Divemedic

2021

When I did my end of the year post last year, I didn’t think that 2021 would be a good year at all. As it turns out, the year didn’t go as badly as I had feared. The country could be doing worse, and personally, I am in pretty good shape.

I worked a lot of hours this year. My average workweek at the hospital was right at 50 hours a week. I know that some changes are coming, because I can’t keep up this schedule, and I am also convinced that my boss couldn’t lead a platoon of Marines into a whorehouse.

In the meantime, I will continue preparing for the bad times that I think are coming. For today, I will just enjoy the last day of 2021 as I wonder what 2022 will bring.

By Divemedic, ago

Creating Villains

This article is an attempt to paint gun owners as being terrorists and Nazis. Case in point:

The Atlanta Gun Show, held over a weekend in late September, had everything one might need for a coming apocalypse or civil war: flame throwers, hundreds of rifles, thousands of handguns and knives, body armor, survival kits, medical supplies…Nestled in the middle of the show at the Atlanta Expo Center, a man proudly displayed Nazi memorabilia: medals, swastika patches and a model of a German amphibious vehicle occupied by toy Nazi soldiers. People crowded around his table, asking questions about buying and selling Nazi stuff.

Let’s look at that table of Nazi memorabilia.

Looks evil, right? Let’s take a closer look:

Not a Nazi. This table is selling war memorabilia from all three of the major suppliers of weapons, but a person buying and selling Japanese WW2 military items doesn’t support the true goal here: making gun owners look like they are trying to kill minorities. This is about turning 2A supporters into racist killers.

This is another attempt at making the same stupid “terrorist” argument they always do. Trump supporters were terrorists in October.

NBC claimed that Republicans are planning an armed insurrection and that Steve Bannon has turned Breitbart News into a right wing ethno-Nationalist Propaganda mill. (Oct 4, 2021)

The Guardian says that Republicans are meeting as a part of secret hate groups who want to target non-whites and LGTBQOENC… (Sept 30, 2021)

It became apparent in June that Biden’s plan was to demonize and target the right as terrorists so he can bring the full power of the Federal government’s anti-terror laws to bear.

This editorial in the Washington Post says that anyone who opposes the COVID vaccine is committing domestic terrorism. 

San Francisco has declared that the NRA is a terrorist organization, and is urging the Federal Government to do the same. 

This isn’t new. It’s been going on for more than a decade. From twelve years ago:

Americans affiliated with a foreign terrorist group would be stripped of their U.S. citizenship under bipartisan legislation introduced by Senator Joseph Lieberman.Americans affiliated with a foreign terrorist group would be stripped of their U.S. citizenship under bipartisan legislation introduced by Senator Joseph Lieberman.

By Divemedic, ago

Rent Increases were Predictable

News of large rent increases are coming in from all over the state of Florida. Orlando, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa, to name a few. Rents in Florida are up 29% year over year.

The causes are obvious. I’ve been warning of this for more than a year. The eviction moratorium was killing landlords. Many landlords are leaving the business, while tons of northerners are moving to Florida in a bid to escape the increasingly socialist policies up north. This is increasing home prices, so many rentals are now being sold. Taxes and insurance rates are climbing.

On top of that, there is inflation to deal with. Florida minimum wage just increased 17 percent over the 2020 rate. The increased costs, increased risk, increased demand, and falling supply has combined with record inflation to put a lot of upward pressure on rental prices.

Tampa has decided that they are going to do an end run: a voter referendum declaring a housing emergency and enacting rent control. This will be the Democrat issue for the 2022 election. Expect a State constitutional amendment on the ballot for rent control.

If rent control is enacted, there are steps I can take: Each year, I will raise rents by the highest permitted under the new law. On top of that:

  • I will no longer provide lawn service as a part of rent. That will shift $900 a year of expense to the tenant.
  • I will no longer provide a free washer and dryer. I will recommend a company that will rent the tenant one at an additional cost, if they don’t have one. That company will be owned by me. The going rate for that is $144 a month.
  • I currently pressure wash the outside of the property twice a year. I can push that off to the tenant, and make it their responsibility as a part of cleaning.

There are many ways that I can maintain profitability. Just taking the three steps above will have the effect of increasing the cost of renting by 15 percent without increasing the rent itself.

Landlords will have to be creative.

By Divemedic, ago

Is the fix in?

The 2020 election had some odd forewarning. Just two weeks before the election, my wife and I took a road trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway. On the way, we saw tons of Trump signs and stickers, almost no Biden ones. I mean, it was running ten to one. I thought to myself that there was no way that Biden was running a good enough campaign to win. We all know what happened next.

The 2022 midterm elections will tell the tale. This is how we know whether or not the 2020 election’s shenanigans will be a permanent feature. Historically, the sitting President’s political party does poorly if the economy is also not well.

The President’s popularity has much to do with this. According to Gallup’s polling history, presidents with an approval rating below 50 percent have seen their party lose 37 House seats on average while presidents with a 50 percent or higher approval rating have lost 14 on average. Only two U.S. presidents have seen their party gain House seats according to the American Presidency Project – Bill Clinton in 1998 and George W. Bush in 2002.

Meanwhile, Biden has an approval rating that is somewhere in the low 40 percent range. Congress has an approval rating of 21 percent.

Now here I am, looking at all of this with only ten months to the mid term elections. Note that the Democrats don’t really look all that concerned. Sure, they are SAYING they are worried, but if they were really concerned, they would be doing their usual preelection rush to look centrist. They aren’t trying to change course, aren’t really DOING anything about the situation. The actions continue to show that they are still following the hard leftward course. It’s like they know the fix is in and have nothing to worry about. I really home I am wrong with this one.

By Divemedic, ago