Sunday 31 May 2020

Riot Observations

1.  No one much talks about it, but the way that George Floyd got into the first bit of his issue....was at the store, with the use of a counterfeit $20.  The storekeeper said 'no', and basically walked out with whatever he was buying.  Where'd the twenty come from?  Unknown. 

I knew someone from a decade ago who'd gone to a bank for their pocket money for the month, and the bank slipped them a fake twenty, which came up almost immediately as they tried to pay gas they'd bought.  Bank would not acknowledge this.  I knew another guy who done some deal at a flea market and was given a couple of twentys for whatever they sold, and two of the twentys were later deemed fake. 

Did George know it were counterfeit?  No way to tell.  It would be interesting to know the rest of the contents of George's billfold, but I doubt if this will go to far.

2.  This continued commentary about right-wing KKK members being in the middle of the riots?   It's about the most laughable joke possible.  Real KKK folks would wear the hoods, burn crosses, and wave confederate flags. 

People who wear black clothing?  Antifa.

3.  All these structures burnt to the ground?  Odds of rebuilding?  In the middle of a likely two-year recession?  No.  I'd take the insurance money, and just walk away.  Let the real estate people figure out some loser-deal to handle the property. 

For the jobs lost?  Presently, I'd be guessing that a minimum of 100,000 jobs lost, and will probably get up into the 500,000 range in the next couple of days. 

4.  NY City police arrested some dimwit young gal....for throwing a Molotov cocktail at a police vehicle (4 cops inside).  The city DA?  It's going to be tough to avoid attempted-murder charges on the gal, and just let her walk away.  The police?  They will watch this develop, and probably lay down a card or two.  This dimwit?  She's looking at a minimum of three years in prison....over what?  The sister?  She was with the dimwit and will get charges as well.  The parents?  I'm guessing they are looking for a lawyer, and figuring a minimum of $50,000 to defend the two idiots.  Paying off the police union?  I hate to suggest it, but a hundred-thousand donation might turn the trick. 

5.  You look through the videos and the one obvious thing missing?  Latinos.  You don't see any Latinos. 

6.  From the G-20 Conference in Hamburg, Germany back in the summer of 2017.  There's this odd moment that occurs.....some protest folks are throwing bricks at cops, and the cops charge them.....grabbing a couple.  So this one guy stands out....no ID and uncooperative.  An ID is eventually made.  He's a German policeman.  So the question was asked....was he a undercover cop?  No, and he's not even from the region. 

This was a young policeman who could not explain his participation or his violent act.  Nothing ever got said after that point.  Charges?  Unknown.  Termination from his job, unknown.

So when some idiots suggest that undercover cops are part of the riots in the US.....I might go and ask to identify them, and if they have Antifa tendencies. 

Saturday 30 May 2020

Explaining the 1807 Insurrection Act

Passed in 1807....it gives the President the opportunity to deploy active-duty military troops (from within the US)...to put down rebellion and insurrection. 

So in effect, President Trump could go and deploy 10,000 military personnel into Minneapolis.

Now, I won't say this is a positive thing, and it's very likely to trigger a Kent State event.

Back in 2006, the wording to this Act was re-worked.  It was to include natural disasters (like hurricanes).  At that point, most people figured for most all future uses....it'd be in times of flood or hurricanes. 

The Rest of the Script

After watching the riot video this morning....particularly of the CNN HQ's in downtown Atlanta, I will offer up the rest of the script (compliments of the Antifa crowd):

1.  Stacey Abrams is now locked in as the Biden VP. 

2.  Abrams will appear by late Sunday in Atlanta, and deliver a live nationwide 'we must come together' speech via CNN.   The CNN crowd will proclaim her as the 'peace-maker' and the unification candidate.  At least forty black known figures will be in the background behind her.

The speech given....will be one of the 'ages'....where peace and tranquility will be uttered over and over. 

Fifty percent of all blacks will be laughing over the fakeness of the speech.

3.  The riot business will halt at this magically 'halt'.  Antifa team members will quietly and quickly leave the scene.

4.  Somewhere in the three weeks after the Democratic convention....Biden will announce his health issues, and Stacey moves to be the candidate. 

5.  The Republican convention?  At this point, with riot potential and Antifa in the background.....it's doubtful that it will occur.

6.  The possibility that the FBI will put Antifa on a domestic terror list?  They will fight the Justice Department on this, but will be forced to do it.  Junior FBI personnel will admit that they've felt like this this for five years. 

Friday 29 May 2020

More Minneapolis Observations

I spent an hour this morning looking at new riot video from Minneapolis.  So more observations:

1.  I expect this weekend, at least forty cities across the nation will see more riots in their region, and cars/buildings will be torched.  Cops will be told to more or less stand down.  Fire departments will refuse to act because of a lack of protection. 

2.  The National Guard getting called out?  So at this point, the suggestion is that they are there to escort the fire department folks to the fires, and protect them.  The chief question....will they be armed and able to respond?  Are we re-creating another Kent-State mess? 

3.  I don't see the majority of police in Minneapolis staying.  Just me suggesting this, but I wouldn't be shocked to see 50-percent gone by late summer. 

4.  Covid-19 eruption in ten days in Minneapolis?  It wouldn't surprise me if you see a 100-percent increase in infections, and ride out a second wave in the state for the next four weeks.

5.  The fact that the policeman accused of the murder....had been written up on a number of violent episodes in the past?  Well, this finally got brought up.  Here's the thing....back in the very beginning when episodes came up....the DA in Minneapolis was current US Senator...Amy Klobuchar.  Yes, kinda interesting.  What'd she do with the investigations?  Nothing.  Why?  No one says much...I'm guessing that the police union suggested that she drop the potential charges.  This guy should have been let go back a decade ago, but nothing ever occurred.

6.  People getting armed to protect their businesses?  Well...the area affected so far is Southwest Minneapolis.  This is the lesser end of the city.  I would suggest that as the riot folks finished up burning structures there....then they will move to mid-town and the southeast part of the city.  There, they might end up meeting with armed counter-riot people, and you might end up seeing a dozen folks dead in just one evening. 

7.  Eventually, Trump is going to turn to the FBI and ask why is Antifa in the middle of this, and you do nothing?  The goofballs at the FBI will then look at the working-level FBI folks....who've been telling this for five years minimum, and some harsh criticism will erupt from the junior FBI guys to the management folks.

8.  Trump threatening to send the National Guard?  Here's the thing....this threat is simply open.  The governor, the mayor and the city council....will be smiling and happy to let this happen.  But Trump might go an entire month without moving to the next step.  How many many buildings and cars burn by that point?  He's going to make you guys look highly stupid, and have people literally begging for Trump to take charge. 

9.  The more I watch this murder tape, with the cop looking straight at the camera....I'm convinced the dude is drugged up (referring to the cop).  I don't think he has any idea over what he's doing.

10.  Finally, another story popped up....that for roughly 17 years....the dead guy and the cop....worked at a particular restaurant in town...together.  If true, it just begs more questions. 

Thursday 28 May 2020

Explaining this Whole Twitter, Jack Dorsey, and Executive Order Being Drafted

What this discussion in the past week has brewing....is mostly about content. 

From the 1700s through most of the 1900s....newspapers in America survived because they had content that people wanted to read.  Without content, your paper would fold up and dissolve in a short period of time.

The Baltimore Sun....built up a huge legacy in the 1910 to 1930s era, with the help of H. L. Mencken.  Mencken could write a 500 word essay piece and grown men would sit and weep over the description and blunt nature of the writing.  He made the Sun....into a newspaper that folks in Baltimore, DC, and Arlington would read.

Silent movies took off....because they had content....a basic story.

Radio took off....because they found music, news commentary, and verbal plays to entertain people. 

TV networks would take off because of comedy, drama, cowboy westerns, and gameshows.

AM radio took off in the 1980s because they found this one guy....Rush Limbaugh, who could talk about politics for two hours, and people were passionate to hear him speak.

The internet arrived in the 1990s, and found content. 

Social media came along around 2010, and found content.  Twitter and Facebook survive today....because they have content that draws people. 

So here's the landscape....Jack Dorsey (the CEO of Twitter) is the 'gatekeeper' or 'librarian' of this operation.  He'll freely admit, without content, his empire dissolves. 

The problem here is that this library is 'free'.  You walk in....dump your content, and people come to the Dorsey-library to read freely. 

Through 2015, Jack and his team were all happy and gleeful.  They didn't see a problem.  They had content.  They had advertising.  Members of the team went off to Costa Rica each year to gaze at birds, smoke great weed, and sip very expensive French cognac. 

But along about 2015....here came this Trump guy.  Trump figured out that he didn't need ABC, or CBS.  He didn't need the NY Times or Washington Post.  He didn't need NPR or the AP.  He just needed Twitter....talking direct to the American people.  Funny thing about this.....he could easily write 140-character comment, and hit 'enter' on his own.  He didn't need an army to run his talk-policy, or million-dollar-a-week poll people telling what to think or say.

Dorsey had never encountered something like this.

The big IT empire folks who were heavily screwed into the liberal agenda were dismayed.  Jack needed to fix this.  So they went and got 'editor' people....trying to pretend that they weren't going to screw with content, but that's exactly how they went at this. 

People figured out the various games, and started to chat freely about Jack's childish operation.  Jack still made money, but the people around him were furious....'you need to do something' was uttered daily to Jack.

This past week, Jack's team decided to finally fact-check Trump.  The fact that they'd skipped 40-million bogus stories and lies....from various countries (Iran, China, etc)?  Well....that got dumped into Jack's lap. 

Jack has a problem.

Was the 'library' ever supposed to edit content?  If you have a 'library' doing it....aren't they creating their content, or dissolving you of your 'content'?  Can an intellectual even reach a level where facts are absolute? 

Yeah, a bunch of questions arise.  And Jack is in trouble.

So my two suggestions for Jack.

1.  Announce that Twitter is turning the off-button 'ON' around Friday evening and shutting down Twitter for 48 hours....every single week.  Let everyone know....from the right to the left, that Twitter is private and will stay that way.  Get people used to the idea that Twitter won't work on weekends.  It's mostly to make a point.

2.  All of this was free.  It shouldn't be.  Just to gaze at the library, without commentary, you ought to be paying $7.99 a month, and limit customers to just 100 people to follow.  Next step up....with commentary added and 500 people to follow, $29.  Finally at the premium level.....$49 a month, for all privileges. On this privilege, make it clear....that's absolute open content.  If people don't want that last privileage....don't pay the $49 a month, and just get limited service. 

As for this Order from Trump fixing the mess?  No....I would seriously doubt it.  It'll be challenged in court, and take a full year to reach the Supreme Court.  I'm sure RBG will be sitting there and asking what the hell Twitter is, and couldn't things just easily work without involving the President. 

My View of the Minneapolis Riots

First....Randy, your mamma called and said she saw you on CNN in some kinda bad disguise, and she thinks that Antifa recruiter has clouded up your head....got you into some serious weed, and you need to come home right away.  She'll leave the porch-light on, awaiting your arrival (with fresh pecan pie).  She don't want to hear anymore Antifa chatter in the house.  She uttered the term 'evil demons' and 'work of the devil' several times.

So, now onto the important business.

Once you burned down your neighborhood, or you allowed Antifa to do it for you.....what's it going to look like in five years?  Like Baltimore or Detroit?  And is that really what you desire?  Half of these business-fronts will look over the insurance money and wise-up....leaving the city.

Next....are you doing much to help the case on the four dimwit police?  No.  Let the prosecutor line up the case.  This shouldn't take more than 90 days to haul them into court, and run a simple seven-day trial.  All seven will end up in prison, and then you can get your thugs to go after them there.

Onto the news cameras?  Got the juicy stuff?  So, if I were a viewer, and looked up the leadership of the state and city....what do I see?  Democrat governor, democrat mayor, democrat city council, and a police chief approved to be hired by the mayor and council.  If you think a leadership change needs to occur....how will this work?  And getting 'orangeman' into this lineup?  Does he run the state authority?

Also, to note.....some flags made in China....are flame-retardant.  For college graduates, that means it don't burn....even if you soak it in diesel or gas.  So go and buy onto cotton flags (usually made in Mexico) if you got some burn-the-flag act for the TV cameras scheduled.  You look silly spending 5 minutes trying to burn a retardant flag. 

Finally, to the topic of correcting injustice and poor cops.  If the police system isn't working....it's your city leadership that needs to be punished and fired.  But if you aren't smart enough to see that.....then why bother even playing the game?  Just start a civil conflict in the city, and see how far that goes.

Simply Observations

1.  This whole thing in Minneapolis....where does this lead 'from'?

Well....the mayor and majority of the city council....are democrats, and they hire the police chief to serve them and their expectations.  So if they hire 'thugs'....it's not just the police chief who triggered the damage, it's the city management itself.

2.  Riots in Minneapolis to lead anywhere?

I would expect ten days of this, with over a hundred buildings looted or burned by the end.  Figure that thirty to forty percent of the folks affected....won't come back and rebuild.  It's kinda the path of Baltimore and Detroit.  Don't worry....this is big-city life and part of the drama that they expect.

3.  West Virginia mail carrier charged up with election fraud?

This dude picked up an absentee ballot requests (plural, so it's more than one), and altering them.  Asked about it....he said it was a 'joke'.  Note, he's a 47-year old guy.  Here's the thing....it's a felony in the state, and a minimum of one year (up to ten) in prison.  So this guy can say adios to the postal job, and figure if he begs his way out.....he'll do one year, and get out at 8 months with 'good' time served.  On the stupid level....it's a solid ten.

Can you imagine being in prison, and some rough dudes come up...asking your crime, and you admit that you corrected some ballot requests from Democrat to Republican?  Their response?  'Man, that's pretty lame'. 

4.  Black guys get killed by who?

Statistically speaking....if you are a black guy, it's huge odds if you die in a shooting, it's done by another black guy.  It's actually 7-times the odds of a black guy doing it to you, than a white guy.

Now, all this said....black guys might put themselves in a risky spot, arguing over a woman or some debt, and not grasp that the other black dude has zero patience or understanding. 

No one ever does the statistical collection to say how the shooting started, if booze or drugs were involved, or if it was just a mistaken identity issue. 

5.  Anything really odd about this Michigan lockdown and 'water' activity?

This is a curious thing.  If you were to go out for a lake visit with a canoe or raft....it'd all be fine and no cop trying to hassle you.  If this involves anything with a motor involved.....you would be all hassled-up and in trouble.  The only difference....is a motor. 

6.  Can you drink while wearing a mask?

No.  But it begs questions....if you 'dipped' the mask for 8 seconds to slurp up some beer.....is it possible to get one virus-bug of Corona?  So far, no PhD guys have discussed this.  It may require a good bit of testing.....maybe ten to twenty kegs of beer.  I would be willing to participate as a tester.  But it has to be premium beer (not PBR).

7.  What sort of action is Trump talking about with social media?

So far, no one really knows.  Social media may have to react, and go to the next level....shutting down YouTube, Facebook, Twitter....for 24 hours, to demonstrate their power against Trump.   This might freak out a whole bunch of folks. 

8.  Fact-checking doing much by social media?

It's adding a cost factor.  No one says how much.

If you go and read the novel '1984'....it usually makes up a hour-long chat by folks over society and the need to control 'facts' or 'truth'.  I have this belief that none of the Twitter or Facebook top level of management have ever read '1984'. 

Wednesday 27 May 2020

Just Something That Popped Into My Head

As people pass away.....the relatives ought to be 'pushed' into noting the cause of death off the death certificate, and then note this on the tombstone later.  Maybe the stone would just say Covid-dead, or maybe some artsy symbol would be developed (in Chinese of course)....to note the special way of death. 

If you did pass away, and the hospital dude stamped you 'Covid-19-dead'....it ought to be there on your stone as a legacy. 

Folks would wonder by.....fifteen years in the future and come by your spot in the cemetery....'yeah, he was my neighbor....but you know, he'd drink heavy and had that car accident which killed him'.  Then the associate with guy would comment 'well, it says here that he was Covid-19-dead'. 

Then this conversation would start up....at the cemetery, where the two would talk for an hour over your demise, the fake nature of this, the Covid-19 experience, and the stone's commentary (fake, I know).

It's good experiences like this....two guys in a cemetery.....yakking for an hour over a departed guy and his questionable Covid-19 situation, that makes for a good friendship. 

And if you don't understand this....it's a southern thing.

Tuesday 26 May 2020

Just Observations

I saw this today....

647,457 people killed by heart disease.

599,108 people killed by cancer.

121,404 people killed by Alzheimers

Oddly, the NY Times or WaPo never puts that on their front page.  No one wants to count or remember those people. 

But someone else brought up this topic to ponder upon.  Just about every single state with a harsh view of shut-down....has a massive debt issue, and literally on the edge....thinking they will get government funding to renovate part of their debt in the end. 

Its a big gamble. 

If they guessed wrong?  It might be worth opening up a bottle of gin and discussing at length.

Finally I came to this one curious tidbit.  Out in the Hollywood area of California....cops are getting reports (maybe for a month now) of massive private parties going on in the foothills.  Sometimes dozens of cars parked and people inside.....partying.

Reason?  Well....the mayor and governor has down the shutdown thing.  So clubs and bars are completely barred to the public.

Now, if you were standing there....decent house....pool....big enough to handle 200 guests....what would be keeping you from operating a 'speak-easy' party...where guests paid $150 at the door, and got a catered dinner, with plenty of cheap cocktails, and some fake Latino band....walking away with $5k per night in profit (probably not reported to the IRS)?

I'm not saying it's happening, but most Americans are simply not so stupid to figure out the angle to this, and a way to clear $5k every night....with private parties. 

The cops?  If you attempt some take-down....you could be talking about a massive court case, and the fear of protests. 

Why People Don't Trust the Government

Most all urbanized 'mega' cities in the US now are run by Democratic Mayors and Democratic city councils.  They program the money, run their little empires, and prioritize where funding goes.

As I lived in the DC area (2010 to the summer of 2013), this story came up.

Somewhere around 2008/2009...this property on the east side of DC had been 'taken' by the city.  Property taxes and drug arrests had amounted to a fair sized mess, and grabbing the building made sense.  It would be classified as a property in fair state of disrepair, and marginally worth nothing.

So paperwork got generated.  Some sport group in the city sent the papers in and wanted the property taken for a kid's sport complex.  This wasn't clearly laid out, but the city had various high priorities for things relating to kid's sports in DC (especially the east-end).

So a fair sized chunk of money was allocated to fix the structure (I was told around 750,000 went into this....whether factional or not, I don't know).

So six months pass and the renovation is done. 

For a couple of months, the property is 'sat upon'.  Then, surprisingly enough....the city sells the property for a under-valued amount of money. 

What moves in?  A strip-club. 

Locals sat there and laughed over this.  It's doubtful that any member of the city council was really aware of the property grab in the first place....but they had to know of the renovation money and approved it in some way.  As for the sale?  They might have approved this without knowing much over the particulars. 

The 750k?  Just flushed down the toilet.

This is the problem of inner-city life, trusting politicians, and blacks feeling abandoned because they witness this daily....thinking any day now....things will improve.  And it never does resolve itself.

The positive of this?  At least with the present management crew and stripper action....property taxes are being generated.  Hopefully, they go over into the city pocket, so they can find other worthwhile things to renovate.  Or maybe more future stripper clubs get renovated. 

Simply Observations

1.  Isn't there a lot of concerned folks over drug consequences and side-effects (for this 'miracle' drug)?

Well, this is the funny part of this discussion.  There are 10,000-odd drugs on the market, and virtually all of them have side-effects and potential consequences, and these people NOW wake up, and start some Baptist-minister type sermon on the evil consequences or side-effects?  Just taking Milk of Magnesia has a side-effect.

2.  Odds of NFL or NCAA football occurring?

I'd give it a 1-percent chance.  For some NCAA players, it's the end of their dream and likely to trigger some folks to get suicidal.

3.  People talking over Chicago's big weekend?

Yeah.....nine dead folks and thirty-six wounded.....all gunshots.  News folks don't even chat about knife wounds....such marginal news.

4.  Stephen King defending Corona?

We live in a crazy world.  Someone went and suggested that the 'STAND' (one of King's big classic stories which concerns a virus) is nowhere near being like Corona.

Here's the thing, if you use the basic plot....then it's a lot like the movie STAND.

But King came out in the past couple of days and said 'no way'....the STAND is a lot scarier.

Now, if we start having dead cats and dogs come back to life....that might perk everyone's interest a bit.

5.  The real story to Flynn and all this trouble?

Off Tablet, there is a 30-minute reading session there, which lays out the entire story from beginning to end, and why President Obama get all jerked-up over Flynn.

A lot of this circles around the Iran deal, and how some major legacy was being created to invent a 'new' Iran.

I strongly recommend a read of Tablet's article....worthy I think of a Pulitzer. But expect it to take 30 minutes.

6.  Should people being masks while driving cars?

Sure.  Even when they are driving a tractor around, or operating a chain-saw, or doing kissy-face with their secret-girlfriend.

7.  Karenlandia?

It's a new word for a place where people act crazy and confrontational.....twenty-four hours a day.....without the aid of drugs (seemingly impossible, I'll admit).

8.  Jeff Sessions?

There was a time and place for a fake-Republican to be a Senator for Alabama.  That day has passed though.

9.  This video from yesterday of Joe Biden at the veteran's cemetery?

Well, toward the end of it....Joe and the wife are walking back to the SUV.  Joe is in sunglasses and looks awful stiff (like he'd been out bailing and hauling 500 bales of hay).  Just seemed odd.  Also, looking at his lean build....he can't weigh more than 135 pounds.

10.  Is Japan's Constitution a bit odd?

Well....for some odd reason, with this coming after 1945 with their updated Constitution.....they wrote up a piece of text which basically says....there cannot and will not be compulsory lock-downs.  What you see in Virginia or Michigan....can't be produced in Japan.

In some ways, it's a stoic piece of text which suggests that panic and chaos are NOT to be part of society.

You have to admit the Japanese are thoughtful.

Monday 25 May 2020

Ten Observations

1.  Can one explain socialism with beer?

Imagine you have a case of Elephant-beer (a Danish beer by Carlsbad, at 7.2-percent alcohol, 24 bottles).  Also, don't worry about the premium nature of cost factor. 

So you invite over assorted friends....a total of a dozen.  Logically, it should be two beers per friend. 

But in this socialism moment....several folks point out that so-and-so in the group is well off, and they should be limited to just one single beer.  After several minutes, four folks are deemed as 'rich' and not deserving of two beers. 

So among the twelve, eight are deserving of the four leftover beers.  One of the eight then admits that he has a limit (two max), and a second guy says that this isn't his favorite beer, and so he only wants one. 

The math expert (the engineer in the group) then does the calculation.  For six people, this leaves 6 extra beers for the six people (three bottles each).  An 90-minute period passes, and all six leave in separate cars....to be pulled over and DWI-checked.  All six fail, because of socialism.  The well-off, because they were limited to one beer each.....pass, and continue on home with no issues.

2.  Can politicians flip a switch and suddenly have a dialect? 

Well....Republicans, and in particular....Trump.....can't.

Democrats, by a vast number have this unique 'power' to flip the switch and suddenly start talking Ozarkian or Savannah-like.  They can even flip the switch and start uttering the word 'ain't' which is typically not used more than twice-a-year in their vocabulary.

3.  Should colleges start a program for common sense? 

First, you'd have to find professors with common sense, and this might take a while.

4.  In terms of unhingedness (meaning, mentally challenged and likely to blow-up if you say a 'trigger-word' or phrase).....is there a big difference between 1977 and today?

Night and day.  In 1977, you might have bumped into, or watched via TV....a total of a dozen folks in the whole year who were unhinged.  Today?  It's a dozen per day.

The biggest crowd showing the mental strain?  College kids.  For that, you have to wonder how they will survive once they hit the job-market or pick up the job as high school teacher.  Thirteen year-old kids will have to learn how to handle a mentally stressed-out teacher, who throws a 7-year-old type temper tantrum.

5.  Nigerian scammers made several hundred million dollars off Washington state's unemployment application program?

Well.....yes.  They basically cut a number of standard procedures, to hurry the money out. 

But here's the thing to worry about.  The statistics data for unemployment?  It's got Nigerian scammer data mingled into it now.  So anything that Washington state says.....is a woeful made bogus story. 

Kinda funny to think about, but then....that money is gone.  Someone ought to go to jail, but won't.

6.  Is there a key ingredient to success in life?

Some 'business-coach' would charge you $1,200 for a weekend seminar, to list sixty qualities.  But I'll save you the money, and just list the one and only ingredient required.

Motivation.

If you don't feel motivated to get ahead, or achieve something, or make a business bigger....then your success in life will always be marginal or limited.  Doesn't matter your background....your education....your ethnic situation....or your height or build.  If you have motivation....it's highly likely that you will succeed in life.

7.  Shouldn't Joe Biden just be quiet, and softly pedal his campaign? 

Look....as soon as we can get this convention out of the way, and announce the VP choice....we can reach the next level of this fake game (announcing Joe has health issues, he resigns, and the VP moves up....then picks her own VP). 

8.  Could hurricane season disrupt the Covid-19 season?

The NHC folks say that a 60-percent chance of a above-average-hurricane season.  Go imagine trying to run some shelter operation in North Carolina, Virginia, or NY City.....with Covid-19 around.  You'd have a 2,000 person shelter, with Covid infecting fifty-people a day. 

9.  Just for the record, what political organization stood behind the massive bulk of Confederate statues erected after 1865?

Well....the Democratic Party.  When you do find Republicans gathering up and putting up statues....it's typically for dead Union soldiers or generals of the Union.  So far, none of those have been yanked down.

But please don't bring this up....it makes the Democrats look worse off than what they ought to be.

10.  If Twitter had never been invented....would Trump be as successful as he is today?

NO.

Twitter gave him immediate access to you....while standing in the Wal-Mart line, while sitting in traffic, while sipping beer at the bar after work, while mowing the yard for Aunt Francis, while feeding the cattle at 5 AM, while sitting in church waiting on demon-chatter by the minister, while on a cigarette break at work, and while fake-listening to your idiot brother-in-law who just wrapped up six continuous hours of CNN-chatter and Covid-19 talk. 

He had immediate access, and didn't require twenty-odd people writing the text. He didn't require a poll with 2,500 people telling you the right opinion.  He didn't have to use funny words that PhD people use. 

And here is the best part.  It might come at 5 AM, 9:30 AM, noon, 5 PM, or 9:45 PM. 

If Twitter were stupid enough to delete him or freeze his account?  I'm pretty sure some kid has written the code for a new app....probably called 'Trumper', and you can download it in 30 seconds.....to get strictly Trump messages. 

Sunday 24 May 2020

What If We Had Bernie Right Now?

This is a curious scenario.

What if Joe had run into trouble early on, and by early February.....Bernie had the lead?

We wouldn't be discussing stupid Joe Biden comments, Hunter Biden fake jobs, Joe's wit on blacks having to prove they are black, Joe's dementia woes, or why Joe stays in a basement most of the time.

At this point, Bernie probably would be supported by a general majority of democrats, and Trump would have problems. 

Instead, we get a 3rd rate election scenario where Joe Biden just doesn't fit well.

What We Ought to Do

Yesterday, the New York Times printed up a front-page which basically said: "US Deaths Near 100,000,   An Incalculable Loss."

It consumed the entire front-page.

So I sat and pondered upon it.  In this time of great grieving....we ought to honor these folks with a memorial.  So here is my suggestion.  I'd like to take the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri (3-million acres) and at the very edge of it....erect a fine marble type monument to honor the 100,000-plus folks who died of Covid-19/China-virus/Coronavirus.

Yes, I do realize that some folks won't be happy with China-virus being uttered but it is what it is.

Cost factor?  Minimum of 50-million dollars. 

We'd have a fine ceremony with all of Congress flown in to make speeches over the dead, with President Trump delivering a beautiful speech in honor of the dead and their accomplishments in life.

Next to this monument, I'd also like to erect a memorial (made of marble as well), for the 8 to 10 thousand who died in the 2019-2020 flu season, We'd also have a fine ceremony for them, with Congress and the President delivering speeches.

Next to this monument, I'd also like to erect a memorial (made of marble as well), for the 80,000 who eid in the 2018-2019 flu season.  We'd also have a fine ceremony for them, with Congress and the President delivering speeches.

By the time I'm done.....there would be a minimum of 200 memorials laid out and consuming 20-percent of the National Forest area.  At least one entire year would be required for all the speeches and ribbon-cutting episodes. 

Marble folks would be employed for an entire decade....accomplishing this great feat.

All of us, with kin-folk who'd died in the past two-hundred years.....would feel proud of our relatives and we could always drive up to the Ozarks to see the forty-odd memorials that we were part of. 

Naturally, the NY Times could have a front-page display for each single episode. 

Saturday 23 May 2020

Something Orwell Said

“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims... but accomplices.”  
-George Orwell

It's a great quote, and Jimmy Dore put it out there to remember.

The problem in this modern society.....we accomplish very analysis over people who we elect.  We allow some pretender journalists to hype some individual and pretend that they know something....when they don't.

And when we 'fail', with some fairly corrupted guy standing there.....there's not much we can do in terms of recovering.  Orwell has a point, but we never seem to learn it. 

Hertz Bankrupt?

If you open up the business news this morning....Hertz Car Rental is about to declare bankruptcy.

The Covid business did a fairly big number on them, and brought this down to a great extent.

But here's the thing....once the internet came along in late 1990s, and you could compare prices (which I tended to do a good bit)....Hertz was the more expensive of car rental companies. 

Over the past twenty-five years....with probably sixty to seenty occasions that I rented a car, there's not a single episode that I engaged with Hertz.  When it came down to it.....they were always twenty to thirty percent more than most of the other rental companies.

In some ways....the internet brought their pricing 'game' to public attention and probably hurt them in various ways. 

Have You Had Enough of 'Panic Porn'?

Around six weeks ago....I probably started to hit my limit on 'panic porn' via the newspapers, web sites, comedians, governors, fake journalists, and CNN/MSNBC crowd.

In the past ten days, I'm mostly laughing in the middle of what is designed to be serious and grim news.  Two days ago.....some California doctors came out and said that more people are committing suicide now, than dying of Covid-19.  The truth is.....for a lot of people....their lives and likely recovery (financially) are fairly screwed up.

It reminds me of the Steinbeck introduction to 'Grapes of Wrath'.  In the introduction....you are given a landscape of fairly harsh economic conditions given to the Oklahoma crowd, with the only alternate route being to pick up and move to California....where you will enter the new booming agricultural industry.  In the background, you kinda discover that banks are marginally surviving but walking into the lives of people to start foreclosures on farms and homes. 

Steinbeck hands you an unfinished story in one simple paragraph.....telling you about the main character....Tom Joad, who has just wrapped up some prison years for a homicide.  You know little to nothing about the homicide, the victim, or if the dead guy 'needed-killing'. 

This whole period of American history.....the depression years, became what I'd call 'epic porn', where classic stories, human interest stories, and memorable photos were made to weave this fantastic epic porn situation.  People actually got literally awards, journalism notices, and photo winnings....for their epic porn items.

Tom Joad, as a character, was some porn player in this saga, where you wanted to pull for the little guy, but knowing in your heart.....his prison time was for something pretty harsh, and you just kinda kept wondering about the bigger story left out of the novel.

The problem with today's panic porn.....you just keep looking at the characters, the degree of fantasy, the lack of some truths, and the marginal crowd telling the stories....wondering just how far this will go. 

The last question here....once you've had enough of panic porn....then what?  Will you go and just mow the grass, not caring about Covid-19?  Will you go and order up a double-grease burger and chat about Baptist revival stuff with the burger guy?  Will you sit and sip a ice tea (with a bit of gin over the top) and discuss the local storm chatter with your cousin? 

Friday 22 May 2020

My Opinion of Joe Rogan

For about two years, I've been listening to the podcasts of Joe Rogan. 

As interviews go, I'm to the point of considering Joe probably better than any journalist or moderator from any of the other networks or TV establishments. 

For a number of years, YouTube gave Joe his platform, and enabled all of us to sit and view his interviews.  This past week....Joe kinda said 'enough' and will go to Spotify (it started as a alternate radio site, and has planned a growth period).  What makes Spotify different is that you sign up and get their service (roughly 9.99 Euro a month for me).

There is chatter out there to suggest that more YouTubers will go this path, and give Spotify a new angle to customers. 

Hurting YouTube in the long-run?  That's the discussion going on.  If you had 20-percent of the big draw to YouTube pack up and walk away.....it would leave an enormous hole for YouTube to fill.   The angle here?  Content. 

I'll admit that 90-percent of the stuff on YouTube for interviews or commentary....is crappy content.  But the remaining ten-percent is what draws people to view their material with dedication. 

It's not the end for YouTube, but looking a year or two into the future....I'm kinda wondering if the massive bulk of what YouTube has.....is just stupid cat pictures, or 3rd world giggle stuff for jokes. 

Another transformation coming?  By 2024, I'd be guessing that a major change will occur with both social media and YouTube, with customers demanding something that they are currently unprepared for. 

Wednesday 20 May 2020

Who Sends An Email to Themselves?

This is an odd piece of news and you just sit and ponder over it.

Toward the last day of employment with the US government, Susan Rice (a big-wig under President Obama) sends herself an email.  It basically covers a meeting at the White House, from 15 days prior.  The emphasis of this email to herself?  President Obama tells her to do everything...."by the book".

So you sit and think over it.

From the day I was introduced to 'email' (around 1992) to today....I've never sent an email to myself.  I've sent emails from one account (like a government account) to my personal account.  But I've never sent an email to myself. 

Typically, if you were at a meeting and needed to remember things later.....you would go and write a memo (a Word-document), and print/save it for later.  I've probably written over one thousand of these type of documents. 

But to write this and then emphasize that you need to do things "by the book"?  Who writes something like this?

Someone commented about this silly email today, and that the phrase "by the book" is mentioned three times in the email.  Then they mentioned up that this is a movie phrase....uttered by Captain Kirk when dealing with Kahn.  Kirk tells the boys back in the ship.....do 'whatever'....."by the book".  Kirk says this in the way that truly means that he's lying, and they need to grasp that he's lying (he's in trouble).

Typically, Kirk is always thinking three steps ahead of the bad guys (not like the wussy Picard who is thinking just two steps of the bad guys). 

So when Rice utters this three times in her email ("by the book").....is she sending a distress call to the future, and suggesting that she's lying, and in serious trouble? 

The problem with all of this chatter....trekkie-chat....Obamagate-chat....fake-news-chat?  You reach a point where you have three doors in front of you and have to deal with three groups of people.

The first group are gas-huffers (yep, those idiots) who have huffed enough gas to get light-headed and seem to be living and breathing in some fake world....uttering Captain Kirk or Captain Pike phrases on a routine basis.  They seem to know all the Federation regulations, the F-keys on keyboards, recite poetry by Dylan Thomas, and have imaginary conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt's ghost. 

The second group are fake intellectual types who want to impress you with their vast degree situation, but after ten minutes....you kinda figure out that their degree business was mostly a fraud and you are dealing with an idiot who could barely run a public library desk. 

Then finally, you come to the third group....who seem to lay out more and more questions, which can't seem to be answered.  In this group, there always seems to be some dude named 'Grenell' in the far back of the room grinning, and seems ready to lay a bit of information on the table.....to bring you some factual reality.  You like this route, but honestly.....it's making you more distrustful of life. 

My advice....on sending an email to yourself?  Just write it on a yellow-sticky, and post it to the car-mirror.  Be brief....three lines....and don't worry about grammar.  And please don't utter....."by the book".  Otherwise, I'm going to think you are in trouble, and I'm bringing Seven-of-Nine with me to save your ass. 

Searching for a Cure for TDS (Trump-Derangement-Syndrome)

Since the election of 2016, numerous individuals have gone and identified themselves with the TDS disease.  With all the hype going on about the Covid-19/Coronavirus business....it's obvious that no one is making much of an effort to rid the world of TDS. 

Some folks are suggesting that come January of 2025....TDS will officially come to an end. 

However, there is this problem that around 2032....that troublesome Donald Trump Jr might wander onto the stage and lay down his cards to play the game.  Another round of TDS to come....in our lifetime?  Well....maybe.

And here's the one curious thing....that Baron 'kid'....in forty-odd years, he might appear at the doorway, and give us yet another dose or two of TDS.  Three doses of TDS (24 years) over the next fifty-odd years?  We need to start searching for a cure to help these poor folks who are afflicted. 

Tuesday 19 May 2020

The Thing About Banana Republics

Around January of 1985, I was reminded to go and update my Air Force assignment preferences for next change of station (I was to leave in January of 1986).  Most folks would fill out the state or US installation site....but something drove me to put down two overseas locations (Iceland and Panama).  I wanted some exotic change of pace, and had read some short summaries of both....figuring that was enough to make this decision.

Six months would pass, and the assignments folks called me.....I had Panama.

So I would arrive in January of 1986, and spend three years there.  It's best to say that within 10 days of arriving....I came to grasp and understand the term of banana republic. 

Nothing functioned like you thought in Panama.  Everything was corrupted, from the airport crowd, to the police. 

I lived for six months downtown.  Sometimes, you could go ten days straight with power disruption.  Sometimes, the power would go out every other day for two to three hours. 

Crime was rampant but you learned to just drive through the districts and keep the windows rolled up and the doors locked.

Car inspections?  You learned quickly that your car would always fail, but $20 on the car seat ensured that it always passed (even if the tires were bald). 

At the end of three years, I was fully prepared to leave, and simply note all the experiences as something that most Americans never 'entertained'. 

Banana republics are a dark place.....where people disrespect the system and society.  Trust doesn't exist.  Government offices are bloated and ineffective.  My yearly trip to the car-tag office meant stopping at this 1930s building where you would turn in your paperwork and sit for two hours while your slip circled around this sixty by sixty foot room. 

Stations were manned by these Panama women, in thick make-up and dolled up in clothing that barely would fit.  They were all nieces or cousins of people and hired simply as a favor to Uncle Jose.  None of them could type, nor could they really grasp what they were doing....other than stamping the paperwork. 

I usually sat there and amazed that the fifty-year-old chief was standing there and ensuring that the paperwork continued to flow.    This should have been simple to just stamp one form, and issue me a sticker for the old tag, but they had built a system where thirty-odd clerks needed to touch and be part of this process.

All across Panama, you saw the same bureaucratic mess in action.

By the end, I had a fairly good idea of how banana republics functioned, and I had no desire to ever return to one. 

I often look at the general public of the US, and how 99-percent of them have never been in such a situation....for months and years. Everyone ought to have six months of a dose of this.....to grasp what the term means, and just how much to appreciate the world we live in. 

The 'New Normal'

This is some silly phrase that I've heard via CNN, and a number of news outlets over the past two months.

Basically, if you tried to ask anyone from the journalistic 'team' to define it....you'd get fifty-plus definitions.

If you went to some politician, he'd give you some five-minute speech about an imaginary fantasy place, where unicorns roam freely, ice cream is freely dispensed to you, and free marijuana was possible (just not the good stuff).

My brother, being an engineer, would first ask you to define the 'old' normal, then suggest that he's seen at least forty versions of normal in his life.  He'd even drag out CB radios, Radio Shack, and pool-hall hamburgers as being part of one single normal.

I think the problem here is that folks try to fixate themselves that there is a normal....when there really isn't such a mythical 'beast'.  Fantasy?  Mostly.

I don't want to disparage folks with this normal chatter, but I don't think I'd get locked into this much.  You might wake up tomorrow to discover a newer-than-new model of normal, and then freak out when the Today Show host suggest that a newer-than-newer version of normal is coming to you in a matter of days. 

CNN and the Depression 'Idea'

CNN had a article that they put up yesterday, and the main focus was.....we are in the midst of a depression (1930s style).

So I spent a long 24 hours thinking about this.  First, they meant in terms of emotions...NOT money issues or failing banks. 

That\s the first real problem with this discussion.  You can't find any banks or financial institutions (like in 2008) that are failing.  It would be correct to say that hundreds of thousands of folks are not paying their mortgage, and this could lead to bank issues. 

As for the rest of this?  Think about this odd aspect.....roughly 25 states are opening up and back into business, with some problems.  The other 25 states?  In various levels of bans/shut-downs.  If you were leaning toward distress of a depression....it'd depend on which state you live in.

An odd aspect of this discussion.....in the1930s era, people moved to California.  In this modern era, people are discussing leaving California. 

In the 1930s era depression....the heartland of America survived on.  You kinda see the same landscape in 2020.

So what do you really need to convince you of a depression era, in terms of emotions?  Well...you need a daily dose of negative news (getting up, driving to work, lunch-hour, driving home, and sitting on the couch during the evening).  Lucky for you.....you can get that.

If all of this were true, who would you need to rebuild or restructure the nation to meet the problem?  That's the problem, this imaginary FDR-democrat doesn't exist.  And to be honest, Trump probably fits this role better than anyone imagined.  If you were to peel off the layers of FDR and Trump.....then Trump is the anti-FDR.  Almost every action that the FDR-team performed....ensured the long-term survival of a chained-down America and handcuffed to a government for its survival.  That's not the Trump type behavior....if anything, he's anti-big-government.

About a dozen years ago, Amity Shlaes wrote a book entitled 'The Forgotten Man', which covers the whole era of the 1920s and 1930s.  It's the history that the college professors marginally covered, and that journalists rarely ever discuss today.  I strong recommend the book, because it puts you at the very beginning of the depression era, and then lays out the decade behind the era. 

I will leave you with these three thoughts:

1.  For some folks, it's a rough year ahead, and they will be distraught/fragile during this period.  Don't shy away from stepping up and providing encouragement.  Admit it in a blunt way.....we aren't focused, and we are allowing poor leadership to lead us to a perception that the nation is weak.  It is not weak.....it never has been, and never will be.

2.  For the crowd chatter that tells you of the approaching negative era.....ask yourself, what type of character are they trying to sell you upon....to replace Trump?  Is this the character that you'd trust to lead or simply make things worse?

3.  Finally, FDR basically wanted you extremely dependent upon some form of government in the end.  Is that what you really desire now?  Some government to dictate your success or failure? 

Sunday 17 May 2020

The More You Think About It

The problem with the whole 'evil' Russia story via CNN....with a minimum of a thousand hours laid out over the past three years, is that it reads like a 1,200 page poorly written novel from some weeded-out guy on a two-week drinking binge while at a Galveston resort.

Add to it.....over and over, CNN seems to find experts or authority figures, who seem to suggest that KGB insiders are surrounding the whole Trump campaign, the Republican Senators in DC, and even members of the Fox news staff.

Here's the thing....if any of this were true, the last thing on Earth that you'd want to do is open up voting to be purely mail-in, and allow all the evilness to ensure the Trump - Biden election in November.....goes to Trump.

Explaining The House Proxy Voting Deal

Basically, the House last week passed legislation and rule-changes.  One of the rules involves proxy-voting.

So you are of party 'X', and you can sign your vote to a proxy-chief. This means that you can go and sit at home, go fishing, or hang out with some loose women (or men, if that's your style).....while someone holds your vote and can vote for you.

Now, it brings up interesting scenarios.

Imagine the idiot holding your proxy voting going off and doing something real stupid.  Then this stupid stuff gets back to your folks in the district, and they ask you to explain this.  Well....you can't say much.  You were the fool who signed the vote over.

But lets move on.....suppose that this was a regular thing.  Suppose that for 70 House members.....they just go and stay out of DC for seven months out of each year....letting the proxy holder sit there and run things.  Why bother even having the House job.....you could go and repair cars, or do ranch work for the most part.

What if four guys stood up among the Democrats and each got ten folks to proxy their votes over, and then they started to challenge Nancy Pelosi, and refuse to vote along her way unless they get favors accomplished?

Challenges to proxy voting?  I'm guessing someone will try to flip this to the court system, and make a big deal out of this.  The sad thing is that you end up paying some idiot and his staff a fair amount of money, and at the end of the day.....they aren't working in some productive way.  It just begs questions. 

Upon the Shores of False Hope

We, as a culture (Americans) are defined by this identity of 'false hope' carriers.

When the Mayflower arrived in 1620, they were arriving upon a shore with an enormous amount of false hope.  Within weeks, they came to understand that false hope wasn't enough, and that survival skills would be required.

Over the next hundred years....more arrived in the 'new world' with false hope.  The new world was supposed to be an enchanted land with a new start promised to virtually everyone.  The reality was.....on the moment arriving upon the shore, your false hope angle wasn't going to be enough.

Our political system operates on false hope.  You attach yourself to one party, in search of a belief.  Months and years go by, and you come to grasp that the party was a false hope situation.

The news media?  They operate under a premise of a false hope.....that they've got a strong belief in something, then weeks into that story.....they might realize it's just not much of a story, and their angle is that of convincing you that a false hope is better than reality.

Ministers, bankers, businessmen, lawyers, doctors, and even Hollywood enthusiasts all operate under the premise of false hope.  Lets face it....Green Lantern, John Carter, and Pluto Nash were all expensive movies built on false hope....because they just weren't that great.

Farmers live in a bubble of false hope....believing that this might be the big 'breakout' year for such-and-such crop, and by the end of harvest.....they face a very average and limited reality.  But year after year, they return for more false hope.

People running for President often talk about false hope, and dish out a hundred 'promises'.  You like this false hope, and figure they will deliver.  Four years later, you kinda realize that nothing much was achieved.

False hope having more value than no-hope?  That's the reality of this world.  We need something to believe in, or it's gets pretty depressing. 


Saturday 16 May 2020

The Thing About Risks

It's worth a moment or two of pondering.....as of 2017....93-percent of all work-place deaths....are accomplished by men.  ONLY 7-percent are women.

I sat and read over this report and analysis.

Growing up on the farm in Alabama....by age fourteen, I'd come to grasp the implications of threats and potential harm.  If you standing in a cattle-chute and a 600 pound steer has turned around in some moment of panic...you have basically two seconds to assess the situation, grab the side of the rails...to hang on and just hope things work out fine.

By age 18, I'd probably seen at least a dozen potential situations where death was just seconds away.  Some involved mechanical things....some involved walking into high grass with snake potential....some involved cattle with chaos on their mind. 

Over the next twenty-two years in the Air Force?  There's probably another twenty-odd occasions that I came fairly close on the risk-scale. 

The thing about it....guys tend to accept risk more than women.  You could present the same opportunities to a hundred women, and a great majority would just look at things, and say 'no'.....this has no balanced return value for the risk involved. 

Could we restructure women, while they were six years old....to view risks as a positive thing?  Maybe.  Course, we could go the other way, and instill a woman's view of reduced risk on guys, and stand back to see if guys just refuse to take risks?

It's something that you kinda wonder about.....should we even attempt to change things or remove risks in general?

The Problem With Rules

"In California our rule is if you play by the rules you get more rules. There’s no rules for people who don’t follow the rules."
-- Adam Carolla

At some point in my early 30s....I reached a point where I just generally looked at the landscape and said is there anything forbidding me from going and doing 'X'.  If not, I just proceeded on and did it without asking permission.

There's probably a fancy management term  for what I was doing, but I just felt that the strategy of adding rules and regulations....was hindering production and limiting people from doing their best.

I saw this quote from Carolla, who I tend to view on a weekly basis and respect the guy because he's generally right about a lot of different things.  He's correct....California has become a difficult place to figure out the future, and if it's worth staying there. 

Faker than Fake

I sat and watched through the White Press conference for yesterday (15 May).  All of the journalists were oddly wearing masks, and asking their questions via the masks.

Then, as things wrapped up and the conference ended.....with live feed still going for several organizations....off came the masks, and everyone walking around the room, in non-conformist social distancing. 

I sat and watched this for about 20 seconds, and just started laughing. 

It's all mostly an act, and even the journalists don't grasp how stupid that they appear. 

Selling a Health Message

Health Director of L A county....Doctor Barbara Ferrer.

Yeah, she looks a bit unhealthy.  Maybe it's just been a rough week or two. 

The problem is that with a brand-name, comes an image and a public perception.  In this case.....she looks unhealthy, so the message is muddled-up. 

Friday 15 May 2020

The Ten Problems With Obamagate

1.  Amusingly enough, it's not a conspiracy.  Too many factual actions, and the paper trail is enough to convict a guy in court.

2.  Once you lay out the landscape, it's like a Southpark episode where 5th-grade kids have devised some plan to bring down the city, and they leave forty clues to figure out their devious plan.

3.  The entire plan is built the idea that no top twenty news platform (except Fox News) will talk about it....for literally months. 

4.  Burisma and Hunter Biden are not part of Obamagate.  Somehow....even with the Chinese 1.5 billion dollar attachment to Hunter Biden....it's still not part of the overall scheme.

5.  Oddly enough, Hillary Clinton is not part of the 'plan'.  Well....she did pay for the pee dossier, but it's not really connected to the Obamagate situation.

6.  All of the parties to Obamagate hold university degrees, and some are actually lawyers (with status).  Ethic violations?  Literally by the hundreds.

7.  The amount of 'hatred' here for Flynn?  Whoever led this whole episode....has the maturity level of a nine-year-old kid. 

8.  In most countries, this would be handed to a federal judge, and the word 'treason' would be spoken almost daily by news journalists.

9.  To have twenty-odd White House figures pretending to be 'Jack Ryan' intelligence agents as their part-time job....is a joke.

10.  When you add up the entire mess.....with Joe Biden standing there in a dementia-state, declining trust in the news system, and no real explanation why they had to commit to a marginal destabilization of America....you have to wonder where these people came from. 

I leave you with this.  Somewhere around 2022 timeframe, someone is going to write the script to this as a movie, and it's going to sound so outrageous....that it has to be false, but page by page....the entire movie will be true to the facts. 

Simply Observations

1.  How many never-Trumpers are there from the Republican side?

This is more or less a unicorn question.  That means that the number is a fantasy for the most part.

In terms of journalists, there might be around 100 individuals who used to say that they were right-leaning, and get bent-out-of-shape over the Trump administration.  It's their right to be that way.  But it's the same right that we have to mute TV news, or avoid reading crappy newspaper articles.

2.  VP Joe asking for unmasking, true or false?

True....but here's this one odd factor.  He more or less asks for the unmasking in the last seven days of the Obama presidency.  You go down the list, and he's absolutely the very last guy.....asking for a unmasking.

Now?  He says that he never did any unmasking.  My humble guess is that he was a loose-password person, and some dimwit from his staff....did the unmasking request.

3.  What of this poll on blaming Trump for job losses?

Polls are generally worthless.  But what this comes to suggest is that when regular Americans sat down and did the review....the majority said either Trump had zero blame, or some blame (near 57-percent).  Oddly, 11-percent even said they weren't sure about anything.

That group....the 11-percent....might be the ones to really sit down and ask questions.

The 14-percent 'all-blame' group?  Well....mostly democrats. 

In general, if you look around the globe.....most all markets and job 'machines' are in a stagnant position.  People need something to blame. 

4.  In an average 12-minute interview.....how many screw-ups will Joe Biden accomplish?

This is a difficult thing to measure.  First, Joe will typically confuse numbers to a great extent....transposing quantity 'A' with quantity 'B'....probably three times in an average interview. 

The same thing occurs with abbrevated terms, where he transposes phrases. 

Then you have the sentence starting on topic 'A'....halting midway through it....going to a separate answer, then reverting back to topic 'A' at the end of the minute-long dialog. 

Can you imagine the State-of-the-Union speech....for 90 minutes, by Joe Biden?

5.  Is Senator Burr in trouble? 

Here's the problem....he gets really nifty classified data, and it indicates that the stock market will do a dramatic drop.  So he sells....way ahead of things.

It's called insider-trading.

Real people can get up to 20 years and a 5-million-dollar fine for insider trading.  Most people will sit and admit their stupidity....offer up serious fine money, and try to get a suspended jail sentence.  Prosecutors usually come back and demand a minimum of a year in jail....just to get this accomplishment on their record and lessen man-hours. 

In the Burr situation.....I doubt if he's still a Senator at the end of 2020.  His period would end in 2022.  My guess is that he'll stay around until after the 2020 election, then give notice to leave, and a temp will be selected from the state.

6.  What about all this state-by-state control over business operations and shut-downs?

If you are unhappy about it....leave the state.  So far, they haven't eliminated that right (yet).

7.  Was the Obama administration basically running their own intelligence organization?

Well....yes.  O-I-A (Obama Intelligence Agency). 

A whole bunch of secret wannabe agents (mostly forty-odd people around the President) where conducting intelligence operations.  Sadly, few (if any) of them had the qualifications for the job.

And if you were looking for actual accomplishments to write them up for a medal (typically what Air Force bosses do around around the clock).....this would be a dismal mess to find medal achievements for the paperwork.

8.  Who are the best judges of risk calculations?

On the least capable side....politicians, Tiger-King, gator-hunters, Wall Street investors, and slutty women.  Somewhere in the middle....firemen, transmission mechanics, TV weathermen, and TV ministers.  Then at the extreme side: farmers, airline pilots, and NCAA football coaches.

Note, this is my list.

9.  Whats the odds of the homelessness issue in LA expanding rapidly and doubling over the next twelve months?

This is one of those odd scenarios where the job situation, lack of financial stability, and political chatter....will trigger a bigger problem to occur.  If you were looking for a major mess in Southern California for spring of 2021....this is it. 

With the doubling effect, I could easily see 150,000 folks in the city....making the decision to leave by the end of 2021.  In the 1930s....they had names for the Oklahoma folks who left in the depression era....which I expect someone to invent a term for the California folks who leave in this new era. 

How This Judge Sullivan/General Flynn Episode Might Go

Since Judge Emmet Sullivan started a new chapter in the case, and is going to appoint some 1970s era former Watergate assistant prosecutor to the federal position of prosecuting Flynn....there's some curious things to wonder about.

I sat and thought about this scenario, and one serious factor stood out.  This new 'fake' prosecutor (that the judge selects).....was likely around 27 years old in 1973.  So today?  Just estimating on this...but the dude has to be nearing 72 to 74 years old.

So you throw this guy up.....early 70s, whose claim to fame is Watergate, and probably the opening five minutes and closing five minutes will be some dramatic chatter on Watergate, and he (with others) helped to take down the 'evil' Nixon empire and restore democracy to America.

The problem here, if Judge Sullivan allows the defense to conduct it's new defense....they are going to lay in on FBI and DoJ corruption, hoax Russian accusations, etc.  In essence, they will show that the new 'evil' Nixon clone....is the Obama administration.

The judge may attempt to prevent that discussion, but it will only serve as fodder for the Supreme Court to throw out the whole thing for incompetent behavior by the judge.  It merely delays the whole case for a year. 

There's this magnificent scene in 'Inherit The Wind' (the movie over the 1925 Scopes Monkey episode in Tennessee)....where Spencer Tracy plays lawyer Henry Drummond and Fredric March plays an old associate/rival Matthew Harrison).  In real life, this was Clarence Darrow versus William Jennings Bryan. 

The case (in true value) is warped, and heavily against the teacher (Scopes) anyway.  But Darrow shows up to be the defense and to take on the Bryan, who was probably ten years beyond his 'best'. 

In this dramatic piece....Spence Tracey delivers one of his greatest performances, and knocks the character of Bryan down several times.  The court still went against the teacher in the end, but the argument and energy went in favor of Darrow.  Roughly a week after this episode concludes....William Jennings Bryan will pass away.  I would suggest that the period of preparation, and eleven days of court activity.....probably aged Bryan a good ten years. 

I see this element likely occurring with the Sullivan 'circus' case, and the old Watergate lawyer falling from grace (like Bryan). 

As movies go, 'Inherit The Wind' is one of those dozen-odd movies that you ought to watch and be impressed with the art of debate.  If you ask me.....Sullivan may not have done a lot of thinking over what happens next. 

Thursday 14 May 2020

On the Topic of Economics

Somewhere around year three of my Air Force period (22 years), they offered up a retraining deal, and I went off to work around a lot of curious and interesting people.

At one point, I worked with a Captain who had a degree in Civil War history, and we'd get into those forty-minute discussions about such-and-such battle, or this general versus that general.  These were like lectures but they provided a lot of insight that you simply didn't get via high school, or normal college professors.

At another point, I worked with a Major who had a background in physics and planetary science.  He'd readily admit that they were worthless with the Air Force job, but again....we'd have these afternoon twenty-minute talks and he added tons of information that you typically would never get.

The peak of this business was a junior Captain who had a degree in economics.  In an average week.....we'd dabble in economic 'chatter' for a minimum of 90 minutes.

One day, he got onto this 'lecture'....talking about the 'car-engine' of economics relating to countries, with this massive wheel he'd drawn on the white-board, and then talked to the subject of how most leaders simply didn't understand the dynamics of their economy, or how fragile it could be.

His key point was that the political machine of a country, relied upon a safe, secure and dependable 'cycle'......if someone or some 'thing' came along to screw this up.....these 'dimwits' had no grasp what was screwing things up or how to restart the machine.  You needed politicians for political stuff, but they were useless for revenue processes, economic systems, or improving job quantity.

I'm reminded of this chatter from years ago.....as these virus problems continue on.  Mayors, Governors, Senators, Representatives, and medical folks....all attempting to fix something that they really don't have much understanding over.

Some don't care if you spend 3-trillion that you don't have.  Some are willing to pay out $24,000 over six months to a couple.....but never thinking of the imaginary money situation in 2021, and how much debt has to be resolved in some fashion.

The chief problem, after you've pondered over this for a while....a whole lot of folks aren't that bright over economics, and there is no fix-it strategy.  You better prepare for a long spell of negativity. 

My Unmasking Theory

In the past dozen hours....all this hype has occurred with the list of thirty-odd Obama Administration figures who had requests in for unmasking of Flynn 'chatter'.  I've sat and thought about the whole thing, the implications, and have come to this theory.

Back in 1984, writer Tom Clancy came out with the book 'Hunt for Red October'.  By 1990, he'd wrapped up five major books.  By 2000, he'd written another seven.  A fair number of these were made into movies, which were watched by tens of millions of Americans.

So this crew in the Obama Administration.....in this period of 1984 to 2013....likely read these Clancy novels, and also smoked a fair amount of weed (pot, marijuana, dope, refer, etc). Some of them smoked the intense stuff and got the exceptional and fierce 'high'.   Some watched the Clancy movies, while on this high.

Eventually, they all began to see themselves as Tom Clancy secret agents, Pentagon good guys, cloak and dagger folks, snoops, and undercover folks.  The books helped.....as did the marijuana.

They began to talk among themselves.....to save America....to fight the evil Russians....to do battle against the terrible woes facing the nation....they would adapt to Clancy standards, and become secret agents.

It thrilled them.  They likely stood around the water-cooler in the White House....grinning over their achievements and the secret agent business.

They were junior Jack Ryan characters.

All of them....from President Obama, down through VP Biden, and the next twenty-odd people......fake Jack Ryans.

So now what?  Well....the weed effect has worn off, and some are asking $500-an-hour lawyers what they can do in this weed-recovery process.  He probably starts off.....dump those Tom Clancy novels.  Then he tells them they were never Jack Ryan in their whole life.

Sit and think over it.....why would a group like this go to such a length to get themselves into this much trouble?  The only logical answer is weed and Tom Clancy novels.

Tuesday 12 May 2020

How to End 'ObamaGate'

With twists and turns, it's now obvious that dozen-odd people (Clapper, Comey, Rice, etc) in the White House circle are involved in the production of ObamaGate.  Down from them?  Probably another twenty to forty individuals....some who naively believed that they were 'smart' enough to get away with various unethical acts.

The Grand Jury action will consume much of 2020, and by January of 2021....with President Trump going into his second terms.....I would suggest the following way to end the ObamaGate situation.

Before anyone gets into court action but to the extent that they've had lawyers attached and eating up their savings....I'd send AG Barr off to former President Obama.  He will have two confidential scenarios/agreements to offer.

1.  Admit that he (Obama) directed all of these individuals within his staff (list them, their charges, and the amount of jail-time anticipated).

If Obama admits that he directed this....all individuals on this listing will be pardoned, without any court-action....with the exception of former FBI director Comey.  Comey's case will continue on.

Within this admission, will be the fact that Flynn was screwed on, on Obama's orders.

The agreement will state that President Trump then issues a full and absolute confidential (secret) pardon to President Obama. None of the pardon information will ever be released, unless conditions are exceeded.

With this agreement, President Obama will agree to avoid and not conduct any interviews (for any reason, within the US, and beyond its borders) for a period of eight years.  This means book interviews, TV interviews, radio interviews, etc.

In addition, no books, essays or newspaper articles will be written by President Obama for the same period of eight years.

In essence, he's doing an eight-year period of exile.  If a violation occurs within the eight-year period....all data from the investigation will be released and identify precisely what this deal was about.

2.  If Obama refuses the deal....then full-speed ahead for the players involved in this episode, and full-court action proceeds.  Attached to this situation will be a blanket pardon for President Obama, and all evidence gathered in this episode will be released to the general public at the conclusion of the last court case.  This will include the information on orders given by President Obama.

I know....it's a stupid way to end this whole thing.   But if we proceed through and jail fifteen to twenty White House players.....it makes the whole period between 2008 and 2016 look like a joke.  It's best to just proceed on.  And in this case, if you exiled President Obama for eight years, you'd get an ending to this whole mess.

Mask Chatter

Years ago....1978....I arrived at my first Air Force base, and they handed me the gas-mask for the first time.

After suiting up and putting the stupid mask on....I remarked to the instructor, that breathing through this was going to be awful hard.  Then he spoke to the necessity that I might be wearing one for a full 12-hour shift, and doing fairly strenuous work.  I sat there and thought, this was going to be fairly impossible to breath and actually do work.

Almost yearly, we did the three-hour class, and occasionally would attempt to do an hour or two of work....to reinforce the idea that you could do something while wearing the mask.

My general perception, after 22 years of service was that you might need that stupid mask, but in any type of physical labor....you'd probably have some anxiety attack, or huff yourself into a fainting spell.

Around eight weeks ago....I bought one of those N95-masks, because of the stupid virus stuff. After trying to wear it one day at a grocery (for about an hour of pushing the cart around).....I was shaking my head.  You couldn't get enough oxygen, and I could tell....if I'd continued on for three or four hours....I'd be having some type of huff/faint spell.

So what's this mask deal about?  It's mostly a mind-game to convince you that you can wear it and avoid getting the virus.  I understand this part of the game.  Oddly, these German experts back in early February made it very clear....the mask has marginal pay-back.  It makes you, your associates, your boss, and the folks on the bus or plane....think....at least in the marginal sense, that you are saving yourself.

The problem I see....about four hours into this wearing of the mask, as you collapse in the office hallway and some freaked out administrative lady will go running down the hall yelling about Covid-fainting or Covid-attack.....it just makes things worse off.  Some ambulance crew will come and tote you off, with folks talking of a dire Covid situation for you, and Bob (the part-time Baptist minister) offering to do office prayer over your anticipated demise, while you sit in the ambulance and try to recover from just a fainting spell. 

Saturday 9 May 2020

The Decade Ahead for New York and California

If one stands and looks at the next ten years, and tries to imagine the landscape in May of 2030.....it looks rather bleak for these two states.

First, both are looking at huge empty 'pockets' for tax revenue in 2020.  The only possible solution is a rise on property, sales and income taxes....likely to follow in 2021.

If you live in NY City, and had your expenses calculated to fit your pay-situation....this rise in taxes (I would go and suggest that your debt to the city and state will rise by 25-percent) will trigger a review of the necessity to live there. 

By 2022, a small number of city residents will have evaluated the oncoming problem, and made the decision to leave the city.  Somewhere between 2022 and 2025....the city leadership will realize that more people are leaving the city, than entering.

California's problem?  It's slightly different....in that they have a revenue pot which demands higher taxes, but the growth of homelessness and crap-on-the-streets....will persuade some in the heart of Los Angles and San Francisco to question how the public nuisance problem can be resolved.

The census of 2030?  You can go and predict that enough will have left both states....to lessen their 'burden' of legislative districts by two each (my humble guess). 

But then you add on the problem of meeting pension requirements....the escalating pot of revenue required to make the state pension programs work, and the likely odds of bankruptcy or massive taxes to solve the mess. 

In some ways, it's a sad story.  Both were the places where people dreamed of moving to, and now....both are the places where people dream of exiting. 


Thursday 7 May 2020

The Free Deal

So I'll lay this out there and let you ponder upon it for a while.

The San Francisco City Health Department came out in the past 24 hours and said....yes, we are supplying all of the homeless folks staying temporarily in hotels during this crisis period....with booze, nicotine, weed, and 'other' substances.  You go to the hotel deal....you get the free stuff.  You still live on the street.....no free stuff.

Obviously, a lot is going through your mind.

First, how is this free?  Someone.....within the city department is using taxpayer funds (city revenue) to pay for this.  How is this possible?

Second, where are you buying the weed, and whats the cost factor?  If I need four joints a day.....will you give me four joints?   If I need seven joints.....will you give me seven?

Third, who signed this paperwork, and how did they gain this 'power'?

Fourth, what exactly are the 'other' substances?  Are you referring to heroin or cocaine?

Fifth, once you admit this.....why can't regular people get the same deal?

Sixth, on this booze topic....are you saying an entire bottle of cheap vodka ($12)....per day?

There's something wrong here, but as long as they keep it in some hellhole like SF.....I don't really care.  But this is free stuff, and it shouldn't be.

How to Agree to Disagree

Forty years ago, this wasn't something that you needed to talk about, preach upon, or lecture on.  Today, some folks need a bit of structure and lecture.

So imagine yourself on a front-porch where sixteen cars an hour will pass.....all at 30 mph, and their windows open.

Then imagine that someone has stopped by....a cousin, neighbor, work associate, fake-love lady, church friend, etc. 

Upon this front-porch....the two of you settle on rocking chairs, and engage in conversation.

The general rule is that you simply agree to disagree.  You can have some position on cattle mutilations, slutty women, sugar content in Mountain Dew, Latino dance moves, horse racing, flirtatious folks, bad Nicolas Cage movies, Nancy Pelosi ice cream, Fleetwood Mac being the best band of all time, and dispatching demons via a Catholic spell.  Your associate can have agreed views, or disagreed views. 

The key thing, you don't want to get so far off the topic....so angry....so frightened....that folks in the cars pick up on the conversation or think that you are in some full-scale debate....well, this is a pretty wicked mess then.  A front-porch debate?  Really?  Is this so necessary?

Another point here.....once you reach a stage where your man or gal (that you support) is 'Jesus' and the person 'Satan'.....where exactly can this debate go? 

Think about the nutty conversation....going on for hours....Jesus and Satan chatter. 

So your general goal....in this porch conversation situation....is simply to agree to disagree.  Nothing more....nothing less. 

It's ok to believe aliens exist, or to persist in believing without evidence, there are no aliens.  It's not going to change much of anything.  Life goes on. 

People That Worry About Microaggressions

Lets get the definition correct here, and this is my particular wording.  Somehow....you make a verbal or written comment.....or perform some action (lifting a coffee cup in some way, or rubbing your hand against your jaw....that in some way (maybe even unconsciously)...that shows some type of negative or perceived outlook on some marginalized group (religious, cultish, ethnic, style of home, tattoo group,  nutcase clan, etc).

The key to this....someone seems to recognize this in a prejudiced way (maybe not me...the guy who made the move....and maybe not even the guy who I perceived against).  So this might be the third guy/gal in the room.

Note also, that both me, and the perceived 'victim'.....might be standing there and then wondering if the third guy/gal had too much weed, or had four shots too much of gin.

Note also, that the perceived 'victim' might have done a double-reverse microaggression against me, while I was microaggressing against him. In eastern Tennessee, this would be a 'double-micro'.

Note also.....don't bring any of this up....with six people in the room (other than the guy/gal who started this) and all of them might have shown multiple microaggressions in a 30-minute period, and the witness lady might be so freaked out....she'd have to slip out of the room and find a 'safe' space to worry about our fates in life.

So here's the thing....buddy, if this is your chief worry in life, you haven't done many adventures, and you might be living in some kind of weird and perverted universe, where dogs and cats sleep in peace, or Democrats actually vote for Trump.

Yeah, I'm suggesting that your worry-business on microaggressions indicate that you haven't worked much, traveled much, or been in difficult troubles.

Go take up a minimum wage job and try to survive for six months with that.  Or go and buy a $2k car that continually needs $300 a month in repairs.  Or go and live an entire summer without air conditioning in Louisiana.  Or go and limit yourself to Pabst Blue Ribbon beer for an entire year (not the good stuff).  Or go and have a car breakdown along the interstate of Birmingham, Alabama at 10 PM....with the gas station guy telling you that this ain't a safe part of town to just stand and wait for dad to arrive.

My advice.....go slip out of the sphere for twelve months and live around real people.  This microaggression thing will chill off pretty quick.  You'll find bigger worries.

Wednesday 6 May 2020

Simply Observations

1.  The Pope calling for absolute obedience to 'bans' and 'lock-downs'?

Yeah.  Maybe he should just stick with Demon-hustling, Bibles and soul-business....leave the rest to regular people.

2. Lets say that Joe Biden wins the election, and in the middle of the swearing in at the inauguration episode....Joe starts to get chatty about Inca Indians, cowboy movies, fat women, and his favorite episodes of Woody Woodpecker cartoons.  What should we do?

Plan B, look over at the House Speaker and ask if we can rustle up impeachment in three hours, and get the Senate in place by 6 PM to impeach Joe out quickly. 

3.  Explain Europe's populism angle in 10 lines or less.

Populism means that regular people (not intellectuals) have this gut feeling that their priorities, their problems, and their preferred path to the future....are not heard by the political figures, the journalists, or the national authority.

In this case, the internet (via social media) finally gave people a chance to compare notes, review accomplishments, and gauge failures.  Sadly, the general public on both the left and right....woke up and now feel left out.  They won't listen to the journalists anymore, and they question the political figures to the point that lies won't work.

So the name of the game is to utter populism and try to suggest these people are more stupid than you.  The more practical 'fix' is to remove the internet and TV entirely, and just go back to mostly newspapers.

4.  Joe Biden says 600,000 people in America have died from the virus....true?

No, but in Joe's mind....there ought to be 600k dead.

5.  Is there any way to fix soccer's unfair pay situation for women players?

Yep....just go and force guys to attend in mass at games.....say 50,000 per game, and agree to pay $25 to $50 a seat.  Course, to make this work....you need Biden's Economic Intercourse idea to work, and guys GOT something in return.  I just don't know that would be. 

Simply Observations

1.  NY City sanitizing their subway system for first time in 110 years?

Well....they say this.  The problem I see....with all the COVID chatter....you'd have to go and sanitize nightly, and ticket prices would have to escalate at least 300-percent.  Probably using some funky-smell stuff, and that will trigger people to have some funny nasal issues.

But here's my science view of this....all that crappy bacteria stuff dating back to 1922....has been sitting in these tunnels and terminals....maybe protecting you from Corona.  Maybe you should not disturb that stuff. 

2.  Whats with all these Biden 1980s videos coming out and making him look like an idiot?

Well....no one did any real research on Joe for the 2008 election as VP.  Obama should have known all of this, and real journalism....if you had it....would have done their job.

Don't worry....based on this video chatter....Joe is as stupid now....as he was in 1990.

3.  Wendys running out of beef?  Really?

If you own a Wendys franchise....you are supposed to buy your beef via a particular vendor.  Several across the country....it seems.  And some of them have come up short.

Could you buy alternate beef?  By the contract, I doubt it.

4.  Is hypocrisy now a national problem?

Boy, where have you been the past hundred years?

5.  Who has it the worst and best in terms of Corona?

India....they just passed a seventy-percent tax.....on alcohol....to fund healthcare crap for the public.  So a fifty-cent beer is now 85 cents.  Don't even ask about a bottle of Jack Daniels.  But on the other side of this....India is offering free property to any company leaving China, and reestablishing itself in India (we are talking about a massive amount of land ready to have plants or factories to be built).

6.  Nicolas Cage as 'Tiger King'?

Cage makes two types of movies....utter failures or brilliant successes.  After watching the first episode of 'Tiger King', I'm divided.

The big question on this project.....where exactly are they going to find 'friendly' tigers for Cage?  I have this bad feeling about where this is going to go.

7.  Any truth to the story that Facebook is putting up a censorship committee?

Twenty-odd names.....all lean a fair amount to the left.  They will be there to establish the rules....likely to come out by mid-June (my guess).

Just a view on this.....it'll be the final straw for some folks, and the exit will start....maybe up to 10-percent of Facebook participants gone by end of July.  Lame pictures and fake postings will start up, and the value of Facebook will crap out by October.  Figure a quarter of the employees gone by Christmas.

All it'll take is 10,000 postings a day of people taking pictures of their dog's crap, and letting friends know the name of the dog is 'Facebook'.

8.  Did a quarter of Democrats say in a poll that if the allegations are true on Joe Biden's sexual stuff.....he has to go as the nominee?

Yeah, they said it but they don't mean it.  Lets be real here....this whole debate thing in 2019, and primary 'game' in 2020....has been rather lame.  It's like going to a circus with a bunch of drunks riding camels, and the ringmaster trying to fake the customers out.

9.  New poll showing college kids can't handle reality?

Yes.

Roughly 80-percent say they can't handle anything that doesn't agree with their 'perception' of things.

Now, you can ask stupid questions, and wonder what the hell that this $16,000 a year in tuition is paying for, but at this point.....'Wanda' and 'Karl' (your kids) are about as stupid as you get.  They will finish college stupid.....apply for jobs as stupid, and work to pay off $80k in college debt....because they are fairly stupid.

It means that for future jobs....other than running the log-ride at some amusement park, or reading the news for Channel Six....they don't have much of a future.

The chief problem I see....sooner or later, they will wake up and realize their stupidity, and ask you (dad).....how did this happen.  It'll be an odd father-son chat, and you'd start off....all that college got you what?

10.  Finally....what the hell is a tourist-free zone....like Greece is talking about?

Greece is desperate enough to recover on the COVID stuff....that they would fence up some resort areas, and swear to travel agents and tourists that it's 'pure and clean'.....no Corona. 

You can admire them for creating this fake deal.  As for the trust part?  I'd suggest you camp out in the backyard, or just skip a vacation this year.