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: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.
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.
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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.
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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.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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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.
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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.
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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.