Hunkering down.

by Angela K. Durden

A Magnificently Methodical Southern Woman 

and The Most Brilliant Woman in the World 

Citizen Journalist.  Novelist. Author of other stuff. 

Business writer.  Songwriter.  Publisher.

"Hunker down" is used even by Gen[Whatevahs] and P-HWPCLDRSFCs* — and is no longer only a Georgia Dawgs rallying game cry.

"Shelter in place" and "novel coronavirus" are now in our lexicon — and a punchline to those who work from home and will be featured in future stand-up comedy shows and movie/TV scripts. 

But what do people really think about this current state of affairs, how is it affecting them, and how are they handling it? Your Citizen Journalist has come to your rescue.

That's right, she sent out a survey to over 500 LinkedIn contacts. Five responded, that is, one percent of those invited to respond. You may be thinking "Wow! That's not a lot." Normally I would agree with you but, according to many pollsters out there, it does not matter how many responded. The only thing that truly matters are the percentiles of those that did respond.

I am not lying. Haven't you ever heard a reporter say, "Of those that responded, __% agreed with...", to be followed by a sweeping conclusion that therefore __% of everyone that lives in the US agrees with a Commie-inspired permutation of the survey question and then ends with "should be made into law"?

Think about it.
I'll give you a minute. 

Ding-ding-ding! 

Exactly, you have heard that; you just didn't understand what it meant, did you? So, using that methodology, I too will opine using responses by three males (I happen to know them, and one is my cousin therefore I am positive they are males even if I haven't laid eyes on their junk) and two unknown genders (they did not list a name, so I couldn't even take a guess, but you can assign any gender that pleases you). Here are the breakdowns to questions I asked:

Employment status:

• Small business owner: 0%
• Self-employed: 20%
• Employee: 40%
• Retired: 20%
• Employed as musician for gig work: 20%

How your job has been affected: 

• No change: 40%
• Laid off: 20%
• Business is better: 0%
• Pay reductions: 20%
• Working from home: 20%
• Blank response: 20%

(Yes, this adds up to 120%, but we are in the "gig economy", sooo...)

Types of business you are in:

• Manufacturing: 0%
• Service business: 20%
• Restaurant: 0%
• Writer/writing: 40%
• Performance/Consulting/Retail: 20%
• Blank response: 20%

What can we deduce from all of this if we were P-HWPCLDRSFCs* or worked for any #CrunkNewsNetwork that spews FLOTSAM**? Let's write some headlines in their style, shall we?

Small business destroyed by economic slowdown from novel coronavirus response. 

Manufacturing destroyed by pandemic response.

Novel coronavirus response lays off 100% of all American workers, but that's okay because they are happy with leadership of Nancy Pelosi and also wish AOC was president so she could save the world.

You know what? That isn't fun. So, I went to this site here where one can see, by month and year, historical employment rates.

Now, according to this, there are 22,000 fewer people employed in March 2020 than were employed in March 2019 when things were starting to blow and go.

However, there were 1,229,000 more employed in March 2020 than employed in March 2018. So, we are still better off than we were in 2018, just two short years ago. 

But let's get back to my thoroughly sweeping and comprehensively scientific survey.

Take a look at what was said here in free-form response, that is, no leading questions:

Couple of things I learned from this response? I did not know financial institutions ordered hardware. I always assumed they had a vendor who did that sort of thing. However, one respondent had been too busy and is now benefiting from the downtime.

Upside: Eating together and cooking at home. Grocery stores should be seeing uptick in sales. Downside: Restaurant owners/managers could name a few.

I like this last quote. The respondent said "...I for one REFUSE to live in fear." In fact, I liked the whole quote. But who said that? Well, surprise, surprise. It was my cousin Wayne Kell. If we weren't hunkering down, why I'd go over and elbow-bump him. 

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* P-HWPCDLRSFC: Pussy-Hat Wearing Politically Correct Democrat Liberal RINO Socialist Fascist Commies

** FLOTSAM: For Liberal Opinion That is Serious and Actually Matters

"You first, Rich Karlgaard."

by Angela K. Durden
Technology inventor protecting creator's copyrights. Business writer, novelist, songwriter, and Citizen Journalist.

Rich Karlgaard, former publisher of Forbes and now editor-at-large, proceeded to post something on Facebook that pretty much insulted everybody who attended the music festival in Las Vegas.

You remember the one. The one where country music fans came to hear Jason Aldean and others sing, and then that domestic terrorist shot over 400 and killed at least 50 in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

Yeah. That one.

Let me show you the screen snip of Rich's totally Democratic Liberal Socialist comment. You will note my reply (second in the list) that had the link to the open letter I wrote to Anheuser Busch.

Well, boy howdy, did my reply ever get Rich's panties in a twist.

Like a typical liberal whose opinion is right all the time and his preaching is for my good, Rich cannot stand to have anyone disagree with him and he calls what I said a lecture. He did. He said, and I quote, "Stuff your lecture." 

But I am not running scared. No sir. 

So I replied, "You first." ***

You will note I did not say, "You first, you blankety-blankety blank blank." I did not do that because I am a lady.

***These videos will explain my reply much better. (Thank Snapchat filters for these.)

Weasel Words: Advertising and Socialism

by Angela K. Durden 

May. Might.
Can. Could.
If. Then.

Advertisers of products appreciate the power of the Weasel Word. Of necessity, they cannot claim their product will always work for everybody the exact same way because there's one thing advertisers of products understand better than anybody:

There are no limits to what stupid can accomplish.
There are no limits to what attorneys for the stupid will sue for.

Then there are those who make products that will never work. Here is where you will find Weasel Words surrounded by big promises, and always followed by a fuzzy mice-type declarative. For instance:

GIANT FLASHY PROMISE ON SCREEN.
GET IT NOW! GET IT NOW!
DON'T WAIT!

YOUR EXPERIENCE MAY NOT BE THE SAME AS WE ARE CLAIMING IN OUR BIG PRINT. IF YOU LIVE IN ANY STATE WITH AN A IN ITS NAME, HAVE A MOTHER-IN-LAW, HAVE EVER BEEN DIVORCED, HAVE CHILDREN, OWN A CAR, ARE IN DEBT, AND IF WE CAN IN ANY OTHER WAY PROVE YOU DISQUALIFY FOR OUR WARRANTY, WE WILL DOUBLE-GUAR-O-DAMN-TEE YOU WILL GET SCREWED BY US.

But Socialists have taken the weasel word to the extreme. As in these Weasel Words in an article in The Globalist as trotted out again by Salon, here summarized by me —

Allegations abound that these actions by Trump are absolute proof of the president becoming a dictator and setting up of an authoritarian regime: 

Redundant personal being let go, fired, dismissed from “top” positions.

Few, if any, new hires for those “top” redundant positions.

Bloated budgets being cut.

Calling idiots the judges who work against the best interests of the country.

Firing employees of the Federal Government who refuse to do their jobs and in that refusal put citizens’ safety at stake.

Firing employees who will not meet with the boss to answer hard questions about what they’ve been doing in their jobs.

Firing employees so-loyal to their previous boss that they cannot do their jobs properly, including so-called watchdogs obviously snarling at the boss and letting the bad guys in.

Hiring employees who share a common vision to keep safe the country and its citizens.

Questioning (to confirm) legal authority by government agencies (ex: OGE, IRS, CIA, FBI, NSA) so they do not overstep their bounds.

Of course, says The Globalist, President Trump is doing all this with “ruthless determination” as he “systematically undermin[es]” any law agency that could check abuse of power for personal gain by him and his cronies.

All waivers are bad, Socialists say, except when we agree with them or when we do it.

Going public against us, Socialists say, is bad, bad, bad. 

Of course, if Trump was really setting up a dictatorship/authoritarian regime, this site would not exist. Nor this document. Among many others. 

Draining swamps is dirty business. Gators and skeeters and other such bloodsuckers do not easily give up their mud holes so easily; they will fight to the death and they will use all weapons at their disposal against the contractor hired for the job. 

See? Not one weasel word in the above paragraph.