Posts Tagged ‘datechguy's magnificent seven’

Report from Louisiana: Bare Shelves

Posted: October 4, 2021 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,

By: Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT — What in the world is going on in the grocery stores? I’ve never seen such shortages in my life!

The first time I noticed this was when the pandemic broke out and shelves were literally stripped of bread, toilet paper, dried beans, rice, and canned goods like a plague of locusts had flown through. Things got better after a while but have never really recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

Every time we go to the grocery store together, my husband’s blood pressure jumps up…” This is that ‘Ridin’ with Biden’ working for you!” He rants and rails all up and down the aisles, raging about elevated prices and shortages.

I can’t blame him. It is difficult.

There is no doubt that prices are higher. And the shelves are noticeably bare. When I found blue Powerade on the shelf last week I bought all four six packs because it’s been unavailable for weeks.

There are a number of factors at work here. Rising fuel costs, rising production costs, and a shortage of workers all along the supply line play a factor:

The maker of Cheerios cereal and Betty Crocker cake mix is facing hundreds of disruptions across its operations, ranging from pricier raw ingredients to a shortage of truck drivers, which executives said will push up prices for supermarket customers over the months ahead.

Higher costs and logistical problems are squeezing General Mills and other U.S. food companies, prompting them to cut their own costs and swelling consumers’ shopping bills. Big food makers including Campbell Soup Co. and Conagra Brands Inc. are charging more for their products as the food industry faces the steepest inflation in a decade, while shrinking some grocery-store packages and dialing back discounts.

So, not only is this problem not getting better anytime soon, it’s going to get worse.

In Louisiana, SNAP participants will see an increase in their benefit starting next week. This isn’t necessarily in response to the shortages; apparently the thinking is that families are trying to stretch their food dollars by purchasing unhealthy, but filling, options, and if the government gives them more money, they will magically decide to buy fresh vegetables rather than Hot Pockets.

Benefits had been increased for inflation over the years. But flaws in the Thrifty Food Plan formula meant many families just couldn’t keep up with the costs. Consequently, families bought fewer fresh fruits and vegetables and relied on more convenient and less expensive processed foods to stretch their benefits for an entire month.

I’m not sure I agree with that logic, but…..

As the holidays approach, industry insiders are predicting more shortages. Grocery store chains are ordering earlier, hoping to be able to have what their customers need for the holidays, but many are having trouble getting fresh meat, like turkeys for example, because many production plants are not working at full capacity.

Obviously becoming alarmed and hoarding is the wrong approach here, but planning ahead is going to be a necessity it seems.

Meanwhile, I’m going to start leaving my husband at home when I go shopping. I don’t think his blood pressure can handle it!

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

My strategy for fighting Coronavirus lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and mask mandates

Posted: September 30, 2021 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Except under the most dire circumstances nonviolent resistance to any form government tyranny and overreach is far more effective than violent engagement.  That is most definitely the case when it comes to the government imposed nightmare most of the world has been living under for the past eighteen months.  Violence should always be the absolute last resort.  Conditions in all but one nation have not been serious enough to warrant violent resistance.  The one possible exception I believe might be Australia where the Tyranny imposed by that government is now most extreme.

Noncompliance is the first step in ending the lockdowns and mandates.  Unfortunately the spirit of noncompliance has been very weak here in the United States, thanks to many decades of progressive indoctrination in all levels of American schools.  When outdoor mask mandates were instituted here in Massachusetts I simply ignored them.  Every day I did my walk without a mask and got away with it.  It was not so easy with indoor mask mandates.  In this state store owners called the police on individuals not wearing masks.  The miscreants were fined and the strore owners then trespassed them so they could not shop there again.  That is a heavy price for individuals to face alone.  The only way to fight this is organized groups entering stores without masks who, do nothing except peacefully shop.   Because of the nationwide surge in individuals testing positive for the Delta Variant, cities and states are reimposing mask mandates.  This is being met with far more resistance this time around.  I believe the time is right for these unmasking parties. All we need is for individuals in different communities to organize them and make them stick.

In last week’s article I chronicled how mass protests to Coronavirus restrictions are beginning to pop up worldwide.  For these restrictions and mandates to end once and for all here in the United States mass protests need to be organized in as many communities as possible, as often as possible.  We need to step out of our comfort zones and step up and organize these mass protests through social, media as often as possible until social media shuts us down.  Then we need to seek alternate methods to organize.

So few are stepping up and saying enough because they are living in fear, thanks to all of the propaganda being spread by the mainstream media, politicians, government agencies, social media, and so called scientific experts.  We need to flood social media with the truth about the true nature of Coronavirus, which is far less harmful to the vast majority of the population than is reported by all of the phony experts and fear mongering media.  We need to spread the truth about how ineffective mask mandates and lockdowns are in stopping the spread of any virus. I have been doing this nonstop for well over a year and so have many of my friends.  This has cost me a lot of friends on Facebook but that has not stopped me and I don’t care if I go to Facebook jail.

Organized mass protests and individuals willing to coordinate them is the key to ending these lockdowns and mandates.

Musings about 7-0

Posted: September 28, 2021 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
Tags:

By Christopher Harper

As I celebrate my 70th birthday this week, I was reminded of a social media question: What would I tell an 18-year-old me?

Here goes for that young version of myself and maybe others:

Listen. You might be the smartest person in the room, or at least think you are. But you already know what you know. If you listen rather than speak, you will learn.

Pride. Keep it in check! You can be proud of your accomplishments, but humility is usually better.

Jealousy. Keep it in check, too!

Be less judgmental. People who are old, overweight, slow, or plain have contributions to make.

Work and home. Maintain a balance between your work life and your home life. Unless you absolutely need a specific job for the money, make sure you enjoy what you are doing.

Drink less. You’ll act like a moron more times than you can remember. Moreover, you may hurt yourself and others.

Watch less sports. Participate more. Even if you just walk a lot, you’ll be better off for it.

Think about college. The cost of a college degree has become burdensome for many people. When I went to school, tuition was less than $1,000. Maybe take a year off and work to determine what you want to do. Think about the military. Think about whether you really want to go to college.

Learn about building, plumbing, and electricity. I wish I had.

Hobbies. I wish I had more of them.

Appreciate the goodness of the United States rather than its flaws.

Use computers and cellphones less.

Read more.

Complain less.

Save more money. Make a balance sheet of your income and your expenses. It’s likely that Social Security and Medicare will be bankrupt by the time you retire.

Learn grammar, punctuation, and style.

Find an ethical or spiritual guide. You need it BEFORE you face a crisis.

Keep mentally fit. Talk to specialists rather than friends about your problems.

Ignore celebrities and their political and social views.

Find a way to express yourself.

Try to fix today and tomorrow rather than yesterday.

That’s about all unless I forgot something. Yes, keep hold of your memories through a diary, photographs, and mental exercises.

Report from Louisiana: Bouncing Back after Ida

Posted: September 27, 2021 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash

By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – I want to share with you this latest article by Kathryn Jean Lopez of the National Review because it begins to touch the surface of why I love Louisiana and also about how we are recovering from Hurricane Ida.

The southern part of Louisiana, west to east, has dealt with devastating hurricane and storm damage over the past couple of years. It seems that Katrina is the one everyone talks about but that was in 2005. Meanwhile, Hurricane Laura (August 2020) and then Delta (October 2020) followed by historic flooding rains in May 2021, have left Lake Charles, Louisiana literally devastated. Hurricane Ida came along this year and hit the southeastern coast of Louisiana and there are still people without power in some of the more remote areas of SE Louisiana.

Why do we stay? Why don’t we leave and go where we don’t have to worry about such things?

Kathryn Lopez’s piece helps put that in perspective a bit:

In storm-damaged Louisiana, there is not victimhood, but resilience and gratitude. I asked an Uber driver — a single mom of two who had to quit her job as a schoolteacher during the height of COVID to help her children with their at-home school — whether it’s hard living in Louisiana. “Not at all,” she said. “Life always has its challenges, but God is good, and our lives are gifts, and we must live them in love of and trust in Him.” That witness of the people I meet in Louisiana [ … ] is a challenge to the rest of us, who can get caught up in so many things that we don’t have all that much control over.

So true.

Don’t get me wrong: people down there need help. They need those donations of tarps and water that are pouring in. Those huge pots of jambalaya and gumbo that are feeding families, linemen, clean-up volunteers, all of that is appreciated.

But the only thing to do is to clean up and rebuild. I had an aunt that lived in Lake Charles when I was a child; they rebuilt their home several times and never left.

 The Cajun people are some of the most resilient people I’ve ever met. Survival is in their DNA. So is joie de vivre, hospitality, and warmth.

I think about these values often when we travel to that part of the state; we stay five weeks of the year in south Louisiana and I am always impressed by the strong communities, the strong family unit, and the pure faith that these people have. Yes, there are problems, but as Lopez says, we learn to trust in God, to see what tomorrow brings.

Lopez is correct. I don’t think anybody down there feels like a victim. These storms may dampen spirits and slow us down for a minute but pack your suitcase and come on down: the hotels are open, the boudin is hot, and the music is floating up through the trees. You might see more blue tarps on roofs and hear more chainsaws and pounding hammers, but Louisiana is bouncing back better than ever.

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

Older Entries
Newer Entries