I’ve been watching the whole Texas re-districting kerfuffle unfold with both concern and amusement.
While it appears that Texas does have the right to do so whenever it chooses to, at least under its state constitution, the response by Democrat legislators to deny a quorum feels more like what a spoiled child does when they don’t get their way, in this case fleeing the state. That Texas law also addresses this problem by allowing the governor to declare their seats in the Texas Legislature as abandoned, just adds to the drama.
That Democrats don’t like gerrymandering whenever it works against them, but are all for it when it works in their favor, shows they hypocrisy of the system. Not that Republicans are any less hypocritical, but at least they don’t act like the aforementioned spoiled child who throws a tantrum when denied something they want.
There is something to be said for redistricting to be handled by an independent non-partisan group to implement redrawing the lines of Congressional Districts when required. We certainly don’t want it to be handled by the courts because even judges can be partisan and biased as we’ve seen over the past few years.
One of the more clueless responses was that of Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey when she threatened to gerrymander Massachusetts Congressional Districts in favor of Democrats. There’s only one problem with her threat.
There are no Republican Congressional Districts to do away with.
All nine House seats in Massachusetts are in the hands of the Democrats. Unless of course Healey is going to try to carve out a tenth Congressional District which is not within her power to do so. It must also be remembered that Healey fought against the Kinder Morgan natural gas pipeline that would have brought more much needed natural gas into New England from Pennsylvania. The pipeline was canceled. Then a few years later she laments the shortage of natural gas during this past winter, conveniently ignoring the fact that she helped cause that shortage to begin with.
California is getting into the act as well, with Gavin Newsom stating he supports independent redistricting, then with his next breath saying he “wants to pick up 5 seats in Congress” by going around the Independent Redistricting Commission in violation of California’s constitution.
Even Washington, D.C. is getting into the act with President Trump asking for a new census to be performed, this time without counting illegal aliens which can seriously skew the number of Congressional Districts in various states.
If nothing else this whole thing will be interesting to watch as it unfolds.
8/09/2025
8/08/2025
Friday Funny - Black Face Is Wrong
Just a warning: If you are offended by everything or feel you need to be offended on the behalf of people who aren't offended who you think should be offended, then the following is not for you.
8/07/2025
8/03/2025
Thoughts On A Sunday
We’ve managed to escape the hot and humid weather we’ve been experiencing, with temps in the mid 70’s yesterday and upper 70’s/low 80’s today. About the only thing we’ve really had to deal with is the haze caused by smoke from Canadian wildfires coming out of the northwest. I’ve seen the reddish haze but I haven’t felt any of the effects that some folks with asthma or emphysema or other respiratory problems might. All in all it’s been a low key weekend so far and I’ve been able to get some things squared away around The Gulch, particularly in the attics as the temperatures inside them haven’t been eleventy-eleven degrees.
I am hoping to get out onto the lake late today after the weekend folk have departed. The observations about traffic that I made in yesterday’s post also applies to the lake, so when the weekenders are gone so is much of the boat activity on the lake.
I have to add to yesterday’s post about traffic. I asked some friends and family members and dropped the question about traffic on one of the Facebook groups I frequent and without fail, every single response I got –26 39 102 153 in total - confirmed what I noticed. It wasn’t just in New Hampshire that people have noticed the increased traffic, but in a number of 13 different states.
I have to agree with Sarah Hoyt about this: It’s about friggin’ time.
One of the biggest mistakes made in US history was JFK’s executive order that authorized federal employees to unionize. (Some states had already done so for state employees.) Allowing federal employees to unionize was something that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and labor leader George Meany were against and warned about as they both knew it was inherently corrupt as it meant that the government was “negotiating with itself” when it came unions and that since the money paying for the wages and benefits came from the taxpayers and not the earnings as was done with labor unions in the commercial world.
However, that mistake may soon be corrected.
A federal appeals court lifted a judge’s order which originally prevented President Trump to end union bargaining for federal employees. The appeals court ruling will now allow the President to do so.
In meteorological terms, it’s a blink of the eye.
It seems that a number of Nordic countries are in the midst of an unprecedented heat wave with temperatures in the 30’s (Celsius), breaking records “going back to 1961.”
Umm, that’s 64 years which is nothing in meteorological time.
However, there are accounts of an expedition back in 1927 by a group of women trying to drive to the Arctic Ocean but they weren’t able to make it because “hot weather, melting permafrost and forest fires forced them to abandon their expedition.”
Like I said, a blink of the eye.
Another thing that has definitely been a scam being funded by taxpayer dollars is offshore wind farms. They are expensive to build, expensive to maintain, require much more maintenance than land-based wind, and don’t have anywhere near the service life of land-based wind. Not that land-based wind farms are much better as they have failed to deliver the benefits promised by the climate cultists. It’s not cheap. It’s not reliable. And it’s not dispatchable.
Now it appears the Trump Administration is going to “restore sanity” when it comes to the off-shore wind farm scam.
Wind sounds nice, but the reality doesn’t come close to matching the promises made by its proponents. If it did, then taxpayer subsidies would be unnecessary and the costs per kilowatt-hour would be lower than the more traditional power generation sources.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the road traffic is high, so is the boat traffic, and where Monday has returned yet again to “harsh our mellow”.
I am hoping to get out onto the lake late today after the weekend folk have departed. The observations about traffic that I made in yesterday’s post also applies to the lake, so when the weekenders are gone so is much of the boat activity on the lake.
==+++++==
I have to add to yesterday’s post about traffic. I asked some friends and family members and dropped the question about traffic on one of the Facebook groups I frequent and without fail, every single response I got –
==+++++==
I have to agree with Sarah Hoyt about this: It’s about friggin’ time.
One of the biggest mistakes made in US history was JFK’s executive order that authorized federal employees to unionize. (Some states had already done so for state employees.) Allowing federal employees to unionize was something that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and labor leader George Meany were against and warned about as they both knew it was inherently corrupt as it meant that the government was “negotiating with itself” when it came unions and that since the money paying for the wages and benefits came from the taxpayers and not the earnings as was done with labor unions in the commercial world.
However, that mistake may soon be corrected.
A federal appeals court lifted a judge’s order which originally prevented President Trump to end union bargaining for federal employees. The appeals court ruling will now allow the President to do so.
U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco in June had issued the injunction blocking 21 agencies from implementing Trump's March executive order exempting many federal agencies from obligations to bargain with unions.This has been long overdue as it has been proven over the past sixty-plus years that FDR and Meany were right. The ‘negotiation’ process has been corrupt since day one.
Donato concluded Trump's order retaliated against unions deemed critical of the president and that had sued over his efforts to overhaul the government, including the mass firings of agency employees, violating their right to free speech under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.
But the 9th Circuit panel said Trump's order on its face "does not express any retaliatory animus," and it agreed with the Trump administration that the president "would have taken the same action even in the absence of the protected conduct."
The 9th Circuit panel included U.S. Circuit Judge John Owens, an Obama appointee, and U.S. Circuit Judges Bridget Bade and Daniel Bress, two Trump appointees. Another federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., had in May paused a similar order that had also blocked Trump's order.
==+++++==
In meteorological terms, it’s a blink of the eye.
It seems that a number of Nordic countries are in the midst of an unprecedented heat wave with temperatures in the 30’s (Celsius), breaking records “going back to 1961.”
Umm, that’s 64 years which is nothing in meteorological time.
However, there are accounts of an expedition back in 1927 by a group of women trying to drive to the Arctic Ocean but they weren’t able to make it because “hot weather, melting permafrost and forest fires forced them to abandon their expedition.”
...the motor party journeyed to 270 miles north of the Arctic Circle, prepared for freezing weather. To their continued astonishment the temperature was never less than 90 degrees F (32ÂșC) in the shade.As best I’ve been able to determine most weather records go back maybe 200+ years, and then only in certain parts of the world. The British Royal Navy has records from the logbooks of their ships going back maybe 400 years, and again they don’t cover everywhere. So when someone says some weather conditions are “record breaking”, be aware those records only go back maybe 200 years, if that.
The intention was to reach the Arctic Ocean, but 40 miles of marsh country on the coast prevented this. An average of 210 miles a day was made on the journey, which was arduous in the extreme, and at one time the car had an actual race with death among the forest fires in Sweden over terrible roads.
Like I said, a blink of the eye.
==+++++==
Another thing that has definitely been a scam being funded by taxpayer dollars is offshore wind farms. They are expensive to build, expensive to maintain, require much more maintenance than land-based wind, and don’t have anywhere near the service life of land-based wind. Not that land-based wind farms are much better as they have failed to deliver the benefits promised by the climate cultists. It’s not cheap. It’s not reliable. And it’s not dispatchable.
Now it appears the Trump Administration is going to “restore sanity” when it comes to the off-shore wind farm scam.
The Trump administration’s move to rescind all designated Offshore Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) in the United States is being characterized as a “major policy reversal,” but what it truly represents is a refreshing application of rationality in a field too long dominated by dogma, groupthink, and the wishful economics of green technocracy.Supporters keep playing up the “Energy is free” side of wind, choosing to downplay if not ignore the great costs involved with ‘collecting’ that free energy. The costs and subsidies for offshore wind farms are even greater than for those land-based wind farms and the cost per kilowatt-hour is quite high compared with ‘traditional’ power sources. Proponents push the low carbon footprint of wind, but choose to ignore the carbon output of the entire manufacturing, construction, maintenance, and operation chain and finding it isn’t nearly as green as is claimed. And then there’s the power factor which is defined as actual power produced versus the plate capacity of the wind turbines/wind farm which is somewhere around 30%. Coal, natural gas, and nuclear are much higher with nuclear being somewhere above 90%.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the decision to rescind every single federally designated wind energy area on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, which brings to an end the federal protection of more than 3.5 million acres previously targeted for “offshore wind development.” The scale of the reversal cannot be overstated: this is not a minor adjustment or a routine regulatory tweak. This is, in the words of the article, the effective “end” of offshore wind leasing in the United States—at least for the time being.
To understand the gravity and necessity of this move, let’s remind ourselves how we got here. The Obama and Biden administrations, along with their European counterparts, threw unprecedented support behind offshore wind, an industry that—despite the tidal wave of public subsidies—has shown a knack for floundering economically and technologically whenever taxpayer money is not propping it up. In fact, the very need for designated wind energy areas is itself an admission that offshore wind cannot compete on a level playing field; it requires the full faith, credit, and political muscle of government to exist.
Wind sounds nice, but the reality doesn’t come close to matching the promises made by its proponents. If it did, then taxpayer subsidies would be unnecessary and the costs per kilowatt-hour would be lower than the more traditional power generation sources.
==+++++==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the road traffic is high, so is the boat traffic, and where Monday has returned yet again to “harsh our mellow”.
8/02/2025
Traffic, Lots And Lots Of Traffic
I decided to forego any politics today as it’s been a great day and I have no wish to “harsh my mellow” (or anyone else’s) for the most part. That doesn’t mean I won’t complain, bitch, and moan about one subject or another as goodness knows there are plenty of topics to choose from.
Today’s target...er...topic is traffic.
No, I am not talking about the traffic coming to Weekend Pundit. It seems to be fine, though it comes nowhere near matching Instapundit. (Frankly, I wouldn’t want it to because at that point posting becomes a job rather than something I like to do.)
I am, of course, talking about the traffic we see on the roads, streets, and highways. At first I thought it was just me, but it seems to be a lot heavier this summer than any other I recall, and not just here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. We all expect traffic to be heavier on the weekends, usually starting sometime Friday afternoon and dropping of starting Sunday afternoon.
But the levels I’ve been seeing over the past couple of months have gone beyond what I remember from pre-Covid days.
The older of the WP Sisters and her boyfriend came up from their home just outside Worcester yesterday (Friday), departing at noon for the approximately 90 minute trip up here to The Gulch. It took them over 4 hours to get here. From the time they got on I-495 to the time they got off of I-93 in Concord, NH it was bumper to bumper. No accidents, no construction, and no traffic enforcement seen seen along the entire trip, yet traffic was moving slowly. It can see if this had been a holiday weekend as folks would get an early start, but this wasn’t one of those. There weren’t any really big events taking place like a NASCAR race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. It was just a typical summer weekend.
I noticed heavier than usual traffic this morning as I made my way to our local Walmart at 7:30 to take care of my share of the weekly grocery shopping. The trip between The Gulch and Walmart takes less than 10 minutes if I hit the three sets of traffic lights between here and there just right. It took me almost 20 minutes. Ironically the parking lot at Walmart didn’t have nearly as many vehicles I expected to see early on a Saturday morning and I was able to get in and out in less than 20 minutes. In that 20 minutes the traffic had become heavier, but it still took me about 20 minutes to make it back to The Gulch.
A couple of hours later my sister’s boyfriend and I made a dump run and found the traffic was even heavier and slower. We dropped off the recyclables and trash and looked through the pile of old street signs that were collecting outside the rear of the recycling building, and then headed home. I took a different route back to The Gulch which cut a couple of minutes off our return trip.
Not too long after lunch my sister and her beau headed home, the return trip taking a little longer than the usual 90 minutes, but they hadn’t hit heavy traffic on their southbound trip. However, they did see that northbound traffic was bumper to bumper just as it had been on their trip up. It looks like a lot of people were leaving Massachusetts and heading to New Hampshire and Vermont. (One route into Vermont from the greater Boston area takes folks through New Hampshire to I-89 which goes into Vermont.)
The heavy traffic may also explain the higher than average number of traffic accidents and fatalities we’ve been experiencing.
I have noticed that traffic even during the week seems to be heavier than normal though I haven’t checked with friends at the NH Department of Transportation to find out what the traffic volumes have been over the past few weeks.
In the mean time I will stick to the back roads and byways as much as possible to get where I need to go without having to deal with the heavy traffic on the main roads and highways.
Today’s target...er...topic is traffic.
No, I am not talking about the traffic coming to Weekend Pundit. It seems to be fine, though it comes nowhere near matching Instapundit. (Frankly, I wouldn’t want it to because at that point posting becomes a job rather than something I like to do.)
I am, of course, talking about the traffic we see on the roads, streets, and highways. At first I thought it was just me, but it seems to be a lot heavier this summer than any other I recall, and not just here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. We all expect traffic to be heavier on the weekends, usually starting sometime Friday afternoon and dropping of starting Sunday afternoon.
But the levels I’ve been seeing over the past couple of months have gone beyond what I remember from pre-Covid days.
The older of the WP Sisters and her boyfriend came up from their home just outside Worcester yesterday (Friday), departing at noon for the approximately 90 minute trip up here to The Gulch. It took them over 4 hours to get here. From the time they got on I-495 to the time they got off of I-93 in Concord, NH it was bumper to bumper. No accidents, no construction, and no traffic enforcement seen seen along the entire trip, yet traffic was moving slowly. It can see if this had been a holiday weekend as folks would get an early start, but this wasn’t one of those. There weren’t any really big events taking place like a NASCAR race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. It was just a typical summer weekend.
I noticed heavier than usual traffic this morning as I made my way to our local Walmart at 7:30 to take care of my share of the weekly grocery shopping. The trip between The Gulch and Walmart takes less than 10 minutes if I hit the three sets of traffic lights between here and there just right. It took me almost 20 minutes. Ironically the parking lot at Walmart didn’t have nearly as many vehicles I expected to see early on a Saturday morning and I was able to get in and out in less than 20 minutes. In that 20 minutes the traffic had become heavier, but it still took me about 20 minutes to make it back to The Gulch.
A couple of hours later my sister’s boyfriend and I made a dump run and found the traffic was even heavier and slower. We dropped off the recyclables and trash and looked through the pile of old street signs that were collecting outside the rear of the recycling building, and then headed home. I took a different route back to The Gulch which cut a couple of minutes off our return trip.
Not too long after lunch my sister and her beau headed home, the return trip taking a little longer than the usual 90 minutes, but they hadn’t hit heavy traffic on their southbound trip. However, they did see that northbound traffic was bumper to bumper just as it had been on their trip up. It looks like a lot of people were leaving Massachusetts and heading to New Hampshire and Vermont. (One route into Vermont from the greater Boston area takes folks through New Hampshire to I-89 which goes into Vermont.)
The heavy traffic may also explain the higher than average number of traffic accidents and fatalities we’ve been experiencing.
I have noticed that traffic even during the week seems to be heavier than normal though I haven’t checked with friends at the NH Department of Transportation to find out what the traffic volumes have been over the past few weeks.
In the mean time I will stick to the back roads and byways as much as possible to get where I need to go without having to deal with the heavy traffic on the main roads and highways.
8/01/2025
7/31/2025
7/27/2025
Thoughts On A Sunday
It’s yet another 50:50 weekend here at the lake, with a sunny Saturday and (sorta) rainy Sunday. Not that’s it’s pouring out, but it’s light which means there’s just enough to let you know it’s raining. The good weather yesterday made sure our town could hold its annual Island Clean Up day. There are 19 islands in our town that are located on Lake Winnipesaukee, most of which have seasonal houses or camps on them. The clean up allows island residents to haul their junk to the town docks for disposal by the town DPW.
I have participated in Island Clean Up Day for a number of years now and every year there are surprising items the island residents bring to the town docks. Some of the most common items are old gas or charcoal grills or mattresses and box springs or old outdoor furniture like Adirondack chairs or windows and sliders. But we’ve also seen 300 gallon water tanks, washing machine agitators and drums, pedal boats, old solar panels, and in one case what I can only call a ‘Treasure Chest’ that looked just like the ones you always see in the movies. (No, there was no treasure in the treasure chest. We looked!)
One of the strangest things we ever saw over the years was a pontoon boat piled high with a couple of dozen mattresses and box springs. It looked just like a marine version of a Borg cube. They guy at the helm would poke his head out to the side of the boat in order to see where he was going. We still have no idea how he managed to dock his boat without running into the dock itself.
All in all it was a good day and we managed to fill all of the large dumpsters that were brought onsite to deal with the junk. There were also two dump trucks used to haul all the metal items that were brought to the docks to our dump...er…Solid Waste Center.
This is a good step – moving departments and agencies of the Feddle Gummint closer to the people they’re supposed to be dealing with.
I remember during Trump’s first term when he moved much of the Bureau of Land Management out to Grand Junction, Colorado so they were closer the land they were managing. Of course the Biden Administration moved those bureaucrats back to Washington DC.
Now Trump is back at it, this time moving “most of the Washington, D.C. employees” of the Department of Agriculture “out of the capital and closer to the farmers, ranchers, and producers.”
Being sequestered away from the people they serve, the people they regulate is never a good idea.
Commenters to the linked post had good ideas where other government departments and agencies should be moved.
I’m hoping the Bureau of Land Management will be moved back to Colorado where it belongs.
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention over the past few years.
Democrats receive lowest ratings from voters in 35 years.
Considering how far the Democrat Party has shifted to the left which has had the effect of alienating more traditional Democrats and those within traditionally Democrat leaning demographics, what did the DNC expect?
This is a reminder: “Be careful what you wish for...because you might just get it.”
It seems Germany is getting a lesson about its ongoing Islamification, at least when it comes to the law. Int his case, and 18-year old man – a Syrian immigrant – kidnapped and tortured a 13-year old boy for hours, recording the torture.
The perpetrator’s punishment?
Two years of probation.
Oh, and the perp also demanded €1500 from the victim before he would return his cell phone after he was released.
If it had been German citizens that had perpetrated such an attack they would have gotten years in prison for the same offense.
I thought this might happen, but I didn’t think it would happen quite this soon.
Trump Secures Huge Trade Deal With European Union.
Was this because of the so-called Tariff War? It appears so.
Seeing the passing of a number of music icons over the past few months makes me understand why we’re seeing so many tours of music acts and bands from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s taking place.
I recently saw Cheap Trick and Rod Stewart at out local concert venue. We’ve got Toto, Men at Work, Christopher Cross, The Black Crowes, and Chicago performing here over this coming week. The Doobie Brothers, Neil Young, The Indigo Girls, Melissa Etheridge, Bonnie Raitt, and Blink-182 performing here over the next few weeks.
Could it be a lot of these tours are more along the lines of farewell tours before too many members of the bands get too old or pass away? It seems that way to me, particularly in light of Ozzie Osbourne having performed his last concert only three weeks before he died.
The older WP Sister is coming up this coming Friday to attend the Chicago concert Friday night. I saw them here two summers ago and the one thing I noticed is that most of the audience was older, like me. The same was true at the Rod Stewart concert a couple of weeks ago.
The one upside to these bands and their older audience is that unlike some audiences, these are less likely to cause problems because they aren’t as energetic as younger audiences...and their arthritis makes it more difficult for them to cause problems.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’re heading into another stretch of hot and humid weather, the A/C will be getting more of a workout, and where spending more time in the lake is looking pretty attractive right about now.
I have participated in Island Clean Up Day for a number of years now and every year there are surprising items the island residents bring to the town docks. Some of the most common items are old gas or charcoal grills or mattresses and box springs or old outdoor furniture like Adirondack chairs or windows and sliders. But we’ve also seen 300 gallon water tanks, washing machine agitators and drums, pedal boats, old solar panels, and in one case what I can only call a ‘Treasure Chest’ that looked just like the ones you always see in the movies. (No, there was no treasure in the treasure chest. We looked!)
One of the strangest things we ever saw over the years was a pontoon boat piled high with a couple of dozen mattresses and box springs. It looked just like a marine version of a Borg cube. They guy at the helm would poke his head out to the side of the boat in order to see where he was going. We still have no idea how he managed to dock his boat without running into the dock itself.
All in all it was a good day and we managed to fill all of the large dumpsters that were brought onsite to deal with the junk. There were also two dump trucks used to haul all the metal items that were brought to the docks to our dump...er…Solid Waste Center.
==+++++==
This is a good step – moving departments and agencies of the Feddle Gummint closer to the people they’re supposed to be dealing with.
I remember during Trump’s first term when he moved much of the Bureau of Land Management out to Grand Junction, Colorado so they were closer the land they were managing. Of course the Biden Administration moved those bureaucrats back to Washington DC.
Now Trump is back at it, this time moving “most of the Washington, D.C. employees” of the Department of Agriculture “out of the capital and closer to the farmers, ranchers, and producers.”
Being sequestered away from the people they serve, the people they regulate is never a good idea.
Commenters to the linked post had good ideas where other government departments and agencies should be moved.
I’m hoping the Bureau of Land Management will be moved back to Colorado where it belongs.
==+++++==
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention over the past few years.
Democrats receive lowest ratings from voters in 35 years.
Considering how far the Democrat Party has shifted to the left which has had the effect of alienating more traditional Democrats and those within traditionally Democrat leaning demographics, what did the DNC expect?
From the WSJ:Considering how the Democrats and the Biden Administration did everything they could to piss of everyone, including their fellow Democrats, the poll results aren’t exactly a surprise. Young men between the ages of 18 and 25 across all ethnic groups have shifted to more conservative viewpoints. Latinos and African Americans, usually more reliable Democrat demographics have shifted away from the party as it no longer appears to represent their wants, needs, and beliefs. The Democrats were once considered “The Party of the Working Man”. These days it looks to be more “The Party of the Woke and Perpetually Offended.” That appeals to a very small fraction of the population despite what the Party elite may believe.
The Democratic Party’s image has eroded to its lowest point in more than three decades, according to a new Wall Street Journal poll, with voters seeing Republicans as better at handling most issues that decide elections.
The new survey finds that 63% of voters hold an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party—the highest share in Journal polls dating to 1990 and 30 percentage points higher than the 33% who hold a favorable view.
--snip--
Democrats have been hoping that a voter backlash against the president will be powerful enough to restore their majority in the House in next year’s midterm elections, much as it did during Trump’s first term. But the Journal poll shows that the party hasn’t yet accomplished a needed first step in that plan: persuading voters they can do a better job than Trump’s party.
==+++++==
This is a reminder: “Be careful what you wish for...because you might just get it.”
It seems Germany is getting a lesson about its ongoing Islamification, at least when it comes to the law. Int his case, and 18-year old man – a Syrian immigrant – kidnapped and tortured a 13-year old boy for hours, recording the torture.
The perpetrator’s punishment?
Two years of probation.
Oh, and the perp also demanded €1500 from the victim before he would return his cell phone after he was released.
If it had been German citizens that had perpetrated such an attack they would have gotten years in prison for the same offense.
==+++++==
I thought this might happen, but I didn’t think it would happen quite this soon.
Trump Secures Huge Trade Deal With European Union.
Was this because of the so-called Tariff War? It appears so.
The numbers speak for themselves. The European Union will purchase a staggering $750 billion in American energy, severing its reliance on Russian resources and undermining Vladimir Putin’s economic leverage. The EU will put another $600 billion in new investment into the U.S. economy, a torrent of capital poised to create jobs, invigorate industries, and cement America’s manufacturing revival. And Trump forced open European markets with a simple, powerful stroke: zero tariffs on trade, with a uniform 15 percent tariff for automobiles and other imports, ending years of lopsided trade that favored the EU.It’s going to be interesting to see what happens to two largest economies in the world now that trade is far more open than it has been in a long time.
--snip--
As for military cooperation, Trump refrained from naming a specific figure but made it clear that EU countries will be spending “hundreds of billions of dollars” on American military equipment—a move certain to bolster the security of Europe while putting American workers back on the assembly lines. It’s a two-pronged victory: strengthening NATO’s deterrent posture while further unleashing American economic might.
--snip--
Importantly, this wasn’t some eleventh-hour scramble. Trump confirmed the deal is the result of months of persistent, behind-the-scenes work, etched in real diplomacy—something his predecessors either neglected or bungled. “I think it's good that we made a deal today instead of playing games and maybe not making a deal at all,” Trump remarked, dismissing the theatrics that so often paralyze international negotiations.
==+++++==
Seeing the passing of a number of music icons over the past few months makes me understand why we’re seeing so many tours of music acts and bands from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s taking place.
I recently saw Cheap Trick and Rod Stewart at out local concert venue. We’ve got Toto, Men at Work, Christopher Cross, The Black Crowes, and Chicago performing here over this coming week. The Doobie Brothers, Neil Young, The Indigo Girls, Melissa Etheridge, Bonnie Raitt, and Blink-182 performing here over the next few weeks.
Could it be a lot of these tours are more along the lines of farewell tours before too many members of the bands get too old or pass away? It seems that way to me, particularly in light of Ozzie Osbourne having performed his last concert only three weeks before he died.
The older WP Sister is coming up this coming Friday to attend the Chicago concert Friday night. I saw them here two summers ago and the one thing I noticed is that most of the audience was older, like me. The same was true at the Rod Stewart concert a couple of weeks ago.
The one upside to these bands and their older audience is that unlike some audiences, these are less likely to cause problems because they aren’t as energetic as younger audiences...and their arthritis makes it more difficult for them to cause problems.
==+++++==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’re heading into another stretch of hot and humid weather, the A/C will be getting more of a workout, and where spending more time in the lake is looking pretty attractive right about now.
7/26/2025
A Delay
Sorry, folks. I got back quite late after a very busy day and didn't have the energy to write my usual Saturday post. I'm "all tuckered out" and just want to go to bed.
7/25/2025
Friday Funny - Wife Hack
I saw this after I had posted the Jack Nicklaus video and thought I'd post it next week, but it was just to good to wait. So here's a twofer for the Friday Funny.
7/24/2025
7/21/2025
Will Alberta And Saskatchewan Leave Canada?
While there’s been plenty of talk now and then about one or more Canadian province leaving Canada and applying for statehood in the US, that’s all it’s ever been. The last time something like this came to the forefront was when Quebec was looking to become independent which would have left the Maritime Provinces separated from the rest of Canada. A number of those provinces considered joining the US if Quebec became a separate nation. However, the separation referendum failed in Quebec, twice.
But now some of the western provinces have had enough of Ottawa draining them dry while at the same time making it difficult for them to farm, mine, drill for oil, and so on. It looks like two provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, have had enough and they want out.
Will they go independent and form their own nation, or will they look south and join the US? So far, it seems that about a third of the residents in both provinces see joining the US as a viable option.
Will it happen? Who knows?
But now some of the western provinces have had enough of Ottawa draining them dry while at the same time making it difficult for them to farm, mine, drill for oil, and so on. It looks like two provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, have had enough and they want out.
Will they go independent and form their own nation, or will they look south and join the US? So far, it seems that about a third of the residents in both provinces see joining the US as a viable option.
Will it happen? Who knows?
7/20/2025
Thoughts On A Sunday
It’s been a 50:50 weekend here at the lake, with low humidity and temps in the upper 70’s yesterday and humid with temps in the upper 80’s today along with some thunderstorms here and there. I’ve been out and about both days, visiting friends in a few different parts of our town, doing a little shopping at one of the local farm stands, and having lunch at one of our little known town parks on the shore of the lake. About the only chores I attended to was a little vacuuming, loading and running the dishwasher, and also doing one load of laundry – bed sheets – and that’s about it. We did have visitors yesterday – my dear brother, his wife, and one of his granddaughters – who were up for just a couple of hours and then on their way home before parking opened at our local music venue for the Brad Paisley concert.
All in all, it’s been a low key weekend for yours truly and that suits me just fine. However, next weekend will be busy, at least on Saturday, as our town will be having its annual Island Cleanup Day. That’s when island residents can bring their junk to our town docks and the DPW will load that junk into dumpsters and dump trucks, said junk to be hauled away to our dump...er…Solid Waste Center for disposal. You would be surprised to see what comes off of the boats for disposal...or maybe not. But it will be busy at the docks while it’s taking place and yours truly will be there to help with the effort just as I have for the past 8 years or so.
I have been seeing the laments from the Left about Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show being canceled by CBS when his contract expires next year. Some have claimed it is an entirely political decision to stifle the First Amendment and others that it’s because of the $16 million CBS had to pay Trump as a result of his lawsuit.
But could it be that the viewership just isn’t there and as a result CBS is losing $40 million a year on the show? It doesn’t help that the show has a top heavy staff and a shrinking and aging viewership. (When Colbert took over The Late Show the average age of the viewership was 60 years of age and it’s now 68 years of age.)
Now if we could see the same thing happen to The View on ABC as it is just outright awful and is more deserving of being canceled than Colbert.
You know it’s bad when NPR had to issue a warning that the Declaration of Independence “contains offensive language.”
The anti-ICE moonbats are taking their ‘protests’ even farther, this time by slashing the tires in ICE vehicles. In this case the perpetrator was pepper-sprayed and tackled after he slashed the tires of a number of vehicles used by ICE during a raid in California.
Seeing what has been happening in England over the past few years, one has to wonder if those in charge have been using Orwell’s 1984 as a how-to guide rather than as the warning it was meant to be. This begs the question “There will always be an England, but will it be free?” If things keep going like they have been the answer will be “no”.
It appears the energy problem in the Netherlands is getting worse...and it’s being done on purpose.
It must also be understood that neither solar or wind are carbon neutral, nor are they environmentally friendly despite what the climate change cultists claim. Better that we spend money on a nuclear power renaissance as nuclear can supply electrical power 24/7/365 for years on end and is not dependent on weather.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where thunderstorms are popping up here and there, the A/C is running, and Monday is waiting in the wings.
All in all, it’s been a low key weekend for yours truly and that suits me just fine. However, next weekend will be busy, at least on Saturday, as our town will be having its annual Island Cleanup Day. That’s when island residents can bring their junk to our town docks and the DPW will load that junk into dumpsters and dump trucks, said junk to be hauled away to our dump...er…Solid Waste Center for disposal. You would be surprised to see what comes off of the boats for disposal...or maybe not. But it will be busy at the docks while it’s taking place and yours truly will be there to help with the effort just as I have for the past 8 years or so.
==+++++==
I have been seeing the laments from the Left about Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show being canceled by CBS when his contract expires next year. Some have claimed it is an entirely political decision to stifle the First Amendment and others that it’s because of the $16 million CBS had to pay Trump as a result of his lawsuit.
But could it be that the viewership just isn’t there and as a result CBS is losing $40 million a year on the show? It doesn’t help that the show has a top heavy staff and a shrinking and aging viewership. (When Colbert took over The Late Show the average age of the viewership was 60 years of age and it’s now 68 years of age.)
Now if we could see the same thing happen to The View on ABC as it is just outright awful and is more deserving of being canceled than Colbert.
==+++++==
You know it’s bad when NPR had to issue a warning that the Declaration of Independence “contains offensive language.”
==+++++==
The anti-ICE moonbats are taking their ‘protests’ even farther, this time by slashing the tires in ICE vehicles. In this case the perpetrator was pepper-sprayed and tackled after he slashed the tires of a number of vehicles used by ICE during a raid in California.
==+++++==
Seeing what has been happening in England over the past few years, one has to wonder if those in charge have been using Orwell’s 1984 as a how-to guide rather than as the warning it was meant to be. This begs the question “There will always be an England, but will it be free?” If things keep going like they have been the answer will be “no”.
Does England mean as much to the ruling establishment as it once did? The words “free” and “freedom” are repeated several times in “There’ll Always Be An England.” That’s the theme, the hope, the conviction: that Britain would triumph because of its native love of freedom.This isn’t going to end well.
How do things look now? Let me introduce you to two recent developments that would have astonished Messrs. Parker and Charles—police tracking of “non-crime hate incidents” and a so-called “banter ban” that is on the threshold of becoming the law of the land.
The practice of recording “non-crime hate incidents” by the police became law in June 2023.
Ponder this:
Where there is no criminal offence, but the person reporting perceives that the incident was motivated wholly or partially by hostility, the incident will be recorded as a non-crime hate incident. Police officers may also identify a non-crime hate incident, even where no victim or witness has done so.--snip--
Just in case the recording of people saying mean or “hostile” things is not enough to stifle free speech, Britain is about to pass a Labour-sponsored law banning hurtful or possibly hurtful “banter” in pubs and other public places.
==+++++==
It appears the energy problem in the Netherlands is getting worse...and it’s being done on purpose.
The Netherlands is rationing electricity as its overloaded power grid buckles under the pressure of rapid electrification and ambitious climate goals.What’s worse as this is a preview of what awaits Belgium, Britain, and Germany if they stay on the course they’re following. They have become an object lesson, one that we should take to heart. We see what works, and more importantly, what doesn’t work. We have seen that the various solar and wind projects where billions of dollars were poured into them and see them fail, not providing the amount of power promised nor when needed. The energy is expensive, even taking into account the taxpayer subsidies. If these power systems were viable they should be able to do without any taxpayer money once they are online, but too many of them aren’t.
More than 11,900 businesses are stuck in a queue for access to the network, alongside public buildings including hospitals, schools and fire stations.
Thousands of new homes are also waiting to be connected, with some areas warned they may have to wait until the 2030s.
The crisis has emerged as the country scrambles to cut carbon emissions.
And now experts are warning that Britain, as well as Belgium and Germany, are all ‘in trouble.’
The countries should ‘definitely’ see what is happening in the Netherlands as a warning, says Zsuzsanna PatĂł, from Brussels-based energy think tank RAP.
After shutting down production at the massive Groningen gas field last year, the Dutch government has pushed a fast transition to electric heating, solar power and battery storage.
But the national grid has failed to keep pace, creating widespread bottlenecks and driving up costs.
It must also be understood that neither solar or wind are carbon neutral, nor are they environmentally friendly despite what the climate change cultists claim. Better that we spend money on a nuclear power renaissance as nuclear can supply electrical power 24/7/365 for years on end and is not dependent on weather.
==+++++==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where thunderstorms are popping up here and there, the A/C is running, and Monday is waiting in the wings.
7/19/2025
Learning Lessons From The War In Ukraine
I am not going to get into the politics involved with the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia since anyone paying attention and a firm grasp on history will understand what’s going on and why. I feel no need to reiterate all of that in this post.
Instead, I am going to focus more on the lessons being learned because of that war, specifically when it comes to military matters.
For full disclosure, I worked in the defense industry for almost 20 years, my experience covering everything from radar systems, missile guidance systems, aerospace electronics, as well as some ‘off the books’ projects for unnamed Three Letter Agencies. This does give me a little more insight about what’s going on than those who have never been exposed to military equipment and their capabilities, but nowhere near as much as those who used that equipment for the purposes for which they were designed. With that caveat out of the way I’ll continue.
One of the first things I noticed during hostilities which started three-and-a-half years ago was the differences in capabilities between Russian military equipment versus Ukraine’s. While a lot of the equipment Ukraine used in the beginning was of Russian origin, that changed as the war dragged on, with a lot of equipment from NATO nations being sent to Ukraine. Artillery pieces and the ammo that goes with them, rifles, shoulder-launched anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, antiaircraft defense systems like Patriot, armored vehicles including M1A1 Abrams tanks, M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, M113 APCs, MRAPs, MLRS systems including HIMARS and ATACMS, air-to-ground missiles, cruise missiles, precision guided bombs, then later, fighter aircraft.
What must also be noted is that a lot of that equipment that was sent to Ukraine wasn’t new, top-of-the-line materiel, but stuff that was older equipment on the verge of being scrapped. One example is the M1A1 Abrams tanks, a model that hasn’t been part of the US Armed Forces arsenal for years. It was replaced years ago by the M1A2, the most recent version being the M1A2-Sep3. Much of the other equipment sent were older versions that were being stored prior to disposal or replaced by newer versions.
Even that ‘old’ equipment showed just how over-matched the Russian equipment was. How well would up-to-date equipment fare against Russian equipment?
One of the biggest and most important lessons to be learned?
Drone warfare.
The Ukrainians took drone warfare to an entirely new level. That they were able to repurpose commercial off-the-shelf drones into precision weapons shows just how necessity fuels innovation. They have been effective against Russian armored vehicles and supply trucks, supply depots and other logistics systems caught a lot off people off guard. Even Ukraine’s marine drones, basically remotely operated boats and jet-skis, shut down Russia’s ability to operate freely in the Black Sea. It appears someone in the Pentagon has been paying attention seeing as a deal was recently stuck for Ukraine to sell some of their drones to the US military for evaluation and deployment. It shows that such equipment doesn’t need to be MilSpec and very expensive in order to be effective. That the drones are cheap, can be made in huge numbers, and easily deployed has proved to be one of their strengths. That Ukraine was also able to strike targets deep inside Russia using shipping containers to get them close to four Russian air bases and then launching them to attack Russian strategic and tactical bombers to great effect shows how they can be used when other more tradition means may be difficult to pull off. It also warns us that such tactics can be used against us too, and that we need to create the means of defending against such attacks. We’ve seen variations of some of these commercial drones modified to use fiber optic links that are immune to electronic warfare jamming. We’ve seen drones modified to plant anti-tank mines in fields and on roads. It appears there are applications for these war drones that are still being developed.
It’s going to be interesting to see what might be coming next.
Instead, I am going to focus more on the lessons being learned because of that war, specifically when it comes to military matters.
For full disclosure, I worked in the defense industry for almost 20 years, my experience covering everything from radar systems, missile guidance systems, aerospace electronics, as well as some ‘off the books’ projects for unnamed Three Letter Agencies. This does give me a little more insight about what’s going on than those who have never been exposed to military equipment and their capabilities, but nowhere near as much as those who used that equipment for the purposes for which they were designed. With that caveat out of the way I’ll continue.
One of the first things I noticed during hostilities which started three-and-a-half years ago was the differences in capabilities between Russian military equipment versus Ukraine’s. While a lot of the equipment Ukraine used in the beginning was of Russian origin, that changed as the war dragged on, with a lot of equipment from NATO nations being sent to Ukraine. Artillery pieces and the ammo that goes with them, rifles, shoulder-launched anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, antiaircraft defense systems like Patriot, armored vehicles including M1A1 Abrams tanks, M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, M113 APCs, MRAPs, MLRS systems including HIMARS and ATACMS, air-to-ground missiles, cruise missiles, precision guided bombs, then later, fighter aircraft.
What must also be noted is that a lot of that equipment that was sent to Ukraine wasn’t new, top-of-the-line materiel, but stuff that was older equipment on the verge of being scrapped. One example is the M1A1 Abrams tanks, a model that hasn’t been part of the US Armed Forces arsenal for years. It was replaced years ago by the M1A2, the most recent version being the M1A2-Sep3. Much of the other equipment sent were older versions that were being stored prior to disposal or replaced by newer versions.
Even that ‘old’ equipment showed just how over-matched the Russian equipment was. How well would up-to-date equipment fare against Russian equipment?
One of the biggest and most important lessons to be learned?
Drone warfare.
The Ukrainians took drone warfare to an entirely new level. That they were able to repurpose commercial off-the-shelf drones into precision weapons shows just how necessity fuels innovation. They have been effective against Russian armored vehicles and supply trucks, supply depots and other logistics systems caught a lot off people off guard. Even Ukraine’s marine drones, basically remotely operated boats and jet-skis, shut down Russia’s ability to operate freely in the Black Sea. It appears someone in the Pentagon has been paying attention seeing as a deal was recently stuck for Ukraine to sell some of their drones to the US military for evaluation and deployment. It shows that such equipment doesn’t need to be MilSpec and very expensive in order to be effective. That the drones are cheap, can be made in huge numbers, and easily deployed has proved to be one of their strengths. That Ukraine was also able to strike targets deep inside Russia using shipping containers to get them close to four Russian air bases and then launching them to attack Russian strategic and tactical bombers to great effect shows how they can be used when other more tradition means may be difficult to pull off. It also warns us that such tactics can be used against us too, and that we need to create the means of defending against such attacks. We’ve seen variations of some of these commercial drones modified to use fiber optic links that are immune to electronic warfare jamming. We’ve seen drones modified to plant anti-tank mines in fields and on roads. It appears there are applications for these war drones that are still being developed.
It’s going to be interesting to see what might be coming next.
7/18/2025
7/17/2025
7/13/2025
Thoughts On A Sunday
I didn’t get to taking care of my usual Saturday post, it being a busy day yesterday...and quite frankly I nodded off for a few hours in the late afternoon/early evening and found I was really dragging, so I didn’t get to it.
Some of it might be attributed to my very busy and lengthy day on Friday which included dinner at BeezleBub’s followed by the Rod Stewart concert at Meadowbrook that evening. (The opening act was Cheap Trick.) It was an awesome concert and Rod looked fantastic for performer in his 80’s. I was up early yesterday morning and was pretty much busy all morning and afternoon. It was not like one of my usual summer weekends.
The weather this weekend has been less than optimal, being cloudy and cool Saturday and the same this morning. However, the sun did make its appearance this afternoon and it actually reached 80Âș. Monday is going to bring us heavy thundershowers, particularly in the afternoon. Then we’ll be back in the heat with temps in the 90’s and high humidity...again.
I have to wonder how those with student loans feel about starting to make payments again? How about those who will see the Feddle Gummint coming after them for defaulting on the loan payments they hadn’t made prior to those payments being suspended by the Department of Education in 2020 “due to Covid”?
I have to wonder if the latter were hoping they wouldn’t have to pay back their loans in light of Biden’s unconstitutional loan forgiveness move? Heck, it shouldn’t be a surprise that even those who haven’t defaulted feel the same way.
I’ve been listening to the debate between those who believe student loans should be forgiven and those who don’t. Despite what the first group wants, those loans do have to be repaid but they will be repaid by the American taxpayers. That’s you and me, boys and girls. It’s ironic that some of those loans paid for useless college degrees that qualified the recipients to be baristas at Starbucks, bartenders, Uber or Lyft or DoorDash drivers, convenience store clerks, or wait staff and those who took the loans owe as much as some people owe on their mortgages. It’s equally ironic that those holding those degrees could have worked those same jobs without a degree and without the 6-digit loan debt that went that degree. They also would have had 4 years more earnings if they hadn’t wasted those four years studying for their useless degree.
I have to lay some of the blame for this on the colleges and universities that created many of the useless courses of study as so many of them saw the oceans of cash made available by the student loan programs and wanted some of it.
Umm...really?
It appears that Israel had supernatural help overcoming Iran’s defenses which allowed it to prevail in its recent 12-day war with Iran as well as the success with the US taking out Iran’s nuclear facilities, at least according one senior Iranian official. That help?
Jinn. (Link may be paywalled.)
Yeah. Right.
This doesn’t surprise me in the least.
I’ve been hearing the stories about the problems that are occurring for those wishing to rebuild their homes in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton areas of Los Angeles that were devastated by the fires that destroyed thousands of homes an businesses. Permitting is taking a long time and can cost $20,000 or more, a cost that isn’t always covered by insurance. Insurance payouts have been iffy as so many homeowners lost their insurance prior to the fires. But don’t worry, Governor Newsom has the answer!
Slums! Or as I saw it written in the linked post “Gentrification in reverse.”
As the article states, does this mean “California has succumbed to the Democrat Death Spiral”? It certainly seems so as government at the state and city levels appear to have been doing everything they can to make sure California becomes unaffordable and unlivable.
Better late then never.
It appears the UK newspaper The Telegraph has discovered that wind farms don’t work when the wind doesn’t blow.
This is something Germany discovered both during heat waves and cold spells when there wasn’t much wind that wind could not be counted on to provide needed electricity. Britain is finding out during the recent heat wave that wind farms cannot be counted on to provide electricity when it is most needed. (It actually isn’t the first time, it’s just the most recent one.)
It isn’t just in Europe that this lesson is being learned.
Texas found out during one particular cold snap a few years ago that their huge wind farms in west Texas couldn’t provide power because the cold affected the wind turbines, particularly when the blades on some of the turbines needed to be de-iced before they could be used, which meant they couldn’t be used as they had no means of doing so. At times there also wasn’t much in the way of wind to turn the turbines in any case. Call it another lesson that is being ignored by the climate change cult.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where thunderstorms are in the forecast, another heat wave is on its way, and where we’re trying our best to ignore Monday.
Some of it might be attributed to my very busy and lengthy day on Friday which included dinner at BeezleBub’s followed by the Rod Stewart concert at Meadowbrook that evening. (The opening act was Cheap Trick.) It was an awesome concert and Rod looked fantastic for performer in his 80’s. I was up early yesterday morning and was pretty much busy all morning and afternoon. It was not like one of my usual summer weekends.
The weather this weekend has been less than optimal, being cloudy and cool Saturday and the same this morning. However, the sun did make its appearance this afternoon and it actually reached 80Âș. Monday is going to bring us heavy thundershowers, particularly in the afternoon. Then we’ll be back in the heat with temps in the 90’s and high humidity...again.
==+++++==
I have to wonder how those with student loans feel about starting to make payments again? How about those who will see the Feddle Gummint coming after them for defaulting on the loan payments they hadn’t made prior to those payments being suspended by the Department of Education in 2020 “due to Covid”?
I have to wonder if the latter were hoping they wouldn’t have to pay back their loans in light of Biden’s unconstitutional loan forgiveness move? Heck, it shouldn’t be a surprise that even those who haven’t defaulted feel the same way.
I’ve been listening to the debate between those who believe student loans should be forgiven and those who don’t. Despite what the first group wants, those loans do have to be repaid but they will be repaid by the American taxpayers. That’s you and me, boys and girls. It’s ironic that some of those loans paid for useless college degrees that qualified the recipients to be baristas at Starbucks, bartenders, Uber or Lyft or DoorDash drivers, convenience store clerks, or wait staff and those who took the loans owe as much as some people owe on their mortgages. It’s equally ironic that those holding those degrees could have worked those same jobs without a degree and without the 6-digit loan debt that went that degree. They also would have had 4 years more earnings if they hadn’t wasted those four years studying for their useless degree.
I have to lay some of the blame for this on the colleges and universities that created many of the useless courses of study as so many of them saw the oceans of cash made available by the student loan programs and wanted some of it.
==+++++==
Umm...really?
It appears that Israel had supernatural help overcoming Iran’s defenses which allowed it to prevail in its recent 12-day war with Iran as well as the success with the US taking out Iran’s nuclear facilities, at least according one senior Iranian official. That help?
Jinn. (Link may be paywalled.)
How did Israel, a country of fewer than ten million people, prevail in the recent twelve-day war over the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has nine times more people and thirty times more land than Israel? A senior Iranian official, Abdollah Ganji, who formerly headed a daily newspaper, Jovan, that was a primary mouthpiece of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), is convinced that it wasn’t simply a story of Israel’s having a superior strategy, better weaponry, and help from the U.S., with its bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities. Ganji contends that the Israeli secret weapon had supernatural help, and not the good kind.So we’ve been wasting hundreds of billions of dollars on defense spending when we could have been using the jinn, aka genies, to defend ourselves?
Iran International reported Friday on what Ganji called “a strange phenomenon.” Ganji claimed that “after the recent war, several pieces of paper were found on the streets of Tehran containing talismans with Jewish symbols." Uh-oh. And as if that weren’t enough, he added: "A few years ago, the Supreme Leader said that hostile countries and Western and Hebrew intelligence services use occult sciences and jinn beings for espionage."
Indeed he did. Back in March 2020, the Ayatollah Khamenei told his countrymen in a televised address that the Islamic Republic was facing “enemies from among both jinn and human beings.” This apparently inspired a good deal of ridicule, as Iran International notes that “the quote was later removed from some official transcripts.”
Another prominent Iranian ayatollah, Hojatoleslam Mehdi Karami, said in Oct. 2024: “Given the Zionists’ history of controlling jinn, many of their missions are carried out through them.”
Yeah. Right.
==+++++==
This doesn’t surprise me in the least.
I’ve been hearing the stories about the problems that are occurring for those wishing to rebuild their homes in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton areas of Los Angeles that were devastated by the fires that destroyed thousands of homes an businesses. Permitting is taking a long time and can cost $20,000 or more, a cost that isn’t always covered by insurance. Insurance payouts have been iffy as so many homeowners lost their insurance prior to the fires. But don’t worry, Governor Newsom has the answer!
Slums! Or as I saw it written in the linked post “Gentrification in reverse.”
Six months after the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires, California Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled $101 million in funding Tuesday for “multifamily low-income housing development” that will “contribute to a more equitable and resilient Los Angeles.” The priority is for “geographic proximity to the fire perimeters of the Eaton, Hughes, and Palisades fires.”So by using county level income data rather than neighborhood level income data, California taxpayers will be on the hook to build low income housing in areas that used to have million and multimillion dollar homes. Does this mean that some of the former homeowners will be lucky to lose only a portion of the value of their homes rather than all of it?
--snip--
California state law and a local Los Angeles ordinance require fire-destroyed rent-protected housing — which includes all apartments in the city built before October 1978 — be replaced with low-income housing. Because the affordability requirements use county-level income data, not more local incomes, definitions for “low” and “very low” income housing reflect much lower incomes than the norm for the affluent Palisades community.
--snip--
What a beautiful locale to build an equitable slum at public expense.
To qualify as Supportive Housing Multifamily Housing, a project must provide at least 40% of its units for the homeless, or individuals who have spent at least 15 days in “jails, hospitals, prisons, and institutes of mental disease.”
As the article states, does this mean “California has succumbed to the Democrat Death Spiral”? It certainly seems so as government at the state and city levels appear to have been doing everything they can to make sure California becomes unaffordable and unlivable.
==+++++==
Better late then never.
It appears the UK newspaper The Telegraph has discovered that wind farms don’t work when the wind doesn’t blow.
This is something Germany discovered both during heat waves and cold spells when there wasn’t much wind that wind could not be counted on to provide needed electricity. Britain is finding out during the recent heat wave that wind farms cannot be counted on to provide electricity when it is most needed. (It actually isn’t the first time, it’s just the most recent one.)
It isn’t just in Europe that this lesson is being learned.
Texas found out during one particular cold snap a few years ago that their huge wind farms in west Texas couldn’t provide power because the cold affected the wind turbines, particularly when the blades on some of the turbines needed to be de-iced before they could be used, which meant they couldn’t be used as they had no means of doing so. At times there also wasn’t much in the way of wind to turn the turbines in any case. Call it another lesson that is being ignored by the climate change cult.
==+++++==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where thunderstorms are in the forecast, another heat wave is on its way, and where we’re trying our best to ignore Monday.
7/12/2025
Friday Funny (Saturday Edition) - Men Are Simple
Yes, I did not post this last night as I have a great excuse - I was at the Rod Stewart concert at our nearby venue last night. The concert was part of his farewell tour.
Now, without further ado:
Now, without further ado:
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