Just about the time I thought it was safe to take my new pup for a walk in the woods this shows-up in my email box this morning.
A trail camera photo taken just before Christmas by J.B. Sensenbrenner on his Southern Door property located near Lake Michigan between Algoma and Sturgeon Bay.
That would be just east of here.
And that is a gray wolf.
The January full moon is called the Wolf Moon.....
We learn that the hospitalization of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was kept from the White House and his own top aids for days.
The world is an exceedingly dangerous place and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs knew of Austin's condition last Tuesday, the day following Austin's hospitalization at Walter Reed. Yet it was two more days before the Pentagon Chief of Staff, Kelly Magsamen notified the Deputy Defense Secretary, Kathleen Hicks and Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
If these three individuals knew how is it the White House was uninformed?
The US assassinated an Iran-backed militia leader in Iraq last week. Who was in charge?
This is the sort of drama I'd expect from the former occupant of the the White House.
What the hell?
And what's anybody going to do about it?
Not my work - found on the interweb.
Yes, this is photo shopped.
Taken with the same camera, from the same location at similar times, two separate images were merged into one.
It is a very good tool for identifying the key characteristics differentiating a gray wolf from a coyote.
By any traditional measures our economy is firing on all eight cylinders. Unemployment is at a fifty year low, wages (adjusted for inflation) are higher than they were before the pandemic, job satisfaction is up and last month the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and signaled that with inflation subsiding we may see three rate cuts in 2024. It looks like there is little if any chance of a recession, with an economic soft landing instead.
So why is public opinion on the economy not reflecting all of this wonderful news?
Conventional wisdom would suggest that people are grumpy about the economy even with the economic winds at their backs.
The best guess is that consumer sentiment over the economy has soured mostly as a consequence of high prices. While inflation has slowed prices have not come down significantly. We've seen a wee bit of a drop yet all you have to do is look at the tape total following a trip to the grocery store and it all makes perfect sense. I also think there is some psychology in play as a consequence of social media trolls and garden-variety confirmation bias. There is an election looming after all.
Consider this. Only a couple short years ago, when inflation reared its ugly head and prices began to spike, consumer sentiment plunged in the opposite direction. In 2022 the mood of the people, as measured by the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, was as bad as it could possibly be. The Consumer Sentiment Index set a record fifty year low! That is a big deal.
Ordinarily, a strong economy bodes well for an incumbent president. In this case consumers may be recovering from the sentiment hangover. If economic grumpiness is the new normal this does not bode well for Biden's reelection prospects.
Maybe as we've embraced post-pandemic life our world has fundamentally changed somehow. Maybe it is the cumulative impact of many things - supply chain interruptions, labor shortages leading to hiring disruptions, longer waits for a contractor, higher mortgage rates, increased cost of diesel, fertilizer, used cars, new cars, real estate and construction has put large numbers of people into a mind-numbing economic funk? I cannot put my finger on it.
Nevertheless, gasoline prices have come down considerably ($2.34 Friday at the new Kwik Trip in Sturgeon Bay), the stock and bond markets have out-performed, my real estate taxes are affordable and have barely increased, interest rates are forecast to fall, the prospects of a recession seem to have been a mirage, my personal consumer confidence is strong and for everyone else is likely improving every month since hitting rock bottom. The previously worrisome Consumer Sentiment Index is steadily rising. The economy is strong. I have no major grievances. If Joe Biden is reelected not much will change for me. If Donald Trump is elected it is highly likely I'll continue to prosper and have beaucoup blog material. Besides, any president's immediate influence on an economy as large as ours is overstated.
So, we'll have to see how 2024 unfolds. For this blogger the glass is half-full.
Andrew S. Clyde (R-Ga.) has described the January 6 riot and assault on the Capitol and the mob's breaching of the building as a "normal tourist visit.”
I do quite a bit of traveling and am a tourist. I've been to Washington DC multiple times. Nothing like this would have entered my head.
Sure, those who broke-down doors, busted windows, assaulted law enforcement officers, defecated on the carpeting or engaged in violence or committed other crimes were charged and prosecuted accordingly. Some of the participants of this event got a ticket for trespassing. The rest got nothing at all.
I'm sure some people will celebrate rebellion and violence against others today. In a free society you can hold that belief system. I would counsel against acting on it.
Most people know that if someone hosts a riot, the smart choice is to run the other way.....
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