Science and Data Borders on Nonsense

Posted on May 26, 2020May 26, 2020 by boom booms room staff

To quote Mark Twain, “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

Perhaps you felt that way when the Democrat-led House finally found what they needed to press on to impeachment of Donald Trump. It was a “quid pro quo.” Did you know what that was? Or, did it send you to the Google search bar? Worry not, it did for many of us.

Actually it did for too many of us. That’s why suddenly in all of the interviews of Democratic House Intelligence members and all talking heads on MSNBC stopped using the phrase. They started using the word “bribery” instead. Why? It’s because the Democrats polled the public and quickly realized it was more understandable, hence an easier sell.

The Democrats always poll the public. It’s why they are so much better at controlling the narrative of the country than the Republicans. The old, stodgy, white, know-it-all Republicans tell you what they think. The Democrats tell you what you think.

Which brings us to COVID-19. There isn’t a leader of a state that is slower to open than some of the rest that doesn’t begin his or her press conference with “we are following the science and the data.” Clearly “science” and “data” are two words that resonate with America. They asked. They know. It sounds so logical why wouldn’t we follow?

Except there may be one little problem. The White House Coronavirus Task Force response administrator, Dr. Debora Birx had a direct comment or two for Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Apparently, in a two weeks ago task force meeting, Birx and others were frustrated with the CDC’s antiquated system for tracking virus data, which they worried was inflating some statistics — such as mortality rate and case count — by as much as 25 percent, according to four people present for the discussion or later briefed on it.

“There is nothing from the CDC that I can trust,” Birx reportedly said, according to two of the people present.

But that didn’t stop Dr. Birx in the last few days of separate interviews. In the first she said that an earlier lockdown would not have helped to prevent the spread of the virus. In a subsequent one she expressed concern that the weeks’ old lockdown was not having a positive effect in Washinton, DC., Chicago, or Los Angeles.

How about a little deductive reasoning? If an earlier lockdown would not have helped and the current one isn’t, then why did we lockdown? It must have been because of the science and the data? The longer you “serve” as a government employee, especially if you have a white coat with your name embroidered on it, the more this makes sense we assume. Having a scarf must help, too.

Finally, Birx worried aloud that “the fall could possibly bring the virus back as strong as ever.” Coincidentally, last week, the Director of the National Hurricane Center said “this season’s storms could possibly be more numerous than last year.” “Could possibly?” That’s going out on a limb.

Georgia looked at the science and the data. They said, “enough already.” So far, so good. Why? No one is sure, but the answer must lie in the science and the data.

Meanwhile Trump has had it with the great state of North Carolina’s slow reopening. In less than 100 days there is this little Republican National Convention of some interest scheduled in Charlotte. On Monday, Governor Roy Cooper responded to Trump’s tweet, saying, “State health officials are working with the RNC and will review its plan as they make decisions about how to hold the convention in Charlotte. North Carolina is relying on data and science to protect our state’s public health and safety.”

Cooper got it backward. He said “data and science.” It’s “science and data.” Maybe that’s why they are slower to open in NC than in Georgia.

The two states share a little border. There must be some strong antiviral “stuff” on the Georgia side of that ever so thin state line.

We should ask Birx and the CDC to see what the science and the data tell us about it.

Trickle Down Faces Fourth Down

Posted on May 22, 2020 by boom booms room staff

In 1980 as newly inaugurated President Ronald Reagan strode into the Oval Office the American economy was a mess. Interest rates reached double digits, unemployment was nearing the same, and inflation was rampant.

One of his economic team’s solution bets was to dramatically reduce the higher and eliminate the highest federal tax rates on the books. The phrase “trickle-down economics” was born. In essence if you incent the rich the poor would benefit was how opponents spun the policy. Political opponents of the Reagan administration soon seized on this language in an effort to brand the administration as caring only about the wealthy.

The holy Reverend Jessie Jackson actually used his outrage against it, or “Reaganomics” as it also was mockingly called, to rally his minority base and make a run a the Democratic nomination a time or two.

Today, we face severe economic challenges as well. While interest rates and inflation are quite tame, we have unemployment levels not seen since the Great Depression over 100 years ago. Our economic challenges are different, varied, and numerous.

And, like it or not, the effect of “trickle-down” economics is in full view all over again. If a business cannot open, it’s employees can’t work. If they can’t work, the gas station sells less gas. And, so on and so on.

One such “so on” is college athletics. Yesterday, ESPN published a story with some staggering facts about what has happened in the spring of 2020 to the programs, and more importantly what will happen if there was no college football. In short, the loss would total $4 billion dollars to the Power Five school’s revenue. It would alter, if not eliminate men’s and women’s revenue loss programs and decimate the administrations that manage them.

But one stat caught our attention more so than all of the others. Of the 52 public (private ones have no legal need to share revenue info) Power 5 schools included in the Syracuse University study, only 3.8% cite football ticket sales as their biggest revenue source 2017-18. That’s but two teams of the 52!

The fallout, therefore, from game day sales of shirts, parking, booze, concessions is significant. If you have no games, you have no parking attendants. Unemployment. Your popcorn vendor can keep the kernels. Unemployment. The t-shirt manufacturer can keep the ink dry. Unemployment. The beer distributor can keep the hops. Unemployment.

Even if social distancing forces limiting stadiums to half capacity; half of yesterday is 100% more than nothing.

TV revenue is the most important source of income from these events for many colleges. The TV trucks don’t drive to the location. The production team stays home. The TV station ad salesman sells no ads. The ad agency produces fewer ads. Unemployment times four. You get the picture, but not on your TV.

Trickle-down, like it or not, is our economy.

How many schools’ athletic departments saved for a rainy day? Just about as many as American businesses both big and small.

Are you hoping and praying that you will actually be able to see live college football this fall?

So are several institutions and industries that live for live football.

They bet on the trickle-down effect yearly for their livelihood.

Rooney Rule Redo

Posted on May 20, 2020 by boom booms room staff

Timing, they say, is everything. The NFL wishes the enemy that we cannot see would go away as all of the rest of civilization does. But, if it had to happen, could it have happened at a better time in a year for the league?

Shortly after the regular season was capped by Pat Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in early February, the pandemic began. As pitchers and catchers got going in MLB, and while the NHL and the NBA were in the middle of their regular season everything stopped. You know how it has played out, or should we say how it has not played out.

The NFL was busy with its offseason as interest in all of its doings year around is a great marketing success story that for the other leagues is but a field of dreams.

The NFL Draft, broadcast from 32 basements without a glitch, was a runaway record breaker for viewership in late April. The new schedule was turned into a three hour TV reveal. And now, best of all, the league is quite hopeful of being able to start and play that falls schedule on time. Timing, they still say, is everything.

So, last Friday NFL.com leaked out some info on the league wanting to incentivize teams to hire black head coaches and GM’s. According to the release, several new proposals were under consideration. Simply stated all involve draft pick position. If a team hires a black head coach they move up six spots in the third round in the next year’s draft. Hire a black GM and move up ten more. Hire a black QB coach and get an extra end of the fourth round compensatory pick. Keep the GM or the head coach around for three years and move up five spots in the fourth round as well.

The league cites the facts that 1) only 3 of the 32 head coaching positions are filled by blacks, and 2) only one of five openings this year was filled by one, and 3) two recently hired Steve Wilks and Vance Joseph were fired after one and two years respectively.

If any of the measures were adopted it would have been the first addressing hiring in any way since the Rooney Rule was adopted in 2003 whereby owners must interview at least one minority candidate for consideration. The now-deceased Art Rooney, a very respected and now deceased Pittsburgh Steeler team owner and rules committee leader, is who, why, and how the name of the rule came about.

We wonder what Mr. Rooney would have thought of these proposals. We wonder what the current Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin thinks of them. Tony Dungy coached many years in the league, is a very well thought out and even voice, and a studio analyst for NBC Sunday Night Football. He came out against them.

Tomlin enters his fourteenth year as head coach, has won 64% of his games, a Super Bowl, and has 208 victories in all.

Here are a few thoughts that we wonder about as we wonder what Tomlin thinks, or thought, about it.

Doesn’t each team hire the “best” coach for their team’s needs each time there is an opportunity? If they don’t, is the league accusing its own owners of being prejudiced?

We are going to strongly assume that Wilks and Joseph “earned” their way in and “earned” their way out. A bad hire is a bad hire. Regardless of color, they aren’t the first to be shown the exit door in short order.

Are any of the above-detailed incentives really that much of an incentive? Dare we say that it’s tokenism? No one is going to hire someone to move up six spots in round three. Teams trade draft picks and move around the board like the board game “Chutes and Ladders.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last year that there is no reason why half of his leagues’ coaches shouldn’t be women. Should the NFL incentivize hiring women, too? How about Hispanics? If you’re going to emphasize minorities, why be selective?

Are you reading this saying to yourself “it’s because there are so many black players, you BBR staff writer dumbass?” If so, what does that have to do with it? Should the league incentivize teams to draft more white players? Of course not. Hiring the best for every employable position on every team from water boy to team president is always a good idea, isn’t it?

We viewed the possible plans as an embarrassment to the league. It took 17 years to go from the well-intentioned but often criticized Rooney Rule to this.

We are happy to report that yesterday the proposition was widely criticized and voted down by the league owners. Now the Rooney Rule has been expanded to ensure two minority candidates are interviewed. Maybe that’s some type of progress. Or not. In 17 years maybe it will be expanded to “must interview three.”

How many extra picks should the Steelers get for having Tomlin so successfully coach for fourteen years? We bet Tomlin would say “none.”

Let the best man win off of the field as they do on the field.

Your Body is a Temple

Posted on May 19, 2020May 19, 2020 by boom booms room staff

As America reopens we don’t seem so open with what we are willing to put into our bodies.

Is a vaccine around the corner? Probably not, but a recent survey of Americans stated almost 50% would not want it injected into their bodies for fear of side effects. Another reason cited was the concern that our government would be injecting a microchip along with the antibodies.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters at the White House, President Trump revealed that he’s been taking a hydroxychloroquine pill daily for a week and a half, along with a dose of zinc. Shortly after the announcement, The Your World with Neil Cavuto anchor called the president’s remarks “stunning” and warned that the drug could kill certain individuals who consume it.

Trump objected to the rant and tweeted “@FoxNews is no longer the same. We miss the great Roger Ailes. Looking for a new outlet!” The great Roger Ailes’ body of work included a few workplace sexual harassment charges. We digress.

Nancy Pelosi, head of one body of Congress weighed in as well. CNN host Anderson Cooper asked, “Madam Speaker, what is your reaction to the president saying he is now taking hydroxychloroquine? Are you concerned?” She tore up the president like an old speech. “I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and in his, shall we say, weight group — morbidly obese they say.”

Pelosi knows a thing or two about putting drugs into one’s body. It must be clear to her that botox is way safer than hydroxychloroquine. It’s written all over her face.

In her home state, six of seven convicted sex offenders freed in Orange County, California, last month due to fears of the Chinese coronavirus crisis spreading in local jails have since been rearrested for violating their terms of release. Most of them were taken back in for ridding their bodies of that pesky GPS tracking device. You have to wonder if they would line up to get the vaccine. The bright side is virus immunity. The downside might be a tracking device.

Planned Parenthood leadership is screaming for more money during these #alonetogether times. Seems like we may have been together during our alone time. Maybe we are more open to what we put in our bodies?

And this morning Walmart reported first-quarter earnings. They were impressive. With revenue over $32 billion, they beat the Wall St estimates by over $1 billion in top-line sales. Same-store sales were up by 10% percent. Strong. A Walmart spokesperson cited “considerable strength in food sales.”

At least we haven’t lost our appetite though it all.

A Nightmare Prop Bet

Posted on May 15, 2020May 15, 2020 by boom booms room staff

Yesterday we offered a couple of proposition bets on the NCAA playing or not this fall. Today we offer a prop bet on the 11/3/20 election.

As #hidenbiden trends on Twitter, we have “Sleepy Joe” at plus $180 to actually NOT be the Democratic Pary’s nominee for President. You bet $100 to win $180 that Biden goes home in August with his MyPillow.com pillow in hand. The DNC has to fear, we repeat, has to fear that the sunset is near.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has delayed its convention a month, yet still plans to do it virtually. Safety is the key they say. Or, is it? Why delay it a month if you aren’t physically attending to begin with?

There might have even been a glimpse into that thinking yesterday. “First of all, our convention has to happen, because we are not officially nominating Joe Biden in order to take Donald Trump,” Xochitl Hinojosa, communications director for the DNC replied during an interview. “So our convention is happening. There is business that has to happen.”

Or could her combo of words be a gaffe? Hinojosa has yet to clarify her remarks. It would be befitting of the party whose presumptive nominee spits out more gaffes daily than the Feds print money.

Take yesterday for example. Please. In just one video conference from Biden’s basement, he won the rare Triple Crown. First, he needed off-camera prompting that he was on the air. Two, he told the country that in this pandemic we have lost 85k jobs and millions of people. “Millions of people,” he repeated. “Millions of jobs,” he finished. Finally, stammering, to complete the trifecta he forgot the name of one of his top medical advisers. All three dreadful videos are captured in this article.

Just before Biden went into hiding all of his Democratic challengers obediently folded like some fine sheets made from Giza region cotton. Crazy Bernie was the lone holdout. But, he virtually conceded the race when he virtually conceded the race. Sanders didn’t want to be President anyway. He just likes to be Bernie for a while every four years.

Honestly, it was funny at the outset. Now, it’s just said frankly.

He needs the best night’s sleep in the whole, wide world because a nightmare named Trump awaits.

Who will be the nominee if Biden is a no show? That’s a bet for another day to handicap.

For now, take “no Joe” for $100 to win $180.

2020 NCAA Football. Kickoff or Punt?

Posted on May 14, 2020May 14, 2020 by boom booms room staff

Although it’s never really the offseason anymore, the NCAA football programs usually enter the offseason filled with questions that need answers. This offseason was no different on the questions part.

Schools are out for summer and plenty of the questions remain. A few that were answered are subject to change. That is life in 2020 as the biggest questions still loom and the answers remain unknown.

Will colleges play football in the fall? Will the NCAA allow it? Will the virus allow it?

We offer eight questions below and offer more than eight answers. It’s always good to hedge your football bets.

Will the NCAA dictate if and when the schools, teams, and conferences can kickoff. No. They’ll give generalized recommendations, but NCAA President Mark Emmert already stated that there will be no uniform start date this fall suggested by the for now governing body.
Why did he say that? He said that because he is smart enough to know that there isn’t one answer across hundreds of schools and fifty states. He is also smart enough to know that the Power 5 conferences are watching carefully.
Why are the Power 5 conferences watching carefully? Well, they rule the roost. If ever there was a time that they might break free of the NCAA and form their own governing body this might be it. Football is BIG money for the BIG 12, BIG 10, PAC 12, ACC, and SEC. It supports (with a bit of help from basketball and rarely baseball) all other sports teams, both male and female, that are revenue drains not adds. Some schools subsidize their academic costs with football generated revenue. If ever there was a year when revenue is needed, 2020 is it. If you take the air out of football you’ll take the air out of the entire 2020-21 academic sports calendar year.
So, will college football be played in the fall? No, yes, and maybe. “No” is the answer if the enemy spikes in the next four weeks to the point where wisdom and prevailing sentiment dictate otherwise. “Yes” is the answer as of today for some schools in some states that crave it, depend on it, and have state government support for it. That’s first and foremost the SEC. Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana are opening back up for business in an aggressive manner v. many other states. LSU announced its intention to have classes on campus as early as summer session number 2 in July. “Maybe” is the answer for many schools as of now as they take a wait and see approach.
What if half suit up and half don’t? Follow the money. Teams will reschedule opponents to the level they can to fill the fall calendar, and collect TV money to fill the bank accounts.
Would the SEC go it alone and schedule a full slate of all in conference games? It’s only a guess, but our answer is yes. Why? Aren’t you listening? Follow the money. If people are watching the NFL Draft, the MMA, and South Korean baseball (yes they are) in record numbers, can you imagine the ratings for SEC slugfests? America is craving live sports.
Could the season start late? Sure. It will have to if summer workouts and especially fall camps cannot start on time. The risk of injury due to a lack of conditioning is real. The fallout would be quite negative. Sure. The virus might have a thing or two to say about the date as well. Sure. The reconfigured schedule possibility could include fewer, and later in the fall games as an option.
Would colleges field teams to play if they don’t have on-campus classes? This one seems highly doubtful. The criticism would be fast, furious, and ongoing. The academic elite crowd already looks down their nose and around their reading glasses at the double standard of academics and big-time sports. You can’t decide to virtually teach for social distancing safety and actually have sweat, blood, and tears flying on a field, can you? The optic would be a difficult one to sell.

Take limited fans in the stands for $150 to win $100.

Take major college football being played for $100 to win $125.

Hindsight, Foresight, and Throwing Darts.

Posted on May 13, 2020May 13, 2020 by boom booms room staff

One unlucky BBR staffer was assigned a project that wound up lasting well into the evening. The loser of the coin flip had to research the states’ stay at home orders, easing of same, and restrictions imposed on both.

The project mercifully was called off around 11:30 pm. Why? It’s because there are nearly 50 different answers from 50 states in place to either stay or not in place.

We wonder.

Have we all put too much trust in elected officials that know next to nothing about viruses blindly throwing darts at a wall?
Have we all put too much trust in many doctors(experts) who are in government positions for too long as the politicians are, somewhat blindly throwing darts at a wall?
We were only supposed to be flattening the curve. Los Angeles County, “with almost certainty,” will extend the stay at home until sometime in July. Does LA (and Oregon) know something that most of the other 48 states do not?
Will someone please inform BBR when, barring a vaccination that all agree to inject, the risk of spreading the virus will go to zero? Or when it will go to a manageable number? What is that manageable number?
Will someone please inform BBR when the “cost” of catching it is outweighed by the cost of not catching it? Georgia and Texas amongst others have said that day has come and gone.
Wasn’t the time to lock down two weeks before we did? Easy to say in hindsight you say? Correct. Yet some called for it loudly and repeatedly back on March 1. But it seems like the time to stop a spread is before it starts spreading. How do you know when? You don’t. So, if you think you are going to need to do it, isn’t sooner better than later?
To those suggesting we should test everyone every time they enter an establishment that “we” think they should get tested we have a question. When does that need to subside? When the virus goes away? When the vaccine arrives? How do you pay for what you just proposed? Isn’t it a violation of one’s rights?
To anyone who says anything is too soon? Is it not your individual decision to do or not do what you wish? Stay home as long as you wish, but the money to take care of everyone has long ago run out. Are you listening, Nancy? Are you listening, Mitch? Are you listening, Donald?
Can anyone let us know when the Federal Reserve printer runs out of ink? BBR’s low ink printer notification is on more than it’s off it seems. That must be one big printer with one very big green ink cartridge.
Why in the world is the stock market going up? Does Wall St. know that we have to go back to work in order to survive?

Hindsight is indeed 2020. We already cannot wait until 2020 is indeed behind us.

Meet the New Press

Posted on May 12, 2020 by boom booms room staff

Have you seen the selective edit of Bill Barr’s interview used by Chuck Todd on Sunday’s Meet the Press? Yesterday, it was all of the (out)rage on conservative talk radio as well as on the Fox News Network.

And that, unfortunately, is exactly the point. It’s already yesterday’s news.

As the Russian Collusion, Mueller Investigation, and Impeach Trump continues to fall further apart and the heat from the AG is now on the those that brought the, umm, Trumped-up charges both sides have predictably dug in once again.

No less than former President Barack Obama came out to weigh in on this heavyweight fight. He, oh so elegantly, worried that this possible pardoning of General Flynn was a subordination of the rule of law. Adam Schiff said that is would set the Justice Department’s credibility back 50 years to the Watergate era. Should Schiff be the one talking about credibility? We digress.

NBC, so regretful of their national broadcast error, said in a tweet written by no one you know that it regretted the inadvertent editing. If you watched the show, but don’t have a Twitter account that follows NBC News, you would not ever see the insufficient regret.

President Trump, acting like a former TV star of The Apprentice called for Todd to be fired. But, he added that he knew that he wouldn’t be. And, that too is exactly the point.

In today’s fractured nation, both sides immediately line up behind their political preference, truth and principles be dammed. If you don’t believe that ask either Tara Reade or the dumbfounded #metoo members.

The result, or possibly the cause as well, is that anything and everything can now be said with little to no fear of reprisal. Journalism, as it was once known, is no longer. Chuck Todd knowingly deleted the last two sentences of Barr’s response to support his narrative and knew beforehand that he had cover to do it.

In yesteryear, editors checked and rechecked material for accuracy before it was written or spoken. Two sources on everything was mandatory. Quotes were painstakingly quoted word for word. Credibility was cherished and was the long term goal.

No more. Now, the goal is twofold. The first goal enables the second goal. The first goal is ratings. If you have ratings the ad revenue streams in. Everyone gets fed. Want to get fed? Feed the base that you appeal to some red meat. If you don’t have ratings you don’t have a show.

If Chuck Todd couldn’t carry the ball for Meet the Press he would have met the NBC human resource team just before being escorted out of the door long ago. Today you don’t get fired for misspeaking, inaccuracy, inadvertent omissions, inadvertent misquotes, or outright lying (Brian Williams). You can get fired if you sexually harass your makeup artist (Chis Matthews) or frequent contributors (Bill O’Reilly). And you will get fired if your ratings don’t produce enough ad money for the time slot you compete in.

With a divided country you can almost say anything you want. Why? Because soon you will be yesterday’s news. And in today’s journalistic world apparently that is a good thing.

Made in America?

Posted on May 11, 2020May 11, 2020 by boom booms room staff

On June 12, 1987, United States President Ronald Reagan delivered a speech in West Berlin. He was less than 100 yards from the Berlin Wall. Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin since 1961. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Though it received relatively little media coverage at the time, it became widely known in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall. There is significant debate as to how much influence if any, the speech had on the wall coming down. But in 1989 down it came as did communist rule and/or occupation in several eastern European countries in addition to the then Soviet Union, now Russia.

There isn’t much debate at all about the influence Donald J. Trump has had in getting a taller and wider wall built on the southern border of the U.S. Over 125 miles are completed and by winter the guess is that nearly 500 miles will be hoisted.

Reagan wanted to unravel Soviet block countries. Trump wants to block illegal immigration. Both walls were or are steeped in controversy and divided opinions.

But the U.S. opinion should not be divided on two other walls. One is The Great Wall of China and the other is the virtual firewall of the world wide web.

As U.S. companies figuratively lept over the Great Wall to take advantage of cheap Chinese labor to make and eager Chinese consumers to, well, consume U.S. products a bad thing happened. We lost sight of right from wrong all because all we could see is the almighty dollar, and lots of them.

Forgetting for a minute of how horrifically the Chinese tyrants treat their people day in and day out, focus on the last 180 days.

China either leaked a virus out of a lab or didn’t. Investigations, in spite of the World Health Organization(WHO), are ongoing. Regardless, does anyone think that the virus didn’t start in China somehow? China is accused of asking the WHO in January to deny that human to human transmission could occur. Further, they restricted travel from the Wuhan Provence to other areas of China but not to the rest of the world as the virus spread rapidly around the globe.

They recently revised the cases and deaths in the country, increasing both totals by an even 50%. Oops, maybe a rounding error was uncovered. Some medial experts put the actual carnage at 5x to 10x their count.

Yesterday news broke that the FBI is now investigating China as it’s feared that they have continued their widespread hacking of virtual walls. Except this time it’s even worse. Now they are trying to hack into pharma company computers to steal the vaccination research being done on the very virus that they let out of the lab or the soup.

Like him or hate him(and apparently there is no in-between), Trump has been telling us over and over again that China manipulates their currency, profits unfairly on trade deals, and conducts cyber-attack after attack.

Perhaps it’s time we listen closely, learn fast, and plan accordingly.

We’re in far too deep with a country that is doing everything that others did that we hated just 30 years ago. Somehow we chose to close our eyes.

What are we going to do about it? And, when? Soon isn’t soon enough.

“Made in America” sounds good. “Not made in China” sounds essential.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Only in America

Posted on May 7, 2020May 7, 2020 by boom booms room staff

You’re returning to work. Your appetite is naturally increasing. We’re here to help. Our supply chain, unlike Wendy’s, never runs short. We’re here to serve. Nuggets follow.

Jailed Dallas hair salon owner Shelley Luther is free at last. One day after a judge sentenced her to 7 days in jail and 7k out of her pocket, sanity got in the way of insanity. The Texas AG, followed by the governor, quickly acted. They both suggested that there were better ways to handle a business owner solely interested in reopening. It was a bad look for the state to say the least. Maybe a quick trip to the beauty salon will help.
A Texas judicial watchdog group previously had labeled the judge as “left-leaning.” And, supposedly, people in the system have heard him say that he likes to be extra tough on people with “conservative principles.” Remember, justice is blind. In this instance, it was indeed, unfortunately, blind.
Consider the terrible irony that is a result of an overzealous government wielding it’s power from the start of the Coronavirus till now in this situation. We let criminals out of taxpayer-funded penal institutions for fear that the virus would spread like wildfire inside. We told people when they could and could not work. We told them who was essential and who wasn’t. A salon owner wanted to work, pay her employees, and stop taking money from our government. In fact, they would resume paying those same taxes. When she went in seven days early (tomorrow salons may reopen in Texas) she was arrested, jailed, fined, and sentenced. She was put in the very same place (jail) that we let criminals out early to reduce the virus’ transmission thereby increasing the chance of transmission to her, her employees, her customers, and her loved ones. Only in America.
We mentioned yesterday that a good thing happened during this bad thing. A GoFundMe page to help out Ms. Luther was created. We even speculated that it would zoom (sorry) to over 100k by nightfall yesterday. It did. It did by an additional 400k. The tally as of late last evening was nearly 500k. Only in America.
Meanwhile, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo rejected the idea of waving the state income tax levied on workers who voluntarily answered the call and flocked in from out of state to help during the worst of the worst times. The good governor said that he would like to do a lot of good things but his state was facing a 13 billion dollar budget deficit. He added that he could do some of those things if the federal government would give him some money. It sounds like he is asking for a handout, not a hand up.
New York was ill-equipped at the state level as were most. It had a few ventilators. It had a few masks. It has more than a few citizens. The federal government retro built the Javits Center into a temporary hospital. It docked one of it’s two floating hospitals in Manhatten. It retrofitted the ship to handle Coronavirus patients only at the request of Cuomo. And, now, if it gives NY some money it would be helpful. And, the national media is handing out plaudits for how “presidential” Cuomo looks, sounds, and acts as governor. Hmm. You mean they are thinking Joe Biden doesn’t? Only in America.
Does any state put any money or supplies away for a rainy day? Too few. Does any citizen? Too few. If this economic watershed moment doesn’t teach the public and private sector to live below its means, what will?
The rise in the suicide rate caused by lockdowns in Australia is predicted to exceed deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus by a factor of ten, the Australian reported Thursday. You should reread that sentence. Australia fears a 50% rise in suicides this year and predicts that the increased rate could linger for years from the fallout of the lockdown. Let’s hope their models are as inaccurate as the spike, curve, mortality rate, and infection rate models have been so far.
The Washington Post is running a series of articles about POTUS’s decision to get quotes to paint the border wall. Cost estimates range from $500 million to over $2 billion (if two coats of powder coat are applied). Trump wants to paint it black. Why? It would make scaling it in the summer months significantly harder as black absorbs the sun’s heat making the “The Wall” quite hot to the touch. Only in America if you can get here.
The Post is outraged at the cost. Wait until they see the infrastructure proposal tab. Nevermind that we just appropriated over $3 trillion to assuage the historic economic hardship and fallout from this enemy that we cannot see. There are too many government initiatives that hand out too much money. What’s another $500 million to paint a wall? Planned Parenthood gets $500 million a year and then some. Would it be better if the wall was called “Planned Immigration?”

Get back to work when we tell you. Only in America.

boomboomsroom

Author: boom booms room staff