“Sharknado 3” premiered just a few days ago, and it was just as good/bad as the first two. For those of you that haven’t followed the series, “Sharknado” is the sci-fi made-for-television disaster horror film train-wreck-of-a-movie that you just can’t help but watch. It starts off in Southern California where a freak storm creates a tornado that lifts sharks out of the ocean and deposits them in a flooded Los Angeles.
Throughout the movie, the sharks continue to fall out of the sky and swim around the city, as the water continues to rise. The sharks go everywhere they shouldn’t, and eat up everything and everyone in their path. Aside from the ludicrous story line, the only thing that makes the movie even better is the super-cheesy lines that the actors get to say, such as — “I feel for the sharks, but they’re wrecking our schools, our hospitals, our roads” and the solutions they come up with. For instance, in order to fight the sharks and bring peace to the land, the heroes of the story must find a helicopter, fly up to the top of the tornado that is filled with flying sharks and throw homemade bombs into it. Ridiculous, right? And while Sharknado is just a movie that you can turn off when you get bored, the stories that came out this week in America reflect a reality that can’t be as easily dismissed.
As an example of the, the WSJ noted that — “The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits last week dropped to its lowest level in more than 41-1/2 years, suggesting the labor market maintained a sturdy pace of job growth in July.” Of course, the talking points coming out of the White House indicate that the economy has never been stronger. So, pay no attention to that other headline that came out this week that noted that — “Ever since President Obama took office, the poverty rate among children has soared to 22 percent, with three million more children living in poor conditions.” So, which is it? The health of the economy is better than it ever was? Or the number of children entering poverty continues to rise?
And then there was the whole raising minimum wage thing. Fox News has reported that — “Seattle’s $15 minimum wage law — which is supposed to lift workers out of poverty and off public assistance — has hit a snag.” The article goes on to note that — “…evidence is surfacing that some workers are asking their bosses for fewer hours as their wages rise – in a bid to keep overall income down so they don’t lose public subsidies for things like food, child care and rent.” The idea, of course, is that corporations refuse to pay their workers a living wage, thus passing the costs off to the public, while distributing the profits among shareholders. And in the process of doing so, honest work is now punished and the working poor now actually have a valid reason to not work too much.
Over to Europe now, and as the war in Ukraine continues to ebb-and-flow in the “will there be peace or not”, the headlines have revealed that Poroshenko will finally start to abide by at least some of the Minsk Peace accords when he called for the military to pull back and cease from bombarding cities. The Minsk II agreement was signed by Europeans in order to stop a local skirmish from spreading into something more, as has happened numerous times on the continent in the past. However, headlines note that the US is going to up-the-ante and send more military aid to Ukraine’s army. Although it has been touted as being non-lethal, some pundits have noted that it does violate, at least in spirit, the peace accords, since military hardware is, after all, still used by the military and most has dual-use capabilities. Those same pundits noted that if America really wanted to help, they could send food to the millions of starving Ukrainians.
Perhaps, however, the strangest headline over the week though came in response to the Iranian nuclear deal. Now, many things have been said about the deal and it remains controversial, however, the thing that most people can agree upon is that Obama did a pretty good job of alienating supposed friends and allies in the Middle East. As of now, it appears that both Saudi Arabia and Israel are strongly opposed to the deal, as they feel that by allowing Iran to not only have a nuclear program, but also to have sanctions lifted, will lead to a regional arms race, if not an outright conflict. In response to this, Obama promised to send more advanced weapons to Israel, in an attempt to make things better. Some pundits have likened this approach to pouring gasoline on a fire. Sure, it will burn hotter and faster and go out quicker, but how about not starting it in the first place? Maybe Obama forgot his own approach to foreign policy when he was quoted as saying — “Don’t do stupid stuff”?
And oh yeah, back to the US and what happens if you disagree with the direction that the American government is taking? Well, let’s just take a listen to what a former Democratic Party presidential candidate, General Wesley Clark had to say on MSNBC this past week about what the future might hold when he said — “If these people are radicalized and they don’t support the United States and they are disloyal to the United States as a matter of principle, fine. It’s their right, and it’s our right and obligation to segregate them from the normal community for the duration of the conflict.” That’s right citizen. No more freedom of speech. No more freedom period. If you disagree with the thought police, the government is going to put you into a camp, for as long as necessary, or at least until you see things their way.
So, what do you think dear listeners, “If America was a B movie, would you watch it?”
