Let’s Make America Miserable Again

Can we chat?

Jimmy Carter invented the Misery Index – the combined unemployment rate plus inflation rate – in order to flog his 1976 opponent, Jerry Ford, about the head. As most often happens with Democrats, his own policies led to even more misery and he ended up beating Ford’s misery score by a full 2 percentage points, topping the misery index at 22%.

Now cometh Joe Biden with his bag of magic beans. So far his official score is 10.9%. At the time he took the reins, so to speak, the misery index was under 7% and unemployment was on the decline. Joey beat that by 4 points after just one year in office. And mind you, since the Carter misery years the government has done its level best to keep the two indices artificially low.

First, our bureaucratic betters removed several key measures from the CPI “market basket” during the Obama years. It no longer reflects increases in food or energy. While they are still tracked in other indices, the number most quoted does not include them because they are considered too “volatile” – well yes, isn’t that the point? That type of volatility is likely to create great misery. Likewise the food index does not reflect the inflation due to the incredible shrinking packaging size of many consumer food products.

Likewise the unemployment rate does not include anyone who hasn’t looked for work within the last 4 weeks – the “discouraged” job seeker - they are completely ignored. Thus the Labor Participation Rate hangs near historically low levels with both discouraged wage seekers and lay-abouts, willing to survive on government “stimulus” handouts, excluded from the calculation.

They say that history doesn’t exactly repeat itself, rather it rhymes. We are witnessing that in real time. The kids are too young to recognize it but those of us who danced to disco in leisure suits sure do. Stagflation isn’t a state of mind, it’s true misery. And the Brandon Administration has done everything in their power to Make America Miserable Again. Some of us thought we’d NEVER again see a President as bad as Jimmy Carter, but Joey Biden has managed to top Jimmy’s incompetency in just a quarter of the time.

Quite the performance: from MAGA

to MAMA

Make America Miserable Again

in just under12 months is impressive by anyone’s standard. Even Jimmy’s.

I’ve waited 4 years to say this: Miss Me Yet?

The First Rule of Vaccine Mandates

My, my. The world seems shocked that the Supreme Court’s ruling on vaccine mandates for private employers was based (mostly) on the Constitution. I’m so old that I remember when that was the minimal expectation for such rulings. The more interesting question was which clause/amendment the majority Justices would twist to justify their unconstitutional ruling. (NOTE: it was usually the Commerce Clause)

Of course the bigger concern should be that there were three Justices who felt the mandate should stand (Constitution be damned). Suffice to say the Potato President agrees with those three and hence encourages employers to ignore the ruling and mandate the vaccines – which are not working as advertised – anyway.

Meanwhile the VP responds to questions about whether it’s time for the Presidents-Biden-Harris Administration to change up their ineffective COVID strategy. Her response:

Kamala: the only woman in America who can make Hillary appear to be “viable.” Well done Kammie, well done. I hereby nominate our VP for president of the Tautology club.

We Now Dwell In The Land of Fantasia

Here’s a throwback Thursday item I never wanted to see. Just how bad must it be to prompt the party bigwigs to clamor for the return of Hillary?

Several circumstances—President Biden’s low approval rating, doubts over his capacity to run for re-election at 82, Vice President Kamala Harris’s unpopularity, and the absence of another strong Democrat to lead the ticket in 2024—have created a leadership vacuum in the party, which Mrs. Clinton viably could fill. – WSJ

I guess it depends on what the meaning of the word “viably” is. I suppose you could conceivably replace a  potato with a mushroom and expect things to improve.

But given they have both grown softer and slimier since the last “election” I don’t see how you can realistically expect the change-up to “viably” improve anything that Democratic party policies have wrought. When the mushroom’s primary advantage over the potato is that it’s not quite as old and rotten it’s probably going to be a tough sell to the American public.

She is an experienced national figure who is younger than Mr. Biden and can offer a different approach from the disorganized and unpopular one the party is currently taking.

Fine. Let them relish their Fantasia dream world flight of fancy. Maybe magic dancing hippos can somehow manage to drop the 7% inflation rate back to Trumpian levels of 1.1%.

I doubt it, still, the authors of the opinion piece are correct:

If Democrats want a fighting chance at winning the presidency in 2024, Mrs. Clinton is likely their best option.

I suppose that’s good news for the Republicans, if they can ever figure out how to be anything other than be useful idiots in all this.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, still looking for a magic spell to clean up the mess

ETA: The Republicans’ problem

“If you’re sensing shades of elections ranging from 1984 to 2012, you’re not alone. Minus the aberration that was Trump, the Republican Party has been promising the exact same set of goals for my entire lifetime, regardless of what is actually happening in the country. One suspects that a nuclear winter could befall the entire North American continent and Republicans would struggle mightily through the fallout to declare they have the solution to the problem: the reauthorization of the Keystone Pipeline.

“It’s not that these policies are wrong or even misplaced. They’re simply mis-prioritized. Yes, more enforcement at the border, making life better for small businesses, securing American energy independence, and enforcing parental choice are good and absolutely necessary policy goals. But they also represent the absolute baseline expectations that voters should have from an even marginally competent Republican party.”

We Didn’t Start This Dumpster Fire

When we have been lied to for so long about so many, many things - most recently

• COVID: its origin, mortality rate, vaccine efficacy, etc., etc.
• the January 6th “uprising”

When you, your children and grandchildren have been manipulated for decades by the brainwashing of public education in tandem with the media to  blindly accept their “truths” i.e.,

• climate change is destroying the planet
• fossil fuels are the culprit and must be eliminated

When more recently the brainwashing has moved on to vilify animal husbandry - a practice since the dawn of civilization – as another source of climate change killing the planet. When “they” would have “us” eschew meat and other animal products in favor of a “plant based” diet of fake food. When they would have you believe that there is such a thing as “plant based” chorizo (there isn’t), that oats, almonds, soy, walnuts and coconuts make milk (they don’t, only mammals do that). When tyrants are given the power to dictate what you believe, they can get you to believe anything.

Fake milk is everywhere these days: cooking shows, commercials, movies, TV: because it’s good  for you! Unlike cow’s milk.

When they would have you believe they are simply giving evolution a little boost: by transforming omnivore humans into herbivores…sheep, basically

If sheep could vote they’d pick the guy who feeds them…even if its the same guy who’ll slaughter them later.

There is only one proper response to this barrage of lies and manipulation: Simply Do. Not. Comply.

Become ungovernable.

After all, we didn’t start this dumpster fire. They did. We just want to extinguish it.

Taco Tuesday. It’s a Shoot-Out

Sometimes Taco Tuesday oversteps its bounds.

Which is why  I take the opportunity to pass on this pearl of wisdom:

Analysis: True

It’s a pretty good start but once the basics are covered there’s also the compelling need to vanquish your enemies. And thus the circle of life is complete.

From the day we arrive on the planet
And, blinking, step into the sun
There's more to see than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done
There's far too much to take in here
More to find than can ever be found
But the sun rolling high
Through the sapphire sky
Keeps great and small on the endless round

It's the circle of life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love
'Til we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the circle
The circle of life

And I have no further insight or words of wisdom today so bring your own.

Muttday: I Identify As A Dog

In case you doubted my original report of the Utah Department of Health survey re. eligibility for monoclonal antibody treatment favoring minorities, I submit this:

In New York, racial minorities are automatically eligible for scarce COVID-19 therapeutics, regardless of age or underlying conditions. In Utah, "Latinx ethnicity" counts for more points than "congestive heart failure" in a patient’s "COVID-19 risk score"—the state’s framework for allocating monoclonal antibodies. And in Minnesota, health officials have devised their own "ethical framework" that prioritizes black 18-year-olds over white 64-year-olds—even though the latter are at much higher risk of severe disease. – Washington Free Beacon

I recall when I first reported this there were several jokes about Utah being the whitest state in the Union, which it is not, that honor goes to Lady Biki’s new home state of Maine. Thanks to the recent influx of former Mexican citizens over the past 10 years (aka “Hispanic” and/or “Latinx”) Utah is not even in the top 10 anymore. At #12 its just ever-so-slightly ahead of the great Democrat bastions of Minnesota (#13)  and Oregon (#15).

Yay! We’re #12!

Even my not-quite-electrolyte-balanced brain is still functioning enough to recognize that the country has gone race-crazy in unpredictable and dangerous ways. Also anti-constitutional ways but that doesn’t carry much clout anymore.

In order to implement their patently illegal policies the states are relying on the FDA.

"The FDA has acknowledged that in addition to certain underlying health conditions, race and ethnicity ‘may also place individual patients at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19,’" Minnesota’s plan reads. "FDA's acknowledgment means that race and ethnicity alone, apart from other underlying health conditions, may be considered in determining eligibility for [monoclonal antibodies]."

Utah’s plan contains similar language. In a section on the "Ethical Justification for Using Race/Ethnicity in Patient Selection," it notes that the FDA  "specifically states that race and ethnicity may be considered when identifying patients most likely to benefit from this lifesaving treatment."

Allow me to share Raj’s take on this situation, and please forgive the language but when passion runs high language tends to get salty: “When government f*cks with you, you have to f*uck with the government.” That’s my Raj. And that’s probably all I should say on the subject.

But if I were you I’d file that insight away in case you ever need to follow it.

I may not look it but I identify as a dog

Everyone Needs A Little More March Madness

First there was just the Men’s, then, to be fair, they formed the Women's.

Penn Transgender Swimmer Lia Thomas Beaten By Yale Transgender Swimmer Iszac Henig.

Clearly the time has come for the NCAA to form a third division: the Other’s.

After all, who couldn’t use a bit more March Madness?

 

NOTE: Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers and good wishes. I’m inching slowly along, although still registering closer to half staff than full. But I’m patient if you are.

Caturday Open Thread

My day yesterday:

Monoclonals in the morning. Home, lunch. Nap. Dinner. A couple of episodes of Boston Legal. Bed.

And here I am. I’m still taking sodium tablets and potassium. Still light headed and unfocused but feeling better. Just not there yet. So Caturday’s on you.

BTW, in case you don’t know, salt is toxic for cats. No wonder their brains are so weird.