Monthly Archives: July 2020

07/21/20

Cop Calculus — Minneapolis

“It’s hard out here for a cop, 

It’s hard out here for a cop.”

Imagine Terrence Howard and Taraji P Henson rapping the above (with liberties taken from their Hustle & Flow soundtrack). This rap won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Original Song.

So, Minneapolis is now in the throes of the aftermath of the George Floyd murder in which a Minneapolis cop, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and killed him.

This murder triggered violence, arson, looting, vandalism, riots, and subsumed what started out as peaceful Constitutional protests resulting in more than $500MM in property damage and calls to #DefundPolice.

Apartment project under construction for low income housing ablaze during Minneapolis riots.

Who gets hurt by this? Low income residents who now have no place to live.

Continue reading →

07/19/20

#DefundStupid — Hunting Billionaires

Pal sends me an article wherein it is revealed that the irrepressible AOC — Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, not the Admiral Overseas Corporation — is encouraging a billionaire hunt to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (Fredo’s older brother).

AOC, member in good standing of the Democratic Socialists of America and The Squad, a virulent progressive in her own right, author and sponsor of the Green New Deal, key adviser to Candidate Joe Biden, wants to tax New York State billionaires — of which there are apparently one hundred and eighteen.

Continue reading →

07/16/20

COVID19 and Me

Brother Rat (what we call classmates at VMI, a very sacred term) of mine asks, “Do you know anybody who has actually had COVID19?”

“Well as it turns out,” I say,” I do. Me.”

I’m in about Day #7 of COVID19 and doing fine.

Continue reading →

07/14/20

Instacart Is a Rip Off?

Now that a substantial portion of the world is using grocery delivery to delve into the food chain, I had a convo with a pal of mine who swears by Instacart.

I asked him, “Aren’t they more expensive?”

“Baloney,” he says. He also calls me a moron, but he often does that so no offense taken. We make a small bet.

So, we pick a mundane product, Hebrew National Beef Franks in the 12 oz size and compare prices.

Continue reading →

07/13/20

Bounty Killings and Rewards for Justice

So, I’m reading some spurious nonsense that the Russians are paying the Taliban to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan — where we have been for two decades. Good God do we need to get TF out of A’stan. If the generals can’t figure it out in 20 years, let’s get some new generals and come home.

Pardon me.

I’m not sure why anyone is surprised by this — the reward program. I imagine it is true in some form.

Know who pays similar bounties? The United States of America.

This action was authorized by the 1984 Act to Combat International Terrorism. The program is called REWARDS FOR JUSTICE and is administered by the US State Department Diplomatic Security Service.

To date, Rewards for Justice has paid out more than $150,000,000 to more than 100 persons who provided information that:

 1. Led to the arrest or conviction of persons who planned, committed, aided, or attempted international terrorist acts against US persons or property;

 2. Prevented such acts from occurring;

 3. Led to the identification or location of a key terrorist leader;

 4. Disrupted terrorism financing.

Continue reading →

07/13/20

Walmart v Amazon Subscriptions

Let me start with the bottom line, Walmart is launching its “Walmart +” subscription service for $98/year that will deliver the following benefits:

 1. Unlimited free “same day” grocery and merchandise delivery

 2. Limited free Express 2-hour delivery

 3. Discounts on gas at its Walmart gas stations (usually already the cheapest gas in town, always use them when traveling, I think this is worth $0.40/gallon

 4. Early access to new products and deals

 5. Access to a Walmart + credit card

 6. Free access to CAMP, the Walmart entertainment platform — yawn

Continue reading →

07/10/20

Breathing Life Back Into A Company

If you are the CEO of a startup, a small business, or a medium business, you are currently dealing with a unique situation — how do you re-invigorate an enterprise that has been rocked by three distinct issues:

 1. COVID19 on a personal, human scale;

 2. Externally imposed economic and workplace restrictions and impacts based on COVID19; and,

 3. The public backlash from racial issues related to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. I will call this last one the Black Lives Matter issue.

These things taken together are likely to have created a negative impact on your company at the individual, granular level and at a business survival level.

There are a few companies who have prospered in the COVID19 environment, but who are still impacted by the BLM impact.

I think that most CEOs would agree that there will be changes, perhaps huge changes, on the other side of these impacts. That is, of course, if y’all survive to emerge on the other side.

Continue reading →