11/12/2023

Thoughts On A Sunday

The older WP Sister was up visiting this weekend and it was a pleasant one, for the most part. It’s always nice to see her as we don’t get a chance to do so as often as we might like.

The weather cooperated, being sunny though a bit cool, being only 27ºF this morning. However, it looks like it will be warmer as we go through the upcoming week. It will allow me to finish up some of the pre-winter cleanup including a last clean-out of the gutters, removing the last of the fallen leaves which had come down in large amounts just before last week’s snowfall. This will let me take care of all of that prior to going on vacation for a couple of weeks.

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I came across the following comment on a YouTube video dealing with relations between men and women and how they have changed, and not for the better.

“Wanna know how to make a woman miserable? Give her everything she wants.”

I will admit that at first I nodded in agreement as I have seen more than a few instances where this was proven out. But the more I thought about it the less I liked it. Have things deteriorated to the point where this comment is the rule rather than the exception? If so, why has this happened? There are plenty of people out there positing all kinds of causes. I don’t know which, if any of them have brought us to this point.

I can honestly say that I am glad I am not a young man trying to date in today’s dating environment as it seems there are a lot of angry and/or delusional people out there.

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We’ve seen major jumps in shoplifting in California after the ‘limit’ for felony theft was raised to $950 from $200. One of the biggest changes seen was ‘mob’ shoplifting when 20 or more people would come rushing into the target store grab merchandise, and run back out, making it difficult if not impossible to stop them. Add in Soros DA’s who were soft on crime and bail laws changed which saw perpetrators were back out on the street before the police paperwork was completed.

It seems that particular malady has spread to Texas, specifically Dallas, where shoplifting has increased by 73%.

The shopping experience in Dallas is starting to change as retail theft increased 73% through the first six months of this year, according to a report released Tuesday.

Dallas and Los Angeles, where shoplifting increased 109%, experienced the highest reported retail theft in the first half of this year, according to an analysis of 24 major cities by the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice.

The data helps to explain new scenes around Dallas.

At a Walmart in northeast Dallas flashing lights frame a camera above an aisle of locked cases holding men’s underwear, socks and wallets. It comes with a warning: “Security camera in use.” Electric toothbrushes are also behind locked cases. The electric razors are behind lock and key at a nearby Target.

Kroger has added security gates to some Dallas stores to prevent quick exits of full shopping carts of consumables such as laundry detergent. Tide and Oxi are behind new locked cases at a Kroger on Mockingbird Lane. A box asks shoppers to press the button if they need help. Armed guards in uniform are more visible in Dallas stores and malls.

Things are different in Texas, one of the biggest being Texas gun laws are far more liberal than the draconian gun laws in California. I figure it’s only a matter of time before someone gets stupid and tries to rip off the wrong store and gets ventilated by a store owner...legally.

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Here’s yet another “stake through the heart” of EVs, in this case New York City giving up on EV snowplows.

Winter is on the way. Time to put away the asinine EVs and fall back on vehicles that work in the cold — or that work period:

Three years ago, the New York Department of Sanitation ordered seven electric rear loader garbage trucks made by Mack LR Electric. The department has not been able to find electric trucks that are powerful enough to plow snow like the original diesel ones.

No worries. According to The Experts, the climate will soon punish us for not fully embracing central planning by withholding snow anyway.

It seems the transition was more about virtue signaling and less about being ‘green’. As we’ve seen in one example after another, virtue signaling can be more expensive and less effective than solutions based on reality. That New York City decided EV snowplows would be a good idea baffles me. Snowplows sometimes have to operate continuously for hours or days, stopping only for crew changes, refueling and for those that also include sanders, refilling the hoppers with sand and road salt. EV snowplows can do everything ‘regular’ snowplows can do except refuel quickly and operating continuously. I’m not sure how well they can move snow or for how long.

At least someone in New York understands that EV snowplows aren’t going to work very well in a place that has frigid temperatures and can measure snowfall in feet.

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Springtime for Hitler and MIT…

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This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this and I doubt it will be the last:

Credit Card Debt has Skyrocketed Thanks to Joe Biden’ Horrendous Economy

Between inflation, a stupid energy policy that has done far more harm than good, a spendthrift administration and Congress, and the Treasury printing presses running at full speed further eroding the value of a dollar, that an increasing number of Americans are relying on credit cards to make ends meet is not surprising.

Paychecks have not kept up with the rising cost of living. I don’t know about you, but my pay hasn’t kept up with inflation. Over the past three years I figure I have lost about 10% of the value of my pay. My pay raises were wiped out in as few as 4 months due to inflation.

The only thing I’ve got going for me is that I have no debt. That includes credit card debt. The trusty RAM 1500 pickup is paid off. If I can’t afford to pay for something without using a credit card, then I do without. Unfortunately too many Americans can’t do that, still dealing with the effects of the Covid panicdemic.

I (and others) think it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better...if it ever does.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it’s still getting dark far too early, the last of the boats have been pulled from the water, and where we’re setting the thermostat a little higher to fend off the evening chill.