Have no fear, the March ish is here!

March right into March with the latest edition of The Last Word!

This ish talks about people smuggling beer into Polar Plunge, eating in libraries, the Postal Service destroying magazines, pants and hockey cards getting ruined by bubble gum. and more!

So beep your bipper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/496169121/lw2103

If that doesn't work, go here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw2103.pdf

Free trade = bad food

The elitist free trade fetish has not only killed American jobs. It's also flooded our grocery stores with spoiled food, promoted bad farming practices, and exported unhealthy food to children abroad.

Oppressive free trade policies have hampered America's ability to enforce rules promoting a safer food supply. A few years ago, the World Trade Organization decreed that the U.S. had to lift its longstanding rule that required meat imported from other countries to follow U.S. safety standards. China went through the WTO to challenge a U.S. ban on importing chicken from China. After the bird flu pandemic, Congress intervened, but then backtracked because of WTO interference.

After America's power to regulate and inspect food was infringed upon, salmonella increased in the U.S. There was even a hepatitis outbreak caused by tainted strawberries served at school.

Trade policies have also menaced Europe. One change would have undercut American family farms while promoting huge, inhumane factory farms by allowing these factory farms to export to Europe - violating European regulations. Much of the meat from these factory farms is produced with huge amounts of pesticides, chlorine, and growth hormones.

Sometimes, America is its own worst enemy. A few years ago, a Republican bill in Congress would have preempted state animal welfare laws. (It's not as if Democrats are blameless. In fact, they're worse now.) Supporters said they were just trying to protect the "free market." But trade policies have unfairly subjected countries to other countries' whims.

Some would ask why I assailed snack food taxes while not criticizing some food regulations of other countries. For starts, a food tax is usually a regressive tax, and these taxes in particular played favorites by benefiting well-connected companies that make bad products. Plus, other countries' recent laws were designed in part to fend off restrictive COVID-19 measures. There's an entire media movement to toughen COVID-19 rules on individuals - no matter how strict the rules already are. This movement is a malicious effort to destroy the economy of various countries. Many media outlets and politicians have acted in bad faith by toughening stay-at-home orders and lockdown culture. In addition, it appears that under the food rules that were enacted instead of lockdowns, anyone who needs certain food items may still get them. These laws primarily do not target traditional snacks that are locally produced, but processed foods. Processors are seen as too willing to make a buck off the public.

Whatever the weather, however, better food is mostly a product of fairer trade and better education.

Commotion on the ocean

Summer vacation season in 2020 was a blast, as that's when we went on a trip to Ocean City, Maryland!

This event yielded 176 Roads Scholaring photos for my long-running road photo site! They cover 5 states and many types of highways, byways, and bipways! So read 'em and bubble...

http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oc20a.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oc20b.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oc20c.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oc20d.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oc20e.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oc20f.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oc20g.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oc20h.html

White House covered up staffer's threats against reporter

Remember when Democrats had higher standards than this? Pepperidge Farm remembers. That's why the Democrats were the party I originally registered with. But I'm thoroughly ashamed of some of the things Democrats have done over the past, well, 25 years.

TJ Ducklo is a deputy press secretary in the Biden administration who has worked for many media outlets. Now it's been revealed that Ducklo made threats against a journalist for reporting on a relationship he had with another reporter. Ducklo told a Politico reporter he would "destroy" her for reporting the story. Ducklo reportedly then made a series of comments that included calling the reporter "jealous" because of an alleged past relationship.

Upon taking office, President Biden said this about his staff: "If you are ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot." But he didn't. Instead, the White House covered up Ducklo's threats. Administration officials waited until after media outlets broke the story before they did anything. Even after that, the only action they took against Ducklo was suspending him for a week. In fact, the White House kept blaming the reporter who was the target of the threats and unprofessional comments.

This sort of behavior never would have been tolerated at most workplaces I'm familiar with. If I did something like this, I'd be fired - no ifs, ands, or buts.

When I first voted when I was 18, I voted a straight Democratic ticket, because I wanted to have good colleges and I wanted people to be respected. After all, weren't the Democrats the party of education and civil liberties? I didn't sign up for covering up presidential staffers' misdeeds.

Labor pick fired worker over Black Lives Matter support

We truly live in a clown world when a mayor who fired a city worker for participating in a Black Lives Matter protest can be nominated for - of all things - Labor Secretary.

President Biden has nominated Boston Mayor Marty Walsh for Labor Secretary, and questions about Walsh are arising. When Walsh was elected mayor, some praised him as a progressive choice, but that turned out to be a load of roo gas. That was a flaw in reasoning by those who think the Democratic Party represents the entirety of American progressivism - when in fact the party's leadership these days doesn't represent any of it.

Back in 2015, Walsh fired a worker with the Boston Centers for Youth & Families because she took part in a Black Lives Matter event. She was on her own time when she participated - not on work time.

Walsh sniffed, "As mayor, you have to make tough, difficult decisions. This is not a difficult decision.”

Let this sink in for a moment. A man who is about to become Labor Secretary - which deals with workplace matters - fired someone for taking part in Black Lives Matter.

Should we be surprised that a party that doesn't give a shit about civil liberties also doesn't give a shit about the closely related issue of worker rights? It's almost like the Democrats today are former Republicans or something.

The Brooks Brothers riot was the Poo Coup of 2000

What's worse than 2021 Republicans, maybe even 2021 Democrats? Republicans in 2000!

As bad as the Poo Coup - the bizarre raid on the Capitol on January 6 - was, it was child's play compared to the Brooks Brothers riot. This event - so named because of corporate attire worn by rioters - took place in Miami just weeks after the 2000 "election." The purpose of it was to disrupt the vote count.

The attack - which included several people being punched or trampled - succeeded in its motive. Officials stopped the recount because of the rioting, leading to the warmongering George W. Bush dictatorship.

Many of those behind this putsch were paid Republican operatives. Right-wing congressman John E. "Teeny Weenie" Sweeney gave the signal that started it. Some of the rioters went on to be hired by the Bush regime.

The Brooks Brothers riot was more than just a temper tantrum over losing an election. It actually changed the outcome of the "election."

Even if Bush wasn't impeached over this (and there were plenty of other reasons to impeach him), why weren't other Republican officials? They incited an insurrection.

Now let's listen to the Ohio Democratic Party calling me "stupid" for daring to criticize Republicans.

Greenville! Muncie! Richmond! Game day bucket go boom!

My second out-of-town Scholaring this past July focused primarily on Greenville, Ohio, hone of an amazing gum wall. But we also bipped over to Muncie and Richmond, Indiana!

This event yielded 85 photos, and you're gonna peep 'em all...

http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/gvoh20a.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/gvoh20b.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/gvoh20c.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/gvoh20d.html

Media beating war drum in Iran

Well, we know what the next crisis is going to be now that people are getting tired of the pandemic.

President Biden recently rushed through the appointment of Antony Blinken as Secretary of State. Few people even knew who Blinken was until he was approved. Blinken was one of the architects of the failed Iraq War almost 20 years ago.

Now Blinken is going around telling everyone that Iran is just a few weeks away from building nuclear missiles. No evidence of course. We're just expected to believe him without question.

Remember the last time a Middle Eastern country was accused of having weapons of mass destruction? That of course was Iraq. We see how that worked out. Then again, some media accounts continued to claim Iraq had such weapons, even after inspectors confirmed that it didn't.

Some people have been claiming for years that Iran is on the brink of getting nukes. That's like how all these cults keep predicting the end of the world only to see it not happen.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the warmongering media is happy to help the cause of starting yet another failed war.

Virginia Democrats block "right-to-work" repeal

The Democratic Party and some of our labor unions have turned into a circular firing squad, and Virginia is a good example.

In my America, repealing so-called "right-to-work" laws was a Democratic priority. But it isn't anymore. In fact, it's not even a priority among some unions, even though these laws harm organized labor. Some unions lately have shown how corrupt they are - by keeping industries and agencies closed in the name of the COVID-19 pandemic, thus costing their own workers their jobs and expanding authoritarianism. This is the precise opposite of what unions are supposed to stand for.

There has been a bill lately in Virginia to repeal that state's hated "right-to-work" law. This effort was supported by a few Democratic lawmakers. But now it's been blocked by Democratic leadership. The so-called leaders who blocked it are usually those supported by the same forces that have kept much of the world under some form of lockdown culture for a year.

In other words, corrupt unions support politicians who are hurting unions. Honest unions at least try not to.

Imagine if you can how these corrupt unions would react if there were laws that apply only to their unions. There should be a law that revokes the privileges of these unions - while protecting other unions. This would allow workers to join or form unions that actually represent their interests.

A person bunkerooed at Kroger

Today I goed Krogering, and while I was lollygagging in the soda aisle, a family pushed their cart around the corner, and the mom ripped an LAP bunker blast.