I'll Tell You The Story - A Yankee Deal In Webster

Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s yet another 50:50 weekend here at the lake, with a sunny Saturday and (sorta) rainy Sunday. Not that’s it’s pouring out, but it’s light which means there’s just enough to let you know it’s raining. The good weather yesterday made sure our town could hold its annual Island Clean Up day. There are 19 islands in our town that are located on Lake Winnipesaukee, most of which have seasonal houses or camps on them. The clean up allows island residents to haul their junk to the town docks for disposal by the town DPW.

I have participated in Island Clean Up Day for a number of years now and every year there are surprising items the island residents bring to the town docks. Some of the most common items are old gas or charcoal grills or mattresses and box springs or old outdoor furniture like Adirondack chairs or windows and sliders. But we’ve also seen 300 gallon water tanks, washing machine agitators and drums, pedal boats, old solar panels, and in one case what I can only call a ‘Treasure Chest’ that looked just like the ones you always see in the movies. (No, there was no treasure in the treasure chest. We looked!)

One of the strangest things we ever saw over the years was a pontoon boat piled high with a couple of dozen mattresses and box springs. It looked just like a marine version of a Borg cube. They guy at the helm would poke his head out to the side of the boat in order to see where he was going. We still have no idea how he managed to dock his boat without running into the dock itself.

All in all it was a good day and we managed to fill all of the large dumpsters that were brought onsite to deal with the junk. There were also two dump trucks used to haul all the metal items that were brought to the docks to our dump...er…Solid Waste Center.

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This is a good step – moving departments and agencies of the Feddle Gummint closer to the people they’re supposed to be dealing with.

I remember during Trump’s first term when he moved much of the Bureau of Land Management out to Grand Junction, Colorado so they were closer the land they were managing. Of course the Biden Administration moved those bureaucrats back to Washington DC.

Now Trump is back at it, this time moving “most of the Washington, D.C. employees” of the Department of Agriculture “out of the capital and closer to the farmers, ranchers, and producers.”

Being sequestered away from the people they serve, the people they regulate is never a good idea.

Commenters to the linked post had good ideas where other government departments and agencies should be moved.

I’m hoping the Bureau of Land Management will be moved back to Colorado where it belongs.

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This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention over the past few years.

Democrats receive lowest ratings from voters in 35 years.

Considering how far the Democrat Party has shifted to the left which has had the effect of alienating more traditional Democrats and those within traditionally Democrat leaning demographics, what did the DNC expect?

From the WSJ:

The Democratic Party’s image has eroded to its lowest point in more than three decades, according to a new Wall Street Journal poll, with voters seeing Republicans as better at handling most issues that decide elections.

The new survey finds that 63% of voters hold an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party—the highest share in Journal polls dating to 1990 and 30 percentage points higher than the 33% who hold a favorable view.

--snip--

Democrats have been hoping that a voter backlash against the president will be powerful enough to restore their majority in the House in next year’s midterm elections, much as it did during Trump’s first term. But the Journal poll shows that the party hasn’t yet accomplished a needed first step in that plan: persuading voters they can do a better job than Trump’s party.

Considering how the Democrats and the Biden Administration did everything they could to piss of everyone, including their fellow Democrats, the poll results aren’t exactly a surprise. Young men between the ages of 18 and 25 across all ethnic groups have shifted to more conservative viewpoints. Latinos and African Americans, usually more reliable Democrat demographics have shifted away from the party as it no longer appears to represent their wants, needs, and beliefs. The Democrats were once considered “The Party of the Working Man”. These days it looks to be more “The Party of the Woke and Perpetually Offended.” That appeals to a very small fraction of the population despite what the Party elite may believe.

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This is a reminder: “Be careful what you wish for...because you might just get it.”

It seems Germany is getting a lesson about its ongoing Islamification, at least when it comes to the law. Int his case, and 18-year old man – a Syrian immigrant – kidnapped and tortured a 13-year old boy for hours, recording the torture.

The perpetrator’s punishment?

Two years of probation.

Oh, and the perp also demanded €1500 from the victim before he would return his cell phone after he was released.

If it had been German citizens that had perpetrated such an attack they would have gotten years in prison for the same offense.

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I thought this might happen, but I didn’t think it would happen quite this soon.

Trump Secures Huge Trade Deal With European Union.

Was this because of the so-called Tariff War? It appears so.

The numbers speak for themselves. The European Union will purchase a staggering $750 billion in American energy, severing its reliance on Russian resources and undermining Vladimir Putin’s economic leverage. The EU will put another $600 billion in new investment into the U.S. economy, a torrent of capital poised to create jobs, invigorate industries, and cement America’s manufacturing revival. And Trump forced open European markets with a simple, powerful stroke: zero tariffs on trade, with a uniform 15 percent tariff for automobiles and other imports, ending years of lopsided trade that favored the EU.

--snip--

As for military cooperation, Trump refrained from naming a specific figure but made it clear that EU countries will be spending “hundreds of billions of dollars” on American military equipment—a move certain to bolster the security of Europe while putting American workers back on the assembly lines. It’s a two-pronged victory: strengthening NATO’s deterrent posture while further unleashing American economic might.

--snip--

Importantly, this wasn’t some eleventh-hour scramble. Trump confirmed the deal is the result of months of persistent, behind-the-scenes work, etched in real diplomacy—something his predecessors either neglected or bungled. “I think it's good that we made a deal today instead of playing games and maybe not making a deal at all,” Trump remarked, dismissing the theatrics that so often paralyze international negotiations.

It’s going to be interesting to see what happens to two largest economies in the world now that trade is far more open than it has been in a long time.

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Seeing the passing of a number of music icons over the past few months makes me understand why we’re seeing so many tours of music acts and bands from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s taking place.

I recently saw Cheap Trick and Rod Stewart at out local concert venue. We’ve got Toto, Men at Work, Christopher Cross, The Black Crowes, and Chicago performing here over this coming week. The Doobie Brothers, Neil Young, The Indigo Girls, Melissa Etheridge, Bonnie Raitt, and Blink-182 performing here over the next few weeks.

Could it be a lot of these tours are more along the lines of farewell tours before too many members of the bands get too old or pass away? It seems that way to me, particularly in light of Ozzie Osbourne having performed his last concert only three weeks before he died.

The older WP Sister is coming up this coming Friday to attend the Chicago concert Friday night. I saw them here two summers ago and the one thing I noticed is that most of the audience was older, like me. The same was true at the Rod Stewart concert a couple of weeks ago.

The one upside to these bands and their older audience is that unlike some audiences, these are less likely to cause problems because they aren’t as energetic as younger audiences...and their arthritis makes it more difficult for them to cause problems.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’re heading into another stretch of hot and humid weather, the A/C will be getting more of a workout, and where spending more time in the lake is looking pretty attractive right about now.

A Delay

Sorry, folks. I got back quite late after a very busy day and didn't have the energy to write my usual Saturday post. I'm "all tuckered out" and just want to go to bed.

Friday Funny - Wife Hack

I saw this after I had posted the Jack Nicklaus video and thought I'd post it next week, but it was just to good to wait. So here's a twofer for the Friday Funny.

Friday Funny - Jack Nicklaus Shows 'Em How It's Done

I'll Tell You The Story - Binky The Dude

Will Alberta And Saskatchewan Leave Canada?

While there’s been plenty of talk now and then about one or more Canadian province leaving Canada and applying for statehood in the US, that’s all it’s ever been. The last time something like this came to the forefront was when Quebec was looking to become independent which would have left the Maritime Provinces separated from the rest of Canada. A number of those provinces considered joining the US if Quebec became a separate nation. However, the separation referendum failed in Quebec, twice.

But now some of the western provinces have had enough of Ottawa draining them dry while at the same time making it difficult for them to farm, mine, drill for oil, and so on. It looks like two provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, have had enough and they want out.



Will they go independent and form their own nation, or will they look south and join the US? So far, it seems that about a third of the residents in both provinces see joining the US as a viable option.

Will it happen? Who knows?

Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s been a 50:50 weekend here at the lake, with low humidity and temps in the upper 70’s yesterday and humid with temps in the upper 80’s today along with some thunderstorms here and there. I’ve been out and about both days, visiting friends in a few different parts of our town, doing a little shopping at one of the local farm stands, and having lunch at one of our little known town parks on the shore of the lake. About the only chores I attended to was a little vacuuming, loading and running the dishwasher, and also doing one load of laundry – bed sheets – and that’s about it. We did have visitors yesterday – my dear brother, his wife, and one of his granddaughters – who were up for just a couple of hours and then on their way home before parking opened at our local music venue for the Brad Paisley concert.

All in all, it’s been a low key weekend for yours truly and that suits me just fine. However, next weekend will be busy, at least on Saturday, as our town will be having its annual Island Cleanup Day. That’s when island residents can bring their junk to our town docks and the DPW will load that junk into dumpsters and dump trucks, said junk to be hauled away to our dump...er…Solid Waste Center for disposal. You would be surprised to see what comes off of the boats for disposal...or maybe not. But it will be busy at the docks while it’s taking place and yours truly will be there to help with the effort just as I have for the past 8 years or so.

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I have been seeing the laments from the Left about Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show being canceled by CBS when his contract expires next year. Some have claimed it is an entirely political decision to stifle the First Amendment and others that it’s because of the $16 million CBS had to pay Trump as a result of his lawsuit.

But could it be that the viewership just isn’t there and as a result CBS is losing $40 million a year on the show? It doesn’t help that the show has a top heavy staff and a shrinking and aging viewership. (When Colbert took over The Late Show the average age of the viewership was 60 years of age and it’s now 68 years of age.)

Now if we could see the same thing happen to The View on ABC as it is just outright awful and is more deserving of being canceled than Colbert.

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You know it’s bad when NPR had to issue a warning that the Declaration of Independence “contains offensive language.”

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The anti-ICE moonbats are taking their ‘protests’ even farther, this time by slashing the tires in ICE vehicles. In this case the perpetrator was pepper-sprayed and tackled after he slashed the tires of a number of vehicles used by ICE during a raid in California.

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Seeing what has been happening in England over the past few years, one has to wonder if those in charge have been using Orwell’s 1984 as a how-to guide rather than as the warning it was meant to be. This begs the question “There will always be an England, but will it be free?” If things keep going like they have been the answer will be “no”.

Does England mean as much to the ruling establishment as it once did? The words “free” and “freedom” are repeated several times in “There’ll Always Be An England.” That’s the theme, the hope, the conviction: that Britain would triumph because of its native love of freedom.

How do things look now? Let me introduce you to two recent developments that would have astonished Messrs. Parker and Charles—police tracking of “non-crime hate incidents” and a so-called “banter ban” that is on the threshold of becoming the law of the land.

The practice of recording “non-crime hate incidents” by the police became law in June 2023.

Ponder this:

Where there is no criminal offence, but the person reporting perceives that the incident was motivated wholly or partially by hostility, the incident will be recorded as a non-crime hate incident. Police officers may also identify a non-crime hate incident, even where no victim or witness has done so.

--snip--

Just in case the recording of people saying mean or “hostile” things is not enough to stifle free speech, Britain is about to pass a Labour-sponsored law banning hurtful or possibly hurtful “banter” in pubs and other public places.

This isn’t going to end well.

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It appears the energy problem in the Netherlands is getting worse...and it’s being done on purpose.

The Netherlands is rationing electricity as its overloaded power grid buckles under the pressure of rapid electrification and ambitious climate goals.

More than 11,900 businesses are stuck in a queue for access to the network, alongside public buildings including hospitals, schools and fire stations.

Thousands of new homes are also waiting to be connected, with some areas warned they may have to wait until the 2030s.

The crisis has emerged as the country scrambles to cut carbon emissions.

And now experts are warning that Britain, as well as Belgium and Germany, are all ‘in trouble.’

The countries should ‘definitely’ see what is happening in the Netherlands as a warning, says Zsuzsanna Pató, from Brussels-based energy think tank RAP.

After shutting down production at the massive Groningen gas field last year, the Dutch government has pushed a fast transition to electric heating, solar power and battery storage.

But the national grid has failed to keep pace, creating widespread bottlenecks and driving up costs.

What’s worse as this is a preview of what awaits Belgium, Britain, and Germany if they stay on the course they’re following. They have become an object lesson, one that we should take to heart. We see what works, and more importantly, what doesn’t work. We have seen that the various solar and wind projects where billions of dollars were poured into them and see them fail, not providing the amount of power promised nor when needed. The energy is expensive, even taking into account the taxpayer subsidies. If these power systems were viable they should be able to do without any taxpayer money once they are online, but too many of them aren’t.

It must also be understood that neither solar or wind are carbon neutral, nor are they environmentally friendly despite what the climate change cultists claim. Better that we spend money on a nuclear power renaissance as nuclear can supply electrical power 24/7/365 for years on end and is not dependent on weather.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where thunderstorms are popping up here and there, the A/C is running, and Monday is waiting in the wings.

Learning Lessons From The War In Ukraine

I am not going to get into the politics involved with the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia since anyone paying attention and a firm grasp on history will understand what’s going on and why. I feel no need to reiterate all of that in this post.
Instead, I am going to focus more on the lessons being learned because of that war, specifically when it comes to military matters.

For full disclosure, I worked in the defense industry for almost 20 years, my experience covering everything from radar systems, missile guidance systems, aerospace electronics, as well as some ‘off the books’ projects for unnamed Three Letter Agencies. This does give me a little more insight about what’s going on than those who have never been exposed to military equipment and their capabilities, but nowhere near as much as those who used that equipment for the purposes for which they were designed. With that caveat out of the way I’ll continue.

One of the first things I noticed during hostilities which started three-and-a-half years ago was the differences in capabilities between Russian military equipment versus Ukraine’s. While a lot of the equipment Ukraine used in the beginning was of Russian origin, that changed as the war dragged on, with a lot of equipment from NATO nations being sent to Ukraine. Artillery pieces and the ammo that goes with them, rifles, shoulder-launched anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, antiaircraft defense systems like Patriot, armored vehicles including M1A1 Abrams tanks, M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, M113 APCs, MRAPs, MLRS systems including HIMARS and ATACMS, air-to-ground missiles, cruise missiles, precision guided bombs, then later, fighter aircraft.

What must also be noted is that a lot of that equipment that was sent to Ukraine wasn’t new, top-of-the-line materiel, but stuff that was older equipment on the verge of being scrapped. One example is the M1A1 Abrams tanks, a model that hasn’t been part of the US Armed Forces arsenal for years. It was replaced years ago by the M1A2, the most recent version being the M1A2-Sep3. Much of the other equipment sent were older versions that were being stored prior to disposal or replaced by newer versions.

Even that ‘old’ equipment showed just how over-matched the Russian equipment was. How well would up-to-date equipment fare against Russian equipment?

One of the biggest and most important lessons to be learned?

Drone warfare.

The Ukrainians took drone warfare to an entirely new level. That they were able to repurpose commercial off-the-shelf drones into precision weapons shows just how necessity fuels innovation. They have been effective against Russian armored vehicles and supply trucks, supply depots and other logistics systems caught a lot off people off guard. Even Ukraine’s marine drones, basically remotely operated boats and jet-skis, shut down Russia’s ability to operate freely in the Black Sea. It appears someone in the Pentagon has been paying attention seeing as a deal was recently stuck for Ukraine to sell some of their drones to the US military for evaluation and deployment. It shows that such equipment doesn’t need to be MilSpec and very expensive in order to be effective. That the drones are cheap, can be made in huge numbers, and easily deployed has proved to be one of their strengths. That Ukraine was also able to strike targets deep inside Russia using shipping containers to get them close to four Russian air bases and then launching them to attack Russian strategic and tactical bombers to great effect shows how they can be used when other more tradition means may be difficult to pull off. It also warns us that such tactics can be used against us too, and that we need to create the means of defending against such attacks. We’ve seen variations of some of these commercial drones modified to use fiber optic links that are immune to electronic warfare jamming. We’ve seen drones modified to plant anti-tank mines in fields and on roads. It appears there are applications for these war drones that are still being developed.

It’s going to be interesting to see what might be coming next.

Friday Funny - Pro Marriage Tip

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

Thoughts On A Sunday

I didn’t get to taking care of my usual Saturday post, it being a busy day yesterday...and quite frankly I nodded off for a few hours in the late afternoon/early evening and found I was really dragging, so I didn’t get to it.

Some of it might be attributed to my very busy and lengthy day on Friday which included dinner at BeezleBub’s followed by the Rod Stewart concert at Meadowbrook that evening. (The opening act was Cheap Trick.) It was an awesome concert and Rod looked fantastic for performer in his 80’s. I was up early yesterday morning and was pretty much busy all morning and afternoon. It was not like one of my usual summer weekends.

The weather this weekend has been less than optimal, being cloudy and cool Saturday and the same this morning. However, the sun did make its appearance this afternoon and it actually reached 80º. Monday is going to bring us heavy thundershowers, particularly in the afternoon. Then we’ll be back in the heat with temps in the 90’s and high humidity...again.

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I have to wonder how those with student loans feel about starting to make payments again? How about those who will see the Feddle Gummint coming after them for defaulting on the loan payments they hadn’t made prior to those payments being suspended by the Department of Education in 2020 “due to Covid”?

I have to wonder if the latter were hoping they wouldn’t have to pay back their loans in light of Biden’s unconstitutional loan forgiveness move? Heck, it shouldn’t be a surprise that even those who haven’t defaulted feel the same way.

I’ve been listening to the debate between those who believe student loans should be forgiven and those who don’t. Despite what the first group wants, those loans do have to be repaid but they will be repaid by the American taxpayers. That’s you and me, boys and girls. It’s ironic that some of those loans paid for useless college degrees that qualified the recipients to be baristas at Starbucks, bartenders, Uber or Lyft or DoorDash drivers, convenience store clerks, or wait staff and those who took the loans owe as much as some people owe on their mortgages. It’s equally ironic that those holding those degrees could have worked those same jobs without a degree and without the 6-digit loan debt that went that degree. They also would have had 4 years more earnings if they hadn’t wasted those four years studying for their useless degree.

I have to lay some of the blame for this on the colleges and universities that created many of the useless courses of study as so many of them saw the oceans of cash made available by the student loan programs and wanted some of it.

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Umm...really?

It appears that Israel had supernatural help overcoming Iran’s defenses which allowed it to prevail in its recent 12-day war with Iran as well as the success with the US taking out Iran’s nuclear facilities, at least according one senior Iranian official. That help?

Jinn. (Link may be paywalled.)

How did Israel, a country of fewer than ten million people, prevail in the recent twelve-day war over the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has nine times more people and thirty times more land than Israel? A senior Iranian official, Abdollah Ganji, who formerly headed a daily newspaper, Jovan, that was a primary mouthpiece of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), is convinced that it wasn’t simply a story of Israel’s having a superior strategy, better weaponry, and help from the U.S., with its bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities. Ganji contends that the Israeli secret weapon had supernatural help, and not the good kind.

Iran International reported Friday on what Ganji called “a strange phenomenon.” Ganji claimed that “after the recent war, several pieces of paper were found on the streets of Tehran containing talismans with Jewish symbols." Uh-oh. And as if that weren’t enough, he added: "A few years ago, the Supreme Leader said that hostile countries and Western and Hebrew intelligence services use occult sciences and jinn beings for espionage."

Indeed he did. Back in March 2020, the Ayatollah Khamenei told his countrymen in a televised address that the Islamic Republic was facing “enemies from among both jinn and human beings.” This apparently inspired a good deal of ridicule, as Iran International notes that “the quote was later removed from some official transcripts.”

Another prominent Iranian ayatollah, Hojatoleslam Mehdi Karami, said in Oct. 2024: “Given the Zionists’ history of controlling jinn, many of their missions are carried out through them.”

So we’ve been wasting hundreds of billions of dollars on defense spending when we could have been using the jinn, aka genies, to defend ourselves?

Yeah. Right.

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This doesn’t surprise me in the least.

I’ve been hearing the stories about the problems that are occurring for those wishing to rebuild their homes in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton areas of Los Angeles that were devastated by the fires that destroyed thousands of homes an businesses. Permitting is taking a long time and can cost $20,000 or more, a cost that isn’t always covered by insurance. Insurance payouts have been iffy as so many homeowners lost their insurance prior to the fires. But don’t worry, Governor Newsom has the answer!

Slums! Or as I saw it written in the linked post “Gentrification in reverse.”

Six months after the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires, California Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled $101 million in funding Tuesday for “multifamily low-income housing development” that will “contribute to a more equitable and resilient Los Angeles.” The priority is for “geographic proximity to the fire perimeters of the Eaton, Hughes, and Palisades fires.”

--snip--

California state law and a local Los Angeles ordinance require fire-destroyed rent-protected housing — which includes all apartments in the city built before October 1978 — be replaced with low-income housing. Because the affordability requirements use county-level income data, not more local incomes, definitions for “low” and “very low” income housing reflect much lower incomes than the norm for the affluent Palisades community.

--snip--

What a beautiful locale to build an equitable slum at public expense.

To qualify as Supportive Housing Multifamily Housing, a project must provide at least 40% of its units for the homeless, or individuals who have spent at least 15 days in “jails, hospitals, prisons, and institutes of mental disease.”

So by using county level income data rather than neighborhood level income data, California taxpayers will be on the hook to build low income housing in areas that used to have million and multimillion dollar homes. Does this mean that some of the former homeowners will be lucky to lose only a portion of the value of their homes rather than all of it?

As the article states, does this mean “California has succumbed to the Democrat Death Spiral”? It certainly seems so as government at the state and city levels appear to have been doing everything they can to make sure California becomes unaffordable and unlivable.

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Better late then never.

It appears the UK newspaper The Telegraph has discovered that wind farms don’t work when the wind doesn’t blow.

This is something Germany discovered both during heat waves and cold spells when there wasn’t much wind that wind could not be counted on to provide needed electricity. Britain is finding out during the recent heat wave that wind farms cannot be counted on to provide electricity when it is most needed. (It actually isn’t the first time, it’s just the most recent one.)

It isn’t just in Europe that this lesson is being learned.

Texas found out during one particular cold snap a few years ago that their huge wind farms in west Texas couldn’t provide power because the cold affected the wind turbines, particularly when the blades on some of the turbines needed to be de-iced before they could be used, which meant they couldn’t be used as they had no means of doing so. At times there also wasn’t much in the way of wind to turn the turbines in any case. Call it another lesson that is being ignored by the climate change cult.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where thunderstorms are in the forecast, another heat wave is on its way, and where we’re trying our best to ignore Monday.

Friday Funny (Saturday Edition) - Men Are Simple

Yes, I did not post this last night as I have a great excuse - I was at the Rod Stewart concert at our nearby venue last night. The concert was part of his farewell tour.

Now, without further ado:

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

Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s been a long holiday weekend with those wanting to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday up here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire making their appearance. From Wednesday evening onward the traffic was heavy, heavier than I can ever remember it being. The WP Mom and I went grocery shopping Thursday morning, figuring we’d beat the rush.

We were wrong.

It usually takes us about 5 to 10 minutes to make the trip between The Gulch and the local supermarket. (If we have to stop at all 4 traffic lights during the trip it takes us 10 minutes.) It was closer to 15 minutes before we pulled into the parking lot in front of the supermarket. The lot was full. Even though we were able to park in a handicap parking space, it was out in the East Overshoe section of the lot which meant it was a bit of a hike for the WP Mom.

Once inside the supermarket chaos reigned.

Surprisingly it didn’t take us as long as we thought it might to finish our shopping as the market had every checkout lane open and baggers on each lane. We made it back to the car in about 20 minutes...but then it was almost 20 minutes before we made it back to The Gulch as the traffic had gotten even heavier and slower.

In general, traffic was heavy all weekend. I didn’t see nearly as much traffic this morning when I made my usual Sunday morning Walmart run. But then, I made that shopping run almost an hour earlier than usual – 7 am rather than 8 am.

I will be heading out again later today to run a couple of errands so it will be interesting to see how heavy the traffic is this afternoon.

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On Wednesday I saw a Facebook post made by a distant cousin (who shall remain nameless in order to keep her from being flamed) that claimed that the June job numbers showed a first time loss of jobs and laid the blame on Donald Trump. I did ask where she got her job numbers but I never heard back from her. The official jobs numbers from the Labor Department for June showed 147,000 new jobs filled which was 37,000 more than predicted.

Yes, I understand that monthly jobs numbers are almost always adjusted a month or so later once all the reports have been tallied, either upwards or downwards. But it seems that every jobs report since Trump started his second term have been revised upwards while they were almost always revised downwards during the Biden Administration.

The Wall Street Journal reports that even though some “manufacturers have paused hiring amid tariff uncertainties, the unemployment rate fell partly because fewer people are looking for work.” (The link may be paywalled.)

U.S. job growth continued at a steady pace last month, surprising economists who had predicted a slowdown in hiring amid uncertainty over trade and fiscal policy.

The country added 147,000 jobs in June, the Labor Department reported Thursday, above the gain of 110,000 jobs economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.1% from 4.2%.

Revisions showed that hiring was stronger in prior months than previously thought. The number of jobs added in April and May was a combined 16,000 higher than prior estimates. Job growth was heavily concentrated in state and local government and in healthcare.

That much of that job growth in April and May was “heavily concentrated” in state and local government bothers me seeing most of them were in education, though the growth in healthcare jobs is promising.

On a local note, I know our school system has a problem when it comes to jobs, that being that even as our school population has shrunk by 15% over the past 15 years, the number of school employees has grown by 40%. Why?

If the non-education growth in local government jobs was due to growth in the population in towns and cities, I see that as more of a positive. I’ll admit some skepticism to the growth in state government jobs being a positive things.

It will be interesting to see what the adjusted jobs numbers for June will look like in a month or so.

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What sounds true isn’t always actually true, particularly when it comes to illegal immigrants and taxes.

Liberals Claim Illegals Pay Taxes and Add to Society… The Numbers Don’t Show That at All

Liberals are always quick to say that illegal aliens pay taxes from their paychecks and add to American society, however, the actual numbers don’t make their case at all. Indeed, the numbers show that, overall, they don’t add anything but, instead, take from is all.

Democrats even go farther in their support for illegals and claim that they really don’t benefit from our system at all and that WE are the ones that reap all the benefits from illegal aliens.

--snip--

...yes, some of them pay taxes. But are they really a plus for us? The answer to that is a resounding no. And the reason for that is because they take far more in government services (both federal and state) than they ever pay in taxes.

The Center for Immigration Studies noted that 59 percent of non-citizen households are on welfare of one sort or another. That is compared to only 39 percent of citizens.

From the quote above one could make the argument that the non-citizen households include legal immigrants, but if one looks at the charts included in the linked article, it is stated that “59% of households headed by illegal immigrants, also called the undocumented, use at least one major program.” Only 52% of legal immigrant households do so.

This is something that needs a deeper look and the numbers better defined. If it is indeed true that the Democrats’ claims about illegal immigrants and taxes is not true, then we must make sure their their claims are exposed. This isn’t something that should be relegated to the “Everyone knows” category of misinformation.

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What does the Left always seem to root for the bad guys?

Could it be because the bad guys do the things that they’d like to do, but are too chicken to do themselves?

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’re recovering from the holiday weekend, the heat and humidity have returned, and where Monday is coming back to plague us again.

Friday Funny...On Saturday - A Twofer

Seeing as I am still recovering from celebrating the Fourth of July...as well as the Fifth, I'm hitting you up with two 'funnies' today.

The first is a clever cover of Thunderstruck:



And then there's this:

July 4th - This Must Be Remembered

July 4, 1776

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

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