The Hunt For the Supreme Court Leaker

 It's apparently got interesting.

Court marshals are now at the point of asking individual clerks for the justices....to hand over/allow cell phone records to them.  

Nice way of doing this?  Yes, and several will do it without much worry.  It'll leave a handful refusing to play along and you aim directly at them.

But they added this 2nd thing.....to sign affidavits that they didn't release the information. 

So, you get this form that says.....you were careful and didn't give the info to some news group.  You sign and say yes.  

It's a legal document with the marshals....so when it's proven to be you....they can add another charge (figure a year in prison) for your 'incompetence'.  Pretty nifty if you ask me.  

The General Ten Gun Control Ideas

 1.  Raise the purchasing/ownership rules to age 21.

The illogic here is that you volunteer into the US military and are given the weapons as a 'matter of trust earned'.  How would you explain X and then Y?

Would the gangs and under-21 criminal gangs continue to use weapons?  That's the general idea that you are stuck with.

Adding to the illogic....if they aren't to be trusted....why allow them $100k loan potential for college debt, or allow them the right to vote?

But if you wanted to accomplish something with maximum public support....getting little to nothing in resolving the issue....this would be the key idea to embrace.

2.  Remove all semi-automatic military assault weapons from the nation, period.

This idea floats around and has three key problems.  First, the AR-15 is not a military assault weapon....no military in the world has purchased as 'such'.

Second, you'd be talking about a minimum of 25-million....if you go to all of the general characteristics.   This would require compensation to occur....in the range of $15-billion minimum.

Third, just how many would accept your 'order'?  I'd guess fewer than 30-percent would cooperate, and some national 'raid-your-house' situation would develop, with people very uncooperative from this start-up.

3.  Seize all weapons.

You just won't find more than 10-percent of the nation that really sees this as a potential answer.  

4.  Start a mental exam requirement.  

On the face of the idea.....might have potential except for the fact that one-third of people holding weapons today....might not pass the exam.  To be honest, if you applied the same exam to holding Senate/House offices or the Presidency....I'm guessing fifty of these folks would be going home.

5.  Require a completion of a gun-safety course, and an occasional refresher to occur.

I think 99-percent of people would accept this idea, but there's zero proof it'd reduce incidents.

6.  Expand background checks.

This comes up and no one has a clear explanation how it gets more intense.  Some people zero background checks occur today, which is false.  You could go and mandate a credit check but that doesn't resolve much of anything.  

7.  Mandate smaller ammo clips/magazines.  

Considering how many magazines already exist in the nation.....it's doubtful this has potential.

8.  Make more 'red-flag' laws.

But this would go back to mental stability and if 'Joe' was truly dangerous.....it's not just enough to deny him a gun.....he needs to be in a fenced-in facility.  You aren't willing to do that.

9.  Arm teachers.

Maybe a good idea, but at least a third of them (my estimate) don't want the responsibility, and could not put down a student.  

10.  More guards in schools.

Well, for about a quarter of society....they don't want to see guards in schools.  You also have the problem of hiring some unqualified people for a remarkable role in protection.  You don't want to hire up 500 Barney Fife characters.  

So, here's some plain blunt truth.....out of 300-million people in the nation, you can figure that in terms of pure-evil like this young guy.....there must be at least 10,000 of his 'kind' out there, and just waiting for one day to go-off....wanting to end the lives of twenty-odd people. 

On top of that 10,000.....you probably have another 300,000 meth-heads around the nation....guys who are willing to kill you over a item of value around $250....to cover the cost of tomorrow's drug of choice.  Home invasion is their game, and your life isn't that important. 

Convincing people of more control?  Your one chance was in the 1990s before meth and home invasion came along.  A fair number of Americans today won't agree to much of a change.  

Finally, as the fog lifts off this recent shooting and the way that the local cops handled it.....general trust in the police to be there to save/protect you?  I think that element lost a good bit 'shine'.  

Observations

 1.  I noticed this one odd factor about the Robb Elementary School in Texas.  Not that it really matters, but it says something about the town in general.

US News/World Report says only 29-percent of kids were at/more than proficient in math.  Same story on reading skills.....25-percent. 

Would beg the question if the local schools were in the same mix, and all the police were 'graduates' of the system there.

2.  Nancy Pelosi's husband given 4.5 hours after DUI detention....to take alcohol test?  Still gets a .08?  Probably up around .20 when stopped?  

California

 “California is an ex-girlfriend I used to love to hang out with who joined a cartel and does meth.”

- Joe Rogan quote

Back around 1982, I spent around seven days going from the most southern point....along the coast, up I-5 to Highway 1, to exit the state into Oregon.

Things were safe in those days.  You could stop and take in some great majestic landscape.  

I sat one evening in a bar and got a full hour-long lecture on the California of the 1950s by two retired guys.  

It was one of those experiences you needed in life.  

Today?  I'd just skip it.....nothing to be gained.  

HR 1136 (Draft)

 A Republican gal in the House (out of Arizona) has gone and written up a draft bill....to define what a woman is.  Reference this to HR 1136.

Odds of it passing?  I'd put it near zero.   Oh, there will be enough Republicans, but I just don't see any Democrats being willing to vote on this.

If you'd said in the 1920s....that we needed to have a federal law to identify what a woman is....most folks would have laughed at you.

But here we are.

How Landscape Changes

 I grew up in a particular Alabama country that is densely rural.  Today's population around 92,870 (2020 numbers).  Homes, trailers, apartments, condos?  Around 44,720 (Census numbers).

If you asked to figure a number on the homes/farms that have a minimum of one weapon (out of the 44,720)?  I'd take a guess that it's near 95-percent.  

No one is going to really volunteer this information, and most would be suspicious if NY Times/WaPo reporter showed up and asked them the direct question.

I'd also take a fairly educated guess that roughly half the homes have a minimum of one rifle, one shotgun, and one pistol.  

Trying to say it's way more than the 1960s?  No, there was some point where an awful lot of hunters existed in the county, and then in the 1970s to 1990s....those folks 'died-out'.  

People consumed to own weapons?  Well....I would take another educated guess here that more than 50-percent of folks who work.....have some type of pistol in their car, in their purse, or carry on their person each morning.  

Guards at churches?  In the past decade, a fair number of churches have to having at least one guy....sometimes two.....who walk the 'perimeter' of the church parking lot and the building.  These are guys who'd prefer to pray to Jesus for your good health, but probably would put you down like a rabid-dog if you were to identify yourself as a threat.  Nothing personal, you understand.

This crossing over to the M-4/AR-15/SABs shotgun?  Some folks would suggest that things were progressing in the 1980s, and by 2000....society was looking at acceptance of the evolution.

Homes with some type of semi-automatic rifle?  Probably over 50-percent are in that range, and 10-percent might have two semi-automatic weapons.  

Home invasions, and meth-heads evolving people into putting down an undesirable generation?

At some point about seven years ago....local guy had owned a boat, and sold it.  Deal resulted in roughly $3k of cash.  Guy had lunch one day and noted his luck.  Gal handling the order told some relative who was a meth-head.  Meth-head came to the house....killed the guy with a rock, and walked away with the money.  Cops did figure things out.....arrested the meth-head.  

One could say ever since that point....folks have a blunt view of reality.  Could be some idiot in the grocery parking lot.  Could be some guy in local McDonalds.  Could be some guy living out of a cousin's garage.  Any of them could present a challenge to you living.

So, yeah, there's a different attitude now.  In 1970.....probably fewer than 300 folks in the county kept a pistol around the bedroom.  In 2022, there's probably 10,000 folks who keep a pistol in the bedroom.  

The sad thing here, if you ponder upon it....there's probably a hundred meth-heads or home invasion folks in the county.....who are potentially always on their final 24 hours on Earth.  They don't think much about it or the consequences of what'll happen at 1 AM to end their life.

All of this a sign of society breaking down?  Maybe if the police did something over the meth-heads or the home invasion business was deemed a crime requiring you to spend 20 years in prison....it'd be different.  So that enthusiasm for the weapon....is cruising along and won't be lessening any time soon. 

Deep Space Nine Wrap-Up

 This week, I finished up a three-month viewing of the 176 episodes of the series (ending in 1999).  (yeah, I am a binge viewer)

Back in the 90s....I probably watched around ten episodes....mostly because I was stationed overseas at the time.  Since it's on Netflix....I figured to satisfy my curiosity.  

My seven observations:

1.  On my soap-operaish scale....it's a '9'.  In fact, I consider more of a soap opera than a science fiction series.

2.  The Dax character?  She's a four-star slut/tramp and the writers everything possible to bring her across as a nice and intelligent tramp.  

3.  The Ferengi folks?  Actually, the storylines that involves these capitalistic folks interested me the most.  

4.  The last season (season 7) was fairly crappy on story content, and just seemed like a waste.

5.  Probably out of every episode I'd rate as 4-star....there was one that were marginally worth watching.  I'd blame part of that on scripts, but some lead back to zero-exploration....which is the gimmick that made the original Star Trek series worth watching.

6.  The romance episodes were cheesy 'General Hospital' soap opera gimmicks.

7.  Finally, Captain Sisko....pound for pound, gave Kirk a run for his money. 

Random Thoughts On The Gun Topic

 1.  You ever noticed after an event.....most all news organizations want to share some poll showing 55-percent or more of people want 'control'?  It'll always be labeled 'Sixty-two-percent of Americans want X'.

Most of the polls center around 2,000 participants, and usually involve a fair number of people in urbanized areas.

Personally, I would like to see polls done state-by-state, and a minimum of half the participants to be rural or small town occupants.  

If you walked around rural Arkansas....probably 80-percent of people want as little changed as possible.  If you walk around Detroit....it's probably near 60-percent who want to ensure nothing much changes on themselves and their home-weapon (which might be a AK-47).

2.  Ever noticed most all of the mass-shooters are male?  It's like 99.5-percent.  Women?  If they are in a shooting situation....it's always a one-on-one, and about some wrong that the person done to them.

3.  Chief reason why Germans don't have a lot of these?  This goes back to two key factors (national ID card, and your doctor reviewing your past medical history on whether you get a license or not).  

4.  Number of AR-15s in the US?  They throw the 20-million number around, and it might be true.  

5.  Who are the major groups on this 'control' topic?

Well.....first, you have the total anti-gun, total-control group.  

Then, you have the hunter group, who probably own at least three rifles, a shotgun, and a minimum of one pistol.  This is the group who might agree to some marginal changes, but fear that anti-hunting schemes will come up next.  

Then, you have the farmer/rancher, who have a AR-15, a couple of shotguns/rifles, and probably carry a pistol in the truck.  Oddly enough.....none of the mass shooters ever come from the farm or ranch folks.  They don't want a bunch of regulations to occur.

Then, you have the local drug/cartel guy or meth-head, who doesn't care what you do on gun control....because he doesn't intend to play by your rules.

Then, you have the ex-Army/Marine folks who have sixteen weapons in the house, and it's more of a hobby than anything else.  

Then, you have the political folks who keep claiming they can write 'magical' text to resolve all gun problems/mass shootings....but can't seem to get baby formula to grocery stores.  

These groups all have an agenda.  The amusing thing...more than half of society want dangerous nutcases put into a facility, while the remaining folks want total freedom for the nutcase crowd.

6.  Finally....the minute that you go at this and say it's an age thing....that no one should buy a gun until age 21, then you trigger the question 'why should I let you vote, if you are that immature'.

I could buy into the age discussion, but then why stop at just guns?  There's probably forty things I'd dump into the age discussion.  Why should I allow you to get stupid and borrow $120,000 from the government and be in debt for twenty years?  

Observations

 1.  Trump made the comment yesterday....the reasoning behind the necessity to have a weapon....is the "existence of evil".  

Someone in the 1960s/1970s era probably wouldn't have made that comment.  By the late 1990s....yeah, most of us would have suggested that, and in the past decade (particularly if you live around a metropolitan/urbanized city)....the thought is on your mind at least once a week.

You carry the pistol in the car because some nutcase at work might go 'unhinged' and need to be put-down.  You carry the pistol in the car because some drugged-up 'crazy' might go 'unhinged' at the steak-house.  You carry the pistol in the car because some guy might attempt to carjack you as you refuel on the way home.  You keep a pistol in the kitchen because home invasion threats.  

It didn't get that way overnight....it's the system that created the 'funnel' and it seems that the police, the abundance of laws, the refusal to use the laws, the prosecution system, and the jail solution can't resolve the path of where things are going.

2.  Graduation party in West Virginia back on Wed night.  Some 'nut' came in with a AR-15 and started firing shots.  Some gal pushed out her pistol, and put the guy down.  Odds of you hearing about the story?  Probably only a 10-percent chance.

3.  Learning to 'comply' in life....has its limits.  

4.  It is an odd situation to ponder....one idiot telling you that a 18-year-old's maturity is not sufficient to purchase/own a gun, but the same idiot telling that if a 12-year-old wanted gender-flipping, they are mature enough.  

5.  If you are trying to impersonate someone, or some culture, or some gender....at least make a serious attempt.  If you come across like you are drugged-up or crazy....people take you as a joke.

6.  The quote: 'Looks aren't everything' is actually handed down by the Greeks.  Shocking....they figured this out probably 2,500 years ago.

7.  There is some rumor going around that President Biden will create some path where stupid college debt folks will be given a $10,000 'gift', and forgiven of that debt.  

Power to do so?  Well....that's the question.  Apparently the Democrats can't pass this via the House/Senate.  

For all of you that paid your money, or those who found successful paths in life without college?  You are basically screwed, and helping to pay that $10,000 debt for the idiot.

Observations

 1.  On this Texas school shooting.....the more that is laid out on the school master plan of security being totally ineffective, the lack of action by local police for an hour, and the shooter-kid himself....the less I believe of the story.  

2.  Russians agreeing to allow age 40 and over Russian men to enlist in the military?  Makes sense....bunch of drunken guy taken off the street....fed into the military machine and dead within six weeks.  

3.  Southern Baptist folks released a 205-page summary of ministers (all men) who sexually abused folks.  Seems like a fair number of them probably need to freshen their resumes and find real work.

4.  70-percent of independent-voters say Biden is too old.  Generally, I'd have a physical test for future folks in this position.  Give a car with a flat tire, and just say you got 15 minutes to change it.  Fail?  You don't run for office.

5.  Someone asked the ATF Director what a 'assault weapon' was, and he couldn't respond.  Kinda like that woman question.....asking folks to define a woman.  I have the feeling in twelve months....if you asked some political guy to define 'tramp', 'whore', 'drunk' or 'weeded-up'.....they'd just grin and say they can't define the terms.

6.  Just a wild guess, but I'll predict that the entire police force of Uvalde, TX is likely to be resigned, let-go, or terminated within six months.  

What Was MKUltra In The End?

 Shortly after WW II....the CIA got a tasking.  Basically, after examining the Japanese and German experiments going on....the US took what they had and built a 'lab' of sorts....to continue developments.  

Key areas?  I'd suggest seven areas:

1.  Develop substances that helped impulsiveness and poor thinking.

2.  Develop substances that improved your perception.

3.  Develop substances that doubled-up the effect of booze.

4.  Find useful ways of hypnosis.

5.  Develop ways to 'fight-off' torture or brainwashing. 

6.  Find products/substances that produce amnesia.  

7.  Find ways (substances) to make you dependent upon a function or person.

For about twenty years....the CIA went at this mission, then realized public attention was going to arrive shortly.....destroying a great deal of the paperwork. 

The development of these 'tools'?  There's a lot of discussion that has come up over the past fifty years....that various people walked out the backdoor.....taking their 'tools' to various companies/individuals, and that MKUltra got 'loose' in public.

The Unabomber?  Well....Ted Kaczynski was rumored to have been on one of these experimental efforts with MKUltra.  Same is suggested for Sirhan Sirhan (RFK's killer).  Charles Manson?  Yep....he was connected in various ways.  

In the end, as much as the CIA thought they were doing a good deed.....they were simply opening up a bigger door to a mess which cannot ever be cleaned up.  

Age of Maturity

I travel a lot (at least before Covid).  So I tend to notice 'age of maturity' a good bit.

This week, the topic of ages for purchasing weapons came up (Texas), and it was an interesting thing to ponder.

Folks tend to 'mark' age 18 as this mythical age crossing....where you can vote, buy a weapon, buy booze (at least in some states), etc.

In some countries....it's age 21.

In Germany, you can buy beer/wine at 16, but hard booze at 18.

Up until the French Revolution.....the legal age of consent to marriage was 12 years old for girls, and 14 for boys.   After 1804, they set the age of consent for girls at 15, and boys at 18.  That rule sat around until 2006....where everyone was set at 18.

The old Aztec civilization set male maturity at 20 to 22.

Finding someone under the 18 being responsible for their actions?  I'd say two out of three in the fifteen to eighteen year old group probably could handle full-up adult responsibility.  The other third?  They probably wouldn't earn my respect even at age twenty.

But here's the thing.  If you say age 21 is the age for buying/using a gun....then you are saying in general....their maturity is not there.....so why allow the 'kid' to vote?

The booze rules?  Shouldn't this accompany the problem as well?  

What if we just mandated no gun purchases, no votes, no booze until age 20?  Would folks have heartburn over that?

While discussing all of this....shouldn't we bring up that most kids are educationally prepared to wrap up school by age sixteen?  If you tested most kids....I'd say almost forty to fifty percent are ready to move on by age sixteen.

There's going to be this age discussion and the more you open it up.....the more likely that people will throw a bunch of things (like voting and buying booze) onto the discussion.  

There are a fair number of kids already at age twelve....fully pepped-up and roaring to have independence....make their own decisions and to get out of the 'control' of parents.  I'd say we need to let the system work, and just say at age 12....let them run 'free' and see how thing progress.  Yes, voting, driving, and working.  

Driver's License Story

 One of the odd things about this Texas shooter.....he had no driver's license.  At age 18, you'd expect that.

For the first 15 years I was in the Air Force.....I had one single co-worker who had no license....a guy named Mike from Baltimore.

Mike was unique.  After a month of working with the guy....I came to realize Mike wasn't that bright, and probably more of a 13-year old kid than 19 years old.

About six months after arriving at the base (McChord, far NW of the US)....Mike wanted to take leave (going back to visit Baltimore for four weeks).   About four days before leaving....Mike said he didn't have much cash (he wasn't going to fly back....he was going via Trailways).  So we passed the hat in the shop and handed Mike around $150....enough for a R/T bus-ticket in those days.

Mike left and on day thirty...he failed to show up.  Day thirty-one.....our boss called Mike at the number he left, and his momma said he wasn't coming back.  

The next day, our First Sgt called Mike and spelled out the routine....but Mike was pretty blunt....no return.

They sent the cops there, and had someone from the unit fly into Baltimore....pick him up and bring him back.  He spent 30 days in the base jail, lost a stripe, and then told to just hang out for the remaining 2.5 years.  

After Mike....I was in my final three years before coming across five individuals (all coming into service around 1996-1997).....with no license.  

Excuse?  They didn't need it.

After retirement, from 2000 to 2009.....I worked around another five or six individuals with the same issue.  

It's one of those odd things you came to notice from the 1990s on....people were finishing high school without a license, and didn't care.  

AR-15/M-16 Chatter

 Years ago on the Air Force gun range....we had Sarge (the trainer) to get the question about the difference of the M-16 (we were shooting that day with it) and the AR-15.  He had a AR-15, which he could demonstrate.

So Sarge laid the two weapons down, and there were basically three basic differences: different trigger/hammer, different disconnector, and a safety modification. The safety?  On the civilianized version.....there was safe/single shot.  The military version had safe/single shot/3-shots/full-automatic.

Beyond that....it was the same weapon.  

And then came the shocker on history....the AR-15 was developed and ready in the early-1950s. It would be almost ten years later before the military reached a level of accepting the military version (M-16).

This led to a ten-minute sequence of Q-and-A, 

The ammo clip?  You can go back to the 1880s/1890s and view various developments between the French and Germans.  The box-magazine?  Already around in the 1888 period (British development).

So there was a open discussion then over weapons and maturity.  Sarge brought up a point, which has stuck to my mind over the years.  The services don't let you out of boot-camp unless you can show some maturity over handling a weapon.  If you go out to the Air Force or Navy gun-range in basic.....they spend a good amount of time talking over handling and behavior.  

During my day at basic training and the gun range.....somewhere down the line in another group.....some idiot went into some behavior like you'd expect a 7-year old kid.   Gun-handling?  He lost it....with the instructor grabbing his weapon before he did stupid crap.

Among gun instructors....they all have some story like that from basic training and note that if you act this way.....they won't have you on the range, and you are finished with boot-camp.  

If you asked most folks of today....attending military boot-camp, I would take a guess that more than 50-percent have never handled a weapon in their life.  

Observations

 1.  Beto O'Rourke showing up at the school shooting press conference.  It was a poorly thought-out moment, with parents in attendance.  His electability?  I'd say at this point....he's wrapped up in politics and should just concentrate on a mayor's job somewhere.  

2.  Key element of the shooting?  Empathy missing.  It's just an odd factor, from across the globe....almost all of the shooting (like 99.9-percent) are male-driven.  If females kill anyone....it's typically a one-on-one situation and they know the person they have intent upon killing.

3.  What's it really mean for 'known to the police'?  Well....someone called the police and they came out to interview you in a blunt fashion.  They typically write a report.  Maybe forty years ago....it'd be used to build a case for some real jail-time.  Today, you have have forty reports existing, with zero jail-time.  Reporters like to hype this angle of a story.

4.  I noticed some Senators have asked President Biden to turn over internal documents on this new Disinformation Board/Truth Commission.  I doubt that he will comply on this.

5.  After the primary in Georgia this week, Stacey Abrams noted that voter suppression still exists.  

We Are Sane People

 Well....probably up until I left the farm at age 18.....I felt marginally this way.  

I grew up in a fairly rural farming community, and if you asked me about sanity numbers....I would have said 98-percent of the folks you ran into....were sane, balanced, level-headed, logical and sensible people.  

The other two-percent?  Touched, nutty, irrational, irresponsible, schizophrenic, or  plain crazy.  Most were 'safe'.  You'd have the people who saw Jesus in the cornfield, or guys who felt their neighbor was 'possessed', or the folks who had a dozen fans in the living room to blow around mostly hot-air, or the folks who had WW II stories but had only spent four weeks in boot-camp before getting kicked out.

After I joined the Air Force....I came to note a slightly higher number of sanity-lacking people.  I lowered my sane number for the general population to 95-percent.

Since 2000?  I've traveled across the globe and spent a fair amount of time looking at society itself.

Things have changed....mostly due to legit/illegal drugs, and most authorities fearful of putting seriously ill people into permanent facilities.

If you live around urban Seattle or Portland.....you probably would suggest that more than 75-percent of the 'street-people' are not sane or rational.  

I blame part of this on drug use....part on the mental instability of society....part on TV freak-shows....and some on our willing nature to just see how far things can go with 'Timmy' and his mental decline.

If you lived around NY City, or Chicago....you probably would suggest that only 80-percent of people are sane, and the rest are less-than-sane.  In rural areas....you might still be thinking my level of 98-percent.

Is it getting worse?  This is my general top question in this topic area.  You just see a lot of people without empathy or compassion or pity.  In that regard, I worry.

Presently, we are still sane people....but we seem to be losing the 'game' to the opposition.  

Bathroom Chatter

 

I saw this today....some kind of educational piece for folks to get used to possibly another type person in the bathroom.

I grew up in the 1960s, and you had basically four rules for bathroom use:

1.  Don't waste toilet paper.

2.   Aim and flush.

3.  Try not to notice anyone in the bathroom.

4.  Wash your hands (hopefully with soap) before you leave.

This new era?  Well....it's complicated.  If you see anyone.....just try not to identify them or figure who/what they are.  

Course, then there's that comment 'protect them from harm', and I'm kinda wondering what kind of harm you can find in a bathroom....other than a snake or rat.  Just to suggest that.....give me some worry.  

Asking For National Guard MPs?

 I've sat for an hour now pondering over this story.  

Apparently....the National School Boards Association wrote up some letter in 2021, and asked the White House to 'call up' Army National Guard units (in particular the MPs.....Military Police) to restore order to school board meetings.  

What happened with the request?  The White House handed it to the Attorney General and he told the FBI to review the situation.  

No deployments were ordered and no Guard folks were put into this mess.

The FBI?  Well....much less has been said, and I suspect one of the odd things to occur in January of 2023....with the Republicans controlling the House.....there's going to be a investigation over their actions.

If the Guard had been deployed?  I would guess in some states.....the state police would have been there to ask questions and demand to know who was running the Guard operation from the state (or DC)?

So here's the three things to come away from this with:

1.  You've got an element of society who believe they should be entitled to elected jobs with real responsibilities  but not have to answer to the public who elected them.  

2.  Once you deploy Guard people into a hostile situation....anything can happen (reflect upon Kent State).  You could easily have forty MPs in some 'war-zone' in North Carolina....asking at the hospital for their gunshot wounds....how they got dragged into this.

3.  Isn't this all leading to a civil war?  Just a rational question....but how is it resolving the mess at hand.....to have armed soldiers in the midst of a school board meeting?

But I'm kinda interested what the FBI did, and how many files have been created.  You see....this has the funny smell of the East German Stasi to it.  

Social Media Meeting the 'Climax'?

 For most of 2021, and all of 2022....I've been an observer of social media (both in Europe and the US).

There are five things that I've come to observe and note:

1.  Instagram is mostly chained to influencers and people who want the latest trend/fashion/sport/food/diet/etc.  

Instagram is very unlikely to expand past the point where it is today.  If a world recession occurs.....the influencers lose traction.  If you were a Russian influencer, your path to market/profit is now corrupted.  

2.  Facebook/Meta.  

If you categorize users (the guy who only checks it once a day, the guy who checks twelve times a day, and the habitual twice an hour user)....FB needs the habitual twice an hour guy a lot.

With all the hype of censoring....a fair number of people left FB (I did). 

This imaginary world stuff that Meta is heading into....is mostly for gamers, not the content-hunters.

3.  On content.

The only reason for the existence of any of these....is content.  People don't come to Meta, Twitter or Instagram for crappy content.

Meta appears destined in some weird way to have AI working to write content.  For me, it's questionable if you teach AI to write like Hemingway, or hype like Art Buchwald, or lecture like Aristotle, or criticize Greg Gutfeld, or interview like Rogan.

4.  For the tech crowd, there is absolute belief that the 2016 election was triggered by Trump figuring out the social media business, and beating Hillary via their own tool.

You can laugh over the view, but within their circles.....they absolutely believe this.  

Disinformation/misinformation to the extreme?  Absolutely. 

But these people running the 'industry' are not seeing their 'game' or 'toy' as public speech domain.....they see it as a 'roller-rink' that they personally operate, and you only 'skate' by their rules.  Frankly, they don't care if they never generate dividends for the stock-holders.

5.  Fake accounts.

There were always fake accounts and everyone's imagination was limited to 5-percent.

Once Elon said it might be more than 10-percent, and that the wording for the SEC documentation might be fraud.....the whole game got called into question.

Here's the thing, if you were selling a car brand, and suddenly you said the horsepower was not 160 Horsepower, but 130 Hp.....that car's value is cut (maybe 10-percent...maybe 20-percent).  If I were the CEO, I'd be all over this to resolve this and ensure it's like 5-percent.  The longer this joker of a CEO spins this with no answer.....the more likely I'm to believe it's 20-percent.

Most of the fake accounts belong to WaPo, Nancy Pelosi, CNN, or Joe Biden?  Well....that really makes you wonder how bad the situation was allowed to develop like this.

MySpace started up in 2003.....hyped itself for five years, and by 2009....was slowly dying.  

If Twitter comes to a point of admitting 25-percent of the users/accounts are fake?  I'd say they will evolve into a lesser Twitter, and Elon won't be the owner of a Twitter-lite gimmick.

All of this leads back to content, and if you don't have legit content......there's no future.  

Shakespeare had content.  Hemmingway and Steinbeck had content.  Cass Elliot and Janis Joplin had content.  Scooby Doo had content.  Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth had content.  Dark Shadows, Hee Haw, Kong Fu, and Columbo had content.  Wrestling has content.  Putin (at least in Russia) has content.  Without content, you can go back to mowing grass, or painting fence posts.

How Things Will Go?

 1.  Monkeypox.  Within ten days....some medical authority will admit in public that the ratio of men to women having the virus....is something 75 men to 1 woman.  Then, some weird questions will start up.

2.  The Disinformation Governance Board will hand a list of objectives to the White House by late August.  A copy will be gained by the news media.  More negativity will start up.....with this oddly being a top ten problem for the November mid-terms.

3.  Durham-Sussman court case.  Jury will be deadlocked and unable to reach a decision.  Trump will take comments made in the court to a sue-Hillary Clinton situation....in the range of $250-million.  Hillary will disappear from public view for two months, and then appear in some alcohol rehab program....admitting she was drunk in 2016 when she made this Trump accusation business.  

4.  Some discussion will start up from the Democratic core after the November losses....that maybe the party can't function as one, and it's time to break the party up.

5.  Twitter cannot come to a legal point on how many fake accounts exist....even 60 days after Elon brought up the topic.  The SEC will ask their CEO to appear and explain this problem, and he suddenly resigns....admitting that various compartments of the company are not (nor ever have been) under his authority.

6.  Around 20,000 teachers nationally will be given a notice that the schools don't require their services (by mid-July).  This will occur because parents finally said enough and went to private schools or home schooling.  A massive crisis will be brewing where some federal agency wants to aide the unemployed teachers for a year....hoping for the chaos to go away.

7.  Gas by October will be $7.50 per gallon.

A Bit of Wisdom

 "When a clown moves into a palace.....it does not make the clown a king.  It instead makes the palace a circus."

-- Old Turkish saying

For several decades, I've tended to view DC activities as a entertainment show, and more of a comedy....sadly.  The saying fits the occasion perfectly.

My 10 Lessons From the Putin War

 1.  Pretty much any nation could hinder or humiliate Russia.....if they just avoid a tank-versus-tank strategy, and have anti-tank weapons/Stingers in their arsenal.

2.  Russia was probably a 3rd-rate enemy all the way through the 1960s/1970s/1980s/1990s.  Other the nuke thing, they were never at our level.

3.  Putin, on a list of 100 talents.....is missing military strategist.

4.  A billionaire Oligarch guy.....can lose the bulk of his wealth with just one single idiot running the country.

5.  Every time that some idiots said that sanctions don't trigger much pain.....they were BSing you to the extreme. 

6.  A bunch of dead Russian Generals and Colonels....simply opens the door for young guys to replace them.

7.  This uttering of Nazis everywhere....seems comical, but it drives the whole campaign in Russia. 

8.   Russian imperialism....continues on.

9.  There is no such thing as a cheap, or reasonable war or peace.

10.  Yeah, you can screw up a McDonalds business dynamic in such a way to close 850 'fronts'....permanently. 

Ten Things I Think

 1.  The Power Rangers show was the biggest bunch of garbage ever created for kid's entertainment.

2.  These BLM folks who handled the incoming cash flow....seem to have done a awful lot of things that would resemble money-laundering....either accidentally or on purpose.

3.  Facebook freezing hiring right now?  I think they are looking at a 'correction' period about to occur, with social media being demonized (in some weird way, demonetarized).

4.  There's supposed to be some big 'Summit of the Americas' in DC.  The invitations for this?  Well....half of Latin America have not accepted them.  White House sent Jill Biden to engage everyone (over a 6-day trip) to accept and show up.  Kinda funny.....zero respect out of Latin America for Biden's policies and the answer here is to send his wife down.

5. It is rather shocking....scientists/medical folks now say....the biggest problem area for Covid for the 2 years....was misinformation provided by the US federal government.  

6.  Only 78-percent of Americans say the economy is 'BAD'.  This means that 22-percent think it's OK or doing well.  Where are the 22-percent of people?  That really becomes a big question.

7.  I believe by 2025, the category 'women' won't exist.  The term 'people' will fill their void.  Women in general....will be shaking their heads and unable to reason how they disappeared from the landscape.

8.  Get used to the term 'Mobocracy'.  

9.  I think if you gave everyone a chance to enter the Doctor Strange 'multiverse'....more than 50-percent of Americans would readily volunteer to leave this universe/timeline, and venture somewhere else.

10.  There's some odd belief growing in the US that there's more racism existing today (2022) than in the 1920s.  

Why Would You Need A Government Disinformation To 'Save' You?

 For about a month, I've pondered over this Homeland Security invention....the Disinformation Governance Board.  This past week (week three since admitting it exists).....the WH (not Homeland Security apparently) dumped the 'boss' and has gone to some underground stage.

Disinformation....for the sake of this discussion....is the willful act of telling you something (fake news, false facts) to convince you of something (leading you to an agenda).

I tend to argue that prior to the internet/social media era.....we had a marginal problem (probably for the past 200 years).  Most people who came out of the 1960s/1970s.....up until social media/fake news....could review a story, and just measure the fakeness....coming to a decision that it was incorrect.  But this was based off just having newspapers, news magazines, and a limited amount of TV.

I would also argue that over the past two decades.....news content has more than doubled, and in some cases.....people are blitzed three to four hours a day.  In some cases, even around the office now.....you get news-blitzed.  Driving to/from work, you get blitzed.  And even in your local church.....you get blitzed.

 In simple terms......you are blasted way too much....to be able to discern disinformation on your own.  

The government pretending it can resolve this?  The minute that we reach some level where their 'truth' is fake....the entire reason for the board goes away.  

If you wanted a training module to recognize fake news or disinformation?  I would suggest watching all of the 317 episodes of South Park.  Even a 12-year old kid could gain a fair amount of reference by watching the cartoon.  In particular, I'd suggest watching the ManBearPig episode.

At some point before the end of 2022....I think the board will resurface and be a major part of the Biden 'brand'.  As for trusting the disinformation board?  It'll never happen.

What Was The Whitewater Property Business of the 1980s All About?

 So this Whitewater developmental scheme revolved around a fairly rural area of north Arkansas.....near Flippin (yeah, I doubt you've heard of the town).  For reference, out of Little Rock, it's about 90 miles straight north, and about 15 miles shy of the Missouri border.  

How you got to the property from Little Rock?  Well....you drove up highway 65.  It's about a 2.5 hour drive.  So you couldn't live there?  Yeah....this was a vacation or weekend-getaway development.

What was the other gimmick to the property deal? It was within 30 minutes of Branson, Missouri.  

Fairly wooded and remote?  Yes.

This whole agenda started out in 1979....to just be  a vacation 'playground'.  You'd put up a vacation cabin/house, and if you bought property.....you were there as your weekend place.

Somewhere around 1978, friends of Bill Clinton talked up this idea of buying 230 acres just on the south part of the White River.  Amount involved?  $203,000.  

The basic start-up idea?  They would buy the property, hold for several years, and some 'deal' would come up where you'd sell the property.

Did the property have any true value?  In 1978?  This is before the boom on RV travel, camping, and weekend getaways.  I've been of the mind that you were just paying twice what the actual property was valued, and it would be curious to bring the original owner into the picture.....asking them when they bought the property and how long they held it.

So, I need to tell this one odd part of the story.  Remember....all this chatter to get hyped up....was 1978.  Things went south in 1979....with interest rates bumping a couple of percent....so the general bank loan business was set to around 11.2-percent (yeah, hefty).

Bill and his friend....were screwed on timing.

Adding to this....over the next three years....the rate continued to climb.  At some point, it bumped up to 20-percent on bank rates.  No one....was buying.

To make any recovery, Bill and the friend decided that a model home needed to be built.  If people could just see the house/landscape....they'd overlook the bank issue (at least in their mind).

So you come to 1980, and Bill lost the campaign effort...leaving the governor's job.  

Four years would pass, and Bill would come back.

Whitewater?  It was mostly a failed land deal with bad timing.  But the bigger issue that was laying there....there's a sum of money involved and it's never clear where the money from.  Money-laundering?  

Well....here's the thing, at this point in the early 1980s....the Contra business was starting up, and cocaine was being flown into northern Arkansas.  There was tons of money being pushed around the region.  Banks were overflowing with cash, and it sorta needed money-laundering operations to occur.  So as deep as the bank interest problem had dragged the Whitewater mess into stagnation.....there's some pretty good odds that various people were begging for ways to launder their money.  

It's funny now to review the story....because in the 1990s....nothing seemed to fit or be understood.  Without the Contras, the Cocaine or the interest rate mess...Bill would have sold his property legally, and probably pocketed $100k for his efforts. 

What's The Difference Between Disinformation and Misinformation?

 This week, with the 'dumping' of Nina Jancowitz as the new head of the Disinformation Governance Board (Homeland Security)....disinformation and misinformation have been in the news. 

I spent some time looking over misinformation and disinformation.  If you asked a hundred people to define either....I would make the suggestion that fewer than forty could give you a decent explanation.  Some would utter 'fake news' in their explanation and I'd at least give them a plus-up on the understanding.

So, lets start with misinformation.

If you told a couple of folks that there was a trampy lady down on highway 64, who lived in a trailer, wore bikini gear while mowing grass, and gave free sex....there are five bits of information contained.  What you messed up on.....it wasn't free sex (she charges) and she only wore a bikini top.  So this is an example of misinformation. 

Another example: You went to a 'wreck-auction' and bought a fairly new BMW that had serious frontend damage done, pulling to the left continually, and wearing out a set of tires every 5,000 miles.  You brag at work/church....about this exceptional deal but never admit that the car is a 'problem' and that you actually got it for a junker-price.  

Disinformation?  It's deliberate in nature.  You are telling a story to get the listener to only attach their version of reality.

Disinformation is often accomplished to polarize society or a political stance.  

Both dished out by journalists, politicians, and intellectuals?  To some degree.

Here's the thing....it's not exactly new.  You can go back over the decades and cite various examples where this 'game' occurred, and people eventually got around to understanding the fake story told.  

In simple terms....plain old disinformation probably doesn't work any longer, and the whole system has had to bump up a notch....for a fake story to really work. 

My Thoughts On Woke

 I've spent a lot of time this past year looking over 'woke-stuff'.  

The true meaning of 'woke'?  Well....you go around saying you are aware (in some way) of things/issues....that you feel the true landscape of of social injustice.  In your eyes....there's marginalized people....diminished communities....and there's some path to cure all ills.

The chief problem here?  Well....you have five issues brewing:

1.  A fair amount of this landscape you claim in your vision....might be misinformation/disinformation, or propaganda.  

2.  For some odd reason, you need to whip up political power and 'victory' can only come via legislative ways or taxation.  If I ask you why.....you generally give this five-year-old kid behavioral trait.....you-just-gotta-believe-me.

3.  Undermining society or civility is always at work.  Tear-down and build is uttered over and over.  

4.  For some reason, there is Marxist 'pie-in-the-sky' chatter continually going on.  They talk about this imaginary Nordic country (they've never actually been there) where Marxism apparently works.  

5.  Finally, they tell you over and over....capitalism can't work.  They do this while wearing $150 Nike shoes, or a $90 pair of jeans.  They've got themselves $100k in college loan debt, but preaching the the evils of how capitalism cannot function. 

For some reason, I just don't see a positive future for the woke folks.  All will require some rehab treatment, and probably spend an entire year in a mental collapse where their sanity is questionable.  

Hallucinations Chatter

 There's a new term being thrown called 'nonconsenus realities'.

Basically, it's the hearing voices crowd, who are having hallucinations.  They are asking for some  type of reform to occur....where mental health folks/clinics.....uses a different approach in handling their 'problem' (they usually avoid saying they've got a problem).

I'm from the old crowd.....if you spoke up that you were seeing dragons flying around the farm, seeing Jesus hanging out at the gas station, or hearing the voice of Hitler through your cellphone.....you got problems.

I'm against folks like this.  If it makes them feel OK to hear George Steinbrenner's voice over the phone (he's been dead for 20 years) or to see a unicorn in the city park....fine, let the guy be.

But I see this 'nonconsenus' chatter leading back to the element of you wanting me to just accept you and trust you enough to be my bus-driver, or to handle my money at the  bank....well....NO, that won't happen.

We are at this odd point in society, where hallucinations occur and some people think that society should 'approve' the hallucination situation and 'nod' our head.  

In some ways, it's remarkable that this topic comes up.   

Just An Observation

 "If they saying they have to control the internet because people can be 'radicalized'.....are they admitting people can be brainwashed?"

-- Uncle Hotep (Twitter)

I sat for a good ten minutes pondering the simplicity of this guy's analysis.

No one ever in the history of newspapers....ever said they needed to be controlled, because people could be brainwashed by reading print-text.

This suggestion is a recent thing....where folks are worried that you might view 'content' X or Y.....then go radical (never saying left radical or right radical).

My problem?  What if the worry-people who want to control the internet....already have been brainwashed?

Can they establish that they are 'pure' and non-radicalized?  No, I'm not talking about some Harvard PhD guy 'blessing' them....I'm talking about an exam where we the public can gauge the guy 'neutral'.

The odd thing?  These control folks are the same things all hyped up to bring high-speed internet to across America....which would send brainwashing worry to the maximum degree.   

I worked with a guy around a decade ago, who had his aunt 'move-in' and over a six-month period....she got attached to C-SP*N for about ten hours a day.  Once he got home.....the aunt would want to chat constantly over political stuff, and he offered up the opinion one day....she'd become radicalized.  I asked how he'd resolve this, and he offered the idea of just dumping his four-star cable package for a marginalized deal.  

It is kinda funny, between cable-TV and the internet....we've got tons of disinformation and propaganda dumped on us daily, and our previous ability to filter out garbage....is simply overwhelmed.  

More Equals Less In The End

 It's not page one news, but it's worth a discussion.  The men's world soccer 'management' sat down and agreed that when it came to the World Cup deal (every four years)....that made tons of money for players who participated....that they would have a even-deal with the women's soccer 'management' folks.

What this amounts to?  Male players before all of this chatter....made around $18k per game (even as a sub on the team) if they got into the final series matches....while women in the female version of the World Cup....only made $3k each. 

So that check to the guys....dropped from the $18k level (per game) to around $10k to $11k?  Yeah.

People accepting of the financial drop?  Well....no one is really saying that.  It was the management folks who arranged this deal.

My grumbling?  If you went to attendance numbers....the women's cup games usually draw around 20k to 25k for the stadium.  In the guy's games....if this were a 90,000 seat stadium......you'd sell every single seat.  I admit....women's games have improved a heck of a lot over the past thirty years.  But there's no evenness to this structure.  

What I'll predict?  I'll suggest that ten-percent of the players will view this World Cup period as a relaxation period, and refuse to participate for their national team.  Some of them will be top-tier players.....which means the games will be less sensational and less interesting to watch or attend.  It might take twelve years, but I think general public interest for male games will lessen.  When this occurs....an interesting affect will occur....where the salary shrinks, and the women ask why. 

As much as they think they are fixing something....it's simply evolving into the next problem.

Disinformation Board Dissolving Away?

 Well....there are four facts.  First, Nina Jancowitz was 'toxic' for the leadership position and had zero vetting by the White House.  Second, the minute you heard disinformation....you had this '1984' thing in your mind.  Third, no one could say what it's job was going to be...without grinning.  Finally, no one from the House/Senate seemed to know it was being created (or acted that way).

Nina out?  What they say.....she got an invite to the White House, and some understanding....the whole thing was going to be reviewed....with her out of the job. 

Disinformation bureau gone permanently?  No.....no one said that.

It'll come back in a year, with a totally different name....different angle.  I doubt that it'll be housed in Homeland Security.  

This whole thing having a 'smell' of being related to President Obama's former team?  Well....yeah, that's the funny thing about this whole thing, and the lack of chatting with the House or Senate?  That kinda funnels things back to the way that Obama's team worked.

Another name for it?  I'd just call it the '1984-Bureau' but I'm sure folks wouldn't approve of that.

Was Nina unqualified for this?  On a scale of one to ten, for senior management for a group like this?  I'd give her a '3-plus'.  She knew how to produce disinformation, but beyond that....no, she didn't have the maturity or qualifications.  

I will say.....creating this early in a mid-term year.....just had a funny 'smell' to it.  

Yeah, About distribution

 I sat and watched over the White House Press Secretary briefing yesterday.  Yeah, it's NOT something that I would have done five to ten years ago.  But I've got to the point of realizing they say some curious things.

Out of yesterday....I learned that President Biden (maybe he knows this.....maybe he hasn't the faintest idea over this).....has taken some kind of control over the US commercial sector ingredients required for use in making baby formula.  In some weird and unexplained way....Health-Human-Services (HHS) will now control distribution.

They didn't say HHS trucks will be hauling baby formula around America, but it begs questions. 

So I sat there and for an hour thinking over this.

If aspirin comes up next on the shortage list....will the president assume control over those ingredients and hand that to HHS for distribution?

If birth-control pills comes up next on the shortage list....will the president assume control over those ingredients and hand that to HHS for distribution?

If Diet-Pepsi comes up next on the shortage list....will the president assume control over those ingredients and hand that to HHS for distribution?

If cat-food comes up next on the shortage list....will the president assume control over those ingredients and hand that to HHS for distribution?

If beer comes up next on the shortage list....will the president assume control over those ingredients and hand that to HHS for distribution?

It begs a lot of questions.....but here's the odd thing.  In the 1930s/1940s/1950/1960s in the USSR.....this was the Soviet thing to do.  It was plain regular communism, with central control from Moscow.  

I doubt if President Biden grasps this.....but sooner or later, some reporter will ask the blunt question.....how did all of this shortage stuff start up?

A Random Thought

 I was sitting and reading over observations by people on Twitter....about how you get to the point of being 'extreme-right-wing'.

Finally, someone made the thought.....you don't need to do much of anything.  Just sit quietly for five years, and you as a moderate today.....will be measured up to be 'extreme-right-wing', without any action at all.

I would pretty much agree with that thought.

Maybe it wouldn't have been that way in the 1980s/1990s, but we've evolved into a different society.

Just having some associate sick or ill, and you said to them today....you'd pray for them, it's likely you'd trigger some violent leftist fit.

Offering up a cookie from your 'stash' to some visiting kid and his mother.....could trigger some violent leftist fit.

We are a society on the fringe of civil conflict, and most of us didn't do much to reach that stage.

Why I Wouldn't Teach

 Years ago, after the Air Force career, for a brief week or two....I contemplated the teaching profession.  Various angles were being created in the late 1990s to 'herd' military members with degrees to remote/rural school districts.  I decided to skip that deal.

Look at things today.....it's a no-win possibility.  

As fall would approach and the new school year would arrive.....in 2022, I'd expect 24 students:

1.  A  CIS guy.

2. A lesbian who dresses in wrestling attire.

3.  Two transgender girls.

4.  A witch.

5.  A carbon copy of Elon Musk.

6.  A 12-hour-a-day-gamer.

7.  A female Elvis impersonator.

8.  A alcoholic girl.

9.  Some kid who claims he's invisible.

10. At least one kid who is a  drug-addict by age 14.

11.  Some girl who dresses as Batwoman, and tongue-kisses everyone in the class.

12. Some boy who claims he's the son of Satan.

13.  Some boy who claims he's 50-percent Neanderthal, 50-percent Viking, and 50-percent Elf.

14. A voodoo priest.

15.  Some kid who claims he came from another planet and is an alien.

16.  Some girl who shows up after drinking four espressos for breakfast, and downing two Mountain Dews.....hyped-up on caffeine for the first three hours.

17.  Some girl who is paranoid schizophrenic, talking to invisible friends, and has shaved her head.

18. Some girl who suffers from Arithmophobia (fear of numbers) and Papyrophobia (fear of paper).  Testing is impossible with this one.

19. Some boy who has been admitted six times to mental clinics, and continually released after getting back on medication.  

20. Some boy who only wears shorts and trenchcoats (no shirts), with combat boots.

21.  Some boy who is apparently having a relationship with a 44-year old female school-bus driver, and seems to only read romance novels.  

22. Some girl who claims she bundled up four different demons inside of herself, and a new character seems to emerge every hour. 

23.  Some boy who dresses like Captain Jack Sparrow (the pirate) and sings immoral pirate songs throughout the class. 

24.  Some girl who says she 'heals' people....wanting to constantly touch sick members of the class to fix their problems.

This is not a sane world, and the school system is screwed once you reach this many 'nutcases'.

How I Think the Pronoun Business Will End

 After the summer recess period, and the season starts with hyped-up teachers/administrators on pronoun usage.....I think you will see four groups engage.

1.  First, the Bat-Sh*t people.  Students being given the new school year lecture on how/when to utter the right pronouns....will have some kid stand and utter 'bat-sh*t-crazy'.

Then a second kid will stand and utter the phrase, and over an hour.....at least sixty disruptions will be noted.....always uttering 'bat-sh*t crazy'.  

Schools will be unable to focus or move ahead....even four weeks later. 

2.  Then will come the 'hmmmmmmmmm' crowd.....who mostly hum when pronouns are uttered.  

3.  Then will come the mutes, who refuse to talk in class.  

4.  Finally, the Satan-crowd will arrive....projecting that they are the sons and daughters of Satan and they expect the teachers to be absolutely respectful of their heritage.  

August of 2022?  Oh, it'll be a fantastic year for education......where nothing is accomplished and a quarter of parents just give up....taking their kids home for private schools or home-schooling. 

Everyone will agree by late spring 2023.....this whole pronoun thing has made society into a dysfunctional bundle of chaos.  

Crisis Cost Story

 I sat this week and looked over a business story.  Starbucks came up and said....because of the abortion 'crisis'....they feel 'pain' for the birthing people....so they will cover travel costs for employees who need an abortion (or gender surgical stuff).

In simple terms....you live in X-state and it's not got the services you desire, so they will pay for you to go to another state....covering the hotel and travel involved.

I sat there for a good ten minutes, and finally came to this conclusion....if you need rehab (drugs or alcohol), physical therapy, chemo, or any regular medical requirement that isn't local.....Starbucks will be forced into the corner (by court action) to provide that travel cost as well.

That $4.15 cup of coffee (the super-duper venti)?  Well....I would project that to be rising to $4.50 before the spring of 2023.  

Yeah, About That Alien Stuff

 I sat and watched the UAP/UFO House meeting yesterday.

My gut feeling?

At the conclusion....it's 100-percent chance aliens are on Earth and there's not much of anything you can do to hinder them on.  

But the funny thing?  No one really seems to care.  After Covid, and the Trump-Biden era....people seem focused, and aliens just don't matter.

The Silent Generation

 If you grew up prior to 1945 (particularly in the early 1930s), then you are labeled 'the silent generation' or the 'traditionalists'.  In simple terms, you survived the depression-era.

It's an interesting era, and I will advocate three books to give you insight of the landscape:

1.  Rabble of Dead Money (Morris)

2.  Dancing in the Dark (Dickstein)

3.  The Forgotten Man (Shlaes) (Note: Schlaes wrote a pretty interesting book on Calvin Coolidge which is worth a read).

It is an era (1920s/1930s) that we really don't discuss much, and some of us (ages 50 and above) probably got 3,000 lectures on how to live a simple lifestyle....enjoying baloney sandwich and bottle of Coke as a fest.

Shoes tended to last five years or more....because you went back to the local cobbler to fix the sole.....for a buck.

People learned to enjoy booze after prohibition ended....particularly gin sours.

If someone drove 500 miles for some show or vacation, it was a major deal and locals would spend two weeks talking about so-and-so's BIG trip.

Trampy women....were trampy women.

95 degrees on a hot July afternoon was supplemented by fresh lemonade with ice cubes.

Mae West oozed sex in a fairly provocative way.

Someone taking the Memphis train to NY City, was treated like royalty upon their return.

If you asked a guy about what could break on a car of the era.....there was not a infinite list....it came down to 28 things which could be screwed up.

People got hyped up on politics just once every four years, for about three months. 

You'd have guests on the front-porch who actually read a book or two over the past month, and wanted your opinion on 'The Werewolf of Paris' (one of the top novels of 1933)..

Artie Shaw had the number one band of 1938, and people would sit by the radio and listen to his tunes.

A 65-minute movie with a one-star script about two guys arriving at a wild west saloon situation would captivate your imagination and be the talk of the town when it was shown in 1937.

People continually talked for months about when FDR's programs would finally 'click' and save the nation.  Then they patiently waited, and waited, and waited.

A dime in 1937.....would be a value of $2.10 cents today.  

We rarely go and really think about that era.

Yeah, About All That 20 Mile Walks To School Chatter

 Elon Musk says:

"This is I guess the reason why our grandparents could sort of walked 20 miles in the snow because they had Coca-Cola with cocaine." 

I sat there for a while.....pondering that.  

Never had cocaine....but I've worked around some folks who did have it and were fairly focused.  If you asked on 'filling sandbags' measurement (something Air Force guys hated to do).....these folks probably could fill 2.5  sandbags for each one I would fill.

Maybe Elon is right, but then....should we go to legalizing cocaine?  Should we ask Hunter or Joe on opinions about the topic?  

Elon Chatting

 Elon Musk said yesterday: "The real president is whoever controls the teleprompter."

I sat and pondered upon this.

Most everything that President says or does (even back to the campaign period)....was choreographed, and done with a teleprompter if possible.  How he made it through the two debates?  I have the faintest idea (had to be knowing the questions, and tons of practice time to recite the statement over and over).

Who really runs the telepromters?  I'm guessing Jill is there 75-percent of the time, and two or three trusted insiders the rest.  

But there's another thing that Elon did, which is interesting.  He told Twitter (blunt statement)....they have to rid the company of fake account/bots for the deal to go through.  Then he tweeted....he thinks 20-percent of Twitter accounts are fake (way more than what the company says.....at 5-percent).

I've read different account (various experts talking over this).  Based on their chatter....I'd say 10-percent is the minimum.

Here's the issue....if you dig up the 10-percent, and ask who they follow.....it might lead to a bunch of Democratic leaders and news sources (CNN, MSNBC, WaPo), and if suddenly you deleted that 10-percent.....the followers of CNN might slide off by 80,000.  Same story for President Biden.

Is the stock price offered ($54.20) still reasonable?  I personally would suggest a $10 cut if you find it's 15-to-20 percent of fake accounts.  

Are the fake accounts even just US?  No....you can't make that statement.  Maybe Putin's followers are one-third fake.

I'm fairly attached to Elon's thinking.  If I had to pick someone that I wanted to 'manage' the US (call it a CEO of America), then he's the guy I'd pick.  

Finland

 In case you were wondering how big Finland is....you can have two comparisons:

- It's as big as Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands and Belgium combined.

- It's as big as North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia combined. 

Ten Things That Regular People Can't Grasp

 1.  All this yacking about paying you fair share of taxes....goes in a spiral.  Who wrote the current tax code?  Senators and House members.  When a company makes 500-million in profit, and only pays 1-million in taxes?  Well....the code has hundreds of thousands of credits.....you build your company to the code, and you take revenue out of the government's hand.  

So when Presidents hypes up 'fair share'.....he's one of the reasons why they 'can't pay' their fair share.

2.  Dropboxes for absentee voting....make no sense, unless you had a clerk there to stamp it official going into the box, and a guard to ensure only one single drop per  person.

3.  There is no law to say you must use correct English, bully-pronouns, or even be able speak any English.  Nothing in the Constitution deals with language, or forcing you to comply with pronoun games.  I should also note, nothing in the Constitution says you can't cuss.....use the four-letter words, or forbid 'slut' from being used.

4.  If you work for a business.....your only focus for the business is to make the product/service successful.  If you can't focus on that....you need to find other work or learn to hunt rabbits/deer.  

5.  Marginally intelligent people deserve a chance to be generals, Congressmen, Senators, and President.  Then after you had one or two people prove their marginal intelligence......you can forget about this idea, and find busy-work for these folks. 

6.  When you stand in front of teachers and educational people....getting cut off from reading the material that your kid brought home from school....for being too sexual....what does that really indicate?  

7.  Raising taxes....on anyone.....doesn't have a positive relationship to inflation.  In fact, if anything.....it pushes inflation a notch or two higher.

8.  Within 90 days, because of lessening food shuffles going on....the US is going to be called upon to save Afghanistan from mass starvation.  Wanna take a guess how it's to be handled?  Same goofball who planned the exit strategy to run this strategy? 

9.  Elon says that printing money inflates inflation.  Generally, if you don't print money....tighten your budget requirements a little bit, and grumble for about a year....your mess goes away.  Once you print money, that one year goes to 18 to 24 months of a recession.

10.  If you start having fear over going to school, church, grocery-shopping, or sitting on a park bench....what does that say about your community?

Just Odd

 You know....for probably 4,000 years....you could ask a thousand people to define a woman, and the thousand folks could do it.

Suddenly in 2022....you ask a thousand people to define a woman, and only about 700 folks can do it.

The more you think about this.....the less advanced of a society you see around you.

What happened?  Did 300 folks step off a cliff, or are they just 'bots' created by alien civilizations and dropped off?

Yeah, About Moving Back Home

 I sat and read through the WaPo article.....topic: with all this inflation going on....yeah, it's time you move back in with Mom/Dad.

If you'd come to me and challenged me to write a piece like this....I would have laughed.  It'd take a lot of gin-sours to get me to a 40-line essay on good reasons to move home.

First, it only makes sense if Mom and Dad aren't bad off.  Maybe Dad is still working and he wasn't making stupid irrational decisions of borrowing $80,000 for a French literature degree.

This might be the moment where you look at Dad's 24-year old Oldsmobile 88 and wonder why he still drives it, or gazing at Mom's 14-year old Honda Fit....thinking it looks 'old'.

Then you notice that Dad mostly drinks Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR), which is the cheapest beer made in America.

Then you notice that while Dad has cable...it has the basic package only, without Showtime, Netflix, etc.

Then you notice that Mom and Dad only eat out once a month, but grill every Friday evening with cheap meats.

The problem here, if you sit and ponder upon it.....this inflation period might be around for two or three years, and I'm pretty sure Dad's hospitality is only good for about six months.  Eventually (just a couple of months into this).....you will be looking for a plan 'B'.

For reference, from 1929 on....it was four consecutive years with inflation (reaching near 10-percent in 1932), and only going to positive numbers in 1934.  

So, my advice....if you've dug a pretty deep hole on debt....maybe a one-year stay in 'Hotel-Dad' makes sense.  But along about day 60 of this 'hotel' stay.....your enthusiasm will start to evaporate, and you better start to plan on leaving by the sixth month.  

Hint: You might improve your stay, if you washed Dad's 88 weekly, or painted the garage during this visit.   

The Thing About Manifesto People

 Very quickly on this Buffalo, NY shooter....you noticed that he had written a manifesto.

People who write manifestos, in general....are aiming to bring society to a civil war or revolution....through a violent means.  

Yes....death is involved. 

Charles Manson was that type of nut....Adolph Hitler was that type of nut. The Christchurch shooter, was that type of nut.  That Swedish guy, Anders Behring Breivak, was that type. 

They believe themselves to be intellectual in nature, and that problems in society can be corrected through a prescribed means....even if this involves violence.

The minute that your friend or associate has said they want to have a beer or two, and discuss this manifesto they wrote.....you can give various excuses and just say 'no'....you got other things on your calendar.  

Something Elon Twitted Yesterday

 Elon Musk said something to the effect: '...you know, for a lot of 2020 voters, they voted Biden because they wanted less drama'.

Yeah, it was a sarcastic moment, and Elon was making it a blunt statement.

After eight years of the Clinton administration....I kinda felt that way.  Between newspapers and news magazines....the eight years were fairly dramatic and chaotic.  Some folks probably did vote for Bush II....to get out of the dramatic era, and in eight years time....felt Bush II was too chaotic.

Then came the Obama era, where folks again gauged things and wanted less drama, less theater, less showmanship, less production, less tragedy, and less tear-jerker gimmicks.  They also failed to get what they wanted.

The Trump era?  No one much disagrees....it was a full-up show, but for 20-odd years....why not a real NY City show?  

Now?  I'd say at the 1.5 year point....it is a bit overblown on drama.  I'd say Elon is correct....it's just a lot of people who want a quiet President who makes makes one or two public appearances per week....golfs three afternoons per week....doesn't know anyone from Hollywood...and has a press spokesperson who never says more than 100 words in their answers.  

What happens in 2024?  Well.....you will have two candidates to pick from, and the odds are that both are loaded for full-up drama for four years.  

Yeah, it's almost like WWE-wrestling now.  

Ten Things I Think

 1.  I think that the Elon/Twitter deal will halt, and Twitter will be forced to admit around 3-to-5 percent of it's accounts area fake, with the bulk of them strangely enough.....followers of NY Times, WaPo, Biden, and various left-wing publications.  I don't think Twitter will be able to cite 'WHY' this occurred, and Elon will just laugh and walk away.  Twitter by the end of 2023,  will be mostly MySpace history.

2.  I think Putin dies by mid-summer 2023, and is given a massive send-off by his people.  A  massive internal fight occurs between the before-2000 Oligarch folks and the after-2000 Oligarch folks when picking the next Putin.

3.  I think CNN is bought by a Mexican Carlos Slim Helu (richest Mexican in the world) by summer of 2023.

4.  I think 20-percent of new 'programming' for Netflix will be comedian driven.

5.  Xi of China will be placed by the end of 2022.....health reasons. 

6.  I think from all nurses in America that existed in 2018.....one out of three will have quit by end of 2023 because of burn-out.  

7.  Baby formula will start to be made in Central American countries....to avoid those FDA inspections/audits.

8.  I think airlines will start to weigh people at the counter, and charge a $3 per five-pound situation for women over 150 pounds, and men over 200 pounds.  

9.  I think we will figure out that Putin had sixteen girlfriends over the past thirty years.

10.  I think by mid-summer, Russians will admit the 6,000 military experts that were on state-TV.....ought to be given military gear and sent to the Ukraine to fight....because they seem to know how to resolve things.

When Something Is More Than A Fad

 Recently, I came to this new realization.....that mental illness is more or less....a fad.

Yes, you turn on the 6 AM news and your local news folks are interviewing someone who you can readily define as having a mental problem, but everyone seems to act like it's all normal.  

You drive to work, and there's some radio interview....same deal....person with mental issues, but the moderator seems to place it in a 'it's ok' package.

You get to work, and the HR person comes around to chat with you, with some training requirement that seems to be about you needing to accept mental illness in the company as a 'norm'.

Your kid comes home from school....chatting about his teacher.  From what he describes....the teacher seems mentally ill.  Week after week, you get more data to fill in the blanks.  The teacher needs mental help badly.

You go to church on Sunday, and the sermon from the minister seems to be about some mental illness, and you needing to 'forgive' the person or honor their wishes.  You sit there for a while and just kinda remember that Jesus and Moses never had to deal with Paranoid Schizophrenics. 

If we all sat there and thought about it....we must know a minimum of ten people each, who ought to be in a mental clinic, or housed in a permanent facility.  

Just Observations

 1.  When someone says 'stop being intellectually dishonest.....they probably are intellectually dishonest.

2.  Somebody came out in Feb from the federal government....to suggest the baby formula shortage was on it's way.  Yet....no one did anything.  

3.  All these sexed-up teens and sexed-up teachers....ought to lead to one result, a whole bunch of teachers fired or sitting in prison for having underage sex. 

4.  Ultra-MAGA slogan for Biden team......took six months to dream up.  No one says cost for consulting, but I would imagine a minimum of 1-million.  

Just Observations

 1.  On the $40-billion to Ukraine deal?

Here's the thing....that basically pays for an offensive against Russia, which probably carries the marginalized Russia to a end-point.....where they aren't much of a threat to anyone....for one entire generation (40 years).

Imagine a sick Putin who probably has 12 months of life left....this dismantling of Russia might be good thing (I'd give it a 7-in-10 chance of occurring).  With no trades likely to occur with Russia and anyone from the west....their GDP will drop like a rock.  They will be unable to replace depleted military equipment and demand of the Oligarch folks for Russians to sacrifice to rebuild the infrastructure.....will trigger an internal civil conflict.

While this is going on, with nothing much to sell in Russia.....I see China in a world of economic hurt.  

So, in three years.....we could probably cut 30-percent of our military budget because both of our 'enemies' are NOT capable of conducting military operations.  

So for me....it's not a waste of money.  It's a remarkable moment where you dissolve a fake super-power....down to the status of....well...Belgium.     

Now.....will Hunter or a bunch of DC lobbyists get $300 million of the $40-billion?  The odds are yes, unless you build an audit into the deal, which is what Senator Paul is suggesting.  

2.  This chatter about fake accounts on Twitter harming the Elon deal?

Well....Twitter admits it's around five percent or less of total accounts which are fake.  Elon says....what?  

Stock price at $45 but there's some rumor of a drop coming out of this situation (figure $3 minimum).  If anything....Elon might say, you know.....I'm cutting my offer by $3-billion.  

The key thing is....how long have they known the fake accounts existed in this number.

3.  My gut feeling on all this trans surgical stuff for kids under 18?

Any day now.....some kid is going to demand the right to enter a school with a ninja-sword, or wearing a Nazi-SS officer uniform, or wearing barbwire around his head.  

Reaction by the 'lets-do-it' crowd?  Nothing wrong.....let them do it.

A month or two will pass, and the next round occurs....some 13-year old kid who wants to marry two other 13-year-old kids (legally), or kids eating raw liver as a snack in class, or kids refusing to use the school toilet---just doing their thing in the parking lot, or kids having demon-fits in the middle of class.

The question is....just where will you finally draw a line.  

The Reality of Safe Spaces

As a rural farm kid, I grew up 'under-privileged'. You only had one single 'safe-space' to go to.....the barn. 

You'd typically enter the safe-space of the barn and have utter quietness to relieve you of your stress. 

The landscape within the barn?  Typically 1800s-like scenic charm.  There was a single light installed, for night-time safe-space requirements....if you desired.  A bale of hay lay there for you sit and get over your anxiety or stress.  Typically, between the hay smell, and manure scent of the barn....you got over your anxiety in a matter of twelve minutes (in July, eight minutes was max).

As I look at these college teens with their stress issues and the need for 'safe-spaces'....I tend to think of the barn and how it'd easily solve the torment in the minds of these kids.

It bothers me to some degree.  How would these 'kids' get all bothered and stressed out.....with the world that we live in?  

The kids in college seem to get all hyped up....disturbed...over the lecture business.  In affect, they were falling apart and some needed physiological counseling (so they claim, but I have my doubts).  Their chief complaint?  After you read through everything, they just didn't like all this hype over a bunch of old white guys like Aristotle or Shakespeare.  They were at the point of having panic-attacks. 

Being all bothered and hyped up?  You get that idea.  Course, they don't have enough barn-like space for safe-space demanding folks.  My brother would likely suggest that someone needs to wheel up some hay-wagon with a few bales on it and have a cooler of Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) offered up with some Earl Scruggs or John Hartford banjo music in the background.  Thirty minutes on the hay-trailer would return inner-peace to the disturbed students.....well, in my mind anyway.  But you'd probably need forty thousand of these hay wagons across America, to make this work.

There seems to be an awful lot of students who either aren't capable of handling reality, or they are super-smart, thus deserving of a degree with no real study required (they could actually teach the professors/instructors). 

Yeah, About Them UFOs

 Next week....the House Intelligence Committee subcommittee......on  Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation, will have a meeting with the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie and Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray.

Topic?  UFOs.

First meeting of this type in 50 years.  

What'll happen?  More or less.....nothing.

Oh, the Pentagon folks will admit something is going on....just that it doesn't meet their logic 'test' and they can't suggest nothing.

The odds of a government project going on with connections leading back to some secret captured UFO or two?  Most people suspect something like this is going on, to which the Pentagon absolutely can't openly discuss that.

My opinion?  If you are Yorg-1 and Yorg-2.....coming light-years away (maybe taking sixteen years), and get zapped by one bolt of lightning to down your spacecraft.....you've got a pretty crappy plan 'A', a marginal spaceship, and were deserving to be caught/held by the Pentagon.

So I'm of the belief that there is a Yorg-1 and Yorg-2, and they've never been 'caught'.  I'm also of the mind that both Yorgs are mostly AI creations with a programmed list of jobs to perform, and interacting with humans is on the low side of priorities.  

As for the Pentagon guys?  They've got tons of crapped-up programs to run....why mess with them on this issue?  Maybe it's time to hand this some other government group (like FAA).  

Q-and-A

 1.  What's the biggest challenge for the Biden administration?

Basically, creating an illusion that they really care about regular working-class Americans with skeptical views of Biden, missing on funds for inflation problems, and crazy crap occurring nightly on TV.  

2.  What's with this '2,000 Mules' documentary piece?

Listen....folks carry around a bunch of stuff in the trunks of their cars (duct-tape, hunting rifles, PBR beer, machetes, cocaine, bowling balls, etc).  So it's not a big deal if on the days prior to the 2020 election.....2,000 guys opened up their trunks at 3 AM and pulled out 300 to 3,000 voting ballots and crammed them into a deposit can at the county office.

You shouldn't ought to be probing what we carry in the trunks of our vehicles.  Now, I will admit....it might be curious to ask how 'Joe' got 3,000 ballots, but that'd lead to forty additional questions.

3.  Government seeming not worried over the shortage of baby-milk?

Generally, I'd say they don't care.

Now, if this were a national shortage of beer, or cocaine....things would be different.

4.  Is Libya a 'fake-country'?

Well....some journalists have started this chatter, and the suggestion is that mafia-groups, organized crime, and slave-cartels have taken up the management of the country.  

Removing Gaddafi a wise move?  Looking back....no.

5.  Does anyone (Biden, Republicans, Democrats) have a plan on the recession and the economy?

NO. 

If you ask me?  I would suggest five things: (a) invest infrastructure money into roads/bridges....but not gift money for 5000 non-bridge/road projects, (b) deregulate at the fed level, (c) run a limited payroll tax holiday (no more than 90 days), (d) cut 5-percent of government employees, and (e) shut up about giving college debt idiots free money.  

6.  Did the House pass a bill to allow unionization among staff members?

Yes, has to have Senate backing.  Fantastic bill.....if they strike....House/Senate members left without any support, and the dimwitted folks will backslide real quick.

7.  Are the Chinese in trouble with this zero-Covid idea?

Well....everything is shutdown, and nothing is being produced.  If you ask me....something big (negative) will occur in the next three or four months.  

Not That I Really Care

 I sat this AM looking over US news for an hour, and all this chatter over the Roe versus Wade business.

There's a couple of things that bother me. 

Just beyond the chatter on this legal business.....there is a baby formula scarcity popping up in the US.....which you'd think would be topic number one and begging for news media attention.

Also just beyond the Roe business....the stock market is crapping up and hurting 401K plans.

Also just beyond the Roe business....gas prices are hurting grocery pricing, and the normal American.

Also just beyond the Roe business....lot of drug issues (overdoses) are occurring in both urbanized and rural areas of the US.

Also just beyond the Roe business...there seems to be a lot of nutcase problems happening on airplanes, in stores, or within schools.  

Also just beyond the Roe business....particularly if you live in SF.....petty crime is reaching a level where drug stores and grocery operations are closing.  

To suggest that Roe will drive the November election?  No, I suspect that about 90-percent of the nation have other worries.  

"You think the American people are so stupid they need you to tell them what the truth is?"

 Rand Paul spoke these words last week....aimed at the new Disinformation group being created in Homeland Security.

Over the weekend, it's been on my mind a good bit.

I'll make five observations over the statement:

1.  I hate to disagree with Rand, but on stupidity-meter....I'd say a good two-thirds of Americans are fairly stupid, and half of them might have college education (maybe even a PhD), and not be able to view something with open eyes.  

2.  I can say that the amount of propaganda, fake-news, and biased chatter....is enough to make this problem bigger than what it ought to be.  Unless you tossed the TV....used the radio for weather and calming music, and used the internet to share mostly pictures of 'Pinky' (your dog) and 'Zippy' (your cat).....you probably get a dose of 'stupidity' every single day.  

3.  On the other side of this....the US government is probably the last place on Earth that you want to 'correct' the disinformation chatter, or to bring truth to the 'town-square'.  

You also wouldn't want your minister, your boss, your NFL coach favorite, your wife's brother, your Mexican landscape guy, or your transmission guy to attempt some truth commission effort.  

4.  In some cases, even if you can reach a truth conclusion....it might spoil the fantasy world that the majority of Americans live in today.

Would you want California to admit of every hundred dollars spent on homeless projects of the past decade.....seventy percent of the money went into a 'pit' and had zero value for the problem?

Would you want Seattle to admit that two-thirds of all homeless people can't pass a drug test, or are in a state of paranoid delusions on a daily basis?

Would you want NY state to admit that when they closed all those mental health facilities in the 1960s/1970s.....that they basically opened up the state prison system, and house the mentally unfit there today?

Would you want pro-baseball to admit that 168 of Barry Bonds home-runs....were asteroid-driven?

Would you want NBC to admit that Saturday Night Live has been 'dead' for almost twenty years?

Would you want the general public to admit that they are fed up with the two political parties, and they want five or six parties to exist instead?

Would you want the government to admit that six Senators and fourteen House members are mentally unfit for the job?

5.  Finally, lets just admit it.....truth is pretty boring stuff.  If I did the right thing and gave you a nine-minute 'batch' of news....with no bias or propaganda....would you enjoy it, or feel 'cheated' in some way?

News has become....sad to admit this....kinda like wrestling.  You have some good guys and bad guys in the ring.....with the result being entertainment, which news has now become.  

At some point, you'd really like for Junk-Yard-Dog to arrive, or George 'The Animal' Steel to enter the building to square away all the fake stuff. 

Ten Things On My Mind

 1.  You ever noticed how the LGBTQ community want to discuss with you (or with kids)....their sexualized dramas/desires.  

It often reminds me of cult-people, who think they've found the 'Lord' and need to confess to you.....hoping to convert you over.  If you tell them you ain't got time for this cult-talk or conversion action.....you are quickly dismissed.  Just an odd thing.

2.  When Trump discussed up that idea of shooting missiles at cartel sites in Mexico....folks in the Pentagon got all hyper.

The more I sit and look over the idea.....I can't see much wrong with this.  

3.  Just odd.....Tucker Carslson, Joe Rogan, Elon Musk, and Ron DeSantos seem to be the biggest 'demons' on the face of the Earth.....when discussions with liberal folks start up.

4.  NY Times Editorial staff is suggesting various states will make some rule that you can't marry outside your 'race'.  Oddly, they seem to think that the Supreme Court will allow that to occur.  Biggest farce I've seen yet in 2022.

5.  Just odd how Bill Gates now says.....it's odd in his opinion that Covid killed mostly all old people, and among the whole population....it was just awful low death rates.  Yeah, Bill saying that now.....two years into this epic virus period.

6.  All this legal stuff to halt the sale of Twitter to Elon in court?  Well....here's the thing....the board has the legal responsibility over the sale.....not judge.  Now, if the board says a 'vote' must occur.....they can conduct such a event.  

If the vote by stock-holders went against Elon?  Well....I'd suggest the current price of the stock ($49.80) to drop over a ten-day period....probably to $35 to $38.  Then?  Well....Elon would take more of money and now go buy enough shares to make 51-percent (then arrange another vote).  This time, he'd have the vote to validate his deal.

You folks really don't get it.....Elon wins every single time.

7.  If you asked a hundred Americans to define Eugenics....fewer than 10-percent can probably do it.

8.  New Zealand went and had a big meeting....government VIPs....everyone inside of the room....unmasked.

When they emerged...PM asked them to stand there....put the masks on....while she did the 'chat' of the meeting results.

Probably most stupid PR moment of 2022.

9.  Jill Biden went to the Ukraine this weekend....NOT Joe.  

10.  Seems like everyday is some massive Jesus versus Satan political fight developing.