Thursday, February 2: Groundhog Day
Who decided it's a good idea to listen to a rodent about the weather?
Settle in folks, if the furry creature from western Pennsylvania is to believed, we’re in for six more weeks of winter.
There are plenty of American trends and traditions that make no sense to me; the popularity of baseball, the routine school shootings, the obsession with police and the military, etc. None of these confuse me more than the idea of Groundhog Day. To explain this phenomenon to a non-American makes this country sound like it’s run by dog-brained simpletons, which it is. Still, the fact that Groundhog Day is recognized on calendars and spoken of as an actual holiday is baffling.
People lacking social plans gathered this morning at Gobbler’s Knob (real place that actually exists), as members of Punxsutawney Phil’s “inner circle” (reminder, this is a groundhog we’re talking about) summoned him from his tree stump at dawn to learn if he had seen his shadow, which they say he did. According to the timeless folklore, if the rodent sees his shadow, we can expect six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t, spring comes early. The annual event in Punxsutawney originated from some German legend about a furry rodent. The gathering regularly attracts thousands. I’m begging people in this country to find a hobby that isn’t blindly supporting the troops.
Side Items
More Oil Perhaps??: The clown convention that is the Biden administration has advanced an $8Billion oil drilling project on Alaska’s north slope. The ConocoPhillips Willow project, which would be one of the largest oil and gas developments on federal territory, has drawn fierce opposition from environmentalists, who say its approval runs counter to the president’s ambitious climate goals. Yet another case of Biden talking a big game, only to back it up with absolutely opposite action
Double Amputee Killed by Police: A double amputee carrying a large knife was shot and killed by police in Huntington Park, CA, contributing to the ongoing national outcry against the use of force against people, in this case a disabled person. Anthony Lowe, a Black man who lost both his legs last year and had not yet received prosthetics, allegedly stabbed a person last week before police used a stun gun and shot him about 10 times throughout his upper body. The officers who shot Lowe to death have not been publicly identified, instead they’ve been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation. Working as a pig in America is the only job where you get paid time off for killing people
Global Football Update: Chelsea spent the GDP of a small nation to bring in eight new players this winter transfer window. American owner Todd Boehly spent north of half a billion dollars trying to improve a team that currently sits 10th in the league. Over in Germany, defending champs Bayern Munich lost their starting/star goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to a skiing accident that left him with a broken leg. In response, the team went out and signed one of the top goalkeepers in the world from a direct rival, just to ensure their continued dominance over their competitors in the Bundesliga. In today’s footballing world as with the rest of the world, it appears money does all the talking