Generation X

I recently read an article about Cracker Barrel and Walmart closing some of their stores in Portland, Oregon. Several articles stated it was due to the pandemic, crime, and staffing issues.

These businesses are an everyday staple around the United States. What is the future of retail trade in general? These two companies are popular and employ thousands across the United States. But it doesn't stop here. Other business industries are struggling with the same issues.  

I have stated in past blog posts that the pandemic has changed how business is conducted. And crime is clearly continuing to go up. And the economy is in a downward spiral. The sad thing is we cannot do anything about it. This is a generation issue. Those in the 20 to 40 age range are the keys to turning this around. And I don't believe this generation is prepared to take on these responsibilities. Sure, there are a few who will strive to be successful. My concern is this generation will be the future leaders of businesses and government. And this will directly affect the baby boomer generation, which includes me. They will be affected by the decisions made by the younger generation.

I don't know the answers to these questions, but I hope things will get better somehow.

Photo - pixabay - Mimirebelle

 

No Mask Required - my opinion

The recent judicial ruling on the mask requirement on transportation has been dropped, and when the news was received by those passengers in flight, there was a burst of celebration.  This was the last federal requirement for masks to be mandated on all public transportation. 

But as expected, the political progressives in D.C. did not like it. The Biden administration is expected to repel the decision. The longer this repel takes, and if the decision is reversed, I can't even imagine the protest that will take place.  Some might say if it is repealed, people will conform and give in to wearing masks again.  I say progressive and conservative, or "ordinary non-political" people, might agree to some common ground on this topic of no more mandates. I also realize there will be those who will wear a mask till the day they die, which is their choice.  

We all want this to be over. But I believe the political agenda of the elected progressives will try to force us back into the pandemic lockdowns again because without the control of mandates - they have no power to regulate us. 

photo -  Hatice EROL - pixabay     

Are You Ready?

 2019 was the last year we knew of a "somewhat normal" way of life.

Since then, we have had the following:

• Pandemic
• Election Fraud
• Civil Unrest and Protest
• Business Closures
• School Curriculum Controversy
• Supply Chain Breakdown
• Interest Rate Increase
• Stock Market Down
• War in Ukraine
• Threats of Nuclear War 
• Cyber Attacks
• Rising Gas Prices
• Progressive vs. Conservative

Is there more to add?

All of this has affected us in some way or another. It is important at this time to be thinking about preparedness. Actually, if you are just now thinking about it you are already behind. So, without going into some major details about preparedness, which will be a later post, think about how the above list of events affected you.

Did you feel at any time you were un-prepared?

What could you have done differently?

Thinking about current events, could our country be affected?

Has the supply chain and the increase cost affected you?

If you could not get supplies, do you have enough now to last at least month?

What if all utilities (water, electricity, gas) were cut-off?

What would you do if all communications collapsed?

And the last question, Are you Ready?

  

photo - ArtTower - pixabay

Where did it go?

Where did COVID go?

Watching the news this morning and saw a report about the anniversary date of lockdowns due to COVID infections, which at that time was only 17 people in the county.  Two years ago we saw the beginning of a shutdown of the entire United States. Since then, multiple variations of the virus and vaccines have dominated our world for two years.   

But until today I haven't heard much about the virus, pandemic, and absolutely nothing from Fauci. So, where did it go? 

The agenda of keeping everyone distracted on the pandemic has now been replaced by the war in Ukraine. Why are we constantly being distracted, because I think our economy is about to collapse which will eventually effect every aspect of our life, from filling our gas tanks to going to the store to get our necessary supplies. The price of everything is going to go up. 

If you have noticed the Biden administration has blamed all of this on someone or something, its never on them.  I believe the motive behind all of this is to keep the distractions going until right before the 2022 elections and then a major Biden press conference will probably happen sometime in October 2022 and like a wave from a magic wand all the problems will be resolved and the Democrat's will be the heroes, just in time for the elections. 

    

A Bigger Plan

Is it just me or is the world in a tail spin?

I really try to keep up with the latest news, mostly local news but it seems lately whatever goes on in another country is now affecting our country.

Events in the past few years seem to be part of a bigger plan. Who is implementing this plan? and what is actually happening.

• Worldwide pandemic 
• Global supply chain crisis
• US government out of control
• Ground war in Europe against a world power with the potential for nuclear war.

First source of all the above is evil and George Soros. Evil is the influencer to Soros and all those who follow his plan including the World Economic Forum.  And what makes this so concerning is the amount of money and influence this "bigger plan" has and we cannot see or predict what is coming next. The plan did not happen in a few weeks it has taken years to get to this point.

Advice: Read the Holy Bible - Old and New Testament. You will learn the greatness of God and understand His words to us on how resist and battle against Satan. Study history, the currents events can be traced back to past similar historical events. What we are experiencing is nothing new. The only element that makes this different is technology.

Pray to the Lord our God for help to get us through this time.  

Do Not Forget the Past

 "Those who forget their past are condemned to repeat it"

This is exactly what is happen today.  Tomorrow a decision is going to be made my the Supreme Court about Federal Mandates on businesses for their employees to be vaccinated and enforced by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration).  I'm personally against this, vaccinated or not people should seriously look at this and realize this is clearly over-reach by our government.  We must have a choice in this matter.  It is not one-sided. Because, if we do not stop it here what is the next mandate?  In the news on any given day you can hear stories from countries around the world about strict mandates on lockdowns, the gathering of people in public, and vaccination requirements to enter a business.  Where does to stop?  I realize there are some who are for the mandates and if they want to live in an oppressed society then leave the United States.  

This is a free country and freedom means a choice in matters that involve us personally.  All throughout history this same scenario of mandates to force people to comply has been repeated over and over. 

I pray and hope the Supreme Court will follow the Constitution.   

Divided

Our country is very divided and in many ways.  

First, the obvious political parties, Second, vaccinated or not vaccinated. Third, mask or no mask.

Theses three issues are in the news everyday since the pandemic started in March 2020.  It seemed at some point in the first few months we were all united. But since the vaccines came out, clear lines have divided the country.  I believe it is going to get worst as we get closer to the fall and winter months. But as of this month there is a trend, some states are seeing a decrease in infections. I not sure if this is an indicator of the end or its quite before the storm.

I believe this pandemic will end one day and we will need to look back at our history to see what we did right and wrong, because those who forget their past are condemned to repeat it. This virus came quick and has last a long time.  What will be the next event and more importantly will we still be divided?  

A Time and Place

 In this historical year of 2020

All of us have our place in history.  We all have a story to tell about this year, some good and some bad.

One day many generations from now people will talk about the year 2020 just as they have talked about the Spanish Flu of 1918. Probably, only the young one of today will be able to talk to the future generation of how they survived 2020.  I'm sure someone has studied the Spanish Flu and what they did right or wrong, but because of the advancements in medicine I would believe most would not apply in todays pandemic.  

I wonder what future pandemics will face and will it even compare to what has happened today.  

Tis the Season

This is the time of the year when the world is focused on the birth of Jesus Christ. It is especially a prayerful time not only for the faithful but even for those who are lukewarm in their faith.

I believe this year especially we all need to re-group and turn our eyes to God and pray for the end of this pandemic. 

This time of the year I will usually rant on about how much people will spend their dollars on Christmas gifts, but this year I'm going to focus more on the good then the negative. The world is in a state of hearing bad news everyday and I will have the good news here.  

Keep Christ in Christmas

Pax

  

Businesses Gone

I work in downtown Nashville and over the pandemic months I have seen many businesses closed their doors forever.

I went to most places for lunch. I got to know many of the people that worked there, not necessarily as friends, but a nice interaction with some kind people.  It is sad in many ways.  People have lost their jobs and businesses that were open for a long time are now closed. 

Hopefully, as time heals the wounds to the city's economy new businesses and people will come back.    

Is this the Best of Times?

The world has dramatically changed in the last nine months. At some point I think a lot of people thought the COVID virus would have been over by now and life would go back to normal.  But it hasn't, and the future doesn't look any better.  The presidential election has not officially been declared by the electoral college and when that decision is official, I believe the United State will no longer be the same.

So, what is next?

In my opinion, if Biden gets into office we will have a nationwide lockdown and if the states do not agree, Biden will move to influence the mayors to do the lockdowns.  If Trump is elected, the state will have the freedom to either lockdown or open their state. The cites that are on lockdown will have to be influenced by the governors whether to open their cities.

My point here is, depending on who is in office will be the deciding factor on when we will make the recovery process back to the best of times.  

Just my opinion......

COVID-19 Thoughts

 The first news story this morning - The President has the virus.

Some thoughts on the virus.  

I believe it is real and people are dying from it and there is no vaccine at this time.

Next, the day to day activities, people who are high-risk should wear a mask.  If you are healthy and maintain distancing you should have the option not to wear one. 

The mask could have always been worn in the past even during flu season along with the vaccine. But what make this so different in my opinion, is this is political.  

An example, the mayor of Nashville has fabricated the virus numbers to shut the city down plus he has included the prison population into factor in with the overall numbers to keep the city closed. I believe this is to receive federal dollars for the pandemic. I say open all the cities.  If you are at risk, stay home.

My point is at anytime we could die.  People die everyday from disease, flu, pneumonia and the list goes on and we try to prevent those types of illness. We should live everyday as if it was our last. Live your life.  

What is Next

As the pandemic seems to be the only thing in the news lately.

What is Next?

It does not look like there will be an end to this virus anytime soon. People are stressed out, their world has changed completely. I don't know of anyone who has not been affected.

I believe we all need to pray because our world is in constant change and only God remains constant - the Alpha and Omega - the beginning and the end.  We can pray just as those in the past who have gone through pandemics, plagues, wars and disasters.  People have always turned to God, because God is Hope without hope we have nothing. Prayer is powerful and if we all pray to our Creator our hopeful prayers will be answered. 

  

Really

At this point I would have thought the pandemic would have been almost over.  I will say that more people are out and about, but there are still some restrictions on the gatherings and social distancing around the US. 

The pandemic has been hard and to make matters worst we now have protest which I will not get into on this post.  We are the United States of America.  During any crisis we have come together and united without the political or any of the other views that have separated us in the past. We have always stood united.  I pray we will come out of this crisis a better country.   

Before and After

Just a few thoughts about about this point in time, our history.

I believe that the COVID-19 will mark a point in our lives when we will talk about time in terms of was that before or after the pandemic. Because it has effected every particle of the day-to day activities, from what happens at home, workplaces, restaurants, sporting events and the list could go on and on.  History will record how well we survived, the good and bad decisions, medical history in case this happens again.  All the lessons will be our history to go the books for future generations to read. 

I wonder how history will describe this event?  

To Stay or Not to Stay

To stay or not to stay that is the question

As our country's economic heart starts to beat again which means more people are going out to spend their dollars. 

Do we stay at home? Thinking this is not over, the virus is still here. 

or

Do we leave and go about a somewhat normal way of how we did things?

So, here my rant about this - I live in Nashville and the county is still under a semi stay at home order. The few businesses that have opened are only accepting a few customers. Meanwhile, all the surrounding counties have opened. If I wanted anything that was not offered in Nashville I could drive to another county and get it and return to home.

How does this protect the citizens of Davidson County?

It doesn't because I could assure there are plenty Nashville folks going to other counties. It will be interesting to see what history tells us about the mistakes.

  

United

United We Stand 

As the country re-starts the economy. Now everybody has an opinion about the pandemic whether it's who to blame or this or that could have been accomplished differently, it does not matter. We need to unite just as we did in the first few weeks when everybody was at home and the streets were empty. We seemed to be united during that time because we in someway suffered together. 

The unemployment rate is the highest in years. We can all unite putting all political differences aside. Everyone needs to safely go out and buy goods and services in their local economy. This will jumpstart our cities bring the unemployment down and pumping dollars back for the rebuilding of America.

Rebuilding

In the upcoming months what will it take to rebuild?

Once the businesses start to fully open, we will have to go out and support the businesses in our local economy. The support we give by spending our dollars in these businesses will open the opportunity for employees to come back to work, for vendors to start selling and delivering supplies. This action will have a ripple effect. Our time out spending will greatly affect our nation's economy. 

Next, I believe it is important to buy American, buy the products made in the USA and again the effect - employment opportunities and the economy grows in our own country. We should be able to support ourselves as a nation and not depend on another county for products that could easily be produced here.

May Change

The first of May, could this be the month of change?

I hope this month will be the beginning of the world getting back to some normal ways of everyday life. I pray that God will help us all through this pandemic. We must all have faith and pray for those with the virus and well as for those taking care of them. Take time to call someone who might be alone. We are here to help each other.  

Stay At Home - what to watch

Here is a short list of some movies to watch during the pandemic. 

These are mostly comedy's so we can laugh during this difficult time.

• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
• It's a Mad Mad World (1963)
• Modern Times (1936)
• You Can't Take It with You (1938)
• Living on Love (1937)