Author: boom booms room staff

Pork. It’s Worth the Wait.

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Isn’t the amount of negativity surrounding us today darn near overwhelming?  You bet it is.

So, today BBR has chosen to stay positive.  We see the glass of warm water that you should be drinking multiple times a day as half full.  We’re positive that if you add a squeeze of lemon in it that you can 1) lose weight, and therefore, 2) preserve your dwindling food supplies.

Feeling better already?  But wait! There’s more!

We’re positive that Madame Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi means well in this time of need.  Nancy came to the rescue with a visionary bailout/entitlement government stimulus plan all of her own.

While crazy Bernie just wants “Medicare for All” paid for by the taxpayer, Pelosi offers way more in her economic stimulus bill.   A six-pack sampling below unveils just a few of its probable positive effects.

  1.  a bailout of all USPS (that’s your post office) debt.
  2.  $35 million for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
  3.  a regulation that greenhouse gas stats are provided going forward on all flights
  4.  $15 minimum wage at all companies receiving assistance
  5.  1/3 board members chosen by workers for assisted companies
  6.  required early voting and required same-day voter registration

One should never let a good pandemic crisis slip by without slipping in a truckload (or $#%@load if you prefer) of barrels of pork and regulation.  Of course, a lot of our grocery stores could use a truckload of pork right about now.  The meat is so juicy it’ll be worth the wait.

We do think that Trump’s decision to not shake her hand before the State of the Union address, as well as her hand recoil, turns out to be a positive as well.   They were practicing social distancing before most of us had ever heard of “social distancing.”  How woke of the two?

And, when the Madame Speaker tore up the printed address she was prescient as well.  The virus tests positive (there’s that word again) on paper for a long while as you know.

Her examples of visionary leadership will have a positive effect on generations to come.  Here is but one example.  Senator Rand Paul was physically assaulted by his neighbor in 2017.  Injuries were significant.  And, four days ago Senator Paul tested positive for the Coronavirus.  “Rand Paul’s neighbor was right,” Pelosi’s daughter Christine tweeted yesterday.  That’s a multigenerational, passed on, bipartisan goodwill gesture if you’ve ever heard one.

Lastly, how about her warp speed ability to deliver the 1400 page proposal in such a short time?  Did she have such a measure ready to take advantage of a desperate time just like this one in her top desk drawer?  Like a lot of things these days, we’re positive about that as well.

The American economy is getting slaughtered by the day.  The pigs are soon to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

How?

Posted on by boom booms room staff

How long has this been going on?  VP Mike Pence said last evening that we were crossing on to day eight of 15 of our national stay at home recommendation. Stay tuned.  It feels like a month already.  And it might be just that if the proverbial curve doesn’t start to flatten soon.

How many people are/were sick?  Globally we went from 200k to over 300k documented cases in an eyelash.  The world’s population is estimated at 7.7 billion.  So, 300,000 divided by 7,700,000,000 is .000039.  Stated another way it’s 4 in every 100,000 or 4 hundredths of one percent.  Got that?  It sounds like a very small number.  But it doesn’t speak to the recent past very well due to misdiagnoses, misinformation, no testing, etc.  It also projects very poorly in the near future it seems.  The short answer is we didn’t know then, and we don’t really know now.  And, that’s the worst nonanswer answer possible.

How many industries are getting crushed by the day?  Many.  The worst are the airlines, cruise ships, bars, casinos, and restaurants.

How many businesses are actually doing fairly well? Maybe not many, but a few certainly are.  Chlorox is one.  Amazon has to be another.  Their business model was built for tomorrow, and as it turns out, we need it for today.  Walmart is awfully glad that they invested billions into building out a virtual store as well.  Proctor and Gamble markets Crest, Dawn, Charmin, Bounty, Tide, Vicks, and Pampers.  Amazon, Walmart, and overrun grocery chains must be selling a lot of all of those.  Netflix and Verizon also come to mind.

How much longer do we need to wait for the children in Washington to provide a very much needed stimulus bill?  Apparently a bit longer.  After negotiating all weekend the Democrats voted against their own proposal.  Nancy Pelosi flew in from Cali, a state of emergency, to persuade colleagues to vote against what they constructed.  That’s not very constructive.

How many times can President Trump stand in front of his assembled crisis team, grab the mic, and tell us how great of a job they are doing by citing polls?  The answer is every day for the past seven and likely every day for the next seven or more as well.  Many in his base are willing to look past what he says and how he says it in favor of relishing in the results achieved three years to date.  But in a world of what have you done for us lately, he seems out of his league on this one.  His best move would be to move to the side and let his team tell the tale.  He never moves to the side, however.  And PS, didn’t he tell us three years ago that polls were inaccurate?

How can Joe Biden be the best alternative for the never Trumpers or non-Trump crowd?  He’s been seen a total of eight minutes in the last six days due to supposed telecommunication issues.  That probably helps him actually.    It does lower his gaffes per day average.  He does have a captive audience though.  We’re all sitting home, not working, and complaining about everything.  And, now we’re all waiting on a stimulus check.  That sounds like a crowd tailor-made for him.

How did we get here?  This is China bat $#@% crazy.

Stay tuned.  Stay home.  Stay strong.  Stay safe.

 

MAHA

Posted on by boom booms room staff

We doubt that you missed it.  But, if you did, here it is.   The Governor of California issued a statewide  “stay at home” order last afternoon.

“We need to bend the curve in the state of California,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in an announcement. “There’s a social contract here.  People, I think recognize the need to do more. They will adjust and adapt as they have.”

Newsom also sent a letter to President Trump with the presumption that over half of California’s 35 million residents will contract the virus in the next 8 weeks.  Probably not.  Maybe.  Who knows?  He also requested that Trump dispatch the USNS Mercy hospital ship to the Port of Los Angeles through September 1, 2020, to assist with expected cases.  The visual of that would be, dare we say it, 9/11 tower-like.  But, are we past trying to look good?

With the a) the number of cases in the U.S. rising sharply by the day, and b) the number of deaths geometrically increasing in Italy, it is understandable to take this action.

Won’t the other 49 states get there at some point?   Aren’t we almost there, save for a few morons who decided to party on South Beach this week, anyway?  And, the sooner the better so sooner we can get better, please.

The local golf course did the following.  Four weeks ago it was business as usual.  Three weeks ago all of the carts and tables were getting wiped down after each use.  Two weeks ago there were no more condiments on tables and no more scorecards and pencils on the carts.  This week the restaurant and halfway stand are closed, and the sand trap rakes and divot fill sand containers gone.  Next week there will be no more holes cut in the greens, rather a small pot with a small flag will sit somewhere on the green as a target.

We kid you not on the above.  And, yet, if the increasingly safer measures taken by the week aren’t enough, what is?  What’s next, a sign saying keep off of the greens and tee boxes?  What’s left?  And, that’s the point.

On 2/26 San Francisco’s mayor declared a local emergency to make it easier for the populous city and international travel hub to combat novel coronavirus if it comes — even while stressing that it isn’t there yet.  It sounded Draconian just 23 days ago,  Not one case, not one case we repeat, had hit the city at that point.

What would Italy do if it had a do-over?

A national “stay at home” order would be a bold stroke.  It’s time to combat this invisible monster with a bold stroke.  Newsom is attempting to do just that.

Trump, if nothing else, is bold and combative.

MAHA- Make America Healthy Again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sure Thing

Posted on by boom booms room staff

The year was 1999.  As a Patriot did you do your part and party like it was 1999?

Patriot fans should have.  And they should have, not because the world was about to dive headlong into a new century, but because an afterthought 6th round draft choice named Tom Brady was selected by New England.

“They” say that nothing is a sure thing except death and taxes.  Tom Brady was anything but a sure thing.  You might have been smarter to withdraw money from your local ATM to stuff under your mattress than to bet on Tom making the club, much less staring in the Patriot’s patriotic red, white, and blue uniforms for 20 years.  He won a few Super Bowls, too.

Remember the world was going to end back then when the clock struck 12:01 AM on day one of the year two thousand.  Computers were going to be rife with viruses and forever disrupt our lives.  The experts told us as much.   It might feel the same way now if you insert the word “humans” for the word “computers.”

Back then Kurt Warner, coached by Dick Vermeil, led the St. Louis Rams to a thrilling Super Bowl XXXIV win.  Who did they beat?  The Tenessee Titans. It was year one of them being known as such.  The prior two years they were the Tenessee Oilers and before that the Houston Oilers.  The Houston Texans didn’t yet exist.  Feel old?

The next sure thing, say the NFL experts, is Joe Burrow.  Comparisons abound.  The one that is bandied around most often is that Burrow reminds the “experts” of Tom Brady.  Funny thing is, the “experts” all overlooked Tom Brady, who turned out to be the surest thing.  Have you heard that nothing is a sure thing?

Tom Brady is going to be a Tampa Bay Buccaneer.  Sure thing.  Joe Burrow is going to be a Cincinnati Bengal.  Sure thing.

The rest of this is history yet to be written.

A lot can happen in 20 years.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1999 at 11,497, then an all-time high.  In mid-February, the DJIA closed at 29,472, then an all-time high.  Some “experts” think we might be going back to 11,497.  Others think we’ll get back to 29k.  Who knows?  Maybe we should ask Bill Belichick.

With panic at all-time high levels itself, good health is foremost on our minds. The alternative is not an option.   Taxes are still due, but Trump’s going to delay the inevitable for some time.

Perhaps there is no such thing as a “sure” thing?

Maybe we should be partying like it’s 1999.

 

 

 

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Drive Thru Only

Posted on by boom booms room staff

It’s time for a serving.  But, in an effort to help slow the spread of the Coronavirus,  BBR’s executive team met well into the evening.  We decided that in order to best serve you and the broader community’s need to slow the virus that you cannot call “Wuhan,”  all nuggets going forward will be available at the drive-thru window only.  Shortly thereafter McDonald’s followed BBR’s lead and announced the same.  It’s a tough time.  Have some not so tender nuggets.

  1.  President Trump took to Twitter yesterday and called COVID-19 the “Chinese Virus.”  This was an obvious retort to the noise emanating out of China over the weekend that attempted to pin the origin of the virus on the U.S.  The sensitive side of the press came out and condemned the name game blame.
  2. Meanwhile, Joe Biden referred to Ebola as “what happened in Africa” in his debate on Sunday.  The difference between the insensitivity of Trump and the Biden geography lesson is obvious.  Trump was doing it on purpose while Biden had one of those pesky gaffes.  It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.  Or, it’s not what you say, it’s who says it.  Or, it’s both.
  3.  Then there was Hollywood director and “Meathead” character Rob Reiner’s tweet.  “We will get through this. But unfortunately not with the help of this President.”  Reiner is one of the president’s most outspoken Hollywood critics. “First he must be removed from the public square to let competent experts take over, then he must be removed from office to allow US to heal.”  He capitalized “us.”  Sounds inclusive (for all of those who agree with him) to US.

  4. The NBA announced that if it doesn’t play again this year, it will cost the league nearly $500 million in revenues.  That’s in addition to the substantial revenue loss the league already experienced earlier this year after the controversy surrounding Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey’s pro-Hong Kong tweet.  This global relationship, er partnership, is getting trickier and more expensive by the day for them.

  5. On Sunday, Nashville Mayor John Cooper led an emergency meeting of the Metro Nashville Board of Health. After the meeting, Cooper called for restaurants and similar businesses to serve only at 50 percent capacity or to allow no more than 100 customers through the doors.  On Monday owner Kid Rock thumbed his nose at the mayor.  The GM of his joint called the mayor’s edict unconstitutional.
  6. Speaking of mayors and speaking of unconstitutional, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell signed a coronavirus emergency order last week allowing her to ban the sale of firearms.  She signed a follow-up proclamation yesterday, further emphasizing her emergency powers to “suspend or limit the sale, dispensing, or transportation, of alcoholic beverages.”  No guns and no drinking will make NOLA hardly recognizable.
  7. The order stands “zero” chance in court and will be challenged.  After Katrina, Mayor Ray Nagin tried the exact same and had the edict struck down in court. He later lost an unrelated personal criminal case and wound up in jail for about 8 years.  Mayor Cantrell and her hubby haven’t paid their federal income taxes to the IRS in the last six years.  But, they were/are just trying to do the right thing for the people.
  8.  And yet another mayor called for some action.  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called for the nationalization of certain parts of the supply chain, and stated that “we’re getting close to a reality where the government has to ensure that the food supply, that it is not only available but that it’s equitably distributed.”  Crank up the printers.  Food stamps are on the way.
  9. So to recap, Nashville’s Mayor wants the bars closed.  New Orleans’ Mayor wants the sale of guns and booze shut down.  And, the NY Mayor wants us to stand in a bread line.
  10. Oh, and Trump said yesterday that we might be falling into a recession.  Ya think?

BBR’s drive-thru is open 24/7.  The nuggets aren’t in short supply.   But, if you want a happy meal or a Happy Meal, they are getting hard to find.

 

Laughter, the Best Medicine.

Posted on by boom booms room staff

A quick Google search for Reader’s Digest showed that a) yes the now 10x a year magazine is still published, and b) the circulation is over 3 million.

Long ago one of their monthly features was a compilation of musings of American life titled Laughter, It’s the Best Medicine.  It was (and maybe it still is) so well appreciated that they compiled the best and made them into paperbacks unto themselves.

We looked it up since we find the laughter part in understandably short supply these last several days.  Maybe it is the best medicine right now since the health and economy of the world is a bad joke being repeated in many languages.  Hopefully below makes light of a bit of it all.

At the local overrun grocery store Saturday at 8 AM we turned down one aisle to see a shopper with a buggy that looked like it could hold no more in it nor below.  The stack-up was monumentally well done.  “Crazy times,” she said.  “Crazy times,” I said.  One more glance at the pile and you could see four very large bottles of ketchup.  Four.  FOUR.   I had to.  “Hey, I’m just curious.  Why so much ketchup?”  “My husband loves it.  The last thing he told me before I left was to make sure he didn’t run out.”  Mission accomplished we presume.

Two aisles later were paper products.  An employee was stationed at the toilet paper run as a shopper put the third package of Charmin in her cart.  “Ma’am, as you can see from the limit sign, just two please.”  No response.  “MA’AM, its a limit of two, please.” As she pushed on, over her departing shoulder she said, “Oh, this one is for a friend of mine.” So thoughtful.

Over in dairy yet another employee was staged to help manage the mayhem.  By now, absolutely amazed at waiting in line 45 minutes to shop and witness it all, it was time to lighten things up a bit.  “Excuse me.  Do you know when the hurricane is supposed to make landfall?”  He looked unamused.  “Too soon?”  He nodded affirmatively.   The strong silent type he is apparently.

Meanwhile, Sunday night two nearly octagenarians battled it out appropriately six feet apart in a near-empty CNN studio.  The Democratic Nomination is still there for the taking Bernie believes.  Does he really?  Crazy Bernie screamed “Medicare for All” repeatedly for 90 minutes.  Crazy times.

Joe Biden confused Ebola with the Swine Flu with the Coronavirus with H1N1 with N1H15 with R2D2 and with CP30 at one point.  Of course, this was after he began the debate with a strong cough right into his fist when he was asked what he would do to combat the rapidly spreading virus.  You cannot make this stuff up.

Fox News resident rabble-rouser, Greg Gutfeld, tweeted during the debate “two cranky old farts arguing over who didn’t do what or did do that.  It’s like a Florida condo meeting over who keeps parking too close to the boat dock.”

Maybe the joke is on us.  Trump’s press conferences in the last week needed a standing eight count at times.  One of these two (very very likely Biden) will have a chance to knock him out of the office.   That chance (like it or not) improves by the day as our chance to escape a major disruption to our medical and economic well being is gone.

Maybe, just maybe, laughter is the best medicine.  And, you don’t need to wait for a test that we don’t have to get a prescription for it.  Laughter for All!

Pass the ketchup, please.

 

 

 

 

I Have Yet Another Story and A Moral Therof

Posted on by boom booms room staff

The PGA Tour Championship from Pointe Vedra, FL started normally yesterday.  By mid-round, it was announced that today’s round and the next few week’s rounds on tour would be played sans fans.  By end of the round, the PGA announced that the tour was stopping the event and the next three events on the schedule.

Four years ago next month the third round of The Insperity Open, a senior tour event that passes right by the backyard of BBR’s World Headquarters, was almost played sans one fan.  That fan would be this writer.

A bright sunny Saturday was the perfect opportunity to mingle with friends and family quite near the seventh green.   Quiet for the players turned into more than a stir as six carts, two of them bright, shiny red ones, made their way from hole #8 past the green at #7 and continued down the fairway in the opposite direction of the norm.

And, there they were!  In one of the red carts were the former FLOTUS, Mrs. Barbara Bush, and her driver.  In the other were the former POTUS, George Herbert Walker Bush, and his driver.  They were on a unique meet and greet the pro players mission.  In the other four were a cadre of men, some riding fireman style on back, all wearing dark sunglasses.  Hmm.  Secret Service?

I was on a mission as well.  It’s but a 200-yard walk from there back to the “office.”  Mother Nature called and so did another cold beer (Corona? Nah! Too soon?). As I walked that way the six-pack of carts pulled to the side deep into the rough as tee shots were “fixin to fly.”  Unless you are a resident, it’s a dead side of the course-it has no path to the next or previous hole.

Their rest stop wasn’t but a mere 15 feet from my back gate.  And quite suddenly, there we were. It was a bunch of former and current government workers and me.  The Bush’s were seated in their carts and about six of my new sunglass-wearing best friends were rapidly approaching me.  “Put your hands up!”  And I did, quickly.  “I mean no harm, I live right there, and am just trying to get into my gate.”

A VERY long two seconds passed.  “Ok, go ahead.”  Relieved and a bit emboldened I inquired, “Could I please shake (today we would have to elbow bump, social distancing being what it is.) President Bush’s hand?”    “No!”  That was all.  It was a flat out  “No!”

Hmm.  I decided to wave instead.  Only George’s smile was wider than Barbara’s.  I also decided that entering the gate was now past due.  And, I figured an invite inside for a round of cold ones was out of the question.

By the time I got back outside they were down the fairway shaking hands with the pros.  Hmm.

The moral of the story, you ask?  I guess it’s who you know, or who the Secret Service says you get to know.

Still, it was great to inadvertently get that close to them, and even better that I remained a free man.

 

 

 

This Time It’s….

Posted on by boom booms room staff

This time it’s different.  Actually, every time it’s different.

On the medical side there has been SARS, H1NI, Ebola, the Hong Kong flu and many more outbreaks, quickly spreading viruses, epidemics, and even an occasional pandemic.

On the economic side there has been The Great Depression, many recessions, runaway late seventies inflation, the Arab Oil Embargo, the dot com bubble, 9/11, the 2008-09 financial crisis,  and many more significant to severe downturns.

And now it’s COVID-19.  It’s the Coronavirus.  It’s the Wuhan Virus.

BBR leadership and its staff make no claims to being a medical expert nor an economic guru.  We do, however, have significant experience in watching human behavior through most of these tough times.

Experience teaches us that this too will pass.  But it sure doesn’t feel like it, does it?

We want improvement.  We want answers.  We want results.  We want to get away mentally.  We want to get away physically.  We want.  We want.

This time it’s the same.  It’s just that every time we get into a very rough patch like this one it feels different.

The problem is we can’t see it.  The problem is that we really didn’t see it coming.  “It won’t affect me!”  And, we won’t know that it’s gone until someone with a white long coat and a tie tells us it’s gone.

Actually this time it’s the same.   Actually every time it’s the same.

We just want to wash our hands and want to be done with this.  And, we should want to-wash our hands that is.

It’s always darkest before the dawn.  The sun will eventually come up.  It always does.

March Mad Mess

Posted on by boom booms room staff

If you dribble a basketball on a hardwood floor and no one sees it, is it still an NBA game?  It is.  It’s just far less of a moneymaker.

And it just might happen.  These days aren’t normal days.  These days are rightfully consumed with controlling the North American outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.  And, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who has all but embraced sports gambling, is very near needing to push his chips to the middle of the existing arenas.  Or, he could fold the chairs, close the doors, and wash his hands on the way out.

Discussions in the league office occur daily on the best way to continue to play the games, engage the fans, and minimize the risk of being accused of putting economics ahead of players and fans.  Several options are seriously being discussed.

One option is to move games to the city of what should be the visiting team if the risk of spread in that city is far lower than the home team’s city.  Take Golden State.  Please.  The Warrior’s home games gross about $3.75 million.  But the greater Bay Area and its governments might soon dictate that any sporting event played in a closed area be done so without any fans in attendance.

Other cities could soon follow.  Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recommended that indoor teams in that state play without fans for the immediate future. The Cleveland Cavaliers are on a six-game road trip and don’t return home until March 24.  They have some time to evaluate the recommendation and decide how to proceed.

LeBron James weighed in last week when asked about playing in an empty arena. “I play for the fans; that’s what it’s all about,” James said. “If I show up to the arena and there ain’t no fans there, I ain’t playing.”

Upon further review, James had a beautiful verbal crossover dribble on the subject yesterday.  “If they feel that it’s best for the safety of the players, safety of the franchise, safety of the league to mandate that, then we’ll all listen to it.”  How noble of him to now listen to a mandate. Maybe “adhere” is just a three-point shot away.  And, how nice of him to speak for “all.”  Kings do that.

He also spoke when he lectured Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey back in October.  Remember Morey had tweeted out support for Hong Kong protesters, and essentially against the Chinese government.  Way back then James said that Morey was “misinformed and not educated on the situation.”

Now the day is very near that James and the entire league that all but defended China (and its immense economic effect on the league) might play in empty arenas due to a virus that started in China.  The bats that came home to roost are now in the soup.

And, March Madness is set to tipoff.  We should ask LeBron if we could rename it March Mad Mess.

 

 

Perception May Not Be Reality

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Yesterday we labeled “Tough Monday.”  One week ago most everyone agreed was “Super Tuesday.”   Joe Biden was at first the lone dissenter to that mantra, but after the results came in from about 15 states he quickly changed his mind about the public perception of him.  What will today bring us?

There is perception and there is reality.  When the perception becomes so strong that it changes behavior, a new day has dawned.

Once upon a time it was considered in style, even sexy, to smoke cigarettes.  The surgeon general told us enough times that smoking will kill you.  Our perception of smoking changed to the point where we frown upon anyone who smokes.

Stated plainly, if everyone thinks the COVID-19, aka the Coronavirus, will do them great harm or even kill them, then human behavior is dramatically changed.  If you don’t believe BBR, then head to your local food or drug store.  Try buying hand soap, cough or cold medicines, or egads, toilet paper.  When is the last time you shook hands with anyone?  Check your 401k lately?

Human behavior has dramatically changed until our perception changes.  We cast no judgment.  It’s better to be safe than sorry we heard.

However, we cannot help but wonder if this has reached the point of being a bit overblown at least in the U.S.  We highly recommend that you take three minutes and read this link.  We’ve found it to be the most unemotional, fact-based, and intuitive piece on the virus that we have read.

In the meantime, we cannot help but wonder as well that people would actually (on TV and Twitter yesterday) find the time to debate the “insensitivity” of calling COVID-19 the Wuhan Virus.  Chris Hayes, MSNBC’s resident word policeman, called it a social injustice.

Good Lord people, get over yourself.  What about Peking Duck?  If you don’t want the blame for the virus, you don’t get credit for the duck anymore either.

Was your perception of that insensitive?  We hope it wasn’t.  But, if it was, so be it.  It’s our perception.

Please wash your hands to help keep the virus away.  And, please wash them again of this overblown politically correct BS.