When a restaurant owner asked Joe Bidden at this week’s CNN Townhall meeting in Cincinnati what he could do to encourage people to come back to work Biden unashamedly told him: “Pay them more.”

The sock puppet, who has never held a private sector job in his life, said this while his administration is paying folks with tax money deducted from working people’s paychecks to sit home on their butts eliminating any incentive to look for a job.

In a recent survey fully 33% of recipients said the government’s extra $300 unemployment check is what’s keeping them from seeking work. How many more just didn’t admit it?

In those states that ended the $300 the decrease in unemployment has been 19% vs 6.7% in states still with the $300. Now the Democrats are giving everyone more than $3,000 annually per kid. Why? For a worker making $28,000 per year taxable, the $6,000 non-taxable is a lot of money. Add Medicaid, food stamps, Section 8 Housing, Obama phones, and free this and that, and motivation to work becomes less and less. It’s a flagrant vote-buying maneuver using working people’s tax money to fund it.

There are no work requirements under Biden’s administration. The Democrats will ty to turn the $3,000 into a permanent program along with the other giveaways. People get a reducing portion of the $3,000 even if the family income is as high as $400,000. It only starts to reduce after $150,000.

Meanwhile businesses around the country can’t find workers. The undisputed reason is because of the Democrat’s largess with our tax dollars.

Private and government employers, in the Nassau County, Florida communities of Fernandina Beach, Yulee and more are feeling the impact. The News Leader classified “Help Wanted” category is the lengthiest portion of that section. In contrast the classified section  for “Homes For Sale” is nonexistent.

Despite being one of the most attractive and sought-after locations in the country to live campaigns for area workers are drawing few if any applicants. Yet, folks are clamoring to live here, particularly those who are retiring and don’t need jobs, or those that work from home.

The City of Fernandina Beach conducted a national campaign seeking a Deputy Chief of Police. The nationwide recruiting campaign attracted just 20 applications despite a pay range of $63,360 -$99,791. The successful applicants was Jeff Tambasco, a retired 25-year veteran cop who came here from Kissimmee, Florida, where media reports hereabouts say his tenure generated bundles of controversy.

The City of Fernandina Beach’s Human Resources Department says his annual salary is $97,000.

The city’s Human Resources Director Denise Matson says there are two other openings on the police force, and they have been vacant a long time with little interest. She admits there is difficulty in attracting qualified applicants adding that the position of Building Director has enticed just three applications nationwide despite a salary range of $66,500-$105,0000.

Ms. Matson didn’t say so, but I suspect anyone applying for the job of Building Director here may have done some research and decided to stay away. Vacancies within the police department may be hard to fill because of the way cops are being treated nationally by far-left defunding loons. Many other police departments around the country are also having trouble filling slots.

Locally restaurants are closing one to two days a week, opening only for dinner, and closing sections of their dinning areas off due to a lack of employees. They are offering signing bonuses, higher than minimum hourly wages, and generous benefits to no avail.

The local Ritz Carlton took a full-page ad in the Wednesday, July 21 issue of the News Leader seeking a slew of folks for hourly wage positions that pay from $14 to $16 an hour plus a laundry list of pricey benefits and a promise of an “opportunity to work and travel around the world.” I have no idea how many people that ad attracted.

“People are not knocking down my door for jobs, so I have to be very proactive,” says a very savvy Diane Craun, a retired U.S. Army Colonel, who has been HR manager for Fernandina’s  WestRock Box Plant the past five months.

She told me she is taking a unique approach to hiring by recruiting “the old fashion way”,  posting signs around town, and using the company’s network of employees, among other creative ideas.

She says the company is hiring workers starting at $18.61 an hour plus benefits, tuition assistance, etc.  Why $18.61? Because that’s what temp agencies she initially used paid but they kept 25% of that and people were not willing to work for $14.50 an hour she explained. The innovative Ms. Craun has also been attending hiring fairs at the military bases attracting service members who are leaving the military, a group of highly sought-after future employees.

“Appealing to the service members as they exit the military, I discuss the pros and cons of working and being self-sufficient as they reenter the workforce in a civilian capacity,” says Ms. Craun, who knows a thing or two about the military after a 30-year Army career.

The company employs some 50,000 people worldwide.

Still, many say why work when the federal government will give you your neighbor’s money to stay home?

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What The….? While statues of people like George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, and Christopher Columbus, are being pulled off their pedestals, Newark, New Jersey, paid their respects to career criminal George Floyd by unveiling a 700-pound bronze statue outside city hall. It has his likeness sitting at one end of a bench with his left arm stretched along the back, so that very weird people can have their pictures taken sitting next to him.

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Huh? During Joe Biden’s CNN Townhall meeting last week he said the following in response to a question about vaccinations for youngsters: “That’s underway, just like the other question is illogical, and I’ve heard you speak about it, because you always, I’m not being solicitous, but you’re always straight up about what you’re doing,” Biden continued. “And the question is whether or not we should be in a position where you, uh, um, are, why can’t the, the, the experts say we know that this virus is, in fact, uh, um, uh, it’s going to be, or excuse me, we, we know why all the drugs approved are not temporarily approved, but permanently approved, that’s underway, too, I expect that to occur quickly.”

Don Lemon’s follow up question should have been: “Joe, are you OK?”

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More Practice & Less Activism: The U.S. women’s soccer team suffered a 3-0 loss to Sweden last Wednesday morning in their Tokyo Olympic opener, breaking a 44-game winning streak.

Really? I didn’t even know they were playing.

This group of misfits don’t represent me or any other patriotic American as all 22 players on Team USA took a knee in solidarity with the militant Marxist group Black Lives Matter before the game.

The satirical Babylon Bee ran a headline saying: “US Women’s Soccer Team To Boycott Scoring Goals Until Racism Is Defeated.”

I saw photos of some of the players and a couple of them actually look like women. The others not so much. One reminded me of the 1960s Russian and East German female athletes who had five o’clock shadows by the time their afternoon events rolled around. Are Olympic officials doing genetics testing these days or in today’s political environment is that all just a waste of time?

“I’m so happy they lost,” Daily Wire podcast host and author Matt Walsh stated bluntly. “I’m actively rooting against US women’s soccer. I want them to be humiliated and embarrassed, just as they humiliate and embarrass our country.”

For the first time I also don’t give a rip if the American soccer team wins. In fact, I hope they don’t win another game and fade into the obscurity they deserve. I don’t want them to have an opportunity to stand on a podium and disgracefully turn their backs on the country they represent.

And don’t even get me started on that Olympic Trials third-place finishing, blue-lipped butt-ugly hammer thrower, who thinks the Star Spangled Banner was just being played to annoy her. What the hell is going on?

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Things I Wish I’d Said: “I heard that you have to turn on your headlights when it’s raining in Sweden.  How the heck am I supposed to know if it’s raining in Sweden?” – anonymous.

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Wise Words from a Stockbroker: A good friend here recently relayed to me the following advice his stockbroker gave him when asked about what to buy: “If the current government is in office much longer, canned goods, a generator, water and ammunition would be your best investment.”

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Things You Need To Know: Following the death of Army veteran Charles Coolidge, 100, in Chattanooga on April 6, Hershel “Woody” Williams, 97, is now the last living World War II Medal of Honor recipient. He is a Marine Corps veteran who fought on Iwo Jima and now lives in West Virginia.

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Say It Ain’t So Joe: Every time Joe Biden reads off the teleprompter it becomes more and more obvious that he has no idea what he’s talking about. For example, he just spouted one of the dumbest things he’s ever said, claiming that another $4 trillion in government spending will cut inflation. He’s clueless, just reading whatever his handlers write for him. Extensive research has shown that while some infrastructure spending may be needed, it does not impact GDP or productivity at all. Massive federal spending clearly contributes to inflation, not the other way around.

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Firing Blanks: While a great many politicians are legitimately dismissed as empty suits, it’s fair to describe the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark  Milley – who defends teaching critical race theory and believes white rage and climate change are military threats – as an empty uniform. While he may have served the U.S. at one time with gallantry, he’s now playing politics and has become dangerous. Identifying President Trump supporters as “brownshirts” and endorsing far left crackpot blather is stuff right out of the 1936 Nazi Party’s Sturmabteilung.

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YEP!  – “It looks like the cozy relationship Biden has with Facebook is starting to sour. Accusing a company of murder will do that.”— Kelly Maher, The National News Room

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Wait! What? Occasionally I’ll read items online from parents complaining that there are no activities on Amelia Island in which their children can participate. I’ve even read letters in the local News Leader from parents saying that the city doesn’t provide enough for their kids to do. A recent posting on a site called “Neighborhood” asked: “Looking for suggestions for activities in the area for 17-year-old  boys.”

Do these people live in caves? We live on an island with 13 miles of beaches. If the kids can’t swim and surf they can fish or look for shells or shark’s teeth, play frisbee, build sand castles, etc. There are ball fields at Central Park, behind the Atlantic Recreation Center (which also has a pool and a gym), ball parks near the airport and the Peck Center and a skateboard park, miniature golf and volleyball and basketball courts at Main Beach. There’s another miniature golf course downtown and one on Sadler. Put the kids on bikes and send them off on one of the many trails all over the island. Egans Creek greenway and Fort Clinch have hiking trails and biking areas. How about exploring the downtown library’s books, art, films etc.?

They can rent a jet ski, go kayaking or horseback riding. There’s a pinball museum at the small shopping center on Sadler Road and indoor basketball courts at the Peck Center and the YMCA off Citrona. The Y also has a pool, fitness classes, a gym, swimming lessons and personal trainers available.

How about stopping by the Council on Aging and volunteering? Or visiting an elderly or shut-in neighbor or one that may be in the hospital or in a nursing home. Maybe even earning money by babysitting, mowing lawns, dog walking, washing cars, or doing computer trouble shooting for technologically challenged neighbors?

Any kid that says he can’t find anything to do here has his or her head stuck up their computer and parents that don’t care and expect others to entertain their sluggish offspring.

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Calling A Penalty: Declaring that it will play what it says is the black national anthem before the start of each game the National Football League is alienating more than half of its fan base. Why? What’s the point of  inspiring more divisiveness, racial bias and white hate that is currently being taught in American schools. There is only one U.S. national anthem. Ratings for NFL games are already down. Watch them plummet even further after this bit of insanity.

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Drinking, Dining & Dancing: When I lived in Atlanta I enjoyed frequenting funky blues joints including Fuzzy’s, Blind Willie’s, Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, Northside Tavern, etc. Unfortunately, Amelia Island doesn’t boast a single honky-tonk that could be called a “blue’s joint”, but it does have a blues band that moves from venue to venue, the Amelia Blues Project, and they’ll be performing tonight, July 23, at Sliders on Fletcher and Sadler from 6-10 pm along with their special guest, talented keyboard player and singer Ronnie Stoots. They’ll also be at Down Under July 24, Saturday evening beginning at 6pm. Folks, this is as good a blues band as I heard anywhere in Atlanta. Speaking of Ronnie Stoots, last Monday he played solo at the Tides Pool Bar, in the two new adjoining Marriott hotels on Atlantic Ave. across from Fort Clinch. A torrential downpour forced him and the crowd to the inside bar where he picked up without missing a beat. The Tides Pool Bar & Grill has a 3-7 pm special on Monday’s with live music, $3.50 beers, ½ off cocktails, $5 BBQ brisket biscuits and $5 nachos, and personable bartender George Morris. Tonight, Friday, July 23, The Sandbar & Kitchen at Main Beach will feature Sound Waves and tomorrow, Saturday, July 24, a group called Flo & Grits, both from 6-10 pm. The Sandbar, which says it provides more brands of whiskey than any other place in Florida with more than 1,000, will feature two new bourbon barrel picks. One is labelled “Southpaw Creampuff” and has a photo of restaurant manager Del Matthews, a left-handed Fernandina Beach High School grad who was a fifth-round major league draft pick and pitched 11 years in the minors for the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates. Buy a one-ounce taste for $10 or an entire bottle for $92 plus tax. A new bottle called “Velvet Elk” is also available for $6.00 a taste for a half ounce and $64 a bottle. There are still bottles available of “Foar From Home” promoting the quartet of area locals who will row across the Atlantic to draw attention to veteran suicide, for $100 a bottle with proceeds going to the charity.