Not trying to correct you, just wanted to make sure you knew. :)

Major and 8, I agree with you. And it's not only the money but how in the world can a small business have people taking 12 or more weeks at a time off? Not only will it make the costs go up, it is impossible to operate with half the employees out on leave for a new baby or sick parent or new dog.

In the last 29 years, I haven’t taken off more than 3 weeks a year. The life of a small business owner. They don’t care if I get twelve weeks off, they only care about how much tax I pay. The government doesn’t see any value in me other than taxes.


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Documented Age Requirement for "Sponge Operator"?
 

The Deputy Director of ICE was interviewed this afternoon on Boston's WRKO.

A pilot program to determine fraud among family units crossing the border was conducted using rapid-field DNA testing. Of the 100 volunteers for the 90-minute test, the results disclosed that 30 were not family units.
https://www.wired.com/story/how-dna-...actually-work/

Sooooo, how is criminal fraud, "child-recycling", "Affordable Healthcare" and "human-trafficking" going to play-out in the long term? :eek2:

This "absurdly obvious answer" will require a name for Congressional scrutiny—how about "The Affordable Waitstaff Act"? :rolleye1:

.

Wait a moment, this sounds very familiar. I think NH is trying to do the same and I'm 100% against it. Why should the government mandate that I pay for someone else to take time off while they have a kid.

https://www.concordmonitor.com/New-H...-bill-24276017

Major, you didn't build that business, somebody else did!!! Didn't you know that?

Here's the paragraph i think the numbers came from (bold is mine):

Since April 18, CBP has referred 101 families for suspected fraud to ICE special investigators, a DHS official told reporters Wednesday. Of those, 29 were determined to be fraudulent, resulting in 45 people being referred for prosecution and 33 being accepted by prosecutors. CBP doesn’t have figures yet for April, but in the month prior, 53,077 family units were apprehended at the southern border, placing best estimates for the rate of fraud somewhere below half a percent. That’s in line with a report by BuzzFeed that found about 3,100 people, or 1 percent of all migrants last year, did something that could be considered fraudulent, including lying about being part of a family or saying someone older than 18 was a child.

As I interpret the article the conclusion is there is very little fraud.

Either way, there's a shortage of seasonal workers in the Lakes Region...

I would rather STOP the drugs coming over the southern border (once and for all, no matter what it takes), that are polluting a huge number of otherwise decent people, aka AMERICANS, and get them straightened out and give them first dibs at all the job opportunities in this great economy before we reward people for breaking the law. Then, (hopefully), we can say good riddance to the worst opioid epidemic in the history of this country, and never have to look back at that again... THEN, after we take care of our own, we can begin to concentrate on LEGAL immigration.

Is that the same Buzzfeed that "reported" that ***** told Cohen to lie to congress?? (Rhetorical question). Turned out that it was such a lie, that the otherwise completely silent Mr. Mueller had to come out of hiding to report that Buzzfeed was not telling the truth. In other words, they lied, BIG TIME. Buzzfeed is about as credible as Dan Rather. Maybe Buzzfeed will get an award too... Where I went to school, 100% of the people that entered the country ILLEGALLY, are fraudulent.

I'm just quoting from the previous poster's article. I was interested in the post and wanted to learn more so clicked on the link. I added the bold merely to highlight the article that was referenced said there was little fraud, not widespread fraud as suggested.

I understand, np. I just think that anybody that thinks that there is "very little" fraud being committed at our southern border, needs to come see my bridge for sale..., I got one hell of a deal!! I will try not to get to political. I know how it bothers some...

Drugs and Labor
 

While neither is connected that is how this thread has evolved. So I am in Southern California......labor shortages are as bad here in a country of how many millions of people. Restaurants, fast food and grocery stores have all had their help wanted signs out beginning in April. Where once you would find the neighbors teenagers working at McD's or the grocery, you find hard working adults that are working 2-3 minimum wage jobs just to be able to keep a roof over their heads. It will be interesting to see how all of the theme parks do in hiring summer help.

Drugs: as most experts have continued to plea: the drugs are coming through legal border crossings and a few tunnels. The Border Patrol has been forced to use all their resources on the immigrant flood, the slow walk of the process and holding people because the government doesn't put enough personal where it is really needed. So showing the immigrant problem helps drive a political message and promise, but does nothing to reduce the flow of drugs.

There are thousands of foreigners who will come for the summer if we would give companies enough permits to bring them over

If you bring in permanent people what do you do with them in September. Go seasonal

Looking Up...
 

That would be the US visa titled, H2B:
https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...ker-visas.html

Visa applicants have to prove they are "firmly-grounded" in their home country, so they don't overstay and become non-taxpaying burdens. :rolleye1:

Although the housing units appear "ticky-tacky", local governments are building "Workforce Housing" for restaurant help in South Florida—where many H2B visa-holders are from Brazil. They're also excellent English-speakers. When I asked where they honed their speaking skills, the answers were "Alf" and "Bay Watch". :laugh:

It is the previous sentence that is in agreement with ICE' deputy-director's interview quoted yesterday. :rolleye2:

China, the prime source of fentanyl—the ingredient killing most addicted Americans—has now banned its manufacture:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/01/asia/...ntl/index.html

I disagree - if you read the article and put the numbers in context, people sampled are not random but instead are already tagged as fradulent (again, from the context of the article, they are not defining all illegal immigration as fradulent as another poster wrote about).

It seemed odd to link the article to make the point about widespread fraud as the article was all about how there isn’t widespread fraud.

So true about fentanayl - synthetic drugs from China are a huge problem. My question, and it’s something I don’t have an answer to, is how to we get to the root cause of the problem? Banning the substances doesn’t take away the desire. Likewise, if immigrants are fleeing their country because of violence and/or a hopeless future, preventing them from entering the USA doesn’t solve the problem of why they want to flee.

My frustration is that it seems our leaders are not interested in looking at multifaceted solutions. For example, clamp down on drugs coming into the country and expand treatment programs and provide more resources for people to, long term, be self supporting. Or, in regards to immigration, tighten up on the flow of people entering, and address the Dreamers, while at the same time offer meaningful support to countries people are fleeing.

There doesn’t seem to be the political will at the moment, but I remain optimistic that it will be found.

We own the opiod problem in this country. That was caused by our own drug companies and white collar crime. Most of todays illegal opiods come from China and not the southern boarder.

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From the Boston Herald. May 2, 2019


The fight against opioids hit Big Pharma Thursday as the billionaire founder of a drug company that bribed doctors to push deadly fentanyl for off-label use was convicted racketeering along with four of his former co-conspirator colleagues at Insys Therapeutics.

The verdict marks the first time the head of a pharmaceutical company has been criminally charged and convicted in the nationwide opioid crisis.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/05...ma-colleagues/

I agree that a lot of today's opioid epidemic has been caused by white collar crime, however, drugs have been coming across the southern border long before the "white collar" boys came onto the scene. As far as I'm concerned, we need to STOP IT ALL. You can't focus on one aspect, while another is blossoming, like "whack a mole". We need to "whack" them ALL out of society once and for all no matter what the expense, because it will cost more NOT TO... Common sense to me. I heard what I thought was an interesting statistic the other day. 75,000 people are dying EVERY YEAR from this opioid epidemic. 58,000 brave men and women died over a 10 year period in Vietnam. Where's the outrage over Americans "dying for nothing" today...??

While I agree with you Cal Coon that we need to stop it I feel it is a losing proposition. Jeff Goldblum said it in one of the Jurassic Park movies, “Nature will find a way”. Witness prohibition. When the computer gurus come up with a way to stop hackers, the hackers find a new avenue.

Alas, as long as there is a demand, suppliers will find a way to meet it.


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This thread is so ridiculously off topic....

I agree it's too bad this got so far off topic. Maybe somebody could start a new drug thread and this can get back to the issue of help- not that we can solve the problem here.

UPDATE -

All the off topic politcal ramblin above aside -

For those of you at Channel who have not launched yet - as of this morning I was informed that they have retained a cleaning service for the boats

Unfortunately - mine went in today (dirty) not even a wash down.

Help?
 

I don't remember how the subject came up, but I asked a waitstaff member from where she began her commute to work near Center Harbor. She started from Ossipee which, to me, seemed like a pretty long commute to wait tables! :eek2:

Now, some years ago, Wolfeboro built a row of condominiums designed for low-wage residents west—off 109A. Has there been any news how that's worked out? :confused:

If the demographics evolved like South Florida's Habitat for Humanity's "collectivized" developments, there should be Cadillacs, Mercedes, and BMWs in the parking lots (and boats on trailers). :emb:

I believe Laconia has many low cost housing apartments that could be occupied by summer help, however, many units are currently rented as section 8 housing. As many of you know your income is limited if you accepted this housing. In other words, if you take one of the hundreds jobs currently available in the area you lose your housing


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Every Wednesday, starting at 10-am is $1.09 ice cream cone day at Kellerhaus, http://kellerhaus.com, above the Weirs, where they make their ice cream in-house, and it is like the very best ice cream, ever.

Anyway, in addition to great ice cream for just 1.09, last year the scoopers were these really athletic looking, young women from Romania ..... they looked almost like professional tennis player type athleticism ..... which sure adds to the whole Kellerhaus experience .... tried to hang around and shoot the breeze ... until running out of appropriate comments ..... like, so how come your vanilla is yellow and not white? What's up with the yellow vanilla ..... except it tastes excellent.

Show me one "topic" that isn't related to, or derived from, another topic. ALL topics have related "topics". It's called a conversation, and can go off, and come back to original topic at any time. Anyone should be able to feel free to join in, (or out), as they wish... It's called the First Amendment, and it's a beautiful thing. Is that "off topic"??

Given enough time, I knew we'd agree on something!

And FLL, that's creepy.

Happy Sunday, neighbors!

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Wow! (pun intended)
I'll have to call Sadi and find out if mine will be cleaned now...valet doesn't start until the 10th of May. I'll call later today.
On another note, as I recall, mine was not "rinsed off" last season either even though it was on their "Spring launch" to-do list. :confused:

FLL, in lieu of appropriate comments, perhaps you should have tried the "hair sniffing" trick...:eek:

I’m actually starting to enjoy FLL’s comments. He reminds me that I often take things far to seriously. His silliness brings me back to reality. You go, FLL!


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UPDATE TO THE UPDATE:
I called Sadi at the service desk at Winni Marine (not Channel) and asked her about the cleaning service as I did have it on my Spring launch form. She said they have retained a service but are only trying them out "tentatively" to ascertain their "skill set" for the job. They, at this time, are NOT selling this service.

I'm pretty sure that we have agreed on something before, I just don't remember what it was, I just remember being surprised that we agreed on something!! (LOL) FWIW, I enjoy going to my nice little quiet spot on the lake, drop anchor, break out the cleaning products, and go to town cleaning my own boat while listening to good old fashioned hard core rock and roll that ALWAYS motivates the hell out of me!!! It's like an annual ritual... And to those of you (environmentalist wackos) "wondering" if I am polluting the lake with my cleaning products, the answer is NO, none of my cleaning products end up in the lake. EVER. I am all for "preserving" the environment, just not "wacko" over it like some people tend to be...

The day I retired I left my serious side behind. :D

As I See It...
 

Here's that same paragraph with my "bold".

If you change the 101 to 100, and the 29 to 30, you'll have the fraud that the acting deputy director proved with DNA testing at his interview. :rolleye2:

The rest is "Buzzfeed". :rolleye1:

As for a shortage of seasonal workers in the Lakes Region—or California's theme parks—consider February's count crossing the southern border.

February's apprehended count was greater than 76,000. Extrapolating for the year 2019, that'll be nearly a million new workers this year. :eek2:

The US workforce is 160 million people...BUT...US addictions are killing previously-eligible workers at the rate of 11 per minute, while the increasing rate of undocumented should be filling the gap for seasonal, low-wage, workers.

Shouldn't it follow, logically, that unless the new workers start selling deadly opioids, shouldn't there be an adequate number of workers in the Lakes Region?

I disagree based on the context the numbers come from. The 100 people tested are already suspected of fraud; it is not a random sample from all of the illegal immigrants.

It's like this. Assume there are 50,000 people who were knowingly and admittedly speeding on I93 and have been caught (the illegal immigrants; I am fully granting everyone that that immigrants have come illegally and I am not taking a position one way or the other). Of the 50,000 speeders caught, the police suspect 100 of them are also drinking (the 100 families DNA tested). This group is tested and 30% are in fact drinking. One cannot conclude that 30% of the original 50,000 are drinking.

It's just like concluding that 90% of the people think President ***** is doing a good job when you base your sample on just those voters who identify as Republicans - or conversely, 20% think he is doing a good job if the numbers come from only those voters identified as Democrats (note that I made these numbers up just to prove my point). One cannot then accurately draw a conclusion about the entire population based on a select, prescreened sample.

As to the Buzzfeed portion of the article, that was in the original link; I am not taking a position about them one way or the other. If the whole article is read and put into context, the one line quoted by the original poster is taken out of context. Earlier in my career I taught middle school math, which included a unit of statistics. This would have been a great example for them to critique and discuss how numbers can be taken out of context.

As the the summer help issue, there are lots of signs out in the area - I hope everyone finds the staff they need to have a successful summer!

When Nobody-Else "Volunteeers"...
 

Here's the part mentioned earlier, from the broadcast, and does not appear in the article:

I went to 2 of my go to restaurants this weekend which are usually very reliable. Both were very busy and service was very slow. Mostly the same regular help I've always seen with a few new faces that looked bewildered and ready to surrender. :emb:
The best I can tell you is "be patient", they are doing their best to keep up.
At least the food was still good but when cooks start finding other jobs things can go down hill fast.

Help is on the Way!
 

Stop the Presses!

This just in:

30,000 new H2B visas to assist during this time of record employment.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-30...150034826.html