Monday 16 July 2018

Trump - Putin

After watching the whole press conference between the two, there are four observations I can make:

1.  Mueller better prepare now because Trump's going to light a fire to build an extradition treaty, then force the Justice Department to present evidence to the Russians.  You can figure that it'll take three to six months but I suspect a treaty will exist by spring of 2019.  I kinda have my doubts that the State Department and Justice Department will be happy.I think Mueller may have played the wrong hand here.  Somewhere out there, I would suspect that Russia laid out two or three more 'traps', and Mueller hasn't figured that depth of the mess out yet.

2.  Trade talk.  Well.....it might occur and wouldn't that be shocking?  What if the Russians figured out an industrial way to take off and take some Trump-magic over to their side?

3.  Cold War II over?  Putin says yes.  If it is over....why cover for NATO?  The pro-NATO crowd in Europe are probably shaking their heads over this.

4.  Trip to Europe score?  Out of a one to ten episode....I'd say it's a pretty safe '8'.  For the fall election situation....no damage.

My Circus Scenario

So with the twelve 'evil' Russian dudes who hacked into all the servers (three) and maybe broke in six-plus state listings of registered voters....what if the twelve volunteer to show up in court, and admit that act?

Then in the middle of this act, they admit that they helped to create an extra two-million Hillary votes out of thin-air, and that apparently....that was not enough.  So they reveal the states, and numbers.....then the experts suggest that instead of 30 states....Trump actually won 35 states.  The Electoral College?  Closer to 350 votes. 

The circus that we've seen for the past 18 months?  The tent would collapse in a matter of hours. 

Odds of this?  Unknown. But it's hard to believe that the Russians would go and do this.....to hurt Hillary. 

The Heat Question

I noticed this over the weekend, in some health report.....that a couple of researchers at Harvard University went out asked the question....are you more stupid during heat-waves?

Well...yes.

What they say is that your brain is about thirteen-percent slower in extreme heat.

Naturally, you'd ask how this worked for an experiment.  Well, they found 44 college kids who were willing to be part of this experiment, and they were used in the summer of 2016.

Course, you would reflect upon this and ask....is your brain faster in cold weather?  And they didn't say that occurs.

Being from Bama, I reflected upon this.  You see, being around a number of folks in the summer months....I came to this idea of slower thinking way back in the early 1970s.  Although in my thinking....I put the blame on dehydration. 

But this ought to make you wonder...are we making more bad decisions in June, July and August?  Are we accepting more risks in these months?  Are we exposing ourselves to more hazards?  Are we accepting a higher potential for disaster in these summer months? 

My dad often operated with three mental stages....there were fun-to-risk situations....there were extreme-risk situations....and there were intense-to-ultimate risk situations.  On a farm, you could get away with things like this.  Looking back, it could be that these intense-to-ultimate risk situations all occurred in July and August....amid the summer stress of heat. 

So the question comes up in my mind....is civilization different today because a couple of guys sitting around in the African heat  for thousands of years....get up one day and just start walking north, and get out of the hot zone?  Did we advance as a society....because 'Marvin' and 'Larry' for the betterment of society....left the heat, for a more preferred climate?

It might be worth asking the question. 

Trump and the Odds of Getting a Royal Flush

In the game of poker, there is a statistical average on you getting a hand tossed to you....and it being a Royal Flush (meaning a king, a queen, a jack, an ace, and a 10....all of the same color).  It's a .19-percent chance.  A real poker player will tell you in 20,000 games of poker that he's played....it might have come up two or three times. In plain language, it's just awful rare, to have a Royal Flush come up.

Today is 542 days since 19 January 2017.

It's reached a point where you just have to question how the guy (President Trump) can sit there and draw a Royal Flush almost daily, and the news media is basically whacking itself in the head because they can't slow the guy down, or derail his agenda.

The best and brightest of the Democratic on this whack-the-Trump game?  Some folks actually have a fairly routine visit schedule now to CNN to be the 'whacker', and seem to work hard at the fake 'whacks'.  It's still worth an occasional viewing, but it's almost demoralizing to see adults in this frame of mind, and unable to really do much other than some theatrical act (my term for it).

I sat and pondered at this dozen-Russian indictment that the Justice Department threw out there last week.  I can think of forty-odd Republicans (plus Bush I and II), who would have freaked out and this would have caused tremendous pain for them.  Trump?  It's like you were took a plastic hammer to his limo and just lightly whacked it.  Nothing much really came from that.

The news media efforts?  Most folks will stand there....in a slight daze and talking over some admiration now of Trump.  It's like a guy getting thrown out of bed at 1 AM....house on fire....fire department can't do a lot to save the place, and at 6 AM....the local TV news folks have come out.  Betty Lou is interviewing the stoic guy, and his take?  With the camera showing a totally burn-out house in the background....the guy says it could have been worse.  Then he says that he's already gotten invited to have a hearty-bacon-breakfast with the neighbors with fancy-brewed coffee....some widow gal offered up some NY City clothing for the guy to wear, and he's dreamed all his life of being on TV (while grinning at Betty Lou).  He just sees everything as one big long positive.  In a way, that's Trump whole scene.  Things just can't go negative.

Tomorrow?  Something will fall into a negative look.....then Trump will turn to the good Lord, and ask for another Royal Flush, and then remark that he's got such-and-such pardon ready to sign, or ready to flush out a bunch of crooks in the FBI.  Folks pour a cup of coffee, and get up....they feel some kind of 'Royal Flush' feeling themselves.  In a way, we are becoming a nation of folks on some kind of weird Trump-enthusiasm.