Follow The Science
16/05/21 07:23
I'm falling seriously behind on my blogging this week. One thing or another has come up and I haven't had a chance to get anything down on "paper." A lot of shit has been hitting the fan here, there, and everywhere so it's not like there isn't anything to weigh in on. That's kinda what I do.
The stock market has not had a good week thus far so there's that. It might be down some 4 percent or so. Geez, didn't see that coming. I thought it was frothy and overbought at the end of December. The risk reward ratio was screaming get the hell out while you still can even back then. I'm not even sure there was a catalyst of sorts responsible for the plunge in values we're seeing across the board these last few days. How long it lasts and how far it goes nobody knows. Just remember, the trend is your friend until it's not.
The overall trajectory of the market is up according to some so, dips here and there from time to time aside, it's game-on for investors. Nothing goes straight up and nothing goes straight down when it comes to financial markets and everything sooner or later reverts to the mean. I think we're doing a bit of reverting at the moment and that's probably a healthy thing. Now that I think of it, the government released some fairly ominous reports relating to inflation so that might have kicked things to the curb a bit. And then there was this pipeline thing.
It's not helping that employers can't find workers in this environment because of Biden's policies which pay prospective employees more to stay at home than to go out and find a job. A handful of states are not implementing Biden's plans so people in those states will need to get off their lazy asses and go out and find a job. That's going to be hard pill to swallow for some people. You have to keep in mind that these are some businesses that either can't open or are open part time due to not being able to find help.
With the stock market business, the rockets going back and forth between Israel and Hamas, not to mention the pipeline issue where hackers shut down a five thousand mile pipeline until they paid a 5 million dollar ransom in bitcoin, it's been a tough week for the Biden Administration. They have been inept at dealing with any of it every step of the way. When asked if he was being kept in the loop on the negotiations between the hackers and the pipeline owners, all Biden had to say was, "no comment." You know that mother fucker kowtowed to the hackers and agreed to the payment. You know that just incentivizes them to continue their hacking ways. Right?
His mealy mouthed response to the Israeli crisis was about as half hearted as you can imagine. No, we stand behind our ally in the Middle East one-hundred percent and then some. That's what he should have said. Israel can take care of themselves so don't need our help but a more forceful response by the president of the United States might have been helpful. It certainly didn't help that the Biden Administration paid the Palestinians some $250 million recently that Trump had discontinued due to their indiscriminate warmongering especially where the Israeli's are concerned. You can buy a lot of rockets with $250 million.
The only takeaway I have from this past week is that Biden and his leftist clowns working out of the Oval Office are simply not ready for prime time. We are the laughing stock on the world stage with Biden at the helm and that invites the sort of mayhem we're now seeing day in and day out. So what does Biden do? He comes out and says that there is new guidance from the CDC that says if you're vaccinated you no longer need to wear masks indoors or out of doors. Social distancing? That's no longer necessary either. Whaaaaat?
There was no mention of the 500k americans who have died of the virus. Not a fucking word. Wait a minute! What about the science? Where is the data to support this decision? You know damn well that it's all a bloody distraction to divert our attention from the madness that is Biden's America. It's more smoke and mirrors from the worst Administration in your country's history and they are just getting started. We're barely one hundred days into the Biden presidency for chrissakes. Where it all ends nobody knows. God help us.
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, the missus and I went shopping at Home Depot. It's my first outing in a year where I kept my mask in my pocket when going into a local store. The missus? Not so much. They still had their "mandatory masks" signs up and I walked past the placards not knowing what or whom I might encounter once inside the store requesting that I put my mask on. It was pretty quiet for a Thursday night and I saw maybe two or three people not wearing masks so I figured I was not at threat of being asked to put on my mask or leave. So far, so good.
I was fully prepared to leave if asked to do so. I don't know that parroting the words of the president about the new rules would have made a difference but I probably wasn't going to leave the store and my purchases behind without saying something. I also figured that the more items I had in my basket the less the chance that they would insist that I leave the store. If the missus was embarrassed about being with someone not wearing a mask, it wasn't at all apparent. I didn't ask her and she didn't say. She knew what I was doing and she neither applauded or criticized me and I guess that's what significant others do.
And now, Walmart, Costco, and CVS are also following suit with the CDC's latest guidance. We're supposed to believe the science so I'm heartened to see that states and retailers are falling in line. Well, not all states are falling in line. States like New York are keeping the boot on the necks of their citizenry by not following the CDC's latest guidance. Who the fuck gave them the right to pick and choose which rules they follow and which ones they don't? This is what tyrannical governments do. Is it any surprise that these are run by democrats?
I've started a list of major retailers (Walmart, Costco, CVS) in my area that have done away with the mask mandates and I'll be shopping in those stores and those stores only. The missus and I drove to the store that we've shopped at since this all began and we sat in our car outside the front entrance counting the number of people either entering or exiting without masks. They still have the mask mandate in effect but we were curious as to whether or not they were enforcing it one way or another. This isn't too weird. Right?
The management of this particular store have never struck me as hardliners so I was surprised that nearly everyone entering and exiting wore a mask. The one person that did go into the store without a mask came out at one point, retrieved a mask from their vehicle, and reentered the store. I went online to this particular store's website today and voiced my displeasure stating matter of factly that I'd now be shopping at their competitors whose policies regarding masks were more in line with the CDC's latest recommendation. If they get enough of these letters, maybe it will make a difference. Maybe it won't.
Next stop, Trader Joe's. The signs about masks were gone from the front of the store so that was a good omen. I told the missus that I couldn't be sure about anything since everyone coming and going from the store, that we could see anyway sitting in our car as we were one or two rows away from the entrance, wore masks. The only way for me to know for sure, as I was telling the missus, was for me to go into the store to see for myself. My plan was to go in without a mask just to get a measure of what was really happening.
Would I summarily be tossed to the curb for my mere insolence by not wearing a mask? I couldn't be sure, after all, what local ordinances were in play. So, in I went. The place was busy as you might expect on a weekend day. I'm guessing there might have been a hundred or so people in the store including the employees. Here's the kicker; Everyone was wearing a mask. I wasn't and I wasn't accosted or confronted one way or another by anyone as I waltzed maskless from aisle to aisle. Not so much as a sideward glance, really.
I approached an employee and asked directly about their mask policy. All was good, I was told. It was okay not to wear a mask. She didn't ask for my vaccination card, whether I was even vaccinated, nothing. I don't think she cared. The mask around her mouth inflated and deflated as she spoke and it reminded me how good it felt to be rid of the damn thing. It felt like a live and let live policy and I liked it. Or maybe, as we're living here in New Hampshire, live "Free Or Die." That's our state motto for those who don't know.
So I'm left pondering the question, what the fuck were all of those people in the store doing wearing masks? The word "sheep" comes to mind but I don't wish to be unkind so I'll not go there. I think there's a deeper psychosis at play here that, quite frankly, is above my pay grade if you're asking for my opinion. It's like they're still wearing the damn things because they've been indoctrinated somehow to feel uncomfortable or maybe inconsiderate to their fellow man by not wearing the masks. I get it. We had a pandemic and wearing masks seemed and maybe even felt like the right thing to do. But, the pandemic is over now. Well, on the wane anyway.
Yet, these shoppers in Trader Joe's went from aisle to aisle with their stupid masks up around their noses like the CDC and Sleepy Joe Biden never uttered a word. Maybe the store needs to post a new sign. Something to the effect that it's okay to not wear masks. I was happy to be amongst the first to not wear a mask despite the fact that I was in the distinct minority. I wasn't even in the store to make a purchase so I'm not sure what I might have had to endure had I stood in line for any period of time.
It's good to know anyway that I didn't have to wear a mask so they will be getting my business from here on in until the other stores I normally frequent get around to implementing the new policy. On the other hand, what if these other stores have made the calculation that there are more customers who prefer to both wear masks and be surrounded by other shoppers wearing masks than the other way around? Would they, god forbid, implement a year-round mask wearing policy for their shoppers? I'm about to lose my mind!
I feel like I'm kicking a dead horse here but I'm just trying to wrap my head around all of this nonsense. I was actually pretty excited to hear about the new maskless policy at Walmart since I have select items that I usually pick up in their store. No sooner did I get inside the entrance to the store yesterday when I was informed by one of their employees that their mask policy was in play and if I wanted to shop there I had to put my mask on.
As a rule, I don't bother arguing with employees at stores like Walmart. I could have asked for a manager but that probably would have been fruitless in terms of trying to get into their store without wearing my mask. I told the missus, who stood directly behind me and was by now tugging gently on my sleeve, to go about her business and I would meet up with her at the car when she was done. Back in the car, I pulled up Walmart's policy on my mobile phone and there it was in black and white: "Masks are no longer required at our stores".
I need to get off my high horse here and get this blog out the door. I didn't intend to spend so much time on the mask business but that is where we are in Joe Biden's America. Did I mention that he signed an executive order to reverse Trump's policy that made it illegal to deface federal statues? It's just what the likes of Antifa and the BLM crazies have been waiting for. A green light of sorts to continue to tear away at the fabric of our society without any fear of consequence. You cannot make this stuff up. Not in a million years.
The stock market has not had a good week thus far so there's that. It might be down some 4 percent or so. Geez, didn't see that coming. I thought it was frothy and overbought at the end of December. The risk reward ratio was screaming get the hell out while you still can even back then. I'm not even sure there was a catalyst of sorts responsible for the plunge in values we're seeing across the board these last few days. How long it lasts and how far it goes nobody knows. Just remember, the trend is your friend until it's not.
The overall trajectory of the market is up according to some so, dips here and there from time to time aside, it's game-on for investors. Nothing goes straight up and nothing goes straight down when it comes to financial markets and everything sooner or later reverts to the mean. I think we're doing a bit of reverting at the moment and that's probably a healthy thing. Now that I think of it, the government released some fairly ominous reports relating to inflation so that might have kicked things to the curb a bit. And then there was this pipeline thing.
It's not helping that employers can't find workers in this environment because of Biden's policies which pay prospective employees more to stay at home than to go out and find a job. A handful of states are not implementing Biden's plans so people in those states will need to get off their lazy asses and go out and find a job. That's going to be hard pill to swallow for some people. You have to keep in mind that these are some businesses that either can't open or are open part time due to not being able to find help.
With the stock market business, the rockets going back and forth between Israel and Hamas, not to mention the pipeline issue where hackers shut down a five thousand mile pipeline until they paid a 5 million dollar ransom in bitcoin, it's been a tough week for the Biden Administration. They have been inept at dealing with any of it every step of the way. When asked if he was being kept in the loop on the negotiations between the hackers and the pipeline owners, all Biden had to say was, "no comment." You know that mother fucker kowtowed to the hackers and agreed to the payment. You know that just incentivizes them to continue their hacking ways. Right?
His mealy mouthed response to the Israeli crisis was about as half hearted as you can imagine. No, we stand behind our ally in the Middle East one-hundred percent and then some. That's what he should have said. Israel can take care of themselves so don't need our help but a more forceful response by the president of the United States might have been helpful. It certainly didn't help that the Biden Administration paid the Palestinians some $250 million recently that Trump had discontinued due to their indiscriminate warmongering especially where the Israeli's are concerned. You can buy a lot of rockets with $250 million.
The only takeaway I have from this past week is that Biden and his leftist clowns working out of the Oval Office are simply not ready for prime time. We are the laughing stock on the world stage with Biden at the helm and that invites the sort of mayhem we're now seeing day in and day out. So what does Biden do? He comes out and says that there is new guidance from the CDC that says if you're vaccinated you no longer need to wear masks indoors or out of doors. Social distancing? That's no longer necessary either. Whaaaaat?
There was no mention of the 500k americans who have died of the virus. Not a fucking word. Wait a minute! What about the science? Where is the data to support this decision? You know damn well that it's all a bloody distraction to divert our attention from the madness that is Biden's America. It's more smoke and mirrors from the worst Administration in your country's history and they are just getting started. We're barely one hundred days into the Biden presidency for chrissakes. Where it all ends nobody knows. God help us.
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, the missus and I went shopping at Home Depot. It's my first outing in a year where I kept my mask in my pocket when going into a local store. The missus? Not so much. They still had their "mandatory masks" signs up and I walked past the placards not knowing what or whom I might encounter once inside the store requesting that I put my mask on. It was pretty quiet for a Thursday night and I saw maybe two or three people not wearing masks so I figured I was not at threat of being asked to put on my mask or leave. So far, so good.
I was fully prepared to leave if asked to do so. I don't know that parroting the words of the president about the new rules would have made a difference but I probably wasn't going to leave the store and my purchases behind without saying something. I also figured that the more items I had in my basket the less the chance that they would insist that I leave the store. If the missus was embarrassed about being with someone not wearing a mask, it wasn't at all apparent. I didn't ask her and she didn't say. She knew what I was doing and she neither applauded or criticized me and I guess that's what significant others do.
And now, Walmart, Costco, and CVS are also following suit with the CDC's latest guidance. We're supposed to believe the science so I'm heartened to see that states and retailers are falling in line. Well, not all states are falling in line. States like New York are keeping the boot on the necks of their citizenry by not following the CDC's latest guidance. Who the fuck gave them the right to pick and choose which rules they follow and which ones they don't? This is what tyrannical governments do. Is it any surprise that these are run by democrats?
I've started a list of major retailers (Walmart, Costco, CVS) in my area that have done away with the mask mandates and I'll be shopping in those stores and those stores only. The missus and I drove to the store that we've shopped at since this all began and we sat in our car outside the front entrance counting the number of people either entering or exiting without masks. They still have the mask mandate in effect but we were curious as to whether or not they were enforcing it one way or another. This isn't too weird. Right?
The management of this particular store have never struck me as hardliners so I was surprised that nearly everyone entering and exiting wore a mask. The one person that did go into the store without a mask came out at one point, retrieved a mask from their vehicle, and reentered the store. I went online to this particular store's website today and voiced my displeasure stating matter of factly that I'd now be shopping at their competitors whose policies regarding masks were more in line with the CDC's latest recommendation. If they get enough of these letters, maybe it will make a difference. Maybe it won't.
Next stop, Trader Joe's. The signs about masks were gone from the front of the store so that was a good omen. I told the missus that I couldn't be sure about anything since everyone coming and going from the store, that we could see anyway sitting in our car as we were one or two rows away from the entrance, wore masks. The only way for me to know for sure, as I was telling the missus, was for me to go into the store to see for myself. My plan was to go in without a mask just to get a measure of what was really happening.
Would I summarily be tossed to the curb for my mere insolence by not wearing a mask? I couldn't be sure, after all, what local ordinances were in play. So, in I went. The place was busy as you might expect on a weekend day. I'm guessing there might have been a hundred or so people in the store including the employees. Here's the kicker; Everyone was wearing a mask. I wasn't and I wasn't accosted or confronted one way or another by anyone as I waltzed maskless from aisle to aisle. Not so much as a sideward glance, really.
I approached an employee and asked directly about their mask policy. All was good, I was told. It was okay not to wear a mask. She didn't ask for my vaccination card, whether I was even vaccinated, nothing. I don't think she cared. The mask around her mouth inflated and deflated as she spoke and it reminded me how good it felt to be rid of the damn thing. It felt like a live and let live policy and I liked it. Or maybe, as we're living here in New Hampshire, live "Free Or Die." That's our state motto for those who don't know.
So I'm left pondering the question, what the fuck were all of those people in the store doing wearing masks? The word "sheep" comes to mind but I don't wish to be unkind so I'll not go there. I think there's a deeper psychosis at play here that, quite frankly, is above my pay grade if you're asking for my opinion. It's like they're still wearing the damn things because they've been indoctrinated somehow to feel uncomfortable or maybe inconsiderate to their fellow man by not wearing the masks. I get it. We had a pandemic and wearing masks seemed and maybe even felt like the right thing to do. But, the pandemic is over now. Well, on the wane anyway.
Yet, these shoppers in Trader Joe's went from aisle to aisle with their stupid masks up around their noses like the CDC and Sleepy Joe Biden never uttered a word. Maybe the store needs to post a new sign. Something to the effect that it's okay to not wear masks. I was happy to be amongst the first to not wear a mask despite the fact that I was in the distinct minority. I wasn't even in the store to make a purchase so I'm not sure what I might have had to endure had I stood in line for any period of time.
It's good to know anyway that I didn't have to wear a mask so they will be getting my business from here on in until the other stores I normally frequent get around to implementing the new policy. On the other hand, what if these other stores have made the calculation that there are more customers who prefer to both wear masks and be surrounded by other shoppers wearing masks than the other way around? Would they, god forbid, implement a year-round mask wearing policy for their shoppers? I'm about to lose my mind!
I feel like I'm kicking a dead horse here but I'm just trying to wrap my head around all of this nonsense. I was actually pretty excited to hear about the new maskless policy at Walmart since I have select items that I usually pick up in their store. No sooner did I get inside the entrance to the store yesterday when I was informed by one of their employees that their mask policy was in play and if I wanted to shop there I had to put my mask on.
As a rule, I don't bother arguing with employees at stores like Walmart. I could have asked for a manager but that probably would have been fruitless in terms of trying to get into their store without wearing my mask. I told the missus, who stood directly behind me and was by now tugging gently on my sleeve, to go about her business and I would meet up with her at the car when she was done. Back in the car, I pulled up Walmart's policy on my mobile phone and there it was in black and white: "Masks are no longer required at our stores".
I need to get off my high horse here and get this blog out the door. I didn't intend to spend so much time on the mask business but that is where we are in Joe Biden's America. Did I mention that he signed an executive order to reverse Trump's policy that made it illegal to deface federal statues? It's just what the likes of Antifa and the BLM crazies have been waiting for. A green light of sorts to continue to tear away at the fabric of our society without any fear of consequence. You cannot make this stuff up. Not in a million years.