11/19/2015
Mog's Christmas Calamity
I'd thought to save this until some time in December, but it's so good that I couldn't wait.
11/15/2015
Thoughts On A Sunday
While the weather has been nice, I haven't had the opportunity to finish the last of the yard work due to family and town commitments. That doesn't bother me as I have at least two more weeks to finish it and I figure all I really need is two days of decent weather to get it done before winter closes in.
One thing that needs taking care of is re-shodding the trusty F150 with new tires, preferably with something that has a slightly more aggressive tread. Not that the tires I've had on the F150 haven't been adequate for most of my driving, but there were more than a few times when I could have used the extra traction a more aggressive tread would have provided.
Of course there was, but EU policies, lax immigration laws, and hubris finally caught up with the EU and a lot more people had to die.
I expect to see more of these coordinated attacks, but I doubt they will happening on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis. Frankly, ISIS doesn't have the support or logistics to pull off numerous attacks without drawing the attention of numerous national and international intelligence operations.
As my dear brother opined to me last night, “In a head to head fight against a highly organized military, they lose.”
There are a number of ways to fight and defeat ISIS, but I doubt the present occupant in the White House has either the stomach for it or the conviction that it's needed to bring the fight to an intractable enemy. One of the more effective means of doing so hasn't been used since World War II and I doubt anyone would get behind such a means, except maybe for the Russians, that being total war: flatten everything under ISIS control, then bomb the rubble, then bomb it again. Encircle ISIS held territory and move towards the center, destroying everything that moves.
The problem with this type of warfare is that there is a lot of collateral damage. A lot of innocents die, and no one really wants that.
But if ISIS escalates, starts using weapons of mass destruction such as chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons within Europe and the Americas, all bets are off. At that point they will have lost because all ISIS held territory will likely find themselves on the receiving end of nuclear strikes, and I doubt if a lot of attention will be paid to the so-called battle lines, particularly if Russia is involved. (Frankly, I wouldn't blame them.)
Of course that is a rather misleading question because it's too general. There are a number of areas where increased energy efficiency is possible, but it would be incremental and the costs wouldn't be worth it because the return on investment would be a negative number and, in the end, likely to create inefficiencies in other areas.
While more gains can be achieved with better insulation of buildings, I doubt that we'd see a 50% cut in energy use without there being some negative side effects. We've certainly seen that in many super-insulated buildings where even though energy consumption decreased greatly, the health of people inside those buildings were negatively affected because the buildings were “too tight”. To fix that problem better ventilation systems were needed which increased the energy usage and canceled out some of the benefits of the better insulation.
One of the few places where we could see some major gains in energy efficiency is transportation, specifically ground transportation. Internal combustion engines are still woefully inefficient, but much better than they used to be. If efficiency could be doubled, that could mean smaller engines to provide similar power to existing engines, but the cost of doing so shouldn't exceed the cost of doing nothing otherwise there's no incentive to do so.
And so it goes.
But as more than one maven has stated, nothing really disappears from the 'Net...ever.
Why only fools listen to Obama.
Obama makes a statement that is easily proven to be false, in this case shortly after the church shooting in Charleston, about “This kind of violence does not happen in other advanced countries.”
The rebuttal: “If only France had rigid gun control, yesterday’s bloodbath in Paris could have been avoided. Oh wait, France is run by moonbats and does have rigid gun control. That’s why no one was in a position to fight back against the Muslims.”
Indeed.
Hmm. Maybe we should apply Smitty's solution to correct this problem?
I guess he really hasn't thought about the unexpected consequences of such an expansion. I can tell you one of them – unending and very expensive lawsuits against any of the institutions that implement such policies, particularly where they violate someone's First Amendment rights. Considering the exponential growth of special and fragile snowflakes now infesting our institutions of higher learning, this is a policy that will ultimately destroy the very institutions they are supposed to 'protect'.
Too often zero-tolerance polices merely show us the weakness and/or cowardice of administrators who don't want to be bothered with having to actually make a decision. They are also yet another means of stifling our God-given rights, including the right to offend those with whom we disagree.
How bad was it?
CBS ended coverage 7 minutes before the scheduled end of the debate. That's how bad it was.
More people were interested in the college football games than this drivel, hence the opinion that it was an awful time slot. Who the heck is going to watch three white socialists, two if which who are really getting up there in years and none who actually have any new ideas, debate of stuff no one cares about when they can watch a diverse and stimulating college football game?
I will admit that I had a brief impulse to let them have it with both barrels of my rhetoric shotgun, but decided they might be examples of some of the previously mention special fragile snowflakes and I didn't want to cause them to go catatonic. So I listened politely, told them I am nowhere near close to supporting anyone, and that I am not going to commit to anyone at this point, and sent them on their merry way.
One thing that needs taking care of is re-shodding the trusty F150 with new tires, preferably with something that has a slightly more aggressive tread. Not that the tires I've had on the F150 haven't been adequate for most of my driving, but there were more than a few times when I could have used the extra traction a more aggressive tread would have provided.
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With the ISIS attack in France, a lot of people are wondering if there wasn't something that could have been done to prevent it.Of course there was, but EU policies, lax immigration laws, and hubris finally caught up with the EU and a lot more people had to die.
I expect to see more of these coordinated attacks, but I doubt they will happening on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis. Frankly, ISIS doesn't have the support or logistics to pull off numerous attacks without drawing the attention of numerous national and international intelligence operations.
As my dear brother opined to me last night, “In a head to head fight against a highly organized military, they lose.”
There are a number of ways to fight and defeat ISIS, but I doubt the present occupant in the White House has either the stomach for it or the conviction that it's needed to bring the fight to an intractable enemy. One of the more effective means of doing so hasn't been used since World War II and I doubt anyone would get behind such a means, except maybe for the Russians, that being total war: flatten everything under ISIS control, then bomb the rubble, then bomb it again. Encircle ISIS held territory and move towards the center, destroying everything that moves.
The problem with this type of warfare is that there is a lot of collateral damage. A lot of innocents die, and no one really wants that.
But if ISIS escalates, starts using weapons of mass destruction such as chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons within Europe and the Americas, all bets are off. At that point they will have lost because all ISIS held territory will likely find themselves on the receiving end of nuclear strikes, and I doubt if a lot of attention will be paid to the so-called battle lines, particularly if Russia is involved. (Frankly, I wouldn't blame them.)
***************
I find this to be an intriguing question: Could the US double energy efficiency?Of course that is a rather misleading question because it's too general. There are a number of areas where increased energy efficiency is possible, but it would be incremental and the costs wouldn't be worth it because the return on investment would be a negative number and, in the end, likely to create inefficiencies in other areas.
While more gains can be achieved with better insulation of buildings, I doubt that we'd see a 50% cut in energy use without there being some negative side effects. We've certainly seen that in many super-insulated buildings where even though energy consumption decreased greatly, the health of people inside those buildings were negatively affected because the buildings were “too tight”. To fix that problem better ventilation systems were needed which increased the energy usage and canceled out some of the benefits of the better insulation.
One of the few places where we could see some major gains in energy efficiency is transportation, specifically ground transportation. Internal combustion engines are still woefully inefficient, but much better than they used to be. If efficiency could be doubled, that could mean smaller engines to provide similar power to existing engines, but the cost of doing so shouldn't exceed the cost of doing nothing otherwise there's no incentive to do so.
And so it goes.
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What happens when claims about the effects of global warming don't match reality? They disappear from the Internet.But as more than one maven has stated, nothing really disappears from the 'Net...ever.
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The New England Patriots managed to pull off a squeaker against the New York Giants, a team they've always had trouble beating. The Pats won it on a 54-yard field goal, leaving only 1 second on the clock at the end of the play. Now the Patriots are 9-0, but still only 1-3 against the Giants.***************
Moonbattery brings up a very important point in regards to the present occupant of the Oval Office:Why only fools listen to Obama.
Obama makes a statement that is easily proven to be false, in this case shortly after the church shooting in Charleston, about “This kind of violence does not happen in other advanced countries.”
The rebuttal: “If only France had rigid gun control, yesterday’s bloodbath in Paris could have been avoided. Oh wait, France is run by moonbats and does have rigid gun control. That’s why no one was in a position to fight back against the Muslims.”
Indeed.
***************
I think Smitty over at The Other McCain may have hit upon a brilliant idea for solving two problems plaguing America at the same time: Radical Islam in the Middle East and the increasingly fascist academia infesting our colleges.1. Trump is making waves about mass-deportation of illegal aliens. Let’s stipulate that, if they were packing the gear to get themselves here, they’ve already showed more capability than the current crop of college nitwits. Bear with me.Actually his suggestions solve three problems, the third being illegal immigration onto the US. Way to go, Smitty!
2. Instead of deporting illegal aliens, let’s deport all of academia! (Hollyweird: you’re on notice). Send all of these feckless administrators, Commie profs, and the minds they’ve polluted. . .to the Middle East.
3. I figure the encounter of Radical Islam and academia with be some sort of matter/anti-matter affair. Promises to be a jolly meltdown, but hey: haven’t they all earned it?
4. We can give American education a fresh kickstart by. . .educating the illegal aliens (who should be quite attentive to Americanization, having seen what just happened to academia.)
5. And we all live maturely ever after.
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Modern Educayshun indeed. This would be hilarious if it weren't so true.Hmm. Maybe we should apply Smitty's solution to correct this problem?
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After seeing the endless failures of zero-tolerance policies in schools that have harmed far more kids than any that might have been caused by transgressors, I have to wonder what dope this dope has been smoking that makes him want to expand such a disastrous policy.I guess he really hasn't thought about the unexpected consequences of such an expansion. I can tell you one of them – unending and very expensive lawsuits against any of the institutions that implement such policies, particularly where they violate someone's First Amendment rights. Considering the exponential growth of special and fragile snowflakes now infesting our institutions of higher learning, this is a policy that will ultimately destroy the very institutions they are supposed to 'protect'.
Too often zero-tolerance polices merely show us the weakness and/or cowardice of administrators who don't want to be bothered with having to actually make a decision. They are also yet another means of stifling our God-given rights, including the right to offend those with whom we disagree.
***************
More than a few people complained when the latest Democrat debate was scheduled for an evening when very few people were expected to actually watch. Whose great idea was this? If it was Debbie Wasserman Schultz, then she should be fired.How bad was it?
CBS ended coverage 7 minutes before the scheduled end of the debate. That's how bad it was.
More people were interested in the college football games than this drivel, hence the opinion that it was an awful time slot. Who the heck is going to watch three white socialists, two if which who are really getting up there in years and none who actually have any new ideas, debate of stuff no one cares about when they can watch a diverse and stimulating college football game?
***************
Speaking of old white socialists, three young adults stopped by The Manse today to talk to me about Bernie Sanders, asking if I'd support him.I will admit that I had a brief impulse to let them have it with both barrels of my rhetoric shotgun, but decided they might be examples of some of the previously mention special fragile snowflakes and I didn't want to cause them to go catatonic. So I listened politely, told them I am nowhere near close to supporting anyone, and that I am not going to commit to anyone at this point, and sent them on their merry way.
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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the last of the leaves have fallen, the winds have died down (for now), and where Thanksgiving is getting closer.11/13/2015
11/11/2015
Ted Cruz's Best Line At The Debate
I watched the GOP debate last night and more than any other statement made by the candidates, this one by Ted Cruz stood out because, quite frankly, it hit the target dead center. The topic?
Illegal immigration.
Said Cruz:
Turnabout it fair play, media drones!
Illegal immigration.
Said Cruz:
When the mainstream media covers illegal immigration they do not see it as an economic issue, but I can tell that for millions of Americans watching this at home it is a very personal economic issue.I have a feeling he's right. If it's their ox being gored we'd never hear the end of it and they'd be pushing for stricter enforcement of immigration laws and the wholesale deportation of the illegal immigrants who took their jobs.
I will say, the politics of it would be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press, then we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation.
Turnabout it fair play, media drones!
11/08/2015
Thoughts On A Sunday
The warm weather we experienced over last week has fled, with daytime temps in the upper 40's and overnight temps below freezing. This meant we had to fire up the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove to keep the chill off overnight.
The colder weather also brought a lot of gusty winds, meaning a lot of the leaves remaining on our trees came down over the weekend. The wind also meant it would have been futile to rake the yard, so no actual yard work was done.
Here's where you can find a list of gas stations in your state or province that sell ethanol-free gasoline.
Fortunately there's one in a town not too far from here that does so and I am up that way every other week or so.
I wish the US would end the stupid ethanol mandate because it doesn't do anything it promised it would do, particularly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and reduce carbon emissions. We have plenty of oil here in the US and if we chose to do so, would not have to import a single drop of overseas oil. Corn-based ethanol is a loser from the get-go, costing the taxpayers a lot of money, taking otherwise productive farmland out of food production to produce corn for ethanol, and actually causes more CO2 to be generated than if we did nothing.
As if we need more evidence that “much of the student body is mentally ill” at Yale, Glenn Reynolds points us to a Hot Air story reporting that Yale administrators have apologized for not creating enough “safe spaces” on campus.
Anyone requiring such safe spaces isn't competent to survive in the real world and, for the good of the rest of the student body, should be expelled until they can prove they are no longer mentally ill. It isn't fair to the rest of the students or the faculty to be forced to go out of their way to cater to someone who shouldn't even be there.
Obama earns a 'D' on handling the economy.
If he was being graded on how to weaken and/or destroy an economy, then he would deserve an 'A'.
I know a lot of corporate customers are staying with Windows 7, seeing no good reason to abandon an OS that is stable and does what they need it to do.
I know my company has a few PCs running Windows 10, but mostly to help us ensure our software will work when run on a Windows 10 platform. All of the rest of our computers are running Windows 7 Enterprise and corporate has no plans to make the switch to 10 any time in the near future.
While some companies have been working on making spaceflight less expensive, too many of them are merely using a variation of the system we've been using since the late 1950's. Companies like Scaled Composites and Xcor are on the right track, but they aren't there yet and their existing systems are only good enough for sub-orbital flights. Others, like Reaction Engines Ltd, are working on better systems that work little different than existing airliners, albeit with a lot of upgrades to make orbital flight possible.
The colder weather also brought a lot of gusty winds, meaning a lot of the leaves remaining on our trees came down over the weekend. The wind also meant it would have been futile to rake the yard, so no actual yard work was done.
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Bird Dog points us in the direction of an old Yankee cuisine staple: Fluffernutters.***************
Oh, I like this!Here's where you can find a list of gas stations in your state or province that sell ethanol-free gasoline.
Fortunately there's one in a town not too far from here that does so and I am up that way every other week or so.
I wish the US would end the stupid ethanol mandate because it doesn't do anything it promised it would do, particularly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and reduce carbon emissions. We have plenty of oil here in the US and if we chose to do so, would not have to import a single drop of overseas oil. Corn-based ethanol is a loser from the get-go, costing the taxpayers a lot of money, taking otherwise productive farmland out of food production to produce corn for ethanol, and actually causes more CO2 to be generated than if we did nothing.
***************
Another DNC media organ admits to fabricating a story about one of the present GOP presidential candidates. Sound familiar?Politico‘s Kyle Cheney admitted that he fabricated a negative story about Ben Carson. At least, according to his own standards, he admitted the grievous journalistic sin.I'm wondering how long before Politico borrows the CBS News justification: “Fake, but accurate.”
In a story published early on Friday, Politico’s Kyle Cheney authored a piece headlined “Ben Carson admits fabricating West Point scholarship” with a subhed “Carson’s campaign on Friday conceded that a central point in his inspirational personal story did not occur as he previously described.”
There were at least five major problems with the story:
The headline was completely false
The subhed was also completely false
The opening paragraph was false false false
The substance of the piece was missing key exonerating information
The article demonstrated confusion about service academy admissions and benefits
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David Starr makes a good case for repealing Dodd-Frank....we passed a law, Dodd-Frank, which makes bailouts policy. Dodd-Frank sets up which companies will get bailouts, how much.That's what happens when you privatize profit but socialize risk – Risk 'disappears' and the constraints on investments disappear with them. That's never a good idea.
The real problem with bailouts, is they urge on crazy behavior. In no-bailout world, company management is pretty careful about the risks it runs. If they do something really risky, and it fails, the company is toast, they and everyone in the company are out of work, the investors loose everything. All around badness.
But when Uncle Sam says he will bailout companies, all bets are off. Now management can do all those crazy things, and if they fail, the company survives, they keep their jobs, and the investors are untouched (mostly). No pain. And without pain, nobody learns anything.
***************
You're kidding me, right?As if we need more evidence that “much of the student body is mentally ill” at Yale, Glenn Reynolds points us to a Hot Air story reporting that Yale administrators have apologized for not creating enough “safe spaces” on campus.
Anyone requiring such safe spaces isn't competent to survive in the real world and, for the good of the rest of the student body, should be expelled until they can prove they are no longer mentally ill. It isn't fair to the rest of the students or the faculty to be forced to go out of their way to cater to someone who shouldn't even be there.
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I think they're grading on a curve.Obama earns a 'D' on handling the economy.
If he was being graded on how to weaken and/or destroy an economy, then he would deserve an 'A'.
***************
Microsoft's “hit” OS, Windows 10, isn't much of a hit with a lot of PC support reps, with some of them discouraging their customers from upgrading to the new OS.I know a lot of corporate customers are staying with Windows 7, seeing no good reason to abandon an OS that is stable and does what they need it to do.
I know my company has a few PCs running Windows 10, but mostly to help us ensure our software will work when run on a Windows 10 platform. All of the rest of our computers are running Windows 7 Enterprise and corporate has no plans to make the switch to 10 any time in the near future.
***************
To make space more accessible we need a better way to get spacecraft into orbit. The old tried-and-true method works, but it's hellaciously expensive and inherently unsafe as compared to driving a car or taking a flight in a plane.While some companies have been working on making spaceflight less expensive, too many of them are merely using a variation of the system we've been using since the late 1950's. Companies like Scaled Composites and Xcor are on the right track, but they aren't there yet and their existing systems are only good enough for sub-orbital flights. Others, like Reaction Engines Ltd, are working on better systems that work little different than existing airliners, albeit with a lot of upgrades to make orbital flight possible.
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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the last of the boats are being pulled from the lake, summer cottages are now closed up for the winter, and where the smell of woodsmoke is becoming more prevalent.11/07/2015
Drawbridge Mentality Strikes Again
I'm not going to address an issue of vital national interest, at least not in this post. Instead, I'm going to address an issue of vital local interest (though it applies all across America...or at least rural and semi-rural America).
What is it that I find so compelling that I feel the need to express it here? What drives me to tackle this subject...yet again?
Personal experience.
On more than one occasion over the past 13 years of blogging I have written about life in a small town along with the ups and downs that go with it. One of the more insidious factors that can have negative effects on any small town is what I call drawbridge mentality. It can be a complex subject, so rather than boring everyone with a long and convoluted definition of the term, let me try to simplify it for you and explain it thus:
I mentioned earlier that personal experience has driven me to address this topic, in this case a battle here in my little home town that pits a newcomer (the family has only been here for a few years) against a local business that has been run by the same family for generations. This in turn reminded me of a situation in a small town northwest of here where I once resided where a retired couple bought their 'dream home' near the town green.
Not once did they give any thought to the working farm that was across the road from them...until their first spring in their new home when the farm owners started their annual preparations for the coming growing season. Between removing the winter crop of rocks from the fields, plowing, seeding, fertilizing, and a lengthy list of other activities that take place on a working farm, there was noise and interesting 'aromas' emanating from the farm, something to which they took exception. It didn't matter to them that the farm had been in the same family and operating since the late 1700's, they wanted all of the activities that bothered them to stop. It didn't matter to them that the farm was the family's livelihood, how they made their living. They wanted their “peace and quiet” and were willing to do anything to get it. However they got nowhere with their complaints and found no sympathy in the town because they were, after all, flatlanders. They even made threats to sue, but from my understanding they couldn't find a lawyer willing to take their case because they all knew it was a loser right out of the gate.
In the end they stopped trying to shut down the farm operation and eventually settled in, acclimating to their new environs. I'd like to think they came to the point where they rarely even noticed the farm operations anymore...or perhaps they just shut off their hearing aids.
This situation has occurred in one form or another in small towns all across America. It's disheartening, disruptive, and at times, destructive.
The only other type of behavior that can cause havoc in small towns are when newcomers decide they want the same services and amenities to be made available as the place they fled, finding that small town life isn't everything they thought it would be. If they succeed they then complain about how much their property taxes have gone up, not making the connection between increased services/amenities and increased taxes. The level of this type of disconnect can be amazing, even when it is pointed out to them that they are the cause of the constantly rising property taxes.
I am not one who believes any town can become static and survive just as I do not believe a town's character can survive if it becomes just another clone of the places everyone has left. Towns will change with time. They always do. The towns that survive adapt with the times and do well if they can make any necessary changes while also maintaining its character. It's not easy, but it can be done and has been done. It's also worthwhile.
What is it that I find so compelling that I feel the need to express it here? What drives me to tackle this subject...yet again?
Personal experience.
On more than one occasion over the past 13 years of blogging I have written about life in a small town along with the ups and downs that go with it. One of the more insidious factors that can have negative effects on any small town is what I call drawbridge mentality. It can be a complex subject, so rather than boring everyone with a long and convoluted definition of the term, let me try to simplify it for you and explain it thus:
It is an attitude most often held by newcomers to a town that now that they have found their perfect little piece of Americana, they want to 'raise the drawbridge', let no one else in, and most often, don't want there to be any change ever. Call it a more subtle version of “I got mine, buddy, so screw you!”While this is an attitude most often held by newcomers, it isn't limited just to them as I've seen a number of towns where life-long residents fall into that same trap. I know of at least one town down in southwestern New Hampshire where the residents have done that and now they wonder why no new families are moving in, why their elementary school is closing, and why what few businesses that used to be located in town have either closed their doors or relocated to another town.
I mentioned earlier that personal experience has driven me to address this topic, in this case a battle here in my little home town that pits a newcomer (the family has only been here for a few years) against a local business that has been run by the same family for generations. This in turn reminded me of a situation in a small town northwest of here where I once resided where a retired couple bought their 'dream home' near the town green.
Not once did they give any thought to the working farm that was across the road from them...until their first spring in their new home when the farm owners started their annual preparations for the coming growing season. Between removing the winter crop of rocks from the fields, plowing, seeding, fertilizing, and a lengthy list of other activities that take place on a working farm, there was noise and interesting 'aromas' emanating from the farm, something to which they took exception. It didn't matter to them that the farm had been in the same family and operating since the late 1700's, they wanted all of the activities that bothered them to stop. It didn't matter to them that the farm was the family's livelihood, how they made their living. They wanted their “peace and quiet” and were willing to do anything to get it. However they got nowhere with their complaints and found no sympathy in the town because they were, after all, flatlanders. They even made threats to sue, but from my understanding they couldn't find a lawyer willing to take their case because they all knew it was a loser right out of the gate.
In the end they stopped trying to shut down the farm operation and eventually settled in, acclimating to their new environs. I'd like to think they came to the point where they rarely even noticed the farm operations anymore...or perhaps they just shut off their hearing aids.
This situation has occurred in one form or another in small towns all across America. It's disheartening, disruptive, and at times, destructive.
The only other type of behavior that can cause havoc in small towns are when newcomers decide they want the same services and amenities to be made available as the place they fled, finding that small town life isn't everything they thought it would be. If they succeed they then complain about how much their property taxes have gone up, not making the connection between increased services/amenities and increased taxes. The level of this type of disconnect can be amazing, even when it is pointed out to them that they are the cause of the constantly rising property taxes.
I am not one who believes any town can become static and survive just as I do not believe a town's character can survive if it becomes just another clone of the places everyone has left. Towns will change with time. They always do. The towns that survive adapt with the times and do well if they can make any necessary changes while also maintaining its character. It's not easy, but it can be done and has been done. It's also worthwhile.
11/06/2015
A380 Flying Formation With Guys In Jetpacks
This is just so cool!
Well, it is the 21st after all! But what's even cooler?
How they shot the video, of course!
Well, it is the 21st after all! But what's even cooler?
How they shot the video, of course!
11/01/2015
Thoughts On A Sunday
We have survived another Halloween without incident, the farm stand of the farm where BeezleBub works closed the stand for the year, and we will be Patriot-less this weekend since the Pats played Miami this past Thursday evening.
All in all, not a bad weekend.
So when he responds to MSLSD's Melissa Harris-Perry's contention that the phrase “hard work” is a racist term that in some way equates to slavery, it is something to behold.
As Ed Driscoll writes, “...the average plumber is also likely much more respected than the average journalist these days — and for good reason: plumbers by and large seem much more competent and trustworthy when it comes to their jobs compared to the average Democrat operative with a byline.”
Indeed.
The owner wasn't about to do that because there was absolutely no legal reason (city ordinances not withstanding) for doing so.
For a city that prides itself on being tolerant of all kinds of beliefs and perversions, San Francisco is one of the least tolerant cities I've ever visited.
I've seen the popularity of American football growing in the UK over the years, evidenced by the increasing number of games being played in London. (I believe this one was the fourth of the season.)
I believe it's only a matter of time before London gets its own NFL team, whether it is an expansion team or a US team moving to the UK.
One of the big problems with the legislation is that very few, if any college students really understand what it means or entails. They're confused, and rightfully so, because the laws in both states are so ambiguous that they are open to abuse.
Writes Greg Lukianoff about one student's response to the law in New York:
The only ones that will be profiting from these laws are the tort lawyers, and rightfully so.
Writes Col. West:
(H/T Pirate's Cove)
Could it be they don't want any competition or that they want free rein to commit acts of violence without the fear of being stopped by armed citizens?
The big problem: all of those previous politicians who kept their promises to create the socialist paradise being put forth by Sanders have instead destroyed their economies, weakened civil rights, and in many cases , turned into tyrannies rivaling those or previous eras.
If this is what Bernie is offering then my answer must be “Hell, no!”
I'm not sure about including USB 2.0 on the list because, quite frankly, there are numerous devices out there that neither need nor can support USB 3.0 or 3.1. They are overkill for the purpose of transferring small amounts of data from a device to a PC or network. Some of the instruments made by the company where I've worked the past 18 years don't need anything beyond USB 2.0. Heck, some don't need anything beyond USB 1.1!
When government stops supporting winners, they oft become losers.
In this case Skip is talking about electric cars and what happened to sales in one state – Georgia - once it stopped subsidizing their purchase: sales dropped by 88.9 percent.
So endith the lesson.
All in all, not a bad weekend.
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I don't know about you, but I really like Mike Rowe. If nothing else he gets right to the point, is not pretentious, and actually knows how to work hard and get dirty.So when he responds to MSLSD's Melissa Harris-Perry's contention that the phrase “hard work” is a racist term that in some way equates to slavery, it is something to behold.
As Ed Driscoll writes, “...the average plumber is also likely much more respected than the average journalist these days — and for good reason: plumbers by and large seem much more competent and trustworthy when it comes to their jobs compared to the average Democrat operative with a byline.”
Indeed.
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The real reason the last gun shop in San Francisco closed it's doors: The city has mandated that gun shops hand over information about its customers to the cops.The owner wasn't about to do that because there was absolutely no legal reason (city ordinances not withstanding) for doing so.
For a city that prides itself on being tolerant of all kinds of beliefs and perversions, San Francisco is one of the least tolerant cities I've ever visited.
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Since the New England Patriots were off this weekend after their 36-7 win over Miami this past Thursday, I decided to catch the Detroit Lions/Kansas City Chiefs game from London.I've seen the popularity of American football growing in the UK over the years, evidenced by the increasing number of games being played in London. (I believe this one was the fourth of the season.)
I believe it's only a matter of time before London gets its own NFL team, whether it is an expansion team or a US team moving to the UK.
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With two states having passed “Yes means Yes” legislation (California and New York), I expect the number of sexual assault cases on college campuses to skyrocket. I also expect the number of lawsuits against colleges in those states to also skyrocket as more students will be convicted by the kangaroo courts run by those same institutions of higher learning.One of the big problems with the legislation is that very few, if any college students really understand what it means or entails. They're confused, and rightfully so, because the laws in both states are so ambiguous that they are open to abuse.
Writes Greg Lukianoff about one student's response to the law in New York:
As one student said, “That’s what scares the sh*t out of me. Because if anything happens, if someone says I did anything or something is misconstrued, I’m automatically the villain, I’m automatically the bad guy, and it’s up to me to prove that I’m not—which is interesting, because in America it’s supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.”And even if found innocent, they're still guilty and any reputation they may have had will be gone, never to return.
The only ones that will be profiting from these laws are the tort lawyers, and rightfully so.
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What's the real reason Obama has sent Special Forces into Syria? Allan West knows, and it ain't pretty.Writes Col. West:
This is just a band-aid on a sucking chest wound and the LAST thing I EVER want to see are our combat warriors being used like pawns in a very dangerous game by inept and incompetent folks. History is sadly repeating itself.Indeed.
(H/T Pirate's Cove)
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Of all of the GOP candidates for president, it appears the one the liberals are having a tough time coming to grips with is Ben Carson.How strange it must be for people who comfort themselves with the slander that the GOP is a cult of organized racial hatred that the most popular politician among conservatives is a black man. Better to ignore the elephant in the room than account for such an inconvenient fact. The race card is just too valuable politically and psychologically for liberals who need to believe that their political opponents are evil.The only racism that is allowed is the soft-racism as practiced by the Left. Without that their constituency will fade away because they won't need the Left any more.
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The Daily Gator wonders why the members of Cult of Gun Control are so violent?Could it be they don't want any competition or that they want free rein to commit acts of violence without the fear of being stopped by armed citizens?
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Listening to the promises being made by Bernie Sanders at his campaign stop brings up memories of other politicians here and abroad bringing up the very same promises over the past six decades. He is offering nothing new. The only thing that's changed are the numbers. He never offers to anyone how we're supposed to pay for everything he's promising, nor does he really seem to care.The big problem: all of those previous politicians who kept their promises to create the socialist paradise being put forth by Sanders have instead destroyed their economies, weakened civil rights, and in many cases , turned into tyrannies rivaling those or previous eras.
If this is what Bernie is offering then my answer must be “Hell, no!”
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Here's a list of 10 shambling technologies that refuse to die.I'm not sure about including USB 2.0 on the list because, quite frankly, there are numerous devices out there that neither need nor can support USB 3.0 or 3.1. They are overkill for the purpose of transferring small amounts of data from a device to a PC or network. Some of the instruments made by the company where I've worked the past 18 years don't need anything beyond USB 2.0. Heck, some don't need anything beyond USB 1.1!
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While Vladimir Putin gives me the willies seeing as it appears he's trying to restart the Cold War, the one thing I agree with him on is Anthropogenic Global Warming: It's a fraud.***************
Skip of Granite Grok offers us a lesson in economics, one that has be be learned again and again:When government stops supporting winners, they oft become losers.
In this case Skip is talking about electric cars and what happened to sales in one state – Georgia - once it stopped subsidizing their purchase: sales dropped by 88.9 percent.
So endith the lesson.
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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where warmer weather has returned for the coming week, the Halloween decorations are being put away, and where preparations for Thanksgiving have begun.10/31/2015
The Gaslighting Of The American People
“We're not nuts. He's nuts!”
The above is Bill Whittle's take on Barack Obama and he gives us a fairly convincing argument that he and those who support him have been gaslighting us for years. The one thing that keeps them from getting away with it is the hours and hours and hours of video that show the Sociopath-In-Chief lying to us and then denying he said any such thing, or taking one position and, at the drop of a hat, taking the opposite position while stating with a straight face that was their position right from the beginning.
Is it any wonder those of us who have managed to avoid drinking the Obamabot Kool Aid fully understand that the president is not to be trusted on anything? He lies even when the truth would serve better, giving us an indication just how deeply his sociopathy runs. And like many sociopaths, he is also a narcissist, something he displays without even thinking twice about it.
Yet with all of that, I wouldn't mind it all that much if he was at least a competent sociopath, but he doesn't even have that going for him.
The above is Bill Whittle's take on Barack Obama and he gives us a fairly convincing argument that he and those who support him have been gaslighting us for years. The one thing that keeps them from getting away with it is the hours and hours and hours of video that show the Sociopath-In-Chief lying to us and then denying he said any such thing, or taking one position and, at the drop of a hat, taking the opposite position while stating with a straight face that was their position right from the beginning.
Is it any wonder those of us who have managed to avoid drinking the Obamabot Kool Aid fully understand that the president is not to be trusted on anything? He lies even when the truth would serve better, giving us an indication just how deeply his sociopathy runs. And like many sociopaths, he is also a narcissist, something he displays without even thinking twice about it.
Yet with all of that, I wouldn't mind it all that much if he was at least a competent sociopath, but he doesn't even have that going for him.
10/30/2015
Firewood Prices On The Rise Even As Oil Prices Fall
Talk about an unintended consequence!
Fracking has allowed the US to become the largest producer of natural gas in th world as well as made oil reserves available that previously had been uneconomical to extract. With fracking oil and natural gas prices fell to levels not seen in years. In turn that dropped the prices of gasoline, diesel, heating fuels and host of other petrochemical products to levels not seen in years.
Yet despite the drop in prices, particularly those of heating fuels like oil, kerosene, and propane, the prices are still quite high for some us. Like many others here in the Northeast, we use wood to heat our home. In general we will go through somewhere around three and four cords of wood to heat The Manse from October through April. One would think that with heating fuel prices being less than half what they were two years ago that the demand for cord wood would fall off. But the demand has remained steady, at least here in New England. Some of that could be because some folks like heating with wood, be it through a woodstove or something fancier like a wood-fired furnace. There's nothing homier to me than to coming home and seeing a fire burning in the woodstove, pouring out heat that keeps almost the entire house nice and warm. The problem?
Firewood prices have gone up around 30 percent over the past two years.
One would think they would stay the same or even fall a little seeing as all of the other heating fuel prices have plummeted. But the demand for wood is high and growing. Why?
Because of fracking.
Who'da thunk that something that would bring lower energy prices would raise energy prices in another sector of the energy market?
For now heating with wood is still cheaper, at least here at The Manse, even with our four cords of firewood running us around $1400. Propane, our other heating fuel, would still run us about $2400 even at the low prices were we to heat with it exclusively.
Fracking has allowed the US to become the largest producer of natural gas in th world as well as made oil reserves available that previously had been uneconomical to extract. With fracking oil and natural gas prices fell to levels not seen in years. In turn that dropped the prices of gasoline, diesel, heating fuels and host of other petrochemical products to levels not seen in years.
Yet despite the drop in prices, particularly those of heating fuels like oil, kerosene, and propane, the prices are still quite high for some us. Like many others here in the Northeast, we use wood to heat our home. In general we will go through somewhere around three and four cords of wood to heat The Manse from October through April. One would think that with heating fuel prices being less than half what they were two years ago that the demand for cord wood would fall off. But the demand has remained steady, at least here in New England. Some of that could be because some folks like heating with wood, be it through a woodstove or something fancier like a wood-fired furnace. There's nothing homier to me than to coming home and seeing a fire burning in the woodstove, pouring out heat that keeps almost the entire house nice and warm. The problem?
Firewood prices have gone up around 30 percent over the past two years.
One would think they would stay the same or even fall a little seeing as all of the other heating fuel prices have plummeted. But the demand for wood is high and growing. Why?
Because of fracking.
While fracking is a big part of the demand, other construction project are also driving the prices higher.
A timber industry representative in New Hampshire said hydraulic fracturing well sites in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale formation to suck natural gas out of the ground are using construction “mats” made of hardwood logs to get heavy equipment over mucky ground, wetlands or soft soils.
That increased demand has crept down the chimney into fireplaces. Prices in parts of New England are averaging $325 a cord and can even push past $400 for a seasoned, delivered load. That’s anywhere from $50 to $75 more a cord than last year — or an increase of 18 to 23 percent.
Jasen Stock, executive director of the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association, said it’s not just fracking sites that are hogging the logs. Pipelines and transmission wires — really any large-scale construction project — have in the past three years ramped up the appetite for the perfect mat log: a hardwood trunk, 16 to 20 feet long and 8 to 10 inches in diameter.With two large projects slated for construction here in New England – a new natural gas pipeline from Pennsylvania through Massachusetts and New Hampshire and the Northern Pass powerlines through New Hampshire bringing hydropower from Quebec – there's going to be a high demand for logs.
As a result, the cost of cordwood on the stump (that is, live trees) went from $10 in 2012 in northern New Hampshire to $15 this year, Stock said.
Who'da thunk that something that would bring lower energy prices would raise energy prices in another sector of the energy market?
For now heating with wood is still cheaper, at least here at The Manse, even with our four cords of firewood running us around $1400. Propane, our other heating fuel, would still run us about $2400 even at the low prices were we to heat with it exclusively.
10/25/2015
Thoughts On A Sunday
This was a fifty-fifty weekend, with cold temperatures on Saturday and warm ones today. Not that I'm complaining, but I almost wish the order had been reversed because most of my outdoor activities were yesterday.
One thing that took place yesterday was the 25th Annual New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival which, for the first time, took place in the city of Laconia. In previous years the festival took place in southwestern New Hampshire in the city of Keene, but the riot in one of the local state college's off-campus housing areas not far from where the festival took place caused Keene's city council to not license the festival for 2015, hence the move.
There were a few glitches at last night's festival, but minor in nature and to be expected for the first one held there. That Laconia has plenty of experience in handling large events, specifically the annual Motorcycle Week held in June, made organizing for the Pumpkin Festival easy in comparison.
It's time to stop the madness.
Of course I expect it to be ignored by the Warmists because it doesn't fit their narrative and upsets the “Science Is Settled” apple cart.
You know it's coming apart when two different media outlets on the Left take diametrically opposed viewpoints on the same issue.
Apparently one of their 'tolerant' patrons didn't like the topics of discussion at the local “Breitbart's Meetups” held at the restaurant and prompted a call to the local PD. Both the Phoenix and nearby Scottsdale police showed up, including a police helicopter. The police were confused as to why they had been called to what was by all accounts a peaceful gathering.
I guess the PC disease has so infected the Phoenix area that a single patron can dictate to 200 others what they can and cannot discuss. Any establishment that allows a few 'tolerant' PC buttheads to dictate who they will and will not tolerate deserves to see its number of customers dwindle away as they take their money elsewhere.
We have a descriptive term here in New Hampshire that explains the phenomenon: drawbridge mentality. Once the folks move in they don't want any changes to be made, in effect raising the drawbridge to prevent change or anyone else from moving in and 'ruining' things. The difference here is that we don't tolerate any such foolish notions and make sure they die aborning.
Through twisted logic the Paper of Record is implying that people are advocating for non-consensual sex, something no one can take seriously. Do they really think there are people out there supporting rape?
I could have sworn the Left, who supports these non-nonsensical requirements, fought very hard decades ago to get government out of our bedrooms. Now we know what they meant was to get government other than that run by them out of the bedroom. Frankly, many of the Left I know are some of the biggest prudes I've ever come across.
One thing that took place yesterday was the 25th Annual New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival which, for the first time, took place in the city of Laconia. In previous years the festival took place in southwestern New Hampshire in the city of Keene, but the riot in one of the local state college's off-campus housing areas not far from where the festival took place caused Keene's city council to not license the festival for 2015, hence the move.
There were a few glitches at last night's festival, but minor in nature and to be expected for the first one held there. That Laconia has plenty of experience in handling large events, specifically the annual Motorcycle Week held in June, made organizing for the Pumpkin Festival easy in comparison.
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Zero Hedge has a post that tells us how to stamp out cultural Marxism in a single generation.There are very few legitimate cultural divisions in the world. Most of them are arbitrarily created, not only by political and financial elites, but also by the useful idiots and mindless acolytes infesting the sullied halls of academia.We've certainly seen that done by the present occupant of the White House, saying one thing - “I'm a uniter, not a divider” - while doing everything possible to create rifts within our society which he then exploits to justify more draconian measures, usually by fiat rather than legislation.
It is perhaps no mistake that cultural Marxists in the form of "social justice warriors", PC busybodies and feminists tend to create artificial divisions between people and “classes” while attacking and homogenizing very real and natural divisions between individuals based on biological reality and inherent genetic and psychological ability.
It's time to stop the madness.
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Gee, could it be the changes we see in climate has more to do with the sun, specifically the Gleissberg Cycle, than anything we Evil Humans are doing?Of course I expect it to be ignored by the Warmists because it doesn't fit their narrative and upsets the “Science Is Settled” apple cart.
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Speaking of climate, it's been 10 years since a hurricane Category 3 or higher has made landfall in the US.And, no, you can’t deflect to Hurricane Patricia. Even NPR knows that it really had nothing to do with “climate change”. It virtually mirrored a storm from 1959, when CO2 was at a “safe” level of 315ppm.That little fact will be ignored because once again it doesn't fit the narrative. An example: Slate's article stating just the opposite.
You know it's coming apart when two different media outlets on the Left take diametrically opposed viewpoints on the same issue.
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What if I told you....***************
Those who believe in our First ans Second Amendment rights can strike another restaurant off their list of places to go, that being K. O'Donnell's in Phoenix, Arizona.Apparently one of their 'tolerant' patrons didn't like the topics of discussion at the local “Breitbart's Meetups” held at the restaurant and prompted a call to the local PD. Both the Phoenix and nearby Scottsdale police showed up, including a police helicopter. The police were confused as to why they had been called to what was by all accounts a peaceful gathering.
I guess the PC disease has so infected the Phoenix area that a single patron can dictate to 200 others what they can and cannot discuss. Any establishment that allows a few 'tolerant' PC buttheads to dictate who they will and will not tolerate deserves to see its number of customers dwindle away as they take their money elsewhere.
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Ed Driscoll delves into the dearth of affordable housing the San Francisco Bay area, pointing to a number of initiatives pushed by environmentalists that took a lot of land off the market and severely restricted construction of new housing. It's the same type of feel-good crap that infected Portland, Oregon and choked off the housing market by making it impossible to build any new housing.We have a descriptive term here in New Hampshire that explains the phenomenon: drawbridge mentality. Once the folks move in they don't want any changes to be made, in effect raising the drawbridge to prevent change or anyone else from moving in and 'ruining' things. The difference here is that we don't tolerate any such foolish notions and make sure they die aborning.
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This is yet another sign that the New York Times is becoming increasingly irrelevant.Through twisted logic the Paper of Record is implying that people are advocating for non-consensual sex, something no one can take seriously. Do they really think there are people out there supporting rape?
“Students advocate for consensual sex,” reads the current subhead of a New York Times article. The article’s URL indicates this was originally the main title, but was changed to “Making consent cool.” The implication from the original title is that there are those out there advocating – or at the very least, tolerating – non-consensual sex.Many of these so-called consent rules and laws are nearly impossible to enforce and are so narrowly defined as to make any form of sex, consensual or not, a form of rape.
This is simply not true. No one is advocating for non-consensual sex. The fact that that even needs to be said shows just how extreme and dishonest activists have become.
There are those out there, however, who are advocating against a narrow definition of consent that defines nearly all sex as rape by default unless a specific and unworkable set of rules are followed. High school students can’t figure out those rules. The person teaching those high school students can’t figure out those rules. Vice President Joe Biden can’t figure out those rules.
And yet, those rules will be used to brand as rapists those students who fail to adhere to them perfectly. The Times article even addresses the difficulty students are having in parsing the new rules.
I could have sworn the Left, who supports these non-nonsensical requirements, fought very hard decades ago to get government out of our bedrooms. Now we know what they meant was to get government other than that run by them out of the bedroom. Frankly, many of the Left I know are some of the biggest prudes I've ever come across.
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Related to the above, Margaret Wente asks the question: “Why are young feminists so clueless about sex?”Ironically, today’s feminists are serious about consent but casual about sex. And to their shock, they’ve discovered that there’s an awful lot of bad sex out there. They did not expect this. They’ve been told they are supposed to be having a super-positive sex life – unconflicted, joyous, casual and abundant. They’ve been told they should be able to have as many partners and initiate sex just as often as men do. And they’ve tried that. And it hasn’t worked out very well. Instead of feeling super-positive, they feel sexually dissatisfied, emotionally disconnected and more than a little used.Much of this expectation ignores the hard truths of biology, that being no matter what drivel has been pushed by Third Wave Feminists, men and women are different and no amount of propaganda and close-minded ideology will change that. I'm not claiming one sex is better than the other because each has its strengths and weaknesses. It's merely that they are different and always will be.
The surprise is that so many young women are surprised by this.
The trouble isn’t men, of course. Nor is it the culture. The trouble is that these women have been sold a lie. They’ve been told that the profound sexual and behavioural differences between men and women are merely matters of individual preference, which would largely dissolve if we ever managed to shed our noxious cultural baggage.
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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where warmer temps have returned for a while, the leaves are still turning (and falling), and where Halloween is less than a week away.10/24/2015
10/23/2015
Modern Day Salem Witch Trials
The ongoing battle on college campuses between those who fervently believe there is an epidemic or rape and those who are firm believers in the rights enumerated in the Constitution rages on.
It seems that ever decade or so some new social evil comes to light that must be addressed “by any means necessary” and the usual suspects – our so-called Social Justice Warriors – go into full combat mode. This in and of itself is not the problem and never has been. It is the “by any means necessary” mindset that takes them down the wrong path.
We've seen examples of this over the past 323 years just in America, the first being the Salem Witch trials starting in 1692. Hundreds were accused during the hysteria and 20 were put to death. Then there was the Red Scare in the 1950's where innocent and guilty alike were accused, blacklisted, and in some cases, imprisoned. Then there were the daycare child abuse witch hunts in the 1980's and early 1990's that destroyed reputations and sent innocent people to prison.
And what do we see today? The Campus Rape Culture where the Social Justice Warriors claim that 1 out of every 5 women will be sexually assaulted on college campuses even though the study cited as proof doesn't claim that. (Most people misread or chose to ignore the study's authors' disclaimer about drawing any conclusions based upon their study because the respondents were self-selecting and the number of respondents was small.) What's worse is that a bureaucrat within the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights took it upon herself to issue a directive – the so-called “Dear Colleague letter – that instructed our institutions of higher learning to start trying and convicting more students of sexual assault or lose federal funding.
It was a call for a modern day witch hunt, something right out of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. All that was required was the allegation. No proof. Little or no investigation, and any 'investigation' was performed by someone not competent to do so, and in many cases, by someone who would also stand in judgment of the accused. No right to legal counsel. No right to cross-examine witnesses or the accuser. And worst of all, in many cases no right to even know what charges were being brought against them or by whom. But it led to numerous suspensions and expulsions, something the colleges and universities to point to and tell the OCR that they were now doing something about the 'problem'.
What made this even worse is that the definition of sexual assault was so broad on many campuses as to be meaningless. But it made it easier to accuse and convict all of the rapists running around on campus.
What's ironic is that this Department of Education bureaucrat had no power to issue the directive, no actual means of enforcing it, and didn't care that it was not within the scope of Title IX, outside the Department of Education's charter, and thoroughly ignored the Bill of Rights. But that didn't stop colleges from running their tribunals and kangaroo courts and convicting students, male students, based purely on accusations and very poor definitions of sexual assault. This same bureaucrat is also responsible for the growing total of lawsuits against colleges and damages being paid out to many of these 'convicted sexual assailants' because of the hostile and prejudicial tribunals that violated due process and damaged the reputations of these students.
Even the few cases where these tribunals found the accused was not culpable, the accused student was still harassed, libeled and slandered as a rapist, which made continuing their studies difficult, if not impossible. Call it the “Guilty until proven innocent, and even then still guilty” mentality that pervades many campuses.
With time this latest witch hunt will end, leaving behind large numbers of innocent victims and destroying any trust between students and college administrators as well seriously dampening trust between the male and female students on campus. Eventually another round of hysteria will bring about yet another witch hunt and the cycle will start all over again.
It seems that ever decade or so some new social evil comes to light that must be addressed “by any means necessary” and the usual suspects – our so-called Social Justice Warriors – go into full combat mode. This in and of itself is not the problem and never has been. It is the “by any means necessary” mindset that takes them down the wrong path.
We've seen examples of this over the past 323 years just in America, the first being the Salem Witch trials starting in 1692. Hundreds were accused during the hysteria and 20 were put to death. Then there was the Red Scare in the 1950's where innocent and guilty alike were accused, blacklisted, and in some cases, imprisoned. Then there were the daycare child abuse witch hunts in the 1980's and early 1990's that destroyed reputations and sent innocent people to prison.
And what do we see today? The Campus Rape Culture where the Social Justice Warriors claim that 1 out of every 5 women will be sexually assaulted on college campuses even though the study cited as proof doesn't claim that. (Most people misread or chose to ignore the study's authors' disclaimer about drawing any conclusions based upon their study because the respondents were self-selecting and the number of respondents was small.) What's worse is that a bureaucrat within the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights took it upon herself to issue a directive – the so-called “Dear Colleague letter – that instructed our institutions of higher learning to start trying and convicting more students of sexual assault or lose federal funding.
It was a call for a modern day witch hunt, something right out of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. All that was required was the allegation. No proof. Little or no investigation, and any 'investigation' was performed by someone not competent to do so, and in many cases, by someone who would also stand in judgment of the accused. No right to legal counsel. No right to cross-examine witnesses or the accuser. And worst of all, in many cases no right to even know what charges were being brought against them or by whom. But it led to numerous suspensions and expulsions, something the colleges and universities to point to and tell the OCR that they were now doing something about the 'problem'.
What made this even worse is that the definition of sexual assault was so broad on many campuses as to be meaningless. But it made it easier to accuse and convict all of the rapists running around on campus.
What's ironic is that this Department of Education bureaucrat had no power to issue the directive, no actual means of enforcing it, and didn't care that it was not within the scope of Title IX, outside the Department of Education's charter, and thoroughly ignored the Bill of Rights. But that didn't stop colleges from running their tribunals and kangaroo courts and convicting students, male students, based purely on accusations and very poor definitions of sexual assault. This same bureaucrat is also responsible for the growing total of lawsuits against colleges and damages being paid out to many of these 'convicted sexual assailants' because of the hostile and prejudicial tribunals that violated due process and damaged the reputations of these students.
Even the few cases where these tribunals found the accused was not culpable, the accused student was still harassed, libeled and slandered as a rapist, which made continuing their studies difficult, if not impossible. Call it the “Guilty until proven innocent, and even then still guilty” mentality that pervades many campuses.
With time this latest witch hunt will end, leaving behind large numbers of innocent victims and destroying any trust between students and college administrators as well seriously dampening trust between the male and female students on campus. Eventually another round of hysteria will bring about yet another witch hunt and the cycle will start all over again.
10/21/2015
Mike Rowe Compares The "Modern Man" And "Man's Man"
The derision heaped upon the New York Times for their piece on what it means to be a “Modern Man” was well deserved seeing as it described an emasculated man that no woman would want to have in her life as anything but a friend. (I can't speak for Third Wave Feminists, but I have a feeling even they would not be inclined to have such a wimp in their lives because 'he' isn't really male despite having a 'Y' chromosome.)
As much as I wish I could have had the time to do a thorough fisking of the the NYT piece, I find that Mike Rowe has done a far better job of it than I could.
A few of my favorite excerpts:
Another:
A few more:
Mike has the right of it.
As the saying goes, Read The Whole Thing.
As much as I wish I could have had the time to do a thorough fisking of the the NYT piece, I find that Mike Rowe has done a far better job of it than I could.
A few of my favorite excerpts:
New York Times: When the modern man buys shoes for his spouse, he doesn’t have to ask her sister for the size. And he knows which brands run big or small.This last one is something all kids should learn. It is something both his mother and I have instilled in BeezleBub from the get go. Does he still forget to take care of things now and then? Sure, but he doesn't do it nearly as often as he did when he was younger and he rarely makes that mistake twice. That's sign he's grown up.
Mike Rowe: A Man’s Man would not buy shoes for his spouse, or be familiar with the vagaries of various female footwear brands. He might offer to pay for them, and he would definitely compliment her choice. And if he knows the size of her feet, it’s only because he rubs them from time to time.
NYT: The modern man never lets other people know when his confidence has sunk. He acts as if everything is going swimmingly until it is.
MR: A Man’s Man feels no shame in admitting uncertainty, because he knows that doing so will make him more certain. He’s transparent about his flaws and shortcomings, and makes no attempt to be more secure or knowledgeable or competent than he actually is.
NYT: Before the modern man heads off to bed, he makes sure his spouse’s phone and his kids’ electronic devices are charging for the night.
MR: A Man’s Man knows that self-reliance is born of experience. He encourages his kids to look after their own stuff, and suffer the consequences when they do not. The wife is another matter.
Another:
NYT: The modern man uses the proper names for things. For example, he’ll say “helicopter,” not “chopper” like some gauche simpleton.I have always disliked it when people dumb down their language because they think we won't or can't understand. When they go too far it's condescending and doesn't win them any friends. While I won't often use terms, phrases, or slang that someone not in my line of work would have no way of understanding, I will put them into plain English that, even if they don't fully understand, won't leave them feeling ignorant. That isn't dumbing down the language. That's courtesy.
MR: A Man’s Man is less worried about using the right word, and more concerned with being understood. But under no circumstance, does he “dumb down” the language.
A few more:
NYT: The modern man doesn’t get hung up on his phone’s battery percentage. If it needs to run flat, so be it.That last one almost had me cringing, but Mike explained the reality well enough. Then again I had to force myself to remember that the Modern Man more than likely lives in a high rise with a doorman and armed security guards. A Man's Man lives where he wants, more often far away from anywhere the Modern Man lives, and he doesn't depend upon someone else he doesn't know to defend him and his family from criminal miscreants. A Man's Man also makes sure his missus and kids learn how to handle firearms and use them properly.
MR: A Man’s Man prefers his gas tank full, his weapon loaded, his pantry stocked, and his checkbook balanced. He also likes his phone sufficiently charged, and takes the necessary steps to accomplish that.
NYT: The modern man has no use for a gun. He doesn’t own one, and he never will.
MR: A Man’s Man owns at least one firearm. He knows how to use it, clean it, and store it properly. He understands it’s importance, and sees it for what it is - a tool that can protect him and his family.
Mike has the right of it.
As the saying goes, Read The Whole Thing.
10/18/2015
Thoughts On A Sunday
Very cool weather has arrived in New Hampshire, motivating me to fire up the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove for the first time. It wasn't until early evening the temps dipped below freezing and the time to fire it up arrived.
There were a few last minute tweaks needed to ensure everything would work correctly, then I laid in the firewood, newspaper, and kindling, set the damper, and then set the newspaper alight. Within a very short time the popping sounds of expanding cast iron could be heard and the first rays of radiant heat could be felt.
Enough wood was brought in to keep it going overnight and to stoke it first thing in the morning.
The feline contingent here at The Manse were happy to see it working again as they arrayed themselves around 'the warm box' and soaked in the heat it provided.
It's ironic that the poor here in the US are wealthier than the middle class in much of Europe.
Another factoid: The poor in the US today are wealthier than much of middle class in the US back in the 1970's and early 1980's. They have material wealth unimagined back in the Old DaysTM.
'Poor' is a relative term. No matter how wealthy a society has become there will always be those at the bottom of economic ladder. That they might be wealthier than Croesus* means nothing because the SJW's will find some way to make them out to be victims of the “greedy 1%”.
*For those of you who might be products of our modern educational system, Croesus was the King of Lydia from 560 to 546BC and was known for his extreme wealth. If you need more info, there's always Google. It must also be understood that my comparison of our 'poor' to Croesus is rhetorical, not literal. There, glad that I cleared that up for you?
So far it appears they have far less diversity than the GOP, particularly in regards to their presidential wannabes.
I agree with every single one.
Writes David:
Apparently that's not the case.
That makes sense to me because if there is less gun control, and particularly if that lessening of control makes gun-free zones illegal, the incidents of mass shootings are likely do fall, if not end altogether. A potential mass shooter would be met with deadly force meted out to him by his potential victims. You can't have a mass shooting if the shooter is shot dead by the armed citizens he intended to kill.
There were a few last minute tweaks needed to ensure everything would work correctly, then I laid in the firewood, newspaper, and kindling, set the damper, and then set the newspaper alight. Within a very short time the popping sounds of expanding cast iron could be heard and the first rays of radiant heat could be felt.
Enough wood was brought in to keep it going overnight and to stoke it first thing in the morning.
The feline contingent here at The Manse were happy to see it working again as they arrayed themselves around 'the warm box' and soaked in the heat it provided.
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There's poor. And then there's “poor”.It's ironic that the poor here in the US are wealthier than the middle class in much of Europe.
Another factoid: The poor in the US today are wealthier than much of middle class in the US back in the 1970's and early 1980's. They have material wealth unimagined back in the Old DaysTM.
'Poor' is a relative term. No matter how wealthy a society has become there will always be those at the bottom of economic ladder. That they might be wealthier than Croesus* means nothing because the SJW's will find some way to make them out to be victims of the “greedy 1%”.
*For those of you who might be products of our modern educational system, Croesus was the King of Lydia from 560 to 546BC and was known for his extreme wealth. If you need more info, there's always Google. It must also be understood that my comparison of our 'poor' to Croesus is rhetorical, not literal. There, glad that I cleared that up for you?
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The Democrats/Leftists/Progressives are always preaching about diversity to we poor deluded greedy racist conservatives. But the message might have more of an impact if those same Democrats/Leftists/Progressives practiced what they preached.So far it appears they have far less diversity than the GOP, particularly in regards to their presidential wannabes.
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Why carry a gun?I agree with every single one.
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After watching the Gop debates and the recent Democrat debate on TV, I have to say I agree with David Starr on this one: The Parties should not let TV people control the debates.Writes David:
The newsies are hugely partisan, and they rig things to help their candidates and hurt the other sides candidates. I see no reason why such poorly educated, biased, and ignorant people should be allowed to influence the elections.Indeed.
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By way of a commenter on today's Day By Day cartoon comes this quote from Vox Day's SJW's Always Lie: Taking Down The Thought Police in regards to Marvel's changes to some of its characters to make them more politically correct and appealing to SJW's.They are the Social Justice Warriors, the SJWs, the self-appointed thought police who have been running amok throughout the West since the dawn of the politically correct era in the 1990s. Their defining characteristics:After reading the list would those symptoms be found in the DSM under dissociative disorders or perhaps some kind of psychotic break.
• a philosophy of activism for activism’s sake
• a dedication to rooting out behavior they deem problematic, offensive, or unacceptable in others
• a custom of primarily identifying individuals by their sex, race, and sexual orientation
• a hierarchy of intrinsic morality based on the identity politics of sex, race, and sexual orientation
• a quasi-religious belief in equality, diversity, and the inevitability of progress
• an assumption of bad faith on the part of all non-social justice warriors
• an opinion that motivation matters more than consequences
• a certainty that they are the only true and valid defenders of the oppressed
• a habit of demanding that their opinions be enshrined as social custom and law
• a tendency to possess a left-wing political identity
• a willingness to deny science, history, logic, their past words, or any other aspect of reality that contradicts their current Narrative.
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I would have thought that cases of Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) would have fallen to almost zero after all this time.Apparently that's not the case.
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A survey run by Chapman University has the gun-grabbers swooning as it shows that Americans are more concerned about gun control than mass shootings.That makes sense to me because if there is less gun control, and particularly if that lessening of control makes gun-free zones illegal, the incidents of mass shootings are likely do fall, if not end altogether. A potential mass shooter would be met with deadly force meted out to him by his potential victims. You can't have a mass shooting if the shooter is shot dead by the armed citizens he intended to kill.
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The New England Patriots are playing the Indianapolis Colts in Indianapolis. The game won't finish until close to midnight so no results are available.***************
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee where the leaves are at peak, the woodstoves are keeping us warm, and where preparations for winter continue apace.10/17/2015
From A Dictionary
Seen in the comics section of our local paper:
Silence: The logical conclusion of politically correct speech.Indeed.
10/16/2015
"I Do Not Consent To Being Called A Rapist"
The push-back against the hysterics driven “campus rape culture” is growing, particularly from male college students. While the first line of resistance was created when college men found themselves being suspended or expelled due to nothing more than an accusation, many times with absolutely no corroborative evidence, the second line is college men refusing to be involved in any way, shape, or form with so-called “consent classes” that pander to the well-discredited 1 out of 4 women will be sexually assaulted on campus statistic.
As one college freshman in the UK has made perfectly clear on this matter, “I do not consent to being called a rapist.”
The spate of “Yes Means Yes” legislation meant to combat this non-epidemic is merely feel-good lawmaking that will do far more harm than good and will more often than not have dire unintended consequences. It is also virtually unenforceable because there are gaping holes that, in the end, will end up causing the law to be overturned in courts because the terms are so ambiguous and any evidence of consent will be totally lacking unless one of the participants in an intimate sexual encounter decides to record the entire encounter, even without the other participant's knowledge or consent. Of course that opens an entirely different legal can of worms.
Unfortunately the various “Yes Means Yes” laws won't be struck down or repealed until after it has hurt a lot of people, primarily men. And as the line in a movie whose title presently escapes me states so eloquently, a lot of the victims of these laws will be asking “Where do I go to get my reputation back?” Once branded a rapist, always a rapist. Even if one is found not guilty because there is absolutely no evidence of sexual assault, they will still be guilty and will be treated as felon.
All any of this will do is further poison relationships between men and women and for no other purpose than to bolster the egos of the latest bunch of batshit-crazy Social Justice Warriors.
As one college freshman in the UK has made perfectly clear on this matter, “I do not consent to being called a rapist.”
I am not a rapist. But I’m in my second week as a university student, and already modern feminism and “consent culture” is trying to pin that label on me.With this kind of crap being pushed as the truth on campuses, is it any wonder there's a growing push-back by men? The smarter men on campus are doing their best to stay as far away from the women. Why? To paraphrase “It’s just not worth the risk of jail time, expulsion, and a permanent blot on one's life because some batty, vindictive, or remorseful person decides the next day that maybe she wasn’t really into it after all.” It's better to stay away from all social contact with campus women and, if sexual relief is needed, use masturbation. While lonely and not nearly as satisfying, it's infinitely safer.
The University of Warwick Student’s Union has set up classes called “I Heart Consent,” apparently aimed at teaching young people about how to get it on without accidentally raping their partner. I say people, but what I mean is men, because as all of today’s mainstream leftist ideologues know, men cannot be raped by women. When women do it it's called “non-consensual sex.”
How many rapists are going to stop raping people because some pretentious student told them that “Yes means Yes”? Any at all? And why would any normal, right-thinking man attend a class that demonises them and normal, healthy male sexuality by pretending that all men are latent rapists who would take advantage of women if they thought they could get away with it?
Consent classes aren’t compulsory — yet — but it is heavily implied that attending them would be A Good Idea.
Anyway, I’m not going. I think we all know what goes down at these things anyway, don’t we? The male students will be bombarded with stats about “1 in 4 women,” bogus and offensive conspiracy theories about “toxic masculinity,” and suggestions that yes, all men are potential rapists.
Well, I’m sorry, but in case you didn’t know, pre-crime is sci-fi. Having a penis does not make me a rapist. In fact, the highest volume of domestic violence and sexual abuse is found in lesbian couples – you know, the ones that don’t actually involve men.
The spate of “Yes Means Yes” legislation meant to combat this non-epidemic is merely feel-good lawmaking that will do far more harm than good and will more often than not have dire unintended consequences. It is also virtually unenforceable because there are gaping holes that, in the end, will end up causing the law to be overturned in courts because the terms are so ambiguous and any evidence of consent will be totally lacking unless one of the participants in an intimate sexual encounter decides to record the entire encounter, even without the other participant's knowledge or consent. Of course that opens an entirely different legal can of worms.
Unfortunately the various “Yes Means Yes” laws won't be struck down or repealed until after it has hurt a lot of people, primarily men. And as the line in a movie whose title presently escapes me states so eloquently, a lot of the victims of these laws will be asking “Where do I go to get my reputation back?” Once branded a rapist, always a rapist. Even if one is found not guilty because there is absolutely no evidence of sexual assault, they will still be guilty and will be treated as felon.
All any of this will do is further poison relationships between men and women and for no other purpose than to bolster the egos of the latest bunch of batshit-crazy Social Justice Warriors.
10/15/2015
Women In Combat - One Story
The issue of women in combat has come to the forefront again, with some saying “It's about time” and yet others opining “It's not a good idea.” I must admit that I am of two minds on this issue.
Part of that comes from the fact that one of those women who have been in combat situations was one of the WP nieces, serving a tour in Afghanistan in hostile territory and working as a buffer between Special Forces and Afghan women. The story of such missions can be found here.
Included is this TED talk video covering this program.
We kept a candle lit in our window for our niece until she came home safe. One of the happiest and proudest days of my life was the day we were able to take it out of our window because she had returned home to us.
Part of that comes from the fact that one of those women who have been in combat situations was one of the WP nieces, serving a tour in Afghanistan in hostile territory and working as a buffer between Special Forces and Afghan women. The story of such missions can be found here.
Included is this TED talk video covering this program.
We kept a candle lit in our window for our niece until she came home safe. One of the happiest and proudest days of my life was the day we were able to take it out of our window because she had returned home to us.
10/11/2015
Thoughts On A Sunday
Here it is, Columbus Day Weekend, and the leaf peepers are here in force.
While the Lakes Region of New Hampshire is nowhere near peak color, the White Mountains to the north are very close to peak and the Great North Woods are at full peak. Between the foliage and the holiday weekend the traffic hereabouts resembles that seen during a summer weekend, but with a lot more folks from farther away than southern New England or New York. In fact the number of tour buses being seen make it seem as if that's all that exists!
A stop at the farm yesterday saw the parking lot at the farm stand full and then some, with a lot of vehicles parked along the side of the road and at the edge of one of the farm fields. Between the corn maze, the large crop of pumpkins, and some of the fall specialties, the place was packed. Talking to Mrs. Farmer Andy let me know the place had been very busy from the time it opened that morning and that reservations for the night-time corn maze were full.
Welcome to fall in New Hampshire!
To what do they attribute this doom? Why climate change, of course!
As Cap'n Teach writes about this whole debacle, “By Monday they'll be telling us Halloween is doomed.”
The kicker is that the “Dear Colleague” letter does not have the power of law, is in no way binding or enforceable, and that the bureaucrat who issued the letter had no power to do so.
Unfortunately the damage has been done and has fueled the continuing War on Campus Men. Too bad it will be the colleges and their insurance providers bearing the brunt of the lawsuits and payouts to the victims of this illegal mandate.
Sexual assault should be handled by the police, not untrained and clueless college administrators.
This isn't the first time a federal court has stopped the rogue agency. More than once courts have stopped implementation of new rules that have gone far outside the agency's charter, and in some cases, in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.
It's gotten to the point where I think the agency should be abolished because it appears that it is so far outside its charter that it can now be considered a criminal organization.
State sanctioned voter fraud.
This law is supposed aimed at raising voter turnouts after a number of election cycles with dismal voter turnout. It also opens the way to all kinds of fraud because a lot of people who are allowed to get a drivers license in California are also ineligible to vote, but that doesn't seem to be a concern in the once Golden State.
I have two questions for the California Assembly and Governor Brown: 1) Did any of you ever think the reason for low voter turnout is because there's no one worth voting for during those elections? 2) Isn't this in effect Voter ID, something so many Democrat politicians and their handlers are against because it supposedly disfranchises minority voters?
Just asking...
This weekend it's Bogie moving 5 tons of wood pellets into her basement and garage.
Both of us are ready to heat our homes without using the dreaded (and still expensive) fossil fuels. Of course that's just a misdirection because both the firewood I have and the pellets Bogie has relied on fossil fuels for processing (kiln drying for the firewood, grinding/shaping/packaging pellets, and the fuel needed by the trucks to transport it all).
Still, I like the heat from a woodstove even if it isn't as convenient as turning up the thermostat on the wall. And unlike pellet stoves, it doesn't require electricity to work.
While the Lakes Region of New Hampshire is nowhere near peak color, the White Mountains to the north are very close to peak and the Great North Woods are at full peak. Between the foliage and the holiday weekend the traffic hereabouts resembles that seen during a summer weekend, but with a lot more folks from farther away than southern New England or New York. In fact the number of tour buses being seen make it seem as if that's all that exists!
A stop at the farm yesterday saw the parking lot at the farm stand full and then some, with a lot of vehicles parked along the side of the road and at the edge of one of the farm fields. Between the corn maze, the large crop of pumpkins, and some of the fall specialties, the place was packed. Talking to Mrs. Farmer Andy let me know the place had been very busy from the time it opened that morning and that reservations for the night-time corn maze were full.
Welcome to fall in New Hampshire!
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Is the 'Thanksgiving' pumpkin doomed? So say the folks at Scientific American.To what do they attribute this doom? Why climate change, of course!
As Cap'n Teach writes about this whole debacle, “By Monday they'll be telling us Halloween is doomed.”
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Another from Cap'n Teach blows the “1000 year flood” meme in South Carolina out of the water, so to speak.USGS research has shown no linkage between flooding (either increases or decreases) and the increase in greenhouse gases. Essentially, from USGS long-term streamgage data for sites across the country with no regulation or other changes to the watershed that could influence the streamflow, the data shows no systematic increases in flooding through time.Anyone paying attention would have known that as we've seen that effect over the years – changes in land use altering runoff patterns, particularly when wetlands were drained and/or filled.
A much bigger impact on flooding, though, is land use change. Without proper mitigation, urbanization of watersheds increases flooding. Moreover, encroachment into the floodplain by homes and businesses leads to greater economic losses and potential loss of life, with more encroachment leading to greater losses.
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As the number of victims of the Department of Education's “Dear Colleague” letter start adding up, more people are waking up to the fact that the kangaroo courts run by our institutions of higher education are both incapable of dealing with the issue and are unconstitutional as well.The kicker is that the “Dear Colleague” letter does not have the power of law, is in no way binding or enforceable, and that the bureaucrat who issued the letter had no power to do so.
Unfortunately the damage has been done and has fueled the continuing War on Campus Men. Too bad it will be the colleges and their insurance providers bearing the brunt of the lawsuits and payouts to the victims of this illegal mandate.
Sexual assault should be handled by the police, not untrained and clueless college administrators.
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The EPA has been slapped down again by the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, issuing and injunction against the agency from enforcing its new rules based upon the Clean Water Act that to all intents and purposes was a land grab.This isn't the first time a federal court has stopped the rogue agency. More than once courts have stopped implementation of new rules that have gone far outside the agency's charter, and in some cases, in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.
It's gotten to the point where I think the agency should be abolished because it appears that it is so far outside its charter that it can now be considered a criminal organization.
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Allen West's opinion on the new bill signed by Governor Brown in California that allows automatic voter registration?State sanctioned voter fraud.
This law is supposed aimed at raising voter turnouts after a number of election cycles with dismal voter turnout. It also opens the way to all kinds of fraud because a lot of people who are allowed to get a drivers license in California are also ineligible to vote, but that doesn't seem to be a concern in the once Golden State.
I have two questions for the California Assembly and Governor Brown: 1) Did any of you ever think the reason for low voter turnout is because there's no one worth voting for during those elections? 2) Isn't this in effect Voter ID, something so many Democrat politicians and their handlers are against because it supposedly disfranchises minority voters?
Just asking...
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Sultan Knish has the right of this:Of all the Alinsky rules, the most relevant one is, "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." But he simply codified and made pragmatic the most destructive of the left's rules which is, "Make the enemy live up to his ideals." Even if those ideals are often the invention of the left.Forcing your enemy to live up to impossible-to-meet ideals makes it easier to paint them as something less than human and allows you to take actions that would otherwise be considered barbaric and inhumane.
Ideals are by definition impossible to live up to. Human societies aren't ideal, they're real. Ideals are absolutes and an unflinching attempt to live up to them destroys individuals and societies. More subtly, the failure to live up to them justifies hatred and self-hatred toward nations and peoples.
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Last weekend it was me and my friend Ev moving and stacking two cords of firewood inside the garage.This weekend it's Bogie moving 5 tons of wood pellets into her basement and garage.
Both of us are ready to heat our homes without using the dreaded (and still expensive) fossil fuels. Of course that's just a misdirection because both the firewood I have and the pellets Bogie has relied on fossil fuels for processing (kiln drying for the firewood, grinding/shaping/packaging pellets, and the fuel needed by the trucks to transport it all).
Still, I like the heat from a woodstove even if it isn't as convenient as turning up the thermostat on the wall. And unlike pellet stoves, it doesn't require electricity to work.
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Women in Blue are not Blue women!***************
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the leaves are staring to show their fiery fall colors, boats still ply the waters of the lake for leaf peeping, and where some of us still have to work on Columbus Day.10/09/2015
More Follies...Of The Congressional Type
The 'Speaker' follies continue, but Glenn Reynolds has had a splendid idea of a possible candidate to fill the slot, and it's someone we know who doesn't mind taking on a dirty job.
The problem? He'll probably turn down the job because it may be too dirty, even for him.
The problem? He'll probably turn down the job because it may be too dirty, even for him.
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