Month: November 2022

We have all heard the saying, “money talks.” In this day and age the question is, “does it really still talk at Disney?

Multiple sources noted that there was a big concern surrounding the $1.5 BILLION loss within Disney’s direct-to-consumer section for this past quarter alone. That marked a massive increase from the $630 million loss from the same quarter in 2021.

In the Spring tension between Disney and Florida erupted when the company protested the Parental Rights in Education Act, which opponents said is hostile to gay students. (It prohibited classroom discussion of sexuality before grade 4 and allowed parents to sue and recover costs for violations.) Republican lawmakers responded to the company’s criticism in April by stripping Disney of its self-governing authority over its Florida parks and resorts. 

While Disney’s stock prices were declining from the beginning of 2022, when values were about $150 per share, in April of 2022, the numbers dropped down to around $117, and dropped to just under $100 early in November.

Did money talk here?

Hmmm!

More recently, over Thanksgiving ‘Strange World,’ Disney’s $180 million “woke” movie featuring a gay teen romance, flopped at box office. This movie is the lowest-rated House of Mouse flick in 31 years.

Could it be that parents are not comfortable taking their kids to see a movie about this subject? Is money (profit/loss) speaking here?

“Strange World” was given a “B” rating from CinemaScore – a market research firm that surveys audiences to rate movies. CinemaScore began rating Disney animated movies in 1991 with “Beauty and the Beast,” and all of the Walt Disney Animation Studios films have earned a rating of at least “A-,” according to ScreenRant.

Could it be that parents are even less enthusiastic about taking their kids to see a so-so movie on this topic?

Over the summer, Disney’s “Lightyear” was also a flop at the box office following a woke decision to include a lesbian kissing scene in the cartoon movie aimed at children. Something talked here as parents did not take their children to see this “woke” movie.

Earlier this month Bob Chapek stepped down (?was going to be fired?) as CEO. He was then replaced by former CEO, Bob Iger. Certainly ‘Strange World” was under the auspices of Chapek, the now former CEO. Will the new CEO recognize that “wokeness” is not a money maker? 

In the future we will see if money(profit) or “wokeness” does the talking at Disney.

11/30/22

I can imagine that your initial response to the name ‘Bjorn Lomborg,’ is ‘who the hell is he?’ Before last week I also did not know who he was, but in the past week I have read three interesting articles by Bjorn Lomborg. I can almost guarantee that anything written by Professor Lomborg will not be featured on MSNBC/CNN nor will be commented on by my local liberal “newspaper,” because he is identified as an environmental skeptic

The following is from Wikipedia:

Bjørn Lomborg is a Danish author, statistician and president of the think tank Copenhagen Consensus Center. He is former director of the Danish government’s Environmental Assessment Institute in Copenhagen. He became internationally known for his best-selling and controversial book The Skeptical Environmentalist. 

His 9/6 article from the NY Post talks about the “Inconvenient Truths” of Global Warming that are no longer talked about. For instance, weather disasters that are getting less damaging despite dire predictions. A decade ago, environmentalists loudly declared that Australia’s magnificent Great Barrier Reef was nearly dead, killed by bleaching caused by climate change. The UK Guardian even published an obituary.

This year, scientists revealed that two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef shows the highest coral cover seen since records began in 1985. The good-news report got a fraction of the attention.

Not long ago, environmentalists constantly used pictures of polar bears to highlight the dangers of climate change. Have you noticed that pictures of polar bears are no longer being constantly paraded in front of us. Why? 

The reality is that polar bear numbers have been increasing — from somewhere between five and ten thousand polar bears in the 1960s, up to around 26,000 today. We don’t hear this news. Instead, political campaigners just quietly stopped using polar bears in their adds.

Humanity is getting more prosperous every day. In a separate report, the United Nations estimates that without global warming, the average person in 2100 would be 450% better-off than today. Global warming means people will only be 434% richer they say. That is not a disaster… just a 16% decline by the end of this century

Professor Lomborg also recently published an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “If Electric Vehicles Are So Great, Why Mandate Them? As you could probably anticipate from the title, electric vehicles will actually take over the market only if innovation makes them better and actually cheaper than gasoline powered cars.

A new report from a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory found that even in 2025, EVs total lifetime costs will be 9% higher than gasoline cars.

So Houston, we have a problem! … EVs are more expensive to buy, and over the long run will cost more than gas powered cars. So tell me again why I need to buy an EV.

11/29/22

One of the things we all should expect is that our government is honest and forthright. Now let’s be clear. Here I am not talking about individual politicians because we all know that they, all the way up to and including the President, are not honest and forthright. They manipulate the truth; they hide the truth; they distort the truth; and … yes … they even lie!!!However, up until this Covid pandemic, we expected those involved with our health care to be honest and forthright. Have our expectations been fulfilled in respect to the Covid vaccine? For a long time I have said ‘no’ to that question, and things are finally starting to come out, that suggest that those of us who have questioned ‘those that know best’ may be right.

First of all, mandating Covid vaccines for children is out and out just nonsensical. In general children do not die from Covid unless they already have significant underlying health issues. Why risk potential long term side effects of a vaccine to prevent something that is of no real consequence to most children? Is there any data on the issue of potential long term side effects? … NO!

What about adolescents and college students? Although the risk to this group is marginally higher, it is still very, very low. Do we know about side long term side effects in this group? … NO!

What about young adults up to age 39?

From the Epoch Times:

“Retsef Levi has strong opinions on vaccinations in this age group. He is 

a former Israeli military intelligence officer, an expert in risk management and health systems, and a professor at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. He coauthored a paper that found a 25 percent rise in heart attack emergency calls among young Israelis after the country’s rollout of the COVID genetic vaccine.

‘The main question that we need to ask ourselves is, do we have enough evidence from this study and many other studies, to say halt!’ Levi said.

The paper does not conclude a causal relationship between the vaccine and the observed increase in heart problems, but it definitely gives enough evidence to warrant an in-depth investigation said Levi.”

To me, this gentleman has all of the credentials to justify what he is saying. So why are ‘those in the know’ seemingly not paying any attention?

As I said earlier, prior to Covid, we expected those involved with our health care to be honest and forthright. Why are they now apparently not being forthright and honest about this?

Could the answer be as follows? Still from the Epoch Times:

“There is a lot of data that strongly suggests an increase in myocarditis or death in young people who have been vaccinated. Levi believes that the haste with which the vaccines were produced, approved, and deployed, neglected safety and best practices for rolling out vaccines.

This deviation from basic sound scientific principles has put health officials in Israel and the United States, ‘in a situation where you essentially cannot admit any wrong anymore because that will imply that you did something very, very disastrous,’ said Levi. ‘We approve it in a very expedited way, and we approve it to everybody regardless of the risk, and that was basically the fundamental mistake that we’ve done. And I think everything else can be explained by that.’”

Have we all been snookered, and are we continuing to be snookered?  Why are they not being honest and forthright?  Hmmm!

11/28/22

As usual on Sunday I write about someone who deserves our praise and admiration. 

From BlazeMedia:

On 11/22/22 Florida law enforcement released bodycam footage of an officer heroically and without hesitation jumping into a retention pond to rescue a drowning baby, even though she did not know how to swim. Officer Me’Atia Sanderson with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has been praised as a hero for risking her own life to save the infant.

Sanderson, who joined the force in March 2019, was the first officer to arrive at the scene on June 9, according to authorities.  The sheriff’s office released the officer’s bodycam footage for the first time earlier this week.

The footage captured the officer arriving at an apartment complex, exiting her vehicle, and sprinting toward the direction of the retention pond tucked behind the buildings. As she approached the pond, frantic bystanders alerted her that the child was still in the water.

‘He’s somewhere under there,’ said the woman, pointing to the pond.

Without hesitation, the officer jumped into the water to rescue the drowning infant. The camera was then fully submerged underwater for several moments while the officer rescued the baby.

Once the child was retrieved from the pond, the officer began CPR.

‘Come on, baby,’ Sanderson can be heard saying while performing life-saving measures on the infant.

Moments later, two more officers arrived at the scene and assisted Sanderson with the CPR.

Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department wrote a letter recognizing Sanderson for her ‘quick and decisive decision to go into the retention pond.’

‘Her actions, while putting her own life at risk, undoubtedly saved the child’s life,’ the department noted.

How did the infant end up in the retention pond? I do not know, and neither did Officer Sanderson … she just instinctively acted, and is a true hero.

11/27/22

Most of us realize that J.B.’s recent student loan forgiveness dictum was his way of pandering for votes before the midterm elections. Personally, I think it will be deemed unconstitutional.

We just had Dan, the plumber out to fix various things. He is an honest guy who we have known for at least thirty years. Now we do not see him regularly, but when we need him, he is there for us. However, he is not cheap. One time when we had a major problem, I asked him if this particular problem was a frequent problem. His verbatim response, “Frequent enough that it has sent my two kids to college.” Although he is not a college graduate, he has sent both of his girls to college. 

A major question these days: “Is college worth it?”

What do those who are paying off their college loans think?

Before JB’s omnipotent act of forgiveness, according to a recent survey of 1,000 U.S. adults ages 33 to 40, conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of ‘CNBC Make It,’ respondents took out an average $21,880 in student loans for their education. Just 32% of those who took out loans have entirely paid them off, meaning the majority (68%) of older millennials were still paying down their student debt a decade or so later. 

And while college degree holders are generally better off — enjoying improved job security, longer life expectancies, higher earnings and greater financial stability — more than half (52%) of older millennials with student debt said their loans weren’t worth it.

A quote from a 33 year old from the same ‘CNBC Make It’:

“You can’t accuse me of wanting someone else to take accountability for my student loans. I’ve paid my debts and I’m going to finish,” he says. “But I went through it, and I can tell you the student debt process was not worth it.

“I wouldn’t wish the student debt experience on anyone.”

As many of us are aware, there is more to going to college than just the education part. It is a time of maturation; A time of growing up. A time of social awakening . . . but at a price, often with a large price tag. More and more are asking if the 2020 college experience is worth it, as college applications for 2021 are down.

From the Washington Times:

“A new national survey finds that college enrollment among this prior spring’s high school graduates had declined 22% since 2019, as students showed lagging interest in higher education during the coronavirus pandemic.

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center information from more than 2,000 high schools for the report recently released showed  a 21.7% decline in enrollment from high school seniors, with even more drastically lower levels of enrollment from poor, urban and minority students.

Nearly one-third of low-income, minority, and urban high school graduates who would have gone to college in a previous year stayed home this year, said Doug Shapiro, executive director of the research center.”

I say, “It’s about time! The gobbledygook that everyone should go to college has hopefully seen it’s day.” 

The emphasis should be on better schools and better el-hi education especially in those areas that serve poor, urban, and minority students. Good schools and a good education are commonplace in more affluent communities. 2020 has only intensified this imbalance. 

Is there anyone out there who thinks that Joe will attempt to remedy this obvious imbalance?

11/26/22

Former President Donald Trump’s asserted that drug dealers should receive the death penalty. He made this statement during his press conference announcing he would be running for reelection in 2024.

Can those of you who are anti-Trump separate this statement from the person who made it? Can you evaluate this assertion at face value?

Just to set the table:

Almost 40,000 Americans died in action in Korea, and more than 100,000 were wounded.

Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files contains records of 58,220 U.S. military fatal casualties of the Vietnam War.

On D-Day, more than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded in those first 24 hours.

About 298,000 Americans died in WW2.

For WW1 official figures of military war deaths listed by the US Dept. of Defense for the period ending Dec. 31, 1918 are 116,516; which includes 53,402 battle deaths and 63,114 non combat deaths.

In 2021, nearly 108,000 people died of drug overdoses; 71,000 of whom died from fentanyl or fentanyl-related substances.

Thus far in 2022, more than 75,000 Americans have died from overdose of synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl.

Just to be clear … in 2021 more U.S. citizens have died as a consequence of fentanyl than died in the Korean War or in the Viet Nam War.

The deaths due to fentanyl in 2021 & 2022 combined outnumber the total U.S. deaths in WW1

If the present pace continues, it will not be long before the fentanyl deaths outnumber the U.S. deaths in WW2.

In some places in the U.S. a person convicted of one first degree murder charge can be sentenced to death. So if a drug dealer is responsible for hundreds of fentanyl deaths, is it unreasonable that that drug dealer receive the death penalty? What about one hundred? … what about fifty? what about ten? … what about one, is that one was your son or daughter?

Whereas I do not agree with everything that Trump says, but I do agree with his assertion about penalties for drug dealers who deal in fentanyl.

11/25/22

For what it’s worth, I am going to provide my annual health tip. This is a health tip that you are unlikely to hear about on this side of the pond, as it is based on research that was done at the University of East Anglia. For those of you whose might be more interested, the details were published in Science News in May, 2022. At this point you might be asking, “If it was published in May, why am I writing about it now?” The answer is quite simple … because this British study is very apropos to Thanksgiving. Despite the many presumed benefits of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, and gravy, this study demonstrates the benefits of that other Thanksgiving standby … Cranberries.

From this Science News article:

“Researchers have found that eating cranberries could improve memory, ward off dementia, and reduce ‘bad’ cholesterol. The research team studied the benefits of consuming the equivalent of a cup of cranberries a day among 50 to 80-year-olds.

Lead researcher Dr David Vauzour, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: ‘Dementia is expected to affect around 152 million people by 2050. There is no known cure, so it is crucial that we seek modifiable lifestyle interventions, such as diet, that could help lessen disease risk and burden.’

The research team investigated the impact of eating cranberries for 12 weeks on brain function and cholesterol among 60 cognitively healthy participants.

Half of the participants consumed freeze-dried cranberry powder, equivalent to a cup or 100g of fresh cranberries, daily. The other half consumed a placebo.

Dr Vauzour said: ‘We found that the participants who consumed the cranberry powder showed significantly improved episodic memory performance in combination with improved circulation of essential nutrients such as oxygen and glucose to important parts of the brain that support cognition — specifically memory consolidation and retrieval.’

They hope that their findings could have implications for the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia.”

Now granted, while this study is quite small, and it involves cranberry powder, and not actual cranberries, for what it’s worth, perhaps we can all use this study to rationalize the cranberry’s balancing effect on our cholesterol as we eat our pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream.

Happy Thanksgiving!

11/24/22

Think back, how many of you can remember the 1964 musical hit by Peter and Gordon, “A World Without Love?” … Probably not many, unless like me, you have SiriusXM and regularly listen to The Sixties Gold.

To refresh your memory, here are some of the lyrics:

Please lock me away

And don’t allow the day

Here inside where I hide

With my loneliness

I don’t care what they say I won’t stay

In a world without love

What reminded me of this song you might ask? Well, one of my daughter’s iPhone is near death in iPhone hospice. I do not know all of its symptoms, but these days can one “stay in a world without … an iPhone?” For many, not having an iPhone is tantamount to “please lock me away.” There are still a few of us who are able to “stay in a world without … an iPhone.” Yours truly, being one that gets along fine with a flip-phone. Laugh, if you must, unless you live in Massachusetts.

From Daybreak Insider:

“The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) is facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly using Google technology to covertly install tracking apps on over one million Android phones as part of the state government’s efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 through contact tracing. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), a nonpartisan civil rights firm, accused the Bay State’s health department of “brazen disregard for civil liberties” by installing “spyware that deliberately tracks and records movement and personal contacts onto over a million mobile devices without their owners’ permission and awareness.” The class-action suit claims DPH is in violation of both the Massachusetts and U.S. Constitutions. New Civil Liberties Alliance: No law or regulation authorizes DPH to secretly install any type of software onto the Android devices of Massachusetts residents. NCLA is unaware at this time of other states that engaged in a similar surreptitious strategy of auto-installing contact-tracing apps.”

Hmmm, so apparently apps were installed on fancy phones … but not flip-phones! If you think that Massachusetts is the only state that installed similar apps, you might be be in the market to buy a bridge.

BTW: “A World Without Love” was written by Paul McCartney, and not the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

11;23/22

Before I comment on what is perhaps the biggest threat to our Electric Grid, a few baseline comments.

The U.S. power grid involves a huge network of transmission lines, power plants, and distribution centers. The United States has three major grids: the eastern grid, the western grid, and the ERCOT grid, otherwise known as the Texas grid. Of the three, the eastern grid is the largest.

Are foreign hackers a threat to our power grid? … Absolutely! In 2018, the Department of Homeland Security announced that Russian hackers had hijacked the control rooms of various electric utilities. This allowed the hackers to disrupt power flows and cause blackouts.

However, Americans must concern themselves with more “benign” threats. A recent paper, published in Applied Energy, discussed the threat of EVs to the grid. Currently, there are 2.5 million EVs in the United States; 4 in 5 owners opt to charge their cars overnight. This decision, according to the researchers, is putting a considerable strain on power grids.

By 2025, the United States will have more than 20 million EVs on its roads. According to Bloomberg, by 2030, more than half of car sales will be electric. The strain is increasing, and power grids are ill-equipped to shoulder the load.

If Bloomberg’s projection proves to be correct, then, as the researchers note, it will take 5.4 gigawatts of energy storage to charge EVs. To put 5.4 gigawatts into perspective, one nuclear power plant produces 1 gigawatt of energy. The United States currently has 55 power plants. To facilitate the new EV revolution, the United States requires many more. 

Across the United States, as the author Ben Guess recently noted, there are currently 21 EVs per public charging port. By 2030, to keep up with EV purchasing trends, the United States must install almost 500 charging ports every day for the next eight years.

Does 500 per day sound realistic in any way? Obviously … No!

Are any of those who are dictating that EVs must be our future ever realistically consider the necessary charging stations, the necessary energy storage, or the potential friability of our present Electric Grid?

Hmmm … obviously not!

11/22/22

Are we in a recession?

Joe Biden says ‘no.’ Is he gaslighting?

From Breitbart Business Digest:

Leafing economic indicators underperformed yet again compared to already weak expectations. The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) fell 0.8 percent in October against the expected 0.4 percent drop predicted by economists polled by theWall Street Journal. These indexes are down for the eighth straight month and -3.2 percent over a six-month window; the LEI had risen 0.5 percent the six months prior, further suggesting that we are on a significant cold streak.

One of the better past predictors of a coming recession has been a reversal of the two year and the ten year U.S. Treasury yield curves

The 2-year and 10-year U.S. Treasury yield curves inverted on 11/17, and have remained that way. The inversion is the largest in 40 years.

Home sales are yet another indicator that is headed in the wrong direction. Bank of America highlighteda massive drop in pending home sales as well as huge dives in lumber and global freight rates.

Continuing from Breitbart:

“If all of this sounds very recession-y, that’s because it is.”

In addition on 11/18/22 Joe Biden said that he anticipates “setbacks”ahead for the U.S. economy, but then he went on to say that grocery store prices are down slightly. 

Gaslighting, again? Err … no, actually lying, as they are actually up 12.4 percent from last year.

11/21/22