Defund and depose the Democrat dimwits

Posted: June 30, 2020 by chrisharper in Uncomfortable Truths

By Christopher Harper

As Philadelphia slouches toward its new normal, city residents face myriad issues from police protection to garbage removal to exploding fireworks on a continuing basis to downed trees to….

You get the drift. Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Chief Danielle Outlaw—no kidding—apologized to demonstrators who were tear-gassed while blocking an interstate highway. 

The police have suspended the use of tear gas and pepper spray except when an officer faced an imminent threat of death! 

At least the police union got it right. “We’re apologizing to protestors? Protestors?” said FOP Lodge President John McNesby. “To the officers out there, the message is be careful. Call us if you need us. No one has your back.”

Although the city did not fire or furlough any workers, garbage pickup has generally been one or two days late. Recycling has been changed to once every two weeks. 

That’s unlikely to change, given an allegedly huge hole in the city budget. I know that my city income tax and real estate taxes didn’t decline during the pandemic. The tax on soda and other drinks goes on unabated. 

But the city did use its “forward-looking approach” to an urban environment by eliminating laws against using fireworks in Philadelphia. 

Since the first of the year, the city has had nearly 1,000 complaints about excessive noise from fireworks, but no prosecutions. With fewer police wanting to get into any confrontations over enforcing laws, it’s unlikely that the boom of summer evenings will dissipate anytime soon. 

In Kensington, a poor neighborhood in North Philly, veterans with PTSD have complained vociferously about the nightly barrages of fireworks. See https://billypenn.com/2020/06/23/its-the-first-year-fireworks-are-legal-in-philly-and-cops-have-gotten-nearly-1000-complaints/

Then there is the massive number of trees downed a month ago during a severe storm. Dozens litter my neighborhood in Northwest Philly. Residents pushed the branches aside, but the downed trunks require cranes and chainsaws. Some people got so tired of the junk on the sidewalks they paid thousands of dollars to cut up the trees that are technically on city property. 

It would be nice to consider a home outside of Philly, but the Democrat creeps in the suburbs have created significant increases in real estate taxes. 

So I’ll just have to sit back and watch the Democrats destroy what remains of a once-proud place.

One final note: At least I was able to get a haircut this week!

Quaint Mount Rushmore Reactions

Posted: June 30, 2020 by datechguy in elections, politics
Tags: , , ,

Last night after a trip to the reopened Funspot in NH (more on that later this week) got home and finally checked the net after a day of ignoring it (highly recommended) when the story broke of the democrats tweeting and then deleting this about a Donald Trump event scheduled for Mount Rushmore:

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

As you might expect they deleted it right away but not before it was screen grabbed and displayed for all too see.

I found both things rather quaint.

I particularly found it quaint that anyone would be surprised at this point by this opinion but beyond that…

I found it quaint that the democrats would delete the tweet as if they would actually pretend that this is not the opinion of their base

I found it quaint that the Democrats thought such a tweet could be deleted without notice.

I found it quaint that supporters of the President might thing, at a time when democrats are defending riots and arson nationwide might be embarrassed over hitting Mount Rushmore in a tweet.

But what I really find quaint is that at this point, with Democrat cities burning and preparing to jettison the police and promising more of the same that there are people actually undecided on how they will vote to the point where both sides might think this tweet will make any difference?

We Interrupt our normal Haranguing for the tale of a Sunday Trip to Pastime Pinball in Manchester Vermont

Posted: June 29, 2020 by datechguy in fun, pinball
Tags: , , ,

If there has been on thing there has not been a shortage of these days it’s news but thanks to Covid , CCP Wuhan Virus there has been a shortage of places to play Pinball.

If not said virus for the last 5 days I would be at the 6th Pintastic New England this year scheduled to be in Boxborough rather than Sturbridge but alas it was not to be however yesterday morning my youngest informed me of a newly opened pinball arcade in Manchester Vermont which is about a 2 1/4 hour drive from where I live. So as we both had vacation days already taken, after mass we jumped in the car and took the long trek through ski country (God knows how people drive on those mountain roads in the winte) and foliage country to Pastime Pinball in Manchester Vermont. Where we were met by the owner who was kind enough to give us the tour…

…which had to be briefly interupted as a pair of customers came in. Given that you have a choice of a pay one price to play till close or a half hour sampler (buy the day pass because you KNOW you aren’t going to be satisfied with 30 minutes) you don’t want to keep people waiting.

However once the customers had their lanyards and were off playing the tour resumed.

It’s a very nice place with a good selection of 60 games starting from the very 1st flipper game ever made to the Munsters which came out last year. But for me as they have the following six games

  • Black Knight
  • Adams Family
  • Indiana Jones
  • Theater of Magic
  • Lord of the Rings
  • Wizard of Oz

They pretty much have the best there is.

One of the most interesting things they have is an old EM game with the clear cabinet that people can see how the workings work. I filmed my son playing it:

We got in about 4 hours of gameplay and played most of the games there. They regularly disinfected the games and had signs asking people to space themselves with a two game distance and they enforce the mask rule. It was a great time.

Alas due to Covid the hours are limited

In a case of really bad timing they had litterarrly opened just before the virus hit and with Pintastic cancelled they lost a prime chance to promote their new business.

So if you are a pinball fan who didn’t get a chance to hit Pintastic NE this year take in the Get yourself up to Manchester VT on a Friday Saturday and Sunday and indulge your Pinball fix at Pastime Pinball.

Hopefully by the time the foilage and ski seasons come they’ll be open daily keep an eye on their site for developments.

Outside food is not allowed in but the dogs and drinks are good, however if you decide you want something more substantial when your done, might I suggest the Zoey’s Double Hex right down the road.

It’s a local family restaurant and it seemed like the servers and host knew every person who came in. The food was absolutely perfect.

It you need a day, away from news, away from political stuff and the current insanity and would like to support a small local business that has brought great pinball to this neck of the wood, take a leisurely drive up to Manchester VT and scratch that pinball itch you didn’t know you had.

Pats Pick up a Bargain Cam

Posted: June 28, 2020 by datechguy in Uncategorized

On my way back from Pastime Pinball in Manchester VT today (more on that tomorrow) my son took a peek at his phone and suddenly anounced that the Patriots had signed Cam Newton to a one year deal:

Newton has been a shell of himself for most of the past two seasons. First a shoulder injury, followed by surgery. Then a foot injury, followed by surgery that sabotaged his 2019 season and led to new Panthers coach Matt Rhule releasing him in April.

It is an incentive-laden deal worth up to $7.5 million and Newton will have all the incentive in the world to prove he can return an elite level and secure a monster free-agent contract for 2021 and beyond.

Here is what Giants cornerback James Bradberry told me in April about his former Panthers quarterback: “He’ll have a bigger chip on his shoulder than anybody in the league, I feel like. Everyone’s against him. I know he wants to prove all the doubters wrong.”

Now Cam Newton isn’t Tom Brady and he’s not expected to be, but if he manages to be Cam Newton that just might be good enough to get them to the playoffs and maybe beyond.

I would have rather have seen Brady, but given the kneeling and the rest of it I don’t care all that much either way, but it is interesting to note that Belichick traded one QB who is known to have a chip on his shoulder to motivate himself for another who would also be thinking the same thing.

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