In this case, I'm talking per-capita...with gobankingrates as the source:
1. NY state: $3,305
2. Alaska: $3,020
3. Massachusetts: $2,911
4. Vermont: $2,842
5. Minnesota: $2,805
Note: Four of the five are fairly 'blueish' states. Alaska has this unique issue of low population, limited number of jobs, and fairly expensive cost of living.
I had a college professor once (mid-1980s) who spent forty-five minutes one night dwelling on rational thoughts and the need for rational decisions. It was basically a process where you had a 'defensive' mechanism to make sense of the world and it's complicated features.
In his structured discussion....the world had to have a much higher number of rational people, than irrational people. The rational people would ensure things ran the way they were advertised (like democracy, capitalism, food supply, McDonalds, the NFL, and beer).
Somewhere toward the end of this chatter....some idiot in the room asked what happens when the irrational folks were more in number. The response was....things would fall apart and nothing would make sense (like that group of topics....democracy, McDonalds, the NFL and beer).
2020 has been one of those years where I suspect the irrational crowd has grown, and flipped the system into a non-predictable situation. Rational people are now a minority.
When you walk into a room of forty people....you used to eyeball things and say 31 men and 9 women were in the room. Today, you have to figure trans and other oddball sexual groups into the 'eyeball-situation'. There might only be 22 men and 6 women in the room, with 12 other odd people.
You might walk into a gas station where some lady is talking about the demon in her car ('Marvin' is his name), and trying to engage in conversation with the gas station clerk.
You might be at some church where deacons are asking you for your electrical consumption over the past year, and the minister is talking more about your power-use habits, than saving your soul.
You might be attempting to 'spark' (southern slang for dating) with some gal who wants to know your credit score, debt situation, and property situation.....more than your personal habits, your dancing agility, or your favorite character on Bonanza.
You might be talking to your 21-year-old son, who recently graduated from college, and discover after a one-hour chat....the kid is as dumb as 'rocks' and you kinda wonder where the $88,000 in tuition you gave him went.
It's a mess to clean up, if this world turns more irrational, than rational.
I have a differing opinion than most people on the DC murder from four years ago.
So in my belief....if this was a Democratic operative, three minutes after shooting Rich, I would have his house-keys, entered his apartment ASAP, and stole his laptop.
Why the laptop? It had the emails and info that would detail out the path between Rich and Wiki-Leaks.
But that retrieval of the keys and laptop didn't happen.
The fact that Rich took a huge amount of time on this walk from the bar to his apartment? I think he was talking to someone he knew, and there was some 'other' angle to their friendship or relationship....that has never fallen into public view.
The FBI now admitting to the laptop? Well....it would beg questions, but it's just odd that they state this possession now....instead of three years ago. It begs questions.
Some foreign connection? Nothing is suggested there, but you would have to wonder who was on the top-hundred 'friend' list that Rich had.
Basically, respect.
Texas has a Constitution, and it regulates how elections (local, state and federal) will be held. Each Texan can expect that the weight of their election affair....matches up with 49 other states.
Texas believes four states hold a unfair or corrupted 'deck of cards' in their hand, with four state Constitutions dictating how to run an election, and how the four states avoided that written process.
The Supreme Court? They have a very unique situation brewing and they don't have six months to go and do research over this.
Solution 1? You throw the case out and just say 'screw it' to Texas. Texas starts a mess on 4 January that can only lead ultimately to succession or a massive change in US government.
Solution 2? You admit the four states violated their state Constitutions, and corrupted the legal framework of elections....so that the other 46 states hold a 'bad hand' of cards. Then you throw out the results of the states....suggesting that whatever number the state says they have....isn't a factual number. This brings everything to 4 January, when the new House arrives in DC, and they vote state-by-state.
Appealing to the Supreme Court? No. Either way....you lose. Riots start up and the talk of succession goes to the next level. Most important case of the court since the 1850s? Probably so.
