Happy (C)Hump Day!

Posted on August 7, 2019August 7, 2019 by boom booms room staff

Happy Hump Day. You’ve made it this far into the week, you might as well stick it out now and go the distance. Joe Scarborough, MSNBC cohost of Mornings With Joe, made it far enough into his transformation to the Democratic Party that this AM he decided to stick it out and go all of the way over the cliff.

BBR, being fair and balanced, monitors all news outlets. This AM we tuned in to hear Joe, his sidekick and wife Mika Brzezinski, and others interview Nebraska GOP State Senator John McCollister. McCollister tweeted Sunday night, “The Republican Party is enabling white supremacy in our country. As a lifelong Republican, it pains me to say this, but it’s the truth.”

Ah, that’ll get you instant oxygen on MSNBC. Through out the 5 minute or so interview MSNBC had the large font, all caps, double high banner on the bottom quarter of the screen stating “REPUBLICAN STATE SENATOR IN NEBRASKA SAYS GOP IS “COMPLICIT” WITH WHITE SUPREMACY.” But, a funny thing happened in those five minutes. No one asked him about the “complicit” claim. No one.

But they did ask him why he was speaking out against his own party. Mika, “So where do you stand with your party affiliation? I guess the Republican Party kicked you out?” McCollister, “No. they can’t. Only I can kick myself out.” Nice try by Joe’s wife.

McCollister went on to say that “the GOP party under Trump has lost the values it used to stand for being free trade, legal immigration, and fiscal sanity.” Joe called Trump a “long time Big Government Democrat who only changed parties so that he could run” then asked, looking for leaks in the dam “if he had heard from or received any support from elected officials in Nebraska or around the country?” “No, no elected officials have reached out.” Nice try by Mika’s husband.

Willie Geist asked what his fallout could be for speaking out. “I term out in three years and we have no caucus, so the political fallout for me is very little.” BBR would have liked to have asked him, then, why it took all of this time to speak out. We think we got that answer. Nice try by Willie.

An unnamed commenter on the desk asked how “Nebraska farmers were holding up given the reckless and incompetent tariff and trade policies.” McCollister expressed surprise that no backlash had occurred from the farming community. He said “I guess that they are just hoping something will eventually get better.” Nice try by Mr. Unnamed.

Mika was thanking him for his time and said that she “really appreciated his voice” as the interview concluded, but Mika’s husband couldn’t help himself and jumped in. “Thank you so much Senator for standing up and being counted, sounding like actually a member of the party of Lincoln,” Joe said. “Yep!” Mika said.

So, to summarize Joe called they party he joined “big government democrats.” And, Mika and Joe yearn for the old days of the Republican Party when it stood for free trade, legal immigration, and fiscal sanity. So, isn’t Trump attempting to balance the trade field with China, Mexico, Canada, and others to make it truly free or at least a level one as opposed to one sided tariffs? So, isn’t Trump railing incessantly about his belief in immigration as long as it’s legal? Now, on the fiscal sanity, BBR wholeheartedly agrees. Trillion dollar deficits are no way to run a country. We wonder if they felt they felt the same from 2009-2016. However, Trump’s team insists that there is plenty of time to tighten the belt, just not now. And, they claim that they will when (2020-2024) they want to “Keep America Great.”

Joe’s wife should be so, so proud. Her transformation of Joe, former Republican Congressman, is complete. It’s complete in the sense that they both cannot accept that Trump was elected in 2016, and both spend 24/7 speaking out against anything he does. Russia, Russia, Russia. Racist, racist, racist. It’s complete in how he identifies his Democratic party affiliation.

But, but ideologically they sound so, so confused.

Happy Chump(s) Day.

To Be or Not To Be a Racist. That is the Question.

Posted on July 30, 2019 by boom booms room staff

President Donald Trump is a racist. If you don’t believe us, just ask MSNBC, or CNN, or The Atlantic, or Joe Scarborough, or Mika Brzezinski, or Bernie Sanders, or AOC and the three, or Elijah Cummings, or the Reverend Al Sharpton.

President Donald trump isn’t a racist. If you don’t believe us just ask fair and balanced Fox News, or Fox Business, or Rush Limbaugh, or Mark Levin, or cheerleader Sean Hannity.

Elijah Cummings took on what he feels is inadequate care for children at our border. And the House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Cummings put on a show Thursday screaming at acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan about the way illegal immigrant children are treated in detention centers. “These are human beings!” raved the Maryland Democrat. “Human beings just trying to live a better life!”

Racist Trump took to his favorite avenue to express himself. He tweeted “As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded. Cummings District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place.

And so, predictably, yesterday friends and foes lined up on both sides of the attacks and counter attacks. Haven’t you watched this movie before? And, haven’t you watched it before that? And, won’t it be playing soon all over again, and over again, at a theater near you? You bet it will. It will be live on stage at the Fox Theater in Detroit tonight and again tomorrow night.

The debate’s debaters will no doubt take turns trying to one up one another talking about just how racist The Donald is. But, there is no real debate within the party about how to beat Trump in 2020. Democrats have to win over Trump voters in swing states like Michigan, a crucial plank in the party’s 2020 strategy in luring its own traditional supporters back to the polls. And, like a made in America in Detroit, Michigan Ford, they’ll start the engine tonight in The Motor City.

Boosting turnout in majority African-American Detroit as well as in some of its Democratic-trending suburbs where the party found success in last year’s midterm election should do the trick, state party leaders say. State party leaders in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin say much the same.

Nationwide, the black turnout rate fell to roughly 60% in 2016, down from a record high of nearly 67% in 2012. It marked the first such decline in 20 years among African-Americans in a presidential election. Democrats, who typically win an overwhelming majority of black voters, now have just over 15 months to try to reverse that slide.

Trump won Michigan by only about 11,000 votes. Turn out 15,000 more black voters in 2020, and insure that the traditional 94% of them vote for the Democrat, any Democrat, and voila, the 16 electoral votes goes back to where it usually goes. Take that strategy to the aforementioned three other states and the rust belt flips. And, with that, the White House has a new rent free renter for the next four years.

Do you wonder why they chose Detroit for the debate site? Do you wonder why the attack on Trump for his attack on Elijah’s district is labeled racist?

Cummings has been in Congress for 20 years. Did the temporary living conditions on our southern border somehow just now deteriorate? Did the living conditions in some areas of his Baltimore district somehow just now deteriorate?

The answers are of course no and no. But, the Democratic Party is only interested in your answer to one question. Is Donald Trump a racist?

Rumors of His Death……….

Posted on July 23, 2019July 23, 2019 by boom booms room staff

Way back in 1876 Samuel Clemens, under the pen name of Mark Twain, penned the American classic novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Tom was an irascible one, just ask his Aunt Polly whom he lived with. One day for his misdeed(s) she punished him making him whitewash(paint) her picket fence. Tom convinced his friends to do it for him selling it as a privilege to do such work and admire it as an accomplishment. And paint it they did. It’s an amazing accomplishment unto itself, even if it is fiction.

If you jump to 2019 in the adventures of Donald Trump, himself a bit irascible, it looks like he too has passed out the paint brushes. It looks like the President has convinced his “friends” on The Squad ( Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan) to do his work for him as well. The Squad has repeatedly attempted to paint Trump as a racist among other non flattering accusations. Meanwhile the media cannot get enough of the four congresswoman giving the feud much air time. He has portrayed them on the canvas as the new faces of the ever further leaning left Democratic Party. Green New Deal, free healthcare, free tuition, and a free for all are promised. He purposely helps them get even more oxygen. Aunt Polly, aka Nancy Pelosi, is beside herself. She can’t decide if she wants to punish Trump, or her freshman legislators, or both.

Meanwhile the 2020 cattle call of 23 Democratic hopefuls to gain the nomination has far too little oxygen in the room. Each candidate is trying to find their way. In the crowded herd one has tried to go further left than the next. Free this and free that is promised for all but the wealthy. For the wealthy pay for this and pay for that is promised. Heck, Cory Booker piled on over the weekend and told America that Trump was even worse than a racist. “The reality is, this is a guy who is worse than a racist,” the Democratic presidential contender from New Jersey told Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “He is actually using racist tropes and racial language for political gains, trying to use this as a weapon to divide our nation against itself. We aren’t sure what that is called. Is that a racist’s racist? Booker took a harder left turn than The Squad.

Trump has made the race (at least for now) a binary decision. Vote for me, or vote for the new Democratic Party, the face of which is The Squad. He has plenty of paint brushes to go around. And, he has plenty of Democrats and media folks lining up on the drop cloths.

Is there one person left in America who hasn’t come to their own conclusion as to whether Trump is a racist (whatever definition of racist one may have) or is not? And, isn’t this the theme every four years? Reagan, Bush, Dole, Bush, McCain, Romney, and Trump have all been painted with the same whitewash. Isn’t it time to let the paint dry and move on to another chore? Infrastructure, medical care reform, drug costs, and immigration come to mind.

Tom Sawyer went missing in another stunt that Aunt Polly didn’t approve. Eventually town members had a funeral, for he was presumed dead. Tom got wind of this and decided to show up at his own funeral. “Rumors of his death,” he said, “were greatly exaggerated.”

Try as the Democrats might, rumors of Trump’s political career being dead are greatly exaggerated as well.

And, he gave out plenty of paint brushes to eager “friends” as proof.

Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

Posted on July 17, 2019July 17, 2019 by boom booms room staff

The Wall Street Journal reached out yesterday. They asked us to comment on rumors that boomboomsroom.com, aka BBR, was contemplating going public. We directly squashed the rumor. We have no plans to IPO now nor in the future.

Our rationale is simple. We want our sole focus on delivering the best content day in and day out. To do so we need to hire the best people to do their best at the job that they are qualified to do. Our deep and talented staff shakes it’s collective head at the daily outcry for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Don’t misread our position. We are all for all people, regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religion, or whatever group we forgot, to succeed in the business workplace. We just think that the best/most qualified should be the final determination.

When did hiring the best and most qualified go out of style? It’s when political correctness became the style. It’s when capitalism was first assaulted by socialism.

Take Uber. The newly public company released on Monday its latest diversity report, which included a breakdown of its US workforce by race or ethnicity and gender. White men still make up most of its staff (30.1%), a pattern that is even more evident in leadership, tech, and leadership in tech roles. Black women make up 5.3% of its overall workforce in the US, black men 4%, Hispanic women 3.7% and Hispanic men 4.6%.

Diversity is defined as each person is unique. And, each person may have a different point of view that should be considered. It certainly can be due to different upbringing, background, education, race, ethnicity, etc. But, it’s about each individual.

For the first time, Uber is setting some diversity and inclusion goals for 2022 that will be tied to the compensation of several of its senior executives — CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, chief financial officer Nelson Chai, chief legal officer Tony West, and chief people officer Nikki Krishnamurthy. Chief People Officer! What the hell?

Want to guess what percent of the US 2018 census best estimate of the American population is white and male? It’s 37%. Should they focus on hiring more white men? It would be equitable, but not politically correct.

“While these numbers are an improvement, they are not where they need to be,” wrote Megan Rose Dickey of the Tech Crunch website. Project Include’s Ellen Pao has previously said the numbers need to be at 13% black and 17% Latino in order to reflect the demographics of the U.S. population. So, employee demographics need to match our population. If everyone is employed (nearly the case right now) don’t they in the macro?

So, how do you get there? Ah. What isn’t being said is that nearly 33% of the Uber employees are of Asian decent. So, is that good or bad? Aren’t Asians a minority too? Of course they are. Every race is except white. But apparently there are too many of them working at Uber for Megan and Ellen. How else can you say it? If you need to have more blacks and Latinos you must need less Asians. Isn’t that racist? Isn’t that prejudiced?

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in May that his league had done a poor job hiring females as referees. Currently there are three female officials in the NBA, and he wants that number to rise. “The goal is going forward, it should be roughly 50-50 of new officials entering in the league,” he said. “Same for coaches, by the way. We have a program, too. There’s no reason why women shouldn’t be coaching men’s basketball.” Sounds politically correct. Except, maybe they don’t want to referee in the NBA?

Someone should ask Adam how many female refs applied for the job in the last twelve months. If it was way more than the three that they have whose fault is it that they only have three? It’s the NBA’s. If the number that applied is way less than men, how do you fix that? Should you even try to fix that?

And, most of all, someone should ask Adam why there is such an imbalance in the league’s players. According to racial equality activist Richard Lapchick, the NBA in 2015 (the most recent info we could find) was composed of 74.4 percent black players, 23.3 percent white players, 1.8 percent Latino players of any race, and 0.2 percent Asian players. If I were an Asian Uber employee I might declare my eligibility for the 2020 NBA draft.

Diverse? Sure. Inclusive? Yes. Equitable? No. The most qualified? For sure. Ah, now we are getting somewhere.

No Consensus on the Census

Posted on July 12, 2019July 12, 2019 by boom booms room staff

So, in today’s America, we cannot come to a consensus on the census. Why not? President Trump and his Attorney General are at odds with Congressional Democrats and a few Obama appointed judges over the right to ask a basic question on the 2020 census. The question is “are you a US citizen?”

That leads to another very basic question, “why?” Why would those opposed to the question of citizenship on the census be opposed to it? And, that leads to yet another question, “why was it taken off of the census questionnaire to begin with?”

The answer to why the opposition to the question itself seems rooted deep in the Democratic Party strategy doctrine. They would prefer the word “residents” these days over citizens. It sounds so much more inclusive you know. Remember “illegal aliens” morphed to “illegal immigrants.” Then it softened to “migrants.” Soon migrants became “undocumented.” There are even “dreamers.” Doesn’t “dreamer” sound so much better than “illegal?” How can you be opposed to dreaming? Join our party.

Way back in 1974 a lower court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade was upheld by the United States Supreme Court. The result made a woman’s right to have an abortion legal. A woman’s right to have an abortion morphed into a woman’s “right to choose.” Choose what? You know. So, it was still too descriptive. So, it is now referred to by the left as “woman’s healthcare.” It’s headed to “woman’s wellness.” Doesn’t “wellness” sound so much better than “abortion?” How can you be opposed to wellness? Join our party.

If you count “residents” isn’t the next step to count them in on all things that “citizens” rights provide. Free healthcare was just approved in California for illegals aged 19-25. Why stop there? You can start by redrawing the congressional districts around residents. And, when you do the party that panders to the illegal immigrants in every which way gains more votes. More votes means gaining and holding power. Why do you need an ID to vote anyway? Come one, come all. The party that panders dreams about the dreamers putting them in power permanently. And, make no mistake about it, the Democratic party has a vision and a strategic plan and does a great job marketing itself to achieve it.

So, why and when was it taken off of the census to begin with? It was taken off by the Obama Administration after the 2010 census. When you count citizens you also count non citizens don’t you know? It’s better if your opponents do not know the size of the opportunity (if you are from the left) or the problem (if you are from the right). The question has been on every census, taken once a decade, for over 160 years. When it was removed the hope was that it would never be placed back on it.

At a minimum it takes a fight to get it back on. And who looks bad in the fight in the eyes of the press? It’s the folks that call illegals illegal. It isn’t the former president and his agenda. He was trying to be inclusive. So the narrative has shifted. The press writes and talks about “why does the president want this on?” The press doesn’t or didn’t ever question why the former president took it off. So the right siders have to play defense.

President Trump comments often about how important it is to finish building the wall that previous administrations started. It might seem easy now compared to building a consensus around the census. Of course if you had the wall you would need no census consensus.

Bernie Isn’t (that) Crazy.

Posted on June 26, 2019June 26, 2019 by boom booms room staff

Alice Cooper called it. “School’s out, for summer.” But, soon, Rodney Dangerfield and others will return. “Hey, I am going back to school!” And, when they do they need to bring their checkbook, and then some.

No one disputes the following. One, the cost of a four year public college/university education in these 50 United States has spiraled out of control. And, two, the debt that undergraduates and post graduates have incurred is huge at 1.6 trillion dollars and mounting by the moment.

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and a few others have led or joined the battle cry to make college tuition free and/or forgive the outstanding student debt. Each plan to do so essentially redistributes wealth from taxpayers to students and is fraught with inconsistencies. More later.

But now, we ask, have you ever heard of Sallie Mae? SLM Corporation (commonly known as Sallie Mae; originally the Student Loan Marketing Association) is a publicly traded U.S. company that provides consumer banking loans. Its structure has changed dramatically since it was set up in 1973. At first, it was a government entity that serviced federal education loans. It then became private in 2004 and started offering private student loans.

The company’s primary business is originating, servicing, and collecting private education loans. Sallie Mae previously originated federally guaranteed student loans originated under the Federal Family Education Loan Program and worked as a servicer and collector of federal student loans on behalf of the Department of Education.

So, the U.S. government started Sallie Mae. It then decided the task too tall for itself and allowed it to privatize. And it’s now government workers who are crying loudest about the soaring student debt. And, they should.

We took a peak at Sallie Mae’s (now Navient Corporation, the largest servicer of federal student loans and collector on behalf of the U.S. Dept of Education) “generous” loan offers and terms there of last evening. What’s our conclusion? You might as well charge your education on your Visa or MasterCard.

Navient loans offered today start at a 7.5% interest rate. They are tied to a marker of interest rates known as LIBOR, plus 5%. They are variable, can even change monthly up or down, and are allowed to float as high as 25% if the market so chooses. That’s 25% as a high side risk! Seven point five percent isn’t cheap to begin with. Ford will give you zero percent financing for that new F150. Sallie Mae and Uncle Sam want more, much more.

But it gets worse. Let’s take a 40k dollar loan as an example. You have three options to repay. All start with paying either $25 bucks a month while still in school, or the interest accumulated each month of $233, or foregoing paying anything at all until you have completed your education. Tick tock goes the interest clock from day one of course. The choices are bad, poor, and terrible.

The structured repayment schedule over the course of the next dozen or so years costs about $500 a month at the 7.5% rate, and much more if rates rise. The total interest is 29k on top of the 40k. But, here is the kicker of all kickers. There is no interest saved for paying down the principal in any accelerated manner. There is no incentive/gain for attempting to get out of the debt. Sign up and Sallie starts counting her coins.

There is no bankruptcy filing that exempts anyone from repaying either. Federal laws are written to absolve you of debt incurred when you can no longer keep your head above water, except if that debt is owed to your government. It’s the golden rule. He who has the gold makes the rules. Sallie collects the gold for he who makes the rules.

Making college free (and it wouldn’t be free, just paid by others) and forgiving debt (and that would just be adding to the federal debt that we all are accountable for as well) isn’t the answer. No answer is that simple. And no answer should only be for the selected ones who are in debt today or in school tomorrow. It needs to be equitable. For example, shouldn’t trade schools be “free” too? You can’t discriminate for just colleges can you Elizabeth?

Their approach is a big band aid and is designed to garner votes from the young and naive. The bandage needs to be ripped off of the whole mess and the root cause needs a vaccination. Otherwise, many will continue to fall down, scrape their knees, and eventually the wound will get infected. A great start to this would be to examine the ridiculous terms of Sallie Mae and others in this federal loan business for students. If you didn’t save for college at least there should be an incentive to get out of debt sooner.

Maybe Crazy Bernie isn’t so crazy after all in attempting to address this. It’s just how, not handouts, that need to be looked at and changed. Start with Sallie Mae and others just like her. And, like the $22 trillion dollar debt, and ballooning government, the sooner the better.

Donald, You’re No Ronald!

Posted on June 25, 2019June 25, 2019 by boom booms room staff

When Senator Lloyd Benson was squared off against Senator Dan Quayle in the Vice Presidential Debate in 1988, Quayle, desperate to establish himself as a qualified VP running mate, dropped a JFK reference. Benson dropped a haymaker on Quayle, deadpanning “you’re no Jack Kennedy.“

We have resisted comparing Donald Trump to Ronald Reagan for fear of a haymaker ourselves, as Donald is no Ronald. While each had roles on the TV screen or the big screen previous to ascending to the biggest role in all of the land, they differ in approach far more than they are similar.

Start with the hair styles please. Ronald had a thick, dark, wavy mane seemingly woven to his head since birth to die for. Donald has a thin, white/gray whisp that needs to be woven to his head for fear of it flying away. Ronald was a statesman. Donald states what he thinks and feels in non too subtle way. Ronald had his first lady Nancy incessantly shaping his public perception. Donald has had quite a few ladies and his first lady appears to step back and watch the bullfight from afar.

But, they have one big thing in common. They know leverage when they see it. And, when they see it they use it. And, when they use it, they use it effectively.

Ronald watched as Iran held American hostages for 444 days till the very end of the Jimmy Carter’s mediocre presidency. Mysteriously, on Reagan’s inauguration day, Iran freed the hostages. Ronald played the good cop role on a horse in a TV western a few times. He always got the bad guy and rode off into the sunset with the pretty woman. Iran wanted nothing to do with this cowboy in real life. Did Reagan’s team advance anything to Iran about the consequences of a continued standoff? Probably. Enough said.

Trump called North Korean dictator Kim Jung-Un “Rocket Man” in front of a United Nations gathering. It was not very subtle. It was the equivalent of Nikita Khrushchev’s shoe-banging incident during the 902nd Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly held in New York in 1960. During the session Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, pounded his shoe on his delegate-desk in protest of a speech by Philippine delegate Lorenzo Sumulong. It was not so subtle.

Both Ronald and Trump were effective, style points aside.

“Rocket Man” is but one of many verbal jabs, hooks, or TKO’s that the Donald has thrown. It is for that very reason that we continue to be amazed by how wrong the media continues to miss on understanding his approach, and therefore his effectiveness. Every time he jabs, tweets, nicknames, and/or insults a foreign leader or an entire country the media screams in unison that “the sky is falling, the sky is falling.” Except, it isn’t.

In fact it’s the opposite. Trump threatened tariffs on Mexico a couple of weeks back and gave them a short deadline to help on their southern border controlling Central American illegal inflow, and on our southern border helping protect our illegal inflow. Foes of The Donald said many things. “He can’t do that.” “You can’t use tariffs to control immigration.” “It’s unprecedented.” “He’s offended our neighbor again.” The stock market said, “Hold on cowboy.” “This will wreck certain imported products.” “Prices on imports will go through the roof.” One Einstein even lamented, “the price of avocados will go up three fold.”

Our guess is that Donald doesn’t like avocados. And, he doesn’t like illegal immigration even more. So, with zero help from his Democrat friends, Donald got help on his own from his southern friends. Mexico, after all of these years, offered immediate help. Fifteen thousand of their finest are now being deployed on our joint border to stem the flow northward. Another two thousand went south to do the same. It’s amazing what the right carrot on the right stick can do. And, Wall St. rallied once more.

And, it’s equally amazing how many people, tv commentators, and countries totally fail to understand President Trump’s motives and results derived from them. Ronald won with style and grace. Donald wins with a hammer and a chainsaw.

Donald paints outside of the lines. Donald is no Ronald. But, he is Michelangelo in the art of the deal.

Moving On Up, to the East Side.

Posted on June 6, 2019June 6, 2019 by boom booms room staff

Jeffery Bezos may only be worth half as much as he was a few months back, but yesterday it was revealed that he bought not one, not two, but three high rise condos on Manhattan Island, New York, NY. As a matter of fact he liked the neighborhood, er, high rise so much that he bought the penthouse, and the space right under the penthouse, and the space right under the space right under the penthouse. The total space will be worked into a three story condo with a modest 12 bedrooms. The price was an Amazon Prime bargain at $80 million. Adjusting to the single life requires a few creature comforts.

As CEO of the largest retailer in the virtual world, capitalism has been comforting to Mr. Bezos. Though the stock is down a bit from it’s high, it’s valuation had crossed a trillion (with a “T”) dollars recently.

Capitalism has been good to the Sam Walton family as well. As beneficiaries to Sam’s fortune created by Sam’s Clubs and Walmarts, they live life as large as they wish as well. They just aren’t too flashy. Walmart, the largest retailer in the brick and mortar world is valued at a palty $350 billion dollars.

So enter one Bernie Sanders yesterday into this capitalism love fest. Walmart held its annual shareholders meeting. Bernie had a few thoughts that he wanted heard. Walmart said, “We have an open door, let’s hear them.”

In a three minute call to action Bernie stood up and asked that Walmart go from $11/hr as opening hourly pay for its employees up to $15/hr. He also told the board that “regular” employees should have a seat or three on their board.

“Walmart is the largest private employer in America and is owned by the Walton family, the wealthiest family in the United States,” said Sanders. “And yet, despite the incredible wealth of its owner, Walmart pays many of its employees starvation wages — wages that are so low that many of these employees are forced to rely on government programs like food stamps, Medicaid and public housing in order to survive.”

“Frankly,” Sanders continued, “the American people are sick and tired of subsidizing the greed of some of the largest and most profitable corporations in this country.”

He cited Amazon among others as companies that have raised their entry pay level to $15/hr and continued to do well. He is right. Amazon has done quite well.

Walmart rejected Sander’s proposal faster than they do a vendor’s proposed price increase. After all, shouldn’t market forces be the catalyst for wages? America is nearing zero unemployment. If you want more money isn’t it there if you qualify, say at Amazon, or Target or anywhere that the market forces force employers to pay up for help? Just asking.

Maybe Bernie isn’t so crazy after all. You see he’s chasing Joe Biden, who told America in his “I’m running for President” coming out speech in Pennsylvania that the middle class is getting left behind in the Trump years. Joe should check the stats on the Obama/Biden years, but we digress.

So Bernie took a swing for the class a bit lower than middle yesterday. The TV cameras loved it. It takes a lot of video to fill 24 hours you know. Bernie yells louder and longer for the little guy than most anyone else. And, he doesn’t spray his hair like The Donald. Therefore, outdoor rallies like he had after his appeal to Walmart seem to have much appeal to cameras near and far as his unkempt coif whirls like a dervish.

Jeffery Bezos, no doubt, was looking down on all of this, happy that he already has his minimums set at $15, and happy with his real estate purchase too. Soon, but not soon enough, he’ll be looking down from 35 stories up.

These fixer upper remodels take time you know.

(Don’t)Take the High Ground!

Posted on May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 by boom booms room staff

Recently this writer took a one hour guided tour of the Battle of Franklin (Tn.) that took place in the very late stages of the American Civil War on November 30,1864. When asked who won, the tour guide responded, “it is always said that the side that stands on the ground the next morning won. So it was the Confederates who won.”

Last evening and well into this morning the Mississippi St. Bulldogs and LSU’s Fighting Tiger baseball teams fought for 17 innings before the (damn) Dogs prevailed 6-5. The teams combined for over 600 thrown pitches,35 strikeouts, 30 hits, and 40 men left on base in the 6 hour and 43 minute “war.” Afterwards, the Bulldogs ran off into the night with victory while LSU stood silently on the “battlefield” wondering what hit them. It was the Tigers who stood on the ground, but it sure wasn’t victory.

The Confederates lost over 6,000 brave men while the Union lost over 2,000 in the five hour battle that at times was savagely reduced to hand to hand combat. The Union’s main goal was to build a bridge to allow them to cross the Harpeth River to get to Nashville where warm food and warmer beds awaited. And, in the day before and day of the conflict, build it they did. The Confederates stood on the high ground on December 1st, but it sure wasn’t victory. The Union (damn Yankees) was in Nashville by then.

When real wars, or bombings, or tragedies hit we are correctly reminded to not compare sports contests to the actual. “It was a war out there.” “We fought and fought.” “It was just going to be the last man standing.” We ugly Americans cannot help ourselves though. We marvel at the intestinal fortitude, authentic passion, and unyielding desire of our teams and their opponents. Along the way, we drink cold beer and eat warm food. Then we go to sleep in warm beds (sometimes at 3:15) wondering in amazement how our battalion won or lost. Make no mistake though, we always feel better when we are on the winning side and hold the high ground.

Which brings us to General Pelosi and General Schumer and Commander in Chief Trump. Yesterday, minutes before they were scheduled to meet to further discuss a big spending bill on American infrastructure, General Pelosi threw a very public, verbal, hand grenade at the Commander. “We believe that no one is above the law, including the president of the United States. And we believe that the president of the United States is engaged in a cover-up,” she said.

President Trump, enraged, countered by “blowing up” the planned peaceful meeting saying that when they wanted to end the phony investigations and work with him they could go about repairing the nations highways, airports, and bridges. And so the war for power in DC had quite the battle yesterday.

Somehow LSU has to pick themselves up by the boot straps just 10 hours after they lost, and play an elimination game at 1 PM today. Elimination? That sounds permanent. There is that war/sport comparison again.

Permanent too was the loss of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the north and south who fought and died like the 8,000 did in the Battle of Franklin over 150 years ago.

Washington DC could learn a lot by watching young adults play baseball into the morning hours. Washington DC could learn a lot taking a one hour Battle of Franklin tour as well.

It isn’t always about the high ground. Sometimes its better to lose the battle and win the war. Washington DC continues to lose the war trying to win the battle.

Ya Gotta Believe!

Posted on April 19, 2019April 19, 2019 by boom booms room staff

Back when the 1973 New York Mets, aka “The Amazins,” were making their very improbable run all the way to the World Series, team member Tug McGraw coined a phrase. It was “Ya Gotta Believe.” And believe the Mets did, going from last place in their division on a very late in the season August 30th all the way to a 4 games to 3 World Series loss to the Oakland A’s. Tug’s tug on his teammates passion to unite behind a cause was a winning formula.

So too it is in politics. Tell people something enough and eventually they will accept it as the truth and a way of life and unite behind a cause. Just a few months back, and several hundred billions less in debt, the US Senate held a hearing to either approve or reject Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court. Quickly Christine Blasey Ford became the centerpiece of the effort to block his confirmation. She claimed a then teen Kavanaugh about 30 odd years ago attempted to rape her at a party. Where? She didn’t know where. When? She didn’t know when. Her friend that she said was with her at the party said she wasn’t.

It mattered not. You gotta believe her some said. Kamala Harris, Democratic Senator on the Confirmation Committee said she did. She is now a candidate for President. Others did too. Hawaii Senator Hirono went so far as to state that Ford needed to believed, she believed Ford, and that men needed to shut up. This was before the testimony to reveal any credible evidence. You know, everyone is guilty if they are on the wrong side of the argument until proven innocent. When the hearings concluded, the unconvinced of guilt lefties felt like yet another “victim,” who just came forward, needed to be heard. She was represented by the honorable, but now indicted for attempted bribery of nike, Michael Avenatti. Nothing credible came of that either. Shocker. Another delay.

Eventually Kavanaugh was confirmed. But, that was only after the delay and the narrative could be heard and heard and heard. After all, what better free advertising for the party attempting to regain control of both houses in 2018?

Enter the Trump Collusion Mueller Investigation. Enter Adam Schiff, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee (House and the word Intelligence together, like politicians, make strange bedfellows). Pencil Neck, as someone calls him, claims to have evidence that Trump colluded with the Russians. Twenty-three months of Mueller, his cadre of lawyers, investigators, over 500 subpoenas and over one million pages of info requests of Trump’s team later, we have the Attorney General Robert Barr echoing Mueller that there was no collusion. And, Mueller stated no legal reason to think Trump obstructed justice. Barr said, too, that it fails to meet the legal bar for it.

Harry Reid said that he had evidence that Mitt Romney cheated on his income taxes. Give em hell Harry. No evidence yet. None ever coming.

“We need Mueller to testify before the Oversight Committee,” comes the cry. “Surely there is more to this,” comes the cry. “What’ll we do with all of these pitchforks and lanterns,” comes the cry.

We now have government officials asking for government officials to interview under oath a government appointed special prosecutor who investigated the executive branch of our government for two years and came to no legal wrongdoings. Ya Gotta Believe says Adam and others. Adam, show us your evidence. It was your civic duty, not political hay to make, 23 months ago.

Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good narrative it seems. Oh, and if we can keep this up till, say, 2020, we can use this cloud hanging over Trump to beat Trump, can’t we?

Seems like one party would rather try to win running on what the other party did wrong (ya gotta believe) rather than what that party did itself right. Right? Wrong? The American citizens lose either way.