The Fear of Covid Business

 I sat there for five minutes looking at the picture, and the words attached.

On a risk-factor?  I'd rate the Pope at near '11' on a scale of one to ten....for Covid-death under this type of situation. 

Game of Thrones

Finally, two weeks ago....I started the first season of Game of Thrones.  I know....I'm about eleven years behind the times.  Living in Germany does that.

Yesterday, I finished the first season. 

So my five observations:

1.  It's fairly brutal, and on a general scale....I'd rank it '9' out of ten on violence.  

2.  The script is one of the best around and I'd rank it one of the top ten best-written scripts for a TV series.

3.  One of the big negatives is that there must be forty significant characters in season one, and it's a continual mess to remember who is what.

4.  Twist and turns?  I'd suggest with each single episode.....there must be two four-star twists, and you just don't see it coming.

5.  Finally, I'll admit....I'm addicted, and will have to watch the full series.  

I Had To Look This Up

 This popped up today on social media.....some guy attempting to watch a movie off Hulu's network.

So the warning is: 'This film contains flashing lights, themes of trauma, and an unlikeable female protagonist'.

I grew up in the 1960s/1970s, and frankly....there just weren't warnings over anything you saw at the theater or on TV....so this is all new for me.

The most frightful movie, without warnings ever?  Well....the Exorcist.  That was pretty 'wild'.

So I had to look up protagonist, to make sure I understood the full meaning.  When you have a movie or TV show, and it's full 'push' or dynamic is resting on the shoulders of one single character....that individual is a protagonist.  Without him.....the script won't work. 

Examples?  Dirty Harry, James Bond, Norman Bates.  

So the question is....do you really need to warn folks over a movie....that might have a male or female protagonist situation? 

If you follow this logic....shouldn't there be warnings over people dancing in the movie, or a warning over people sipping beer/cocktails, or a warning over some trampy woman offering up some hot lust?  

Somewhere in twenty years....I expect at least a dozen warnings to come up as a movie starts.....warning you about men with moustaches, women with exposed boobs, fake zombies, people sipping a zero-calorie drink, or kids farting. 

Frankly, society is coming to an end, and this BS is just speeding up the process.   

Forward Party?

 Basic story....Andrew Yang (former Democrat Party candidate for 2020) has decided to form a 3rd party.....called the Forward Party.....running in 2024.  His intent?  To draw both Republicans and Democrats....fed up with the mess presently.

Odds?  There are seven observations here:

1.  From the Republican side.....you have the never-Trump folks, who probably number around 1 to 2 million around the US.  If Trump is the Republican candidate.....this group would gather under Yang.

2.  For the Democratic Party....assuming it's either Mayor-Pete, or Governor Newsom....I'd suggest that somewhere around 3-to-5 million might find Yang interesting and pass their vote to him.

3.  In the south, Yang has zero chance of taking in any state.

4.  I could see states like Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire possibly going to Yang.  

5.  The chief problem....Yang subtracts more from the Democrats, than the Republicans.  

6.  On college campuses....Yang is probably a more dynamic guy than Trump or Newsom. 

7.  Among blacks and Latinos?  Zero impact.  

So to this final issue.....if he were to take 25-odd electoral votes and trigger avoiding the Electoral College.....then it goes to the House, and a more interesting race occurs.  

The wild idea?  What if Newsom were to win in the House race, and DeSantis was Trump's VP candidate....were to win in the Senate?  

Q-and-A

 1.  Why so many people leaving the Biden team?

Well....a combination of two factors.  First, they don't see Biden around at the end of 2024 (one term only).  Second, they probably figured out that he's unbalanced, and there's an insider crew of five or six people who are portraying the authority of the President.  When news journalists ask you to explain why things are so dysfunctional.....you really can't tell the story.  

2.  Is the Russia military peaked-out?

Various terms you can use, but there's no great depot of new/extra military equipment, and the number of conscripts probably already peaked six weeks ago.  So August is looking pretty crappy for Putin's team.

3.  Some NYT article saying experimentation with Fentanyl in Canada.....shows that gov't issue 'limited' Fentanyl works?

Well....it gets down to this....you would cut a massive amount of Fentanyl deaths....if you just bought the stuff, and issued it in some 'crazy' way.....to addicts.  

Now, telling this to the public, and getting them to buy your logic is a whole other story.

You'd end up breeding an entire generation of ten-million Americans permanently on some daze and unable to do much other than lay in some park, or sleeping in some tent in some urbanized community.

4.  Why is Pelosi so fired up to travel to Taiwan?

This is probably the biggest mystery of 2022 so far. 

Some lobbyist group has to have a ton of campaign funding tied to one 24-hour visit. 

Quote Story

 "I am Kamala Harris, my pronouns are she and her, and I am a woman sitting at the table wearing a blue suit."

-- Quote by VP Harris from Monday

The VP was at some conference meeting and introducing herself.....then everyone at the table did the same thing.....without much of a mention of their status or clothing description.

It's reaching a point where you'd rather hear a silent Harris....than a talkative Harris. 

On ranking Harris quotes?  It has to rank in the top one-hundred quotes.  I'm sure someone is working on a Harris quote book.

How Gavin Newsom's Resume Would Read

 1.  As a kid, he was classified with dyslexia....to the extent that his reading method, and the ability to handle numbers....are hampered even now.

2.  His family was always short on money....leading to him having several part-time jobs in his youth....while growing up in California.  

3.  He eventually attended Santa Clara University (partially on a baseball scholarship), getting a degree in political science in 1989.   

4.  He ended up after college in a start-up company.....'PlumpJack'....which was a winery.  

5.  In this stage of business.....he had his first dealings with bureaucracy with the town....in getting a sink-drain situation approved for the wine shop.  He felt no approval was necessary....the city said wine was food.  This led to a $27,000 expense for the start-up.  

6.  Over the next seven years....1993 to 2000.....it was a successful operation, and they had 700 employees and several 'fronts' going on.

7.  Newsom would eventually take his profits and throw it at five restaurants, and several men's fashion shops.  By 2003, he held a balance of $7-milllion in property and investments. 

8.  All of the business fronts were sold in 2004.....as he ran and was elected mayor of SF.

9.  2010, he ran for lt-governor and won.  He repeated in 2014.

10.  2018, he ran for governor and won.

11. Somewhere in the period of 2006/2007....he noted he had an alcohol misuse problem, and 'cleaned' up.  

12.  For a brief period of four years, he was married to SF prosecutor Kimberly Guilfoyle (you might remember her from Fox's The Five Show).  You might also remember her being within the Trump circle in the past three years).  

Politically?  If you wrote down the twenty-five most extreme positions on the Democrats chart presently.....he would be lined up on the far left side for fifteen of those positions.  

If you were asking me how hard it'll be for him to sell his brand in the south, or in Iowa caucus.....I'd say he's got troubles ahead.  The other negative?  He's a plain white guy in a $1,000-suit, who looks like a male model.  

Then I come back to this dyslexia problem.  I have doubts that he can read through a prompter for his speech, and it's mostly by memory that he delivers short dynamic speeches.  On a constant campaign effort for the primary, and in September/October....he's going to have problems when he delivers his 'talks'.  

Quote Topic

 Whatever you were doing.....just keep doing.  Then do it over and over each day.

OCD people do this routinely....so can you.

Personally?

I kinda change my routine each day, and nothing ever repeats.

I tried to make sense or logic out of her statement.....but there just isn't any.

President AOC?

 I noticed someone brought up the birthday and potential of AOC running for President in 2024.

In October of 2024, she will turn 35.  

Odds here?  Well....there's such limited offerings that I would say she's got a better-than-average chance of running/winning the election. 

Acceptance in Iowa?  That's really the problem.  She would have to appear next summer, and present herself in a competent manner.....selling her 'brand'.

In a debate between Governor Newsom and AOC?  I'd probably give the edge to AOC.....Newsom lacks a lot of the debate skills you'd expect. 

But can any of this really mean much....if you had either a decent Republican candidate?  I doubt it.

Also....on resume-filler....she's got a 7-line index card resume at present, and that would worry a quarter of the Democratic voters.  

Ten Things I've Come To Believe

 1.  With all this trans stuff going on....a 8-year old kid could come out and announce he's the second-coming of Jesus, or an alien from Mars....and his parents would take this as absolutely true.  This is how insane the general public has become in the last year or two.

2.  There are probably more people today in the world....that believe in demons....than in the past 2,000 years.

3.  Everyday now.....I come to view/question...the IQ of people, and if they might be dimwit. 

4.  Some White House slide came up and 'peson' came up (meaning the term person, I assume).  But with the new reality....peson might be a new term we need to get used to.  Like 'men' turning into 'me' and 'women' turning into 'woms'.

5.  With all this sexual chatter going on....has to be a ton of juvenile sex going on.

6.  I'm reaching a point where I assign lying-ratios to political figures....once you get past a '5' on my scale.....I hit the mute button.

7.  Shame in 1980, isn't the same level of shame today.

8.  If you aren't succeeding in life.....maybe you need to just change your definition of success.

9.  Just an awful lot of chatter on social media about castration being a 'good' thing.

10.  With the speed of wokism, and new realities going on....it makes me wonder about the speed of transition in Nazi-Germany in 1932.  Maybe people thinking they needed to fix problems, and just doubled-up on the complexity of problems instead.  

Are We In A Recession?

 Officially, a recession is marked by a PERIOD of decline.  The signals would revolve around an increase in unemployment, serious negativity over at Wall Street, and the housing market shutting down.

The period discussed usually....is one single quarter where all three elements occur.

Does a recession factor in salary, fuel escalation and increasing cost of grocery goods?  Not necessarily.  

So, lets talk about the negativity on stocks.  Most people will admit their portfolio is negative for 2022, and maybe even since mid-2021....it's been that way.   

Let's talk about the housing market.  Yes, it is absolutely in decline, with homes now lingering longer on the market.  Interest situations make this a risky time to buy a home.  

Then we come to this odd situation with unemployment.  There are various areas across the US where unemployment simply isn't a big deal.  Florida for example....June 2022....rates at 2.8-percent (great number).  Louisiana for example....June 2022....rates at 3.8-percent (excellent number).  California has dropped from 7.9 percent unemployment in the summer of 2021....to around 4.3-percent in the last quarter. 

So it's hard to say unemployment is that bad (presently). 

If you did some new definition and dumped in rising prices at the grocery, or for gas?  Then you'd have a legit reason to talk recession.  

I think this is more of a case that this is a highly unique period of time that we are living in....with normal rules/expectations...simply not working, or making sense. 

Yes, we need a new word for recession.....to make this all fit like you think.

Would You Pay $4,000 For a Bruce Springsteen Ticket?

 I studied this story from today.

Tickets presently are running $4k each.

What they say is these are platinum tickets.....you get special treatment....special seats, etc.  There's probably a drink or two in the mix.  

For some act that hasn't really been noticed in twenty years.....no, I would not pay $4k.  I might be willing to go up to $80....that's it.

How many of these $4,000 tickets will they sell?  It wouldn't shock me if they had five-hundred folks.....mostly over the age of sixty....willing pay that....if you threw in dinner and a special seating situation.  

Here's the thing.....are we in a recession if folks are throwing $4,000 out there like this?  Figure the wife and you....$8,000 total, in a recession?  

The 'Old' Days

 

Those were the days.....mid-1970s....hype of the great ice age coming.  

Folks would gather up and talk about how they'd move to Panama or Bangkok.  

Experts came out and talked of the thrilling days coming up.

As a kid, I'd be contemplating where I'd be living....thinking Venezuela sounded pretty good.

What happened?  Yeah, that's the question.  We went from one zombie-version of an extreme to another zombie-version of an exact opposite extreme. 

The Best Burger Ever?

I saw this on social media today.

For me....my favorite burger of all time comes fm none of the nine.  

As a kid growing up in Alabama....there was a local pool-hall in the county 'seat'....which made extremely greasy and loaded burgers.  There was probably a shot-glass of grease that you could squeeze out at the end when the plate got set down in front of you.

On nutritional value....it was probably a minus-5, on a scale of one to ten.

There must have been a coffee-cup of smoke-taste added to it.

The place no longer exists, and it's one of the sad things about things 'changing'. 
 

Imbalance Chatter

 I noticed this talked about on social media, and the story comes from a piece in the London Telegraph.  

The topic?  "Depression is not a chemical imbalance in the brain and scientists have no idea how antidepressants work."  It's a medical review by the University College London.

Yes, in a simplistic study....there is NO chemical imbalance in the brain, and therefore....the use of antidepressants for the past seventy-odd years....is a mystery. 

They are basically saying that low points in your life occur....some people work their way through them, and some linger in the 'pit'.

This brings one to the odd conclusion....that if you didn't have a chemical imbalance in the brain....in the first place....you definitely have an imbalance after you start on the antidepressants.  

Destruction of the industry?  Well....it just makes you wonder....why continue with your antidepressant pills, if they have no affect other than dulling your senses?

Someone ought to put these guys up for a Nobel Prize or something.  

My Five Issues With E-Cars

I did the big test drive three years ago with the Audi E-car.  I attended the solar expo in Munich.  I've seen and reviewed the Mini E-car.  So I came to various conclusions.  The big take-away?  I just don't have the enthusiasm or interest in getting into E-cars.

1.  Once the car guy said that the distance business does not work that well in extreme cold, or extreme heat....I asked how much?  Well....it could drop by 25-percent.  That's a good bit.

2.  It bothered me that you needed to be on top of the charging business around the clock.  Your schedule, your grid situation, your planning for a trip.....all have to be calculated on a hour-by-hour basis. 

3.  Mini had an estimate cost on the replacement batteries (needed by the 8th year) of 1,900 Euro.  So around the 7th year, you had to make a guess.....do I keep the car and replace the batteries....or sell it for a lesser value?

4.  With E-scooters, E-buses, E-cars, and E-trucks.....about every month in Germany....there's a fire.  At the pace of things, I expect this to progress quickly to once-a-week, and eventually to once-a-day.  It bothers me.

5.  Driving along in flooded streets was not a big deal for gas cars....but would I do that with a E-car?  No. 

Bacon

 My choice? 2.5.    

Baseball Chatter

 

I saw this today....cost factor of taking a family of four to baseball games.

Red Sox is the worst situation....$324.  Phoenix is best at $126.  

In a period of inflation?  It makes no sense to attend a game.

Ten Things

 1.  Lately, if you just stand back and observe all the chaos and crazy thing going on....it does seem to be remarkably like an episode of the Twilight Zone.

Nothing makes sense.  People seem to be 24-hour a day hypocrites.  Logic meets illogic on a continuing basis.  You could walk into a beverage shop with empty pallets where the beer should be, and the only explanation by 'Woody' is that the distribution chain is 'broke'.  

2.  The one negative I hang on Trump?  Out of every ten people he hired....five were idiots or working to oppose him.  He proved his firing skills at dumping them....but he was crappy at finding good people.

3.  'Experts' seem to come out of the woodwork daily....to the TV news folks....to intimidate us with the expertness.  About half the time, we reach a level where it's a 'staged-lecture' and mute the expert's dialog.

4.  Just a test, but after all this dialog and chatter about the Secret Service having lost text messages from the 6th of January of 2021....I'd like to announce a text message review of everything that the House members wrote on the 2nd of June.  I would expect within twenty-four hours....all of their messages will also have disappeared.

5.  Adderall induced psychosis will be declared the number one health issue in America within five years....my prediction.  It'll even outpace meth usage.  

People will be reporting to their doctors that they perceived Jesus walked into their living room last night, or they have these persistent thoughts of buying a cabin in Alaska for no reason, or that they are having continual behavior attractions to slutty women.  Your cousin will call and announce he's getting a gender change because the dog told him to do it.  Your boss will imagine that half the employees need clothing mandates because their style doesn't match his.  

Doctors will react to this....prescribing MORE Adderall, and tripling up the affected crowd.  

6.  Within five years, it'll be common-place in several states to see men and women hauling around a holster with a pistol, or having shotgun slung over their shoulder....while grocery-shopping or filling the car with gas.

7.  It's just funny....as a kid....I probably watched at least a dozen TV shows/movies each year where people sunk off into quicksand.  Over the past decade?  Not a single move/TV show....where 'Joe' would fall into quicksand.  

8.  Some chatter going on....the White House is in search of a new communications team.  Interviews to occur, and offers to be made.  18 months into this period.  Presently, I would forecast whoever is hired....will last through till spring of 2023, and be dumped for the next team.

9.  I think if you gathered up a hundred gay/lesbian folks, and asked how consumed they are over gender evolution....more than 95-percent would say this is NOT for them.  

10.  One odd thing on the bill floating around in the House to ban assault weapons.  If you can get a draft of it....on page 8, it bans the Ruger Mini-14.  Funny though....then you page over to page 26, and it UN-bans the Ruger Mini-14.  Probably sixteen people writing the draft, and the pieces.....with one guy consumed to ban the '14' and one guy wanting it to be a regular weapon.

Chatter Over the Mall Shooting

 Talk from the mall shooting came up today, and the police updated one fact.....about 15 seconds after the shooter fired.....he was taken down (shot dead) by Mr Dicken.

The thing I'm impressed with.....from roughly 120 ft away (90 ft is the standard from home-plate to first-base)....he hit the guy eight times out of ten shots.

If it'd been me?  At that distance.....I probably would have only hit the guy two times.  I might also have known my limits and tried to edge forward 30 feet....to have a better opportunity at the shot.

But that's admitting I'm just not a pistol shooter (better with the rifle).

The fact that he continued to fire after the first round hit the guy?  I would have kept firing until he was on the ground, as well.

A Little History Story

About every five or six years.....I bring up this little story.

This is about the Chappaquiddick Island episode with Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne...happening on 18 July 1969.

The basic outline is that Ted left a party on the isle with Mary Jo....took a wrong turn...got over a bridge, and then ran off into the water.  Ted managed to climb out.  Mary Jo didn't make it.  Ted was considered somewhat drunk.  Ted somehow made it back to the hotel at 2AM.  Cops come in the early morning to the site.  Ted gets signed off as it being just an accident. End of the story.

Some things about the episode don't fit.

The purse in the car?  It's not Mary Jo's, and no one ever really determined who owned the purse.  Three people in the car?  Well....I've come to think that.

The wrong turn?

Here's the thing about Chapaquiddick.  The party house is on the south side of the isle.  You drive up one single road for 3/4 of a mile and there a left or right turn.  Left goes to the ferry to return to the mainland. Right goes to a bridge which only takes you to another sandbar area....running four miles in length.

Ted turns right.  It's 4,000 feet to the bridge.

I don't think this was a one-car situation.  I think Ted left with two ladies in his car...with a friend/associate (with another lady) in the lead car.  The lead car crosses over and goes up the sandbar.  Late night party fun is anticipated.  Ted is about a minute behind.  Ted drives off the bridge.  The lead car driver, I humbly think....waited around fifteen to twenty minutes for Ted, and then came back around....finding the car in the water, and Ted on the bank....probably with another woman, and Mary Jo in the sunken car.

As the cops tell the story....Ted walks down the road....turns left, and for some reason (in the darkness around midnight) goes back to the party house.  No one can explain any good reason for this. Oddly, all the booze bottles and beer cans? The cops find none there the next day.

Ted apparently sits around for a while, and then walks from there to the ferry area.  It's a 2.4 mile walk.....in the dark....with Ted still somewhat drunk.  The fact that houses and cottages exist there....mid-summer, with people who could help?  This never figures into the cop investigation.

Ted arrives at the ferry dock, and then swims (yes, unbelievable)....roughly a quarter-mile swim in the dark at 1AM while somewhat drunk.  Then Ted arrives at the hotel where he sleeps off the drunken episode.

For me, it's hard to believe the story as it stands.  Ted would have had to walk at least four miles in the dark....in a fairly drunken state.  I think the folks in the second car helped Ted clean up the mess and just get him to the dock.  The cops do shift some blame onto Ted.

The affect of this episode on the 1972 Presidential election?  That's an interesting episode.

Ted Kennedy instead of Hubert Humphrey?  Without the Chappaquiddick incident, I think Ted would have come very close to defeating Nixon in 1972.  The news folks would have hyped up the Ted agenda, and Nixon's war situation would have been a negative.

If You 'Content' It, They will Come

 “Today, you can create content, gain the audience, build the bots, pick out the election and even the voters that are valued the most in swing states and actually insert the right content in a deliberate period.”

-- Clint Watts, counter-terrorism expert and former FBI agent back in the spring of 2017 in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

This comment came to revolve around the dangers facing the Electoral College and how it might be destabilized.

What Is/Was A Serf?

 Well....originally (going back over 500 years)...a serf was a local guy who usually couldn't read/write, and they served the local 'estate'.  You were 'bound' in some way to the property and the local 'lord'. 

The neat thing about this status....you could actually be a free-guy (non-serf) and make some stupid debt issues....thus finding your name on papers....putting you into serf status.

On the books in England, serfs ended around 1807.  In Russia, it officially ended in 1867.

I noticed today an argument being waged on Twitter....suggesting that Americans (with college debt) are getting themselves into serfdom status. 

It's an interesting argument. 

Officially, I'd agree....once you pass a limit....owning nothing much other than a car at age forty....you might present some evidence that you've entered serf status.

The Stoic Guys in a Storm

I see a fair number of comments made by young individuals in Florida....over the impending storm.  For those under 25....it's like hurricanes have never occurred in their life (I admit....it's been over a dozen years since the last one).  For those over sixty years old....they don't over-react....they've got a chest full of medals having dealt with at least twenty hurricanes in their life, and there's some list up on the kitchen-wall with forty items listed.

If you grew up on a farm as a kid, you tend to know the stoic route and the reactions required.

At the first suggestion of storm activity....the farm reaction is....did such-and-such weather-guy from the local channel say this, or was it that idiot from the national channel?

Then the farm guy will ask....show me the Doppler-radar....as if they have a vast knowledge level of Doppler and can explain this in great detail.  Doppler radars often rank up there with International Harvester tractors, and McCulloch chainsaws.

Then the farm guy will ask if this is wind-related, rain-related, hail-related, hurricane-related, or tornado-related.  He'll let you know that he has a particular action list for each one (maybe forty task lines) and each is treated different.

Then the farm guy will go out and note the fuel-level in the truck.  The dog will take note of this and realize that we've moved from regular daily business....to near-chaos business.  A half-full truck will require a trip to the general store where you converse with eight guys on the latest gossip, their weather interpretation, the upcoming funeral for Brother-Jim, and you will pick up a case or two of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Then the farm guy will find the appropriate jacket for the event.  Most of them have not been washed in twelve years.

Then the farm guy will start to follow events via the weather-radio network and occasionally pull up the Doppler picture off his cellphone.  The dog will follow along because he senses that utter catastrophic events are likely to follow.

Then the farm guy will check his fencing to ensure no problem really exists prior to the storm.  It's wasted time because the cows have already checked all weak fencing points and know the best place to escape the farm.

Then the farm guy will note some Baptist minister stopping by and attempting to pray for him and his farm.  It usually takes sixty seconds to let the minister know that some Catholic Priest already did the prayer and spilled a bit of water on the drive-way.  Things are fine, and he can move on.

Then the farm guy will note the last hour prior to the storm....mostly pulling the lawn furniture in and roping up any loose items.

Then as the storm lays in and power goes....the farm guy will pull out the $2k generator he bought and find that it won't readily start up and he wastes an hour of the storm cranking it up.

As chaos and turbulent winds occur....the farm guy sips through a cup of coffee and lays out the better choice dog biscuits for dog.  A surreal calm comes over the dog....like the calm that comes after leaving the veterinarian office without any shots.  

Then the farm guy goes into repair mode....cleans up on limbs in the yard....cracks up a beer or two, and assesses his situation as ''acceptable".  Actually....it doesn't matter what happens....the end result is always "acceptable".

He'll drive around now and visit other farm guys who generally say the same thing.  Some will offer up a beer.  Some will remark about such-and-such storm from 1982 or 2008.

Then he'll do another fence review....to find a dozen cows standing there some point where a tree is leaning against the fence.  The cows...sensing a chance to escape...pause and wait.  In five minutes, the tree is cleared....the fence tightened up a bit, and the cows have a frustration moment.

By this point, the farm guy will return.  He'll settle back to watch such-and-such weather guy, who will have a full slide of comparison against the spring 1972 storm, versus the April 1958 storm, versus the November storm of 2009.  The farm guy will write down some notes, in order to have some commentary at the general store for tomorrow.

Storms come and go.  If you asked the guy about the last forty storms, he'll rate each and note how things came back to some normal stage.  As much as some journalist or 'snowflake' would get hyped up....the stoic nature kicks in and restores the sense of balance in the real world.

Ten Things

 1.  It just seems, at least once a day....I identify or suggest something being scam.  In the 1990s....I might have done this once a week.

2.  I noticed there's some pressure being applied to bone-diggers/anthropologists....to stop identifying genders of cave-peoples they dug up.  

I contemplated this scene....44,000 years ago....Yorg talking to Nog with a language of 66 word.....trying to describe his gender-confusion....that he felt different inside.  Nog felt after the hour long conversation....that mostly what Yorg was talking about....was some big 'cat' they saw on the hunting walk in the morning.

3.  I've come to the opinion that VP Harris never attended a single class in college, and someone must have done the home-work or tests for her.

4.  There is some fake reality going on where a political agenda is presented....suggesting if you just adjusted (conditioned) to live with less, you'd help save the world from various 'demons'. 

The guy/gal on the convincing end?  They usually wear $300 Italian-made loafers, a $200 sports jacket, and seem to have a college debt of $75,000 still lingering after a dozen years of employment.

5.  Joe Rogan says Canada is a communist country.....end of the story. 

Some American college kids will start to cite evidence of communism working, and their one/only example....will be Canada.  You can't make this BS up.

6.  Just odd....how many people are having a mental health crisis these days, and why all of the sudden?

7.  Because of woke-scripts....I think Marvel will shutdown by 2025 for a period of three years....to review how they script out stories.  

8.  If anyone ever cornered President Biden and asked him what his pronouns were, he'd probably respond with 'cherries and cream'.  

9.  Best anti-woke TV show in the past decade?  Peaky Blinders....from Netflex.

10.  NPR creating a 'new' disinformation team?  To replace the present disinformation team?  The way it sounds....there will be a disinformation management crew, over the top layer of the current disinformation team.  In a year or two.....I expect a super-duper disinformation 'chief' to be brought in...to manage things.  

The Thing About Perception

 

It's interesting how thing change over a 31-year period.

You start off worrying about the ice age coming, and you reach a point where you worry about dire warming.

Then you repeat, and repeat, and repeat.

'Reality-phobic'?

 I saw someone use the phase today in social media.....'reality-phobic'.  Basically meaning.....a fear of reality.  

Applying to woke-folks....the pronoun people....and 'racism-is-everywhere' crowd?  Yeah.

But in most cases of phobias.....there is supposed to be a rehab program that can get you back to a safe condition.  I just can't imagine how this rehab would work.

Ten Things

 1.  Nothing done in moderation....will kill you.  So two slices of bacon, with a biscuit...is acceptable.  A dozen slices of bacon, with six biscuits loaded with honey/jelly.....probably aren't healthy.

2.  If your government is hyped about Nazis in the US Army.....it's some chance that Putin is somewhere in the middle of this....grinning.

3.  Whether you like it or not.....you are still speaking the 'kings English'.

4.  Something called NewsNation is considering hiring Chris Cuomo (formerly of CNN).  Maybe there are sixteen people consumed with hearing Cuomo.....but he's number three on my mute-reaction list.

5.  It seems now that some 11-year-old kids hold more conventional wisdom than people finishing up four years of college.

6.  If a guy can self-identify as a woman.....logic dictates that the same guy could identify as a PhD-holding individual (with no college), a NFL quarterback (with no football background), and a gourmet cook (no experience other than flipping burgers).

7.  The more that VP Harris speaks in public.....the more you wonder about her college years and if she really attended college.

8.  Once you utter 'experts say'.....I usually hit mute.

9.  If aliens arrived from Space....got all friendly....then proclaimed that Trump was really a smart guy....would the anti-Trump crowd brand the aliens as unacceptable and demand they leave ASAP?

10.  Isn't it odd....Biden comes out of talks saying Saudis will pump more oil....Saudis come out of meeting say they already hit max pumping.  You have to wonder....were the two groups in the same meeting?

Where The Dementia Chatter With Joe Biden Will Lead To

 This past week....the chatter intensified with the comment that people have watched the President receive pills at a certain time before a public appearance....to bring up to a marginal level of functioning.  The person handing the pills to President Joe?  His wife....Jill.

At some point in the next month or two....at some public setting with questions being asked....some idiot reporter will confront either Joe or Jill on the pill business.  They will give some funny answer that makes no sense, and then a couple of news networks will ask more questions.

Yes, the clock is now ticking.

I think shortly after the mid-term failures....the ability to keep this farce going....will collapse.

The crew managing things at the White House?  Well...as badly as they've treated VP Harris...the whole question comes up with her as the potential President, and will she remember all the crappy stuff they said or did?

I would suggest that the dementia business will be laid out shortly after January, as the House starts to investigate Hunter, and the corruption business. The President will resign, and Harris steps up.  The new VP?  Likely to be someone with a history in the Senate.

The amusing part of al of this? NPR, CNN, WaPo and the rest....have to sit there and suggest that this came 'suddenly' (only in the past 3 months), and then get off the topic real quick.  No one will believe them, and their status drops another mile.

Over the next decade....a dozen books will be written of the 'dementia-era' and how no one wanted to take responsibility of an old guy.  It's a sad story in some ways.

The Island Experiment Idea

I noticed an interesting suggestion today.

Someone said....why not put two groups of people out on two island.  One group would be regular everyday conservatives, and the other would be woke-progressives.  Same resources.....same tents....same start-up situation.  Then the question came....what would happen in just one single year (365 days)?

I sat for a while...pondering this.

I eventually came to this logical conclusion.

The woke-progressive folks would would probably start to argue over things....the dynamic of survival....the language (pronouns) to be used....the necessity to group-talk on everything (from everyone eating the same food, to everyone using the same political slant on life).  

About 90 days into this...the woke-progressive folks would start to break off into two or three groups....one being hard-core woke-progressive....the others less so.  

Team-work on the woke-progressive side would be a problem by the sixth month.

Verbal attacks and physical attacks would be a common theme by the last couple of weeks of the year.  

On the conservative side?  There would be a discussion on day one about priorities, and most all would agree to the top five priorities.  

By the sixth month, there would be an abundance of food, and they'd likely do the kind neighborly thing....offering some to the opposite crowd.

At the end of the year.....about 75-percent of the woke-progressive folks would ask to be moved to the conservative side, and I suspect around three folks from the conservative side would ask to move to the woke-progressive side. 

Here's the thing....no one would suggest this one-year thing was a failure.  But you'd start to notice that the woke-progressive folks didn't want to talk about their feelings much, or their failures.  

Odd how society has progressed to this point.. 

Saving Us From the Evil Nazis

 Yesterday....the Democrats in the House passed an amendment to the military budget....that basically says for the Pentagon to 'fire' (remove) any military members who are white supremacists, Nazi-supporters, or extremists.

So the question should be asked.....just how many Nazis are in the US military.

Throughout my period (1977 to 1999, and the decade after that as a contractor)....I never came across a Nazi-enthusiast in that entire time-frame.

White supremacists?  You mean KKK-people?  None of them either.  

Now, I admit....I worked around the IT and intelligence field, and what you mostly had were people with unique sexual habits....individuals with extreme OCD.....and borderline schizophrenia folks.  

Will anyone get kicked out.....mostly based on extremist-labels?  I would take a guess that over the next year....there might be forty-odd people let-go.  If you'd say sexual-deviants needed to exit?  Oh, it'd probably go up into the 5,000 range....but they aren't a threat....like those evil Nazi characters.

Is there anything really positive out of this effort?  Well....you can pat your House member on the back and thank him for helping to eradicate Nazis from the US military.  If you'd gone back to 1980 and said Nazis in the Army or Navy would be a big deal in 2022?  Most people would have laughed, but that's how far society has moved in the past fifty years.  

Q-and-A

 1.  If you walked around America and asked a hundred American what an emoji is....how many would know it?

I would suggest that 50-percent will give the correct answer....a symbiology on Twitter. 10-percent will respond about something on the internet, but knowing nothing else. 10-percent will  respond it's a new coffee from Columbia.  And the remainder will respond that it's nickname that Joe Biden gave VP Harris.

2.  Does it bother anyone that Joe Biden has a list of pre-approved questions/reporters?

Probably not....but it means that the approved group has some inside connection to the administration and it lessen the trust in their reporting.

3.  Any truth to Facebook laying off people?

Well....just chatter.  However, if they lay off folks....Twitter would not be far behind them.

Trying To Define a No-Go Zone

 I grew up in the rural south in the 1960s/1970.  If you had approached me to define a no-go area....I mostly would have responded....'such-and-such area near the creek, where copperheads roam'.

The first time I ever heard the no-go chatter?  Around 1980....when 'Sarge' wanted us to know a certain bar or two in the Tacoma area were on the forbidden-list of the base.  

In the 1990s, I was sent to a training school in Kansas City, and the hotel folks gave me a nice map of the region.  I would be there for two weeks, and wanted some restaurant ideas.  The kind lady at the desk circled five or six places for great food....then took the red marker to indicate three regions to avoid.  Yes, she used the term 'no-go'.  

I asked what the issue was, and the response....'drugs, crime, assault, etc'.

By the mid-1990s, I came to realize in the Frankfurt area of Germany....an area or two had become a no-go zone.....mostly over hard drugs.

Over the next two decades, I came to realize the same label being applied to Hamburg, Berlin, Amsterdam, Prague, etc. 

When you travel these days....people use the term a good bit.

When I go back to Alabama?  Well....yeah, the term has started to pop-up occasionally.  Just about the entire region around Birmingham (except the airport) is a no-go area now.

All of this happening in one single generation.....that's the hard part to accept.

What happens over the next twenty years?  That's the thing I tend to ponder upon.  To suggest I need to carry a pistol when I go to get an ice cream, or pick up a case of beer?  How far will this go?

Interesting Quote

 "As of this morning every single “pregnant person” in 5500 years of recorded human history was a biological woman."

-- Marco Rubio

Begs to this whole discussion going on....where political folks can't define a woman, and it starts to sound like they are mentally challenged (we have other terms in the south but this probably is more appropriate).

Q-and-A

 1.  What's the mid-terms really about?

Four things: gasoline cost, recession, Democrats unable to define over 20 things in a public forum, and abortion.  Here's the chief problem....except for abortion...it's the worst position for the Democratic Party in thirty-odd years.

2.  How are Joe and Jill Biden getting all of these screwed-up speech scripts?

Maybe just plain bad luck....but you have to wonder about the people who support the couple in the White House and their resumes.  Maybe these folks aren't that qualified for the work required.

3.  Explaining this 10-year old rape/abortion thing in Ohio?

Well....a illegal alien raped a 10-year old Ohio girl.  Local authorities did everything possible not to report this up to the state AG or state authorities.  Someone on President Biden's team heard about half the story, and it was appropriate for the abortion chatter....not grasping it was an illegal alien story.

4.  How long will this Twitter legal case drag on?

Well....if you count appeals, and eventually getting to the Supreme Court....probably four years. Most of the Twitter board will have left and gone into some hiding situation in Costa Rica by that point.  

St#rbucks Chatter

 I noticed this St*rbucks story today....company is closing down 16 operations in the US....due to drug-trafficking.  

Last on the list?  The Union Station in DC.  Twice in my life (2010 and 2013) I was in the station.

Generally, the whole station is a drug sales 'candyland'.

You sit and sip through a coffee and would notice at least five to ten drug dudes operating, within fifty feet of the shop.  

No fear of the police.

The necessity of operating within the station?  I pondered upon that.  I don't think they wanted to be outside of the station, or in the subway.  It just seemed to me that various 'friends' were alerting them when cops were positioned.  

Observations

 1.  I noticed today that BMW is now producing cars with heated seats as a normal part of the car (not an option).  But as part of this.....you need to either make a one-time payment, a yearly payment, or a month-by-month payment (subscription).

Month-by-month?  $18.

So, you could subscribe for October to March....then cancel the subscription for six months....then turn it back on.  All hooked up to some monthly service update done by the internet to your car and the company.

2.  I sat and watched the exchange between Republican Senator Hawley and this Berkley law professor.  

More or less....the law professor wanted you to believe that trans women (former men) can come up and get pregnant.  Hawley didn't really buy off on the idea.

My humble view....if you were a kid paying $120,000 for a law degree in California....you might want to re-evaluate the value of your degree, and gauge just how much BS you have to believe....to earn a 'A' or get a diploma.  

3.  For some reason, after Jill Biden's talk on tacos.....I seem to wake up each morning, with a desire for a breakfast taco.  To be honest though....I've had just one in my life and I wasn't that impressed by breakfast tacos.  

4.  Twitter lawyered-up and started their case in Delaware.  

I doubt if the court will start anytime in the next 90 days, and meanwhile....the stock will drop (today at $34.06) to probably around $28 by day one of the court episode.  I expect a stock-holder lawsuit also to start up, and aim at the board/CEO.

5.  I will predict that the 6-Jan hearing business will continue on until probably two weeks prior to the mid-term election.  The biggest and juiciest part of the hearing?  Probably to come on the final day.  

6.  The Ukraine folks have a daily 'count' on Russian losses.  Presently, Ukraine claims they've destroyed or disabled 1,649 tanks (as of Monday).  If true....they've probably gone through the whole production of tanks in the past 20 years....then gone to the production level of the 1990s....then gone to the production level of the 1980s....then gone to the production level of the 1970s.  So most of what's left are either 'show-pieces' of the new stuff, or 1950s technology manufactured in the 1960s.  

7.  When you stand and marvel at one of these giant wind-turbines generating electricity....you need to visualize that they have a 25-year lifecycle, and are then taken down for safety reasons.

So....here's the harsh reality....there's 900 tons of steel in the view, with around 2k to 2.5k tons concrete to hold it steady.  

There's also around 45 tons of plastic which is non-recyclable.  

Then the whole thing requires 700 gallons of oil for the gearing system....each single year. 

At the end....it's 'dropped' and carried off to some pit, to be buried.  Eventually, I expect these to be loaded on barges and dumped into the Atlantic Ocean.

8.  Some people are starting to openly discuss how Congressmen and Senators seem like used-car dealers.....selling you something with vague promises.  Those folks just aren't interested in a Dodge Polara.

Observations

 1.  Did Jill Biden actually say: Hispanics are “as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio?"  Yes.  Whoever writes Joe's speeches.....probably wrote this piece.

2.  On the high-side....it's projected to be around 255 seats that the Republicans win in November.  Personally, I think that's extremely high.

3.  News says that Hunter Biden spent $30,000 over five months....just on hookers.  

4.  Some news folks are suggesting that Joe Biden is delaying this trip to the Middle East....to get additional 'rest'.  So this 'jet-lag' business is a drain on his stamina?  It's not clear.

5. Noticed the Air Force saying it's going to drastically slow down promotion cycles, because a high degree of personnel are not capable of grasping their professions.  I could have suggested that problem existing back in the 1990s.  You had a high degree of people at the eight-year point....supervising five or six people, and their knowledge/skill level was that of a three-year individual.  One of my five big slams of the Air Force.

Just Something I Noticed Today

 Have you noticed:

- people that want to be validated, every single day?

- people seeking an identity, every single day?

- people seeking to followers.....rather than leaders, every single day?

- people who want meaning or the illusionary feeling of meaning...in their life, every single day?

- people wanting unique differences from normal people, or wanting unusual doctrines/beliefs, to be obviously more elite than regular people, every single day?

- people pretty open and happy to be brain-washed, every single day?

- people openly critical of others, and seizing upon blame to entertain, every single day?

In the old days, we referred to these people as members of a cult....but today....they would be woke-people.  

Political Chatter

 I probably read through five different scenarios this past weekend....on how President Biden would exit shortly after the November election.....due to mental decline.

The odds of this?  No one can project...it might be a 50-50 situation. 

There are three central elements of this:

1.  It's very likely to be an impeachment starting in January with a new House group (Republicans in charge).  If he resigned....impeachment would not occur.

2.  No matter what he does....at least one hearing (maybe more) will occur with Hunter.  I suspect in his mind....he believes he can pardon Hunter enough on the exit....to prevent any jail-time.

3.  Finally, there is the issue of Harris moving up, and a new VP to be picked.  If Joe resigns after Thanksgiving....there's ample time to select and have the Senate  (with current votes) to approve the individual.  After Christmas resignation?  There be more problems on who she'd pick.

Choices?  John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Mark Udall.  I don't think the active Senator group will be included.  There might be some governors on the short list. 

Improving public support?  Look....Hunter has a dozen issues brewing and it's hard to see how this 'retreat' would resolve anything. Also....it's not like with Harris....you get a clean deck of cards, and just start over..  

Why the Twitter Bot Infinity Exists?

 Well....I'll make this simple, and lay in why Elon Musk says it matters.

Twitter 'arrived' in March of 2006.  To get it 'birthed-up'.....the crew had start-up capital.  Great things were expected.

It had to be free....no subscription....no entry fee.  What the team relied upon, to get the out of the start-up capital 'trap'.....was that new accounts would come and multiple.  

At some point (I would take a guess around 2012)...'Marvin' and 'Frank' (just two guys responsible for profits and accounts in Twitter)....had a meeting.  They were getting to a point where start-up capital ought to end, and basically admitting that the monthly advertising was not sustaining the cost of operation.  

Lets also admit this....the goal was to enter into the public stock domain around late 2013.

The relationship here?  Well....the company was based out of 'Silicon Valley'....there were California taxes in the mix, and they were bringing in a lot of engineers with hefty salaries.  

Enter through the door 'Mandy'.

'Mandy' sat with 'Marvin' and 'Frank' and finally said....she knew how to solve  the accounts and profit thing.  She drew up a simple Einstein-like theory....from her days in college.....which was  rocket-science in terms of vision.  If you had X-number of accounts...particularly with 15-to-30 year olds....advertisers would be interested, and they'd pay more.  

What 'Mandy' was getting to.....just make fake accounts (bots).  Plus you could aim them at certain parts of society....make them pro-political, and advertisers would flock to the company.

A 'backdoor' group was created...where a dozen-odd people sat, and all they did each day...bring to 'life' 10,000 new Twitter members.  

November 2013 came.....SEC documents turned in, and Twitter was now supervised.  In reality, it meant nothing.

Eventually, someone would ask about the bot issue, and you'd do a 'cleansing'....dump 1-million here and there.  But the backroom staff still did their work.

Eventually, you'd expand this overseas....into the Philippines, France, UK, Iceland, and Germany.  

Bots sold advertising people into a feel-good routine.

Worldwide, it's figured around 450-million Twitter accounts exist today.  How many of the 450-million are fake or bot-like?  Anyone's guess....but Twitter wanted everyone to think around 5-percent.  

Things were fine....the SEC was stupid....advertisers couldn't figure out the truth....and the board was happy.  

What made no sense?  Well....on public stock....the company had zero dividends....ever.  Stock quietly went up a notch each month....a few cents here and there.  Life went on.

All this advising income did....was sustain the CEO, the board, the cost of operation, California taxation, and a image.  You sold that image politically....because people believed it was a pro-Democrat feeling.  In 2016....that came to an end.

Things were still progressing....until the 'evil' Elon Musk came onto the scene earlier this year.  Elon knew something (maybe from the inventor of Twitter, or perhaps by just looking at data).  So Elon decided to bluff Twitter management into a 'pocket'.  He would buy them at $44-billion....but he wanted them to clear the air about bots.  He wanted access to certain data sets, and the board wasn't going that far.

So this past week....Elon said enough.  The bot estimate of 5-percent is believed to be wrong.  How much?  That's the question.

In Germany, there's supposed to be around 4.9-million Twitter accounts.  If 5-percent were bots....it'd mean that 250,000 are bots.  Just me guessing...I think it's more in Germany that are bots....probably upwards to 20-percent....meaning one-million German Twitter accounts are fake.  

If the German authorities got into the middle of this and found that to be true....they'd ask for some truth-commission...then ask what the bots were doing.  

If you drove out the bots entirely?  Well....advertising would drop dramatically....engineers would be terminated.....the stock price would drop, and California tax revenue for Galvin (the Gov) would be missing.

I'm guessing here....but 'Marvin' and 'Frank' have long since left, and 'Mandy' is probably retired at age 38 with a $12-million pot of money....sipping French wine, and giggling over stupid bot idea.  

I should state this too.....'Mandy' also sold the bot idea in principal to various Democratic groups after the 2016 election, and got them into bot-voters.  But that's a more complicated and intense story.  Lets save it for another day. 

So how this ends?

Going into court?  No.  The board can't admit that there's two lists of members....the real and bot groups.

The stock?  In six months....it ought to be lingering at $27....way down from the $54 of six months ago.  

Then I suspect after November 2022....the evil 'Elon' will head up a new social media, and charge you $4.99 (a month) to be a regular member....promising it to be bot-free.  For some odd reason....people will start to drift away from Twitter-bot, and enter the evil empire of Elon. 

Usually, in these type of stories....there's some princess rescued....a castle brought down....and some peasant people rescued.  But this just isn't that type of 'legend' story.  It's just about bots, and how they saved, then destroyed a company.  

Observations

 1.  These new military 'toys' being sent to the Ukraine from the US and France....what happens when Ukraine finally launches from it's territory over the border into Russia?

I would suggest within three days...Russia will react in Europe, and it won't be a friendly experience.

The dynamics will change in the very near future.

2.  Twitter at 36.81 a share today....as the Elon deal halts.

I'll predict by the end of July....the stock has fallen to around $29, and levels off at $25 by mid-August.  

The suggestion of a lawsuit?  It drags out a case into 2023, and stock-holders will be dragging a countersuit up....about the loss of trust with the CEO.  

3.  Pretty amazing development on the Johnny Depp court case.

The way this is laid out....jury member #15....was seated.  The person has a birth date of 1945....meaning the person ought to be 77 years old.  The person who showed up?  52 years old and lives at the same address as the 77 year old individual who was in the random selection group.  The 'fake' 52 year old sat for the whole six weeks.  

Where this goes?  Anyone's guess.  The judge will go ballistic if this case is dumped.  If the 77 year old person had sat there?  Probably would have been bored to tears over the whole case and sleeping half the time.

Just weird....I must say.

4.  Both Biden and Harris are screwing up on talking....leads one to wonder if both are being hypnotized (some Manchurian Candidate scenario).

5. With all the crap laid out on this Crippo family (the shooter kid in Illinois), I'd say the parents were 20-year long 'raging' alcoholics, and the kid was permanently screwed up.

532 And Counting

 532 days since Trump left office, and he's still the number one thing in the minds of more than 1,000 journalists and politicians (Republicans and Democrats).

What does that say?  

Admitting UFOs, the recession, the Ukraine war, gas prices, shortage of baby diapers....and Trump still number one topic?

Ten Things I Believe Today

 1.  I predict a $1,000 stimulus check will be cranked out about two weeks before the mid-term...to only Americans who paid zero taxes in 2021. It'll revolve around gas prices and energy costs.

2.  Hillary Clinton will appear in Iowa within the next six months, for a 'talk'.  No BS...just to re-introduce herself and see how folks feel.  

3.  The Kalingrad-Lithuania episode will brew up with Russian military demonstrations before late summer.  

4.  Someone will pitch data to show that 50-percent of the homeless population in SF arrived on day one and was homeless from day one on....of their existence in the city.  People will ask....why are we stuck with a problem that should not be ours?

5.  Prince Charles ascends to the thrown, and this bag-of-money situation evolves into a massive problem....where he eventually has to dump the crown and leave the UK.

6.  Half of the FBI's agents will be packed off to the US Marshall's service by the end of 2025.  FBI will be officially dissolved, renamed, and the event will be fought heavily by twenty Senators .

7.  Duckhead, Georgia will exit Atlanta by mid-summer 2023.  Emergency finance meetings to be held in Atlanta....to cover loss of tax revenue.

8.  Flash movie (moved to Jun 2023 now) will be delayed again until spring of 2024, and will be considered a mess because of the Flash actor and his mental state.

9.  Some transgender stripper guy at a open bar with kids....will be arrested....charged-up and be shocked to find himself sitting in some state prison for five years.  

10.  Some House hearings will start up in January with Doc Fauci....with potential charges laid out by summer of 2023.  

Five Things

 1.  Some folks in Texas have cited Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 of the Constitution for a open discussion with the Feds.

It says: states can’t do things like conduct foreign policy or engage in war, “unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit delay.”

Yeah, it's opening a whole big bunch of chaos for the Biden folks, if they challenge this via court and get approval to run their own foreign policy or engage in some type of warfare (just wild guesses how this would work at the state level).

The problem is....you would get support via Republican's and independents in the state, and I'd take a wild guess that 10-percent of Texas Democrats feel the same way.  

This opening up as a 2023 issue?  More than likely, and it's bound to split the nation even more.

2.  I've seen two odd political ads this week.  One with a black guy protecting his home with a AR15 from Klan folks.  The second was a woman (upside down) twerking....for about 30 seconds.

None of this would be normal a decade ago.

3.  VP Harris yesterday quote: “We got to take this stuff seriously, as seriously as you are because you have been forced to have take this seriously”

It's not just Joe who needs memory cards and just read from the cards.

4.  Joe Rogan basically said that Donald Trump will never be on his podcast....mostly because he thinks it'd help Trump.

My take?  If you had a two-hour conversation with Trump....it'd become apparent that he has this extra dry-dry-dry sense of humor that is displayed about every five minutes....in the middle of serious moment....he just dumps this one-line bit of wit, and you catch it.

It's like the wit put out there when he suggested buying Greenland.  That torqued about half the nation and most all Greenland citizens.  I don't think any part of his 60 second chat on this....was serious.  If President Biden went and suggested we buy Greenland today....people would just say it's Joe's humor at work, or that he meant Greenland, Texas.

5.  With all this chatter about 'birthing people'....I was wondering....couldn't we use 'birthing citizens' instead?  

People Tend To Be Stupid

As stupid as this pic is....there's probably one out of fifty Americans who fully believe the suggestion.

A second of the fifty would respond.....no, this was actually in 1999, and the video was McHale's Navy (1997).  
 

This Eternal Fight: MAGA Versus MAWA

 'Make America Great Again'.....versus.....'Make America Weak Again'.

I heard this discussion going on today and pondered upon it.

There's not much to say.....there are two groups, and both came along in 2016.  We seem to be engaged in some kind of 'fight'.  

My Gut Feeling With President Biden

 I sense that the November election will bring in more than enough Republicans to re-stack the House....probably 30 seats more than the Democrats.  I also think at least three Democratic Senate seats will flip (NH, NV, and AZ).  Georgia is a pure 50-50 bet.  Oh, and Alaska?  It'll flip....but to another Republican.  

January in the House?  I'm willing to bet at least three hearings to start, and an impeachment probe to start up.  Figure Jan, Feb, Mar and April will be used to investigate the allegations purely on President Biden.  May will be the Impeachment, and the project goes to the Senate....where it'll be a 50-50 situation.  

I think that two Democrats will side with the Republicans, and some conviction will be pushed to the 56 vote level.  The impeachment will halt....but then some state AG will pick up some tax issues with Hunter, and take this to the next level of charging him.  

The rest of 2023?  A fairly miserable experience for President Biden, and I think public appearances for the second half of 2023 will be marginal.

The fact that so many Democratic Senators laid down their courage for President Biden?  It hurts them in 2024.  I'll predict at least six of them give a signal that they've had enough and will not run.  

Hunter spending time in fed jail?  I'm of the opinion that he might get a year in prison, and spend less than 30 days there....before getting pardoned. 

By the end of 2025, no journalist will speak of 2023....it'll be mostly a forgotten part of our history.  

About IQ Scores

 I noticed this report from 'UNZ' today and it's worth a minute of discussion.

As each decade has passed....the mean IQ has decreased.

Doesn't matter if you talk graduate degrees, bachelor degrees, or high school diploma.

Intentional or just an accident?

They only go back to the 1960s....it would be interesting to see things related in the 1930s and 1940s. 

Are we just a bit dumber than we were in the decades prior?  It begs the question.

One Odd Aspect of the Shooter 'Kid' From Illinois

 Local cops now say.....there was a 2019 event in the family home with the 'kid'.  He would have been 18 years old at that point.  

Event?  The cops are called to the home....the 'kid' is acting in some bizarre way....threatening family members.  

Yes, he's actually threatening to kill some folks.

At this point, they settle things down....take his sword, his dagger, and 16 knives (yeah, he had a good collection).

They filed the police report.  

So when it came up to the universal background check.....he passed. Naturally, your opinion is HOW?

The Illinois folks can't answer this, without spilling the beans that only certain crimes get you a red flag.  Threatening to kill....probably isn't on the list.

As for what happened here on this incident?  The more you read on the 'kid'....you realize that he was a full-time stoner, and probably had smoked pot (strong pot) every day for the past decade.  So when he exploded and made the threats.....it wasn't really him speaking....it was the ultra strong THC.

This shooting will disappear within the next 24 hours.  I don't think anyone from the state authorities will want to openly discuss 2019 event, the red flag business, or the warnings.

Here's the thing.....how many incidents over the past five years have occurred in the state....that should disqualify idiots from gun purchases....yet the report never got into the system?  100,000?  If so....is the background check deal a bogus thing? 

The Wrong People To Attract

 I paused over this California Governor Gavin Newsom effort to launch ads urging Floridians to leave state, and come to California.

Roughly 360,000 people left California in 2021.  

Things typically driving them out?  They all have a top-ten list (I've noticed this when the discussion comes up).  It's not just taxes....cost of living, safety, the homeless problem, regulations mounting, etc.

Is there anything that would drive me to California?  Well....if I were hooked on Cannabis, cocaine, crack, heroin, bath salts, fentanyl, or any of the other 40-odd killer-drugs....then yeah, California would be the place to go.

Cops aren't going to arrest me.

DA's aren't going to charge me.

Judges aren't will to send me off to prison.

I can camp on the beach....with no one willing to discipline me. 

The state might attempt to house me in some freaked-up hotel deal.....paying out $150 a day for me to live my drugged-up life.

I can' think of a better state to hang out. 

But I'm guessing Newsom probably doesn't want my kind hoping on a Trailways and journeying across to California to hang out.

South Korean Chatter

 I follow a lot of international news.  This week, I learned that South Korea went and changed the age limit on politicians....so if you were 18-to-25 years old....you could run for office.

So, it's rather shocking in South Korean politics now.....record number of 'kids' running for local office.

Big deal?  Well...some analysts have sat there and suggested something crazy....that the older guys (the folks over 50 years old)....were OUT-OF-TOUCH with society and problems.

Shocking....huh?

A severe affect on the election outcome?  I would go and make a prediction that probably half of the youth candidates will win and walk into local city council meetings....shaking things up to a degree.

Would we ever allow something this crazy in America?  I doubt it. We prefer the out-of-touch folks....to keep things stable.  

Poll Story

 I saw this around a week ago, and it's been on my mind. 

 31-percent of people are open to the idea that he can run again. 

Will the number lessen as we get to the fall of 2023?  I'm of the mind that 90-percent will say 'no' to him running again.

In fact, we might reach a stage where people say....for any elected office....you are cut off from running again after your 65th birthday.

That Hate Mentality

 "What is the left's worldview beyond criticizing freedom, capitalism & America? They hate racism, but have no belief system that would end it. They hate capitalism, but their economic system leads to misery & poverty. They hate America, but want a world run by much worse powers."

-- Kyle Becker, via Twitter

I sat and pondered over this comment.

In some ways....over the past twenty years....society has evolved into a full-time whining  'crew', and wanting your attention around the clock (via the news or social media).

When people talk about the evils of capitalism....they always seem to be wearing $90 jeans, $100 Chuck Taylor tennis shoes, and some logo jacket that runs $200.  I just keep wondering how they'd fit in....with zero capitalism...for fashion.

The ones that complain about racism?  They never seem to want to move to a happier country in life.  

Shooter 'Kid'

Around a dozen photos of this Illinois shooter 'kid' on the internet now.

So blue-red hair?  

Any resume?  His claim to fame so far....he's a rapper.  Beyond that....it's awful weak.  

Would appear he still lives in dad's house at age 21, and no 8-hour a day job.

Cannabis smoker?  I look at the photos, and it just reminds me of potheads.  

Here's the thing though.....there must be 300k 'kids' (age 15 to 30) in this category across the US....without any hope for the future.  They can't handle modern Cannabis-ultra-strength stuff....alternate reality.  

Social Media Commentary

I saw this today.  Someone did a parody of how Twitter manages to 'alert' people and educate/propagandize the public.

If you are a Twitter user....there are continual reminders about Twitter wanting to correct your topic/chatter.

It's a graphic that you spend several minutes analyzing and realizing just how far society has gone in the past decade.

In some ways, we are unable to use logic and reasoning to full value.  (Well....some of us).

 

You Ever Wondered How 'Birthing-People' (BP) Got Created?

 Well....it comes down to this.  Once you have Trans-Men (former females) who've done all the surgical stuff, hormone business, and mental therapy to get over the 'hump'.....then what you have is a man who still has potentially the functions to get pregnant.  At some point, these 'men' will find some method to get pregnant, and ease into a situation where a man delivers a kid in nine months.

Medical science will just keep its mouth shut, and most logical people will suggest that it was the woman who conceived and delivered.....not the Trans-Man.  

So BP's need to exist somewhere in reality....if you need to make sense out of this.  All this hormone stuff affecting the kid delivered?  Well....you can't say this until you get a couple hundred delivered and some have 'problems'.

I know it's tough to understand, but this is reality in 2022.  

Logically, you will ask....shouldn't non-birthing-people (former men who got over the 'hump' to become a Trans-Woman).....now exist as well?  Any day now....NBP's will be designated and will exist for the official record.  

Florida Ad Campaign

 I sat and watched the 30-second AD that Governor Newsom (Cal, D) put up in Florida....slamming the Republicans and Governor DeSantis.  You can do a review over at this site.  

His basic statement?  California has freedom, energy, no banning of books, and Florida is made it hard to have an abortion.  Yes, come to California.

I paused over this for a while (watching it at least five times).

There's probably around forty reasons I can think....NOT to relocate to California.  

There is the taxation rate, the over-abundance of homelessness, open drug policy (for fentanyl, crack, and meth), and a crazy rate of pay for police and firemen.  Odds of the state being bankrupt in the next decade?  Probably over 50-percent chance.

Why waste funds on this ad?  I'd say he wants to interest some people in Florida to flip to the Democrats, and moving to California....but out of a thousand potential people.....I doubt if you can cite a single case occurring. 

If you review the numbers.....Californians in the mindset to move?  I would imagine one out of every ten is considering the move presently.  If you just go into SF alone....there's probably 20,000 who are openly discussing the idea of leaving the city as a minimum, and the state possibly.

Here's the thing....he needs to convince people outside of California that it's not that bad....if he wants a legit run in 2024.  We aren't talking Republicans here.....it's independents that he's aiming the ad at mostly.

If I were DeSantis....I'd line up three actors to be 'dopers' and do some 30-second ads about life in California and living under bridges.  

Why Writing a Simple 5-Line Text For A Abortion Right Is Impossible

 If you approached most lawyers....they'd tell you to avoid a 36-line text for the right.  It needs to be simple and direct.

So, here....do you reference 'birthing-people' or women?  Simple question.....no rocket science.  If you say 'BP's'....more than two-thirds of people will ask you what the hell are writing this way for?  It'll never pass.

Then you need to reference the limit....12 weeks, 14 weeks, 16 weeks, 30 weeks, or all the way up to delivery.  Which do you select?  I can tell you....you might have luck and get 65-percent of people to agree on the 12-to-14 week wording.  If you go beyond that?  It drops by a quarter for 16 weeks, and probably fewer than one-third of the nation would support a 30 week text.

So, here's the deal....it'll never be a right because you can't get the text to be agreeable. 

State by state?  Yes....you can probably talk fifteen states into a fairly liberal position of 16 to 20 weeks.  Maybe three states would word it in a way for 30 weeks.  

Beyond this....nothing is going to happen.  

But this brings me to this odd thing....maybe we should rename the United States into the Fifty States of America (FSA) and let folks know that it's mostly a divided country.  That would relieve us of faking folks into thinking we are one single nation and ruled via a federal system.  

Advice On The 4th

 

NPR put this out....maybe out of kindness....to protect yourself on the 4th.

I paused over it.

To be honest, I worry more about too much charcoal liquid erupting into a fierce fire, ticks, snakes, and severe sunburn.  I might also worry about fireworks, or having some Antifa relative visit.  

But there's probably 20-million Americans who kinda worry about Covid, and might ask you (if you came over) about your test/vaccination status.

We live in difficult times and some folks need need chaos or worry.  

This Trump Chatter

 Some kind of weird rumor this weekend....in the very near future (maybe next couple of days)....Trump is supposed to announce 'something' (believed to be his intention to run in 2024).

Do I believe it?  No....way too early.

Here's the thing though....if you did this presently....it would force Biden in some way to be even more political than he is presently, and that's a disaster for the Democratic Party.  It'd also force Governor Newsom into a earlier schedule, and stake out positions.

In a Trump-Biden rematch?  Could Biden match 81.2-million votes again?  It's entirely dependent upon absentee ballots being allowed at the rate of 2020.  I just don't see that being accepted.  So the vote for Biden in a rematch would be less?  I'm guessing about 20-percent less (figure in the unhappy folks who voted in 2020 for Biden).

So I'm of the belief that it can't be a Biden situation, and that Newsom has to be the candidate to run.

If this was a campaign with Trump and DeSantis as VP?  Newsom would have to go out and really hunt for a VP that can 'talk' (something that Harris is worthless on).  Personally, I can't think of any Democratic female who is at that level of debate  capability.

This whole campaign built upon the success or failure of California versus Florida?  Yeah....more or less, and you can laugh over this aspect.

But here is the other odd aspect....to counter the enthusiasm for Trump....you'd have to crank up the Proud Boys fake agenda, with the Antifa/FBI 'boys' showing up for trouble, and BLM staging more national riots.  Biden showing no tendency of controlling this?  Yeah....it adds to the misery of Democratic voters in these major cities like Atlanta, Minneapolis, etc. 

Are Democrats in some fear of this scenario?  Do you really want Trump to return for four years, then follow DeSantis for eight years as President?  It has to freak them out.  I'd be hiring up every Antifa actor possible and putting on a 5-star circus.  

Observations

1.   Just something you notice....a 10-year old kid is regarded as too young to buy a PG-13 movie ticket or a lottery ticket.  The kid can't buy booze/beer or cigarettes, or cannabis.  The kid can't buy cold medicine, or get a license to drive a car.  The kid can't vote.  But the kid can make a sexual decision to trans-gender themselves, with the parents signing off.  Yeah....something just not making sense here.  You oughta allow the 10-year old to drive a car and at least see R-rated movies.  

2.  The Biden script for escalating gas prices?  Blame oil companies.....blame Putin....blame the local manager of each station.  Can't the journalists just ask him point-blank....how do you assign blame?  Simple question.....no rocket science.  

3. Some report out of Boston from a week ago, over a Subway shop fight....one dead, one injured.  What the cops say....some argument erupted over mayonnaise (either too much or too little).    On the list of 100,000 things to go and die for.....mayonnaise is probably at 99,988.  

4.  If you see some group staging a protest, with like-minded hats/shirts/pants....it's probably a 90-percent chance that it's paid actors (Antifa) and you'd best just avoid being around or hearing their speech.

5.  Has Plymouth Rock disappeared from view by rising ocean levels?  No....since being noted in 1620....the rock is still at the same basic level.  If there was global warming/cooling....it apparently hasn't done much since 1620.  

6.  That Uvalde police chief resigned from public office.  Just a humble guess....I think he'll quietly disappear and when lawsuits arrive....they won't be able to find the guy.

Q-and-A

 1.  What's my opinion of evolution of mankind?

Somewhere out there....more than 50,000 years ago...Yorg and Dewy were sitting in a tribal unit that had forty basic phrases words (Danger, hungry, wet, good, bad), and on some Saturday afternoon....Yorg suddenly got creative and threw two new different words into the mix.  The next day....Dewy threw six new words into the mix.  From that point on....mankind shifted to a great extent.  If you look around the English-speakers today...I would imagine at least one word created every sixty minutes.  

It's only when you allowed motivation and freedom to think....that more words meant a greater society.

2.  If we mandated politicians to fully list their social media accounts and comments....scoring them on 'character' and 'conduct'....would we likely discount them from public office?

Yes, it's more than likely....but the question is....where would find dimwitted politicians to fill empty jobs?

3.  If you drug-tested people prior to a flight, and discounted dopers from boarding the plane....would it change anything?

Well....you won't know until you try it.

4.  If you lived in a city with an average of 200 murders per year....why stay?

Some people enjoy chaos and doom.....on a daily basis.

5.  Does it make any sense that Biden hasn't radically changed his team or fired people....after the numbers keep indicating a severe disconnect with the general public?

Well....a normal President would have done a massive firing at the end of the first year.  I think he's under the belief that people will shift eventually to believe his strategy/vision.  

6.  If the government (US) could track every single purchase you made....from the cocktail at the strip bar, to the pack of smokes you bought via the gas station this morning....would it be motivated to interfere with your lifestyle?

Yes, more than likely.  When you control people via regulations....simply saying that no beer or cocktail can be bought after 5 PM, or mandating you can only have McDonalds 'chow' twice a week, or own certain types of cars...would enforce upon you that the government manages your life.  

You start to see incentive to work less, then your incentive to rebel against society and the government starts to increase.