Last weekend, things around here were hopping. People were out on the lake, filling the beaches, patronizing the restaurants and ice cream stands, and partaking of the traditional summer activities and events. Our local airport had one of its busiest weekends ever.
This weekend, not so much. The usual Friday traffic crush was more like a slight squeeze. The airport wasn’t busy at all. Some of the folks I would normally expect to see – our local summerfolk ‘weekenders’ – were nowhere to be seen. Even the usual “10AM Saturday Traffic Because Everyone Is Grocery Shopping At The Same Time” wasn’t nearly as heavy as we usually see.
The question being asked: Is this ‘dead’ weekend because of the weather forecast – tropically oppressive humidity with showers and thunderstorms Saturday and Sunday – or have we already seen peak summer activity and the rest of the summer is going to be quiet much like it was before the Fourth of July weekend? Certainly the local business owners are asking that question.
Only time will tell.
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NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is pointing out some harsh truths that some are choosing to minimize or ignore. They do so at their own peril.
“I think we’re missing the point about the role of sports — and the fans — in the current unrest. Without a doubt we need police reform, but that should mean ‘good cops out there policing the bad cops.’ … My concern is turning this into a circus instead of trying to do some good stuff.”That the NFL has caved to the ‘woke’ - in many cases those ‘woke’ people aren’t even NFL fans - has certainly made me less of a fan. That the NBA is basically doing the same thing makes me less inclined to watch any games.
If professional sports leagues think they’ll get there by shoving the argument into fans’ faces constantly, Barkley thinks they might just talk themselves out of a job.
“They [the fans] don’t want to see a bunch of rich people talking about stuff all the time,” Barkley said.
“These people have lost their jobs, they’re struggling financially, they’re not going to get their jobs back. And the last thing they want to do is turn on the television and hear arguments about stuff all the time.”
Activist athletes are nothing new, and no better or worse than activist actors, activist authors, or even activist call-center directors. All that used to stop at the game itself, though; even the kneeling was pregame. Now, however, the NBA will turn its players into walking billboards for lectures at fans, for whom sports would otherwise be a wonderful escape from their own mounting personal and financial woes. The NFL probably isn’t far behind that curve either — if it’s not the jerseys, it will be a constant stream of social-justice PSAs in the breaks.
We get enough of the political indoctrination, false piety, ‘Me Too’ anti-racism racists, and other political messages 24/7. It gets old very quick. It also becomes less believable the longer this dogma is jammed down our throats. I know I am tired of it.
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So many corporations have caved to the the ‘woke’, BLM, Antifa (whether actual Antifa or Antifa-wannbes), virtue signaling pseudo-radicals, and spoiled pro athletes who figure their stature insulates them from their actions. (To be truthful, ‘spoiled pro athletes’ who figure their statures insulate them from their actions is nothing new.) The NFL has caved, The NBA has caved. A number of corporations have caved and are running look-alike/sound-alike TV ads that pander to the these folks. In some cases it sounds to me they are putting profits above principles. But there are some CEO’s who refuse to cave in to people demanding their corporation knuckle under to their beliefs du jour. Two in particular stand out.
Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue committed the unforgivable sin of offering praise for President Trump. The response from the Left was not unexpected: immediate calls for a boycott of his company.
Unanue called the pushback against him visiting the White House “suppression of speech.” Unanue said that he was previously invited to the White House for an event hosted by the Obama administration for Hispanic Heritage Month.Then there’s Ford CEO Jim Hackett, whose response to demands by some Ford employees that the company stop making police vehicles as part of the “Defund The Police” movement was priceless.
“So, you’re allowed to talk good or to praise one president, but you’re not allowed to aid in economic and educational prosperity? And you make a positive comment and all of a sudden, it is not acceptable,” Unanue said.
Unanue said he is not apologizing for his remarks supporting Trump’s economic policy and would not turn down other future invitations.
“I didn’t say that to the Obamas and I didn’t say that to President Trump.”
“By taking away our Police Interceptors, we would be doing harm to their safety and making it harder for them to do their job. Again, this is why, given our insights, new capabilities and leadership, I believe these unfortunate circumstances present Ford with an even greater opportunity to not only innovate new solutions but also leverage our unique position to support the dialogue and reform needed to create safer communities for all.”Would that more CEO’s and Board of Directors would tell the ‘woke’ to piss off.
Shorter version: No. We’re not going to stop making police cars. Now get back to work.
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Is 2020 an echo of 1968, at least politically?
I’ve been thinking about the late-60s more and more often these days, for obvious reasons. As Shaidle writes, “2020 more and more resembles 1968 but with worse music.” That’s a true line and a funny one. But the parallel is also serious, and although I agree with it up to a point, here’s why I depart from it: the difference between then and now is the successful 50-year Gramscian march in-between, ironically (or inevitably?) accomplished by many people from that same fringe of terrorists turned educators and cultural “leaders” who have instructed generations of young people to follow their ideologies and have spread and mainstreamed them.Now the crazies, revolutionaries, and ‘assassins’ are on the inside, running our institutions and governments. It seems to me that an increasing number of them want to burn everything down, literally or figuratively, and replace it with something that hasn’t worked in 400 years of trying. They have spent decades “replacing things that work with things that sound good”, but don’t work. Then when it doesn’t work, they double down and then wonder why everything keeps getting worse.
Back then, the crazies and revolutionaries and assassins and the like were on the outside, and the vast vast majority of people and institutions in the country did not support them. Yes, the antiwar protests were large, but when the draft died and Nixon initiated troop withdrawals and Vietnamization, the protests died down too.
Indeed, 1968 and 2020 resemble each other except for the music. But it’s like the difference between a pennywhistle and a Wagnerian opera.
We are indeed living in Heinlein’s Crazy Years.
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I can agree with this.
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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the summer crowds were small this weekend, the weather a bit schizophrenic, and where the tropical humidity is hanging around for a couple of more days.