There have been demonstrations against the COVID regulations like lockdowns, mask mandates and vaccines all over the world. Up until recently, these have had negligible impact. That is because the government officials who ignored people when issuing these regulations continued to ignore those who rebelled. Australia has responded in the worst conceivable way and may even be risking a civil war. But up until now, governments have been successful in keeping ridiculous and unpopular regulations in play. The only weapon they needed was fear, facilitated by irresponsible reporting in the MSM. People were genuinely terrified because of reports by hysterical news broadcasters who were all drinking the same KoolAid. People who dared point out the obvious problems were quickly silenced as spreading dangerous misinformation.

All that changed when a bunch of truck drivers got together for a rally in Ottawa, Canada. At first the media and the government tried to ignore them. But that is no longer possible, because they have brought traffic and commerce to a halt in big parts of Ottawa. Now they have shut down the Ambassador bridge going from Windsor, Ontario to Detroit. That shuts down a significant amount of the commerce between the U.S. and Canada.

The response by Prime Minister Trudeau borders on insanity. First, he ran away and hid. Then he called the protestors a “fringe element.” Then he called them racists carrying confederate flags and Nazis. Unfortunately for him, when the media showed up on scene, they found mostly a party mood complete with pizza ovens. People all over Canada and the U.S. are showing support. GoFundMe collected tons of money and then tried to confiscate it. That is more likely to hurt GoFundMe than the truckers. It would be very unwise to underestimate the number of people who support those truckers, and they are cheering them on, if not sending money.

Either these truckers give up, or Trudeau takes drastic action. But it is going to be exceedingly difficult for the police to move all those trucks and those truckers certainly sound determined. If Trudeau to take drastic action like when Truman threated to draft all the railroad workers into the army, it is unlikely to work. The railroad workers worked for only a few employers; these guys are often independents who don’t work for anyone. If he tries to call in the military, claiming this is an insurrection, that could be catastrophic. So far, Trudeau has been focused on proving himself right, in demanding actions proven to not work. His lack of the leadership ability is becoming more apparent that Joe Biden’s senility.

It has been obvious, from the start, that many, if not most, of the COVID restrictions were unwarranted and not really based on science. Now everyone knows that the lockdowns, the mask mandates, and the vaccine mandates did not and will not work. People all over the world are so done with this. Government officials forgot something really important. If you are going to demand people follow your guidelines, you better make sure they work. They didn’t work. They not only didn’t stop COVID, but they may also have prolonged it.

There are now reports of truckers heading to LA to help with the Super Bowl traffic. That could become exciting. Does anyone really have faith in the leadership ability of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to deal with this?. Does anyone think the NFL can manage  this?

The real problem is that those truckers in Canada have figured out that they can literally shut the country down. No government can survive without consent of the governed. Some governments have managed to maintain control through brute force, but it is hard to imagine brute force being used against those truckers. If Trudeau tries to handle the truckers like the Chinese Communists handled Tiananmen Square, he will soon learn the difference between Canada and China.

As for me, right now, I just want them to keep on not-trucking until the people temporarily in charge of our government start listening.  We got us a CONVOY!

TDM

For longer than I care to admit, the news has been dominated by arrogant and ignorant people promoting nonsense supposedly based on the science. In many cases anyone who spends five minutes actually investigating their claims quickly notes the total lack of merit. In some cases, the warnings are patently absurd. In addition, few of the things proposed have any chance of working. What makes this worse is the obvious fact that so many people arrogantly lecturing the rest of us display flagrant hypocrisy on a daily basis.

But there is good news. More people are asking questions and pushing back against the narrative. Perhaps the best thing about COVID may be the death of “the illusion of following the science.” It is increasingly clear that virtually none of the drastic actions taken to defeat COVID came close to working. The lockdowns didn’t work. The mask mandates didn’t work. And while the vaccines do provide some level of protection, they clearly did not stop the spread of COVID. What makes this worse is that all this focus on things that did not and could not work, included spreading deliberate misinformation about things that actually did show promise. The usual suspects even slammed the potential for the vaccines that they now demand, because they were developed under the warp speed program implemented by Donald Trump. It was only when Joe Biden became President that these same vaccines miraculously became wonder cures.

Tragically, these same people trashed hydroxychloroquine, solely because it was “mentioned” by Donald Trump. Some people literally warned people not to take it because it will kill them. Many states banned the use of hydroxychloroquine unless the situation was beyond desperate. When people talked about Ivermectin the same class of clowns immediately pounced. They called this horse dewormer that couldn’t possibly work. Now I am hardly a spokesman for either of these, but there just seem to be multiple studies where people stupid enough to take these drugs miraculously recovered.

Well now people have had it. They are sick and tired of being scolded by world-class ill-informed hypocrites. There have already been people fighting back, with demonstrations all over the world. But the ruling class just managed to ignore them. Then a bunch of truckers showed up in Ottawa, Canada and basically shut things down. The ruling class is trying and failing to shut them up. But they don’t dare resort to their desired tactic of just arresting anyone who dares disagree with them. So, reluctantly, they are starting to negotiate. They have also gotten attention all over the world. Everywhere you look, COVID restrictions are quietly being shut down. Even here in California, if you are vaccinated you won’t need to wear a mask indoors after next Tuesday. If anyone thinks they are going to be able to require proof of vaccination, they should plan a trip to Australia and see how that is working out.

COVID is just the first in a lengthy list of stupid ideas based on the illusion of science. Next to fall is the global warming myth. If one has been paying any attention, it should have been a strong hint when “global warming” was changed to “climate change.” Five minute research would have shown that the earth wasn’t actually getting warmer and that the fear of global warming is used to justify the ridiculous. Let’s be honest here, the earth has been warming, slowly, since about 1600. Climate change is true but blaming it on the amount of CO2 in the air is absurd. Incredibly no real scientist even pretends that reducing CO2 levels over the next 100 years will actually change anything.

The people promoting this don’t believe it themselves. That is why they fly all over the world, on private jets, to caution the rest of us to reduce exhaling air to spare the planet. None of their predictions have come close to be true. Yet supposedly smart people are proposing we switch to all electric vehicles, ignoring the environmental disaster that would come from mining for and disposing of the rare earth minerals needed for all those batteries. In addition, no sane person really believes we can power our electrical grid with solar and wind power.

This reminds me of when I was on a sailboat, when we ran of wind. We also ran out of gas, so we were stranded several miles offshore. We called for assistance, and soon heard a stink boat (power by gas) respond by saying: “sailboat out of gas.” They then graciously showed up with enough gas to get us into port.

Science is golden, when it is true science, when it seeks the truth, when it willing embraces diverse opinions because sometimes the critics are right. But right now, it in increasingly obvious that those who lecture about following the science are often those who are personally incapable of even recognizing science. Science is golden, lying about following the science, not so much.

TDM

Most of us were surprised  to see the outstanding job report. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLM), the U.S. added 467,000 jobs, way above projections. I heard some reports of 600,000 new jobs. This was a shock, because previous job reports were astonishingly low, even during the traditionally peak Christmas period. How could this happen? What brilliant strategy did the Biden administration implement to get such results. The answer, sadly, is they lied.

First the official report from the BLM:

January 2022 Jobs Report: Continued Growth | U.S. Department of Labor Blog (dol.gov)

This is clearly a Joe Biden puff peace with no basis in reality. Sadly, another government department that has shredded its’ last hint of credibility.

Here is a report from Bill Hennessey, at Substack:

More Reaction… Bureau of Labor Statistics Literally Just Made Up January Jobs Report (thegatewaypundit.com)

It turns out that rather than gain new jobs, about 300,000 jobs were lost. According to the ADP, which counts people actually getting paid, “Businesses’ payrolls fell by 301,000 last month in a broad-based decline, according to ADP Research Institute data released Wednesday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 180,000 rise.”

Some people instantly believed this report and celebrated. Even places like Fox News reported this as good news. But those of us living in the real world were skeptical for a lot of reasons. One is that every business is in desperate search of new hires. There are even tables in places like Safeway where someone can instantly apply for a job. We have all seen reports of people who just aren’t working. Sometimes because COVID restrictions prevent them from working. Sometimes because they just got used to not working.

I lived in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for many years during my youth. We got a lot of snow. Snow can be incredibly beautiful. It is clean, and white, and it covers up things very well. But eventually the snow melts, and everything becomes visible again. Often things look much worse than they did before. That is why it is called “spring cleaning.”

In this case, at lease some of the snow will melt rapidly during the heat of the 2024 campaign. A campaign that has already started and which will become increasingly intense during the weeks and months ahead.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how many jobs the Biden Administration pretends to grow. What matters is how many people are actually working. The rosy picture the Biden Administration is trying to paint regarding our economy won’t matter if gas prices keep soaring, the cost of everything keeps going up, shelves are increasingly empty, and everyone is experiencing shared misery. If you combine that with serious international problems in Ukraine and possibly Taiwan, then this becomes truly explosive.

When Winston Churchill came to power he told people the cold, stark truth. During his first speech before parliament, he said the following:

“We are in the preliminary stage of one of the greatest battles in history…. That we are in action at many points—in Norway and in Holland—, that we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean. That the air battle is continuous, and that many preparations have to be made here at home.

I would say to the House as I said to those who have joined this government: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering.

You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs—Victory in spite of all terror—Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.

During challenging times, real leaders always emerge. Often, they are people we already ignore, just previously ignored. We are headed toward some rough waters. That is becoming increasingly obvious. But we are also headed toward a new spring. A time when the snow job will become impossible to ignore. A time when real leaders, with real solutions, will emerge. Spring can be the most beautiful time of the year.

TDM

Yesterday, the Biden administration looked it was in serious trouble. The approval ratings tanked, few people think the country is headed in the right direction, COVID fatigue is spreading faster than the virus and even the MSM is trashing them. But overnight several things happened that make this worse, much worse.

Jeff Zucker resigns from CNN after relationship with colleague (msn.com)

Jeff Zucker suddenly and unexpectedly resigned from CNN. The reason was that he had an undisclosed affair with a co-worker. But the real story here is that if this was not demanded by the Board of Directors, they certainly knew of this and approved of it.  I worked for several publicly held corporations and when the Board of Directors does something like this, significant change is on the way.

With Sen. Luján in the hospital after a stroke, Democrats have no Senate majority and can’t pass anything without GOP help (msn.com)

Democratic Senator Ben Ray Lujan’s office announced that he had a stroke and was undergoing surgery. While he may make a full recovery, as of right now, he is unable to perform the duties of his office. This means, that for now, Republicans have control of the Senate.

This is so obvious that even MSN noticed.

What’s going on across the border? The Canadian trucker protests explained. (msn.com)

This strike matters more than you think. The following article from History Matters explains how Truman responded to the railroad workers strike. He went to congress and asked for authority to deny seniority rights to striker and to draft strikers into the Armed Forces. Then, and only then, was the strike settled.

“Word Has Just Been Received”: Truman Speaks on the Railroad Strike (gmu.edu)

Here is what Truman, a pro-labor Democrat, said about the situation:

“However, what we are dealing with here is not labor as a whole. We are dealing with a handful of men who are striking against their own government and against every one of their fellow citizens, and against themselves. We are dealing with a handful of men who have it within their power to cripple to entire economy of the nation.

I request temporary legislation to take care of this immediate crisis. I request permanent legislation leading to the formulation of a long-range labor policy designed to prevent the recurrence of such crises and generally to reduce the stoppages of work in all industries for the future.”

There is more, but this is more than enough. This is impossible to predict because even though of us who never thought Joe Biden to be remotely capable of being a good President, did not imagine this getting this bad, this soon and this obviously.

They aren’t fooling anyone anymore and many are forced, for the first time ever, to look in a mirror and see themselves as others see them. It has to be a frightening view.  All this happened in just hours, there is more to come, and drastic action is required. Action, that at least for now, requires the support of a United States Senate where, at least temporarily, Republicans are in control. The world changed, perhaps permanently, while you were sleeping.

TDM

Joe Biden is conducting a master class in failure management. He manages to fail at each and every thing he tries. In addition, sometimes it looks like God is making sure everyone knows. The latest example is the major storm dumping feet of snow and frigid temperatures all along the East Coast, something sure to be blamed on global warming. Few people, shoving mountains of snow will buy that. But perhaps the most visible example was that bridge collapse in Pittsburgh, just before a scheduled Biden visit.

Editorial: Pittsburgh bridge collapse shows infrastructure failings | TribLIVE.com

Biden, of course, tried to seize the day and argue this is why his infrastructure bill was so vital. But this bridge wasn’t even on the list.

Pittsburgh bridge that collapsed wasn’t on list for infrastructure law funding | Fox Business

It sure seems like we are always paying extra taxes for some kind of infrastructure project, only to find that the money has been spent elsewhere, on things we did not want and did not need. The following twitter feed argues that funds were available to fix this bridge, but they were spent elsewhere. I have not been able to confirm this and the MSM certainly isn’t reporting this, but this seems, well, predictable.

Pittsburgh bridge’s 2016 infrastructure funding reportedly diverted to bike lanes and green energy programs – American Thinker

It isn’t only the bridge that collapsed. Unfortunately, this administration is setting a new standard for failure. Now we have the incredible situation where the arrogant announcement by President Biden, that he would appoint a black female to be the next Supreme Court Justice, just backfired big time. A recent poll showed that an astonishing 75% of people think this is the wrong way to choose a Supreme Court Justice. If this was intended to stop or at least slow down the coming Republican wave, it is likely to only add fuel to the fire.

They often say that a team is in serious trouble when the coach has lost the locker room. That is when the people who have to play the game no longer trust the person in charge. That is a fundamental problem. Today a video was leaked showing a heated exchange between Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas and Border Patrol Agents. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz tried, and failed, to control the exchange.

Leaked video shows tense exchange between Border Patrol chief and agents | Washington Examiner

The Border Patrol Chief has lost the locker room. The Biden Administration is perilously close to losing the country. When your fan base is reduced to the usual suspects on CNN, there is little left.

When this happens, losing is inevitable, but so is change. Sometimes the team that wins the championship is the team that stunk up the field the prior year. But that only happens when there is change, major change. From the period 1900 to 1990, no MLB team ever went from last to first. Since 1990 it has happened 13 times. There a lot more teams now but in most cases, it is because when a team reaches rock bottom, they have no choice but to start clawing their way back up. If the country has not hit the bottom now; it will be there before summer. The international situation(s) in Ukraine, Taiwan and North Korea are unlikely to end well. Gas prices will go up, supply shortages will get worse, the homeless problem will get worse, the crime problem will get worse, and COVID mismanagement is guaranteed.

Every time Joe Biden surfaces and attempts to read a TelePrompter speech or answer pre-staged questions, it gets worse. This is what happens when you start with a dumb, serial liar, and add in dementia. Not exactly a formula for success.

Change is already on the way. Ready or not, it is coming. The question is whether or not we have already gone a bridge too far.

TDM

Just when you thought the Biden administration had reached the lowest possible level of stupidity, they just started digging toward a whole new level. Few people remotely familiar with the pathetic record of Mayor Pete Buttigieg expected him to do much as Secretary of Transportation. His major contribution, up until now, was to ignore the nationwide supply shortage. Actually, having Buttigieg ignore something is the best approach to managing any problem because he is consistently wrong about everything.

Well, Buttigieg has a great new plan for you. He has produced a brilliant new program designed to totally eliminate traffic fatalities. Here is his plan, as reported by the AP:

Transportation Sec. Buttigieg unveils new strategy to combat rise in traffic fatalities | KTLA

Buttigieg said his department is embracing a new “safe system” approach urged by auto safety advocates to bolster initiatives, underway in several cities, that seek to eliminate fatalities by taking into account more than just driver behavior.

Over the next two years, he said, his department will provide guidance as well as $5 billion in grants to states to spur lower speed limits and embrace safer road design such as dedicated bike and bus lanes, better lighting and crosswalks. When roads become safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, that opens up transit options overall and can lead to fewer dangerous cars on the road, he said.

Money for the grants is included in President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law, which has an additional $4 billion in funding through the Highway Safety Improvement Program.

I don’t even need to comment on this, other than to point out that when the national speed limit went away, in 1995, there was no increase in fatalities. You can see this yourself in the data produced by the NHTA. So, if raising the speed limit did not increase fatalities, lowering the speed limit is not likely to reduce them.

810625 (dot.gov)

But there is hope. A recent study, authored by Dr. Fauci, demonstrates that people who wear face masks while driving a car with no other occupants, not only are less likely to catch COVID, but they also have far fewer fatal accidents. There is no data to support this, of course, but since we all know how well masks have worked to stop the spread of COVID, this must be true.

TDM

Justice Stephen Breyer may or may not have decided to retire. CNN is reporting that Justice Breyer will resign, but we have heard NOTHING directly from him. There has also been no announcement by the Supreme Court. This is highly unusual. It may be true, it probably is true, but the timing is really suspicious. One suspects that Justice Breyer has told someone that he is going to retire, and they leaked that information. But it seems unusual for a Justice to make this announcement at this time. Justice Kenney announced he would retire in on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. Supreme Court sessions start on the first Monday in October and continue until late June or early July. It would make more sense for a Justice to hold off any announcement until the end of the current term.

Regardless of how this happened, it is definitely based on politics. Immediately we are reminded that President Biden has promised to appoint a Black female to the Supreme Court. One recalls that he also promised to give us a Black female Vice President, and we got Kamala Harris. How’d that work out? If he nominates a Black female, at least some people will assume this was based solely on race and gender, rather than experience and performance. Actually, he has already admitted that. This does not mean the candidate will not be qualified, it just means race and gender were the first criteria. Perhaps this is just me, but this seems rather insulting to Black female judges. I certainly would be insulted if someone said they chose me for a position because they needed an older white male. In fact, I would almost certainly reject such an offer.

This certainly has changed the news cycle from possible war with Russia over Ukraine, a collapsing economy and an administration stumbling toward the bottom. Perhaps someone thought it would help to change the subject. But this could easily backfire. Most people, other than Democrats in Congress and reporters on CNN want a judge to make decisions based on the law, not political correctness. Every poll shows that. So, at a time when people are already sick and tired of this congress and this new issue is likely to energize Republicans even more. In addition, nothing will change regarding Supreme Court decisions. There will still be a six conservative Justices to three liberal Justices. Replacing Breyer with another liberal will not affect balance in the court and is unlikely to have an impact on any Supreme Court decisions. He already votes the straight hard left position on every case.

This may change something else. It may change the attitude of Justice Breyer. Because of this unfortunate leak, all the attention will be on Breyer’s replacement and not on him. That is highly likely to make him incredibly angry. Rather than leaving with his head held high, praised by both parties, this sure looks like Democrats kicking him on the way out.

There has been some speculation, mostly in jest by Fox News, that Biden will nominate Kamala Harris to the Supreme Court. This would, in theory, get rid of a Vice President who is tanking in the polls, and allow Biden to choose a new Vice President. Then, the theory goes, the cabinet could invoke the 25^th Amendment, remove Joe and put in someone actually capable. This is nonsense and very unlikely to happen. It would be the worst conceivable way to choose a Supreme Court Justice. The absolute insanity of doing this is the only reason someone like Joe Biden might consider it.

If this was leaked, to change the news cycle, it is beyond desperate and extremely unlikely to work. If Russia invades Ukraine, which seems increasingly possible, few will focus on a coming Supreme Court nomination. In addition, people will be more focused on the prohibitive cost of gas, the gross mismanagement of COVID, rising crime, rising inflation, higher taxes, and empty shelves. Here is California, someone came up with the brilliant idea of taxing solar panels, since only rich people bought them using money they saved on taxes. They are also proposing taxing electric cars, for the same reason, at the same time they are pressing people to buy more electric cars. This is what happens when you put people only capable of circular reasoning in power.

In the meantime, while the Supreme Court will be deciding on some of the most important cases in decades, Democrats will be promoting a Breyers Market showcasing the Black female most likely to be his replacement, angering the only man in a position to influence at least some of these cases. Nice!

TDM

For years, perhaps decades, the MSM and the Democratic Party has tried, and failed to float an unsustainable ship filled with lies, distortions and hoaxes. One of the first things to be exposed was the hoax about Donald Trump colluding with Russia. We now know that it was Hillary Clinton who was colluding with Russia to promote that nonsense. Sadly, far too many people who should know better, bought this lock, stock, and barrel. Not only has that hoax been totally discredited, but some people may also just go to jail for telling outrageous lies to promote it in the first place.

Then there was the COVID is a life-threatening disease hoax. The result was that governments all over the world resorted to ridiculous tactics, which did not work, but did manage to destroy economies. COVID is real and it does kill some people, but there are a lot of other things that kill people. But many people were desperate to terrify you about COVID, so they flat out lied and misrepresented things. They even stooped so low as to discourage people from using drugs like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, even though both drugs have been used safely for years and there were and are a mountain of studies showing that these may actually be lifesavers. Instead, focus was on a vaccine, only availably because of Donald Trump, and which has now reached the point where, for some people, the vaccine may present more risk than the disease itself. You can see this for yourself. As of today, there have been 354,956,417 confirmed cases of COVID and 5,604,936 deaths. That is a death rate of 1.5%. In addition, this is almost certainly overstated, because the death statistics do not distinguish between dying from COVID and dying with COVID.

Then there was the myth that Donald Trump was dividing us with his mean tweets. That he was mismanaging COVID. That Joe Biden would restore “normal” and “competence” to the Oval Office and would unite us. Instead, it is increasingly obvious that this far from normal and there is no hint of competence. But he has managed to unite us, almost everyone thinks he is the wrong man for the job.

But perhaps the biggest hoax was climate change. The ridiculous theory that the amount of CO2 in the air was threatening humanity. Most people don’t know that CO2 is at 442 parts per million. If you do the math, that is .0442% of our atmosphere. That is a trace amount. It is increasing, but it is still a trace amount. In addition, there are no studies showing that increased CO2 in atmosphere increases global temperature. There are certainly a whole bunch of other things that are more important. Some real scientists are more worried about global cooling. Global cooling, unlike global warming, actually does kill people.

The climate change, global warming, crowd is terrified about rising sea levels. For example, there was this huge ice shelf in Antarctica, melting, which would break off, melt rapidly, and cause a dramatic rise in sea levels, right? Well folks that ice shelf was real, and it did break off from Antarctica, in 2017. It was huge, more than 100 miles long and 30 miles wide. By 2020 it has traveled over 1,000 miles and the island of South Georgia was in deadly peril. Except that while the iceberg has traveled that far, South Georgia is safe. Because it did what all icebergs do, it broke up into smaller pieces about 100 miles from South Georgia. Well glory be, now we know that this melting iceberg, thought to threaten humanity and kill fish, didn’t even impact global sea level. The reason should have been obvious, it was “because it was already melting, idiot, which is why it broke off from Antarctica in the first place.” DUH!

An Extraordinary Iceberg Is Gone, but Not Forgotten (msn.com)

“The researchers, whose findings were published in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment, estimated that melting in the vicinity of South Georgia resulted in the release of about 150 billion tons of fresh water. That’s enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool 61 million times over, the researchers said, although because the ice was already floating its melting did not contribute to sea-level rise.”

For another thing, this iceberg was not exactly man made, and for the record, Antarctica is getting COLDER, not warmer. There was almost certainly more impact on global climate by that Volcanic eruption in Tonga recently than by CO2.

The only way to describe this is as a ship, load with lies and unsupportable hoaxes that just hit an iceberg and is sinking rapidly. The only remaining question is when, if ever, CNN will notice.

TDM

We just got back from a cruise on the Majestic Princess traveling from San Pedro (Los Angeles) to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán, and Cabo San Lucas. We had a wonderful time, but there was one thing that was strange. While at sea, the first day, we were told to set our clocks ahead one hour, to adjust to “ship time.” Now this was convenient, for the ship, but seldom consistent with the time zone in which we were actually traveling or sometimes the time zone on shore. Then on the way back to San Pedro, the captain asked us to change it back to California time. Right now, it is 8:02 am in California. In Puerto Vallarta it is 10:02 am. In Mazatlán and Cabo San Lucas, it is 9:02 am. So, the Captain chose to change the clocks only once, regardless of the actual time zone. This worked fine on a cruise ship, but it also meant that for much of the trip, ship time was inconsistent with the time zone for the actual geographical location. I am not complaining, just explaining. It did drive us nuts trying to get our Apple Watches to show the right time.

Joe Biden gave us another example of daylight savings time. But this time, with a whole new meaning. There has been tremendous pressure on Biden to hold a real press conference. During the entire campaign and for most of his Presidency, he has been sheltered from the media and any tough questions. His few press appearances were largely staged, where he read off a Teleprompter, poorly, then if he answered any questions at all, they were from carefully selected reporters, with predetermined questions and rehearsed answers. He didn’t even do well during these events, but it was a lot better than what we saw during his full press conference.

While it is easy to cherry pick this and find occasions where Joe Biden appears to have gotten lost or where he gave confusing answers, that was not the biggest problem. The real problem is that many people got to see the real Joe Biden, without the filters, and few were impressed. His comments regarding Russia and Ukraine were so bad the White House has spent the last couple of days trying, and failing, to do damage control. The more they try to explain, the worse it gets.

People saw a Joe Biden who is not only not very impressive, but he is also a bitter and angry man with a delusional view of the real world. He literally cannot grasp the obvious fact that people are rejecting his policies. He cannot understand that the skyrocketing price of gas affects all of us, that inflation is real, and that the only thing we know for sure about COVID is that it has been grossly mismanaged. Nothing they have done has worked. We have all these people vaccinated, we destroyed our economy, we are paying people to stay home, we are forcing people to wear masks and forcing people to get a vaccine, which some of them feel is dangerous and others feel, for them, it is unnecessary. The latter group was right, by the way, the CDC reluctantly admitted that people who have had COVID and recovered have more protection from natural immunity than available from any vaccine. But most important he feels the need to demonize anyone who dares disagree with him.

Most people don’t realize that Bill Clinton had a worse first year in office than Biden. It was Bill Clinton’s performance that resulted in Newt Gingrich and the contract with America. But Bill Clinton, for all his faults, is not stupid. He realized that people were rejecting his policies, so he changed. As a result, he managed to stay in office for another seven years and by collaborating with Republicans rather than demonizing them, he managed to take credit for things actually done in spite of him.

But Joe Biden is not smart. He is not capable of learning from his mistakes. He is not even capable of recognizing mistakes which results in total incompetence. Harvard Business School did a study that showed that one fundamental problem is that “most incompetent people don’t realize they are incompetent, which is why they are incompetent in the first place.” Many of us have dealt with this personally, reporting to someone who is incompetent and who does not realize they are incompetent. It is difficult, if not impossible, for this situation to end well. After this “performance” a whole lot of people have been confronted with the reality of Joe Biden’s incompetence. Even the MSM, which loves some of his socialist ideas, has started to turn on him. They realize that their socialist dreams are going down the drain with him. Most of all, they realize he is hopelessly incompetent.

They often say it is darkest just before dawn. I think that is true today. For a long time, people were in the dark about the real Joe Biden. The MSM covered up for him and fawned over him and his staff was able to keep him under wraps most of the time, hiding the reality of this human disaster. But the darkest night is always followed by a new dawn. Joe Biden gave a press conference, primarily because he had no choice. He, predictably, botched it. But he also put himself in the direct sunlight where he was exposed for the entire world to see the reality of the real Joe Biden. The first step to solving any problem is understanding that there is a problem and to start working on a solution. We have now reached that point. Everyone knows that change is necessary. I call it “Daylight Savings Time.” There is a bright new dawn already on the way.

TDM

My grandfather used to love Friday night fights. So did a lot of other people during the 1960s. Watching boxing on TV was a really big deal.

I will never forget watching Emile Griffith fight Benny “Kid” Paret. This happened on a Saturday, March 24, 1962. It was broadcast as the ABC Fight of the Week.” Benny “Kid” Paret was the reigning Welterweight champion. This was actually the third fight between these two. Griffith won the first match; Paret won the second and this was the rubber match. This took place in Madison Square Garden. The fight lasted 12 rounds and even that round started out slow. Then Griffith his Paret with a solid punch, backed him into a corner and started pounding him. It was later determined that Paret was hit with 29 unanswered blows. Paret, who was still standing, slowly slid to the floor, and collapsed. Actually, his trainers basically pulled him down to the floor. At first, all the attention was on Emile Griffith celebrating winning the world championship. Then it started to become obvious that Paret was seriously injured. He was carried from the ring on a stretcher, and he died 10 days later.

This all happened in just a few seconds. While some argued that the referee should have stopped the fight sooner, if you watch this on video, not in slow motion, the speed at which this happened is amazing. The referee did stop the fight, but it was too late to save Benny Kid Paret. Now, of course, we realize the cumulative trauma that many of these boxers experienced as the result of being hit in the head so many times. Ultimately, as a result of this and other incidents, people stopped watching boxing matches

When Davey Moore died after a fight with Sugar Ramos in March 1963 the end was near. By December 1963 ABC announced that it was cancelling the “Fight of the Week.”  The last of the Friday Night Fights was September 11, 1964, when Nigerian middleweight Dick Tiger defeated Don Fulmer.

This is a reminder of how quickly things can change. Prior to the death of Benny “Kid” Paret it was hard to imagine something as popular as boxing almost disappear. But that is exactly what happened, and it only took a couple of seconds. Today there are increasing signs that Joe Biden has taken a few too many punches and he is down for the count. Even the MSM media parasites that worked so hard to defeat Donald Trump and put Biden in office have had enough. They have turned on him with a speed that is astonishing. Although they still coverup the obvious signs of dementia and they still downplay his serial lying, his performance is too bad to ignore. His speech calling Republicans racists for demanding fair and honest elections was a bridge too far. The man who promised to unite us has instead divided us even further.

In the 1960s, the solution was pretty easy. They just stopped broadcasting boxing matches and significant steps were taken to make the sport safer. But the Biden dilemma is far more challenging because there is no visible means to fix this. If Biden were removed from office today, his replacement would be Kamala Harris, who is decidedly worse. If both were replaced, we would get Nancy Pelosi, which would make both of them look good in comparison.

We are now at the point where change is inevitable. Even the MSM wants change. Unless something intervenes, Republicans will run the table in 2022. That will matter more than you can imagine. Democrats promoted a hoax to investigate Trump. Then they tried to impeach him over a phone call with Ukraine that they couldn’t even begin to define as a crime. Finally, they tried to impeach him again, with 24 hours left in office. This set a new, extremely low standard for a congress to directly challenge a President. It is hard to imagine Republicans ignoring this opportunity.

The only thing certain is that Joe Biden is down for the count. The only thing certain is change. Unprecedented change.

TDM