News Of The Week Roundup: Week 4, 2021

It's been a weekend and I am tired. Eric and I are in the middle of a massive DIY bathroom renovation. The project has taken over the whole house, all free time and so much money. Last night while painting, Eric fell off the top rung of the ladder, landing on his side. Luckily, the concrete lip of the shower pan broke his fall (yes, that was sarcasm). Obviously he is pretty sore today but does not seem to have any broken ribs. He is badly bruised, but we were able to push on and get the room painted today. Hopefully he will heal up enough to get the tile down this week. We will both be glad when this project is behind us!

We passed the year mark of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in America and basically everywhere else. While there are good signs that hospitalizations may be slowing, there are still so many areas with widespread infection. I was not surprised, then, when festival organizers announced that both Coachella and Stagecoach Fests were canceled. Neither happened last year, either.

Coachella and Stagecoach Officially Canceled for 2021 https://t.co/Rczra8yDnY

— TMZ (@TMZ) January 29, 2021

The craziest news story of the week revolved around Reddit, the sub known as "Wall Street Bets" and crazy gyrations in the stock market. For a while at least, the "little guys" took down the hedge funds and forced up the price of stocks like GameStop and AMC. This coordinated push meant the rich hedge funders couldn't cover their short positions and thus took losses. Of course, Wall Street always sides with big money and trading platforms like Robinhood clamped down the ability for regular investors to sell their positions in the so-called "meme stocks." Of course, hedge fund folks were able to sell, buy, hold and do whatever they so desired. Color me shocked.

pic.twitter.com/YSjj9A5kPs

— StockCats (@StockCats) January 27, 2021

#GME #AMC #BB and more to the moon, so Reddit says 🚀https://t.co/Ek1TK1scgH

— CNET (@CNET) January 31, 2021

My favorite author, Michael Lewis, is working on a book about the coronavirus pandemic. It is due in May and I already pre-ordered it. The day the book was announced, it immediately became a bestseller on Amazon. Michael Lewis is a brilliant writer - some of his titles include Liar's Poker, The Big Short and Moneyball. I swear, Liar's Poker is so good, I was literally cackling out loud while reading it.

Michael Lewis, the author of "The Big Short" and "Moneyball," will take on the pandemic in a new book https://t.co/UyLsrHRcHZ

— New York Times Books (@nytimesbooks) January 28, 2021

Pre-order 'The Premonition: A Pandemic Story'

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is completely unhinged and part of Qanon. Rob Portman, Republican Senator of Ohio, thinks his party should stand up to her and I actually agree with him on something for once. Greene is a Republican and publicly endorsed executing prominent Democrats in 2018 and 2019. She also verbally harassed survivors of school shootings and made up some anti-Semitic bullshit about Jewish people creating lasers that caused wildfires in California.

GOP Sen. Rob Portman calls on Republican leaders to 'stand up' against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's comments - CNNPolitics https://t.co/lB8siYAwjG

— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) January 31, 2021

And I leave you with this... the early 80s Music Hotline. I never experienced this, but I bet some of you did! Pre-widespread Internet life, ya'll.

📞1983 Retro Ad:
— @RollingStone Music Hotline pic.twitter.com/ZKLlcEIa8C

— RetroNewsNow (@RetroNewsNow) February 1, 2021