Thoughts On A Sunday

It was -2°F here at The Gulch this morning. It helps make sure the ice on Lake Winnipesaukee is good for this weekend’s Ice Fishing Derby. There are lots of bob-houses out on the lake, something that is needed as the wind chills are brutal if you don’t have any shelter from the wind.

We’re expecting overnight temps to be around 0°F or a little higher over the next couple of days, though the daytime temps might get close to freezing. Maybe.

I still have to clean off the couple of inches of snow from the trusty RAM 1500, seeing no reason to do so until it gets a little warmer outside as I have no plans to go anywhere today. About the only plans I have is to take care of a couple loads of laundry and to watch the SuperBowl early this evening.

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It is SuperBowl Sunday and the New England Patriots are trying to win their 7^th Lombardi Trophy. All the TV news has been covering over the past 2 weeks has been the SuperBowl. Almost every report includes some reference to the game. Over the past couple of days about 50% of the news coverage has been about the SuperBowl. Frankly, I’ll be glad once it’s all over. Mind you, I’ll be particularly pleased if the Patriots beat the Seahawks.

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After the recent layoffs at the Washington Post, I have to wonder how much longer Jeff Bezos will hold on to that money-losing fish wrapper? As more than one comment at the linked post has said, they brought it on themselves.

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I’ll admit that Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) has had me confused over the years. Between some rather bizarre behavior and a stroke, I’ve had a tough time figuring him out.

However, it seems that Fetterman has been shifting his political views away from the Left and more towards the center. As the Babylon Bee stated “Weird. Man Becomes More Conservative As He Regains Brain Function.”

Maybe not so weird.

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This is a really abbreviated TOAS as I am going back downstairs to watch the SuperBowl!

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And that’s the (abbreviated) news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it’s back in the single digits, the winds have been brutal, and where Monday is returning…again.

Before We Get Too Old Or Die Tour

I was perusing Instapundit this morning when I came across this post about a number of music artists and groups canceling tours due to health issues, advancing age along with health issues, or possible political disagreements.

Among the artists/bands canceling upcoming tours have been Neil Young, Twisted Sister, and the Rolling Stones. What gets me is just how many artists and bands from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s are still out there touring. That their music is still popular, particularly among much younger people – Millennials and Gen Z – affirms to me that good music is good musing no matter how old it is.

To quote myself using one of my nom du wordprocessors about this:

At our local concert venue, we've been seeing a lot of the older acts and artists over the past couple of seasons. I've been calling it the "Before We Get Too Old Or Die Tour." This past summer I saw Rod Stewart's farewell tour concert. The opening act was Cheap Trick. I saw Chicago two summers ago and they were back this past summer. It may have been just me, but it seems half the acts performing at our local venue over the past couple of years have been part of the "Before We Get Too Old Or Die Tour".

Not that I'm complaining as it seems a lot of people want to see the old acts, including a lot of younger people. As I've heard my Millennial son say, "You guys had all the great music!"

One of the other things I’ve noticed is how many younger people have been making reaction videos on YouTube, reacting to music from ‘back then’. As I also mentioned in one of my comments, “Probably the two groups that have had the most enthusiastic reactions have been Pink Floyd and Boston. Two PF songs that bring out a lot of positive reactions have been Great Gig In The Sky from the Dark Side Of The Moon album and Comfortably Numb from the 1994 Pulse concert with one of the best guitar solos ever, Dave Gilmour's 4 minutes of guitar solo heaven.”

Dark Side Of The Moon came out in 1973 and Boston’s first album came out in 1975 and they are both still very popular.

I saw Boston play in our local concert venue some years ago with Tommy DeCarlo as lead singer. (This was a few years after their original lead singer Brad Delp died.) I saw Pink Floyd in 1990 in Berlin, Germany – The Wall 1990 concert – courtesy of my then employer because they sent me there for business.

Our local concert venue has already been advertising the acts that will be playing in the upcoming concert season and it looks like it will be a continuation of the "Before We Get Too Old Or Die Tour".

I can’t wait!

Friday Funny - Pick The Right Wife

Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s been a long stretch of cold weather up here at the lake, with many mornings having temperatures in in the single digits below zero. This morning it was -6°F here at The Gulch and -8°F down at the lake itself. (The Gulch is approximately 140 feet higher in altitude than the lake, so it tends to be warmer.) Monday morning will be the first day when it will be above zero in the morning. Over the past two weeks we’ve only had two days where it was above zero in the morning, and on those two days it was snowing. (We got about 20 inches of snow out of that storm.)

One thing that colder than normal weather has brought is increased heating bills. I know we’ve used more than the usual amount of heating oil at The Gulch as well as my neighbor’s home. (I keep an eye on the place as it is only their seasonal home, and they mostly come up from the Boston area during the summer months.) I’ve had to leave the thermostat turned up to keep the inside temperature from dropping to 60° overnight and taking hours to get back up to 68°. That’s not something we usually have to worry about. But with the lengthy bout of below normal temperatures and overnight temperatures being below zero, it has become the reality.

One thing that did give us a piece of mind was that just before the snowstorm arrived last weekend our local heating company topped off our oil tank. Our neighbor’s tank was also topped off right around the same time by a different heating company, meaning we were good to go for heating fuel despite higher use due to the frigid weather.

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New York City’s new mayor has barely been in office and he’s already having to backtrack on many of the promises he made during his campaign. Frankly, none of that surprised me as his understanding of economics was crippled by the usual socialist indoctrination in Marxist economics.



There won’t be all those free buses he’s promised. Rent control is likely to remain as it exists now. Those ‘free’ daycare centers won’t come into being. All the folks the mayor was going to tax the heck out of to pay for all those things are leaving New York and taking their businesses and money with them. (Gee, where have we been seeing happening recently?)

Anyone paying attention to history, particularly when it comes to socialism/communism economics, know that they have never worked. Ever. Yet somehow it was going to work this time?

Welcome to the real world, Mayor Mamdani. Oh, and when New York City goes bankrupt, don’t waste you time calling the White House for a bailout because it ain’t gonna happen.

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I wonder when someone will draft a Constitutional Amendment that allows the use of ellipses to modify the Constitution and its Amendments as needed? Oh, and add a Press Immunity clause to the First Amendment so ‘media’ can be excused from committing crimes if they have their press credentials on them?

As one of the commenters stated:

The freedom of the press does not protect an individual leading a riot to shut down a religious service, or any other crime by the individual. Freedom of religion is also a Constitutional right Lemon was abridging.

Indeed.

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And speaking of Don Lemon, there’s this:

DOJ Charges Don Lemon With Federal Civil Rights Crimes

The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged former CNN host Don Lemon with federal civil rights crimes after he live streamed anti-ICE protesters storming a church in Minnesota. Lemon, who was arrested on Thursday, was charged with “conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshipers during a January 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul…

--snip--

Everybody’s joking about the insane argument that being a journalist provides carte blanche to defy any law whatsoever.

This is going to be interesting, to say the least. It certainly opens up the limits of press immunity, particularly when it is used to deprive people of their First Amendment rights regarding religion and free exercise thereof.

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I have to wonder how long it will be before the whole anti-ICE conspiracy falls apart? Seeing some of the polls about the whole illegal immigration issue, and particularly about ICE enforcing federal law, show a majority of the American people are in favor of deporting the millions of illegal immigrants that flooded across the border when the Biden Administration opened the borders. This is particularly true of the criminal illegal immigrants who have been found guilty of criminal acts back in their home countries, in the US since they’ve been here, or both, I find it hard to believe anyone would support not deporting them…or even imprisoning them.

They are acting like these criminals are somehow above the law merely because they entered the US illegally.

Somehow all of this is going to backfire on them and those funding them, particularly should some of those convicted criminal illegals commit even more heinous acts going forward.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it’s still colder than normal, the ice is pretty much thick enough to drive on, and where ice fishing has been in full swing.

Will Physical Money Ever Go Away?

Over the past few years, I’ve been hearing that eventually we’ll no longer use physical money – bills and coins – because electronic ‘money’ is so much easier to use. Some may think nothing of this, believing it’s just progress. But I have two questions for those who think this would be a good idea.

First, do they realize that every single transaction they make will be traceable? It won’t matter if they’re ordering something from Amazon or buying a sandwich or lottery tickets at the local convenience store, there will be a record of everything they buy or service they pay for. Nothing will be anonymous. Nothing.

But that isn’t the thing that bothers me most. It’s the second thing.

Second, if there is no power and/or no Internet there will be no money. Keep in mind the latest Snowmageddon that took place almost a week ago knocked out power and comm services here and there across the nation. That means that stores would be unable to sell you anything because you don’t have any actual money on hand to pay for anything. You won’t be able to pay for food. You won’t be able to pay for clothing. You won’t be able to pay for gasoline. (Yes , this assumes the gas station has power. I know of a few around here that do have their own emergency generators.) It won’t matter if you have hundreds, thousands, or millions of dollars in the bank because you won’t be able to access any of it because it doesn’t really exist. It’s just 1’s and 0’s in a computer somewhere, a computer that you won’t be able to access.

Will physical cash ever go away?

Lord, I hope not.

Friday Funny - Things You Can Say About Your Dinner...

Thoughts On A Sunday

As I write this (8AM) it is about 1°F here at The Gulch. The sky is cloudy and all is calm. Snow isn’t expected to start here until sometime around 2PM. With a couple of exceptions, we’re all set, and those exceptions will be taken care of well before the snow starts. One of those exceptions is moving the Official Weekend Pundit Generator from the back corner of the garage to the front near the garage door, something I will take care of around noon before the snow starts falling. Not that I expect we’ll need it as we will only be seeing snow here, and a light ‘fluffy’ snow which will pile up quickly but won’t have much weight. There won’t be any sleet, freezing rain, or heavy wet snow falling during the duration. However, that doesn’t rule out traffic accidents that could knock out power.

I still have to move the trusty RAM 1500 to leave the shared portion of the driveway open so the contractor will be able to plow it without obstruction. It does mean I’ll have to shovel out the pickup when the time comes, but I do have the Official Weekend Pundit Toro Power Shovel to help with that task, though I probably won’t be doing so until late tomorrow morning at the earliest.

Update – Noon: It just started snowing here at Lake Winnipesaukee.

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Everyone knows there’s been another fatal shooting of an anti-ICE protester in Minneapolis. What gets me is that ‘everyone’ knows exactly what happened and why, meaning the Lame Stream Media and the anti-ICE folks. They all point to the few seconds of video being shown which ‘proves’ what happened. This is no different than when Ms. Good was fatally shot after she struck an ICE agent with her SUV – ‘everyone’ knew there was no reason for the officer to shoot her…until additional video proved that she had indeed driven her SUV towards the ICE agent and struck him with it.

Frankly, I am going to withhold my judgement about the latest shooting because, quite frankly, I don’t believe either side. I don’t know what happened. I haven’t seen all of the video. I (and everyone else) have seen just the last few seconds of what occurred. I cannot be sure it shows everything in context. And therein lies the problem.

The anti-ICE folks don’t want it shown in context, particularly if it goes against The Narrative.

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Here is yet more proof of the old adage “That which is old is new again.”

It looks like Minneapolis is following the bad idea from Seattle – the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone or CHAZ – creating an Autonomous Zone by dragging dumpsters “to barricade entire city blocks while the anti-ICE protests rage on.”

This will turn out no better than CHAZ did in Seattle. But that won’t stop them from doing it anyways.

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In line with the big winter storm that has stretched from New Mexico to Maine, there’s this to worry about:

Report: Huge Winter Storm Is Your Fault

Isn’t everything our fault when it comes to climate change…even if climate change has nothing to do with this?

I recall the Big Storm of 1993 that was quite similar to the present storm, except that it stretched only between Texas and Maine. No one thought it was unusual other than it hit some of the southern states, something that wasn’t all that unusual given the proper time scale.

So climate alarmists say climate change causes too much warming and too much cold when it isn’t. The goalposts are constantly moved ignoring all of the winter storms of the past that were entirely natural. The alarmists overstretched their hands with their hype so people moved on convinced that the climate will change no matter what they do and no longer see any point in worrying about it.

Yeah. That sounds just about right.

It could be why the “climate change scam has been collapsing.”

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I’d like to hear Minnesota Governor Tim Walz explain away this one:

INDUSTRIAL SCALE FRAUD: $400 Million Minnesota Medicaid Scheme Operating Out of Single Building

Is this yet another nail in the coffin of Walz’s career?

Another massive Medicaid fraud operation has been uncovered in Minnesota, centered on the Griggs Midway building – a former linen factory allegedly converted into a hub for fraudulent billing. Roughly 400 Medicaid “businesses” operated out of the building, generating about $380 million in taxpayer-funded claims—an average of nearly $1 million per entity—despite the site’s implausible industrial setting. The revelations, made during a visit to Minneapolis, come amid the Trump administration’s broader crackdown on welfare fraud and have triggered fresh congressional scrutiny over how state oversight failed to flag an operation of this scale.

Massive Democrat fraud is standard operating procedure.

This is on top of the $9 billion of taxpayer money that has gone to organizations, people, and businesses that was acquired through well-organized fraud. What’s worse is that it looks like Minnesota officials knew it was happening and looked the other way or were part of the efforts to steal that taxpayer money.

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It will be the New England Patriots going to SuperBowl LX! They beat the Denver Broncos in Denver 10-7 in the AFC Championship Game.

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This doesn’t really surprise me.

Red States Have Reliable Power Because They Embrace an All-of-the-Above Strategy

My state, New Hampshire, which has a Republican Governor, Legislature, and Executive Council, has been trying to keep some of the more traditional power generation systems operating as well as seeking a nuclear power renaissance. Thinks like solar don’t bode too well up this way and wind is restricted as a lot of the land in the state is restricted by conservation easements.>br>
We shave the last operating coal-fired power plant in New England. We have a number of bio-mass powerplants. We have some trash-to-energy power plants. We have natural gas combined cycle power plants. We have hydro dams. We have a large nuclear power plant. But some folks want to shut down everything except the solar, wind, bio-mass, and hydro dams. Many of the folks wanting this are also against powerline projects that would bring clean, cheap, and abundant hydropower into New England, something that is paradoxical to me.

However, we also have a governor who sees the advantages of nuclear power and wants to build new nuclear plants. She understands the advantages of the present Gen III and Gen IV technology and the advantages of small modular reactors. She ran on building more nuclear power as part of her campaign platform. Let’s hope she can pull it off.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it’s snowing heavily, the snow is piling up, and schools have already canceled classes for Monday.

Snowmageddon 2026

I’ve heard the storm that is sweeping across the country being called Snowmageddon. A lot of areas not used to either snow fall or freezing rain or sleet are receiving a couple of years’ worth in only a day or so. On TV we’ve seen long lines of people waiting to get into supermarkets to stock up on storm supplies. We’ve seen equally long lines of people waiting in the checkout lines. Some store shelves are empty. There are also long lines at gas stations as people fill the gas tanks on their cars and trucks as well as gas cans for their generators.

It isn’t often we see something like this, but then it isn’t often we see a storm system that affects people from Texas to Maine. The last time I can recall something like this was the Blizzard of 1993 which followed a similar storm track. The biggest difference being that storm and the one we’re seeing now is that temperatures were not below zero just ahead of the storm. It was -6°F here at The Gulch this morning with a wind chill sitting somewhere near -30°F. That certainly didn’t make it feel any less cold when I had to go out to shovel the driveway as we got just under an inch of snow overnight as the frigid air swept into New England. I also went next door to check the neighbor’s home after they called me, asking me to set their thermostat higher for the duration of the frigid temps today and overnight and the 12 to 18 inches of snow predicted to fall starting tomorrow afternoon.

Normally I do my weekly shopping on Saturday or Sunday morning but considering that the morning temperatures on both days this weekend were forecast to be below zero, I took care of it Friday afternoon. I knew the local Walmart where I do my shopping would be busy due to the approaching storm, but it wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be. I didn’t buy anything different than I would have on my normal weekend shopping trip, so my shopping cart wasn’t nearly as full as many of the others being pushed around by other customers. In fact, it didn’t really take me much longer to complete my shopping as I thought it would.

I did stop at our local gas station to fill the tank in the WP Mom’s car and there wasn’t a line of cars waiting to gas up. Fortunately, it didn’t take long as it was brutally cold due to the wind chill and standing outside the car as I pumped gas was not a pleasant experience.

We are as ready as we can be for the coming snowstorm as we can be at this point. Hopefully the only time I’ll need to step outside tomorrow is when I check on the status of my neighbor’s house to make sure everything is okay and when I need to rearrange things in the garage to move the generator near the garage door in case it is needed. The WP Mom will be attending church online tomorrow morning so she won’t need to brave the subzero temperatures.

Friday Funny - Hard And Wet

I'll Tell You The Story - Snowblowing Binky

Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s another snowy weekend here at the lake. We had about 2 inches yesterday, an amount barely worth shoveling. We’re due for another 4 inches which will start falling sometime early this evening and will end sometime early tomorrow morning. It won’t be a heavy snowfall by any means, but it will make the roads slippery.

It also means that it will be snowing down in Foxboro, Massachusetts during the New England Patriots game as they play the Houston Texans. I wouldn’t think it would negatively affect the Patriots but I have no idea if it will affect the Texans in any way.

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I admit that I spend a lot of time watching YouTube. Sometimes it’s to be amused or to catch the news from various sources across the globe. At other times to learn how do something that I have little or no experience doing. There are times when I watch dashcam videos to see just how bad it can get out there on the roads. Some of my favorites are webcam videos at intersections that see lots of traffic accidents, with two of them being at the intersection of Friant and Shepherd in Fresno, California and near 783 Meeting Street in Charleston, South Carolina.

However, something I’ve been noticing over the past few weeks are the number of videos reporting on problems in California that run the gamut from multibillion dollar corporations moving operations from the Pyrite State to other states, decisions made by the oil industry to close refineries and abandon offshore oil operations, to the aftereffects of the much hated AB5 which has recently forced over 70,000 owner-operator truckers to abandon California and mandates that required gas stations to have dual-walled gas tanks or be fined $5000 per day which has caused almost 500 gas stations across the state to shut down.

The one thing (other than California) that they all have in common?

They are all hosted by AI “talking heads”. The image you see, and voice you hear are all AI generated.

I didn’t notice at first. I was more interested in what was being talked about. It wasn’t until after I started paying closer attention to the videos that I realized the images were AI generated as were the voices.

Facial expressions and head motion didn’t look natural and eye blinks that also looked wrong. There were also hand motions that looked wrong. In most cases when someone is moving their hands while talking, the motions sync with the speech. However, in these videos the hand motions seem random and are rarely in sync with the speech. Here’s one example.

When it comes to speech there are sometimes ‘hiccups’ where some words have a nonsense pronunciation or the emphasis on the wrong syllable. There are also times when pauses in speech that I would expect from a human being are absent, telling me what I’m seeing and listening to is AI generated.

I’m going to keep watching these videos and I will have a follow-on post linking to some more of the videos. Watch them yourselves and tell me I’m wrong.

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Via Instapundit comes this: What Blue Zone Collapse Looks Like.

While Chris Bray’s Substack post is looking primarily at California, many of his observations are true of other Blue Zones as well.

As one commenter to the Instapundit post observed:

California is following the same paths that led to the downfall of many socialist countries. It doesn't matter how many sheep they have to shear as those people and companies that employ the 'sheep' leave, taking their jobs and money with them. We're seeing multibillion dollar corporations pulling up stakes and relocating to more business-friendly states. Investment is starting to dry up as investors look for safer places to put their money as they see California being too risky, particularly if they do pass more confiscatory taxes that tax "unrealized capital gains".

We will need to keep an eye on New York City as I do not find it difficult to believe that it too will collapse if Mayor Mamdani gets even half of what he’s promised to the useful idiots who voted him into office. Because you’re dealing with a smaller area and a smaller population it’s possible the collapse will happen sooner than it will in California.

These Blue Zones will end up being an object lesson to those who think the Progressives/Left have the answer – socialism – to the nation’s problems. They don’t understand that the Progressives/Left are the problem

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Speaking of Blue Zone collapse, here’s John Hawkins on one idea that will help hasten the fall: Wealth Taxes.

Wealth taxes are pretty much always bad ideas, the sort of thing nations turn to when their backs are against the wall, and they’re headed down the tubes. However, the wealth tax being floated in California is particularly disastrous to founders of companies and makes it extraordinarily dangerous for them to stay there.

Granted, California is already a poorly run state with high expenses, even higher taxes, and insufferable politicians and activists, but it has advantages, too. Big cities, great ports, lots of tech talent, and beautiful countryside. I just got done vacationing for a week in San Francisco. Setting aside the amazing food and pleasant weather, when you look at…pictures I took in San Fran and the surrounding area, you can understand why ludicrously wealthy people might be willing to pay more to live there.

--snip--

Still, there’s a difference between paying a premium to live somewhere, which pretty much anyone who pays taxes in California is already doing, and having greedy parasites take a significant part of the money you’ve earned IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE just for the privilege of having their state as your primary residence.

The incredibly wealthy tech bros who live in California have been a huge asset to the state. They pay staggering amounts of taxes, create lots of other high-paying jobs, and have turned California into one of the biggest technology hubs on the planet.

So, what happens when they leave?

John goes on to write that they are already leaving the Pyrite State. That doesn’t bode well for those who are still living there as it means they will have to shoulder the increasing burden as those people and corporations leave California for less expensive and restrictive states.

Looking at the history of wealth taxes, it can be shown that they don’t work and never have. Yet that doesn’t stop the “tax-and-spend” folks from trying it again…and again. And they will fail again and again.

And so it goes.

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I found this ironic, but not surprising.

The US State Department has ended all aid to Somalia.

Considering how much money Somali immigrants, legal or otherwise, have managed to scam from the American taxpayers, sending quite a lot of it ‘back home’ to Somalia, would Somalia even notice that US government aid has ended?

Probably not.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where Ice In was declared this past week, the ski areas are plenty busy, and where I don’t have to worry about Monday this week because I have the day off.

The Ongoing PR War - ICE Shooting In Minneapolis

I came across the following in this post about the PR battle taking place about the shooting by an ICE officer in Minneapolis and how the GOP can win it. A commenter to the linked post did a deeper dive put forth what should be done and gives examples of how PR has been used by the Left in the past to push false narratives that didn’t even come close to reality and that they shouldn’t be allowed to do that in this case.

The main thing is the local Chief, Sheriff's, Federal Agent-in-Charge, whoever should get an accurate briefing as to what happened and get the story out quickly. Then add film as soon as possible, if not at the initial briefing.

So much damage was inflicted by the Left because LE Leadership was more worried about getting a comprehensive investigation done in preparation for a distant Court date or trial. You have at best hours to get an accurate story out before the Left, via social media spreads a false narrative of endless lies. Months later a comprehensive Report is released of the incident that debunks every lie--and it's instantly ignored.

Secondly, LE Leadership is often worried about optics and appearing fair and balanced. So they try to please the media instead of doing what's right. You see this when a shooting occurs in a minority area and the Left immediately claim police brutality. The next thing you see is the local Chief telling the public that a comprehensive, unbiased, and fair investigation will be done--and if it's found that early reports of the officer screaming "white power" as he unloaded into an innocent black child is true, that officer will be found guilty and spend the rest of his life in prison; or get the death penalty. This is where you see useful idiots and activists in the back of the room whooping and hollering and the Chief grins this idiotic grin believing he's done a good thing. Later the media only show the clip of him saying "that officer will spend the rest of his life in prison"--cut to the News Anchor: "Strong words from the Chief of Police to a community in pain--but is it enough? Let's talk to the head of 'We hate Cops' for their fair and balanced opinion." Cue a detailed, and well supported Report of the shooting getting released months later that finds none of the narrative was remotely true--it's a damn shame the defamed officer was fired a week after the shooting in order to "bring down the temperature" or some other stupid line. He's now suing. A billion dollars in property damage--terrible. A few will wonder why the truth, along with a strong LE response to any rioters, wasn't a better option.

Remember the false narratives:

A white police officer, for no reason, confronted a black teenager walking home from the store and executed him. The black teenager, who was starting college soon, died with his hands in the air begging the officer to not kill him. The media later released a photo of the adult that was taken at his junior high school graduation.

The truth. A police officer spotted an adult robbery suspect walking down the middle of a street. He tried to detain the suspect. The suspect trapped the officer in his patrol unit and beat him, he then tried to murder the officer with his own gun and almost succeeded, ran away after being shot in the right hand, but then turned around and tried a second time to murder the officer.. He was shot before he could reach the officer.

A young black teenager was walking home from the store when he was confronted by a white-hispanic racist who had profiled him. When the innocent black teenager asked why the man was following him--he was shot dead. A photo of the innocent black teenager was released that depicted him when he was 13-years old. A booking photo of the white-hispanic was released that depicted him when he was arrested seven years prior for a incident in a bar. In both cases the media had access to current photos of the two.

The truth. A 17-year old high school football player who had been sent to live with his father after his guardian/mother had determined he was violently out of control, and who was also credibly suspected of multiple burglaries. One night the young man went to a local store to buy the ingredients of a drug called LEAN that he had previously spoken about on social media. While walking back to his father's house, he spotted a local neighborhood watch member. This man had previously been honored by the NAACP for his speaking up about a police brutality incident he had witnessed. He was a local hero. This man also knew that his area had been victimized by a number of burglaries and for some reason, the 17-year old was looking in the windows of various houses.

The man called the police, gave a detailed description and location of the person he was watching from a distance. When asked for a street name, the man got out of his car, ran down to a corner, and relayed the information while out of breath. He had lost sight of the young man. The 911 Operator told him not to follow the young man and the neighborhood watch guy agreed and started walking back to his vehicle--the police were now enroute and were going to meet him. That is when he was suddenly confronted by the young man who knocked him to the ground and started slamming his head on the ground while the older man screamed for help. Luckily, the man being attacked was armed. He managed to get his firearm and fire one round at his attacker killing him. What followed was one of the biggest smear jobs in American history by both the United States Government and the State of Florida. The older man was charged with murder. Despite this, the man was easily acquitted of all charges.

A 911 Call was made by a man walking in a local park about a young black child causing a disturbance. A two-man police unit responded to the park. When they arrived they saw an 11-year old boy walking. One of the officers got out of the patrol unit and for no reason, shot the child down, killing him. Video was provided to the media and the country saw images of a police car stopping in front of the child--that is where they stopped the video. Cut to various activists who called it a clear murder. Cue the protests.

The truth. A 911 Call was made. The caller said a young man was walking around pointing a firearm at people. The man was frightened and left after making the call. A patrol unit was dispatched. When the unit arrived at the park they saw the suspect--who was about 5'8 and almost 200Ibs. Since it was winter the person was wearing a heavy jacket. The patrol car attempted to stop some distance away from the suspect. Unfortunately, the patrol unit skidded on some ice and mud and finally came to a stop directly in front of the suspect. As the passenger officer got out of the car--the suspect walked towards him, lifted up his jacket, and pulled what looked like a semi-automatic handgun from his front waistband. The passenger officer immediately shot him dead. He put out a radio broadcast stating he had shot a suspect who appeared to be in his 20's.

The firearm turned out to be a pellet gun that resembled a 45 caliber handgun. The suspect was 11-years old and had been pointing the gun at various people in the park. He might have been "playing," and wanted to show the cops that the gun wasn't real? The 911 caller stated it "might" be a kid--but he wasn't sure. The media edited out the part of the video where the kid pulled up his jacket and pulled out the gun. That version of the video was played thousands of times--usually followed by an immediate cut to an "expert" who told the audience how unjustified the shooting happened to be. The kids family received millions from the city--the officer was fired and demonized as incompetent.

I won't even go over Eric Garner who was supposedly "choked to death" when he actually died of a heart attack. Or Freddy Gray, who was supposedly murdered by cops in the back of a transport vehicle, when it turned out he had tried to self-inflict an injury on himself in order to sue the police--he had done it before--but this time he ended up killing himself. Then we have St. Floyd of Fentanyl OD which led to mob justice at its finest.

Does any of this mean the police don't overstep at times? Nope. Or that unjustified shootings don't occur? Clearly not--we've seen them. But none of that means anything to the media and their fellow Democrats. Every police shooting is unjustified no matter what the circumstances and the death of a black man only matters if a white cop, or civilian kills him.

Ayuh. I’d say that covers it.

Friday Funny - Women Are Magical

Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s been a busy weekend. So busy that I didn’t get a chance to post last night. Part of that was due to celebrating the WP Mom’s 92nd birthday. Family was up today to take her out for lunch after church. All in all she had a great time.

We were expecting a small amount of snow to fall overnight into Sunday morning, but Mother Nature saw fit to make it rain instead. Not that we were expecting all that much – just a coating – but the overnight temperatures were high enough to keep all the precipitation as rain. Not that I’m complaining. On the contrary. It helped melt more of the ice on the driveway and more snow from the roof of The Gulch. We’ll see sunny skies and temperatures just above freezing on Monday. It shouldn’t affect the ice on the lake all that much…at least I hope it doesn’t. However, we’re also expecting windier conditions overnight which might break up some of the thinner ice covering the lake. At least it is likely to be below freezing over the next few nights so maybe the ice won’t be affected all that much. Only time will tell.

==++++++==

In last week’s TOAS I mentioned the gas station ‘meltdown’ in California caused by the mandate for double-walled underground tanks at gas stations. Well over 450 gas stations across the state had to close on January 1st when the mandate went into effect or face a $5000 per day fine if they remain open.

I came across this video from Elizabeth Davis delving a bit deeper into this mandate, outlining why so many stations weren’t able to replace their old single-walled gas tanks.

A lot of the blame for the gas stations not being able to meet the deadline can be laid at the feet of the California’s inertia bound bureaucracy which made it impossible for them to do so.

==++++++==

I have been reading and watching the responses to the shooting of the anti-ICE protester who was shot by an ICE officer. When I first saw the original video, particularly in slow motion, it looked to me that Ms. Good’s SUV struck the ICE officer as she tried to leave. Now that other videos have also been released, including one from the officer’s phone, I am convinced she did strike the officer, knocking him over. Whether it was purposeful or an accident doesn’t make any difference. It still came down to that she struck him with her vehicle. It may have been a glancing blow, but he was still hit. This same officer had been struck and dragged by another anti-ICE protester some months ago.

Did this affect his decision to fire on the driver? Maybe.

Despite some claims made online, Ms. Good and her wife were not there by accident, did not block ICE vehicles by accident. Their presence and action were premeditated. That it ended in tragedy is something that was always a possibility under the circumstances.

However, “The problem isn’t ICE. It’s ICE Watch.”

==++++++==

Oh, this will work out well for Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Authorities Threaten to Arrest ICE Agents

Liberals seem to be serious about civil war. Larry Krasner is District Attorney of Philadelphia, having been installed by top Democrat donor George Soros.

What crimes are ICE agents committing by enforcing immigration law? Whatever crimes the moonbats running Philadelphia see fit to fabricate. As with the call by leftist senators including Mark Kelly for the military to disobey undefined “unlawful” orders, Krasner is committing sedition.

Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, who has previously declared her unwillingness to cooperate with federal law enforcement, will be happy to make the arrests.

I dare say that those same Philadelphia officials are likely to be arrested by the FBI or US Marshals for interfering with federal law enforcement officials performing their duties both under US law and the Constitution. It could also lead to martial law if the city is declared to be in insurrection, or worse, rebellion.

==++++++==

If the rumors are true, it’s possible that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is set to resign next week.

It’s possible he’s considering it because he’s “been referred for criminal indictment over massive Somali fraud within the state.”

That he’s dropped his reelection bid because of these issues may be the first sign that he’s in trouble.

But like any rumor, I’ll believe it when I see it.

==++++++==

And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee where we’re in the midst of the January Thaw, the Patriots are playing the San Diego Chargers in a Wild Card Playoff in Foxboro, and Monday once again is returning to plague us again.

Friday Funny - When He Hears The Drill

Thoughts On A Sunday

Just a note to let you know that today’s TOAS will be rather abbreviated as I am deep into resurrecting two computers here at The Gulch. They failed almost 2 months ago and I have been careful in trying to resurrect them so I don’t lose any data.

It’s been a lengthy series of below normal temperature days here at the lake starting back in early December. This has led to thin skims of ice appearing on the main waters of the lake over the past few days. I noticed them this morning when I was on my way back to The Gulch after my pre-church shopping at our local Walmart. The bays and coves around the lake have been frozen over for some time but not so much that ice fishing is possible except here and there. Monday will be one of the last below normal temperature days before we experience a few days of the January Thaw, those days seeing daytime highs in the 40’s or even 50’s here and there. It isn’t likely to cause too much loss of ice in the coves and bays, but it will likely affect the skims of ice on the lain part of the lake. That will definitely delay the time it will take for the lake to be frozen over completely, but I have no idea how long it will do so.

This will affect the upcoming ice fishing derby next month and the opening of the ice runway on Alton Bay. (It is the only ‘official’ ice runway in the lower 48 states.)

Monday (tomorrow) is also my first day back at work after over 3 weeks of vacation which I thought would be relatively quiet and uneventful. I was wrong.

I am actually looking forward to returning to work so I can get some rest!

==++++++==

California doesn’t get half the punishment it deserves.

The latest ‘brilliant’ idea that just went into effect with the new year? So-called “Mom-and-Pop” gas stations were required to replace their single-walled gas tanks with dual-walled tanks by January 1st, 2026. What is the average cost to do so?

$2 million.

What this means is that hundreds of gas stations across California are being forced to stop selling gasoline and diesel because they either couldn’t afford to replace their tanks or couldn’t get the required permits in a timely fashion or find a contractor whose schedule wasn’t already filled.

Yeah, this is going to help California’s economy and business climate thrive.

==++++++==

Sometimes the woke parody themselves and they are totally oblivious to it. Case in point?

The Metropolitan State University of Denver deciding that Standard American English is “a tool of white supremacy.” WTAF?

The initial Campus Reform report, published Dec. 8, detailed a Writing Center page titled “Linguistic White Supremacy,” which offered guidance for creating “anti-racist” assignments and described “Standard American English” as a “social construct that privileges white communities and maintains social and racial hierarchies.”

So I suppose that Standard British English and Standard French and Standard Swedish and any language with its roots in Europe is automatically “a tool of white supremacy”?

These folks need to stay on their meds, or if they aren’t already on meds they should be. Just how twisted can their thinking and logic become before society realizes they are seriously mentally ill and should be institutionalized?

==++++++==

And that’s the abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’ll see another night of single digit temperatures, deal with some light snow, and deal once again with Monday now that my vacation is over and I have to return to work.

A Few Thoughts On Venezuela

Imagine my surprise when I heard about the US military operation in Venezuela that resulted in President Maduro and his wife being taken into custody in Caracas with extradition to the US, specifically New York, to face charges of drug trafficking, to name but one crime he’ll be answering for.

Reading some of the reactions to Operation Absolute Resolve one would think nothing like this has ever occurred before. However, folks making this ‘claim’ are wrong. All one must do is look back to the US military operation that found and detained Panamanian military dictator Manuel Noriega who was arrested, extradited to the US, and indicted for drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering. He was subsequently convicted, imprisoned, and then released in 2010 after serving 17 years. He was then extradited to France where he tried and convicted of money laundering and sentenced to 7 years. He was then extradited to Panama in 2011 to answer for crimes he committed during his rule.

Maduro has done some of the same things as Noriega as well as ‘weaponizing’ crime syndicates like Tren de Aragua. Many syndicate members entered the US illegally during the Biden Administration’s unofficial “open borders” debacle and have been responsible for drug smuggling and human trafficking into the US.

One must remember that once Venezuela was the wealthiest nation in South America and was a democracy until Hugo Chavez convinced the people that socialism was the only way to ‘save’ the country. However, after years of rule by Chavez and the Maduro, Venezuela is now one of the poorest nations in South America, its economy is a shambles despite its vast oil wealth, and it more resembles what used to be seen in the old Soviet Union during the Bad Old Days.

Other than some of his leftist allies and admirers here in the US, I haven’t heard too many others angry that Madura has been arrested. On the contrary, it has been just the opposite, particularly among Venezuelan refugees here in the US and other countries.

Friday Funny - Bro Test

I'll Tell You The Story - Fern Flirts