Boots & Sabers

The blogging will continue until morale improves...

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Author: Owen

The Hollywood Recession

by | 2107, 28 Sep 2424 | | 0 Comments

Ouch.

For over a decade, business was booming in Hollywood, with studios battling to catch up to new companies like Netflix and Hulu. But the good times ground to a halt in May 2023, when Hollywood’s writers went on strike.

 

The strikes lasted multiple months and marked the first time since the 1960s that both writers and actors joined forces – effectively shutting down Hollywood production. But rather than roaring back, in the one year since the strikes ended, production has fizzled.

 

Projects have been cancelled and production was cut across the city as jobs have dried up, with layoffs at many studios – most recently at Paramount. It had a second round of layoffs this week, as the storied movie company moves to cut 15% of its workforce ahead of a merger with the production company Skydance.

 

Unemployment in film and TV in the United States was at 12.5% in August, but many think those numbers are actually much higher, because many film workers either do not file for unemployment benefits because they’re not eligible or they’ve exhausted those benefits after months of not working.

 

As a whole, the number of US productions during the second quarter of 2024 was down about 40% compared to the same period in 2022. Globally, there was a 20% decline over that period, according to ProdPro, which tracks TV and film productions.

Noticing What’s Missing

by | 2034, 28 Sep 2424 | | 14 Comments

I spent a good chunk of the day at the world’s largest cranberry festival in Warrens, Wisconsin. It struck me that there were hundreds of people wearing pro-Trump gear, and dozens of vendors selling pro-Trump gear, but I did not see a single pro Biden or Harris thing. Not a shirt. Not a hat. Not a button. Nothing. Nowhere.

No doubt there was a pro-Harris person in there somewhere, but I didn’t see them. While my observation was passive for the first couple of hours, I began to really look for one once it struck me.

Nothing.

I realize that Warrens is in the middle of conservative, rural, Wisconsin, but it was striking that there was not a single pro-Harris person willing to wear the brand.

Stiff Opposition to Unending Support for Ukraine War

by | 2056, 27 Sep 2424 | | 2 Comments

While NBC News tries to paint the opposition as a partisan divide, what’s interesting about it is that it isn’t. There is a cohort of leftist peaceniks who oppose it, although, admittedly, they have been quiet. Then there is a cohort of righties who are upset that our bankrupt nation is pouring an unlimited amount of money into a war between two tyrants in which our national interest is barely perceptible.

Vice President Kamala Harris is meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a trip to the U.S., while former President Donald Trump isn’t, highlighting the growing partisan division over a key foreign policy issue.

 

Harris is scheduled to meet Thursday with Zelenskyy at the White House. Trump won’t meet with him while he’s in the country this week for the United Nations General Assembly, and he has grown increasingly critical of Zelenskyy, accusing him of having a favorite in the coming election.

Putin Redefines Decision Criteria for Using Nukes

by | 2212, 25 Sep 2424 | | 5 Comments

This is a petty BFD.

Vladimir Putin says Russia would consider an attack from a non-nuclear state that was backed by a nuclear-armed one to be a “joint attack”, in what could be construed as a threat to use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.

 

In key remarks on Wednesday night, the Russian president said his government was considering changing the rules and preconditions around which Russia would use its nuclear arsenal.

 

Ukraine is a non-nuclear state that receives military support from the US and other nuclear-armed countries.

Harris’ California Further Restricts Gun Rights

by | 0753, 25 Sep 2424 | | 1 Comment

The 2nd Amendment is going the same way as the 1st Amendment in California. They are erecting a system by which the bar for prohibition is set so low, and so arbitrarily, that there is de facto state control of civil rights. This is the kind of America Harris wants.

Under the new laws, a judge can consider stalking, acts of animal cruelty or threats of violence as evidence for a gun violence restraining order. A person who has a misdemeanor charge dismissed because they were found to be mentally incompetent will also be prohibited from possessing a gun. Current laws only apply such restrictions to cases involving felony charges.

 

Another law targets ghost guns by requiring law enforcement agencies to prohibit their contracted vendors from selling guns meant to be destroyed. The measure received bipartisan support from the Legislature.

 

The new laws also aim at providing more protections for domestic violence survivors. There’ll be fewer exceptions for police officers to continue carrying a gun if they were perpetrators of domestic violence. Law enforcement is also required to take away firearms from offenders.

 

Newsom also signed legislation banning fake gunfire and fake blood from active-shooter drills in California’s public schools.

Harris Hides

by | 0745, 25 Sep 2424 | | 2 Comments

Admittedly, the Al Smith dinner is kind of hokey, but it is one of the few remaining political touchstones that builds and emphasizes collegiality at humility in our political process. This tells us that Harris is not allowed to speak unscripted to people who aren’t completely in the bag for her already. Notice that every (and they are very few) interview she has done is with an ally and she still screws that up. Why does she screw it up? Because she is an unlikable communist.

Donald Trump confirmed Monday that he would be the sole featured speaker at this year’s Al Smith charity dinner in New York, typically a good-humored and bipartisan political event that Vice President Kamala Harris said she is skipping in favor of battleground state campaigning.

 

The former president and current Republican presidential nominee confirmed in a Truth Social post on Monday that he would speak at the Oct. 17 dinner, calling it “sad, but not surprising” that Harris had opted not to attend.

 

The gala benefiting Catholic Charities traditionally has been used to promote collegiality, with presidential candidates from both parties appearing on the same night and trading barbs. But on Saturday, Harris’ campaign said the Democratic nominee would not go to the event, breaking with presidential tradition so she could campaign instead in a battleground state less than three weeks before Election Day.

Harris’ No-Show Jobs

by | 0907, 24 Sep 2424 | | 1 Comment

Let’s be honest… this is not the job she was really given. These are just the cushy no-show jobs that powerful Democrats gave to their political and personal “friends.” She was never expected to actually work at them. What was she really doing with her time when you were working hard at your career?

Harris was absent from more than 20 percent of the meetings according to a Daily Mail review of the committee minutes. On other occasions the minutes reveal that Harris arrived after commissioners started the meetings and already conducted some of their business.

 

Of the 111 CMAC meetings, Harris was absent from 23 of them, making her the most absent commissioner on the board.

 

The job required that board members meet twice a month, as it was not a full-time position. The Commission was responsible for negotiating contracts with hospitals to limit costs paid by government funded health care.

 

But it still paid Harris a great deal of money, $99,000 annually, according to a report from SF Weekly. All told, Harris made more than $400,000 over the five year period she was appointed by Brown to the state positions.

U.S. to Ban Russian and Chinese Parts in Cars

by | 2035, 23 Sep 2424 | , | 1 Comment

There are many lessons to be learned from the beeper and radio explosions in Lebanon. One of them is that it is possible – probable – that hostile foreign actors are willing and able to infiltrate tech on a widescale basis for evil intent.

The US is planning to ban certain hardware and software made in China and Russia from cars, trucks and buses in the US due to security risks.

 

Officials said they were worried that the technology in question, used for autonomous driving and to connect cars to other networks, could allow enemies to “remotely manipulate cars on American roads”.

 

There is currently minimal use of Chinese or Russia-made software in American cars.

Major Economic Disruption Looms

by | 0956, 22 Sep 2424 | | 0 Comments

Ouch.

RENTON, Wash. — Cash-strapped Boeing is facing mounting costs from an ongoing machinist strike as workers push for higher pay. A failure to get a deal done could be even more expensive.

 

In the shadow of a factory outside Seattle where Boeing makes its best-selling planes, picketing Boeing machinists told CNBC they have saved up money and have taken or are considering taking side jobs in landscaping, furniture moving or warehouse work to make ends meet if the strike is goes on much longer.

The work stoppage by Boeing’s factory workers in the Pacific Northwest just entered its second week. The financial cost of the strike on Boeing depends on how long it lasts, though ratings agencies have warned that the company could face a downgrade if it drags on too long.

Way bigger ouch.

A major strike is on the horizon for thousands of maritime workers, posing a threat to East Coast ports responsible for billions of dollars of goods.

 

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), the largest union of maritime workers in North America, has vocalized plans to go on strike at all of its Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports Oct. 1 if a new contract agreement can’t be reached with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX). The union is arguing for better wages and continued protections against automation and new technology in its terminals.

“A sleeping giant is ready to roar on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, if a new Master Contract Agreement is not in place,” ILA President Harold J. Daggett said in a statement Monday.  “My members have been preparing for over a year for that possibility of a strike.”

 

Evers’ Unconstitutional Veto Challenged

by | 1943, 21 Sep 2424 | , | 0 Comments

I’d like to think that this has a chance of succeeding, but I doubt it with our Leftist Supreme Court.

There are new challenges to Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ 400-year school funding increase.

 

Both the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty and the Institute for Reforming Government recently filed amicus briefs with the Wisconsin Supreme Court, challenging the governor’s veto power.

 

“The partial veto power is a tool in the governor’s toolbelt, but it has a specific purpose. When it comes to fiscal policy, the partial veto power is a one-way rachet. It empowers the governor to tighten public spending and taxation by eliminating or reducing budgetary items, but it does not permit the reverse. The governor cannot use the partial veto power to increase either appropriations or revenue. That function requires a different tool – legislative power – which is not in the governor’s toolbelt,” IRGs brief states.

 

Evers changed a line in the current state budget to change a two-year school funding increase into a 400-year increase.

Recognize that if/when the Republicans are able to reverse this some time in the future, the liberals will accuse Republicans of cutting school funding.

Ukraine Invades Russia

by | 1901, 21 Sep 2424 | | 3 Comments

Ukraine is no longer fighting a defensive war. They are invading Russia.

Ukraine launched more than 100 drones at Russia and the occupied Crimean Peninsula overnight, Russian news reports and the Defense Ministry said Saturday.

The strikes set an arms depot on fire just kilometers (miles) away from one struck by Ukrainian drones earlier this week, in an attack that wounded 13 people and also caused a huge blaze. Arms and ammunition depots were also hit on Saturday in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region.

 

The “victory plan” that Zelenskyy will present to U.S. President Joe Biden will include long-range strike capabilities and other weapons long sought by Kyiv, and will serve as the basis for any future negotiation with Russia, Zelenskyy told reporters.

Losing Our Digital History

by | 0745, 16 Sep 2424 | , | 4 Comments

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

Research shows 25% of web pages posted between 2013 and 2023 have vanished. A few organisations are racing to save the echoes of the web, but new risks threaten their very existence.

It’s possible, thanks to surviving fragments of papyrus, mosaics and wax tablets, to learn what Pompeiians ate for breakfast 2,000 years ago. Understand enough Medieval Latin, and you can learn how many livestock were reared at farms in Northumberland in 11th Century England – thanks to the Domesday Book, the oldest document held in the UK National Archives. Through letters and novels, the social lives of the Victorian era – and who they loved and hated – come into view.

But historians of the future may struggle to understand fully how we lived our lives in the early 21st Century. That’s because of a potentially history-deleting combination of how we live our lives digitally – and a paucity of official efforts to archive the world’s information as it’s produced these days.

It’s not just what gets lost. It’s how things get changed. We have already seen media outlets and others go back years to change the wording or content of old writings. Unless someone printed it out, there is no contemporary record to challenge it.

People who are writing wonderful things with great insight; technical documents that explain how things work; court records; etc… if they are exclusively in a digital format, they are subject to be lost or altered in an instant.

That’s not to say that physical writings can’t be lost too. They can, and have been, for millennia. But while they can be lost, it is not easy to change them.

All that to say, buy books. Print out your important stuff. The digital world is fragile.

We’re Becoming a Nation of Deadbeats

by | 1800, 15 Sep 2424 | , | 1 Comment

Yes, if you refuse to even try to repay your debts, you are a deadbeat and a pretty crappy person. You should be shunned.

However, data from a Civic Science student loan study revealed that more than one-third of Americans are saying they don’t plan on making any repayments — a number that increases to 50% for lower-income respondents who are making less than $25,000 annually.

The study also highlighted that, since the repayments resumed last October, only 33% of Americans have actually resumed regular payments of their student loans.

Another Trump Assassin Thwarted

by | 1744, 15 Sep 2424 | | 7 Comments

Thank goodness everyone is safe.

Former President Donald Trump is safe following an apparent assassination attempt at his Florida golf course, and a “potential suspect” is in custody, US authorities have confirmed.

 

Secret Service agents spotted the barrel of a rifle poking through some bushes and opened fire at him, officials said. The FBI said Trump was 300-500 yards away at the time.

 

An AK47-style firearm and scope, along with two backpacks and a GoPro camera, were later found at the scene.

 

A witness reported seeing the suspect running from some bushes and jumping into a black Nissan car after the agents had fired at him multiple times.

We should know more in the next few days. It does seem clear, however, that after years of the Left telling people that Trump is evil and a “threat to democracy,” that there are plenty of unhinged Leftists who believe it to be their duty to prevent Trump from returning to the White House by any means necessary. Political violence in our nation is heavily weighted to one side.

Red Florida

by | 0844, 15 Sep 2424 | , | 1 Comment

This is the lesson that so many elected Republicans refuse to learn. Why has Florida shifted so quickly and firmly into a solid Republican state? Because DeSantis and other Florida Republicans actually governed according to their conservative beliefs and the beliefs they ran on.

But for the first time in recent political memory, the 2024 presidential race has left Florida as a comparative afterthought. Democrats here have tried to maintain momentum and voter intensity, but nearly every measurable factor indicates that Florida is not realistically in play for them in this year’s presidential contest.

“Are you happy we are a solid Republican state? It used to be …presidential elections, we would be on a razor’s edge about the state of Florida,” Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, told a crowd of the party faithful at a gathering last weekend at the Hard Rock Casino in South Florida. “Because if Republicans could not win the state of Florida, then you did not have a path to win the Electoral College.”

 

Florida has long been solidly red at the state level as Republicans built a now more than 1 million person voter registration advantage, and they remain firmly in control of nearly every lever of political power. But in the past, when huge sums of money flowed in during presidential races, the state was considered winnable for Democrats.

We saw this in Wisconsin. When Governor Walker and the legislative Republicans were first elected on a strong conservative platform, they immediately went into action. That first term was amazing and advanced dozens of key conservative initiatives like tax cuts, concealed carry, castle doctrine, regulatory reform, judicial reform, entitlement reform, and on and on and on. The result was that legions of voters came out to reelect Walker in the recall election and for a second term. Voters also elected strong Republican majorities in both houses of the legislature. The voters liked what they were getting.

Then what happened? In Walker’s second term, he and the legislative Republicans got soft. Their policies were weaker. They caved to the Democrats too often. They radically increased spending. Walker moderated as he tried to run for president and several of the legislative leaders did the same as they eyed higher office or aspired to be liked in the clubs of Madison.

The weakening in Walker’s second term led directly to his defeat against the Grey Man of Tony Evers. It wasn’t that Evers was a great candidate. It was that a lot of Republicans who voted for Walker three times were just not excited to vote a fourth. Walker wasn’t offering the bold conservative agenda that had brought him into office.

Meanwhile, in Florida, DeSantis remains a conservative powerhouse. He continues to push conservatism wherever possible and is an outspoken conservative voice. The result? Florida is no longer a swing state. It is solidly Republican.

When conservatives govern as conservatives, they win. Why? Because conservative policies work, and people vote for policies that work.

Biden Drags Feet on Nippon Steel Taking over U.S. Steel

by | 0824, 15 Sep 2424 | , | 1 Comment

It is worth noting why this is an issue. The combination of lucrative union contracts, regulation, improvements in productivity, stagnant demand, and the rise of manufacturing prowess controlled by hostile nations have all combined to make heavy industrial manufacturing in America very difficult to make a profit. The union contracts and regulation lock American companies into a past that prevents them from adapting to the future. In this case, U.S. Steel is a vital American core business that must be kept on-shore. When war comes again on a large scale, we must be able to produce our own equipment and steel mills don’t spring up overnight.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has voiced his opposition to Nippon Steel buying U.S. Steel, but the federal government appears to be in no hurry to block the deal.

 

White House officials earlier this month did not deny that the president would formally block the acquisition. But the necessary report from the government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has yet to be submitted to the White House.

 

“It’s their process — it’s independent,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday. “We have to see the recommendation from CFIUS. That’s the process.”

Retailers Reduce Theft By Closing Stores and Inconveniencing Paying Customers

by | 2102, 13 Sep 2424 | , , | 1 Comment

This story paints this as a victory, but it is not. It is the acceptance of a culture ruled by crooks and the people who coddle them at the expense of law-abiding citizens.

A year ago, America’s stores declared a shoplifting epidemic. They closed stores in major cities, hired extra security, locked up key merchandise and declared big losses in their financial statements.

 

This year, retailers are telling a very different story — or no story at all. It’s as if the shoplifting crisis suddenly vanished.

 

[…]

 

Last year, Target said a scourge of petty theft and organized groups stealing merchandise dented its profit by more than $500 million. Target also closed nine stores, saying “theft and organized retail crime” threatened worker and customer safety and made business unsustainable.

 

[…]

 

Stores have also added ways to prevent theft, which may have been effective at reducing the problem, even if they frustrated shoppers. Companies locked up products and removed self-checkout stations.

Trump Proposes Ending Income Taxes on Overtime Pay

by | 1856, 13 Sep 2424 | | 0 Comments

Been busy… I’m slowly returning to a more regular schedule.

I actually like this a lot.

Former President Trump on Thursday called for ending taxes on overtime wages for individuals who work more than 40 hours a week, his latest proposal to slash individual taxes if he is reelected.

 

“We will end all taxes on overtime. You know what that means? Think of that. That gives people more of an incentive to work, it gives the companies a lot, it’s a lot easier to get the people,” Trump said at a rally in Arizona.

 

“The people who work overtime are among the hardest working citizens in our country, and for too long no one in Washington has been looking out for them,” he added.

The proposal would require congressional action. Trump did not offer additional details about how it would work.

 

The Harris campaign in a statement dismissed Trump’s proposal as “desperate,”

Trump is right in that it will encourage people to work more. It’s an instant raise for working overtime on top of a higher wage. It will also likely see a lot of people push to move to hourly wages instead of salaried. That eases pressure on businesses to layoff people when business is down because they can cut hours instead. Hourly employees are a much more variable expense than salaried ones.

In other news… the Harris campaign will be copying this proposal in a few weeks.

Parents are Stressed

by | 0728, 6 Sep 2424 | | 2 Comments

I get that parenting is stressful. We raised 4 children and for a good chunk of the time, we didn’t have a pot to pee in. But come on… people need to toughen up. We have created a culture of coddled whiners.

In a new advisory report, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is sounding the alarm on the realities of parenting today, revealing just how dire the situation is for millions of parents of children under 18. In his report, Murthy cites a bleak statistic issued by the American Psychological Association (APA) in 2023: 41% of parents say that most days they are so stressed they cannot function and 48% call their stress “completely overwhelming.”

It seems the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated or worsened stressors that were already there, also creating new financial, childcare, and health concerns for so many parents. These stressors disproportionately affect low-income families and those in marginalized communities, who face increased discrimination and a lack of resources that only contributes to mental health concerns, including anxiety and depression.

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