Why the Handmaid's Tale Didn't Click With Me

 Around spring of last year (as Covid started up) I ended up watching 2.5 episodes of Handmaid's Tale.

About twenty minutes into episode one....I just started asking myself how any of this landscape occurred and went back to a written piece to explain this.

For your benefit, I'll describe this 'world' in this way....things crapped out in America because of a civil war (you are never sure over how this was triggered), climate change and sexual diseases (not Covid, if you were curious).

So you have a new government in charge, and it seems to be run mostly by men....who are extremely doctoral (I didn't say Hitler-like but you get this impression).

Life is pretty simple....guys luck out and get very submissive women for the most part.  This part of the landscape is not really explained well....they just want you to assume this side of the story.

These women aren't in charge of anything.....nor do they do much except make men happy.    The guys?  They all seem to be Army-minded and driven to be part of some dictator-chaos.

Somehow.....all of this leads back to the Bible, and women are used for multiple marriages.

So the acting?  I would suggest that it's mostly soap opera acting.....with some script to get you through 40 minutes of some Bible-Hitler soap opera.

At the mid-point of episode three....I just said enough and quit. 

Women who get into this?  The only reason I can see is that they get all hyped up over the script being sexual in nature, and they keep thinking that something will occur to destroy the regime, with a whole bunch of guys dead in the end.

Observations

 1.  Menthol cigarettes' going away?  

Yes.  But it's a curious thing....as they are banned, it's now been suggested that the most smoked brands of cigarettes among blacks....are the menthol type.  So you have to wonder.....will blacks adapt or will this just create more confrontations between the police and blacks?

2.  This suggestion by Senator McConnell about three or four GOP Senators running for President in 2024?

Well, they may have some pocket money by the Mitch-PAC to launch in 2023 with some speeches in Iowa, but as 2024 arrives....the three or four will be out of race.  

3.  I noticed in business news....Goggle is talking up a training program they will run, with ex-convicts.  For some reason, I just don't see this being successful.

4.  The quote from President Biden: “There’s no reason the blades for wind turbines can’t be built in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing."

I've paused over this and rendered a fair amount of thought.  Cost-wise, even if you don't count the shipping cost....the Chinese-made blade would probably be 30-percent the cost of the Pittsburgh blade.  Most of this is based on cheap labor, cheap healthcare, and low regulation patterns for safety and the environment.  I admit....shipping probably adds ten-percent onto the cost.  But in the end, China can make the blade for half the cost.

Who is talking to Joe and convincing him of this bogus comparison?  

9-1-1 as a 'Product'

 In the past week, I saw this discussion taking place....where folks were talking about the impact of calling 9-1-1, getting the police out to handle an immediate problem, and how chaotic situations are multiplying.

I grew up in a fairly rural area of NW Alabama in the 1960s/1970s, and frankly....the only occasion where my dad called the sheriff for an issue.....was the theft of a saddle.  That was it.  

If you drew a circle around the farm for five miles.....sheriff got called to handle drunks who whacked mailboxes....cattle who'd broken out of the fenced areas....threats by drunks on kin-folks....and cheating husbands who'd been kicked out of their house.  That was mostly it.

If I'd gone to the nearest urbanized area (20 miles away, the county seat)....the police force mostly handled traffic accidents....an occasional house-break-in....Halloween toilet-paper rolls....college dorm parties that got out of control....and one or two murders a year which were mostly where one relative cut-up or shot another relative. 

In the 1990s....things probably progressed up two or three notches.  Drugs played a major part in this.

Occasionally, you'd start to notice that you had a bad cop, or a cop who was tied to the drug scene themselves.  

In the past twenty years....in this rural region....9-1-1 gets called a fair bit.  Murders occur in the rural county on a regular basis, and mostly all connect back to some usage of drugs.  Home break-in's are way up....compared against the 1980s.....but a lot of these are worthless items stolen (a 8-year old chainsaw, a $300 6-year old mower, prescription drugs worth $100).  

If you go to some place like Memphis, Atlanta or Knoxville....there's probably thirty 9-1-1 calls (from each city) from Friday night to Monday morning....where a wild situation is being described by the caller (maybe at some bar or hotel), and the police are told ahead of time.....this is just not a 'safe' situation they are driving into.  

A lot of these calls relate to an argument that has arisen from the wife or ex-wife, and the potential threat from a husband/ex-husband....who might be drugged-up or a bit drunk.  

Maybe politicians don't think in this manner.....but 9-1-1 calls have become a product that is depended upon by society to a great degree.

Rural areas now affected?  I would suggest since the 1980s....most all rural areas are affected by the 9-1-1 calls, and more usage of drugs.  Police are affected by this.  You could get twenty calls from the 9-1-1 team over a week, and might luck out that they were accident-related, or lost kids.  But as each one of these violence-prone calls occurs.....you get drawn into more of these threat situations, and just keep wondering.....will you walk into a mess where you have to shoot some kid dead because of a stupid threat, or the kid holding a knife while under the influence of drugs? 

Improving?  No....that's the one part of this situation....it can only get worse.  

Can You Gerrymander in 2021/2022?

 It appears that around eight states will have to redraw district lines in the next 18 months, with some losing a district in the state, and some gaining a district.  

So, here's the chief problem....up until 2016, you could be pretty sure about the voting tendency in various towns and counties....leading the guy to draw the lines being confident that he could make the new lines iron-clad for the Democrats....or Republicans.

Now?  You have to wonder about the voting tendency from 2016 and 2020, and ask yourself how sure the lines can be.

In some cases....particularly Florida....it's going to be awful hard to redraw the lines and ensure Democratic districts stay Democratic.  

The odds of court challenges delaying the district drawings?  I would suggest virtually all of the states in the redrawing business will face court action.  

Joe Biden's Speech

 I sat this morning and watched the 'tape'.  So my five observations:

1.  On a couple of rare occasions, the camera crew screwed up and showed the audience seating....with about fifty-percent of the seats empty.  It was rare, but it just left you with an odd feeling.

Now, I will say this....if you'd handed me a ticket to the 'show'.....because of Covid....I would have turned the ticket down myself.

2.  Alertness of Joe Biden?  I would probably give him a '9'.  There was no stumble with the speech.

3.  Joe did hype getting vaccinated.  Odds of this speech topic making any difference?  Zero.

4.  Joe did talk about 'bread crumbs'.....police reform, immigration reform, more taxes on evil corporations, drug pricing reform, etc.  But it was mostly chatter and no serious suggestions on how things would go.

5.  Mostly a 'shopping-list'?  Well....yeah.  A year from now, you can drag up the hour-long speech and ask what actually got done, and it's probably less than 10-percent of what he chatted over.

As for how many Americans watched the speech?  I have my doubts that he got more than a quarter of Americans to watch.  I would categorize myself as having mostly zero interest in any SoTU speech...mostly because nothing ever gets done.  

Privilege Chatter

 For a number of months, I've been hearing the expression 'white privilege'.  I've had various descriptions attached to it, and at least grasp what the intended phrase is supposed to mean.

Today, I had the expression 'black privilege' tossed in front of me.

What's it supposed to mean?  Well....as it was explained....you have a black dude who has crossed the line and committed a couple of crimes (not misdemeanors).  So when he's finally arrested and charged up.....there's enough there for five or six serious charges, and probably twenty years of prison.  But when the prosecutor gets done on deals.....it's down to one or two charges and three years of prison time (take off six months of that for good behavior).

The lawyer for the black dude tells him over and over.....he's 'lucky'.  

So after 2.5 years, he gets out of prison....discovers he's not hirable material, and drifts back to crime.  Three or four years pass, and he's got another couple of crimes under his belt, and now getting police interest for another round of court action. 

The prosecutor repeats the 'deal-business' and there's only one or two crimes.....with three years of prison.  

The defense lawyer again repeats the phrase....man, you were lucky.

So around age 35....this guy gets out of prison (2nd visit) and discovers it's real hard to get a job, and immediately drifts back into some crime.  A year or two later....cops arrive and charge up the guy.  Third 'strike'?  Well....now there's no talk of a deal.  You get the full situation....life in prison because of the third strike business.

Things I've Learned in the Past Year or Two

 1.  If paying for something and my bill appears to be counterfeit....rectify the situation real quick....find a 'good' bill before 'Timmy-the-clerk' calls the cops.

2.  If the cops pull up to my car and approach....don't swallow the fentanyl pill. 

3.  If the cops pull up to my party at the house....quickly make everyone at the party respectful of the police....remove knives from any guest...and ensure whatever problem started the call....to be resolved.

4.  I'd disassociate myself from quick-to-overreact people....who carry knives or pistols.

5.  If I have to call 911.....I need to put myself into a safe quiet place until the police arrive.

6.  I need to continually think....once the 911-lady calls for the police and note there might be a guy there with a warrant for his arrest....this might turn pretty violent in a matter of 10 seconds or less.  Police might not figure I'm just a innocent bystander.

7.   Hanging around people who do opioids, LSD, crack, fentanyl....increases the odds of a bad moment with the police and potential death occurring.

8.  Finally, once some crowd gets hyped-up and burns down half an entire neighborhood....no one comes around to help rebuild what was done.  So staying in such a friendly location is not an option. 

Joe Isn't a Gifted Salesman

 President Biden had a poll come out and it really lessened his situation among the general public.  The poll?  Roughly 82-percent of people said the nation is divided, and is not coming together.  This would mean only around 18-percent of people who either believe it's one unified nation, or didn't really agree with anything in the poll answer column.  

Adding to this mess....around one-third of the polled folks felt that the nation was headed in the 'right-direction'.....meaning the bulk of Americans didn't see much of a positive trend coming around.

So I come to this enormous weakness of President Biden....marginal salesmanship.  What Bill Clinton and Barak Obama had in excess....was salesmanship.  They could take a average bill, or dismal government program....whip up a frenzy with the public and get two-thirds of Americans to buy into something of minimal value.

Biden has never had this type of salesmanship skill.  You can walk through his forty-odd years in DC, and find almost no occasion where he could 'sell' people on something. 

As for the bulk of Americans not believing in a unified nation?  Well....this ought to worry most folks.

This would lessen confidence in Congress, the court system, the police, and so on.  

If this were to increase from 82-percent to 90-percent?  You'd be looking at a pretty big mess and no one in DC capable of putting public confidence back into the system.

My 'Dumber-Than-Dirt' Thoughts

 About five years ago....some smart folks did some tests and reached the conclusion that only one kid out of every three finishing high school (note how I detailed that sentence)....were prepared for college math and reading requirements.  The rest?  Unprepared for the challenge and probably should have been blocked at the entrance of any community college or university....until they'd taken three or four high-school level classes to be 'ready'.

This leads me to this thought which has been on my mind for a decade or more.....maybe we ought to 'test' kids out at the tenth grade, and send a fair number onto some occupational trade school, and avoid wasting educational time or resources on kids.

The idea that maybe half the kids reaching some college and 'faking' their way through four years?  Well....there's no doubt that a bunch of college kids are just attending classes and marginally getting educated to the level that ought to be required.

Somewhere along this landscape.....there's college professors standing there, and fully grasping that a third to half of the students in the room....are dumber than 'dirt'.  They can't write a simple one-page story.....they can't figure square feet or cubic feet....they've heard of the Civil War but aren't that sure about who won....they think capitalism is pretty evil while wearing a $150 pair of Nike shoes....and they believe they are ten times smarter than their dad.

We're deep into a mess, and it's hard to figure the exit, or even if helps to dump some kids out on the curb.  

Immunization Story

 The CDC came out last week and had this interesting statistic.

Roughly 7,150 people have had the full Covid-19 vaccination (both shots, if required), and developed Covid-19 after the immune period started.  Yes, they had Covid-19 anyway.

Roughly.....60 percent of the group....were women (if that statistic mattered).

Out of this 7,150 group.....around 500 of them required hospitalization.  We aren't saying that they had ventilator treatment, but they did go into the hospital because it was serious enough.

So then you come to the dismal issue to deal with....88 of these folks died (yes, even with the immunization deal).

Now, you can ask a bunch of questions here, and it's not clear from the CDC.  Some folks might have entered the hospital because of Covid and their age, then got some kind of staph infection and died more so from that crappy hygiene business than the Covid.

Or these folks in the hospital might have been fairly aggravated, and had some kind of heart attack, and thus died more so from that, than the Covid.

So, should immunization really make you feel happy?  These days, with all the ban-rules and hyped-up sensitivity of people......you kinda need something (even an imaginary immunization situation)....to pep you up.  

What'll happen as we emerge in 2022, and you kinda figure out that Covid hyped-up feelings just linger around and nothing much improved?  I think the news folks will stop talking about it, and start looking for something 'new' to hype people upon.  Maybe alien UFOs....maybe Caitlyn Jenner (the trans person) as the new GOP governor of California....or discussing the 12 steps that President fell down when exiting Air Force One. 

Three Things I'd Do Differently With the Police

 1.  Upon arriving at any situation which is suggested to be possibly violent....I'd mandate the police pull out the pistol and fire three rounds in the air to get everyone's attention.  From that point on.....if you aren't laying on the ground, you get whatever you deserve from the 'mess'.

2.  Any cop showing unreasonable 'roughness' in handling prisoners....gets onto a database which can be seen by any city or state hiring the guy in the future for police duties.  The idea that you could be a stupid cop with the tendency of roughing up people, and just keep moving around to new jobs every three years....needs to stop.

3.  End all police patrols at sundown.  Let everyone know the limitations, and allow them to be fully armed from sundown to sun-up.  In the first year....a ton of 'bad-boys' will be buried, and you will notice a lessening of assaults and robbery after a year or two.  

Aiming Story

 I sat this morning and watched a press conference from Columbus, Ohio....with the shooting business.....where the reporter asked the police chief: Why can't you train your cops to just shoot people in the leg?

I sat there.....mostly amused and paused at that point....replaying the question five or six times.

A couple of years ago....there was this action-TV series....'Person of Interest', where the chief 'good-guy' always shot the bad guys in the leg, hip or thigh.  Out of a hundred episodes....I think he must have shot 250 folks....all in the leg or hip.  Far as I know....he never killed anyone.

Generally, in  the Air Force training....both with the M-9 pistol and the M-16 rifle....you get a person 'target' and they kinda train you to aim for the chest.  The idea of a leg shot?  Well....you might have to fire ten rounds....to get the wound that put the guy down.  Firing that many rounds....the odds are in favor of you hitting a second, third or fourth person in the landscape.....so it's not a wise strategy.

It would be curious if the reporter would go and sign up for shooting lessons at the local gun shop, and practice on shooting folks in leg.  At some point, he'll accidentally fire a round or two at the 'dummy-target'....hitting the 'balls' and then he'll start asking himself if it's worse shooting the guy's crown jewels....or trying aim for the shoulder.  

A Time To Think

 We are generally 'bombarded' twenty-four hours a day....seven days a week, and the rapid pace of news, public opinion, and hyped-up reaction....is dragging us along some path where things often don't make sense, or you end up with a story which is filled with 'holes'.

I can't think of a single story over the past couple of years where you felt entirely satisfied with the facts.  Sadly, we have mostly two-star journalists around now....who don't seem worried about missing features of a story, or that the story seems to be just enough for a 12-year old juvenile, but not for what you'd consider an adult.

I sat and watched a Dick Cavett show this morning....June 1970.  It was an odd group....Chet Huntley (the news guy who grew up in Montana), Raquel Welch, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, and Janis Joplin.  

It was probably the oddest group ever assembled for a evening talk-show.  Anyone remembering them today?  No.  You could test a hundred people, and the only ones knowing the four (or Cavett) would be those over the age of sixty.

They come to this odd point at the end of the hour, and Huntley is declaring retirement being not that far off, and that the pace of the news is one of those things drawing him to say 'enough'.

Oddly, as he lays out this 'pace of the news'....the group all kinda suggest the same thing.  X-amount of information is laid out, and the sense of where this is going to lead onto....is missing.  

You have to remember....this was 1970....before the internet came along, or cable news.  

In today's environment?  There just isn't enough time to sit and pause over what you were told....asking yourself what really happened here,  and then using a 'red-pen' to note missing key items to the story.  It's all told in a way to get a reaction....when the story is mostly a one-star story without much content.  

When Authority Means Nothing

 I've sat and watched this police-video (at least 15 times) of the Columbus, Ohio situation where this 16-year old teen (Ma'Khia Bryant) is shot by the police. 

It's up on YouTube and you can find it....to watch for yourself.

The 911 call?  Well....it's basically this 'warning' by the caller that all 'hell' is breaking loose and arguments with the potential for violence are underway....so the  cops arrive, and it's roughly ten to fifteen seconds after the arrival that you see two individuals (one guy and one teenage gal) who seem to be unaffected by the police car or police authority.

It's a odd thing to watch.....seconds where these two idiots are intently set on some type of violence, with no affect by the police presence. 

Maybe I'm from a different generation (1960s/1970s/1980s).  But generally, the minute a fire-truck or a police presence is established....my entire focus is upon the 'authority'.

These two?  I get the impression that you could have dumped out a 2,500-lb bull upon the crowd, and they would have continued their intended degree of violence.

So you see the teenager suddenly with a knife and progressing  toward a stabbing.  The intent to kill? Absolute.  

If the policeman hadn't fired?  Well...the teenager in the pink pants-suit would have been stabbed two or three times, and probably enough to die there on the front-yard.  

The 16-year old?  She would have gone off to prison for 15 to 20 years.

So I sit and ponder.....all people had to do upon the arrival of the police car....take note, and just chill out.  In this case, the police car and authority arriving....meant nothing to these two.  That should generally scare you.....we have dropped so low as a society, that authority means nothing.

The Kids Story

 Out in California....the state Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) sent out a letter and basically asked folks who were on the foster parents listing....if they'd consider taking in 'unaccompanied Central American kids'.....who were recent 'cross-the-border-kids'.

The number asked here....one to twenty-six kids.

I sat and paused over the story.

Generally, people who were doing the foster parent thing....were fairly enthusiastic Christian-types, who felt they were doing a good deed and being compensated for their action.

The general problem here, if you sat and thought about it.....foster parents generally were doing something for a limited period of time.  In this case, it really does look like you'd be talking about three years minimum....and maybe on up to seven to ten years. In some of these cases....I've noticed the border patrol folks talking about kids being six and seven years old.   

A mess with no logical or sensible outcome?  That's the chief issue I'd see.  Maybe across the US.....you might find a couple of thousand 'couples who'd take a kid or two.  But if this got up into the 80,000 range (just for 2021) for unaccompanied kids? 

The only sensible 'fix' here is to round up the political figures of Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, El Salvador, etc.....to write up a 'return-the-kids' script, and pay the countries $5k (for each kid) to take back 'their kids'.  Getting the Biden team to admit they screwed-up?  That probably has to happen as well.  

My 'Two-Cents' on Income Equality

 Over the past five years....this topic seems to come up almost weekly via TV or the internet.  People are continually trying to refocus the audience upon the 'evils' of income equality.  Generally, I don't buy it.

Five generations ago, my family would have been set to a 1-room cabin, with water drawn from the local creek, and it wouldn't have been a shock for someone in their 30s or 40s to pass away because of a 'fever' or a snakebite.  

Just the mere idea of traveling more than fifty miles in one's life would have been a fantastic thing to consider. 

But things came along to change, and income revolution was one of those things.

An example, I have a relative in the period of the 1890s to 1925 who lucked-out upon a store that thrived, and this guy retired in his mid-50s.  He was literally set for the rest of his life.  If he'd wanted to take the wife and travel from NW Alabama to Chicago for a week....he could have done so without thinking over the financial cost.

Today?  I'm at a level where I retired completely at age 55 and the wife does a three-quarters type job, with financial values at such a rate....that if we weren't challenged with Covid problems....we could travel off to Auckland, the Pyramids, or Cape Town....without a lot of financial concern.  I admit....I won't be staying at five-star hotels, or driving luxury cars....but I could see the world, if I desired.

I'm just not buying into the income equality discussion because I've seen the better path.  The effort to suggest we are a society of 'losers'?  It's just not working on me. 

What bothers me on this entire discussion....there's some set of folks who want to be the 'guardians' of society, and just say the even amount that we are justified....is some magic number in their mind.  There's no real rhyme or reason to this magic number, and that fact ought to worry you.  So I'd just rather 'fire' the guardian guy and get him out of the middle of this discussion.  Let me do my own planning and money-management..  

Sicknick: Death By Natural Causes

 Done.

Capital policeman Brian Sicknick was yesterday signed off dead by natural causes.....mostly by the end-result of a double stroke.

The events of the 6th of January....leading up to the strokes?  More than likely.  But it begs the question.....had he had yearly physicals and had any past issue been noted?

All those suggestions of pepper-spray triggering an event, or him being 'whopped' upside the head with a  fire-extinguisher?  All....fake news.  Yeah.....everything that the NY Times talked about, or what CNN 'suggested'.....just leading back to fake news in the end. 

Covid-Chatter

 I noticed this discussion going on in Oregon this morning.  They have this idea of making social distancing and mask requirements....a permanent thing (at least as long as it'd take to wipe out Covid-19).

The potential that this type of law would still be existing in five years?  Well.....you just don't know.

Total destruction of dating and potential relationships?  I started to ponder over this idea and how impossible it'd be to have a plain regular date with some gal. 

You'd be at the library and the weird gal at the desk....with seven obvious tattoos and some freaky voodoo-like mask is attracting you.  But the plastic sheeting at the desk is preventing you from being 'close'.  Social chatter....like you would have done a year ago?  Zero.

But even if you asked her out on a date.....how would you carry out a decent date with the six-foot social distancing rule in place?

Labeling things as long-term?  Well....how long?  For a lot of folks.....it's been a full year of crazy stuff that you never expected.  To suggest a second year on top of that.....maybe even a third year?  

What was the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937?

 To say in a 'nice way'.....the first four years of the FDR period (1933 to 1936) went badly in terms of key parts of the FDR 'way ahead' being deemed illegal (by the Supreme Court).

So in in the period after the 1936 re-election, FDR decided that it was time to 'pack' the Supreme Court.  This bill was constructed to further that agenda.  The central theme here?  The President would be given the 'power' to appoint an additional justice to the U.S. Supreme Court, up to a maximum of six additional 'chairs'.....for each member of the court over 70 years and 6 months.

You can laugh over the wording.....but that was the threat. 

The bill came out in the early part of 1937, and consumed an awful lot of discussion.

What happened to it?  The Democrats had more than enough support in the House and Senate, but it just lingered there in the House.....in committee....for more than 160 days.

The chief Senate advocate for the bill?  Joseph T. Robinson.....passed away in mid-summer of 1937.

If you stand over the wording....the same logic for adding more House/Senate members over the age of 70 years/6 months....ought to fall into place as well.

For this reason, I suspect that Biden's own chatter for court-packing will be reaching some peak in the next month, and then spiral downwards for the rest of 2021.  

Observations

1.  The odds of Biden's face-to-face with Putin?  I'd now put this at a 10-percent chance.  It sounded good for a one-hour media blitz, but I don't think team-Biden wants this event to really occur.

2.  This California effort to say high-school math is racist and involves 'white supremacists'?

A state program is being developed to change math.  This will revolve around the idea of avoiding the focus of math problems where you need to get the right answer.  It'd push for collaboration/teamwork to be pushed in classes....over independent efforts.  They revolutionize 'real-world-math' (begs the question of how much more real you can make apples and oranges formulas).

It sounds like they want math completely thrown out of school.  If that were the case, and you could also dump science and geography.....then you ought to limit school to two hours a day, or graduamatate out of school by age eleven.  

3.  You remember that story that the Russians were paying the Taliban folks a 'bounty' for each US soldier captured?  You remember how Trump said it sounded bogus.  You remember how the NY Times gave Trump a threshing over the intelligence?

Well....this week, US intelligence admitted that the story is unproven.  The intelligence involved is marginal.  Kinda funny now how Trump was right.

4.  There's a silly rumor that Mitch McConnell wants a 'truce' with Donald Trump.  Kinda funny that this comes up now....four years later.  Wonder who controls the 2022 mid-terms?

5.  Around 15-percent of Americans now say they are worse off at this point.....in relating to the Covid era.  The other 85-percent....mixed.

6.  A year ago....if you'd bought a warehouse of plywood for half-a-million....just sitting on it....today, it'd be worth one-million dollars.  The odds of it doubling again in 2021?  

Observations

 1.  Rumor of VP 'Heels' to the border?

Well....the rumor is that she has a trip planned to Mexico City and Guatemala.  To the border areas?  That's not exactly what was said.  

I think her staff has gotten the US embassy people involved, and they have some all-day meeting with VIP folks in each country.  

2.  For tax reasons....a lot of US companies are headquartered in Delaware.  Someone stood up yesterday and pointed out....virtually all  of the law changes that Georgia wrote up for it's election law situation.....are identical in Delaware.  It may not matter but it's just an odd thing.

3.  The odds that MLB baseball will lose it's antitrust immunity, in 2021?  Zero.  Lot of talk, but the votes aren't there.  After November 2022?  Well....if their policy stays in place....the make-up of the Senate will change and I'd say that the antitrust immunity business will be one of the top ten things in 2023 to be mounted.  

At that point, I suspect the owners will fire the commissioner, and launch an anti-woke agenda.  It may be too late though.  

The Biden-Putin Summit?

 This Biden 'suggestion' for a summit with Russia's Putin?  Built to deescalate the Ukraine mess?

First, would Putin even agree to this?  Yes, without any doubt.

But what really happens?  As the first few minutes of this meeting occur and Biden or his 'team' utters how they hold the morale high-ground, and want Putin to step down a few steps.....Putin will step into the situation.

The various illegal affairs of Hunter and the Ukraine natural gas business?  All of that will be laid out in full detail (the KGB will have complete videos of the situations).  The tax avoidance by Hunter and how he 'paid' dad back?  That will be laid out in full detail.   

By the end of this 30-minute summary....Biden will get up and take the limo back to Air Force One.....leaving quietly with no statement.

The news media?  They are now stuck with the worst possible crisis of the past hundred years....all of their creation.  They can't tell the story....which is the sad part of this whole 'saga'.

So, whoever is pushing Biden's button to have this summit.....is merely creating a scenario with serious consequences.  

How You Progress From a 1-Percent Threat to a 99-Percent Threat

Once upon a time, if you were a kid, you were given a set of circumstances, and basically told....your life is 99-percent safe.  It was a script-deal and you had to go way out beyond life's general situation's.....to put yourself into mortal threat.

Then one day....there's some odd incident where a kid does something illegal and the police/prosecution folks basically overlook the episode.  At this moment, you progressed from a 1-percent threat level.....to a 2-percent threat level.

A month or two later....some guy is busted for selling drugs on school property, but charges are whittled down to a misdemeanor situation.  You move up to a 3-percent level.

As weeks, months and years pass.....different things occur.  Hijacking a car is ultra risky but you've figured out that even if the cops get you....the prosecution will only lodge marginal charges.  The fact that the lady in the car might have a pistol and shoot you?  In your risk assessment....you haven't really calculated this.

So here in the 2021 era.....a 17-year-old kid is now on a risk situation of 80-to-90 percent.  

Even if pulled over by the Police and there's some warrant for an illegal gun.....the kid has the risk assessment that he might as well run....they won't fire upon him or make the effort to hold him down.  If you'd spoken of this type of risk assessment in 1975....most everyone would have corrected you and set you on a 1-percent behavioral level.

How you correct things at this point?  Unknown.  

I might even go and project out that within five years....at least ten-thousand juveniles each year will meet an untimely end because of their threat assessment skills being so dismal.  More and more of them will start to carry weapons, and assess a confrontation with the police as a chance to gain 'respect'.   

Poll Story

 It's an interesting poll.....almost six out of ten blacks readily say that voter ID requirements aren't a big deal and they support them.

Personally, I would suggest that if you gathered up the six out of ten....almost all of them had time in the US military, and lived with both the military ID (required at least three to ten times a day to function), or the chow-hall card (you didn't get the free chow without it).

This was engrained into you by week three of boot-camp.  By this point, you'd memorized the stupid Social Security number (something you thought you'd never need).

Around by the last year of service (1999), I was probably pulling the military ID out a minimum of four times a day.  There were a minimum of forty situations where you weren't going to get service or attention.....without the ID being displayed.

If you weren't in the military?  I would imagine that you walk around or drive to work two-hundred days a year, and you might only get carded if you were cashing a check at the bank, or buying booze while looking sixteen.  Maybe if you were at the courthouse and getting car registration done.....you might show the ID.  Maybe if you were at the pharmacy and buying serious narcotic drugs.....they might card you there.  Course, if you were flying out of the local airport....they'd card you there. 

But added to this.....probably ten-percent of people have had a fake ID at some point (usually at age 16, or in college).....to buy booze.  So some of us....see the whole ID thing as a joke because of the fake usage.  

Five Things That President Biden May Have Learned By Now

 1.  'Heels' is worthless as a point-person on his team.

2.  If Texas officials start an investigation and rape/sexual assault allegations are established in the federal 'kid' holding center....federal officials will be charged up.  As each gets charged....they will go into court and say they don't have the manpower to do the job.

3.  The federal government has no program to dump 40k juveniles on some social program.  Even as things unfold....most states are probably telling Joe's team they could manage 2k at the very most.  The odds that by December, we get up around 80k juveniles?  It's possible.

4.  Pelosi is worthless in orchestrating 'solutions'.

5.  If a majority of Americans see political news as propaganda....then the Joe-message or Joe-brand....is probably doomed for the 2022 election period.  

Observations

 1. Rasmussen (the polling people) did a poll on the news.  Oddly enough, only 1 out of 3 people felt that political news on TV was reliable.  The rest?  They seem to be believe that it's propaganda by the Biden administration.  

2.  Has 'Heels' visited any border state yet?  No.

3.  What really happened at the Iranian Natanz nuclear facility?

If you go and breeze through twenty-odd sources....when the 'boys' reached the point of getting the order to 'flip-the-switch', and ease on the centrifuges on....the highly computerized system basically turned itself off.  In simple terms, nothing happened.

Chief reason?  I would speculate that somewhere among the networked computer system....there's a flash-drive connected somewhere in the facility that feeds the entire layout of the network, and it's got some good bug-software to disables the entire system.  

If I were the geek crowd.....I'd tell Mullah 'Joe' that it's best to just dump this site entirely and build an entire site from scratch.  

4.  What'll happen with MLB and Atlanta?

I suspect that the Commissioner will try to make some $10-million 'peace-offering' to the minority business folks affected by the loss of the All-Star Game.  The non-minority folks?  Nothing.  The Latino folks?  That's a question in itself.   

Trailer Park Boys

 Over the past six weeks, I've watched five seasons of 'Trailer Park Boys'.  It is a bit weird, and it wasn't til the 3rd episode that I was hooked on the series.  

Basic premise?  Well....it's set in Nova Scotia, Canada....in a cheapo trailer park.  The three chief characters are Julian, Ricky and 'Bubbles'.  Their basic reason to exist in life?  Booze, marijuana, and scheming to get ahead through illegal means.  

Beneath the three characters....there are around fifteen sub-characters.  There's the drunken trailer-park supervisor, his gay associate, the owner of the park, a 1-star white rapster, Ricky's love interest, two half-wits who serve Ricky and Julian, etc.

At some point in the last week, it suddenly hit me that this is mostly all the landscape and character types of Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat novel (involving Danny, Pilon, Pablo, and Jesus).  

In the Steinbeck novel, Danny's 'gang' is forever trying to get ahead, but miserably failing.  Alcohol is part of the background and you generally felt sorry for the boys. You see the same problem for Julian and Ricky's crew.  

Dogs are a big deal in Steinbeck's novel.....while cats are the big deal for Trailer Park Boys. 

It's just an odd thing to compare these and they seem marginally similar, although one is set in the 1920s.....the other in the past decade. 

As for recommending Trailer Park Boys?  I suspect that 80-percent of people will find it lacking or too-crazy.  But if you were just looking for something 'different'....this probably meets that requirement.

The Thing About Crisis Management, You Actually Don't Want a Non-Crisis Situation

 Over and over....from the early part of February, the Biden-team has said there is no crisis at the southern border.  

In the last couple of days....Biden chief coordinator for the southern border, Roberta Jacobson, gave intent to resign at the end of April.

So you look at this and the only way to publicly say it.....there simply wasn't any crisis at the border for Jacobson to handle, and she got fairly bored with a non-crisis crisis-related job.  

You know the feeling....you get promoted up into a job at the company, and lectured over and over by the boss....we have these crisis issues existing.  So you get the big office area and are consumed with passion to handle crisis event.  

You get to the office on day one, and realize.....there is NO crisis.  Everyone around you....says the same thing....NO CRISIS. 

So about a month into the job.....you've come to realize that this is not really a job for you....being a crisis-director in a NON-CRISIS situation.  In fact, the longer you stay....the more damage you are doing to your four-star resume.....as a crisis-manager.  I wish this Jacobson gal luck.  

Who gets the crisis-director job next?  Unknown.  

Just Seven Things I've Noted in the Past Month

 1.  Generally, every single person who talks about background checks at gun shows and harps on 'there needs to be something done'.....has actually never been to a gun show in their life.  

2.  No one has ever seems to ask the 435 Congressmen or 100 Senators....if they individually own a gun.

3.  People who advocate high-speed rail service....if asked how they will get to the central station, or how they park their car there....start to realize that you actually need a full-up 100-percent airport-type situation, with a massive parking structure.  Then they start thinking....this is geared to go from X to Y (never to Z or any other point).  After a while, these same folks lose interest in the discussion.

4.  If you are a federal manager of a 'holding-facility' for migrant kids....there's pretty good odds that pictures and video are being taken, and you might be dragged into a state investigation (not federal).....with potential charges.  I'd be handing in my retirement paperwork and leave this occupation.

5.  As irrational as it sounds....professional baseball has something to do with politics.  It was already complicated with the infield-fly rule, but this adds seven new dimensions to the worthless sport.

6.  If Atlanta wanted to make up for the loss of the All-Star Game (13 July, Tuesday), then I'd call up the professional wrestling folks, and see if they could rig up a forty-man 'king-of-the-ring' match for the stadium.

7.  The US federal folks spend right now.....around $60-million a week....to house/care for non-American kids.  With that much money, you could build a dozen four-star high school structures...every single week.  

The Failure of Leadership

 The NY Post came out this week, and reported a curious thing.....the Capital Police Chief (Steven Sund) went to the Pelosi team two days prior to 6th of January and urgently begged for National Guard support on the 6th.  

Sund could apparently not get a face-to-face meeting with Pelosi. He ended up meeting her 'handlers'.  They heard the request and said 'no'.

The names?  The NY Post leaves that out of the story. 

After the 6th, Sund and the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House....are fired.

At the very least, there needs to be an investigation done, and if 'handlers' were responsible for the mess....they need to be fired.  

But this brings me to the current mess, which you look over the landscape of Pelosi's job, and how much responsibility hangs upon her.  She heads up the legislative efforts of the Democratic Party in the House.  She swings the gavel for the House.  She is given the responsibility of directing both the Capital Police and the Sergeant-at-Arms team (700 just for them).  She does various interviews and speaking engagements for the party and it's agenda.

Frankly...it's about 500-percent of work laid on the back of a 81-year old person.  She's not capable of handling the work.

In fact, I would go and suggest that even if the Speaker was 45 years old....it's still about 200-percent of work on the plate.

So I'd like to suggest a radical path.  

First, the House Speaker job does not have to be a current member of House (shocking?).  Why not appoint the House Speaker job to some retired member of the House (age limit of 65) for a two-year period?  

Second, this whole security apparatus deal and authority....needs to be removed from the Speaker's job.  There needs to be a central authority....appointed to one single five-year term.  

Third and final....I'd start removing anyone over the age of 80 from House or Senate responsibility positions (head of committee, etc).  You need to have an image in your mind of retirement preferably by age 70.  I might even write the regulation that if you don't start retirement by age 72....we start deducting 2-percent of your retirement every quarter.  

My Gut Feeling Over Inoculation Passports.

 I will offer three observations:

First, when Yellow Fever, Chorea and Polio inoculations came along.....we didn't get all hyped up to mandate folks carry around a card or letter....if you were going to go on a passenger ship or ride a train.  

From a historical standpoint, mandating this now doesn't stand the common sense test.

Second, once you start this.....how many fake inoculation cards/letters will exist?  Fifteen million in the US alone?  Trying to tie this into some kind of Bill Gates database?  What if I get the inoculations in Turkey or El Salvador?  

Finally, there's this question....if I get inoculation, I need not worry the rest of my life?  Look around....no one from the CDC or WHO is saying that.  They've all been careful about this 'safe' business.  My humble guess is that someone will announce in two or three years that the 'edge' of inoculation runs out around 18 to 36 months, and you have to repeat the exercise again.  

As for collecting the inoculation upon your old Army or Air Force shot records?  Yes, without any doubt.  I sat and pulled my cards out and counted up....since August of 1977....I've been jabbed around sixty occasions.  

Observations

 1.  Biden's commission on changing the Supreme Court?  

Well....commissions usually (99-percent of the time) accomplish very little but produce a nice forty-page report and nothing beyond that.

The Constitution doesn't say how many can be on the court, or set a limit.  So he can add all he wants to.  Beyond that....setting term limits?  You'd have to add to the Constitution, and he's not going to do that.  So this six-month project is a waste of time? Yeah, more or less.

I kinda expect him to add one judge by the end of 2021....if no one passes away....just to make a more 'balanced' court in his opinion.  

2.  Shock over the Amazon union vote in Alabama?  

None.  They don't want the union business. 

Observations

 1.  It's just odd...nearly three weeks after being 'tapped' to head up the border crisis business....NOT one single visit by VP 'Heels' to the border.  It's almost like having a doorway into a room where a 500-pound guerrilla lurks, and you'd just prefer to avoid the situation.

2.  Burisma board member (Devon), Hunter, and Joe Biden.....all in a West Wing meeting at the White House....going back to 2014?  Yep, on that laptop of Hunters....it's scheduled out for the three to meet.  A normal House committee would open an investigation. 

3.  It came out today, some folks have reviewed the massive infrastructure plan of President Biden's vision.  They say....based on the numbers....only around 37-percent involves actual real infrastructure.  The rest is NON-infrastructure projects.  

4  My perception of the United plan to hire more women and more ethnic non-whites to the pilot the business?  Well...I don't have a problem as long as they meet the educational guidelines that have typically existed for pilot trainees over the fifty-odd years.  The minute, however, that you waiver mathematical skills....I won't fly your airline.  

Then you have this odd dilemma existing, when you bring in marginally qualified people with low math skills, realizing your mistake, and how to dismiss them.  You could be drawn into a negotiation room, and having to pay off some guy to the tune of half-a-million. 

5.  Yeah, that black-box data on Tiger Wood's vehicle....from the accident....kind of reveals he was doing 83 mph in a 45 mph zone.  It's not like the old days where you could have an accident and not remember something.  

Talking Tax Woes

 I looked over a NY Post story today....NY state is wrapping up a special 'ultra-rich' tax....to bring in five-billion more dollars a year.  

Helping the 'exit' from the state?  I would suggest that whoever was remaining in NY....have the accountant adding up the amount of 'pain' dumped upon them, and figuring....where is the 'line' to leave?

It would be different if you had mild winters, 250 days of sunshine a year, almost no criminal behavior, and restaurants/bars completely open.  I just don't see a guy who makes $100-million a year....appreciating the tax increase.  

The 'gift' money from President Biden to shore up debt?  That really just bought them a minimum amount of time to resolve the slow flow of state tax money.  

'Kaepernicking' BLM/Baseball?

 For a long while, I thought baseball could survive the plan of the NFL and NBA involving Kaepernick and wokeism.  In the past week with the all-star game being yanked out of Atlanta....I'd suggest that MLB has taken the path to destroy itself....in the same way that the NBA and NFL destroyed themselves.

How I think this will go?  I'll offer five observations:

1.  While attendance numbers will look better in 2021 than in 2020 (because of Covid)....no club will meet the 2019 numbers, and at the most....well over half the clubs won't even hit the 50-percent point of 2019 for fan attendance.  

The 2.1-million for Arizona in 2019?  The 2.2-million for Minnesota in 2019?  These are clubs that will be lucky to hit 800k even if the states allow 50-percent attendance because of Covid for the first half of the season.  

2.  Salaries offered at the conclusion of the 2021 season?  Most of the free agents will be shocked at the offerings, and low-year deals (I doubt if more than 20-percent get a 3-year deal).  Some players will figure it's a one-year problem and just sign up for one year only, hoping to get a better deal at the conclusion of the 2022 season.

3.  Some big-names will be dumped at the end of the 2021 season because their contracts are too expensive to handle.

4.  Some teams will go into a rebuilding process for 2022 and 2023....hoping that the public gets over the all-star game hype by that point.

5.  The TV networks with contracts are going to be furious at the viewership numbers and demand meetings with baseball management to straighten out the mess by the middle of 2021.  Atlanta ought to stand up and suggest that they get the all-star games for 2022, 2023 and 2024....as a gift for MLB screwing up.

Where this goes?

I would suggest that the teams will meet in 2022 (spring) and lay out a plan to push the entire leadership of the Commissioners office out the door.  Low-budget baseball from 2022 on, for a couple of years?  Probably

From the Weekend

 I sat and watched bits and pieces of the Sunday political chatter shows.  Generally, the number one topic....how Biden trillion-dollar plan will go.

The chief thing you get....even from Democrats...it's only a handful who feel hyped-up and energized.  A fair number of Democrats are marginally happy over the plan, and you can detect the thrill fact is way below Biden's expectation.

At some point, Rep Ro Khanna (Democrat from some district in California) made some weird comment that really stuck to me.  It was a four line commentary, but in the middle of it....the words: "If you don't have a dignified job.....".  

For a good 30 minutes that comment stuck in my head.  I spent a fair amount of time in the military, and moving a good bit (10 times). For some reason, I never had this process of thinking over 'dignified' work.  Even when I went to the Pentagon for 3.5 years, I didn't process over the idea of 'dignified' work.

I think in Khanna's mind....working at McDonalds or some 7-11....challenges the idea of dignified work.  Although it's hard to place the reality of dignified work.  

Even if you got consumed with this dignified business....would it make you happier if you were doing undignified for $16 an hour?  

I worked in the Air Force with a Lt who got out after four years, and was going back to Florida.....to be a boat salesman.  I questioned his wisdom....four years of college, and four years of service....to be only a boat sales guy?  His logic was that it wasn't a 9 to 5 job....he came to work daily in ultra-casual wear...and he only had to put people in the frame of mind that $70k (1990s) wasn't a big deal for a boat.  

If you quizzed most people over their work?  I would suggest that 95-percent would never utter the phrase of dignified in their response. 

So back to the trillion-dollar spending deal....I don't think it'll pass as it is today.  Maybe Biden whittles off half the amount, or just calls it the $999-billion plan in the end, it happens.  As for the amount going to something that isn't wasteful?  You have to figure a dollar out of every four....is just being thrown into a pit with no value in return. 

Observations:

 1.  Number of unaccompanied juveniles entering the US and caught in March?  19,000....officially announced yesterday.  

Is a trend?  Unknown. 

If it stayed near this level for remaining nine months?  It'd add up to 190,000 juveniles that someone has to supervise.  

At some point, some journalists is going to label them 'Biden's kids', and this will surge up to a massive problem with no solution. 

2.  This attacker at the capital...did he really say that the US government is the number ONE enemy of black people? 

Yeah, he did actually say that.  Maybe he wasn't so crazy after all. 

3.  CDC saying people can now travel?  Well....Covid-19 isn't exactly going away.  So it's just odd how they said this statement.

4.  "Too much risk aversion....is too risky", quote this week by Michael Barone. He's referring to Covid business, but after you sit and ponder over the comment....this quote might be correct about 90-percent of what we do in life.

5.  Does President Biden have any 'glue' for national unity?  

This past week, this topic has been on my mind.  For twenty years....essentially, 'glue' has been missing.  You can't even make the case for fake-glue existing. 

Georgia, the All-Star Game, and the Spiral

 Yesterday, the decision was made...the 2021 All-Star Game for major-league baseball....will NOT be held in Atlanta.  This revolves the voting measure that was passed.

I've spent an hour looking over the story, and the economics.

First, there was a $37-to-$190-million pay-off for the city and region.  Cost for local taxpayers to host?  It was figured to be around $2-million (more or less).  

From that pay-off....a fair amount went toward services (both at hotels and the stadium) that employed blacks....so the cancellation hurt a fair number of local folks.

Second, by the half-way point of this season...at least half the clubs will be talking about this 'little' problem where a Friday night game is only getting 12,000 fans when it used to be 30,000 to show up.  

Third, merchandise hurt?  Go ask at the end of the season....how much merchandise sat there on shelf and was never purchased.

Fourth, getting all baseball announcers to avoid the discussion or topic of the All-Star game?  Nearly impossible, and I'll predict that ten of the announcers are terminated by the end of June over this problem.

So what'll happen?  I'll predict the teams hold a meeting the week after the All-Star game and demand some kind of compensation for their losses....which the league management can't produce.

At the conclusion of the season, the losses will figure upwards to one-third to half of what they'd typically make.  

If this goes into 2022 as well?  You just start laughing over the business plan....it won't work.

Observations:

 1.  Some leaked story started up....President Biden promises 'indirect' talks with Iran over nukes. 

Much to the story?  No.  

What it might mean?  A third-baseman from the Dodgers might be sent to Iran to talk over the nuke business.  As leaks go, this is a 2-star deal and not much attached to it.

2.  The baseball 'dumping' of Atlanta for the All-Star game?

By the time that the boycott hits maximum overdrive.....I would figure that the MLB folks lose around one-third to half of their attendance numbers and TV viewers.  Merchandise?  It'll be hit hard.  Some teams....particularly around the south (Marlins for example) might be in deep financial trouble by the end of the season.  

On the positive side....two seasons of this would be enough to wipe out five or six teams, and that might be a gain for both leagues.

3.  Did the NY Times suggest propaganda for the Biden infrastructure project?

Well....yeah.  Some folks were shocked.

My suggestion is that this will 'fumble' around the House for six weeks, and Pelosi will tell the White House to trim this down by 50-percent and resubmit.  

4.  Somewhere in this Biden infrastructure deal....$20 billion....mandated to reconnect neighborhoods suffering by racism.

I thought this was a joke....well, no, it's not.  Two short-range interstates (one in NY and other in New Orleans) are identified as harming the black community and would be taken down.  So access to these short pieces of transport would be terminated.  

I suspect once the communities realize the negative aspect....they will be furious.

The Fake Cow Story

 There is a lot to this story which has not been totally laid out, and maybe it never gets completely told.

So there's this guy....Cody Allen Easterday (almost 50 years old).  He's from central Washington (around Mesa, about 50 miles east of Yakima).

Easterday had this deal with Tyson Foods...involving beef.  

Not much is said over his ranch operation.  Mesa is a fairly rural town....maybe 500 in the town itself.  

Easterday had a deal fixed up where Tyson and another company was paying him money to 'feed' cattle.  He would purchase cattle....then feed them (with special money from Tyson), then send them to the butcher at the right time.  

So in this situation....while you might think it was a measly $100,000 or $300,000....all total....Tyson and this partner had paid this guy $244-million.  There were apparently hundreds of thousands of cows in the middle of this deal.  

The deal said that once the cow was slaughtered and sold (market price)....retaining the money as profit was in Easterday's hand.

So back in 2016....a whole bunch of fake, false and fraudulent invoices occurred.  Tyson at the time....didn't figure this out. 

In the middle of this effort....some cows simply didn't exist.  Yeah....fake cows.  As weeks and months went by....more fake cows were created.  No one from Tyson ever came out to view tens of thousands of cows.  

During this period....cattle futures were beginning to be affected....the stock market was affected to some degree by fake cows.  Yes, even the futures market was affected....by non-existent cows.

I sat and looked over the story.  There's at least a hundred questions I would ask.

Was Easterday even a rancher? Where did Easterday get the idea to invent fake cows?  Why didn't Tyson ever send a guy out to view the 10,000-odd cows?  

I think this would make a fine 5-star movie....fake ranch, fake cows, fake round-ups, fake cowboys, fake business routine, incompetent company officials, etc.

What'll happen to Easterday?  Well....the question of the money will come up.  Where is the 200-plus million today?  Is it still in the US?  Jail-time?  He might get a decade in prison....but he'll be eventually released.  

The futures market?  How do you go back and rectify this?  

Migrants, Biden, and 2022

 This week, if you followed CNN....they had two numbers that they put up (different days).

The first....they had a guy who says that 25,000 juvenile kids will cross the border and be a US problem.  

I sat and looked at the story.  Actually, if you use current numbers, current trends....then they will hit the 25,000 juvenile number by early August.  So it's more likely to be 40,000 to 45,000 by 1 January.  

This guest on CNN was just half right.  

Second, another guest came on and said the current trend appears to show that 2-million migrants will cross the border and be intercepted.  The number not intercepted or that makes it past the border patrol?  Unknown.  

One might take the general numbers and just take a wild guess....that another 2-to-3 million make it.  

Where this leads onto?  I would suggest three scenarios being played out:

1.  Whether President Biden/VP Harris believe it....this actually snowballs into the number one political 'crap' for them to clean up by early 2022, which no clean-up solution fits their current agenda.

2.  A whole bunch of two-million-plus migrants arriving in the midst of a downward economy?  Go ask the economic professors how this plays out in reality, and it's a dismal script.  

3.  Finally, you come to this issue of the two-million being simply the 'front-end'....what happens in 2022?  Another two to three million?  

All of this leads to a hectic 2022 primary period, with various Democratic House members having to explain things, which don't sell well to 75-percent of districts across the United States.  

I'll take a humble guess that there is this wave coming in November of 2022....where sixty-odd seats held by Democrats will flip, and leave Biden's team in a rough position....where they might decide to hold an impeachment over the Ukraine things, and financial deals with Hunter Biden.  

As for Biden's ticket to survive?  It wouldn't shock me if he suddenly had a 180-degree turn on immigration and suddenly invested 150-billion dollars in the border fence deal.  

E-Car Charging Station Scheme?

 It's just an odd thing when you look at the Joe Biden 'Jobs for America' deal....in the midst of this....he wants a fair amount of money to be geared toward charging stations.  

As of December 2020....1.74-million E-cars in the US now exist.  If you were looking for the public charge-up stations?  Around 17,256 stations exist....with a minimum of two ports (some having a dozen ports).

From two years ago in Alabama....there were a grand total of 115 charging stations.  That's it.

If you hang around Lexington, Kentucky....there are 73 charging stations within the city limits. 

How much use are these getting?  Unknown.  No one talks about the amount of power being 'purchased' or 'consumed' via these public stations.  It's an odd thing.

Two years ago....some German reporters noted a charging station in a rural area of Germany along a autobahn.....next to a McDonalds.  One station.....two ports.  The reporters went over and asked the McDonalds folks....if they'd ever seen anyone parked and charging over the past two years (since they went up).  The crew said no....day or night....no one ever seemed to pull in and charge up.  

My humble guess is that Joe Biden's team has joined up with the charge-up 'mafia' and there's going to be 100k charge-up stations placed around the country....in places where they might only be used five to ten times a year.  

How much do you typically pay at a public charging station....compared against doing the re-charge at your house?  In some cases....at maximum 'pain'....it's 300-percent of what it'd cost at your house.  Right off the bat....no one is going to do public station re-charge at that rate....they will try to stall and make it home....to get the cheaper rate.

How much does the public charging station itself cost?  If you consider the real estate purchase....the concrete for the drive-in....then you've laid down around $25,000 easily.  The electric hook-up, the machine, and the charge-card assembly?  That's probably going to be a minimum of $15k added.  In places like Boston or Chicago....toss in another $30k for fees, lighting, mark-up.  

The odds that Biden 'stations' will all be put in places with marginal use and no pay-back?  It's best not to bring up this scenario.  

If you wake up in some rural area of Alabama, and there's a new charging station (four ports) set up in town?  And within ten miles....there's only three guys with E-cars?  The odds are that it's just one or two 'visitors' to Alabama over the next five years who will visit the Biden-station.  

Yeah, it's a waste of money, but don't tell anyone about this. 

Being At An Intersection

 There's a piece I read over this morning....discussing this serious 'junction' which the news media has come to, and unable to grasp the direction ahead.

Are we in an era of 'hope' or an era of 'turmoil'?

Under the Trump-agenda news....it could only be an era of 'turmoil'.

But to enter the era of 'hope'...you need evidence or persuasion-factor....to carry the load.  Apparently, the news folks are having a problem....they don't see enough change to jump on the 'hope' era, so logically....this should mean they still market their brand of turmoil.  But if you sell turmoil....it hurts the Biden-message.

So they are standing there....in the middle of a road, and unable to really move ahead.

For four years, CNN sold a remarkable amount of 'doom'.  In the past month or two?  You get the impression that they'd like to move on, but they look over and realize that around one-third of their viewers have quit.  So it begs the question...were they (the one-third crowd) there to watch 'doom' episodes mostly?  

I sat and pondering over this.  I just wasn't (for the past four years) that much of a CNN viewer.  You couldn't convince me to sit for forty-five minutes to get anti-Trump news....day after day.  I might have watched ten minutes a day of CNN...mostly hoping that they'd accidentally do a ten-minute segment on world events.

Flipping things around to be purely an era of hope?  To be honest, I don't want fake hope analysis, or fake-hope achievements, or fake-hope chat forums.  

I also don't need four guests with a moderator to spend an hour talking about fake-hope coming in micro 'bursts'.

Instead of arriving at the 'Y' in the road, with hope on one side and turmoil on the other side....I think it's more a double-Y, with fake news and biased news as also part of this trip.  

Maybe it's best to just halt at the intersection, and sip a bit of brandy at this point....waiting for things to resolve themselves.  

The Fake Story Over Black American Farmers

 Around three years ago, some news folks started the black farmer story of woes, and talked about the numbers of black farmers in the 1920s.  One million black farmers existed.  

Today?  45,000 are all that exist.  A story of woe?  No.

The farm population in 1920 consisted of 32-million total.....black, white, Asian, Latino, etc (around one-third of the nation was within this group).  In the 1920s....industry arrived and offered better paying jobs, and automation started to show up.  You didn't need four guys to operate a 100-acre farm as you got into the 1950s/1960s. 

So a second event started to occur.  People reached a point where 50 acres of farmland did not provide the type of income to 'survive'.  

If you walk around today....if you say black-ownership....49-percent of people qualified as black farmers....run a 50-acre or smaller operation.  The rule-of-thumb is that a 50-acre farm (at best) is enough to have around 25 to 30 head of cattle.  You'd have support this with feed, and draw upon your expenses....to make this work....so the simple idea of a guy trying to get ahead with 50 acres....is fairly stupid....yet 49-percent of black farm ownership falls into this category.

Getting to the 180-acre or larger farm (up to 1,000 acres)?  Thirteen-percent of black-owned farms fall into this category.  This is likely one of the two scenarios where black-owned farms are fairly successful (the other second is the 1,000 acre or more farms).

Trying to suggest racial discrimination?  Once automation came, and manpower became the 'thread' of financial success....where you needed to have a farm of significance (180 acres or more)....the business model of the small-time farm dissolved away.  It went that way for blacks and whites.  The only way to make real profit off 50 acres or less....is to run some bio-home garden operation, and selling garden products to local grocery or stand operations.  If you don't modify your farm plan....you don't survive.

So I look at these journalists and politicians....who mostly have never been to a farm in their life, and wonder if they grasp the history to this.  

The other odd part of this story trend?  State by state, the black farm ownership differs.  

Back in 2012....out of California, there were a total of 126k farmers in the state.  Of that....ONLY 526 were black.  

A 2007 study by USDA showed that the majority of black-owned farms were actually cattle ranches (near 45-percent).  Black farms producing fruits and nuts?  If you took all farms (blacks and whites in the mix) in the nation....barely five-percent of them produce fruits and nuts, of that....black owned farms marginally had around two-percent of the deal.

If you were looking for states with higher numbers of black farm ownership....it's in the south....now on the west coast, eastern seaboard or northern frontier of the US.  

Talking Infrastructure

 Just for facts...a study was done in Alabama back in 2018.  

What they said then....around 8,572 Alabama bridges needed some kind of repair or replacement.  Amount figured then?  Around 15 to 16 billion dollars.  

You have to figure a lot of these are just fifty-foot long bridges....built in the 1940s, and a $150k is enough to tear down the old bridge, and mount some cheap concrete bridge to replace it.  

Then they came to this one curious note....there are twenty interstate bridges in the state which need replacement (worst is a Jefferson county bridge on I-65).  Instate bridges?  Oh, you probably need a minimum of $20-million to even start a project on a replacement.  

Grading Alabama in this type mess?  It actually ranks in the middle....some are a lot worse....some a lot better.  On the worse side?  Iowa, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Nebraska, North Carolina and New York. 

The Lincoln Tunnel in NY City?  Regarded as being in serious need of renovation.  110-thousand vehicles travel this daily.  Approaching 80 years old now. 

My Avengers-News Media Theory

 If you watched enough of the Hulk, Iron-Man, Hawkeye, or Captain America....you'd reach a point where you'd say that without an enemy....the Avengers don't exist.  They'd quietly go off to Idaho....buy up a 'Ponderosa' style ranch house and grill burgers, and drink gin-sours all evening long.  They only exist....because they have an enemy.

Well...CNN, MSNBC, NPR, etc.....they all went and became like the Avengers over the past four years....identifying Trump as 'Doctor Evil', or 'Mister Heinous', or 'Professor Repugnant'.  

Once Trump (aka 'Professor Repugnant') went away....well, why would you watch a 1-star zero thrilling news piece?

In simple terms, they destroyed their whole business design.  It won't work from this point on.

Trying to say the 6th of January crowd are now 'Team-Repulsive', or the 'Unjustice League', or 'Sect Vile'?  It won't work....no one is buying it. And trying to package 'Super-Joe' or 'Wonder Heels' as some fantastic dynamic duo?  Who is their enemy?  Themselves?

The Three Central Problems with the Biden $2-Trillion Infrastructure Deal

 1.  First, without really saying it....they are suggesting 'shovel-ready', and we all remember that Obama-team quote.  

Normally, if you were going to replace a bridge....you'd have a team plan the replacement and the mandates to write into the contract....then advertise it and get quotes.  This would be a two-year process.  Biden isn't mentioning that....he's suggesting that all of the plans exist already, and you need to just throw money at them.  

2.  Second, most of this money will go to urbanized mega cities (Philly, Denver, Atlanta, Miami, NY City, etc).  I would go and predict that 90-percent of the two-trillion goes in that direction.  So crappy bridges in the Ozarks, or deep in the heart of Kentucky....won't get that type of funding.  The money ought to be split among fifty states, dependent upon the population of each.  

3.  Finally, lets be honest....the full amount to handle this project?  It's probably along the lines of 100-trillion.  That's what Biden's crew are missing, and that most states don't want to admit.  

What We Need to Do

 I had this idea dawn upon me yesterday.  As 'good neighbors'.....Mericans (Americans) ought to go out and start mandating that we speak Spanish (Mexican, for folks from Alabama).  

We'd do this as good neighbors and welcome our new Mexican friends (really Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Salvadorians, Belizeans,  Nicaraguans, Costa Ricans, etc).

We Mericans would go out and attend local Mexican classes....via church groups, bingo parlors, sports bars, or city parks.

Then we'd start to put pressure on the Washington political folks....they need to attend, and start using Spanish in their speeches.  Then we'd turn to President Biden and VP Harris to also use Spanish.  

The black community....the Asian community?  No choice....get with the 'good neighbor' program or face negativity.

Then I'd turn NPR over to be a full-time teaching vehicle of Spanish....with you getting NPR-news via some some Belizean or Guatemalan team each mid-day.

Yes, with open arms, fake charm, and enforced enthusiasm....we'd bring things to the right prospective.