Bidenflation Driving Away Some Papa John’s Customers

By William Teach August 5, 2023 – 3:00 pm

I’d assume this is happening to most of the pizza places, regardless of whether they delivery or not

Papa Johns’ prices are driving some customers away

Consumers are pulling back on discretionary spending, and Papa Johns is taking a hit.

Sales at North American locations open at least a year fell 1% in the quarter ending on June 25, compared to the same period last year, dragged down by high prices at the chain’s franchise locations.

“Some of the pricing … had gotten out in front of where the consumer was willing to spend,” said Papa Johns (PZZA) CEO Rob Lynch during a Thursday analyst call discussing the quarterly results. “April was the worst month that we’ve had since I’ve been at Papa Johns (PZZA),” in terms of sales at locations open at least a year, he said. Lynch joined Papa Johns (PZZA) in 2019.

Franchise operators have over the past year “been increasing their prices at a faster rate than our company-owned restaurants” to preserve profit margins as inflation has surged, Lynch said. Inflation has been cooling in recent months, but hit a 40-year high in June of last year. “As a result, they have experienced a larger decline in transactions relative to our company-owned restaurants this past quarter,” he said.

The vast majority, roughly 2,900 out of about 3,400 total North American Papa Johns restaurants, are franchised, according to the company. In general, franchise operators are able to set menu prices themselves, though the company may set a cap on pricing for certain promotions.

At company-owned restaurants open at least a year, sales grew in the quarter, but not enough to offset declines in franchised spots. The chain’s total sales were down 2% year over year in the second quarter.

The Democrat leaning meaning and the Biden admin can yammer all they want about inflation declining, but, the very fact is that prices are still up way above what they were pre-COVID, and even during 2020. It’s really that the rate of price increase has slowed. If I raise your price on a pizza $.50 a month for a year, but, now I’m only going to raise it $.10 this month, well, it’s still going up, just not as much.

Over the past few years (since Biden took office), companies have been hiking prices to promote or protect their own margins as their own costs have gone up. For a while, they said, many shoppers were surprisingly resilient, still buying despite the high prices.

But now, they’re pushing back – and not just at Papa Johns.

Prices of products made by Kraft Heinz (KHC), which include Lunchables, Capri Sun, Philadelphia cream cheese, Oscar Mayer, Kraft Mac and Cheese, Velveeta and other brands, are up about 11% this year.

It means fewer purchases, though the gross profit may look higher due to the inflated prices, the net profit is the same, so the net profit will decrease.

In fairness, you can’t blame this all on Biden: the root cause was China screwing around with Coronaviruses, and letting one out, by accident or intentionally. Then you blame mostly liberals for their lockdowns and such, and some Republicans, including Trump, share some blame. Then Biden comes into office, sees what’s starting to happen, and does, at best, nothing. But, many policies made this all worse, just like in other countries run by Leftists. Certainly, the higher cost of energy, especially fuel, constributes.

Also, all those extra fees will drive consumers away from delivery. If I order a pizza I expect it to be the price of the pizza and tax, maybe a small delivery fee. Then I’ll tip the driver. But, all these extras are put on, so, no. The only time I’ve ordered delivery in at least a decade was when I sick and waiting for the results of my COVID test, not wanting to expose people. That said, remember, the media would 100% be blaming this all on Trump and the Republicans if he was in the White House.

Read: Bidenflation Driving Away Some Papa John’s Customers »

Posted in Economy, Food and Drink, Joe Biden | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach August 5, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…is an area flooded due to extreme weather, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Flopping Aces, with a post on the evidence of Biden’s corruption.

Doubleshot below the fold, check out Gates Of Vienna, with a post on Islam’s “sensitivity” scam.

Read More »

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Posted in If All You See | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Democrats Lose Minds After Trump Threat To Come After Them

By William Teach August 5, 2023 – 10:30 am

See, it’s perfectly OK that elected Democrats threaten Republicans, especially Donald Trump. It’s OK that prosecutors and the DOJ threaten to come after Trump, and do come after him. They’ve all made it clear since before he won in 2016 that they were going to come after him

‘I’m coming after you:’ Donald Trump responds to latest arraignment with new threats

As Donald Trump made more threats against opponents in the wake of a third indictment, special counsel Jack Smith asked a judge late Friday for a protective order against the ex-president, seeking to prevent him from publicizing evidence from witnesses.

“All the proposed order seeks to prevent is the improper dissemination or use of discovery materials, including to the public,” Smith said in a late-night court motion, essentially arguing that Trump’s rantings could have a chilling effect on witnesses in the case.

The prosecutor cited an all-caps threat that Trump posted earlier in the day on Truth Social: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU.”

Lefties in the media and all sorts of elected Democrats really did lose their minds. They forget that they’ve been doing this to Trump themselves the whole time. And that the response has been the American spirit since the beginning: we’re fine until you mess with us, then we’re coming after you. It’s baked into the writings and sayings of our Founding Fathers, the Federalist papers, and our Declaration of Independence.

I wonder, did any of these same people freak out, or even show mild concern, over Obama saying “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” Have any bothered with all the threats that Biden has made to average citizens?

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Posted in Current Affairs, Donald Trump | 12 Comments | Trackback URL

World Economic Forum Has Ideas On How The World Can Cope With Heatwaves

By William Teach August 5, 2023 – 7:15 am

I’m pretty sure that Humanity has dealt with heatwaves all on it’s own without the input and guidance of Elites laying down the law

Climate change is making heatwaves more intense – here are 7 ways the world can cope

July 2023 is set to be the world’s hottest month ever recorded, with the mean global temperature predicted to be at least 0.2°C above the previous warmest month of July 2019.

Across the globe, temperatures have been breaking records. The mercury in Sanbao township, in China’s dry northwest, broke the national record when it hit 52.2°C. In the Mediterranean, firefighters have been battling wildfires from the Greek island of Rhodes to the coast of Algeria.

“The era of global boiling has arrived,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned. “Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning.”

Yeah, data only going back to 1979. Let’s see those ideas

Urban greening

Shade standards

Cool places

Strange, it’s hotter in urban areas

Traditional architecture

In the Persian Gulf, a study has found traditional architecture – including narrow alleyways that maximize shadows, internal courtyards and moisture-absorbing, reflective building materials like limestone – can help to cool urban areas. Cape Town and Buenos Aires are putting in place light-coloured and other cooling roofs on public housing.

Passive cooling

A US study found strategies like shading and natural ventilation could reduce pressure on air conditioning by up to 80%. Simulations using weather data from 2021 found these techniques kept temperatures in apartments out of the ‘danger zone’, even without using aircon. It’s thought the findings could be used to establish building codes around operable windows and working shades, to protect renters.

I wonder who’s going to force this?

Appointing Chief Heat Officers

Jane Gilbert became the world’s first Chief Heat Officer in May 2021, and as global temperatures rise it’s becoming an increasingly widespread and important role.

In an interview with the Forum, she says the main priority areas to address are: urban heat island mitigation (vegetative cover, cool pavements and roofs), protecting homes (which includes building safer homes and shelters), plus public education.

Ah, more government Authority to force citizens to do things, especially in the urban areas which get hot. Weird, right?

The uber rich folks in the WEF, who are constantly taking lots of private jets all over the world, also want to name heatwaves. Always have to pimp the scaremongering.

Read: World Economic Forum Has Ideas On How The World Can Cope With Heatwaves »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Hot Take: Sec State Tells Russia It’s Bad To Jail The Opposition

By William Teach August 5, 2023 – 7:00 am

The irony detector just exploded

No, really

double standards(AP) A Russian court convicted imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny on charges of extremism and sentenced him to 19 years in prison on Friday. Navalny is already serving a nine-year term on a variety of charges that he says were politically motivated.

The new charges are related to the activities of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation and statements by his top associates. It was his fifth criminal conviction and his third and longest prison term — all of which his supporters see as a deliberate Kremlin strategy to silence its most ardent opponent. (snip)

It took the judge less than 10 minutes to announce the verdict and the sentence — something that in Russia usually takes hours and even days. The hearing was broadcast to reporters in a separate room, but the judge’s speech was barely audible.

Navalny commented on the sentence in a social media post, presumably relayed through his team, saying that “the number doesn’t matter.”

“I understand perfectly that, as many political prisoners, I’m serving a life sentence, which is measured by the length of my life or the length of life of this regime,” Navalny said, urging his supporters “not to lose the will to resist” in the wake of his sentence.

I wonder how Democrats will respond when Biden is out of office and a Republican prosecutor, or a DOJ run by a Republican president, comes after him? I really would like them to not go after Biden, no matter how shady and criminal he’s been, but, Democrats have set the stage.

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Taylor Swift Concerts Are Now A Concern Of The Climate Cult

By William Teach August 4, 2023 – 3:00 pm

Even though this piece by Nives Dolsak and Aseem Prakash at Forbes is taken from the Warmist point of view, and is rather silly, it actually makes an interesting point

Taylor Swift And Climate Change: Is The Youth “Shaking Off” Or Embracing Carbon-Intensive Lifestyles?

Climate change has emerged as an important issue for the younger generation—that is, Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) and Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996). Public opinion polls suggest that these cohorts are more worried about climate change and more supportive of climate policies.

Youth groups have been active in the Friday for Future demonstrations. Across the world, young plaintiffs are suing governments for what they perceive as relative lethargy on climate issues. Young activists are disturbing sporting events, stopping traffic at major highways and vandalizing museums—all with the objective of focusing media attention on climate issues. (snip)

Swift has embarked on a world tour that includes 131 shows across five continents. Tickets to her concerts are (very) expensive, with substantial resale markets. Along with concert tickets and records, Swift sells a range of merchandise on her website from clothing to jewelry.

“It’s simple Taylornomics,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “When Taylor Swift comes to town, Swifties go on a spending spree.” Her fans fill hotels, pack restaurants and crowd local bars.

“Fans who did get tickets spent hundreds of dollars on outfits for the show, hiring designers to recreate looks Swift wore on the red carpet or in music videos,” the WSJ’s Joseph Pisani wrote. “At the concerts, they traded beaded friendship bracelets that spelled out song titles.”

So, basically mass economic activity. The youts take fossil fueled trips to see Taylor, who uses vast amounts of fossil fuels and energy to travel and put on the shows. The kiddies spend lots of money on Fast Fashion, and contribute to capitalism, which they say they despise

We are delighted that the younger generation is having fun. After depressing Covid-19 lockdowns, this is a welcome change. But much of the entertainment seems carbon-intensive, and we find this “consumption as salvation” approach to be disturbing (apart from the moral issue surrounding conspicuous consumption, who can really afford to purchase Swift concert tickets and paraphernalia, especially in Seattle with burgeoning homeless population?).

Bummer.

This raises questions such as whether the climate ethic of the younger generation is any different from that of boomers. Instead of OK-Boomers type of performative environmentalism, it is time to ask the tough question: how to confront our carbon-intensive lifestyles.

Remember, lots of these cult youts complain that it was the older folks, boomers, their parents, their grandparents, Gen X, who brought on the era of global boiling. So, if the kiddies are doing their own thing…how much energy and gas is used so they can travel somewhere to take selfies and do their TikToks in fossil fueled vehicles?…but it’s the same, what of their responsibility? Fast fashion, immense streaming, constantly ordering delivery food, etc?

Some might claim that climate problems are structural and suggest any talk about personal responsibility constitutes “soft denial.” We beg to differ. Individuals have a choice when it comes to entertainment. Why is the younger generation gravitating toward celebrities with very high carbon footprints who flaunt their consumption-oriented lifestyle? Consumption divas such as Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian have among the highest number of Instagram followers (397 million and 363 million respectively). Greta Thunberg, in contrast, has only 15 million followers. What does this reveal about the climate priorities of the younger generation?

But, the article just misses, in that they’re trying to call out the Elites, like Swift, who have massive carbon footprints. But, fails to ask why the followers are not practicing what they preach? The article mentions that Seattle stores ran out of plastic beads to make bracelets as Swift came to town. They want Swift to talk about how bad this is, but, what of the kids buying them? They yammer about plastic pollution (which is an environmental issue, unfortunately taken over by the Climate Cult) but are more than will to engage in it.

Read: Taylor Swift Concerts Are Now A Concern Of The Climate Cult »

Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach August 4, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible pool with lots and lots of Evil concrete, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Doug Ross @ Journal, with a post on four years of Russian hoax insurrectionists.

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Posted in If All You See | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Justice Kagan Comes Out In Favor Of Congress Regulating Supreme Court

By William Teach August 4, 2023 – 10:30 am

No one should be surprised that a liberal on the court fails to understand the Constitutional provisions, nor that a liberal wants to give up power to another branch of the federal government. Liberals have loved giving up their Constitutional power to the Executive branch….as long as a Democrat is in the White House. Of course, a lot of that power goes to the federal bureaucracy, and there’s not a damned thing the President can do about it

Kagan enters fray over Congress’ power to police Supreme Court

double standardsJustice Elena Kagan on Thursday jumped into the heated debate over ethics at the Supreme Court, arguing that Congress has broad powers to regulate the nation’s highest tribunal despite the recent claim from one of her conservative colleagues that such a step would violate the Constitution’s separation of powers.

Kagan’s comments, at a judicial conference in Portland, came just days after the Senate Judiciary Committee responded to recent ethics controversies around justices’ luxury travel by advancing a bill requiring the court to establish an ethics code and setting up a mechanism that would enforce it.

“It just can’t be that the court is the only institution that somehow is not subject to checks and balances from anybody else. We’re not imperial,” Kagan told the audience of judges and lawyers attending the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference. “Can Congress do various things to regulate the Supreme Court? I think the answer is: yes.”

Kagan insisted she was not responding directly to Justice Samuel Alito’s blunt statements in an interview last month that Congress would be violating the Constitution’s separation of powers if lawmakers sought to impose ethics and recusal policies on the high court.

The real point of the Leftist “ethics” bill from the hardcore Democrats in the Senate is to use it to manufacture a way to kick conservatives off the Court, at least when a Democrat is in the White House, that way the Democrat POTUS can replace them with far left wackjobs. That’s it.  Considering how shady Congress Critters are, they have no right to talk.

During her remarks on Thursday in an onstage conversation with a bankruptcy judge and attorney involved in organizing the conference, Kagan took a more conciliatory tone toward her conservative colleagues than she did last year in a flurry of public appearances that seemed to evince serious frustration with her role on the court. Those remarks followed the bitter disagreement over the court’s decision last June, by a 5-4 vote, to overturn the federal constitutional right to abortion that had been recognized for nearly half a century.

That made Democrats livid, and they decided on a course of action to get rid of Conservatives, and, if enacted they would enforce it and it would be a threat to rule the Correct Way for future conservatives.

There’s zero chance it passes the GOP controlled House, but, really, if Trump is the candidate he’ll lose in 2024, and obliterate any chance of retaking the Senate, and will most likely lose the House, meaning the Democrats can pass it. At which point the Supreme Court will rule that the law is un-Constitutional, setting up a rather interesting fight between the branches.

I wonder if Democrats have considered that if the law ever passes the GOP could use it against the liberal judges?

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Posted in Constitution | 15 Comments | Trackback URL

NPR Seems Pretty Upset That Most Republicans Prioritize The Economy Of The Climate Crisis (scam)

By William Teach August 4, 2023 – 7:00 am

How dare these Republicans care more about the economy!!!!!

Three-quarters of Republicans prioritize the economy over climate change

It’s hot. And some apparently don’t mind it that way.

The latest heat wave is fueled by human-caused climate change from burning fossil fuels, but despite the settled science, the overwhelming evidence and the billions of dollars in increases for disaster preparation and recovery that climate change is costing the country, Republicans have grown more skeptical of the need to prioritize fixing it, according to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.

The wide-ranging survey of 1,285 adults also found some of the most critical institutions in the country being held in low regard and that President Biden has some glaring vulnerabilities, especially when it comes to the economy, heading into the 2024 presidential election.

Overall, a majority of respondents – 53% – said addressing climate change should be given priority even at the risk of slowing the economy. That included 80% of Democrats and 54% of independents.

But almost three-quarters of Republicans (72%) said the economy should be given priority, even at the risk of ignoring climate change. That is up 13 points since 2018 – despite the increases in climate-change-related weather disasters.

All this tells me is that 80% of Democrats and 54% of Independents, and 28% of Republicans, are idiots, and should have their own economic activity curtailed. Because it’s easy to say you favor Doing Something over the economy in theory, but, once it starts impacting your own life things change quickly. Once they’re money is being sapped away, cannot afford to travel, energy, food, stream all their shows, watch all those TikTok vids, etc, well, reality will smack them in the face. Kinda like how Squad member Pramila Jayapal is totally against border wall, but, needs that wall at her house. Like how so many French citizens were great with Doing Something, and then learned that something was higher food costs and no longer allowed to take short haul flights (though the Elites are allowed on private jets).

Really, the Progressives see only 18% want to prioritize economic growth. How would that work out in practice?

And yet despite all the evidence, Trump has lied and called climate change a “hoax” and implied that it would only “may affect us in 300 years” and only see a sea level rise of 1/8 inch.

So, essentially, NPR is showing their stripes as a hardcore partisan outlet. Not that we didn’t know that.

Anyhow, the poll forgot to ask relevant questions like “how much are you willing to pay to deal with ‘climate change’?” and “what are you doing in your own life?”

The poll itself is here, since PBS didn’t bother linking it. I guess they didn’t want to show certain data, like that it was a D/R/I breakdown of 35/29/34, meaning Ds and Is were oversampled.

Read: NPR Seems Pretty Upset That Most Republicans Prioritize The Economy Of The Climate Crisis (scam) »

Posted in Global Warming, New Climate Deniers | 21 Comments | Trackback URL

Uber-Socialist Cori Bush Pushing Insane “Unhoused” Bill

By William Teach August 4, 2023 – 6:45 am

On the bright side, even the Democrats aren’t insane enough to vote for this bill, right? There’s zero chance it even gets a vote on the House floor. It does let us know what the hardcore Democrats really want

This bill is so crazy I have to wonder if it was written by the crazy homeless in San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland. Starting on page 9 of the bill (which is linked in the Libertarian Mama tweet)

  • (1) the right to decent, affordable, and acces10 sible housing, livable wages, and universal health
    care; (so, free healthcare)
  • (3) the rights, privileges, or access of an individual to public services, parks, sidewalks, transportation, buildings, or facilities without discrimination on the basis of their housing status; (so, they can simply go into any private building whenever the hell they want)
  • (4) the right to uninhibited access to public parks, transportation, facilities, sidewalks, buildings, and restrooms without discrimination on the basis of their housing status; (so, putting up tents anywhere, using any bathroom anytime)
  • (7) the right not to be subject to penalties for standing, walking, resting, or sleeping in a public place or vehicle in a non-obstructive manner, including relying on tents, sleeping bags, additional clothing, or other supplies intended to make sleep comfortable and possible; (this would negate all state and local ordinances on no tents on sidewalks, no loitering, etc. This is a 10th Amendment violation)
  • (8) the right to pray, meditate, or practice religion in public spaces without being subject to criminal or civil sanctions, harassment, or arrest; (this could backfire as the abortion supporters try to stop anti-abortion forces outside abortion clinics)
  • (9) the right to solicit donations in public spaces without being subject to criminal or civil sanctions, harassment, or arrest in a manner that violates the right to free speech; (negating all panhandling and other laws, will die in court)

That’s just some of it. Moving on to things on page 12 (below the fold)

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Posted in Democrats, Unhinged Tools | 6 Comments | Trackback URL
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