Bullheaded Texan's "Open Thread"

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Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 1:33pm

Mexifornia, land of the mandatory solar panels.
10:41 am 5/7/18 Jazz Shaw
Thinking of building or purchasing a newly constructed home in Mexifornia?
Even assuming you can somehow afford to own one in one of the most brutal real estate markets in the country, get ready for the cost to go up further.
The state government is preparing to pass a new law which will mandate that every new house, condo or other building up to three stories high must have solar panels installed and comply with a “net-zero energy” profile!
This means that they have to produce enough of their own solar power to offset all electricity off the grid and natural gas consumed over the course of a year.
Even more remarkably, they want everyone to be in compliance in under two years. What this will do to the Mexifornia real estate market, esp. for low-income homeowners remains unknown.
Yikes: Two internal polls show Don Blankenship leading in WV on eve of Senate primary
Mexifornia is on the verge of making solar standard on virtually every new home built in the Golden State!
The Mexifornia Energy Commission is scheduled to vote Wednesday, May 9, on new energy standards mandating most new homes have solar panels starting in 2020. If approved as expected, solar installations on new homes will skyrocket.
Just 15 to 20% of new single-family homes built include solar, according to Bob Raymer, technical director for the Mexifornia Building Industry Association.
“Mexifornia is about to take a quantum leap in energy standards,” Raymer said. “No other state in the nation mandates solar, and we are about to take that leap.”
Some people clearly like the idea of generating their own power from solar energy, assuming they can afford the upfront costs.
There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. If you live in a very sunny area you might be able to make your home largely self-sufficient.
That’s a choice for the individual buyer to make and the free market to react to accordingly.
When the state steps in and mandates it for virtually every new home, somebody is about to make a lot of money!
One representative of the Mexifornia Solar and Storage Association, a solar energy lobbyist group, is quoted as complaining that the new rules still don’t go far enough.
So if you live in Mexifornia and are looking to buy a newly constructed home, what does this mean to you?
Even state representatives admit that the solar panels and other “net-zero” requirements will increase the construction costs of a single family home by $25,000 to $30,000.
They insist that the solar energy can actually produce a net savings for the homeowner, but it will be at least a decade before most people reach the break-even point.
Additional costs include more insulation, more efficient windows and other thermal containment features.
Officials are saying there are exceptions built into the mandate, but will they be enough?
Not everyone lives in an area that gets sun for nearly the entire year. Some are in the shade of canyons and other natural structures, while others may be dwarfed by surrounding buildings.
They’re never going to reach that net-zero goal.
It also means that pretty much everyone will need to go to electric heating instead of other, environmentally friendly options like natural gas.
Not everyone likes electric heat, particularly if it means you have to run a humidifier all the time.
This all adds up to yet more expensive govt. mandates which are going to make a handful of people very, very wealthy!
Will the last person to leave Mexifornia please turn off the lights? -- if you still have enough power to keep your lights on!

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 1:14pm

Parkland shooter WAS referred to PROMISE program; Also from Rubio: Told you so!
10:01 am May/7/18 Ed Morrissey
Was Nikolas Cruz, the man who killed 17 in a rampage in a Parkland, Florida high school, put into a deferred-action program called PROMISE after committing earlier offenses?
No, said Robert Runcie, superintendent of the school district. No, no, no, no, no. Well, actually … yes, yes he was!:
Broward reversal: Yes, Parkland shooter was referred to PROMISE program;
Also from Rubio: Told you so!
Broward school district officials admitted Sunday that the confessed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School gunman was assigned to a controversial disciplinary program, after the superintendent repeatedly claimed Nikolas Cruz had “no connection” to the alternative punishment designed to limit on-campus arrests.
Two sources with knowledge of Cruz’s discipline records told WLRN he WAS referred to the so-called PROMISE Program for a three-day stint after committing vandalism at Westglades Middle School in 2013.
When asked for a response, a spokeswoman for Superintendent Robert Runcie stated on Friday that district administrators were aggressively analyzing Cruz’s records. Tracy Clark said on Sunday afternoon the district had “confirmed” Cruz’s referral to PROMISE after he vandalized a bathroom at the middle school on Nov. 25, 2013.
WLRN’s Jessica Bakeman reminds readers and listeners that Runcie had unequivocally stated just a month ago that Cruz had NEVER been part of the PROMISE program. Runcie further accused those of deliberately creating a “fictitious narrative” who pointed at the program as the reason why both the school district and the Broward County Sheriff had never referred Cruz for prosecution despite dozens of interventions with the troubled and dangerous student:
“Let me reiterate this point,” Runcie started off during an interview in his office last month. “Nikolas Cruz, the shooter that was involved in this horrific accident at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, had NO connection to the PROMISE program.”
During the same conversation, Runcie said: “I’m not going to allow a shift from what our focus needs to be to a fictitious narrative that’s being made up about a successful program that we have in Broward Co. that has no connection to the shooter or the situation at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.”
We’re getting fictitious narratives, all right, but it’s not coming from critics.
Almost ever since the shooting ended, both the school district and the sheriff has been pointing fingers away from themselves and misleading the public about the number of opportunities they had to address the danger from Cruz!
Now we find out that not only did Runcie mislead people again, but that Cruz HAD been in that program more than four years prior to the shooting.
Students have repeatedly said that Cruz’ problems escalated during his years in school, and both the school district and sheriff’s office continued to conduct interventions. And yet, even with the failure of the PROMISE referral, they didn’t do one thing that could have kept Cruz from obtaining a weapon, they never prosecuted him for crimes or have him committed for observation.
Instead, they stood around and watched Cruz’ danger develop into a deadly time bomb that could have been defused at nearly every turn — or at least contained.
Marco Rubio is not happy about the lies!:
How many more lies are being told by Broward County public officials?
The father of one of the victims wonders, too, and also wonders why this information got released on a Sunday-via Twitchy:
The prevarications alone surrounding this program should be enough to put an end to it. And they should be enough to put an end to the public careers of those who attacked critics as fabulists while either being too incompetent to check their records first or flat-out lying through their teeth!

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 12:15pm

Your Safe, Moral Boy Scouts Alternative Is …
join Trail Life USA.
Sep.16th.2013
It was Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 6, 2013. The huge hall was overflowing, the convention sold out. Over 1,200 attendees, with many spilling out into the foyer, eagerly awaited the announcement. What would this safe, moral and non-sexualized alternative to the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) look like?
With a stirring introductory video came the answer:
“Trail Life USA” would now endeavor to “be the premier national character development organization for young men, which produces godly and responsible husbands, fathers and citizens.”
The reveal, eagerly anticipated by hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of Americans was met with rousing cheers!
“Our mission is simple and clear,” came the official mission statement, “to guide generations of courageous young men to honor God, lead with integrity, serve others and experience outdoor adventure.”
A brief summary from the new scouting-like organization’s website (TrailLifeUSA.com) reads as follows:
“Most males want exciting outdoor adventure with their friends. We’ve got that! Trips and travel? That, too. Camping. Check. Physical and mental challenge? Yep. And awards? Of course!
“Trail Life USA is a Christian adventure, character and leadership movement for young men.
The K-12 program centers on outdoor experiences that build a young man’s skills and allow him to grow on a personal level and as a role model and leader for his peers.
Living the Trail Life is a journey established on timeless values derived from the Bible.”
Countless men and boys who once called themselves “Boy Scouts” will now proudly bear the title of “Trailman.”
Back in May, millions of Americans were shocked and saddened when the BSA inexplicably bowed to left-wing political pressure and became something it had never before been: a hyper-politicized, aberrantly sexualized petri dish for social and sexual experimentation.

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 12:13pm

2)
Created in 1910 to “prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes,” the BSA, on May 23, 2013, tragically voted to welcome into its ranks “open and avowed” homosexuality (boy-on-boy sexual attraction and behavior), thereby disavowing the “morally straight” Scout Oath its members have been sworn to uphold for over a century.
Even worse, the BSA effectively waived the only legal defense it once had to preclude openly homosexual Scout leaders and gender-confused girls from its ranks: religious and moral conviction.
The BSA was forced to capitulate to sexual extremists’ political demands and allow homosexual adults – men who define their identity based upon carnal appetites for other males – to take your boys on overnight camping trips.
Once that happens, Trail Life USA will be the life raft for the multitudes.
Those who abandon the fast-sinking BSA ship will have a safe place to land.
The group has released a must-see video explaining both the history of Trail Life USA and the BSA’s tragic and financially driven cave-in to extremist political groups, hard-left corporate donors and the mainstream media.
Oh, but what a faithful Lord we serve! We are reminded in Romans 8:28, “that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Trail Life USA is indeed good. It has indeed been called according to His purpose.
And it will never waver.
In a recent interview on “WallBuilders Live” radio, John Stemberger, an Eagle Scout, lawyer, pro-family advocate and Trail Life USA’s acting board chairman, addressed the BSA tragedy and the resulting birth of this exciting new principled alternative: “Sometimes things have to die before there’s a new birth and it comes back better than before. And even our Lord went through that process,” he said.
Regrettably, the usual left-wing suspects have attempted to smear Trail Life USA by labeling it “anti-queer.” Trail Life is simply pro-purity.
As Christians, the group’s leadership has chosen to obey and follow Christ’s “I do not condemn you … From now on sin no more” example on sexual immorality – all sexual immorality – be it adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior or any other sexual sin explicitly identified in Scripture.
Trail Life’s Membership Standards state, without equivocation, “The basis for the program’s ethical and moral standards are found in the Bible.
In terms of sexual identification and behavior, we affirm that any sexual activity outside the context of the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman is sinful before God and therefore inconsistent with the values and principles of the program.
“Within these limits, we grant membership to adults and youth who do not engage in or promote sexual immorality of any kind, or engage in behavior that would become a distraction to the mission of the program.”
Under the heading “Purity,” the group’s Statement of Faith & Values states:
“Members are called to live a life of holiness, being pure of heart, mind, word and deed, reserving sexual activity for the sanctity of marriage;
marriage being a lifelong commitment before God between a man and a woman.”
“Real men value truth over tradition,” Stemberger told the cheering convention crowd. “Real men value principle over program, and they value integrity over institutions.”
The BSA has lost its integrity!
It has chosen the almighty dollar over the best interests of the boys it once served so well.
Now you have a choice.
"An oak has died, but a new seed buds."
I pray you’ll water that new seed.
I pray you’ll choose Trail Life USA.

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 11:30am

An Eagle Scout Explains the Fatal Folly of Taking the ‘Boy’ out of Boy Scouts.

 May/7/18 12:01 AM

 The first time I walked into a Boy Scout meeting as a boy of eleven...

 A group of ten or so boys around my age and older were gathered ar...

 “Want to give it a shot?” the Scoutmaster was looking at me and holding the axe out, handle first. Before walking over and taking it I tentatively looked at my dad, who pursed his lips and nodded approvingly. “Safety first,” the bearded man cautioned before he proceeded to show me how to cut the wood without cutting off any fingers in the process. As I performed that simple exercise, I remember thinking how neat it was to be trusted to wield what could be a pretty dangerous tool, and the responsibility made me feel bigger than my eleven years.

 Most of all I remember how doing what I perceived as “man-stuff,” surrounded by men and other boys, made me feel at least a little bit more like a man.

 Those moments began what was to be a seven year adventure and the most significant non-school element of my pre-teen and teen-aged life.

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 11:27am

2)

 They were years filled with lots of “boy-stuff” under the watchful supervision of caring men and the camaraderie of other boys. Canoeing alone on a lake. Building campfires. Barely passing the ridiculously hard swim test at summer camp so I wouldn’t be the only kid not allowed on the water. S’mores. Dump cake. Hobo packets. Campfire stories. Games, teasing, and general rowdiness. Sleeping alone in the middle of the woods as a part of the Order of the Arrow Ordeal. Peeling myself out of a semi-warm sleeping bag on a freezing February morning in 1986 to watch Haley’s Comet pay a rare visit to Earth’s orbit. Picking up and sorting food for the hungry as a part of our annual food drive. Lugging a wooden sled across town to compete with other troops in Scouting skills contests, all of which involved plenty of cool “boy-stuff” like tying knots and building things.

 There was a lot of “doing” in Scouting!

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 11:25am

3)

 In Scouting, progressing from rank to rank felt like it meant something, and I knew that becoming an Eagle Scout would be something I would cherish the rest of my life. Neil Armstrong was an Eagle Scout. So was former President Ford and our then-Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander.

“Former Scouts have walked on the Moon, become President, and won the Heisman Trophy,” said President Reagan at a luncheon commemorating the group’s 75th anniversary in 1985. “Today they serve as Cabinet Secretaries, as my Press Secretary, and in the Congress. In fact, about two-thirds of the Members of the Congress have been in the Boy Scouts.”

I was proud to be a Scout, prouder still to earn my Eagle rank just before my 18th birthday.

But of course, as we all know, once social justice warriors gets their slimy tentacles into something their thirst is never quenched until that something is entirely destroyed, and such has it been with Boy Scouting ever since its clueless national leaders began leading the organization down that perilous cliff. From openly gay scout leaders to transgender members to just last Wednesday, when the organization officially announced a name change to Scouts BSA because, well, Boy Scouting isn’t just for boys anymore.

 “We’re trying to find the right way to say we’re here for both young men and young women,” said hapless Boy Scouts Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh. Because everyone is the same, don’t you know. Because little boys and little girls are, as far as today’s liberals are concerned, identical to each other in every possible way except a few ‘easily changeable’ body parts.

 Of course, anyone with half a brain knows that boys and girls are different, but reason and common sense has never stopped a rabid social justice warrior from wanting to impose their twisted view of reality on the rest of us.

 Ironically, their attack on Boy Scouting has also hurt the other group founded by Baden-Powell and his sister, Agnes - Girl Scouts. Though the decision to allow girls was applauded by various progressive and feminist groups, Girl Scout representatives themselves are less than amused. "The Boy Scouts' house is on fire," Girl Scouts told ABC News in a statement last October when the decision to allow girls was first announced. "Instead of addressing systemic issues of continuing sexual assault, financial mismanagement and deficient programming, BSA's senior management wants to add an accelerant to the house fire by recruiting girls."

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 11:24am

4)
 From openly queer scout leaders to transgender members to just last Wednesday, when the organization officially announced a name change to Scouts BSA because, well, Boy Scouting isn’t just for boys anymore.

 “We’re trying to find the right way to say we’re here for both young men and young women,” said hapless Boy Scouts Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh. Because everyone is the same, don’t you know. Because little boys and little girls are, as far as today’s liberals are concerned, identical to each other in every possible way except a few ‘easily changeable’ body parts.

 Anyone with half a brain knows that boys and girls are different.

 The stupid liberals HAVE to impose their twisted view of reality on the rest of us.

 Ironically, their attack on Boy Scouting has also hurt the other group founded by Baden-Powell and his sister, Agnes - Girl Scouts.

 Though the decision to allow girls was applauded by various liberal and feminist groups, Girl Scout representatives themselves are less than amused! "The Boy Scouts' house is on fire," Girl Scouts told ABC News in a statement last October when the decision to allow girls was first announced.

  "Instead of addressing systemic issues of continuing sexual assault, financial mismanagement and deficient programming, BSA's senior management wants to add an accelerant to the house fire by recruiting girls."

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 11:23am

5)

 The ultimate goal was always the same. The Boy Scouts of America started in 1910 as a way to promote good citizenship and Christian morality, two years after Sir Robert Baden-Powell founded the movement in England. “We aim for the practice of Christianity in their everyday life and dealings, and not merely the profession of its theology on Sundays,” Baden-Powell wrote in Scouting For Boys.

 The iconography was, in many instances, literally Norman 'Rockwellian,' from the chivalry of a crisply uniformed boy saluting the American flag or helping an old lady across the street to the Native American symbolism incorporated into the Order of the Arrow rituals.

 From the ceremonies to the symbols to the reading materials and skills learned - all were meant to teach, to prepare, but most of all to endear a heartfelt respect for our Creator, our family, our country, our environment, and the world around us.

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 11:22am

6)

 Imagine, girls wanting a place to come of age and be themselves without the immaturity and awkwardness of 'gross boys'. Imagine, girls wanting to do "girl-stuff."

  Sure, some of this “boy and girl stuff” overlaps. Obviously, girls can canoe, camp out, and do pretty much anything a boy can, if she wants. But whether it’s a sports team or Boy or Girl Scouting, groups formed based on gender can provide a healthy, nurturing place for kids to come of age, not suppressing their God-given instincts and preferences but rather celebrating them and learning how to express themselves and function socially within the training wheels of those of their own gender.

 Because try as liberals might to erase it, gender is and will always be important.

 “The benefit of the single-gender environment has been well-documented by educators, scholars, other girl- and youth-serving organizations,” writes the Girl Scout blog, and they couldn’t be more on point.

 Check out this list of advantages of single-sex schools, a privilege only available to the rich. Sports teams provide similar life experiences, of course, but that wouldn’t have been an option for 80’s me.

 Sadly, ‘2018 everybody’ will no longer have the option, at least as far as Boy Scouting is concerned. I am grateful for Scouting and what it meant to me growing up. I am also angry at what liberals have turned the group into, as well as the fact that, a decade from now, it very likely won’t exist.

 Because tragically, the Boy Scouts’ stubborn march to ‘inclusivity’ at any cost has managed to gut the organization of what made it special in the first place, which inevitably reminded me of this key quote from the movie The Incredibles - 

 “If everyone is special, no one is.”

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