Oh...Doggonnit!!

The Officcial Weekend Pundit Linux Desktop suffered a malfunction after an OS upgrade and I am in the nidst of a recovery before reloading the OS. As such, I did not put together a post for Saturday. There will be a Thoughts On A Sunday post as I should have the computer up and running again by then.

Friday Funny - Fluffy On Disneyland

I'll Tell You The Story - Haunted New Hampshire

Considering Friday is Halloween, I thought this might be appropriate.

Thoughts On A Sunday

We’re finally seeing rather cool temperatures up here at the lake. So far we have not seen freezing temperatures overnight, but the nighttime temps have been in the upper 30’s around here. Daytime temps have been in the 50’s, so it isn’t time to break out the heavier jackets.

We have had some rain and ironically that has helped some of the fall colors to ‘pop out’ seemingly overnight. Though we were supposedly past peak foliage colors, I have been seeing more trees changing and with more brilliant colors than we saw during the alleged peak. However, due to the lengthy drought they do not last very long and the trees seem to be shedding them more quickly than is usual.

The water level on the lake continues to drop, though this time it seems to be due to what is called “draw down”, where the lake level is dropped on purpose to help prevent ice damage to docks and piers during the winter months. Quite a few of us are asking they the state is doing this seeing as how the lake level was already close to the normal draw down level due to the months long drought. It doesn’t make sense to us.

==+++++==

The New Hampshire legislature has brought forth a bill that “will reaffirm that it is the state legislature…that holds the sole authority to regulate weapons on public property.” Not state agencies. Not local governments.

House Bill 609, sponsored by Rep. Samuel Farrington (R-Rochester), seeks to close what he calls loopholes in the state’s existing firearms preemption law after learning the New Hampshire Department of Transportation barred its employees from carrying firearms on the job.

“The intent here is to emphasize that the Legislature’s preemption is the last word on the subject,” Farrington told the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

New Hampshire’s current preemption law , signed in 2003 by then-Gov. Craig Benson, already reserves regulation of firearms, components, ammunition, and supplies to the Legislature. In 2011, Gov. John Lynch expanded that statute to include knives.

Farrington’s proposal would extend those protections even further—covering stun guns, Tasers, pepper spray, and other self-defense tools. It also bars any state, county, or municipal agency from creating or enforcing its own weapons rules that conflict with state law.

If this bill becomes law, a lot of so-called “Gun Free” zones would be eliminated. Not that Gun Free zones have ever stopped criminal miscreants from carrying and/or using guns in those zones. All they do is signal that everyone on those zones are unarmed and are easy targets.

==+++++==

It looks like Germany is taking yet another step in de-industrialization by eliminating yet another source of energy needed by its industrial sector, in this case by demolishing the cooling towers of an inactive nuclear power plant.

I find it inconceivable that Germany has shut down and is decommissioning its nuclear power plants in favor of wind turbines, coal, and Russian natural gas to generate electricity. I have a feeling that Germany will end up being yet another object lesson showing why governments shouldn’t be listening to the rabid and deluded “green energy” faithful when it comes to what is and is not green energy.

==+++++==

I have to wonder if this is true:

Just the sight of an American Flag entices people to vote for Republicans.

Can it be that easy?

==+++++==

I’m not sure I understand the logic behind this reasoning, that being that dropping gasoline prices are actually bad news for President Trump.

Really?

To recap: low gasoline prices are bad for Trump. If prices fell further, that would be more bad. If prices went up again, that’s more bad news for Trump.

The national average gasoline price stood at $3.07 per gallon on Friday, according to AAA. That’s down from $3.16 a month ago and $3.15 a year ago.

Yesterday I saw gas prices at the gas station where I usually buy my gasoline for the trusty RAM 1500, with regular at $2.79 and mid-grade (89 octane) at $3.19 which are down about 20 cents from about a week-and-a-half ago.

A drop in gas prices isn’t all that unusual around here once we get into mid-October as tourist traffic drops off after summer and again after fall foliage season comes to an end.

I’m curious as to what heating fuel - #2 heating oil and propane – will cost over the heating season.

==+++++==

Well, the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout was dropped off at the boatyard for winterization and storage this past week. It will be serviced, cleaned, shrink wrapped, and then stored away for the winter. Seeing the large number of boats waiting at the boatyard to be winterized I figure it will be at least another week or two before they get to it, something not unusual at all. Even with boats being pulled out of the lake earlier than usual because of the low water level, there are still quite a few that are still at their slips in our local cove. Again, something that isn’t all that unusual.

==+++++==

And that’s the (abbreviated) news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the temps are getting chillier, the boats are still coming out of the water, and where Daylight Savings Time will be ending next weekend...

Democrats Deception

Listening to the rhetoric flying back and forth about what is now being called “The Schumer Shutdown” and the media’s reaction to it one would think that it’s The Mean Old Fascist Republicans stealing food from the mouths of homeless orphans. But we must remember that the battle of the Continuing Resolution has to do with funding the government until the end of November until a full budget can be presented, period. However, the Democrats in the Senate are using the shutdown as a means to extort $1.5 trillion taxpayer dollars to fund things that won’t make the cut in an actual budget, or that the Democrats aren’t willing to negotiate in order to get what’s needed versus what they want, even if what they want is not wanted by a majority of the American people.

They have used the “We need the expiring tax subsidies for Obamacare to be extended or millions will lose their health insurance” trope as one ‘reason’ to extort the Republicans by blocking the CR. This is something that could be taken care of during normal budget negotiations. (I am going to mention that the expiration of the tax subsidies was built in to the Obamacare legislation. Democrat legislation.

They are choosing to ignore that they also want to force taxpayers to pay for benefits for millions of illegal aliens who are not eligible for them while ignoring American citizens that need their benefits continued. Any money spent on illegal aliens should be for sending them back to their countries of origin, not providing them with housing, medical care, and other welfare benefits.

Am I being heartless? No. I am merely stating what reason and logic dictates. We have a tough enough time meeting the needs of American citizens without having to do the same for up to 20 million illegal aliens. Or worse, putting the needs of those illegal aliens ahead of those of American citizens. But somehow, that doesn’t bother the Democrats in the least.

Schumer’s Shutdown has created conditions that are strangling the benefits of American citizens in need and the pay of numerous government employees, including the military, as a means of extorting funding for things they know won’t otherwise make it through the normal budgeting process.

Shame on them.

Friday Funny - Am I Adopted?

I'll Tell You The Story - Binky Does Standup

Thoughts On A Sunday

The weather has been nice up here at the lake, warmer than it has been over the previous few days. One thing that nicer weather made easier was pulling the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout out of the water, something BeezleBub, our friend Bruce, and I took care of yesterday afternoon. My boating season is officially over.

The boat presently resides at Beezlebub’s as I have some work I need to take care of before it’s winterized and stored away for the winter. Today was spent taking care of those last things: emptying the boat of all the gear, making sure the ‘well’ drains are open and all the water is gone, removing the mooring lines, removing the anchors, wiping down the interior surfaces, vacuum the carpeting in the cockpit, and removing any of the mildew or mold that has accumulated. The boat will be moved to the boatyard for the aforementioned winterization and storage on Tuesday afternoon. It will reside there until early May when the boat will go to the fiberglass shop for some minor repairs before it is put back in the water.

One thing I must mention is that ‘leaf peeping’ season is still in full swing, being we are at or just past peak here at the lake. I have to say that the colors have been somewhat muted, due primarily to the drought we’ve been dealing with since early June. The leaves still change but do so less evenly than we usually see, once changed they do not last nearly as long, and they fall off the trees sooner than usual. But that hasn’t stopped the tourists from visiting and spending their time and money here.

==+++++==

I have been hearing the news about the No Kings protests and I have to wonder how big were they, really? One viral video supposedly showing a large number of protesters in Boston has one little problem…

It’s actually from 2017.

One giveaway? Not one of the trees shows even the hint of fall foliage colors which should be quite visible in Boston by now.

Is this one of those instances of “Fake But Accurate” reporting once touted by former CBS anchorman Dan Rather?

I do like Speaker Johnson’s take on the whole “No Kings” protests.

He didn't just call the protests ridiculous. He pointed out the obvious: if Trump really were the autocrat Democrats claim he is, none of those protests would have been possible in the first place. "If President Trump was a king, the government would be open right now," Johnson said. "If President Trump was a king, they would not have been able to engage in that free speech exercise out on the Mall."

Ayuh.

==+++++==

Umm, doesn’t this go against the very thing they’re trying to ‘fix’?

100,000 Amazon Trees Chopped Down to Build Road for COP30 Climate Conference

Wouldn’t it be better if they used a place that was already accessible?

Spare a thought for the BBC’s Justin Rowlatt as he considers his upcoming trip to the Brazilian city of Belém to report on COP30. Saving the world and its environment is his gig so how will he face the prospect of travelling down a new four-lane highway cut through the dense Amazon rainforest to help speed him and his 70,000 other political activists to their luxury hotels? Based on trees per acre, an estimated 100,000 mature specimens have been chopped down and logged to build the eight-mile Avenida Liberdade causing untold disruption to local wildlife. Happily, all is not lost in despair. If he wishes, the BBC’s activist-in-chief can consider recent findings published in Nature Plants that increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have led to substantial growth in the remaining Amazon forest, with mature trees growing by over 6% a decade. Perhaps he could start promoting on the BBC the enormous benefits of CO2, rightly known as the gas of life. He could front a campaign to assuage his dented COP conscience along the lines: ‘Forward with Carbon Dioxide, not Chainsaws.’

This eight mile long road seems like a paradox, particularly in light of it being built to support the COP30 Climate Conference. Talk about hypocrisy. Then again, I have become convinced a lot of what goes on at COP is to support the worldwide scam that is climate change, allowing billions, if not trillions of dollars to be ‘obtained’ to spend on ‘fixing the problem’ even if that problem really doesn’t exist.

==+++++==

This doesn’t surprise me in the least.

Rhode Island Public Schools Sued for Discriminating Against White Teachers

White students are not always welcome in public schools. White teachers aren’t either:

A lawsuit recently filed by the U.S. Department of Justice alleges that the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) and Providence Public School District (PPSD) violated federal law by establishing a loan forgiveness program that is open to every ethnicity—except whites.

How many times does this have to be repeated?

You don’t cure racism by using racism.

Maybe the Department of Education needs to learn that too:

EPP Presses Education Department to Expose Hidden DEI and Discriminatory Aid Programs

==+++++==

It looks like we’re in for some heavy – and much needed – rain starting Monday afternoon. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, we haven’t seen much rain since the beginning of June. It has had the water level of the lake a good foot-and-a-half below normal which has made it difficult to navigate the waters in some portions of Lake Winnipesaukee. Getting into the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout required me to sit on the dock in order to be able to step down on its transom. Getting out at the town docks was also problematic as it was a long way up onto the dock.

The ramp at the town docks was also problematic as some trailers couldn’t go deep enough down the ramp without going off the lower edge of the ramp in the process. This made pulling some of the larger boats out that much more difficult.

What gets me is that the state is still talking about what is called “draw down”, lowering the level of the lake before winter. We’re already seeing water levels that equal what we’d see after “draw down” and they want to drop the lake level even more?

==+++++==

And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where boats are coming out of the water, the rains are coming...as is Monday. Again.

Average Price Of New Cars Above $50,000

That average new car prices have skyrocketed is not news to anyone paying attention. That the cause appears to be the sales of EVs causing this rise might be.

Kelley Blue Book, which is about as reliable a source as you can have for tracking vehicle pricing, says September was a watershed moment for new-vehicle pricing. It claims that, for the first time, the median price of a new car in the United States is over $50,000. And yes, the higher cost of EVs and the rapid uptick in EV purchases are to blame.

This finding isn’t sudden, though. EV sales have been on the rise for months, and the average cost of an EV hasn’t risen dramatically. The average EV selling price ($58,124) was up 3.5 percent in September when compared to August, but it’s considered a “normal” inflation rate. Year over year, EV pricing is essentially flat, Kelley Blue Book says. The average price for a new vehicle is $50,800.

That more EVs selling does drive up the average selling price of cars doesn’t automatically equate to all car prices having gone up. For instance, looking online I found the price for a new 2025 Honda Civic Sedan is $24,250 (MSRP), less than half the price of the average EV ($58,124).

I was curious to see what it would cost me to replace my 2014 RAM 1500 Express with it’s present day equivalent and I found the MSRP is $77,550, more than three times what I paid for my present pickup in 2017 ($24,150). In 2017 the MSRP for a new one was somewhere around $27,500. The price has more than doubled in 8 years. I know my pay hasn’t gone up anywhere near that over the same period of time. However, the present day price isn’t nearly as high as what I saw almost 2 years ago when I saw some listed for over $90,000! I had a local dealer here in New Hampshire offer me what I paid for my 2014 RAM when the market for used vehicles was hot. At the time it had less than 100,000 miles on it and was (and still is) in good shape.

As such, I will be doing my utmost to keep the trusty RAM 1500 in good shape as it will cost me far less to do so than to buy a new one. In fact, it will be going into the body shop early next month to have the last of the rust taken care of (both front fenders) before it gets undercoated prior to winter. I aim to make it last at least another nine years.

I understand that tariffs are having an effect on some new vehicle prices, so rising prices of some vehicles make sense. (The Honda Civic Sedan I mentioned above is manufactured in the US as are most of the parts used to make it.)

It will be interesting to see how the new and used car markets will be like going forward. I expect new car sales might flatten though used car sales may rise, much as happened a few years ago.

Friday Funny - It Was Getting Crowded In Heaven

I'll Tell You The Story - Old Movies With Binky

Thoughts On A Sunday

I can’t believe it’s Columbus Day Weekend already. The leaf peepers are out and about, particularly around here as we are supposedly approaching peak color. I’ve been seeing a lot of out-of-state license plates, a wider array than we see during the summer. I’ve also been seeing a lot more of those same vehicles wandering around, apparently lost. But I’m not seeing as many leaf peepers as usual for this season. The lack of rain which started in early June certainly hasn’t helped as the colors have been kind of muted this year.

I still see a lot of green here with only a few trees having turned and a few more just transitioning now, so the forecast that we’ll see peak color sometime this week seems to be wishful thinking. We’ll see.

==+++++==

I’ve been hearing contradictory information about China, particularly its economy. The ‘official’ line from China’s government says everything is just fine, just some minor economic fluctuations that aren’t anything to worry about. Then you see something like the following from the China Observer YouTube channel that paints an entirely different picture:


Is this something that happened in one area of China or is it more widespread? If it’s widespread, just how bad is China’s economy? Is it just deep into a recession or is the economy on the edge of collapse? If it does collapse, what does that mean for both China and the rest of the world? It will certainly mean both economic and political problems for China, both internally and externally. Will China be unable to ‘help’ Russia in it’s three-year long “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine even if it gets Russian crude oils as payment?

My employer uses parts from China, more specifically optical and opto-electronic components used in fiber optic systems. We have been looking for alternate sources for some, finding them in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and pleasingly surprising, in the US. I have no doubt that our competitors are doing likewise as a “Just in case” move, just like we are.

China is also a large supplier of lithium-ion batteries, needed for phones, tablets, laptops, power tools, medical equipment and many other types of portable equipment as well as e-bikes and EV’s. However, there are a number other countries where lithium-ion batteries are manufactured.

All of this contradictory news and information brings to mind an old Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.”

I have a feeling China is experiencing those “interesting times” writ large.

==+++++==

New York Attorney General Letitia James isn’t getting anywhere near the abuse she deserves. Look up the word “hypocrite” in the dictionary and you’ll see her picture there.

She ran for office promising that she would “Get Trump” if she were elected. She did just that, using creative interpretation of banking laws to ‘prove’ that standard financial practices for obtaining loans was somehow fraudulent, found Trump liable, and got a $300+ million fine levied upon him. An appeals court found the fine was unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment by an appeals court for being so over-the-top.

But when she commits bank fraud while obtaining mortgages in Virginia by claiming her legal residence is in Virginia, that’s okay? Oh, and then there’s the issue of claiming her legal residence is in Virginia. That would automatically make her ineligible to be New York’s Attorney General because that office requires the Attorney General to be a legal resident of New York. Seems she’s found herself in the middle of a legal pickle, particularly now that she’s been indicted for decades of mortgage fraud.

After four years of relentless lawfare against President Trump, with Democrats shouting that “no one is above the law,” they’ve made one thing perfectly clear: in their world, Democrats are above the law. The evidence that New York Attorney General Letitia James engaged in mortgage fraud is extensive and damning, yet Democrats react with outrage, accusing Trump of “targeting his enemies,” with zero self-awareness or irony.

Make no mistake—unlike James’s baseless case against Trump, the proof that James herself broke the law is overwhelming. Conservative filmmaker and journalist Joel Gilbert laid out a detailed and troubling case, showing that her alleged pattern of mortgage fraud spans decades, and is far more serious than her defenders admit.

Speaking on Real America’s Voice, Gilbert made a detailed James’s extensive history of mortgage fraud.

“Letitia James probably should not have been charging Donald Trump with trumped-up charges of mortgage fraud in New York, given the fact that New York is a public record state and that all of her mortgages for 43 years were online for myself or anybody else to pull up,” Gilbert said. He then outlined a pattern of alleged mortgage fraud dating back to 1983, when James was just 24 years old. “She purchased her first home with her father, claiming that her father was her husband,” he said. “They purchased it as husband and wife in order to help Letitia qualify for a mortgage that she was not entitled to.”

The double standard of too many Democrats in power showed itself far too often during the Biden Administration. Now that the law applies to them again, they’re finding out their arrogance is coming back to bite them. James is going down and so is Senator Adam Schiff as it looks like he may have pulled similar mortgage fraud as well.

Time will tell how this all works out.

==+++++==

This isn’t really all that surprising any more: Vice President JD Vance annihilates George Stephanopoulos in fiery live interview.

As the linked post states, it was so bad that ABC cut Vance’s feed.

Vance doesn’t suffer fools gladly and he told Stephanopoulos truths he didn’t want to here.

Trump’s Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, is much the same way as she doesn’t let the press get away with their usual shenanigans and calls them out on it all the time.

Refreshing, isn’t it?

==+++++==

I’ve always liked reading about the Darwin Awards. The way people accidentally do themselves in never ceases to amaze me. One of my favorite types usually has something to do with stupid people trying to steal electrical cabling from inside buildings, telephone poles, electrical substations, and so on. More often then not they fry themselves when they try to cut a cable carrying thousands of volts using bolt cutters. It became so common that the Darwin Awards website no longer accepts such stories of self-elimination.

Sometimes it is the Runner Up stories that are entertaining, like this one:

He was told that his rental 4X4 wasn't good enough. He didn't believe them. Tourist in Kia Telluride Comes Dangerously Close to Tumbling Down Black Bear Pass, Forces Trail Closure.

People have died on Black Bear Pass, well, falling off the pass.

--snip--

It isn't exactly clear how he came to drive off the trail, since there seems to be plenty of room. (As these things go.) One of the commenters guessed that he was busy "looking at the scenery" instead of looking at the trail and paying attention to driving.

There are a couple of lessons.

• Not all 4X4s are created equal

• Not all roads are like they are where you live

• If a local gives you advice about local hazards, you should consider taking the advice.

There are probably more lessons, but that is enough to be going on with.

While I haven’t seen anything quite that severe here in New Hampshire, we have seen people who made the mistake of mindlessly following their GPS which can, during certain times of the year, lead people down roads that aren’t maintained during the winter and they end up getting stuck in the snow. Signs have been put up on some of those roads stating “Your GPS Is Lying To You. Turn Around Now.” or some such language. Other seasonal roads have had gates installed which are closed once winter weather rolls in. They also have signs stating the roads aren’t maintained or accessible during the winter. That still doesn’t stop some people from trying to take those roads.

Some folks just don’t get it.

==+++++==

And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather is cooler, the leaves are turning (slowly), and where I don’t have to worry about Monday this week because I have the day off.

Oh So True

I saw this on Facebook this morning and I nodded as I read it, recognizing everything as something that was true, something I had experienced myself and knew to be true.

********************

My name’s Richard. I’m 74.
And I’ve come to realize something about my generation: we are the bridge.
We were born in one world… and grew up in another.
A world where summers meant open windows, the hum of a box fan, and the smell of fresh-cut grass.
Where neighbors waved from their porches, and if your bike chain broke, you didn’t Google it — you knocked on a door and someone came out with a wrench.
We lived in a world built on patience.
We waited for letters to arrive.
We waited for the library to open.
We waited for our favorite song to play again on the radio — and when it finally did, it felt like magic.
Then, almost overnight, everything changed.
Phones shrank. Music became invisible.
News arrived before the coffee finished brewing.
We learned to type, to swipe, to tap.
We learned to talk to machines — and to have them talk back.
We’ve seen milk delivered to the door in glass bottles…
and we’ve scanned groceries without speaking to a single cashier.
We’ve dropped coins into payphones…
and we’ve made video calls to loved ones across oceans.
We’ve known the deep quiet of a world without notifications — and the noise of one that never stops buzzing.
And sometimes, the younger ones look at us like we’re behind.

But what they don’t see is this:
We know both worlds.
We can plant tomatoes and write an email.
We can tell a story without Google — and then fact-check it with Google.
We know the weight of a handwritten letter and the reach of a message sent in seconds.
We’ve lived long enough to understand that you can change without losing yourself.
That you can honor where you came from while still learning where the world is headed.
We’ve buried friends and welcomed grandchildren.
We’ve seen diseases disappear and new ones arrive.
We’ve unfolded paper maps — and followed glowing blue lines on GPS.
We’ve sent postcards with stamps — and emojis with a single tap.

And maybe that’s our greatest gift:
the memory of a slower, gentler time,
and the courage to adapt to a world that never sits still.
We can teach the young that not everything needs to happen instantly.
And we can remind our peers that it’s never too late to try something new.
Because that’s what we are —
the bridge between what was and what will be.
And as long as we keep standing strong, the world will always have something solid to cross on its way forward.
Because every generation builds the road a little further —
and ours? Ours remembers both the dirt path and the highway.

Friday Funny...or Irony - Liberal Goes Back In Time To Kill Hitler

I'll Tell You The Story - Binky And The Nog And Dish Club

Thoughts On A Sunday - Abbreviated

After a few days of cooler weather up here at the lake, summer-like temperatures have returned. It was 80ºF here yesterday, will reach about 83ºF here today, and will be in the 80’s through Wednesday. You certainly won’t here me complaining about it. Any day I don’t have to turn on the heat is a good day as far as I am concerned. We’ll be into heating season soon enough as it is. At least one thing I can say about The Gulch is that it is pretty efficient when it comes to heating so it isn’t nearly as expensive as it otherwise might be. During the winter the oil tank will be filled every other month and even then it will take less than 180 gallons of #2 heating oil to do so.

Speaking of warm temperatures this weekend, the WP Mom and I indulged ourselves and went to Dairy Queen to get a couple of Blizzards. It was a good thing we did because this is the last weekend DQ will be open before it closes for the season. Our other go-to ice cream place – Sawyer’s – closed two weeks ago. Most of the seasonal food stands and attractions are closed until next spring. Not that it means that we aren’t still seeing tourists around here because we are now in the middle of Fall Foliage season. It hasn’t reached peak color here at the lake but it has north of the lake up in the White Mountains and along the Connecticut River Valley in the western part of New Hampshire. I expect we’ll see peak color here sometime over the week or so. We’ll be seeing a lot of folks ‘from away’ visiting, including quite a few from overseas.

Once the leaf peepers have departed we’ll have about two months of peace and quiet before the winter tourist season starts. Folks will be up for skiing, snow tubing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling starting just before Christmas. Thinks like ice fishing will have to wait until January in order to make sure the ice on the lakes is thick enough.

And so it goes…

==+++++==

I saw on the news that Rite Aid is pulling the plug, closing the rest of its pharmacies across the nation.

Pharmacy chain Rite Aid closed all of its locations after filing for bankruptcy twice in less than two years.

The retailer posted a brief announcement on its website.

"All Rite Aid stores have now closed," the site states. "We thank our loyal customers for their many years of support."

The website offers former customers their pharmacy and immunization history, as well as assistance with finding pharmacies that their prescriptions were transferred to.

The Rite Aid near The Gulch closed about a year ago. So did a couple of other Rite Aid locations elsewhere in New Hampshire that I knew from the past.

It goes to show that even the biggest companies can make mistakes that will bring them down, sometimes to extinction.

==+++++==

When I heard that there’s an AI actress looking to be signed by an agent, it wasn’t all that surprising to me. I figured it was only a matter of time. It doesn’t bother me in the least.

Hollywood, on the other hand, is having a conniption fit. If flesh and blood actors and actresses can be replaced by code and CGI and used to make movies and TV series, what are ‘real’ actors and actresses, their agents, their stunt doubles, film crews, extras, and so on going to do?

Frankly, I don’t care. I’ll bet a lot of other people feel the same way.

At least if it does happen we’re less likely to have to listen to the bullsh*t from the Hollywood ‘wokerati’ because there won’t be any.

==+++++==

From VDH comes this new, quite appropriate phrase to define the leftists mayors and governors doing their best to make sure federal government operations are blocked in their cities and/or states:

Neo-confederate nullificationists.

Seems just about right to me.

==+++++==

This is going to be a somewhat shorter TOAS than usual as I have been very busy all day and had little time to do nearly as much as I wanted. I got started a lot later than usual and would like to start getting ready to sleep.

==+++++==

And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where there are still a lot of folks till boating and hitting the beach and swimming, and where Monday is coming around again all too soon.

Has The Internet Been A Disaster For Us?

I understand the sentiment about this statement, and I do agree with it...somewhat:

“The Internet and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.”

The Internet and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.

This is an extreme statement, but I’m in an extreme mood.

If I had the energy, I suppose I could fill a hundred pages trying to prove it. I could write about what online reading has done to concentration spans, what smartphone use has done to social mores, how the brains of young children have been rewired by tablets and screens. I could write about social credit systems or facial scans or vaccine passports or online porn or cyber-bullying or cobalt mines or the decline of journalism or the death of the high street. So much content is on offer - and it’s all free!

Still, what would be the point? Whole books have been written already, and by now you either agree or you don’t. And nothing I can say here would be anything like as extreme as the impact that the digital revolution has had on our cultures, minds and souls in just a few short years. Everything has changed, and yet the real changes are only just beginning. By the time they are finished, unless we pay attention, we may barely be human at all.

My response in the linking Instapundit post:

“I have always thought of it as a paradox - both a blessing and a curse. The social media 'side' of the Internet has certainly been a disaster and I think it has divided us more than just about any other phenomenon.”

Of the plusses:

I can find information quickly that wasn’t as easy to find during pre-Internet days. I can also verify or debunk that information quickly as well. I can search for and purchase items more easily than back in the “Sears catalog” or ‘mail order’ days. I can pull information about my town, my county, and my state from their individual websites rather than having to travel to the individual offices to find that info. These are all a plus of the Internet. But as I mentioned in my comment quoted above, the social media side can be disaster.

Of the minuses:

I have found that social media is far too often not social at all. It is antisocial far too often. We have all seen it used to bully, particularly to cyberbully kids – pre-teens and teens. People use it to paint a picture of their lives that are outright fabrications, giving false impressions about how wonderful their lives are when in fact they aren’t any better than anyone else’s, and in some cases worse than anyone else’s. It can give people unrealistic expectations of what their lives should be like, and can generate disappointment, envy, and even hatred when their lives don’t even come close to those being portrayed on social media.

I am a peripheral social media user. This blog is but one of the two social media outlets I use. Facebook is the other, but I use it mostly to keep in touch with family and some close friends. The blog I use to post opinion about all kinds of things. In the years I’ve been on Facebook I have mostly reacted to or commented on other people’s posts. I think I have posted actual original content all of five times over the years. I don’t have X. I don’t have Instagram or SnapChat or any of the other social media apps and I don’t want them. Most of my social interaction is basically face-to-face, e-mail, or video calls (mostly for work). I have better things to do with my time than allowing my phone/laptop/desktop screen to become my major focus when it comes to social interaction.

The Internet is not my end-all and be-all. It is primarily a tool, one I use for work, be it at my job or performing my duties for my town. Oh, and I do use it for entertainment, mostly streaming movies or TV shows, and then on an occasional basis.

Friday Funny - If We Broke Up

I'll Tell You The Story - Binky And The Spatula

Thoughts On A Sunday

The fall colors are starting to pop here in the Lakes Region, helped along by over an inch-and-a-half of rain this past week. The colors are running a little ahead of schedule this year, due primarily to the lack of rain since June. This has led to the lake level being much lower than usual, something I’ve mentioned over the past couple weeks.

While I did mention pulling my boat out of the water this weekend, I put it off for another week as there were a couple of things I needed to do before I could proceed, one of them making sure the boat trailer was pulled out of storage and the registration sticker for this year placed upon the license plate, something I will be attending to on Monday. All of this is due to the lake level being so low. A couple of the boats that dock along the same pier as I will have problems getting out as the water level is so low that they are now sitting on the lake bed. It’s going to take some work to get them out!

I will be taking one last cruise around the lake today unless I am able to sneak one in sometime later this week before pulling the boat out of the water.

And so it goes.

==+++++==

I figured as much.

The FBI did send hundreds of undercover assets into the J6 protests.

The best part of the linked post is the Babylon Bee’s take on the whole thing: New Report indicates that only 3 people in the January 6 crowd were not FBI agents.

‘Nuff said.

==+++++==

I have to say that I have noticed the same thing...and I’m not surprised.

People are abandoning movie theaters in favor of streaming movies at home.

Americans are more likely to watch newly released movies from the comfort of their own homes instead of heading out to a theater, according to a new poll.

About three-quarters of U.S. adults said they watched a new movie on streaming instead of in the theater at least once in the past year, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, including about 3 in 10 who watched new movies on streaming at least once a month.

Meanwhile, about two-thirds of Americans said that they’ve watched a recently released movie in a theater in the past year, and only 16% said they went at least once a month.

The results suggest that, on the whole, American moviegoers are more likely to stream a film than see it in the theaters, a shifting tide that was only accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. Convenience and cost are both factors for many people who can’t find the time to go to a theater or pay the increasingly high price for a ticket.

I understand it as the cost of a night out at the movies keeps climbing. Almost everyone has an HDTV and more than a few have a 4K UHD TV. I watch far more newer movies at home than at a theater. The last movies I saw in a theater were Downton Abbey, Yesterday, and Bohemian Rhapsody some years ago. Otherwise I watch them one of my 52” Sharp Aquos HDTVs. I have not yet upgraded to a larger 4K UHD TV and am unlikely to do so unless one of the Sharp’s die.

I can watch at my convenience, pause if I need to hit the head or get some more snacks, or even stop watching and pick up again the next day if it comes to that. I don’t have worry about parking, rude patrons, and expensive concession stand refreshments.

Considering how many of the movies coming out of Hollywood these days are dreadful, I am not inclined to waste my time and money at a movie theater to watch any of them.

(H/T Instapundit)

==+++++==

As the great philosopher Robert A. Heinlein once said, “Stupidity is he only universal capital crime.”

One has to wonder just how many stupid people will end up dying from this bit of insanity:

Tylenol Overdoses Spike After Trump Autism Link Announcement

I've had at least two people in my life, one a family member, one a coworker, die by liver failure in part due to overdoses of Tylenol.

But oh I guess I'm just "too right wing" or whatever for warning you of the consequences.

It has been known for a long time that overdoses of acetaminophen is toxic to the liver. Yet liberal know-nothings who hate Trump with a passion are downing huge doses of Tylenol just to prove that what he, RFK Jr. and Harvard have warned about is false. Some of them taking doses appear to be pregnant women. All I can do is pray that none of them seen in the linked videos are taking large doses.

I hope that isn’t the case because these women won’t have to worry about their children having autism. They have to worry about them surviving such a stupid stunt.

==+++++==

Who knew that actions can have consequences? Certainly these two geniuses – sisters – are finding out the hard way that they do.

Two filthy hag Democrat sisters in their 20s are accused of vandalizing a Charlie Kirk memorial in Bentonville, Arkansas. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, as they hags found out after they were caught on video vandalizing a Charlie Kirk memorial. They both got fired from their jobs, and are now begging for money online using GoFundMe.

The two sisters have also been complaining that they’ve been harassed for their vandalism. One of them, the older of the two, has also been evicted from her home.

This may sound a bit heartless, but they haven’t received a fraction of the embarrassment and verbal abuse they deserve.

And the hits keep on coming…

==+++++==

As a closing, I want to mention that yesterday the WP Mom and I met the younger WP Sister and WP Niece in Manchester for lunch. It was a bittersweet get-together as my niece is heading overseas – northern Europe – for two years, working at her employer’s HQ to upgrade her skills and knowledge about her employer’s products and services. She departs on Tuesday.

I know she’s a little nervous about this, but I reminded her that she’s broadening her horizons and will gain a different perspective about all kinds of things.

While she does plan to return home for Christmas, her visits home will be few and far between.

==+++++==

And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it’s still nice and warm, there’s no rain in the immediate forecast, and where Monday is returning again to “harsh our mellow”.

Another Solar Power Project Bites The Dust

That the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility is going to be shut down permanently doesn’t really surprise me.

When I first heard about it before it was built, I thought it might be better way of generating electricity using solar energy because it used ‘old’ technology to generate power, that being steam driven generators, along with new technology – computer controlled mirrors to generate the steam – as it didn’t require exotic materials and used proven technology in a new way.

However, after $2.2 billion was spent to build and operate the plant, it’s being shut down because it “Never lived up to its promises.”

Construction began in 2010 and was completed in 2014. Now it’s set to close in 2026 after failing to efficiently generate solar energy.

In 2011, the US Department of Energy under President Barack Obama issued $1.6 billion in three federal loan guarantees for the project and the secretary of energy, Ernest Moniz, hailed it as “an example of how America is becoming a world leader in solar energy.”

But ultimately, it’s been more emblematic of profligate government spending and unwise bets on poorly conceived, quickly outdated technologies.

“Ivanpah stands as a testament to the waste and inefficiency of government subsidized energy schemes,”Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, an American energy advocacy group, told Fox News via statement this past February. It “never lived up to its promises”, producing less electricity than expected, while relying on natural gas to stay operational.”

The last part surprised me as I wondered why as solar electric power plant would need large amounts of natural gas. It was a paradox...until I found out they used the natural gas in order to keep the molten salt hot when the sun was down. The molten salt was the working fluid that carried the heat from the ‘target’ at the top of each tower to the heat exchanger which generated the steam used to turn the turbines used to actually generate the electricity. That really didn’t make sense to me as I thought the idea was to reduce or eliminate the need for fossil fuels to generate electricity.

It also depended on a lot of taxpayer money to keep operating, just the opposite of what was promised. It was supposed to be able to pay for itself but it never even came close to doing so. It was a money loser. Steven Milloy, senior fellow at the Energy & Environmental Legal Institute and former Trump EPA transition team member commented, “No green project relying on taxpayer subsidies has ever made any economic or environmental sense,” he said. “It’s important that President Trump stop the taxpayer bleeding by ending what he accurately calls the Green New Scam.”

There are plenty of other “green energy” projects out there that eat up a lot of taxpayer money, don’t produce the amount of power promised, aren’t reliable, and aren’t appropriate for some areas.

Call me an energy snob, but the money would be better spent on new late Generation III and Generation IV nuclear power plants.

Friday Funny - Women Have Superior Products

I'll Tell You The Story - Free Take Binky

Thoughts On A Sunday

The weather here at the lake has taken a decided cooler turn with the past two nights seeing temperatures in the lower 50’s to lower 40’s. While it will be in the 70’s today and over the next few days, I think it’s safe to say the summer weather is pretty much done for the year.

I can say that we are starting to see some of the leaves changing color, with the swamp maples usually being the first to change from their usual green to bright red. I have also seen a few others changing here and there, but some of that could be due to the stress of the dry conditions we’re experiencing. I any case we usually see peak foliage colors during the first half of October here at the lake. It’s one reason I keep the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout in the water until mid or late Oc tober as it allows us to see the brilliant colors from the lake. But it looks like that won’t be happening this year because of the lack of rain over the past three months.

As I mentioned in last week’s TOAS, Lake Winnipesaukee’s water level is about a foot-and-a-half below normal level for this time of year. One of the downsides to the water level being so low is that it might make some boat ramps unusable, something that has me concerned. After checking with BeezleBub and the folks who will be winterizing and storing the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout, it looks like it will be coming out of the water next weekend, about three-plus weeks earlier than usual. However, rather than going directly to the boatyard it will be going to BeezleBub’s so I can take care of some repairs and cleanup I’d like done before it goes into storage.

==+++++==

The following is ironic considering my post of yesterday looking at left wing violence.

There was a shooting at the Sky Meadow Country Club in the city of Nashua, NH yesterday evening, with one person killed - 59-year-old Robert Steven DeCesare - and two others wounded.

The shooter, 23-year old Hunter Nadeau, is reported to have shouted “The children are OK!” and “Free Palestine!” before opening fire in the dining room at the country club.

So far authorities haven’t been able to establish any connection between Nadeau and his victim DeCesare.

Was this a politically motivated killing, the actions of a mentally ill man...or a combination of both? For the moment I am leaning towards the third option, particularly in light of so many of the Left are also mentally ill.

==+++++==

Then there’s this, which seems timely, ‘this’ being Powerline’s The Week In Pictures: Party of Peace Edition.

Nothing more need be said.

==+++++==

They say that what goes around comes around. So it appears with The Won.

Obama, who created cancel culture is now whining about cancel culture. Who’da thunk it?

He wanted to “fundamentally” transform America…. He even started cancel culture for those who didn’t agree with his communist policies, and had people fire[d], debanked, censored, or banned on social media if you dared to say how you disagreed with anything he said or did. Now that it coming back to bite him and the rest of the communists in the ass after Jimmy Kimmel get indefinitely suspended. After over 30 ABC affiliated stations dropped Kimmel’s lame unfunny show, ABC had no choice but to do something, and Disney pulled the plug. Their goal is back to making money. It used to be sucking up to Democrats and DEI sh*t, but that ship has sailed. Now Obama is whining about the same cancel culture he created.

That seems to be a particular failing of Democrats in positions in power, taking actions that at some point will come back to be used against them somewhere down the road. We saw that when Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) who was the Senate Majority Leader at the time, exercised the so-called “nuclear option” by changing the Senate rules which removed the filibuster from confirmation of Supreme Court Justices as a means of getting one of Obama’s nominees conformed by the Senate. That came back to haunt the Democrats during the first Trump administration when the Democrats were unable to block any of Trump’s nominees.

Now it’s cancel culture that is hammering Progressives/Leftists/Democrats after many of them posted hateful tweets and videos celebrating Charlie Kirk’s murder and praising his murderer.

Too bad.

==+++++==

There was a fatal traffic accident just down the road from The Gulch yesterday, with a Ford Bronco crossing the centerline on the road and striking two motorcycles head-on, killing two of the three motorcyclists.

Gilford police said Anthony Summers, 32, of Goffstown, is charged with two counts of negligent homicide and one count of falsifying physical evidence.

The crash happened Saturday on Route 11, police said. Two motorcycles, one with two people on it and another with one person on it were heading eastbound when a newer model Bronco crossed over the center line and collided with the two motorcycles, police said.

A man and woman on one motorcycle were killed and a man on the other motorcycle was taken to Concord Hospital for serious, life-threatening injuries.

No mention has been made whether or not the Bronco driver was under the influence, but I think that would have been included in the report if that was the case. That makes me wonder if it was distracted driving as that particular stretch of road does have some small, gentle curves that could have led a distracted driver to cross over into the oncoming lane. I know I’ve seen that happen more than a couple of times along that road.

==+++++==

And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the nights are chilly, the days are warm, and where the leaves are already starting to change color.

Far Left Violence

From a comment on a PJ Media post:

"Left-wing violence doesn't happen, most violence is right-wing!"

Far-left violence since 2016:

2016: BLM Riots
2016: Police shooting in Dallas
2016: Police shooting in Baton Rouge
2016: NYPD Officers shot as "revenge" for Eric Gardner
2017: Trump inauguration riots
2017: Berkeley Riots
2017: Congressional GOP Baseball Practice Shooting
2019: ICE facilities firebombed (This was listed as a 2018 event, but it took place in 2019 – ed.)
2019: Dayton Shooting
2020: BLM Riots (countless damage/fatalities)
2020: Fatal CHAZ shootings
2020: Shooting of Aaron Danielson
2021: Unjustified Ashli Babbitt Shooting
2021: Waukesha Massacre (Looking over the info about this attack, it looks more like an attack by a mentally ill man as there doesn’t seem to be any political motivation for the perpetrator’s actions. - ed.)
2022: Far-left assassination plot on Dem mayoral candidate (I couldn’t confirm that the assailant in this case was associated with the Left. - ed.)
2022: Lee Zeldin stabbing attempt (Another incident where I couldn’t confirm the assailant’s motive or political leanings. - ed.)
2023: Tennessee Christian School (Looking over the info about this attack, this also looks more like an attack by a mentally ill man as there doesn’t seem to be any political motivation for the perpetrator’s actions. - ed.)
2023: Evergreen, CO school shooting (There was no school shooting in Evergreen, Colorado in 2023. However, there was a shooting there earlier this month. The only fatality was the shooter who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. - ed.)
2024: Butler (First Trump assassination attempt)
2024: Second assassination attempt on Trump
2024: Abundant Life Christian school shooting (femcel) (This appears to be another shooting committed by someone suffering from mental illness, in this case a 15-year old girl. Looking through numerous stories and reports I couldn’t find anything regarding a political motive. - ed.)
2024: United HealthCare CEO Murder
2025: Teslas lit on fire
2025: Murder at the Israeli embassy
2025: Josh Shapiro firebombing attempt by Hamas sympathizer (perpetrator may have voted for Trump, but only for accelerationist purposes)
2025: LA ICE Riots, and attacks on ICE officers
2025: ICE Facilities ambushed, officer shot
2025: Minnesota Lawmaker Shooting (disputed--perpetrator allegedly mildly supported Trump, but worked for several Dem governors and claimed he was contracted to kill by Tim Walz, probably just a schizo)
2025: Minneapolis Christian School
2025: Anti-white NC Stabbing
2025: Various attacks on GOP offices
2025: Attempted Utah news station firebombing
2025: Charlie Kirk assassination in Utah
2025: Bomb planted on Fox News Truck near Utah shooter's house.

Some of the list above appears to be wishful thinking on someone’s part, while other items on the list are legitimate. I didn’t add links on some parts of the list either because there were eleventy-eleven articles, posts, and references I didn’t have the time to parse, or they are more recent (or big) that just about everyone has heard about them and the motivations behind them.

But then there’s “hit lists” being posted by the Left of people they want murdered next.

That tells us a lot right there. If the Left says they want you dead, believe them and prepare accordingly. But don’t attribute all of the incidents of attacks and killings on the Left. Some have been committed by mentally ill persons...but that doesn’t mean they weren’t supporters of the Left.

Friday Funny - Am I The Only One

I'll Tell You The Story - Judge Binky

Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s been nice weather up here at the lake. Perhaps too nice.

We’ve had very little rain since June and it has caused the water level on the lake to drop about a foot-and-a-half which has led to problems for some boaters. Sand bars are now poking above the water level. The same with rocks and ledge in some places. One of my favorite places to anchor for swimming can only be reached from one direction as the channel that leads to it from the west is too shallow on its eastern end. The rock formations known as The Witches on the lake are fully exposed, something we usually don’t see until the lake is drawn down for the winter.

Normally, I pull the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout out of the water some time after Columbus Day Weekend. However, seeing the low water levels has me thinking about pulling it out at the end of September. One thing I had to do last weekend was lower the fenders at my boats slip to keep my boat from rubbing up against the dock. But in order to do that I had to replace the existing lines on the fenders with longer ones because the exiting ones were too short to get them down to where they needed to be. I’ve never had to do that in the 20-some years I’ve had that boat. So my boating season my be ending three weeks earlier than usual.

==+++++==

All I can say is “What an Leftist a**hole!”

He deserves to get fired...out of a cannon.

==+++++==

All I can say is “It’s about frickin’ time!”

It looks like the US is finally trying to kick-start a “nuclear energy renaissance.”

In May, President Donald Trump signed four executive orders to facilitate the construction of nuclear reactors and the development of nuclear energy technology; the orders aim to cut red tape, ease approval processes, and reshape the role of the main regulatory agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC. These moves, the administration said, were part of an effort to achieve American independence from foreign power providers by way of a “nuclear energy renaissance.”

Self-reliance isn’t the only factor motivating nuclear power proponents outside of the administration: Following a decades-long trend away from nuclear energy, in part due to safety concerns and high costs, the technology has emerged as a potential option to try to mitigate climate change. Through nuclear fission, in which atoms are split to release energy, reactors don’t emit any greenhouse gases.

The Trump administration wants to quadruple the nuclear sector’s domestic energy production, with the goal of producing 400 gigawatts by 2050. To help achieve that goal, scientific institutions like the Idaho National Laboratory, a leading research institute in nuclear energy, are pushing forward innovations such as more efficient types of fuel. Companies are also investing millions of dollars to develop their own nuclear reactor designs, a move from industry that was previously unheard of in the nuclear sector. For example, Westinghouse, a Pennsylvania-based nuclear power company, plans to build 10 new large reactors to help achieve the 2050 goal.

Despite claims of the climate change cultists, renewables aren’t the answer. They don’t have the energy density, don’t have the efficiency, don’t have the reliability, and aren’t dispatchable. They are also nowhere near as cost effective or as cheap as the renewable proponents claim.

That there are a number of individual companies developing new Generation III and IV reactors that do not have the issues seen with Generation II nuclear reactors, the biggest one being the lengthy and costly construction timelines. Most of the Gen III and IV reactor designs are modular, meaning they can be built in a factory, then transported and installed at the construction site. Build times will drop from 10+ years (figuring in all of the lawsuits and court orders) to less than 2 years. They may not be huge 1000MW reactors like a good number of the Gen II reactors have been, but they don’t need to be. It will be cheaper to put three smaller 300MW small modular reactors (SMR’s) at a single site than a single 1000MW reactor built the “old fashioned” way.

My state’s governor, Kelly Ayotte, made a nuclear power renaissance part of her campaign platform as she sees nuclear as the way to ensure a reliable supply of electrical power.

I agree.

==+++++==

This news doesn’t surprise me. What surprises me is that it was NBC News that reported it.

FDA to present data it claims ties Covid shots to child deaths at CDC meeting.

Food and Drug Administration officials plan to present data they claim links the Covid vaccine to 25 deaths in children at what’s expected to be a closely watched vaccine advisory committee next week, a source confirmed to NBC News.

The Washington Post first reported the expected data.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, is scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday to review and make recommendations on several vaccines, including this fall’s updated Covid shots.

What I have to wonder if the number of children who died due to the Covid vaccine is much higher than the 25 they mentioned. Then there’s the the question of the vaccine’s effect on pregnant women as it has been suggested that an unknown number of pregnant women who received the vaccine being adversely affected, including miscarriages. There’s also the question the increase in the number of cardiac arrests in otherwise healthy young adults who received the vaccine.

==+++++==

William Jacobsen reminds the Left that the “Tea Party” was a “Leave me alone” movement, but they didn’t leave us alone, and now it’s FAFO.

I attended and reported on some Tea Party rallies in upstate NY.

Our archives dating back to 2010 document the vicious smear campaigns not only from leftist groups like the now-defunct Think Progress, but also establishment Republicans. In a hint of what was to come against Trump, the IRS was weaponized against the Tea Party.

The Tea Party was at heart a movement of people who just wanted to be left alone in the face of accelerating governmental mandates and intrusion – epitomized by the Obamacare mandate which forced you to buy private health insurance policies. It didn’t matter how much you tried to insulate yourself, you had to buy the policy.

The Obamacare mandate eventually was saved by John Roberts in the 2012 Supreme Court decision holding the mandate fell within Congress’s taxing power.

The Tea Party eventually fell by the wayside unable to withstand the pressure and from internal divisions.

Which brings me to a tweet by Prof. Randy Barnett about how suppression of the Tea Party gave way to MAGA.

This @politico analysis of Charlie Kirk’s role in the conservative-MAGA movement is informative. But it doesn’t get what happened to “Tea Party libertarianism.” The Dems demonized and suppressed the Tea Party constitutionalists with everything they had. MAGA was the response.

Now, the Left seems to be bent on killing us, at least the loudmouth ‘woke’ a**hats who prefer feelz to facts and call anyone who disagrees with them fascists and Nazis. What’s ironic is that so many of those same folks have turned out to be the actual fascists who want to go “full Nazi” on those who dare oppose them. They think the murder of Charlie Kirk was “a good start”.

Some of them are likely to find out just what FAFO means…

==+++++==

And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’re still boating despite the low water level, schools are now back into full swing, and where Monday is returning...again.

"I Am Charlie Kirk"

I have been watching the media frenzy following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I have seen the awful social media posts from the Left celebrating his murder. I have seen a number of the MSM being fired for their support of his murderer. A couple of teachers here in New Hampshire have found themselves in hot water for expressing much the same thing, their continued employment in our schools being reviewed.

Some of those on social media have tried to paint Charlie’s murderer as a disgruntled Republican, which his is not. Disgruntled, maybe. Republican, no. He’s been radicalized by the Internet, supporting Antifa and more radical LGBTQ+ viewpoints.

But the one thing Charlie Kirk’s murder has done is unleashed outrage and a growing movement to continue his work. That’s just the opposite of what his killer (and his supporters) intended. Where on Charlie Kirk stood, there were hundreds. Then thousands. And there are more every moment. His widow is continuing his work. So are many others as they will not let his message disappear.

So many who celebrated his murder saw him as some kind of monster, not because he was one but because they didn’t like his message. He would debate anyone, spend time discussing a wide range of topics, but always framing his replies in line with his conservative beliefs. He challenged those who disagreed with him to “Change My Mind”. He didn’t preach. He debated. He was respectful. And he changed minds, something too many of his opponents didn’t like. He appealed to the younger generation, something else the Left couldn’t abide.

And someone decided the only way to stop was to silence him...by murdering him.

However, it has had just the opposite effect as more people are putting themselves out there, to challenge the Left to change their minds, to show people that the Left has run out of ideas and have abandoned many of the ideals that made America the great nation it is.

A violent act has “awoken a slumbering giant and filled him with a terrible resolve.”

I am Charlie Kirk.

Friday Funny - Bohemian Rhapsody Flash Mob

I figured we could use something more fun than funny considering what's taken place this week. I saw this and knew it would be just right.

Remembering That Awful Day

This was something I wrote back in September of 2002 and thought it was fitting to bring it forward for the 24th anniversary of That Awful Day.

Like many people on the East Coast, I was at work that day. I was in the engineering lab trying to finish the paperwork on a project that was soon going in to production. It was shortly before 9 AM when one of my coworkers came through the lab, telling us an aircraft had crashed in to one of the World Trade Center towers. I turned on the radio at my desk and tuned to the local NPR stations. As I listened to the reports, one reporter interrupted to inform us that a second aircraft had crashed in to the second tower. At that point all of us in the lab knew we were under attack.

And then my pager went off.

One thing I have to explain is that I have been involved with emergency services since I was a teenager. These days I volunteer as a communications reservist for the state Office of Emergency Management and am a captain in the Civil Air Patrol.

Pages flew fast a furious, from both OEM and CAP. It looked like I would busy from that day on. Staying at work from that point on became impossible. I headed home to change and gather a few changes of clothing and stuff them into my flight gear bag. From then on it was hurry up and wait.

I didn’t stray far from the telephone or the TV. I watched as first one tower, then the other, collapsed. I remember thinking They should be rolling the credits any time now. But the credits never came. This wasn’t a movie. It was real.

In the mean time, reports about an aircraft crashing in to the Pentagon came in, setting off another surge in pages from OEM and CAP. Reports from the TV also stated that the FAA was ordering all non-military aircraft grounded. That would complicate things for CAP, but as it is part of the U.S. Air Force, it wouldn’t complicate things much.

I remember turning on my scanner and listening to the local aircraft frequencies. Boston Center was directing aircraft to land at the nearest airport, regardless of what their destination was supposed to be. I also listened in on the HF frequencies that are used for contacting and controlling transatlantic flights. All aircraft westbound were told they could not enter U.S. airspace. Some aircraft decided to turn around and head back to Europe. Others continued west and landed in Canada. In less than three hours the skies above America were empty. The lack of contrails in the upper atmosphere or the sound of aircraft passing overhead was missing. It was eerie, surreal.

The rest of the day was a blur. So many things were happening. So many things were not happening. I don’t know how many times I watched the towers being hit and the subsequent collapse. No matter where I happened to be, I didn’t stray far from a radio or TV. Somehow it still didn’t seem real to me. It wasn’t until later that evening while watching the evening news that reality came crashing in.

There was a series reports about reactions around the world to the attacks in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania. It was the report from London that brought it home to me. I don’t remember what the correspondent said, but the images that played during the report caught my eye.

It was the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, something I’ve seen many times when I’ve been in London. Normally, after the routine changing of the watch and the playing of God Save the Queen, the marching band plays something martial and stirring as they march off the yard of the palace. But this time they did something unprecedented.

As they approached the gates of Buckingham Palace, they stopped. They stood motionless for a moment, then raised their instruments……….

….and played the Star Spangled Banner. It was then that the tears began to fill my eyes, the reality of what had happened crashing over me like a tidal wave. Hearing our national anthem played in a foreign country, seeing the anguish and tears on the faces of the people watching, knowing that many of them were American and just as importantly knowing that many were not, made it real for me. As un-macho as it is for me to admit this, I bawled my eyes out for the next hour. Even thinking about it today makes me choke up.

But watching that display of solidarity and condolences in England brought to mind a line from a movie I’ve always liked, Pulp Fiction, spoken by Samuel L. Jackson:

”Ezekiel 25:17. The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is He who in the name of Charity and Good Will shepherds the weak through the Valley of Darkness, for He is truly His brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon the with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the LORD when I lay My vengeance upon thee!”

Thoughts On A Sunday

The thunderstorms we experienced yesterday were widespread, but some were heavier than others. While we didn’t suffer any damage anywhere near The Gulch, there was damage in other towns, primarily in the southern tier of New Hampshire. The only thing we suffered here were brief power outages, flickering lights now and then, and an Internet outage that didn’t get resolved until late last night.

We woke to more rain this morning, though nothing like we experienced yesterday. Goodness knows we’ve needed it as it has been rather dry over the past couple of months. We could certainly use a couple of inches of rain, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards, at least not over the next week.

One thing that’s been quite evident is the large falloff in traffic since Labor Day weekend. It has been easier to get around and some of our favorite eateries have had parking available even during the ‘busy’ hours. Many of the seasonal eateries will be closing soon, with some having already closed after Labor Day. Almost all of them will be closed by Columbus Day.

A lot of boats have already been pulled from the water and are awaiting winterization and storage. The Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout won’t be coming out until sometime after Columbus Day as we do want to be able to enjoy the lake now that most of the summerfolk are gone. We also want to be able to enjoy the fall foliage from the lake since we won’t need to compete with the leafpeepers on the roads starting later this month.

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Frankly, this doesn’t surprise me in the least.

Places in the US that allow concealed carry are safer than places that don’t.

It’s not a matter of opinion but of crime statistics.

As I commented:

We have constitutional carry in my state, New Hampshire, as well as two of our neighboring states, Maine and Vermont. We also have the lowest violent crime and property crime rates in the nation. Funny how those two things relate to each other.

One thing Maine needs to do is end the ban on firearms in establishments that serve alcohol. If that hadn't been in effect, the mass shootings that took place in Lewiston two years ago wouldn’t have. The shooter chose his targets because he knew no one at either one would be armed.

Someone did make mention that it’s also because those three states are the “whitest states” which is true, but our neighbor to the south, the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, is also “quite white” and they have a lot more crime than we do per capita.

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I have been seeing news reports on US media about China’s recent military parade in Beijing to show off their military might, but there are questions about it’s apparent strength versus reality, with some claiming a lot of China’s military equipment on show during the parade isn’t real, is nowhere near close to being ready to deploy. This also brings forth questions about its economic strength, that it’s economy is contracting at an increasing rate. One of the things that drives this narrative is increasingly empty streets with empty stores, empty shopping malls, empty businesses, and empty factories.



This isn’t the first video I’ve seen about this, with such videos from a number of different sources.

There have also been questions about China’s actual population numbers as the CCP’s claims appear to go against direct evidence of empty cities (no, not the so-called ghost cities), empty villages, and empty factories. What is the truth? Is China’s apparent population decline true or is it a master stroke of disinformation?

Only time will tell.

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This should be posted and linked again and again and again to show the people of the US why the Democrats do not deserve to be returned to power in 2026...or 2028.

And just like that, it's over for the Dems in the 2026 midterms. Maybe even the 2028 general election. Maybe this is even the final nail in their creaky, splintering, mentally ill, Marxist coffin.

Right now, they're trying to ignore it, the way they tried to pretend Hunter Biden's laptop didn't exist back in 2020. They were successful enough that time to push their vote machine over the finish line in Biden/Harris's favor, but that won't happen this time. This story, this image, is already out there.

Still, they're trying to ignore it, hoping it goes away…

The only explanation I've seen anywhere is, "Oh, it was never covered nationally because it was only a local story." Sure. Like George Floyd's overdose in police custody was only a local story. Good luck with that dodge, lefties.

In all fairness to Democrats, their policies have made this situation so common that it may well have disappeared into the din. A violent lunatic with fourteen previous arrests under his belt but who still freely roamed the streets randomly and viciously stabbed a young woman on the train, killing her. The murder occurred over two weeks ago, and they had every reason to believe the "local crime story" was as dead as the beautiful young victim.

But then, the video emerged. It's chilling and terrifying, the horror that every urban female (and plenty of males) fears. The still image of the moment the madman's knife begins its descent is the most damning optic I've seen in years, and it will now become the face of the modern Democrat party.

If this was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, I might buy it. But it’s not. It’s happening again and again and again and the Democrats do nothing. Whether it’s a lethal attack like the one above or shoplifting mobs or armed robberies or carjackings and on and on and on, it seems the only thing the Democrats in charge will do is lament the events, but do as much as they can to make sure the criminals won’t be stopped, won’t be arrested, won’t be tried, and won’t be imprisoned.

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I have to agree with Mike over at Cold Fury about his latest post: Is it madness or method when it comes to the UK’s crushing of dissent regarding free speech, particularly when it comes trans issues?

Oh, I dunno; I think maybe “diabolical stratagem” might actually be more the mots juste, with “Satanic plot” overtopping all comers to take the prize for accuracy, honesty, clarity, and forthrightness. Regarding the UK’s arrest of decidedly non-Woke comedian Graham Linehan for the heinous crime of Aggravated DoublePlusUngoodthink W/ Intent to Poke Fun at Pyrsynzz Of “Transgender,” Steyn opines:

I was glad to see Rupert Lowe post this…

However, I disagree that it is “MADNESS”. It is not. It is conscious strategy – because even any residual culture of free speech is incompatible with what they’re planning to do to you.

As the saying goes, Read The Whole Thing. Mike is on a roll!

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I would consider this a good start.

PBS Trims 15 Percent of Its Workforce

PBS’s chief executive told public television officials Thursday that it was cutting about 15% of its jobs due to the move by Republicans in Congress to eliminate all federal funding for public broadcasting starting on Oct. 1.

Thirty-four PBS staffers were notified Thursday that their positions were being cut. Taken with the loss of a longstanding federal grant for an educational initiative earlier this summer, and the elimination of about three dozen other vacant positions, PBS will have lost more than 100 jobs in all.

I haven’t liked the idea that taxpayer money is going to fund media outlets – PBS and NPR - that have degraded into a mouthpiece for the Left. While the argument has been made that it provides programming for those who have no other source, it is a specious argument because there are so many similar outlets available that don’t depend on tax dollars to fund.

If they want to survive then they can extend their fundraising efforts, or like other broadcasting entities, go ‘commercial’ and fund their operations via ad revenue.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the summerfolk are finally gone, the weather has brought some much needed rain, and where once again Monday is coming along to screw up our weekend.

Uh-Oh

Saturday's post is being delayed as I haven't had Internet service since early Saturday afternoon as thunderstorms worked their way through New Hampshire. Service was restored just a little while ago and it is a bit late for me to put together a post for tonight. I'll just have to make Sunday's regular post longer to compensate!

Friday Funny - It Takes Two

Scottish Dundee Axe Girl Strikes Back

Normally I would be posting something from my home state's Raconteur Extreme, Fritz Weatherbee. However, I saw this video in a Disqus comment earlier today and decided to share it here. I do this knowing that should I have to go to the UK I might end up being arrested. So might it be. It is time for the British people to rise up with one voice, to say "Halt! We'll not stand for this! We are a free people!!"

Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s Labor Day weekend and as expected the traffic up her on and around the lake is heavy and crazy. This is generally the “Last Weekend Of Summer” for a lot of folks and people, particularly those from away, are making the most of it, hitting every amusement, restaurant, ice cream stand, and beach and swimming hole they can. And that’s why I am, for the most part, staying away from those same places.

Looking out on the lake yesterday morning it wasn’t all that busy, but that was due to the wind being as strong as it was. It died down later in the day and the boat traffic picked up considerably, meaning I was going to stay off the lake as I don’t care to have to deal with the Cap’n Boneheads any more than is absolutely necessary. That’s why most of my boating this weekend is likely to take place on Labor Day after the summerfolk depart or on Tuesday, which I have taken off to extend the holiday weekend.

Things will quiet down after that, meaning that most of the boating will be done by the folks that live up here until around Columbus Day weekend. It also means that we’ll also have our restaurants back, at least for a few weeks until the foliage starts changing and the leaf-peepers start showing up. Fortunately they will only be around here for a couple or three weeks as the leaves change from green to the fiery reds, oranges, and yellows that bring the tourists to gawk at the colors, starting in the northern part of the state and making its way south.

And then it will quiet down and things will slow down pretty much until late April or so. Yes, there will be the folks up for winter activities between the end of December until around mid March, but they tend to be not nearly as numerous as the summerfolk. We also don’t hear them nearly as much since our windows are closed because it’s winter.

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It seems the Left Coast is at it again, in this case raising taxes that are already some of the highest in the nation even higher while at the same time increasing spending and claiming they’re broke. I have to ask if any of these tax and tax and tax and spend and spend and spend Democrats have any clue how that’s all going to end? Probably not. They’ve also probably never heard of Maggie Thatcher’s axiom about “running out of other people’s money.”

California, Oregon, and Washington seem hellbent on bankrupting their states by spending money they don’t have on things their residents don’t need and taxing the hell out of both people and businesses to pay for it all. What’s worse is that they expect the people and businesses will just take it and keep paying up. But they won’t.

Taxpayers can't deny that Democrats, who are solidly in charge of the West Coast, Messed Coast^TM states wasted pandemic money, spend nearly $200,000.00 for each homeless person on the streets — without helping them, are diluting legitimate taxpayer votes, can't pass their own audits, and have p***d away whatever was left in the account of the Bank of Good Intentions. Only dust bunnies remain.

All three states seem to think the piggy bank will be replenished by the taxpayers who are seeing no return on the money they’ve had taken away from them by way of taxes that are reaching confiscatory levels. Do they really think the people in their state won’t rebel? Do they think that people and businesses won’t vote with their feet, taking their money and jobs with them when they go? Perhaps they think that Uncle Sam will bail them out when they finally go bankrupt?

The answer won’t be “No”, it will be “Oh, HELL No!!” It won’t be up to the taxpayers in other states to bail them out, particularly when we know they won’t learn the lesson and will demand more and more taxpayer money to support their ill-advised, if not criminal fiscal policies.

One has to wonder if the people in those states will finally say “Enough!” and clean house, throwing out their Progressive ‘betters’, bag and baggage, and restore fiscal responsibility.

Time will tell.

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Minnesota has a lot of Somali immigrants. It also has a lot of Somali scammers that have eaten up as much as $1 billion in aid for things like feeding hungry children and helping deal with autism.

One. Billion. Dollars.

The pattern in both Somali meals for children and autism treatment for children is similar.

In 2019, Feeding Our Future distributed $3.4 million in taxpayer food aid funds to the non-profits it was sponsoring, In 2020, that shot up to $42 million and then up to $197 million in 2021.

EIDBI autism claims to Medicaid in Minnesota similarly shot up from $3 million in 2018 to $54 million in 2019, $77 million in 2020, $183 million in 2021, $279 million in 2022, $399 million in 2023, and nearing $400 million most of the way through 2024 for a total of over $1.4 billion.

How did autism claims rise from $3 million to $400 million a year in just 4 years?

The number of autism providers shot up 700% from 41 to 328 over 5 years. 1 in 16 Somali four-year-olds (6%) were supposedly suffering from autism leading to a mass demand for services. Somalis had accused the Minnesota Department of Human Services of racism, and protested outside its offices to pressure it into providing funding for the $250 million ‘Feeding Our Future’ and similarly launched a pressure campaign to sign off on the autism fraud.

Somali community groups set up their own autism treatment centers to provide diverse “culturally appropriate programming” and Somali kids were seven times more likely to receive autism treatment than other children. Whistleblowers at the Minnesota Department of Human Services report that 1 in 5 autism centers in the state are now under investigation.

This bears repeating: One. Billion. Dollars.

It seems our Somali residents in Minnesota have learned how to scam money from the Minnesota state government. I wonder when the Nigerian princes will get their shot at it?

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I can’t believe it, but I have friends who are already stacking their firewood for the coming winter. They aren’t stacking it to dry since it is already seasoned. They are stacking it for storage under cover in preparation for the time it will be needed to heat their home. They aren’t the only ones.

I spoke with the owners of The Manse about a get together and the mentioned they had just had a couple of cord of dry firewood dropped off in front of the garage. They plan to stack it inside the garage in a rack that I built almost 19 years ago which would hold a little over three cords of firewood which we used to heat The Manse over the winter.

Beezlebub’s side business which has him cutting down trees and milling them into timbers will also have some firewood available for a few customers. He plans to expand that part of the business next year with the help of yours truly.

I will build drying frames that will be used to quickly season green firewood. Picture small ‘greenhouses’ that will use the sun’s light to dry the green wood by generating temperatures between 100º and 150ºF inside which will have that wood dry in less then a month. He has over 200 acres of forested land from which to harvest his crop. No clear-cutting will be required as any harvesting will be using selective cutting to take only the trees that are ready to be turned into timbers or stove-length firewood.

I haven’t asked some of my other friends if they are already stacking their cordwood for winter, but I plan to over the next week or so.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where folks are trying to enjoy their last few days of summer, boats are already coming out of the water, and where we don’t have to worry about Monday because we all have the day off.