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Cost increase

 The voters of the state of Florida voted to increase the minimum wage. The current wage is $8.56 per hour. On September 30, 2021, that will increase by 16 percent to $10 per hour. Each year, it will increase by an additional dollar per hour until the year 2026, when it will reach $15 an hour. 

My rental expenses are increasing. Last year, our property taxes increased by 28% and didn’t increase rent.  Now we are going to see increases in landscaping costs, repair costs, and likely utility increases. The cost of landscaping is sure to increase. There will be other increases, such as added costs for repair parts, supplies, and other things like utilities. I just don’t know how much our costs are going to rise. 

As a preemptive measure, we are increasing rents on our properties by 5 percent as each lease expires. Next year, we will likely increase by at least ten percent, more if taxes or other expenses rise more than expected. 

Our costs increase, we pass the increase on to the consumer. That’s how economics works. 

By Divemedic, ago

It’s over

 It looks to be over. Biden will be the next President. The only real positive here is that the Republicans still hold the Senate, but it is by a small margin. Collins and Murkowski crossing the aisle will be enough to give the Democrats all sorts of things from their wish list. 

What do the next two years hold? Will there be new gun laws? Probably. Puerto Rico being admitted as a state would give the Democrats two more votes in the Senate. Will that happen? Who knows? Will Biden complete the entire term, or will we see President Harris? Will SCOTUS get packed? 

Interesting times. I am going to post a few items that explain my take on the changes brought about for Florida by this election, then I don’t think I will be posting for a bit, until I see how things are going to play out. 

By Divemedic, ago

Keeping secrets from parents

I was informed by a female student that she is “nonbinary” and wants to be referred to by a male name – let’s call it “Steve.” I refused. The school is telling me that I MUST call a student by whatever name they choose for themselves. They also have told me that I cannot divulge the student’s sexual identity to anyone- including the child’s parents- without the student’s permission.

I am not going to use her made up name. In fact, I will only refer to students by the name that they are registered under. I am also refusing to keep such a secret from the child’s parents. They can fire me if they want, but I promise that should that happen, I will make sure that the school district becomes national news.

By Divemedic, ago

Intermission

 Early voting in many states has ended. Now we enter a short intermission before the start of election day. I have voted, as have 79 percent of the voters in my county. The voting in my county breaks down like this:

81.4 percent of registered Republicans

78.8 percent of registered Democrats

66.7 percent of registered independents

have cast their ballots. Republicans vastly outnumber the rest of voters in my county. Voter turnout in Florida is high. There are roughly 14.5 million registered voters in Florida, and 57% of them have already voted. The state usually sees about a 75% turnout in Presidential election years. The record turnout for Florida was 83% in 1992. Here is how it looks by party:

As you can see, most votes in Florida have already been cast, and the outcome is too close to call by merely looking at party turnout. All that is left is to wait and watch the results, along with the fallout.

By Divemedic, ago

I still say 6-3

 There were people in comments to my 6-3 article that wanted to point out that Roberts is a wishy-washy conservative and will cave to the Democrat side. He can’t. Let me explain why:

Whatever the opinion is, the senior member of the court that is a part of that opinion is the one who decides who gets to write that opinion. So if Roberts wants to side with the 3 judge minority, then Thomas gets to assign the writing of the majority opinion to whichever justice he pleases. 

The only way that Roberts gets to do any damage control whatsoever is by limiting the scope of the opinion. Otherwise, the majority opinion will contain the strongest progun opinion that will still maintain the opinion of the majority. So he HAS to vote with the progun majority, or there is a risk that 922(o) will be struck down. 

By Divemedic, ago

What’s out there

 My wife’s favorite season is Autumn. Living in Florida, where the days are still topping out at over 90 degrees, we really aren’t getting to see that particular season. My wife wanted to go see the Fall colors, and wanting to keep her happy, I obliged. There were a few reasons for that, but the main one was her complaint that the prepping thing was getting to be too much, and she doesn’t want to live her life in a bunker. OK, I get that, so off we went- headed north.

I only had a couple of conditions:

1 We had to avoid any city that was higher than a Level One on my ‘Danger Zone” page.

2 We could only travel in states where my CWP was accepted. Since the Florida permit has reciprocity for most of the US, this shouldn’t be a problem. 

So, on Friday, we headed up I-75 into Georgia. We needed to avoid Atlanta (Zone 2), so we left the Interstate when we got to Macon, GA and headed northeast. My wife wanted to stop at Stone Mountain. I vetoed that. We wound up stopping for the night once we got to Athens, GA. We then travelled on to Helen, Ga. 

For those who do not know about Helen, it is a touristy small town with an Alpine theme. It was pretty crowded, and it is a perfect example of why Joe Biden’s national mask mandate won’t work. The town usually celebrates Octoberfest, but the event was cancelled. The town’s businesses and visitors don’t care that it was cancelled- this is what the beer tent looked like in the middle of the afternoon:

We left Helen and drove to Cherokee, NC. We spent the night there in a hotel, and got to play a bit in the casino. The casino, being a part of Caesar’s chain of casinos, has a mask requirement and temperature scan requirement for entry.  Still, the staff’s attempts at social distancing were unsuccessful. 

That is NOT six feet of separation. 
The western edge of the Blue Ridge parkway is in Cherokee, and we drove that for three and a half hours to Asheville, NC. The highest altitude was just over 6,000 feet. The colors were amazing, temperatures were in the 50’s, and the views were spectacular. In Asheville, we caught I-26 to I-95, and spent the night in Savannah, Ga before coming home. So, all in all, a pretty good three day roadtrip.
There are crowds of people out there who want things back to normal. Lift the government boot off the necks of the US economy, and it will take off again. I just don’t see that people WANT to be held back any longer. 
Speaking of support, I noticed that there were a very few Biden/Harris signs on the route, including lawn signs. There were at least ten times as many Trump signs. I will admit that we avoided the large cities, where I would presume that Biden has more supporters. However, there were not nearly as many Biden bumper stickers as there were Trump, either. 
I just don’t get the feeling that there is a groundswell of Biden support out there. I would be surprised of Biden has the votes that polling seems to indicate that he has. 

By Divemedic, ago