I caught a few moments of last night's Screen Actors Guild Awards. Not that I had planned to watch it as I didn't even really know it was on. I just happened to see it after the missus and I finished watching an episode of The Crown on Netflix.
Coincidentally, the portion of the awards show I caught had just announced the winner for Best Male Actor in a series, that being John Lithgow for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in The Crown. It's why I hadn't immediately switched channels when I realized what it was.
After watching his brief acceptance speech which included a dig at Donald Trump, I kept watching for a few more moments only to see follow-on award recipients spouting their bit of political rhetoric as well. That's when I realized that it was nothing more than a Hollywood political hatefest masquerading as an awards show. Can these folks really be so clueless as to not understand that darned near no one gives a rat's ass what they think, particularly about politics? Most of America does not agree with their Progressive bleeding heart Everyone-Not-Them-Is-An-Evil-Fascist political beliefs.
But they will, of course, continue on believing that the rest of us hang on every word that comes pouring out of their mouths simply because they make their livings making make-believe in front of a camera. Most of them only sound intelligent because that's how the screenwriters wrote their characters. In real life they ain't so bright.
It's also quite evident that I'm not the only one who noticed this.
I don't believe the Hollywood elite understand that the only thing they are convincing anyone about is their irrational hatred of anyone who isn't them or has the audacity to disagree with them. That's how they drive fans away and make Hollywood appear to be nothing but a land of irrational political hacks who make their living playing other people.
Could it be that's why increasing amounts of movie and TV production has been leaving California for friendlier climes? Maybe Glenn Reynolds is right - It's time to repeal the Hollywood tax breaks.
1/30/2017
1/29/2017
Thoughts On A Sunday
There still some adjustment to being temporarily semi-invalided, primarily things that are usually easy to do when able to use both legs. But when one of them is immobilized, simple things become difficult, take more time, and sometimes require the assistance of another person.
Frankly, it's a pain in the butt.
At least I am still able to work, though I am relegate to doing so from home as I have not yet been cleared to return to my place of employment. Being able to work from home is keeping me semi-sane as I think I would be climbing the walls if I didn't have work to keep me busy.
Attending meetings is more difficult, but not impossible. Between teleconference bridges and Skype, I have been able to attend what few meetings I've been required to attend.
But I still would rather be able to be at work. Working from home is okay on an occasional basis, but as an every day things it isn't what it's cracked up to be.
If The Left Didn't Have Double Standards They'd Have No Standards At All.
The brouhaha over Trump's use of an executive order to put a 3 month moratorium on immigration from seven Muslim countries has the Left's knickers in a twist. But we didn't hear a damn thing from them when Obama did exactly the same thing for six months for immigration from Iraq. What's ironic is that Trump used the list created by the Obama Administration to generate his Executive Order.
Let's face it, the vetting process for refugees from those seven countries has been poor at best. Better processes need to be in place. That Trump's EO affected people who were already resident aliens of long standing was one heck of an oversight on his and his staff's part, but it has since been corrected.
Is there a method to Trump's madness?
Why, yes. Yes there is.
Driving the MSM and their elite masters insane.
Sounds good to me.
My friend Skip Murphy has the right of it, showing us the results of believing in multiculturalism.
Then again I've always believed multiculturalism was merely a means of Balkanizing a nation and recreating the very ethnic and cultural problems many of the people fled their old countries to get away from to begin with.
All 'forced' multiculturalism has ever done is divide people, create hate and distrust, and eventually violence.
Yet another useless solution to a non-existent problem.
And to think that both tuition dollars and federal funds go to pay for this friggin' nonsense. What's worse is that there are actually people out there who think this crap is important.
To paraphrase Jack Nicholson as The Joker, “What this college campus needs is an enema.”
Nolan Finley, a columnist at The Detroit News asks a most appropriate question of the elites: “What have the so-called elites, particularly those in the media, learned since Nov. 8?”
From what I can tell, absolutely nothing. They still don't understand why Donald Trump won on election day. They don't understand why Middle America finally said “Enough!” They cannot conceive that anyone would not elect their anointed champion and would instead choose someone from outside their circle.
They are incapable of even thinking that, with all of their collective knowledge of what is good for the rest of us, they just might be wrong.
As much as Mister Finley tries to explain why they lost, I doubt anyone among the elite will understand as it is outside their ken.
That's their problem. I am not about to enlighten them.
I remember watching the WGBH/PBS series The Machine That Changed The World that documented the creation and evolution of computers up until what was then present day (1992). One of the things mentioned briefly during that series and in articles in magazines such as Scientific American was the concept of ubiquitous computing, meaning computers becoming so numerous and so small that they became almost invisible. If we haven't reached that point, we have certainly come close.
But it appears that one of the forces driving us to that point may have come close to reaching immutable physical limits, that being reaching the end of Moore's Law which has seen the power and speed of computer CPUs doubling approximately every two years.
Of course there's a caveat in that assumption that we will soon 'run out of road', that being that traditional electronics presently used for CPUs. But what if CPUs stop employing electrons? What happens when photons or quantum states are used to perform the functions previously done by the switching of electron flows?
All bets are off, that's what happens. Moore's Law may reassert itself.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where winter is still trying to assert itself, the woodpile is shrinking slower than expected, but where we're still seeing average snowfall.
Frankly, it's a pain in the butt.
At least I am still able to work, though I am relegate to doing so from home as I have not yet been cleared to return to my place of employment. Being able to work from home is keeping me semi-sane as I think I would be climbing the walls if I didn't have work to keep me busy.
Attending meetings is more difficult, but not impossible. Between teleconference bridges and Skype, I have been able to attend what few meetings I've been required to attend.
But I still would rather be able to be at work. Working from home is okay on an occasional basis, but as an every day things it isn't what it's cracked up to be.
*****************
If The Left Didn't Have Double Standards They'd Have No Standards At All.
The brouhaha over Trump's use of an executive order to put a 3 month moratorium on immigration from seven Muslim countries has the Left's knickers in a twist. But we didn't hear a damn thing from them when Obama did exactly the same thing for six months for immigration from Iraq. What's ironic is that Trump used the list created by the Obama Administration to generate his Executive Order.
Let's face it, the vetting process for refugees from those seven countries has been poor at best. Better processes need to be in place. That Trump's EO affected people who were already resident aliens of long standing was one heck of an oversight on his and his staff's part, but it has since been corrected.
*****************
Is there a method to Trump's madness?
Why, yes. Yes there is.
Driving the MSM and their elite masters insane.
Sounds good to me.
*****************
My friend Skip Murphy has the right of it, showing us the results of believing in multiculturalism.
Then again I've always believed multiculturalism was merely a means of Balkanizing a nation and recreating the very ethnic and cultural problems many of the people fled their old countries to get away from to begin with.
All 'forced' multiculturalism has ever done is divide people, create hate and distrust, and eventually violence.
*****************
Yet another useless solution to a non-existent problem.
And to think that both tuition dollars and federal funds go to pay for this friggin' nonsense. What's worse is that there are actually people out there who think this crap is important.
To paraphrase Jack Nicholson as The Joker, “What this college campus needs is an enema.”
*****************
Nolan Finley, a columnist at The Detroit News asks a most appropriate question of the elites: “What have the so-called elites, particularly those in the media, learned since Nov. 8?”
From what I can tell, absolutely nothing. They still don't understand why Donald Trump won on election day. They don't understand why Middle America finally said “Enough!” They cannot conceive that anyone would not elect their anointed champion and would instead choose someone from outside their circle.
They are incapable of even thinking that, with all of their collective knowledge of what is good for the rest of us, they just might be wrong.
As much as Mister Finley tries to explain why they lost, I doubt anyone among the elite will understand as it is outside their ken.
That's their problem. I am not about to enlighten them.
*****************
I remember watching the WGBH/PBS series The Machine That Changed The World that documented the creation and evolution of computers up until what was then present day (1992). One of the things mentioned briefly during that series and in articles in magazines such as Scientific American was the concept of ubiquitous computing, meaning computers becoming so numerous and so small that they became almost invisible. If we haven't reached that point, we have certainly come close.
But it appears that one of the forces driving us to that point may have come close to reaching immutable physical limits, that being reaching the end of Moore's Law which has seen the power and speed of computer CPUs doubling approximately every two years.
Of course there's a caveat in that assumption that we will soon 'run out of road', that being that traditional electronics presently used for CPUs. But what if CPUs stop employing electrons? What happens when photons or quantum states are used to perform the functions previously done by the switching of electron flows?
All bets are off, that's what happens. Moore's Law may reassert itself.
*****************
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where winter is still trying to assert itself, the woodpile is shrinking slower than expected, but where we're still seeing average snowfall.
1/28/2017
Lessons To Be Learned From The Discovery Of Metallic Hydrogen
We've heard about it from time to time in scientific journals. It's played parts in some science fiction novels and movies. Now it appears it may finally come to fruition.
It seems someone may have managed to create metallic hydrogen.
While many of you may not understand what metallic hydrogen is, think of it as the hydrogen version of a diamond. A diamond is a version of carbon that is hard, metastable, and consists of a single interlocked crystalline structure. Metallic hydrogen is a metastable, solid form of hydrogen that will rmeain solid even at room temperature and pressure. It is extremely dense, is superconducting at room temperature, and, if it can be massed produced, used as fuel for spacecraft that will allow for faster and more economical space travel.
But what I find to me more interesting is the reaction from the scientific community, much of which is skeptical. That there are skeptics that physicists Isaac Silvera and Ranga Dias mamaged to create metallic hydrogen is not unexpected. In fact, such skepticism should be welcomed, and is a necessary part of the scientific method. That Silvera nd Dias themselves have some doubts about whether they have actually created metallic hydrogen rather than liquid hydrogen is merely another step in the process of scientific discovery.
It is as colleagues and skeptics review their work and attempt to recreate it that the true power of the scientific method shows itself. If others are able to recreate their results it shows that there was no error in their method. If follow on analysis shows that they indeed manage to create metallic hydrogen, it will blow the lid off of the energy industry. If, however, neither Silvera and Dias or their colleagues can recreate the experiment and its results, then the claim will be relegated to “the ash heap of history”, just as it should be. That's how it's supposed to work.
Too bad that many involved in another area of science, specifically climate science, are either unwilling or unable to follow the same process in regards to the many times renamed Anthropogenic Global Warming, leaving many holes in the claims that man is solely responsible for any of the climate change that has taken place over the past 200 years or so. So much of it is based upon faulty, incomplete, or 'adjusted' data, global circulation models that are so defective they haven't even come close to matching the actual results measured and observed, and a total unwillingness to entertain that there other factors involved that are likely to have a larger effect on climate than human activity. To attempt to silence skeptics, the very people they need to validate or invalidate their hypotheses, they have left the realms of science and have entered one of dogma and unquestioning faith. That's not science. That's religion, and woe be to the heretic or blasphemer!
It seems someone may have managed to create metallic hydrogen.
While many of you may not understand what metallic hydrogen is, think of it as the hydrogen version of a diamond. A diamond is a version of carbon that is hard, metastable, and consists of a single interlocked crystalline structure. Metallic hydrogen is a metastable, solid form of hydrogen that will rmeain solid even at room temperature and pressure. It is extremely dense, is superconducting at room temperature, and, if it can be massed produced, used as fuel for spacecraft that will allow for faster and more economical space travel.
But what I find to me more interesting is the reaction from the scientific community, much of which is skeptical. That there are skeptics that physicists Isaac Silvera and Ranga Dias mamaged to create metallic hydrogen is not unexpected. In fact, such skepticism should be welcomed, and is a necessary part of the scientific method. That Silvera nd Dias themselves have some doubts about whether they have actually created metallic hydrogen rather than liquid hydrogen is merely another step in the process of scientific discovery.
It is as colleagues and skeptics review their work and attempt to recreate it that the true power of the scientific method shows itself. If others are able to recreate their results it shows that there was no error in their method. If follow on analysis shows that they indeed manage to create metallic hydrogen, it will blow the lid off of the energy industry. If, however, neither Silvera and Dias or their colleagues can recreate the experiment and its results, then the claim will be relegated to “the ash heap of history”, just as it should be. That's how it's supposed to work.
Too bad that many involved in another area of science, specifically climate science, are either unwilling or unable to follow the same process in regards to the many times renamed Anthropogenic Global Warming, leaving many holes in the claims that man is solely responsible for any of the climate change that has taken place over the past 200 years or so. So much of it is based upon faulty, incomplete, or 'adjusted' data, global circulation models that are so defective they haven't even come close to matching the actual results measured and observed, and a total unwillingness to entertain that there other factors involved that are likely to have a larger effect on climate than human activity. To attempt to silence skeptics, the very people they need to validate or invalidate their hypotheses, they have left the realms of science and have entered one of dogma and unquestioning faith. That's not science. That's religion, and woe be to the heretic or blasphemer!
1/22/2017
Thoughts On A Sunday
It's been another quiet weekend here at The Manse. While normal chores were taken care of, there hasn't been much in the way of the unusual, except maybe for getting ready for the playoff game between the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
I wish I could say I'd be watching the game with family and friends, but it will be just me and the feline contingent come game time. Deb is at work and BeezleBub will be watching the game with Red Head Girl at one of the local sports bars with some of their friends.
Trump's election has certainly been a wake-up call for a lot of people, primarily Democrats. So many of them cannot understand why Hillary lost. They don't understand how it is so many people voted for Trump. They also never bother asking anyone who supported Trump why they voted for him, instead listening to their fellow Democrats bleat on and on about how bigoted/racist/sexist/Hitlerian Trump voters had to be.
It all came down to rural versus urban folk, with the rural folks finally reaching the 'Network' point where they screamed at the top of their lungs “I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!”
They were tired of being looked down upon by their self-anointed 'betters' in the cities, labeled as inbred hicks, and in some cases seeing folks 'from away' moving into their little towns and destroying what little was left of their way of life and telling the natives how they had to live their lives. They were tired of being ignored and with one voice said “Enough!” at the ballot box.
It got so heavy that some rural areas with a large population of folks from away found themselves in shock when Hillary lost and Trump ascendant. Red State America descended upon their little liberal enclaves and they aren't sure how it came to be.
Maybe they'll pay attention now.
So, anarchists hung Trump in effigy in Dallas?
Big freakin' deal.
As more than a few folks commented on to this post, anarchist should be careful what they wish for because they could get it...because they'll be screwed as they'll be some of the first to die when anarchy reigns. The rest of us will make sure of that.
A bacon toaster!
Mmmm...bacon!
People keep saying that Trump has divided the country. But those same people forgot who it is who really divided our nation.
A hint: He just finished out his second term this past Friday and is now on vacation.
By way of GraniteGrok comes this photo which illustrates the truth about feminism and equality:
Indeed. The Second Amendment has done far more than the Woman's March or those participating could ever hope to do.
The Patriots beat the Steelers in Foxborough, winning the AFC Championship, 39-15. The Patriots will meet the Atlanta Falcons in Houston in two weeks for SuperBowl 51.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it's been warm enough during the day to not need the woodstove, another Nor'Easter is on the way, and where the days are all starting to run together.
I wish I could say I'd be watching the game with family and friends, but it will be just me and the feline contingent come game time. Deb is at work and BeezleBub will be watching the game with Red Head Girl at one of the local sports bars with some of their friends.
*****************
Trump's election has certainly been a wake-up call for a lot of people, primarily Democrats. So many of them cannot understand why Hillary lost. They don't understand how it is so many people voted for Trump. They also never bother asking anyone who supported Trump why they voted for him, instead listening to their fellow Democrats bleat on and on about how bigoted/racist/sexist/Hitlerian Trump voters had to be.
It all came down to rural versus urban folk, with the rural folks finally reaching the 'Network' point where they screamed at the top of their lungs “I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!”
They were tired of being looked down upon by their self-anointed 'betters' in the cities, labeled as inbred hicks, and in some cases seeing folks 'from away' moving into their little towns and destroying what little was left of their way of life and telling the natives how they had to live their lives. They were tired of being ignored and with one voice said “Enough!” at the ballot box.
It got so heavy that some rural areas with a large population of folks from away found themselves in shock when Hillary lost and Trump ascendant. Red State America descended upon their little liberal enclaves and they aren't sure how it came to be.
Maybe they'll pay attention now.
*****************
So, anarchists hung Trump in effigy in Dallas?
Big freakin' deal.
As more than a few folks commented on to this post, anarchist should be careful what they wish for because they could get it...because they'll be screwed as they'll be some of the first to die when anarchy reigns. The rest of us will make sure of that.
*****************
A bacon toaster!
Mmmm...bacon!
*****************
People keep saying that Trump has divided the country. But those same people forgot who it is who really divided our nation.
A hint: He just finished out his second term this past Friday and is now on vacation.
*****************
By way of GraniteGrok comes this photo which illustrates the truth about feminism and equality:
Indeed. The Second Amendment has done far more than the Woman's March or those participating could ever hope to do.
*****************
The Patriots beat the Steelers in Foxborough, winning the AFC Championship, 39-15. The Patriots will meet the Atlanta Falcons in Houston in two weeks for SuperBowl 51.
*****************
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it's been warm enough during the day to not need the woodstove, another Nor'Easter is on the way, and where the days are all starting to run together.
1/21/2017
The Fix Is In
Like many others, I watch the inauguration and all of the pomp and circumstance that went with it. Not that I was glued to the TV for hours on end rather than having it on more as background as I worked at my normal job from the laptop while at home.
I did switch from news outlet to news outlet, listening to the difference in commentary from the various talking heads. I found that in general much of the commentary was dark and somewhat negative from the usual suspects (ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, etc.) and positive to neutral from Fox. In other words, nothing unexpected.
But as I watched the hours of coverage a small niggling idea grew into something I could not ignore. The thought kept running through my head, something that was, looking back on it, cynical.
The thought:
I was overly optimistic as it took about 20 hours after Trump took the oath before some talking head stated that Trump had already failed the nation due to his choices for various cabinet positions.
Twenty frickin' hours.
These a**holes have totally lost their minds.
I did switch from news outlet to news outlet, listening to the difference in commentary from the various talking heads. I found that in general much of the commentary was dark and somewhat negative from the usual suspects (ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, etc.) and positive to neutral from Fox. In other words, nothing unexpected.
But as I watched the hours of coverage a small niggling idea grew into something I could not ignore. The thought kept running through my head, something that was, looking back on it, cynical.
The thought:
How long before someone calls the Trump Presidency a failure?I thought it might be a week, maybe two at tops.
I was overly optimistic as it took about 20 hours after Trump took the oath before some talking head stated that Trump had already failed the nation due to his choices for various cabinet positions.
Twenty frickin' hours.
These a**holes have totally lost their minds.
1/19/2017
CNN Suggests Assassination Of Trump
It figures.
The even lamer CNN has posited a means of keeping the Obama Administration in power: assassinate Donald Trump and Mike Pence during the inauguration, opening the door for one of Obama’s cabinet members to become President.
If CNN wasn’t already persona non grata with Trump, they certainly would be now. To think that a major news media outlet would promote the assassination of a president-elect in order to keep a morally bankrupt, corrupt, opaque, Constitution-hating, job-killing socialist administration in power shows us just how far the once responsible and respected news network has fallen. They now sound more like the propaganda ministry for a totalitarian government rather than a member of the Fourth Estate.
Should an attempt be made on Trump’s and Pence’s lives, CNN should be seen as co-conspirators and tried as such for fomenting such an action. As the saying goes, actions have consequences. Media should not be immune from their actions.
The even lamer CNN has posited a means of keeping the Obama Administration in power: assassinate Donald Trump and Mike Pence during the inauguration, opening the door for one of Obama’s cabinet members to become President.
If CNN wasn’t already persona non grata with Trump, they certainly would be now. To think that a major news media outlet would promote the assassination of a president-elect in order to keep a morally bankrupt, corrupt, opaque, Constitution-hating, job-killing socialist administration in power shows us just how far the once responsible and respected news network has fallen. They now sound more like the propaganda ministry for a totalitarian government rather than a member of the Fourth Estate.
Should an attempt be made on Trump’s and Pence’s lives, CNN should be seen as co-conspirators and tried as such for fomenting such an action. As the saying goes, actions have consequences. Media should not be immune from their actions.
1/18/2017
Spoiled Crybullies Effing It Up For Everyone
Listening to the growing list of artists and celebrities who are being cyberbullied out of attending or performing at the inauguration of Donald Trump, one has to wonder if we’ve lost an entire generation to the growing Progressive PC tyranny that is now well out in the open.
If the same tactics were ever used against any of these bullies, we would never hear the end of it. They would be accusing anyone employing their tactics against them of trying to deny them their right of free speech, or stifling ideas that disagree with theirs. Such is the double standard these spoiled children employ in their lives. It’s only OK if they do it, and not OK if anyone they don’t agree with does it. Some examples:
If reality even asserts itself among these poor folks, I expect a sudden increase in suicides and admittances to mental health institutions.
If the same tactics were ever used against any of these bullies, we would never hear the end of it. They would be accusing anyone employing their tactics against them of trying to deny them their right of free speech, or stifling ideas that disagree with theirs. Such is the double standard these spoiled children employ in their lives. It’s only OK if they do it, and not OK if anyone they don’t agree with does it. Some examples:
Speech they disagree with is ‘hate’ speech and shouldn’t be protected by the First Amendment. However when they use exactly the same language the same way it is protected by the First Amendment and they will scream it from the rooftops if they feel their rights are being violated.The examples are only a few of the type of ludicrously stupid things I have witnessed the crybullies doing, saying, and believing. The level of willful ignorance in these poor deluded fools never ceases to amaze me.
Enabling voting by fraud, allowing non-residents and non-citizens to vote, people to vote multiple times while working hard to makes sure citizens who belong to the opposition parties are dissuaded from voting by intimidation, ballot or identity fraud, and crippling transportation used to get voters to the polls. But asking for proof that one is eligible to vote and proving they are who they say they are is something that should be unconstitutional because it in some way prevents the poor and minorities from voting. (It doesn’t, and a large majority of those same “poor and minorities” support voter ID.)
Political groups on campus that agree with the Progressive party line are sacrosanct, but political groups that oppose any of the Progressive ideology are labeled as “hate groups” and any activities are protested and the college administration is bullied into severely limiting or outright banning activities and speech that are protected by the US Constitution. Much of the Progressive ideology is based entirely upon ‘feelz’ and not upon any recognized moral, ethical or legal code. It seems they believe that if it feels good it’s right, and if it doesn’t it’s evil. In other words, their belief in good and evil is fluid, flexible, and changeable at whim or at a shift in the political wind.
They decry and condemn Western Civilization, seeing all others as equally viable, if not superior to it. Even cultures that are so inherently evil, that treat half their population like chattel with no rights, have no problems executing members of the LGBTQ community in horrific and savage manners are seen as better. Yet it is Western Civilization that created much of what they see, including the laws that protect them, the technologies that they find so necessary to spread their corrupt ideas and beliefs, and the science that feeds them, clothes them, and succors them when they are ill or injured.
They demonize businesses and business owners as greedy exploiters while at the same time having no understanding about how businesses run. They see them as something to exploit whose only purpose is to provide them with jobs that pay them well above what they’re really worth. Then, when they lay heavier regulations and costs on them, they wonder why the either move or lay off workers, sometimes replacing them with machines, blaming the owners for being heartless capitalists for doing what was necessary to their businesses survive.
I think the biggest problem they have is that they really don’t understand is that for all of the wonderful things they fervently believe government should do for everyone they haven’t figured out that someone has to pay for it. If they have an inkling that someone has to pay for it, they always say “We’ll just tax the sh*t out of the rich” as if that will solve all the problems. But they don’t understand that if they take away all that money from the rich this year, there won’t be any money to take away next year. Then who pays for all the free sh*t the Progressives have been promising their drones?
If reality even asserts itself among these poor folks, I expect a sudden increase in suicides and admittances to mental health institutions.
1/15/2017
Thoughts On A Sunday
It's been another sedate weekend here at The Manse. There have been no major weather occurrences (other than warmer than average temps for a couple of day), nothing has broken or needed unexpected repairs (except me), and the New England Patriots beat the Houston Texans 28-13 last night in Foxborough.
That works for me, despite still hobbling around on crutches.
The whole kerfuffle between Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) and Donald Trump is starting to look more like two kids throwing down insults at each other during recess.
It sounds more and more like Lewis is still playing off his beating over 50 years ago at a civil rights march, as if his legitimacy carries through all these decades later. We certainly didn't see the Democrats give John McCain that kind of pass during his presidential run, seeing he'd been beaten and tortured for years by the North Vietnamese.
I guess it proves there are different rules for the different parties. Then, that's always been the Democrat's MO.
Now, on a more local issue, that being our tax dollars being spent in our local school system, I can say I am intimately involved with this particular issue and agree with the Chairman of our town's budget committee:
No.
Even if you don't live in New Hampshire, it's still worth Reading The Whole Thing.
As if things haven't gotten nasty enough with the upcoming Trump inauguration, it appears the rabid Progressives have decided they'll go full 'mob' on a number of performers, threatening them with injury or death if they perform at the inaugural.
So much for the so-called “Party of Tolerance.” Yet again their hypocrisy comes to light even as they try to claim the have that right under the First Amendment.
I'm sorry, but I am not aware of any exemption in the First Amendment that covers criminal threatening. Of course if they tried that with me I'd be making sure I exercise my Second Amendment rights to their fullest extent.
Bring it on, Progressive Fascists!!
Adrienne asks “Are rabid despicable libtards going to ruin the inauguration of duly elected president Trump?”
Of course they are...or at least they're going to try. That's what they do. That's what they always do. And more often than not, they get stomped for it, either directly or metaphorically. In either case, more than a few will pay dearly for their efforts. Let us hope that no one has to die from their blind stupidity.
Just for a change of pace, how about some climate news?
It appears the Black Sea resort of Burgas, Bulgaria has seen the the sea freeze for the first time since 1954. Temps were as low as -29ºC (-20ºF), temps they usually don't see in Bulgaria.
Of course it's all the fault of global warming.
(H/T Pirate's Cove)
Taking a quick step back to education, there has been a long running debate between the phonics and whole word method of teaching children how to read. Like most of my generation, we were taught to read using phonics. It let us sound out words we were unfamiliar with. David Starr experienced the same thing and lets us in on his thoughts about the debate.
And that's the abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where I am still under heavy meds, still stumbling along on crutches, and working from home for the next few weeks.
That works for me, despite still hobbling around on crutches.
*****************
The whole kerfuffle between Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) and Donald Trump is starting to look more like two kids throwing down insults at each other during recess.
It sounds more and more like Lewis is still playing off his beating over 50 years ago at a civil rights march, as if his legitimacy carries through all these decades later. We certainly didn't see the Democrats give John McCain that kind of pass during his presidential run, seeing he'd been beaten and tortured for years by the North Vietnamese.
I guess it proves there are different rules for the different parties. Then, that's always been the Democrat's MO.
*****************
Now, on a more local issue, that being our tax dollars being spent in our local school system, I can say I am intimately involved with this particular issue and agree with the Chairman of our town's budget committee:
“I am not impressed,” he said, adding the school district is paying “Cadillac prices for Yugo results.”We pay some of the highest costs per pupil in the state of New Hampshire, but our school regularly scores somewhere in the middle of the pack in regards to scholastic achievement. It would be cheaper for us to send all of our kids to a private school knowing they'd get a superior education. But the educrats and teachers union want even more money from us for what is mediocre performance.
No.
Even if you don't live in New Hampshire, it's still worth Reading The Whole Thing.
*****************
As if things haven't gotten nasty enough with the upcoming Trump inauguration, it appears the rabid Progressives have decided they'll go full 'mob' on a number of performers, threatening them with injury or death if they perform at the inaugural.
So much for the so-called “Party of Tolerance.” Yet again their hypocrisy comes to light even as they try to claim the have that right under the First Amendment.
I'm sorry, but I am not aware of any exemption in the First Amendment that covers criminal threatening. Of course if they tried that with me I'd be making sure I exercise my Second Amendment rights to their fullest extent.
Bring it on, Progressive Fascists!!
*****************
Adrienne asks “Are rabid despicable libtards going to ruin the inauguration of duly elected president Trump?”
Of course they are...or at least they're going to try. That's what they do. That's what they always do. And more often than not, they get stomped for it, either directly or metaphorically. In either case, more than a few will pay dearly for their efforts. Let us hope that no one has to die from their blind stupidity.
*****************
Just for a change of pace, how about some climate news?
It appears the Black Sea resort of Burgas, Bulgaria has seen the the sea freeze for the first time since 1954. Temps were as low as -29ºC (-20ºF), temps they usually don't see in Bulgaria.
Of course it's all the fault of global warming.
(H/T Pirate's Cove)
*****************
Taking a quick step back to education, there has been a long running debate between the phonics and whole word method of teaching children how to read. Like most of my generation, we were taught to read using phonics. It let us sound out words we were unfamiliar with. David Starr experienced the same thing and lets us in on his thoughts about the debate.
The point is, children need both phonics, for when they strike a new word, a common occurance at early ages, and the whole word method to become skillful readers. Whole word cannot be taught, it comes to children after they have been reading for a while. And to become good readers, children have to read.Indeed.
*****************
And that's the abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where I am still under heavy meds, still stumbling along on crutches, and working from home for the next few weeks.
1/13/2017
Oikophobia Rears Its Ugly Head
Glenn Reynolds writes about Oikophobia in his USA Today column. Oikophobia is defined as an “irrational fear of the familiar.”
In this case Ned Resnikoff, a senior editor for the Think Progress website, was left fearful and shaken after his plumber, a fellow he describes as “a perfectly nice guy and a consummate professional. But he was also a middle-aged white man with a Southern accent who seemed unperturbed by this week’s news,” repaired his clogged drain.
So he was terrified of his plumber, a hard working Middle American, because he might be thinking something about Resnikoff ? Yet what he was probably thinking about was getting the job done and moving on to his next customer. Some of these snowflakes like Resnikoff need to take a chill pill and stop thinking that everyone is as judgmental as he is. I think I can safely say that a very large majority of Middle America could care less about him or what he stands for. They just want to be paid for the work they've performed for him and little else. And should they actually be thinking 'something' about him it is likely because Mr. Resnikoff himself brought up the subject.
While I've seen oikophobia first hand, it hasn't been to the paranoid and wholly irrational level we've seen in Resnikoff and his fellow travelers. Around here, 'here' being New Hampshire, it's been seen in what we have come to call summah people and, their winter counterparts, ski people. While both are a small subset of the usual summer and winter visitors, they exhibit less obvious and more benign signs of the malady. These are usually limited to less than friendly side glances, snide sotto voce comments about the locals, or barely suppressed outrage at not being able to find some obscure foodstuff or liqueur that they can procure only from some exclusive shoppe in The Big City for an exorbitant price, and then only if you personally know the owner.
I have seen other less subtle signs when one of these snowflakes won't even consider hiring local tradesmen because they don't see them as competent, trustworthy, skilled enough, or worse, “they might steal something.” So they hire overly vetted tradesmen from The Big City to do the work instead, pay far more than the work is worth, and still end up with something with less quality than the locals would have provided. It's even worse when one of the folks “from away” (that's what we call folks who move here from out of state who haven't a clue about how things work out here in the country). On more than one occasion I have seen one of these oikophobes denigrate, disparage, and stiff local tradesmen to the point where none of them would ever work for these nutjobs again. Then they're forced to hire someone from The Big City because they can't find anyone local who will take on a job for them. Why would anyone take a job from one of those folks knowing it will be likely they won't get paid or will have to go to court in order to get paid for the work they've done? Or worse, they get sued by the oikophobe which ties things up in court for months or years before they get paid, if at all.
I know I have painted a very small percentage of the visitors and folks from away with a rather broad brush, but sometimes it is the only way to bring such problems to light. While we have no irrational fear of these precious snowflakes, they do tend to be an inconvenience or, dare I say, a pain in the ass. If nothing else, we pity them because the world they live in would be horrifying to anyone else in their right mind.
In this case Ned Resnikoff, a senior editor for the Think Progress website, was left fearful and shaken after his plumber, a fellow he describes as “a perfectly nice guy and a consummate professional. But he was also a middle-aged white man with a Southern accent who seemed unperturbed by this week’s news,” repaired his clogged drain.
So he was terrified of his plumber, a hard working Middle American, because he might be thinking something about Resnikoff ? Yet what he was probably thinking about was getting the job done and moving on to his next customer. Some of these snowflakes like Resnikoff need to take a chill pill and stop thinking that everyone is as judgmental as he is. I think I can safely say that a very large majority of Middle America could care less about him or what he stands for. They just want to be paid for the work they've performed for him and little else. And should they actually be thinking 'something' about him it is likely because Mr. Resnikoff himself brought up the subject.
While I've seen oikophobia first hand, it hasn't been to the paranoid and wholly irrational level we've seen in Resnikoff and his fellow travelers. Around here, 'here' being New Hampshire, it's been seen in what we have come to call summah people and, their winter counterparts, ski people. While both are a small subset of the usual summer and winter visitors, they exhibit less obvious and more benign signs of the malady. These are usually limited to less than friendly side glances, snide sotto voce comments about the locals, or barely suppressed outrage at not being able to find some obscure foodstuff or liqueur that they can procure only from some exclusive shoppe in The Big City for an exorbitant price, and then only if you personally know the owner.
I have seen other less subtle signs when one of these snowflakes won't even consider hiring local tradesmen because they don't see them as competent, trustworthy, skilled enough, or worse, “they might steal something.” So they hire overly vetted tradesmen from The Big City to do the work instead, pay far more than the work is worth, and still end up with something with less quality than the locals would have provided. It's even worse when one of the folks “from away” (that's what we call folks who move here from out of state who haven't a clue about how things work out here in the country). On more than one occasion I have seen one of these oikophobes denigrate, disparage, and stiff local tradesmen to the point where none of them would ever work for these nutjobs again. Then they're forced to hire someone from The Big City because they can't find anyone local who will take on a job for them. Why would anyone take a job from one of those folks knowing it will be likely they won't get paid or will have to go to court in order to get paid for the work they've done? Or worse, they get sued by the oikophobe which ties things up in court for months or years before they get paid, if at all.
I know I have painted a very small percentage of the visitors and folks from away with a rather broad brush, but sometimes it is the only way to bring such problems to light. While we have no irrational fear of these precious snowflakes, they do tend to be an inconvenience or, dare I say, a pain in the ass. If nothing else, we pity them because the world they live in would be horrifying to anyone else in their right mind.
1/08/2017
Thoughts On A Sunday
It was another sedate weekend here at The Manse, having missed the big snowfall that hit southern New England, dumping more than a foot of snow in some areas.
We got dusting, just enough to make the roads slick in some areas.
However we will be feeling the deep cold that will blanket the area over the next few days, with nighttime temps below zero. That means extra wood being loaded into the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove to keep things warm in The Manse.
As long as we remember that any group that isn’t a Progressive group is automatically a hate group, at least as far as the Progressive bigots at the University of Wisconsin – Madison are concerned.
Such is the intolerance of the oh-so-tolerant Left. Then again, they’re following Alinsky’s Rules, in this case accusing your opponents of what it is you yourself are doing. Remember, it’s always been the Leftists that have run concentration camps and “re-education” centers throughout history.
Speaking of Progressives, here’s a little political lecture that ought to help Hollywood Progressives cope.
If Progressives didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all.
I guess you can call this a twofer, or better yet, two examples of the Progressive disconnect from reality from the same Progressive business leader, in this case Melinda Byerley. Between openly showing her disgust and bigotry towards Middle America, calling it a “sh*thole filled with stupid people.” Yeah, that’s one way to win over the very people you dislike so intensely. Insult them with your ‘tolerant’ bigotry and expect them to conform to your idea of what they should be.
Then, to show just how open-minded and inclusive she is, she brags about hiring “only Native English speakers.”
One word describes this woman: hypocrite.
Ten Crazy Things That Offended College Snowflakes in 2016.
That list could be 100 times longer and it would barely scratch the surface of the snowflake insanity.
Will New Hampshire become the next Constitutional Carry state?
New Hampshire Senate Bill 12 (SB12) would remove the licensing requirement for carrying a concealed pistol or revolver.
New Hampshire would join its neighboring state of Vermont as another state that doesn’t require law abiding citizens to have a concealed carry permit to carry a concealed firearm.
I have to agree with David Starr’s sentiment on this, that being the decline and fall of Sears.
With Sears shedding itself of its famous Craftsman brand (selling it to Stanley/Black & Decker), closing another 150 stores, all while going deeper in debt. That doesn’t bode well for the company.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the deep freeze is upon us, the woodpile is getting smaller, and winter still has another two and a half months to go.
We got dusting, just enough to make the roads slick in some areas.
However we will be feeling the deep cold that will blanket the area over the next few days, with nighttime temps below zero. That means extra wood being loaded into the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove to keep things warm in The Manse.
*****************
As long as we remember that any group that isn’t a Progressive group is automatically a hate group, at least as far as the Progressive bigots at the University of Wisconsin – Madison are concerned.
Such is the intolerance of the oh-so-tolerant Left. Then again, they’re following Alinsky’s Rules, in this case accusing your opponents of what it is you yourself are doing. Remember, it’s always been the Leftists that have run concentration camps and “re-education” centers throughout history.
*****************
Speaking of Progressives, here’s a little political lecture that ought to help Hollywood Progressives cope.
*****************
If Progressives didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all.
I guess you can call this a twofer, or better yet, two examples of the Progressive disconnect from reality from the same Progressive business leader, in this case Melinda Byerley. Between openly showing her disgust and bigotry towards Middle America, calling it a “sh*thole filled with stupid people.” Yeah, that’s one way to win over the very people you dislike so intensely. Insult them with your ‘tolerant’ bigotry and expect them to conform to your idea of what they should be.
Then, to show just how open-minded and inclusive she is, she brags about hiring “only Native English speakers.”
One word describes this woman: hypocrite.
*****************
Ten Crazy Things That Offended College Snowflakes in 2016.
That list could be 100 times longer and it would barely scratch the surface of the snowflake insanity.
*****************
Will New Hampshire become the next Constitutional Carry state?
New Hampshire Senate Bill 12 (SB12) would remove the licensing requirement for carrying a concealed pistol or revolver.
New Hampshire would join its neighboring state of Vermont as another state that doesn’t require law abiding citizens to have a concealed carry permit to carry a concealed firearm.
*****************
I have to agree with David Starr’s sentiment on this, that being the decline and fall of Sears.
With Sears shedding itself of its famous Craftsman brand (selling it to Stanley/Black & Decker), closing another 150 stores, all while going deeper in debt. That doesn’t bode well for the company.
*****************
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the deep freeze is upon us, the woodpile is getting smaller, and winter still has another two and a half months to go.
1/07/2017
The Desperate Left
Reading the reactions to the intelligence reports about Russian hacking into the DNC's and Hillary's servers one would think it was the GOP who sanctioned it all. That the Russians apparently tried to do the same the RNC's servers was underplayed by the media, maybe because the the RNC had better security on their systems.
All I know is it seems the Democrats are trying every trick in the book to overturn Trump's election, and failing that, to gridlock every single action taken by him or GOP majorities in the House and Senate over the next few years. That smells of both desperation an an apparent belief that only the Left has any legitimacy in regards to governing the nation. Too bad the rest of America disagrees with them, particularly at state and local level.
Seeing the GOP holds a large majority of the governors' offices as well as one or both houses of state legislatures should be a clue that they are losing their grip on the reins of power. It doesn't help that they constantly look down upon the very people they wish to rule, make sure those people know they feel they are better suited to run their lives and insult them as they do so. Is it any wonder they've seen the number of seats they hold at the national and state level shrink?
Then again, it does show the difference between the indoctrinated and the educated. The Leftist elite are in one group and everyone else is in the other. That should be enough to explain a lot of it.
All I know is it seems the Democrats are trying every trick in the book to overturn Trump's election, and failing that, to gridlock every single action taken by him or GOP majorities in the House and Senate over the next few years. That smells of both desperation an an apparent belief that only the Left has any legitimacy in regards to governing the nation. Too bad the rest of America disagrees with them, particularly at state and local level.
Seeing the GOP holds a large majority of the governors' offices as well as one or both houses of state legislatures should be a clue that they are losing their grip on the reins of power. It doesn't help that they constantly look down upon the very people they wish to rule, make sure those people know they feel they are better suited to run their lives and insult them as they do so. Is it any wonder they've seen the number of seats they hold at the national and state level shrink?
Then again, it does show the difference between the indoctrinated and the educated. The Leftist elite are in one group and everyone else is in the other. That should be enough to explain a lot of it.
1/01/2017
Thoughts On A Sunday
It was a quiet and sedate New Year’s celebration here at The Manse. It was just Deb, me, BeezleBub, and Red Head Girl, along with the feline contingent present as we watched the ball drop at Times Square. I, for one, was glad to bid adieu to 2016.
Between the contentious campaigns for the White House, media misconduct and malfeasance, rogue government agencies, presidential overreach, and the insufferable bleating of the SJWs and coastal elites, 2016 was a year that I am glad that to see in the rear view mirror.
This is something I’ve been saying to the perpetually offended Social Justice Warriors ever since they made their appearance:
Skip Murphy offers the GOP some sage advice about how to repeal ObamaCare.
In my opinion it is brilliant in its simplicity.
The People’s Cube offers a list of 13 things that didn’t happen in 2016.
Of all the things on the list that I would have liked to see, I think Putin should have renamed Mother Russia.
(H/T Maggie’s Farm)
Then there’s Adrienne’s list of things she’d like to see disappear in 2017.
I agree with all of them.
Is there nothing fracking can’t do? According to anti-frackers, it causes cancer, contaminates drinking water, causes methane leaks, and triggers earthquakes.
Now there’s another issue to add to the list – it will make you deaf.
I’m just waiting for them to make the claim that it will make Deplorables vote for Trump. Oh, wait…
Is it time to sweep away LBJ’s Great Society programs seeing as they have had disastrous consequences? A lot of Democrats would fight that tooth and nail, knowing it helped create a captive voter demographic. Seeing that guaranteed voting bloc dissolved would be devastating to tax-and-spend Dems.
One of the biggest effects of LBJ’s programs was the destruction of the nuclear family in African American communities, with the further consequence of trapping generation after generation in poverty and perpetual dependence on government.
It’s time for the Great Society programs to go away and be replaced with something that works.
The New England Patriots play their final regular season game against the Miami Dolphins in Miami today. The Patriots have already locked in a first week playoff bye and are now playing to gain home field advantage for the playoffs.
It should be an interesting game.
And that’s the abbreviated New Year’s Day news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where cleanup from our foot of snow has come to an end, the sun has come out to help melt the last of the snow and ice from the roads, and where we’re planning for more inclement winter weather later in the week.
Between the contentious campaigns for the White House, media misconduct and malfeasance, rogue government agencies, presidential overreach, and the insufferable bleating of the SJWs and coastal elites, 2016 was a year that I am glad that to see in the rear view mirror.
*****************
This is something I’ve been saying to the perpetually offended Social Justice Warriors ever since they made their appearance:
You don’t get to determine whether or not I care if you’re offended.Amen.
*****************
Skip Murphy offers the GOP some sage advice about how to repeal ObamaCare.
In my opinion it is brilliant in its simplicity.
*****************
The People’s Cube offers a list of 13 things that didn’t happen in 2016.
Of all the things on the list that I would have liked to see, I think Putin should have renamed Mother Russia.
(H/T Maggie’s Farm)
*****************
Then there’s Adrienne’s list of things she’d like to see disappear in 2017.
I agree with all of them.
*****************
Is there nothing fracking can’t do? According to anti-frackers, it causes cancer, contaminates drinking water, causes methane leaks, and triggers earthquakes.
Now there’s another issue to add to the list – it will make you deaf.
I’m just waiting for them to make the claim that it will make Deplorables vote for Trump. Oh, wait…
*****************
Is it time to sweep away LBJ’s Great Society programs seeing as they have had disastrous consequences? A lot of Democrats would fight that tooth and nail, knowing it helped create a captive voter demographic. Seeing that guaranteed voting bloc dissolved would be devastating to tax-and-spend Dems.
One of the biggest effects of LBJ’s programs was the destruction of the nuclear family in African American communities, with the further consequence of trapping generation after generation in poverty and perpetual dependence on government.
It’s time for the Great Society programs to go away and be replaced with something that works.
*****************
The New England Patriots play their final regular season game against the Miami Dolphins in Miami today. The Patriots have already locked in a first week playoff bye and are now playing to gain home field advantage for the playoffs.
It should be an interesting game.
*****************
And that’s the abbreviated New Year’s Day news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where cleanup from our foot of snow has come to an end, the sun has come out to help melt the last of the snow and ice from the roads, and where we’re planning for more inclement winter weather later in the week.
12/31/2016
The EPA Wants You To Freeze To Death
Just when you think they couldn’t get any stupider…
Anyone paying attention to the Obama Administration over the past eight years has seen the overreach of various government agencies expand to the point of ridiculousness. A perfect example of such overreach is the EPA, a rogue agency that has come to believe it doesn’t need to follow the law, can ignore Federal and Supreme Court rulings with impunity, impose regulations that have not been authorized by Congress, and can ignore science when it is in opposition to the agency’s agenda.
The latest bit of regulatory insanity from the EPA has a likelihood of making sure a number of Americans in Alaska will die of the extreme cold seen there during the winter. How will the EPA pull that off?
By banning them from burning wood to heat their homes.
Of course the EPA’s fixation on preventing people from heating their homes with wood has even hit here in the lower 48, banning the resale of older but still serviceable woodstoves. If you decide to trade in your old woodstove for a new EPA-approved low emission, catalytic converter equipped, much more expensive woodstove, your old stove will be scrapped rather than resold even though it is still useable, perhaps by someone who cannot afford one of the new stoves but still needs to heat their home.
Then again, since when would an EPA bureaucrat care one whit about someone trying to keep their family warm in the depths of winter? We’ve certainly seen that with the action the EPA has taken in Alaska.
Anyone paying attention to the Obama Administration over the past eight years has seen the overreach of various government agencies expand to the point of ridiculousness. A perfect example of such overreach is the EPA, a rogue agency that has come to believe it doesn’t need to follow the law, can ignore Federal and Supreme Court rulings with impunity, impose regulations that have not been authorized by Congress, and can ignore science when it is in opposition to the agency’s agenda.
The latest bit of regulatory insanity from the EPA has a likelihood of making sure a number of Americans in Alaska will die of the extreme cold seen there during the winter. How will the EPA pull that off?
By banning them from burning wood to heat their homes.
…now comes the federal government to tell the inhabitants of Alaska’s interior that, really, they should not be building fires to keep themselves warm during the winter.Even though it doesn’t get quite that cold here in New Hampshire, or at least not for weeks at end, heating with wood is quite common here. While a number of people here use wood pellet stoves, most of us heating with wood use a woodstove. Yes, there are particulates in wood smoke, particularly when you first fire it up. But once it’s burning and up to temperature the smoke diminishes. I know I rarely see smoke coming from our chimney except right after I’ve added more wood. It heats well, is much less expensive than heating oil or propane. Natural gas isn’t available outside the few cities or larger suburbs. So those of us with limited means or frugal natures (or both) heat with wood. It is abundant. It is carbon neutral, if that’s important to you. It’s renewable. More importantly, it works even if there is no power, something that can happen during a blizzard or ice storm.
Like most people in Alaska, the residents of those frozen cities are burning wood to keep themselves warm this winter. Smoke from wood-burning stoves increases small-particle pollution, which settles in low-lying areas and can be breathed in. The EPA thinks this is a big problem. Eight years ago, the agency ruled that wide swaths of the most densely populated parts of the region were in “non-attainment” of federal air quality standards.
The problem is, there’s no replacement for wood-burning stoves in Alaska’s interior. Heating oil is too expensive for a lot of people, and natural gas isn’t available. So they’ve got to burn something. The average low temperature in Fairbanks in December is 13 degrees below zero. In January, it’s 17 below. During the coldest days of winter, the high temperature averages -2 degrees, and it can get as cold as -60. This is not a place where you play games with the cold. If you don’t keep the fire lit, you die. For people of modest means, and especially for the poor, that means you burn wood in a stove—and you keep that fire lit around the clock.
Of course the EPA’s fixation on preventing people from heating their homes with wood has even hit here in the lower 48, banning the resale of older but still serviceable woodstoves. If you decide to trade in your old woodstove for a new EPA-approved low emission, catalytic converter equipped, much more expensive woodstove, your old stove will be scrapped rather than resold even though it is still useable, perhaps by someone who cannot afford one of the new stoves but still needs to heat their home.
Then again, since when would an EPA bureaucrat care one whit about someone trying to keep their family warm in the depths of winter? We’ve certainly seen that with the action the EPA has taken in Alaska.
12/26/2016
Thoughts On A Sunday - Monday After Christmas Edition
Now that the hustle and bustle of Christmas has passed (and the hustle and bustle of gift returns and post-Christmas sales starts), I actually have a few minutes to put together this somewhat abbreviated Day-After-Christmas Thoughts On A Sunday.
While I didn’t have to travel, much of the rest of the WP Clan did. At this point it appears everyone got to where they were going and back home again without incident. I hope that is true for you half-dozen or so regular readers of this humble blog.
While being ensconced on the recliner and watching Fox News this morning, I found it interesting, though not unsurprising claim by the White House press secretary that the Obama Administration has been one of the most open and transparent administrations in American history.
The video clip with that pronouncement had barely concluded when a number of Fox commentators and liberal media pundits blasted the claim, with more than a few stating the Obama Administration had been one of the most closed, opaque, and obstructive administrations ever, with one or two stating the Nixon Administration was transparent in comparison to this one.
This also makes one wonder just how many last minute “Eff You” actions Obama will take prior to Donald Trump’s inauguration next month.
China has taken the next step in building its navy’s reputation, in this case having its new aircraft carrier steaming through the South China Sea.
Could the reason the Left are so fearful of the resurgence of the Deplorables is because they expect us to treat them the way they had planned to treat us?
I believe that is the case, something psychiatrists call projection. Too bad they don’t understand (or don’t care) that most of us just want to be left alone and not bothered by their utopian idea of Nanny State Socialism.
As Glenn Reynolds headlines a number of education posts, this is yet another example of the Higher Education Bubble.
When a high level college student with a 4.0 average at Kansas State University is dropping out because his belief that college is a scam and that he can learn more by starting his own business than wasting 4 years at college, that’s a danger signal to the institutions of higher learning that they aren’t providing what it is our kids need to make it in the real world.
It doesn’t help that we’ve been sold the lie that the only way we can get ahead is with a college education, and that the Uncle Sam has flooded the country with so much money to finance student loans. Between those two factors is it any wonder the higher education system is breaking down?
And that’s the abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’re recovering from the pre-Christmas shopping fatigue, the snow is falling now and then, and where there are still plenty of Christmas treats to eat.
While I didn’t have to travel, much of the rest of the WP Clan did. At this point it appears everyone got to where they were going and back home again without incident. I hope that is true for you half-dozen or so regular readers of this humble blog.
****************
While being ensconced on the recliner and watching Fox News this morning, I found it interesting, though not unsurprising claim by the White House press secretary that the Obama Administration has been one of the most open and transparent administrations in American history.
The video clip with that pronouncement had barely concluded when a number of Fox commentators and liberal media pundits blasted the claim, with more than a few stating the Obama Administration had been one of the most closed, opaque, and obstructive administrations ever, with one or two stating the Nixon Administration was transparent in comparison to this one.
This also makes one wonder just how many last minute “Eff You” actions Obama will take prior to Donald Trump’s inauguration next month.
****************
China has taken the next step in building its navy’s reputation, in this case having its new aircraft carrier steaming through the South China Sea.
Influential state-run Chinese tabloid the Global Times said the exercise showed how the carrier was improving its combat capabilities and that it should now sail even further afield.I would expect that when that day comes China will find it being shadowed by at least one US carrier group (the US Navy presently has 11 carrier groups), and more than one Los Angeles or Virginia class submarine.
“The Chinese fleet will cruise to the Eastern Pacific sooner or later. When China’s aircraft carrier fleet appears in offshore areas of the U.S. one day, it will trigger intense thinking about maritime rules,” the newspaper said in an editorial.
****************
Could the reason the Left are so fearful of the resurgence of the Deplorables is because they expect us to treat them the way they had planned to treat us?
I believe that is the case, something psychiatrists call projection. Too bad they don’t understand (or don’t care) that most of us just want to be left alone and not bothered by their utopian idea of Nanny State Socialism.
****************
As Glenn Reynolds headlines a number of education posts, this is yet another example of the Higher Education Bubble.
When a high level college student with a 4.0 average at Kansas State University is dropping out because his belief that college is a scam and that he can learn more by starting his own business than wasting 4 years at college, that’s a danger signal to the institutions of higher learning that they aren’t providing what it is our kids need to make it in the real world.
It doesn’t help that we’ve been sold the lie that the only way we can get ahead is with a college education, and that the Uncle Sam has flooded the country with so much money to finance student loans. Between those two factors is it any wonder the higher education system is breaking down?
****************
And that’s the abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’re recovering from the pre-Christmas shopping fatigue, the snow is falling now and then, and where there are still plenty of Christmas treats to eat.
12/25/2016
Thoughts On A Sunday
Due to the Christmas holiday and time with family, the usual TOAS post has been delayed until Monday,
12/24/2016
Leading Up To Christmas
In case you’ve noticed, posting has been a little sparse.
Much of it can be attributed to preparations for Christmas. Another part can be
attributed to the end of the year push at work.
Between people trying hard to make it home for Christmas and
the last minute shoppers crowding the stores, as well as inclement weather,
traffic has been heavy, making it difficult to get around.
Earlier this week an incident made it even more difficult to
get around. I wish I could say I was doing some manly task that caused my
injury. But I was merely bending over to put ice cleats on my boots in
preparation for spreading sand and ice melt at the bottom of our driveway.
As I started slipping the cleats on to my right boot, there
was a cracking sound and intense pain in my left knee. I had just ruptured the quadriceps
tendon. One fortunate thing – the pain dropped off to a dull ache after a few
minutes. The bad thing – I will have restricted mobility for the next few
months. That means not being able to clear the snow from our driveway, move
firewood from the garage to the woodbox in the living room, and in general
being relegated to a semi-invalid status. It also means making alternate
arrangements to get things done.
And how is your Christmas going?
12/18/2016
Thoughts On A Sunday
The latest winter storm made its way through New Hampshire, dropping about 6 inches of snow here at The Manse. Cleaning up was easy, making use of the Official Weekend Pundit Snowblower to move the snow out of the way. The driveway was quite passable after that.
However, the follow-on freezing rain last evening made it very difficult to make it up the driveway and out onto our road. So far I have not been able to get the trusty F150 4X4 more than 20 feet up the drive before losing traction, even with sand applied to the surface. (This is as of 11:10AM this morning.) I expect that with the rising temperatures and rain much if the sheet of ice that is our driveway will thaw to the point where making it up the 23% grade of our driveway will be possible.
Welcome to winter in New England.
I saw the TV ad where liberal/Progressive/lefty celebrities have demanded the Electors of the Electoral College to not vote for Donald Trump. They cover their asses by saying they don't have to vote for Hillary, but we know that's exactly what they want. After all, why should they care if they create a Constitutional crisis as long as they get their way? Then again, they've never really been fans of the US Constitution...unless it works in their favor.
Speaking of the Electoral College, there is actually a law professor, in fact the dean of the University of California Irvine Law School, who claims it is unconstitutional.
Really? Even though it is quite clearly spelled out in the Constitution itself, specifically Article II, Section 1 as amended by the Twelfth Amendment?
I must assume that this professor is one of those who believes the Constitution is a living document and needn't go through the amendment process to change it. A judge somewhere can declare parts of the Constitution null and void even though it is the supreme law of the land? Really?
Maybe this dean should be fired because it appears he has no use for our constitution or our laws derived therefrom.
Will burger-making robots be replacing humans at our local fast food joints should the minimum wage be raised to $15?
Maybe. Maybe not...at least not right now.
Save the Snowflakes!
After all, their feelings matter more...
And the hate keeps piling up, in this case, yet another hoax hate crime designed to discredit Trump and the Deplorables who voted for him.
Are you one of the folks that doesn't quite understand why raising the minimum wage, particularly when you double it, can hurt more people that it helps? Here's a handy video that explains why artificially raising the cost of labor always causes harm.
Who in their right mind would hire an inexperienced teen with no work history when they would have to pay $15 an hour? No one. That effectively locks out millions of teens from getting their first job.
The New England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos in Denver, clinching a first week bye in the playoffs.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we're dealing with icy roads, the last few days of Christmas shopping, and yet another premature return of Monday.
However, the follow-on freezing rain last evening made it very difficult to make it up the driveway and out onto our road. So far I have not been able to get the trusty F150 4X4 more than 20 feet up the drive before losing traction, even with sand applied to the surface. (This is as of 11:10AM this morning.) I expect that with the rising temperatures and rain much if the sheet of ice that is our driveway will thaw to the point where making it up the 23% grade of our driveway will be possible.
Welcome to winter in New England.
****************
I saw the TV ad where liberal/Progressive/lefty celebrities have demanded the Electors of the Electoral College to not vote for Donald Trump. They cover their asses by saying they don't have to vote for Hillary, but we know that's exactly what they want. After all, why should they care if they create a Constitutional crisis as long as they get their way? Then again, they've never really been fans of the US Constitution...unless it works in their favor.
****************
Speaking of the Electoral College, there is actually a law professor, in fact the dean of the University of California Irvine Law School, who claims it is unconstitutional.
Really? Even though it is quite clearly spelled out in the Constitution itself, specifically Article II, Section 1 as amended by the Twelfth Amendment?
I must assume that this professor is one of those who believes the Constitution is a living document and needn't go through the amendment process to change it. A judge somewhere can declare parts of the Constitution null and void even though it is the supreme law of the land? Really?
Maybe this dean should be fired because it appears he has no use for our constitution or our laws derived therefrom.
****************
Will burger-making robots be replacing humans at our local fast food joints should the minimum wage be raised to $15?
Maybe. Maybe not...at least not right now.
****************
Save the Snowflakes!
After all, their feelings matter more...
****************
And the hate keeps piling up, in this case, yet another hoax hate crime designed to discredit Trump and the Deplorables who voted for him.
****************
Are you one of the folks that doesn't quite understand why raising the minimum wage, particularly when you double it, can hurt more people that it helps? Here's a handy video that explains why artificially raising the cost of labor always causes harm.
Who in their right mind would hire an inexperienced teen with no work history when they would have to pay $15 an hour? No one. That effectively locks out millions of teens from getting their first job.
****************
The New England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos in Denver, clinching a first week bye in the playoffs.
****************
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we're dealing with icy roads, the last few days of Christmas shopping, and yet another premature return of Monday.
12/17/2016
The Continuing SJW War Against Small Businesses
As if we haven't seen enough small business bedeviled by small-minded Social Justice Warriors, there are now those that will do their best to damage the reputations of small businesses because their outrage is based upon a bald-faced lie. A case in point, a bakery outside the Oberlin College campus that was targeted after a 19-year old student from the august institution of higher learning was caught shoplifting two bottles of wine from the bakery by a shop employee.
The bakery's first reward: the employee, Allyn Gibson, being beaten by the shoplifter and two female accomplices.
The bakery's second reward: the SJW's on campus targeted the bakery, claiming it “had a history of discriminating against customers "of color."”
The SJW's should be called on the carpet for the false narratives they constant employ as justification for the their thuggish behavior, and dare I say, Mob-like activities. Maybe a few RICO prosecutions might get them to pay attention. Then again, maybe not. I believe that far too many of them are of the small-brain big-mouth variety of Progressive drones. I don't believe they're capable of learning anything but faux outrage.
The bakery's first reward: the employee, Allyn Gibson, being beaten by the shoplifter and two female accomplices.
The bakery's second reward: the SJW's on campus targeted the bakery, claiming it “had a history of discriminating against customers "of color."”
It gets worse. Leading the charge in the latest War on Small-Biz Bakeries is the Oberlin College dean of students, Meredith Raimondo, who joined the baying mob in bullying the Gibson family. She disseminated flyers libelously asserting that Gibson's is a "racist establishment with a long account of racial profiling and discrimination." Convicted in the crazy Oberlin College court of public opinion, the school refused to renew its longstanding daily order of donuts and bagels. For a small business with razor-thin margins, losing that order could be devastating.There's also the fact that the shoplifter, Jonathan Aladin, was underage in regards to possession of alcohol. That he felt it was perfectly okay to steal the alcohol he wasn't able to buy or consume legally had nothing to do with it, right? There's also the fact that 82.5% of all of the shoplifters arrested for stealing from the bakery were students at Oberlin should mean that the rest of the SJW's at Oberlin should be keeping their yaps shut.
Never mind that the "racism" charge is a brazen lie. As the police department pointed out, since 2011, there had been four robberies at the store including Aladin's, "and he was the only black person. There were 40 adults arrested for shoplifting in five years, and 32 were white. There were six adult black suspects arrested and two Asians, and 33 of the 40 were college students."
And never mind that Trey James, a Gibson's employee who is himself black, bluntly told the student newspaper that race had nothing to do with the incident. "If you're caught shoplifting, you're going to end up getting arrested," he told the Oberlin Review. "When you steal from the store, it doesn't matter what color you are. You can be purple, blue, green -- if you steal, you get caught, you get arrested."
The SJW's should be called on the carpet for the false narratives they constant employ as justification for the their thuggish behavior, and dare I say, Mob-like activities. Maybe a few RICO prosecutions might get them to pay attention. Then again, maybe not. I believe that far too many of them are of the small-brain big-mouth variety of Progressive drones. I don't believe they're capable of learning anything but faux outrage.
12/14/2016
Message To Maduro - Atlas Shrugged Is Not A How-To Manual
As we approach Christmas we come across Grinch who is working hard to steal Christmas toys from the kids of Venezuela.
In this case the government of Arturo Maduro, bus driver extraordinaire, decided to seize over 4 million toys from a toy distributor because the government “fair” pricing authority believed the owners were “promoting price speculation”. The government will hand out the seized toys to poor children in Venezuela. Of course these days almost every child in Venezuela is poor. The Chavistas made them poor.
While kids will get toys this Christmas, it is unlikely there will be any toys to be had next year. Why should anyone want to import toys knowing it is highly likely they will be stolen by the government...again. I can guarantee that the toy distributor, Kreisel, won't be bringing in any toys as it is quite possible they won't be in business much longer, at least not in Venezuela.
If that happens, I expect Maduro will blame the “greedy capitalists” for not ordering more toys to be stolen by the government. It won't matter to them that they drove the company out of business.
The more I read and hear about the government actions taking place in Venezuela, the more it proves that the people in power have absolutely no idea who economies work and figure they can just order factories to produce goods when they have no money to by raw materials, have no electricity to run the factories, or farmers to grow and harvest crops when there are no seeds, fertilizer, or pesticides to be had, particularly at the prices the government has set. Farmers can't sell their crops for what it cost them to grow and harvest them. Yet the government wonders why things keep getting worse.
I figure it's just a matter of time before Maduro issues the Venezuelan version of Directive 10-289.
Not that it will help.
In this case the government of Arturo Maduro, bus driver extraordinaire, decided to seize over 4 million toys from a toy distributor because the government “fair” pricing authority believed the owners were “promoting price speculation”. The government will hand out the seized toys to poor children in Venezuela. Of course these days almost every child in Venezuela is poor. The Chavistas made them poor.
While kids will get toys this Christmas, it is unlikely there will be any toys to be had next year. Why should anyone want to import toys knowing it is highly likely they will be stolen by the government...again. I can guarantee that the toy distributor, Kreisel, won't be bringing in any toys as it is quite possible they won't be in business much longer, at least not in Venezuela.
If that happens, I expect Maduro will blame the “greedy capitalists” for not ordering more toys to be stolen by the government. It won't matter to them that they drove the company out of business.
The more I read and hear about the government actions taking place in Venezuela, the more it proves that the people in power have absolutely no idea who economies work and figure they can just order factories to produce goods when they have no money to by raw materials, have no electricity to run the factories, or farmers to grow and harvest crops when there are no seeds, fertilizer, or pesticides to be had, particularly at the prices the government has set. Farmers can't sell their crops for what it cost them to grow and harvest them. Yet the government wonders why things keep getting worse.
I figure it's just a matter of time before Maduro issues the Venezuelan version of Directive 10-289.
Not that it will help.
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