get it.”
It is an old adage that far too many people ignore and they end up paying the price for doing so. Chris Queen is warning the Democrats they should be careful what they wish for after the latest Trump indictments.
Should Trump get elected in 2024 I think we’ll see him go on a tear to give Democrats a taste of their own medicine.
At least one governor is doing something about the negative effects of social media on children, something I’ve brought up more than once over the past few years.
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu https://www.governor.nh.gov/news-and-media/governor-chris-sununu-signs-executive-order-2023-04>issued an executive order requiring a “statewide response to the impact of social media platforms on New Hampshire’s youth.”
Less screen time and more real life interaction with family and friends in and outdoors is one way to lessen the the increasingly invasive social media addiction.
Oh no! People living in Singapore, an island city located only 85 miles north of the equator, are using air conditioners to beat the tropical heat and humidity! How dare they!
It’s obvious the folks living in Singapore don’t care that they’re contributing to climate change.
This is just plain stupid. But then what do you expect from a leftist court?
Court Decrees Women-Only Spas Unconstitutional
Despite the reasoning of the court, the decision was the wrong one. It was based on ‘woke’ and not law.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the roar of motorcycles is continuous, the weather is cooperating, and the sound or cash registers is getting louder.
The only downside is the noise, something no one can do anything about. Personally, I have no problem with the roar of the thousands upon thousands of motorcycles. It may sound corny, but along with the roar of those bikes we also also see lots of dollar signs. The hotels, motels, inns, B&B's, AirBnB’s, and campgrounds are full. (The AirBnB behind The Gulch is one of them.) The restaurants are certainly busy and the vendors selling various Bike Week wares have been seeing a lot of business...and it’s only Sunday. If things follow the usual pattern, most of the bikers will be arriving starting Thursday. (I will be working from home both Thursday and Friday so I won’t have to deal with the heavy traffic. It’s a sacrifice I am willing to make.)
==+++==
“Be careful what you wish for...because you just might get it.”
It is an old adage that far too many people ignore and they end up paying the price for doing so. Chris Queen is warning the Democrats they should be careful what they wish for after the latest Trump indictments.
Regardless of what you think about the Trump indictment, it’s hard not to believe that it smacks of the Democrats’ endless attempts to nail Donald Trump for — something. We’ve gotten used to it over the past few years, and these legal maneuvers always seem to play out the same way.It seems every time they believe “We’ve got him now!” it turns into either a nothingburger or blows back on them and they come under scrutiny and investigation.
“We’re all familiar with the ‘Trump facing…’ news loop by now,” writes Freddy Gray at The Spectator. “America is stuck in Trump legal groundhog day — he’s remorselessly prosecuted, over and over, on so many fronts. He always responds the same way, protesting his INNOCENCE in capital letters on Truth Social, saying he can’t believe this is happening in America. Then his team fires out fundraising emails.”
Maybe they have him this time, but maybe not. After all, we’ve heard the rhetoric about the “walls closing in” on Trump for a long time now.
Should Trump get elected in 2024 I think we’ll see him go on a tear to give Democrats a taste of their own medicine.
==+++==
At least one governor is doing something about the negative effects of social media on children, something I’ve brought up more than once over the past few years.
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu https://www.governor.nh.gov/news-and-media/governor-chris-sununu-signs-executive-order-2023-04>issued an executive order requiring a “statewide response to the impact of social media platforms on New Hampshire’s youth.”
Under the Executive Order, the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services are called upon to work collaboratively to create guidelines for a curriculum to be submitted to the State Board of Education to be included in all K-12 health education courses in the state that explains the potential negative impacts of use of social media platforms by children. These guidelines shall be submitted to the Governor within 90 days of the Executive Order having been signed.The effect of social media on children is profound, and in most cases, a negative effect. If everything they do becomes about what they see and read on social media the real world fades away and only the crap they experience via their smart phones, tablets, and computers is seen as real. But it’s smoke and mirrors, illusion, and lies, large and small. (My son BeezleBub didn’t get a phone until after he graduated from high school. He didn’t have the social anxiety or issues so many of his peers suffered. While he is on social media these days, it’s on an occasional basis and more often than not deals with his farming activities.)
As part of the initiative, state agencies will also promote a new GoPlayNH Initiative, encouraging kids and families to spend more time off their screens and outdoors. The initiative will highlight the various recreation opportunities available across the Granite State.
Less screen time and more real life interaction with family and friends in and outdoors is one way to lessen the the increasingly invasive social media addiction.
==+++==
Oh no! People living in Singapore, an island city located only 85 miles north of the equator, are using air conditioners to beat the tropical heat and humidity! How dare they!
It’s obvious the folks living in Singapore don’t care that they’re contributing to climate change.
CNN Is claiming that the use of AC is a Bad Thing. When will the main CNN building, located in the hot, humid, and sweltering city of Atlanta stop using it? Even without the massive urban heat island effect of Atlanta, the area would be rough during large parts of the year.It’s funny (but not surprising) CNN doesn’t see the hypocrisy of their report slamming Singapore for their ‘contributions’ to climate change because of the tropical city’s use of air conditioning.
When the temperature soared to 99 degrees Fahrenheit last month, Singapore resident Chee Kuan Chew saw just one option: cancel all plans and stay indoors in air-conditioned comfort.CNN makes the claim that A/C makes climate change worse, yet offers no proof...and makes no offer to shut off their own air conditioning to help fight climate change...”and CCN can piss off.”
“You can’t survive without air con in Singapore,” Chee said. “It’s impossible with the heat.”
The 20-year-old university student lives with his family in a four-bedroom flat in Ang Mo Kio, a bustling district that made headlines in the Southeast Asian city state when its temperatures hit a 40-year high in a recent heat wave. Thankfully, Chee said, his home has five air conditioners – one in each bedroom and a larger unit in the living room.
“I drank plenty of water, took cold showers and kept the air conditioning on for the entire weekend. That’s my way of managing the heat,” Chee said.
Taking solace in air conditioning in Singapore is hardly unreasonable behavior. Situated roughly 85 miles north of the equator, the island nation is famously hot and humid, with temperatures that stretch into the 80s year-round – a climate that has helped make it one of the most air-conditioned countries in the world, with more units per capita than any of its Southeast Asian neighbors.
But Singapore’s love affair with air conditioning has an enormous cost.
It has trapped a nation already hot – and getting hotter – in what experts describe as a “dangerous, vicious cycle.” It’s a climate change Catch 22 paradox that faces all nations which rely on air conditioning to make life just that little bit more tolerable.
Put simply: the warmer the world gets, the more people turn to their air conditioners. And the more they turn to their air conditioners, the warmer the world gets.
==+++==
This is just plain stupid. But then what do you expect from a leftist court?
Court Decrees Women-Only Spas Unconstitutional
Despite the reasoning of the court, the decision was the wrong one. It was based on ‘woke’ and not law.
==+++==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the roar of motorcycles is continuous, the weather is cooperating, and the sound or cash registers is getting louder.
6/10/2023
Opting Out aka Goin' Galt
One thing I have been noticing over the past few years is the increasing difficulty in ‘finding good help’.
This problem isn’t limited to specific professions or industries or trades. It is an across-the-board problem that is getting worse. I have seen it where I work as it has been increasingly difficult to hire engineering staff. It isn’t limited to just my company as this is something I have been hearing from a number of friends and acquaintances also in the engineering field. I have also been hearing similar observations from people I know working in a wide range of industries. Stores are having problems getting checkout clerks and shelf stockers, restaurants are having problems getting wait staff and kitchen help, construction firms can’t find enough experienced personnel, and on and on.
Why is it becoming more difficult to find good help? There are a number of reasons, some of them self-imposed. One of the big ones: the competent opting out, aka ‘Going Galt’.
One thing that still plagues me is dealing with compliance to state, national, and international regulations covering environmental, safety, energy efficiency, laser and radio emissions, and some performance requirements. The federal and international regulations can be troublesome, but are mostly boilerplate. State regulations, on the other hand, can be daunting and in the case of California’s Proposition 65, takes up more of my time than the US and international regulations combined.
No business likes having to spend any more time dealing with regulations than they absolutely have to. Yet more regulations – many nothing more than make work administrative law – are being created to help justify bureaucrats' jobs.
Then there’s this:
Some businesses realized they would fail if they didn’t depoliticize themselves. Elon Musk knew this when he purchased Twitter and one of the first things he did was purge the woke political employees because they really served no function other than looking down upon and judge fellow employees who weren’t as woke, censor tweets they disagreed with, and collect a salary while doing so.
This brings up the next point.
Oh, wait...I know! Atlas Shrugged!
Rand knew it was but one element of the downfall of her fictional America, where the slackers and politically reliable were running things and more and more people decided to Go Galt. Eventually everything collapsed, the lights went out, and those who went on strike thrived in Galt’s Gulch, and the Powers That Be in Rand’s dystopian land lost all power, politically and literally.
There are a number of other points brought in the Zero Hedge post, so I suggest you Read The Whole Thing.
This problem isn’t limited to specific professions or industries or trades. It is an across-the-board problem that is getting worse. I have seen it where I work as it has been increasingly difficult to hire engineering staff. It isn’t limited to just my company as this is something I have been hearing from a number of friends and acquaintances also in the engineering field. I have also been hearing similar observations from people I know working in a wide range of industries. Stores are having problems getting checkout clerks and shelf stockers, restaurants are having problems getting wait staff and kitchen help, construction firms can’t find enough experienced personnel, and on and on.
Why is it becoming more difficult to find good help? There are a number of reasons, some of them self-imposed. One of the big ones: the competent opting out, aka ‘Going Galt’.
What happens with the competent retire, burn out or opt out? It's a question few bother to ask because the base assumption is that there is an essentially limitless pool of competent people who can be tapped or trained to replace those who retire, burn out or opt out, i.e. quit in favor of a lifestyle that doesn't require much in the way of income or stress.One of the many reasons listed is one that I have found to be bothersome in the past, one that caused some issues in my company in the past.
The drivers of the Competent Opting Out are obvious yet difficult to quantify. Those retiring, burning out and opting out will deny they're leaving for these reasons because it's not politic to be so honest and direct. They will offer time-honored dodges such as "pursue other opportunities" or "family obligations."
The steady increase in workloads, paperwork, compliance and make-work (i.e. work that has nothing to do with the institution's actual purpose and mission) that lead to burnout. There is only so much we can accomplish, and if we're burdened with ever-increasing demands for paperwork, compliance, useless meetings, training sessions, etc., then we no longer have the time or energy to perform our productive work.I know in my case my workload kept increasing as my productivity fell as I had to spend more time on mostly useless paperwork and endless meetings. Most of the meetings could have been handled via e-mail as the info presented at the meetings was just for the director of our division. Fortunately, some of those issues disappeared when the director of our division was told it would behoove him “to seek employment elsewhere” as our division’s performance metrics tanked under his leadership.
Healthcare workloads, paperwork and compliance are one example of many. Failure to complete all the make-work can have dire consequences, so it becomes necessary to do less "real work" in order to complete all the work that has little or nothing to do with actual patient care. Alternatively, the workload expands to the point that it breaks the competent and they leave.
One thing that still plagues me is dealing with compliance to state, national, and international regulations covering environmental, safety, energy efficiency, laser and radio emissions, and some performance requirements. The federal and international regulations can be troublesome, but are mostly boilerplate. State regulations, on the other hand, can be daunting and in the case of California’s Proposition 65, takes up more of my time than the US and international regulations combined.
No business likes having to spend any more time dealing with regulations than they absolutely have to. Yet more regulations – many nothing more than make work administrative law – are being created to help justify bureaucrats' jobs.
Then there’s this:
The politicization of the work environment. Let's begin by distinguishing between policies enforcing equal opportunity, pay, standards and accountability, policies required to fulfill the legal promises embedded in the nation's social contract, and politicization, which demands allegiance and declarations of loyalty to political ideologies that have nothing to do with the work being done or the standards of accountability necessary to the operation of the complex institution or enterprise.We’ve seen so many businesses become politicized and lose focus on their real reason to exist, and because of this they would lose customers, lose staff, and in some cases go out of business. If employees have to pass a political ‘test’ in order to remain employed, then those working there who disagree with the politics being shoved down their throats are likely to ‘pull the plug’ and leave. Who wants to stay at a job where no one likes them, and in fact, castigates and minimizes them? In some cases, those leaving took needed knowledge and experience that wasn’t easily replaced with them. Their departure further damaged the business and in some cases the businesses failed.
The correct verbiage and ideological enthusiasm become the basis of advancement rather than accountability to standards of competence. The competent are thus replaced with the politically savvy. Since competence is no longer being selected for, it's replaced by what is being selected for, political compliance.
Some businesses realized they would fail if they didn’t depoliticize themselves. Elon Musk knew this when he purchased Twitter and one of the first things he did was purge the woke political employees because they really served no function other than looking down upon and judge fellow employees who weren’t as woke, censor tweets they disagreed with, and collect a salary while doing so.
This brings up the next point.
The competent must cover for the incompetent. As the competent tire of the artifice and make-work and quit, the remaining competent must work harder to keep everything glued together. Their commitment to high standards and accountability are their undoing, as the slack-masters and incompetent either don't care ("I'm just here to qualify for my pension") or they've mastered the processes of masking their incompetence, often by blaming the competent or the innocent for their own failings.Hmm. This sounds familiar. Where have I seen something like this before?
Oh, wait...I know! Atlas Shrugged!
Rand knew it was but one element of the downfall of her fictional America, where the slackers and politically reliable were running things and more and more people decided to Go Galt. Eventually everything collapsed, the lights went out, and those who went on strike thrived in Galt’s Gulch, and the Powers That Be in Rand’s dystopian land lost all power, politically and literally.
There are a number of other points brought in the Zero Hedge post, so I suggest you Read The Whole Thing.
6/09/2023
6/08/2023
Twenty One Years Ago Today
It really doesn’t seem like it was all that long ago.
It was 21 years ago today that the first posts of this blog were made, my dear brother making the first post at 11:15 in the morning followed by a second post at 3:03 that afternoon. I followed later that day at 7:39PM with my own first post to Weekend Pundit.
The blogosphere was never the same.
Weekend Pundit was hosted on three different platforms over the years, starting on Blogger, moving over to the now defunct Blogmosis (Thanks, Matt and Vicky!), then hosted by the folks at GraniteGrok, and finally returning to Blogger.
For the longest time it was just my brother and I, posting almost daily despite our blog’s name. We had a number of other contributors over the years, some proffering guest posts occasionally, and others contributing on a regular basis now and then. Then it was back to my brother and I. Then a few years later my brother was busy with a second blog he started with Dean Esmay as a means of writing a novel – Methuselah’s Daughter – leaving me as the sole author.
Ironically, around the same time another Weekend Pundit blog appeared, authored by a fellow from Texas. There were a number of times we cross-posted to each other’s blogs as The Other Weekend Pundit, but a few years later that blog went dark.
As time went on I didn’t post every day because life intruded and I didn’t have nearly the time to devote to blogging, so relegated posting to weekends – Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays - much as this blog’s title implied. The occasional during-the-week posts were made if something of import took place, but for the most part I limit posting to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Looking over the stats from the three different hosts, it turns out that we posted well over 6,000 posts, have seen over 1,000,000 visits (close to 1.2 million), and have seen a few Instalanches.
How long will this blog continue? I have no idea. Frankly, I haven’t thought about. I have had a few offers to move my efforts over to a very well known blog, and I do contribute to it every now and then in an indirect manner, but this one is mine and after 21 years it would be difficult to abandon it. One thing I might try is to entice my dear brother to start posting again, even if only on an occasional basis.
For the time being this blog will continue and I will offer my thoughts, some humor, and maybe a thoughtful insight or two. Who knows, maybe I’ll write a post for the 42nd anniversary of this blog.
Blog On, dudes!!
It was 21 years ago today that the first posts of this blog were made, my dear brother making the first post at 11:15 in the morning followed by a second post at 3:03 that afternoon. I followed later that day at 7:39PM with my own first post to Weekend Pundit.
The blogosphere was never the same.
Weekend Pundit was hosted on three different platforms over the years, starting on Blogger, moving over to the now defunct Blogmosis (Thanks, Matt and Vicky!), then hosted by the folks at GraniteGrok, and finally returning to Blogger.
For the longest time it was just my brother and I, posting almost daily despite our blog’s name. We had a number of other contributors over the years, some proffering guest posts occasionally, and others contributing on a regular basis now and then. Then it was back to my brother and I. Then a few years later my brother was busy with a second blog he started with Dean Esmay as a means of writing a novel – Methuselah’s Daughter – leaving me as the sole author.
Ironically, around the same time another Weekend Pundit blog appeared, authored by a fellow from Texas. There were a number of times we cross-posted to each other’s blogs as The Other Weekend Pundit, but a few years later that blog went dark.
As time went on I didn’t post every day because life intruded and I didn’t have nearly the time to devote to blogging, so relegated posting to weekends – Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays - much as this blog’s title implied. The occasional during-the-week posts were made if something of import took place, but for the most part I limit posting to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Looking over the stats from the three different hosts, it turns out that we posted well over 6,000 posts, have seen over 1,000,000 visits (close to 1.2 million), and have seen a few Instalanches.
How long will this blog continue? I have no idea. Frankly, I haven’t thought about. I have had a few offers to move my efforts over to a very well known blog, and I do contribute to it every now and then in an indirect manner, but this one is mine and after 21 years it would be difficult to abandon it. One thing I might try is to entice my dear brother to start posting again, even if only on an occasional basis.
For the time being this blog will continue and I will offer my thoughts, some humor, and maybe a thoughtful insight or two. Who knows, maybe I’ll write a post for the 42nd anniversary of this blog.
Blog On, dudes!!
6/06/2023
D-Day - 79 Years Later
The largest military operation in human history carried out by men of the Greatest Generation.
I saw this quote that said it best, which certainly applies to those who made the ultimate sacrifice during Operation Overlord:
I saw this quote that said it best, which certainly applies to those who made the ultimate sacrifice during Operation Overlord:
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died, rather we should thank God that such men lived.”– General George S. PattonAmen to that.
6/04/2023
Thoughts On A Sunday
We had mid-summer-like weather over the Memorial Day weekend and the week that followed, but that changed over this weekend as daytime temps plummeted from the upper 80’s and low 90’s to the lower and mid-50’s. We also went from sunny skies to clouds and rain showers. It’s supposed to ‘warm up’ into the mid-60’s through the coming week. We might see 70’s and sunny skies come next weekend, something that will be good since it is the opening weekend of the 100th Laconia Motorcycle Week up here in New Hampshire. (Oh, and despite a news report that the 100th Laconia Motorcycle Week would last 100 days to celebrate the 100th anniversary, it isn’t true...even though it sounds true.)
Here’s one thing Anheuser-Busch wishes would go away: A new term that adequately describes consumer boycotts aimed at corporations that “that cater to various ‘woke’ causes, particularly transgender issues,” that term being “Bud Lighting”.
This was one of the first examples of boycotts against ‘woke’ corporations having a measurable effect. The people are sick and tired of agendas being rammed down their throats that they see as sick and degenerate. Boycotting these same businesses is one way to make them realize they are vulnerable.
Another corporation that’s made the mistake of going ‘woke’, angering their customer base and motivating them to take their money and go elsewhere – Disney. They’re losing billions in revenues, have angered Florida’s governor and legislature to the point where they removed Disney’s special tax district, all while trying pushing the LGBTQWERTY agenda in their movies, TV shows, and theme parks. Did they honestly think there wouldn’t be consequences from kowtowing to a small percentage of their customer base and slapping their main customer base in the face?
“Bud Lighting” appears to be a growing phenomenon, one that may be able to humble the ‘woke’, if not make them duck for cover.
Will Six Flags be the next corporation to learn the power of Bud Lighting?
From the “Just When I Thought They Couldn’t Get Any Stupider” Department comes this from Stacy McCain:
Chicago Group Hired Gangsters to Be ‘Peacekeepers’ and It’s Working Out Just About the Way You Might Expect
Hiring foxes to guard the henhouse doesn’t make sense. The reasoning used to justify hiring these foxes seems seems logical...on the surface. But once you dig deeper you realize it’s a just so much mumbo-jumbo and won’t have the effect proponents say it will.
Oh, noes! It looks like the world is going to end innineteen eighteen seventeen days!
So says Saint Greta The Green…
Now that the latest round of “If we don’t allow the Feddle Gummint go deeper in debt Grandma won’t get her Social Security check next month” drama has been mostly concluded, we have to ask the question why this keeps happening.
Why does our government think it can keep spending money we don’t have on things we don’t need? I know the gazillions of bureaucrats think their particular bureaucracy is vital to the nation’s continued survival/operation/existence when anyone outside the Beltway knows that it is the opposite that’s true.
Do we really need the Department of Education? No. As best I can tell it serves no useful purpose.
Do we need an overbearing EPA that seems to have no problems creating administrative laws that conflict with federal law and the Constitution? Maybe in a severely trimmed back form.
I can keep going on, asking about federal agencies and departments and whether or not they are necessary to the efficient running of our government, but this post would be hundreds of pages long...and I would getting angrier with each one I listed.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer weather has fled for now, Motorcycle Week starts next Saturday, and where the hated Monday once again intrudes on yet another weekend.
==+++==
Here’s one thing Anheuser-Busch wishes would go away: A new term that adequately describes consumer boycotts aimed at corporations that “that cater to various ‘woke’ causes, particularly transgender issues,” that term being “Bud Lighting”.
The term derives from the spectacular implosion of Bud Light in the wake of their decision in March to enlist transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote the brand. Bud Light’s sales have plummeted, averaging weekly declines of about 25 percent. Parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev has lost more than $15 billion in value. Sales of rival brands have soared, even as many retailers have slashed prices for Bud Light. Some stores are even giving Bud Light away for free—or trying to.I remember Gillette’s misstep with its ad campaign pushing a ‘woke’ view of toxic masculinity, insulting a majority of their customer base, leading to a loss of over $8 billion in sales and about $5.24 billion in valuation in a single quarter.
I am very skeptical that the Bud Light example can be replicated over the long haul, but I’m convinced that we are entering a new era of Bud Lighting on the right and left.
First, some background. The most remarkable thing about the Bud Light boycott is that it worked, because boycotts usually don’t—if your definition of success is actually affecting sales and stock price in a significant way.
This was one of the first examples of boycotts against ‘woke’ corporations having a measurable effect. The people are sick and tired of agendas being rammed down their throats that they see as sick and degenerate. Boycotting these same businesses is one way to make them realize they are vulnerable.
Another corporation that’s made the mistake of going ‘woke’, angering their customer base and motivating them to take their money and go elsewhere – Disney. They’re losing billions in revenues, have angered Florida’s governor and legislature to the point where they removed Disney’s special tax district, all while trying pushing the LGBTQWERTY agenda in their movies, TV shows, and theme parks. Did they honestly think there wouldn’t be consequences from kowtowing to a small percentage of their customer base and slapping their main customer base in the face?
“Bud Lighting” appears to be a growing phenomenon, one that may be able to humble the ‘woke’, if not make them duck for cover.
Will Six Flags be the next corporation to learn the power of Bud Lighting?
==+++==
From the “Just When I Thought They Couldn’t Get Any Stupider” Department comes this from Stacy McCain:
Chicago Group Hired Gangsters to Be ‘Peacekeepers’ and It’s Working Out Just About the Way You Might Expect
Hiring foxes to guard the henhouse doesn’t make sense. The reasoning used to justify hiring these foxes seems seems logical...on the surface. But once you dig deeper you realize it’s a just so much mumbo-jumbo and won’t have the effect proponents say it will.
In 2016, with money from Steve Jobs’ widow, [Arne] Duncan started a group called Chicago CRED (Create Real Economic Destiny). Duncan has said that Chicago CRED “proceeds from the belief that the surest way to stop gun violence is engaging directly with those most at risk of shooting or being shot and giving them a reason to put down their guns.”Those “excellent results” meant a rise in murders to over 700 per year. It also led to the murder of one of those working to reduce violent crime in Chicago.
--snip--
So they’re paying people not to shoot each other, and hey, it’s a “comprehensive approach,” which explains the excellent results!
A man who worked to stop gun violence was killed Wednesday in a shooting outside a community outreach center. Chicago police said they are looking for two people involved.Irony writ large.
Police said 28-year-old Ronnie Roper was in a South Side parking lot at about 12:16 p.m. when two people walked up and shot him in the head.
The shooting occurred just outside Chicago CRED’s outreach center in the Roseland neighborhood. The victim was a member of that group that works to stop gun violence. . . .
==+++==
Oh, noes! It looks like the world is going to end in
So says Saint Greta The Green…
==+++==
Now that the latest round of “If we don’t allow the Feddle Gummint go deeper in debt Grandma won’t get her Social Security check next month” drama has been mostly concluded, we have to ask the question why this keeps happening.
Why does our government think it can keep spending money we don’t have on things we don’t need? I know the gazillions of bureaucrats think their particular bureaucracy is vital to the nation’s continued survival/operation/existence when anyone outside the Beltway knows that it is the opposite that’s true.
Do we really need the Department of Education? No. As best I can tell it serves no useful purpose.
Do we need an overbearing EPA that seems to have no problems creating administrative laws that conflict with federal law and the Constitution? Maybe in a severely trimmed back form.
I can keep going on, asking about federal agencies and departments and whether or not they are necessary to the efficient running of our government, but this post would be hundreds of pages long...and I would getting angrier with each one I listed.
==+++==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer weather has fled for now, Motorcycle Week starts next Saturday, and where the hated Monday once again intrudes on yet another weekend.
6/03/2023
Going Too Far?
It’s one thing when we tip servers at a restaurant. Considering their low base pay, tipping makes sense. The better the service, the better the tip. But automatic tipping at grocery stores when a customer uses self-service check-out? What the heck is that all about?
Where does it end?
I wonder if this should be filed under “Just when I thought they couldn’t get any stupider…”?
First, big box stores like Wal-Mart introduced self-service checkout stands. You know — the ones where we shoppers begrudgingly do the jobs of the stores for free while under intense electronic and in-person surveillance and all without so much as a discount or meaningful human interaction? Well, now — thanks to the Biden economy — the newest trend at restaurants and stores with self-service checkouts is to coerce and guilt consumers into adding unearned tips to their total.One has to ask “What’s next?” Forced tipping at the gas pumps? What about convenience stores? Online purchases? Vending machines?
I don’t know about you, Dear Reader, but I grew up in an era when tipping was in direct proportion to the quality of a service rendered. Better service was rewarded with a better tip, but the service component had to be there. Not so today. When did the simple act of buying a product become a service? And it’s especially baffling when a shopper goes to the store, finds and removes the item from the shelf, takes it to the checkout, scans, and bags the item all on his own. Where exactly is the service in that transaction? There isn’t any, and yet a tip is still expected?
Where does it end?
I wonder if this should be filed under “Just when I thought they couldn’t get any stupider…”?
6/02/2023
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