Odds and ends number 114
Since I'm using the concept from monoblogue, I'm keeping the numbering system, too. Here are thinner slices of bloggy goodness.
It only took me six months this time. But since it’s Thanksgiving weekend and news is sort of slow, I figured the e-mailbox needed a fall cleaning.
Giving a crap
I was actually nicer than they were, but I’m citing a recent post from Indivisible promoting “Giving a shit Tuesday” because two things jumped off the page.
As you know, fundraising has been down across the board for progressive organizations this year, at a time when we’re planning all the work we need to do to defy the polls and restore our trifecta in 2024.
Now they’re so full of crap their eyes are brown. Democrats and their allies outspent conservative interests in this most recent offyear election, so they’re getting money from someplace - most likely those whose back is scratched by taxpayer dollars laundered their way.
We’ve got a record of Biden accomplishments to sell, and we’ve got to sell them.
And there’s the second load of crap, unless you count the massive redistribution of money from our collective productive-class pockets to various connected or favored beggars and hangers-on as an accomplishment. These are the people who count a reduction in inflation (that they caused) and creating part-time jobs with earning power so skimpy everyone needs two as things to crow about.
Yet people believe them; I guess because they also believe “orange man bad.” It’s a definite conundrum because Republicans are the only ones who believe Trump can beat Biden and Democrats are salivating over a Biden-Trump rematch because they think it’s the only chance they’ve got. Whoever has their hands up Biden’s back must be grinning ear-to-ear at the prospect since history has a tendency to repeat itself.
Bonus item: Indivisible is also “stepping back” from X, so Elon Musk must be living rent-free in their heads. Says the group, “there’s little hope of it doing anything but becoming a more toxic, dangerous cesspool of hate and disinformation ill-suited for progressive organizing.” In other words, we can’t win the battle of ideas there so we’ll go to an information silo to keep our minions enslaved. Take your ball and go home.
Somebody’s lying here
Recently I received a relatively comprehensive report on gun ownership from the admittedly interested party of ammo.com. But one statistic I had a hard time believing was that Delaware has just 6.1 guns per 1,000 people. Unless I’m misreading it, that means a state which has a decent-sized hunting population is woefully unarmed. (We may or may not have some of that 6.1 ourselves, just in this household. Pulling our weight.) While it’s not bottom of the barrel, Delaware’s total is a far cry from Wyoming’s 245.8 guns per 1,000 people. (Don’t mess with Wyoming.)
I guess it’s 6.1 guns per 1,000 people who will admit to it or who will tell someone taking a survey they have no guns when they actually own an arsenal. That seems more likely.
Coming to Delaware
Some years ago I worked for a home builder, and one thing I noticed after a few months there was that we sold a LOT of our homes to out-of-state residents. It appears that trend has accelerated, according to the Caesar Rodney Institute:
Last year, CRI published a migration analysis showing Delaware’s inbound and outbound migration trends over a decade. Focusing on inbound migration, our May 2022 analysis implied that only retirees were moving to Delaware. But let’s test this insight and look at other “key factors” that might make a family want to move to Delaware (i.e. wealth accumulation, wealth preservation, and educated children).
Delaware’s inbound migration data has been updated with the most recent data through 2021. Delaware is gaining most of its new residents (91.1%) from only four States: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland.
I’ll cut to the chase: in those three areas CRI tests we aren’t any better than the states they came from.
In our pursuit to understand migration motives to Delaware, CRI's analysis aligns with our May 2022 findings, underscoring that Delaware's inbound migration is predominantly retirees who are looking to stay near their family while taking advantage of low relative real estate taxes.
In short, Delaware's inbound migration is dominated by retirees. The economic and tax implications of this trend are enormous. (Emphasis mine.)
As I said, most of the homebuyers I saw were older and came from out-of-state. They sold their $700k house in the aforementioned states, bought a nicer home close by the beach in Sussex County for $350k, and lived off their capital gains and retirement savings, enjoying the tax-free shopping and low property taxes for which Delaware is known. They also created a lot of mediocre-paying service jobs - except in healthcare, something which they need plenty of - and gave a tax burden to the rest of us by voting the same way that they did back home.
Questioning the “science”
While we have a General Assembly that claims to follow the “science,” something tells me they won’t listen to an academic with a science background. A Better Delaware’s David Legates quickly lowered the boom on our majority party’s elected officials because they ignore one reality:
Greenhouse gases are called “trace gases” for a reason — they make up very little of the dry atmosphere by volume… Moreover, these gases are not pollutants; in fact, an increase in carbon dioxide has been a huge benefit to the entire planet. Over the last forty years, the majority of the planet has greened significantly. Simply put, carbon dioxide is plant food—commercial greenhouses increase carbon dioxide concentrations by a factor of about four to enhance plant growth as plants grow faster under higher carbon dioxide concentrations. In addition, plants use water more efficiently when carbon dioxide concentrations are higher. But the Delaware General Assembly has labeled these gases as pollutants and has prescribed that we take draconian steps to curb their production. (Emphasis in original.)
Never let science get in the way of a good narrative, right? I seem to recall reading somewhere that, because of the layout of land mass, a little bit of global warming would be a good thing because it would drive the line of viability for grain crops further north into the upper reaches of Canada and Siberia - a significant base of land mass.
The REAL reason we are getting these mandates is to promote dependence on government and to enhance their power. I’m sure the elites will have plenty of electricity while we try to get by around the rolling blackouts required by an unreliable renewable energy system - and, as an added bonus, it would restrict our freedom to travel in ways having an ICE car would not.
Government would like nothing better than to cram us all into “15 minute” cities, the better to keep us in check and in line.
But I’ll plug away as long as I can on a site I’m trying to keep “ill-suited for progressive organizing.” (Get the idea I like that concept?)
One last quick link
I read a piece by my friend
this morning that you should read, too. He lives out West where the buffalo roam and the government controls, only one of which is Constitutional. (Hint: it’s the one that existed before the settlers arrived.) So check this out.
Until next time, remember you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.
Michael, as always, your posts are informative and entertaining. Thanks much for the mention.