Bulls and Bears
12/06/22 07:09
I'm getting a bit of a late start this morning. I had a couple of thoughts that I wanted to kick off with so here is what I have. There was some bicycle race in and around London this weekend past which was sold as a bicycle race ostensibly for women. You know how that works these days. No sooner had they announced the race when a couple of trannies signed up thinking, of course, that they had every right to join the race since they identified as women. I know, I know. You can't make this stuff up.
I'm probably using the word "trannies" incorrectly since I am singularly ignorant when it comes to utilizing the urban dictionary one needs to use when referring to such individuals. Let's just say that these are men who think that they are women forgetting for a moment that they have nothing in common with women when it comes to their plumbing. In fact, they have certain advantages over women when it comes to sports given their musculature and sheer size if nothing else. It came as no surprise then when these two "women" won the race taking first and second place respectively.
The headline and associated picture that was featured in all the newspapers around the world after the winners took to the stage was one of the first and second place winners embracing with a kiss on the stage while the third place winner, a real woman, stood off to the side holding her infant and looking incredulously at the two males kissing on the podium. If this doesn't adequately capture where we are in this era of dystopian weirdness then I don't know what does. When is someone going to stand up and say what needs to be said. This is wrong and it needs to stop now. The solution might be something as simple as giving the trannies their own gigs. It would be step in the right direction.
Someone turned me on to this website that is basically a webcam of Peregrine Falcons and their brood. The caretakers of this so-called roost built a pretty nice nesting structure high atop the tallest building in a city some 200 miles south of where I'm located. I'm not sure if I'm using the right terminology when it comes to using words like "roost" and "brood" but we'll let that go. Anyway, I've been watching these birds quite carefully from the time the female Peregrine sat on the eggs to now, some two months later, when the hatchlings have now shed their fluffy white feathers and are starting to assert themselves in new and interesting ways. Don't take my word for it. Go see for yourself. https://asri.org/view/peregrine-cam.html
Two of the four fledgling Peregrines have left the nest, the two males I think, and are now spending all of their waking hours moving in and around the vicinity adjacent to the roosting structure. What's amazing to me is that they move about on the rooftop like they have no fear whatsoever of heights, no fear of losing their footing, no fear of anything really. What I wouldn't give to be able to see what they see. They aren't quite mature enough to take flight but that hasn't stopped them from getting around on the rooftop. It reminds me a little of what the Wright brothers probably experienced. Two steps forward and one step backwards until they got it right.
The parents couldn't be more attentive so that's good to see. The maternal and paternal instincts of our fellow species are as enduring as time itself. They dote equally on both the birds outside the nest as well as the birds still in the nest. The doting I refer to has mostly to do with feeding them and they do that with the utmost care. Maybe that means tearing the flesh of their prey into bite-sized pieces so the young birds can consume it more easily. It's hard to make out what the parents are bringing back to the nest precisely due to the low resolution of the video but I'm guessing that they are mostly birds since I can see the parents plucking feathers aplenty.
When mom or dad appears with a meal, it's up to the youngsters to make their way over to the parent if they want to eat. As for the youngsters still in the nest, I'm seeing one of the birds take the food off in one corner for itself while the other goes hungry. The birds are very similar in appearance so unless I start to see a failure to thrive on the part of the bird not getting his share, I'll not be able to sort out which one is which. It does look like one of the two birds in the nest is starting to think about joining his counterparts on the roof. I can't tell if it's the stronger of the two birds still in the nest, maybe because she's the stronger of the two by virtue of the hoarded meals, or the weaker of the two who thinks that she'd stand a better chance of being fed we're she to join her siblings on the rooftop.
I'm thinking about ordering a cord of wood for this upcoming winter. We haven't burned wood for a lot of years for various reasons. Now that I'm seeing gas prices edge over the $5 mark it might make some sense to get some wood in the event that oil gets to the $10 per gallon mark by the middle of December. If that happens, filling up our oil tank would go from an average of $600 per fill-up last winter to $2,750 per fill-up this coming winter. This is all happening, just so you know, while our country sits on an ocean of oil just waiting to be tapped. But, as Joey Biden and his Green Energy socialists running our country would have it, they would rather we all go out and buy electric vehicles while slapping solar roofs made in China on our homes. If they have to make buying carbon based energy unaffordable for the general public, which is what they're doing, then that's what they'll do.
If a cord of wood can get us through the period before the real cold arrives mid December or so, then that might work. I do wonder though if I'll even be able to find a cord of wood given the demand that is likely out there for alternative sources of heat. Our home is a small home relatively speaking so it will be less expensive to heat than some of the larger homes hereabouts. I really feel for the good folks who don't have the resources to pay the price of what we're likely to see for heating oil this winter. What the heck do they do? How many people have to freeze to death before we see one or more governmental agencies declare a national emergency? I haven't even talked about inflation yet. Add that to the mix and you have even bigger problems. Again, this is all the doing of one Joey Biden and his gang of socialists. We'd still be paying $2 a gallon at the pump if Trump were in office. Who still believes Joey Biden got 81 million votes?
It does make you wonder who Joey Biden is working for. It certainly isn't for the American people. Everything that he does results in a ruination of one kind or another and, in many instances, country's like China, Iran, and Venezuela benefit more from his policies than do the American people. Did I mention that there are some 12,000 people from 50 or so different countries just south of our southern border that are heading up to our country on foot? Add those illegal aliens to the millions already allowed to enter our country illegally by the Biden Administration and you have a quantifiable humanitarian tragedy. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record but there is something criminal happening and we have a president sitting in the White House who is not only not turning a blind eye to matters but he's actually greasing the skids to make it happen.
I never used to think twice before going off in the car but I do now. Is it a necessary trip? Can I wait until I have more than one thing to accomplish before getting behind the wheel? You know, like grocery shopping and going to pick up some dry cleaning? That's what paying more than $5 a gallon at the gas pumps will do to you. Our weekly rides across town to see Mrs G at her facility are no longer just the willy nilly rides that they once were. When it comes to getting behind the wheel, everything comes down to budgets and what we might be willing to sacrifice in other areas of our lives just to make that or other trips in the car. We used to take Mrs G out for a ride here and there and it was carefree and fun. A change of scenery is good for everyone. Now, not so much. Our outings will be shorter if we have an outing at all. We'll just have to make do.
Y'all understand that there are downstream impacts to these types of policies coming out of our nation's White House. Right? If we have less money because we're paying more at the pumps or more for this or that item due to crushing inflation, then stores will have fewer customers. More stores will go out of business as a result of having fewer customers. Rents and mortgages will go unpaid due to the doubling of variable mortgage rates. Home prices, which have heretofore gone to the highest bidder, will now come down dramatically and most people will quickly be upside down on their mortgages. With fewer dollars circulating in the economy, our nation's GDP will suffer and recession can't be far off. We've already seen one month of negative GDP. One more and we're technically in a recession. It feels more like a depression coming our way but that's just me. Life is a bitch and then you die.
There were a bunch of primaries in various states yesterday. I don't know that any of them will be key to what I'm hoping will happen in November but the sense that I get this morning in looking at the results are encouraging. I think Trump is now 100-6 in terms of his endorsements after last night. That leftist clown of a District Attorney in San Fransicko, Chris Bodin, who is about as soft on crime as one can be, was recalled in a landslide vote of 61%-39%. I think the good people in San Francisco had had enough with him failing to put criminals in jail and his failure to do what it takes to protect the interests of the city's people. When the left turns on the left, we're talking tsunami here. So much for the defund the police movement. People want law and order when all is said and done. It's time to come for the rest of these clowns countrywide.
Do you suppose we'll be hearing from the Supreme Court today? I don't have a good feel for the kinds of rulings that we're expecting them to rule on but the Roe v Wade ruling will be a big deal. If they effectively send the matter back to the states to make their own decisions on abortion related matters then I think that's a good start. Let the people decide what abortion looks like or doesn't look like in their respective states. Such a decision would effectively suck the oxygen out of the air when it comes to the democrat's plan to air the January 6th hearings starting a day after tomorrow. Not that anyone will be watching the January 6th nonsense so there's that. Nonetheless, it's safe to say that the die hard leftists that do plan to watch have already made up their minds on who is responsible for the so-called insurrection. It's none other than Donald J Trump, of course.
They want Trump to be indicted so bad that they can taste it. It's their only hope, or so they think, for being able to keep the White House in November of 2024. Shorter term, I also have to believe that they think these hearings will somehow lessen the disaster that awaits them at the polls on November 9th. It seems a stretch to think that they believe that the hearings will help them keep their majority in the House of Representatives but, as they say, hope springs eternal. If they can keep the Senate, and that will be hard to do since everyone gets taken out with the trash when we have a tsunami election, they might be satisfied with that. Should Trump not run for whatever reason, the republicans have a deep bench starting with Governor DeSantis of Florida. Democrats need to be careful what they wish for. A nightmare awaits one way or another.
I'm trying very hard to get the party started when it comes to painting the Ev man's room here at our house. I even stood in line at Home Depot yesterday with the intent of buying a gallon of flat white paint with which to paint his room. I was second in line and I was getting tired of being second in line so I scuttled the mission. Did I scuttle the mission because the prospect of doing this job is more than daunting? Did I scuttle the mission because I know in my heart of hearts that I'm just not into doing it? Is it about my seemingly increasing inability to make a decision about such things? Have I become less decisive over time? Would this task already be done were it the old me back in the day? Why am I dragging my feet exactly? What am I afraid of? I told myself that I'd get around to doing this after doing the other little jobs on my list. Well, they're all done now so I have no excuses for not getting started but therein lies the problem. I just can't get started. Who have I to blame? Johnny?
I don't know what's going on with my new Oriole feeder. I bought some nice jam to put in the feeder and I hung it out on our deck where, with any luck or so I thought, I'd be able to attract an Oriole or two. It's been a good week now and I not only haven't been able to attract so much as an Oriole but I've had no songbirds show any interest whatsoever. I know it takes a while sometimes before the birds come around to noticing the feeder but, honestly, they've had more than enough time. I'm beginning to think that I bought a pig in poke when I bought that damn feeder. Who would put a feeder on the market knowing full well that it didn't work worth a damn? It sure is pretty enough or so I thought when I paid some $16 for it at a local hardware store. If I see nothing in another week or so, I'll be taking the feeder down and calling it a day. Well, with the Oriole feeder anyway. You can't say that I didn't try.
I've got to hand it to Mrs G. She's not waiting for anyone or anything when and where it comes to taking care of things. She has a dentist appointment coming up and I was telling the missus that she needs to reach out to her mom to inquire about transportation and such as it relates to her mom's appointment. I think the missus had every intention of following up on these things but as the date drew near I sensed a bit of foot dragging on the part of me missus. "You are going to call your mom," ain't you sweetie? That's me being me. Come to find out that Mrs G had already arranged for her own transportation to and from her appointment. That came as no surprise to me. Absent an offer from one of her children, Mrs G was going to step up to the plate and get the job done. Here's me being me again: "You can't possibly let your mother take public transportation to her appointment," can you sweetie? I don't know if I shamed her into it or whether or not she had planned to do it all along, but the next thing I know the missus is telling me not to make any plans on that particular day. Will do, sweetie. You're the boss. File that under, "The lord works in mysterious ways."
Who is this loon who showed up at the home of one of our Supreme Court justices yesterday carrying duct tape, a hammer, a gun, plastic zip ties, and god only knows what else? He was there, by his own admission, to kill this particular Justice so that he could get a more favorable ruling on both abortion and gun rights. That's a big story but that's not the story. The story, in my humble opinion, is how quickly the media had the information about what the loon had in his possession and how eager they were to report out on what the loon intended to do once he landed on the Justice's doorstep. Complicit in this nefarious arrangement were the law enforcement groups who eagerly released an affadavit taken from his loon so that too could be released to the public through the media post haste. Keep in mind that less than eight hours elapsed between the time they picked up the loon and the time the news story hit the front pages of every news outlet in America.
Nothing happens that quickly with law enforcement when you have a sinister plot of this magnitude. Who else might have been involved? Who, if anyone, happen to radicalize this particular young man? Who are his parents? Did they know what he as up to? What social media sites did he visit in the days and weeks leading up to this day? Were they reviewed and, if so, what did they reveal about the alleged killer and his intentions? Without answers to these and other questions, nothing should have been leaked much less pushed to the media. Why were they so eager to get this story out? Was it one last attempt to intimidate a Justice of the Supreme Court before the Court releases its landmark rulings involving abortion and gun rights? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what they were up to here. Maybe the goal was to show just how easy it is to do what this loon was intending to do. A green light of sorts to every fringe group and nut job on the planet to do their part for the cause if you will.
I wouldn't put it past these fruitcakes to try as they might to turn a 6-3 conservative majority into a 5-4 conservative majority through whatever means possible. In order to implement their agenda, whatever the hell that means, they will need a liberal majority on the Court. They've already seen just how easy it is to put radicals like the most recent addition to the Court, Katanji Jackson, on the court and it has whet their appetites for more of the same. Maybe they fear that that the Senate is likely to turn red after Election Day on November 9th and a red Senate would never agree to put a nut job like Jackson on the Court. Hell, they might not approve any of Biden's picks assuming he gets another pick, and wouldn't that rile the left. Maybe they're just looking to take advantage of the fact that everything in our country is just in such a cocked hat at this moment in our history. Never let a good crisis go to waste. Right?
It's raining cats and dogs out there this morning. If I get a bike ride in today it will be a miracle. The good news is that nobody needs to water anything in the garden or elsewhere. If anything, I need to make sure that I've not left anything out in the rain that shouldn't be out in the rain. You know, things like lawn mowers, weed whackers, and that sort of stuff. I wouldn't mind if the rain let up just a bit so that when we go to bring Mrs G to her dentist's visit that we'll not get caught up in things as it were. Mrs G doesn't move too fast and I'm not sure what niceties this office offers by way of protecting their customers from inclement weather and all the rest. Maybe that's why God made umbrellas. We'll be there with bells on come hell or high water. We contemplated stopping by one or more of our favorite eateries while in Exeter but decided that we'd be doing that smack dab in the middle of the lunch hour. I won't stand in line to spend my money. I simply won't. Fuck em.
The financial markets have been a bit of a grind lately. Up one day, down the next, ad nauseum. The monthly CPI (Inflation) number is due out tomorrow and Biden's dysfunctional White House has already put everyone on notice that it is going to be "elevated." It ticked down ever so slightly last month (8.5% to 8.3% I think) and the bulls were off and running in the stock market on the hopes that there was a new trend under way. "Biden's policies are bringing inflation to heel," they bellowed! Nonsense! Nothing could be further from the truth. I don't know what we're going to see when the number comes out but the markets will do what markets do regardless. You've heard the expression, buy the rumor - sell the news. Right? Not sure if it applies here so here's my advice: Hedge your fucking bets, boys and girls! If you haven't already lost your life savings in this bear market maybe you want to think "Capital Preservation" and put a few shekels off to the side when odds favor a return of the bulls. Nobody said it was going to be easy.
I'm beginning to wonder if this January 6th production being brought to you by the democrat party and the major television networks isn't going to catch the Republican Party somewhat flat footed at the end of the day. I'm not planning to watch it but what if they hit it out of the park and then some? What if they convince just enough people that what the democrats have been saying all along about republicans as being deplorable and white supremacists is true? Where does that leave us come Election Day this coming November? No one cares if they convince democrats since we all know how they plan to vote, but what if their narrative crosses the aisle and starts to get traction with Independents and suburban moms? And, where the hell is Trump? He's the penultimate counterpuncher but we have yet to hear how he plans to respond. A rally might help, Mr President. Lest we forget, this is a show trial being brought to you by the Democrat party. You'll not hear any counter arguments or anything else from the other side. That's by design. Don't buy the "bipartisan" bullshit.
The missus and I were off yesterday afternoon to our weekly visit to Whole Foods Market. I think we've decided that there are certain things that we like to purchase from Whole Foods while other more mainstream items like condiments and such can be had from other retailers who probably have the same or similar items on their shelves but charge less. One day last week I actually went to three different stores in one day in order to pick up the things I had on my list. As for Whole Foods, they have the freshest and best fruit and vegetables around by far so we stock up on things like raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and watermelon at least once a week. You can usually find these items on sale if you get the timing right so that's an extra bonus. By comparison, the very same types of fruit at other retailers looks sad, old, less appetizing, and maybe worst of all, you need to look closely to make sure mold isn't setting in the fruit that hugs the bottom of the containers. You'll see none of that at Whole Foods.
The missus scouted out the seafood section at Whole Foods while we were there and reported back that scallops were going for $32 a pound. Say what? How do they justify putting such an exorbitant price tag on something as mundane as scallops? We like scallops but we don't like them enough to pay that kind of price for them. The missus had a nice recipe that she wanted to make with Ritz crackers and scallops but that's not happening now that we know that it's going to cost a king's ransom to make the meal. I didn't say that we can't afford it. What I'm saying is that I'm not interested in paying that much for something that I can pass on and not lose any sleep over it. Just for context, we used to be able to buy scallops for $18 to $20 a pound. That was before gas prices doubled, inflation raged, and the cost of labor skyrocketed since nobody wanted to put in a full day's work after getting their stimmie checks during the pandemic.
It does beg the question, though, as to what happens when everyone starts to stay away from products like seafood because it's too expensive. It's a supply and demand thing. Right? If there is no demand because the price is too high then the price has to come down if they want to move their product. But, they can't move their product at lower prices because the underlying expenses like fuel, labor, and the like are still sky high and there is no relief in sight. They've essentially priced themselves out of the market. Boats will sit in dry dock. Scallopers will take other jobs. Suppliers up and down the supply chain will need fewer employees to service the dwindling number of scallopers. They will have trouble meeting fixed costs much less everything else that comes along with a collapsing supply chain. Now apply these very same concepts to real estate, automobiles, hot dogs and hamburgers, and you've got yourself a recession or worse. Welcome to Joe Biden's America!
I have to laugh, though, that the January 6th committee thinks that bringing in a senior executive from ABC to choreograph their televised hearings is going to somehow make any of it more palatable to those who have no interest in watching it in the first place. It's not exactly another season of "Lost", is it? Just so you know, programming by the three major non-cable networks rate at the bottom of the barrel in terms of quality programming. They are still of the mindset that they and their networks are relevant but the ratings simply don't bear that out. That might explain why they arranged for all three networks to carry the coverage. If you have no where else to turn, maybe you'd be stuck with watching their schlock. They still don't get it. There are plenty of places to find quality shows without tuning into the three major networks. Personally, I watched Tucker Carlson for an hour and then turned to one of my previously recorded shows before calling it a night. They can stick their televised January 6th hearings where the sun don't shine. How's that for a rebuttal?
I'm probably using the word "trannies" incorrectly since I am singularly ignorant when it comes to utilizing the urban dictionary one needs to use when referring to such individuals. Let's just say that these are men who think that they are women forgetting for a moment that they have nothing in common with women when it comes to their plumbing. In fact, they have certain advantages over women when it comes to sports given their musculature and sheer size if nothing else. It came as no surprise then when these two "women" won the race taking first and second place respectively.
The headline and associated picture that was featured in all the newspapers around the world after the winners took to the stage was one of the first and second place winners embracing with a kiss on the stage while the third place winner, a real woman, stood off to the side holding her infant and looking incredulously at the two males kissing on the podium. If this doesn't adequately capture where we are in this era of dystopian weirdness then I don't know what does. When is someone going to stand up and say what needs to be said. This is wrong and it needs to stop now. The solution might be something as simple as giving the trannies their own gigs. It would be step in the right direction.
Someone turned me on to this website that is basically a webcam of Peregrine Falcons and their brood. The caretakers of this so-called roost built a pretty nice nesting structure high atop the tallest building in a city some 200 miles south of where I'm located. I'm not sure if I'm using the right terminology when it comes to using words like "roost" and "brood" but we'll let that go. Anyway, I've been watching these birds quite carefully from the time the female Peregrine sat on the eggs to now, some two months later, when the hatchlings have now shed their fluffy white feathers and are starting to assert themselves in new and interesting ways. Don't take my word for it. Go see for yourself. https://asri.org/view/peregrine-cam.html
Two of the four fledgling Peregrines have left the nest, the two males I think, and are now spending all of their waking hours moving in and around the vicinity adjacent to the roosting structure. What's amazing to me is that they move about on the rooftop like they have no fear whatsoever of heights, no fear of losing their footing, no fear of anything really. What I wouldn't give to be able to see what they see. They aren't quite mature enough to take flight but that hasn't stopped them from getting around on the rooftop. It reminds me a little of what the Wright brothers probably experienced. Two steps forward and one step backwards until they got it right.
The parents couldn't be more attentive so that's good to see. The maternal and paternal instincts of our fellow species are as enduring as time itself. They dote equally on both the birds outside the nest as well as the birds still in the nest. The doting I refer to has mostly to do with feeding them and they do that with the utmost care. Maybe that means tearing the flesh of their prey into bite-sized pieces so the young birds can consume it more easily. It's hard to make out what the parents are bringing back to the nest precisely due to the low resolution of the video but I'm guessing that they are mostly birds since I can see the parents plucking feathers aplenty.
When mom or dad appears with a meal, it's up to the youngsters to make their way over to the parent if they want to eat. As for the youngsters still in the nest, I'm seeing one of the birds take the food off in one corner for itself while the other goes hungry. The birds are very similar in appearance so unless I start to see a failure to thrive on the part of the bird not getting his share, I'll not be able to sort out which one is which. It does look like one of the two birds in the nest is starting to think about joining his counterparts on the roof. I can't tell if it's the stronger of the two birds still in the nest, maybe because she's the stronger of the two by virtue of the hoarded meals, or the weaker of the two who thinks that she'd stand a better chance of being fed we're she to join her siblings on the rooftop.
I'm thinking about ordering a cord of wood for this upcoming winter. We haven't burned wood for a lot of years for various reasons. Now that I'm seeing gas prices edge over the $5 mark it might make some sense to get some wood in the event that oil gets to the $10 per gallon mark by the middle of December. If that happens, filling up our oil tank would go from an average of $600 per fill-up last winter to $2,750 per fill-up this coming winter. This is all happening, just so you know, while our country sits on an ocean of oil just waiting to be tapped. But, as Joey Biden and his Green Energy socialists running our country would have it, they would rather we all go out and buy electric vehicles while slapping solar roofs made in China on our homes. If they have to make buying carbon based energy unaffordable for the general public, which is what they're doing, then that's what they'll do.
If a cord of wood can get us through the period before the real cold arrives mid December or so, then that might work. I do wonder though if I'll even be able to find a cord of wood given the demand that is likely out there for alternative sources of heat. Our home is a small home relatively speaking so it will be less expensive to heat than some of the larger homes hereabouts. I really feel for the good folks who don't have the resources to pay the price of what we're likely to see for heating oil this winter. What the heck do they do? How many people have to freeze to death before we see one or more governmental agencies declare a national emergency? I haven't even talked about inflation yet. Add that to the mix and you have even bigger problems. Again, this is all the doing of one Joey Biden and his gang of socialists. We'd still be paying $2 a gallon at the pump if Trump were in office. Who still believes Joey Biden got 81 million votes?
It does make you wonder who Joey Biden is working for. It certainly isn't for the American people. Everything that he does results in a ruination of one kind or another and, in many instances, country's like China, Iran, and Venezuela benefit more from his policies than do the American people. Did I mention that there are some 12,000 people from 50 or so different countries just south of our southern border that are heading up to our country on foot? Add those illegal aliens to the millions already allowed to enter our country illegally by the Biden Administration and you have a quantifiable humanitarian tragedy. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record but there is something criminal happening and we have a president sitting in the White House who is not only not turning a blind eye to matters but he's actually greasing the skids to make it happen.
I never used to think twice before going off in the car but I do now. Is it a necessary trip? Can I wait until I have more than one thing to accomplish before getting behind the wheel? You know, like grocery shopping and going to pick up some dry cleaning? That's what paying more than $5 a gallon at the gas pumps will do to you. Our weekly rides across town to see Mrs G at her facility are no longer just the willy nilly rides that they once were. When it comes to getting behind the wheel, everything comes down to budgets and what we might be willing to sacrifice in other areas of our lives just to make that or other trips in the car. We used to take Mrs G out for a ride here and there and it was carefree and fun. A change of scenery is good for everyone. Now, not so much. Our outings will be shorter if we have an outing at all. We'll just have to make do.
Y'all understand that there are downstream impacts to these types of policies coming out of our nation's White House. Right? If we have less money because we're paying more at the pumps or more for this or that item due to crushing inflation, then stores will have fewer customers. More stores will go out of business as a result of having fewer customers. Rents and mortgages will go unpaid due to the doubling of variable mortgage rates. Home prices, which have heretofore gone to the highest bidder, will now come down dramatically and most people will quickly be upside down on their mortgages. With fewer dollars circulating in the economy, our nation's GDP will suffer and recession can't be far off. We've already seen one month of negative GDP. One more and we're technically in a recession. It feels more like a depression coming our way but that's just me. Life is a bitch and then you die.
There were a bunch of primaries in various states yesterday. I don't know that any of them will be key to what I'm hoping will happen in November but the sense that I get this morning in looking at the results are encouraging. I think Trump is now 100-6 in terms of his endorsements after last night. That leftist clown of a District Attorney in San Fransicko, Chris Bodin, who is about as soft on crime as one can be, was recalled in a landslide vote of 61%-39%. I think the good people in San Francisco had had enough with him failing to put criminals in jail and his failure to do what it takes to protect the interests of the city's people. When the left turns on the left, we're talking tsunami here. So much for the defund the police movement. People want law and order when all is said and done. It's time to come for the rest of these clowns countrywide.
Do you suppose we'll be hearing from the Supreme Court today? I don't have a good feel for the kinds of rulings that we're expecting them to rule on but the Roe v Wade ruling will be a big deal. If they effectively send the matter back to the states to make their own decisions on abortion related matters then I think that's a good start. Let the people decide what abortion looks like or doesn't look like in their respective states. Such a decision would effectively suck the oxygen out of the air when it comes to the democrat's plan to air the January 6th hearings starting a day after tomorrow. Not that anyone will be watching the January 6th nonsense so there's that. Nonetheless, it's safe to say that the die hard leftists that do plan to watch have already made up their minds on who is responsible for the so-called insurrection. It's none other than Donald J Trump, of course.
They want Trump to be indicted so bad that they can taste it. It's their only hope, or so they think, for being able to keep the White House in November of 2024. Shorter term, I also have to believe that they think these hearings will somehow lessen the disaster that awaits them at the polls on November 9th. It seems a stretch to think that they believe that the hearings will help them keep their majority in the House of Representatives but, as they say, hope springs eternal. If they can keep the Senate, and that will be hard to do since everyone gets taken out with the trash when we have a tsunami election, they might be satisfied with that. Should Trump not run for whatever reason, the republicans have a deep bench starting with Governor DeSantis of Florida. Democrats need to be careful what they wish for. A nightmare awaits one way or another.
I'm trying very hard to get the party started when it comes to painting the Ev man's room here at our house. I even stood in line at Home Depot yesterday with the intent of buying a gallon of flat white paint with which to paint his room. I was second in line and I was getting tired of being second in line so I scuttled the mission. Did I scuttle the mission because the prospect of doing this job is more than daunting? Did I scuttle the mission because I know in my heart of hearts that I'm just not into doing it? Is it about my seemingly increasing inability to make a decision about such things? Have I become less decisive over time? Would this task already be done were it the old me back in the day? Why am I dragging my feet exactly? What am I afraid of? I told myself that I'd get around to doing this after doing the other little jobs on my list. Well, they're all done now so I have no excuses for not getting started but therein lies the problem. I just can't get started. Who have I to blame? Johnny?
I don't know what's going on with my new Oriole feeder. I bought some nice jam to put in the feeder and I hung it out on our deck where, with any luck or so I thought, I'd be able to attract an Oriole or two. It's been a good week now and I not only haven't been able to attract so much as an Oriole but I've had no songbirds show any interest whatsoever. I know it takes a while sometimes before the birds come around to noticing the feeder but, honestly, they've had more than enough time. I'm beginning to think that I bought a pig in poke when I bought that damn feeder. Who would put a feeder on the market knowing full well that it didn't work worth a damn? It sure is pretty enough or so I thought when I paid some $16 for it at a local hardware store. If I see nothing in another week or so, I'll be taking the feeder down and calling it a day. Well, with the Oriole feeder anyway. You can't say that I didn't try.
I've got to hand it to Mrs G. She's not waiting for anyone or anything when and where it comes to taking care of things. She has a dentist appointment coming up and I was telling the missus that she needs to reach out to her mom to inquire about transportation and such as it relates to her mom's appointment. I think the missus had every intention of following up on these things but as the date drew near I sensed a bit of foot dragging on the part of me missus. "You are going to call your mom," ain't you sweetie? That's me being me. Come to find out that Mrs G had already arranged for her own transportation to and from her appointment. That came as no surprise to me. Absent an offer from one of her children, Mrs G was going to step up to the plate and get the job done. Here's me being me again: "You can't possibly let your mother take public transportation to her appointment," can you sweetie? I don't know if I shamed her into it or whether or not she had planned to do it all along, but the next thing I know the missus is telling me not to make any plans on that particular day. Will do, sweetie. You're the boss. File that under, "The lord works in mysterious ways."
Who is this loon who showed up at the home of one of our Supreme Court justices yesterday carrying duct tape, a hammer, a gun, plastic zip ties, and god only knows what else? He was there, by his own admission, to kill this particular Justice so that he could get a more favorable ruling on both abortion and gun rights. That's a big story but that's not the story. The story, in my humble opinion, is how quickly the media had the information about what the loon had in his possession and how eager they were to report out on what the loon intended to do once he landed on the Justice's doorstep. Complicit in this nefarious arrangement were the law enforcement groups who eagerly released an affadavit taken from his loon so that too could be released to the public through the media post haste. Keep in mind that less than eight hours elapsed between the time they picked up the loon and the time the news story hit the front pages of every news outlet in America.
Nothing happens that quickly with law enforcement when you have a sinister plot of this magnitude. Who else might have been involved? Who, if anyone, happen to radicalize this particular young man? Who are his parents? Did they know what he as up to? What social media sites did he visit in the days and weeks leading up to this day? Were they reviewed and, if so, what did they reveal about the alleged killer and his intentions? Without answers to these and other questions, nothing should have been leaked much less pushed to the media. Why were they so eager to get this story out? Was it one last attempt to intimidate a Justice of the Supreme Court before the Court releases its landmark rulings involving abortion and gun rights? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what they were up to here. Maybe the goal was to show just how easy it is to do what this loon was intending to do. A green light of sorts to every fringe group and nut job on the planet to do their part for the cause if you will.
I wouldn't put it past these fruitcakes to try as they might to turn a 6-3 conservative majority into a 5-4 conservative majority through whatever means possible. In order to implement their agenda, whatever the hell that means, they will need a liberal majority on the Court. They've already seen just how easy it is to put radicals like the most recent addition to the Court, Katanji Jackson, on the court and it has whet their appetites for more of the same. Maybe they fear that that the Senate is likely to turn red after Election Day on November 9th and a red Senate would never agree to put a nut job like Jackson on the Court. Hell, they might not approve any of Biden's picks assuming he gets another pick, and wouldn't that rile the left. Maybe they're just looking to take advantage of the fact that everything in our country is just in such a cocked hat at this moment in our history. Never let a good crisis go to waste. Right?
It's raining cats and dogs out there this morning. If I get a bike ride in today it will be a miracle. The good news is that nobody needs to water anything in the garden or elsewhere. If anything, I need to make sure that I've not left anything out in the rain that shouldn't be out in the rain. You know, things like lawn mowers, weed whackers, and that sort of stuff. I wouldn't mind if the rain let up just a bit so that when we go to bring Mrs G to her dentist's visit that we'll not get caught up in things as it were. Mrs G doesn't move too fast and I'm not sure what niceties this office offers by way of protecting their customers from inclement weather and all the rest. Maybe that's why God made umbrellas. We'll be there with bells on come hell or high water. We contemplated stopping by one or more of our favorite eateries while in Exeter but decided that we'd be doing that smack dab in the middle of the lunch hour. I won't stand in line to spend my money. I simply won't. Fuck em.
The financial markets have been a bit of a grind lately. Up one day, down the next, ad nauseum. The monthly CPI (Inflation) number is due out tomorrow and Biden's dysfunctional White House has already put everyone on notice that it is going to be "elevated." It ticked down ever so slightly last month (8.5% to 8.3% I think) and the bulls were off and running in the stock market on the hopes that there was a new trend under way. "Biden's policies are bringing inflation to heel," they bellowed! Nonsense! Nothing could be further from the truth. I don't know what we're going to see when the number comes out but the markets will do what markets do regardless. You've heard the expression, buy the rumor - sell the news. Right? Not sure if it applies here so here's my advice: Hedge your fucking bets, boys and girls! If you haven't already lost your life savings in this bear market maybe you want to think "Capital Preservation" and put a few shekels off to the side when odds favor a return of the bulls. Nobody said it was going to be easy.
I'm beginning to wonder if this January 6th production being brought to you by the democrat party and the major television networks isn't going to catch the Republican Party somewhat flat footed at the end of the day. I'm not planning to watch it but what if they hit it out of the park and then some? What if they convince just enough people that what the democrats have been saying all along about republicans as being deplorable and white supremacists is true? Where does that leave us come Election Day this coming November? No one cares if they convince democrats since we all know how they plan to vote, but what if their narrative crosses the aisle and starts to get traction with Independents and suburban moms? And, where the hell is Trump? He's the penultimate counterpuncher but we have yet to hear how he plans to respond. A rally might help, Mr President. Lest we forget, this is a show trial being brought to you by the Democrat party. You'll not hear any counter arguments or anything else from the other side. That's by design. Don't buy the "bipartisan" bullshit.
The missus and I were off yesterday afternoon to our weekly visit to Whole Foods Market. I think we've decided that there are certain things that we like to purchase from Whole Foods while other more mainstream items like condiments and such can be had from other retailers who probably have the same or similar items on their shelves but charge less. One day last week I actually went to three different stores in one day in order to pick up the things I had on my list. As for Whole Foods, they have the freshest and best fruit and vegetables around by far so we stock up on things like raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and watermelon at least once a week. You can usually find these items on sale if you get the timing right so that's an extra bonus. By comparison, the very same types of fruit at other retailers looks sad, old, less appetizing, and maybe worst of all, you need to look closely to make sure mold isn't setting in the fruit that hugs the bottom of the containers. You'll see none of that at Whole Foods.
The missus scouted out the seafood section at Whole Foods while we were there and reported back that scallops were going for $32 a pound. Say what? How do they justify putting such an exorbitant price tag on something as mundane as scallops? We like scallops but we don't like them enough to pay that kind of price for them. The missus had a nice recipe that she wanted to make with Ritz crackers and scallops but that's not happening now that we know that it's going to cost a king's ransom to make the meal. I didn't say that we can't afford it. What I'm saying is that I'm not interested in paying that much for something that I can pass on and not lose any sleep over it. Just for context, we used to be able to buy scallops for $18 to $20 a pound. That was before gas prices doubled, inflation raged, and the cost of labor skyrocketed since nobody wanted to put in a full day's work after getting their stimmie checks during the pandemic.
It does beg the question, though, as to what happens when everyone starts to stay away from products like seafood because it's too expensive. It's a supply and demand thing. Right? If there is no demand because the price is too high then the price has to come down if they want to move their product. But, they can't move their product at lower prices because the underlying expenses like fuel, labor, and the like are still sky high and there is no relief in sight. They've essentially priced themselves out of the market. Boats will sit in dry dock. Scallopers will take other jobs. Suppliers up and down the supply chain will need fewer employees to service the dwindling number of scallopers. They will have trouble meeting fixed costs much less everything else that comes along with a collapsing supply chain. Now apply these very same concepts to real estate, automobiles, hot dogs and hamburgers, and you've got yourself a recession or worse. Welcome to Joe Biden's America!
I have to laugh, though, that the January 6th committee thinks that bringing in a senior executive from ABC to choreograph their televised hearings is going to somehow make any of it more palatable to those who have no interest in watching it in the first place. It's not exactly another season of "Lost", is it? Just so you know, programming by the three major non-cable networks rate at the bottom of the barrel in terms of quality programming. They are still of the mindset that they and their networks are relevant but the ratings simply don't bear that out. That might explain why they arranged for all three networks to carry the coverage. If you have no where else to turn, maybe you'd be stuck with watching their schlock. They still don't get it. There are plenty of places to find quality shows without tuning into the three major networks. Personally, I watched Tucker Carlson for an hour and then turned to one of my previously recorded shows before calling it a night. They can stick their televised January 6th hearings where the sun don't shine. How's that for a rebuttal?