Scenic pictures from Mrs. Wolves

Every November, Mrs. Wolves goes to a mountain resort in Pipestem, W.Va. Apparently, she finally decided what pictures are worthy of other people seeing (including me), as these showed up in my inbox the other day. And so I share them here, with the note that these were taken in November. We had snow here the other day, so I assume the mountains of West Virginia are already well-covered. But here you go:

It's a nice place.

Yeah, smiling at somebody getting in your face means you're a racist

Or, maybe not:

Just sayin'.

Alternate headline: California soon to have no pet stores selling dogs and cats

California has passed a law that went into effect Jan. 1 that requires pet stores to sell only rescue dogs and cats. Pet stores in California are not required to maintain records showing the shelter from which their dogs and cats were obtained. No breeder-provided felines or canines allowed, apparently, with a fine of $500 for each animal without shelter credentials.

Californians can still buy from private breeders, but given California's propensity to regulate everything, how long to you expect that to last?

Naturally, the American Kennel Club opposed the law and says the law makes it harder for people to buy puppies and kittens, which is what most prospective pet owners want to do. Shelter pets usually are given to shelter after they are puppies or kittens because people realize they don't want this animal.

I don't care, because I don't live in California and I always buy from breeders, anyway. Still, sucks to be in California. People who want purebreds will go to breeders, and people who want shelter animals will go to shelters rather than pay the premium that shelters would have to charge. Pet stores will be reduced to selling birds, lizards and fish in California. I'm guessing many of them won't last.

But it's for your own good, California.

Life in the wild, I guess

We have lots of backyard visitors. For instance, this hawk:

On the same day, however, we have backyard visitors who might not be thrilled by our other backyard visitors. Such as this very fat bunny:

I don't think the two met, because the hawk likely was smart enough to realize he couldn't lift that rabbit off the ground. Powerful argument against dieting. Unless, of course, your predator is bigger than a hawk.

Those damn, racist Southern crackers... oh, wait

Yeah, nevermind on the racist cracker part:

A middle school allegedly strip searched four young girls suspected of drug possession.
According to the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, 200 people attended the Binghamton school board meeting in New York on Tuesday to hear why the assistant principal and nurse at East Middle School allegedly forced four 12-year-olds to strip down to prove they weren’t carrying drugs.
On Jan. 15, the students made administrators suspicious by “appearing hyper and giddy during their lunch hour,” according to a letter written by principal Tim Simonds, according to the social justice organization Progressive Leaders of Tomorrow (PLOT).

Yeah, that would be Binghamton, N.Y.,  not Birmingham, Alabama. Weird. I thought only Southerners were racist.

Yeah, nobody could possibly have seen this coming

Unless, of course, you're asking whether I could have seen this coming, as I did here and here and here. And those aren't the only times I made the argument on this blog that dramatically increasing the minimum wage hurts minimum wage earners. Nonetheless, the wizards of smart in New York paid no attention to me. How's that working out for them? Not so great:

New York City’s minimum wage jumped more than 15 percent overnight on January 1, and employers are already cutting workers’ hours as a result.
CBS has the story.

Jon Bloostein operates six New York City restaurants that employ between 50 and 110 people each. The owner of Heartland Brewery and Houston Hall, Bloostein said the effect of the higher minimum wage on payroll across locations represents "an immense cost" to his business.
"We lost control of our largest controllable expense," he told CBS MoneyWatch. "So in order to live with that and stay in business, we're cutting hours."
Cutting hours was not Bloostein’s only option, one might say. And it’s true. But cutting hours was not the only option he took.
Bloostein also cut staff positions. For example, instead of being greeted by a host or hostess, customers are greeted by a sign. He also increased menu prices.
“[It] will cost more to dine out," Bloostein said. "It's not great for labor, it's not great for the people who invest in or own restaurants, and it's not great for the public."

Bloostein is just one restaurant owner, you might say. But he is not alone. A New York City Hospitality Alliance survey shows that 75 percent of restaurants said they planned to cut employees hours in response to the wage hike. Nearly half (47 percent) said they’d cut jobs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, tell me all about how people working for minimum wage can't live on it. Businesses can't stay in business if it costs them more to pay their employees than they make from the work of those employees. It's simple math. The one true minimum wage is zero. And that's what a bunch of New York restaurant employees will be making soon. Oddly enough, even liberal media outlets (but I repeat myself) know that once upon a time:

However pure the intentions of New York politicians might be, the minimum wage will have a dire impact on those who can least afford it: young, poor workers who will not be afforded important job experience. It’s a terrible way to fight poverty, The New York Times (once) observed:

The idea of using a minimum wage to overcome poverty is old, honorable – and fundamentally flawed. It’s time to put this hoary debate behind us and find a better way to improve the lives of people who work very hard for very little.

If $15 is a great idea for a minimum wage, then tell me this: how many people can live in New York City on $15 an hour? Why stop there? Why not make the minimum wage $50 an hour, and do it everywhere. Wouldn't that instantly make the poor no longer poor? Of course not, and everyone knows it, because no business would hire any unskilled schlub for $50 an hour. Most can't afford to hire highly skilled people with advanced degrees at that rate and still make money. Hint: $50 an hour is almost double what contract attorneys make. People with law degrees, not just high school diplomas.

But hey, keep raising that minimum wage, libtards. Let me know how that works out for you.

THIS is the future of the Democrat Party?

Ignore the stupid onesie. Ignore the stupid mask. Being a musician supposedly makes this loser cool? Musically speaking, Robert "Beto" O'Rourke, who is Irish, not Hispanic, sucks:

No, really. He sucks.

Why does San Marino hate me?

Seriously, nobody in San Marino can drop by? Don't get it. I ask and ask, and I get no love. Seriously, San Marino, come on by.

Run, Tulsi, run!

She's practically a communist, but she is probably the hottest member of Congress. Plus she comes from the state where I went to high school, so it's all good, right?

 Fuck her crazy leftist politics, she'll drive the rest of the Democrat field even further to the left. Win-win, baby! Run, Tulsi, run!

Bad plastic surgery or big wallet?

You decide:

Fuck if I know. I don't like to think about Madonna's butt. The woman has sexually transmitted diseases named after her.

Is anyone, ever, anywhere, buying this shit?

Elizabeth Warren has never had a beer in her life. Until now. And if she did, she did not drink it out of the bottle. Until now. This is her John Kerry moment -- "Is this where I get me a hunting license?" I'm from the South, where people say "I'm going to get me a ...," and even I don't say that. If that dumbass DNA test didn't kill her candidacy, and her dumbass socialism didn't, then this will:



 Fourteen people watching? Seriously? And she said it out loud?

Meant to post this a week ago

Better late than never, of course, Cpl. Wolves in Afghanistan, Christmas 2011, with some members of his unit and an old Soviet tank:

Hope your Christmas was merry, if a bit less well-armed.

Happy New Year!

Maybe like this:

Maybe more like this:

Whichever way it went last night, Happy New Year.