Serving the Niche NFL and Impeachment edition

Posted: February 10, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Despite what had to the marque matchup in history and a country full of people forced to stay home the Superbowl has managed to see their lowest ratings in fifteen years (back in the days when Tom Brady had only 3 superbowl rings but I digress…). Amusingly front office sports comes up with many excuses but none of them seem to cover the whole “get woke go broke” business.

Despite this the league decided to go full woke both in their presentation, their guests and even in the commercials, all seemingly with the intent to chase away those with the wrong belief set.

Now in the NFL is a huge industry and the drop in revenue while likely to hit the salary cap is not enough to make most of the players feel it but it would seem odd that they would make a presentation to encouraged those who dropped them to stay away.

But in a way it makes perfect sense. Once you figure out that you are unlikely to win back the portion of your customer base that you offended and further that the section that remains is offended by any thought of welcoming them back it’s quite logical to program for that remaining section of the market in the hopes that they stay.

In other words the NFL which once imagined their product over a global market is now in transition to a niche market and once that happens you will find that the niche will shrink further and further as the demands of said niche become more strident.

The same dynamic is taking place in the Senate this week.

The President’s attorney says all of this is a hoax, but that’s really the wrong word for it, it’s actually “marketing”.

Most if not all of the members of the Senators and the House know that the charges in this impeachment is a sham, that there is a distinct lack of evidence for said charges (which is why the vote was rushed because the more time passes the more it becomes clear that what happened was preplanned and quite a few of the left’s allies were involved in said planning.) and that the chance of conviction is slightly higher than looking out your window to see a Mastodon walking down your city street.

So why go through this theater? Well it’s quite simple. The violent activist left is now the primary niche market that media, academic, entertainment, and the Democrat party serve and that violent left must be appeased.

These are people who would if they could take President Trump and every one of his supporters and put them on the cart to be executed in the public square while they look on and cheer. Their lack of actual numbers combined with a heavily armed populace makes this unlikely, thus the next best thing has to be done.

They must be given a sense that the Democrats are doing something, that they are defanging the dangerous Trump and his followers. As long as Democrat pols are seen doing this they are appeased. They created, tolerated and used this monster and now with power in their hands need to keep it tame so they don’t face their claws.

Put simply his trial is about feeding Democrats niche market of fanatical leftist Robespierres because they know that it’s only keeping them fed by targeting us that’s keeps them off the cart

Boomers are in trouble

Posted: February 9, 2021 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
Tags: ,

By Christopher Harper

Amid the carnage of economic shutdowns during the pandemic, baby boomers have suffered more than any other age group, according to MarketWatch.com.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 900,000 Americans between the ages of 60 and 69 lost their jobs between December 2019 and December 2020, a 5 percent decline in the number of employed people in that age group. Some 21.2 million Americans in their 60s are no longer in the labor force, the BLS reported.

MarketWatch interviewed several people in their 60s, with long records of professional success who were “trying to find purpose or, at least, some income to help pay the bills. None of them ran a hedge fund or cashed out in an IPO. None attended Ivy League colleges but went to state universities or technical schools and lived solid middle-class lives as loyal, productive employees, raising families on high five- to low six-figure incomes.”

All had been laid off with no explanation. Those interviewed had sent out dozens of resumes but got few job interviews and even fewer offers. All firmly believed they faced systemic age discrimination.

Curtis Berndt, 65, told MarketWatch that he thinks that people eliminated him because of his age, “You go in, they look at you, and they say ‘too old,’ and you’re done.”

Berndt began as a draftsman and then moved into product design. For more than 40 years, all in Indiana, he did advanced quality control and streamlined manufacturing processes to reduce defects and improve efficiency.

“Everything was good, and then all of a sudden — and I mean, really, all of a sudden–there was a huge financial issue, and they decided they were going to have to get rid of people,” he said. “I had just turned 65, and three days later, they didn’t need me anymore. It’s impossible to prove, but they assured me that my age had nothing to do with it.”

Berndt has applied for about 50 full-time job openings and gotten a handful of interviews.

“They say everything’s good until the face-to-face interview, and then it’s dead. From other people I’ve talked to in my age group, that’s pretty much the pattern,” he said.

When Karen Mater was a young geologist working on oil wells in southern Indiana, a male rig worker said to her one day, “I don’t think women belong in oil fields. What do you think?”

“I said, ‘Well, I’m the wrong person to answer, because here I am,’” she told MarketWatch.

But the strain on her young family of being away for two or three weeks at a time caused her to change careers. Using the computer knowledge she’d acquired as a geologist, she took a job at nearby Central Michigan University, where she had earned her master’s degree.

Twenty-three years later, in August, the university let her and others go.

“They decided they had to really slim down, and for whatever reason, they picked my job to eliminate,” she said.

Since then, she’s applied to at least 45 jobs, but with no luck.

While Berndt and Mater said they should be all right financially, more than half of those 55 and older are expected to end their lives in poverty, MarketWatch reported, mainly as a result of the shutdown of the U.S. economy during the past year.

My generation is in trouble. I hope someone in the Biden White House is paying attention!

Reality Doesn’t Care Under the Fedora

Posted: February 9, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Today three weeks after his final day in office the Senate takes up a 2nd impeachment of Donald Trump despite questionable constitutional grounds.

The media continues to beat its collective breasts about Trump but the political theatre that is taking place doesn’t change the reality.

Donald Trump wasn’t impeached for a speech, he was impeached for the unpardonable crime of having had gotten so many votes that the left had to steal an election openly and refusing to simply take it without complaint.

That’s the reality of this impeachment and no amount of spin will change it.

Mike Lindell put out a documentary called Absolute Proof last week laying out a public case that Election 2020 was stolen. Youtube promptly had the video pulled as did at least one other video hosting service. Last week Twitter Banned him and his pillow company.

If this was just nonsense, these powerful people would easily counter it point at it and laugh at it instead on banning it left and right and let people make up their own minds.

I trust you to do that.

Reality isn’t dependent on Youtube or Twitter.

Speaking of Banning, Gateway Pundit found it self permanently banned from Twitter after producing video of tens of thosands of ballots being delivered to the TCF center with promises of more video on the way.

You can see that video here and here

As I’ve already said no amount of banning affects actual reality and in the end all they will do is chase their customer base away.

A lot of experts are blaming the Kansas City Offensive Line for their defeat by Tom Brady and the Bucks on Sunday. It should be noted that a lot of these same experts didn’t think those backup linemen were going to be enough to stop Patrick Mahomes who they were already calling the next GOAT and that having seen some parts of the game on youtube later that it’s likely that nobody but Mahomes could have stayed away from the rush long enough to have a shot at all.

Meanwhile leftists are saying it’s racist for Brady to beat Mahomes during black history month.

Reality however doesn’t care about what those analysits say or what those woke idiots say, it only cares about the final score Tampa Bay 31 KC 9

Just a reminder, talk is cheap, action is what counts.

The family of Mychael Johnson is “demanding answers” after he was killed in a shooting which followed a stolen car spree and an attempt to take an officer’s gun during an attempt to arrest him as he tried to carjack another vehicle after crashing his 1st one. The answer comes in this story:

Court records show Johnson has been arrested numerous times since 2007 on multiple drug related offenses involving marijuana and cocaine. In addition to facing charges for possession of a firearm by a felon and robbery, Johnson also twice was arrested for fleeing or attempting to elude officers.

Reality doesn’t care if Mr. Johnson’s family wants to pretend that he was just someone who “wasn’t perfect” the reality is that if you live the life of a criminal thug you tend to die like a criminal thug

Report from Louisiana: Loose Thoughts

Posted: February 8, 2021 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,

By: Pat Austin

Some loose, random thoughts this week:

Books: Finally, The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles comes out this week!  I had the privilege of receiving an Advance Reader’s Copy (ARC) las year and I just loved this book. If you enjoy historical fiction at all, put this one on your list.

Navigating dual timelines, Miss Charles weaves an engaging plot between two characters, Odile and Lily. Set in both WWII Paris and 1980s Froid, Montana, we are drawn into both their stories knowing they will soon combine, and they do in a beautiful way.

Odile begins a new job as a librarian at The American Library in Paris at the onset of WWII, and her narrative is peppered with Dewey Decimal references which could have been very odd and distracting but is in fact absolutely charming. As the employees of the library work to protect their books, and themselves, during the Nazi occupation of Paris, it is interesting to note that many of the characters in this novel are real people and many of the events also all to real.

This is a novel for all book lovers, library lovers, history lovers, and anyone who wants to get lost between the pages of an interesting story for a few hours.

Also out this month, but I have not yet read, is Kristen Hannah’s The Four Winds, set in the dustbowl. I have it on hold at the library.

Covid Recovery: I’ve done a lot of reading over the past ten days because I’m too fatigued to do anything else. Steve and I are both moving past our Covid symptoms but the ongoing fatigue is staggering. I feel lucky and grateful that neither of us has the terrible congestion and lung symptoms, no high fever either, but man this fatigue….I can’t get past it. I’m still off work; planning to return to the classroom on Wednesday, but it will be very low energy for the time being.

Mardi Gras:  As you probably know, there are no parades or big celebrations for Mardi Gras this year which is really strange. But, have you seen the float houses in New Orleans!? They are so cool…people are putting the floats artists to work making props and decorations for their homes, dressing their houses up like giant floats! Some of them even play music like the real floats. Go online and check those out if you get a chance!

In New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell is doubling down on the Covid restrictions in these last two weeks of Mardi Gras season. She’s closing all bars and certain streets. Large gatherings are strictly forbidden. Tourists are discouraged.

Strange times.

Super Bowl: did you watch? We just had it on for background noise. I watched the Puppy Bowl. I’m just ready for baseball season.

Y’all have a good week!

Pat Austin blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport and is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation. Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.

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