Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1513742
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM DECEMBER 27, 2023 -JANUARY 2, 2024 UCW 5 2023 was the year America jumped the shark. In 1997, "e Fonz," from the hit TV show "Happy Days," jumped a shark. Over time, the term "jump the shark" transformed into a scath- ing critique, implying that a subject has strayed far beyond its original purpose, degenerating into an absurd or excessive caricature of what it once was. 2023 ushered in the introduction of Artificial Intelligence while Americans grapple with figur- ing out how to check themselves out at Walmart. Who knew we would all add cashier, bagging clerk, payment processor, weight checker, age verifier, customer service assistant, technical troubleshooter and honest consumer to our resumes? In the 2023 elections, the Republican red wave election went blue. Eight Republicans joined the presidential race. Now, there are five, including former President Trump. On the Democrat side, President Biden announced that he was running for reelection. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined the race to chal- lenge Biden. Although RFK's father and uncle were assassinated, he has been denied Secret Service protection. e Democratic National Committee turned its back on him by changing the rules in favor of Biden. RFK is now running as an Independent. As of this writing, Former President Trump leads in the polls with a whopping 47-point lead in the Republican race and 4-points over Biden. Trump also leads with 91 charges in four indict- ments. He has 13 indictments in Georgia, and he still has a 26-point lead over Biden there. In shocking news, people were thrilled to hear that Biden remembered he was President, and a judge has a gag order on Trump. Hunter Biden, who is the son of the most anti-2nd Amendment President, had a plea deal thrown out by a judge on his gun charges and nine federal tax offenses. FYI, Hunter's net worth is estimated at $230 million. If you are wondering, "middle-class Joe Biden" (his words, not mine) now has a net worth of $10 million. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was removed from office and later resigned. Congressman Santos (R-NY) was also removed. At the same time, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and his wife were indicted for acting as a foreign agent of Egypt and he still has an active security clearance. North Carolina person of the year was Demo- cratic State Representative Tricia Cotham from Mecklenburg County. In April, she jumped a shark over to the Republican side, giving the Republican Party a supermajority in the Capital. e new supermajority overruled Gov. Coo- per's veto of the "Guarantee 2nd Amendment Freedom and Protections." Other laws changed the state's abortion, voting, workplace language for state workers, and others. Most Americans believe their wallets jumped a shark. Although the stock market is up 4,000 points since last year, our inflation rate has increased 3.2%. With interest rates at a 22-year high of 5.25 to 5.5% and home interest rates averaging 7.5%. e numbers do not meet the reality of the stress striking people while they dip deep into their savings and credit cards to make ends meet. As we leisurely skied behind the boat, the government was driving the boat right over the shark. While screaming that China is taking your privacy, there are extremists everywhere, and TikTok is spying on you. It appears we have no privacy. At the end of December 2022, it was exposed that the FBI was working with Twit- ter, paying for users' account information, and removing and censoring accounts, thus making Twitter the U.S.'s first seven-letter intelligence agency. Under new ownership, Elon Musk changed "Twitter" to "X," allowed banned users back on the platform, and became one of the media's most hated foreigners for standing up for free speech and the 1st Amendment. By July, a fed- eral judge ordered the Biden administration to stop agencies from communicating with social media companies. Your safe isn't safe, either. It was reported that the FBI obtained the default codes to Liberty gun safes. Little did anyone suspect that a "safe" company kept digital backdoor information on your safe. Nothing hits Fayetteville and Ft. Liberty harder than unrest around the world. Secretary of De- fense Lloyd Austin told Congress that if they do not provide funding for Ukraine, it is "very likely" it will lead to U.S. troops in Europe. e Army ramped up recruiters due to low enlistment goals. On October 7, Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis and foreigners. As of this writing, there are still eight American hostages in Gaza. At the end of November, there have been 78 attacks by Iranian-backed forces against U.S. forces in the Middle East since the attack. Con- gress moved to freeze the $6 billion that Biden gave to Iran in September. China flew a lovely spy satellite across the country and over North Carolina, passing near Ft. Liberty and Camp Lejeune before Biden allowed the military to shoot it down over the ocean. Biden's biggest infrastructure project was the superhighway at the southern border en- abling 2.4 million people (and growing just this year) to cross into the U.S. e FBI has warned that the threat to the U.S is the highest this holi- day season since 9/11. Ft. Bragg became Ft. Liberty, while most vet- erans did not feel liberated with the new name. Amazon's biggest delivery to Fayetteville has been that big empty building, which can be seen from I-295. In January, Fayetteville got a new Chief of Police, Kemberle Braden. is month, former police chief Gina Hawkins received a $200,000 settlement from the city for alleging a hostile work environment. 2024 will bring new challenges, new joys, and new sadness. We could see a transition from inflation to deflation (still not good). It would be wise for all of us to know who and what we are voting for. It is said that all politics start at the local level. So do love and respect for one another. A community that works together builds and succeeds, but one that is divided will fall into rubble with pride. Happy New Year, and may God Bless you and your family. OPINION 2023 Year in Review: Jumping the shark by JIM JONES JIM JONES, Motorcycle Enthusiast. Comments? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. (910) 484- 6200. Uncle Sam jumps the shark in this Chat PGT created image. (Image courtesy of Jim Jones)