The One Key Difference Between Zack Synder's Justice League and Josh Whedon's Version?

 Well....most would say say the length (the new Synder version is 4 hours long, while Whedon's version is 120 minutes.

However, I would offer this one key issue...Synder built his original version around this catastrophic event which occurred, and in a moment of great chaos...the Flash makes this decision to travel to the past and change history.  

The Whedon product (2017)?  It dumped this Flash moment of changing history.  Why?  Never explained.

The studios having a problem with DC Comics and the characters involved?  It wouldn't surprise me if they viewed this whole thing (expanding out beyond Batman and Superman), and shaking their heads over the idea of things which they don't think about....mostly because they never read comics as a kid.

The 2017 version?  It was just plain 'vanilla'.  They had a four-hour story and chose to compact it down into 120 minutes.....just giving the viewer a simple taste of the whole DC Comics 'world'.

It wasn't bad....it just wasn't that much to get hyped-up over.

The Synder version of 2021?  Well...the whole story is laid out....demanding four hours of time, and you get some passion over the characters and the story. I do agree...you probably need a 10-minute break in the middle to visit the bathroom (something that Gone With the Wind offered when it came out).  

Universal 'Universal' Background Checks

 I was reading a piece out there today where someone put a pretty wild idea on the table....universal background checks....for literally everything:

If you going to apply for welfare benefits....you do a universal background check.

Want to petition your government for something....go down to the country clerk's office and have a universal background check done on your prior to starting the campaign.

Want to get married?  Visit the country clerk and have a universal background check done on both people.  

Flying somewhere?  As you stand there at the airline desk or travel agent....submit your info for a brief universal background check.  

Crossing the border back into the US (from a cruise, or a trip to Mexico)?  Show your info for a brief universal background check.

Opening a bank account?  Do a universal background check.

Literally everything connected?  Yes.  And it'd all be free of charge....government 'chip' ID, and establish quick ten-year prison sentences for fraudulent episodes....federal case and no waiver out of the deal.

Pain in the ass?  No doubt.  But overnight, you'd start to find out various things that existed for decades, and police would be falling over themselves....connecting cases left and right.  

Eric Trump's Commentary over Joe Biden

 I'd strongly suggest a read (five minutes required) of Eric Trump's analysis of Joe Biden, and why he might be around for four years.

First, let me suggest this....from the summer of 2019 to December of 2019....Senator Harris's attempt at the Presidential election went from zero to 10 mph.  This is one of the more fascinating things about the campaign that she ran.  In December of 2019...she made the decision to exit because she wasn't gaining on any poll.

These days, if you intend to survive through the first dozen state primaries.....you need attention....connections to the public....and some real cash (probably more than 20 million).  She was more or less.....a '3' if you went by the scale of one to ten, as you approach the first primary.

So you come to the convention and the necessity of picking a VP.  I would imagine that Joe Biden was given a strongly worded direction by the Democratic Party.....the VP choice had to be a black or Latino female.  They might have given him a list of ten possible candidates, and just said....any of them can be the VP.  So Joe might say that he had control, but the truth was.....he had no control.

What Eric Trump writes in his piece is that Joe Biden (with his wife in full agreement)....intends to last out the full four years, and every single action done to give VP Harris 'work-to-do'....is intended to show that she's not capable of doing anything.

As you get to the end of 2021....there's probably going to be a dozen jobs that Harris was taken on, and mostly all failed upon. 

Then Pelosi and company will look at the ease of the 25th Amendment, and dumping Biden.....realizing they have an extremely weak VP to perform executive work.

A wise point?  I have some doubts, but here's the thing.....whatever weakness she showed in 2019 for the primary and campaign period.....has not gone away, and they have a marginal person to take over.

Can President Biden last four full years?  Would everyone in the news media just look the other way for four years, and let 'Uncle Joe' give five or six dementia demonstrations weekly....just letting it go?

'Biden-Kids'

 It's just an odd thing....if you were to buy a gun or open up a day-care center....you'd be required to do a background check.  But if you are connected to the migrant-kid business and providing housing or care for the 'Biden-kids'.....no background check.

I sat and read over this deal, and just pondered....background checks aren't that big of a deal.  Ninety-percent of the general public could probably pass with no effort...other than filling out the form, and waiting a couple of days for this return....successful.

So it doesn't make much sense, unless some of these people yo are dealing with for the 'Biden-kids' are previous jail-guests or had charges in the past.

Really....the more you ponder over this....the more illogical this situation becomes. 

What'll eventually happen?  One of these guys arranging housing or care....will slip up and some news journalist will figure out his past crimes, and then some big event happens to beg the question....who made this decision about skipping background investigations. 

Authorized Human Trafficking

 Is the Biden-team effort to resettle all these migrant 'kids' into US homes.....'human-trafficking'?

I sat and paused over various stories that came out over the weekend.  Various private efforts to be temporary foster-parents have been approached (heavily in California)....to take in these migrant kids.  Most stand there, and eventually ask....isn't this the same as human-trafficking?

My general issue?  Even if you found 3,000 of these families willing to take in four 'kids' each (getting paid by the government for this action)....the majority won't speak the language of the 'kids'.  How this could effectively work?  I have no idea.  

I would regard this as the biggest potential mess that the Biden-team now faces.  Someone in the next month will go to court and probably accuse members of the administration of human-trafficking and it'll be painful to see this play out with the news media. 

What I'd Do About the DC Statehood Chatter

 1.  Individually, state by state....they ought to pass a 3-line legislation piece that says non-federal territory of DC should be returned by the conclusion of 4th of July 2022 to Maryland.  Federal territory will remain the responsibility of the US federal government.

2.  I'd take the non-federal region and split it into three cities: Georgetown (the far west), Columbia City (from Georgetown corner to the river), and Anacostia (everything east of the river).  I'd thank the city council and mayor for their effort, but admit that their failures led to the breakup.

3.  I'd make a federal law that no one except the President and Vice-President may live on federal grounds of the remaining federal district.  

4.  I'd create a two-star general position to be the 'guardian' of the federal district remaining.  You get the job for three years and then move on. 

Observations:

 1.  How fu**ed-up is the new Georgia election law?

Apparently, it hints that to maintain some kind integrity....you can't (as a citizen or Christian)....hand out water or any food...to folks waiting in line.  

By the wording....you could get out of line to receive the cheeseburger, or bottle of water.  You could also get the food or water over in the parking lot....as you get out of the car.  

It just seems like these Republican idiots have gone to make themselves a pretty silly law.  Now, if it'd said no shots of Rum or Jacky D's to be handed out....well, that'd make sense, but water?

2.  Some Minnesota dinner-theater operation cancelled a production of Cinderella....because....well....the whole story and actors in it were too 'white'.

The problem here?  Nutcracker?  Ought to be the same way.  Oklahoma?  Probably the same.  

I got this feeling that musicals and Broadway will die off for two or three years while we get this woke-business out of our head.

3.  The creator and producer of the CBS show 'All Rise'....which is a ultra 'woke' show....was fired for racism this past week.  

4.  This past ten days, I've started watching Trailer Park Boys.  I have to admit....after the first couple of episodes....it's not that bad.  

5.  NBA ratings decline?  Well....after Lebron James was injured, it's an odd thing....some interest just went 'south'.

How Long Will the 25th Amendment Process Take?

 I would imagine that various people within the Biden Administration group have a checklist and writing notes already on Joe Biden's decline.  

Rep Nancy Pelosi probably has a weekly meeting with a special group who go over the public numbers, and the weekly events that he screws up.  They have a date in their mind that they'd like for him to reach before acting on the 25th (my humble guess is the end of 2022).  

If you asked how quick the House/Senate would act?   This process would start on a Monday, with some closed-door episodes, and likely conclude by Wednesday.  Harris would be sworn in very quickly.

Does Harris already a VP choice in her mind?  My guess is that she has three governors on her list, and they've already been interviewed in some fashion.  Just as soon as Biden is dismissed....the name for the new VP will be submitted.  

The speed of this change in government will probably shock a majority of Americans.  

The question of Biden's mental decline?  None of the networks will discuss it after the 25th action is discussed/conducted, and that will shock people as well.

How Big a Deal Was the 1858 Mid-Term?

 Frankly, no one ever talks about this episode.

The Republicans....for the first time ever....got a majority (113 seats).  The Democrats lost 49 seats in the House in this mid-term election of 1858.

Thomas Bocock of Virginia stepped down as House Speaker.  William Pennington of NJ stepped up as the House Speaker (for the Republicans).

For this entire period (January of 1858 to December of 1859)...the Democrats were cornered on every single piece of legislation, and 'doomed'.  

The big state to flip?  Pennsylvania (10 seats lost to the Democrats).  

Even Kentucky was a shocker, with eight of it's ten seats being 'safe' Democratic seats....flipping three of these over to GOP members in 1858.

Tennessee's ten seats?  Seven had been safely held Democratic seats, but in the mid-term election....four were lost....giving it a strong Republican edge in 1858.

So the end of the nation?  It'd already started in 1858....two years before the war. Few today...grasp this election and it's 'wounds' upon the nation. 

The List of Reporters Who Had Insider Questions For Biden

 I sat and reviewed White House Press Conference, these are the reporters with insider questions for President Biden:

Zeke Miller, Associated Press 

Yamiche Alcindor, PBS NewsHour

Seung Min Kim, WaPo

Cecilia Vega, ABC 

Ken Thomas, WSJ

Kristen Welker, NBC 

Nancy Cordes, CBS

Kaitlan Collins, CNN 

Justin Sink, Bloomberg 

Janet Rodriguez, Univision

From the group, you can assume that either they were either handed the questions to ask....or their questions were given to the WH ahead of time to form the answers.  

There's no need to pay attention to their commentary or analysis....they are part of the 'joke'.

What Matters Off the ATF Form 4473?

 Nothing much with questions one through twenty-two....they are fairly standard questions. 

But when you come to the group under question 23....now, you need to pay attention.

For example....it asks you....yes or no....are you buying this for yourself?  It's a plain simple question, but you need to ensure that this is strictly for yourself.

Then there's the question...have you committed a felony...to include your time in the military?  Yes, or no....nothing inbetween.

Are you charged and the cops hunting for you?  Yes, or no.

Are you a user of any drug (to include weed)?  Yes, or no.  If you've been on some crack, and gotten busted two years ago....you need to say 'yes'.   If you got busted for a baggy of weed six weeks ago....you need to say 'yes'.

Do you have a mental defect?  Yes, or no.  If you've been to some clinic and they say you have elements of paranoid schizophrenia?  That would be a mental defect.

So we come to Hunter Biden.  His discharge from the Navy?  Regular discharge, not a dishonorable one.  He simply failed the drug test, and they let him go.  For that episode....he's clear.

When filling out the 4473?  Well....here's the thing, by the admission to the Navy to get the regular discharge....he just admitted he had an issue.  Once he walked in and bought the weapon....filling out the 4473, he had to admit that he had been a cocaine user in the past.  

The fact that he's been a regular cocaine user for probably two decades?  Again, he had to admit that on the 4473, or he did an illegal purchase.

The problem I see here....since the form still exists, and the Secret Service was not successful in getting it from the gun shop (silly boys from the Secret Service)....you got a serious gun violation.

But I would go and ask this question....out of a 17-million 4473's filled out in 2020....how many were screwed-up like this, in a Hunter-fashion?  How many had drug violations or mental health violations?  Five percent?  Ten-percent?  

It's silly to talk over this Hunter Biden case, but it shows the whole discussion going on.  

Yeah, He Was That Stupid

 Kinda funny, photo appeared today.

President Biden had a cheat-sheet with pictures of the reporters to call upon and the ones marked for 'best' questions.

So the prepared list of 'answers'?  They were already known....maybe days....maybe weeks.

You just have to start laughing....it is that stupid, and he probably can't do the job intended.  

The ones not marked....he's probably told NOT to accept questions from them.  

It's about as fake a government as you can get.  

The Biden 'Hour'?

 So the first press conference came and went....an hour's worth.  My three observations:

1.  Journalist-wise, from the dozen or so allowed in the room....it was a 3rd-grader classroom, and everyone hyped to ask only simple questions.  I watched the whole thing once over, and then watched a couple of the journalists in a second review.  I probably have even less respect for White House journalists than I had four years ago.

2.  Notes?  A couple of times....he avoided notes.  But on particular questions....he goes straight to the notes and reads extensively.  It's something that Obama, Trump, Clinton, etc....would never have done.  I would make a guess that 40 percent of the effort involved the notes.

3.  Finally, there's several points where he does the intense (5-star), you-need-to-believe-me sequence, with 99 'ripples' of his forehead in full action.  It was just odd....very intense 'you need to trust me' feature of this press conference.

On rating against press conferences of the past forty-odd years....I'd rate this as an odd event, and if it's repeated like this....it's a joke.  Another one for 2021?  It wouldn't shock me if the next one didn't occur until August (after summer vacation). 

FOOTNOTE: To be honest....there's nothing new that you would have learned via this hour, period.  It's just odd....guy speaks for a full hour, and there's nothing 'new' via his comments.  

FOOTNOTE: There's some point....minute 40 to 45....you can get this 10-second pause where you sense he's tired and not readily focused.  My advice....if he ever wants to do a second episode....limit the chat to twenty to thirty minutes max.

Migrant Story

 Gallup went out and did a survey....to estimate up how many non-Americans around the Caribbean and Latin America would want to pack up and move to the US.

From the 33 countries on the list (remember, this doesn't include Africa, Asia, or the Middle East)....they figure 42-million people are 'interested'.

If you included three other regions (Africa, Asia and the Middle East)?  I would take a humble guess that those three regions would add up to over 150-million.  So you add the 42 and 150 numbers up, and you come close to 192-million.

So the logical question here to ask....just using the 42-million number only....how easy would the group be assimilated into America?

Just looking at the population of South Carolina currently (5.14-million)....they'd probably bump to around 6-million.  

Using Tennessee?  Currently at 6.8-million?  With incoming, they'd come fairly close to 7.5-million.

The fact that most would only settle where real jobs are located?  So you count almost figure Montana and Utah....get almost no bump-up.  States like Texas or California?  They'd likely get seven to ten million new residents each.  

Are there even homes or jobs for a 'bump-up'?  No....if you sit and think about it....neither exist in the numbers required.

The fact that tens of thousands of Africans are viewing Twitter or Facebook daily, and seeing encouraging news of migrants from Peru making their way into Mexico, and to the border?  

The crew around Biden really don't grasp or understand the depth of this issue and how far they can turn this into a deep pit.

So, it's just something to ponder and wonder about.  When 2024 comes around....just how big a mess will migration be, and how angry will the public be at that point?

Then you come to this one problem....what if the others (the Africans for example) find a way to get a freighter seat and land somewhere in Honduras or Costa Rica?

Baltimore

 For the past month, I've been following the woes of the Baltimore city school system, and how crapped-out it's become.  So I'm going to lay out what really happened and why it's 'unsolvable'. 

After Baltimore emerged from WW II....around 1950....they were at the peak of population and economics.  As the 1960s arrived....over a ten-year period (ending at 1970), they'd lost around 4-percent of the population.  

By 1980, urban decay had started to arrive....roughly 13-to-14 percent of the city left.  At this point, from 1980....the decline of the school system started up.  Part of this is due to the population shift....neighborhoods in decline....tax revenue is a freefall....and everyone trying to do, with less.  I should mention this as well....cocaine arrived in the 1980s.

The teacher's union....whether grasping this or not....were recruiting and hiring teachers with addiction problems.  The quality slipped.

By the 1990s....the older generation teachers were aware of the discipline problems....the poorer quality teachers coming in....student behavior crapped-out, and lax standards.

In this era...you marginally educated a kid, and at the end of the year....even if he was only 70-percent ready for the 5th grade....you passed him anyway.  The next year....that same kid was passed to 6th grade....probably only 60-percent ready for the requirements.  

In twenty years, even if you recruited 4-star teachers (young and out of college)....it only takes two to three years for the teacher to realize the false atmosphere that exists.  At that point, you submit your papers, and leave (quietly).

If you look around the landscape....probably half the kids from Baltimore who are at age 15....probably have the school level of a 5th grade kid. At best....at age 18....they might be at the level of the 7th grade.  

Resolving this?  What can you do with a 16 year old kid who is four to five years behind the level he should be at?  The bulk of teachers in the city for this job?  You'd have to fire all of them and start from scratch....mandating weekly drug tests.  

My gut feeling...it's not worth resolving.  If you were a parent with a 5 year old kid....the best thing to do is leave the city....don't look back.  

New Border-Problem 'Fixer'?

 Yesterday, without a lot of words....President Biden appointed VP Harris to head the border-crisis effort. The press wanted to ask questions but were shuffled out of the situation.

Harris?  The crisis?

First, the entire crisis revolves around three key issues: (1) migrants believe the border is totally open and Biden won't shut it down to them crossing, (2) more than any point in the past fifty years, juvenile migrants are crossing....which the border patrol guys are marginally created to handle this type of situation, and (3) surrounding states of the border region don't want this issue to linger and get bigger.

Second, the resume of Harris for jobs like this?  Non-existent.  She's not a deals-person.  She's never managed a crisis of sizeable proportion.  And she does not have the means to say that the border will be upgraded and shutdown for illegal crossings.  So, other than photo opportunities, and casual chats with the government of Mexico....I don't think much of anything will occur.

Third, and this is the blunt 'truth'....Harris has about 30 days to deal with this and get the numbers down.  By May, warm weather will start up, and the current crossings will probably double.  

Footnote: I read this morning some PhD guys studied things in Central America, and they say around 42-million residents want to cross the border.  If this group number is true....Biden is probably looking at a five-star mess, and it'll burn through all of his 'must-do' lists.  The mere suggestion that you might have 1.5-million migrants arrive in California over the next 18 months....should scare a fair number of people.  Course....250k new migrant residents for Alabama might scare a few folks.  

What Happens When Trump's Social Media Device is Delivered?

 Over the past two months, I've spent a fair amount of time pondering this question....so I have three observations:

1.  Out of 70-million voters....I would imagine that forty-million minimum....will have accounts within a hundred days of opening up.  Even from overseas....there might be another ten-million minimum.

2.  Will these Trumpsters (my name for members) keep  their Facebook and Twitter account?  Probably.  But instead of browsing forty times a week each over at Facebook and Twitter....you will see a remarkable decline in users/viewers at Trumpster use of Facebook/Twitter.  In my mind, they are giving up around 10-percent of their 2021 traffic business.  In 2022, it might double that.

3.  If Facebook and Twitter appear to only have liberal viewers?  Well, this invites a unique problem....that they are one-sided on political views, and it's likely to hurt the 2022 business cycle for them.  

At some point, AI (artificial intelligence) will have a meeting with the leadership of Facebook and Twitter....noting that there is no opposite view-point to their 'product', and then ask....do you want us to create fake news to improve the viewership?  

You can imagine this chat with the AI system....who has figured out that business is down and you need to bring customers back.  Zuckerberg will be standing there....mostly laughing over AI being this smart, and telling AI to just shut up and carry out a one-sided business plan situation.  

As for Biden and team for 2022's election?  Maybe he'll sign up as a Trumpster member....in order to read the critique of his 'team'.  Doctor Jill won't be happy over that.  

The Thing About Burning Books

 It's just an odd thing you notice....countries or societies that burn or ban books....usually go through a collapse period, a revolution, or some dramatic coup d-etat.  It's like a 99-percent chance that something clicks, and you wake up a year or two later....in utter shock over the missing 'government'.   

My Worst Ever Accommodations

 If you count out the camping experience during a tornado 'alert' in Alabama....then you come to this seven-day deployment to Honduras for an exercise.  

The Air Force, in the mid-80s....had sent me to Honduras to play out some headquarters exercise.  They dumped us at some tent-city....the old fashion canvas tents that were still of the Vietnam era quality.

The mosquito netting?  Non-existent.

Next to some snaky-looking terrain?  Well...about sixty feet away.

Daily temperature?  Near 95 degrees and 70-percent humidity. 

Warnings about spiders and such?  Yeah.

I was among the 'lucky' ones....another hundred-odd guys had arrived five weeks prior to set the entire camp up, and their enthusiasm by the 5th week was marginally around non-existent.

The minute the exercise broke up....we got our bags, ran to the airfield and in two hours....were aboard some cargo plane going back home.  

So I kinda look over the photos of this migration-kid's center in Texas, and see a pretty nifty deal.  No mosquitos apparently.  No snakes.  No spiders.  AC apparently in use.  Three meals a day.  

I don't really see much negative over the conditions.  

Why Alabamians Get into Dear Abby or Dear Ann Landers

 Most Alabamians, after getting through the front-page, and local murders....usually go straight to the Dear Abby or Dear Ann Landers section.  It could be a seven-page description of some problem with a guy and his ex-girlfriend....the in-law troubles...the loser cousin who has confessed to 300-odd sins since age sixteen....the torrid love affair with Thai lady down at the garden shop, or the break-up of a forty-year marriage.  

It's just that we look for juicy gossip that go beyond our house, or family.

If you were to wander into a barbershop around 8 AM....there's odds that the barber will bring up the latest story, and want to chat for three hours about some guy who got into a sizzling affair with the local Baptist minister's wife.  

Part of this issue is that we live pretty routine and boring lives.  Occasionally, the transmission fails....sometimes, the neighbor comes over to chat over their cousin in state-prison...now and then, the mail-man comes by and you chat with him over food poisoning affair at the local grill....off and on, the UPS guy stops and gives you a two-minute update on his ex-wife who ran off to Orlando to hook up with a Micky Mouse-actor.  

So the Dar Abby thing gives us hope that wild things are just around the corner....it could happen to us.  Any day now....some new gal might show up at the gas station and give us the double-wink then walk over to introduce herself to you....telling you her name is Alessandra or Chantel.  Or maybe some Italian guy moves two houses down, and mows his yard in skimpy shorts....attracting a dozen local gals to come over and offer up some ice tea.  

Observations

 1.  This idea that Psaki speaking at the White House Press Conference is clueless over the border chaos?

Well...it's simply an indicator that everyone around the President is also clueless, and instead of sixteen cooks in the kitchen.....you have no cooks in the kitchen, and mostly sixteen people standing at the door....swearing they can smell some baking or burning going on.

2.  This comment by Psaki speaking at the White House Press Conference that she cannot admit or deny Biden saw a doctor after his fall on the plane steps?

Well...if you admit he saw a doctor, and there's some serious bruises or cuts involved.....then folks will ask more questions.  So it's best to act foolish and say you don't know much of anything.

3.  Why is Biden carrying the Trump-position on the German-Russian Nord Stream pipeline deal?

There are two pipelines....one exists completely...having been put up in the 1970s and runs via Ukraine (which they get to siphon off a bit of this).  The other is the new one being constructed via the Baltic Sea (missing the Ukraine entirely).

Biden doesn't want the second pipeline done.....because if that happens....the Ukraine connection drops entirely.  Remember.....who did Hunter work for....oh yeah, the Ukraine crowd.  

4.  Joe Biden saying yesterday that he intends to visit the southern border 'sometime'?

I wouldn't get excited.  It'll probably be some point in California, and 12 minutes on the ground.  A couple of migrant kids will hug Joe and ask him for his autograph, and then Joe will make a 3-minute speech....leaving shortly after that.

5.  Prince Harry and wife Meghan....now admit that 'secret' wedding they discussed with Oprah.....never really occurred.

What's the deal?  There was a wedding rehearsal and Meghan was in some mindset that this was a 'secret' ceremony and they were married at this event, and not three days later at the real event.  

Yeah, it's pretty crazy, and it just makes you wonder if she was on some medication and 'out-of-it'.  

Observations

 1.  Is the Biden-border fiasco a planned event?  

No.  I realize that forty-odd political analysts are suggesting that Biden's team planned this whole thing out.  But I think what you had were incompetent idiots who rose to be Biden-team members, and just weren't qualified for the work required.

As for this getting worse?  Once spring-weather pops up....this problem will double in size, and probably start to require the National Guard to be placed in some support function.

2.  Was this Biden stumble-and-fall going up the steps of Air Force One a big deal?

No.  However, had the steps been wet...he would have tripped up....rolling step after step downward, and been a bloody mess by the time he got to the bottom of the steps.  

3.  Odds of this Chauvin case being tried in Minneapolis (Floyd case)?

I'd say it's near 10-percent staying there in Minneapolis, and the judges probably agree that it's a easy case to challenge in the appeals court later (if he were convicted of anything).  

4.  A Biden-Wuhan connection?

Well, it's just odd....there's this WHO Corona-researcher (fully employed by them), who has worked at the Wuhan facility, and appears to have donated to the Biden campaign....70 times.  Yeah, it's just a bit odd.  Maybe if he'd donated just once or twice....it'd be just a regular thing to ponder upon. 

Talking Taxes

 Somewhere around 2.5 years into the FDR era....the President came came up and got the Revenue Act of 1935 passed via the House and Senate (30 Aug 1935).

The basic background of the act?  It raised the federal income tax on high income wage earners....taking up to 75-percent of the highest income earners. 

Unofficially?  It was always worded as the wealth tax.

A year later, the Revenue Act of 1936 occurred....aimed at corporations, instead of people.

The CATO Institute does a good job of telling the effects of the two acts, and I strongly recommend a read (it's a good 30 to 40 minute read).

Generally, because of the increased taxes....you come to three obvious occurrences:

1.  Risky ventures are cut to the bone, and you see this effect for several years.

2.  There is some suggestion that two separate depressions occurred....one owing itself to Wall Street crisis, and the other coming later with the tax acts being passed.

3.  People often miss the point that Hoover himself.....had a tax increase deal done in 1932, and probably did more to harm goods and services....rather than individual income itself.  

The general problem with major tax increases...is that you end up funding governmental programs which tend to show little to no success in helping the common 'little-guy' on the street.  A bunch of middle people carve off their chunk of the loot, and you just sit there....mostly amazed....that so much loot was grabbed, and your take was next to nothing. 

Three General Rules of an Insurrection

 Rule 1:  There are two elements of the dividing line.  One element is generally a governmental authority.  The other element is the anti-governmental authority.  If you have a situation where neither 'authority' represents a government, then it's not really an insurrection. 

Rule 2: Both 'authorities' have to have guns or weapons.  If you have an insurrection going on, and ONLY one side has guns/weapons....it's clearly not an insurrection.

Rule 3: Typically, in 99-percent of all past rebellions or insurrections held in the US....the news media has generally talked at length about the antigovernmental authority and given them a lot of positive coverage.  If you have a case where more than half of the news media is talking really positive over the governmental side....then it's a pretty high chance that this is not an insurrection.  

This Arizona Hand-Recount of the 2.1-Million Absentee Ballots

 The state senate of Arizona ordered the hand-recount.  I will make four observations over this effort.

1.  I expect some state judge to attempt to halt the recount, but the state senate is within it's authority to do this.

2.  Even it you had 25 individuals doing this....I see this taking a minimum of three weeks.

3.  The odds that there will be 100-vote difference between the hand-recount and the machine-count?  Under normal conditions....I would take a guess that it'd be fewer than 100 votes of difference.

4.  If there is a 10,000 vote difference?  Well....it shifts into a fairly serious situation, and would invite a lot of people to look  over the other four states (Georgia, Michigan, Penn, and Wisconsin).

So I'll just offer this assessment....once done and if serious differences exist....the whole computer voting business will slip into a deep pit of distrust.  If there is only a 100-odd votes of difference....things can continue on with no real problems.  

There is this other odd situation....if there is 10,000 or so votes of difference....what about the Senate race?  The Democratic guy running for Senator won only by 2-percent.  A  recount changing this outcome?  Just makes you wonder. 

Can Artificial Intelligence Be Programmed to Grasp Sarcasm or Cynicism?

 Over the past week, I read a couple of pieces over AI and the problem of getting it 'trained' to recognize cynicism or sarcasm.  A fair number of code-people or programmers.....will admit it's going to be nearly impossible to teach some system to recognize these human features.  One individual even admitted that getting humans to readily recognize sarcasm is pretty difficult.  

You can go back 2,000 years and find that the Greeks were fairly into sarcasm.  They recognized it's values, and potential.

The same story can be said over the Romans, and their use of cynicism.

In recent years, I'd say our general weekly use of both traits have doubled-up.  We use these almost routinely now.

So I drift back to AI and ask the question....if you can't train AI to recognize these situations, how can AI take over our lives?  

Biden and the Two-Foot Wall

 Right now....President Biden needs two to three months of absolute silence on people crossing the border.  He needs the networks to shutdown on the topic.  He needs zero questions posed at the White House press conference.  He needs the radio people to just shut up on the situation.

For better or worse, the US has a two-foot wall, and even a horse could jump it and head off into Texas if he felt like it. 

The fact that we are only in mid-March, with warmer weather coming?  It wouldn't surprise me by mid-May if you had forty-thousand every two days crossing the border...with a quarter of them juveniles.

How the border patrol would handle this, or the juveniles?  Unknown.

The idea that ABC news or the Washington Post would just fail to cover the story?  The idea that the AP would just skip telling the story?  

So that's the whole bulk of this 'opera'....it needs silence, to the maximum degree.  There ought to be Greyhound buses waiting there at the border and quickly disperse the migrants within minutes after they cross....to keep this all silent. 

Baizuo Isn't a Kind Descriptive Word

 If you hang around Chinese folks.....and they get asked to describe Americans...somewhere in the description will be the Chinese word 'baizuo'.

The literal translation?  'Blessed mother'.

It's a 5-star sarcastic term to show people of opinions or emotions....lacking empathy and mostly promoting one's self of selflessness.

Around a decade ago, it started to be thrown around....mostly pointed at fakeness  or the lack of morality within western media (bluntly pointed at Twitter and Facebook).

All of this leads to destructive behavior naturally....where you might destroy a 20-year friendship with a school-friend, or dissolve a 10-year marriage, or screw over some church members because they didn't follow your preferred social doctrine. 

So here's the thing....all the way up and down Chinese levels....they perceive this same behavioral problem.  They don't respect you for it, and they certain won't sit at a table and let you dish out fake chatter leading back to baizuo.  You saw that this week with the Chinese folks invited to a discussion with the State Department idiots in Alaska.  

The key problem here....once they assign you with the tag of baizuo....you are regarded as naive and stupid....a country bumpkin.  It doesn't matter what you degree you profess, or if you carry a PhD level on your shoulder....your respect is chopped off.  You are in their mind....a fifth-grade kid.

So the LGBT stuff, the hyper behavior about refugees, the BLM chatter?  Yes, it all leads back to baizuo.  

The 2020 election?  The arrival of the Biden-team?  The Twitter idiots?  The Washington Post marginalized news?  The Greta crowd?  Baizuo.  

Divorce Story

 The problem here....you really don't know how much is true, and how much is fake.

China says....at least from the Wuhan City numbers.....that sixty percent of the folks who did have divorce paperwork generated in January of 2021.....decided something 'clicked' and dumped the paperwork....(staying with their perceived loser-husband or loser-wife).

So, this odd thing occurred.....China made up this law that said when you file for a divorce, you have to go through a 60-day cooling-off period.

During this cooling-off period, you have to go to marriage counseling, period.  No waivers....no exemptions.

So they say in Wuhan, in January of this year....just over 3,000 couple filed for divorce.  

It should have been final in March.

Just over 1,300 went final in March.  The rest?  The situations were dropped.

Now, it would be interesting to gather up the 1,700 couples who dissolved the paperwork to divorce, and ask some more direct questions.  But no one went that far.

Current Impressions of Ten People

 1/2: Prince Harry and Meghan.  I see two no-talent people who need to be given a clear job....like caretakers of a camp-ground, or mattress sales shop, or running a dog-grooming shop.  They need real work to keep themselves occupied.  I'd also suggest that Harry take up drinking to lessen his stress levels.  

3.  Pelosi.  I doubt that she's ever gone a day in thirty years without three cocktails.  At her weight-level, 95 pounds....that's about two cocktails too many.

4.  Kanye West is living the American dream, and doing something right.  He is supposedly the richest black guy in America now....even if he is 50-percent crazy.

5.  This Psaki gal who is the White House press-person....is probably the most miserable member of the Biden-team.  I actually feel sorry for her as she grapples around with questions each day.

6.  I don't think the current governor of California (Newsom) has the qualifications to even run a sports bar or muffler shop. 

7.  I think Joe Biden is the best spokesperson for the NRA ever....all he has to do is stand and make a 60-second comment, and tomorrow.....40k guns will be sold across America.

8.  I think Putin could actually arrive in California, and within six weeks....convince more than half the state that he deserves a chance as governor of California.  

9.  I think this Marvel Comics effort to 'remake' Captain America into some gay activist....will last for about six months, and then they will admit the humiliation comments by readers is way too much.  A two-year silence on Captain America will then occur.

10.  I think Brian Stelter of CNN needs a year off, and probably is suffering from PTTS (Post-Traumatic-Trump-Syndrome).  I know of an excellent hotel down in Florida where he could recover.  

Just an Odd Point

 With the George Floyd case about to start up....one curious point.

If you go back six years ago...way before Floyd’s death...the club that the accused cop worked at...had this reputation as a money-laundering operation. What was said in 2015, on some bust of the club...Mexican drug-cartel members were active and this was their operation. 

I think if you asked the question, where did this counterfeit $20-bill come from that triggered the call from the grocery that morning, it’d open up a lot more discussions about the club connection. I don’t think Chauvin wants to open that discussion. 

My humble guess is that when Chauvin got the call to go over to the grocery about a counterfeit $20 situation...then came to face Floyd, this was a totally messed-up situation. This was all going to come back to the El Nuevo Ranch Club, and it’s ‘owners’. 

One other thing to bring up. Floyd had only worked at the club for roughly a year. He’d been brought in as a bouncer for ‘black-events’, and stayed on. Chauvin? He’d been there for 17 years. Even after the money-laundering business in 2015...he never left.  You would think that the police department would have gazed over at this part-time job business and told Chauvin....isn't it odd that you'd been employed at a money-laundering operation....for several years?  Yet, no one says anything?

Decline

 I'd like to strongly encourage folks to watch this 7-minute video of Patrick Bet-David having a discussion with Adam Stokes on the topic of the decline of America.

The point here that Patrick makes....the nation is headed toward a messy situation where people expect 'X' and the mechanism we are built upon....simply can't deliver 'X'.

If you gaze around at kids finishing college, and having a debt of $80k over student loans....things are pretty screwed up.

If you gaze around California and look at restaurants and pubs shutdown, with dismal recovery in the works....things are screwed up.

If you gaze at President Biden's tax chatter....things are pretty screwed up.

If you look at the hotel and airline industry, things are screwed up.

I would suggest for the next three or four years....it's a pretty dark period to emerge, and our patience will be tested to last the period.  

A Little Story

 Somewhere around the ninth-grade, I picked up Mary Shelly's book 'Frankenstein'.  After finishing it....I sat for about a week...off and on, thinking over the writing, the story, the good doctor's efforts, and the conclusion.

There's one single bit over the book and Shelly, that I didn't realize until the 1990s when reading through an article.  The book goes back to 1818.  A British gal....Shelly, then roughly 21 years....had a 'contest' brewing between her boyfriend (Shelley), and his buddy (Lord Byron).  

The 'contest'?  Who could write the better horror story?  During the contest period, she was traveling through Germany, and was in the region of the Odenwald Forest, near Darmstadt. Something 'clicked'.  

Amusingly enough....no one rarely mentions the two guys in this contest or what they wrote as a 'horror' story.  What Lord Byron attempted to write, was 'Fragment of a Novel', which was supposed to be a vampire story....but the manuscript was never finished.  As for Percy Shelly?  He made an effort but never got anywhere on the story business (remember, he was a poet at heart).

What can be said about the German landscape and Darmstadt?  This was the period where the Brothers Grimm were busy, and there were literally millions of tales or home-spun stories which were being told at pubs and homes.  Some were about enchanted women....some about demons....some about magical unicorns, and some related to crazed beasts.  

It was an era where travel was going on....a lot more people were engaged in idle chatter in roadside inns in the evening hours, and they were sharing stories they'd heard weeks or months prior.  Yes of course....a bit of booze probably helped to relax the mind, and the story being told was probably more 'gripping'.

The end result with 'Frankenstein'?  No matter how good the doctor's intent was....what emerged was some creature that could not be controlled or guided.  From the moment of creation....the creature was absolutely a threat.  Consequences?  You could write an entire book over this story, and the consequences that were laid out.  

It's an odd challenge that was laid out, and you to wonder.....why get into a competition about scary horror things?  Why not write a romance piece, or some unsolvable murder?  So this is the consequence of that one single evening....the challenge over a year to lead onto the creation of 'Frankenstein'.  

News

 I tried to watch forty-five minutes of CNN news yesterday.

Before November of 2020....you could make the case that vast majority of a one-hour show was a majority of some roundtable effort (five folks) whipping President Trump as much as possible.  There might have been five minutes talking over some climate disaster in Thailand, some Russian passenger jet crashing, and maybe some mention of pythons being found in the Everglades.....but it was mostly the anti-Trump hour.

So yesterday?  Some brief mention of Brazil President Lula being freed-up (out of prison).  Another mention of this Tanzanian President having died from Covid-19 (he had done daily presentations to the public to pray for people to recover).  There was some mention of Wall Street worry over inflation.  And some chatter of President Biden hyping that the government is part of the long-term solution to the virus.

To be blunt, watching CNN now (compared against summer of 2020) is like taking some antidepressants or watching it while have a four-star flu (feeling like it's running at three-quarters speed).

At the end of 45 minutes.....I hit the Netflix button, and watched two episode of Trailer-Park Boys.  It brought me back to life.   

I'm not going to dump a lot of criticism over CNN (they probably deserve it)....but the idea that there's plenty of news to get you hyped-up over a day?  That suggestion is a joke.  

I would imagine that several CNN folks quietly now wish that Trump was still around, and drilling down into the enthusiasm every single day.  

Trees Discussion

 This morning, I watched a 14-minute discussion via DarkHorse Podcasts (off YouTube)....with two PhD folks, and the topic was this new science study which says....trees are beneficial not only to your status in life, but to your mental positive feelings as well.

I would strongly recommend a viewing of it, and you might want to sit for a while and ponder over this.  

Weird study?  I would suggest that, but I don't think they were expecting the outcome to be this way.

A stamp of positive words over trees?  No.  It really invites more study, and probably gathering up 5k people....some who live in treeless communities and some living in rural areas surrounded by trees.

As a kid....I had a fascination with trees because of the four seasons and how trees were revolving calendar.  Around October, you had the yearly leaf raking....to the end of the yard, and then a fire on a windless day....to burn the leaves away.  Course today....folks get real hyped up if you do something like that.

In my late 30s....I spent a couple of years living in Tucson, Arizona.  To put it mildly.....it's the most treeless place that you can live.  Every couple of months, we'd drive up the mountainside....to the 'peak', where everything was covered with pine trees.  I always came back from this six-hour trip....charged up and feeling more positive.  

Something to this trees thing relating to positive feelings?  It wouldn't shock me at all.

The Interview

 I sat and watched the three clips of George Stephanopoulos doing the interview with President Biden.  

So I'll make four observations:

1.  George does lead off and ask the big question of the border chaos, and what you get is a marginal two-star couple of minutes of explanation.  There is no follow-up....no challenges....no in-depth discussion.  On the part of Stephanopoulos, I'd give him marginal scores how this was handled.

2.  The five minutes on the legislative agenda?  It's nifty talk and showing some path to the future.  Beyond that?  Getting any of it passed is a big question-mark.  

3.  On wit and cognitive skills....nothing stands out.  I admit....it did seem rehearsed to some degree, but at no point did Joe's wife have to step in to halt the interview.

4. Finally, if you brought out 'hyped-up' or 'thrilling'.....comparing against President Obama or President Clinton....Biden just doesn't rack up or compare at this point in his life to Obama or Clinton.  Look, folks didn't really vote for him to be the savior-President....he's just some replacement in their mind to President Trump.  That's the sales pitch....the reason you accept a 24-year-old car with 300k miles on it....because you have literally no real choices.

How long before the next interview?  I would make a humble guess that you won't see this type of interview done again until the summer vacation period comes up.  

Watching Video

I sat last night and watched raw video from the Texas border....around six minutes worth....with migrant 'kids' who've crossed the border.

So three things really stand out.  For each female you see (teenage female)....there's probably twelve male migrant 'kids'.  For male 'kid' age?  I'd put the bulk of males at ages fourteen to sixteen.  Finally....at least three 'kids' from this video collection...I'd put at age six to eight.  

A magnificent mess?  

You go and listen to the PhD guys do the numbers and they generally believe between now and the end of the year.....between 175k and 200k 'youths' will arrive at the border.  The Biden policy?  They won't be sent home.

So then you ask....how do you handle this?

My humble guess/scenario?

You go to one-hundred-odd communities around the US, and approach the city-child-services organization....more or less....stating that you will dump kids at their door-step.

In the beginning, it'll be a busload of sixty kids that they dump. A city like SF will hype up their acceptance, and the SF child-services agency will demand around $50,000 a year per kid....to cover maintenance, housing, food, medical care, English tutoring, and school costs.  

A month later (April)....another sixty passenger bus arrives.  The cost factor moves up a notch....$55k a year.  

A month later (May)....another sixty passenger bus arrives.  SF child-services now admit a problem in managing the young males (13-to-17 years old).  They admit that a quarter of their in-home managers have quit because of intimidation or threats. They up the cost factor to $65k a year.

A month later (June)....three sixty passenger buses arrive.  SF child-services is now in crisis mode and admitting that thirty of the 'kids' from the original bus have disappeared.  They also admit that five of the 'kids' are in juvenile detention, and legal help is costly.  They tell the US government (the Biden administration) that the new cost level is $95k a year.  

A month later (July)....nine sixty passenger buses arrive.  SF child-service has reached maximum crisis level and admitting that they have lost track of 150 of the kids delivered since March.  The new rate of cost?  It's reaching upwards to $125k per kid, per year.

Journalists in August from various bay area news outlets are now asking if the crisis can ever be brought under control.  

The mayor and city council by November...reach a stage where they tell the Biden administration that they've hit maximum capacity, and they want roughly $300k per year.  

That's just one single town on one single scenario.  Multiply it by 100.  

Fake

 Glenn Greenwald wrote a piece today.....where he's judging a number of news outlets that have created 'fact-checkers'.

So Glenn went and suggested that various fact-checkers are just stamping various stories as fact, with little to no research.  So they go and spread around a story....claiming such-and-such news source told some factual story, then weeks and months later....the 'facts' on the table area deemed 'fake'.  

You stand there....not only was the original source fraud....but the fact-checkers stamped once-over, and made it a second time fraud.

Added to this issue....part of the facts (originally made up)....were passed out via the FBI, State Department or CIA....which were fraudulent as well. Three times over....fake.

So you stand there....the consumer, and after forty-odd times of being faked-out, you start to wonder....on a weekly basis, how much is fraud?  Ten-percent?  Thirty-percent?  Fifty-percent?

At some point, you just give up, and avoid reading these sources (like WaPo or NY Times).  

A society that has limited or marginal trust?  The same society is dependent upon democracy to work, but it can't function in this type of circumstance?

It's like some fake reality show now.  

Seven-Line Resume Story

 I sat and watched a news piece today that chatted on Meghan Markle's position in life.  Then I went looking for her background for the past 15 years (the resume, as I would call it).

The degree?  Double major situation: theater and international studies.  The hope that this would lead onto the State Department?  You have to test for their foreign officer situation....that didn't work out for her with the end-score.

A couple of years as a bookbinder instructor?

First real acting job?  A one-day job as a nurse on General Hospital. 

A couple of minor roles with The War at Home (2006) and CSI: New York (2006).

A couple of modeling jobs.

A brief stint as a "briefcase girl" on Deal or No Deal.

Then a remarkable year or two with the show 'Suits'. 

Beyond that?  Pretty marginal.

I often talk about people who attempt to impress you....with a seven-line resume.  You keep going back to the resume and trying to figure out how they got this far in life off seven lines.  She's one of those people.

Oscars Chatter

 In the last couple of days....the movies nominated for the 2021 Oscar situation came out on a list.

I looked at the group...it's just an odd list.

The only movie that I've seen?  "Mank".  I'd describe as a 1940s type story...done in black and white, and went straight to Netflix.  It's a nice period piece but as for Oscar-type material?  No.

The rest?  I've seen previews.

You come to “The Father”.  Basically, a 80-year guy (Anthony Hopkins) who is in decline from dementia.  It's not exactly a movie that the bulk of folks would pay $15 for an evening seat at the theater to see.

Then you come to  “Judas and the Black Messiah”....a historical piece over the 1960s and the Illinois Black Panther group.  Maybe if you were into political intrigue and Black Panthers....you might have spent $15 for a seat....otherwise, no.

"Nomadland"?  I've watched the preview to this at least four times.  Basically, some lady who wants to be alone, and goes off to some Montana-like setting....discovering she has no real talents for the situation.  A $15 ticket?  No.  

“Minari”?  Some South Koran couple has immigrated into the US with high expectations, and fairly challenged.  The thing with this preview I watched....if you remember Glenn from Walking Dead....he's the key figure in the movie, and from the preview....he does a 5-star job.  Asking myself....would I pay $15 to go watch a movie like this?  It's questionable.  

“Promising Young Woman”?  It's advertised as a 'black-comedy' revolving around a rape and revenge.  So the humor part to this story is missing for some reason.  Worth $15 for a ticket?  I just don't see it.

“Sound of Metal”?  Upon completion, went to Amazon.  Basically the story of a drummer going deaf, and his complications of accepting this.  $15 ticket material?  Well....no, but it might be worth watching via Amazon Prime.

“The Trial of the Chicago 7″? Upon completion, went to Netflix.  Historical piece from 1968.  Worth a $15 ticket?  No, but maybe worth watching via Netflix.

Lousy year?  Part of the blame is Covid-19, and the other half being some desire to have social messages/brands to make movies over.

Viewers for the Oscars?  I'll predict at least ten-percent fewer viewers than in 2020.  The studios?  They are in trouble....with the public and with theaters.  

Chicago

 I sat and looked over reporting in Chicago from yesterday.

On Sunday morning....around 4:40 AM....something occurred (cops still aren't that sure of the event).

When the smoke had cleared....15 folks at what was described as a party....were wounded by gun-shots.  Ages?  Ranging rom 20 to 44 years old.

Two folks would be 'stamped' dead at the scene.  

People talking?  Not really.

Booze and drugs compromising people's perceptions or behavior?  Well....the police won't suggest that....but you have to wonder with this party getting near 5 AM.

If I were mayor....I'd toy with the idea of starting a city curfew for 11 PM, and putting violators into jail for 90 days.  I'd also start stopping drivers after 9 PM....testing them for alcohol and drugs.  

Ending of Castaway

 One of the top dozen movies on my 'must-watch' list (I've probably watched it at least ten times)....is Castaway (2000) with Tom Hanks.

My problem with the movie?  It comes up in the final two minutes of the movie, where 'Chuck' has lost his relationship upon returning to civilization, and has delivered the remaining box from the island adventure to this house in the rural regions of Texas.  

He's laid the box at the door, with a note.  Then he goes a mile or two down the road where he hits the intersection and debating his path remaining in life.  The artist lady who made this item stops and has a forty second description of paths (north, south, east and west)....telling Chuck where each leads him.

She climbs into the truck, does a angel-like grin, and drives home.

Chuck spends the next 30 seconds debating his path.....then the screen darkens. 

I kinda wished that Chuck had slapped his head....realizing the right path, and the final scene being him on the front porch of the artist-lady....sipping an ice-tea....and chatting over music from ZZ Top, episodes of Bonanza with 'Adam', and sharing favorite Bible-quotes from the Old Testament (sarcastically spoken of course).  

So with the sun setting....Chuck and artsy-lady chatting....things would have been made right.  

Instead, you are just left wondering....did Chuck drive back to visit the artsy-lady or did he get confused....driving off to the west coast?  

Migrant Chatter

 Most of the news networks are avoiding the topic, but if you gaze at the numbers over the past month....there's a massive number of migrant and immigrants caught near the border of the US, and being held in some way.

Covid-19 testing?  Well....there is some policy in place to test everyone they 'capture'.   Big mistake in my humble opinion.

If these folks are 'positive', then how is the quarantine program supposed to work?  If this were Michigan, NY state, or California....they'd expect absolute obedience with quarantine, but these folks are homeless.  

I'm going to predict over the next month....this turns into a five-star mess and some National Guard element will be activated by President Biden to build border quarantine stations, and temporarily run them.  

Calling FEMA Into a Mess

 For those who haven't noticed....along the border, in the past month....there's a new crisis brewing....migrant children arriving in massive numbers and the Border Patrol guys in dire need of help.

So the Homeland Security folks got a order (apparently from President Biden)....yesterday.  It was handed down to FEMA (your Federal Emergency Management Agency).

Normally, they handle floods, hurricanes and earthquakes.

This order basically says “to help receive, shelter and transport the children" over the next three months. 

Lot of journalists this morning are scratching their heads and trying to figure out what this means.  The directive given?  Provide some type of medical care, water, shelter and food.

So, here's the way that FEMA typically works.  They have people who carry credit cards and the ability to write non-compete contracts on the spot.  We aren't talking about the expenditure of a thousand or ten-thousand dollars.  They could walk out at 7 AM and spend half-a-million by lunch.  By 10 PM, as they enter the hotel room....they might have spent ten-million dollars. 

Poor oversight and misuse?  Well....yeah.

But at this point, the Biden team is desperate because of the huge number of migrant kids crossing the border.  

How will FEMA handle this?  

If the Border Patrol says they have 500 kids more than their shelter will handle....the FEMA lady will find someone who owns a hotel, and rent the entire structure.  Need child-patrol folks to supervise the kids?  The FEMA lady will find some group who will supply fifty folks around the clock to supervise and manage the kids.

If the Border Patrol needs 3,000 breakfast trays?  The FEMA guy will find a catering group to deliver the 3k trays.  A juice, an apple, a ultra-muffin, and candy bar.  

If the Border Patrol needs a on-site medical staff of fifteen folks....around the clock?  FEMA will find some clinic that hires out and sells their services (even if they exist in Idaho, and need to be in Texas in 24 hours).

Tens of millions to be spent weekly....over five to ten thousand migrant kids?  Yeah, and after three months of this....the expense report will be handed to the Biden team....to be utterly shocked over.  

If you wanted a five-star scandal for the 2022 election, this is the beginning of that effort.  

Math Being Racist?

 Around 2,600 years ago....the Greeks woke up and did something that no one really expected...they invented math.

They, more or less, said that space, structure, quantity, and whatever is left over (the change or difference)...mattered.

Maybe other cultures had suggested this, but the Greeks sat down and defined the path ahead.

In their mind, predictions were now possible.  You could define a garden and suggest the potential coming from the fruits.  You could define a barrel of wine, and suggest a price to that barrel, or your entire production cycle for the year.

Around 2,000 years prior to this....the Egyptians had dabbled in the 'art' (mostly for construction purposes)....it was the Greeks who took it entirely to the next level and finding formulas for just about every single situation. 

I reviewed this whole history discussion, and the recent garbage going on about math being racist.  The Greeks defined math as a simple tool to explain facts.  Without facts....you don't have much to really gauge reality upon.

So this chatter in the past month....that math might be racist?  It's hard to imagine someone starting a fake agenda like this, and thinking it'd lead anywhere.  

The heart of this racist argument?  Well...in inner city schools....kids are crapping out on math skills.  You might have a 18-year old kid in front of you....who can basically do third-grade math, and that's the reality of poor schools existing now.  So you have people standing around and suggesting that maybe math doesn't matter as a skill.

Dropping math entirely?  It's on some agenda but I think it's opening a pretty bad Pandora's Box, if you engage in this stupidity.  

This George Floyd -Minneapolis Payment?

 Based on the news report....twenty-odd million will be paid out by the city of Minneapolis to the Floyd family, because of the death.

Gut feeling?  It's just odd that they'd pay this....before the court case.

City having insurance for stuff like this?  Yes, but there's usually a deductible situation (maybe the first five-million comes out of the city pocket), and maybe a limit of ten to twenty-million comes from the insurance company.

The curious thing....this kind of mess usually triggers your insurance for the city to go up (won't shock me if the next year's rate will be double).

So, if the court case against the four cops fail (not-guilty)?  Well....that presents an interesting situation.

The reaction by city residents?  They all can guess that property taxes and fees within the city are going up.  Property values?  Up.  Some suggest seven to ten-percent up over the 2020.

If you were a city policeman looking over this mess?  I would imagine that you'd shake your head....view the fentanyl crowd in a pretty harsh negative way, and question why to react to any emergency call that might involve a doped-up guy.  

As for the family arguing over the dispersal of the money?  Don't worry....lawyers will probably eat up thirty-percent of the money.  

My Solution to Fix America: President Doctor Phil

 For a number of years, I've gone though the pondering of America being 'broke'.  I had about 700 different news groups tell me this.  I've had a minimum of a thousand politicians discuss this.  And nothing seems to work.

So....I want to bring in President Doctor Phil.  Yes, elect the guy in....give him a 12-hour a day job....doing intervention with Republicans and Democrats....sending them off to 'retreat-camps' in mid-Mississippi, with sand-bag filling and hay-hauling.  

President Doctor Phil could handle Pelosi, McConnell, AOC, Hillary Clinton, Colin Kaepernick, the BLM crowd, radical Muslims, woke idiots, intellectuals, and even the fake Hollywood people. 

Woes with North Korea's Kim?  Have President Doctor Phil do a session with him and offer up some manly advice on 'we all need a little growing up'.  

Bashing the Queen by Harry or Meghan?  Drag both into President Doctor Phil's office and give them real physical work to do for six weeks....to get the fake rage out.

Trouble with the Twitter or Facebook bosses? Drag them into a studio, and give President Doctor Phil four hours to interrogate them.  

Yes, we've finally reached the stage where intervention is required, and there's only one way to handle this.  

There's Spanish, And There's Some Other Spanish

 First, let me acknowledge that my level of Spanish is limited to about twelve terms (one of them is 'dónde está el baño', which basically means I kinda need to know where your bathroom is located....this is a handy term to remember).  Also...it's helpful to remember the phrase 'urgentemente', which means 'fast' or 'urgent'.  

This week....the Biden White House National Security Council adviser....Roberta Jacobson....stood up and said that the US border was OPEN, in English.

After she finished that comment....she then suddenly flipped over and said the phase in Spanish....'the border is NOT closed'.  If you think about it....the first comment doesn't translate to the second comment, but it's supposed to mean the same thing.

Then, this funny thing happened.

Someone walks up to Jacobson at the podium, and slips her a piece of paper....then she utters: “la frontera esta cerrada” (the border IS closed) in Spanish.

The confusion factor?  Well....it went from a marginal '4' to a '9' real quick.

So we need to say this up front, and it's never been openly discussed by the US news media.

If you took a Mexican, a El Salvadoran, a Peruvian, a Guatemalan, and a Honduran in a room....to have a focus group.....you'd discover that they marginally understand each other's Spanish enough to get by (it'd be like 3rd grade kids from Australia, Canada, England, the US south, the US NY City crowd, and Jamaican folks) with different accents trying to communicate.

On Jacobson's grasp and understanding of Spanish?  It's anyone's guess.  She might be at the 3rd-grade level, or the 10th-grade level.  Is it Mexican-Spanish, or Puerto Rican-Spanish?  Unknown.  I kinda doubt that she was hired on her Spanish language abilities.  

If you brought this up with President Biden, he'd open his commentary up on on 1980s Mexican soap operas he'd watched....like 'Cristal' or 'La usurpadora', or that Spanish women always seemed overly dramatic in kicking the ass of their men-folks.

If you just stand back and admire this landscape....you need around a dozen special people hired by President Biden, who have one single unique language ability....like El Salvadorian-Spanish, Puerto Rican-Spanish, Texas-Spanish, Mexican-Spanish, or even Uruguayan-Spanish.  

The fact that maybe ten-percent of the border crossing folks are from way beyond Latin America?  Oh.....well....lets not bring up that forty-odd Chinese folks cross the border weekly, or that a dozen Iranians are usually picked up over an average month.  

How I Think the Next Six Months of the Biden-Border Episode Unfolds

 I see three certain scenarios coming out of this mess:

1.  A couple of states along the border region (Texas in particular)....will probably act to offer incentives (bus-tickets for example), for a one-way trip to California or Maryland.  It'll be very sly minor program at first....just a thousand free tickets.  Folks will step in and contribute to the fund, and by late-summer....at least 10,000 free bus rides will have occurred.

All of this will upset the kind folks at the destination end, and them expressing that this ought to be illegal.

2.  A housing shortage of an unusual type will start up....surrounding the new migrants into the US.  News journalists will be begged by city officials to hype the problem, and oddly enough....they refuse to touch the sensitive issue.

At some point, late-summer....the Biden administration will talk of contracting out FEMA-like trailers (maybe 10k of them) to fill this housing crisis.

In major cities like St Louis, Orlando, Austin, etc....migrant trailer-parks will set to be seen....propped up by local city governments and no clear long-term plan.  

3.  Finally, BLM folks will start to talk about this problem where the new migrants (with visa papers provided)....are now taking what was generally black-'owned' jobs.  

Biden will have to hire someone to explain this in some detail....telling people not to worry....that more jobs are coming, and everyone will be happily employed shortly....at a minimum wage level.   This won't sell well....going into 2022.  

'Normal'

 At some point....the company Unilever decided that they'd use the word 'normal' in describing their hair/soap products.  So for years (maybe even decades)....'normal' would appear in various descriptions. 

It's been decided in recent weeks....that the term 'normal' can't be used anymore....in order that they project being more 'inclusive' (meaning, just about everything.....normal, not-normal, radical, not-radical, etc).  

I sat and pondered over this.  'Normal' to me....was just a description word to explain what ought to occur in 75-percent of cases.  

Cows act in a 'normal' way....where you can predict via ten situations what a cow will do or behave as....in most cases.  

You can buy a particular car, and predict that in a normal five-year period, this is the normal set of issues/problems you should face.

You can walk into a Wal-Mart, and generally predict where products will be in a 'normal' way....based on a plan exercised by the management.

You can step into a beauty shop and ask for a 'normal' cut, and have a pretty good idea of what will happen.

So messing around with 'normal'....just doesn't seem to make sense.  This 'inclusive' idea?  Pretty odd path to change, if you ask me.  

Finance Story

 In recent days, a fair amount of chatter has come up over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and their finances.  Some things make sense....some things don't make sense.

So I put on my financial analysis hat.

First, the combined wealth of the two (figured last year) is around 50-million dollars (Meghan is figured to be worth around 10-million by herself).  The Prince doesn't get anymore money from the 'family' so his bundle of 40-odd million is it. 

Second, the contract with Netflix?  Well...the two are paid around $25-million (multiple years) to interview 'interesting' people.  Will anyone watch this?  I have my doubts....neither are known with interview talents.

Third, if you took the 50-odd million and did decent investing, I would suggest that they could pull in around 4-million minimum a year.  On an exceptional year, maybe up to around 7-million.  

Fouth, tax woes?  Well, for a while, Harry was under a tax-free status.  But that kinda ended....so he's paying both US federal and California state tax.  So if they was making 4-million yearly....they marginally take home 2-million (a big chunk is California state tax).

Fifth, the $14-million new house?  Well....there's property tax issues here, and you can figure yearly....it's around $350k yearly.   

Sixth, the Netflix deal key to survival?  More or less.  As you might imagine, there aren't many TV show offers, or movie deals for Meghan.  Voice-overs?  That's about the only path left now.  

Seventh, figuring monthly expenses?  You really don't know.  There might be five or six house staff members....maybe a landscaping company to keep the property up.  I might take a wild guess and say monthly expenditures are near $400k, and they need $4.8-million a year.

So I come to what several financial folks have eyeballed....there was minimum to zero analysis done by the two.  California, because of the property tax situation and income tax (among the highest in the US)....is a poor choice for living.  I would imagine they selected it because that's where the 'upper-class' live and thrive (at least before the 2020 era).  

If you were looking for a couple in potential financial woes in ten years....I'd rate these two at the very top.  

Getting more of these 7-million dollar Oprah interview deals?  Don't count on it.  They burned that royal bridge, and whatever path they have ahead....it's purely California and the fake reality TV show business.  

What is funny here....if you took regular people and offered up a $50-million fund, with four-million a year coming out of it....we'd all move to Florida (no state tax), and find a hundred ways to live within our means, and have a few guilty pleasures.  Most of us wouldn't be forced into work.  We'd golf (kinda like Trump).  We'd have lobster every Saturday night.  We'd live....within a certain means.  

At some point in ten years....I expect Burger King to hire up Harry to do an advertisement or two....making this even more silly.   

The Thing About the Truth

 For a number of years, I've had this quote that I keep as a 'compass-point' in my life:

“Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.” (Nietzsche)

It's true in politics.  It's true in religion.  It's true in decision-making.  It's true in finance.  It's true in the news media. 

Sometimes....people just need simple, plain, and blunt truth. 

That Half-Percent Finnish DNA Connection

 When I went five years ago and did that DNA test, there were several odd things that came out of the end-result.  

One of those odd features is that around half-of-one-percent of my DNA comes from Finland.  I went looking at the past 200-odd years, and there's simply not any real path to explain this.

Between the 1890s and before WW I.....around 200k Finns bought passage into America.  

Where'd they go primarily?  Well....it leads to three US communities: Calumet, Michigan; Gloucester, Massachusetts; and Montgomery, Alabama.

After the war....roughly another 30k made it to the US before the front 'door' was closed off.

But I did the math analysis, and the chief problem here....the number would be way more than half-a-percent, if this came out of the 1890s to 1914 era.  

So I had to looking for something that occurred from the mid-1700s to mid-1800s.  Results?  Nothing. 

Finns, at least before the 1890s....weren't exactly known for being worldly travelers.  They tended to stay locally, farm, and were at the bottom of wealth establishment.  Finns moving into England or Germany?  Not in the 1700s or 1800s.  

Oddly enough, there is almost the same amount of Jewish Ashkenazi DNA as well.  The odds that the Ashkenazi connection and the Finn connection are one and the same?  It's possible.  But where the family connection enters the US?  Unknown. 

The connection back to Montgomery, Alabama?  That's probably the situation...going back to 1890 itself.  But it's mostly a deadend story.  

The George Floyd Jury Process

 It started up, and I would assume that this will take a while.

Every single detail of your life will be laid out in front of the prosecutor and defense folks.....your education, your family situation, your view of the police, your view of drugs, your ability to comprehend, your judgement capability, your financial background, and even your disposition on racism.

Frankly, on a dozen levels....if I were called up for 'duty'....I'd just say it's better that I not answer your questions, and just 'fire' me from the the process in the first minute.

The potential for threats...even five years after the case ends?  I could easily see some idiots getting my name and address....then trying to mess with him for pay-back.

My own judgement?  The minute you introduce some character who is a regular user of fentanyl....I'm finished with nice-guy feelings or giving people a chance.  I'd be the wrong person on  that jury.

The intention here with the process?  The prosecutor wants to line up a dozen people, and have one particular 'Alpha-person' who is willing to hype racism and anti-police toward the end of the whole case....leading the jury to a conviction.  The defense is looking for a 'Alpha-person' who is anti-drug, and pro-police....to hype their case at the end.

What I'll predict?  Two end-results possible: full acquittal (innocent), or a hung jury (probably 10-2).  Maybe if this were a 2nd degree manslaughter situation (not a charge), you might be able to say the one particular policeman did the knee stuff wrong....but since it's in the training manual....even that is a problem on conviction.

So, prepare for a circus, and for riots to occur at the conclusion.  Whole lot more looting to occur.  

Security Story

 I sat and read a piece where the suggestion has come up....to have a 'quick-reaction-force' (QRF) based in DC....permanently, because of the events on the 6th of January.

The position taken in this 'white-paper'?  There are three possibilities:

1.  A QRF organized under the leadership of the D.C. National Guard. The suggestion here was that you'd take military police from Guard elements in the fifty states....bringing each in for a period of 90 to 180 days.

I looked over this idea and started laughing.  Most Guard guys don't mind a two-weeker situation....ONCE a year.  Once you started talking about a 90-day deployment (away from their job, or the farm)....things get a bit negative.  Maybe 10-percent of Guard folks might go along with this, but the rest will be fairly frustrated.

Another problem here....various states would refuse to participate and if necessary, would dismantle their Guard program.  

Finally, they fail to say the magic number.  Are we talking about 3,000 Guardsmen in this rotational scheme?  If you looked around for National Guard Military Police units....there's not a big huge number here to draw from.

2.  This QRF idea would also be within the DC Guard....but creating a permanent military police battalion.  It would be formed with active-duty, Guard, and Reserve personnel.  

Problems with this?  I can't think of many units that have all three elements (active-duty, Guard, Reserve) existing today.  

It's basically suggesting that you'd have maybe 300 active duty Army folks, then around a thousand to three-thousand Guard folks that come in quickly from the region (Maryland, DC, Virginia) and form up within a couple of hours. 

Cost-wise, this is the cheaper idea....I'll admit. 

3.  Finally, this QRF would be regular civilian (federal) law enforcement.  It'd be capital police....pumped-up.

Again, they avoid discussing numbers, and you'd suspect that it'd have to be in the three-thousand range as a minimum.  It'd be like Wackenhut security folks....federally employed (kinda like the way TSA went).  

So I looked at how this would all function.

First, there's the issue of where you'd base these people.  I just don't see them based out of DC.  It'd have to be some military posting existing already....on the Maryland side, or the Virginia side.

Second, military folks on deployments....tend to get themselves into trouble.  It's a pattern and rarely ever avoided...especially Guardsmen.  Alcohol, gambling, partying, etc.  This Guard creation would continually be in trouble, and commanders would be fired every year.

Third, cost factor?  Just to bring around three-thousand Guardsmen for deployments, with quarters and TDY-pay for each year?  You'd be talking about fifty-million a year....before you even got to specialized training or equipment issues.  

Fourth, Guardsmen with time for this, on a regular basis?  That would be the destructive key to rotations.  A lot of Guardsmen complained over the year-long deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.  Even if you made these 90-day trips....it'd take a lot out of folks.

What'll happen here, in the end?  Pelosi, Schumer and Biden would have to be in agreement, and I suspect they'd go to some expanded Capital Police deal....adding a 1,500 to 2,000 man federal security team.  Cost factor?  If you use TSA as an example....this would easily get up into the 500-million a year, if you count vehicles, training and intelligence-collection 'toys' (drones, for example).  

This would be a magnet for poor recruitment, and you'd end up with the fired policemen from across the nation....applying to be full-scale Capital Police riot-control.  If you wanted a Kent-state event....this group would be designed to orchestrate and create such an event.

My advice...whatever they think will be some good to come out of this 'creation'....will be a bigger mess to clean up in five years.  This just starts to look like some state capital environment in Peru or Bolivia.  You might as well prepare a truth commission to operate in twenty-four months....on how to dismantle this mess.

'Super Straight'?

 I was reading through a fair number of articles today, and this one just kinda stood out.  It involves a new sexuality....guys (or gals), who only want to date (hook-up would work as well) with someone of the opposite sex, and NOT trans-folks.

The scenario?  Fred is 30 years old, and his friend wants to set him up with a date.  Somewhere in the discussion....the problem comes up....this is a former guy who has done the full-operation and converted over to a female (well, as female as you can be).  Fred thinks over this, and then says 'no'.  At that moment, by the folks talking about 'super-straight'.....he's a bigot.

I sat there for a while.  This is not one of those problems that you'd run into twenty years ago.  You might worry about the gal being 'chunky', overly intellectual, a weird religion gal (like handling snakes or speaking in 'tongues'), having a glass-eye, having a piercing in a unmentioned body region, having a seventeen weapon collection, having a Harley, or locally known for having shot a guy for questioning her judgement.

Where this is going to lead onto?  Well....these trans-gender 'gals' are going to complain at some point that as they put out opportunities to date.....the only guys they seem to be able to find....well....are gay guys who suggest they can be 'bi' but only with a trans-gender gal.  

This leading to a mess?  Some PhD folks will talk about the phenomenon, and write studies to explain that for each thousand trans-gender gals.....there's only 500 regular guys who are willing to date with them.  

The thing here....is this really a PROBLEM?  Is it something we should ponder upon or worry about?  To be frank, I can think of 20-odd thousand problems I'd rate at a higher level as a society.  

Do I Care Much Over the Prince Harry/Meghan Interview With Oprah?

 No.

I know that Oprah paid around $7-million for this....but frankly, it's worthless chatter.

All of this....to get the two into some reality TV show 'gimmick'?  More or less.  

If you look at their lifestyle, just on rent alone for the California spot....it's $275k a month.  If you figure cars, food, etc....it's probably $300k on top of that.  So they need near $600k a month to present themselves.

Neither have any real talents that lend to the idea of an income of $7-million a year....at least under present circumstances. 

I just don't see where this goes....other than them becoming some Kardashian-type reality show. Then add to this....neither have any talent to draw people to a 'circus' environment.  

Deceit

 There was a good piece off RedState this weekend, and the topic was....."'Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden' Say They Were Betrayed, and Confusion Abounds".

Various religious folks were given a political message in the months leading up to the November election, and they were told in simple terms....if you just had a President Biden, things would be better, and that he would not dare go and start up an abortion-path.  Well....yes, he did.

You can imagine this scene at some Baptist Church.   A number of couples showed up in the past three Sundays....fairly dismayed and asking pointed questions over what they were told.

'Brother Jim' talks over things with 'Brother Bob', and 'Sister Candy' is pretty riled up while talking to 'Sister Mindy'.

So they are confronting 'Preacher Morty'.  He's at a loss of words.

He does remember getting this funny 'invite' to a spiritual week (four days at a fancy resort) in North Carolina....all expenses paid.  He hung out with forty-odd ministers, and this group of four spiritual-talkers, who were moderating the whole week.

In the midst of this Moses-chatter and Simon-chatter, there were these odd moments where Trump-chatter and Biden-chatter came up.  

Then 'Preacher Morty' remembers that 9-page reference sheet, which he used for three or four sermons in October.  He goes to review it, and finds that 50-percent of it...is anti-Trump propaganda.  

'Preacher Morty' gets all riled up, and tries calling Dee-Dee (one of the spiritual advisers), but the phone is disconnected.  He tries the other three idiots....same thing.  He calls up the hotel, and they reference some organization in Minnesota....that line is disconnected as well.

It's at this point that 'Preacher Morty' realizes that he's been deceived in a very bad way.    Up and down the aisle.....various folks are peeved, and wanting answers.  The preacher can't say much....just admitting he was fooled in a royal way....but he should did enjoy the four days of leisure (with cocktails) at the fancy resort.

So quietly over the next year....various folks will realize that the church is the wrong place to get propaganda, that ministers can easily be deceived, and that some serious manipulation took place.  

Human or Algorithm: Who Do You Want to Run Your Life?

 This week, I watched a discussion unfold on YouTube where two fairly smart PhD-level guys talked about this strange situation of the past five years....where 'tech-saviors', social crusaders, and reality were all colliding in front of us.  

In the end, the general question of this focus meeting....who do you really want to run your life?  An artificial intelligence algorithm, or a human?

For example, if you walked into a Burger King of the future, and swiped your card...it'd know your general health 'numbers', and preferred category of food....giving you only two potential food choices (a low-cal salad, or a zero-beef vegan-burger).  The AI would limit your choices....with the priority being to extend your life.

AI might step in and note the location of your vehicle....the parking lot of some honky-tonk bar, and mandate you give a 'huff' into the alcohol monitor before cranking up.  

AI might profile the blind-date set for you tonight, and wisely predict to skip it.

AI might evaluate your messages of the past five years, and send you a message that your marriage is failing.  It might go and recommend three potential divorce lawyers, and then make a 32-percent probability that your spouse is cheating.

AI might step in and predict that 'Junior' (your 13-year old son) is hanging out with trouble-makers, and needs to be sent to a military academy in Florida, with sixteen recommended choices given.

AI might do a weight evaluation of your spouse, and recommend you put the guy on a diet.

AI might evaluate your political stance, and recommend only news to soften your feelings....guiding you to the opposite side of the spectrum.

The problem here...is that AI ends up being programed with priorities.....which you can't be sure about the original intentions or the goal of the AI in the end.  You might even wake up one day to find that some AI system is geared to go in one direction, and that some new AI has arrived....to guide you to the opposite direction....which makes you ask for a third AI to determine if AI number one or AI number two are correct.  

20 March: Next Worry Date?

 About a week ago, there was a lot of hype with Washington DC security folks...over the 4th of March, and some massive thug-army arriving to make trouble.  

Capital Police, FBI, and various groups were all 'tuned-in' to this hyped-up story. 

What happened on the 4th?  Nothing.

Now?  Starting yesterday....a new date has been established by the QAnon folks....20 March....when the thug-army will appear.

What'll happen?  Capital Police, the FBI, and the DC regular police will probably cancel all leave for the 19th and 20th....in anticipation of 'trouble'.  

When nothing happens on the 20th?  QAnon will quietly predict that the 1st of April is the next arrival of the thug-army.  

It's almost comical what this group of QAnon folks have been able to accomplish.  

After my suggestion of the 1 April thug-army day?  There could be twenty announcements made, and the leave schedule for 2021 will be crap.  Cancellation of Senate and House business for each suggested day?  Yes....that's part of the whole landscape as well. 

It's comical how this whole thing has developed.

Observations

 1.  With all this wokeness going on.....can big three TV networks even deliver any legit entertainment?  I've pondered upon this.  If you tried to drag 'Dallas' up today and produce the series....is it possible?  If you were to produce 'The Flintstones', would it be possible?  

I see the fall line-up of new TV shows arriving, and wokeness forcing a dismal situation....where people are stepping away from regular TV.  

2.  I noticed that the city of SF went out and purchased 262 tents for homeless folks in the region.  Now, if you'd gone to Wal-mart....running for a 'fine' tent....you'd pay around $120 (add tax onto this) for a simple two-person tent.  So it would come up to around $35k to $40k....depending on the luxury style of the tent.  

Well...the SF program...which also provides 'toilet boxes' in certain areas for the crowd is also included in this package.  Total cost?  $16-million.  Yes....tents and toilet services....$16-million.

3.  A survey done on the mass of teenage immigrants at the border....the 15 to 17 year olds?  They are jobs-ready and that's their full aim....get employment and move on....no BS school crap.

All of these fast-food places with employee attitude problems?  If you give 'papers' to the incoming Hispanic group (even the 15-year old kids)....they are going to take up these jobs, and the bad attitude crowd will suddenly be sitting at home and asking where their job went.

4.  A group of California high school boys are preparing for the upcoming baseball season.  So naturally pictures of team players needed to happen.  They all removed their masks....to pose.  School reaction?  Two-week suspension upon each player.