Joe Boyles: Guest Columnist
Editor’s Note: “Stray vectors” is the author’s byline for random thoughts and rhetorical questions on the current scene.
A recent study shows that government workers outnumber those in manufacturing by nearly 10 million. The net effect is that we are making less stuff that people actually use and more regulations instead. Somehow, I don’t see this as a recipe for success.
Global Warming update: Antarctic sea ice has not shrunk in the century since man first began to explore the South Pole. I’m sure there is a logical explanation for this.
In the “Fight for $15” (minimum wage), McDonald’s has responded with self-service kiosks. The kiosks aren’t organized and don’t have a position on minimum wage. Wasn’t it Isaac Newton who said that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction?”
California has passed a law to regulate bovine flatulence, a source of methane. Watch the state’s dairy industry move to adjacent states and read the above quote from Isaac Newton.
A Texas man is under arrest for assaulting another with a golf club. Apparently there was a breach of golfing etiquette involved prior to the assault. I’m looking through my rule book now to find the proper rule for striking another player with a golf club.
Remember how I have railed against the growth of the Federal government in this column? A new study shows that the four richest counties in the United States based on income are suburbs of Washington.
New evidence of a war on Christianity in Germany where more than 50 religious statues have been defaced. While police have not yet arrested anyone for the crimes, previous suspects were all Middle Eastern immigrants. So much for religious tolerance.
So Belk’s hosted a bowl game in Charlotte last month and gave each player on both teams a gift card worth $450 to shop in one of their department stores. But that wasn’t good enough for the Arkansas tight end who decided to shop lift another $260 worth of merchandise. He didn’t play. Pretty rude, don’t you think?
The active ingredient in chilies, capsaicin, may be effective in killing cancer cells. Viva! Pass the guacamole, por favor.
So-called “smart highways” will be expensive for states to build but have the potential to reduce costly accidents on highly congested freeways. Maybe the insurance companies can help implement this new technology.
We all have “pet peeves,” little things that get under our skin. One of mine is people who leave shopping carts in the middle of a parking lot without having the respect for others to return them to the cart collection area. How inconsiderate of others. Think for a moment about the poor bottom-of-the-wage scale employee who has to go around and collect the carts because of other’s laziness.
United Van Lines report that moves from New York outnumber those moving to the Empire State by 2 to 1. #getoutofdodge.
I’m told that President Obama has used the 1906 Antiquities Act to designate 533 million acres (roughly three times the size of Texas) such as the Bear’s Ears in Utah as protected wilderness. I hear the people who live there are not very happy about this land-grab. Can Congress unwind this thing?
More than 95 million Americans are out of the labor force. That figure is 18 percent greater than when President Obama took office 8 years ago. Is this the “new normal” or can a new administration reduce the number and help more people join the workforce? Stay tuned.
The arraigning judge greeted the four accused Chicago kidnapper/torturers of a disabled young man with this question: Where is your decency? I would have put it slightly differently: Where is your humanity?
In related news, ISIS has released a video showing a 7-year old boy beheading a captive man. Face it folks: evil exists on earth.
France is experiencing a new exodus. French Jews are departing their homeland in record numbers because they fear for their safety. Many are going to Israel while others are immigrating to America. Europe and France in particular, is experiencing a huge problem with assimilating Muslim immigrants. That should serve as a warning for us.
Did you see the Tri-County Electric newsletter published last week and CEO Julius Hackett’s opening letter about solar cooperatives? Pretty interesting. Looks as if the solar business is becoming more economically viable.