I heard this statement today.
There are a lot of freaked-out folks who want to be noticed and awarded some kind of status in life....being non-normal.
Kind of like some mental development thing....where the dreams just aren't going anywhere much.
Just makes you wonder about the future and how these people manage to survive.
Roughly 14 weeks until the mid-term, and one has to feel this enormous pain that the Democratic Party is suffering through. My ten thoughts:
1. Biden was supposed to have gotten a dozen-odd things done in the first and paved the way onto his agenda demonstrating 'something'. Well...there's just not much to brag about.
2. This mental decline business? If anything....Joe has done more to convince the general public of this decline.
3. VP Harris is a zero asset to the administration and it'd be better if she just golfed three afternoons a week, and hung out at baseball games.
4. If you line up the top ten topics for this election.....the Republicans probably control six of them, and four of them are neutral (meaning you get no gain).
5. On the oil/gas price business....Biden absolutely does not want US oil companies pumping oil out of the US soil. You can't argue that point.
6. We've accepted the fact that the cards he reads.....make him the President. Who writes the cards? They are the actual President.
7. The chatter after November 2020.....'now, we got the grown-ups in the White House'? No one believes that today.
8. CNN, WaPo, MSNBC, Twitter and NY Times carrying the lame administration? More or less....that's the feeling in the public arena.
9. The chief selling item of Biden for 2021? Well...mostly Covid.
10. The Latino and Black community? They left Biden and the administration by the side of the road while waiting. They moved on.
This week, Hillary quietly gave a signal that she's contemplating a run in 2024.
So first, it's basically Hillary versus Joe versus Newsom of California.
Will Joe run? Most suggest not....there's just no way to tell.
If this were only a Hillary versus Newsom script? Well....lets start in Iowa. Neither gets much traction....same way in SC. Maybe in NH....Hillary wins. In Nevada, it's clearly Newsom.
My gut feeling is that it'd be a 60-40 primary, with Hillary walking into the convention without enough votes to win the first round. Whether she can climb out of the pit or get dumped when she did get 60-percent of the primary deal? Unknown.
If Hillary were to advance?
Then you have the Trump or DeSantis versus Hillary situation. Frankly, I just don't see the Democratic voters being that hyped up or positive on her campaign. If this were a 2016 script (Trump versus Hillary)....to which Hillary loses again....I think the whole Democratic establishment would fall apart and drag everyone through a massive stressful four years.
I go back to something I said in 2016.....some people like to fantasize that about another Bill Clinton era, and you get that via Hillary Clinton. No.....Hillary is simply not another Bill.
So, settle back and be entertained. Maybe we need a Trump versus Hillary campaign to reset politics once again.
So it came out this week that California legislative folks and the governor (Newsom) agreed to a $17 billion package that is geared in some way for inflation relief. Of this, $9.5 billion goes to the public.
Now before you get excited....if you were a Californian....it's ranked. Minimum you get (early 2023) is $200....most is $1,050.
How can they swing this? Well....they are number nine in the nation on taxes....roughly 9.7-percent of what you make....goes to the state.
Inflation affecting everyone? Yes, but the money is ranked. So if you made up to $75k a year in salary....you'd get $350 per tax-paying couple...then $350 for each kid....capping at $1,050.
Next level up, you get $250 in this scenario....capping as well.
Does the $1,050 potentially change your life? NO.
That's really the crappy part of this story. If you follow inflation in California....just in fuel prices....you probably are paying around $1,000 extra per year, if you own two cars. Count up your energy bill, groceries, and oddball things....it is probably over $3k in extra cost.
I'm not condemning the offer....but it's because of the hefty tax...that they have some money to throw around.
Trying to suggest it's some great relief? Well...it's like baking a cake for your neighbor, but having no icing on it...as you present it.
1. It's just odd on this 6 Jan hearing business.....the longer it goes on....the more I see it as the Warren Commission....mostly there to make you think of a certain outcome, whether true or not.
2. NY Times says that President Biden is frustrated with the amount of questions over him running in 2024. The questions that he refers to? The ones coming from within the Democratic Party. Amusing to some degree.
Around five years ago, I watched a Science Fiction piece called 'Idiocracy'. In the past month, I went back and watched it a second time. I would strongly recommend it for viewing, but for odd reasons.
The basic story? Joe has been recruited by the Army and some mad scientist to test a suspended animation chamber....with a hooker as the second participant.
The mad scientist gets arrested shortly after the experiment starts.
So Joe and Rita end up sleeping through to 2505.
What they wake up to....is 100-percent 'WOKE' behavior....everywhere. Anything you could have imagined in 2006 to put into a script....is there and shows the general society of today....barely sixteen years later (instead of 2505).
Yes, it is cheaply done. Yes, the script is stuff that a 12-year old kid would write. But everyone is plain woke, and not able to function in a normal society....except Joe and Rita.
If you can find the video and give yourself about 90 minutes....it's an excellent bit of entertainment.
1. For the entire past decade, every movie that Bruce Willis did....almost fifty of them....involved no more than forty lines of text. I think his mental decline was already showing itself back in 2012 and his 'handlers' were picky on the movies he did and how much dialog was required.
2. IRS data shows that NYer's who left in the past two years....took around 30-billion dollars of wealth with them. Well....the IRS data is only legit and declared wealth....I would imagine that it's double the 30 billion dollars if you talk hidden wealth.
3. By the end of 2023, I expect the federal 'red flag' law to be declared mostly a failure. Chief reasons? At least 300 ex-wives who used the red flag law in some effort to screw the former husband. Several states will simply state that it was unworkable in reality.
4. Think tanks in the US will be openly fighting each other....in the public square and via legal means by the end of 2023.
5. The jury for the Parkland School shooting deal will end with a hung-jury. The second attempt will not occur until the fall of 2023.
6. One single charge will be attempted by the Justice Department before December 2022....on Hunter Biden...in an attempt to prevent a massive investigation in 2023 by the new House (Republicans). It'll be enough to get him 18 months of prison. Dad will pardon him by the 6th month.
7. Around 2,000 current school teachers nationally, will get a note in mid-summer that their services won't be required because a vast number of kids are going to private school or home-school in the fall. These teachers will be shocked at the limited job opportunity and some national crisis will occur where the administration promises some financial help.
8. More than 20 respected business and political figures will be exposed by Maxwell by the end of 2022. Pictures will be included.
9. Joe Rogan will be pushed off Spotify by mid-summer 2023, for political positions taken.
10. Some studio will announce that they are reviewing options to present 'Gunsmoke' in a updated TV series, with a female marshal and a gay deputy.
"So far, Trump’s second term has been a huge success. He has several major SCOTUS victories, looks better than ever compared to Biden, and the Jan6 theater just went full Jussie. You can’t win harder than that."
-- Scott Adams
Well....yeah, basically from 2021 on.....Trump has officially been on some weird 2nd term, and affecting everyday life in some way.
The 6-Jan folks (whether accidental or intentional)....have become a opera-like situation....mostly for entertainment.
You throw in Hunter's antics, Hunter's artwork, Pelosi's husband, the doomed effort of CNN-Plus, Joe's chatter, and around three-hundred-odd comedy bits....the past eighteen months have been a circus show.
In some ways....our distrust and frustration-levels have reached a point where we'd just like to mute politics for 365 days.
1. Bleach - Covid hoax.
2. Hooker pee hoax.
3. Russia hoax (probably 20 items to fit under this umbrella).
4. Russian bounties hoax.
5. Lunge hoax.
The problem is....once you start, there's probably forty different hoax stories, and as each develops....there's an element which seems slightly possible. Then a month later, you realize it was 'BS'.
These hoaxes occurring with Joe Biden? Not so much....most cannot be proven as a hoax, so they end being mostly true.
I sat and watched about an hour of the Cassady Hutchinson 'chatter' from the Congressional hearing of yesterday, via various clips.
Her chief comment? Trump tried wrestle control of the car....to be taken to the Capital building....from the limo driver. So, here's the thing....she didn't witness this herself....someone told her of the situation. Whether this person witnessed it or not.....that they might have heard it from another person, who heard it from another person, who heard it from another person....is the real question here.
I sat and lingered over this.
To be honest, Trump is a backseat guy for a limo, and it's been that way for several decades. I personally doubt that Trump has sat in the front seat of a car since the late 1980s. In NY, if you make money.....real money....you never sit in the front seat. Trump is that kind of guy.
The 'show' becoming a comedy act? Well...if you start allowing people to show up and they say.....'I heard so-and-so say X, Y and Z', then in a legit setting....you need to bring their friend 'so-and-so' in and ask where they heard the story, and that lead to four different people, and a marginalized story where only a quarter of the start-up story is true.
The term 'lunged'? I've probably heard six CNN/Fox people utter it....over and over. 'Trump lunged at the steering wheel'. If you are in the rear seat of the limo, with some protective glass in between.....how do you lunge? GET REAL.
In some ways, the hearing is now like a urbanized Dukes of Hazard episode now.
I heard a rumor that Trump keeps a 1986 Honda Civic in the basement garage and often goes out driving around DC at 1 AM when he was President. Sounds good?
1. I noticed Howard Stern said today....he might be running for President. He didn't say in the primary for the Democrats....so you are left to wonder how this might unfold.
The blunt truth? Across the US....there's probably two-million people who'd vote for Stern...but it's not enough to get actual Electoral votes.
2. Did France's Macron actually tell Biden his agenda to get the Saudis or Qatar crowd to produce more oil....won't work? Yes, without any doubt....the words were there.
Now, did Biden understand the French accent in English enough to grasp what he meant? I'd wager he thought Macron was talking about the German menu for lunch.
3. Hillary's appearance on CBS's morning show? Just nothing much there.....she says she went to law school with Clarence Thomas, but in some cryptic way....the word 'went' is sticking there. Personally, I don't think she ever saw the guy in a single class.
4. Is the United States mostly a 'state' thing? This is really the argument brewing now, which most people can't seem to grasp. There is a pull to make the whole system tied to a federal unit....with a opposite pull leading back to 50 different states guiding their own agenda each.
5. This effort to allow Jet Blue to buy Sprint Airlines? Some people suggest it's geared to tie the two worst performing airlines into one single unit.
6. Other than kids....does anyone really want to watch another new Captain Jack Sparrow pirate movie?
Somewhere in 1984....while stationed at Ramstein Air Base, West Germany....I was a 'regular' at the local NCO club.
We had a fairly profitable operation in those days....with the club manager actually hiring bands for several nights a week, and at least twice a month....bringing in German entertainment.
So one night, I showed up at the bar and the show for the evening was German 'drag' (German guys dressed up as women). As I remember the show....it went on for about an hour.....two German guys....a song here and there....a comedy act in the middle, and maybe an audience of sixty people (half were couples out for a drink).
I mostly sat there in a daze....sipping on my second gin-sour, and noting that no one really cared....they just wanted some light entertainment. It wasn't a strip show....it was more of a Carol Burnet style of song/dance.
The show wrapped up by 9 PM, and some DJ came on with mostly early 80s garbage. The crowd thinned out and I headed back to the barracks.
Anyone being upset? I think half the military guy crowd was already wasted by 8 PM as the show started....so they didn't care. Most were just happy that they had a profitable NCO club and got real entertainment every single week.
If you'd made it into a drag strip show? I don't think anyone would have stayed to watch.
People don't really want open conversations....they want to convert you with minimal discussion or lay out logical arguments.
It's like having a talk with a 4th grade kid and they give you a 20-second demand, and you just shake your head over their juvenile discussion.
What happened here? Where did the 'train' derail?
I noticed this AM....Senator Warren got all chatty and openly discussed the idea of abortion clinics opening up in tents....within national parks on zero-abortion state 'soil'.
I sat and pondered over this.
'Tents'? Yes, the term tents were uttered. I would imagine she meant the military style tents, with AC units.
States accepting this? I would imagine they'd quickly work up text and sue to some extent....to take over the operations of national parks. Some folks would claim....because of decades of incompetent management....states might be a better manager than the fed folks.
My view? Between bears, mountain lions, and snakes....I just can't see a national park being much of a solution.
VP Harris brought up that the administration is reviewing the idea of travel 'vouchers'....for birthing-people who live in zero-abortion states....to get them into the right state for their 'treatment'.
I sat and pondered over the idea.
Scenario 1: Wanda is 14, and is pregnant from Marvin (age 15). They live in a zero-abortion state, but only by 8 miles. In simple terms, the parents could drive Wanda just over the border. Because of this federal hype....instead, they'd probably opt for a voucher deal to take them (the parents accompanying Wanda) to Nevada (their choice). Somewhere in the regulations likely to come....Marvin would also be allowed in the crew voucher deal, and accompany Wanda. Voucher cost for hotel/air fare.....for the four? Probably over $3,000.
Scenario 2: Six months into a voucher program....it comes up that at least 300 women using it....apparently not that pregnant to require a plane-trip or abortion. Government authorities try to explain this but it requires a Congressional hearing to get the whole story out there.
Scenario 3: A year into the program, some health official writes a regulation into the situation, which mandates the birthing person should get five days of rest after the abortion....meaning a hotel cost of possibly $150 a night added, with $35 for each day of chow.
Scenario 4: An argument starts up in the first year....if bus usage should be emphasized over air-travel.
I don't want to dampen folk's view of this, but having the federal government cook up the 'fix'....often results in a pretty crappy solution where no one is really happy.
1. I sat and watched VP Harris do a sit-down interview with CNN this morning....around a 11-minute piece. If you were moderate or hopeful of her convincing you that she's presidential-material (for 2024)? Forget it.....that interview cleansed that thought.
So it brings me to this thought....up to the 1980s....no one in America could ever remember the name of the VP. You never saw them other than funerals of people or at some baseball game. It's basically when we come to Dan Quayle....that folks get into magnet-status. VP Gore? The major news folks hyped him every chance possible.
2. Some idiots have been pushing on an agenda to go and censor 'old' movies....because the scenes and dialog violates woke-standards. Paramount CEO said bluntly....'no'.
If you just picked up True Grit or 1966's The Bible....you'd probably have to cut at least 10 minutes off each movie, or just mute the sound.
3. Over the past couple of weeks....just been a number of ammo storage areas belonging to Russia....in Ukraine....hit/blown up.
Someone for the Ukrainians got smart and prioritized a target that would have serious problems for the Russians. Imagine being some conscript and given just twenty bullets for your 12-hour patrol.
4. Government regulation coming around....if you did do intelligence work for the government, and the question came up about your pot-smoking...it used to prevent you from getting the higher clearances. Today? No, past pot smoking isn't a big deal. Note, they are just saying past use is OK....they aren't saying present use is OK.
Somehow, they have it in their head that the once-in-their-life user will come out and want to be a intel-guy badly. At best, I would imagine they get 20 more 'recruits' a year into intel....who admit past use.
No one is going to discuss this much....but some folks in Mississippi felt that the state regulation that said there was a 15 week abortion limit....was unfair.
So they hired up lawyers and sued on, and on, and on.
Eventually, the Supreme Court got the case and said 'no'....states can make any law on abortion they desire....there are no federal restraints.
If this group had just kept their mouth shut and accepted the regulation? Well....none of this heartburn from the weekend would have occurred.
Funny how you trigger something to occur, without thinking of the consequences.
1. We have developed into what I'd call 'mob-America'....where a turbo-powered or radicalized element consumes a quarter of the population.
2. Off the Putin-propaganda hour on Russian-state TV last night (Sunday), the expert brought on...discussed the highly illegal unification of East/West Germany in 1990. Certainly will help to stir the pot, and get Russians even more aggravated.
3. New York Post article: Putin has fired another general in charge of the war.....brought in a retired guy (65 years old), who was a legend of some type in the 1990s. Guy appears (at least in the picture I saw) to be 350 pounds. I doubt that he makes it more than seven days, before a heart attack or stroke.
4. All these companies writing HR letters to cover abortion time-off/travel-time....will eventually have some guy who shows up....claiming he's a birthing-person and show some pregnancy slip from a fake doctor....expecting to get 3 days off to travel to Vegas.
5. Awful lot of chatter over the weekend about the 'Handmaids Tale'. Some people think it touches on reality.
1. Joe Rogan quote from yesterday: “Democrats on Twitter spray ‘mental illness’ like ‘diarrhea all over the screen".
I spent an hour yesterday looking strictly at commentary on Twitter over the Supreme Court business, and I have to agree with Rogan on this....just a lot of hot-hyper commentary....stuff you'd expect out of a 12-year-old kid.
I did learn that a fair number of Democrats now cannot recognize a dementia-President, describe what a woman is, and probably shouldn't be allowed around firearms.
3. Some kind of chatter came on CNN (after 5 minutes of discussion, I changed the channel). Topic? Supreme Court may go after inter-racial marriage next. I think all nine of them had a laugh upon hearing this.
They might go public and just suggest that Democrats should never marry Republicans....making it the law of the land.
4. US Navy said (in some cryptic way) that they might punish sailors who intentionally misuse/abuse pronouns. I'm guessing they will be mops and told to clean the deck. It used to be some punishment suggested for excessive cussing....that never went anywhere either.
5. I expect some national 'fad-trend' to start up....where women sign some promise to only practice lesbian sex for a year....to punish guys and prevent unnecessary pregnancy situations.
6. California progressing on a bill (SB 357) to make prostitution.....more or less....legal. To be honest, I don't think anyone will notice much....after it passes.
7. Poll was done on 6 January hearings in House. Public says....one-in-three....that it will make a difference on their voting in November. Course, that one guy was probably a Democrat before the hearing even started. If so....then the hype was useless.
1. For about 45-odd minutes on 6 Jan 2021....we were fairly close to having Buffalo-hat-wearing guy as the insurrectionist 'President'. If the Capital Police had done the same behavioral thing as the Uvalde school police folks....the capital would have been put on full-exit priority, with a thousand-odd police heading to their cars....to escape DC before the full take-over.
It really begs the question....were we even close to a insurrectionist 'President' or was this just a thick 'THC'-induced fantasy?
2. If I read all this Constitutional chatter of the past year.....it seems like we need sixty-odd pages of new rights written up and passed by the states.
We need a right to Cannabis, a right to marry whoever/whatever, a right to police-protection, a right to passports, a right to cheap cellphone plans, a right to a house, and a right to flip our gender.
The funny thing....it's all just chatter. No one is really making any true effort to write a four-line text piece for the Constitution to flip on abortions, or a 6-line text to guarantee housing for everyone.
3. It just seems odd....more Americans can name all of the Supreme Court Justices, but can't name all of the actors to 'Ocean's Eleven'. It's even more odd that the majority of Germans can name at least one of the Justices....when 99-percent of Germans can't name a single Justice from their own Constitutional Court.
1. If someone is breaking into my house....the checklist goes this way. First, I call my lawyer, then I call medical examiner, then I call the police to report a dead guy.
Maybe the dead guy had ambitions in life, or some goal to eventually change....but it's none of my business. We just didn't have time to openly discuss his failures and lack of respect.
2. Whether people believe it or not....we've been on the path to full-up insurrection for about 25 years. We will eventually reach what I'd call '1859-level' reality.
3. Every time you see Joe Biden in a public 'talk'....you have to ask...are the cards speaking (that he holds) or is it really Joe talking?
1. VP Harris comment after Supreme Court decision: "This decision is even too hard for me to swallow."
Don't get no funny ideas here....she was serious.
2. Based on what I've seen off TV this AM (Saturday).....seems to be a lot of insurrection going on (not just in DC).
3. Someone asked the question yesterday.....is Mitch McConnell a Republican?
I think if you did a line by line assessment....he's marginally a Republican, and mostly attached to a dozen lobbyists. Perhaps the better question to ask....is McConnell even a Kentuckian?
4. If you wanted an example of how crappy Red-Flag laws work....use Hunter Biden as an example.
5. Prior to 2010....'Fact-Checkers' didn't really exist. In the past decade....this 'art-form' comes up daily now.
It is kinda funny....based on 'Fact-Checker' production....people are now even more distrusting of the news media than before.
6. About twenty years ago, I would occasionally listen to newsmen Keith Olbermann. He says about 500 things in a one-hour 'talk'. I will admit....you can discount about 480 of those things mentioned.....but occasionally, he slips in a gem.
This past three days? Olbermann has more or less had some massive 'break-down' and gone way off into the 'woods'.
7. There are three crappy things going wrong in America, and dissolving the republic: (a) censorship/bias views, (b) efforts continue to bring people into tribal conflicts, and (c) lot of stupid kids attending college....getting degrees as they exit...still as stupid as they were four years earlier.
8. New CNN boss said something about 'serious journalism' now required because of consequential society issues.
What's that really mean? I think the Trump-is-our-butter emphasis is finished, and they will try to do investigative analysis.
I'm not talking about pistols on your belt or shoulder....I'm talking about various rifles hanging off your shoulder.
They go to restaurants, cafes, grocery stores, medical appointments, and schools....with weapons.
If there's some nutcase or agenda-demon threatening anyone....within a minute...there's probably a dozen people in the vicinity....ready to put the nutcase down.
For some reason, this system seems to work.
After the Supreme Court handed down their decision....this is my script for the next three years.
Starting next week, I expect around 10,000 people to apply for 'carry' status. I expect all of them to be denied for various reasons.
So by August....a lawsuit will start up. Damages asked per person? Probably in the range of $250,000.
NY politicians will sit and play this game through the courts, and by 2024....it'll hit the Supreme Court where it's likely to be finished. $2.5-billion minimum, with court costs....handed to the state.
If you were looking for bankruptcy signs? This will be the start-up of a massive decline for the state.
Growing up in the rural south of the 1960s/1970s....you had zero reason to worry about assault, robbery, or home-invasion. As I left the farm....over the next fifty years....I roamed around the US, Panama, and Europe.
Looking back at Shreveport, Tacoma, Tucson, Wichita Falls and Denver (places I was assigned in the Air Force)....there just wasn't much of a reason to worry about personal safety.
Well....yeah, I did have the neighbor who accidentally fired off a pistol and a round impacted in the wall of my Tucson apartment (cops did come and took away his pistol).
Yeah, there were the riots in Panama.
Later on....living out of Arlington, Va and working at the Pentagon around 2010....I had to limit my walking around at night, and there were places in DC where you should just avoid....day or night.
I've come to realize out of the cocaine introduction era (mid-1980s)....that a lot of people react in aggressive ways with drugs in their system. You could comment on the paint-job of a car to your neighbor, which he'd take offense to, and fire two rounds into your tire.
You could share a criticism about the Dairy Queen lady....to which she might pull a knife and try to stab you.
A lot of this leading back to higher THC levels in Cannabis? Among the forty-odd reasons for our current mess....yeah.
If you went amongst the general population of Dayton, Ohio....just asking who has a gun for protection reasons....probably 75-percent will admit to a gun in the home, and 50-percent admit to a gun in the car, or on their person. It's not a Republican or Democratic thing....it's just that folks have viewed the news enough....to realize it's not safe anymore.
Society and public safety over the past two decades have rapidly changed. A bunch of people are simply out of control, and can't respect society.
The only path ahead? Well....defensive measures that aren't pleasant.
I read this morning....the Biden team is talking (nothing really concrete) about paying off people in the government who says they got 'dosed' with "Havana Syndrome waves".
Now, I should note....they aren't saying HS exists....just that there seems to be something there and people suffer from it.
The compensation idea? Well....$100,000 to $200,000.
Now, is this enough? If you can't work ever again.....NO. So where is the science to this? Unknown, and Biden's team isn't discussing that matter.
So, this method of saying you got 'dosed' with HS? It's not clear. I mean....you could visit some guy who works at the Prague embassy, and have a serious headache after that....then write the claim letter, and say you got a 30-percent dose of HS....so you want $60,000 in damages.
It'd probably take five years, but I'm guessing they'd eventually award you the money.
This all leading to false or fake 'injuries'? OH YEAH.
My gut-feeling? I think someone in the Kremlin blabbed to someone connected to the CIA and admitted they have a team that runs around dosing people with HS.
I also have this odd conspiracy theory....that Joe Biden the candidate in 2019....while at some hotel....got dosed with HS, and that's the reason for his mental issues today.
Fake story? Maybe, but the idea you'd pay some guy $200,000 for claiming he got HS dosed? Same level of fakeness, if you ask me.
Basically, some WH member goes each time that the President is making a 'talk'....to write cards for him.
The cards? Well...basic instructions on how to sit, stand, or chew gum.
I sat there and though whoever writes the notes....is the President of the United States....not Biden himself.
It might be the moment where you start asking some really juvenile-stupid questions.
1. I noticed the state of Arizona passed a House measure (yet to be signed) that gives parents an 'account' of money for their kids education. If you feel your school is crap, or loaded with woke-idiots? You take your 'pot' of money to some private school deal.
Unloading a bunch of kids from the public school system? I would imagine around the state.....at least 10-percent of the kids by summer of 2023....will be farmed out to private deals, and the public schools start to drag in the new folks....the woke-idiots....to give them a exit-pass. Then some state emergency starts to occur, with 200 woke-idiots walking around crying over their lost jobs.
2. I watch a good bit of White House press conferences now. Five years ago, it would have two hours a month.....I'm probably watching two hours a week now.
So this week....the new gal started off on some statement...saying that the President has plans to go off and solve gas prices. Then that crazy guy from Fox asks....at some previous press conference....you said he had no ability to control gas prices. So this 'deer-in-the-headlights' moment occurs.....probably 10 seconds of her realizing she screwed up.
I feel sorry for the gal....but this way out of her league.
3. Why did Joe Biden step back away from the 1988 Presidential primary season?
Well....pretty serious accusations of being a liar, by the news media that existed at that time.
4. The President's gas holiday getting passed in the House?
Some say that he can disconnect the gas tax himself.....some say the House/Senate has to agree. Yesterday.....Pelosi said there's some serious debate required here, and it wouldn't pass....if the House gets the problem. Yeah, pretty confusing.
5. Rather odd....there's some Swedish environmental activists calling for an investigation into Greta Thunberg's relationship with a Russian 'front' directly funded (apparently) by the Russian foreign ministry for 3 years (2019-2021).
Did the Thunberg crowd realize the 'front' was fake and used for the Russians? Hard to say.....I'm guessing they were pretty naive.
If true....does Greta disappear now? Well....maybe. But you'd have to go and ask about all these groups (Fridays for the Future, for example).
6. There was a joke told by a Brit comedian at a comedy show. Apparently, it's been turned into the police as a complaint. The police have come to the comedian and asked for the text of the joke....to see if a 'crime' has been committed. (yeah, no joke)
7. Five things that schools don't teach any longer: how to have courage, persistence, handling failures, emotional handling of stress, and forgiveness.
8. The Brit military came out with a new assessment on the Russian military....this month is probably the peak of their success. With more weapons arriving....August probably will be a start of a different path for the Russians.
9. 2018....the Germans were laughing a good bit over the Trump-chatter that they were hooked up to the Russians in a bad way. Well.....here we are, and they have to admit on this one single topic.....Trump was 100-percent right.
10. If you gaze over at WHO chatter....the head guy is now talking over the idea that Covid was an accidental release at a Wuhan lab. Funny....two years of denial, and now it's basically agreed upon.
11. Jury came back on a 2017 case....Time Square, NYC accident....driver drove deliberately into a crowd of people....killing one, and wounding a number of folks. Not guilty, by reason of insanity.
Yeah, we need to start evaluating people for licenses.....to see if they are nuts there too.....call it a 'red flag' for drivers licenses.
12. Speaking on red flags....if the Brits had realized things in 1750....they would have quickly gone to red flag identification, and prevented all this revolution business from happening.
13. Rational fear and irrational fear....often collide.
14. Once you start rationing or preventing free speech....fascism is just inches away.
15. If you need some affirming of yourself or your identity.....you probably are a loser in need of the company of other losers.
16. CNN's Jeff Tobin made a comment: "There's a lot of right-wing terrorism in the country."
If so, where are the no-go areas?
17. When someone utters....'lets honor a little-person', it literally means they are talking about a 'kid'.
I sat and pondered this scenario.....if a kid can't give informed consent for life-altering, permanent gender-transition procedures....but the parent can, then this opens up a whole new landscape.
With this type of parent....a 10-year old kid could ask for:
1. The keys to a used Monte Carlo to drive around town.
2. $150 to take a buddy to some strip show.
3. A case of PBR after school.
4. A box of M-80 fireworks.
5. Permission to date and hook-up with the 5th-grade teacher.
For some reason, maybe it's my age.....I'm just not buying into this whole permission thing. If you got a parent that screwed-up....you can probably set fire to the house and not worry about Mom saying much.
In this world, I'd be married by age 13 to some 40-year old gal to be my sugar-momma.
I looked over the five key components of what the Senate 'wrote':
1. So on 'juvenile criminal records included in background checks for purchasers under 21 years of age'?
This will argued and challenged in various ways, with lawyers claiming that the records are bound by law not to be in any public domain.
I do agree....the law would make sense. But my gut feeling is that it'll be challenged in various courts, and within 18 months...be thrown out.
2. So on 'Increased sentencing for trafficking black market firearms to 15 years'?
If the DA refuses to charge you for black market firearms use....the 15-year deal is dissolved as a 'worry'.
I would think various guys will offer up $25k in campaign donations....to avoid the charge.
3. So on the idea of a sentence of 25 years if trafficked firearm is used in the commission of a felony, act of terror, or drug trafficking?
Again, it's left to a prosecutor/DA to charge you one of these commissions. He'll just say you are mentally incompetent, and loose you in some 12-month rehab program, then release you.
4. On new funding for school safety enhancements and mental health treatment programs?
What? Are you going to mental nut-case 'Larry' in some facility, for the rest of his life? No. So more money to be spent....faking an agenda that treatment programs work.
5. Finally.....federal funding for states to pass “red flag” laws?
They will be challenged in court, and the red flag laws will be thrown out within 18 months.
A lot of nothing.....if you ask me.
1. President Biden made a statement yesterday: "There's gonna be another pandemic."
Shocking news.....I swear.
2. Oddly enough, the Ruble is now at the strongest point in seven years....against the dollar. It's hard to find any economist who thinks this a real or trustworthily trend.
3. US college enrollments have dropped in the past year by 1.4-million. No one says it's a permanent trend, but if this were to occur again....I would imagine some colleges would be asking questions.
I also noticed that the University of Cincinnati, which has a decent STEM program....went and added wording to the regulations....preventing Asians and whites from getting seats in the program. Naturally, it's a public college and there's going to be some legal action taken....lawyers will make some quick cash here, and they will be forced to drop the regulation a year or two down the road.
4. John Hawkins wrote a piece, which I'd encourage you to read. Title? "Why Most Liberals Are Intellectually Incapable of Understanding Conservatives."
I'll just say this....this would not have been true twenty to thirty years ago. In some ways....I think a fair sum of Americans have dumbed themselves down....where even a 12-year old kid might be more logical and intelligent than a 30-year old college graduate.
5. Just odd....city of Uvalde, Texas (shooting area)....went and hired a private law firm to safeguard video/pictures of the crime scene.
Just my imagination here, but there's going to be massive lawsuits coming against the school, the city, and the police....and financially speaking....they will be in a rough period for the next decade. If you live in the town...you might want to view your home-price currently, sell, and move a good distance out of town.
6. Joe Biden's team had to admit yesterday that US tax revenue is being used to safeguard and maintain the seized yachts of the Russian Oligarch folks. How much money spent? No one really says....wouldn't shock me if we were spending 300-million a year.
7. Interesting report at Newsmax.....tens of thousands packing up in SF, and leaving town. No trend-stopper on the horizon.
8. Miss Brazil winner....dead at age 27....from tonsil surgery complications.
Basically, the Republican Party of Texas wants to have a vote by the end of 2023....to succeed from the union.
Humble belief here? Well....I think they are laying a 'card' on the table and that the suggested vote (if any occurs) would be after the November 2024 presidential election. Hint here....if the Democrats were to win in 2024....then it's possible this vote might occur in the spring-to-summer of 2025.
How it would go? Anyone's guess.
Legit? Mostly no. The Constitution doesn't allow an exit.
Zero options? If Texas voted to go and run up a Constitutional vote....asking the other 49 states to give some consent....then it'd be a different game.
Thirty-eight states would be required to pass such legislation to allow an exit. Odds of this? If you were to write a scenario that Newsom (Governor of California) won in 2024 and would be President for four to eight years....then I'd suggest that finding a dozen states to approve the Constitutional change would be fairly easy. Finding 38 states? Difficult.
But lets carry this fantasy to the level....that 38 states agreed to this state change...that 'any' state could exit or reform itself? Then you might find some path to getting 38 states to approve it.
My view of what would happen (probably after 2028)? I'd predict that as Texas openly discussed this exit....they'd find six additional states interested in a nation-state status (my suggestion is that Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida would fall into this discussion).
I would also suggest that California on its own.....would form a nation state. Alaska would probably also discuss the idea.
A positive thing? Well...as divided as the nation is....if you wanted to avoid a civil war....this would be a handy tool to use, and lessen tensions.
Odds of this happening? Oh....probably less than a 5-percent chance. But then, I used to laugh over woke-crap.
Being from the state, this is one of those twenty-five questions that can arise, and you can debate at length.
For the record, Birmingham was a working-man's town up through the 1940s and probably still existed as such through the 1970s. I should note....the last Republican mayor of the town was George Siebels (1967-1975). From 1975 on, it's been a long tradition in the city to only elect Democratic mayors.
So as the cocaine age (1980s) arrived, crime escalated in the city, and various neighborhoods began to empty out....moving 10 to 20 miles away, and those voters...who might have been traditional Republican voters.....weren't in the mayor election business.
The shape and feel of law enforcement in the city? The police were used as 'gate-keepers'.....don't interfere with these areas of town, and look the other way.
So as drugs increased, and gang action became a normal thing in the city....violence and murders increased.
At some point, the city of Birmingham....realizing the tax revenue bucket was lessening....decided to attempt a tax on people....even if they don't live in the city, but work there. Alabama has a general law against that type of taxation gimmick....so that failed.
What you can generally say.....at this point, even if the city council wanted to resolve the crime and murder business....they don't have the revenue to go and hire enough police to effect change.
The general public of Birmingham figuring out this failure? There is a slow steady decline in the population of the city, and in roughly two years....Huntsville will be the most populated city of the state. I would take a guess by 2030....Birmingham will gone down to about 200,000 in number. Here's the thing....the only super-positive spin to the city is that it has a decent airport. Beyond that....there's nothing to make you feel charged-up to bring a business to the city.
I'll go and predict the murder numbers continue to increase, with people openly frustrated with the lack of attention.
This is how I see the 2023 campaign season opening, and how the 2024 'show' unfolding:
1. I will project around a dozen Democrats showing up in June of 2023 to an early debate schedule. President Biden will not be there, declining to run in 2024. Top three in this early showing....Governor Newsom of California, Pete Buttigieg, and AOC. Now of the three will excite folks in Iowa (in case you were wondering).
2. I will project that Trump will not run, but he will appear in several states to campaign for certain candidates.
3. Republicans in the mid-summer of 2023 that are running? DeSantis, Ted Cruz, Tim Scott, and Nikki Haley. No, Mike Pence won't be showing up. The way that Iowa will shape up....DeSantis wins.
4. From the end of January of 2024 on....it's strictly a race between Newsom and DeSantis.
5. Convention 2024? Newsom selects Buttigieg as VP candidate. DeSantis selects Richard Grenell. Yes, both VPs will be gay guys....go figure the campaign logic to this.
6. Debates? Zero between the two groups. It's more or less a public agreement that the debates were always biased in some way. The news media will hype this to the max, but no one cares.
7. Buttigieg's value to the campaign? Almost zero. Grenell can talk international politics and has five-star value at table talks.
8. This becomes by mid-October....mostly an assessment about how Florida did over the past three years, and how crappy California did with Newsom in charge. Some ad will appear with ten people noting how they left California because it failed as a modern society and state. By late October, even the news media will admit that Newsom was the wrong guy to run at this point.
9. DeSantis wins the election, and immediately tells the Republican Party that he will select his own people....noting how bad advice filtered into Trump's camp, and he won't repeat that mistake.
10. Immediately upon becoming President....another Russia-Gate episode starts up. This time however, DeSantis throws out a hint....he's reorganizing the FBI....basically breaking them up into five minor units, and most all of the members are being given 'pack-up' orders to leave DC. All the stuff that Trump talked about doing? DeSantis is going to place at the front of the list...to get done.
Up to the 1990s...TV and radio news networks were able to convey news and discussion over public agenda items. Then, as social media came along....something unusual happened. Podcasts started to replace the TV/radio news networks.
In a normal week, I will preview at least fifty different podcasts....some just five minutes in nature....some going two full hours (like the Joe Rogan episodes).
I'll sometimes watch Dr Todd Grande take apart people and explain how sane or insane they are.
I'll watch the 'Amazing Lucas' review something with a tough black prospective.
I'll watch the '1420' podcasts where Russians are asked questions on the street.
I'll watch 'darkhorse' explain complicated science topics in simple talk.
I'll watch 'ancient architects' explain archeological discoveries.
I'll watch Peter Boghossian detail the way to discuss topics with uncivil people.
I'll watch Lex Friedman drill down into serious science topics and provide enlightenment over the vast universe.
I'll watch 'A Word on Westerns' which covers all the cowboy movies of the past decades.
I'll watch Doctor John Campbell explain medicine to the 9th degree.
I'll watch 'serpentza' discuss China....both the good and bad.
I'll watch 'We got a problem' to explain the UK problems.
I'll watch 'Triggernometry' with two comedians taking fairly serious topics.
I'll watch 'Real coffee with Scott Adams' to get the insider view of the world.
In simple terms....podcasts have picked up the slack that the news media left on the floor, and fulfills the 'emptiness'.
1. Did President Biden say that inflation is a plus-up when hitting families, because it helps to accomplish the liberal agenda?
Yeah. Among the top ten illogical things he's said in the past eighteen months.....it's definitely on the list.
Here's the odd thing....if you corner an economist (graduate degree and all)....no one will admit in public that it's a positive thing or that it helps some agenda. Most will say that recessions and inflation can easily trigger political chaos and bring down a government.
2. Some study came out and said that the Biden Administration did save jobs. Cost for each job saved? $850,000. Personally speaking....if I were working and you offered me an incentive to retire early....$850,000 would be enough.
3. Hillary Clinton came out and offered some advice to Democrats.....she said....'drop the agenda' business, and get back to basic traditional issues. Probably the legit and smart statement she's made in the past five years.
4. Is the Macron presidency wrapped up for failure....even though he just won his second election around a month ago?
Well....this past weekend, the legislative election wrapped up. From the opposition left, and the far right....there are enough votes in the French 'House' to block any Macron agenda item. So in effect....he's got five years ahead where nothing much will happen unless he bends either to the left, or to the far right.
5. The House holds around 14,000 hours of video from J6....with none of it accessible to normal Americans. In effect, it's been classified. If you asked the logic of this....people generally just grin.
So in the UK, they were holding a blood donation episode. Guy (68) shows up....has donated a number of times in his life. Blood donation folks have paperwork to wrap up. So they come to this question....new item since the last time he donated: "Are you pregnant, or have you been in the last six months?". It was a yes or no question.
Guy looked at the person doing this, and just verbally responded that he was a guy.....well...it didn't matter, they still wanted the yes or no checked.
He responded it's not a yes or no....he can't be pregnant.
In the end, they turned down the guy. He didn't donate blood.
I pondered over the story.
They just wanted a line on a form....fixed to yes/no. To him, it was obvious....if a guy, you can't be pregnant.
After a while, I thought...well, why not just say 'yes'.....I've been pregnant as a guy. The paperwork fellow would have then read the notation, and logically....he would have asked another question.
I would have stopped him and simply said that I conceived a child without any sperm involved, and delivered the child on the 25th of December.
You know where this is going.
Would they have still accepted the blood? Far as I know....nutcases are not prevented from donating (at least not yet).
So, when you see this question in the future....either at the dentist office or with Nurse Wanda at your clinic.....just be honest....you did conceive without any male help, and you delivered last December. See how far the game goes.
I was fortunate to progress through the Air Force in the 80s/90s, and marginally saw the team-building business introduced (at the very end).
My original view, as these were introduced....we had teams built and functional already, and it seemed like the people running this agenda....wanted people to talk to each other on a first name basis....drift over to group-think....and have new plans/paths introduced on a regular basis (this meant if X didn't work, you went to Y, and if Y didn't work, you went to Z).
In the eleven years as a contractor....we had a couple of attempts to run team-building, and most failed miserably.
I brought this topic up one day with a guy who'd spent around four years at some major industry (mid-2000s). It'd reached a point where the team-building stuff was so crapped out....that his HR gave up local efforts, and started to bring national team-builders (they'd fly the guy out for a whole week). The problem here....the national guy had no clear understanding of the organization, its service, or it's customers.
Are we that bad off....to require team-building? I think the more likely path here is that we are in the midst of a boss-obstruction. We have people given management roles....who are simply lacking in skills to perform at this level. You can blame the college system, or the HR involvement in recruitment for this 'weakness'.
You would think for a master's degree or PhD, in some type of management or leadership area....you'd have gifted instructors for the 'art'. I simply don't believe they exist to the degree that was around in the 1970s/1980s.
Shouldn't boards be 'gifted' enough to shape a CEO to the degree required? Well....we got to the point of bringing in idiots to boards (like that Hunter 'kid') and boards are mostly today useless.
So to make up for the problem....we shape team-building to show that if they think in x-way.....the product or service will be successful.
I'm not calling team-building as a BS tool....but you are supposed to think/react in a certain way at the end.
On how to handle team-building...if you get forced into it? Simply play along.....smile, and accept the fact that they can't fix the boss problem.
(On my most favorite team-building event participation? My boss took the entire shop to a horse-track and instructed us on betting. It actually was a great afternoon, but had nothing to do with work.)
I noticed this odd story.....NBC News was out in Nevada....doing people-chats for primary business.
Around 2-dozen people interviewed.....more urbanized counties (not the rural areas).
So the question came up....did the DC J6 hearings affect you?
Vast majority answered 'no'.....then some of them went to a second comment....that the J6 hearings actually converted them to be more anti-Democrat.
From what I've watched of the J6 hearings (bits and pieces).....if you wanted some resemblance to Watergate/Iran-Contra.....it was not there.
I'm not saying it's 1-star pony show.....but whatever mileage they felt they'd get....was a zero-gain. I'd also suggest that maybe two more shows will be enough for the Democratic leadership to suggest a halt.
The Hill wrote up a piece and suggested the seven front-line Republicans for President in 2024:
1. Mike Pence (zero percent chance, and I can't understand their logic).
2. Ted Cruz (has to really take off and win in Iowa.....where I give him only a 10-percent chance).
3. Nikki Haley (might take three states in the primary....not enough to matter, but she wants VP badly).
4. Mike Pompeo. Smart and witty but zero appeal in the 'big-tent'. Oddly, he could gather attention in Iowa.
5. Tim Scott. Weak but would draw VP attention.
6. Kristi Noem (SD Governor). Great VP nominee and probably would draw attention in the first four primaries.
7. Ron DeSantis (FL Governor). As long as Trump doesn't run....DeSantis is likely to take 45 of the primary wins.
So this is really a race about the VP? Yeah.
I'd say that Tim Scott, Noem, and Haley are in the competition mode now.
Fourth name for VP? Richard Grenell.
Pompeo likely to come back again as Secretary of State? I'd give it a 90-percent chance.
A white Mexican? In simple terms....a person whose family unit originated from Spain, and generally stayed intact for the past 500 years.
A woman? A person who has the XX-chromosome and can reproduce XX and XY people. Without a XX-woman....society ends in a dynamic way.
The chief theme of '1984' (the book)? Well....some wealthy folks run/control things, and the majority of society have become participants in poverty (if you got something, you feel lucky).
CNN's chief problem? They can't tell a basic story over a news item, without it being biased in some way.....to which, they seem to feel proud of this performance.
The chief passing point of monkey-pox? You gotta pass it skin-to-skin....meaning you physically have to touch the person with the pox.
Russia greatest weakness at present? Well....virtually everything moves by rail, and these damn ball-bearings in use (since 1990s)....while requiring less maintenance....are western-made. Yeah, at some point in the next year or two....the stock will run out, and they will go to some Russian-made situation, and rail/subway accidents will pop up over the next two years. I might as well say 'magnificent' rail accidents.
Bill Mahler's greatest quote? "Democracy dies in dumbness".
Hunter Biden's chief 'job/help' for the Serbians? Well....the Karađorđević dynasty or House of Karađorđević....wanted the return of their palaces/royal property. No one has readily explained how he has talent for this, or who he is connected to.....but this was a contract of sorts....to revamp Serbia to accept some dynasty. How Hunter developed talent for this? Anyone's guess.
1. Some suggestion of harm....if one utters certain words (they usually attach the term 'violent'.....to create the phrase 'certain violent words', but they can skip it entirely.
The person is shaky on behavior and probably not capable of any stressful or chaotic situation.
Working on a farm? No.
Working in a ball-bearing factor? Not possible.
Working in a muffler shop? Nope.
Working in a airport customer service situation? Can't happen.
So I'm continually wondering....after four years of college and getting really hyped up into this process...where can you work? Could three kids in a 5th-grade room tear you apart in a matter of ten minutes?
2. Continually suggesting that they need to be respected and unoffended. We are talking about day one, after a hiring.
You keep hearing some warning.....that a line cannot be crossed in offending them....giving you a list of forty-odd things that would offend them (even the way you sat in a chair, or the way you didn't answer stupid questions they asked).
Maybe if this were a 50-year old gal/guy....I'd care. But we are talking about a 22-year old who just exited college and seems destined in their mind to land on Mars or save half-the-globe from starvation.
3. Having some intense five-minute chatter start up on a relationship or sexual matter.....which doesn't seem to interest me. I might try to look interested but frankly, I'm looking at their $75 shoes, or just trying to remember the answers to some Jesus-quiz I took at the church the other night.
To be honest, I'd rather not insult you but if you got that much of a priority on failed relationships....maybe you failed somewhere along the path of life.
Frankly, I don't care if you paid $3,000 for a fake monkey-tail to be glued onto you, or that you wear secret clothing on Thursday nights to some top-secret nightclub.
All of this is leading people to think that this woke-stuff can lead somewhere and it's a better plateau in life. Sorry, but life is a pretty harsh reality and your path selected....seems to be one without a lot of comforts or support.
1. Democratic Party Presidential debates are probably about 12 months away.....around June/July of 2023....they would normally start up.
So the key question which would toss the whole crew up to running? How do you define a woman? Once you throw this question out there and they all say you can't define a woman....their agenda and 'puff-campaign' is marginalized.
If a weird candidate with zero odds gets an invite, and gives the correct 'woman-answer'.....then the whole campaign would take off for that individual.
2. Have the 6-Jan hearings simply become a alternate show to relieve Biden of his failures? I've seen this hyped over the past week.
Look, his success chatter is limited to a 3x5 inch index card, and even this stupid bicycle accident from yesterday....helped to relieve negativity going on.
3. By the summer of 2023....I expect alot more kids to be exiting public schools for home-schooling and private schools.....which I will suggest that the public school system across the US are probably going to 'let to' of 10,000 teachers (those without tenue).
So this odd problem will start up....this group will have a lot of woke-folks, and they will find it near impossible to get a educational job. So President Biden, I predict, will have to invent out of thin air.....some 'help-program' (probably in the range of $2,500 a month) for the woke teachers to survive for a year of unemployment.
Eventually, the woke teachers will reach some stage where they have to move on, and no one really wants them as teachers. It begs the question....2025, how can they fit into society?
4. The overuse of the term 'CRISIS'. Between the news media and social media....I probably hear the term crisis about sixty times a day. Some journalists even use the word at least three or four times in a news report.
5. It came up, that the Uvalde police (during the school shooting)....NEVER tried to open the door to the room where the 'shooter' was in. NEVER.
6. Putin says 'world-order' is changing.
Perhaps, but Russia won't be part of that change.
7. There must be sixteen different theories of how President Biden fell off his bicycle.
1. The CDC came out with some guidance on safe sex....if you wanted to avoid monkeypox: (1) having masturbate liaison with your partner....try to be at least 6ft away from the buddy, (2) try to avoid kissing, (3) recommend virtual sex, (4) trying having sex with your clothing on or where sores might be present.
After you read the list three or four times.....it just seems like they try hard to avoid saying it's gay guys who mostly get it. Also odd....they don't seem to mention mask-wearing.
2. All of the sudden, after this chatter that ten Republican Senators were all hyped-up to pass Democratic wording for gun-control.....things seem to have fallen apart yesterday (Friday) in DC.
Just odd.....hyped-up a week ago, and now.....not so hyped-up. Wonder what happened.
3. Whole past year....just chatter on a continual basis of recession and inflation. Then this week.....couple of business analysts hyped-up....RECESSION coming. Makes one wonder if they were completely asleep in 2021, or if that 2021 was just a introduction phase.
4. This 1000-percent tax idea that is openly discussed by the House on AR-15s? I would imagine in a matter of an hour or two....the companies would quit making the AR-15, and start making the AR-30 (different style/look, maybe a shorter barrel).
5. This week, I paused over this political chatter about creating Red Flag laws.....thinking.....well....between YouTube and TikTok....there's a whole bunch of idiot adults' doing things that ought that rank as mentally disordered behavior. Shouldn't they go to the front of the line once Red Flag occurs?
This is why I don't think any Red Flag law will remain on the books long.
6. I noticed this week....someone asked the question in social media....are we at a point where the FBI is a threat to democracy?
The problem is....once you reach this level and 50-percent of the public believes it....it does not matter from that point on how the FBI behaves....it's lost trust and character.
From 2024 to 2028....I see a fair amount of dismantling coming from the FBI, and probably a quarter of the agents either retiring or just leaving.
7. So I read this morning.....hot sauce and anything in glass bottles are the next shortage problem to occur.
Why the glass bottles? Requires a fair amount of natural gas in the process, and those prices are escalating at a wild rate.
What this affects? Booze, beer, wine and a fair amount of food.
"In Texas, more training hours are required to be a hairdresser than a cop."
-- Arthur Rizer
It's an interesting article over at 'Hotair' which I would recommend a read (5 minute commentary).
Basically, Rizer brings up the era we live in....where police members are heavily recruited from the military....bring their craft with them, and you end up in a metropolitan area or small town....with some military-assault police who attempt to act like regular cops.
On training? For a small town unit....in most states, it's a weekend-training thing....you do a couple of weekends and 'test'....to get a certificate which allows you to be a small-town policeman.
I would agree....for about 90-percent of what the craft involves in a low-intensity town....'deputy-Joe' is adequate enough for the job.
In a town of 10,000? You probably need something more than 'deputy-Joe'.
But there's no real enthusiasm to change the system presently. So we will simply learn to survive...with crappy or marginal security guys pretending to be regular police.
Generally, when being 'told' something, or being 'lectured', or on getting 'advice'....I've got a age mandate in my mind....meaning the person talking needs to be at least 20 years old, and if this is awful important BS....then forty years old is the minimum I accept.
Yeah....with some whiny 15-year old kid on the lecture routine or demanding I do this or that....it just won't work.
About twice a week on German public TV....they hustle up some German kid to give a lecture or a moment of advice....to which I immediately hit the mute-button.
I personally can't understand why the news media folks think that the majority of people will sit for two minutes and accept some lecture like this.
I'd almost call it a 'Jesus-routine'....thinking if you hint the kid has some element of 'Jesus' significance involved....it'll change my perception.
The angrier that the kid acts....stomping their feet, or shaking their fist....just leads me to a fairly opposite gut-feeling of trust.
Maybe it'll eventually lead to a new reality....that kids ought to be living a kid's life, and not on some lecture circuit, or reality lectures.
Upon your 65th birthday, you get this letter (automatically generated) stating if you work for the US government in any capacity.....that retirement is a wonderful thing, and in three years....you will be dismissed.
It would go to Presidents, ambassadors, Senators, House members, judges, etc. If you receive a federal salary....on your 68th birthday....you move on.
If you were a Senator or President....even if you had a year or two left....you'd be given a firm 'no', and the public would just accept the idea that there are replacements for everybody.
It's time to end the fake nature that a guy 75 years old can put in forty hours a week and concentrate with full capacity.
It's supposed to hit 93 F (34 C) tomorrow in my region of Germany. Hottest day of the year so far. Same temp predicted for Sunday, and then it'll chill off a couple of degrees.
I'll make ten observations over heat and Germany:
1. Generally....folks can handle 30 C (86 F) without any extra measures. After that point.....each evening is a long whine session about global warming, or extra measures they had to take to 'survive'.
2. AC units are becoming very popular....but mostly the small units for a room or two. In my village....I'd take a guess that 50-percent have either a house AC unit or a room unit.
3. The breaking point? When you have a weather pattern that lingers....say for ten days (30 C or more)....that's usually where people boil over or things get messy. A typical German summer is five or six periods of 30 C mixed with six periods of 25-to 28 C.
4. The typical method of 'cooling' a house? You close all windows after the cooled-off evening, and shut the shutters around 10 AM. Once things cool off at 10 PM....windows get open and the house 'cools' to some degree.
5. Yes, people drink more beer in a hot summer period.
6. There's just not an average summer in Germany. There are three 'cycles'....the harsh heat year, the cool summer year, or the average up and down year. 2003 for example....was the most extreme heat year of the past forty-odd years.
7. Dehydration events? They occur occasionally.
For reference, the German beer to the left is a half-liter.
Sips? Well...I'd say you get about six good sips out of the bottle.
It's not something marketed in Germany (Germans would just laugh and say it's for 10-year old kids).
If you ask me....it's probably a perfect size beverage for a lunch situation for a guy at work.
Joe listed? Presently, yes. If you asked me the odds....pretty close to zero that he'll run again.
Anyone here to get excited about? ONLY 1....Governor Newsom of California.
The problem with Newsom....if you pulled up the resume accomplishments and you wanted a 20-line achievements list....it's awful weak.
AOC? Maybe on college campuses, and around NY City.....she'd draw crowds. But nationally? She's got a 7-line resume that is awful weak.
I'd say presently....it's Newsom from Iowa on, and a fair number of Democrats shaking their heads because they don't see much to get excited about.
The WaPo wrote up a piece entitled: 'The Real Secret to Asian American Success'. I won't go into detail over it but the writer came to suggest that it's NOT education that details the success rate of Asian Americans.
I should note....if you do try to find the data....it does suggest that Asian Americans do better in school.....achieve success in college, and education plays some role.
But I've worked with a couple of Taiwanese Americans (2nd generation) while in the Air Force. I came to four realizations about this ethnic group:
1. They all had structure in their life (both parents, rules within the family, curfew hours, etc). If they were married....their spouse was Taiwanese American and structure rules followed them as a married couple.
2. They rarely made life-mistakes. They weren't likely to get a DWI, or go bankrupt, or develop credit card issues. If you listed the top twenty screw-ups that regular people make....this group does everything possible to avoid the mistakes.
3. They were extreme capitalists at heart. If you had a 400-page book on money-management....they'd have read every page and memorized it. Zero intention of buying a $40,000 car, or spending a wild amount of money at some Vegas casino.
4. Finally, you just felt they were motivated. I know....most all of us are motivated to some degree....but in the majority of Taiwanese people I bumped into....they had this motivation to succeed in life. They wanted your respect.
Then I'll say this....whatever education goals were accomplished....it was layered to fit their path ahead. They weren't the type to get a degree in French literature, or modern dance.
Why all this concern over Asian Americans matters now? Well....a fair number of black Americans see this success business as not having any sense to it. If one were to go past the education chatter and just look at the life-mistakes angle....you'd figure out the whole reason for their success in life.
Frankly, all of those listed in the 'center' ranking....with the exception of the Hill and WSJ....ought to be moved to left-lite.
It's funny....in the 1980s....you just didn't think at this level or face biased reporting. It's probably after Bush II came into the picture.....that you felt this as a daily problem.
How many people recognize the biased nature? Unknown, and I doubt if poll companies really want to open this 'can of worms'.
My question.....as bad as it is today....what happens after the 2024 election?
As a kid growing up in rural Alabama....we had these characters. The best way to describe them.....they'd hear that Maytag had a new 'silent' washer, and they'd go and spend $600 to buy one....taking it to the garage, and tearing it apart...to find the silence thing, and how it worked. Then they'd sit there with a Pall Mall cigarette hanging out of the side of their mouth....sipping a PBR....devising the same thing, but making even more silent than what Maytag could manufacture.
These were the people asking how you could charge the Air Force $800 for a special hammer....trying to understand what made it different.
The thing about these characters....they weren't engineers, or dedicated to one single area of 'science'.
If you told Elon there's too much fat content in Pop-Tarts or we need a way to crank a car without a battery being involved....he'd put his passion into resolving the issue.
This Twitter discussion? Lets be honest....more than half the content-writers of Twitter are fussy over how it works, and the Twitter-heads, Twitter-mob and Twitter-hoards are unable to comprehend or resolve this issue. So Elon figures....he can fix this....make it profitable (since day one, it's not been profitable), and make everyone but the Twitter staff happy.
Here's the thing....Elon can be anything. Bill Gates, all of Apple, the pro-woke crowd.....they can't be Elon. They have limits.
My gut-feeling on Elon? Rocket science really isn't rocket science, with Elon around.
So this poll was done....Yahoo News-YouGov ran it. Question was....might the US cease to be a democracy in the future?
Results? Around 53-percent of Republicans said 'it was likely', and 55-percent of Democrats said this.
So the reality of this question, and the answer?
Over the past two-hundred years....if you done polls....even in 1812, 1866, or 1935....I would imagine that the numbers suggesting the 'cease' might have come to a minimum of one-third of society....to the 50-percent level.
If you were trying to see the landscape....we've always been on the edge of 'zero-confidence'. Part of the blame goes to politics being a daily affair....us-versus-them, and some blame goes toward a desire by people to have some authority to guide them.
Lets also be honest....if someone laid out the evidence that most of the House and Senate big-wigs were getting rich off the democracy (which they are)....we'd question their ability to lead.
Lets also be honest....if someone laid out that maybe five-million votes were manufactured from thin-air in 2020.....our confidence would be shaken.
I'd call this reality something like the 9th season of the TV show 'Dallas'. If you remember....this was the season without 'Bobby', and it wandered around in a daze....never making a lot of sense and it should have been 'done' at the end of season 8. But then, we came to the beginning of season 10....where Pam 'wakes' up and just says the whole script for all of season 9....was a dream.
That's kinda the reality of life in America today.....we don't have a Bobby-JFK-Reagan character....so we are trudging along with Joe Biden-Kam Harris characters....wishing the 'season' could just end. At some point, some 'Pam' gal will announce that 2020 to 2024....was just a dream.
This is when you pour 2nd and 3rd shot of gin in the glass.
Yeah, a cannabis smoothie.
Naturally, NO loaded with the THC stuff....just enough of the taste to make your senses identify it as Cannabis.
Who might buy the stuff? I would imagine mostly the 15-to-25 age group.
High apple-content? Yeah, with some various fruits.
Any suggestion of THC? None. It's a health drink, pure and simple.
With my crystal ball, I'll predict ten things:
1. There's a 40-to-45 seat flip....Republicans winning.
2. Various journalists will remark that the 6 Jan hearing business had zero effect on the election.
3. President Biden will have a statement, then drop from public sight for about a month.
4. Fear will start up that House hearings over Hunter, and past issues will start in January.
5. Fauci will be dragged in and some hearings will expose issues....triggering him to be considered for dissmisal.
6. At least two cabinet secretaries will be dragged up for issues.
7. BLM/Antifa events will be planned and carried out in 2023. Significant up-tick in violence, with no attention by the FBI.
8. There will be fewer appearances by VP Harris. In certain words....she'll admit she doesn't want the job of replacing Biden.
9. Scheduled visits to Iowa will be talked about a good bit....with most democratic candidates not getting any status.
10. Reflection by some journalists will dwell on a marginalized list of accomplishments for Biden over a two-year period. Most of first quarter 2023 will be dragging this up almost daily.
1. Odds of Joe Biden running again?
Well...November mid-terms will be a message over his brand, and he can't readily (in January 2023) change the brand/message. By the time that the Hunter hearings start up and President Biden has to issue a pardon to get Hunter 'free'.....the position for the 2024 run will be ended (expect this message around July 2023).
I would also suggest that VP Harris will state the same thing around four weeks later, in that she also will not be running. From that point on....this administration has marginal function or contribution.
2. In the past year or two....the quote 'detached-from-reality' has been used too much?
Actually....you could probably utter it for one-third of society now.
3. President Biden having popularity ONLY in 2 states?
Yeah, Vermont and Hawaii....only two states where the numbers say good (over 50-percent).
In Ala, approval among 18-to-34....is marginally at 20-percent....with 64-percent disapproving.
4. If you build a red-flag system that says 2-percent of American society is unsafe, and mentally unbalanced...is this a guns-only discussion?
Well....no, if you say 500,000 people are unsafe or present some threat to society....these are people with severe red flags, and probably cannot be trusted in public, or allowed to vote, or allowed to fly on planes, or allowed 'credit'. In simple terms, we'd need a massive discussion which a large portion of people aren't willing engage upon.
5. What was the deal for Ohio and allowing teachers to be armed?
Well...originally, they passed a law requiring 728 hours of training.....to be given permission to carry a gun into a school.
Now, you can sit there and think about this. Air Force boot-camp had a simple 8-hour training session, and at the end of the first four hours.....you did a series of fire-and-reload exercises, then fire off forty-odd rounds. At that point, they gave you a card which said you were 'certified'.
Marines will argue that they had three or four days, but note that it was mostly run-drop, and fire exercises (something Air Force people aren't capable of doing).
How you would mix in 728 hours? It adds up to 91 days of some type of training. No one from Ohio can really defend this logic. Maybe they were using muskets and reloads took 90 seconds for each round (my Marine associates might argue on this).
Anyway, they had another discussion in Ohio, and voted to change the 728 hours down to 24 hours (probably still three times the amount that military guys require). But the logic here.....the military guy isn't looking for options in his situation....he's just loading and trying to ensure the target doesn't get up.
I don't know the guy....if you asked me to assign some status to him....he's some guy who probably frequents flea-markets....buys crazy gear for costume parties, and just happened to think....what the hell, I'll go to DC for 6 January.
Image for an insurrection? Well.....if you were on this hearing committee and thinking I take much of this serious....then the image pops up....then 'NO'....I can't take the insurrection chatter serious.
If anything....I'd ask if he remembers anything from the day.
Well....in social media circles....this chatter has started up....mostly off a comment made in a courtroom....last week.
The jest to all of this?
2005 was the last time that the team had over 30k tickets sold for local games. In fact, since 2017....the team hasn't gone over the 20,000 level per game. Right now for 2022....they are averaging around 16,000 fans per game.
If you were trying to measure 'thrills' for this team? Well...it's a mix of cheaper players and rookies. They haven't been able to have the revenue....to participate in real four-star players.
The idea of having two-million fan-tickets sold each year? Most locals would agree that those days are gone.
The ballpark? Camden Yards? It was finished in 1992 and is 30 years old. It is a unique design and probably could serve out for another decade.
Why Nashville? Metro-Nashville is 1.3-million....if you go Greater-Nashville, it's at 2-million, and from central Tennessee in general....it's probably near 3-million.
The script for this 'move'? I think at the end of 2022....the team will note that they rank around 13/14 out of the fifteen clubs in the league. Mid-way through 2023's season....I think the team will just say that's it....the financial incentives of Baltimore make no sense.
Add into this....downtown Baltimore is only 'safe' because of a massive amount of police action. People come to the game....then quickly leave the area....the city crime problem is making the baseball gimmick marginal in terms of attracting folks.
So talk will start up at this point in 2023....building a new baseball park in Nashville....probably to be finished by 2025, and the team arrives.
Baltimore to beg the league for a new team? Maybe, but there's no sense to this.
I watched about 15 minutes of episode II of the House hearing on the 6-Jan business. I stopped and did a long pause.
There was a moment in this 'theatrical-show' today where I started to imagine an actual set of circumstances existing between 6-Jan chatter and the old Trump/Russia gimmick (actually hoax is more appropriate).
Both lean on some perceived accusations and both eventually come to some perceived conclusions of guilt.
Oddly....both events (6-Jan/Trump-Russia)....require a normal viewer to dedicate probably 500 man-hours to associate data, and feel some conviction one way or another. Frankly, most of us have real jobs....church meetings....bowling leagues...fences to paint....kid-lectures to emphasize...whiskey-moments, and demons to fight.
Lot of hyperbole? Well...yeah, that becomes painfully obvious.
Could we have a hearing dedicated to the fake Trump-Russia gimmick and really explain how the hoax came to be? No. That would draw up more perceived accusations, and more perceived conclusions of guilt.
(Just shaking my head....another gin for everyone at the bar)
I was reading through social media commentary today, and someone jumped up....hyping that young teachers are 'so immature' today. The impression given....that these teachers see young grammar kids as their 'peers/equals'. In some odd way....they want to share their lives, their lifestyles, and be some weird way 'validated' (mostly by 7 to to 11 year old kids).
I sat and paused over this. I came out of high school in 1977.....it was an odd bunch of teachers (probably 32 of them by the time I finished up).
First, with one single exception, I can't remember any teachers openly discussing their husband or wife. Some were married (as you figured that out)....some were single, and beyond the car they drove....there just wasn't much of a personal angle.
Second, there were three or four WW II vets, and they did occasionally go into 'we-were-there-in-Brindisi (or in the 3rd wave of Normandy)....or there was the one person who spent their summer vacation each year hitting national parks in Wyoming and Colorado. We didn't ask where they lived....what brand of cornflakes they ate....or preferred cocktail.
Third, it just didn't seem like we had time to BS or get real interested in sexing up with so-and-so.
Finally, I just don't remember any teacher needing validation about where they were in life. If you did need validation....getting that from a 13-year old kid wasn't going to amount to much.
