🌞 Sit Back Relax – September 13 2020

Football Returns To Mixed Reviews

credit: Getty

Today is the first full Sunday of The National Pandemic Football League and if Thursday’s Chiefs / Texans kickoff game was a preview then we’re in a for a long season trying to navigate this new normal.

The controversy erupted Thursday night just moments before the league’s 101st season kicked off. After the Houston Texans remained in the locker room during the national anthem, fans booed them when they emerged from the tunnel at its conclusion. The booing kept going as the two teams walked to midfield and shook hands. Then they joined arms and stretched from end zone to end zone in a show of unity. It was supposed to be a moment of silence but the scant audience continued to boo. It got so bad that NBC silenced the microphones to make it appear as if there truly was silence.

Controversy

New York Jets offensive tackle George Fant praised the Chiefs and Texans for taking a stance during a Zoom call with reporters in which he only took questions about social justice.

“We just want to be treated equally,” he said. “Everyone needs to be treated the same. Everyone needs to be held accountable. And for people to boo? It’s unbelievable.”

Ratings

Ratings dropped about 11% over last year’s Green Bay Packers-Chicago Bears opening game of the 2019-2020. Interestingliy though more people than ever streamed the game instead of tuning into NBC. In fact digital streaming increased 55% over last year.

What’s next?

All eyes on Brady and Brees tonight at 4:25 p.m. ET on Fox.

Not only will this be the first matchup in NFL history between two starting quarterbacks over the age of 40 — Brees is 41, and Brady is 43 — but they rank first and second in all-time passing touchdowns and passing yards, respectively. They have thrown for a combined total of more than 86 miles.

If ratings for this game fall flat then the NFL is in for a long season.

Cost of Living Rises

credit: getty

You might have noticed that the cost of things continues to accelerate. You’re not imagining it.

According to Harvard Business School professor Alberto Cavallo, while the economy falters, the cost of living continues to rise. His data shows that the annual inflation rate is currently 1.85%, which is half a percentage point higher than the Consumer Price Index.

Common household goods are flying off the shelves as people spend more time indoors. This has caused prices to rise and the cost of living along with it. We probably didn’t have to tell you that.

News By The Numbers

credit: louis vuitton

$1,000. That is how much a Louis Vuitton face shield will cost you. It was revealed as part of the 2021 Cruise Collection, which will go on sale in October.

$3 trillion. This is what the the federal deficit amounted to in August and is expected to hit $3.3 trillion by the end of the month. That is more than double the previous debt record of $1.4 trillion during the 2009 financial crisis.

$298,000. That is how much it costs to score yourself a sweet new Shelby GT500CR Mustang. It is a carbon fiber muscle car that looks to compete with the Lamborghini, McLaren, Ferrari, and Aston Martin. It was previously a concept car but went into production this week.

The Right To Vote

credit: ap

A court in Florida has ruled that ex-felons must pay off any outstanding fines and fees before registering to vote. This is an important ruling in the swing state just weeks before the November election.

It used to be that people with felonies had to petition the Governor for their right to vote. Floridians voted to end this in 2018 and allow them the right to vote. When thousands of ex-felons began to register in 2019, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law requiring them to pay fines and fees first. The Governor’s law was upheld in court on Friday. The groups that challenged it are considering a Supreme Court appeal.

The judge’s opinion stated that “felons do not have a fundamental right to vote.”

But they do have the right to pay for that?

This will almost certainly ensure that certain lower-income groups of people will not vote because they cannot afford it. In Florida, at least. This is most certainly not the law in all states.

Welcome to Freedom, Georgia please leaving your racism outside

credit: land purchased for project Freedom, cnn

A group of 19 families pooled their resources to buy 97 acres of land in Georgia to be a haven for people of color. They call it Freedom.

The land is the dream project of real estate agent Ashely Scott, who felt pushed to find a safe space for Black families after the year we’ve had as a nation divided over racial equality. She and a friend created the Freedom Georgia Initiative and had families from all over the countries join in her vision with their investment.

The group plans to start by clearing the land for farming and sustainable fishing. They hope to have an autonomous city up and running within a few years.

History

A black-only city is not new in American history, but none have been operational in decades. Scott admits that Freedom cannot be composed of only Black people because Black families are diverse.

“We are an integrated, tolerant and diverse community even as Black people, so we don’t intend for it to be exclusively Black, but we do intend for it to be pro-Black in every way,” Scott said.

Opps, They Did It Again

credit: giphy

A new lawsuit claims that United Airlines only puts the youngest and blondest flight attendants on the flights with Major League Baseball and National Football League players. Two veteran flight attendants who are neither young nor blonde claim that this discriminatory practice kept them from getting regular work.

United has contracts to provide air travel to three dozen teams in the NFL, MLB, and the NCAA. The plaintiffs claimed that they were denied work because they weren’t on the “preferred” lists of team members who would work for those flights. When they looked at their coworkers who did qualify as “preferred,” they claimed that young and blonde ladies were overly represented in the sampling.

United has not commented on the case, which was brought in California.

Wall Street: Back to Work

credit: getty

JPMorgan Chase & Co has called its staff back to the office for the first time since March. Staff members must report by September 21.

Employees with childcare conflicts that prevent them from returning to work can stay home on a case-by-case basis.

JPMorgan had over a dozen people infected with COVID in a Manhattan office in the spring before they closed but the company feels comfortable giving it another go with New York City infection rates in decline, with new safety and hygiene rules.

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