Something To Think About

I sat and read through this Times story in the AM.  

What the mayor says....is that some policy will be created (apparently using current laws) and if you were seriously mentally ill....they'd go back to the old system of hauling you off to a eval, and then setting you down in a permanent facility.

Will it happen? I would imagine that the police, prosecutors, and judges have been given a weekly number (say twenty), and that's the limit.  Yeah, it's mostly say there are crazies, and they will be put away, but you won't dare go and haul off 600 people the first week.  
 

I grew up in Alabama in the 1970s.  Within five miles....I'd say that we had around ten folks who probably were crazy enough....to be in a facility, but not dangerous-crazy where they were a threat.  If you drove around the state, we probably had more than 50,000 people with that crazy tendency.  

Having spent some days in NY City....I'm prone to say that there might be 20,000 just in the city at large, and 3,000 of them are a threat to public safety.  

But here's the thing.....do you really want to pay around $500 a day for some institution to care/guard each guy?  You'd be talking about $1.5 million a day....messing around with them.  You'd be  better off to just agree to giving them government-funded fentanyl each morning....after each breakfast, and letting them sleep off their life in some field (upstate region).  

Things in 2023 That You Might Want To Prepare Yourself For

 1.  China revolution, where production for just about everything you buy at Wal-Mart....halts.

Could be a month....could be six months.  

All this Covid chatter and strategy to test folks daily?  It's not workable. 

2.  One way or another....Joe Biden is probably leaving the White House.  Even if you think VP Harris is  dimwit.....you need to just accept the fact that she'll run things for a while.

3.  Gas prices by mid-summer of 2023....probably will be between 4.50 and 5.00 a gallon.  Saudis have the best cards on the table presently.

4.  Some kind of weird bondage 'lifestyle' will start to be seen in 8th grade to 12th grade kids.  

5.  SEC will try to control crypto currency.....most of the currency folks will refuse to participate.

6.  A couple hundred activist-teachers will be let go, and find it's nearly impossible to find real employment in their field.

7.  An agenda will start up where various states want to cities within their state to be 'disposed' or made into a state by themselves (NY, Oregon and Georgia will be in the group).

8.  Disney will announce that the 'books' will show about half of the 2022 'profits' are just imaginary.  SEC will demand a full audit and explanation.

Trying To Explain The FTX Scandal To A 10-Year Old Kid

 So you sit 'Timmy' in a chair, and you start with: 'This guy had this idea to sell invisible beans as money.'

Timmy is already shaking his head.

This guy....Sammy....got this idea after watching Ninja Turtles or some zombie movies.

Sammy went out and hyped up this idea that if you bought his invisible money....it'd be worth X, and possibly gain profits....day by day.

Along came these folks who had real money, but didn't want to admit they had real money.  So they bought some of Sammy's invisible money....to move from Hong Kong to the US, or from the US to Hong Kong.

All along, Sammy  was hyping how great it was to have invisible money.

Sammy started talking about all this profit he had, and he was given real money (not the invisible money) to various political people.  Why he couldn't give the invisible money to them....is basically a mystery.

Somewhere along the way, Sammy started having sex day by day, with fellow workers (actually VIP employees).  The people buying the invisible money....didn't really care.

When Sammy got interviewed for TV....he usually showed up in shorts and a t-shirt.

At some point, the value of the invisible money shifted, and in roughly a week....the vault of invisible money and real money....just literally disappeared.  Sammy was very shocked.

At this point....literally everyone was shocked that the invisible money was gone, and that you couldn't invent more invisible money to make up for the lost invisible money.

Timmy interrupts you to ask.....isn't this where the fed guys or the FBI would enter? 

Well....Timmy, normally....yeah.  But no one from the FBI or fed stuff really cares.  There's some kind of orange demon guy running around and real law thugs just don't have time to waste on invisible money.  

To be honest on this as well Timmy....Sammy shared a lot of his real money (not the invisible money), with political people, and they were supposed to provide invisible support/help.....to further the invisible agenda.  

Timmy starts getting impatient about this invisible money story, and finally asks....what's the damn morale to this fable?

Well...Timmy, it's OK to have invisible friends....but once you have real money in your hand.....don't go pretending it relates in some way to real money.  A nickel is a nickel, unless you swapped it for some invisible money.  

Ancient Apocalypse: My Humble Feeling Over The Netflix Show

 Graham Hancock produced the show....roughly six episodes.

He examines various cultures that lived, and then disappeared....leaving various mystery structures.

So to lay out his opinion.....he believes as the Younger Dryes period (12,900 years ago) started up....that whole bunch of cultures went 'belly-up' (likely a meteor hit).  These cultures....if you measured up their use of technology.....were probably at the 1890s level of existence.  

In his scenario....only a limited number of this group survived, and they went out into the hunter-gatherer world....providing x-amount of their knowledge. 

Archelogy today?  They can't really stamp his version correct, and they have a fair number of empty holes....where their 'story' can't fit correctly.

My advice, if you can find the show....watch it.  I'm not saying he has a perfect fix for the story he tells, but there's a lot of stuff which really can't be explained.  

Observations

 1.  CNN came out and said that these rumors of them moving to the 'center' on political chatter were all BS.

I'm certainly glad of that....it'll help to financially get them deeper into a pit where some Mexican cartel organization can buy them for nickels and dimes.

2.  So far, with these pipe-bombs on the 6th of January of 2021.....the FBI has done mostly nothing.  This past week, they admitted zero interest.  Why?  No one says much.

3.  NYC appears close to approving a law that says you (as a landlord) can do a background check on a potential renter....to find if they had a criminal record.

What it'll trigger?  One of two things: (1) Large segment of population with such records are going to be flushed into leaving NYC, or (2) Large segment of population with criminal records getting alternate IDs (claiming migrant status out of Honduras or such).

4.  The odds of a civil confrontation in China?  

Based on the Covid 'rules', one can see a lot of criticism going on, and lower production of exportable items.

It begs the question if a conflict occurs.....just how long can the civilized world operate....without Chinese products? 

Racist Stuff?

 

I sat and read through this story here in the AM. 

Some science to this, but in reality....messing around with DST.....dumps crap on virtually everyone....NOT just blacks.

If you asked a hundred people about this.....probably toward 90-percent would say to dump it and just go back to the way it was originally.

The fact that CNN tried to say DST is racist?  Well....it's one of the dozen problems they have in general....trying to politize things on a continual basis. 

Comparison

 I hate using this graphic, because it's missing a lot of details.

But I am reminded of my one experience trying Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs....hoping it would turn out OK. 

It was crap and after two minutes....I gave up and dumped it down the toilet. 

Maybe by next year....I'll feel that way also about the Biden years....that it was a total waste and not something to really remember.  

Three Essential Talents For Managers

 After a military career, a decade in contractor work, and 3.5 years in Pentagon work....I came to a number of lessons learned on supervising an office.  There are three essential talents you need....if you want a happy team.

1.  Ability to delegate.

If you don't feel enough trust within your group to delegate a fair amount of the work, then you will be working fifty-plus man-hours each week, and burn yourself out in six months.  

2.  Having a decent amount of intuition. 

If you are passed some task, and it looks like 80-percent crap....then it probably is crap, and you need to dump it.

If your organization is headed to some leadership debacle, and you can see various signs of this....either rectify the situation, or leave as quickly as possible.

3.  Finally, having a sense of humor and seeing positives always in some manner....brings confidence to the team when chaos confronts them.

This is often not something that you can train for or develop.....either you have it or you don't. 

Things That Don't Make Sense To Me Today

 1.  Family-friendly drag shows.  It's like talking about family-friendly stripper shows, or family-friendly bull-fights, or family-friendly swinger parties.

2.  Probably one-third of American society is today intolerant, and it's cranked up to the turbo level.....almost daily.

3.  Dog yogurt is a product marketed and sold for around $3.  How did dogs survive for centuries....without it?

4.  People seem to be graduating from high school.....who appear to be just as bright as  they were in the 8th grade.  

5.  How horrific will it be....if Maricopa County, Arizona....has to redo their entire election?  Will people be throwing themselves off their step-ladders, or hurling themselves against the pavement of their driveway?

6.  Oddly enough, the minute that someone utters that 'so-and-so' is a 'math-wiz'.....my BS-meter is probably pegging '7' automatically unless the kid/adult can give me a simple 10-word explanation for square root.

7.  When I see 'Jesus-status' handed to some political figure....I'm likely in a state of disbelief.  In 1980, this problem never came up.

8.  Being TRIGGERED in 1980 usually meant you dealt with something after downing a pitcher of beer.  Today?  TRIGGERED people need hours in some closet, a coach to unhinge you, and a vow to isolate the guilty party from your life.  

9.  Trying to spends tens of thousands a year on a single homeless guy, who won't clean up his drug problem, or put any enthusiasm into a 40-hour week.

10.  More polar bears exist today.....than 1960s....and a dozen times a year.....I get some woeful news that they are dying left and right.  

11. Society depends on rational human beings.  The minute that you start to have 50-percent in some irrational way....society won't last long.

12.  If you asked a hundred people to explain probability.....only those who took engineering courses, or statistical classes.....would be able to define the word.

13.  Lot of chatter in the UK.....up to four inches of snow predicted in the next week.  The suggestion is....four inches....will be enough to shut down the entire country.  Yeah, it's pretty comical.

What The House Will Discover About Donald Trump's Tax Records?

 Three things:

1.  A professional top-class accountant did them....something that 99-percent of us can't afford.

2.  Every credit....goes back to tax code written by idiot politicians over the past hundred years.

3.  Nothing illegal will be dished out....although we will probably get four hours of tax accountant chatter via CNN....which bores the hell out of us, and we end up at the point of watching a 1956 cowboy-love drama movie instead.  

Scam Chatter

 Defining a scam: basically, a dishonest fraud, that you fell into....either with your heart, your money, or your vote.

Was FTX crypto currency a scam?  Yeah.....without any doubt, and you could have identified as such....maybe even two years ago.

Is the democracy we live in (the US) a scam?  You have a bunch of dishonest frauds elected and serving there.....taking your money.  So yeah, it's scam.

Is the university system now a scam?  Twenty years ago, I would have said no.  Today, I'd say about a quarter of the people graduating (non-engineers, non-science types, etc)....are about as stupid or marginalized....as they were in the 10th grade of high school.  So yeah, it's a scam.

Is Covid a scam?  As a virus?  No.  But if you go and talk about treatment, the vaccine business, or any of the hundred connected topics.....it's a scam as well.

Is the food pyramid a scam (the one you had in 8th grade health classes)?  People are all different, and your diet plan ought to be individualized....what works for Joe, might not be the best diet for Marty.  It's a joke and you can flip it either way....as to being a scam.

We live in an odd world....where we have a new scam introduced probably every single week.

This 2024 Trump Run?

 Ten points:

1.  I don't think Fox will carry much of Trump-related air-time or commentary....it's likely to be one-tenth of what you saw in 2016.  But does it really matter?  No.....between Twitter or Truth Social....that's probably all he really needs.  Hannity?  I'm guessing that Hannity will be gone by late 2023...one way or another.  

2.  The Bush-Romney-McCain-Cheney wing of the Republican Party?  They are in a rut and trying to sell their 'brand' is going to be an issue in 2024.

3.  This being a Obama/Biden/Harris 'brand' for 2023....versus Trump?  Yeah, and it's probably not something that you'd want to go walking into the primary season of 2024.  The Democrats really need to introduce Governor Newsom as their national candidate, and lessen the current brand. By early spring of 2024....Biden needs to limit all public appearances.  

4.  The House really needs to avoid asking stupid questions over the FTX cryptocurrency business, and the money-laundering....going back to the various  candidates in the US.  This SBF-character (their CEO)?  He really needs to disappear badly.  Questions will come up.....who got PAC-money that came of FTX.....leading back to various prominent politicians.

5.  The recession needing to end?  Trump will drag up the lasting affect and how various things need to be done. Biden?  His handlers are stuck between a rock and a hard place.  

6.  Covid to return as a 'hot' thing?  No, it's finished at this point.

7.  Trump likely to bring in idiot on his team like in 2016?  Well....they will realize quickly that the FBI and NSA are listening in, and likely creating diversions.....which will be comic relief in 2024's election.  

8.  CNN's fade to anti-Trumpism?  I just don't see them willing to sink further in ratings.

9.  The odds that this Arizona Kari Lake gal is likely to be hired by Trump as a campaign director?  I'd give it better than 50-percent chance, and she's likely to be the VP for him in the end.

10.  This being a Trump-Newsom election?  Yeah, and it's troublesome for both individuals.  Newsom is not that big of a success in California ('male model' will be uttered by Trump a good bit).  Trump has simply become a magnet for people who want some weird victim status. 

Five Questions

 1.  Noticed how Hunter Biden's art sales aren't discussed in the news anymore.  Why?

2.  This big shooting in Bolder, Colorado over the weekend?  Lot of hype for 24 hours....then the whole bottom dropped out over the gay-lesbian bar shooting.  Why?

3.  AG never mentioned this appointment of the Special Prosecutor over Trump....to President Biden....beforehand?  Why?  

4.  Major banks in the US sent 150 or more reports of suspicious banking activities to the federal authorities....concerning the Biden family.  Why?

5. FTX CEO still walking around free?  How is this possible?

History Story

 This is a historical essay.

My people (from the family of descendants) left out of London around 1640....never looking back.

This is a listing for the city of London....identifying everyone who died that year, and how they died.

Interesting enough, only 7 folks were noted as murdered.

One guy died from a bite from a mad dog.

The term 'king's evil'?  It's basically TB.

Canker?  A fungal disease.

Yeah, 479 folks died of a tooth/gum disease issue.

Looking back.....probably was the wisest decision in my family....set sail and arrive in the new world.  

Thoughts About Twitter

 1.  Basically, if you feel some anger or ill-feelings about something that someone said.....'mute' the individual.  If you go and spend hours getting all hyped-up....what purpose does it really serve?  

2.  Out of every dozen things that you typically read on Twitter....one comment will be witty and clever....five or six will be somewhat thoughtful, and the rest will be garbage-talk that some immature adult threw together in 60 seconds.

3.  Prior to Elon, there were probably two-hundred topics that moderators would cross out or terminate your account upon.  Presently....zero.  It's not something that I'd regard today....as the end of the world, or leading to massive chaos.

4.  It just looks like that 50-percent of the manpower....wasn't really needed, and begs the question....how did they keep expanding.....with no real defined work-load?  

5.  For all those folks that walked out....fired, then bad-mouthing Elon Musk.....they are basically saying they wanted less management and less supervision.  They also showed that they can only work for certain people.  

6.  Twitter being a magnet for fake-news?  It's always been a magnet, and even with Elon's work....it'll still be a magnet.  But generally, people have some BS-meter in their mind, and as time advances.....get wiser about propaganda.

7.  Finally, this level of portraying Twitter as a demon (under Elon).....lays out this crazy discussion....can people handle rational discussion or disagreeable topics?  

A lot of baseball freaks want to openly discuss the DH-rule....in place since 1973.  Some still want it gone.  Some folks want to openly discuss fatty food being sold at McDonalds or Burger King....with the idea that it can be ceased.  Some folks want to discuss climate change, global cooling and global warming.  

I don't have a problem with a open handed discussion....at least being agreeable that talk doesn't destroy society or culture.  If you reach the point where censorship is the only way ahead.....we have a serious problem.

Ten Bits of Advice

 1.  If you won't engage upon conversation or debate, or offer honest counter-chat....making the only fix to problems or society, then you are left with only two tools....either silence your 'friend' or censor him.

It's childish behavior, but thats the modern world we live in.

2. FTX (the crypto currency) relied upon believers....to see value in 'nothing' (literally nothing).  For some reason, they had no problem in selling this belief.

3.  We've reached some stage that if you uttered the word 'whore'....someone would ask for it to be defined, and the party uttering the word would have a hard time defining it in a way to make the question-guy understand the word.  The same problem probably exists for 'slut', 'hussy', and 'harlot'.  

4.  If you ever wake up in the middle of the night, with a uninvited guest in the house....wearing just underwear....then you call the cops.....meeting them at the door (that you opened)....don't walk back toward the guest if they are holding a hammer.

5.  If you paid half-a-million to some university, for them to accept your dim-witted son or daughter....getting them a degree at the end....don't go expecting a lot out of your kid later in life.

6.  The realistic expectation for a 70-to-80 year old guy....on heavy concentrated work....is probably no more than three hours a day.  Once you push them past that point....they get loose with facts and figures.....remembering less and less.

7.  Without risk, there are no rewards worth discussing.

8.  People that use round numbers in their 'chatter'.....probably are wrong more times than they are right.

9.  If you are continually dragged into arguments with people....is there any useful results?  If not....just don't engage.

10.  There are probably ten times the number of people walking around today, compared to 1976.....saying they are bullied or serving as victims.  These people need to reflect upon who they are and how they got into such a lousy state of mind.

Nighttime Deliveries?

 CBS News: "With the holiday season just around the corner, the U.S. Postal Service is looking to hire about 28,000 seasonal workers and is installing 137 new package sorting machines in an effort to avoid shipping delays. But postal worker representatives say Americans could see after-dark or even nighttime deliveries."

I paused over that.....after-dark/nighttime delivery.

I can think of three-hundred urbanized areas in the US....where a doorbell ringing at 8 PM.....might alert some guy to open the door, with a shotgun in his hand.

A 10 PM doorball ring, in downtown Chicago?  

I see this as a big mistake.  A bunch of hoodlums dressed up in postal gear.....faking an appearance at the door....robbing the guy.

Even in rural areas (like Alabama)......you probably might fear the guy at the door is some meth-head or nutcase.  

How Should You Take The Hiring Of A Special Counsel To Investigate Trump?

 Well....first, they avoided using the term Special Independent Counsel.....since the guy picked....already worked for AG (Garland).

Second, the problem demonstrated here is that the White House players (Biden and probably twenty other folks)....kept asking penetrating questions to Garland over various investigation ideas, and he (Garland) just finally folded and said this other guy....is the guy you can talk to and share your vest criticism stuff.  This frees him from 20 man-hours of BS work each week.  

Third, they wouldn't have done this if they felt that they could deliver a 7-million plus difference over Trump in 2024.  I suspect that Trump and his players will go and find another 8-million 'extra and new' voters...to lay over his 2020 results (74-million).  

Finally, if they can't find an angle to attach Trump to the 6 January chaos....this is pretty much a hopeless case for the Special Counsel.  Maybe Trump will admit he ordered the Capital Police to open the door for the protest crowd to enter....to which the question will arise....if Trump didn't order them to do so, who did?  

All of this simply makes DC look more like some comedy show.  

Ten Things I Think About The FTX Crypto Scandal

 1.  When the smoke clears on 'who' lost money.....a fair sum will people who don't want to admit they had money made beyond the US shores, and were hiding a fair sum from tax revenue.  

2.  This guy (Sam Bankman-Fried) who was the CEO....appears to me to be fairly non-clever, and lacking the skills to be a CEO of a company.  So it begs the question.....how did he rise in such a short period of time?

3.  Money-laundering currency via Ukraine?  I believe at some point....some of the funds we shipped to the Ukraine....ended up coming back to the US....re-converted from FTX to dollars.  How and why?  Might be interesting to know.

4.  This guy (SBF) was a simple honest swinger, and the crew around him (the core of the enterprise) were also that type.  

5.  Bankman-Fried doesn't have the ability to take on stress....so I would imagine he's drugging-up presently, and probably will end up in a suicide situation before the end of November.

6.  Any pension fund that invested money into FTX.....was royally screwing their people.

7.  There's a massive amount of 'propping-up' that occurred, from NFL football types, to Hollywood types.  They all seemed to flock to some 'Jesus-like' personality.

8.  I think when the White House handlers finally approached Joe Biden on the situation....he asked what the hell is crypto-currency, and they spent two hours laying out the gimmick.  Then Joe probably said....that's malarkey....what idiot would invest into 'nothing'?

9.  When you look at interviews of the past year or two of Bankman-Fried....he gives dismal performances, and just makes you wonder how anyone would be convinced to buy into his 'product'.  If I pulled into a Jiffy-Lube for a $29 oil change, and this was the kid at the counter....I might buy the service.  But if this was a $10,000 situation?  No.

10.  So I gaze around at the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fox Business....just wondering....how did you guys miss the fake nature of this?  

This Whole Homelessness Discussion

 Until you have a sit-down with the political players and agenda people.....to agree to categorizing people....none of this will be resolved and you will just throw money into a pit.

How you categorize people?  Well....into four groups:

1.  Drug addicts.  

2.  Mentally unstable.

3.  People with no drug issue and no mental issue.....having a valued job skill.

4.  People with no job skill, no drug issue and no mental problems.  

Group #3 are the ones that you'd want to help relocate into a low-cost housing situation, some job coaching, and some life skills jobs.  They will require a year of serious attention but can come back.

Group #2 needs a one-way ticket to a facility that has a fence, and don't really need a real urban environment.  

Group #1 can be offered a one-time rehab deal.  If they fail....don't waste time or money....just shuffle them into a fenced area and hold them in a prison type environment.  

Finally, Group #4....this is the group has the highest cost....you need to provide twelve months of real job training, and a boot-camp atmosphere.  They also don't require a highly urbanized atmosphere.  

Yes, what I'm hinting is that you need to remove around fifty-percent of most of these people from SF, Portland, or NYC.  They can be put into a pretty remote place and forgotten about.  

If you don't have any willing nature to do this.....just write a simple rule that no more than $1,500 a month can be spent on any homeless guy/gal, and limit the public 'pain' involved.  

Food For Thought: Having A Second Election And How It Works

 This week in Germany, the Constitutional Court (their Supreme Court) reviewed a problem and agreed....for the city of Berlin, the 2021 'state' election (remember, of the sixteen German states.....3 are actual cities....not full-up states)....was crapped-up and most be held again.

So to lay this out, both a national election and a Berlin 'state' election were held in September 2021.  From the 300-odd polling stations...the vast majority had problems. 

They ranged from a shortage of ballots at stations....to logistics efforts throughout the day (held on a Sunday, with a city-wide marathon in the mix for that day).  A number of sites just shut down because they weren't able to function by the plan.  

What triggered a lot of this chaos?  Well....back in early 2021, the Covid vaccine came out, and priorities were established for a guy/gal to get vaxed-up.  Most people in Germany, under the age of fifty, weren't going to get the shot until mid-to-late summer.  However, they made a waiver up....if you volunteered to a poll-helper....you got top priority.

You can imagine this situation....bunch of folks figure out how to progress to the front of the line.  So when August came for training (for poll helpers)....a fair number of these folks sent their regrets and declined to carry out their function.

What happened in 2022?  A complete review suggested that a percentage....maybe 10-percent....maybe 20-percent of voters....were not given a chance to vote. I'm more inclined to think it was around 10-percent.

Eventually, it was taken to court, and they agreed.

So the entire September 2021 election...will be held a second time...in mid-February 2023, for Berlin. 

The odds that it could turn out radically different?  I'd give it better than a 50-percent chance.  I'll even go and suggest that only 70-percent of the people who did show up in September 2021....will come to vote this time.  This hurting the SPD and Green parties?  Yes, without any doubt.

The same issues brewing now that were brewing in September 2021?  Well....no.  There's a major refugee problem in the city presently....which wasn't there in 2021.  You can also add a major recession issue brewing.  

How Voting Stacks Up

 2020 total Presidential votes: 158.5-million

2016 total Presidential votes: 136.6-million

2012 total Presidential votes: 129.1-million

2008 total Presidential votes: 131.3-million

2004 total Presidential votes: 120.0-million

2000 total Presidential votes:105.4-million

1996 total Presidential votes: 96.3-million

1992 total Presidential votes: 104.0-million

1988 total Presidential votes: 91.6-million

1984 total Presidential votes: 92.6-million

1980 total Presidential votes: 86.5-million

So three obvious points that you notice....

1.  About every ten years, there's a ten-million voter jump.

2.  2020 is an odd jump, because it bumped up 22-million in four years.

3.  Most of all voting patterns now....are urbanized.  Rural sectors haven't grown....but city patterns have more than doubled over the past forty-odd years.  

Ten Thoughts

 1.  There are probably sixteen additional rights I have today in 2022....that I didn't have in 1992.  Making me a more 'free' person?  I just kinda doubt it.

2.  I saw a statistic yesterday....around 76-million Americans are believed to be on psychiatric drugs (Xanax, Lexapro, etc).  On any given day....you probably bump into at least twelve people who are on some pill-theme.  Maybe they are feeling angry....maybe they feel happy....just your luck.

3.  A lot of the talk you see over Trump in the last twenty-four hours....reminds me of these fantasy movies involving dragons, and how folks were severely upset and worried about the evil dragon business.

4.  At present pace, via CNN, Fox, and MSNBC.....by mid-summer 2023, I expect at least twenty-five newly created conspiracy theories per day.  

5.  The FBI admits eight 'insiders' were at the 6 Jan 2021 protest in DC.  Beyond that....they aren't saying much.  Could they have prevented the chaos, and saved America?  Well....the FBI can't really talk about that angle.

6.  Do Democrats have anything to worry about in 2024?  No.

Lets be honest, if you can find 81-million votes (for Biden in 2020).....then Trump loses, end of the story.  

Now, if you bring up that the combined vote in 2020....had around 35-percent votes any election of the past forty years?  Well....yeah, that's a fact.  

What you need to worry about is if those stupid Republicans figure out all the drop-box gimmicks and suddenly find another fifteen-odd million votes out there that didn't exist before.

7.  People (particularly women) who have melt-downs on TV and to a vast audience....aren't really demonstrating maturity or any kind of courage.

8.  Gun-free zones are only effective, if people respect law.  Beyond that....it's just fake reality.

9.  I actually admired the Chinese guy who ran a marathon....while chain-smoking the whole way through it.  Fifty years old, and in great shape.

10.  If you haven't seen 'Ancient Apocalypse' on Netflix...I strongly recommend a review.  Begs a lot of questions.  

This FTX Guy

 Sam Bankman-Fried, creator of this FTX cryptocurrency (that has failed) is a unique character. 

This week, I went looking for podcasts and video of the guy talking, then something popped out after seven viewings.....his attire.  

So I went looking for images of the guy.  You can google up his name, and look for images alone.  

Roughly 95-percent of the pictures taken of him....reflect some college attire situation.  No dress shirt, no tie, no jacket.

If you were walking into a bank for a quarter-million loan situation to buy a bar, cafe, or business operation....you'd at least wear a button-down white shirt with a tie.

If you were walking into a bank to ask for 12-million dollars for a hotel purchase, or some big NY City nightclub situation....you'd dress up for the occasion to give an impression.

This Sam Bankman-Fried guy?  I get the impression that he might only have one single suit, and he's mostly an anti-white-shirt, and anti-tie guy.

As he's dragged back to the US to face court hearings?  It'll be interesting how he dresses....to face a judge.  

Pictures Story

 Someone put these two pictures up.....in a meeting of crisis players...Trump-era, Biden-era.

In the Trump case, they were all focused on him and knew that he had decisions in his mind.  He wasn't really there to hear their logic or to listen to their woes.

Trump had this down to a business routine.  There's gains, and there's losses.  He wasn't really a political figure.

In the second picture, you get the impression that there is no central figure.  Biden is in the room, but he's just one of them.  Adding to the discussion.....Biden isn't that focused, or alert.  He might drift into the problem, and then drift out of the problem.

Why take these pictures?  That's my take on this....maybe they think that pictures convey some public support of their greatness or purpose in life.

To be honest, I hate these G20 or G7 meetings....because it's a scripted event.  

Senator Elections in 2024 That Might Flip?

 1.  Arizona, with Sinema (D).  Democrats might run a serious primary against her. She marginally won in 2018.  

2.  California, with Feinstein (D).  I seriously expect her to retire prior to that election, and the Governor likely to name either himself, or London Breed (SF's mayor) to fill, and then run in 2024.

3.  Florida, with Rick Scott (R).  He needs some help, but big question....who can the Democrats drag up to run against him.

4.  Indiana.  Republican marginally won the last election.  

5.  Michigan's Stabenow (D).  Will be a tough race, and various people being discussed. She won with 52-percent in last election.  

6.  Missouri's Hawley (R).....marginally won with 51-percent in last election.  

7.  Montana's Jon Tester (D).....marginally won the last election.  He hasn't said intent yet.  Likely to be a new D coming out to the primary.

8.  Texas. Ted Cruz (R) marginally won his last election (51-percent).  I am expecting Beto coming to run for the seat again.

9. Vermont.  Bernie Sanders.  I think he will retire at the end of 2024.  New face appearing.

10.  West Virginia's Manchin (D).  I think he will stand down, and very likely for a Republican to win this race.

Observations?

 1.  Trump running?  Well....he stood and talked about three things (mandating a ID for all election matters, same-day voting, and paper ballots).  

Here's the thing....if you went to a group of independent and Republican voters....all three would be regarded as a 'must-happen' thing.  I suspect even around working-class Democrats....they'd agree on the voter ID mandate.  

Again (just like in 2016), he picks topics that attract the bulk of voters.  

2.  General belief on this missile that landed in Poland (killing two farm workers)?  I think the Ukrainians fired it....to halt incoming cruise missiles.  

3.  It just seems how hard it is to get Covid-treatment drug Ivermectin.....but then you can ask for chemical castration drugs for your gender flip.....with hundreds of doctors ready and willing to give you the castration drugs....even if you were twelve years old.

4.  If you were working for big-tech at the beginning of 2022.....you probably are evaluating your resume at present, and finding future moves to be fairly limited.

5.  As FTX (the crypto guys) prepare bankruptcy paperwork.....it has to list every single account and how much each had.  A lot of people probably don't want that information to be shared out.

6.  The CNN stress?  With Trump announced.....the question is....do you go back to the normal formula of 2016 to 2020, and be the anti-Trump network?  With the lowest viewer numbers of the past decade....it's hard to imagine them flipping back to the old ways.

7.  Hollywood on fire about Trump?  Well.....yeah.  But it just begs questions....if you get yourself all 'flamed-up' over this and infuriate roughly half of potential audiences....what's your job potential from that point on?

Just Five Things

 1.  Elon Musk was a bit surprised to find out that Twitter reached some point several years ago, where they were sponsoring 'lunch' for employees.  At the peak here in the past year.....with people staying home....the company was paying some catering company around $400 per person....to serve lunch for those who did show up for work.

I pondered over this.  The only time I ever got free food from my boss....I tended to be in a war-zone, and the quality of food wasn't what you'd get at grandma's house or McDonalds.

2.  There's some new gender deal being created....called Trigender.  Apparently, this is a person who is male, and female, and neither. 

I paused reading the third qualifier.  

In a logics course, you can say one and one are two, or two minus one is one.  But you can't have one and one to equal zero.  

3.  This crypto fraud deal developing with FTX....apparently leads to the front door of Ukraine, and based on paths....it goes back to DC and various political PACs.  Begs a lot of questions.

Odds of a House investigation?  Zero.

4.  Odd trend.....people starting to ask now if you are flu-vaxed-up, and then some shun pattern developing if you don't do the flu shot.

We will eventually reach a point of asking about the last oil change for the pick-up, and shun folks who drive over the 5,000 mile point without a change.  

5.  Biden's student loan forgiveness plan?  

It lasted about as long as a Bumble-Bee's life span.  Just something to think about.  The good thing?  Not a dime was ever forgiven.  

Chatting Over Maricopa County Arizona

 I lived for several years in Pima County, Arizona....the Tucson region, and would occasionally go to the Phoenix region (Maricopa County).  So my five observations.....since they've been in the election news so much.

1.  Maricopa County is about the size of the northern third of the state of Alabama.  Yeah, it's huge.  Six of the ten major cities in the state....reside in Maricopa.  

2.  Population?  4.5-million.  That's about sixty-percent of the state of Arizona.

3.  Ethnic breakup of the county?  30-percent are Latino.  6-percent black.  The rest....mostly white.

4.  Jobs?  Mostly service sector or the US government.  There's just not that much in terms of industry.  

5.  There are 223 voting 'centers' in the county.  So when they got to Tuesday and voting started up.....at roughly a quarter of these (60), all kinds of problems occurred.  

If you had just five or six.....no one would say much and just fix the broken mess.  But to have almost a quarter screwed up?  It has to be either total incompetence or by design.  

Telling people to go to another site?  If you lived/worked in Mobile (SE corner of the county).....you'd have to drive to Gila Bend (a good 30 minute drive....one-way).  If you were voting in Wintersberg, it'd be a good 15-minute drive to the next station, and hoping it wasn't screwed-up.

My view?  There's going to be lawyers involved and lawsuits by the end of this mess....with massive cases going to the State Supreme court.  Damages?  If you were forced to drive eighty miles round-trip.....I think the time and gas involved....ought to be on the state's pay-up list.  

But all of this begs the question....are they really that stupid or incompetent at managing a one-day election every two years?  Do we need to activate the state National Guard to run things because county officials can't do the job?

Is It A Democratic Majority Senate?

 Well....no, it's a Senate completely owned by Senator Joe Manchin (Democrat).  

He can ask for virtually anything he desires, and he'll get it because there's no extras in the system for the Democratic Party.

It may take three months for them to realize this, but it's a problem to ponder upon for the next two years.  

This talk by President Biden to corner coal, and terminate mining?  He may mention this ten times a week, but getting past legislation to accomplish this?  Manchin will trim the Biden agenda.  

Observations Over Days of Counting Votes

 1.  It's not normal.  If you go back to the 1990s or prior....fifty states concluded vote counting around six to ten hours after the polls closed.  Absentee ballots were counted the next day (in most states), but were generally limited to Americans who were overseas.  

2.  Most states today still conclude vote-counting that night, with the exception of absentee ballots. 

3.  Once tabulators and computerized voting came into the landscape....problems started to be added.  

4.  The case of Maricopa County, AZ?  The system is managed for the most part by the county commission....which seems to get enjoyment out of five days of counting. 

I would speculate that they've either hired incompetent people to manage the system, or added so many regulations...that normal counting can't really take place. 

5.  All this excess day-counting....to lead to a federal crisis?  I would suggest part of this drama is orchestrated to have the federal authorities managing national voting.  But if you ask....how they can fix it anymore than state or local authorities....I'm at a loss.  

6.  People in Iraq, Turkey, or Honduras...looking at this 'drama' and asking....how can they be this stupid?

7.  If you quietly ask people about their trusting nature of the counting....I doubt if you get past 60-percent of Americans having real trust in the system to work as advertised.  

8.  Most Americans (at least employed ones) stop off to vote....on their way to work, or on their way home.  If the polling station isn't geared to handle surge moments like this....then we are admitting that something has occurred in the past thirty years to lessen effective voting operations.  Investigative journalists?  Maybe it's time to reflect on what happened and why the system has crapped out. 

Whats This FTX Crypto Crap About?

 One single guy.....Sam Brinkman-Fried....created a crypto currency out of thin air.

At peak, it was loaded with 32-billion dollars.  As of today.....it's zero.

What the whole looks like?  Giant billion dollar ponzi scheme....used primarily as a money laundering 'tool'....which oddly enough....had around forty million spent on the mid-term election.  No one says the candidates or parties involved.  

Odds of some folks in the US Treasury at least knowing this was money-laundering?  I'd put it at a 99-percent chance.....but they can't admit that in public. 

Who had the money in this gimmick?  Based on what I've read.....lot of YouTube and Instagram people.....who were making money from around the world, and tried to avoid detection by their governments, or paying taxes.  

Guy's location?  Some plane indications just hint of a path leading to Brazil.  No extradition treaty.....for US/Brazil.  But in this case....people might just look to hire some gangs from Brazil to hunt him down.  I don't see him surviving more than a month at the most.  

My Cure For Slow-Counting In Elections

 Once you fill out a voting ballot, with a unique barcode....there is a time-stamp to be on it.  As long as it's counted prior to midnight, no problems.

Once it's counted after midnight, for each twelve hours of delay.....you (the ballot owner) get $100 from the state budget.  If it takes 36 hours to count your vote....after midnight.....that's $300 to be paid out.

After one election with delay....the state will learn a important lesson on competence. 

Observations

 1.  Should we be asking how disgruntled you are, your party affiliation, and then ask your state-status?

I'm of the mind if you asked the question.....are you happy about the direction of Florida....more than 70-percent of people would indicate they are happy with Florida.  The same might be said for folks in South Carolina and Tennessee.  

If you were a resident of Portland or SF?  It's probably a 75-percent disgruntled feeling that you are walking around with.

2.  Student debt forgiveness 'pit'?

Based on the federal judge's order....that $10,000 of forgiveness is mostly now gone.  I'm guessing President Biden will talk constantly over this, but it's a pretty dead topic at this point.  

3.  Where all this slow vote-counting is heading?

I'm going out to predict in the November 2024 election.....it will reach a stage where courts are involved, and slow-counting will occur.....leading to at least one state missing the mid-December deadline.  I might even suggest three states missing the date.

All hell will break loose in the states affected, with a number of lawsuits about being disenfranchised.  I'll forecast that the Supreme Court eventually dumps it back onto the states and gives the public some option to sue for 'damages'.  If you thought things were screwed up presently.....it would get a lot worse.

4.  I read a piece this week where the fake-meat industry (coming on strong in the past three years)....has hit some peak.  The chief issue?  Lack of taste/flavor....in the products.

Yeah, shocking.....people want fake-meat to taste like real meat.

5.  What happens if this NATO expansion with Finland and Sweden fails?  Both Hungary and Turkey are becoming problems in accepting the two.

I would suggest that if we reach such a point where NATO can't get the two votes....the US will step up and sign a protective treaty.....saying they would do what NATO can't do.  

6.  Can Twitter survive with 75-percent of the customer base that they had before Elon came along?

If this $8 a month fee comes into play....I would suggest they can easily survive and thrive.  The hint from Elon is that podcast capability would expand over the next year, and I think that's the key selling point for Twitter in the future.  

Reasons Why It Takes 7 Days To Count Votes Today

 1.  There's only one pony and one rider to get each polling station's ballots to the central warehouse.  Also most of the riders are blind, and have gall bladder problems.

2.  Ballots occasionally are written into Chinese language and have to be translated by certified experts.

3.  Counting people sometimes have a problem going past one-hundred.

4.  Some of the women counters show up in revealing clothing and distract the male counters from their job.

5.  Poll managers are afraid to admit that they never made it past the sixth grade.

6.  More than 40-percent of all ballot counters are members of a highly secretive cult. 

7.  Seven out of ten ballot counters....have a phobia about handling paper.

8.  Half of all Arizona ballot counters, if they hear any David Hasselhof tune.....reset their count to zero, and have to start all over again. 

9.  Some odd feature has been noticed where you run a stack of 100 blank ballots through five times, and you get a different number instead of zero....each time.

10.  Someone keeps bringing in a case of Captain Morgan Rum to start a four-hour shift.  

My general solution?  Hire up 175,000 Germans for three days (starting on Sunday)....fly them into the various locations, and let them handle ballot counting. Then give them the return ticket for Wednesday afternoon.  The vote will be complete by midnight Tuesday.  

This One Odd Aspect of the Election

 Various news groups did a poll question to ask folks....as they wrapped up voting....how do they feel about the nation.  From three networks, the general answer in the 75 percent range.....the nation is 'somewhat or extremely screwed-up'.  Usually....less than 20-percent said the nation was on the right path.  

So the question is....if this was a non-wave election....why feel disgruntled over the direction the nation is going?

Maybe they ought to qualify the question and add.....are you employed and feeling disgruntled?  Are you unemployed and feeling disgruntled?  

Maybe they sought to ask....are you a Democrat and feel disgruntled?  Or, are you a Republican and feel disgruntled?

Perhaps at the end of this discussion....it's not really the party business at fault....that the blame shifts over to President Biden?  

My suspicion?  Depending on which state or urban area you live....qualifies you on the disgruntled business.  If you live in Florida....in a non-urban setting....you probably aren't that much on the disgruntled business.  If you live in the heart of Seattle, affected by crime and homelessness....you are super-happy with things, and just grin when asked about your lack of disgruntledness.  

There's a problem here, but you just don't know what it is.

What Is A Dive-Bar?

 Well....it's not something that gets talked about by folks under the age of forty.  I saw this come up today, and felt a duty to explain the term.

A dive-bar was typically a place which was very unglamorous....rarely sat more than forty people....usually did not have a TV or big-screen.....did have a 8-track or juke-box.....served about 90-percent cheap brands of beer, and mostly a hangout for guys.

You'd step into the bathroom and respect the fact that it was marginally cleaned once a month....typically out of toilet paper (unless you asked from the door)....and had barely heated in the winter months.

Dive-bars had at least three fights a year....mostly over things which were never remembered by the guilty parties involved.

Dive-bars were the typical choice of a place to hang out for vets from past wars.

Dive-bars rarely had a waitress on duty, and you ordered from the counter.

Dive-bars usually shut down by 11 PM....so working guys could get a few hours of sleep.

Dive-bars rarely served food....unless you were talking about salted peanuts.

Dive-bars are mostly extinct today....like the dinosaurs. 

How To 'Stack' Yesterday's Votes

 1.  In red-states.....the Democratic brand/message simply didn't sell.  In blue-states.....the Republican brand/message simply didn't sell.  The three obvious exceptions....a Republican did almost win the NY state governors race, a Republican senate candidate appears to have won the Nevada race, and the Michigan Governors race stayed with the Democratic Party.  

2.  Based on questions in the entry/exit polls....the economy was the top issue for them having selected their candidates.  Abortion can in second...around 10 points behind.

3.  As much as people think the election is over.....the start-up for 2024's election will be obvious in around four months.  

4.  Going with President Biden for 2024's Presidential race will be a major topic for the next three months.  I just don't see him with the message to sell.

5.  If you ask me....Governor Newsom of California is presently now, in the best position to pursue the Democratic nomination for 2024.  

6.  With all these voting machine failures in NJ and AZ.....some major discussions will occur.  You can't have an election where some smiling idiot greets you at the poll station to say their three machines are non-functional and your vote may not be counted for three days.  That just won't work.

7.  Oz in the Pennsylvania Senate race....just wasn't a four-star pick. He was a far-to-the-middle moderate, and simply didn't have the charm to attract a lot of voters.  

8.  Beto in Texas.....ought to be finished completely for politics.  Abrams in Georgia?  Same way.

9.  If the Republicans do take the House?  Influence-peddling will be their target for the next year.  That's not a positive for President Biden.  

10.  Twitter and Meta in freefall?  Yeah.....both appear on a path to be less of a biased nature in the future.

A final note....if you asked me of signs that Trump should run in 2024....I'd say that you need a message or theme that avoids toxic chatter.  DeSantis might be the better choice. 

What Really Occurred With The Red Wave Election Results?

 I know you are going to get around 3,000 experts here on Wednesday....trying to explain this situation, but it's really NOT rocket science to see how this evolved, and created a massive Democratic disconnect. So....my ten observations:

1.  For almost a decade, various urban centers (Portland, Seattle, SF, NY, LA....for example) adopted a position where crime was not pursued....criminals weren't sent off to prison....drug use was OK....and communities became no-go areas.  It was primarily Democratic mayors and city councils that signed up to this behavior.  

The public?  They just identified the politics of this mess, and decided to send a 'message'.

2.  Fentanyl use/deaths at massive levels, and marginally anything being done.

3.  Covid crap.  Two years of Covid has not been resolved.  Public frustration is at a massive scale.

4.  Teachers, pronoun crap, and political agendas in school.....reached a point where blame had to be dished out.

5.  The recession....still not recognized by the White House or President Biden.

6.  The energy crisis, and soon to exist diesel shortage.....attracted public discontent.

7.  No one trusts news organizations anymore.

8. The J6 hearings?  They became like some circus show, run by 12-year old kids.

9.  Two years of President Biden and the Democratic House?  It's hard to find anything of substance to talk about.

10.  Some of the Democratic candidates (Crist for Governor in Florida for example) weren't really in the league to stand a chance.  There's probably seven governor elections in that category....probably just as many Senate elections as well. 

The question to ask here....in the next hundred days after this election....what happens next to change the luck of the Democrats?  Will anything occur?  Is everyone in the House and Senate locked to President Biden's agenda?  

One final note....if you look around for just regular middle-of-the-road Democrats....it just doesn't seem like any thrills or excitement are brewing.  They seem to be standing there and shaking their head.  

Ten Things That I've Changed Myself About Over Politics

 1.  The minute that some news media group goes to pronouncing some party or some candidate as 'Jesus' or 'Satan'....I've lost respect for their 'service' or 'product'.

2.  If a campaign speech or political ad sounds like a lecture....I'm gone.  

3.  I'm skeptical of just about every single promise made.....knowing that nine political promises out of ten....will never occur.  

4.  If you are pretty crappy at public speaking or debate....maybe you ought to find management work at some bank, or sell cars, or learn the bartending trade.

5.  If what you know about economics fills just a single 3 x 5 inch index card....you might want to avoid talking about recession, money woes, or fixing the economy.

6.  If you look like a male model....running for office.....it's a 50-50 situation that you've had some hanky-panky going on with five or six women besides your wife.

7.  If you are preaching wealth inequality....it's pretty good odds that you don't have much appreciation of capitalism, and you might be threat to society (instead of an asset).

8.  If you tend to see the US as a problem situation, where you act like a project manager, and have stake-holders and participants involved....you might have the right talents for the job.

9.  If your strategy is to preach doom-and-gloom to the voting audience....I'll exit a side-door rather quickly and find a local pub to sip down a beer.

10.  If you are too stupid to pick employees or hire folks for important jobs....then you better find one single person with this talent, and let them do the hiring.  

One Thing About Elon's Twitter That People Haven't Grasped

 In various statements over the past two weeks....there's been this big hint that Twitter will go and work up a foundation for podcasts.  Content makers are the ones who will benefit....if this occurs.

So the warning basically goes to YouTube....if you were stupid enough to continue strong moderation....content makers will move over to Twitter, and probably make the same....if not more.....money.

Five years ago....no one would have really discussed the podcast world.  I'd say between Rogen, Scott Adams, and Matt Walsh.....I've converted over to being a weekly addict on podcasts.  There's probably an hour a day now that I average on listening to analysis and thought.  

If Twitter just took one-third of the podcast 'kingdom' that YouTube runs?  That's enough to change the dynamics of profit for YouTube, and probably start worrying the moderation crowd.  

What The Democrats Should Have Done In Early 2022

 There should have been a meeting of the top ten Democratic figures, and agreement that winning the 2022 election was critical.  

At that point, they should have picked five key topics: the economy/recession, limits to migrants entering the US, stability of gas prices, no critical shortages (like baby formula), and limiting the chatter of President Biden to a minimum.  

Had they done this, at least four Senate races to be won by the Republicans....would have gone in the opposite direction.  The House probably would have been near a 50-50 split.

At this point?  Well....they need to have a serious meeting to talk over 2024 now.....the impact of having Hunter Biden dragged into an investigation....finding a fresh face to be President in 2024....and resolving the recession.  

As for President Biden surviving to the end of his term?  I think the Republicans will do everything possible to avoid impeachment....just to continually (week by week) drag out critical screw-ups of his administration.  

Pelosi and McConnell?  I think both are driven out of leadership positions in early 2023.  

Something We Ought to Worry About

 Yevgeny Prigozhin.....Russian businessman and founder of the Wagner mercenary group , made a comment about Russian interference in US elections.  

YES....without any hesitation....they interfere, and will continue to interfere.

Shocking?  I doubt it.  If you went to certain offices of the CIA....they'd lay down more than fifty different ways of Russian involvement....benefiting certain Senate, House, Presidential and even down into state operations themselves.  It wouldn't even shock me if a dozen city councils in the US were getting attention by the Russian government.  

It wouldn't even surprise me if a quarter of all Russian effort was centered on California itself.  

I'd even go and suggest that both parties are legit targets.

Trying to resolve this or fix it?  Forget about it....both parties will point how each other gets Russian corruption.  

Five Things

 1.  It wasn't this way twenty years ago, but currently....at least twice a week now....I notice some journalist or trend-setter....trying to use the word 'context' in order to convey his/her thoughts to you.

In the context of X....you need to believe 'Y'.  

Pretty goofy if you ask me.

2.  In the past week, with Elon taking over Twitter....I notice a lot of people using the term 'dangerous' in describing the future maneuvers/path of Twitter.

Frankly, you don't really know what 'dangerous' is, unless you've been driving at night through parts of Portland or Memphis.  

3.  Stillbirth deaths at all-time record in the US for 2022....compared to the past fifty years?  Yeah....in 2021, it was twenty times the normal average.  In 2022, it's near ten times the average.  Begs a lot of questions.

4.  The Paul Pelosi hype?  Gone....yep, in 7 days.

5.  Making a comparison of the Twitter blue-mark cost and fuel.....$8 for Twitter mark.....$8 for two gallons of gas.  

What Happens After the Mid-Term Election?

 I'm going to suggest five things:

1.   A lot of blame will be dumped around the Democratic Party, and there will be two factions existing....one wanting to dump the pronoun business....admit the recession and get some resolutions going....and seeking ways to bring back lost voters to the party.

The second faction will double-down....increasing the pronoun business....admit no recession....and extend out the J6 hearing business.  

This division will create chaos and trigger a number of journalists who were helping to sell the Democratic 'brand' to just plain go neutral.

2.  Hunter Biden is going to be completely investigated up one side and down another.  Somewhere by mid-summer 2023.....charges will occur.  President Biden will use various 'powers' to defend his son, and this will only weaken the Presidency.  

3.  VP Harris will lighten her work-load and avoid public events to some extent.  She has zero intent on running in 2024, and it'll be apparent by the mid-summer point of 2023.

4.  A least five different White House insiders will be gone by mid-2023....voicing discontent and a negative atmosphere existing.

5.  White House Press Spokesperson....gone by January.  

The 423,000 Story

 So this came up yesterday....Elon Musk now says that some (avoids saying the number of people involved).....Twitter employees were selling the verification badges 'under the table'.

Amount?  Well.....some say $15,000 was at the peak....I'm guessing that most were paying just in the couple thousand range.

Normal cost of the blue verification badge?  It was designed to not be that costly in the first place....but then regulations came along.  Things got 'sneaky'.  

Why this sneaky method?  Well....Twitter, when it started the blue badge business....said you had to have 10,000 followers.  If you didn't have 10,000 followers....you didn't deserve a badge.

I should add....you had to fall into one of a couple of categories: gov't official, news journalist, sports figure, Hollywood star, company boss, activist,   You can imagine some marginal activist standing there and wanting public viewing.....going to his or her foundation....convincing them to cover the blue mark status, and giving him $10,000 to $15,000 to get the status 'mark'.

A regular guy getting a blue badge with just 500 followers?  No.  

I sat viewing this....wondering out of members....how many had blue verification marks?  Well....423,000.

Some went the legit way....some went to illegit way.

I might go and assume that at least 100,000 are probably illegit.  If you do the math and figure $8,000 as a minimum.....then 800-million dollars (minimum) was dispersed in some fraudulent way to Twitter employees and probably was NOT reported for taxation purposes.

These Twitter people?  I'm guessing here.....but it's probably a crew of forty-odd people, and each one probably took in at least $100,000 in extra income a year.

All of this leading to more Bots being created....to help the poor fool reach 10,000 followers?  Yeah, that was probably another part of the scheme by the insiders to Twitter.

If I used the $15,000 number?  Well....it's up around 1.5-billion dollars that came in.....which was probably cash, and never reported to IRS or California tax folks.

Now....if I were one of these people.....with $5-million made in this gimmick?  Well....at this point, with Elon talking about it.....IRS and the California tax office might be interested.  I think I'd be reviewing my location status and finding a new home in Costa Rica or the Philippines.  

But this brings me to the value of the blue verification mark.  Out of 423,000 mark-people.....how are we supposed to value the blue mark at this point?  If you ask me....it's crapped-out and of zero value.  

The key group I'd look at?  Activists and politicians.  

A November State of Mind

 Leaves would be on the ground, and usually pushed into piles....where you'd light a fire and have a leaf burning (at least before environmentalism took place or drought made the fall activity a fire hazard).

This would be the period after Halloween where temperatures finally reached a point that you pulled out sweaters, winter jackets and warm caps.

This would be the lead-up to the 'thrilling' Charlie Brown Thanksgiving cartoon...where you felt some holiday feeling.

Pecans would start to be cracked and made into pie.

This month would end with the Macey's day parade on TV, and some wish to one day travel to New York City....to see the parade in person.  

This is the month where it was overcast and mostly cloudy.

Finally, the least of all things on your mind....was politics.  Things have changed a good bit here in 2022.  

How Does Germany Hand-Count Votes In A Matter Of Three Hours Or Less?

 In a normal election, the German poll stations close at 6 PM on a Sunday (it will always be done on Sundays).

You show up as a voter with your national ID card (mandated), and have a letter sent to you from the city hall...identifying the location of the station and the time, with your name and address on it.  You present that at the door.

They read your name off the listing and give you a ballot.

The ballot is for a party situation.....not a candidate himself or herself.  It's one single sheet.  

You finish the sheet and push it into a box.

At the end of the day.....around a dozen to two-dozen people are there to count ballots (into pile A or pile B).  It's counted by hand, and usually takes about an hour....then repeated.  As long as the numbers come up right after the second count....that's it.

End of the discussion.  

You know the official winner by 7 PM in most cases....sometimes upgraded to 8 PM where issues occur.

Germans can't understand why you can't have a national ID card in the US....nor why people are totally lost on where to vote, or how you could possibly vote in multiple elections, or why it takes two or three days to count votes.  

The only response?  It's complicated, and you emphasize 'rocket science' several times in the discussion.

Those Twitter Folks

 Most Twitter folks will have a new job arranged within 30 days....but probably leaving Silicon Valley for it.

The screwed folks?  Moderators.  I just don't see their profession having many openings.  

So yeah, they might have to spend six months at McDonalds before they get a new skill.

Maybe you'd be better off to just not mention you were a moderator for six years, and just hint at some other 'team' within Twitter. 

Inflation

 If you'd asked me....as a kid....prior to 1973....what inflation was, I would have responded that it was the act of inflating a tire when flat.  Beyond that, I had no idea.

So along came the period of 1973.  This definition problem came up in class, and the history teacher probably spent three-quarters of a class trying to detail what this was.  To be frank, he did a crappy job.

Eventually, some kid in the class asked the correct question.....how this related to a soda and candy bar at the canteen (the snack shop of the school).  

The answer came forth, and 90-percent of the class....with the help of a soda/candy bar theme....came to grasp inflation.

I should state for the record, that the remaining ten percent felt this was rocket science and too much heavy information to lay upon them.

To be honest, once you get to your mid-30s.....making real money and spending real money....inflation is pretty simple to understand.

But what bothers me today....you have a whole new crowd in schools and universities...that cannot get the concept of inflation in their minds.  They can understand the concept of a Starbucks $6 a cup of coffee going to $6.50 but then they respond....'so what'.  

If you handed the same crowd just $6 for their morning coffee....they'd respond that they need another 50 cents, and just wish inflation away with the free 50 cents.  

That's the reality of 2022.

My Impression of the Paul Pelosi 'Moment'

 After long consideration....I think Paul got up around 2:10 AM....still having buzz on from some booze that evening...to take a pee.

I think he stood there and realized some guy was in the bedroom, and hammer-dude was asked to identify himself.  

Paul, being rather stoic and non-confrontational.....asked hammer-dude if him needed a beer?  

Hammer-dude was caught off guard by the friendly nature of Paul.  

The two.....clad in underwear each....don't know why hammer-dude was this way, but I'd assume he was on bath salts....proceeded down the stairs and Paul handed him a beer, then called the cops.

During the whole ten minutes, Paul demonstrated ultimate cool behavior and was like a 80-year old version of Paul Newman.

As the cops arrived....Paul opens the door, and says his 'friend' needs some help.....walking back toward the hammer-dude. 

It's at this point when the hammer-dude realizes this friendly nature was fake, and whacked Paul pretty good.

Paul remembers nothing much of the evening.....but the concussion has given him some forgetful thoughts about him being married to Nancy.  

End of the story.  

This Nazi-Invasion?

 In the past two weeks....it seems like on MSNBC and CNN....we have reached some level where Nazis are about to take America, and only by voting with President Biden....can we fight off the Nazis.

The problem here....high school and university systems have done such a crappy job....that virtually no one knows what Nazis are....if you are under the age of 25.

Pelosi Syndrome

 I have to admit....it's just an odd thing where about 30-percent of America....deeply cares about the events that occurred with Paul Pelosi.  There's at least a dozen questions standing there, and revolve around a nutcase Canadian guy who just never seemed to be crazy enough to lock up.....until the day he shows up at Paul Pelosi's house.

It's reached one point where the city DA now says....he'll make everything of factual value....a complete secret.

Hammer-dude ever doing time in prison?  I'm of the mind that things will go harshly for the guy....with some mental exam proving once and for all....yep, he's five-star crazy and a threat to people.

But if you admit this.....then the question will arise from the public....aren't there around 500 paranoid schizophrenics in SF.....crazy enough on the threat business to lock up?

Hammer-dude being declared crazy but instead....sent back home to Canada....to be released there?  Oh yeah....I believe this.  But then, he'll be back in SF within four weeks....unless you lock the guy up.

So we are left with this syndrome....wondering what happened, and knowing that they will do marginally nothing to make the city safe, but just spend energy on classifying some secretive report about the events of the evening.

Q-and-A

 1.  Having Oprah come out to hype support for Fetterman in Pennsylvania's Senate race?

Here's the thing....some poll found weeks ago that white middle-class women weren't thrilled with Fetterman.  At the time, they were figuring a loss of one out of every three middle-class women.  So this is a last ditch effort to bring those silly women back to the 'herd'.

Frankly, out of the whole state....with the Oprah gimmick....it probably brought twelve votes back to Fetterman.  

2.  If Stacey Abrams loses this governor's race in Georgia?

I kinda think that's it for her.  I think President Biden will hire her for some temp DC job for the next two years and she'll end up at some foundation job.

3.  Rumor of Hillary Clinton running in 2024? 

98-percent BS.  

4.  What I think of Paul Pelosi's episode?

I think Paul had a drink or two.....maybe a sleeping pill added, and in the night....got woke-up by hammer-dude.  Being half-asleep.....he discussed Chinese food, crappy smells, the problem with heated car seats, the ratio of left-handed hitters on the Giants, his aspiration to be a cowboy as a kid, the worst Star Wars movie, best song from the Who, his favorite character from Days of Our Lives soap opera, and how to bet on horses.  

Then Paul kinda woke up....realizing he was in the middle of a room with a nutcase, got to a phone and called for help.

5.  How long will the new Brit PM last?  

I'm giving the guy 90 days before he's shown the door.

6.  Are the former employees of Twitter screwed?

They are to be given around 3 months of continued pay/benefits.  Course, most are paying around $4,000 a month on rent, and they will quickly pack up to leave Silicon Valley.  

The problem for some.....their whole function was 'moderating', and frankly.....I just don't see much of a career path for this to be happy about.  I'm guessing the moderators will be long-term unemployed (more than 6 months).  

Six Things I Think

 1.  If you were a Twitter employee 'let-go'.....you'd probably be a bit nervous and calling around to find a new job.....finding that it's not a good time to be unemployed.

I'll suggest that more than half of this crowd, will be moving out of their apartment by the end of November, and half of these folks will be calling a relative to see if they can find temp-quarters for a month or two.

2.  I think after the massive election 'twist' for the Democrats.....that President Biden will announce by January....he's not running in 2024.  

3.  I think that car loans in the next two months will go into a tight situation....where one-third of people will be told that limits exist (forget about a $40,000 loan for a new car), or that they don't qualify for a car loan (period).  

4.  Most of the charges against the Hammer-Dude in SF.....will be dismissed in early January as the guy's mental state will qualify him for a long-term stay in a mental hospital.

5.  Most of the headlines for the FBI in 2023....will be about various investigations by the House....on their failures and behavior.

6. Shep Smith, formerly at Fox News, apparently let-go at CNBC now.....will find virtually no news group interested in his 'brand'.

My Five Fixes For Voting

 1.  You close the poll station at 6 PM and start counting Presidential votes.  At precisely midnight....the count stops.  Either you finished the count....or the votes for President fail to be counted.  

The rest of the situations (governor, Senator, etc)....get counted after the Presidential count.

2.  Absentee ballots?  They have to be arriving three days prior to election day, or they will not be counted.  The will be counted 48 hours prior to the polling stations being opened.  That sum of votes will be announced by mid-day of the vote by the county judge.  

3.  ID required.  If you can't provide a state or federal ID (or passport), then you probably have a problem.

4.  Been in jail?  Once released, you get your vote back.  While in jail or prison....no vote.

5.  If you double-voted in some way?  Just one single extra vote?  You get taken to the state prison system for two years, or you pay the county 'offended' a sum of $25,000 per vote.  

Aren't Misinformation and Disinformation The Same Thing?

 NO.

So, to make this simple....MISinformation occurs daily and it's a pretty routine thing.  

This is where false information comes out and it's just mixed with various facts to make you buy something or avoid something.

It's like your teacher telling you to avoid fatty food for x-reason.  X-reason might only be half-right....but she mixed the facts with some premise that she believed.

Or it's like the teacher having the schoolbook text to evolution and just finding forty reasons to skip that part of the lesson plan.

DISinformation is typically propaganda, where you are told facts, which are absolutely designed to bring you to one conclusion.  

It's always intentional when disinformation is handed out and geared to make you react in a certain way.  

Up until the last decade or two....disinformation was just occasionally occurring.  Today?  You probably get around forty bits of disinformation on a daily basis....handed out by news organizations who may or may not realize what the source is doing.

You could receive disinformation from your minister, your professor, or even your kid's teacher.  

I Tried To Make Sense Out Of This

 Up in Ohio, in some small town....the police have a mounted patrol situation....at least with a couple of horses.  For whatever reason, they decided that they'd get into the Halloween spirit and dress the horses up.

The chosen attire?  Well....they were supposed to be ghosts.

What came across to just about everyone except the police.....the horses appeared to be Klan horses (you know....KKK-wise).

I spent several minutes gazing at the picture, and frankly....whoever picked this attire....has to be just awful simple-minded or a person who knew what they were picking....wanting the KKK-image to stand out.

The horses?  They probably just stood there.....shaking their head....wondering who was responsible for this.  

Just Something To Think About

 

Joe Biden's Southern Accent

 What President Biden tried to do....was a 20-second chat with his best southern accent.  You can observe this at Rumble....here.

On a one-to-ten fake southern accent rating....I'd give the guy a five.  It's not as bad as Hillary's fake southern accent, or Obama's poor attempt.  

What Would I Have Done At 3 AM If a Hammer-Dude Entered?

 Because of my level of bad hearing....I probably would have not heard much of the entry.  My wife?  She would have heard the glass break and hauled ass out of bed to direct me to the 'problem'.

Being in the US....I would have had a choice of a shotgun with buckshot, or a 9-mil pistol.  About 30 seconds would have been spent considering the situation, lack of knowledge, and me being only 50-percent awake at this point. Shotgun and buckshot....the pick.

I would have proceeded down the hall....encountered the Hammer-Dude....giving one single warning, then seeing no positive reaction.....fired one round into him.

With him in pretty good pain from the buckshot....I would have lingered there...asking him if he were 'right-with-Jesus', a registered Democrat, the last time he voted, and his preference for Star Wars.  Then I would have called the police, and ambulance.  

Based on his answers....I would have told the cops that he was mentally lacking, and probably a nutcase.  Then the cops would have admired my shotgun and asked where I bought it.  

By 4:30 AM, the situation would have closed out.  I would have told the wife that I was fully awake and probably deserved a full-up breakfast.  She would have given me a 30 minute lecture then about the hazards of living in America and how it just wasn't right to shoot people.  I would have gotten dressed up then and gone off to the local Waffle-House....to have a $20 plate of heaping hash browns with five sausages, with overly buttered toast.    

Returning home by 6:30 AM....I would have encountered the Channel Nine news team, and given a 3-minute interview.  

Biden's Union Station Speech

 I watched the video of the speech and will offer these six observations:

1.  The lighting for this episode was twice as good as the 'demon-speech' from two months ago.  

2.  Roughly 21 minutes long....I'd say I lost interest at the 8-minute point, but lingered on.

3.  More or less nothing said about inflation, the border, energy costs, gas, or crime.....which would have been the top subjects of the mid-term.  Just odd, but if you can't cite positive things....you avoid talking about them.

4.  Trump bad.....for the 300th time since becoming President.....Biden uttered the slogan of his administration.  

5.  Some weird slip on talking about 'ballot box' and instead uttering 'battle box'.  

6.  Sorry, but it just came across as more of a 'lecture' than a actual campaign speech.  

To be blunt, on lecture-negativity....I'm pretty much burned-out and can't take that much anymore.  

If this is a massive loss next week in the mid-term....then someone really needs to go out and find a new face for the Democratic Party and haul them for most of 2023 out to the general public....instead of Joe and Kam.  

One Odd Thing Over Twitter Chatter About A $8 A Month Fee

 Lot of liberal folks whining about the Elon talk of a $8 a month fee for Twitter 'service'.

I sat there pondering this.

To be honest, if you walk into a Starbucks and select a premium type of coffee (super-sized)....it typically runs (with tax) around $10.  

Oddly, these same folks don't have a problem in pay $10 for that ultra-class coffee, which will be gulped down in 30 minutes.

A ticket for a crappy movie at the local theater?  Typically running $10 to $12 these days.  No problem in paying for that.

I can list off more than fifty different things that these whiners get negative about Elon's price-tag....but they easily pay for it.

San Bernardino County Wants To Leave California?

 There's a ballot measure on the voting business next week for San Bernardino County.....to leave the state of California.

So if you were wondering....it stretches from the Nevada border over to the edge of LA, and up to the edge of Death Valley.  In simple terms....it's about one-third the size of Alabama.  Roughly 2.1-million people live in this one single county.

They are basically fed up with California regulations, and want an exit path....either to leave and join Nevada, or to have their own state.  

No one says how this appears to locals.  My humble belief is that it'll marginally cross the 50-percent point.  

The point of this discussion is that across the whole state of California....there's probably three different 'we-want-to-leave' movements being discussed.  At some point, I expect the DC to discuss the matter and rig up some type forbidden-to-discuss regulation.  

About The Damage To Nord Stream Pipes

 I watched a news piece on N-TV this AM....talking over damage to the Nord Stream I pipe.

What they say?  

Nord Stream I has several hundred meters of damage (figure at least 1,000 feet), and the crater business is 3 to 5 meters (figure 12 to 16 feet).

Beyond that?  They just say it was an explosion....not detailing what was used.  

This being on Swedish territory?  Yeah....under the water.

Observations

 1.  Over the past couple of months....I've heard the comment 'the Carter-Economy' probably forty times.  If you are over the age of sixty....you probably remember various details of the 1970 and how crappy things were for about 18 months.  

The idea that Biden is following the script and presenting the 'Carter-Economy' all over again?  Well....you'd think that he was there and in the middle of it.  He ought to have remembered the period.

2.  Obama helping out much in this election period?  Well....he is showing up almost daily for the past two weeks, but I can't see much improvement with him on the campaign trail for a couple dozen folks. 

3.  Someone added it up....kid from age six to eighteen spends around 15,000 hours in school, or traveling to/from school.  They didn't suggest the real pay-back.....some kids are marginally educated by the end of 15,000 hours....some probably peaked around 8,000 hours.....and some probably would have been ready to move by 12,000 hours.  Just something to think about.

4.  This speech to be done by Biden at Union Station in DC?  Shaking my head over the pick of the location.

Around 2011....I spent an afternoon walking around the station interior and the neighborhood.  The city subway system passes through there.  On a grade of crappiness....one to ten.....I'd give the station area a '5'.  Lot of homeless folks around.....lot of dope-dealers there.  It's a place that I'd exit my train and get to the city subway system quickly.  

If you were asking me about standing there for 20 minutes to hear the President speak?  No....wrong place to hang out.

5.  If you haven't paid any attention in the past month.....whole bunch of Chinese folks who were industry-production types....packed up bags and started their walk 'home'.  It's reached a point where Covid regulation has screwed-up production and you are going to see a major problem in getting products on the shelf of your US store in 90 to 150 days.  

6.  CDC has replaced the 'term' woman.....with the term 'pregnant-person'.  Makes as much sense as addressing your housecat as a 'miniature lion-creature'.  

7.  Biden has claimed he spoke to the inventor guy of insulin in his youth.  Just one problem.....Biden was born a year after the guy died.  

So either it didn't happen.....or that some bogus guy just came up to Biden-the-kid and claimed he was this insulin dude, or it was a ghost.

(personally, I like the third possibility)

8.  Dose of reality: disinformation has probably been around for more than 8,000 years.  

Q-and-A

 1.  Should Biden/Harris remove themselves from contention in 2024.....if there is a massive mid-term loss? 

Personally, by January, if there is a massive loss for the party.....it would make sense to have both state their position.....a fresh new prospective needs to come to the party for 2024.  

Biden accepting this logic?  No.  

2.  If any normal non-California spouse of a high ranking Republican had been awaken by some nutcase at 3 AM in a do-or-die situation?  Most would have reached for their 9-mil and shoot the guy dead.  No arguments....no momentary pause. Lets also state the obvious....the Republican guy would have been wearing more than underwear....probably some plain cotton pajamas.  

3.  Shocking isn't it.....the FCC Commissioner has now stated that Tik-Tok needs to be banned.  Remember when Trump said.

What This $8 A Month Twitter Cost Amounts To?

 Elon wants to have steady income, and so.....he has this idea that $8 a month will be the subscription cost.  People peeved?  Some are.

But here's the thing.....you really don't need Twitter.  You can survive without it.  

Or perhaps, you are so addicted to it....like cocaine or meth....that you can't survive without it.  Elon is betting that the majority of users today....don't want to switch over to FB/Meta, and they will reach a point where they have to have their Twitter....to survive.

To be fair....basically $8 for equals around three cups of premium coffee, or one single movie ticket.....so it's not a big deal.