I’m considering things great and small when my phone rings. I do not recognize the number, but the ring itself feels like a political survey, so I answer.
“Stand by for the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi,” the voice says. It sounds eerily like the Emperor in Star Wars. So, I wait. I wait. I wait.
“Big Red Car, how are you, dear?” the Speaker asks.
“Fine, Madame Speaker, et vous?”
I never eat at Chipotle, but I have been following them for a long time. The thesis of this blog post is that Chipotle is doing a bang up job in evolving into a COVID19 casual food world.
But, they have had a lifetime of experience with food-borne illnesses and outbreaks.
The other day, the Iranian navy decided it was a good idea to harass six American warships (US Navy and US Coast Guard ships) in the Straits of Hormuz. Huh?
Eleven armed Iranian vessels — some looking like cabin cruisers with mounted .50 caliber machine guns — from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGDN) came as close as thirty feet from the US Coast Guard cutter Maui. This required the Maui to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
While we were all distracted by the life and death of COVID19, our friends at Facebank have made a few changes in their quest to make Libra a viral offering in the crypto world.
You will recall that we spoke of Facebank’s Libra offering here:
So, recently we learn that Facebank, with its newly trimmed roster of supporters, has made a slight pivot. The pivot is driven by the reality of the political and regulatory pushback.
In other words, creating Libra isn’t the two handed dunk shot Facebank, et al, thought it would be.
I like going to church. It anchors the day and is an opportunity to open my mind and let some wisdom take root. I love a good sermon. I have gotten some good ones — actionable ones — through the years.
I was raised a conventional Catholic in the Latin rite of the Mass at parishes that had schools which I attended. I was an altar boy. I could swing a mean incense bowl, I received the offering, I assisted at Mass, I assisted the celebrant in robing, and, yes, I stole some altar wine — terrible stuff.
Oddly, most of the altar boys were pals and played basketball together, were golf caddiesm (Father Horan used to get us the job with the caddie master who had fought with the 101st Abn Div at Bastogne), and surfed together. It was an unusual kinship. We all drank the lousy wine together. I have never run into any of them since those days, but we had a lot of fun. I would love to know their stories.
I fell under the influence of those great Irish priests — Fathers Horan, O’Connor) and those demanding nuns (that tough little math teacher Sister Anne de Beaupre). Got striped by the nuns from time to time. Confessed my sins to the priests during Confession. The structure of the Catholic church and Catholic school was good for me. Those Catholic school girls were saucy.
Today, I go to a Southern Baptist Church — Lake Hills Church in Austin By God Texas. I go there because I like the message and messaging from the pastor, Mac Richard. I find his sermons universally actionable.
Today, I watched the service — as I have for seven weeks — on the computer livestreamed. The production values were excellent. LHC is extraordinarily computer literate and has been livestreaming services for years. The message was even better.
I miss dressing up for church — remember this is Austin By God Texas so “dressing up” means knife-edged, buttery soft, ancient khakis, a button down (linen during the summers), a blazer, and a pocket square.
But, I have to say that “going to church” in one’s PJs, with a cup of coffee, lying on my office couch — well, that is pretty damn convenient.
So, the big question is this — will I return to attending church? Or am I going to church henceforth from the comfortable couch in my office?
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway?
On 18 April 1942 — today is 18 April, y’all — sixteen B-25B Mitchell bomber aircraft flew off the deck of the USS Hornet and conducted a bombing raid on Tokyo. The raid was militarily insignificant, but it sent a message to the Japanese. America was in the fight — four months after Pearl Harbor — and intended to take the fight to their capital.
My father told me it was an enormous boost to American morale. He was in the Army and the Army was getting ready to go to war in North Africa on 8 November 1942 with the Operation Torch landings.
One of the elements of the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act), the bi-partisan stimulus program in response to COVID19, was the $250B Payroll Protection Plan.
The CARES Act was passed unanimously by both the Senate and the House on a unanimous consent. Wow!
The PPP was a good deal based on its popularity, a popularity that has drained its coffers. The PPP is broke. Out of money. The need was enormous.
The PPP has deployed $350,000,000,000 and has thousands of more applications, but it is out of money.
The Congress has known this for almost two weeks now.
The Senate Republicans saw this — the exhaustion of funds for PPP — coming and more than a week ago they proposed a single change to the CARES Act — change the single number $350,000,000,000 to $600,000,000,000.
That’s it. Just that. Nothing more. One single change. Two numbers, nothing else. Simple, right?
We are approaching 15% unemployment in the country, maybe 20% on the horizon before the economy gets lit again. Call it the Temporary COVID19 Unemployment Wave.
Not going to last forever. There are therapeutics on the horizon, a vaccine. Life will return, but there will be some lean days until it does.
You may have to relocate to find a new job? Start thinking about that now.
It is, unfortunately, real. If you are one of those who is without a job, take a second, take a deep breath, and, then, whisper — “Hey, maybe I need to move home.”
No, I don’t mean you should move in with the parental units. No, I mean it is time for you to make a decision, chart a new course, to pick the spot where life is waiting for you, and you are going to thrive.
Flick a booger in the COVID19 eyes and get yours. It is time to move home, y’all.
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